. L^T4
. A
COMMENTARY
ON THE
HOLT SCEIPTUKES
CRITICAL, DOCTRIML, AND HOMILETICAL,
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MINISTERS' AND STUDENTS
JOHjN PETEE LAjS-GE, d.d.
CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF EMINENT EUROPEAN DIVINES.
TRANSLATES FROM THE GER3IAN, AND EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS ORIGINAL
AND SELECTED,
By PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D.
IN CONNECTION TTlin AMERICAN DIVINES OF VARIOUS EVANGELICAL DENOMINATIONS.
VOL. I. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT : CONTAINING A GENERAL INTRODUCTION,
AND THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
NEW YORK:
CHAKLES SCRIBNEE, 124 GRAND STREET.
1865.
THE
GOSPEL
ACCOPa^ING TO
MATTHEW,
TOGETPIER WITH A GENERAL THEOLOGICAL, AND HOMILETICAL
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
JOHN PETEK LANGE, D.D.
PROFESSOS OP THEOLOGY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN.
/
TRANSLATED FROM THE THIRD GERMAN EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED,
By PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D.
NEW YORK:
CHAKLES SCPJBNER, 124 GRAND STREET.
1865.
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PREFACE TO THE A\fFRTrA\ EDITIOy.
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PREFACE.
absolute religion of God, both in its preparatory process or growth under the dispensation of
the law and the promise, and in its completion under the dispensation of the gospel, a religion
which is intended ultimately to absorb all the other religions of the world. It speaks to us as
immortal beings on the highest, noblest, and most important themes which can challenge our
attention, and with an authority that is absolutely irresistible and overwhelming. It can
instruct, edify, warn, terrify, appease, cheer, and encourage as no other book. It seizes man
in the hidden depths of his intellectual and moral constitution, and goes to tLe quick of the
soul, to that mysterious point where it is connected with the unseen world and with the great
Father of spirits. It acts like an all-penetrating and all-transforming leaven upon every fac-
ulty of the mind and eveiy emotion of the heart. It enriches the memory ; it elevates tlie
reason ; it enlivens the imagination ; it directs the judgment ; it moves the affections ; it con-
trols the passions ; it quickens the conscience ; it strengthens the will ; it kindles the sacred
flame of faith, hope, and charity ; it purifies, ennobles, sanctifies the whole man, and brings him
into living union with God. It can not only enlighten, reform, and improve, but regenerate
and create anew, and produce effects which lie far beyond the power of human genius. It
has light for the blind, strength for the weak, food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty ; it
has a counsel in precej^t or example for eveiy relation in life, a comfort for every sorrow, a
balm for every wound. Of all the books in the world, the Bible is the only one of which we
never tire, but which we admii-e and love more and more in proportion as we use it. Like
the diamond, it casts its lustre in every direction ; like a torch, the more it is shaken, the
more it shines ; like a healing herb, the harder it is pressed, the sweeter is its fragrance.
What an unsjDeakable blessing, that this inexhaustible treasure of divine truth and comfort
is now accessible, without material alteration, to almost every nation on earth in its own
tongue, and, in Protestant countries at least, even to the humblest man and woman that can
read ! Nevertheless we welcome every new attempt to open the meaning of this book of
books, which is plain enough to a child, and yet deep enough for the profoundest philosopher
and the most comprehensive scholar.
EPOCHS OF EXEGESIS.
The Bible — and this is one of the many arguments for its divine character — has given rise
to a greater number of discourses, essays, and commentaries, than any other book or class of
books ; and yet it is now as far from being exhausted as ever. The strongest and noblest
minds, fathers, schoolmen, reformers, and modem critics and scholars of every nation of Chris-
tendom, have labored in these mines and brought forth precious ore, and yet they are as rich
as ever, and hold out the same inducements of plentifal reward to new miners. The long line
of commentators will never break off until faith shall be turned into vision, and the churcli
militant transformed into the church triumphant in heaven.
Biblical exegesis, like every other branch of theological science, has its creative epochs and
classical periods, followed by periods of comparative rest, when the results gained by the pro-
ductive labor of the preceding generation are quietly digested and appropriated to the life
of the church.
There are especially three such classical periods : the patristic, the reformatory, and the
modern. The exegesis of the fathers, with the great names of Chrysostom and Theodoret of
PREFACE.
the Greek, and Jerome and Augustine of the Latin Church, is essentially Catholic ; the
exegesis of the reformers, as laid down in the immortal biblical works of Luther and Melanch-
thon, Zwingli and Oacolampadius, Calvin and Beza, is Protestant ; the modem exegesis of
Germany, England, and America, may ])c called, in its hest form and ruling spirit. Evangelical
Catholic. lb includes, however, a large variety of theological schools, as represented in the
commentaries of Olshausen and Tholuck, Liicke and Bleek, Heugstenberg and Delitzsch,
Ewald and Hupfelcjl, de Wette and Meyer, Lange and Stier, Alford and Ellicott, Stuart and
Robinson, Hodge and Alexander, and many others still working wdth distinguished success.
The modern Anglo-German exegesis is less dogmatical, confessional, and polemical than either
of its predecessors, but more critical, free, and liberal, more thorough and accurate in all that
pertains to philological and antiquarian researcli ; and while it thankfully makes use of the
labors of tlie fathers and reformers, it seems to ojjen the avenue for new developments in the
ever-expanding and deepening history of Christ's kingdom on earth.
The patristic exegesis is, to a large extent, the result of a victorious conflict of ancient
Christianity with Ebionism, Gnosticism, Arianism, Pelagianism, and other radical heresies,
which roused and stimulated the fathers to a vigorous investigation and defence of the truth as
laid down in the Scriptures and believed by the Church. The exegesis of the reformers bears
on every page the marks of the gigantic v»'ar with Romanism and its traditions of men. So
the modem evangelical theology of Germany has grown up amidst the changing fortunes of
a more than thirty years' war of Christianity with Rationalism and Pantheism. The future
historian will represent this intellectual and spiritual conflict, which is not yet concluded, as
one of the most important and interesting chapters in history, raid as one of the most bril-
liant victories of faith over unbelief, of Christian truth over anti-Cbristian error. The German
mind has never, since the Reformation, developed a more intense and persevering activity,
both for and against the gospel, than in this period, and if it should fully overcome the
modern and most powerful attacks upon Christianity, it will achieve as important a work as
tlie Reformation of the sixteenth century. Former generations have studied the Bible with
as much and perhaps more zeal, earnestness, and singleness of purpose, than the present. But
never before has it been subjected to such thorough and extensive critical, philological, histori-
cal, and antiquarian, as well as theological investigation and research. Never before has it
been assailed and defended with more learning, acumen, and perseverance. Never before has
the critical apparatus been so amjjle or so easy of access ; the most ancient manuscripts of the
Bible having been newly discovered, as the Codex Sinaiticus, or more carefully compared and
published (some of them in fac-simile), as the Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Alexandrinus,
Ephraemi Syri, and the discoveries and researches of travellers, antiquarians, historians, and
chronologers being made tributary to the science of the Book of books. No age has been so
productive in commentaines on almost every part of the sacred canon, but more particularly
on the Gospels, the Life of Christ, and the Epistles of the New Testament. It is very difiicult
to keep up with the progress of the German press in this department. One commentary fol-
low.s another in rajiid succession, and the best of them are constantly reappearing in new and
improved editions, which render the old ones useless for critical purposes. Still the intense
productivity of this period must sooner or later be exhausted, and give way to the more quiet
activity of reproduction and application.*
* Even Dr. Wordsworth, who is disposed to find in the old Catholic and modern Anghcan fathers the beginning
and the end of exegetical knowledge and wisdom, feels constrained to admit (in the Preface to hia Commentary nn
PREFACE.
The time has now arrived for the preparation of a comprehensive theological commentary,
which shall satisfy all the theoretical and practical demands of the evangelical ministry of the
present generation, and serve as a complete excgetical library for constant reference : a com-
mentary learned, yet popular, orthodox and sound, yet unsectarian, liberal and truly catholic
in spirit and aim ; combining with origmal research the most valuable results of the exegetical
labors of the past and the present, and making them available for the practical use of minis-
ters and the general good of the church. Such a commentary can be sucessfully wrought out
only at such a fruitful period of Biblical research as the present, and by an association of ex-
perienced divines equally distinguished for ripe scholarship and sound piety, and fully com-
petent to act as mediators between the severe science of the professorial chair and the practical
duties of the pastoral office.
LANGE'S COMMENTARY.
Such a commentary is the Bibelwerlc of Dr. Lakge, assisted by a number of distinguished
evangelical divines and pulpit orators of Germany, Switzerland, and Holland.* This work
was commenced in 1857, at the suggestion of the publishers, Velhagen and Klasing, in Biele-
feld, Prussia, on a plan similar to that of Starke's Synopsis^ which appeared a hundred years
ago, and has since been highly prized by ministers and theological students as a rich store-
house of exegetical and homiletical learning, but which is now very rare, and to a large
extent antiquated.f
It is to embrace gradually the whole Old and New Testament. The Rev. Dr. John P.
Lange, professor of evangelical theology in the University of Bonn, assumed the general
editorial supervision ; maturing the plan and preparing several parts himself (Matthew, Mark,
John, Romans, and Genesis), selecting the assistants and assigning to them theu- share in the
work. It is a very laborious and comprehensive undertaking, which requires a variety of
talents, and many years of united labor. It is the greatest literary enterprise of the kind
undertaken in the present centuiy. Herzog's Theological Encyclopoedia, of which the eight-
the N. T., p. V.) : " Indeed it must be confessed, -witli thankfulness to the Divine Author of the Scripture, that the
present age enjoys, in certain respects, greater privileges for the due understanding of Iloly "Writ than were ever con-
ferred by Almighty God on any preceding generation since the revival of letters." And he is candid enough to ad-
mit, also (on p. vi.), " that the palm for industry in this sacred field is especially due to another nation. The Masorites
of the New Testament are from Germany."
* The full German title of this work is : Theologisoh-homiletisches Bibeltvkrk. Die HeUige Schrift Alien und
Neuen Testaments mii Buckaicht mif das theologisch-homiletische Bedurfniss des pastoralen Amies in Veriindung
mit namhaften erangelischen Theologen iearbeitet und herausgegeben von J. P. Lange. Bielefeld. Verlag von Vel-
hagen und Klasing, 1857 if.
t Synopsis Bibliothecjs Exegetic^ in Novum Testamentum. Kurzgefasster Aussug der grUndlichsten und
nutsbarsten Auslegungen uber alle Bucher Neuen Testamenis. In Tabellen, ErMdrungen, Anmerkungen %ind J^'uisan-
tcendungen, mit Zuziehung des Grundtevies, und fleissiger Anfuhrung der dahey gehraucMen Bucher, zum erwUnsch-
ten Eandbuch, etc. etc. Mit Beyhidfe einiger Gelehrten von Oheistoph Starke, Pastore Primario und Garnison,
Prediger der Stadt vnd Fentung Driesen. 3 vols. 4to. The preface is dated 1733. I have seen in this country and
occasionally compared two copies of this work, one of the second edition, Leipzig, 1740 (in the Theo!. Seminary Library
at Mercersburg, P.a.), and one of the 4th ed., Leipz. 1758 (in possession of a German clergyman at New York). The
first volume, containing the four Gospels, covers 2,523 closely prii.ted qttarto pages. The title of the Old Testament
Part is : Synopsis BibliothecjE Exegeticje in Vetus Testamentum, etc., Berlin and Halle, 1741 if. 5 vols. 4to. His
Bon, Johann Georg Starke, completed the Did Testament. Christoph Starke was born A. d. 1684, was pastor primarius
in the town and fortress Driesen, and died 1744. His motto was : Crucem sumo, Christxim sequor. He was not a man
of genius, like Lange, but of immense literary industry, and his work is a dry but useful compilation. He embodied
in it extracts from previous exegetical works, especially those of Luther, Brentius, Canstein, Cramer, Hedinger,
Lange, Majus, Osiander, Piscator, Quesnel, Tosanus, Biblia "Wurtembergensia, Zeisius. Lange transfers the substance
of Starke's labors to the homiletical sections of his Commentary, and credits him with the extracts from his prede-
cessors under their names.
PREFACE.
ecuth volume has just been published (with two volumes of supplements still in prospect), is a
similar monument of German learning and industiy, and will be, for many years to come, a
rich storehouse for theological students. So far the Commentary of Lange has progressed
rapidly and steadily, and proved decidedly successful. Even in its present unfinished state, it
has already met with a wider circulation than any modern commentary within the same time,
and it grows in favor as it advances.
The following parts have been published, or are in course of preparation :
I. The Gospel according to Matthew, with an Introduction to the whole New Testament.
By Dr. John P. Laxge, 1857. Second (third) edition revised, 1861.
n. The Gospel ACCORomG to SIark. By Dr. John P. Lange. Second edition re-
vised, 1861.
ni. The Gospel according to Luke. By Dr. J. J. van Oosterzee, profess6r of theology
at Utrecht. Second edition revised, 1861.
IV. The Gospel according to John. By Dr. John P. Lange. Second edition, 1863,
V. The Acts of the Apostles. By Prof. Dr. G. Lechler, of Leipzig, and Dean K.
Gerok, of Stuttgart. Second edition revised, 1863.
VI. The Epistle to the Romans, now in course of preparation by the editor, in connec-
tion with his son-in-law. Rev. Mr. Fay, in Crefeld, who assumed the homiletical part.
Vn. The Epistles to the Corinthians. By the Rev. Dr. Chr. Fr. Kling, 1863.
Vm. The Epistle to the Galatians. By the Rev. Otto Schmoller, 1863.
IX. The Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. By Prof. Dr. Dan.
ScHENKEL, of Heidelberg, 1863.*
X. The Epistles to the Thessalontans. By Prof. Drs. C. A. Auberlen and Chr. John
RiGGENBACH, of Basel, 1864.
XI. The Pastoral Epistles and The Epistle to Philemon. By Dr. J. J. van Oos-
terzee, of Utrecht. Second edition revised, 1864.
Xn. The Epistle to the Hebrews. By Prof. Dr. C. B. Moll, 1861.
XIII. The Epistle op James. By Prof. Drs. J. P. Lange and J. J. van Ooster-
zee, 1863.
XrV. The Epistles of Peter and The Epistle op Jude, by Di*. G. F. C. Fronmuller.
Second edition revised, 1861.
The remaining parts, XV. and XVI., containing The Epistles op John, and The Reve-
liATiON, have not yet appeared. Part VT. (on the Epistle to the Romans) and Part XV. are,
however, in process of preparation, and may be expected within a year.
Of the Commentaxy on The Old Testament, one volume has just been published (1864),
which contains a general Introduction to the whole Old Testament, and a commentary on
Genesis by the editor.
According to a private letter of our esteemed friend. Dr. Lange, the following dispositions
have already been made concerning the Old Testament :
Deuteronomy. By Rev. Jul. Schroder, of Elberfeld (successor of Dr. F. W. Krum-
macher as pastor, and author of an excellent practical commentary on Genesis).
Joshua. By Dr. Paulus Cassel, in Berlin.
* This part will probably be rewritten by another hand on account of the recent unfortunate change in the
theological position of the author.
rilEFACE.
Judges. By Ilev. Mr. Scitneider, rector of the seminary at Bromberg.
Kings. By Dr. Bahr, in Carlsruhc (author of the celebrated work on the Symbolism of
the Mosaic "Worship, etc.).
The Psalms. By Dr. Moll, general superintendent in KiJnigsberg.
Jbkeioah. By Rev. Dr. Nagelsbach, of Bayreuth.
DR. LANGE.
Tlie reader will naturally feel some curiosity about the personal history and character of
the editor and manager of this great Biblical work, who heretofore has been less known among
English readers than many German divines of far inferior talent. Only two of his many works
have been brought out in an English dress, and they only quite recently, namely, his Life of
Jesus, and parts of his Commentary on the Gospels.
Dr. Lange was born on the 10th of April, 1803, on the Bier, a small farm in the parish of
Sonnborn, near Elberfeld, in Prussia. His father was a farmer and a wagoner, and brought
his son up to the same occupation, but allowed him, at the same time, to indulge his i)assion
for reading. Young Lange often drove the products of the soil to market. He early acquired
an enthusiastic love of nature, which revealed to his poetic and pious mind, as in a mirror,
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. He was instructed in the doctrines of the Heidelberg
Catechism, which is still in use among the Reformed Churches on the Rhine, although the
Lutheran and Reformed Confessions are united in Prussia since 1817 under one government
and administration, and bear the name of the United Evangelical Church. His Latin teacher,
the Rev. Herrman Kalthof, who discovered in him unusual talents, induced him to study for
the ministry. He attended the Gymnasium (College) of Diisseldorf from Easter, 1831, to
autumn, 1833, and the University of Bonn from 1833 to 1835. There he studied mainly under
Dr. ]Srit2Bch, the most venerable of the living divines of Germany, who for many years was a
strong pillar of evangelical theology in Bonn and subsequently in Berlin. The writings of
Nitzsch, though pregnant with deep thoughts and suggestive hints, give but an imperfect idea
of his power, which lies chiefly in his pure, earnest, and dignified, yet mild and amiable
personal character. He is emphatically a homo gravis, a Protestant church-father, who, by his
genius, learning, and piety, commands the respect of all theological schools and ecclesiastical
parties.
After passing through the usual examination, Lange labored from 1835 to 1826 in the quiet
but very pleasant town of Langenberg, near Elberfeld, as assistant minister to the Rev. EmU
Krummacher (a brother of the celebrated Dr. Frederic William Krummacher, who wrote the
sermons on Elijah the Tishbite, and other popular works). From thence he was called to the
pastoral charge of Wald, near Solingen, where he remained from 1826 to 1838. In 1833 he
removed as pastor to Duisburg, and began to attract public attention by a series of brilliant
articles in Hengstenberg's Evangelical Church Gazette and other periodicals, also by poems,
sermons, and a very able work on the history of the infancy of our Saviour, against Strauss's
Life of Jesus, la. 1841 he was called to the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, aa professor
of theology in the place of the notorious Strauss, who had been appointed by the radical and
infidel administration of that Canton, but was prevented from taking possession of the chair
by a religious and political revolution of the people. In Zurich he labored with great per-
PREFACE.
severance and fidelity in the midst of many discouragements till 1856, when he received a call
to the University of Bonn, in Prussia, where he will probably end his days on earth.*
Dr. Lange is undoubtedly one of the ablest and purest divines that Germany ever pro-
duced. He is a man of rare genius and varied culture, sanctified by deeiJ piety, and devoted
to the service of Christ. Personally he is a most amiable Christian gentleman, genial, afiec-
tionate, unassuming, simi)le, and unblemished in all the relations of life. He combines an
unusual variety of gifts, and excels as a theologian, philosopher, poet, and preacher. He
abounds in original ideas, and if not always convincing, he is always fresh, interesting, and
stimulating. He is at home in the ideal heights and mystic depths of nature and revelation,
and yet has a clear and keen eye for the actual and real world around him. He indulges in
poetico-philosophical speculations, and at times soars high above the clouds and beyond th^
stars, to the spiritual and eternal " land of glory," on which he once vsa'ote a fascinating
book.t His style is jGresh, vigorous, and often tnily beautiful and sublime, but somewhat
deficient in simplicity, clearness, and condensation, and is too much burdened with
compound, semi-poetical, unwieldy epithets, which offer peculiar difiiculties to the trans-
lator. His speculations and fancies cannot always stand the test of sober criticism, although
we might wish them to be true. But they are far less numerous in his Commentary than in
his former writings. They are, moreover, not only harmless, but suggestive and pious, and
, supply a lack in that sober, realistic, practical, prosaic common-sense theology which deals
with facts and figures rather than the hidden causes and general principles of things, and
^ .eldom breathes the invigorating mountain air of pure thought.
}' Poetical divines of real genius are so rare that we should thank God for the few. Why
should poetry, the highest and noblest of the arts, be banished from theology ? Has not God
joined them together in the first and last chapters of the Bible ? Has He not identified poetry
with the very birth of Christianity, in the angelic hymn, as well as with its ultimate triumphs,
in the hallelujahs of the countless hosts of the redeemed ? Is it not one of the greatest gifts
of God to man, and an unfailing source of the purest and richest enjoyments ? Is it not an
essential element and ornament of divine worship ? Can any one fully understand and explain
the Book of Job, the Psalms and the Prophets, the Parables, and the Apocalypse, without a
keen sense of the beautiful and sublime ? Theology and philosophy, in their boldest flights
and nearest approaches to the vision of truth, unconsciously burst forth in the festive language
of poetry ; and poetry itself, in its highest and noblest forms, is transformed into worship of
Him who is the eternal source of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good. No one will deny
this who is familiar with the writings of St. Augustine, especially his Confessions^ where the
metaphysical and devotional elements interpenetrate each other, where meditation ends in
prayer, and speculation in adoration. But the greatest philosophers, too, not only Plato,
Schelling, and Coleridge, who were constitutionally poetical, but even Aristotle, Kant, and
Hegel, who were the greatest masters of pure reasoning and metaphysical abstraction, prove
♦ For the biographical notices I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Lange, who commiinicated them to me by
letter at my request. I previously wro^e also a sketch of his character as a divine in my book ou Gennany^ its Uni-
versities and Divines, Philadelphia, 1807, of wiiich I have no copy on hand, the edition being exhausted. I have seen
Dr. Lange in Zurich in 1S44, and at Bonn in 1854, and corresponded with him more or less for the last twenty years.
t Under the title : Das Land der ITerrlichkeit, oder die christUclte I.ehre rom Ilimmel, first published as a series
of articles in Hengstenbcrg's Evangelical Church Oaseite, and then in book form, 1R33. Dr. H. Uarbaugh, of Mer-
cersburg, Pa., has translated a portion of it in the third of his three popular works ou the heavcniy world, which have
gone through some fifteen or twenty editions.
PREFACE.
this esseutial harmony of truth aud beauty.* The poetic and imaginative element imparts
freshness to thought, and turns even the sandy desert of dry critical research into a blooming
flower garden. I fully admit, of course, that the theologian must regulate his philosophical
si)c;cu]atious by the word of revelation, and control his poetic imagination by sound reason
and judgment. Laiige represents, among German divines, in hopeful anticipation, the peace-
ful and festive harmony of theology and poetry, of truth and beauty, which exists now in
heaven, " the land of glory," and will be actualized on the new earth. Take the following
striking passage on the locality and beauty of heaven, as a characteristic specimen of his
thought and style : f
"When the beautiful in the world manifests itself alone, so that the friendly features of God's character
are exclusively seen, profane souls remain profanely inclined ; yea, they become even more profligate in the
misuse of the riches of God's goodness. If, on the other hand, the greatness and power of God are revealed
in the rugged aud terribly sublime, in the hurricane, in the ocean-storm, then the profane are overwhelmed
with horror, which is easily changed into fear, and may manifest itself in hypocritical or superficial exhibi-
tions of penitence ; but when the goodness and power of God manifest themselves in one and the same bright
phenomenon, this produces a frame of spirit which speaks of that which is holy. This is the reason why the
much-praised valley of the Rhine is so solemn aud sabbatic, because it is enamelled by a blending of the
beautiful and the sublime : stern mountains, rugged rocks, ruins of the past, vestiges of grandeur, monumen-
tal columns of God's power, and these columns at the same time garlanded with the loving wreaths of God's
favor and goodness, in the midst of smiling vineyards which repose sweetly around in the mild sunlight of
heaven. For this reason the starry night is so instructive — the grandest dome decked with the brightest
radiance of kindness and love. For the same reason there is such magic attraction in the morning dawn and
in the evening twilight: they take hold upon us like movings to prayer; because in them beauty is so miu.
gled with holy rest, with spiritual mystery, with the earnest and sublime. Thus does it meet the festive chil-
dren of this world, who are generally of a prayerlcss spirit, so that they are as it were prostrated upon the
earth in deep devotion, when some great sight in nature, in which the beautiful is clothed with sublime ear-
nestness, bursts upon their view ; or when, on the other hand, some marked manifestation of God's power is
associated with heart-moving wooings of kindness. Accordingly, we hear one tell what pious emotions he felt
stirring his bosom, when he beheld the wide-extended country from the top of the Pyrenees ; another tells how
the spirit of prayer seized upon his soul when he stood upon the height of Caucasus, and felt, as he looked
over the eastern iields and valleys of Asia, as if heaven had opened itself before him. Such witnesses might
be gathered to almost any extent.
" But now it is certain that there must be some place in the upper worlds where the beauties and wonders
of God's works are illuminated to the highest transparency by his power and holy majesty; where the com-
biaation of lovely manifestations, as seen from radiant summits, the enraptured gaze into the quiet valleys
of universal creation, and the streams of light which flow through them, must mpve the spirits of the blest in
the mightiest manner, to cry out : Holt ! Holt ! Holt !— And there is the holiest place in the great Temple !
It is there, because there divine manifestations fill all spirits with a feeling of his holiness. But still rather,
because there he reveals himself through holy spirits, and through the holiest one of all, even Jesus Him-
self! "
Dr. Lange's theology is essentially biblical and evangelical catholic, and inspired by a
fresh and refreshing enthusiasm for truth under all its types and aspects. It is more positive
and decided than that of Neander or Tholuck, yet more liberal and conciliatory than the
orthodoxy of Hengstenberg, which is often harsh and repulsive. Lange is one of the most
uncompromising opponents of German rationalism and scepticism, and makes no concessions
to the modem attacks on the gospel historj\ But he always states his views with moderation,
and in a Christian and amiable spirit ; and he endeavors to spiritualize and idealize doctrines
* I would mention as examples that noble passage of Aristotle on nature's argument for the existence of God,
preserved by Cicero, De Nat. Deoritm, ii. 37, and quoted by Alexander von Humboldt with admiration, in his Kob-
mos, vol. iL p. 16 (German edition), a work where otherwise even the name of God is nowhere mentioned ; Kant's
famous saying of the two things which till liis soul witli ever-growing reverence and awe, tlie starry heaven aliove
him, and the moral law within him ; and Hegel's truly Bublime introduction to his Lectures on the Philosophy of Ite-
Ugion, as well as many of the noblest passages in his Lectures on Esthetics.
t From hia youthful work : Das Land der Herrlichkeit. Not having a copy of the original within reach, I bor.
row the translation from Dr. Harhaugh's Heavenly Home, ch. vii. p. 142 ff.
PREFACE.
aud facts, and thus to make them more plausible to enlightened reason. His orthodoxy, it is
true, is not the fixed, exclusive orthodoxy either of the old Lutheran, or of the old Calvinistic
Confession, but it belongs to that recent evangelical type which arose in conflict with modern
infidelity, and going back to the Reformation and the still higher and purer fountain of
primitive Christianity as it came from the hands of Chiist and His inspired apostles, aims to
unite the true elements of the Reformed and Lutheran Confessions, and on this firm historical
liasis to promote catholic unity and harmony among the conflicting branches of Christ's
Church. It is evangelical catholic, churchly, yet unsectariau, conservative, yet progressive ; it
is the truly living theology of the age. It is this very theology which, for the last ten or
twenty years, has been transplanted in multiplying translations to the soil of other Protestant
countries, which has made a deep and lasting impression on the French, Dutch, and especially
on the English and American mind. It is this theology which is now undergoing a process
of natm-alization and amalgamation in the United States, which will here be imited with the
religious fervor, the sound, strong common sense, and free, practical energy of the Anglo-Amer-
ican race, and which in this modified form has a wider field of usefulness before it in this new
world than even in its European fatherland.
Dr. Lange is an amazingly fertile author. Several of his works belong to the department
of belle-lettres, aesthetics, and hymnology. Some of his hymns have deservedly found a place
in modern German hymn books,* and help to swell the devotions of the sanctuary. His
principal works on theological subjects are, fii-st, a complete system of Divinity, in three parts,
severally entitled : PhilosopJikal Dogmatics, Positive Dogmatics, and Applied Dogmatics (or Po-
lemics and Irenics). This is an exceedingly able work, abounding in original and profound
ideas, but aitificial and complicated in its arrangement, often transcending the boundaries of
logic, and in many sections almost untranslatable. His second great work is a Life of Jems,
also in three parts, which, upon the whole, is justly regarded as the fullest and ablest modem
work on the subject, and the best positive refutation of Strauss. It has quite recently
been given to the English public by Mr. Clark, in sis volumes.! His History of fhe Apostolic
Cliurch, in two volumes, was intended as the beginning of a general History of Christianity,
which, however, has not been continued. But the last, the most important, and the most
useful labor, worthy to crown such a useful life, is his Theological and Homiletical Commentary.
All his preceding labors, especially those on the Life of Christ, prepared him admirably for the
exposition of the Gospels, which contains the rich harvest of the best years of his manhood.
This Commentary will probably engage his time for several years to come, and will make his
name as familiar in England and America as it is in Germany.
I add a complete list of all the published works of Dr. Lange, including his poetry, in
chronological order :
1. Die Lelire der Jieiligen ScTirift von der freien und allgemeinen Chuide Gottes. Elberfeld, 1831.
2. BiUische BicUungen. 1 Bandchen. Elberfeld, 1832.
3. Predigten. Munchen, 1833.
4. Biblische Bichtungen. 2 Bandcben. Elberfeld, 1834.
* I adopted a number of them in my German hymn book, published in 1859 and extensively used in this country,
e. g., K"os. 94, 194, 227.
t The Life of the Loed Jescs CnRiST : a compleU critical examination of the Origin, Contents, and Connection
of the Gospels. Translated from the German of J. P. Lanob, D.D. Edited, with additional Notes, hy the Rat. 3far-
cm Dads, A.M., in 6 vols. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1864. Vol. i. is translated by Sophia Taylor, vol. ii. by J. E.
Ryland, voL iii. by M. Gr. Huxtable, vol. iv. by Rev. Rob. E. "WalliB, vol. v. by Rev. S. Manson, vol. vi. by Rov. Robert
PREFACE.
5. Kleine polemiscJte GedicJde. Duisburg, 1835.
6. Oediclde und Spruche aus dcm Gehiete chrvftlicher MiurbetracMvng. Duisburg, 1835.
7. Die Welt des Hcfrn in didahtisclien Gesdngen. Essen, 1835.
8. Die Verjinsterunff der Welt. LehrgedicTit. Berlin, 1838.
i). Grundzuge der urchriMiclun ffolun Boteehaft. Duisburg, 1809.
10. Hovnlien iiher Colosser iii. 1-17. Vicrte Auflaije. Bremen, 1^44.
11. ChristUche Betrachtungen ilber zusa?nmenhdngende bililische Abschnitte fur die Mmliche Erbauung.
Duisburg, 1841.
12. Ueber den geschicldlkhen Cliarakter der kanonischen Evangelien, insbesondere der Kindheiisge^chicJde
Jem, mit Beziehung auf das Leben Jem von D. F. Strauss. Duisburg, 1836.
13. Das Land der Ilerrlichked, oder die christliche Lehre vom IHmmel, Mors, 1838.
M. Vermischte Schriften, 4 Binde. Jlors, 1S40-'41.
15. GedicJde. Essen, 1843.
16. Die Urchliche Hymnologie, oder die Lehre vom Kirchengesang. Theoretische Einleitung und Kirchen-
Uede)-buch. Zurich, 1843.
17. Das Leben Jesu, 3 Bucber. Heidelberg, 1844^' 47.
18. Worte der Abwehr {in Beziehung auf das Leben Jesu). Zurlcli, 184G.
19. ChristlicJie Dogmatik, 3 Bande. Philo&ophiscTie, Positive, und Angewandte Dogmatih. Heidel-
berg, 1847.
20. Ueber die Neugestaltung des VerMUnisses zioisclien, dem Stoat und der Kirehe. Heidelberg, 1848.
21. Neutestamentliche Zeitgedichts. Frankfurt a. M., 1849.
22. Brief e eines communistischen Propheten. Breslau, 1850.
23. Gothe's religiose Poesie. Breslau, 1850.
24. Die Geschichte der KircJie, Erster Tbeil. Das apostolische Zeitalter, 2 Bande. Braunschweig, 1853-54.
25. Auswahl -von Gast und Gelegenheitspredigten. Zweite Ausgabe. Bonn, 1857.
26. Vom Oelberge. Geistliche Dicldungen. Neue Ausgabe. Frankfurt a. 31., 1858.
27. Vermischte Schriften. Neue Folge, 2 Bandchen. Bielefeld, 1860.
28. TJieologiseh-Jtomiletisches Bihelwerk, commenced 1857, Bielefeld. Dr. Lange prepared the Commentaries
on Matthew, 3d edition, 1S61 ; on Mark, 2d edition, 1861 ; on John, 2d edition, 1862 ; on the Epistle
of James (in connection with van Oosterzee), 1862 ; Genesis, with a general introduction to the
Old Testament, 1864, and the Epistle to the Romans (now in course of publication).
THE PLAN OF LANGE'S COMMENTARY.
The plan of Lange's Bibelwerlc is very comprehensive. It aims to give all that the minis-
ter and Biblical student can desire in one work. Its value consists to a great extent in its
completeness and exhaustiveness, and in the convenient arrangement for jiractical use.
It contains, first, api)ro]Driate Intkoductions, both critical and homiletical, to the Bible as
a whole, to each particular book, and to each section. The sections are provided with clear
and full headings, the parallel passages, and the indications of their homiletical use in the
order of the church year.
The Text is given, not in the original Greek, nor in Luther's version, but in a new German
version., which is as literal as the genius of the language will bear, and is made with special
reference to the exposition. The principal readings of the Greek text are given in foot-notes,
with short critical remarks. The critical editions of the Greek Testament by Lachmann and
Tischcndorf * are made the basis.
Smith. Six translators for one of the many books of Lange 1 This is a sufficient evidence of the difficulty of the
task. The editor (Mr. Dods), in the introductory preface to vol. i., speaks in the highest terms of " this comprehen-
eive and masterly work." I am very happy to find that Lange, who has been comparatively unknown out of Ger-
many, is heginning to be appreciated in England. The frequent references to the Leben Jesu in this Commentary on
Matthew are always to the German original ; the translation having reached mo too late to change the figures. It is
not likely, however, that such a vnlnminous and costly work will be soon reprinted in America ; the less so, since
the author has embodied many of the most important results in his Commentaries on Matthew, Mark, and John.
* Not, however, the seventh and bef.t edition of Tischendorf, which appeared in 1859, two years after the first
edition of Lange's Matthew, and wh.ch often devintes from the text of his previous editions and returns to many of the
PREFACE.
Theu follows the Commentary itself. This is threefold, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homi-
LETiCAL.* The three departments are kept distinct throughout, and are arranged under differ-
ent heads, so that the reader can at once find what he wants at the time, without being forced
to work his way through a mass of irrelevant matter.
1. The first department contains : Exegetical axd Critical NoTES.f These explain the
words and phrases of the text, and endeavor to clear up every difficulty which presents itself
to the critical student, according to the iirinciiiles of grmnmatico-historical exegesis. On all
the more imijortant passages, the different views of the leading ancient and modern commen-
tators are given ; yet without the show and pedantry of learning. The chief aim is to con-
dense, in as brief a space as possible, the most valuable and permanent results of original and
previous exegetical labors, vrithout detaining the reader with the tedious process of investiga-
tion, and a constant polemical reference to false opinions. The building appears in its beau-
tiful finish, and the scaffolding and rubbish required during its construction are removed out
of sight.
2. The second department is headed : The LEADrsa Dogmatical a^'D Ethical TnorcnTS,
or DoctrdhAL aj^d Ethical.J It presents, under a number of distinct heads, the fundamental
doctrines and moral maxims contained in, or suggested by, the text. In the Gospels, these
truths and principles are viewed mainly from the christological point of view, or as connected
with the person and work of our Saviour. The reader will l^nd here a vast amount of living
theology, fresh firom the fountain of God's revelation in Christ, and free from scholastic and
sectarian complications and distortions. The person of Chiist stands out everjTvhere as the
great central sun of truth and holiness, from which light and life emanate upon all parts of
the Christian system.
3. The third department is entitled : Homiletical Hlsts or SuGGESTioiyS.§ This shows
the way from the study to the pulpit, from the exposition and understanding of the word of
God to its practical application to all classes and conditions of society. It is especially the
pastor's department, designed to aid him in preparing sermons and Biblical lectures, yet by no
means to supersede the labor of pulpit preparation. It is suggestive and stimulating in its
character, and exhibits the endless variety and applicability of Scripture history and Scripture
truth. It brings the marble slabs from the quarry, and the metals from the mine, but leaves
readings of the iexUis recepttis. This is the case in the Gospel of Matthew alone in more thau a hundred places, «. g.,
Matt. ii. 13 ; iii. 1 ; iv. 23 ; v. 11, 13, 32 ; vi. 5, 16, 33 ; vii. 14 ; viii. 10, 13; ix. 1, 8, 9, 11, 17 ; x. 7, 10, 14, 19, 23. 33, etc.
* The proper rendering of the German headings of the three distinct eections, viz., Exegetische EKL^CTEErH-
GEK, Uogmatisch-Christologischk or (in the Acts and Epistles) DoGsiATiscn-ExnisCHE Grcsdoedanken, and
lIOMiLETiscHE AxDEUTUSGEN, has given some trouble. The Edinburgh translation of Matthew renders them : Criti-
cal Notes, Doctrinal Reflections, and Homiletical Hints. Bat this is too free, and the edition alluded to is not
consistent. The Scotch translator of the Commentary on the Acts, of which the first twelve chapters have just ap-
peared, Rev. Paton J. Gloag, renders the headings more literally : Exegetical Explanations, Dogmatical and
Ethical Thoughts, Homiletical Hints. But Grundgedanken means fundamental or leading thoughts. Upon the
■whole I thought it most advisable to nee the adjectives only, as best calcnlr.ted to reconcile conilicting tastes and
opinions. Chrktologico-Dogmatical, and Dogmatico-Ethieal would be too h';'a\-y, while Doctrinal and Ethical is
good English and gives the idea as well. For symmetiy's s;ike I chose a double adjective for the other sections:
1. Exegetical and Critical ; 2. Doctrinal and Ethical ; 3. Homiletical and Practical.
t In German : Exegetische ErljEutercngen, lit. : Exegetical Illustrations or Explanations (v/hich is
somewhat tautological, exegetical being identical with expository or ecrplanatory).
X In Grermau : DoGMATiscn-ErniscHE Gp.undgedanken. In the Gospels, where the christological element pre-
ponderates, Lange calls them : DoGMATiscn-CHRiSTOLOGiscHE Grundged iNKEN. But his Contributors have substi-
tuted for it the more general title : Dogmatico-Etbical Fcndamektal TnouGnrs, which is as applicable to the re-
spective sections in the Gospels as to those in the Epistles. In his Commentary on Genesis, just publialied (1S64), Dr.
Lange uses Theologischb Grcndgedanken.
S Homiletische Andectungen.
PREFACE.
the chiselling and hammering to the artist. The authors of the several parts give imder this
heading first their own homiletical and practical reflections, themes and parts in a few words,
and then judicious selections from other homiletical commentators, as Quesnel, Canstein,
Stakke, Gossner, Lisco, Otto von Gerlach, IIeubner, and occasionally brief skeletons of
celebrated sermons.
I must confess, I was at first prejudiced against this part of the Commentary, fearing
that it made the work of the preacher too easy ; but upon closer examination I became con-
vinced of its great value. If I am not mistaken, the American readers will prize it in propor-
tion as they make themselves familiar with it. They will be especially edified, I think, by
the exuberant riches and high-toned spirituality which characterize the homiletical sugges-
tions of Lange, and several of his contributors, especially Dr. van Oosterzee (a man of
genius, and the best pulpit orator of Holland), as also with the selections from Starke and
his predecessors found under his name. Otto von Gerlach (late court-preacher in Berlin, and
author of a brief popular commentary), and the veneral)le Ileubner (late director of the Theo-
logical Seminary at Wittenberg).
There are standard commentaries on special portions of the Scriptures, which excel all
others, either in a philological or theological or practical point of view, either in brevity and
condensation or in fulness of detail, either in orthodoxy of doctrine and soundness of judg-
ment or in expository skUl and fertility of adaptation, or in some other particular aspect.
But, upon the whole, the Biblical work of Dr. Lange and his associates is the richest, the
soundest, and the most useful general commentary which Germany ever produced, and far
better adapted than any other to meet the wants of the various evangelical denominations of
the English tongue. This is not only my individual opinion, but the deliberate judgment of
some of the best Biblical and German scholars of America whom I have had occasion to con-
sult on the subject.
THE ANGLO-AIVIERICAN EDITIOIT.
A work of such sterling value cannot be long confined to the land of its birth. America,
as it is made up of descendants from all countries, nations, and churches of Europe {e pluribus
unu7n), is set upon appropriating all important literary treasures of the old world, especially
those which promise to jjromote the moral and religious welfare of the race.
Soon after the appearance of the first volume of Dr. Lange's Commentary, I formed, at the
solicitation of a few esteemed friends, and with the full consent of Dr. Lange himself, an asso-
ciation for an American edition, and in September, 1860, I made the necessary arrangements
with my friend, Mr. Charles Scribner, as publisher.* The secession of the slave States, and
* I mny be permitted to state that I went into this enterprise at first with considerable reluctance, partly from a
sense of its vast labor and responsibility, partly because it involved in all probability the abandonment of an original,
though much shorter commentary (German and English) which I had been prejjaring for the last twenty years, and
of which a few specimens appeared in the Kirchenfreund (lS4S-'53) and in the Mercersburg Review. But the task
seemed to devolve on me naturally and pro'S'identlally, and I gradually became so interested in it that I am willing to
sacrifice to it olher cherished literary projects. Dr. Lange himself, in forwarding to me an early copy of the first
volume, wished me to take part in the original work, and encouraged me afterward to assume the editorial supervi
siou of the English translation, giving me every liberty as regards additions and improvements. I made, however'
no use of my old notes on Matthew, leaving all my exeget'cal manuscripts boxed up with my library at Mercersburg
I did not wish to mix two works which differ in plan and extent, and I adapted my additions to the general character
and plan of Lange's work and the wants of the English reader.
PREFACE.
the consequent outbreak of the civil war in 1861, paralyzed the book trade, and indefinitely
suspended the enterprise. But in 1863 it was resumed at the suggestion of the publisher,
and with the consent of Jlr. T. Clark, of Edinburgh, who in the mean time (since 1861) had
commenced to publish translations of parts of Lange's Commentary in his " Foreign Theolo-
gical Library." * I moved to New York for the purpose of devoting myself more fully to this
work amid the literaiy facilities of the city, completed the first volume, and made arrangements
with leading Biblical and German scholars of different evangelical denominations for the trans-
lation of the other volumes.
The following books are already finished, or in course of prei^aration for the press :
The Gospel according to Matthew, with a General Introduction to the New Testament.
By the American Editor.
The Gospel according to Mark. By the Rev. Dr. W. G. T. Shedd, Professor of Biblical
Literature in the Union Theological Seminary at New York.
The Gospel according to Luke. By the Editor.
The Gospel according to John. By the Rev. Dr. Edwards D. Yeomans, of Roches-
ter, N. Y.
The Acts op the Apostles. By the Rev. Dr. Charles F. Schaffer, Professor in the
Evangelical Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.
The Epistles to the Corinthians. By the Rev. Dr. William Poor, of Newark, N. J.
The Epistle to the Galatians. By the Rev. Charles C. Starbuck, New York.
The Epistle to the Thessalonians. By the Rev. Dr. John Lillie, of Kingston, N. Y.
The Epistle to the Hebrews. By the Rev. Dr. A. Kendrick, Professor in Rochester
University, N. Y.
The Catholic Epistles. By the Rev. J. Isidor Mombert, of Lancaster, Pa.
These gentlemen, and others who are or will be invited to take part in the work, have
already an established reputation as eminent Biblical scholars and experienced translators from
the Gei-man, and will no doubt do full justice to the task assigned them.
It is impossible beforehand to state with absolute certainty the number of volumes or the
time required for the completion of the whole commentary. It is sufficient to say that it will
be energetically pushed forward, without undue haste, and published with proper regard to
economy of space and price. The enterprise is necessarily a very extensive and expensive
one, and falls in a most unfavorable jjeriod of the American book trade; the war having caused
an unprecedented rise in the price of composition, paper, and binding material. But it has
the advantage over an ehcyclopsedia and other voluminous works, that each volume will cover
an entire book or books of the Bible and thus be relatively complete in itself, and can be sold
separately,
PRINCIPLES OF THE AIMERICAN EDITION.
The character of the proposed Anglo-American edition of Lange's Bibelwerk, and its rela-
tion to the original, may be seen from the following general principles and rules on which it
will be prepared, and to which all contributors must conform, to insure unity and syrametiy.
* Mf. Clark has issued the first three Gospels and a port-on of the Acts, but I understand that he does not intend
at present to prosecute the enterprise.
PREFACE.
1. The Biblical Commentary of Dr. Lange and his associates must be faithfully and freely
translated into idiomatic English, without omission or alteration.*
2. The tran.slator is authorized to make, within reasonable limits, such additions, original
or selected, as will increase the value and interest of the work, and adapt it more fully to the
wants of the English and American student. But he must carefully distinguish these addi-
tions from the original text by brackets and the initials of his name, or the mark Tr.
3. The authorized English version of 1611, according to the present standard edition of the
American Bible Society ,t must be made the basis, instead of giving a new translation, wliich,
in this case, would have to be a translation of a translation. But wherever the text can be
more clearly or accurately rendered, according to the present state of textual criticism and
biblical learning, or where the translation and the commentary of the German original require
it, the improvements should be inserted in the text (in brackets, with or without the Greek, as
the writer may deem best in each case) and justified in the Critical Notes below the text, with
such references to older and recent English and other versions as seem to be necessary or
desirable.
4. The various readings are not to be put in foot-notes, as in the original, but to follow
immediately after the text in small type, in numerical order, and with references to the verees
to which they belong.
5. The three parts of the commentary are to be called : I. Exegetical and Criticajl ; II.
Doctrinal and Ethical ; III. Homiletical and Practical.
6. The Exegetical Notes are not to be numbered consecutively, as in the original, but
marked by the figure indicating the verse to which they belong ; an arrangement which facili-
tates the reference, and better accords mth usage.J
7. Within these limits each contributor has full liberty, and assumes the entire literary
responsibility of his part of the work.
If these general principles are faithfully carried cut, the American edition will be not only
a complete translation, but an enlarged adaptation and improvement of the original work,
gixdng it an Anglo-German character, and a wider field of usefulness.
The typogi-aphical arrangement will be closely conformed to the original, as upon the
whole the best in a work of such dimensions. A page of the translation contains even more
than a page of the original, and while the size o^ volumes will be enlarged, their number will
be lessened.
THE COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW.
The first volume which, is now issued, will show these principles and rules in their actual
execution, and may therefore serve as a specimen for the volumes that will follow.
As regards the translation of this part of the commentary, I must acknowledge my indebt-
* A condensation, such as has been proposed liy some in this case, opens the door for an endless variety of con-
flicting opinions and tastes, and almost necessarily results in a mutilation of the original. The only projer alterna-
tive seems to bo either to translate a foreign work entire, if it be at all worthy of translation, or to make it the basis
of a new work.
t Not the revision of 1854 (which contained unauthorized changes and was pet aside), but the collation adopted
by the Board of Managers in 1858, and printed in 1860 and since. See the Report of the Committee on Versions to
the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society, for February, 1859.
.t I would remark, that all the changes and improvements above proposed have the hearty approval of Dr. Lange.
The last one he has since adopted himself in his recent Commentary on Genesis.
PREFACE.
edness to the Ediuburgli translation of the Rev. Alfred Edersiieim aud the Eev. W. B. Pope,
which I used to a lai'ge extent as a basis, especially in the earlier chapters, comparing it word for
word with the original.* But I found it necessary to make innumerable alterations and addi-
tions, so that tliis may be regarded almost as a new work. There is not a page and hardly a
sentence in the Edinburgh translation, so far as I used it at all, wliich remained untouched. I
have no disposition to criticise it in detail, or to injure any of the useful publications of my
esteemed friend, Mr. Clark, who has done more than any other publisher for transplanting
German learning on British soil, and is entitled to the lasting gratitude of English and Amer-
ican divines. But I must say that, while some portions of the Edinburgh translation are well
executed, especially if we take into consideration the peculiar difl&culties of Lange's style
and thought, it is veiy unequal and imperfect : it omits, besides the improvements of the
second aud third editions of the original, without a word of exjilanation, all the critical foot-
notes and various readings of the text, the changes in the English version, even where they are
imperatively demanded by Lange's German version or comments, all the liturgical and most of
the literary references of the work, and abounds in mistakes and mistranslations, some of which
pervert the sense of the original into the very opposite, and suggest the charitable supposition
that the nominal translators employed in part other and inferior hands in the execution of their
laborious and difficult task.f
But I confined myself by no means to a thorough revision and completion of the Edin-
burgh translation. The American edition contains over one hundred pages, mostly in the
smallest type, that is, fully one fourth, more matter than the German original (which numbers
642 pages). The additions are found mostly in the department of textual criticism, the revi-
sion of the English version, and in the comments on the later chapters of the Gospel.J
It seemed to me worthy of the labor aud trouble to make an attempt, on a somewhat larger
scale than Dr. Lange, to popularize so much of the immense critical apparatus of modern
biblical learning as can be made available for the practical use of ministers and students. A
few words of explanation on the principles which guided us, may not be out of place here.
The great variety of readings in the Greek Testament is a fact which should stimulate in-
vestigation and strengthen our faith. All these discrepancies in the few uncial and the more
than five hundred cursive manuscripts of the K T. are unable to unsettle a single doctrine or
precept of Christianity, and strengthen the evidence of the essential purity and integrity of the
sacred text, showing that it has been substantially the same in all ages and countries in which
those manuscripts were written. " If there had been," said Richard Bentley, the great classical
scholar and critic, more than a hundred years ago, " but one manuscript of the Greek Testa-
ment at the restoration of learning, then we had had no various readings at all. And would
the text be in a better condition then, than now we have 30,000 (50,000) ? So far from that,
♦ The Edinburgh translation w.-is made from the first edition of Lange, and appeared in small octavo, large type,
uniform with "Clark's Foreign Theolo.u'ical Library," Third ser-es, vols. ix. ff., under the title: Theological atid
ITomUetieal Commmtanj on the Gospel of St. Matthew. From, the German of J. P. Lange, D.D. By the Bev. Alfred
Edersheim, Ph. Z>., vol. i., Edinburgh, 1861 ; vol. ii. and part of vol. iii., 1862. From a note on the back to the title
page of vol. ii. it appears that the I{ev. W. B. Pope translated from ch. x.x. 28 to the close of the second volume. The
third volume, which cont.iins the conclusion of Matthew and the Gospel of Mark, appears without the name of a
translator. According to this plan, the whole Commentary of Lange on the iST. T. would require at least thirty
volumes of Mr. Clark's "Library."
t I h.ave occnsionally pointed out some of tho omissions and errors of the Edinburgh edition, where ttey furnished
occasion for additional explanations. See e. g. pp. 31, S7, 367, 389, 394, 398, 445, 511, 531, 533, 550.
X Compare pp. 18, 33, 34, 121, 180 f , 203-208, 228, 239, 250-2G0, 267, 293-207, 339, 353 f., 3S1 f., 449, 454^158, 467 f.
471-475, 519-522, 555-566, etc.
PREFACE.
that in tlie best single copy extant we should have hundreds of faults, and some omissions
irreparable. Besides that, the suspicions of fraud and foul play would have been increased
immensely. It is good, therefore, to have more anchors than one It is a good
providence and a great blessing that so many manuscripts of the New Testament are still
amongst us, some prociu-ed from Egypt, others from Asia, others found in the Western
Churches. For the very distances of places, as well as numbers of the books, demonstrate that
there could be no collusion, no altering nor inteq^olating one copy by another, nor all hj any
of them. In profane authors whereof one manuscript only had the luck to be preserved, as
Velleius Patcrculus among the Latins, and Hesychius among the Greeks, the faults of the
scribes are found so numerous, and the defects so beyond all redress, that, notwithstanding the
pains of the learnedest and acutest critics for two whole centuries, those books still are, and
are like to continue, a mere heap of errors. On the contrary, where the copies of any author
are numerous, though the various readings always increase in proportion, there the text, by an
accurate collation of them, made by skilful and judicious hands, is ever the more correct, and
comes nearer to the true words of the author."
The object of biblical criticism is to restore the oldest and purest text which can be ob-
tained with our present means and facilities. In accordance with the well-known principle
first propounded by Bentley, revived by the venerable Bengel, and recently applied and carried
out by Lachmann, we must make the oldest and most authoritative uncial manuscripts of the
New Testament now extant the basis of the true text, especially those few which date from
the fourtli to the sixth century. They are the following : 1. Codex Sinaiticus, edited by
Tischendorf, Leipz., 1863.* 3. Cod. Vaticanus (designated by the letter B., defective from
Heb. ix. 14), carelessly edited by Cardinal Angelo Mai, with improvements by Vercellone,
Rome, 1857, and much better by Philip Buttmann, Berlin, 1862. 3. Cod. AiiEXAiroiiiNUS (A.,
in the British Museum), of which the New Testament was published in uncial types, though
not in fac-simile, by C. G. Woide, Lond., 1786, with an Appendix, Oxf, 1799. 4. Cod.
(rescriptus) Ephraemi Syri (C, a cod. rescriptus, or palimpsest, very imperfect), published by
Tischendorf, in uncial type, but not in fac-simile, Leipz., 1843. 5. Cod. Bez^ (D., at Cam-
bridge), containing the Gospels and the Acts, with a Latin version, published in fac-simile by
Ths. Kipling, Camb., 1793, 3 vols., fol.f In the same class with these oldest manuscripts,
* Dr. Lange could not make use of this very important discovery, ^yhich will hereafter figure largely in the criti-
cal apparatus of future editions of the Greek Testament, although it will not materially disturb the principles and
results of modern criticism. Tischendorf (Prolegff., p. xxs. sqq.) regards the Sinaitic MS., which he was so fortu-
nate as to discover on Mount Sinai, and which he published under the liberal patronage of the Russian government,
as the oldest copy extant, older even than the famous Vatican MS., and Baurnlein and Meyer are disposed to
agree, while Hilgenfeld objects. It is moreover the only complete uncial MS., and contains the whole Bible of
the O. and N. T. Compare the Addenda at the close of this volume. The Sinaitic Bible generally agrees with
Codd. B., D., L., T. (T. is Codex Borgianus, at Rome, of the iiflh century, and contains only a few fragments, John
vi.-viii.), X. (Codex Monacensis, parts of the four Gospels), Z. (Dublinensis, a palimpsest, the greater part of Mat-
thew), over against Cod. A. (Alesandrinus) and the great majority of later uncial and cursive manuscripts, while
Cod. C. (Ephraemi Syri) occupies a position of its own. With all its great value the Sinaitic Manusciipt abounds
in blunders owing to the ignorance and carelessness of the transcriber. This shows the great importance of the
vast number and variety of manuscripts of the Bible, which far exceeds in amount that of any other ancient book in
the world.
1 1 was so fortunate as to have access, iu the Library of the American Bible Union of New York, to the printed
editions of these important manuscripts, which are far xjreferable to the imperfect collations of former critics, and the
mere references often faulty in the apparatus of Greek Testaments. Vot fuller information on these and other Co-
dices I must refer the reader to the ample Prolegomena of Tischendorf to his seventh critical edition of the N. T.,
1859, and to his edition of Cod. Sinaiticus, 1S63 ; also to the Prolegomena of Alford, Commentury, vol. i., 4th ed.,
1859, ch. vii., p. 102 ff., and to Scrivener's Introdueiion to the Criticism of the S'. T., 1S61.
PREFACE.
Itiough last, must be placed the later aud less important uncials, as Cod. Basiliensis (called
E., of the eighth or ninth century, containing the Gospels), Cod. Boreeli (P., at Utrecht,
the Gospels, except some, portions of Matthew and Mark), Cod. Seidelii Harleianus (G., in
the British Museum, the greater part of the Gospels), Codd. H., I., K., L. (Paris, No. 63,
generally in agreement with Codd. Sin. and Vatic), etc. Next in importance to the uncial
manuscripts are the quotations of the early fathers, and the ancient versions, especially the
Latin and the Syriac. In the "third rank are to be placed the cursive manuscripts of later
date, down to the close of the fifteenth century, of which more than five hundred have been
collated in the Gospels alone. For our purpose it was useless to refer to them except in those
rare cases where the older authorities arc insufficient to establish the original text. The deci-
sion of the true reading depends, however, not only on the antiquity and number of author-
ities, but also on internal reasons. Lachmann's object was simply historical, viz., to establish
the oldest attainable text, as it stood in the fourth or fifth century, in the place of the compar-
atively recent, accidental, and unreliable textus reeeptus. This is the only safe basis for future
critics, but it is only a part of the task, which must be completed by a proper consideration
of the internal evidences. Where the oldest authorities — uncial manuscripts, patristic quota-
tions, and ancient versions — lead to no satisfactory result, later manuscripts (which may be
transcripts of uncial manuscripts even older than those we now possess) may be profitably
consulted, and that reading deserves the preference which gives the best sense and agrees most
with the style and usage of the writer. Thus, in many instances, a return from Lachmann to
the textfxs recejytus may be justified. See the seventh critical edition of Tischendorf.
As to the corrections of the authorized English version, I beg the reader to view them as
part of the commentary. Some of them would be unnecessary or even objectionable in a
revised version for public use. Our incomparable English Bi})le stands in no need of a radical
revision ; its idiom, beauty, and vigor are all that can be desired. But no good scholar will
deny that it might be greatly improved as to clearness and accuracy ; while many doubt
whether it could be done without producing greater division and confusion, and thus doing
more harm than good. A final revision for popular use should proceed from a body of schol-
ars representing the British and American Bible Societies, and all the Protestant Churches
which worship God in the English language, and have an equal claim to this inestimable in-
heritance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the mean time, no one can object to
new translations and revisions for exegetical and critical use. They prepare the way for a final
authorized revision for general and poj^ular use.
My selections from other writers are mostly taken from representative older and modem
commentators of the various English and American Chm-ches, with the view to give this work
an Anglo-Garman character. Thus Burkitt, M. Heni-y, Scott, and Doddridge represent the
older practical exegesis of England ; Alford and Wordsworth, the modern Anglican exegesis
in its two divergent, progressive, and conservative, tendencies ; D. Brown, the Free Church of
Scotland ; Addison J. Alexander, the Old School Presbyterian ; Barnes and Owen, the New
School Presbyterian ; Whedon and Nast, the Jlethodist ; Conant, the Baptist views on the
more important doctrinal passages in the Gospel of Matthew.
I cannot conclude this lengthy preface without giving public expression to my sense of
gratitude to the oflicers of the " American Bible Union," for the unrestricted use of
their valuable Biblical Library, with its rich variety of Bibles in all languages, commentaries,
xxii PREFACE.
dictionaries, the Benedictine and other editions of the church fathers, etc., which make it
l>robably the best collection of the kind on this continent.
May the blessing of the triune God rest upon this commentary on His holy word, which
was commcnccu iu foith and with the earnest desire to assist the ministers of the Gospel in
the discharge of their high and holy mission.
PHILIP SCHAFF.
Bible House, New York, Oct. 31«^, 1864.
THEOLOGICAL AND IIOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION
THE 'NEW TESTAMENT.
§ 1. Theology in general, or the scientific knowledge of the Christian religion,
may, according to its historical and scientific character, be arranged under two great
divisions, — Historical, and Theoretical or Systematic Theology, taking these terms in
their widest sense. (I.) Historical Theology may again he ranged under the follow-
ing three sections : — (l) The History of Revelation, or of the Kingdom of God, which
forms the basis of the whole system ; (2) The History of the Records of Revelation,
or Exegetics in the wider sense ; (3) The History of Revealed Religion, or Church
History. (H.) In the same manner, Theoretical or Systematic Theology may be
divided into three sections : — (l) The System of Christian Doctrines, or Dogmatics ;
(2) The System of Christian Morals, or Ethics ; (3) The System of Christian Polity,
or Practical Theology.
§ 2. From this analysis we infer that the materials from which to construct a
theological and homiletical Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures, must be derived
from the elements of the history of revelation, of exegesis, and church history, as well
as from the elements of dogmatics, ethics, and practical theology, always with special
reference to the practical, homiletical, and pastoral point of view.
§ 3. Before proceeding with our special Introduction to the New Testament, we
must premise, in brief outline, a General Introduction to the Scriptm-es. The special
introduction to the Old Testament may be left for another occasion,* not merely be-
cause our present task is connected with the New Testament, but because, as Chris-
tians, we pi'oceed, theoretically, from the New Testament to the Old, and not vice
versa. It is sufficient for our purpose to communicate, in briefest form, the results
obtained by modern research, and to indicate the works which may ai 1 the reader
in reviewing these results for himself.
§ 4. Accordingly, we shall have to preface the N. T. portion of our Commen-
tary,— (l) by a General Introduction from the theological and homiletical point of
view ; (2) by a Historical and Exegetical Introduction to the New Testament in
general, and to its various parts ; (3) by a General Homiletical and Pastoral Intro-
duction ; (4) by a Homiletical and Pastoral Introduction to the New Testament.
• [The Thcol. and nomil. Commentary on the Old Testament which is included in the plan of Dr. Lanj^e's Sihel-
tceri:. and will follow that on the New T.— P. S.]
1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
FIRST SECTION.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
THE HISTORY OF REVELATION, OR OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
The History of the Kingdom of God must not be confomidcd with Biblical His-
tory. The latter, like Biblical Theology, forms part of Exegesis, -while the History
of the Kingdom of God embraces the whole history of the world viewed from the
Christian stand-j^oint.
The kingdom of God is that new creation in which God reveals Himself in His
character as Redeemer. It is based upon the universal and absolute dominion of God
over the world, and results from it ; and it consists in the restoration of the dominion
of the Spirit of God over the hearts of men, brought about by Christ, who is the
heart of the race. As mankind was originally destined to form the kingdom of God,
and for that purpose was arranged into one family, the kingdom of God may also be
viewed as the restoration of mankind to one body under the One and Eternal Head
(Acts iii. 21 ; Eph. i. 22), in whom it was elected from all eternity, and called, for
the harmonious manifestation of the glory of God (Eph. i. 4, 5).
The restoration of this kingdom presupposes the existence of an oiDposite pseudo-
kingdom, in which the human family were scattered and dispersed by sin — a king-
dom of darkness and of falsehood, the kingdom of Satan. Accordingly, the history
of the preparation, foundation, and completion of the kingdom of God, is at the same
time the history of its hostile conflicts with the antagonistic kingdom of darkness.
The kingdom of God disappeared from earth through the working of unbelief,
by which the Lord was robbed of His dominion over the heart. Similarly has it
again been restored to the world by the combined operation of the grace of God,
and of a spiritual faith wMch He has planted in the heart of His elect, and which
ultimately appeared in all its fulness and perfectness, as conquering the world, in
Christ, the Elect One. This salvation of the world is destined gradually to spread
till it pervades all mankind. Hence the extension of the kingdom of God to its final
completion in the world will occupy the entire course of time, even as this kingdom
is destined to cover all space in the world. Viewed in this light, the whole history
of the world itself is simply the history of the restoration and transformation of the
world into the kingdom of God.
Thus, all history may be included under the idea of the f^aaiXda tov Qeov. But
its innermost centre is that manifestation of God's redeeming grace, by which, on
the basis of His general revelation to man. He has foimded His kingdom.
The all-comprehensive medium of God's revelation was His personal incarnation in
Christ. Throughout the entire conrse of history, we perceive how mankind, in
ever-narrowing circles, tends towards this manifestation of the God-Man. Again,
after He has appeared, we notice how, in ever-widening circles, it tends towards
the final goal — to preseiiL u.l mankind as born of God.
HISTORY OF REVELATION. 3
Christ, then, is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all revelation. But as
revelation is ever love, light, and life, it embodies at the same time both saving truth
and saviiig reality, or revelation in the narrower sense, and actual redemption.
Hence it is that in Christ we have not only the completion of revelation, but also
complete redemption.
Redemption, in all its phases and stages, is prepared and introduced by judg-
ments, which, by the grace of God, are, hoAvever, converted into so many deliver-
ances. Again, every new stage in the imfolding and history of salvation is marked
by a fresh extension and establishment of the kingdom of God, appearing as the
Church of the redeemed. Hence, while the real kingdom of God was founded when
redemption was first introduced, it shall be perfected when the benefits of redemp-
tion shall have been extended to the utmost boundaries of the world.
This is the Development of Mevelation^ to which we now proceed.
I. General Revelation.
a) Widest circle (revelation by Symbolical signs, which ultimately point to the Word).
1. Objectively : creation (Rom. i. 20). 2. Subjectively : the human mind, especially the
conscience (Rom. ii, 14, 15).
6) Nnrroxner circle (revelation by facts).
1. Objectively : history (Ps. ii., ex.). 2. Subjectively : the dealings of God with indi-
viduals (Ps. cvii. ; cxxxix. 16).
n. Special Revelation^ or Revelation of Salvation (by the Word, accompanied by
Symbolical Signs).
a) Revelation during the course of its progress.
1. Objectively: the Old Covenant (Gen. xii. 2. Subjectively: faith (Gen. xv. 6).
etc.).
h) Revelation completed.
1. Objectively : the New Covenant (Luke xxii. 2. Subjectively : justifying faith, in its New Tes-
20 ; John xiii. 34). tament sense (Rom. v. 1 ; 1 Pet. iii. 21).
So far as we are concerned, it is by subjective revelation that we become par-
takers of objective revelation, even as it is only by the revelation of salvation that
we come to understand and see general revelation. The various cycles of revelation
are clearly perceived only when viewed in the light of justifying and saving faith,
which sheds upon each of them a new and glorious lustre.
The following are the various periods of historical revelation in parallel review : —
The Old Testament in the wider sense of the term : The New Testament in the wider sense of the term :
1. Primeval religion, unto Abraham, 2000 b. c. 1. Gospel history, and the Apostolic Age.
2. Patriarchal faith in the promise, unto 1500 2. The ancient Catholic Church. The Fathers.
B. C.
3. The period of the Law, unto 800 b. c. 3. The legal Church of the iliddle Ages. [The
Popes.— P. S.]
4. The period of the Prophets, unto 400 b. c. 4. The Protestant Churches. [The Reformers.—
P. S.]
."5. The period of national religiousness (the Mac- 5. Union into one evangelical Church in its jirog-
cabees). ress.
fi. Concentration of religious longing in the an- 6. The Bride of Christ, or the Church in the last
cient world as the cradle of the Messiah. days awaiting His coming.
The Blessed Virgin.
7. The first coming of Christ. 7. The last coming of Christ. His manifestation
in glory.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Tlie manifestation of salvation, as it constitutes the great moving force of all
history, draws the course of the latter into the v/liole of tlie history of the kingdom
of God. The history of the /SaaiXua toD &€uv may he divided into that of the King-
dom of God in its legal and typical form, or tlie Theocracy (a term formed by
Josephus, Contra A2non. ii. 16), and that of the real Kingdom of God in spirit and
in truth — the /SaaiXeta twv ovpavwv^ — or into the Pre-Christian and the Christian (not
Pos^Christian) Era.
I. History of the Theocracy^ or of the Pre-Christian Era.
1 . Primeval times, the type of the entire history of the world to the great judgment — till the Flood —
and the new formation of the (Noachic) race.
2. The dispersion of nations and the calling of Abraham ; or, origin of the contrast between Heathen-
ism and Judaism (preparation for the Theocracy), or between passive and active religiousness (the religions
of nature, and that of revelation).
a) The table of nations in Genesis, and the a) Promise of the holy people.
mythologies of the Gentiles.
h) Separation between the civilized nations of
antiquity and barbarous tribes (Heathenism
in its ascending and in its descending line.
6'ee Rom. ii.).
h) Separation between Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob
and Esau. Difference among the sons of
Israel (Judaism in its ascending and in its
descending line. Rom. ii. and x.).
8. Establishment of the great contrast ; or, the Empires of the world as the central points of civiliza-
tion, and the foundation and history of the Theocracy in the narrower sense. Antagonism and mutual
influence.
a) Great Empires of the world in their origin
and growth. Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia, etc.
6) The great Empires of the world fully developed.
— Dan. ii. Vision of the image of the vari-
ous monarchies. Its bright aspect : Union.
Dan. vii. Vision of the four beasts. Its
dark aspect : Division.
a) The Babylonian Empire.
/3) The Persian Empire.
7) The Macedonian Empire.
8) The Roman Empire.
a) The Theocracy in its origin. Antagonism
and mutual influence between Israel, and
Egypt, Canaan, Syria, Phoenicia, and As-
syria.
V) The Theocracy in its full typical manifesta-
tion.
Antagonism and mutual influence between
Isratel and the four Empires.
a) Period of the Judge sand Prophets,
from Moses to David.
ff) Period of the Kings, from David to
the Babylonian Exile.
7) Period of the Priests (blooming period
under the Maccabees).
5) Close of the typical and conunence-
ment of the real kingdom of God.
4. Removal of the great contrast and antagonism. Gentiles settle in Palestine ; the Jews of the Dias-
pora. Cessation of the typical, and preparation of the real Theocracy. (Heathen power and heathen cul-
ture. Oppression of the Jews and prophecies.)
a) The Cuthteans settled in Samaria, and be-
coming Samaritans.
6) The Aramaean language and Sadduceau no-
tions introduced into Palestine on the re-
turn from Babylon.
c) The Decapolis in Galilee of the Gentiles,
founded chiefly by the veterans of Alexan-
der the Great.
d) The Herodians. Introduction of Grecian
and Roman manners in Palestine. (The
Proselytes.)
a) The ten tribes carried to Assyria beyond the
Euphrates.
b) Many of the Jews remaining in Babylon.
e) Jewish colonies in Alexandria, Libya, Syria,
and Asia Minor. The Septuagint.
d) The Jewish Diaspora in Rome and through-
out the West, since the time of Pompey
and Caesar. (The Essenes.)
§ 1. HISTORY OF REVELATION.
c) Rule of the heathen, of Christians, and of
Mohammedans in Palestine.
c) Destruction of Jerusalem, and dispersion of
the people throughout the world.
5. The first comii:
of the world.
of Christ. Close of the first, and commencement of the second era. Redemption
II. History of the Kingdom of God in its Fidness^ or of the Kingdom of
Heaven in the World.
1. Primeval Christianity, the type of all Church History.
2. Appearance of the antagonism between the Christian Church and the Jewish and heathen world.
a) The Talmud, and heathen calumnies against
Christianity.
6) Judaism in its unhistorical ossification.
(Analogy with the partial barbarism of
the original races.)
3. Establishment of this antagonism ; or, the Chr
the narrower sense. Hostility and mutual influences.
o) Movement in the heathen world
6) Secularization of the Church.
c) Migration of the nations into the Church,
and the great baptism of water.
d) The Eastern Church, or orthodoxy secular-
ized.
e) Mohammedanism, or heresy completed.
a) The ancient Catholic Church and the mar-
tyrs.
b) Separation between the Church and heret-
ical sects.
f) The Western Papacy.
g) The Catholic Roman Empire. The anti-
evangelical powers. Machiavellianism.
istian Empires, and the establishment of the Church in
Mediaeval Legalism a symbol and type of the future.
a) The worldly Church of Constantino the
Great. Missions.
b) The Monastic Church.
c) The Theocratic legalistic Church.
d) The Roman Church.
e) Western Catholic Christendom. The Cru-
sades.
/) Protestant parties and movements during
the Middle Ages. Humanism. Popular
literature.
g) Evangelical Christendom. Germ of the true
Church and the true State.
4. Removal of the antagonism, and appearance of the true Church and the true State.
a) The Roman Catholic world.
b) The reformatory movements in the Roman
Catholic Church.
c) The dissolving elements of Jesuitical Monas-
ticism, Mysticism, political influences, and
the advance of civilization in Romish
Churches and countries, under the form
of reaction.
d) Revolutions in the Roman Catholic world.
e) The world in all forms of intellectual heath-
enism acting upon the Church.
f) Humanism as leaven in the Roman Catholic
and in Romanizing Churches.
5. The future of Christendom.
rt) Apostasy in the alliance between Absolutism
and Antichrist.
b) Judgment upon the apparent completion of
Hierarchisra and Secularism.
a) The Church of the Reformation (harmonious
difference between Church and State).
b) Romanizing divisions of the Evangelical
Church.
c) Awakenings and union among Protestants.
d) Protestant Reforms.
e) Christian missions acting upon all parts of
the world.
/) The authority of Christ appearing in all de-
partments of life. The Bible the book
of nations.
a) Victory in the union of believers under the
banner of Christ.
b) Redemption of the visible Church of Christ in
its apparent destruction. Manifestation of
the Bride, and advent of the Bridegroom.
LITERATURE.
Tn a certain sense, every branch of literature may be regarded as auxiliary to
the study of the history of the kingdom of God. More particularly, however, we
include here those Avorks on universal history which are written from a general or a
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
religious point of view, and works on the philosophy of history. It is scarcely
necessary to add, that we would also direct special attention to historical books
written in a Christian spirit, and to those which treat expressly of the history of the
kingdom of God.
I. Genkral Wokks*.
On Chronology ;— Gatterer (IV??), Ideler (1825-
'26), Brinkmeier (1843). On General History : — Her-
der, Fred. Schlegel (R. C), and Hegel, on the Phi-
losophy of History. Eyth : Hiatory from the Chris-
tian stand-point (1853). Ehreufeuchter : The Histor.
Development of Mankind (Hcidclb. 1855). Brum,
Barth, Lisco, Theremin, Grundtwig, Zahn, Kalkar,
Ziegler, Kurtz, on Sacred History. Bunsen : Ood
in History (Part I. Leipz., 1857). Leo (Romanizing),
and Dittniar : History of the World before and since
Christ. [R. Turnbull : Christ in History. Boston,
1854.— P. S.]
II. On Pahticular Periods and Branches.
1. History of Creation.— Schubert, Wagner,
PfafF, Burmeister (negative), Rougemont. Hum-
boldt: Kosnws. Kurtz: Bible and Astronomy
(Germ, and English). [Hugh Miller : Testimony of
the Rocks, or Geology in its hearings on the two the-
ologies, natural and revealed. Edinb. and Boston,
1859. Tayler Lewis: Tlie Six Days of Creation,
or the ScrijHural Cosinology. New York and Lon-
don, 1855.— P. S.]
2. The Flood, — Liicken, Stolberg {Hist, of
Religion, Germ., vol. i. App.), Buttmann, Bopp {Die
Siindfluth, Berlin, 1829), Rud. Wagner {Naturge-
schichte des Menschen, 1838), Schubert {Das Welt-
gehaude, Erlangen, 1852).
3. The Division of Nations and the Ge-
nealogical Table. Heathenism. — FeldhofF {Die
Volkertafel der Genesis, 183'7), Knobel (ditto, 1850).
[Tuch, Delitzsch, Bush, on Genesis, ch. x. — P. S.]
Creuzer, Baur, Stuhr, Wuttke, on Ancient Mythol-
ogy and the heathen religions. G. Seibert: Grie-
chenthum und Christenthum, 1857. Bollinger
(R. C): Heidcnthum und Judenthum — Vorhalle des
Ghristenthums, 1857. [A very learned and instruc-
tive work, also translated into English. — P. S.]
Schelling : Philosophy of Mythology.
4. History of Israel.— Hess, Jost (a liberal
Jew), Bertheau, Ewald, [Milman, Stanley] on the his-
tory of the Jews. — Comp. Josephus on the Jeivish war.
5. Fulfilment of Prophecies. — Keith, 0.
Strauss {Niniveh and the Word of God, 1855), Lay-
ard {Nineveh and Babylon).
6. .The Life of Christ.— Works of Hase, Ne-
ander, Lange, Ewald, Lichtenstein, Friedlieb, Bucber,
[Sepp, Kuhn, Ellieott, Andrews, on the Life of Christ;
also Ullmann, Young, Bushnell, Schaif, Dorner, on
the Character and sinless Perfection of Jesus. — P. S.]
7. The Apostolic Age. — Neander, J. P. Lan-
ge (Leipz., 1853), P. Pchaff (2d cd., Leipz., 1854,
German and English), Thiersch, Trautmann, Lechler,
on the Apostolic Age. Mosheirn, Baur, Hagenbach
and Schaft", on the Churcli in the first three cen-
turies.
8. Church History. — See Liter, in Hagen-
bach's Theol. Encyclop., p. 220, and in SchafF's Hist,
of the Apost. Church, Gen. Introd., ch. iv. On the
moral effects of Christianity : Tzschirner, on the Down-
fall of heathenism (German), Chastel, Beugnot, on
the same subject (French), C. Schmidt: Essai his-
torique svr la societe civile dans le nionde romain,
et sur sa transformation par le Christianisme ;
[comp. an able review of the latter work, by Dr. Sears,
in the Bibliotheca Sacra for April, 1863.— P. S.]
9. Post-Christian Judaism. — Friedliinder,
Gratz, Beer, M'Caul, Jost, [Edersheim,] on later
Jewish history.
10. Mohammedanism. — G. Weil : Moham-
med, his Life and Doctrine (German). Stuttgart,
1843. 'Do\Ymg%v: Mohammed's Religion. Miinchen,
1838. W. Irving : Life of Mohammed. Gerok :
Christology of the Koran (Germail). Gotha, 1839.
German translations of the Koran, by Boysen, Wahl,
Geigcr, Ullmann. [Engl. trsl. with notes, by J. M.
Rodwell. London, 1861.— P. S.]
11. History of Civilization. — A very exten-
sive literature. General works on the sulyect by
Gruber, Kolb, Wachsmuth (Leipz. 1850), Guizot
[Balmez.] History of Philosophy by Brucker, Ten-
nemann, Reinhold, Rixner, Ritter, Hegel, Sigwart,
Schwegler; and on special sections of the hist, of
Philos.: Brandis, Erdmann, Chalybaus [Zeller, Morell,
A. Butler, Maurice.' — P. S.] History oi Art by Kug-
ler, Schnaase, Otte, Springer, Piper, etc. History
of Literature by Eichhorn, Wachler, Bouterweck,
Schlegel, [Griisse, Brunet, Allibone, etc.] His-
tory of Law and Jurisprudence by Eichhorn, Walter,
Philipps, Grimm, Savigny.
12. History of Missions. — Blnmhardt : Gen.
Hist, of Missiotis in the Christ. Church. Basel,
1828-1837, 3 vols. G.Schmidt: Victory of Chris-
tianity, etc. (German). Leipz., 1857, 3d ed. Steger :
[This long list of booka is
the Edinb. trsl. to a few lines, without division of subjects.— P. S.]
§2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Protest. Missions, 1838. W. Hofifmann : 3fi.tslo)is-
Stunden, and other writings. Wallinann : T/ic Mis-
sio7is of the Euangel. Churches (Germiin), 1849.
[Harvey Xewcomb : Cyclopedia of Missiotts (700
pages). New York, 1854. The Me>.iorial Volume
of the first Fifty Years of the Ama: JJoard of Com.
for Foreign Missions. Boston, 1861.— P. S.] The
periodical reports and publications of Missionary
societies in Europe and America. On Inner mis-
sions see the works of Wichern, Miirz, [and the
reports of the German Church Diet and Congress
for Inner 3fissions, since 1848. — P. S.]
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
I. Auxiliary Sciences.
Among the auxiliary sciences of exegesis we include all those which serve to
prepare us for the study of Scripture. To this class belongs the study of antiquities,
and that of ancient languages, generally ; and, more particularly, that of criticism
and of hermeneutics. The direct auxiliaries to the study of the Scriptures are, so
far as the text itself is concei-ned, biblical antiquities and the sacred languages ; and,
so far as regards the present form of the text, biblical criticism and hermeneutics.
These two sciences consist in the knowledge how scientifically to examine and to
ascertain the genuineness of the records of Scripture and of the text, and in
acquaintanceship with the fundamental jirinciples of biblical interpretation.
1. 23iblical Archeeology in general. — Comp.
Hageubach, T/icol. Encyclop., p. 132. Among works
on this subject we name those by Warnekros, Roscn-
miiller, Jahn, de Wette, Ewald, Scholz, Saalschiitz,
the Real- Worterbuch of Winer (indispensable), and
other Encycloptedias of Biblical Literature.
Various branches of biblical Archeeology.
a) Ethnology. — The descendants of Shem. The
Hebrews. The Jews. The nations of Canaan. The
nations surrounding Israel. Comp. the Archa3ological
works of Bellermann, Rosenmiiller, Winer, Movers
{on the Phaenicians), [Layard, Rawlinson, and Fie-
buhr on the Assyrians.']
b) Geography. — Palestine and the other coun-
tries mentioned in the Bible. Travels. Topograph-
ical works. Maps. Comp. especially Crome, von
Raumer, Robinson {Researches, Engl, and Germ.),
Strauss {Sinai und Golgatha), Krafft {Topography
of Jerusalem), Schulz {Jerusalem), Tobler ; the Trav-
els of Berggren, Schubert, Rol^inson, Wilson, Van
de Velde, Schulz, Tischendorf, [Stanley, Hackett,
Thomson, Bausman,] etc.
c) Natural Science. — Bochart's Hierozoicon.
d) Chronology. — Comp. as above, p. 6.
e) Civilization. — Agriculture. Pastoral life.
Dwellings. Furniture. Trades. Domestic life.
Social life (Poetry and Music). Government. The-
ocracy. See Michaelis, The Laws of Hoses ; Herder
and Saalschiitz {on Hebrew Poetry) ; [the various
commentaries of Ewald, Hupfcid, Umbreit, Hengs-
tenberg, Delitzsch, Alexander, etc., etc., on the
Psalms and other poetical books of the 0. T. — P. S.J
/) Religion.— Oa the typology of the Old Testa-
ment services, comp. the works of Biihr {Symbolik
des Mos. Cultus, 2 vols. 1837), Kurtz, Hengstenberg,
Kei], [and Fairbairn, Typology of Scriptures, Edinb.
and Philad., 1857.]
2. The Languages of Scripture Philologia
sacra. Sec Hagenbach, p. 123, and the manuals
quoted below.
3. Biblical Criticism.— Unhappily, we are still
without any accurately defined canon of criticism, es-
pecially of biblical criticism. Hence, when biblical
criticism appears in so many instances to be self-
contradictory and self-destructive, this must be
ascribed not merely to Rationalism, but also to the
want of well-ascertained scientific principles. The
two great points which must be kept in view in criti-
cism are, the authenticity of the text, and its integ-
rity. On the character and literature of biblical
criticism, see Hagenbach, p. 146. — Fundamental
principles : (1) The plaee of criticism is not above the
subject, as looking down upon it, but in juxtaposi-
tion to, and in living contact with it. (2) In criticism
we must progress from the general to the particular,
in order to be always sure that we are treating of the
same subject ; while, on the other hand, we must
also pass from the particular to the general, in order
thereby to make sure of the reality and actuality of
the subject. (3) The standard which we apply to a
subject must be commensurate to it. Thus historical
facts cannot be judged of by the physical standard
applied to them by Pantheism and by Fatalism.
Mythological ideas are altogether inapplicable to the
8
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTUREfS.
has become flesh — i.e., that the idea has become his-
tory— must be laid down as tlie fundamental princi-
ple of all criticism. This presupposition raises the
critic above all false presuppositions. See Langc,
Lebcn Jesic, i. 108; Posit. Dogm., p. 605.
On the history of criticism, see Hagenbach, Uieol.
Encxfclop., p. 157, s^qq.
4. Biblical Hermeneutics. — This is the science
of the right understanding and the right interpreta-
tion of Holy Writ. For further explanation, and for
the literature of the subject, see Hagenbach, p. 162.
Among modern writers on hermeneutics, we mention
Liicke, Clausen, Schleiermacher, Lutz, and the writer
of the article Hermeneutics in Herzog's (German)
Real-Encyel. ; [also Cellerier : Manuel cf Ilermerieu-
tigue, Geneva, 1852 ; Fairbairn : Hermeneutical
Mamial, Philad. 1859.— P. S.] For the history of
scriptural interpretation, and of its principles, we re-
fer to the work of G. W. Meyer {Hist, of Exegesis
since the revival of Letters (Gott., 1802—1808,
5 vols.). On the allegorical exegesis of the Middle
Ages, see Elster : De medii cevi tkeologia exegetica,
Gott., 1855.
elucidation of the Scriptures. The Old Testament
standard is insufEcicnt for the criticism of the Gospel
history. (4) The critic must first have settled iiis
general principles before he can arrive at any conclu-
sion as to the special results of these principles.
Above all, therefore, he must be quite clear about
the personality of God and of the God-Man. (5) Criti-
cism must ever recognize it that all history has a
deep religious bearing, symbolical of the great fact
that all history has an ideal object, and that this
grand idea is evolved in the course of history. (6) The
critic must bear in mind that one gTand idea pervades
and connects the various portions of Scripture, while
he at the same time keeps in view the gradual devel-
opment of Scripture, its various periods, and the spe-
cial form which each separate portion has taken, ac-
cording to the individuality of tlie writer. (Y) Criti-
cism must be able to distinguish between agreement
in spirit, and agreement in the letter merely. (8) The
criticism of the witnesses themselves must precede
the criticism of what they witnessed. (9) The various
records of Scripture must be classified according to
their relation to the character and object of those who
bore the record. (10) The great fact that the Word
The following are the essential conditions in hermeneutics :
a. For the right understanding.
(1.) Inward condition of interpretation : homogeneousness of spirit ■v\dth the
writer and his subject.
(2.) Outward condition : familiarity with the languages, antiquities, and history.
(3.) .Combination of these two elements : familiarity with the peculiar character
and spirit of revelation, and, in consequence, ability to distinguish between what is
symbolical and mere myths, and again, between what is symbolical and what is pure
history or abstract dogma. (The symbolical must not be confounded with myths ;
but, on the other hand, it must not be regarded as pure dogma.)
(4.) The mind of the interpreter must continually connect and biing into juxta-
position the Scriptures, in their general bearing, with the individual portions imder
examination. (Scripture must not be made to contradict itself by pressing the
letter.) Analogy of faith : survey of the grand total bearing, the fundamental idea.
Analogy of Scripture : survey of the individual and the special parts. Comparison
of Scripture v.'ith Scripture.
(5.) A comparison and connection between the general spirit of Scripture, and
the personal and individual views of each inspired writer.
(6.) A lively interchange between the mind of the "Word and the mind of the
interpreter.
(V.) A living interchange between the individual interpreter and the general
spirit of interpretation in the Church. (Not, indeed, blind submission to authority,
but neither craving for singularity.)
K For the proper interpretation.
(1.) Accurate exposition of the meaning of the text. Interpretation in the
narrower sense.
2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
(2.) Illustration of the meaning of the text, by analogous passages. Explana-
tion.
(3.) Reproduction of the meaning of the text, by pointing out its eternal bearing
and import. Application.
n. Exegeties,
Exegetics, in the -widest sense, depends on the proper connection between the
right understanding and interpretation of the general import of Scripture and that
of its individual portions. The parts can neither be understood without the whole,
nor the whole without the parts. Hence that interpreter only can advance the
subject who has learned to view the individual parts in the light of the total bearing
of Scripture, and the total bearing in the light of the individual portions thereof.
Thus alone can the necessary equilibrium be preserved.
Viewed theoretically, criticism is the first process, although, in point of practice,
criticism follows upon exegetics and hermeneutics.
Criticism consists in a lively interchange between a scrutiny of the general prin-
ciple and that of the individual statements of Scripture.
Hermeneutics then shows the lively interchange existing between the interpreta-
tion of the spirit, or of the meaning of Scripture as a whole, and the interpreta-
tion of the special passage or expression.
Lastly, we have Exegetics proper, which may bo either general or special. The
foi-mer, or Introduction (Isagogics), establishes and explains, from the mutual rela-
tionship between the character of Scripture as historically ascertained, and the sum-
mary contents of its various portions, the import and substance of the Scriptures
generally. Special Exegetics develops and exhibits the succession of thought in
Scripture, down to the minutest expression and letter, by connecting and comparing
the ascertained character of Scripture with the text under review. The Introduction
to the various books of Scripture belongs to the department of Exegesis, since, on
the one hand, it presupposes an exegetical analysis of each book, while, on the other,
it concludes with an exegetical survey of the contents of the portion of Scripture
examined. Again, Exegesis itself is an Introduction, in the most special sense of
the term. For every exegetical treatise must not only commence with a special in-
troduction to, and indicate the character and contents of, the portion of Scripture
about to be examined, but it must ever again revert to those general views and
leading characteristics which have been ascertained.
1. Definition of the Holy Scriptures.
Holy Scripture is the complete sum of the records of our divinely revealed reli-
gion, which culminates in Christianity. Hence it marks the progress of the incarna-
tion of the Eternal Word of God to its completion in the final settlement of the
canon of Scripture. If, generally speaking, writing is the pecidiar organ of civiliza-
tion, the medium for the increasing interchange of thought, the record of the history
of mankind, the standard of its development, all this applies in the highest, and,
indeed, in a unique sense, to the sacred writings. They are the form under which
Christianity originally appeared to regenerate the world, the bond of fellowship
between believers of all nations and ages, the record of the history of revelation, and
the standard and rule for the development of Christianity and of the Church.
10
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
In the all-wise arrangement of the God of revelation, Holy Writ was therefore
as necessary as the Incarnation itself. The Gospel was destined to pervade every
relationship of life and cveiy institution. As in Baptism, it sanctified the washing
with water ; in the Eucharist, the meal of felloAvship — the bread and the wine; and
by the Charismata, the diversity of human gifts, so as a written record it sanctified
the letter and assumed this essential form of intellectual and spiritual intercourse
among men.
Bretschneider : * " The Bible may be viewed, — 1, historically, if we inquire what
its character is, according to tlie testimony of history — viz., a collection of credible
documents of the Jewish and the Christian religion ; or, 2, dogmatically, if we in-
quire in what light the religious society of Christians regard it — viz., as the code of
Divine revelation." While at one time theologians were wont to lay special em-
phasis on the dogmatical, they have of late equally dwelt upon the Jdstorical charac-
ter of Scripture. But all such seeming antagonism disappears if we take a deeper
view of Holy Writ. Scripture is not " a collection," it is the collection. The
various records of which it is composed, together form only one record. Lastly, the
great question which claims our attention is not merely concerning the records of
the Jewish and Christian religion generally, but as to the Divine origin and institu-
tion of these religions.
Literature. — Comp. the article Bible in the dif-
ferent Encyclopasdias of Ersch and Gruber, Ilerzog,
Hagenbach, Pelt, [Kitto, Smith.— P. S.]. The dif-
ierent Introductions to the Old and New Testament
(see a list of them in Winer's Handhuch der theol.
Literatur, vol. i, p. 33 sqq.). Also the introductory
chapters of the Bible-works of Starke, Richter, Ger-
lach, Lisco, Bunsen. Then the articles on the Holy
Scriptures in the principal works on Dogmatics.
Koppen : Die Bibel, 2 vols. Finally the modern
works on Biblical Theology. On the Ilintory of the
Bible, see E. Reuss (Braunschweig, 2d ed., 1853), and
the more popular works of Ostertag : Die Bibel und
Hire Gescfiickfe, (2d ed., Basel, 1857), and Tholuck:
Die Bibel (Leipzig, 1851). [Prideaux, Stackhouse,
Howel, L. Clarke, on the History of the Bible; A.
Alexander, and L. Gaussen, on the Canon of the Old
and New Testaments. — P. S.]
2. Various Designations of the Scriptures.
The three different designations commonly given to the Scriptures indicate the
different points from which the same Divine record maybe viewed. The term Bible
(to, Pl/SXlu sc, ^eta), i. e. the Book, or the Book of books, points out the difference
between Holy Writ and all other literature, while at the same time it also connects
the Scriptures with the intellectual productions of men. All other writings are, like
planets, to move round this central sun. The name Holy Scripture (Icpa ypa<f)i],
dyttt ypa^r/, Gela ypa<^rj) refers to the relationship between the form or the letter of
the Scriptures and the inspired word of God which it contains. Lastly, the term
Word op God (Verbum Dei) indicates the identity of the oral revelation of God
with the Bible, and also its internal identity — the agreement of the whole with the
parts, and of the parts with the whole. The Bible, as such, is the historical object
of theological science, the introduction to the Old and New Testament. The Bible,
in its character as the Holy Scriptures, is the human expression of Divine inspiration,
and the religious object of our faith. The Bible, as the Word of God, is the canon
or the doctrinal rule and standard of our belief and practice. The first of these
names designates the human aspect of Scripture in its Divine grandeur ; the second,
the combination of Divine revelation with human development and intellectuality ;
* Systemat. Enttcicklung aller in der Dogmatik vorJcommenden Begriffe.
§2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 11
while the third points to the pure and perfect revelation of God which it embodies;
or the canon, as the final and grand leading characteristic of the Bible, both as a
book and as the Scriptures.
3. The Bible in its Divine Aspect. Inspiration. The Word of God.
The Bible consists of a number of books, whose composition is coextensive with
the progress of Divine revelation in Israel, and covers a period of more than one
thousand five hundred years. Its writers were of the most different character and
education ; it exhibits every variety of form, and is couched in two very different
languages. Yet Avithal it is so thoroughly one in its character, that it might be sup-
posed to have been written in one century, in one year, in one hour, in one moment.
Throughout, it is pervaded by one and the same idea of God and revealed
religion ; it sets forth the same truths ; it breathes the same spirit ; it has the same
object. This is its Divine aspect. The Bible is not of time, nor of man ; it is
Divine, because it is inspired (2 Tim. iii. 16 ; 2 Pet. i. 20, 21).
But the inspiration of the Scriptures by the Spirit of God must not be viewed
apart from the inspiration of the holy men who WTote it, in the execution of their
immediate, prophetic, and Divine calling. Nay, the inspiration for theu* office has
this advantage over the inspiration of their writings, which are closely connected,
that it is more direct and more lively. On the other hand, the inspiration of these
writings implies special preparedness and collectedness on the part of the sacred
writers, and a special significance of the occasion and the motive. In all these
respects a corresponding measure of spiritual blessing and direction must have been
vouchsafed.
It is for didactic theology to enter into fuller details. The following points,
however, should be borne in mind : — The idea of inspiration entertained by the
Jews of Palestine was different from that of the Jews of Alexandria. The former
accurately distinguished between Divine illumination and mere human enlightenment
(hence the difference as to the Apocrypha). Besides, the views of the Palestinians
Avere also sounder and more liberal on the question of the relation between the
Divine Spirit and the intellect of man in inspiration. The Alexandrian Jews,
following in this respect Grecian ideas, were wont to regard inspiration as something
magical, — the individuality of man being for the time depressed and silenced : while
the Hebrews understood it that human individuality was only humbled, but thereby
also exalted and purified, and thus set free and quickened. The Alexandrians
reasoned on the supposition that originally the Divine and the human mind were
heterogeneous, and that in the course of history this gulf was bridged over ; while
the Hebrews proceeded on the idea of an original homogeneousness, and held that
the discord which appeared in the course of history was more or less removed by the
influence of grace. Hence it was that they alone properly appi'eciated the Divine
element of Scripture in its human form — the " apples of gold in pictures of silver."
The Alexandrian idea was substantially that which, at a later period, was urged by
the Montanists. This view of inspiration was rejected by the ancient Church. Still,
kindred notions again partially prevailed in the seventeenth century. Rationalism
was of course incompetent to remedy such a defect. If theologians had formerly
overlooked the himian individuality in the composition of Scripture, the Rationalists
went to the opposite and more dangerous extreme of denying the Divine character
12 GEJ^ERAL INTKODUGTION TO TUE HOLY SCEIPTUKES.
of Scripture altogether, or at least of confining the Divine element to the operation
of mere reason, or to special providence, or to moral elevation on the part of the
writers. Inspiration necessarily implies the presence and sway of the Spirit of God
in the writer, whereby he becomes the organ of that Spirit. The impulse or motive
power {inqndsus), the communication or the contents {suggestio)^ and the guidance
toward the object aimed at (dirccHo), are all divine, and conform to tlie objects and
aim of tlie kingdom of God. But this also implies that inspiration it: olf is ; ibject
to certain limitations or conditions. These are either religious conditions, flowing
from the nature of this object ; or intellectual conditions, arising from its gradual
realization ; or organic conditions, connected M'ith Him who is the great centre of
that object ; or, lastly, ethiccd conditions, springing from the jDcrsonal holiness of that
object. In other words, 1, The Bible, as inspired, is a book of religion, and not an
astronomical, geological, or scientific revelation. 2, It has gradually progressed
from the incompleteness of the Old, to the perfectness of the New Testament. 3,
It has its centre in Christ, as God incarnate, and as the absolute revelation of God
in human form. 4, It must never be considered as the efiect of a morbid state of
body or mind on the part of the writers (such as clairvoyance), but always as the
result (Jf direct moral and spiritual intercourse of the personal and living God with
the personal mind of man. The Spirit of God was indeed strong enough to preserve
the sacred writers from essential mistakes or false testimonies and traditions, and to
secure to their writings the impress of never-fading freshness of youth, although He
never could nor would force them to speak otherwise than in language conformable
to the current ideas of the people, and to their o-nrn intellectual development.
We are now prepared to answer that much vexed modern question, — whether
the Holy Scriptures be the Word of God itself, or whether the Word of God be in
the Holy Scriptures. Viewing the Bible in its individual parts and sections, we
reply, The Word of God is in the Bible. But, regarding it as an organic whole,
of which all the parts point to Christ and proceed from Christ, we must confess :
Holy Writ, as it explains itself, and opens up from book to book and from verse to
verse, is the one harmonious and complete Word of God.*
views of Gaussen and the faJse spiritualism of the
Strassburg school of Scherer and others. [W. Lee :
The Inspiration of the Holy Scripture, its Nature
and Proof. Dublin and New York, 1857, 478 pages.
-P. S.]
On the literature of inspiration, comp. the Ency-
clops. ; also the works of Wilson, Haldane, Rudel-
bach, and Gaussen. We specially refer to Fr. de
Rougemont, Christ et ses temoins, 2 vols. Paris and
Lausanne, 1856 — a work which equally opposes the
4. The Holy Scripttores in their Human Aspect ; or, History of the Holy Scriptures
(Isagogics in the narrower sense).
The period over which the composition of Holy Scripture extends, reaches from
Moses to the Apostle John, or from about 1500 before to 100 after Christ, —
a period of sixteen centuries, — irrespective of the oral traditions and of those
small commencements of scriptural records Avhich preceded the time of Moses.
Equally great is the distance of places where these books were written, varying
from Jerusalem and Babylon to Rome, and embracing all Palestme and Greece.
The Bible was composed in the two leading languages of antiquity, winch reflect
the greatest contrast in the intellectual world. The Hebrew tongue may be charac-
• Comp. Lange's Philoscphische Dogmatik, p. 540 sqq.
§2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 13
terizecl as the most unstudied and childlike, as the deepest, purest, and most direct
language of spiritual exjjerience ; Avhile the. Greek is the most cultivated, refined,
and philosophical expression of intellectual life. The inspired writers were
shepherds and kings, men learned and men unlettered. The diversity of form in the
Scriptures appears not only objectively in their contents and character (being partly
historical, partly poetic, partly apophthegmatic, partly prophetic, and partly episto-
lary), but also subjectively in their style and composition, each book bearing a faith-
ful impress of the individuality of its writer. Not reckoning the Apocrypha, the
Old Testament comprises thirty-nine books (counting the Book of Lamentations
separately), while the New Testament contains twenty -seven separate writings.
Yet, from the unity of spirit pervading this vast literary collection, they constitute,
really, only one book — a second intellectual creation (Ps. xix.).
The science of General Isagogics treats of Scripture as a whole, giving the
history, — 1, of the collection, or of the canon ; 2, of the present form and character
of the text, of the various codd. and editions ; 3, of its spread, or of the translations
and quotations ; 4, of its application, or of interpretation. The science of Special
Isagogics treats of separate books, discussing their authorship, time, place, occasion,
character, contents, division, and literature.
On the Introduction to the Holy Scriptures and I the Introduction into the Old Testament. Beriin,
its literature, compare Hagenbach's Encycl. pp. 140, 1S56 ; and to the Introduction into the New Testa-
144, and the excellent works of Hertwig : Tables to\ment. Berlin, 1855.
5. The Holy Scriptures in their ChristologiceJ, Divine-Human (Theanthropic) Character;
or, the Scriptures as the Canon. The Old and the New Testament.
Viewed in their Christological character, the Holy Scriptures are the canon, both
as the record of the revelation completed in Christ, and as the rule of the Christian
life of faith. According to this Christological principle, they are divided into the
Old and New Testaments {testame^iturn, haOrjK-q, r^-.s), to indicate that the Old
Testament is the incomplete commencement which is explained, fulfilled, and glori-
fied by the New, embodying, as it does, absolute perfectness. According to the
same principle, the Apocrypha are kept distinct, as a mere appendix to the Bible,
which, so to speak, forms an intermediate link between the canonical Scriptures and
common literature. Lastly, viewed in this light, the Scriptures bear special refer-
ence to the development of the Christian Church and of the Christian life, where
their teaching is expressed in a logical form (more especially in confessions of faith),
while at the same time they serve as the rule, standard, and guide on all questions
of doctrine. »
The expression Canon implies not merely that the Bible is a sacred book, but
that in its pages revelation continues, by the agency of the Spirit, an ever-present
and ever-sufiicient reality. As the canon, the Bible is, so to speak, the Word of
God incarnate, which, by means of wiiting, continues spiritually eflfectual to the
present time. The Old Testament is not merely the book of the Old Covenant, but
the Old Covenant itself as the tj^e of the New. Similarly, the New Testament is
the New Covenant itself, the Gospels are the Gospel, and the apostolic writings,
the living word of the Apostles.
The organic Christological relationship between the Old and New Testament,
according to which the former is the preparation, the introduction, and the growth
14 ■ GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
of the New, while the latter is the fulfilment, the abrogation, and the completion
of the Old, is indicated in the Old Testament itself, and amply coniinned in tlie New
(Dent, xviii. 18 ; Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 31, 32 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Dan. ii. 44 ; Hos.
ii. 19, etc. ; and 2 Cor. iii. 7 ; Matt. v. 17-20, xii. 40, 42 ; John i. 17, 18, viii. 5G ;
Gal. iii. 25 ; Ileb. viii. 7, etc.).
The relationship between the canonical and the apocryphal books was correctly
defined by the ancient Jewish synagogue, and, after it, by the ancient Greek and the
modern Protestant Churches in opposition to the Roman Cathohc theory. The
Apocrypha serve, 1, as a kind of historical supplement, being a narrative of the king-
dom of God during the period intervening between the Old and New Testaments ;
2, as a record of popular piety, forming a distinct period between the age of the
Prophets and that of the New Testament ; 3, to exhibit the character of x\lexandrian
Judaism, tliough only a part of them is derived from that source ; 4, as a back-
ground to the canon itself; 5, for private instruction and edification. Even the
strictly Calvinistic Synod of Dort decided on retaining the Apocrypha along with
the canon, and, despite their fallibility and mistakes, they are too deejfly imbued
with the genuine spirit of the Theocracy to rank them among the uToira koL Bva-a-e^y,
in which Eusebius (iii. 25) places the heretical New Testament Apocrypha.
The Hebrews have divided the Old Testament into the Law (n^iri) ; the
Prophets, c^x-r? (which includes the books of Joshua, of the Judges, of Samuel,
and of the Kings) ; and the Writings generally (n-ia^rsi), or Hagiographa. This
division bears reference to the foundation, the historical development, and the
edification of the Theocracy. The great preponderance of the prophetic books in
the canon, clearly shows that Judaism was the religion of (lie future, and that the
tendency of the Old Testament was ever towards the New, The arrangement of
the canon adopted in Christian theology is that into Historical, Doctrinal, and
Prophetical Books, corresponding to the same division in the New Testament.
According to this analogy we notice, 1, that to us the Law has become history ;
2, that the Prophets are brought into immediate contact with the New Testament,
and i^oint out the tendency of the Old towards the New Covenant ; while the circum-
stance that the New Testament contains only one prophetical book, although it is
throughout a prophecy of the second coming of Christ, indicates the deej) rest which
the longings of the soul have found, in the appearance of Christ, and in the redemp-
tion which He has accomplished.
Viewing the Holy Scriptures as one connected canon, we may consider all
doctrine as historical fact with historical eflicacy, and all history as ideal, symboHcal,
typical, and spiritual, while in their prophetic portions they combine both these
elements.
Thei-e is, of course, a difference between the genuine canon of Scripture and that
which is current, in respect, 1, of unauthenticated readings, or variations ; 2, of
mistakes, or of infelicity of translation ; 3, of the various misrepresentations of the
genuine text by exegetical traditions.
The Scriptures, as canon, are necessarily suhordinate to the living Saviour, and to
the blessed Trinity. They are the written revelation of Christ, but not a second
Christ; least of all when taken individually, and under the impression that the Old
Testament is in every respect quite equal in authority to the New Testament. On
the other hand, as the canon of Christ, the Scriptures must ever form the directory
of the external Church, and of the individual Christian, in their fallible growth and
§2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 15
development, and are consequently above them. Finally, they are coordinate, or
occupy the same line with the ideal life of Christ in the Church, and stand forth as
a second spiritual creation by the side of God's revelation in nature.*
6. Import of the Holy Scripttires.
The Bible is a mystery of Divme Providence in the department of literature,
similar in character to the mystery of the incarnation itself. The incarnation of
God in Christ has, so to speak, assumed a bodili/ expression in the essential Church,
i. e., in the preaching of the Gosj^el, on the basis of the apostolic ofilce, and in the
congregation of holy baptism and of the Eucharist. Similarly, the Sci'iptures are its
intellectual or spiritual \ expression.
It is simply impiety to designate the origin of the Bible as accidental, while the
decrees of Synods and papal bulls are called necessary.
Holy Writ is the tradition of traditions, and the canon of canons. , All other
tra<litions and canons must be brought to the test of the Prophets and Apostles.
And, in truth, the Bible reflects all times and places, or rather it is the reflex of
eternity. Viewed in reference to its centre, it is the biography of the eternal Christ ;
viewed in its circumference, it is that of humanity : for, in the power of the
prophetic spirit which pervades it, it embraces the end as well as the commencement
of our world, and sounds the depths of hell as well as scales the heights of heaven.
The book of God is also the book of the Avorld ; and, rightly imderstood, the book
of nature as well as the book of the Spirit. There, the history of revelation becomes
doctrine, and doctrine becomes history. Proceeding from the Spirit of God, it is
fully understood only by the Spirit, even as it can only be explained and applied by
the Spirit. To those who are called and waiting, it opens its mysteries ; while to the
hardened and the sinner it proves a closed book, as it were sealed with seven seals.
Nay, like the Gospel itself, it is to some " a savour of life unto life ; " to others, " a
savour of death imto death." The outward senses may be absorbed by the letter
only, and make an idol of it. In this respect the elements of Scripture have the
same import and efiect as those of the world. But just as the elements of the
world are only rightly kno^m when viewed in the unity of creation, and only wholly
known if viewed as the symbolical Word of God, so the Bible is only rightly known
when regarded as the second and spiritual creation, and wholly known when viewed
as the second and higher revelation of God — the revelation of the foundation, of
the reconciliation, and of the transformation of the world.
7. Relation between Holy Writ and the so-called Sacred Records of other Nations and
Religions.
AU the principal religions have chronicled their origin in sacred records, which
ever afterwards were regarded as the standard for their development. The most
renowned of these religious records are the Yedas of the Lidians, the Kings of the
Chinese, the Zendavesta of the Persians, the two Eddns of the ancient Germans, and
the Koran of the Mohammedans. Even the Old Testament, when brought into
* [Dr. Lange'8 distinction between unterffeordnet, uher/jeordnet, gleichgeordnet, and heigcordntt cannot be fully
rendere 1, but is more clearly expressed above than in the Edinb. trsl. — P. 8.]
t [Dr. Lange uses here the unusual term : geUthaft, as opposed to Uihlmft, and with a shade of difference from
geUtig or intellectual, geistUeh or npiritual, and geisterhaft or glwHt-Uke. The antithesis is clear enough.— P. S.I
16 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO TUE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
combination with the Jewish Tahnud, becomes quite differc«it from what it is whet
viewed in the hght of the New Dispensation. To the Jews it has become a series
of traditional statutes, upon Avhieli the covering of Moses rests. The Mormons of
our day have stamped upon tlieniselves the mark of apostasy, since, like Mohammed
of old, they have adopted the falsified records of a new and spurious revelation.
The religious records of all nations are faithful representations of these religions
themselves. All heathen religions are mythical, — the myth being the essential form
of heathenism. But if form and substance are related, the contrast between Holy
Scripture and myths must be as great in point of form as that between revealed
religion and heathenism. In the Bible, religion has become faith, faith fact, fact
sacred history, and sacred history the soul of secular history. Hence also biblical
history gives not merely outward facts, but is itself symbolical. Hence also biblical
doctrine is not a scholastic system, but also historical and deeply practical. Lastly,
it is on this ground that Scripture presents such a wonderful concatenation and
succession of history and of doctrine. But the antagonism of history and doctrine
is transformed into a higher unity in the prophetical and poelical portions of
Scripture.
Revealed religion discloses the errors of all other creeds, while at the same time
it brings out any remnant of truth in them, which in turn may become a point of
connection for the kingdom of God. Similarly, Holy Writ sheds light on the sacred
records of the Gentiles, showing their utter insufficiency, their errors, and the tradi-
tions of truth which may have been preserved in them. Indeed, the same remark
might be made with reference to all other literature. Thus in this sense also the
Bible is the Book of books.
HI. Special Exegetlcs ; or, the Art and Practice of Scriptural Exposition.
Viewing it in the widest sense, all science and civilization, consciously or
unconsciously, must serve as a kind of exposition of the Scriptures, and that whether
the Scriptures be dragged down to the level of man, or man raised to the level of
the Scriptures. (The Talmud, the New Testament.) Speaking more strictly, the
spiritual life of the Christian Church, and more especially the pastoral office, may be
regarded as an exposition of the Scriptures, with a twofold and diverse result
(tradition, faith). Lastly, the same remark holds true of scriptural exposition in
the narrowest and special sense of the term ; and there is an exegesis which draws
down Scripture to its own level, and another v»^hich rises to that of Scripture (mere
dogmatism or rationalism on the one hand, and, on the other, the light of the Bible
thrown upon exegesis, and that of exegesis upon the Bible).
Various qualifications are requisite for the right interpretation of the Scriptures.
Thus the Bible as a whole must all along be compared with its individual parts ;
exposition must be closely connected with explanation^ or the word with the life ;
exegetical tradition (or the analogy of faith as expressed in the various confessions
of faith) and individuality must each have their proper place, — there must be proper
submission, and yet proper independence ; above all, the interpreter must ever
realize that the Lord speaks, and that he is to hear, — or, in other words, the truth
revealed must find a response in the obedience of faith, and again, in the prayer
which it evokes.
The results of Exegesis are Bible History and Biblical Theology.
2. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
17
IV. BlUe History.
Bible History differs from the general history of the kingdom of God, in that it
delineates only the foundation of this kingdom by means of and during the course
of revelation. It traces in historical succession the narrative contamed in the Scrip-
tures in all its essential features. In the Old Testament, it shows us all the elements
of the life of faith, and sets before us many a precious example of faith and patience
for our imitation ; while in the New Testament it exhibits tlie history of faith and
salvation " made perfect," both in the miracles and triumphs of the Lord, and in the
deeds of His Apostles. Thus Bible History forms the basis of Church History.
Comp. the Sacred Histories of Hiibner, Rauscbenbusch, Zahn, Grube, Giintlier, Kurtz, etc.
V. Biblical Theology.
Biblical Theology may be regarded as the final result of exegesis, and at the
same time as the basis of the History of Dogmas and of Systematic Theology. Its
purpose is to trace the gradual yet uniform development of Christian doctrme and
ethics throughout revelation. It may be divided into General and Special. The
former follows the development of faith throughout Scripture, showing, — a. The
Divine aspect of Scripture, or its one and all-pervading idea : the faith of revelation
in the God of revelation. 6, Its human aspect, or its gradual unfolding in the
individual books of Scripture, according to the vai'ious stages of religious develop-
ment and their character, c, Its Christological or theanthropic aspect, viewing
revelation to its completion in Christ, and according to the different doctrinal types
in the New Testament. — On the other hand, it is the task of S])ecial Bibhcal Theology
to trace the doctrines of Scripture from their first germs in the Old Testament to
their completion in the New, viewing them m the light of theology, of anthropology,
of Christology, and of the doctrine of the kingdom of God (Theocratology).
On the literature of the subject, comp. Hagen- I especially the excellent work of the late Dr. Schmid,
bach, pp. 197 and 201. [We mention de Wette, of Tiibingen : The Biblical Theology of the N. T.,
Steudel, Oehler, Lutz, on Biblical Theology, and | Stuttg., 1853, in 2 vols.— P. S.]
VI. Apj)endix. Exegetical and Homiletical Helps.*
1. Biblical Philology. —
a) Hebrew Grammar : Gesenius, Rodigcr, Ewald,
Stier, Freitag, Hupfeld, Thiersch, Niigelsbach. [Engl,
works : Stuart, Conant, Bush, Tregelles, Nordheimer,
Green.— P. S.]
b) Hcbreio Dictionaries : Buxtorf, Coccejus, Si-
njonis, Simonis-Winer, Gesenius, Schroder, Fiirst,
Maurer. [Robinson's Gesenius, 3d ed., Bost., 1849 ;
B. Davidson and Bagster's Analytical Hebrew and
Chaldee Lexicon (with a grammatical analysis of each
word in the H. Bible), London, 1848.— P. S.]
c) Keiv Testament Grammar : Winer [6th cd.,
Leipz., 1855. Two Engl, trsl.— P. S.], Alt, Buttmann.
d) New Testament (and Seplriayint) Dictionaries :
Schottgen, Schleussner, Wahl, Bretsclmeidcr, Schir-
litz, Wilke, Dalmer, [Robinson : A Greek and Engl.
Lexicon of the N. 7'., the new ed., New York, 1851,
etc., and Bagster's Analytical Greek Lexicon, Lond.,
1852.— P. S.]
2. Archaeology. — Geography of Palestine:
Ritter {Erdkunde, vol. xv.), K. von Raumer, Briim,
Crome, Volter, Robinson, [Stanley, Thomson, Hack-
ett, Bausman. — P. S.] Maps of Grimm, Kiepert, Zim-
mermann, and the Bibel- Atlas of Weiland, Weimar,
1832, [and of Jenks, Coleman, and the American
Tract Society. — P. S.] Topograghy of Jerusalem:
Schulz (Berlin, 1845), Krafift (Bonn, 1846), Tobler,
Robinson, Berggren.
3. Introduction to the Bible.— Bertholdt,
de Wette, Scholz, Eichhorn, Schott, Hug, Creduer,
[This whole section is omitted in the Edinh. trsl, — r. S.]
18
GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
Guericke, Reuss, Hengstenbcrg {Beitra(je\ Haveniik,
Keil, etc. ; [also the posthumous works oi' Blcek, and
the Eiiglisli works of Ilorne and Davidson. — P. S.]
4. Editions of the Bible.— Po%/o< Bible by
Stierand Tlieile (Dielel'eld, 2d ed., 1854, 4 vols.). The
Jlehr. Old Testament by Simonis, van dcr Ilooght,
Hahn, Theile. The Scpiuagint by Breitinger, TLseh-
cndorf, and Paris edition. The Greek Testament by
Griesbach, Knapp, Schott, Hahn, Lachmann (small
and large editions), Thcilc, Tischendorf (Leipz. 1841,
'48, '49, 59, different ed.), etc. Synopsia or Har-
moiiien of the Gospels: Griesbach, de Wette and
Liicke, Riidiger, Anger, Tischendorf, Robinson (all in
Greek), Lex [Die Evangclien-Harmonle, Wiesbaden,
1835), [Robinson, Strong, in English.— P. S.] The
Vulgate by van Ess, Kistemaker, etc.
[Note.— The best of the many ed. of Tischendokf, which
1 have used in this Engl, edition of Lange's Matthew, is
the large critical edition in 2 vols. : 2fovmn Testamentum
Greece. Ad atdiquos testes denuo recensuit, apjmratum
criticum omni studio perfectum apposuit, etc. Edit.
eeptiina, Lips. 1S.59. The smaller critical edition in one vol.
(ed. ii. 1849) gives a sufficient amount of critical apparatus for
ministers and students. In connection with this, reference
should be had now also to Tischendorf s edition of the famous
Codex Sinaiticus, discovered by him, and issued in 1SC.3.
Of Lacumann I have used the large edition in two
volumes with the Latin translation : Novum Testamentum
Greece et Latine. Berolini, 1842 and 1S50.
I have also compared occasionally Stikr and Theile:
Polyglotten-Bibel, 2d ed., 1S40 ; and Pnii.ippus Buttjiann:
Novum Testamentum Greece ad fid em codicU Vaticani,
(Cod. B.) Berol., 1862, (in new Greek type, conformed to
the ancient uncial MSS., tlio Greek inscriptions of the Au-
gustan age. and the I'ompeyan papers.)
The best Knglish editions of the Greek Testament, to
which I h.,Ye more or less frequently referred in the course
of the work, are the following:
Dr. S. T. Blocmfield: The Greek Teatament with Eng-
lieh Notes, 9th ed., Lond., 1855, 2 vols., with a supplemen-
tary volume of Critical Annotations, Lond., 1S60, which
contains a digest of the various readings, and embodies the
investigation of seventy uncollated or ill-collated MSS. and
the valuable materials derived from Scrivener's collation of
seventy MSS.
W. Webster and W. F. Wilkinson : T/ie Greek Testa-
ment with Notes, Critical and Exegetical. Loud., 1S55,
2 vols. Anglican, useful "for learners rather than the
learned."
Dr. IIekry Alfop.d: The Greek Testament, etc., ith ed.,
Lond. 1S59, 4 vols. The first vol. containing the four Gos-
pels, was reprinted, from the third ed., by the Harpers of
Xew York, IS.^9. Alford gives a revised text, and a critical
digest of various readings (entirely rewritten in the 4th ed.)
between the text and the comments, lie surpasses his Eng-
lish predecessors, is essentially orthodox (Anglican) and
evangclii,-al, yet critical, liberal, progressive, and made
good use of the Germans, especially Olshausen, Tischendorf,
de Wette and Meyer.
Dr. Che. Wokdbworth : 77ie New Testament in the
original Greek : with Notes, new ed. in 2 vols., Lond., 1862.
Conservative, reverential, patri.'itic and Anglican.
Dr. S. P. Tregelles (a PlymouU: brother, and a believer
In the absolute plenary inspiration) : ."he Greek Ni w Testa-
ment, edited from ancient authorities, with various readings
of all the ancient MSS., the ancient versions, and earlier
cedes, writers (to Eusebius inch), together with the Latin
version of Jerome, Lond., vol. i. containing the Gospels of
Matthew and Luke, IS.'iO; vol. ii., containing Luke and
John, 18G0. Not yet completed. Tischendorf does him in-
jubtice in his large ed. of 1SD9, Prolegg., p. cxiii sqq. Tre-
gelles is one of the few scholars who have made the resto-
ration of the genuine apostolic text of the N. T. the work
of their life, and, like Bengel, unites v.ith critical learning
and laborious research a childlike faith and profound rever-
ence for the Word of God. Mr. Scrivener, in his Introduc-
tion to the Criticism of the N. T. (1S6I), p. 347, remarks:
" Every one who venerates the spectacle of time and sub-
stance freely bestowed in the best of causes, without the
prospect or Indeed the possibility of earthly reward, will
grieve to know that the further prosecution of his ojais
magivmn is for a while suspended by Dr. Tregelles' seriouB
illness."— P. S.]
5. Criticism. — Capelli, Kenicott, Bengel, Gries
bach, Reiche, Schleiermacher, Lohnis, Lachmann,
Tischendorf. [Bloomfield, Alford, Wordsworth, Tre-
gelles, in the critical parts of their ed. of the Gr. Test.,
and especially the able work of Fr. H. Scrivener:
A plain Introduction to the Criticism of the N. T.
for the use of Biblical students. Cambridge, 1861.
— P. S.] Kirchhofer : Qnellensamynhivg zur Ge-
schichte des N. T. Kanons. Ziirich, 1844. Olshau-
sen on the Genuineness of all the books of the JV. T.
[Engl. trsl. by Eosdick, prefixed to vol. i. of Ken-
driek's Olshausen. — P. S.] Thiersch on the Canon.,
1845. Ebrard : Kritik der evang. Geschichte [not
Schriften, as the original reads. — P. S.], 2d ed.,
1850. [Engl. cowtZe.'iscJ trsl., Edinb., 1863.] Bleek:
Ecitrdge zur JSvavgeiienkritik. [Westcott : Intro-
duction to the Study of the Gospels. Amer. ed. with
an introduction by Hor. B. Hackett. Boston, 1862.
— P. S.] Also Neandcr, Lange, SchafF, Thiersch, on
the Apostolic Age. For the 0. T. : Hengstenbcrg,
Hiivernick, Keil, Bleek, etc.
6. Translations. — Luther's last original edition
of his German Bible, by Eindseil and Niemeyer,
Halle, 1850. Von Hoff, Leipz., 1851. Other Ger-
man Bible versions : by Fiiedr. von Meyer, Stier (Bie-
lefeld, 1856), de Wette, the Ziirich transl., and the
Roman Catholic translations of Leander van Ess,
Braun, Brentauo, Allioli, Dereser, etc. [English ver-
sions : Wiclif, A. D. 1380; Tyndale, 15;-'.4 ; Cranmer,
1539; Geneva, 1560; The Bishop's Bible, 1568;
Authorized; or King James's, 1611. Roman Catholic
versions: Anglo-Rhemish, 1582, r.nd Douay Bible,
1609, etc. See Bagster's English Ilcxapla, London ;
also Mrs. H. C. Conant : Hist, of the Engl. Bible.
New York, 1856. The publications of the American
Bible Union, N. York, especially the revised versions
of Lillic, Conant, and Hackett. Dean Trench on the
Revision of the C. F., Lond., 1858. Dr. Alford's re-
vised Engh N. Test., Lond., 1863. The authorized
English Bible of 1611 i.s, upon the whole, the best of
all Bible versions ancient and modern. Comp. John
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
19
H. Newman's eloquent testimony in its favor, after
his transition to Rome ; also the testimony of Jlarsh
in bis Lectures on the English Lavr/uarfe. — P. S.J
7. Commentaries on the Whole Bible. —
Critici sacri, several editions. Anisterd., 1G98;
Frankf. a. M., 17nO, etc. Polus : Synopsis, Frkf.,
1712, 5 vols. Grotixis : Annotaiiones. On the Old
Testament : Rosenmiiller (Scholia), Manrer, the
Exeget. Manual (Germ.) of Leipz., 1838 sqq., (ra-
tionalistic in part). On the New T. : Calvin, Wolf
{Curce philologicce et critical, llil, 5 vols.), Bengel
[Gno)no7i, Lat., Germ., and in two Eiigl. transl.],
Olshauseu [transl. into Engl., Edinb. ; Amer. ed., re-
vised by Dr. Kendrick, N. Y. 1856, etc], de Wette,
Meyer. [English Commentaries on the whole Bible :
Henry, Scott, J. Gill, Clarke, Patrick— Lowth—
Whitby, David Brown (Glasgow, 1863) ; on the New
T. : Hammond, Doddridge, Burkitt, Bloomfield, Al-
ford, Wordsworth, Webster and Wilkinson, Barnes,
Owen, Jacobus. — P. S.]
8. Commentaries on Separate Books. — See
list in Hagenbach : Theol. Encycl., p. 179 sqq., and
Winer : Handbuch der theol. Lit., i., p. 33 sqq.,
162 sqq. [On Genesis and the Pentateuch : Calvin,
Luther, Hcngstenberg, Tucb, Bertheau, Gerlach,
Delitzsch, Bush. On the other historical books of
the 0. T. : Keil, Maurer, Thenius, Movers, Bertheau,
Bush. On the Psalms : Luther, Calvin, De Wette,
Tholuck, Hcngstenberg, Hupfeld, Delitzsch, Jos.
Add. Alexander, Isaac Taylor. On Job : Ewald,
Umbreit, Hirzel, Schlottmann, Barnes, Conant. On
the Proverbs : Umbreit, Stier, Bertheau, M. Stu-
art. On the Song of Songs : Herder, Umbreit,
Ewald, Hcngstenberg, Delitzsch. On Ecclcsia^tes :
Umbreit, Knobel, Bertheau, Hcngstenberg. On
Isaiah : Gesenius, Hitzig, Dressier, Handewerk, Jos.
Add. Alexander. On Jeremiah : Hitzig, Umbreit.
On Ezekicl : Hiivernick, Hitzig. On Daniel :
Havernick, Hcngstenberg, Lengcrke, Hitzig, Auber-
len. On the Minor prophets : Theiner, Ackermann,
Hitzig, Henderson, Pusey. — On the New Testament :
On the Four Gospels (either separately or in har-
monies) : Calvin, Olshausen, Meyer, Macknight,
Campbell, Greswell, Owen, Jacobus ; also Catena
aurca on the Gospels from the Fathers, collected by
Thomas Aquinas. Oxf., 1843. On Matthew and
Mark : Fritzsche, Jos. Add. Alexander, Conant. On
Luke : van Osterzee (in Lange's Bibelwerk). On
the Gospel of St. John : Lampe, Ldcke, Tholuck,
Luthardt, Hcngstenberg. On the Sermon on the
Mount : Tholuck. On the Parables and Miracles •
Trenclu On all the discourses of Jesus : Stier :
Reden Jesu. {T7ie Words of the Lord Jesus, trsl.
by Pope, and republ. twice in America.) On the
Acts: Baumgarten, Hackett, Jos. Add. Alexander.
On all the Epistles of St. Paid : Calvin, MacKnight,
Conybeare and Ilowson {I/ife and Epistles of St.
Paid. Lond. and N. York ed.). On separate epis-
tles of Paul : Tholuck (on the Romans), Fritzsche
(ditto, 8 vols., Latin), Riickert, Mos. Stuart (ditto),
Osiander(6'orm</(ian.s), Winer, Usteri, Wieseler ( Ca-
latians), Harless, Stier (on the Ephesians), Huther,
Wiesinger (th.e smaller and the Pastoral Epistles),
Xeander {Corinthians, Philippians, etc.). Pelt, Lillie
(Thessalonians), Hackett {Philemon), llodge (on Ro-
mans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians), Ellicott, (the
English Meyer, on Galatians, Ephesians, Thcssalo-
nians, etc., republished in Andover, 1860, sqq.). On
the Epistle to the Hebrews : Bleek (a real exegetical
masterpiece, in 3 vols., 1828-1840), Tholuck, Stuart,
Ebrard (as continuator of Olshausen). On the Catholic
Epistles : Steiger (on Peter), Llicke, Neander, Rickli,
Diisterdieck, Ebrard (on John'' s Epistles), Archbishop
Leighton (on 1 Peter), Schneckenburger, Kern, Nean-
der, Stier (on James), Stier (on Jude). On the Apoca-
lypse : Bengel, Auberlen, Hcngstenberg, Liicke, Diis-
terdieck, Ebrard, Bleek, Elliott, Mos. Stuart.— P. S.]
9. Bible Dictionaries (of things).— Winer :
Bibl. Rcal-Worterbuch, 2 vols., 3d ed., 1848 (criti-
cal), Zeller: Biblisches Worterbnch, 2 vols., 1856
(popular, and very useful). Many articles in Herzog's
Real-Encyclop. fur Prot. Theol., [condensed^ transl.
of Bomberger and others, unfinished.] Oetinger :
Bibl. Worterbuch, newly ed. by Hamberger, Stuttg.,
1850. [E7iglish Bible Dictionaries: Taylor's, and
Robinson's Cabnet, Kitto, W. Smith (London and
Boston, 1863, 3 vols.), and, for popular use, those of
the American Tract Society, and of the American
Sunday-School Union.— P. S.]
10. General Bible Works for practical and
homiletical use. — Christoph Starke (Past, primarius
of Driesen) : Synopsis Bibliothecce exegeticcB in Vetus
et Novum Testamentum ; oder kurzgefasster Aus-
zug der griindlichsten und nutzbarsten Auslegungen,
2d ed., Leipz., 1740, 10 vols. The Berleburger
Bibel, 1726-'39, 8 vols, fol., new ed., 1857,
J. J. Hess: Bibelwerk, Ziirich, 1776-1812, 23 parts.
H. & W. Riehter : Erkldrte Hansbibel, Barmen, 1840.
0. V. Gerlach : Las A. und N. Test, mit Einleitun-
gen und erkldrenden Anmerkungen, Berlin, 1854.
Lisco: Das A. und N. Test, mit erkldrenden An-
merkungen. Matthew Henry : An Exposition of
the 0. and N. T., London, 1849, 6 vols., [and many
older Engl, and Amcr. editions. Henry's Com. is
very spiritual and practical, and widely popular in
England and America. The same is true of Thomas
Scott : llie holy Bible, with original notes, practical
observations, etc., first 1788, 5th and best ed., Lond.
1822, in 6 vols., and often since. — P. S.] Braun
(Rom. Cath.) : Die heil. Schrift, lat. u. dcutsch nach
dem Simic der h. rijm. Kirclie, der h. Kirchcnvdter,
etc., Augsb., 1789-1806, 13 vols.
20 GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
SECOND SECTION.
GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTBODUCTION TO TEE NEW
TESTAMENT.
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
I. The Name : New Testament.
The term New Testament unquestionably proceeds from the institution of
the Lord's Supper. The Lord designates the Eucharist the New Covenant in His
blood, in the strict sense of the term. The New Testament felloAvship of believers
reconciled to God by Christ, which commences in, and is introduced by baptism, is
completed and appears outwardly in the Holy Supper. Li the Eucharist the Lord
carries out that New Covenant with the Church which is founded upon His holy
life and His Word, upon His atoning death. His victory, and on the conversion of
individual believers. While the celebration of the Eucharist is a remembrance of
the first foimdation of the Church, it ever inaugurates anew the formation of the
Church, and also serves as its manifestation. Hence the writings which record the
foundation of this new and eternal covenant are themselves called the New Covenant,
the New Testament. Lastly, this designation indicates the connection and the con-
trast between these writings and those of the Old Covenant.
II. Origin of the Neio Testam,ent.
The first commencement of the New Testament dates, in all probability, from
the period when the Lord lived and taught on earth. It has ever heen the practice
to write down that which was deemed most memorable. Accordingly, it can scarcely
be supposed that any one acquainted with letters should have been brought into
contact with the Lord, or come under the influence of His Spirit, without noting
down the most striking occurrences he had witnessed, or the most weighty truths
he had heard. In this manner some brief memoirs must have been composed before
any of the New Testament writings had been compiled — a fact to which, indeed,
the Evangelist Luke bears testimony (ch. i. 1). Nay, more, we are warranted in
assuming that the most important events in the early history of Christ, such as the
song of praise of Zacharias, of the Virgin, and of old Simeon, may have been
written down at a very early period. To our mind it seems natural that Matthew,
who was probably the most practised writer* among the Apostles, should very early
have collected together the sayings of the Lord ; and similarly, that John should
have made a collection of His discourses.
* [Der scJireibkundiggie, the best penman. The Edinb. trsl. mistakes the sense in rendering this : tJte best edu-
cated. Dr. Lange refers simply to the mechanism of writing, in which Matthew, as a former collector of customs, by
constant practice, h.id acquired more ease and skill than the other Apostles, who were flshermen. As to natural talent
and education, Peter, Paul, and John were undoubtedly his superiors. Luke also had more learning, being a physiciau
by profession, and a superior Greek sohoLar.— P. S.]
1. THE NEW TESTAMENT. 21
But such memorabilia were only the faithful historical recollections of individuals.
Before the Kcw Testament could be written, the work of the Lord required to be
finished, and His Holy Spirit ])oured out upon the Apostles, that thus they might
be fully fitted for their high calling.
The original mission hitrusted to the Ai)0stles and the seventy disciples — to
testify of the Lord after the completion of His life and work — necessarily implied
. also the duty of writing about Him, as opportunity afibrded. If, according to the
Saviour's injunction, they were to devote ail their energies to this work, to apply
every means, to seize every opportunity for its promotion, they must, of course, also
have employed the powerful instrumentality of literature. Nor were they unfaithful
to their calling. As they went forth mto all the world preaching the Gospel, so also
did they address themselves to all ages by their writings. And, as at last, at the
end of the world, they shall again meet, the faithful messengers of the Lord, who
by the instrumentality of the Church (which they had served to plant) haA'e fulfilled
their great commission of preaching the Gospel to every creature, so also will they
be fomid to have accomplished their work through the writings of the New Testa-
ment.
As the composition of the New Testament formed, hke the preaching of the
"Word, part of the great mission which the Lord intrusted to His Apostles, it
required special Divine preparation and illumination by the Holy Ghost. Just as
" holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," so wrote they by
the same Spirit. The inspiration bestowed on them for the purposes of their
apostolic calling, was at the same time the source of their preaching and of their
writings.
But, while asserting the Divine origin of the New Testament, we do not by any
means overlook the human form in which it was cast. On the contrary, that human
form appeared all the more genuinely when it became the vehicle of Divine revela-
tion. Hence, the New Testament writings are clothed in the language of Greece,
and couched in its peculiar mode of thought. This form constitutes another con-
trast between the Old and the New Testament. The language of the Old Testa-
ment (the Hebrev,') is that of feeling, of directness, and of the esoteric religion of
the Jews. The language of the New Testament is that of full intellectual con-
sciousness (voDs), of matured reflection, and of the exoteric religion of all nations.
But the New Testament is also imbued with the spirit of the Old ; and Avhenever
there is any direct and esoteric presentation of revelation (the speaking iv -veu'/xaTi),
we meet with frequent Hebraisms, especially in the Book of Revelation.
Ill, Chronological Succession of the books of the Neio Testament.
The oldest apostolic letter is that addressed by the Synod at Jerusalem, about
the year 53 [or rather a. d. 60 — P. S.], to the Gentile Christian Churches, and
which is recorded by Luke in the 15th chapter of Acts,
Soon afterv,^ard Paul wrote his first letters to the Churches, The apostolic
writings may be arranged in the following order of succession : —
1. The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, written from Corinth, about 54 or 66
[53— P. S.].
2. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, written from Ephesus, about the year 56
or 67.
GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
3. The two Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians, written from Ephesus and Mace-
donia, about the year 58.
4. The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, written from Corinth, about the year 59.
5. The Epistle of James, written from Jerusalem, and addressed to the Jewish
Christians in the Diaspora, about the year 62.
6. The Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, to the Colossians, and to Philemon,
written from Rome, about the year 63.
7. The Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, written from Rome, about the year 64.
8. The Epistle to the Hebrews, the Gospel by Luke, and the Acts of the
Apostles, written probably from the same place, or at least from Italy, and about the
same time — the year 64.
9. The First Epistle of Peter, written from Babylon, about the year 64.
10. The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, Viritten from Macedonia, between 64
and 66 [?].
11. The Epistle of Paul to Titus, written from Macedonia, or from Greece,
between 64 and 66 [?].
12. The Second Epistle of Paul to Timotliy, written from Rome, about the year
67 or 68 [?].
13. The Second Epistle of Peter, written in the same place, and about the same
time, about 67 or 68.
14. The Gospel by Mark, written in Rome, about the year 68.
15. The Gospel by Matthew, written in Judea, about the year 68 or 69.
16. The Gospel by John, written about the year 70.
17. The Epistle of Judo, written probably between the years 80 and 90
18. The Revelation of John, Avritten about the year 95.
19. The three Epistles of John, written probably between the years 96 and
100 [?].*
IV. Critical Collection of the Nevo Testament Canon.
It will be readily granted that the various Churches carefully preserved the
epistles and writings of the Apostles, and those of their assistants, the Evangelists
Mark and Luke. The idea that several apostolic writings, more especially a third
Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, and an Epistle to the Laodiceans by the same
Apostle, have been lost, owes its origin to a misunderstanding of some allusions in
the NcAV Testament. (Comp. Lange's Apost. Age, I. 205 sqq.) Bvt it is probable
that at a later period Mark himself enlarged his Gospel by adding to it a conclusion,
appended to that -which it had in its original shape ; as also, that at the commence-
ment of the second century, the v^^ell-known passage in the Second Epistle of Peter
was inserted after the Epistle of Jude. {A^yost. Age, I. 152.) These circumstances,
however, do not affect the authenticity of the text. The interpolation of the trinita-
rian passage in 1 John v., between vers. 7 and 8, is of much later date. The Gospel
of Matthew, originally w^ritten in Hebrew, was translated at a very early period,
and probably by Matthew himself, into our present Greek Gospel, which has ever
since been received as canonical in the Church.
It w^as natural that the writings of the Apostles should be commxmicated from
* [Tlie chronological dates assigned to the apoBtolic -writingB by Dr. Lange slightly differ in three or four instances
from tliose adopted in my Uint'Ory of the Apostolic CJiurch. Of some books it is impossible accurately to ascertain the
time of composition.— P. S.] '
§ 1. THE NEW TESTAMENT. 23
one church to the other, aud extensively difiused, siiice many of them -were evangeli-
cal epistles, addressed to several, or to all Christian communities (as, for example,
the Epistle to the Hebrews, that of James, the tvco Epistles of Peter, the First
Epistle of John, the seven epistles in the Book of Revelation, and the Epistle to the
Ephesiaas). Besides, the pn.otice Avas also distinctly prescribed by the Apostles
(Col. iv. 16). Accordingly, we find even in the Xew Testament an allusion to
collections of apostolic ^Tilings, more especially of those of Paul, as in the Second
Epistle of Peter (iii. 16), with which also Acts xvi. may be compared with reference
to the address of the Synod of Jerusalem, recorded in Acts xv.
Such collections of apostolic writings rendered something like critical examina-
tion necessain-, to enable the churches to distinguish between what was genuine and
what spurious. It is remarkable that so early as in the Second Epistle to the Thes-
salonians (2 Thess. ii. 2), which is the second oldest of the New Testament writings,
we find an appeal to the critical sense of the churches. So long, indeed, as some
of the Apostles, or even their immediate disciples, lived and taught, the stream of
oral apostolical tradition was so abundant and so pure, that some preferred to apply
directly to that source of instruction. Thus we account, for example, for the circum-
stance that Papias, a disciple of John, who lived at the commencement of the second
century, mentions the Gospels of Matthew and of ^lark, but, instead of referring to
those of Luke and of Jolm, records the names of the men whose presence and
instructions had in his case filled the place of these Gospels (Euseb. iii. 33 ; comp.
Lange, Leben Jem^ I. 151, and Apost. Age, I. 215). Even in the writings of the
apostolic Fathers we meet with frequent evidence of their familiarity with the Xew
Testament writings. On these various testimonies, as they multiply with the lapse
of time, as also on the various forms and lists of the canon to its final close in the
fourth century', compare the various Introductions to the Xew Testament.
Kor must we omit to mention that, during the first three centuries, the Church
amply proved its critical capacity by rejecting frora the canon that vast mass of
apocryphal wiitings which claimed admission into the New Testament. But the
deep contrast between these works and the spiiit of the New Testament has only
lately been fuUy brought to light, in connection with the controversy about the
mythical theory of Strauss. (Compare the literature on the subject as given by
"Winer, and the collections of New Testament Apocry|jha, by Fabricius, Thilo, and
Tischendorf.)
V. Unity and Organic Arrangement of the Keic Testament.
DIVISI02^" OF THE 2slEW TESTAME^•T.
At first, it seemed as if the ancient Church would have adopted an arrangement
of the Nev>' Testament writings substantially similar to that of the Jews for the Old
Testament. Thus we find mention of three sections of the New Testament, to cor-
respond with the ancient division into Law, Prophets, and Hagiographa. Besides
the arrangement into to (.iayyiXiov and. 6 (Ittoo-toXos (Clemens Alex.), ra emyyey\iKa koX
TO. d-oo-roXiK-a (Ircnoius) — by which they meant the Gospels, and, in the first place at
least, the wi-itings of St. Paul — we also find mention of a thii\i collection imder the
name of Ka^oXiKoi e-to-ToXai, which seems to have included the apostolic writings
generally, KaSoXov (see Hug. £i?il. iti's JV. T., vol. ii., p. 428). This explanation of
the word Ka^oXiKos has been controverted ; but the fact that the Epistle to the
24 GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Hebrews, although catliolic in its tenor, was not included among the Catholic
Epistles, because its authorship Avas attributed to St. Paul, speaks in favor of the
above suggestion. This division of the New Testament, however, fell to the ground
when the canon was completed. Hence there can be no valid objection to the
modern division into Historical, Doctrinal, and Prophetic books. But it deserves no-
tice that the Book of Acts was originally, and also in the Scripture lessons, included
among the Epistles, and this with good reason ; for in the strict historical sense, it
belongs not to the period of the Gospel history, but to that of the foundation of the
Church by the Apostles, and serves as historical basis to the Epistles. Properly
speaking, it forms a transition from the historical to the doctrinal books.
This division of the New Testament is warranted by the peculiar cast, and by
the prevailing characteristics of its various books, although in a certain sense each
of them contains, at the same time, history, doctrine, and prophecy. Keeping this
arrangement in view, the New Testament canon presents to our mind the eternal
past, present, and future of the Church ; Jesns Christ, the same yesterday, to-day^
and for ever — or Christ in His historical manifestation, in His rule over the Church,
and in His glorious advent. But here each part is organically connected with the
other, just as, in the idea of eternal life, the past, the present, and the future pervade
and interpenetrate each other. " All the writings of the New Testament contain,
in the first place, the basis, or the ideal past of the Church ; next, its standard, or
the rule for its present development ; lastly, its final aim, or the goal of its future."
(See my Ajyost. Age, ii., p. 571.)
The historical books describe the first manifestation and the foiindation of the
kingdom of heaven in our world, and its inroad upon the world, with a view to final
conquest, by the planting of the apostolic Church. The doctrinal books are intended
to serve as a directory for the development of Christian and ecclesiastical life in the
kingdom of heaven, or of the kingdom of heaven as manifest in ecclesiastical and
Christian life, in all its relations to the world, whether hostile or peaceable. This
development is ever based upon, and traced to, the first coming of Christ for the
redemption of man. Lastly, the prophetical books are intended to guide this de-
velopment of Christian and ecclesiastical life, in accordance with the prophetic
announcement and description of the second advent of Christ. The foundation of
the kingdom of heaven — its unfolding — its future conquests, and ultimate comple-
tion : such are the three parts which constitute the New Testament.
The Historical portion of the New Testament consists of two parts, the Gospels,
and the Book of Acts. The fonner exhibits the eternal basis of the Church, and its
foundation in time ; the latter, the jDlanting of the Church, its original form, and the
first and prophetic outlines of its spread through the world.
HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The four Gospels, which together form only one Gospel (to d-ayyiXtov) under a
fourfold aspect (/cara, 'MarSaZov, etc.), constitute, along with the Book of Acts
(Trpafets rdv airoaToXutv), the historical records of the New Testament.
The great leading idea which peiwades thi;, history, is the introduction of the
kingdom of heaven {(SacrtXeia twj/ ovpavdv), or its manifestation (at least, so far as its
§ 2. THE HISTORICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 25
principles and powei- are concei-ned) — the revelation of God being completed by the
coming of the God-Man, the Redeemer of the world, and His kingdom founded upon
earth by the planting of His Church through the power of the Holy Ghost. Accord-
ingly, this evangelical history forms the centre of all history, by concluding that of
tlie ancient and commencing that of the new world.
The difference between the historical books of the New Testament consists in
this, that while the four Gospels record the history of the revelation of the kingdom
of heaven, and of its foundation in the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus, the
Book of Acts describes the royal administration of Christ as manifested in j^lanting
His kingdom in and for the world, by the power of the Holy Ghost working through
the Apostles. The Gospels exhibit the kingdom of heaven in the Person of Christ ;
tl\e Book of Acts, the Person of Christ in the kingdom of heaven ; the former show
us the kingdom of heaven upon the earth, yet above the earth, separate and distinct
from all the world ; the latter, the kingdom of heaven in the world — all its roots and
fibres having taken hold upon the soil of earth. In the one case, we have the perfect
revelation of God in the Spirit of Christ (the d7roKa/\j.'i//is), in the other, by the Spirit of
Christ (the (j)avepwai<;); in the one case, the descent of the heavenly Jerusalem upon the
holy city, in the other, the spread of that heavenly kingdom from Jerusalem to Rome.
The Gospels show us how Christ consecrated Himself for the world, and thereby
reconciled it to God in that solemn judgment which the world pronounced upon
itself; the Book of Acts teaches how Christ consecrated the world imto Himself,
and theieby redeemed it. Yonder, the old era terminates, the principle of the ncAv
having appeared ; here, the new era commences, the principle of the old having
been mortified.
I. The One Gospel in the Four Gospels.
Viewed as a literary production, the Gospel history exists in a fourfold form.
But for the ancient, true, chin-chly view, this circumstance is altogether secondary
to the fact that under this fourfold form we have the one Gospel of the Lord.
Strictly speaking, therefore, it is not the Gospel of Matthew, etc., as we now are
accustomed to say, but the Gospel according to Matthew, according to Mark,
according to Luke, and according to John. It is this grand unity of character, of
history, of doctrine, and of spirit, which gives to the Gospels their common designa-
tion. Though we have four human writings, they form only one Divine record of
the Gospel. To doubt this essential imity, is to lose to the same extent the capacity
for the churchly appreciation and even the Christian understanding of the Gospels.
But even this does not exhaust the relation between the four Gospels and the
one Evangel. Not only does the difierence between the four Gospels not obscm-e
the unity of the one Evangel ; but this number four rather indicates the unfolding
of the Evangel in all its fulness, so that it reflects the fourfold sway of God in the
world, meets the fourfold wants and views of the world, and under a fom-fold aspect
displays the infinite riches of revelation.
Irengeus {Advers. Hares, iii. 1) connected the vision of the four cherubim in
Ezekiel i. with the four Gospels, and explained the symbolical meaning of that
passage as applying to the distinctive peculiarities of the Evangelists. The idea was
afterwards adopted and developed by the Fathers, and the four Gospels were com-
pared with the vision of the four living creatures. Christian art has perpetuated the
special arrangement of these symbols, proposed by Jerome, by assigning to Matthe-"'
i3G
GENERAL AND SPECIAL INTRODUCTION TO TIIE NEW TESTAMENT.
tlio symbol of the man, to Mark that of the lion, to Luke that of the ox or sacrificial
bullock, and to John that of the eagle. (Comp. Credncv : Introd. to the N. 2\ p. 54.)
Our own study of the Gospels would lead us to modify the interpretation of Jerome
in so far as to regard Matthew under the symbol of the ox, and Luke under that of
the man. {Leben Jcsu^ I. p. 156.) Stier has approved of this change.
The first Gospel is preeminently that of history, and of the fulfilment of the Old
Testament by the sacrificial sufferings and death of Christ and the redemption thus
achieved. Hence the sacrificial bullock is the appropriate symbol of Matthew.
The second Gospel j^rcsents to our minds the all-poAverful revelation and working
of Christ as direct from heaven, irrespectively of anything that preceded, — the
completion of all former manifestations of the Deity. Symbol, the lion.
The third Gospel is preeminently that of perfect humanity, — human mercy
presented in the liglit of Divine grace, the transformation of all human kindness into
Divine love. Symbol, the figure of a man.
Lastly, the fourth Gospel exhibits the deep spiritual and eternal import of the
history of Christ — the Divine element pervading and underlying its every phase, —
and with it the transformation of all ideas, and of all ideals, in connection with
Christ. Symbol, the eagle.
To this rapid sketch we might add, that the essential harmony of these Gospels
cannot be properly appreciated, unless, while recognising their intrinsic unity, we
also keep in mind those peculiar characteristics of the Evangelists on which the
differences in their narratives depend.
Literature.* — On the Gospel Harmony compare
the [German] works of Tholuck : Credibility of the
Gospel History (against Strauss's Life of Jesus) ;
Ebrard : Criticism of the Evangelical History ;
Thiersch : On the Eestoraiion of the historical
staiiJpoirit, etc. ; Lex : The Gospel Harmony on the
Life of Jesus (Wiesbaden, 1855). Also the Lives of
Jesus by Neander, Hase, Lange, and J. Zeller : Voices
of the German Church on Strauss's Life of Jesus.
[Engl, works : Macknight, Campbell, Greswell, Rob-
inson, Strong : on the Gospel Harmony ; Westcott :
Litroduction to the Study of the Gospels (1862);
Ebrard : 77ic Gospel History (Edinb. trsl., 1863) ;
Ellicott, and Andrews : 27ie Life of Christ.— F. S.]
n. The Boolz of Acts,
Tlie Book of Acts may also be arranged under four sections. 1. We have the
apostolic Church, as the preparation and foundation of the one primeval Church for
all the world, — embracing all nations and tongues (ch. i. and ii.) ; 2. The Jewish
Christian Church (with Jerusalem as its metropolis, and Peter as its representative),
tending toward the Gentile world and the Gentile Church (ch. iii. to xii.) ; 3. The
Gentile Christian Church (with Antioch as its metropolis, and Paul as its representa-
tive), tending toAvard the Jewish Christian Church (ch. xiii. to xxv. 12) ; 4. The
removal of any temporary difference by a higher unity, commencing with the
journey of the Apostle Paul to Rome, and in the church at Rome, where the Jewish
Christian and the Gentile Christian elements appear combined.
The modern assaults on the credibility of the Acts I Lange : History of the Apostolic Aye, and in part by
are refuted by Lechler: The Apostolic and post-Apos- Baumgarten in his Commentary on Acts. [AlsoinWie-
tolicAge; Dletlein: Has l/rchristenthum; Schatfand j seler: Chro7iology of the Apostolic A ye, 184:8. — P. S.]
[Omitted in the Edinb. trsl.— P. S.:
3. THE DIDACTIC PORTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, OR, THE EPISTLES. 27
THE DIDACTIC PORTION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, OR, THE EPISTLES.
" As the historical writings of the New Testament form a TeTpay-opcfiov emyyeXiov,
80 a similar r€Tpa.iiop<^ov (to use an ancient ecclesiastical expression), a Terpa/xop^os
dTTooToXos, might, so to speak, be traced in its parenetic portions" (Guericke,
Isagogics, p. 216). This writer then proceeds to compare MatthcAv with James,
Mark with Peter, Luke with Paul, and the Gospel with the Epistles of John. So
also substantially Neander, Schmid, Schafi".
The didactic portion of the New Testament consists of epistles addressed to
particular churches (epistles in the narrower sense), and general or catholic epistles
addressed to the whole Church, or to a larger section of it. (On the various inter-
pretations of the word Ka^oAtKos, comp. the Litroductions). The Avritings of Paul,
although belonging to the former class, might also be termed catholic, as they suc-
cessively extend over every department of Christian life. Thus 1. JEschatological
Epistles : the two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which treat of the doctrine of the
last things ; 2. Ecclesiastic Epistles : the two Epistles to the Corinthians, which treat
of the organization and discipline of the Church ; 3. Soterlological Epistles : the
Epistle to the Galatians, which treats of the doctrine of redemption, presenting the
righteousness by faith in contrast with the spurious righteousness by works ; while
the Epistle to the Romans exhibits this same righteousness in its nature and effects,
in opposition to sin and its consequences. 4. Christological Epistles : the Epistle to
the Pliilippians, which shows the exaltation of Christ in and by His humiliation,
fotms a transition between the previous epistles and those which treat of the Person
of Christ, more especially the Epistles to the Colossians, and to the Ephesians.
The Epistle to the Colossians commences by presenting the eternal and inherent
glory which Christ possessed before all time, and then presents Him as the sole
object of our faith ; while the Epistle to the Ephesians commences with the final
glory of Christ at the termination of all time, and presents Him as the only goal of
the Church, and as forming the grand bond of its unity, 5. Lastly, we have the
Pastoral Epistles : among which we include, besides the two Epistles to Timothy and
that to Titus, the Epistle to Philemon.
The Epistle to the Hebrews must, on account of its general tenor, be classed
with tlie Catholic Epistles, although, from its origin and character, it evidently
claims kindred to those of Paul. We have thus three series of Catholic Epistles.
The Epistle to the Hebrews, and that of James, express the relation in which the
Church imiversal, but especially the Jewish Christian Church, stands to the Old
Testament (to the ceremonial and the moi'al law), Avith the vicAV of warning against
apostasy and Judaizing tendencies. The three Epistles of John exhibit the relation-
ship between the Church and the present state of things: 1. The fellowship of
believers in Christ ; 2. The proper limits of that fellowship, — the necessity of avoid-
ing heretics; 3. The proper extent of that fellowship, — avoiding a spirit of
separatism. Lastly, the Epistles of Peter and of Jude treat mainly of the relation-
ship of the Church to the future.
28 GENERAL HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION.
THE PROPIIETIC PORTION OF TUB NEW TESTAMENT.
The Book of Revelation contains a prophetic description of the second advent of
the Lord, and of the manifestation of Ilis new creation and the transformation of
the world, which is to be brought about by a series of great conflicts Mid tiiimphs
of Christ over Antichrist and over the world. The description of this new work
of creation opens with the Sabbath of redemption (hence the prophet has his vision
on the Lord's Day), and extends to the eternal Sabbath of final completion.
Accordingly, we also have the sacred number seven, seven times re[)eated — the seven
churches, the seven seals, the seven trumpets, the seven thunders, the seven vials,
and the seven heads of Antichrist. At the close, we have the manifestation of the
seven Spirits of God — who throughout have guided the struggle (ch. i.) — in the
appearance of Christ and the transformation of the world : a new genesis, by which
the Bible at its conclusion points back to its commencement, showing how final and
perfect fulfilment had now been attained.
THIED SECTION.
GENERAL HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION.
THE PLACE OF HOMILETICS.
OxE of the main duties of the pastoral ofiice is preaching, as this work is more
clearly defined by practical theology. The latter science, however, embraces more
than that special department. It gives the theory of ecclesiastical life and Christian
fellowship, and of its cultivation, or of edification, and treats, according to the teach-
ing of Paul (1 Cor. xii. 4-6), — 1. Of the Charismata in the Church; 2. of ecclesiasti-
cal ofiices ; 3. of ecclesiastical functions. Among these, public worship occupies the
most prominent place ; and again, in public worship the preaching of the word, for
which homiletics supplies the rules. Public worship is the real (not symbolical)
and direct outward manifestation of the life of the Church in Christ its Head ;
while, at the same time, it also serves to deepen and to extend that life. The
former of these objects is attained more especially by what may be designated the
liturgical services, or prayer and praise, while the latter is aimed at by means of the
sermon.
Based upon the eternal "Word of God, and derived from it, the sermon is
intended to advance the spiritual life of the Church in its individual members^ — its
lessons being always pointed with special reference to the present state and require-
ments of Christians, and to their ultimate calling. The rules for the proper dis-
charge of this New Testament prophetical office are laid down in the science of
Homiletics, or the sacred Art of Religious Discourse.
§ 2. CHARACTER AND PRINCIPLES OF HOMILETICS. 29
§2.
CHARACTER AND PRINCIPLES OF HOMILETICS.
Christian Homiletics is tlie evangelical churchly application of Rhetorics to
sacred purposes. The homiletic oration is addressed to the spiritual feelings and
interests of men, in divine wisdom and simplicity, and Avith spiritual motives, in
order either to enlist them for those spiritual purposes Avhich form the one grand
aim of man, or else to quicken their spiritual life. From this it follovv'S, that we
shall have to dispense with all the mere outward artifices of secular rhetorics — many
of Avhich are dishonest, and to present our theme in a simple, yet' well arranged,
lively and effective address.
From this we may derive the following fundamental rules of Homiletics.
1. The sermon occupies a place intermediate between the eternal Word of God
and the present requirements of the Church. On this ground, it must neither he
merely a practical exposition of Scripture, nor yet merely a practical address adapted
to the wants of the moment. It must combine these two elements, and at the same
time serve to quicken, to sanctify, and to further develop the inner life, from the
Word of God.
2. This application of the Word of God to the state and wants of the Church, is
entrusted to the believing hearts of a properly tramed ministry. Accordingly, the
sermon must bear evidence both of personal piety and of intellectual individuality,
or rather, this intellectual individuality must appear consecrated by devotion to the
altar.
3. The sermon is addressed to a real church, — not a perfect church, but yet to a
church. On this ground, it must proceed on the assimiption that there are spiritual
principles and sympathies to which it can appeal, whilst at the same time keeping in
view and seeking to remove existing obstacles and objections. It must therefore
avoid the extreme of being merely an appeal to the unconverted (a Xo'yos TrpoTpeTTTiKos),
while, on the other hand, it eschews mere indirect and pointless " speaking with
tongues " (yen? -yXwcro-wv) , It must ascertain the exact spiritual state of the congrega-
tion, and, in accordance theremth, progress from conviction to joy and thanks-
giving. Nor should it ever be forgotten that the sermon forms part of worship, and
that, while in its character and purpose prophetic, it is also essentially devotional.
Hence the sermon must be neither noisy nor drawling ; noise in the pulpit runs
counter to the dignity of w^orship, and to that of Christianity itself. Conversion is
not to be confounded with nervous excitement ; it implies a state when the soul is
moved indeed to its inmost depths, yet calmed in Christ. As for drawling, it is
entirely out of place in the pulpit. Singing should be left to the congregation ; and
the moment the sermon rises into musical festivity, it should close.
4. The sermon is addressed to a congregation, not to studeiits. Hence, it must
be popular, clear, pointed, and practical, — avoiding obscurity, confusion, and abstract
propositions. On the other hand, it must be simple, direct, lively, yet sufficiently
dignified. It must have sprung from prayer and meditation, from communion with
the Lord and with His Word, and from deep sympathy with the spiritual state and
the wants of the congregation.
5. The sermon is addressed to an evangelical church, i. e., a church called to the
freedom of the Spirit. Hence it is to be a homily, in the ancient sense of the term ;
30 GENERAL HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION.
i. e., an interchange between the mind of the preacher and the spiritual views of the
congregation, Avhich cannot be obtained by mere persuasion, far less by outward or
authoritative injunction, excluding all liberty, but by communion and fellowship of
life. The homily is, so to speak, query and reply. Yet it Avere a mistake to rebut
every objection Avhich might possibly be raised, instead of replying to the queries
which would naturally arise in the mind of the audience. These enquiries must be
answered not Avith the wisdom of man, but by the Word of God.
6. The sermon is an official address delivered to the Church in the name and by
the authority of the Head of the Church. Hence its name, Preaching, — proedicatio^
declaration. Accordingly, the testimony of the truth must be supported by
evidence ; uor'must it be of the nature of mere philosophical demonstration, which,
of course, is incapable of being preached. Nor, lastly, would it be riglit to sub-
stitute for this testimony a mere asseveration : the testimony of the heart is to be
combined with argument addressed to the mind.
7. The sermon is to edify. It is intended to huild up the living temple with living
stones ; i.e.., to promote spiritual communion., and thereby to quiclcen Christians.
8. The construction of the sermon depends upon an exercise of the mind, which
in turn presupposes meditation, prayer, and theological and religious knowledge.
For the regulation of this exercise of the mind, Homiletics lays dov/n certain rules
about the inventio?i of the theme, its division, and the execution and delivery of the
discourse itself.
ECCLESIASTICAL AND MATERIAL HOMILETICS.
That which gives to the sermon its value, is the Word of the living God, whicli
is laid down objectively in the Scriptures, and expressed and applied by the preacher
in a subjectve form.
The central point of the Word of God, and its gi'and, all-embi'acing personality,
is the eternal and historical Christ v/ith His finished work. In the Person of the
God-Man revelation and redemption are united, and revelation itself becomes
redemption ; there the Law and the Gospel meet, and the Law itself becomes
Gospel ; there doctrine and history meet, and doctrine itself becomes history ; there
the Church and the Scriptures meet, and the Church itself presents the epistles read
and known of all men ; there the Church and the believing heart meet, the Church
being in Him of one heart and one soul ; lastly, there justification and sanctification
are united, and sanctification becomes a justification for the day of judgment. With
aU this we wish to impress upon our readers that the mystery of revelation must be
preached, not as a matter of speculation, but with a view to its grand teleological
object — the salvation of sinners ; that the Old Testament must be explained accord-
ing to the analogy of the New ; that doctrine must be illustrated by life, and the
confessions of tlie Church regulated by the Divine Scripture ; that the Church must
be built up by seeking the conversion and personal holiness of souls ; and that justi-
fication by faith must ever be presented along with its final aim — the glorification
of saints.
The main point which tlie preacher should keep in view is, that the great object
of Christianity is to bring us into personal relationship to the risen Saviour, that is,
§3. ECCLESIASTICAL AND MATERIAL HOMILETICS. 31
into blessed felloAvship, through Him, with the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost.
The selection of -a suitable subject for the sermon may be determined, 1, by the
order of the Church imiversal, as it presents itself in the ecclesiasticiil year Avith its
great festivals ; 2, by the traditional or a new series of Gospels and Epistles for the
day ; 3, by the directions of the authorities of the particular national or state-
Churches ; 4, by the order of Synods and consistories ; 5, by the ordinary course of
nature and its seasons ; G, by extraordinary events (casualia) ; 7, by the peculiar
relation and condition of the pastor and the congregation ; 8, by literary helps, con-
cordances, commentaries, religious reading, etc., which facilitates the invention and
prepai'ation of matter for sermons.*
I. The Order of the Church General. Tlie Church Year.
The Church year designates the Christian consecration of time to thfi service of
God, whereby the cycle of seasons becomes the symbol and type of the cycle of the
evangelical history, and of the great facts of redemption. The Greek and Koman
Churches changed the whole secular time into a succession of holidays in the interest
of an exclusive hierarchy and an external shoAvy ceremonialism ; and thus the
holidays of saints gradually obscured and almost annihilated the holy day of the
Lord, or the Christian sabbath. But the ancient Catholic and the evangelical Church
year represents tj^^ically and really the sanctification of the year as a manifes-
tation of, and preparation for, eternity. [The Church year, as observed in the evan-
gelical churches of Germany and the Contir.ent, in the Church of England, and their
descendants in America, is a reformation, purification and simplification of the
Catholic Church year ; it omits most or all holidays of saints, martyrs and angels, and
of the Virgin Mary, but retains the leading festivals Avhich commemorate what God
has done for us in the incarnation, the passion and death, the resurrection and ascen-
sion of Christ, and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost ; thus making the festivals of
Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost prominent, and restoring — at least in England and
America — the weekly festival of the Christian Sabbath to its proper dignity and
significance. — P. S.]
Literature. — On the Christian Church year see
the works of Fred. Strauss (Berlin, 1850), Lisco
(Berlin, 1852), Alt (1851), Harnack (1854), Warner
(1860), and Piper's Evangelical Year-book, pub-
lished annually at Berlin since 1850. [Also the
Liturgical works and collections of Daniel, Mone,
Neale, etc., the Liturgies of the Church of Eng-
land, and the Lutheran Churches of Europe and
America, Ebrard's Ref. Kirc/ienbuch, the new
Baden Liturgy, the Irvingite Liturgy, the new
(provisional) Liturgy of the G. Eef. Church of
the U. S. (Philad. 1857), Baird's Colledimi of
Prcshi/tcrian Liturgies (New York, 1859), etc., etc.
—P. S.]
2. The Old and JSFevj Pericopes^ or Scripture Lessons for the Sundays of the Tear.
On the history of perikopes see the article
Perikopen in the L'nivers. Theol. Dictionary of
Danz ; [also the more recent one in Ilerzog's Real-
EncT/clopccdie, vol. xi., p. 373-399, written by E.
Ranke. — P. S.] Ranke : Bas kirchliche Pcrikopcn-
system. Berlin, 1847. Alt: Der christl. Ctdtus.
Berlin, 1851, sqq., 3 vols. Lipco : Das christl.
KirrJienjahr, 4th cd., Berlin, 1852. Bobertag:
Das evangel. Kirchenjahr in sdmmtlichen Perikopen
des iV. T. Breslau, 1857. On modern selections of
Scripture lessons: Ranke (Berlin, 1850), Suckow,
and Nitzsch {Bihl. Vorlesnngen aus dem A. und N. T.
Bonn, 1846). See the list of the old sorios of peri-
kopes at the close of the gen. introduction.
[This last and all tho followinj!; sections from 1— S till §4, are omitted ia the Edinb. trsl.— P. S.]
82 GENERAL HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION.
3. National and State Churches.
These have ai)pointecl in diflerent countries of Europe a festival of the Refor-
mation. [In Germany it is celebrated October 31, the day when Luther affixed the
95 theses on the doors of the castle church at Wittenberg, in 1517. — P. S.] Also
political festivals, [coronation of kings, commemoration of royal birthdays ; in the
Cliurch of England, the commemoration of the death of King Charles I., and of the
Gunpowder Plot, — now abolished and omitted from the Common-Prayer Book. —
P. S.] National fast and humiliation days. [Thanksgiving days annually recom-
mended by the Governors of the different States of the United States of America,
especially in New England, and national thanksgiving, or fast days, recommended
to the whole people by the President of the United States, e.g. by President Taylor,
during the cholera in 1849, and several times by President Lincoln, during the civil
war, especially on the 30th of April, 1863. But, owing to the separation of Church
and State, Governors and Presidents cannot ordain and command, like European
sovereigns, but simply recommend, the observance of Christian festivals. Never-
theless, such days are generally even better observed in America than in Europe,
perhaps for the very reason that their observance is not made a matter of compul-
sion, but of freedom. — P. S.]
4. Provincial Synods [Denominations] and Local Congregations.
Missionary festivals, foreign and domestic. Laying of corner stones, and dedica-
tion of new churches, etc. Confirmations, communions, benedictions, solemnization
of marriage, funerals. All these are not, strictly speaking, casuaUa, "but occur in the
ordinary course of religious and congregational life.
5. Churchly Festivals of the Naturcd Seasons.
New Year. Spring festival. Harvest festival. Sylvester, (close of the year,
December 31).
6. Extraordinary Events of Nature and of History (Casualia).
Extraordinary days of humiliation and prayer, during seasons of pestilence,
famine, and war (Comp. above sub No. 3), or of thanksgiving after the return of
peace or some great national deliverance.
7. Pastoralia.
Ordination — , installation — sermons. Litroductory and valedictory sermons.
[Opening sermons at Classical and Synodical meetings, diocesan and general Conven-
tions, Centenary and other commemorative discourses. — P. S.]
8. Homiletical Helps.
1 . Concordances, verbal or real, or both, by Wich- I German.] Greek concordance by H. Bruder : Tafxeiov
mann (1782), Schott (1827), Hauff (1828), Biichner tSiv ttjs Kaivris hiaSii]K't)s xi^euiv. Lips., 1842. [Based
(1776), continued and improved by Hubner (1837 1 upon an older work of Erasmus Schmid ; contains
and often), Bernhard (1850). [All these works are | all the words of the Greek N. T. in alphabetical
§ 3. ECCLESIASTICAL AND ^[ATERIAL HOMILETICS.
J3
order with the passages where they occur ; invalu-
able for reference. — P. S.] Hebrew concorJance by
Jul. Furst : Concordimtim libror. V. T. Lips., 1840.
[Based upon Joh. lluxtorf, and as valuable for the
Hebrew, as BruJcr for the Greek T. — English Con-
cordances : Alex. Cruden : A complete Concordance
to the Holy Scriptures of the 0. and N. I'est.^ first
published in London, 1*731, and often since, both in
England, Scotland and America, in full and in
abridged forms. ' Also : The Englishmaji's Greek
Concordance of the Xew Testament, publ. by S. B;i^'-
ster, London, and rcpubl. by Harper & Br., Ni w
York, 1855, — a useful adaptation of Schmid's Greek
Concordance to the study of the English Bible. — The
Englishniaii's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of
the Old Test., etc., Lond. (Longman, Green, Brown,
and Longmans), 1843, 2 vols., — an equal adaptation
of Buxtorf-Fiirst to the English Bible.— P. S.]
2. Lists of Texts. Schuler : Repertorium bibli-
scher Texte und Idcen f>ir Casual-Predigten itnd
Reden. Halle, 1820. Haupt : Bibl. Casualtcxt-
Lexicon, 1826. [There are a number of English
works of the kind with or without skeletons of ser-
mons ; but I have none within reach, and cannot
now find their titles. — P. S.]
3. 3Ialerials. Homiletical Bible-works and col-
lections of Sermons and Preachers' Manuals. See
the list in Dauz's and Winer's works on theol. Litera-
ture. Collection of Patristic sermons in Germ.,
trnsl. by August! (2 vols., 1830 and 1839). Luther's
Hauspostille and Kirchcnpostille. The older Ger-
man sermons of Scriver, H. Muller, Val. Hcrberger,
Rieger, and the more recent sermons of Reinhart,
Driiseke, Harms, Schleiermacher, Nitzsch, Fr. Strauss
[court chaplain at Berlin, died 1863], Tholuck, Jul.
Milller, G. Dan. and Fr. W. Krumraacher, Ludw. and
Wm. Hofacker [brothers], Kapfi' [of Stutgart], Schen-
kel [of Heidelberg], Beck [of Tubingen], Steiumeyer,
W. Hoffmann [both of Berlin], Sticr, Liebner, van
Oriterzee [of Rotterdam, now of Utrecht], and many
others. — [Tlie best English pulpit orators are Jeremy
Taylor, Rbt. South, Isaac Barrow, Jos. Butler, Tillot-
son, Whitefield, John Wesley, among the older, and
Edward Irving, Melville, Robt. Hall, Chalmers,
Guthrie, Caird, Hare, Trench, Archer Butler,
Spurgeon, among the more recent. Of American
preachers we mention Jonathan Edwards, Sam. Da-
vies, John M. Mason, Bethune, Alexander (father and
two sons) G. Spring, Skinner, Stockton, Durbin,
Wayland, Lyman Beecher, Park, Bushnell, Phelps,
H. Ward Beecher, etc., etc. The French pulpit is
best represented by Bossuet, Bourdaloue, Massnet,
among the Roman Catholics, and Saurin, Adolf Mo-
nod, and Vinet, among the Reformed. — P. S.] *
* [We add a more complete list of distinguished deceased American preachers, selected almost entirely from Dr. W. B.
Sprague's Annals of the American Pvlpit, arranged by denominations and in chronological order. The list is, of course,
very incomplete, and a number of very eloquent and useful men are omitted, because they published nothing, or were
poorly educated. The most eloquent preachers in the list are put in italics; those marked (*) have left behind them
one or more volumes of sermons; those marked (t) have left nothing except in pamphlet form.— P. S.]
Congregational (Trinitarian).
♦Thomas Hooker
Died, 1C47.
♦Benjamin Wadsworth
" 1T37.
♦Benjamin Coleman, D. D.
" 1747.
*Jonathan Edicards
" 1753.
tJohn Ilooker
" 1777.
iSamuel Cooper, D.D
" 17S3.
i Joseph Bellamy, D.D....
" 1790.
tPeterTliatcher, D.D
" 1S02.
♦Charles Backus, D. D
" 1S03.
♦David Tappan, D. D
" 1S03.
♦Nathan Strong, D.D
" 1S16.
* Timothy Dwight, D. D.. .
" 1817.
♦Jesse Appleton, D.D
" 1S19.
tSarauel Spring, D.D
" 1819.
♦Joseph Lathrop, D. D
" 1S20.
♦Samuel Worcester, D. D...
" 1821.
*Da rid Oxdood, D.D.
" 1822.
*Edicard Payaon, D.D...
" 1S27.
•Ebenezer Porter, D.D....
" 1834.
♦Nathaniel Emmons, D. D..
" 1840.
tLconard Woods, D. D
" 1854.
♦Joshua Bates, D.D
" 1854.
*Lyman Beecher, D.D....
" 18G3.
Presbyterian.
♦Jonathan Dickinson
Died, 1747.
" 1757.
" 1701.
*lfithert Ten/nent
" 176J.
3
tSamuel Finley, D. D
♦Jonathan Parsons
*John Witherspoon,D.D...
tSamuelBuell, D.D
iJohn Pl.ur Sinith, D. D...
\Jah:, l:l,ilr Linn, D.D... .
*Sai,iu,l. .St.inhope Smith,
Died, 1-60.
" 1776.
" 1794.
" 1798.
- 1799.
" 1804.
" 1819.
" 1820.
« 1825.
" 1829.
" 1831.
" 1835.
" 1837.
" 1840.
" 1841.
" 184.3.
" 1848.
" 1850.
" 18.51.
" 1851.
" 1854.
" 18.55.
" 1859.
" 1861.
*Jos. Addison Alcs.'mder,
D.D
Episcopalian.
tSamuel Johnson, D.D
♦Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury,
D.D
Diet
Diec
Died
Died
, 1860.
, 1772.
1796.
D.D.,LL.D
* Sylvester Lamed
tRt. Rev. John Henry Ho-
hart D D
1830.
*John B. Romeyn, D.D.. ..
*John Mitchell Mason,
D.D
^Gregory Townsmd Bedell
D.D
*Et. Rev. William White,
D.D
tSamuel Farmar Jarvis,
D.D., LL.D
Baptist.
■*Sa.mnel Stillman, D. D.. . .
* Jonathan Maxcy, D.D....
tRichard Furman, D. D. . . .
tThomas Baldwin, D.D. . ..
^Wi!liamSt.tngMon,D.D.
* William Theophilus
Brantley, D.D
*Wm. Parkinson
1834.
tJohn Holt Kice, D. D
*WilliamNevins,D.D....
*Edicard Dorr GHffin,
D D
1836.
1851.
* Daniel A. aark
iJohn BrecJcenridge, D. D.
*James Pviehards, D. D
*Ashbel Green, D. D
tSamnel Miller, D.D
*Archihald Alexander,
D.D
1807,
1820.
1825.
1826.
1829.
♦Erskine Mason, D.D
*Tchabod Smith Spencer,
D.D
1845.
1848.
185.').
*Philip Lindsley, D. D
*James W. Ale.xander,
D.D
Methodist.
♦Thomas Coke, LL. D
iFrancis Asbury
tNicholas Murray, D. D
1S!R.
34
GENERAL IIOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION.
PASTORAL OR FORMAL HOMILETICS.
Finding of the Subject. — This evidently depends on the above-mentioned ti'adi-
tions of the church year, etc., and on circumstances which cannot be prescribed or
induced from without. Standing betAvecn the Word of God and the special wants
of his congregation, the minister must choose his theme according to his spiritual
perception and peculiar disposition at the time. However obvious in the circum-
stances a text may appear, yet the theme is always a discovery, or rather a gift from
the Lord, a message to the Church, which can only be obtained or understood by
prayer and meditation, by inward labor and spii'itual meditation,
Divisio7i. — The sermon itself is the organic and artistic mifolding of the theme,
showing the living connection between the text and the peculiar wants and circum-
stances of the congregation.
The theme of the discourse constitutes the fundamental idea of the sermon, and,
accordingly, must pervade the whole. It is generally expressed in a short, definite
proposition (which accordingly is frequently called the theme). The theme must
embody both the cause and the obje(!t of the discourse ; «.e., it must have a divine
basis, and at the same time a divine aim, although, in the proposition, either the
cause or the object may be more prominently brought forward. The different parts
of the sermon naturally flow from the theme. It is the object of the introduction to
prepare the audience for the theme. Again, the subject must be presented in a lucid
manner. This is the object of the proposition and of the division. The execution
aims at i:)resenting the theme in all its fulness. Lastly, the subject is summed up and
applied in the conclusion. The general object and benefit of the delivery is, that in
it the living truth is directly communicated to the living soul.
The homily, in the narrower sense (or the familiar expository lecture), differs
from the sermon, in that it follows not so much the logical order of the theme, as
the order of the text, which in this case is generally a larger portion of Scripture.
In the sermon, the main contents of the text are compressed and expressed in the
theme and in its proposition, and afterward systematically expounded in the
various parts of the discourse. The distinction commonly made, of analytical and
*John Suminerfield Died, 1825.
tWilbur Fisk, i). D " 1839.
*II&>iry Bidl&man Bascom,
D.D " 1850.
*Stepheii OHn, D.D., LL.D. " 1S51.
tEliJHh Hedding, D. D " 1852.
* William Capers, D.D.... " 1855.
Dutch Kepokmed.
•Theodore Jacobus Freling-
hnysen Died, 1751.
* William Linn, D.D " 1 SOS.
^Jnlm N. Abeel, D.D " 1812.
iJohn Henry Livingston,
D.D " 1825.
iJbhn Melanchthon Brad-
ford, D.D " 1R26.
tJohn De Witt, D. D " r^'.
tPhilipMilledoIer, D.D.... '• If.W.
t Jacob Brodhcad, D. D " 1855.
German Eefoumed.
tMicliael Schlatter Died, 1700.
*Charles Becljer, D. D " 1818.
* Augustus Eauch, P. D. . . . " 1841.
EVANG. LtJTHEEAN.
tHenry Melchior Miihlen-
berg Died, 17ST.
tJu.stus Henry Christian
irelmuth,D.D " 1883.
tC.irl Rudolph Demme,
D.D " 1863.
Ekpokmd) Pkesbytekian.
tJames McKinney Died, 1804.
* Alexander McLeod, D. D. " 1883.
tGilbertMcMaster, D.D.... " 1854.
Associate Eefoemed.
*Jam(s Gray, D.D. Died, 1824
* Alexander Proudjit, D. D. Died, 1843.
^J. M. Duncan, D. D " 1851.
Unitaeian.
* Jonathan ilaxjhew, D. D.. Died,
*John Clarke, D. D "
*Joseph Stephens Buck-
minster "
*Samuel Cooper Tliacher. . . "
*Abiel Abbott, D.D. (of
Beverly) "
*James Freeman, D. D "
tJohn Thornton Kirkland,
D.D "
* William ElUry Chan-
ning,D.D "
* Henry Ware, Jr., D. D... "
*Francis William. Pitt
Greenwood, D.D "
*W. B. O. Pe.abody, D. D. . . "
1T66.
1798.
1812.
1817.
1S28.
1835.
1842.
1843.
184S.
184T.
§4. PASTORAL OR FORMAL HOMILETICS.
35
synthetical discourses, is apt to mislead. Even the most analytical homily must be
one in its idea and aim, otherwise it degenerates into a mere accidental exposition ;
while the so-called synthetic or systematic sermon also must ever unfold the teaching
of the word, if it is to be a sermon, and not merely a religious address. As inter-
mediate between the homily and the sermon, we may mention those compositions in
Avhich the two elements are combined, homiletic sermons and systematic homi-
lies.
The theme must be expressed in the proposition, briefly, clearly, strikingly, yet
simply and not artificially. According to the text, or the circumstances of the case,
or the state of the audience or of the speaker, it may be expressed either in a posi-
tive sentence, or in the form of a query, x)r of an inscription ; in which latter case it
resembles more closely the ancient homily, or the mental interchange between the
congregation and the preacher.
Uniformity in presenting the subject would indicate a Avant of living interchange
of thought with the people — a kind of dead scholasticism and formalism, unsuited to
the pulpit. The same remark holds true in reference to the division, which must not
be determined simply according to the syntactic arrangement of the sentence, but
flow from the subject by an interchange of thought and feeling between the preacher
and the hearers.
The division of the sermon will therefore vary with our varying aim. Still, it is
always necessary to observe logical order, which may be expressed in the following
rules. The division must, 1, embrace no more than the theme; 2, it must exhaust
the theme ; 3, it must arrange it according to its essential synthetic parts ; 4, it
must express the regular progress of these parts, from the cause to the final object,
from the apx^ to the tc'Aos.
Execution. — The same rules are here to be observed. The subject must be
properly grouped, without, however, allowing this arrangement to appear too promi-
nently. So far as style is concerned it behoves us to remember that ours is sacred
oratory, and that the effects aimed at are spiritual m their nature. Accordingly, we
must equally avoid the extreme of vulgar familiarity, and that of philosophic pom-
posity or of flowery poetry.
Delivery. — Here also art comes into play. The delivery of the discourse, in
reference botli to what is heard and what is seen (declamation and action), must not
be rude nor unstudied. On the otlier hand, it must be free from extravagance or
aflfectation. It must be natural, in the sense of corresponding to and expressing the
subject treated, and yet distinctive, according to the individuality of the preacher,
always bearing in mind that he is but the minister of the Avord.
Literature.* — The principal writers on Practi-
cal Theologii are Baxter, Burk, Schwarz, Kijster,
Marheineke, HufTell, Harms, Gaiipp, Nitzsch, Scblei-
ermacher, Moll, Ebrard. The chief works on Homi-
letics are those of Schott [translated in part by Dr.
Park in earlier vols, of the Bibliotheca Sacra. —
P. S.], Theremin [trsl. by Dr. Shedd.— P. S.],
Stier, Alex. Schweizer, Palmer, Baur, Vinet [trsl.
by Dr. Skinner.— P. S.]. On the History of Pulpit
Eloquence^! we refer to the works of Schuler, Amnion,
Schmidt, Panicl, and Lentz, also Beyer : Das Wesen
per christl. Prcdir/t, 1861, and Kirsch : Die j^opn-
larc Predicft, 1861. [Comp. Henry C. Fish: His-
tory aiid llcposltory of Pulpit Eloquence (a collec-
tion of the masterpieces of the greatest preachers
of different ages and denominations, w'ith biographi-
cal sketches, and a masterly introductory essay by Dr.
Park, of Andover), New York, 1857, 3 vols. — P. S.]
[Omitted in the Edinb. trsl— P. B.]
36
nOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
FOURTH SECTION.
HOMILETICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT.
The rules wliich we have already given apply specially to the homiletical treat-
ment of the New Testament, It may be considered a mark of progress, that in our
days, more than in the ancient Church, the New Testament is chosen as the subject
of exposition ; although, on the other hand, Socinian and Rationalistic views may
have led to a depreciation of the Old Testament. In opposition to any such ten-
dency, it is suiBcient to remark, that the Apostles themselves based their teaching
upon the Old Testament, and that the saying of Paul, in 2 Tim. iii. 16, applies to air
times. Deeper and more spiritual views of the New Testament as the fulfilment of
the Old, and that of all jsrophecies of creation and of ancient history, -^all lead us, in
expounding the New Testament, ever to refer to the Old, and thus to enrich and
explain, to enlarge and to quicken, our addresses. The point to be always kept in
mind is this, that in Christ alone is all fulness.
Literature.* — 1. Homiletical and Practical
Commentaries on the New Tcstameoit. C. H. Rie-
ger : Betrachtungen iiber das iV. T. zum Wachs-
thum in der Gnade und JErkenntniss Jesu Christi.
Tubingen, 1828, 2 vols. Heubner: Prahtische Er-
klarung des iV. T. Potsdam, 1860, sqq. Besser :
Bibclstunden. Halle, 1854, sqq. Mad. Guyon :
La Ste. Bible, avec des explications. Amsterd.,
lYlB-'lS, 20 vols. Also the commentaries of Ben-
gel, Bogatzky, Gossner. [The best English commen-
tators for homiletical and practical use are Henry,
Scott, Gill, Doddridge, Burkitt, Barnes (Hodge on
the Romans). Comp. also David Brown and
others : A Commentary, Critical, Experimental,
arid Practical, on the Old and New Testaments.
Glasgow and London, 1863 sqq. — P. S.]
2. Expositions of the Pericopes, or Gospels and
Epistles for the year. A large number of German
sermon books of Herberger, Rambach, Harms,
Stier, the two Hofackers, Kapff, Hirscher (R. Cath.),
Lisco, etc.
♦ [Omitted in the Edinb. trsl.— P. S.]
APPENDIX.
37
APPENDIX. — Table of the Ancient Scripture Lessons, or Gospels and Epistles for the
Sundays of the Year.*
The Gospels.
1. Advent Matt. xxi. 1-9.
2. " Luke xxi. 25-36.
3. " M.att. xi. 2-10.
4. " John i. 19-28.
1. Christmas Luke ii. 1-U.
The Epistles.
Rom. xiii. 11-14.
Rom. XV. 4-13.
1 Cor. iv. 1-5.
Phil. iv. 4-7.
Tit. ii. 11-14.
(Isa. ix. 2-7.)
2. " Luke ii. 15-40. Tit. iii. 4-7.
(St. Btephen'8 Day) Matt, xxiii 34-39. Acts vi. 8-vii. 2.
3. Christmas John 1. 1-14. Ilebr. i. 1-12.
(St. John's Day).. . John xxi. 20-24. 1 John i.
Sunday after
Christmas Luke ii. 33-40. Gal. iv. 1-7.
New Ye.ir's Day ;
Circumcision.... Luke ii. 21. Gal. iii. 23-29.
Sunday after New
Year. Matt. ii. 13-23. 1 Pet. iv. 12-19.
Epiphany Matt. ii. 1-12. Isa. Ix. 1-6.
1. Sunday after
Epiphany Luke ii. 41-52. Rom. xii. 1-6.
2. Sunday after
Epiphany John ii. 1-11. Rom. xii. 7-16,
3. Sunday after
Epiphany Matt. vui. 1-13. Rom. xii. 17-21.
4. Sunday after
Epiphany Matt. viii. 23-27. Rom. xiii. 8-10.
5. Sunday after
Epiphany Matt. xiii. 24-30. Col. iii. 12-17.
6. Sunday after
Epiphany Matt. xvii. 1-9. 2 Pet. i. 16-21.
Septuagesima Matt. xx. 1-16. 1 Cor. ix. 24-x 5.
Sexagesima Luke viii. 4-15. 2 Cor. xi. 19-xii. 9.
Estomihi t Luke xviii. 31-43. 1 Cor. xiii.
Invocavit Matt. iv. 1-11. 2 Cor. vi. 1-10.
Reminiscere Matt. xv. 21-28. 1 Thess. iv. 1-7.
OcuU Luke xi. 14-28. Eph. v. 1-9.
LsBtare John vi. 1-15. Gal. iv. 21-31.
Judica John viii. 46-59. Hebr. ix. 11-15.
Palm Sunday Matt. xxi. 1-9. Phil. ii. 5-11.
MoundayThursd'y John xiii. 1-15. 1 Cor. xi. 23-32.
Good Friday Histoiy of the Pas- Isa. liii.
sion.
I.Easter Markxvi.1-8. 1 Cor. v. 6-8.
2. " Luke xxiv. 13-35. Acts x. 34-11.
3. " Luke xxiv. 36-47. Acts xiii. 26-33 .
1. Sunday after
Easter (Quasi-
modog.) John sx. 19-31. 1 John v. 4-10.
2. Sunday after
Easter (Miser.
Dom.) John x. 12-16. 1 Pet. ii. 21-25.
3. Sunday after
Easter (Jubilate) John xvi. 16-23. 1 Pet. ii. 11-20.
4. Sunday after
Easter (Cantatc) John xvi. 5-15. James i. 16-21.
5. Sunday after
Easter (Rogate). John xvi. 23-30. James i. 22-27.
Ascension Day .. . . Mark xvi. 14-20. Acts i. 1-11.
6. Sunday after
Easter (Exaudi). John xv. 26-xvi. 4. 1 Pet. iv. 8-11.
The Gospels. The Epistles.
1. Pentecost John xiv. 23-31. Acts ii. 1-13.
2. " John iii. 16-21. Acts x. 42-46.
3- " John X. 1-11. Acts viii. 14-17.
Trinity Sunday. . .. John iii. 1-15. Rom. xi. 33-36.
1. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xvi. 19-31. IJohn iv. 16-21.
2. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xiv. 16-24. 1 John iii. 13-18.
3. Sunday .after
Trinity Luke xv. 1-10. 1 Pet. v. 6-11.
4. Sunday after
Trinity Luke vi. 36-42. Rom. viii. 18-^.
5. Sunday after
Trinity Luke v. 1-lL 1 Pet. iii. 8-15.
6. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. v. 20-26. Rom. vi. 3-11.
7. Sunday after
Trinity Mark viii. 1-9. Eom. vi. 19-23.
8. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. vii. 15-23. Rom. viii. 12-17,
9. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xvi. 1-9. 1 Cor. x. 6-13. .
10. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xix. 41-48. 1 Cor. xii. 1-11.
11. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xviii. 9-14. 1 Cor. x v. 1-10.
12. Sunday after
Trinity Mark vii. 31-37. 2 Cor. iii. 4-11.
13. Sunday after
Trinity Luke x. 23-37. Gal. iii. 15-22.
14. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xvii. 11-19. Gal. v. 16-24
15. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. vi. 24-34. Gal. v. 25-vi 10.
16. Sunday after
Trinity Luke vii. 11-17. Eph. iii. 13-2L
17. Sunday after
Trinity Luke xiv. 1-11. Eph. iv. 1-6.
18. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxii. 34-46. 1 Cor. i. 4-9.
19. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. ix. 1-8. Eph. iv. 22-28.
20. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxii. 1-14. Eph. v. 15-21.
21. Sunday after
Trinity John iv. 47-54. Eph. vi. 10-17.
22. Sunday after
Trinity Matt, xviii. 23-35. Phil. i. 3-11.
23. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxii. 15-22. Phil. iii. 17-21.
24. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. ix. 18-26. Col. i. 9-14.
25. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxiv. 15-28. 1 Thess. iv. 13-18.
26. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxv. 31-46. 2 Pet. iii. 3-14.
27. Sunday after
Trinity Matt. xxv. 1-13. 1 Thess. v. 1-11.
* [This Table is likewise omitted in the Edb. trsl. But as it belongs to the homiletical character of this Commen-
tary and is frequently referred to in the Homiletical sections, we have retained it witli the exception of the Apostles'
Days, and Days of the Virgin Mary, which are very rarelv observed among Protestants. The old series of Gospels and
Epistles is essentially the s.ame in the Rom. Cath., Luth., Episcop., and Germ. Reform. Churches with a few variations.
Compare the Tables in the Episc. Common Prayer Book, in the Germ. Ref Liturgy of 1857, pp. 30-33, and in many
Lutheran and Reformed Liturgies .-md Hymn Books.— P. S.]
t [This and the following Latin titles are the initial words of the introductory Latin Psalms appointed for these
several Sundays in the Latin Church.— P. S.]
1
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW;
OE,
THE GOSPEL OF THEOOEATIO HISTOEY,
{SYMBOLIZED BY THE SACRIFICIAL BULLOCK.)
INTRODUCTION.
§1. DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIRST GOSPEL.
The genealogy at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew is of the greatest importance.
The first Gospel connects the New Testament most intimately with the Old, not by an index
of the writings of the Old Testament, but by the Old Testament genealogy of Jesus. This
serves as evndence of the indissoluble connection between the Old and the New Testament,
which continued in the secret recesses of Jewish life even during tlie age of the Apocrypha.
It expresses at the same time the important truth, that God's revelation was carried on not
only by the spoken and written word, but also, and chiefly, in and by the seed of Abraham,
through a succession of living men, until it reached its climax in the personal incarnation, in
Christ.
In the Gospel by Matthew, the life of Jesus is presented as forming part of the history and
life of the Jewish nation ; and hence as the fulfilment of the hereditary blessing of Abraham.
Jesus is here set before us as the new-born King of the Jews, as the promised Messiah, and the
aim and goal of every progressive stage of tlie Theocracy. He is the great Antitype of Old
Testament history, in whom everything has been fulfilled — the types in the law, in worship, in
historical events, and in gracious interpositions — in short, the fulfilment of the Theocracy. In
and with Him the Old Covenant is transformed into the New, the Theocracy into the kingdom
of heaven, the demands of the law into the beatitudes, Sinai into the Mount of Beatitudes, the
prophetic into the teaching office, the priesthood into redemption by suffering, and the kingship
into the triumph of almighty grace, restoring, helping, and delivering a fallen world.
But as Christ formed both the central truth and the crown of the entire history of the Old
Covenant, Ilis life, and the perfect revelation of God in Him, were necessarily opposed to the
carnal and spurious form which Judaism had assumed in that age, or the historical traditional-
ism of the Scribes. This claimed to expound the full import of the law of Moses, and assumed
the appearance of strictest conformity to its requirements, but, in point of fact, it perverted the
Old Testament into a series of outward ordinances, utterly destructive of the spirit of the law,
and which from their very nature evoked scepticism on the one hand, and false spiritualism on
the other, while they necessarily led to the decay of national life. The truth of this statement
40 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
appears but too clearly from the connection of the Judaism of the Pharisees and Scribes with
the scepticism of tlie Sadducecs, the false spiritualism of the Essenes, and the semi-heathen and
semi-Jewish rule of Herod the Iduma3an. This essential antagonism between true and false
Judaism accounts for the persecution and the sufterings of the Christ of God. In truth, His
life was a continuous conflict between the real and the spurious King of Israel, between the
true Prophet and the spurious claims of the Scribes and Pharisees, between the true High
Priest and a carnal priesthood. This contest issued in Ilis deatli upon the cross.
Hence Christ is at the same time the heir of the blessing and the heir of the curse, which
descended upon Him through the successive ages of history. Viewed in Himself, as the Son
of God and the Son of Man, He is the great Heir of the blessing of Abraham, and of humanity
in general ; for from the first the human family was elected and blessed in Him. On the other
hand, in His history, — i. e., through the connection subsisting between His sinless divine-human
Person and His guilty and sin-laden brethren, — the curse due, in the first place, to His people
Israel, and in the next, to all mankind, is seen to descend and to meet upon Him. But by His
world-conquering love, tlie curse of the cross became in turn the greatest of blessings, even the
reconciliation of the world. The glorious fact, that by the death of Christ the reconciliation
of the world had been accomplished, became immediately manifest in His resurrection. Hence
He who, in the execution of His mission, was subject to every human condition and limitation,
— who, during His earthly course, was despised and rejected of men, and in His death bore the
concentrated weight of every curse. He, the image of God from heaven, for His great love cast
downi to hell by His blinded people, appears in His resurrection as the glorious and sovereign
Lord and King, to whom all power is given in heaven and upon earth, and who gathers His
elect from every nation and kindred.
The history of Jesus, as delineated by Matthew, is at the same time the fulfilment and the
transformation of all history. If that Evangelist has given us chiefly the History of the gospel,
he has also furnished the Gospel of history.
As here presented to our view, the Saviour not only sounds the depths of every sorrow, but
also transforms it. It is this transformation of sorrow which constitutes the Priesthood of the
Spirit. For, by His unconditional self-surrender, prompted by unspeakable love, the sacrificial
Lamb became the eternal High Priest. The covenant blessing which Jesus had inherited as
the Son of Abraham now opened up in all its fulness, and appeared as the fulfilment and the
climax of every blessing hitherto vouchsafed to our earth. The Hngdotn of heaven — the eter-
nal Canaan — was no longer confined to one spot, but all, of whatever nation or kindred, who
were poor in spirit, and thus the true seed of Abraham, were to be admitted citizens of this
spiritual and heavenly country.
From its prevailing historical character, the Gospel of Matthew may be regarded as forming
the basis of all the others. It dwells chiefly on the great facts of the life of Jesus as foretold
and foreshadowed in the Old Testament ; while Mark sketches His individual personality, Luke
presents Him in His mercy to humanity at large, and John, in his symbolical, divinely ideal
Gospel, opens to our view the fulness of grace and of truth which came by Jesus Christ.
In its typological view and exposition of the Old Testament, the Gospel according to Mat-
thew strongly resembles the Epistle to the Hebrews.
§2. MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST.
From his peculiar genius, his training, and his apostolical calling, Matthew Levi, the publi-
can and Apostle, was peculiarly fitted for the task of writing this Gospel. In truth, his Gospel
is just the embodiment of the faith and blissful joy which sprung up in his own heart from a
view of the Lord and a survey of His history. What he saw and beheved, he presents to his
readers.
Before his conversion, Matthew was employed in collecting toll and custom by the Lake of
Gennesaret (Matt. ix. 9 sq.). He is the same with " Levi, son of Alpheus," whom, according
to Luke V. 27, 29 ; Mark ii. 14, the Lord called from the receipt of custom. For the special
COMrOSITION OF THIS GOSPEL. 41
calls of Christ in the Gospels refer always to the apostolic office, and besides this, only one of
the Apostles — Matthew — had formerly been a publican. The change of name cannot be re-
garded as an objection, as several of the Apostles adopted a new name expressive of their
altered views or calling. His old name, Lex^i (for Levite, I'lb), might either express the idea
of Jewish legalism, or, from its etymology (i^V), attachment and dependence. The name Mat-
theic, which he adopted, is not identical with Matthias (n^nTQ, efciScopos or GeoSoroj). The dif-
ferent formation of the word points to a different derivation. Besides, another of the disciples
bore the name of Xathanael^ or " gifc of God." The word ip^a signifies full extension or growth
— in concreto, like n^ one who is fully grown, a man, a hero : add to this the word Jah, and
the name might be interpreted as meaning " God's free man," in opposition to Levi, the servant
of the law. Such at least was Matthew, whatever may be deemed the right interpretation of
his name.*
The great and gracious calling of Matthew from the receipt of custom to the apostolic office
took place at a time when many publicans and sinners (or excommunicated persons) were
awakened by the word of the Lord. Even before that, however, Matthew had been an
"Israelite indeed," familiar and imbued with the spirit of the Old Testament. The circum-
stance that, although deeply attached to the religion of his fathers, he adopted an occupation
against which such strong prejudices were entertained, would seem to indicate that, to some
extent at least, he could distinguish between the true essence of Judaism and its outward forms
and traditional prejudices. In his conversion, this distinction was fully impressed on his mind.
Internal and external Judaism, spiritual and outward tradition, the fulfilment of genuine hope
in Christ, and its perversion in the carnal expectations of the Jews, — such are the fundamental
ideas of his Gospel, and set before his readers in that orderly, rubrical, business-like manner,
to which he had been trained in the school of his former employment as a publican. Thia
methodical arrangement of the subject, an aptitude for descrying and presenting any grand
contrast in a striking manner, to which must be added a peculiar breadth of mind, formed the
mental qualifications of our Evangelist for his work, which were still further developed in the
school of grace.
The New Testament furnishes no details of his later activity as an Apostle. According to
Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. iii. 24), Matthew proclaimed the Gospel first to the Hebrews, and then
went to other nations, after having " committed his Gospel to writing in his native language "
(the Hebrew). Later historians report. that he had gone to Ethiopia (to Meroe), and there
preached the Gospel (Socrates, Hist. Eccles. i. 19; Rufinus x. 9). According to the earlier
statement of Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iv.), he died a natural death : later writers speak
of his martyrdom! (Mart. Rom. 21 Sept. Abdiso Hist. Ap. 7). Isidore of Seville represents him
as laboring in Macedonia, Symeon Metaphrastes in Upper Syria, Ambrosius in Persia, and
others in different places. But we attach no historical value to any of these notices, except
those of Clement and Eusebius. According to an ancient tradition, Matthew remained in Jeru-
salem for fifteen years after the ascension of the Lord (Clement Alex. Strom, vi.).
Matthew and John alone have the honor of being at the same time Apostles and Evange-
lists. As Evangelist, our publican stands first in order, and opens the message of salvation,
even as Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner, was the first to bring tidings of the resurrec-
tion.
§3. COMPOSITION OF THIS GOSPEL.
1. As to the original language of the first Gospel, the most ancient and trustworthy wit-
nesses record that Matthew wrote it in Hebrew. The testimonies to this eff"ect commence with
that of Papias of Hierapolis, at the beginning of the second century, who evidently refers to
the written Gospel by Matthew (see Euseb. H. E. iii. 39). His statement is confirmed by
* For other derivations of tho name, see "Winer's £i7>l. Real-Wbrterbuch.
+ The legend runs, that one of the attendants of Ilirtacus, king of Ethiopia, murdered Matthew, by piercing him
through the bacli while at prayer. The revenge of the king was prompted by the conversion of ^Egyppus, his predecessor
on the throne, who, with his whole family, had adopted Christianity in consequence of the preaching of Matthew.
42 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
almost all the older Fathers, such as Irensous, Origeu, Eusebius, Jerome, and Eplphanius. On
the other hand, however, an independent examination of our present Greek Gospel by Mat-
thew, and especially of the independent form of his quotations from the Old Testament as com-
pared with the Heptuagint, leaves the impression of an original work, whether it was wiitten
by Matthew himself, or by some other person clothed witli apostolic authority. Papias relates
that this Gosi)el was repeatedly interpreted, and the ajjostolic Church undoubtedly retained its
most trustworthy rendering. This translation was preserved in its purity, and obtained canon-
ical authority; while the Hebrew original was afterwards corrupted and interpolated by the
Jewish-Christian sects, and in this heretical form called the Gospel of the Ilelrew)'^ which lost
or rather never enjoyed canonical authority. The wliole tenor of the first Gospel proves, that
it was originally destined for Jewish Christians. Matthew evidently assumes that his readers
are conversant with the Old Testament, with the sacred writings, and with Palestine and its
manners. If this view be correct, we also gather how different the tenets of the early Jewish
Christians were from those of the later Ebionites. Christians who could appreciate his narra-
tive -would not afterwards confound the Gospel with legal and ceremonial traditionalism.
The genuineness of the first two chapters of this Gospel has been doubted, but without any
good reason. We might as well separate the head from the body as call in question the chap-
ters, which form the basis of the whole Gospel. Such doubts belong to a period, happily gone
by, when commentators and critics had not the most remote conception of the fundamental
ideas and the organic connection of the various Gospels.
2. Time of Composition. — From such passages as chaps, xxvii. 8, and xxviii. 15, we infer
that this Gospel was composed a considerable time after the resurrection of Christ. Again, we
may conjecture from chap. xxiv. 15, that it was written when the temple of Jerusalem was
already, in a certain sense, desecrated by the " abomination of desolation." Of course it must
date from before the destruction of Jerusalem, although that event was already foreshadowing.
Hence we may date the Gospel of Matthew from the year 67 to 69.
3. Authenticity. — For the many testimonies in favor of the authenticity of this Gospel, we
refer the reader to the various Introductions^ especially to Kirchhofer's Collection of Sources
(Quellensarnmlunf/) for the History of the New Testament Canon (Zur., 1842). Papias already
knew this Gospel, the expression recorded by Eusebius (H. E. iii. 39) manifestly referring to a
Gospel,— the word Aoyta applying to the entire evangelical tradition of Matthew, and not
merely to a collection of sayings, as appears from the similar statement about Mark. The
Diatessaron of Tatian, which dates from the middle of the second century, shows that at that
time all the four Gospels had already been recognized by the Church; and it must be remem-
bered that Tatian was a disciple of Justin, and that the Memorabilia {aTroixv-qixovevjiaTa) point
back to an earlier period. In the second half of the second century, the founder of the Cate-
chetical School at Alexandria met with the Gospel of Matthew among the Arabs (Euseb. v. 10).
The testimony of Irenaius (adversus hseres. iii. 1) dates from about the same period ; after
which we have the testimonies of Origen, Eusebius, Ei)iphanius, Jerome, and others.
4. Title. — As in the inscription to all the other Gospels, so in this also, the expression,
According to Matthew {Kara MarSntoi/), calls attention to the important fact, that, notwithstand-
ing the human diversity appearing in the Gospels, they form but one Divine message of salva-
tion.
§4. THEOLOGICAL AND HOMILETICAL TREATMENT OF THIS GOSPEL.*
"We confine ourselves here to the special works on Matthew, having already noticed the
general commentaries on the New Testament.
Among the older monographs on Matthew we mention Melanchthon : Breves Commentarii
in Matthaum, Strasb., 1523; CEcolampadius : Enarrationes in Evang. Matthcei, Baa., 1586;
and similar works of Wolfg. Musoulus, Oleakius, &c. Modern commentators of Matthew, in
full or in part, are : Geiesbach ; Wizenmann {The History of Jesus according to Matth.) ; Men-
* [This whole sectiou is omitted in the Edinb. edition.— P. S.]
§5. ITS FUNDAMENTAL IDEA AND ORG^VNISM. 43
KEN (Meditations on the Gospel of M., 2 vols., Frankf., 1809 ; Bremen, 1822, — homiletical and
practical) ; Haenack (Jesus the Christ, or the Fuljillcr of the Law, a bibl. thool. Essay on the
basis of the Gospel of Matth,, Elberf., 1842); Tiioluok [Commentary on the Sermon on the
' Mount, Matt, v.-vii., Hamburg, 1833, 3d ed., 1845 ; translated into English by R. L. Beown,
Edinb., 1860 ; it is regarded as the most elaborate and valuable exegetical work of Dr. Tho-
luck, — P. S.] ; Kling (The Sermon on the Mount, Marburg, 1841) ; [Fr. Arndt, of Berlin, Ser-
mons on the Sermon on the Mount, Magdeb., 1889, 2 vols. — P. S. ;] Lisoo [and especially TrenohJ
on the Parables, and on the Miracles of Jesus (several editions) ; Stier (in the Reden Jesu)
[Words of Jesus, vols. i. and ii., German and English]; Hkubner (Practical Com., vol. i. : IVic
Gospel of Matth., Potsdam, 1855) ; and the Roman Catholic divines: Arnoldi (The Gospel of
Matth., Treves, 1856); Sohegg (Munich, 1856); and Bcoher (Schaffhausen, 1855). Comp.
also the critical essays of Harless: Pe compositione Evang. quod Matthceo trihuitur (Erlangen,
1842), and Delitzsoh : On the Origin and Plan of Matth. (Leipz., 1853); also the exegetical
monograph of Dorner: De oratione Christi eschatologica, Stuttg., 1844 [on !Matt. xxiv.].
For fuller lists of older writers on Matthew, see Heidegger: EnchiiHdion Mlllcum, p. 464; Waloh, BiUioth. theol.,
p. 468 ; Danz : UniversalwarterlucJi der theol. Literatur, p. 636-'46, and the Supplement, p. 73 and 73 ; Winek : Eand-
buch der theol. Lit., i., p. 245 sqq.. Supplement, p. 33 ; and Schmidt : Biblioth. theol. (Ilalle, 1S55), p. 86.
[American works on Matthe"^. — ^Jos. Addison Alexander (0. S, Presbyt.) : The Gospel ac-
cording to MattheiD (New York, 1861). The last work of the author, completed only to the close
of chapter xvi. ; with a short analysis of the remaining chapters which he finished a few days
before his death. William Nast (educated in the university of Tiibingen, minister of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and editor of a German religious periodical in Cincinnati) : Krl-
tisch-PraTctischer Commentar ilher das K T., vol. i. on Matthew (Cincinnati, 1860). It is now
being translated into English under the supervision of the author. D. D. TVhedon (Method.
Episc.) : A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and MarTc, for popular use (New York,
1861). T. J. CoNANT (Baptist) : The Gospel J^y Matthew. The Common English Version and the
Received Greek Text; with a Revised Version and Critical and Philological Notes ; prepared
for the Amer. Bible Union (New York, 1860). Oomp. also the popular Commentaries on the
Gospels by A. Barnes (N. S. Presbyt.), Prof. Owen (N. S. Presbyt.) and Prof. Jacobus (0. S.
Presbyt.), and Robinson's and Strong's Harmonies. — P. S.]
§ 5. FUNDAMENTAL IDEA AND ORGANISM OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Jesus, the offspring of David, is the fulfilment of the Old Covenant. His doctrine and His
life embody the essence and the spirit of the Old Testament Theocracy — Judaism is its funda-
mental idea and import, — thus proving that He was the promised Christ of God. But, on this
very ground, His history presents a continual antagonism with the spurious and degenerate
Judaism, represented by the hierarchy of His age. In this conflict, while outwardly succumb-
ing, He achieves that triumph by which His eternal kingdom is established. lie dies, — but as
the great atoning sacrifice by which the world is reconciled to God ; and this reconciliation
constitutes the basis of His kingdom.
Viewed in this light, the Gospel of Matthew presents to us the fulfilment of the Old Cove-
nant. It is the Gospel of the law, of the priesthood, of the genealogies, of history, of suffer-
ings, and of death, — in a word, the Gospel of the promised and accomplished atonement, of the
predicted and achieved triumph.
As fulfilling the Old Covenant, Jesus Christ transforms the typical Theocracy into the ever-
lasting kingdom of heaven ; and that in His capacity as eternal Prophet, High Priest, and King.,
— i. e., as the true Christ.
Part First.
Jesus comes into this world, as the true theocratic Messiah, to fulfil the Old Covenant. He
remains unknown to, and unrecognized by, the outward and worldly Theocracy of His day ;
44 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
yea, lie was rejected and cast out. Hence He is destined to undertake His Messianic pilgrimage
in obscurity and humility; but He is glorified and attested by God.
1st Section. — Prophetic types of the Messiah in the genealogy of the Messiah (Ch. i. 1-17).
2d Section. — Jesus, as miraculously conceived by Ilis mother in faith, or in the mystery of His
incarnation, is not recognized even by the legitimate representative of the house of David
(Joseph), till attested by an angel from heaven (Vers. 18-25).
Zd Section.— On His appearance upon earth. He is rejected, despised, and pertocuted by the
theocratic city, the theocratic priesthood, and royalty; but owned by God in sign., from
heaven, in the adoration of wise men from the heathen world, in His miraculous and Divine
preservation, effected by the flight into Egypt, and by His concealment during His youth iu
the obscurity of Galilee (Ch. ii.),
Aith Section. — On entering upon His public ministry, Jesus remained still unknown, even to
those who had humbled themselves and professed penitence in Israel. In the baptism unto
repentance He receives His solemn consecration unto the death which He was to accom-
plish, while at the same time He is owned and glorified by the Father as His beloved Son, —
the whole blessed Trinity shedding its lustre around Him, and His advent being announced
by His special messenger, John (Ch. iii.).
bth Section. — Jesus renouncing the world, and commencing His conquest of it. While prepar-
ing for the public discharge of His office, He has to encounter the threefold temptation of
Satan, corresponding to the threefold form in which a worldly minded people had shaped
to themselves their hopes of the Messiah. Thus Jesus is constrained to conceal His dignity
from the people, and to commence His work in the despised district of Galilee. But God
glorifies Him in the homage paid to Him by His disciples and the people (Ch. iv.).
Part Second,
Christ manifests Himself as the true Messiah in His continual conflict with the spurious
notions entertained by the Jews concerning the Messiah, and proves Himself the promised
Prophet, King, and High Priest.
Ist Section. — Christ manifests Himself as the Prophet :
a. As Teacher of the kingdom of heaven, in the Sermon on the Mount (Ch. v. to vii.).
K As Wonder-worker of the kingdom of heaven, attesting and confirming His word
(Ch. viii. and ix.).
2d Section. — Christ manifests Himself as the King :
a. As Shepherd of His people, in sending to the scattered sheep His twelve Apostles, en-
dowed with the power of His Spirit, for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of
heaven (Ch. x.).
b. By bringing out clearly the fact that He has not been owned as Prophet, and by mani-
festing His royal dignity (Ch, ix.).
c. By proving Himself Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of the people, Conqueror of the king-
dom of Satan, the future Judge of His foes, and the Founder of the kingdom of love,
or of the family of the saints (Ch. xii.).
d. By presenting in parables the foundation and the development of His kingdom
through all its phases, from its commencement to its termination (Ch. xiii. 1-51).
Zd Section. — Christ manifests Himself as the High Priest in His sufferings; — being rejected,
a. By His own city, Nazareth (Ch. xiii. 52-58).
T). By the political despotism of Herod, the ruler of Galilee (Ch, xiv.).
c. By the Scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem, or the theological authorities of the
schools (Ch. XV.).
d. By the Pharisees and Sadducees, or the theocratical authorities of the whole coun-
try (Ch, xvi. 1-12).
5. ITS FUNDAMENTAL IDEA AND ORGANISM. 45
Part Third.
Christ presents the future picture of the kingdom of heaven, in (i])])()sitiou to the traditional
form of the ancient workl and Theocracy.
1st Section. — The Church in its prophetic character, as confessing Clirist the Sou of God, in
opposition to the legal opinions concerning Him entertained by the synagogue :
a. The Church as confessing Clirist (Ch. xvi. 18-20).
h. The Church as bearing the cross of Christ, in contrast to that worldly fear of the
cross by which He is tempted (Vers. 21-28).
c. The Church as a spiritual communion, in opposition to the solitary tents of spurious
separation from the world as exhibited in the history of anchoretism and monasticism
(Ch. xvii. 1-8).
d. The Church as wholly unknown and hidden (Vers. 9-13).
e. The Church as wonder-working by the spiritual power of prayer and fasting (Vers.
14-21).
/. The Church in its human weakness (Vers. 22, 23).
g. The Church as free, and yet voluntarily subject, and paying tribute to the old temple
(Vers. 24-27).
2(? Section. — The priestly order in the Church of Christ :
a. The hierarchy of the service of love (Ch. xviii. 1-14).
h. The discipline of the Church (Vers. 15-20).
c. Absolution in the Church (Vers. 21-35).
3(Z Section. — The priestly family in the Church :
a. Marriage in the Church (Ch. xix. 1-12).
I. Children in the Church (Vers. 13-15).
c. Property in the Church (Vers. 16-23).
4^A Section. — Future Tcingly manifestation of the Church :
a. Glorious reward of the Apostles, and of all who renounce the world (Vers. 27-30).
I. Keward by free grace (Ch. xx. 1-16).
Part Fourth.
Christ surrendering Himself to the Messianic faith of His people.
1st Section. — Full prophetic anticipation of the end (Oh. xx. 17-19).
2<Z Section. — Places at the right and the left of His throne, and of His priestly cross (Vers.
20-28).
Zd Section. — The courtly pride which would prevent those who are poor and needy from com-
ing to the Lord, and manifestation of Christ as King of mercy (Vers. 29-33).
4i/i Section. — Prophetic Hosanna of the people, and amazement of Jerusalem (Ch. xxi. 1-11).
5th Section. — Purification of the temple ; residence of the King in His temple.
a. The house of prayer and of mercy, in opposition to the den of thieves (Vers. 12-14).
I. The children in the temple, and the high priests and Scribes (Vers. 15, 16).
c. The barren fig tree covered with foliage, but without fruit, on the Temple Mount.
Symbolical curse of the priesthood (Vers. 17-22).
6fA Section. — Assaults of the outward Theocracy on the King in His temple:
a. Assault of the high priests and elders, and triumph of the Lord (Ch. xxi. 23-xxii. 14).
5. Assault of the Herodians, or of the political party, and triumph of the Lord (Vers.
15-22).
c. Assault of the Sadducees, and triumph of the Lord (Vers. 23-33).
d. Assault of the Pharisees, and triumph of the Lord (Vers. 34-46).
1th Section. — Final judgment of Christ upon the Pharisees and Scribes. Christ of His own
accord leaves the temple (Ch. xxiii. to xxiv. 1).
46 TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Part FijXh.
Ym.a\ and fullest manifestation of Christ as tho Prophet ; or, discourses of the Lord con-
cerning the " last things."
1st Section. — The general judgment; or, the end of Jerusaletn and that of the world (Oh. xxiv.
2-41).
2(Z Section. — Judgment on the rulers of the Church (Vers. 42-51).
Zd Section. — Judgment upon the Church itself (Ch. xxv. 1-13).
4:th Section. — The final judgment as retribution (Vers. 14r-30).
hth Section. — The final judgment as separation (Vers. 31-41).
Part Sixth,
Final and fullest manifestation of Jesus as the High Priest in His sufferings.
1st Section. — Certitude of the Lord, and incertitude of His enemies (Ch. xxvi. 1-3).
2fZ Section. — The anointing to the burial; or, the loving woman and the traitor (Vers. 4-16).
Sd Section.— The Passover and the Eucharist (Vers. 17-29).
4:th Section. — Promises of the disciples and Christ in Gethsemane (Vers. 30-46).
5th Section.— The traitor, the defender, and the disciples generally (Vers. 47-56).
mh Scctiou.—Ca\ai>has (Vers. 57-68).
7th Section.— Feter (Vers. 69-75).
8th Section. — Judas and the high priests (Ch. xxvii. 1-10).
^th Section. — Pilate, the Jews, and the band of soldiers (Vers. 11-31).
IQth Section.— Go\goih2. (Vers. 32-56).
11th Section. — The burial and the sealing of the tomb (Vers. 57-66).
Part Seventh.
Christ in His full hingly glory (Ch. xxviii.).
1st Section. — The angel from heaven (Vers. 1-8).
2d Section. — The Lord, and the women worshipping Him (Vers. 9, 10).
M Section. — Judaism and its saying; or, impotent end of the old world (Vers. 11-15).
A:th Section. — Almighty rule of Christ, and His kingdom in lieaven and on earth (Vers. 16-20).
aVo^e.— The view lately broached by Delitzsch (in the Essay: Neue Untersuchungen uber Entstehwig der kanoni-
sehen Evangelien, Part I., Leipz., 1S53), on the connection between the Gospel of Matthew and the Pentateuch, is ex-
ceedingly ingenious, although somewhat strained. Delitzsch sets out by selecting the passage in Matthew v. 17, "lam
not come to destroy, but to fnlfll," etc., as containing the fundamental idea of the whole Gospel. Thus far we agree with
him ; but we demur to his inference from this verse, that not only has the Old Testament Theocracy, in all its parts,
been fulfilled in the life of the Lord, but that the arrangement of the Gospel is such, that its five parts correspond to, and
fulfil, the five portions of the Pentateuch. Our author proceeds to prove this hypothesis by showing how the first chapter
of Matthew, or the Book of the Genesis of Christ, corresponds with the Book of Genesis. Similarly as the Book of Exodus
opens with the murder of the Hebrew infants in Egypt, so the second chapter of Matthew with that of the infants in
Bethlehem. In general, many and striking points of analogy are brought out. The Sermon on the Mount is, of course,
the counterpart of the giving of tho law. Ag.ain, Matt. viii. 1 is a fulfilment of the Book of Leviticus: the cleansing of
the leper pointing to the corresponding legal ordinances. Still farther. Matt. x. 1 corresponds to the Book of Numbers,—
the numbering of the twelve tribes being fulfilled in the selection of the twelve Apostles. Lastly, the portion correspond-
ing to the Book of Deuteronomy commences with ch. xix., when the ministry in Galilee ceases, and that in JudaBa be-
gins. In this case Genesis and Leviticus evidently would be too short. Numbers and Deuteronomy too long. The same
disproportion would apply to the single parts. The hypothesis is ingenious, but fanciful, and has the disadvantage of over-
rating a supposed formal correspondence at the expense of the inward and material correspondence. The main thing to
be kept in view is the great fact, that the Old Testament Theocracy itself was fulfilled— not In the letter, but in tho spirit-
by the kingdom of heaven under the New Testament.
THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
PART FIRST.
Jesus comes into this world, as the Messiah of the true Theocracy, to fulfil the
Old Covenant. He remains unkno-wn to and unrecognized by the outward and secular
Theocracy of His day. Rejected and cast out by His own. He undertakes secretly
His first Messianic pilgrimage into Egypt. But He is glorified and attested by God.
FIRST SECTION.
PROPHETIC TYPES OF THE MESSIAH, IN THE GENEALOGY OF THE MESSIAH.
Chapter I. 1-17 (Lnke iii. 23-38).
CONTEJJTS :— 1. Superscription.— 2. Fundamental Idea.— 8. The Three Divisions of the Genealogy. — L Number of the
Generations.
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac ; David the king ^ begat Solomon —
Isaac begat Jacob ; _ of her that had been the wife of Unas ;
Jacob begat Judas and his brethren ; Y Solomon begat Roboam ;
3 Judas begat Phares and Zara — Roboam begat Abia ;
of Thamar ; Abia begat Asa ;
Phares begat Esrom ; 8 Asa begat Josaphat ;
Esrom begat Aram ; Josaphat begat Joram ;
4 Aram begat Aminadab ; Joram begat Ozias ;
Aminadab begat Naasson ; 9 Ozias begat Joatham ;
Naasson begat Salmon ; Joatliam begat Achaz ;
5 Salmon begat Booz — Achaz begat Ezekias ;
of Rachah ; 10 Ezekias begat Manasses ;
Booz begat Obed — Manasses begat Amon ;
of Ruth ; Amon begat Josias ;
Obed begat Jesse ; 11 Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren,
6 Jesse begat David the king ; about the time they were carried
away (/^crotKeo-ta) to Babylon ;
12 And after they were brought to Babylon —
Jechonias begat Salathiel ;
Salatliiel begat Zorobabel ;
13 Zorobabel begat Abiud ;
Abiud begat Eliakim ;
Eliakira begat Azor :
48
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
14 Azor begat Sadoc ;
Sudoc begat Achim ;
Achiu> begat Eliud ;
15 Eliud begat Eleazar ;
Eleazar begat Matthan ;
Matthan begat Jacob ;
16 Jacob begat Josepli, tlie husband of
Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who
is called Christ [the Messiali].*
1 7 So all the generations from Abraham to David, are fourteen generations ; and from
David, until the carrying away into Babylon, are. fourteen generations ; and from
the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, are, fourteen generations.
1 Ver. 6.— [The title b $a.(ri\evs, the king, is repeated in tlie texi/ua recepPus with the majority of MSS. and retained
by Meyer, Wordsworth, Lange, but omitted by some of the oldest MSS. and versions, and in tiie critical editions of Lach-
raann, Tischendorf, Trcgelles, Alford (iu his fourth ed.). The repetition maybe defended on the eroimd of emphasis as giv-
ing a clue to the design of this genealogy and showing the kingship of Christ, the heir of the whole theocracy. Dr. Words-
worth makes use of "the texitca receptus as an argument for hisiview of the relation of the two genealogies: "The gene-
alogy of St. Matthew is Christ's official succession to David as a king (see ver. 6, whore David is twice called 6 fiacn\evs).
That of St. Luke is the derivation of his origin from David as a man, — hence he traces the Lord's pedigree further back-
ward, even to the first men), Adam, the liither of the human race." Dr. W., following the fathers, regards both geneal-
ogies a? the pedigrees of Joseph, not of Mary. — P. 8.]
* [The authorized English version of the Greek Testament after the latest standard edition of the American Bible So-
ciety (New York, 1862), is made the basis of this Commentary, and all occasional corrections are included in brackets
{see tlie Preface). But in this section which contains the genealogy of Christ, I have deviated from the rule and conform-
ed to the new German version of Lange in three points : 1, in the order and arrangement, with the view to bring out more
clearly the three divisions or periods of Christ's ancestry ; 2, in omitting tha oft repeated and unneces.sary and (for the
Greek 54) between the members of the pedigree; 3, in italicizing th& fem,(ile ancestry of Christ, ver. 3, 5, and 6; comp.
Comment, p. 49. Italics then do not indicate here ndilitions to the Greek te.xt, as in the Common Version, which, in this
genealogy, only supplies the words : " t/t,at had been tli,' 'iiif'c,'' ver. G. As regards the spelling of proper nouns 1 have (in
the text, not in the notes) adhered to the C. V., alUiouL'li in :i r, riyion of the English Bible (which is in no way attempted
in this Commentary) uniformity in the spelling sIkhiIcI uiulDiilifiMlly be aimed at' as much as possible, and Hebrew names
should, as a rule, be conformed to the Hebrew, Greek names to the Greek spelling. Thus in this genealogy Judah should
bo substituted for Judan, Pharez for Phares, Ilizrmi for Esrom,, Ram, for Arum,, Nahnhnn for Naasaon, Boaz for Booz,
Rahah for Rachab, Uriah for Urias, Rehoboam for Roboam, Jehoahapliat for Josaphat, Ueziah for OziOD, Jotham, foj
Joatham, Ahaz for Achaz, Ilezekiah for Ezekias. Josiah for Josias, Jeconiah for Jechonias, Zerubbabel for Zorobabel,
Zadoc for Sadoc. Comp. the Hebrew and Greek dictionaries; Dr. Geo. Campbell's translation of the four Gospels with
preliminary dissertations, Lond. 1834, Diss. xii. Pt. iii. 10-14; and Dr. T. J. Conant's "Revised Version of Matthew,''
New York, 1860, p. 2. -P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. The expression /3t/8Aos y^vefficcs
might be rendered, book of the natii'ity, and hence be
applied in a more extended sense to the whole Gospel.
But it may also mean genealogy, genealogical table,
pedigree ; and this is the simplest and most obvious
meaning. It is supported, 1) by the analogy of Gen.
V. 1 (Sept.); 2) by the reference in ver. 18, toD 5s
XpiffToi' 7) 7eVe(Tis, and in ii. 1, tov Se 'ItjctoC yfvvTi-
Jesus, Joshua, yTOirr^ (Ex. xxiv. 13 ; Num. xiii.
16), or S^'^li."' — as the name was written after the
Babylonish captivity (Neh. vii. 7) — God is helper, or
deliverer.
Christ, Xpi(Tr6s, rT'llia , anointed : the official
designation of priests, Lev. iv. 3 ; v. 16 ; Ps. cv.
15 ; — of kings, 1 Sam. xxiv. 7, 11 ; Ps. ii. 2 ; Dan.
ix. 25, 26. In 1 Kings xix. 16 we also read of
anointing to the prophetic office. The inspired teach-
ing of the prophets led Israel to look for salvation in
and through a personal Messiah, who, although rep-
resented in the first place as the anointed King of
the stock of David, was also invested with the at-
tributes of perfect Prophet and of High Priest.
Vers. 2-16. From the expression "Jacob begat
Joseph," ver. 16, we gather that wo have here the
genealogy of Joseph, and not that of Mary. But
why should the Evangelist present this genealogy to
his readers? Joseph was descended from David
through the legitimate royal line of the house of
David ; and it was necessary to show that Jesus, the
adoptive son of Joseph, was the legal heir to the
throne of David. But this line of descent was, in
the most important respect, also the line of Mary,
though she was descended from David through an-
other branch (Luke i. 27 ; Rom. i. 3). In Joseph's
line of descent, the grand characteristics which dis-
tinguish the line of Jesus appear in the most striking
manner ; viz., its spiritual nobihty, its humiliations
and consecrations in the progress of history, its
glorious elevation, and its tragic reverses. It was
necessary that even in His line of descent the Lord
should be marked out as the chosen sacrificial Lamb
of Israel and of the world.
The line of descent, as traced by Matthew, pre-
sents various difficulties. — First, in the way of omis-
sions. The table gives Eahab as the great-grand-
mother of David. Yet she lived about 400, or, more
precisely, 366 years before David was born. " Tliis
difficulty," remarks de Wette, " is connected with
the statement in Piuth iv. 20, according to which the
line between David and Nahshon is represented as
consisting of only four generations." Besides, in the
second division of the genealogy, the names of
Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah are omitted, which,
according to 1 Chron. iii. 1], 12, must be inserted
between Joram and Ozias ; also the name of Jehoia-
kim, which, according to 2 Kings xxiv. 6; 2 Chron.
xxxvi. S, should come iu between Josiah and Jeco-
niah or Jehoiachin. These omissions were evidently
made with the view of reducing the generations from
David to the Babylonish captivity to fourteen. But
for this Matthew must have had a sufficient reason.
According to some critics, the arrangement of the
genealogical table was designed merely to aid the
memory. Others have imagined that it bore refer-
ence to certain cabalistic ideas. W. Iloflmanu ex-
CHAP. I. 1-11.
49
plains the discrepancy {dan Leben Jenu, of.c, Stutt-
gart, 183G) by the supposition that there was some
confusiou in the gencaU)gical table which Matthew
used. According to PTurard {EvaTU/cHcnkritik; p.
199), the descendants of the heathen Jezebel to the
fourth generation were omitted, in strict accordance
with the Decalogue. Thus Ahaziah, Joash, and
Amaziah were lelt out. Jehoiakim also was omitted,
because, in reference to the Theocracy, he and Je-
hoiachin really formed but one link in tlie great
chain, and the first was the less worthy of commem-
oration. But none of the above suggestions supplies
a valid reason for the omissions. The true explana-
tion appears to be, that all the individuals omitted
by the Evangelist hud, in one respect or another, no
claim to be regarded as separate and distinct links in
the theocratic chain. v\haziah was a mere puppet in
the hand of his mother Athaliah, daughter of Ahaz,
king of Israel. Joash deserved the title of sove-
reign merely so long as he continued under the guid-
ance of Jehoiada the priest, who was the king's son-
in-law. After the death of Jehoiada, he yielded
entirely to the influence of a godless court. It is
remarkable that Jehoiada was buried in the tomb of
the kings, but not Joash (2 Chron. xxiv. 16). In
accordance with an express prophetic declaration,
Amaziah was destroyed on account of his impeni-
tence— according to the Sept. — by God (2 Clu'on.
XXV. 16, 27). Jehoiakim was forcibly made king of
Judah by the king of Egypt (2 Chron. xxxvi. 4).
Similarly Zedekiah was left out, as having been
merely a creature of the king of Babylon, and also
because, as brother of Jehoiachin, he formed no new
link between Jehoiachin and Salathiel. Assir also
is passed over, because no political importance at-
taches to his life, which was passed in the Babylonish
captivity. (Comp. W. Hoffmann, 1. c, p. 152; K.
Hofmann, Weissagimg und Erfiillung^ ii. 37.)
Further, it will be noticed that the third division
contains only thirteen generations, counting Joseph
as the twelfth, and adding Je.sus as the thirteenth.
By this Matthew evidently intended to indicate that
the name of Mary was here to be inserted in the gene-
alogy ; for in so important a matter he could not
have made a mistake. Nor can we admit the suppo-
sition that he counted the name of Jechoniab twice, —
the second time as anew founding the Messianic line
after the Babylonish captivity. At any rate, the Evan-
gelist wished to lay emphasis on the fact, that Joseph
was not the natural fiither of Jesus. Accordingly,
there is a sudden break in the natural order of "the
genealogy : Abraham begat etc., Jacob begat Joseph ;
and an expression is introduced which forcibly points
to the circumstance that Jesus was born of a virgin.
Another point claims our attention. According
to Jewish law, a stain attached to each of the four
females — Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba —
introduced by Matthew into the genealogy. But we
can scarcely infer from this circumstance, with Starke,
that they are specially mentioned in order to show
that Christ was not ashamed of poor sinners, since He
derived from such His human nature, and had re-
ceived them as His own people ; for it is beyond
question that Jesus was conceived by Mary without
any taint of sin. It was rather the object of the
Evangelist to point out to his Jewish readers a higher
righteousness than that external and ceremonial sanc-
tity which the Pharisees extolled. No doubt Thamar
conceived Phares, knowing that she committed in-
cest; while Judah, although not aware who slie was,
was guiltv of fornication. Still, it was under the
impulse of faith, though fanatical and sadly mis-
directed, that Thamar took that strange and sinful
step. She was resolved, at all hazards, to become
one of the mothers of God's chosen race. By faith,
Thamar rose over the guilt of incest, and Rahab over
her former degradation of being a heathen and a
harlot. By her heroic faith, Ruth, though pure and
unblamable, yet a heathen, attained such distinction,
that one of the books in the Old Testament canon
bears her name ; while Bathsheba, David's accom-
plice in adultery, became the partner of his penitence
and his throne.
In the arrangement and division of the genea-
logical tree of Jesus, Matthew was undoubtedly in-
liuenced by the Old Testament symbolism of num-
bers. The grand general arrangement into three
groups (patriarchs, kings, and persons of royal ex-
traction) presents an ascending and descending line.
In the first fourteen generations there is a gradual
ascent (in a secular point of view), culminating in
royalty. The second series consists of a lino of royal
personages, gradually inclining downwards. The
third begins during the Babylonish captivity, and
forms a descending line, which finally terminates in
Joseph the carpenter. Still, the main point in this
arrangement is the number three. Three is the grand
spiritual number. In spite of the sins and the apos-
tasy of some of the representatives of David, that
line always continued specially set apart by God and
for God, constituting a hereditary spiritual nobility in
the midst of the people of Israel, and of the world at
large. In it the hereditary blessing of Abraham was
more and more concentrated, — both the blessing of
the promise and the blessing of faith. Each of these
three groups was again subdivided into a series of four-
teen— twice seven. The number seven denotes the
full development of nature up to its consecration and
transfiguration. Two is the number of contrast —
of sex, of life. Accordingly, the number fourteen
would indicate that the development of a genea-
logical line had reached its completion. The number
three, on the other hand, denotes the perfect eleva-
tion of this perfect natural development of nature
into the sphere of spiritual consecration. Hence the
forty-two generations point to the spiritual consecra-
tion of the theocratic line culminating in Him who
was full of the Holy Ghost. On the same principle,.
the Israelites wandered for forty years (a round num-
ber for forty-two) through the wilderness, and had in
all forty-two encampments. Thus, in reference both
to time and space, the old race had to pass as it were
through forty-two stages before a new race (in the
symbolical sense) sprang up.
We can here but briefly discuss the relation be-
tween the genealogy of Jesus according to Matthexc^
and the same as given by LuJcc. So far as their ar-
rangement is concerned, we notice, that while the
first genealogy descends from the progenitor,, the
second ascends from the last scion ; and that, while
Matthew begins with Abraham, Luke goes beyond
the father of the faithful to Adam, tlie first progeni-
tor of the human race, and to God its Creator.
Again, so far as the contents of the two tables are
concerned J we find that from David downwards the
names are for the most part different, and manifestly
constitute two different lines, which coincide only in
the names of Zorobabel and Salathiel. Matthew's line
passes from David to Solomon, while that of Luke
passes from David to his son Nathan. In Matthew's
line, the parent of the foster-fatlier of Jesus is called
Jacob, while in that of Luke he is designated Eli.
50
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
The same discrepancy extends over the whole table,
— always assuming that the apparent coincidence of
the two lines in Zorobabel and Falathiel is simply
due to similarity of names. From the earliest period,
various explanations of this difficulty have been sug-
gested. At first it was supposed tiiat, by a marriage
according to the law of Levirate (Deut. xxv. 5-10),
the two lines had converged in one link. Julius
Africanus (according to Eusebius, E. II. I. 7) sug-
gested that Eli died childless, that Jacob espoused
his widow, and was the real father of Joseph. But
then, according to the law, Eli alone would in that
case have been mentioned as the lather of Joseph
(Deut. xxv. 6). Ambrosius reversed the above hy-
pothesis : Eli, he supposed, was the real, and Jacob
the nominal father. But in that case the same dif-
ficulty recurs. Other hypotheses are even less plau-
sible. The view most commonly adopted is that of
Ilelvicus {see Winer's Heal- WCrferh. art. Jesus),
according to which, Luke is supposed to furnish tlie
maternal genealogy ; so that the Eli mentioned in
Luke iii. 23 was the father of Mary, and, as father-in-
law of Joseph, was called his father. The objection
of Winer, that in such ease Luke would not have em-
ployed the terms rov 'HA.i, may be met by a reference
to the sim.ilar expression rod 0€oO, whore, of course,
it could not be intended to represent God as the
natural Father of Adam. The objection, that the
Jews were not in the habit of keeping genealogical
record of females, does not apply here, as Jesus had
no natural father. Besides, down to Eli, the geneal-
ogy given is that of males. Lastly, so far as the pro-
priety of the thing was concerned, Luke also inserts
the name of Joseph, as being in the eye of the law
the father of Jesus. This hypothesis has been
adopted by many modern expositors, as Bengel,
Heumann, Paulus, Kuinoel, Wieseler, W. Hoffmann
{Leben Jesu, p. 148).* It was in accordance with
the general plan of Luke's Gospel to follow up the
genealogical line beyond Abraham to Adam and God,
60 as to present the Lord both as the Son of man and
at the same time the Son of Gcd, and for the same
reason, to trace the actual lineage of Jesus, and con-
sequently that of his mother Mary ; while Matthew
in this respect also represented the theocratic and
legal point of view.
Proofs and parallel passages : — Jesus, Luke i.
31. Christ, Lev. iv. 5, 16, etc. ; in the New Testa-
ment everywhere. Jesus Christ, John xx. 31, and
in many other places. Son of David, Ps. exxxii. 11 ;
Isa. xi. 1 ; Acts xiii. 23 ; Jer. xxiii. 5 ; Rom. i. 3 ;
Matt. XV. 22, xxi. 9, xxii. 42. Abraham, Gen. xii. 3,
* [For another and a remarkably ingenious expl.ination
of the two genealogies, we refer the reader to Lord Arthur
C. Ilervey's article, " Genealofry of Jesus Christ," in Smith's
Diet, of the Bible, i. p. 666. This is not the place to enter
into details of his theory: suffice it to say, that, accordinfr
to Lord Hervey, hot7i. the genealogies (in Matthew and Luke)
are those of Jose2)h. The genealogy of St. Matthew is
"Joseph's genealocy as legal successor to the throne of
David ; i. e., it exhibits the successive heirs of the kingdom,
coding with Christ as Josepli's reputed son. St. Luke's is
Joseph's private genealogy, exhibiting his real birth, as
David's son, and thus showing why he was heir to Solomon's
crown." Lord Hervey further suggests, "that Salathiel, of
the house of Nathan, became heir to David's throne on the
failure of Solomon's line in Jechonias, and that as such he
and his descendants were transferred, as 'sons of Jeconiah,"
to the royal geneaUigical table, accordiig to the principle of
the Jewish law, laid down Num. xxvii. 8-11." On the same
principle, the other divergences of the two genealogies are
explained, till we reach Matthan, who had two son^, Jacob
a7id lleli. The elder of tliese, J.ici.h. whose daushi-r Mary
was mother of the Lord, dying without male issi\-, the suc-
cession to the throne of David now devolved on Joseph, the
son of Ilcli.— The Edinb. Teasslatop. 1
xxii. ]S; 2 Sam. vii. 12; Gal. iii. 16, etc., etc.
Isaac, (ien. xxi. 2, 3 ; Horn. ix. 7, 9. Jacob, Gen.
xxv. 26. Judah, Gen. xxix. 35, xlix. 10; Heb. vii.
14. Pharez and Zarah, Gen. xxxviii. 29, 30.
Hezron {Esrorii), 1 Chron. ii. 4, 5. Aram or Ram,
Ruth iv. 19 (Uezron's first-bom son omitted, 1 Chron.
ii. 9). Awinadab, 1 Chron. ii. 10. Naaslion, Ex.
vi. 23. Sabnon, 1 Chron. ii. 11; Ruth iv. 20.
Rahab, Josh. ii. 1, vi. 23, 24. pjoaz, Obed, Ruth iv.
15, 17. Obed, Jesse, Ruth iv. 22; 1 Chron. ii. 12;
1 Sam. XX. 27; 1 Kings xii. 16. Jesse, JJavid,
1 Chron. ii. 15. Solomon, 2 Sam. xii. 24. Roboam,
Rehoboam, 1 Kings xi. 43. Abia, Asa, 1 Kings xv.
2, 8. Josajihat, 2 Chron. xvi. and xvii. Joram,
2 Kings viii. 16; 2 Chron. xxi. 1. Ahaziah, Joash,
Amaziah, 2 Kings viii. 24; xi. 2, xii. 21; 1 Chron.
iii. 11. Ozias (or Azariah), 2 Kings xiv. 21. Jo-
atham, 2 Kings xv. 7 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 23. Ahaz,
2 Kings XV. 38 ; 2 Chron. xxvii. 9. Ezckias {Hcze-
kiah), 2 Kings xvi. 20 ; 2 Chron. xxviii. 27. Manas-
ses, 2 Kings xx. 21. Amon, 2 Kings xxi. 18. Jo-
sias, 2 Kings xxi. 24. Jechonias, Jehoiakim, 2
Kings xxiii. 35. The Babylonish captivity (2 Kings
xxv; 2 Chrou. xxxvi.). " e'lrt notat tcinpus non
stricte tantum scd cum latitudinc,^'' just as Jechonias
and his brothers were not born at one and the same
time. On three different occasions, within a short
period, portions of the people were carried away, —
first, during the reign of Jehoiakim, then under that
of Jehoiachin, and, lastly, under Zedekiah. But the
Evangelist speaks of the three events as of one, be-
cause the captivity began under the first of these
princes, was extended under the second, and com-
pleted under the third. — Salathiel, (Pedaiah), Zoro-
babel, 1 Chron. iii, 18, 19. Abiud (Hananiah),
1 Chron. iii. 19. Abiud, Eliukivi, etc., Jewish tra-
dition (Temple registers).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Even as original sin has tainted all mankind
from the womb, so, and much more, has our race
participated in the riches of Divine grace. Hence,
in the history of the world, the hereditary curse and
the hereditary blessing have always appeared side by
side — in Cain and Abel, in Ham and Shern, in the
case of the heathen world and of Abraham. Not
only has the curse had a blessing for its counterpart,
but on each successive occasion the blessing has
widened and increased. The blessing of Shem sur-
passed that of Japheth ; the blessing of Judah, that
of his brethren ; and the blessing of David, that of
all Judah and Israel beside. This contrast of blessing
and curse led to th.at between the religion of faith
and heathenism. Not that the hereditary blessing
of Abraham remained wholly unimpaired by the curse
that flowed from Adam's guilt. Hence it was neces-
sary that Christ should die on the cross, though the
covenant-blessing centered in Him. Still, this in-
fluence of transmitted sin could not destroy either
the blessing of personal faith or the hereditary bless-
ing of Abraham ; and now that all promises have
been fulfilled in Christ, the curse of original sin is,
in the case of believers, not only removed, bnt trans-
formed into blessing.
2. Abraham was told, " In thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed." It was not said,
" In thy oral tradition," or "In thy written records."
According to the notions of many, the New Testa-
ment should have begun witji a list of the books of
the Old Testament. Instead of this, however, it be-
gins with a genealogical tree. Through Abraham's
CHAP.
1-lY.
51
faith the blessing had descended in his seed as an
heirloom. Antipa;dobaptists overlook this mystery,
otherwise they would see more meaning in the ad-
mission of infants into the visible Church.
3. Down to David, Joseph's line of descent was
the same as that of Mary. It then diverged into two
branches. While, however, the royal line terminated
in the pious carpenter, Joseph, the line of Nathan,
who, though one of David's sons, never ascended the
throne, was selected to comprehend the chosen
mother of the Lord. In general, the greatest num-
ber of the humiliations of the royal house occurred
in Joseph's line. In it the godless kings appear
in contrast to the pious. Doubtless, it was so
ordered that the affliction and obscurity of the
house of David should serve to restore its spiritual
glory.
4. Even among the ancestors of Jesus, the bless-
ing and the promised salvation was transmitted
through the righteousness which is by faith, as dis-
tinguished from legal righteousness. This appears
not only from the lives of Abraham and David, the
fiithers of the faithful, and from the pious sovereigns
among their descendants, but also from the ances-
tresses of Jesus, Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Batbsheba,
specially mentioned by the Evangelist.
5. A sacred pedigree — which may be regarded as
symbolizing the real import of noble descent and
hereditary nobility, wliether Christian or national —
conferred not personal holiness on the Jewish nion-
archs. Spirituality was the attainment of the indi-
vidual, not the quality of the race, and in every case
the combined result of Divine grace and human free-
dom. Still less could we suppose that the sacredness
of the pedigree ultimately manifested itself in the
advent of Christ Himself. Christ sprung from the
fathers according to the flesh : this was His only
connection with them through Mary. According to
the Spirit, He was the Son of God, and, as such, the
new and perfect manifestation of the Divine Being,
the second Adam, the Lord from heaven.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The genealogical table of Jesus, considered as the
first Xew Testament testimony about Him. As a
testimony, 1. to His human nature ; 2. to His he-
reditary right ; 3. to His Divine character and mis-
sion.— The genealogical tree of Jesus a kind of law
and gospel for all other genealogical trees, from the
lowliest to the highest. — The genealogy of increasing
life compared with thatbf decreasing life. Gen. v. —
Christ's human extraction viewed in the light of His
Divine origin (John i.) : His human descent is based
on the Divine, and serves to reveal it. — Contest be-
tween the hereditary blessing of Abraham and the
hereditary curse of his race. — The hereditary bless-
ing of Abraham in its bearing upon the question
of infant baptism. — The family — its import at all
times in connection with the kingdom of heaven.
— The pious family amidst the storms of the world
and of time. 1. It may sink, but not perish.*
2. It endures, because it resists. 3. Its apparent
extinction is its glorification. — The sacred birth
of Christ and the second birth of man in their
agreement and their diU'erence. — Jesus Christ the
* [German : "Es kann sinken, aber nioht verxinken ; ''''
it may go dnion, but not go out. Mr. Edersheim translates:
"It may sink, but not utterly.'' The word-play in the next
sentence : " Es besteht, well es widerHtehV might be ren-
dered: -'It utands because it withstandx," comp. Eph. vi.
13.— P. S.]
sum and substance of all religion. 1. Jesus, the
man ; Christ, His Divine calling and (jualification.
2. Jesus, the Hebrew name specially intended for
His own people ; Christ, the sacred name indicating
His designation for the whole world. 3. Jesus, the
one Redeemer ; Christ, the Mediator of the triune
covenant. Or, 1. Jesus as the Christ ; 2. the Christ
as Jesus. — Jesus Christ the Son of David. 1. Tlie
Son of the shepherd of Bethlehem ; 2. the Son of
the persecuted fugitive in the cave of Adullam ;
3. the Son of the warrior and conqueror, the prince
of Zion. — Christ the Son of David. 1. In reference
to His appearance in the flesh, the last scion of
His race, dying on the cross. 2. In reference to
His heavenly character, the Prince of the kings
of the earth. Or, 1. The end of the Old Testa-
ment kingdom; 2. the beginning and the head of
the New Testament heavenly kingdom. — Jesus Christ
the Son of Abraham. 1. The Finisher of faith; 2.
the Fulfiller of the promise. — Jesus the antitype of
Abraham in his relation to the world. Abraham,
in nascent faith, must go out from the world ;
Christ, in the fulness of the blessing of faith, enters
into it. — Jesus, the Son of Abraham, the seal of
God's covenant-truth. — Jesus Christ, as the Son
of Abraham, the great witness of God's covenant-
faithfulness. 1. In Him was fully revealed the prom-
ise which had been given to Abraham. 2. In Him
was this promise gloriously fulfilled. 3. In Him it
was renewed and glorified. — Christ the Son of Abra-
ham and of David, or the spiritual transfiguration
both of the pilgrim's tent and of the throne. — Christ
the Son of Abraham and of David, or the Finisher
of faith : 1. of faith in the promise ; 2. of faith in
sovereign grace. —How the advent of Christ was pre-
paring throughout the whole course of antiquity:
1. By means of the house of David; 2 by means
of the race of Abraham ; 3. by the whole course of
events in the world. — The root out of a dry ground.
— Known to, and fixed by, the Lord is every hour
and event in His kingdom. — The vicissitude of glory
and obscurity in the history of the kingdom of God.
Christ appeared, not in the days of Israel's power and
glory, but in the days of their humiliation. — The
share which the royal line of Solomon had in giving
birth to Christ. I. How infinitely it receded behind
the lineage of Mary ; 2. yet how at the same time it
symbolizes the protection extended by the State to
the Church. — The Lord's humiliation and exaltation
prefigured in His genealogical tree. — In His ances-
tors Jesus has lived through the whole extent of the
world's previous history. — The history of the ances-
tors of Jesus shows that the life of each successive
individual was preserved as by a miracle. — Jesus the
sacred heir of the ancient world. 1. As heir of the
blessing. He is the Prophet of the world. 2. As
heir of the sufferings entailed by the curse. He is its
atoning High PricsFt. 3. As heir of the promise, He
is its King. — Jesus Christ the end of the world, and
the beginning of the world. — Jesus Christ the closing
of the old, and the commencement of the new dis-
pensation.— Abraham and Mary as the begmning and
the end of the old covenant. — Jesus, the Son of
Mary: I. the affinity; 2. the contrast.
Braune : — Jesus Christ, the second Adam. — God's
grace is con.stantly renewed through the line of gene-
rations.— All sorts of men, kings, heroes, shepherds,
mechanics, heathens, sinners, prophets, poets, sages
are among the ancestors of Christ, and become poorer
and obscurer as they approach Christ.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
SECOND SECTION.
JESUS, AS MIRACULOUSLY CONCEIVED BY IlIS MOTHER IN FAITH, OR IN THE MYSTERY
OF HIS INCARNATION, IS NOT RECOGNIZED EVEN BY THE LEGITIMATE REPRESEN-
TATIVE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID (JOSEPH), TILL ATTESTED BY AN ANGEL FROM
HEAVEN.
Chaptek I. 18-25 (Luke i. 26-33).
CoNTRNTS :— The tragical situation of the two betrothed descendants of David at their first appearance in history. Mary,
pregnant by the power of tlie Holy Ghost, misunderstood and doubted by her betrothed. Joseph's intention of pri-
vately putting her away. The mother and child vindicated from dishonor by Divine intervention. Joseph's faith.
Ancient prophecy. The name : Jesus.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise : When ' as His mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
19 Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a
20 public example, was minded to put her away [by divorce] privil)^ But while he thought
on these things, behold, the [an] angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is
21 conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
22 shalt call His name Jesus : for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet^
28 saying. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
24 call His name Emmanuel, Avhich being interpreted is, God with us (Isa. vii.). Then
Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
25 unto him his wife : And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn ^ son : and
he called His name Jesus.
' Ver. 18.— Lit. : "i^^or when," ^j/7j(rTei'&€iV77S 7ap.
" Ver. 2.5.— [irpojTiiTOKOj', in ver. 25, is omitted in Codd. Sin. and Vat, in the old Egyptian versions, Hilar., Ambros.,
(xres.. Hieron., and in the critical editions of Lachmann, Tischcndorf, Tregelles, and Alford. Lange in his version retains
It, and Meyer defends it. It may have been inserted from Luke ii. 7; but the omission may also be easily explained from
superstitious veneration of the Blessed Virgin, as necessarily implying her perpetual virginity, which the term ''firstr
born " seemed to disprove. — P. S.]
SejyyuoTi'o-oi) ; that is, not to dismis,'^ Ler by a bill of
divorce, which would have stigmatized her as an
adulteress, but to dismiss her privately by a bill of
divorce without assigning any reason for it. Thus
her disgrace would at least not become matter of
notoriety, although, of course, suspicion would attach
to her ; at any rate, her child might still be regardeil
as the son of Joseph. By this conduct he would un-
questionably have taken upon himself a portion of
her ignominy. He might be considered a hard-
hearted man, who turned away a noble woman un-
justly. These circumstances afford an insight into
the inward struggle which both experienced. On
the bill of divorce, comp. Deut. xxiv. 1-3 ; Matt.
xix. 8.
Ver. 20. The Angel of the Lord that appeared
to him in a vision when sleeping, was the angel of
the Lord in the peculiar and historical sense of that
term — Ihe Angel of the Lord., Gen. xvi. '7, 9, and in
other passages; or the Angel of the presence, Ex.
xxxii. 34 ; xxxiii. 14 ; Isa. Ixiii. 9 ; or the Angel of
the covenant., Mai. iii. 1. The angel Gabriel {hero
of God)., who, according to Luke i., delivered the
messages relating to the birth of Christ, was probably
only a more definite manifestation of the Angel of
the Lord (Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21). The angel of
Christ's incarnation must, in this case, be carefully
distinguished from later angelic apparitions. {See
the author's Leben Jesu, ii. B. 1, 41.)
EXE6ETI0AL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 18. The Evangelist commences his narrative
at the period when Mary's pregnancy had become
matter of certainty, about the time of her return
from visiting Elisabeth.
The reading y4vf<ns is much better established in
ver. 18 than 7ewr)(ns, and clearly more appropriate,
as the event in question was not properly a y(vvr\cis
[begetting].
Of the Holy Ghost. — The notion of begetting
is completely excluded by that of the Holy Ghost.
The secret influence of the Spirit is more minutely
described in Luke i. 35.
Ver. 19. Joseph being a just man (lit. bei7ig
Just). — The y/ord just has been falsely interpreted as
kind, tender-hearted. To have acted upon his suspi-
cion in reference to Mary as if it had been matter of
certainty, would have been not merely unkind, but
unjust. ' Such conduct wpuld have been all the more
inexcusable, since Mary had informed him not only
of the fact of her pregnancy, but likewise of its
cause. Joseph was unaljle to share her faith ; but
neither could he bring his mind entirely to disbelieve
her account. This struggle of doubt and of suspicion
with his feelings of generosity and of previous high
esteem for Mary, influenced the decision at which he
arrived. He resolved not to accuse her publicly
(the reading ■KapaSety/j.aTla-ai is an explanation of
CHAP. I. 18-25.
53
In a dream. — It is worthy of remark that tlie
Joseph of the New Testament, like the Joseph of
the Old Testament, uniformly received his revela-
tions in dreams. This particular form of revelation
may have been chosen, 1. because his spiritual life
was imperfectly developed ; 2. because of his spir-
itual sincerity and simplicity of heart.
Mary thy wife. — Among the Jews the be-
trothed bore the title of wife.
Of the Holy Ghost.— Both the descent of
Jesus and His mission were revealed long before His
actual appearance on earth. His birth, His name,
and His work were equally from the Holy Ghost.
Vers. 22 and 23. On the Messianic application of
Isa. vii. 14, consult the commentaries. It must,
however, be observed that the Evangelist Matthew
uses the expression, " was fulfilled,^^ iirXripccdr], in
reference not merely to the fulfilling of conscious
verbal predictions, but also to that of typical pro-
phecies. In the passage before u* the reference is
probably to a typical prophecy. The virgin (mabr)
presented to Ahaz as a sign, was a type of the holy
Virgin for the following reasons : 1 ) her future preg-
nancy and her giving birth to a son were announced
even before her marriage had actually taken place ;
2) the highe't and strongest kind of faith was called
into exercise in connection with this child, by which it
obtained the name of Immauuel, and became the sign
of approaching deliverance in a sea.son of peculiar
trial ; 3) the name Immauuel was verified in the
God-Man ; 4) all these circumstances served to render
the birth of this child peculiarly sacred, and to con-
nect it with the future of Israel ; thus strikingly pre-
figuring the advent of the holy child, the Hope of
Israel.
Vers. 24 and 25. Joseph believed in consequence
of the Divine intimation he had received in a dream,
and forthwith married Mary, with all the Jewish
marriage ceremonies, from a regard to her reputa-
tion. But he did not consummate the marriage till
Mary had given birth to her first-born. From the
expression, first-born, v. 25, it must not, however,
be inferred that Mary subsequently bore other chil-
dren. An only child was also designated first-born.
The term merely implied that this was the child
which had opened the womb (Gen. xxvii. 19, 32 ;
Ex. xiii. 2). That Jesus had no actual brother ac-
cording to the flesh, will appear on closer considera-
tion of the real extraction of the so-called brothers
of the Lord. They were the sons of Alphseus,
Joseph's brother, and of Mary, the wife of Alphajus,
the sister-in-law (not the sister) of the mother of the
Lord. {See the author's dissertation in his " History
of the Apost. Age" i. p. 189 ; and his article. Jaco-
bus, der Bruder des Herrn, in Hcrzog's "■ Real-En-
ci/cl."} * The expression, " brethren (brothers) of
the Lord," has been taken in its literal sense by the
Antidicomarianitcs in the ancient Church, and by
many modern Protestant theologians ; while the
Roman Catholic Church, since the times of the CoUy-
ridians, of Epiphanius, Ambrose, etc., has gone to
the opposite extreme of maintaining that Joseph and
Mary never lived together on terms of husband and
wife. (Meyer, in his Commentary, hastily ascribes
the same view to Olshausen, Lange, von Berlepsch.
Our text indicates the opposite.) f
* [C(mip.ire also, on the other h.aiul, the article Jacnhwi
In 'Winer's Re.al-WorterhuchA.V-^'^-^ sqq., and P. Schaff:
" Dax VerkdltnUs fles Jacobnn Alphae/i zu Jucohus dent
Bruiler den llerrn," Berlin, 1841.— Tesu]
+ [[n this sentence, which is omitted in the Edinh.
transl., La ge means to deny the perpetual virginity of
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. If it may be said of Abraham, that his faith
brought [Germ. : hinti>i<je(;laubt] the word of the
Lord as a word of jiromise into the world, it may, in
the same way, be said of Mary, that hor faith brought
the incarnation of the Word into the world. And as
the faith of Abraham was the connecting link by
which the Divine blessing attached itself to his seed
according to the promise, so Mary, by her strong and
living faith, conceived, through the Holy Ghost, the
Lord, the Saviour of the world. The faith of Abra-
ham established a connection between ph)sical birth
and spiritual regeneration ; but, in the inspired faith
of Mary, birth and regeneration have become actually
one, — nay, the birth of Christ was regeneration not
merely in a passive, but also in an active sense. It
was creative regeneration — sinlessness, which became
the efficient cause of the regeneration of men ; sin-
lessness redeeming from sin. Those who hold that
Christ derived from Mary our sinful nature, which
became transformed into sinlessness by His unswerv-
ing holiness till death, argue as if regeneration were
the goal of Christianity, whereas it is its commence-
ment. In this respect they, as well as the Baptists,
come very far short of Abraham's faitli. Abraham
had not merely, like Melchisedec, faith as an indi-
vidual, but also as the head of a family ; and this
faith comprehended his house and his posterity. He
believed in the sanctification of nature, in the conse-
cration of birth, and in the spiritual exaltation of
natural descent by reception into the household of
God. In Mary, the divine inspiration of faith went
along with her conception as virgin mother ; and
hence, in her Son, the eternal Logos was united to
human nature. (For a discussion on the miraculous
birth, see Lange's Leben Jesu, vol. ii. p. 66.)
2. The unutterably tragical situation of the Vir-
gin, misunderstood and deserted by her betrothed,
[iresents a striking type of the future history of lier
Son, when denied and abandoned by men, even his
disciples. Similarly, however, her vindication by the
angel of the Lord prefigures Christ's glorification.
Mary forsaken by her husband was a type of Christ's
loneliness in Gethsemane and on the cross.
3. The expression, " an angel of the Lord," is
subsequently explained by the introduction of the
definite article — the angel of the Lord — connecting
it with the whole Christology of the Old Testament.
4. In the same way, the announcement of the
angel of the Lord is connected with the Bible doc-
trine of the Trinity ; and that of the name Jcsits with
the doctrine of redemption.
5. The relation between dreams and other forms
of divine revelation, is to be gathered from the doc-
trine of visions, and of. their different forms.
6. In the passage which refers to the fulfilment
of the prediction, contained in Isa. vii. 14, we mu.st
properly appreciate the spirit of Old Testament pro-
phecy generally, the New Testament explanation of
its various statements, and, lasth', the difi'erence be-
tween typical and verbal prophecy.
Mary, aa held by the Roman Church, and attributed to him
by Meyer. Lanfre admits the reality of the marrLape of
Joseph and Mary and their cohabitation after the birtli of
Jesus, but, like (ilsliansen. he considers it {..compatible with
the dignity of Mary as the mother of the Saviour of the
world, to have givei birth to ordinary children of miin. lie
also holds that t'hrist must be the last i:i the royal lini- of
David and could have no successor or rival. ' But tiiis
reiisoning is dogmatic, not exegetical. On the force of the
ecus o'j in this connection, compare Meyer's and Add. Alex-
ander's reinark!^ <m Matt. i. 25.— P. S.]
54
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
7. In examining the passage, " and he knew her
not," etc., we must make a vast difference between
the question whetlier Joseph and Mary lived to-
gether on terms of conjugal intercourse, and the
inquiry whether Mary had afterwards other sons.
HOMILETIC.\L AND PRACTICAL.
The trials of Jesus' mother when disowned and
forsaken, prefigured His own trials when denied and
deserted : 1. In both ciises the cause was the same —
faith. 2. The import was the same — elevation above
the world. 3. The issue was the same — glory. 4.
Lastly, the effect was the same — the awakening of
faith. — The mother and the Son. 1. The great
similarity between them. 2. The infinite difference.
— The share female character has had in promoting
the kingdom of (Jod, 1. in its extension ; 2. in its
limitation. — Mary a model of unshaken confidence in
God. — Committing oneself to the Lord leads to suc-
cess even in the world. — On the connection between
mistrust and unbelief — How the entertaining of gen-
erous sentiments may become the means of preserv-
ing our faith. — An honest doubter will obtain light. —
The first New Testament narrative commends to us
a holy consideration for woman. — High regard for
the honor and reputation of woman. — Justice must
ever be allied to gentleness. — The infinite blessing
which rewarded Joseph's self-denial. — The manifes-
tation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
concentrated in the birth of Christ. — The Holy
Spirit introduced the Son into the world ; and the
Son, the Holy Spirit. — Symbolical lessons of the
creative action of the Holy Spirit in the birth of
Christ. 1. It points back to the creation of the
world (Gen. i. 2), and to the creation of man. (The
breath of God, Gen. ii. Y.) 2. It points forward to
the creation of the Church, and the founding of the
heavenly city of God (Acts ii.). — The miraculous
birth of Christ viewed in the light of the miraculous
birth of Adam. — The miraculous birth of Jesus as
the regeneration of man. — Import of the name Jesus
(the Kedeemer) in connection with salvation : 1. A
seal and assurance of the mode of redemption. 2. A
proclamation of the fact of redemption. 3. A cele-
bration of His work of redemption. — Jo.shua a type
of Jesus : 1. As the hero of the achievements of
faith, who followed upon Moses the lawgiver ; 2. as
champion in the strength of the Lord ; 3. as the
leader of the people from the desert to Canaan. —
Redemption from sin and deliverance from sin are
inseparable. — "The people" of Jesus, and they
alone, are the saved. 1. We must belong to His
people (listen to awakening grace) in order to obtain
salvation. 2. We must be in a state of salvation
(surrender ourselves to converting grace) in order
wholly to belong to His people. — The people of Je-
sus a wonderful people of the "wonderful" King.
1. They are one in Christ, and yet diffused among all
nations. 2. This people existed before it appeared
(the elect), and appeared before it existed (the typical
people of God under the Old Covenant). 3. They
suffer with Christ, until, to appearance, they perish,
and yet triumph with Christ throughout all eter-
nity.
Jesus as Immanuel. — Jesus as the first-born in
every respect (Col. ii. 15-18). — Gossner : — True love
finds a way between jealousy and insensibility. — God
forsakes none who confide in him. — Braune : — Di-
vine interposition saves. — (Gal. iv. 5.)
THIKD SECTION.
ON HIS APPEARANCE UPON EAKTH, HE IS REJECTED, DESPISED, AND PERSECUTED BY
THE THEOCRATIC CITY, THE THEOCRATIC PROPHETS, THE THEOCRATIC PRIESTHOOD,
AND ROYALTY ; BUT OWNED AND GLORIFIED BY GOD, IN SIGNS FROM HEATEN, IN
THE ADORATION OF WISE MEN FROM THE HEATHEN WORLD, AND IN HIS MIRACULOUS
AND DIVDfE PRESERVATION, EFFECTED BY THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, AND BY HIS
CONCEALMENT DURING HIS YOUTH IN THE OBSCURITY OF GALILEE.
Chaptee II. (Luke ii.)
Contents :— Immediately on His appearance commenced the grand conflict between the Christ of the true theocracy and
the degenerate, worldly form of the theocracy as then subsisting. Judaism rejects Him; the heathen xoorld receires
Him (the Kast and Egypt). Jerusalem knows nothing of Him, and is thrown into alarm at the tidings of His appear-
ance. The high priests and the scribes are, by their knowledge of the Scriptures, able to indicate correctly the place
of His birth, but they treat the announcement of His birth as if it were an idle report. Herod attempts to slay the
child, first by craft, and then by a general massacre. The escape into Egypt is signalized by the martyrdom of the chil-
dren at Bethlehem ; and Jesus is only preserved for the work given Him by the Father by His concealment in heathen
Egypt, and afterwards in semi-pagan Galilee. On the other hand, Joseph and Mary, a poor couple, and the heathen
magi, are His guardians and witnesses; while the children and mothers of Bethlehem are involuntary sharers in His
sufferings. But, despite the contempt poured on Him by a carnal and degenerate theocracy, God in various ways
glorifies Him as the true heir of the theocracy ; so that the events recorded in this section really corroborate the fact
of His Divine mission. Every circumstance bears testimony in His favor : 1) His birth in Bethlehem, or the Divine
word of promise, the Scripture. 2) The miraculous star in the sky, or Nature. 8) Heathen philosophy in its noblest
aspirations (.although clouded by error), under the guidance of Providence, or the course of history. 4) The unsuspect-
ing sleep, and the fearful awakening of sinners at His name. 5) Orthodox unbelief, which, even in Its Etagnation, is
CHAP. II. 1-12.
55
compelled to point to Bethlehem. 6) The belief of the wise men bursting through the mist of astrological delusion.
7) The triumph of Christian simplicity over the craft of the world, through the guidance of the Divine Spirit. 8) The
martyrdom at Bethlehem. 9) The devoted resiar ation of the Holy Family, the relatives of the Lord. 10) The mirac-
ulous deliverance and preservation of the Lord in the same heathen country from which Israel had been brought.
11) Jesus growing up in obscurity and lowliness at Nazareth. 12) His providential preservation, accomplished by
means apparently the slightest, viz., prophetic dreams.
A. Chapter II. 1-12.
The Gospel for Epiphany. {More recently designated the Missionary pcrikope.)
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
2 behold, there came wise men [magi] from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that
is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east [or, when first it rose],
3 and are come to worship him. "When Herod the king had heard these things, he was
4 troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests
and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born,
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea : for thus it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda :
7 for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod,
when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the
8 star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for
the young child ; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may
9 come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo,
the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over
10 where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding
11 great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw* the young child with
Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him : and when they had opened
their treasm-es, they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they de-
parted into their own country another way.
1 Ver. 11. [They saw, eJSov, text, ree., is followed by Lange in his Germ. vers. It is sufficiently supported by author-
ities, while eSpor, they found, may have arisen, as Meyer suggests, from the evprjre in ver. 8.— P. S.]
probably also inchided its environs. This small town
was the ancestral seat of the house of David (Ruth i.
1, 2). It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chron. si.
16), but remained an insignificant place (Mic. v. 1),
and is not even nientioued among the towns of Judah
either in the Hebrew text of Joshua or in Neh. xi.
25. The striking contrast between its insignificance
and its future destiny is brought out by the prophet
Micah, in a prophecy whicii forms one of the most
pointed Messianic predictions {see ver. 6). At pres-
ent, Bethlehem is a small but populous town in a
well-cultivated district. As to the road from Bethle-
hem to Jerusalem, see von Raumer's Palesl'ma, p.
276. " Bethlehem itself is situated on a ridge of
moderate size, extending from east to west. It con-
sists of a)30ut 100 indifferent dwellings, partly cut out
in the rock, and contains 600 inhabitants capable of
bearing" arms, partly Turks and partly Christians.
As the town in the year 1831r took part in the insur-
rection against Ibrahim Pasha, he caused the Turkish
quarter to be destroyed. Since that time the place
is inhabited exclusively by Christians, 3,000 in num-
ber." Comp. Robinson, 1. 470-73 (Am. ed.).*
* [Rev. Benj. Bansmann, who visited Bethlehem in 1S.57,
thus describes it, in his work fiinai and Zio», I'liilad. 1861,
p. 325: "Betldehcm and Calvary— joy and sorrow; life and
death — are never far apart in this world. Tlio town is built
on the crest of a small hill, surrounded by othei; hills. The
whole is surrounded by a wall about thirty feet high, with a
number of gates through whicli you enter in. .' . . Its
present population is about 4,000, all belonging to the Greek
Church. . . . The inhabitants now have the name of
being a lawless, quarrelsome people, who are in the habit of
EXEGETICAX AND CRITICAL.
On the genuineness of this chapter, as well as of
the former, comp. Meyer's Commentary on Matth.,
p. 59.*
Ver. 1. Bethlehem (cri^. T^'^, , house of bread),
BT}6\eifjL TTjs'IouSaias, Bethlehem of Judea, as
distinguished from Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulon,
Josh. xix. 15. " Bethlehem Ephratah (Gen. xxxv.
16, 19) was situated in the tribe of Judah (comp.
Judg. xvii. 9 ; xix. 1 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 12), six Roman
miles, or two hours' walk, to the south of Jerusalem."
(Reland, Palcestina, p. 642 foil. ; Rosenmiiller,
Handbuch der biUischen Alter thumsknnde, ii. 1, p.
123 ; Robinson, Pal. i. p. 470 ; Tobler, Bethlehem
in Palffistina, St. Gall, 1848. With these comp. the
recent travels of Schubert, Strauss, Schulz, etc.) The
earlier name of Bethlehem was Ephratah, which
[Meyer properly defends the genuineness of the first
two chapters, as Fritzsche. Kuinol, Griesbach and others did
• properly defends the
s, as Fritzsche, Kuinol,
before him, chiefly for the following reasons: 1) They are
found in all Greek manuscripts and ancient versions ; also
the fathers of the second and third centuries quote several
passages from them. Even the hostile Celsus refers to them
(Origenes, Contra GeU. i. 8S; ii. 32). 2) Their contents are
especially adapted to the object of a Gospel for Jewish Chris-
tians. 3) The beginning of ch. iii. is clo.sely connected with
ii. 23, and also iv. IS refers to ii. 23. -1) Construction and
phraseology correspond with that of the whole Gospel.— The
chief .argument of the opponents is the omission of these two
chapters in the Hebrew Gospel of the Kbiouites (Epiph.
Uaer. xx.'c. 13); but this may be easily explained from the
heretical char.icter of this sect and their denial of the divin-
ity and the miraculous conception of Christ.— P. S.]
56
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
In the days of Herod the king. — The mon-
arch here alluded to was Herod sinnanicd the (freal.
He was the first sovereign of the Iduiiia3an (or Edoni-
itjj) race, which, from the year 40 before Christ,
reigned over Judica, under the supremacy of Home
(Joseph. Aniiq. xiv. 1,3; de Bcllo Jiid. 1, 8, !>).
Herod the Great was a son of Antipatcr, whom Caesar
had appointed procurator of Judaea at the time he
acknowledged Hyrcanus H., the Maccaba'an prince,
as king. When a youth of fifteen, Herod was en-
irusted by his father with the government of the
province of Galilee (Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 9, 2). Sub-
sequently, as "strategos" of Coclesyria, he defeated
the Maccabaean prince Antigonus (son of Aristobu-
lus), who had made an attempt to recover the sover-
eignty of which Aristobulus had been deprived.
The Roman triumvir Antony made Herod and his
brother Phasael tetrarchs. Driven from his province
by Antigonus, Herod repaired to Rome, where,
through the favor of Antony, he was declared by the
Roman Senate king of Judaea. But he was obliged
to call in the help of Rome before he could make
himself master of his new capital, Jerusalem. After
the fall of Antony, he succeeded in securing the
favor of Augustus. For his further history, comp.
the article Herod in Winer's and other Bibl. Encycl.,
and Josephus. — Herod was destined to sustain a
most ominous part in Jewish history. At his acces-
sion, he founded the Iduraa?an dynasty on the ruins
of the Asmonsean or Maccabrean race. (Comp. the
genealogical tables of the Asmonaean house and of
the Herodian, in von Ruumer's Falestina, p. 331.)
The glorious race of the Ifaccabees had fallen through
their fanatical presumption, and a servile deference
to the ultra-legalist religious party, — -just as a similar
ultra-ecclesiastical policy led to the ruin of various
Byzantine dynasties, and in more modern times to
that of the Stuarts in Great Britain, and of the
Bourbons in Franco. The Idumfean dynasty, on the
other handfkpursued a crafty secular policy, by which
it succeeded in maintaining itself for a consider-
able time, under the most difficult circumstances.
This policy consisted in flattering the party of
the Pharisees, by the building of the temple, and by
other tokens of religious zeal ; while at the same
time the favor of Rome w^as courted by servility, by
concessions to heathenism, and by the introduction
of Grecian customs. It is noteworthy that the same
Herod who had already extinguished the priestly and
royal house of the Maccabees by the murder of its
last heirs, also attempted to destroy the true and
eternal royalty of the house of David. But, strictly
speaking, it was not with Herod that the outward
sceptre first passed from the tribe of Judab to an
alien family, as even the Maccaba?an dynasty be-
longed to a different tribe, that of Levi. Hence,
when the royal power was conferred on the Macca-
bees in the person of Simon, it was with cm express
reservation, of the rights of tJie Messiah (1 Mace. xiv.
41). On the other hand, the Idumaeans had, for
more than a hundred years before that, been Jews, —
rebelling as.iinst the Governmrnt. Some of them live by
farming smiill patchps of the rocky country around the town,
and from the fruit of the fip:, pomegranate, olive, and vine,
which cover some of the neichboring: hills; others live by
carvins events in the history of our Saviour on sea shells,
and other curious trinkets, -which they sell to the pilgrims
that visit Jerusalem during the Easter season. ... Its
general appearance is like that of other towns in the East. —
narrow, crooked streets, flat-roofed houses, mostly small,
with fronts all walled up, save a small floor-door. It has no
hotel or place of entertainment; the travellers usually lodge
in the convent," etc. — P. S.]
the Maccabee Hyrcanus having compelled them to
submit to circumcision. The Ilerodian dynasty re-
mained, however, Idumjean in spirit, — circumcised
semi-pagan and barbarian, though outwardly civ-
ilized. According to the statements of the Fathers
(quoted by Winer, i. p. 481, note 5), the Ilerodiana
were of purely heathen extraction, — their ancestors
having been Philistines from Ascalon, who had been
brought to Idumaa as prisoners of war. But while
the Asmoneeans enjoyed the royal dignity with the
express acknowledgment that the sceptre belonged
to the " coming Prophet," Herod recognized no such
expected Messiah ; or rather entertained only super-
stitious fears about Him, and cherished the desire of
effecting His destruction. In this respect Herod
may be said to have removed the sceptre from Judah,
although not in the primary sense of the prediction
in Gen. xlix. 10 {see the author's Positive bogmatik,
p. 668).
Herod died in the fourth year before the com-
mencement of our era, shortly before Easter (Joseph.
Antiq. xvii. 9, 3). Accordingly, the birth of Christ
must have taken place at least four years earlier than
the usual date. See Wieseler, Chronol. Sgnopse, p,
50 ; and the author's Zeben Jesu, ii. p. 106.
Wise men, lit. Ifagi, /jt-dyoi, ^"'5^ . — The name
originally belonged to a high sacerdotal caste among
the Persians and Medes, who formed the king's privy
council, and cultivated astrology, medicine, and
occult natural science. They are frequently men-
tioned by ancient authors, such as Herodotus (i. 1 32),
Diogenes Laertius (i. 1, 9), yElian, Porphyry, Cicero,
and Pliny. During the time of the Chalda'an dynasty,
there also existed an order of magi at the court of
Babylon (Jer. xxxix. 3), of which Daniel was made
the president (Dan. ii. 48). Subsequently the name
was transferred to those Eastern philosophers in gen-
eral who studied astrology, the interpretation of
dreams, occult natural science, and the like. (See
Winer's Jxeal- Worterbnch.) At the time of Christ,
many natives of Syria and Arabia, as well as Greeks
and Romans, professed to be adepts in the magical
art, and employed it for gain or personal advance-
ment, taking advantage of the curiosity and supersti-
tion of their contemporaries. The names of Simou
Magus, who drew down the rebuke of Peter, and of
Elymas the sorcerer, who opposed Paul, will at once
occur to the reader as familiar instances. The magi
mentioned in the text belonged to the earlier class
of Eastern sages, -whose researches were sincere and
earnest.
They are called wise men from the East, /xdyot
hirh avaroXav. The expression, otto avar., may
be joined with equal propriety to the noun preceding
or to the verb following. The first construction,
however, is preferable, giving to the expression, magi,
its full import ; but the particular part of the East
from which they came, cannot be determined. Jus-
tin, Tertullian, and many others (see Meyer), fixed on
Arabia; Chrysostom, Theophylact, and others on
Persia ; while some have specified Parthia, Baby-
lonia, and even Egjipt and Ethiopia. At all events,
they were of Eastern origin ; and the Evangelist
seems to imply that they came from Persia or Meso-
potamia, the seat of the original magi. In attempt-
ing to account for the manner in which they had
become acquainted with the Jewish expectation of a
Mes.^iah, some have laid too much stress on uncertain
historical statements ; while, more recently, others
have entirely disregarded the established historical
CHAP. II. 1-12.
57
fact, that some such expectation was generally enter-
tained at the time. Thus Suetonius mentions, in his
Life of Vespasian (iv.), that throughout the East there
was a general and settled belief, that about this
period one would come from Judtea who should sub-
due the world. Tacitus {Hist. v. 13) refers to a sim-
ilar expectation. But probably these two historians
derived their statements only i'rom a passage in Jo-
sephus {De Bello Judaico, vi. 5, 4. See Gieseler,
Kirchengeschichte, vol. i. p. 47). Josephus, in his
usual cringing manner, perverted the Scripture prom-
ise of a Messiah, applying it to Vespasian, who, from
his campaign in Judiea or from the East, had gone
to take possession of the empire of the world {see my
Leben Jesu, vol. ii. p. 105). But, on the other
hand, it is undeniable that the temple of Jerusalem
was famed all over the East {sex Gieseler, vol. i. p.
46) ; that at that time the Jews had already spread
over the known world ; and that they had gained
converts among the most intellectual and earnest in-
quirers of all countries. Such, for example, were
the Greeks mentioned by John (xii. 20). Nor must
we forget that the greatest part of the ten tribes of
Israel had remained in Parthia, though their ideas
and hopes concerning the Messiah were probably not
so clear and well defined as those of their brethren
in Palestine. (See The Nestorians, or llie Ten
Tribes, by Asahel Grant, 1843.) From the circum-
stance that three diftereut kinds of gifts were ofiered,
the strange inference has been drawn, that three
" wise men " presented them. Similarly, a purely
fanciful interpretation of Ps. Ixxii. 10 ; Isa. xlix. Y ;
Ix. 3, 10, led to the idea, especially since the fifth
century, that the magi were ki7iffs. Even before
that time, this view had been propounded by Tertul-
lian {Adv. Marc. iii. 13). Chrysostom speaks of
twelve magi, and Epiphanius increased their number
to fifteen.
The mediaeval Church blended the commemora-
tion of the holy three kings {Gaspar, 3feli;Mor, and
Balthasar, as they were called, although other names
are also assigned them), with the festival of the
Epiphany (6th Jan.). This feast, which was first
instituted in the Eastern Church, commenced there
the annual cycle of Christian festivals, and primarily
bore reference to the baptism of Christ. As the
Eastern Church adopted Christmas from the West,
80 the Western received the Epiphany from the
East, by an interchange similar to that in regard to
the use of organs and bells. The first trace of its
celebration in the West occurs during the latter half
of the fourth century (when, according to Ammianus
Marcellinus, it was observed l^y the Emperor Julian
at Vienne in 360). So early as the time of Augus-
tine, it was celebrated in the West as Christ's first
manifestation to the Gentiles, the precedent and
warrant for it being derived from the adoration of
the magi in the passage under consideration. Hence
also its name — Festival of the three Kings. In pro-
cess of time, three different events came to be con-
nected with this festival : 1) The baptism of Christ;
2) Christ's first manifestation to the Gentiles ; 3) the
first miracle at Cana, John ii. 11 . A fourth reference
to the miraculous feeding of the 5000 persons was
afterward added. Comp. the article Epiphanienfest
in Herzog's Real-Encyclnpmdie ; also in Aschbach's
Allg':m. Kirchenlexicon, and in Strauss's Kirchtn-
jalir. The legends on this subject gave rise, as is
well known, to a strange medley of ecclesiastical and
popular usages.
We have no authentic record of the number and
the social position of these magi. There must, of
course, have been more than one ; and they must
have been persons of wealth and rank, who, in all
probability, would travel with a considerable retinue,
so that their arrival at Jerusalem must have pro-
duced a sensation. That they were Gentiles and
not Jews, appears from the whole tenor of the nar-
rative ; from the pointed contrast to which the Evan-
gelist manifestly intends to draw attention ; and
especially from the question : " Where is the new-
born King of the Jews ? " Accordingly, most com-
mentators are agreed on this question. {See Meyer,
p. 63.)
Ver. 2. We have seen His star. — This cannot
refer either to a comet (Origen and others), or a
meteor, still less to an angelic apparition (Theophy-
lact). Among the ancients, a comet was rarely con-
sidered a good omen ; a meteor would blaze and
burst ; while an angelic vision would disappear when
its object was accomplished. We have no knowledge
that an entirely new star made its appearance at that
time, and again disappeared. Astrologers drew their
inferences not so much from an individual star, as
from a constellation of stars, although the import of
the vision was gathered from the presence or posi-
tion of one particular star in the constellation. {See
Lange's Leben Jesu, vol. ii. p. 105.) " The famous
astronomer Kepler {Be Jesu Christi vero anno iiata-
litio, Francf. 1606 ; comp. Munter, Stern der Weisen,
Kopenhagen, 1827) has shown, that in the year 747
from the building of Rome, a very remarkable three-
fold conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign
Pisces occurred ; and that in the spring of the fol-
lowing year the planet Mars likewise appeared in
this constellation. He regarded it as probable that
an extraordinary star was conjoined with these three
planets, as was the case in the year 1603. Kepler
was of opinion that this conjunction formed the star
of the magi. This view has been further explained
and defended by Ideler in his Chronological Research-
es. Wieseler mentions, that, according to the state-
ment of Munter, the Chinese astronomical tables record
the appearance of a new star at a time which coin-
cides with the fourth year before the birth of Christ.
All chronological statements relating to the birth of
Christ lead, according to Wieseler's calculations, to
the conclusion that Jesus was born in the year 750
from the building of Rome (four years earlier than
the birth of Christ according to the usual chronology),
and most probably in the month of February. The
above-mentioned conjunction took place two years
sooner, that is, in the year 747 and 748."
The circumstance that Herod caused all the
(male) children in Bethlehem, of two years old and
under, to be put to death, is a strong argument in
favor of the supposition, that the principal star in
this constellation was that which directed the magi
to their search. Gcrlach, in his Commentary, says :
As Jesus adapted Himself to the fishermen by the
miraculous draught of fishes ; to the sick, by the
curing of their infirmities ; and to all His hearers, by
parables relating to the circumstances around, and
the affairs of ordinary life ; so did He draw these
astronomers to Himself by condescending to their
favorite science.
If it be asked how Providence could employ such
a deceptive art for the purpose of guiding the magi
to the truth, we reply, that there is a vast difference
between earlier and later astrology. Just as chemis-
try sprung from alchemy, and even war gave rise to
the Law of Nations, so ancient pagan astrology was
58
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the parent of our inodoni science of astronomy. But
the tendency of all true ficieiice is to pcJint tlic way
to faith. A perception of tlio harmonious order oi'
the firmament, and especially a knowledge of astron-
om)', would direct devout minds to Uim who is the
Centre of the spiritual solar system, to the creative
Word, the Source of all order. Besides, it was not
astrological inquiry which primarily determined the
magi to undertake the journey to Bethlehem, but
their belief in the Messiah promised to the Jews, of
whom they had heard. They were men earnest in
their deep longing, and believers according to the
measure of preparing grace granted them. Hence their
astrological knowledge was used only as the instru-
ment of advancing and directing their faith. Thus
Divine Providence might condescend even to their
erroneous ideas, and cause the appearance of the con-
stellation in the heavens to coincide with the convic-
tion in their hearts, that the birth of the Messiah had
then taken place ; more especially as their mistake
implied at least the general truth that the whole
starry world points to Christ, and that particular law
of Providence, according to which great leading
events in the kingdom of God are ushered in by sol-
emn and striking occurrences, both terrestrial and
celestial. Thus, all secular knowledge, however
blended with error, serves to draw heavenly minds to
Christ. Error is but the husk, truth is the kernel.
Accordingly, the star which was a sign to these wise
men, is to us a symbol that all nature — in particular,
the starry heavens, and the whole compass of natural
science — if properly understood, will, under Divine
guidance, lead us to deeper and stronger faith.
(Comp. Heubner, " Fraktische Erklarung des
Ncuen Test.,'''' vol. i. p. 13.) The statement, that
the star had ffuided the magi to Jerusalem, must
be interpreted in accordance with the symbolical im-
port of the passage. The magi, of course, availed
themselves of the ordinary channels of information
as to the road from the East to Jerusalem ; and
they went to Jerusalem on the supposition that
the capital of Judasa would naturally be the birth-
place of the King of the Jews. The way from Jeru-
salem to Bethlehem they learnt fiom local informa-
tion, having been directed there by the scribes and
by Herod. To them, however, the star still seemed
to be the guide of their journey — more especially the
same star which they had seen in the East when
first it rose (for this must be the import of the sin-
gular number, ev rfi avaroAfj, since the phrase, " in
the £\ist" would require the Plural, and araroAT)
evidently corresponds with rex^f 's)i now appeared in
its zenith right overhead upon Bethlehem, where the
shepherds had already made known the abode of the
Messiah. To their believing hearts the star seemed
to stand fixed, as heaven's own light, over the long
desired, though obscure and humble residence. But
it is remarkable how even their astrological inferen-
ces were purged from error, and transformed into
genuine faith. For, first, they found the new-born
King of the Jews not at Jerusalem. Secondly, they
found on the throne of Judah a worldly-minded old
tyrant. Thirdly, they found the representatives of
the sanctuary of Judah, and the holy city itself,
indifferent and unbelieving. Fourthly, they were
directed to the poor village of Bethlehem. Fifthly,
in Bethlehem itself they were directed to a poor cot-
tage. Lastly, they found, not a child of two years of
age, but an infant recently born, surrounded by what
betokened extreme poverty, under the care of a
homeless couple, the head of which was a carpenter.
All these stumbling-blocks had to be removed by tiie
testimony of the Scriptures which they had heard,
by the witness of the Spirit in their hearts, by the
sublime spectacle of Mary and the holy child, and by
the communications of the believing shepherds.
Thus were the heathen and carnal elements in their
astrological impressions effaced, and only what was
true, remained. The star in tlie sky had guided
them to the Sun of the spiritual firmament.
Ver. 2. And are come to worship Him. —
npoaKuveTf, to indicate veneration, homage, submis-
sion, by prostration of the face to the ground : Gen.
xix. 1 ; xlii. G, etc. ; Herodot. i. 134, etc. Here, as in
many other places, the word is, however, to be taken
as meaning adoration in the more general sense, as
it evidently refers merely to religious, not to political
homage.
Ver. 3. {Herod) was troubled, and all Jeru-
salem, with him, frapdxOv- — Both Herod and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem were struck with sinful
fear. With Herod, it may have been chiefly political
fear of a supposed new claimant of the throne. At
the same time, he must also have felt a dread, partly
religious and partly moral, of the power of religion,
and of the advent of One who should judge both the
nation and the world, — an event which he would
naturally connect with the coming of the Messiah.
Nor were the inhabitants of Jerusalem merely
alarmed from apprehension of the cruelty of Herod,
but because, along with him, they anticipated a con-
flict and a judgment of a spiritual character. Light-
foot and Berthold suppose that they were merely
afraid of the calamitous times which should precede
the reign of Messiah, or of the dolores Ifessice, as
they are termed. But this could form only one ele-
ment in their general and undefined dismay. Jeru-
salem does not go to Bethlehem, — this fact best
explains the character of their fear. Gerlaeh reminds
us of the circumstnnce that, " a short time before
this, the Pharisees had predicted to a female relative
of Herod, that her descendants would obtain the royal
dignity, and that Herod and his house would be de-
stroyed. In consequence of this prediction several
of the Pharisees had been put to death. When such
a tyrant was alarmed, his whole capital could not but
be also alarmed."
Ver. 4. (Herod) gathered together, etc.— This
refers either to an extraordinary sitting of the Sanhe-
drim— which is the usual opinion — or merely to a
theological conference. The latter supposition seems
to us the more probable, as the object of the meeting
was merely a theological deliverance. It is rendered
still more likely from the fact, that the third class
of the members of the Sanhedrim, the elders, are not
mentioned (for details, see Meyer, p. 65 ; and Winer
and others, under the article Sijnednuin, or Sanhe-
drhn). "The term apxi-^p^'^s comprehends not
only the actual high priest for the time (6 apxiepivs,
biTjri "rib^ Lev. xxi. 10), but those also who had
previously held the office of high priest (for at this
period it was often transferred at the caprice of the
Romans : Joseph. Antiq. xv. 3), and, probably, even
the heads of the twenty-four classes of priests (1
Chron. xxiv. 6 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14 ; Joseph. Antiq.
XX. 8, 8)." The scribes {ypai^fxareTs, C'^'IS'O) formed
a separate class in the Sanhedrim, though only a
portion of them were members of it. From the
union of civil and spiritual government under the Old
Testament theocracy, they were at one and the same
time lawyers and theologians, — interpreters of the
CHAP. II. 1-12.
59
law in this twofold sense. Hence Luke calls them
t/ofMLKoi and voixoSiSaffKaKoi. Most of them belonged
to the sect of the Pharisees {see the article ISchriftge-
lehrte in Winer). In all probability, the scribes ori-
ginated not merely from the practice of employing
copyists of the law and public readers in the syna-
gogues, but were intended as a kind of successors to
the prophets, in a sense modified by the circumstan-
ces of the time. The only point before the Sanhe-
drim on the present occasion was to specify, on theo-
logical grounds, the place where Christ should be
born. No doubt, however, the scribes were aware of
the reason why Herod wished to ascertain this point.
Vers. 5 and 6. For thus it is written by the
prophet : Micah v. 1. — The passage is freely quoted
from the Septuagint. In the Hebrew text the
prophet says : " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, too
small to be among the thousands of Judah C"^^^
i^'^'iiT^ "'E5X3 f^'^n") — [or, the central towns where
the heads of thousands resided, i.e., subordinate di-
visions of tribes] — out of thee shall come forth unto
Me One who is to be ruler in Israel : whose going
forth (origin) is from the first of time, from the days
of eternity." The Sept. has : " And thou Bethle-
hem, house of Ephratah, too small to be among the
thousands (eV x'^"»<^'»') of Judah," etc. Matthew
substitutes for Ephratah, " land of Judahy The
expression probably means district, and is analogous
to that of Ephraim, or twin-district. Ephratah was
the District par excellence — the District of Judah. —
The words, art not the least, seem to imply a ques-
tion, as if it were said : " Art thou too small '? Out
of thee shall come, etc. Not only art thou not too
small to be one of the thousands (or central towns) in
the tribe of Judah, but thou shalt be the birthplace of
the King of all Israel — the King eternal." Though
we have here among the princes for " among the
thousa7ids" it must not be inferred that the Evange-
list or his translator had mistaken the word ^=^5 1
a thousand (central town), for ~i*13^ , the chief of
a thousand (as Meyer thinks, p. 66). In point of
fact, the Evangelist here refers to a central town or
thousand, only personifying it by the term " prince."
Even the Rabbins admit that this passage applies to
the Messiah. Indeed, the whole context, and the
mysterious designation of the promised ruler, prove
its Messianic reference ; but chiefly, the circumstance
that the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem is distin-
guished from the then reigning house of David.
Rule, or rather feed, as in the margin — Troiixafel,
the primitive idea of ruling a people. Homer :
iroifxfves Kaiiv. It is clear, from this passage, that
the scribes understood the words of Micah as refer-
ring to the Messiah. So also did the Chaldee trans-
lator. Subsequently, the Jews tried to destroy this
testimony by applying the prediction to Hezekiah or
Zerubabel.
Ver. 7. Privily, \ddpa. — Quite characteristic of
political suspicion. Herod evidently shared the mis-
take of the magi, that the birth of the child coincided
with the first appearance of the star, and that, conse-
quently, the child was then in its second year. This
error led to the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem.
Ver. 9. And, lo, the star. — Bengel infers from
this passage, without sufficient reason, " (oto itinere
nan vidernnt stellam.''^ The only difference was,
that the star was now in its zenith, and hence ap-
peared to go before them. According to a common
Eastern custom, they travelled by night (Ilasselquist,
''^ Reise nach Paldstina," p. 152). Front this cir-
cumstance, however, we ai-e warranted in supposing
that Herod received the magi at night, in order to
question, and to give them such directions as would
make them, uncon.sciously, spies, and subservient to
his murderous purpose. Immediately on leaving the
despot's palace, they set out on their journey.
Ver. 11. Into the house. — This no more proves
(as Meyer asserts) that Matthew represents Bethle-
hem as Joseph's permanent place of residence, than
ver. 1 shows that the magi did not arrive till long
after the birth of the Saviour. In all probability the
holy family removed, soon after the homage of the
shepherds, from the stable (or the caravansery) to
some shepherd's cottage. The event here alluded to
undoubtedly occurred soon after the birth of Jesus,
and before His presentation in the temple.
Opened their treasures. — The bags or boxes
containing their treasures. According to Oriental usage,
offerings are presented when welcoming a distinguish-
ed stranger, but especially on rendering homage to a
sovereign. The (/oW indicates wealth ; the fravkln-
cense and myrrh point to the East, more particularly
to Arabia. Frankincense, a resin of bitter taste, but
fragrant odor, was used chiefly in sacrifices and in
the services of the temple. On the tree from which
frankincense was derived in Arabia and India, comp.
Winer. Myrrh, an aromatic of a similar kind, was
produced from a shrub, which, indigenous in Arabia
and Ethiopia, grows also in Palestine. Myrrh was
employed for fumigation and for improving the taste
of wine, but especially as an ingredient of a very
precious ointment. For a fuller account of these
productions, see Winer and other Encycl. — These
gifts have been regarded as symbolical. Thus Theo-
phylact : The gold to the King, the incense to the
Lord, the myrrh to Him who was to taste of death
(the great High Priest). Sunilarly Leo the Great.
Fulgentius : Fer aurum C'hrinti regnum, per thus
ejus poniificatus, per myrrham jaors significatur.
Others give other explanations. Leo the Great and
Juvencus suggest, that by these gifts the magi owned
and did homage to both the divme and the human
nature of Christ. Others have dwelt more on the
practical utility of the gifts, as a provision for the
holy family in their unpending flight mto Egypt.
With this view we may, also, combine a symbolical
interpretation of the threefold gift. Thus the myrrh,
as precious ointment, may indicate the Prophet and
the balm of Israel; the incense, the office of the
High Priest ; the gold, the splendor of royalty. In
expatiating, however, on supposed symbolical mean-
ings, great care is required to avoid mere trifling.
Ver. 12. And being warned of God, xpw-
TtffOevres. — The Vulgate: response accepto. — The
expression seems to imply a previous inquiry. Ben-
gel: Sic optaraut, vel rogarant. Hence we infer
that, even before being warned in -a dream, the for-
mer trustfulness and simplicity of the magi — so
characteristic of these inquirers — had given place to
suspicion of Herod's intentions, from the contrast
between the uncomfortable impression produced by
the despotic king and the spiritual feelings awakened
by the holy family. The word avex'^PVcay is also
significant : they withdrew, escaped, by another way
to their own country. Their direct way home would,
in all probability, have led by Jerusalem, as the
route would depend not so much on the direction in
which their country lay, as on the road usually taken
by travellers.
General Remarks on the Historical CnAKACTER op
THE Adoeation of THE Magi.— The idea (still, it would
GO
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
seem, countenanced
that the preceding narrative was no more than a legend,
not only theologically untenable, but fcientifleally antiquat-
ed. The deep significant and symbolical meaning is no argu-
ment against the historical truth of this Gospel narrative,
but rather an additional evidence of its reality. (See " Leben
Jeitu" vol. i. p. 41.) At any rate, if this narrative be a
legend, it cannot be supposed to have been of Jewish Chris-
tian origin: it portrays Judaism in a most disadvantageous
light compared with the Gentile world. It is remarkable
that the Evangelist Luke, the companion of Paul, the Apos-
tle of the Gentiles, introduces Jewish worthies as celebrat-
ing the praises of the new-born Messiah ; while Matthew,
whose Gospel was primarily intended for the use of Jewish
converts, dwells upon the homage paid to the Saviour by
Gentiles. This accounts for the circumstance, that in tlie
Ebionite Hebrew Gospel, not only the first chapter, which
records the miraculous birth, but also the second, was omit-
ted. " Chalcidius, a Platonic philosopher and a heathen,
but according to others a deacon of Carthage, also relates
this narrative in his Commentar ad ThnveMm Pint. See
Opera HiiypoJyii, ed. Fabric, xi. 325."— Heubner. The
same writer (Heubner) refers to Hamann : ^^ Die Kreuzzugf.
des Philnlogen" vol.'ii. p. 153; and to Lilienthal : ''Die
gute Sache der gottUchen Offenharung," v. 271 and x. 598.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In the first chapter, the Evangehst points out
the part which the Jewish people had in connection
with the Messiah. Christ's genealogy, and His birth
from the Virgin, show that salvation was of the Jews.
The second chapter, which records the arrival of
magi from the East, presents the interest of the Gen-
tile world in Christ. The magi are, so to speak, the
representatives of those pious Gentiles whose names
are recorded in the Old Testament, — Melchisedec,
Jethro, Ruth, Hiram, Job, Naaman, etc. To this
class also belong, in a certain sense, Nebuchadnezzar
and Cyrus. The same thread continues to run
through the New Testament history, where we meet
with the three believing centurions and other pious
Gentiles, and where the vision of a Gentile — the man
of Macedonia — summons the Apostle to carry the
Gospel into Europe, Acts xvi. 9. Thus the first
chapter of our Gospel illustrates the hereditary bless-
ing as contrasted with the hereditary curse ; while
the second proves, that although the heathen were
judicially given up to their own ways, there was
among them in all ages a certain longing after, and
knowledge of, the Saviour (Rom. i.). The Jewish
hereditary blessing and the Gentile aspirations of
nature together belong to what the Church calls the
gratia prceveniens, or prevenient grace. Among those
who enjoyed the hereditary blessing, prevenient grace
was continued in genealogical succession. They
were a chosen race. In the Gentile world, the hope
of a Saviour was planted here and there in chosen
individuals. Yet, these two classes of believers are
not entirely distmct from each other. Even the
Gentile world was favored with bright glimpses of
Messianic tradition; while among the Jews, also,
"prevenient grace," in its highest manifestations,
was accorded to chosen individuals, in whom it led
to personal faith. In both these respects the scho-
lastic view of Augustine (not of the Church in gen-
eral) lags far behind the scriptural record of the
riches of grace and of faith, and needs modification.
The manifestation of Christ among the Gentiles, or
the Epiphany (i-KKpdveia) of Scripture, is infinitely
more grand and full than the medieval festival of the
Epiphany. Still, the latter was a solemn testimony
to the wondrous efficacy of preparing grace, or the
\6yos (TirepfxaTiKSs, to M'hom the ancient Greek Fa-
thers (especially Justin Martyr and Clement of Alex-
andria) have borne such ample testimony.
The dark side of the picture m the first chapter
consists mainly in the power of the heathen world,
which, Uke a frightful storm, seems to pass over the
genealogical tree of the Messiah. This is reversed
in the second chapter, where the Gentile world pre-
sents the bright, while unbelieving Israel forms the
dark side of the picture.
2. Some of the statements contained in the sec-
ond chapter seem, at first sight, to be stumbling-
blocks to our faith : — Christ so remote, so hidden, so
disowned, — Christ at first a child in ihe woik., a poor
child, in a rural district at a distance from Jerusa-
lem, in a lowly abode — a fugitive, an occasion of
martyrdom, a Nazarene. On the other hand, we
have here also an array of historical events which
show Him to be the Christ ; such as the star, nature,
science, and philosophy, — history, on its dark side
and on its bright (Herod and the theological lore of
the scribes), — Holy Scripture, prophecy, the giving
up of His kindred, the significant dream by night,
God's overruling providence, — all forming one glori-
ous wreath of evidence. On the analogy presented
by the humble church of Bethlehem, in Prague,
where John Huss preached, and the insignificant
church where Luther taught at Wittenberg, see
Heubner, on Math. p. 14.
3. The star which the wise men saw must not
be regarded as a fulfilment of Balaam's prophecy re-
specting the Star that was to come out of Jacob
(Num. xxiv. 17); for Christ Himself was that Star.
The star seen by the wise men was, however, a sym-
bol of the true Star, the Sun of Righteousness (Mal-
achi). The arrival of those distinguished magi to
do homage to the Messiali was clearly a beginning
of the fulfilment of ancient prophecy, according to
which the princes of the Gentiles were to come and
present their homage to the Messiah (Ps. Ixxii. 10 ;
Isa. Ix. 3, etc.). In a symbolical sense, they may
therefore be appropriately called the three kings
from the East. They were spiritual princes from
the Gentile world, bearing testimony by their gifts
to the dim yet real longing after a Prophet, Priest,
and King, in those whom they represented.
4. In the design of Herod the old enmity of Edom
against Jacob seems to reappear. We are involun-
tarily reminded of that murderous purpose, " I will
slay my brother Jacob" (Gen. xxvii. 41), which Esau
relinquished in his own person, but bequeathed to
his posterity (see the prophet Obadiah), and which
attained its fulfilment in the progress of history.
The same may be said of the blessing which Jacob
bestowed upon Esau ; which also was most marked-
ly fulfilled in the Iduma-an rule over Israel, except
that the noble traits in the character of Esau — his
honesty and uprightness — are no longer traceable in
the cruel and cratty Idumtean dynasty.
5. The antagonism between the Maccabees and
the Herodians belongs to the great tragic contrasts
in the history of the kingdom of God. The most
touehuig incident in this drama is the sad fate of
Mariamne, the Asmonaean princess, whom Herod
married, passionately loved, but sacrificed to his
suspicions. Ruckert (the poet), in his Herod, well
describes the Hellenizing and worldly spirit of this
prince, who covered even Palestine with Greek
names. The policy of these two dynasties may well
serve as a beacon to the nations of Christendom. If
the policy of the Maccabees was at a later period
followed by the Byzantine court, that of the Herodi-
ans is too well known in modern times as Macchia-
Tellianism.
6. The contrast between the faith of the Gentiles
CHAP. II. 1-12.
61
and the unliclicf of the Jews, here presented in its
loading features, has been fully verified in the course
of history. See Rom. ix.-xi. The Gospel of the
Epiphany is also the Gospel of Missions to the
Heathen.
7. Heaven and earth, as it were, move around
the holy child as around their centre. But this cen-
tre repels whatever is dark and evil by the same
force with which it attracts every germ of what is
noble and holy.
8. The higher and spiritual import attaching to
the designation, "King of the Jews," appears even
from the conduct of Herod. In his" mind, the ex-
pression is evidently equivalent with Messiah, and
connected with spiritual rather than with temporal
functions ; otherwise the inquiry of the magi would
have been treated as sedition.
9. For a time it was thought that the holy child
had been put to death in Bethlehem, or else that He
had forever quitted the scene and settled in Egypt.
Next we find Him growing up in obscurity at Naza-
reth. Thus Christ may be regarded as the Prince
of outcast children, such as Ishmael, Moses, Cyrus,
Romulus, etc.
10. On the spread of the knowledge of Christ
among the Persians and Mohammedans, comp. Heub-
ner, p. 17.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The salvation of the world in the form of a child
— 1. concealed, and yet well known ; 2. a child hated
and feared, yet longed for and loved ; 3. signally de-
spised, and yet marvellously honored; 4. beset by
extreme dangers, and yet kept in perfect safety. — The
holy child viewed as the moving centre of the world
in motion, — 1. setting everything in motion; 2. at-
tracting all that is congenial ; 3. repelliag all that is
.hostile. Christ had come to the wise men before
they came to Him, — or the mysterious working of
prevenient grace. — The threefold knowledge of Christ
in the Gentile world: 1. Information by tradition;
2. a star in the sky ; 3. the influence of the Spirit in
the heart. — On the Gentile world also a star, if no
brighter light, shed its lustre. — The star of heaven
and the star of earth. — In what sense are the wise
men from the East to be regarded as really kings
from the Gentile world? — In preaching to the
heathen, let us bear in mind that there is a star in
their firmament. — Let us go and meet the Gentiles. —
Even the best among the heathen may serve as evi-
dence of the spiritual destitution and need of the
heathen world. — The clearest light among the
heathen is but starlight. — Candid philosophy must
lead to Christ. — Genuine science, if true to its aim,
points to the centre of all knowledge. — Every depart-
ment of knowledge a mere potsherd, unless complet-
ed by faith. — Nature's testimony to Christ. 1. The
various stages in nature tending upward to what is
spiritual, or to Christ. 2. By the travailing and
groaning in pain of all nature, she points forward
to salvation in Christ. 3. Through the varied im-
agery and symbols of nature, she points homeward to
the spirit. — How everything replies to the inquiry:
Where is He that has been born King of the Jews ?
1. Scripture. 2. The scribes. 3. Even the enemies
of the King Himself. 4. The star m the sky. 5.
The convictions of the heart. — Infinite importance
of the question: Where is the new-born King of the
Jews? 1. Its deep meaning. 2. The eager interest
attaching to it. 3. The glorious hope connected
with it. — The glory of the King of the Jews. 1. He
is the King of the Jews, or the Messiah ; 2. the King
of all nations, or the Saviour of ths world ; 3. the
King of kings and Lord of lords. — Jesus is still the
King of tlie Jews, — a watchword for our missionary
enterprise. — The King of the Jews is not to be found
at Jerusalem, the city of the King. — The alarm of a
tyrant spreads terror among his subjects. — Even in-
quiry after Christ alarms an unbelieving world. — The
hatred of the wicked must serve as testimony to the
truth of the Gospel. — Herod consulting Scripture as
if it had been a heathen oracle. — The value of lifeless
orthodoxy, and the worthlessness of lifeless theologi
ans. — Those who are near are often afar off, and
those who are afar off near. — The callous and un-
moved guides to Bethlehem. — Without the light of
Scripture, all the stars in the sky will not suffice to
clear away our darkness. — If we but truly know that
Christ has come, we shall soon learn where He is to
be found. — The Gentile magi and the Jewish scribes.
1. The former obtain, by their star, the Scriptures
also; the latter lose, with the Scriptures, also the
star. 2. The foi-mer become scribes (or learned in
the Scriptures) in the best sense ; the latter magi, m
the worst sense. — Jerusalem and Bethlehem, former-
ly and now. — Bethlehem and Nazareth. — Inconsisten-
cy in the character of Herod. 1. Belief in the letter
of Scripture. 2. Unbelief in the spirit of Scripture.
— The evil craft of Herod, and the pious simplicity
of the magi. — Hypocrisy as the shadow of faith in
the world. 1. It accompanies faith, as the shadow
the substance. 2. It is a proof of the existence of
faith, as the shadow is of the substance. 3. It van-
ishes before faith, as the shadow Ijefore the sub-
stance.— The devices of hypocrisy in their might and
in their impotence. 1. They are mighty in the
world. 2. They become powerless before the power
of God. — Hypocrisy in its two most hideous forms :
1. As unprincipled religious policy; 2. as unprin-
cipled political religiousness. — The road to Christ,
and the decisive conflicts by the way: 1. It is always
a long journey; 2. it always continues the grand
question ; 3. it is always a path of severe self-denial;
4. always a path full of dangers ; 5. always a path
aboundmg in obstacles ; 6. always the only path to
the true goal. — Recompense of perseverance in the
path to Christ — great joy. — The star always rests
over the place where Christ is. — "yl?ifZ thei/ went
into the housed 1. What is suggested to us by the
house ? 2. What is suggested by those who enter-
ed ? S. What is suggested by their entering ? — The
homage of the wise men a sudden outburst of heart-
felt blessed faith : 1. In their beholding Christ; 2. in
their falling down and doing obeisance ; 3. in their
cordial homage, indicated by the noblest gifts. — The
homage of the wise men indicating the order and
succession of beUeving experience. 1. We behold.
2. We fall down. 3. We present gifts.— The hom-
age of the wise men a picture of genuine and matur-
ed faith. 1. Vision issuing in humiliation and godly
sorrow. 2. Adoration issuing in the joy of faith.
3. Perseverance of faith issuing in self-dedication and
works of love. — The child with Mary, his mother ;
but not Mary, the mother, with her child (Maryola-
try). — The offerings of a grateful faith ; gold, frank-
incense, and myrrh: 1. as the noblest, 2. the most
varied, 3. the most significant gifts. — The oflering of
a grateful hand, an expression of the dedication of
the heart. — The earthly gifts of Cliristian gratitude
reflecting the heavenly gift of the Lord. — We are to
oft'er vmto the Lord that which we have. — Prophetic
dreams in the history of the kingdom of God. — Bless-
62
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ed faith, with its songs of the night. — The sleep of
the i)ious more profitable than the vigils of godless
craftiness. — The discoveries of faith are not meant
for Herod nor for such as he. — The marvellous man-
ner in which spiritual inquiry is directed from the
native darkness of this world to the light of our eter-
nal home. — God's guidance is always toward Christ.
— If God guide ms, we shall always and certainly
reach the goal. — The blessed return home. — Signifi-
cance of Christ's first possession in connection with
His first flight. It came, 1. at the right time ; 2.
into the proper hands ; 3. for the right purpose. —
The first property of the Church in its significance
with reference to all Church property in the world :
1. It should be regarded as belonging to Christ; 2.
it should be applied to the service of Christ ; and
thus, 3. become a true blessing from Christ. — Divine
providence most clearly manifesting itself in its care
over the life of Christ. — Christianity universal in its
nature and aim. It comprehends: 1. heaven and
earth ; 2. nature and Scripture ; 3. the Gentiles and
the Jews ; 4. the heart and the life ; 5. redemption
and judgment.
Heidmer : — Christ in the cradle was the terror of
an unjust monarch on his throne. — The kings and
governments of this world may well tremble, and
feel themselves insecure, if they are hostile to Christ.
— Christ is still both the hope of the pious, and the
terror of the wicked, whose conscience everywhere
apprehends an avenger, and is alarmed by every
passing event. — The living Saviour always puts old
Adam in terror, and threatens to drive him from his
throne. — Inconsistencies in the character of Herod :
Faith in the letter of Scripture, — resistance to God's
decrees. — We have here an instance of persons who
point out Christ to others, without going to Him
themselves, — who teach others the way of salvation,
without entering on it themselves. — The wicked em-
ploy religion only as a means for their own ends, —
The most blessed discovery of all is to have found
Christ. — Edification to be derived from the history
of the wise men. They were, 1. wise men — philos-
ophers: Thus should all who are truly wise, etc.
2. Rich and noble : Thus should all the great of the
earth, etc. 3. Strangers from a strange country:
Thus we who are near to Christ, etc. 4. They saw
Christ only as a child in His lowliness ; we, on the
contrary, etc. 5. They followed a small star; but
our Ught is, etc. 6. They had a long and arduous
journey to accomplish ; but we scarce require to
move a single step. — The glory shed on Jesus by
the arrival of the wise men. — He who follows the
feeble glimmerings of spiritual light, will receive di-
vine guidance to perfect light. — True Occult Science.
Literature : Two sermons on the Epiphany by
St. Augustin and Gregory of Nazianzen, in Augusti :
"Collection of Patristic Sermons," vol. i., p. 100. —
Luther's " Sermon on the Gospel of the Three Kings"
(the wise men). — Dispositions of Rambach, Reinhard,
etc., in Schaller's "Homilet. Repert.," p. 48. — F.
Mallet: The Wise Men of the EaM. A Christmas
Gift. Bremen, 1852 (10 Meditations).
[Trench : Christ the Desire of all Nations, or the
Unconscious Prophecies of Heathendom. A Com-
mentary on Matt. ii. 1-11. 4th ed., Cambridge,
1854.— P. S.]
For Itissionary Festahles : Christ the desire and
goal of all nations. — The star of the wise men. —
Ahlfeld: The Gentiles, too, shall walk in the light
of Christ. — Uhle : The first Gentiles, who sought the
Lord. — Rudelbach: The glory of the manifestation
of Christ.
B. Chapter II. 13-23 (Luke ii. 40-52).
{TJie Gospel for the Sunday after New Year or Day of Circumcision.)
13 And wlien they were departed, behold, the [an] angel of the Lord appeareth to Jo-
seph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into
Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word : for Herod will seek the young
14 child to destroy him. When he arose, he took tlie young child and his mother by
15 night, and departed into Egypt, And was there until the death of Herod : that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying. Out of Egypt have I
16 called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of [by] the wise men,
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children' that were in Bethlehem,
and in all the coasts thereof,^ from two years old and under, according to the time
17 which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was
18 spoken by Jeremy Hhe prophet, saying. In Rama was there a voice heard,* lamentation,
and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
19 comforted, because they are not. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the
20 Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child
and his mother, and go into the land of Israel : for they are dead which [who] sought
21 the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and
22 came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign [reigned]
in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither : notwithstand-
ing, [and] being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee :
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth : that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
1 Ver. 16.— [Better: all the male children, -n-avra? tous TroTSar. Lange: alle Enaben.—'P. S.]
2 Ver. 16.— [/» all its borders, in all the neighborhood.] ^ Ver. 17.— [Jeremiah.]
* Ver. 18.— [Proper order: A voice was heard in Ii. Comp. Jer. xxxi. 15. The best editionB omit dprjvo^ Kal,
tamentation and. — P. 8.]
CHAP. n. 13-23.
63
EXEGETICAL AND CItlTICAL.
Vcr. 13. Behold, an angel of the Lord ap-
peareth. — Though the wise men had withdrawn
from the influence of Herod, the child was still in
danger. It may be presumed that the wise men and
the child's parents had conversed together about
Herod, and that the magi had begun to entertain
strong suspicions of his intentions. Probably Jo-
seph and Mary were to some extent relieved when
the wise men left the country without returning to
Herod. Still, the anxious vigilance of Joseph con-
tinued unabated ; and it may be regarded as an evi-
dence of his devotedness, that he again received in-
struction and direction by a vision in a dream. He
did not hesitate for a moment, but immediately fled
with the child and its mother.
Vers. 14, 15. Egypt was the only possible place
of refuge. It was situated near the southern frontier
of JudiEa. Following this direction, the fugitives at
once withdrew to a distance from Jerusalem. Fre-
quented roads led through the desert into Egypt.
There they would find a large and more liberal Jew-
ish community under the protection of a civilized
government. The supposition that this account was
invented for the purpose of fulfilling the passage in
Hosca xi. 1 (which, in the text, is quoted in accord-
ance with the original Hebrew), is entirely incompat-
ible with the scope and meaning of the narrative.
Even supposing the story to be legendary, it would
have ill accorded with the anxiety of Joseph and
Mary about the child to represent them as undertak-
ing a journey for the purpose of fulfilling a prophe-
cy ; especially one which, in its literal sense, referred
to the bringing of Israel out of Egypt (comp. Ex. iv.
22 ; Jer. xxxi. 9). The Septuagint translation has
Tct TCKva avTov (of Israel). As, however, the flight
and the return had really taken place, the Evangel-
ist, whose attention was always directed to the fulfil-
ment of prophecy, might very properly call attention
to the fact, that even this prediction of Hosea had
been fulfilled. And, in truth, viewed not as a verbal
but as a typical prophecy, this prediction was fulfill-
ed by the flight into Egypt. Israel of old was called
out of Egypt as the son of God, inasmuch as Israel
was identified with the Son of God. But now the
Son of God Himself was called out of Egypt, who
came out of Israel as the kernel from the husk.
When the Lord called Israel out of Egypt, it was
with special reference to His Son ; that is, in view
of the high spiritual place which Israel was destined
to occupy. In connection with this, it is also impor-
tant to bear in mind the historical influence of Egypt
on the world at large. Ancient Greek civihzation —
nay, in a certain sense, the imperial power of Rome
itself — sprung from Egypt ; in Egypt the science of
Christian theology and Christian monasticism origin-
ated ; from Egypt proceeded the last universal con-
queror ; out of Egypt came the typical son of God to
found the theocracy ; and thence also the true Son
of God, to complete the theocracy. — According to
tradition, Christ stayed at Matarea in Egypt, in the
vicinity of LeontopoUs, where, at a later period, the
Jewish temple of Onias stood. — See Schubert's Jieise
in das Morcfenland, ii. p. 179.
Ver. 16. That he was mocked, fvcnaixSri —
outwitted, made a fool of. — The word is frequently so
used in the Septuagint. " The expression is here
employed from Herod's point of view."
From two years old, a-nh SieroDy, SC. iraiSo'?. —
From two years old down to the youngest male child
on the breast. It follows that the star had been seen
by the wise men for about two years before their ar-
rival at Jerusal'im. The massacre of the children at
Bethlehem has been regarded as a myth, chiefly be-
cause Joscphus makes no menti'ii of it. Thus even
Meyer doubts the historical truth of this narrative,
since Joscphus always relates circumstantially all the
cruelties perpetrated by Herod {Ardiq. xv. 7, 8, etc.).
But that he recorded so many, scarcely implies that
he meant to relate every instance of his cruelty. It
is farther argued, that, if the massacre has " been a
historical fact, it would, on account of the peculiar
circumstances of the case, certainly have been men-
tioned by the Jewish historian." We infer the op-
posite. From the peculiarity of the occurrence, it
would have iDcen impossible to mention it without
furnishing a more direct testimony, either for or
against the Christian faith, than Joscphus wished to
bear. The supposition that the massacre was not
openly and officially ordered, but secretly perpetrated
by banditti in the employ of Herod (see Lehen Jesu,
ii. p. 112), is not "gratuitous," but suggested by the
text {\ddpa 7}Kpi^iiiae ; atroffTeiXas a.i/e7\ev). Not
that we draw any inference from the confused ac-
count in Macrobius * (see Meyer, p. 174); the Gos-
pel narrative can, however, easily dispense with it.
Vers. 17, 18. Then was fidfiUed, etc.— the
prediction in Jer. xxxi. 1 5 is here quoted freely from
the Septuagint. This is another fulfilment of a typ-
ical, not of a Hteral, prophecy. The passage prima-
rily refers to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon.
Rachel, the ancestress of Benjamin, who was buried
near Bethlehem, is introduced as issuing from her
g-.ave to bewail the captivity of her children. The
sound of her lamentations is carried northward be-
yond Jerusalem, and heard at Rama — a fortress of
Israel on the frontier toward Judah, where the cap-
tives were collected. The meaning probably is, that
the grief caused by this deportation, and the conse-
quent lamentations of the female captives, was such
as to reach even the heart of the ancestress of Ben-
jamin (which here includes also Judah). As used
by Jeremiah, it was, therefore, a figurative expression
for the deep sorrow of the exiled mothers of Judah.
But in the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem this
earlier calamity was not only renewed, but its de-
scription verified in the fullest and most tragic man-
ner. Rachel's children are not merely led into exile ;
they are destroyed, and that by one who called him-
self King of Israel. Accordingly, Rachel is intro-
duced as the representative of the mothers of Beth-
lehem lamenting over their children (Chrysostom,
Theophylact, and many others). The picture of Ra-
chel herself issuing from the grave and raismg a
lament, indicates that the greatest calamity had now
befallen Judah. — The words Op-ni-'os Kai are wantmg
in Codd. B.Z., etc., and in several translations.
Ver. 20. They are dead who, etc. — In the vi-
sion a scriptural expression is used, Ex. iv. 19, which
must have been familiar to Joseph. On the horrible
death of Herod, amid alternate designs of revenge
and fits of despair, comp. Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 18,
1 ; 9, 3 ; i3<? BcUo Jud. 1, 33. He died at the age
of 70, in the 37th year of his reign.
Ver. 22. But when he heard that Archelaus,
etc. — After the death of Ilerod, his kingdom was di-
vided among his three sons by Augustus. Archelaus
* Of Augustus : " Cum aufiisset, inter pueros, quos in Sy-
ria Ilerodcs, rox Judaeorum intra bimatuin ju.ssit interflci,
tilium quoqiic ejus occisura, ait, melius est Herodia porcuui
esse, quam filium."
64
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
obtained Judaea, Idumaja, and Samaria ; Herod Anti-
pas, Galilee and Pera-a ; Pliilip, Batanca, Trachonitis,
and Auranitis. Herod and Pliilip received the title of
Tetrarch. Arcbelaus obtained at first the designation
oiEthnarch (Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 1 1, 4). The title of
King was to be afterward conferred on him if he de-
served it by his services. But, nine years after his ac-
cession, Augustus banished him, in consequence of the
complaints of the Jews about his cruelty, to Vienne
in Gaul, where he died {Antiq. xvii. 13, 2; Le Bdlo
Jud. ii. *?, 3). Like his father, Archelaus was a sus-
picious and cruel tyrant. Accordingly, Joseph was
afraid to remain in Judfca with the holy child. Ap-
plying to the Lord for guidance, he was directed, in
another dream, to settle in Galilee. This was the
fourth revelation with which he was honored. It
implies that a high tone of spirituality pervaded his
soul. The ever-watchful solicitude of Joseph for the
safety of the child of promise might serve as the nat-
ural groundwork for these communications, while
the repeated revelations vouchsafed during his noc-
turnal thoughts show that a providentia spccialissi-
ma watched over the life of the Divine child. Such
prophetic dreams exhibit the connection and co-
operation of a special Divine providence with the
most anxious vigilance on the part of the servants
of God. Nor must we forget the connection between
the devotedness of Joseph and the fond anxiety of
Mary. — These four dreams occurred at considerable
intervals of time.
Ver. 23. A city called Nazareth.— The town
was situated in Lower Galilee, in the ancient territo-
ry of the tribe of Zebulon (Lightfoot, Ifora; Hebr. p.
918), to the south of Cana, not far from Mount Ta-
bor. It lay in a rocky hollow among the mountains,
and was surrounded by beautiful and grand scenery.
The modern Nazareth is a small, but pretty town.
According to Robinson, it has three thousand inhab-
itants (see Schubert iii. 169 ; Robinson, ill. 421, Eng.
ed. ii. 333 ; and other books of travels). Compare
also the article in Winer and other Encycls. The
name of Galilee was derived from b'^bj , which orig-
inally signifies a circle, — hence Galilee, the circuit or
surrounding country. The whole country received
its name from the district, which was afterward
named Upper Gahlee, as distinguished from Lower
Galilee. Accordingly, in common conversation, the
tei-m Galilee was used to denote Upper Galilee, or
the Galilee par excellence. This explains such ex-
pressions as Matt. iv. 12 and John iv. 44. One
might be said to go from Nazareth to Galilee, just as
we might speak of travelling from Berlin to Prussia
(Proper), or from Geneva to (the interior of) Swit-
zerland. " The word Nazareth is supposed to be
derived from "iSD ^ surculus, virc/ultum, as the sur-
rounding district abounds in brushwood or shrubs ;
Burckhardt, '■ Reisen,'' ii. 683 (Matt. ii. 23 is an aUu-
sion to 12:3 , surculus, in Isa. xi. 1, which Hofmann,
in his ' V/eissac/ung,'' ii. 64, denies on insufficient
grounds)." Winer.
He shall be called a Nazarene. — ^As the
word Nazarene is not employed in any prophetic
passage of the Old Testament to designate the Mes-
siah, various explanations have been proposed: — 1.
According to Jerome, some " eruditi Hebrasi " had
before his time traced the term to the expression ^::3 ,
sprout, in Isa. xi. 1, by which the Messiah is desig-
nated ; which view is followed by many modem ex-
positors, as also by Piscator and Casaubon. Heng-
Btenberg, in his Christology, ii. 1, supports this ex-
planation, by showing that the original name of the
place was "i:£3 , and not nia: . 2. Chrysostom,
and many others after him, consider the words in
question a quotation from a prophetic book now lost.
But in quoting from the Old Testament, the inspired
penmen evidently regarded the Old Testament canon
as closed, and referred only to books which had been
received into it. This also disposes of the opinion
that, 3. The quotation is from some apocryphal book
(Gratz, Ewald). Still more untenable is, 4. the no-
tion that the term Nazarene is equivalent to ")"''!3 .
For Jesus was neither a Nazarite (Matt. xi. 10), nor
is He so called in any prophetic passage. This
vague conjecture is rendered even more improbable
by the suggestion of Ewald, that the quotation was
taken from a lost apocryphal book, in which the
Messiah was represented at His first appearance- as a
Nazarite, and that from this verbal similarity the
Evangelist had derived his reference to Nazareth.
5. Some commentators have given up the idea of a
verbal reference. They argue that the expression
Nazarene was used by the Jews to designate a slight-
ed person ; and the Messiah is represented as such
in Ps. xxii., Isa. liii. (Michaelis, Paulus, RosemiiiiUer,
etc. ; comp. the author's Leben Jesu, vol. ii. p. 48).
This, or the explanation (1) proposed by Jerome,
seems the most likely. Meyer supports the allusion
to •IS; by referring to the similar expression riTDIi
(Isa. iv. 2; Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8, vi.
12), which would also account for the use of the
plural number — "spoken by the jirophets.'" But it
seems to us impossible to suppose that the allusion
of the Evangelist should have been based merely on
the similarity, and not on the meaning of the two
words. Such a view could neither be reconciled
with the suggestion of Meyer about Zemach, nor
would it tally with Isa. xi. 1, where the term *i:i3
is used only in allusion to, but not as a designation
of the Messiah ; so that the idea of a mere verbal
fulfilment is out of the question. The conclu.^ion at
which we have arrived is, that the title Nazarene
bears reference to the outward lowliness of the Mes-
siah ; accordingly, the "i!i3_ in Isa. xi. 1 is analogous
to the expressions used in Isa. liii. 2, and to other
descriptions of the humble appearance of the Mes-
siah. In other words, the various allusions to the
despised and humble appearance of the Messiah are,
so to speak, concentrated in that of Nezcr. The
prophets applied to Hun the term branch or bush, in
reference to His insignificance in the eyes of the
world ; and this appellation was specially verified
when He appeared as an inhabitant of despised Naza-
reth, "the town of shrubs" {Leben Jesu, vol. ii. 120
fif.).
Meyei- has recently repeated the assertion, that, accord-
ing to the account of Matthew, Bethlehem, and not Kaza-
reth, was the original residence of Joseph and Mary; and
that, in this respect, there is a discrepancy between Matthew
and Luke. This comnaentator controverts the view of Ne-
ander, Ebrard, Holfuinnn, and others, who have succofsfully,
as we think, reconciled the statements of the two Kvanfje-
lists (see Lehen Jem,, ii. 122). In reply, it may be sufficient
to say, that in all probability Joseph and Mary deemed it
their duty to reside at Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus
until otherwise directed, more especially as the mafri had
been directed to Bethlehem in their search after the Messiah.
Indeed, Matthew himself furnishes the key for solving the
apparent difficulty, when he mentions it as a new circum-
stance that the birth of Christ took place "at Bethlehem."
A discrepancy could only have been alleged if Joseph and
Mary had, in the first chapter, been represented as residing
at Bethlehem. On the other hand, it is easy to account for
the special notice of the town of Nazareth in the pas.saee be^
fore us, as the Evangelist wished to call attention to the cf
I
CHAP. II. 13-23.
65
cnmstance of Christ's residence at Nazareth, ami to the pro-
phetic allusions thereto.
Tlie fdlldwin:; appears to have been the chronological
order of events:— Soon after the hirth of Christ the wise
men arrived from the East. Tliis was followed by tlie flight
into Ejrypt. and the sojourn there, which must have been
very brief, as Herod's death occurred soon afterward. The
presentation in the temple must have taken place after the
return, as, according to the law, it could not occur before
the fortieth day, but did not necessarily take place on that
dav. After the presentation, Joseph and Mary settled in
Galilee; and there, at Nazareth, the Lord resided for thirty
years (see my Leben Jesu, vol. ii. 110).
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Joseph's dreams, in which angelic communica-
tions were made for the deliverance of the holy child,
afford us a glimpse into the spiritual nature of man,
and into the spiritual world bej'ond. A contest en-
sues between the kingdom of light and the kingdom
of darkness about the holy child. The craft of Herod
assumes the form of satanic rage. The Jewish scribes
have been successfully duped by him, and made sub-
servient to the purposes of the tyrant. By their
scriptural reply to his inquiry they have unconscious-
ly delivered the infant Messiah into the power of the
crafty monarch. But the deep and earnest spiritual-
ity of the pious heathen worshippers proved sufficient
to defeat his plans. Warned of God in a dream,
they escaped from the meshes of his iniquitous poli-
cy. By an unusual route they returned into their own
country, and, to appearance, the holy child was safe.
But Herod's fury knew no bounds. The thought of
having been outwitted by the magi was an additional
incitement to wreak his vengeance on the object of
their veneration. He now employed a band of ruffi-
ans as the instruments of his last desperate attempt
on the life of Jesus. No doubt he expected that in
the slaughter of the uafants of Bethlehem the infant
Jesus would perish. Thus did the kingdom of dark-
ness put forth its utmost efforts, which, on the other
hand, were counteracted by those of the kingdom of
hg'ot. But if the powers of darkness proceed warily,
those of light act still more warily. The calculations
of a sleepless policy were baffled by the sleep of the
pious. On the nature and signiScancy of dreams,
see Schubert's SijmboUk des Traumes ; and the
author's dissertation entitled : " Von dem zwiefachen
Bewusstseiii,'" etc., in the ^'■Deutsche Zeitschrift filr
christliche ]Visse7ischaft und christliches Zeben" Ber-
lin, 1851, N. 30 ff. On angeUcal communications,
see the author's Leben Jesu, i. 48.
In regard to the influence of the spiritual world
on the human mind, the following principle may be
laid down : The more vividly the soul is roused in its
inmost being by wants and perplexities around, the
more are we prepared for influences from the spirit-
ual world, good or evil, according to the spiritual
condition of the soul. Again, in proportion as the
spiritual condition of the soul is undeveloped, though
earnest in its aspiratioas after God, or as a person is
engrossed with cares and toils in the ordinary course
of his life, the more Ukely is the influence of the
spiritual world to be felt in dreams and visions of the
night. As instances in point, we may here refer to
the ecstatic state of Hagar, of Gideon, of Mary Mag-
dalene, of the Christian martyrs in the Primitive
Church, of the French Camisardes, [the Scotch Cov-
enanters], the Jansenists, and others.
2. The anxious care of Joseph for the safety of
the child and its mother may be regarded as a proof
that Divine Providence always raises up faithful ser-
vants to protect and to promote His own kingdom,
and with it the sphitual welfare of mankind. But
in this instance the salvation of the world was con-
nected with the safety of a babe, threatened by the
craft of a despot, whose dagger had on no other oc-
casion missed its mark. Hence the care of Provi-
dence for the safety of this child was unremitting ;
Joseph's vigilance did not cease even in his sleep,
while the mother's solicitude was undoubtedly still
more eager. Every other consideration seems sec-
ondary to that of the safety of the child. Thus has
the Lord ever prepared instruments for His work.
By God's grace, devoted and faithful servants have
never been wanting in the world, and the Kmg Eter-
nal has always had His faithful ones.
3. The tractate of Lactantius, dc morie persem-
torimi, commences with an account of the death of
Herod. It is a tale of persecution and retribution,
renewed in every age.
4. The mysterious import of Egypt in the world's
history appears constantly anew. " Out of Egypt
have I called Mi/ so)i" is an expression wliich per-
vades the whole course of history. But t'nis calling
implies not only the Son's residence in Egypt, but
also his departure from it.
5. The wail of Rachel is here a symbol of the
sympathy of the theocracy in general, called forth by
the sufferings inflicted by the outward representatives
of the theocracy on its genume children. The wail
of Rachel is renewed in the Church as often as the
witnesses of the truth are put to death by carnal and
worldly men, who profess to be the representatives
of the Church.
6. We do not include the slaughtered infants of
Bethlehem in the number of Christian martyrs prop-
erly so called, as they did not of their own free choice
and will bear testunony to the Saviour.* They per-
ished snnply because they were male children — chil-
dren of Bethlehem, under two years of age. Still,
they have been justly considered the prototypes of
Christian martyrdom {Feast of the Innocents, Dec.
28), as they were cut off, 1. in then- innocency ; 2. ad
children of Bethlehem, and children of the promise ;
3. from hatred to Christ ; 4. for the purpose of with-
drawing attention from the flight of the holy child,
and to secure His safety in Egypt.
1. Nazareth is the perpetual symbol of the out-
ward lowliness and humble condition of Christ and
of Christianity in the world. It is the emblem of
that poverty which apparently so ill accords with the
exalted nature of, ami the depth of spiritual life
brought to light by, the Gospel. But what to the
world seems unfitting, is in reality, and in the sight
of God, most fitting; for Christianity is based and
reared on deepest humiUty. Hence the path by
which God leads His elect is first downward, and
then upward; both the descent and the ascent in-
creasing as they proceed, as we see in the history of
Jacob, of Joseph, of Moses, of David, and of others.
The prophets were fully and experimentally acquaint-
ed with this fundamental principle of the Divine gov-
ernment. Hence they prophesied of the lowliness
* [The Church distin^ruishes anil celebrates a threefold
martyrdom : 1. martyrdom both in. will and m/at'<,— Fes-
tival of St. Stephen the jjrotoraartyr, Dec. 26 ; 2. martyrdom
■in will, though not in fact,— Festival of St. John the Evau-
frelist, Dec. 27 ; 3. martyrdom in fact, thougli not in will,—
The Innocents' Day, Dec. 28. These three festivals folh>w
Christmas, because Christian martyrdom was regarded as a
celestial birth, which is the consequence of Christ's terrestrial
birth. Christ was born on earth that His saints miichl be
born in heaven. — On the Holy Innocents compare the old
poem of Prudentius: Salveie, jlorc martyium, and John
Kehie's Christian Tear, p. 4T.— P. S.]
06
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of the Messiah during the earlier period of His life,
of His subsequent humiliation, and of His death at
the conclusion of His earthly career.
8. In the life of children, as in that of mechanics
and laborer.'!, the mind is taken up during the day
with surrounding objects. Hence their inner life dur-
ing the night is more widely awake and susceptible
to dreams and visions. This is the basis for the
prophetic dreams of Joseph in the Old Testament,
and Joseph in the New.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The homage which Christ receives is the ground
of his persecution and sufferings ; but persecution
and sufferings always lead to more abundant glory.
— The wise of this world are unable to protect Jesus
and His Church. For this purpose God employs His
heavenly messengers, and His despised children on
earth. — Divine Providence brought to nought all the
designs of the wicked against the life of the holy
child. — Children as under the protection of angels. —
Warning angel-voices during the course of our life. —
Obedience to the voice of the Spirit. — Joseph's awak-
ening in the morning. A short time before, he had
risen to vindicate the mother : he now rises to rescue
the child with its mother. — How the whole day is
blessed when commenced with faith and obedience.
— Joseph the model of all foster-parents. — Sacrifices
for the Lord are the noblest gain. — The holy flight
of the Lord in its happy results. — The holy with-
drawal of the Lord the emblem of every holy with-
drawal: 1. of that of the Old Testament prophets;
2. of that of Christians ; 3. of the spiritual with-
drawal from the world in the inner life. — Egj-pt, the
land of tombs, the cradle of God's people. — The per-
secuted Church of God ever at home with the Lord :
1. in flight ; 2. in the desert ; 3. in a strange land.
— The Lord continues, while all who rise against Him
perish. — The children of Bethlehem as types of Chris-
tian martyi-dom. 1. They are, so to speak, the seal
of the faith of Old Testament believers in the Mes-
siah. 2. They confirm the fiiith of behevers in all
tune coming. — Christ among the children of Bethle-
hem. 1. They die for Him, in order to Uve for Him.
2. He lives for them, in order to die for them. — No
expenditure of blood and tears can be too great for
the rescue of Jesus : 1. because His life is the ran-
som of the world ; 2. because His life transforms
every sacrifice of blood and of tears into Hfe and
blessedness. — The death of children is of deep im-
port in God's sight. — Lamentation in the Church of
God. a. The cry of Abel for vengeance ; b. Rachel's
cry of sorrow ; c. Jesus' cry of love. — " They are
dead which sought the young child's Ufe." Thus it
was (1) formerly. Thus it is (2) still. Thus it will
be (3) at the end of time. — Archelaus liis father's
son. 1. Personal guilt ; 2. hereditary guilt ; 3. the
judgment. — The savor of despotism banishes happi-
ness from the land. — Christ the Nazarene : 1. as an
inhabitant of the earth ; 2. as an inhabitant of Ju-
daea ; 3. as an inhabitant of Galilee ; 4. as an mhab-
itant of Nazareth ; 5. as the carpenter's son even in
Nazareth. — The lowhness of Jesus prefigured His
humiliation, but also His exaltation. — The obscurity
of Christ, implying, 1. His ignominy : 2. His safety ;
3. His ornament. — Jesus the great teacher of humil-
ity. The thirty years of Christ's obscurity the foun-
dation of His three years' manifestation. — The inward
unfolding of Christ had to be guarded from the in-
fluences of a corrupt world, and of corrupt ecclesias-
tical institutions. — Christ the Divine nursling under
the fostering care, 1. of pious maternal love ; 2. of
the anxious solicitude of God's hidden ones ; 3. of
nature in all its beauty and grandeur. — Christians as
Nazarenes in the train of the Nazarene. — Nazareth
itself usually does not know the Nazarene. — The hea-
venly youth of the Lord a mystery of the earth. —
The glory of God in the lowliness of Christ. — The
Joseph-dreams in the Old and the New Testament.
Starke :* — Joy and suffering are at all times next-
door neighbors. When faith is strengthened, trials
generally ensue. The Lord knows how, at the right
moment, to withdraw His own from danger, and how
to anticipate the enemy. — God often wonderfully pro-
tects his own by small means and humble instru-
mentalities, as he protected Jesus through the instru-
mentality of Joseph, a carpenter. — Whoever will love
the infant Christ must be prepared to endure, for His
sake, every sort of tribulation. — Jesus has sanctified
even the afliictions of our childhood. — No sooner are
we bom again from on high, than persecution arises
against us. — Rejoice, ye who suffer with Christ. 1
Pet. iv. 13. — H thine own people will not bear thee,
God will provide a place for thee even among stran-
gers. Rev. xii. 4-6. — Tyrants must die, and thy suf-
ferings will come to an end. Job v. 19. — What the
enemies of the Church cannot accomplish by craft,
they attempt to effect by force. — If we suffer with
Christ, we shall also reign with Him. 2 Tim. ii. 11.
Heubner: — Providence watches over the life of
the elect. — Augustin : 0 parvuli beati, modo nati,
nondum ientati, nondum luctatl, jam coronati. — The
kingdom of light was from its very commencement
assailed by the kingdom of darkness. — In times of
suffering the disciples of Jesus have often been obliged
to shelter their light in the retirement of secret asso-
ciations, and in strange places of refuge. — Joseph an
example of obedient trust in God amid signal dan-
gers.— " Duties are ours, events are God's." (Cecil.)
— Herod a warning picture of a hardened, hoary sm-
ner. — Mary the model of suffering mothers. — What
trials a pious mother may have to endure ! — The early
death of pious children a token of Divine favor to-
ward them. — The wickedness and violence of men
are of short duration ; God will always gain the day
against them. — Let us affectionately remember what
protection our heavenly Father has accorded us from
our youth upward. — The wonderful guidance of God
experienced by the pious. — Schleiermacher^s Predig-
ten (vol. iv.) : The narrative in the text a picture of
sin, which ever attempts to arrest the progress of
Christianity. — Wimrner : One Lord, one faith. The
misery of those who harden themselves, as apparent,
1. in their anguish during Ufe ; 2. in the folly of all
their measures ; 3. in their despair in death. — iJein-
hard : On the deaUngs of God with our children.
* [The Edinb. transl. uniformly has iS'trc^-f, following the
first edition. But Dr. Lange, in the second ed., as also in all
the other vols, of the Com., changed it into Starke. The
ditference in spelling arises from an inconsistency of Starke
himself, or his printer, in the various volumes of the Synopsis
BibliothecoR ExegeticcB. His last mode of spelling, however,
was Starke, which is also etymologically more correct.—
P. 8.]
CHAP. m. 1-12.
67
FOURTH SECTION.
ON ENTERING UPON HIS MINISTRY, JESUS REMAINED STILL UNKNOWN, EVEN TO THOSE
WHO HAD HUMBLED THEMSELVES AND PROFESSED PENITENCE IN ISRAEL. IN THE
BAPTISM UNTO REPENTANCE, HE RECEIVED HIS SOLEMN CONSECRATION UNTO
DEATH ; WHILE AT THE SAME TIME HE IS OWNED AND GLORIFIED BY THE FATHER
AS HIS BELOVED SON, THE WHOLE BLESSED TRINITY SHEDDING THEIR LUSTRE
AROUND HIM, AND HIS ADVENT BEING ANNOUNCED BY HIS SPECIAL MESSENGER
JOHN.
CuAPTER III. (Mark i. 1-11 ; Luke iii. 1-22 ; Jolin i. 19-34).
Sttmmart :— This sectidn gives an account of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Jesus, and of his ministry, which com-
menced by calling the people to repentance, and subjecting them to a general purification, preparatory to the advent of
the Messiah. His ministry culminated in the baptism of Christ Himself, whom John recognized by miraculous tokens
from heaven, and proclaimed on this occasion as the Messiah. The section is divided into two parts: John as forerun-
ner of the Lord, and as preacher and baptist,— (1) in his relation to the people ; (2) in his relation to the Lord Himself,
or the baptism and glorifying of Jesus. "We note the marked contrast between the baptism of Jesus and that of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.
A. Chapter IIL 1-12.
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And
3 saying, Eepent ye : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was
spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, The voice of one crying in the
4 wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same
John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and his
5 meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea,
6 and aU the region round about [the] Jordan, And were baptized of [by] him in [the]
7 Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
come to his ^ baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation of vipers, who hath warned you
8 to flee from the wrath to come ? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance : And
9 think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to [for] our- father : for I say unto
10 you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children rmto Abraham, And now
also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every tree which bringeth not
11 forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with [in]
water unto repentance : but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes ^ I
am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with [in] the Holy Ghost, and ivith fire :
12 "Whose fan is in his hand, and he wiU thoroughly purge his [threshing-] floor, and
gather his wheat into the garner ; but he will burn up the chafi" with unquenchable fire.
1 Ver. 7.— [Lachmann and Tregelles omit avTou ; Tischendorf retains it.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 11. — [Literally : sandals, i. e. soles merely, of wood or leather, bound under 1
virodeo). But the C. V. is more generally intelligible and may be retained.— P. S.]
feet; hence inroS-qnaTa from
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. In those days, nnn Q-'^*3 ,Ex.ii. 11,
23 ; Isa. xxxviii. 1. — This indefinite mode of mark-
ing time always refers to a preceding date. Here the
reference is to the residence of Jesus at Nazareth
during the period of His obscurity; the contrast
being all the more striking, when we bear in mind
that during that season His inner life was maturing
to the full glory of His theanthropic consciousness.
(For other explanations of eV raTs vfiep. iK. comp.
Meyer, p. 79.)
From the naiTative of Luke we learn thai John
the Baptist was about half a year older than Jesus.
The dates between the commencement of Christ's
ministry and that of His forerunner also correspond.
It is not probable that either John or Jesus would
have entered on their ministry before the completion
of their thirtieth year. According to the law of
Moses (Num. iv. 3, 47), the age of thirty was required
for commencing the exercise of the priestly functions.
The Levites (ch. viii. 24) could not enter on their
duties before the age of twenty-five. Suljsequently,
however, this was reduced to the age of twenty (1
Chron. xxiv. 24; 2 Chron. xxxi. 17). Although
there was no law confining the exercise of the projjhet-
ic office either to a particular age, or even to the male
sex, it seems natural that persons who claimed pub-
lic authority as prophets would wait till they had
attained the canonical age for the priesthood. On
the other hand, neither John nor Jesus could have
been more than thirty when they entered on their
ministry. According to this calculation, Jesus must
have commenced His public career in the year 780
from the foundation of Rome (sec Leben Jem, vol. i.
p. 161), and John a short time before. From Luke
iii. 1, we infer that John began his ministry in the
08
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
fifteenth year of tlie rcij^ii of Tiberius. But Tiberius
was associated in the empire two years before the
deatli of Augustus, that is, about the year '765. Ac-
cordiuj^ly, it is understood that Luke reckoned the
reisn of Tiljcrius from that year. This makes John's
uiiiiislry commence in 771).
In the wilderness of Judah (Judg. i. 10 ; Josh.
XV. 01). — It was also called JcsMraon^ 1 Sam. xxiii.
19 ; xxvi. 1,3. It con.-^isted of a rocky district in
the eastern portion of the territory of the tribe of
Judah, toward the Dead Sea. In this district the
town of Eugedi, and other places mentioned in the
Old Testament, were situated. Josh. xv. 02 ; Judg. i.
1(3. It terminated oh the northwest in the wilder-
ness of Thekoa ; on the southeast in the wilderness
of Engedi, the wilderness of Ziph, and the wilderness
of Mara. Sec the corres]wnding art. in the Encycls.
Tradition, however, attaches the designation of "the
wilderness of John " not to the places where he ex-
ercised his ministry, but to the district where from
early youth he Uved in retirement (Luke i. 80). This
wilderness was situated amid the mountains of Ju-
daea, about two hours to the southwest of Bethle-
hem. The term " wilderness " (13'7'9 , as distin-
guished from n3"l5 , a steppe) was given to a dis-
trict which was not regularly cultivated and inhabit-
ed, but used for pasturage (from "^5"^ , to drive), be-
ing generally without wood and defective in water,
but not entirely destitute of vegetation.
John the Baptist. — The Hebr. name 'jni'' ,
" the Lord graciously gave," * is akin to the Phcenician
and Punic brn^Sn . John, the son of Zacharias
tlie priest, and of Elizabeth (Luke i.), a near kins-
man of Jesus, and only six months older than He
(Luke i. 36), was bom, according to rabbinical tradi-
tion, at Hebron, but according to modern expositors,
at Jutta, in the tribe of Judah. From earliest child-
hood he was of a thoughtful disposition, and lived in
retirement in the wilderness (Luke i. 80) as a Naz-
arite (ver. 1.5), agi-eeably to the Divine ordinance.
Thcic the spiritual gifts with which he had been en-
riched by tlie Holy Ghost, who had sanctified hmi
from the womb, developed and took shape in con-
formity with his high and holy calling to prepare the
way for the Messiah. In his own person he embod-
ied, so to speak, the Old Testament dispensation in
ics legal bearing, just as the Virgin Mary embodied
and represented the evangelical aspect of the Old
Testament as set forth in Abraham and the prophets.
John was the personification of Old Testament right-
eousness according to the law ; Mary was the per-
sonification of Old Testament faith in the promise,
and of deep and earnest waiting for the promised
salvation. Hence John appeared in Israel as the
preacher of repentance, and the baptist, f He com-
menced his public ministry in the wilderness of Judsa
in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tibe-
rius, appearing in the garb, and foUowing the manner
of life, of a Nazarite. Summoning the people to re-
* [The German GotthoM, Gotiliel.]
t IJohn represents also the prophetic or evangelical ele-
ment of the Old Testament religion by pointing to " the
Lamb of God which talceth away the sin of the world." He
united the spirit of Moses and that of Isaiah, and stood near-
est to Christ, who was the end of the law and the promise.
Hence ho is called the greatest among those that are born of
women, and yet, as still belonging to the preparatory dispen-
sation of the Old Testament, less than the least in the king-
dom of heaven (Matt. si. 11). The comparison is not one of
personal merit, but of stand-point and official position.—
pentance, he announced to them the near approach
of the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of the Mes-
siah— Dan. xi. 44 ; vii. 13, 14). On the desert banks
of Jordan, in the solitary district near Jericho, he
began what, from its special Divine appointment, and
the prophetic authority wi!h which it was adminis-
tered, was really a new ordinance — the hupthni unto
repentance, and admission into the kingdom of hea-
ven, with a view to the roce])tJon of the coming Mes-
siah. His baptism imj)lied that the whole people
were unclean, and, in their present condition, unfit
for the kingdom of heaven (according to Haggai ii.
14). So far as Israel was concerned, the rite origin-
ated in the Levitical lustration appointed for the un-
clean (Gen. XXXV. 2 ; Ex. xix. 10 ; Num. xix. 7 ; Ju-
dith xii. 7 ; Joseph, cle hello Jud. ii. 8, 1 ; Wetstein
hi Joe. ; Nork, Mythologischcs Wijrterhucli, Wasser-
taufe, etc.). But it also bore analogy to the symbol-
ical purifications, by water and otherwise, common
among the various nations of the world, and to the
baptism of Jewish proselytes,* viewing these cere-
monies in the light of the predictions of the prophets
(Ezek. xxxvi. 25 ; Isa. xliv. 3 ; Zech. xiii. 1). This
baptism was administered by immersion, and not
merely by sprinkUng. It denoted purification by,
not only washing, but by submitting to sufferings
akin to death. So far as is known, this rite was not
accompanied by the usual sacrifices ; but the deepest
spiritual part of the sacrificial service — the confession
of sins — preceded the immersion. This confession
of sins, however, was not made over the head of an
animal, as in the Levitical sin-ofi'crings (Lev. xvi. 21 ;
Num. v. 7), because the spiritual truth, that he who
offered the sacrifice luust himself be the sacrifice, or
offer up himself, was nearing its grand reahzation.
In one respect, however, the baptism of John resem-
bled the ' sacrificial services of the priests, as John
administered the rite of submersion himself; where-
as, in ordinary lustrations, the person to be baptized
sprinkled himself whh the water of baptism. The
immediate object of John's baptism was to prepare
the people for the Messiah and the kingdom of hea-
ven (Matt. iii. 11); its final and highest object, the
manifestation of the Messiah to His people (John i.
31 ; see Lehen Jesu, ii. 452 ; iii. 49). The Lord's
manifestation to John, and the public witness of the
JBaptist to Jesus, as the Lamb of God that iaketh away
the sins of the world, completed the pjrophetic tnission
of John. This appears from the fact, that henceforth
the rite of baptism and the most distinguished of
John's disciples became connected with Jesus Him-
self.
Meanwhile John pursued his ministry even be-
yond its goal, which had now been reached. His
course was, m consequence, marked by some degree
of hesitation, although his sole and earnest desire
* This view was for a long time generally entertained
(for example, by Selden, Lightfoot, Danz, Zieglfer, etc.); but
has latterly been called in question hy Schneckenburger
(" Das Alter der jud. Proselytentav.fe" Berl. 1S2S), by
Meyer, and others, on the ground that "the earliest mention
of baptism in the case of Jewish proselytes occurs in the
Gemura Babyl. Jebamoth, 46, 2, while neither Philo, Jose-
phus, nor the older Targums refer to such a rite. It seems
to have originated after the destruction of the temple. Be-
fore that, proselytes were admitted by circumcision and the
offering of a sacrifice, which latter, like every other sacrifice,
was preceded by a Levitical purification with water, which
the proselyte administered to himself." Eut this very lus-
tration wa8 the germ of the later baptism of proselytes, only
that it formed an adjunct of circumcision, and not of the sac-
rifice which was offered. After the destruction of the tem-
ple, when sacrifices censed, the rite of baptism necessarily
acquired much greater importance than formerly.
CHAP. III. 1-12.
69
Btill was to prepare the way of the Lord, and to pro-
mote His cause (John i. 36 ; iii. 23 ; Matt. xi. o).
But the manifest contrast between tlie baptism of
John and that of the disciples of Jesus, — between
John's disciples and those of the Lord — between the
rigid asceticism of the former, and the social, genial
deportment of the latter, — suggested comparisons
which, from the legal notions of the Jews, led to
conclusions derogatory to the teaching of Christ, and,
in the end, even to the rejection of both teachers.
Besides, this contrast between the Old Testament
type of righteousness and that of the New, subse-
quently gave rise to odious dissensions, and at a \atcv
period induced some of the disciples of John to alian-
don Jesus, and form a sect, which still waited for
the coming of the Messiah, or even acknowledged
John as its Messiah (see Gieseler, KirchencfescJufhie
i. 69). This result, however, the Baptist had not an-
ticipated, when continuing the exercise of his minis-
try. His sole and growing ami was to accelerate the
triumph of Messiah's kingdom. Hence his denuncia-
tions of wickedness became more and more vehe-
ment. His denunciation of the adulterous connec-
tion between Herod Antipas and his brother Philip's
wife led to his imprisonment. Like his prototype at
Horeb, he could not understand or fall in with the
Divine arrangement of events. In order to liring
about an immediate and full manifestation of judg-
ment and vengeance, the Baptist now despatched his
embassy to Jesus (Matt, xi.), to induce the Messiah
at once to reveal His power. Sucli being his views
and motives, the scene at Horeb was once more en-
acted (1 Kings xix.). It was necessary that not only
the contrast between the Old and the New Testa-
ment, but the spiritual superiority of Jesus, should
]je fully exhibited. It was not in his intellectual dis-
cernment, but through his feelhigs, that John erred
in regard to Jesus : he was " oiFended " where, in
analogous circumstances, Abraham, Moses, Elijah,
Mary, and Peter stumbled. With divine gentleness,
Jesus corrected his mistake ; and this correction
served at the same time as his vindication before the
people. John is the greatest among the prophets of
the Old Covenant ; but the least in the kingdom of
heaven — in the New Covenant — is greater than he in
all that is distinctive of the New Testament, espe-
cially in clearness of faith and patience of suffering.
Those who imagine that there is an inconsistency be-
tween John's testimony, John i. 36, and his message,
Matt. xi. 3, apparently forget that this testhnony was
the utterance of his loftiest fahh, while his subse-
quent embassy was that of his deepest temptation.
Nor is there any ground for maintaining that the
narrative of John and those of the synoptic Gospels
differ in regard to the Baptist. That Christ consid-
ered the cause of John as identiSed with His own,
and the Baptist himself as His forerunner and ser-
vant, appears from the fact, that He treated the ini-
quitous execution of John, which Antipas was in-
duced to order, as an act of hostihty against Himself
and His kingdom (Matt. xiv. 13). For historical de-
tails, comp. the article in the Encyclops. See Joseph.
ArUiq. xviii. 5, 1 (also a monograph by Rohden,
" Johannes der Tdufer^'' Lubeck, 1838).
Ver. 2. The kingdom of heaven {of the hea-
vens, riuv ovpafwu). — Viewing the kingdom of God
in its entire historical extent and development, we
mark in it two periods. In the first it appears in its
typical form, as the Old Testament theocracy ; in the
second, as the kingdom of heaven, ij ^aatXeia roiv
oOpavaiv. The contrast between the new manifesta-
tion, and the old form of the kingdom, had alrc^uly
been specified by Daniel (ch. ii. and ch. vii.). The
use of the jilural number in the original — the kinti-
dam of the liMuienj^, which also occurs in the Lord's
Prayer — may be explained by the conception of
seven heavens (comp. 2 Cor. xii. 2 : " the third
heaven "), Ijut especially by the fact, that the king-
dom of God extends, in its various spheres, through-
out infinity. The kingdom of heaven, as appears
from the prophecies of Daniel, is the kingdom of
the Messiah ; while the Lord's Prayer teaches us
that it is the kingdom of God's Spirit, in which
the will of man is made conformable to the will
of God — a kingdom which comes from heaven, is
heaven on earth, and ends in heaven. The expres-
sion is only found in Matthew (and in the rabbinical '
writings) ; but the same idea pervades the whole New
Testament, where it frequently recurs mider tlie des-
ignation of /8ao-(A.6iaToD 0foD, or fiacriX. rnv Xpiarov,
or sometimes simply " the kingdom." Matthew no
doubt chose the expression "kingdom of luovnt,^'' in
order to distinguish the Christian kingdom of God
more fully from the Jewish theocracy. (Monograph :
Fleck, De Regno Diimio, Lips. 1829.)
The contrast between the common Jewish ex-
pectations of the Messiah's kingdom (or the revela-
tion of the Messiah with miraculous signs from hea-
ven, resuscitation of the race of Abraham, war and
victory over the Gentiles, subjugation of the Roman
world to the Jews, a reign of a thousand years, etc.),
and the kingdom of heaven in its true and spiritual
manifestation, is already clearly indicated by the
preaching of John. It lias sometimes been said that
the repentance inculcated by John was merely that
of the Old, not that of the New, Testament. But,
even granting this, we must remember that John
cherished the spiritual views of repentance pi-opound-
ed by the prophets, and not the common legal no-
tions of the Jews, and that he represented the Old
Testament in its point of transition to the New. The
Baptist evidently regarded repentance as a furavoelv
— a change of mind. He was aware of the difference
between mere outward and real repentance — between
transient feelings and that deep change whicli mani-
fests itself by corresponding fndts of righteousness.
His idea of repentance exceeded the outward re(|uire-
ments of the Slosaic law as much as his rite of im-
mersion that of sprinkling. In his view, repentance
implied an entire renunciation of the world — dying
to the old, and consecration to a new life. Besides,
it is important to bear in raind that the Baptist seems
to have already, in some measure, realized the rejec-
tion of the unworthy portion of the race of Abraham,
and the calling of the Gentiles. But the great point
of distinction lies in this, that the repentance which
he enforced must have sprung from faith in the pre-
dictions regarding the coming Messiah. Tlie circum-
stance, that Josephus, in his notice of the Baptist
{Antiq. xviii. 5, 2), omitted any allusion to John's
testimony to the Messiah, is readily explained from
his perfidious subserviency to Roman domination,
which led him to '•enounce every hope dear to the
Jewish heart and people.
Ver. 3. For tliis is he that was spoken of by
the prophet Isaiah, Isa. xl. 3.— The quotation is
made by the EvangelisJ, and no: Ijy the Baptist. In
this case, also, we have the fulfilment of a typical,
not a verbal prophecy. In its pi'imary historical ap-
plication, the passitgc (Isa. xl. 3, quoted from the
Septuagint) contahis a summons to prepare the way
of Jehovah, who v/as about to bring back His people
70
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
from exile. There is an allusion to the well-known
Orientiil custom of preparing the way for pi-incos in
their travels (Wetstein in loc). the summoning
voice is that of a herald. The application of the
passage by the Evangelist shows that, in his mind,
the advent of Christ was that of Jehovah Himself,
and the true deliverance of God's children from bon-
dage ; and that he regarded John as the real herald
of the Lord. Many expositors of the original passage
join the expression, iv ry eprjfxco, with eToiixdaart ;
but the Evangelist evidently connects it with ^ouvros,
as John was actually in the wilderness. The sense
would be the same in both cases, the object of the
Evangelist being to give a symbolical import to the
wilderness where the Baptist exercised his ministry.
What Isaiah uttered as a typical prophecy, be-
came a distinct prediction in Malachi (iii. 1), who re-
garded the mission of the forerunner of the Lord as
corresponding to that of Elijah, and hence assigned
to him even the name of Elijah (iv. 5). It is
not to be supposed that the prophet referred to
two forerunners, — one heralding the Lord's coming
to deliver His people, and merely resembling Elijah ;
the other, Elijah himself, come to make preparation
for the day when Messiah should return to judge the
earth. The prophet evidently regarded the day of
judgment and tlie day of deliverance as the same.
Similarly, the angel Gabriel also referred to John's
ministry as a fulfilment of the prophecy regarding
Elijah : " He shall turn the heart of the fathers to
the children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers" (Mai. iv. 6, comp. Luke i. 1*7). Lastly,
Christ Himself blended the two predictions of Mala-
chi, and applied them to the Baptist (Matt. xi. 10,
comp. ver. 14 and ch. xvii. 11). Among Jewish
theologians, different views obtained about the return
of one of the old propliets preparatory to the coming
of Messiah (Berthold, Christoloffie, p. 58).
Yer. 4. The same John had his raiment, etc.
— The expression implies that, as in the case of Eli-
jah (2 Kings i. 8), the austere, ascetic appearance of
the Baptist corresponded with the character of his
preaching, being an emblem of renunciation of the
world, and of repentance. (1.) His (peculiar and
distinctive) dress was of camel's hair. Not of cam-
el's skin, but of camel's hair, from which a coarse
kind of cloth, used for clothing and for the covering
of tents, was manufactured (see Meyer, p. 83). (2.)
He had a leathern girdle. (3.) His food consisted
of locusts, ctKpiSe!. "Several kinds of locusts were
used for food, especially by the poorest of the peo-
ple. Lev. xi. 22 ; comp. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 35 ;
xi. 32, 35. This is still the case m the East, espe-
cially among the lower classes. After throwing
away the wings and legs, they cover the body with
salt, and eat it either boiled or fried. (Niobuhr,
'■ Reise,' i. p. 402, etc.) The older expositors, under
the impression that locusts were unfit for eating,
conjectured that the original reading must have been,
not cifcpiSes, but iynpldis, cakes, or /capi5fs, shrimps,
or something else. But these conjectures do not de-
serve further consideration." See Meyer, p. 83. (4.)
Wild honey was also part of his food. The question
has been started, whether this honey was derived
from trees or from bees ? The latter flowed in abun-
dance from clefts of rocks in the wilderness; the
former was a kind of honey which issued from fig-
trees, palms, and other trees. Meyer adopts the view
of Suidas, that it was honey from trees ; but surely
it is needless to discuss whether the Baptist used one
or both kinds of honey.
Ver. 5. Then went out to him, etc. — That is,
to the banks of Jordan, T^'^^H (Gen. xiii. 10, 11 ;
1 Kings vii. 47; 2 Chron. iv. 17), from lni to run
or flow (as the German Rhcin from rinnen^. For a
description of the scene, see Winer and other Ency-
clops. and geographical works, especially Robinson ;
comp. also a beautiful sketch of the quiet around the
scene, in the Travels of Pastor Schulz of Miihlheim.
Note particularly, that Jerusalem herself, the holy
city, goes into the wilderness as a penitent, — the
wilderness being considered, according to Old Testa-
ment notions, as an unclean locality, the habitation
of demons (Lev. xvi. 21). A prelude this of Christ
going forth to Golgotha, and of Christians going "be-
yond the camp," Ileb. xiii. 13. Hence also Jerusa-
lem is first mentioned, though in strict historical suc-
cession it would have been : the district about Jor-
dan, JudiEa, Jerusalem.
Ver. 6. And were baptized, immersed, in the
Jordan, confessing their sins. — Immersion was the
usual mode of baptism and the symbol of repent-
ance. According to Meyer, repentance was symbol-
ized by immersion, because every part of the body
was purified. But, in that case, the whole body might
have been washed without immersion. We must
keep in view the idea of a symbolical descent into
the grave, or the death of sin, although this view, as
explained in Rom. vi., could not yet have been fully re-
ahzed at the time (comp. Leben Jesu ii. 177. See also
Ebrard, Wissensch. Kritik 257, who maintains that
John fully understood the import of Christian bap-
tism, and administered it accordingly). A full con-
fession of sins accompanied the act of immersion.
The compound i^ofj.okoyov/j.evoi denotes public con-
fession. Hence it may perhaps be inferred that the
confession was definite and specific, — the more so, as
we might otherwise infer that a Jew would on such
an occasion confess his special sins rather than his
general sinfulness. The particular form of confession
was, however, undoubtedly left to each individual.
Ver. 7. But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees, etc. — Circumstances
now arose of a character to perplex the Baptist about
the propriety of his administering baptism. When
the Pharisees and Sadducees presented themselves,
he might refuse to administer the sacred rite, for
which their impenitence rendered them unfit ; while,
on the other hand, a baptism of repentance seemed
inapplicable in the case of the Lord Jesus.
The Pharisees, Tahn. "pWTiS; according to
Suidas, a(po)fHa/j.evoi, separated, disthictively- pious,
from IIJ'^3, to separate or divide, — not from the Par-
ticip. Act., " those who divide or make sharp distinc-
tions " (teachers of the law), but from the passive or
reflective foi-m, in the sense of "separating them-
selves." They did not, however, constitute a sect,
but a school or party, actuated by the most intense
sectarianism. They were the living expression of
outward, traditional, and legalistic Judaism ; and
I their strict separation was in reference to Gentiles,
Samaritans, publicans, and sinners. They prided
' themselves on the most rigid observance of those
legal prohibitions and lustrations, prescribed in their
traditions, which detracted so grievously from the
I spirituality of the law, and perverted its object. On
I their history, doctrines, and religious and political
importance, see Josephus, Antiq. xiii. 5, 9 ; xiii. 10,
5, etc. Their true character can only be thoroughly
gathered from the Gospels, from the narrative of our
i Lord's sufferings, from the Acts of the Apostles, and
CHAP. m. 1-12.
71
the history of Ebionism. Compare the article on the
subject inWiner [and other Encyclops.], and also the
author's Leben Jesu ii. 1, p. 15, the Gesch. (hs apos-
tol. Zc'daliers, i. p. 296, [aud works on Jewish His-
tory].
The Sadducees, 2a85ou(coTo: (derived, ac-
cording to Epiphauius, Hceres. i. 14, airb ZiKaioav-
tn)s, i. e. from p"'^^, but, accorduig to Jewish
tradition, from a person called Zadok). — They were
the party opposed to the Pharisees. On negative,
antitraditional, foreign, and philosophical grounds,
they rejected not only traditionalism, but also the in-
spired writings, except the books of Moses ; aud de-
nied, along with the authority of the prophets, all the
deeper truths of revelation, such as the immortaUty
of the soul, and the resurrection, and its higher
manifestations, such as the apparitions of angels.
On all these points comp. Winer [and other Ency-
clops.], and the passages of Josephus relating to the
Bubjcct, etc.
The third school or religious party of the Jews
at this period, the Essenes, constituted a regular and
fully organized sect. Comp. regarding them, Joseph.
De Bello Jud. ii. 8 ; Anl'iq. xiii. 5, 9 ; and Philo's
dissertation : Quod omnis prohus liber. The Es-
senes (a name derived from oatos^ or T^Of;, or better
from SDX, to heal — hence the healers, Bepuirevral)
did not 'submit to John's baptism. This is easily
accounted for from the fact, that daily lustrations
formed part of their ordinary religious observances.
Hence they probably considered themselves as far
beyond the baptism of John, which was only once
administered, and, as a community, prepared to re-
ceive the Messiah. Lastly, from their blending of
Alexandrian philosophy with Jewish notions of legal
purifications, then? views and expectations concerning
the Messiah must have undergone considerable modi-
fication.
These three parties represented the three great
deviations from the spirit and tendency of genuine
Judaism. The Pharisees, like the Roman Catholics,
exalted tradition into revelation, and superstitiously
based their whole system on the principle of a right-
eousness procured by external observances. The
Sadducees limited revelation to the law of Moses, and
degraded the Mosaic faith into a rationalistic morali-
ty, a mere obedience of the law. The Essenes com-
bined their Oriental and Alexandrian theosophy with
revelation, excluded the idea of typical sacrifices, in-
troduced duaUstic doctrines, and based on it an eso-
teric righteousness pecuUar to the members of their
religious order. The Essenes formed a distinct sect ;
and, although the closest approximation in the syna-
gogue to a deeper and more spiritual view of Juda-
ism, and m some measure even anticipating the idea
of a universal priesthood (as Ritschl has sho^vn), they
also adopted a greater admixture of views entirely
heathen than any other school. Hence the idea of
any connection between them and Christ, or even
John, cannot for a moment be entertained (a state-
ment, however, which does not apply to the later
followers of John). By their lifeless orthodoxy, the
Pharisees perverted Judaism itself into a sect ; while
the Sadducees formed an accommodating, negative,
and sectarian party, who considered themselves, and
acted chiefly as, a philosophic school.
The authority of John as a prophet, which, ac-
cording to this passage, seems at first to have been
recognised by a large portion of the dominant par-
ties, and which probably occasioned the embassy, or
at least private deputation, from the Sanhedrim, re-
ceived a serious blow when John commenced his de-
nunciations. "^ The dislike thus engendered became
strengthened and rooted when the scribes saw Him
whom John announced as the Messiah of Israel, —
one so entirely difi'erent from what they had expect-
ed ; and lastly, when the Baptist promulgated views
wholly opposed to those of the Pharisees on the
question of divorce, and, consequently, fell a victim
to the resentment of Herod and his wife. Accord-
ingly, when afterwards challenged to give an opinion
on the divine authority of John's bapt ism, the Phari-
sees dechned to do so. Luke (\ii. 30) refers to this
subsequent attitude of the Pharisees and scribes in
reference to the baptism of John.
It deserves notice, that Matthew does not repeat
the article before "XaSSovK. ; " he includes them and
the Pharisees in one and the same imworthy cate-
gory."
Ver. 1. When he sa-w them come sttI rh
fidirrKTix a.— The meaning is not, against the baptism,
as Olearius and some others would interpret the pas-
sage. The contrary is to be inferred from what fol-
lows : vho has tvarned you ? The expression does
not, however, denote simply their coming /or ^/iejOMr-
pose of being baptized. The Baptist regards them as
unfit and improper candidates who presented them-
selves for baptism only to strengthen their self-right-
eous conceit. The suggestion of Meyer (p. 86), that,
immediately on their arrival, they were deterred by
John's denunciations from submitting to baptism, is
equally unfounded. Such conduct would have placed
them in open conflict with the Baptist ; a course
which even prudence forbade. But the effect of these
denunciations was to diminish, and ultimately to stop,
the crowds, belonging to their party, which had flock-
ed to the scene of John's ministrations This ex-
planation removes the imagmary contradiction, which
some have pretended to discover, between the narra-
tive of Matthew and that of Luke, Schneckenburger
in favor of Luke, de "VVette hi favor of Matthew.
According to Luke iii. Y, these denunciations were
addressed to the multitude (rots oxAots) ; according
to Matthew, to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Their
mterest in and sanction of the movement, no doubt,
attracted crowds to the place of baptism. The pres-
ence of a multitude thronging to submit to what, after
all, was to them only an outward rite, ill accorded
with the real aim of John, who was anxious not for
a general profession, but for individual conversions.
O generation (brood) of vipers. — r evvq/xa-
ra e'x'Si/ajv denotes persons at once deceitful and
maUcious. Isa. xiv. 29 ; fix. v. ; Ps. Iviii. 5. The ex-
pression would convey to an Israelite the idea of re-
presentatives of pernicious doctrines and principles, —
instruments of the kingdom of darkness. Such were
preeminently doomed to punishment. Gon. iii. ;
Matt. xiii. 41 ; 2 Thess. ii., etc. — Who hath warned
you ? — An indication of his distrust of the sincerity
of their ostensible motives. It could only have been
by a special miracle that you would have been direct-
ed hither by the Spirit of God.— To flee.— To flee,
and thus to escape from, '(0 nnS. The infin. Aorist
denotes their being already ostensibly in the act of
fleeing. — From the wrath to come, anh t r) s
tj.e\\ova-ios opyris . — The wrath, or the holy penal
justice of God, is here identified with punishment it-
self. Rom. i. 18; Eph. ii. 3.
Ver. 8. Bring forth, therefore. — Olv, a conclu-
sion relating partly to the charge brought against
TUE (JOSFEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
them, and partly to their profession of repentance.
Fruits. — I'roper, suitable fruits. Conip. Matt. vii.
17 if, also with special reference to the Pharisees.
Such good fruit as could not be produced without an
entire change in the fruit-tree itself.
Ver. 9. And think not — do not imagine you
might say 'within yourselves, — i. e., think ;
"iaba ipX, to say in one's heart : Ps. iv. 5 ; x. 6 •,
xiv. i ; Matt. ix. 21 ; Luke iii. 8 ; yii. 49. — We have
Abraham for our father ; — /. c, we sluill be saved,
because, as descendants of Abraham, we are nicm-
bcis of the theocracy, and partakers of the promise
given to our father. This view is clearly propounded
in later rabbinical writings. See Meyer, p. 87. Com-
pare John viii. 39 ; Rom. ix. As to the genuine chil-
dren of Abraham, see Rom. iv. — God is able. —
God's ahnighty power and liberty are not limited by
hereditary right. He may reject them as spurious
children of Abraham ; and, on the other hand, He is
able to create out of the stones in the wilderness
genuine children of Abraham by faith, i. e., to trans-
form uncultivated portions of the human race, — un-
doubtedly a reference to the calling of the Gentiles.
Ver. 10. And now also the axe is laid, etc. —
The preceding sentence only implied that the punish-
ment of the spurious descendants of Abraham was
possible ; that now under consideration asserts that
it was not only possible, but near, — nay, that it had
already begun. Hence the tise of the present tense.
Now already the axe lies at the root of the tree,
ready for its work of destruction. The statement
implies that they are unfruitful trees, or trees of a bad
kind (ch. vii. 19). The punishment will equally de-
scend on all ; . every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit, etc. This evidently refers to the exclusion of
the unbelieving Jews from the kingdom of Messiah.
Ver. 11. I indeed baptize you in (eV) water
(immersing you in iho element of water) unto repen-
tance.— The Baptist thus declares that he is not the
judge, and, at the same time, that by his baptism of
water he does not secure their salvation, but merely
calls them to repentance. Lastly, he teaches them that
his was merely a symbolical and temporary mission
as the forerunner, to prepare for the higher mission
of the Messiah. He that cometh after me (imme-
diately following me), = the Messiah. The Bap-
tist here describes his personal relation to the Mes-
siah : I am not worthy to bear iiis sandals, to
carry them and to take them away — in Mark and
Luke, to tie on and to unloose. Among the Jews,
Greeks, and Romans, this was the function of the
meanest slaves. (See Wetstein, Rosenmiiller, Jahn.)
— He proceeds to point out the relation of his bap-
tism to that of Christ. He shall baptize, or im-
merse, you in the Holy Ghost and in fire. — He
will either entirely immerse you in the Holy Ghost as
penitents, or, if impenitent. He will overwhelm you with
the fire of judgment (and at last with hell-fire). This
interpretation of the expression "Jire" has been pro-
pounded by many of the Fathers (some of whom,
however, referred it to the fire of purgatory) ; and
among modern expositors, by Kuinoel, Schott, Nean-
der [de Wette, Meyer]. But some commentators —
among them Erasmus [Chrys., Calv., Beng., O.lshaus.,
Ebrard, Ewald, Alford, Wordsworth] — apply the ex-
pression to the kindling, sanctifying fire of the Holy
Ghost. The warning tone of the passage, and the ex-
pression unquenchable fire, in ver. 12, are against
this interpretation.* In some Codd. the words Kal
* [Not necessarily so. It is harsh to separate " the Holy
Spirit " and "fire," as referring to opposite classes of persons,
TTvpi are omitted, probably from the en-oneous suppo-
sition that they were e(|uivalent to Holy Ghost.
Ver. 12. Whose fan. — Here we have another fig-
ure of judgment, showing, even in a more striking
manner than the preceding, the necessity and pro-
priety of such judgment. The theocracy is the hus-
bandry of God. But if the wise husbandman removes
from his garden all such trees as merely encumber
the ground, much more will he in harvest-time sepa-
rate on the threshing-floor the wheat from the chaff,
and deal with each according to the rules of husban-
dry. But the theocracy, or the kingdom of God, is
with great propriety represented as God's special
field, of which both the sowing and the harvest are
His (Matt. xiii. 3). The fan in His hand, or the in-
strument for the separating or purging, is the word,
or the preaching of the Gospel. — ^Threshing-floor,
aKoiv, '("iJ — a circular space, beaten down or paved,
on the fami. The com was either trodden by oxen
[or horses], or crushed by means of a threshing,
sledge drawn by oxen [or horses]. Robinson, ii. 306.
The threshing-floor denotes Messiah's sphere of ac-
tion (Ewald), — the holy land in an ideal rather than
a material and literal sense (Meyer) ; not mankind
(Baumgai'ten-Crusius), or the Jewish people (de
Wette). The extent of this threshing-floor necessa-
rily increases from century to century. The starting-
point was the land of Judfea ; the farthest verge is the
earth's remotest boundary, — being then ground beaten
for threshing, and no longer a field which requires to
be sowed. The purging of the threshing-floor is eflect-
ed by separating the wheat and the chaff of the
sheaves collected on it. He will ^laKaQapi^nv,
i.e., thoroughly purge. — The Wheat. — True and pen-
itent believers, the precious, pure produce of God's
husbandry. — The gamer, a tt o 6 V; k 77 , the granary ;
usually dry, subterranean vaults. An emblem, first,
of the kingdom of heaven on earth ; and, secondly,
of the heavenly inheritance. — The chaff. — In the
widest sense, whatever is crushed, cut small. Here
it means the whole refuse of God's husbandry: First,
the agencies applied to bring out the wheat ; and,
secondly, the persons whose hearts have clung to
these agencies alone, and who, l^y their vain, formal
services, have themselves become chaff. Whatever
is to be assigned to the fire, the judgment-fire (Mai.
iv. 1), hell-fire (Matt. xxv. 41), is chaff. Chaff was
used for fuel. — The expression, unquenchable fire
(see Isa. Ixvi. 24), points beyond the figure to the
reality, although it denotes, in the first place, the vio-
lent, uncontrollable blaze of a straw fire. When the
fiery judgment begins, it continues without interrup-
tion, till the unquenchable fire of Gehenna is kindled.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The almost simultaneous appearance of two
such personages as John and Jesus indicated that
this was a unique period of extraordinary commotion
in the history of the world. John the Baptist was
the personal embodiment of the Old, Christ that of
the New, Testament ; and as John was the forerun-
ner of Christ, it follows that the Old Testament was
the forerunner of Christ in respect of the inward and
spiritual obedience and righteousness which it de-
manded. This spiritual legaUsm John represented,
just as the Virgin was the representative of the pro-
when they are clearly united in i',""^) and by the copulative
Kai (not the disjunctive i;, aut). Moreover this prophecy
was litiTally fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit descended upon the disciples in tongues of fire, Acta
ii. 3.-P. S.]
CHAP. m. 1-12.
73
phetic hope and the evangelical aspirations of the
Old Testament. Hence, Mary brings the Lord to
the people; John brings the people to the Lord.
But both were merely the means for introducing the
New Testament and the Lord : He Himself is the
new and perfect revelation of the divine, theanthrop-
ic, and redeeming life. — The contrast between John,
the rigid preacher of repentance, and Jesus, the gen-
tle preacher of the kingdom of heaven, had already
been typified among the ancient prophets by the
similar contrast between EUjah and Elisha. Elijah,
for the most part, performed miracles of vengeance
and judgment, pointmg forward to the final catastro-
phe, the fiery judgment, and the end of the world.
Hence he was appropriately snatched from the world
in a fiery chariot. On the other hand, Elisha per-
foiTned, for the most part, miracles of mercy and de-
liverance, thus preparing the way for the Messianic
prophets. This contrast in the typical missions of
Ehjah and Elisha was itself an emblem, which had
its entire fulfilment in the great contrast between
Old and New Testament times, as exhibited in the
twofold advent of the Baptist and of Christ.
2. The Old Testament contains the most varied
references to the New, by its promises, its law, its
types, and its prophecies. Its most striking refer-
ence, however, is that with which it closed, present-
ing as it did, in the person of the Baptist, the most
faithful embodiment of the old dispensation. Thus
the relation of the Baptist to Christ was that of the
Old Testament itself to the Saviour. The grand mis-
sion of John was the baptism unto repentance. Its
elements and commencement existed in the Old, Tes-
tament ; but the ordinance itself can only be under-
stood if viewed as a new act of Divine revelation, a
Divine mission, a prophetic creation. Its real im-
port appears from the declaration that the whole
people of Israel were utterly unclean. Once of old
they walked over the dried bed of Jordan : now
they must be immersed in the current of Jordan in
their old state, in order to come out of it thoroughly
renewed. But this declaration of the Baptist implied
also the idea, that mere legal lustrations were incapa-
ble of purifying the people, — a truth which was also
conveyed to their minds by the solemnities of the
great day of atonement (Lev. xvi.). Lastly, all this
indicated that the baptism unto repentance was it-
self only a symbol, being an outward expression of
the fact, that legal institutions were incapable of de-
livering the Jewish nation from sin. Accordingly,
the baptism of John was at the same time a baptism
unto repentance and in preparation for the coming
of the Messiah, and its last and highest aim Avas to
point the people to the person of the Messiah.
3. That John appeared in the wilderness as a
preacher of repentance, and there administered his
rite of purification, is another evidence of the great
change which the views of Israel were about to un-
dergo. According to Old Testament ideas, the camp
would be considered clean, and the wilderness un-
clean (Lev. xvi.). This, however, is now reversed ;
and Jerusalem must go forth to the wilderness, there
to seek her purification. Typically, this contrast
points forward to Golgotha, to the accursed place
without the city, and to the Church of Christ dis-
owned and excommunicated by the synagogue. But
it also points backward to the voice of him who cried
in the wilderness. Isa. xl. 3 (comp. John i. 23).
Again, the wilderness is a symbol of the nation it-
self, or at least of the state of the Jews at the tune.
In that wilderness the prophet can find no path for
the advent of the Lord. Hence a way has now to be
prepared for Him by repentance ; and this forms the
burden of his message. Such was the grand mission
of John : his work and commission was mainly, if
not exclusively, to call to repentance. Besides the
sj-mbolic character attaching from its nature to a
wilderness, the sojourn of John in the desert pointed
to those deeper experiences, resulting from contem-
plation, retirement, and constant prayer, which marked
the spiritual development of genuine Judaism even
at an earlier period (Moses, Elijah, John, Christ, the
Anchorites).
4. The expression, " Repent ye," is not equivalent
with " Do penance." * The original means. Change
your minds, your mode of thinking and of viewing
things, — not in order that the kingdom of heaven
may come, but heca.use it is coming or approaching
(for the kingdom of heaven is at hand). Tliis
change of mind could only spring from a sense of the
free mercy of God in manifesting the kingdom of
heaven, and from the revelation of Christ in His
grace and truth. Nor can it ever be otherwise ; for
without repentance, change of mind, conversion, re-
generation (John iii.), it is unpossible to enter the
kingdom of heaven.
5. We have already indicated the pecuHar mean-
ing attaching to the expression, kingdom of God, as
distinguished from the kingdom of heaven. The
former is the general conception and includes the
entire kingdom of God, in every sense and bearing.
Thus the theocracy was the kingdom of God in its
typical and Old Testament form ; while the kingdom
of Christ is the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom
of God in its reality, or the real theocracy. Viewed
as a whole, the kingdom of God is the higher mani-
festation of the universal supremacy and rule of God
in nature and in history, and the preparation for the
kingdom of glory (kingdom of power, kingdom of
grace, kingdom of glory). In direct contrast to the
kingdom of grace is that of darkness. It appears
along with the kingdom of grace, and keeps pace
with it ; and, though appearing to conquer, ultimate-
ly is always conquered. At last, when the kingdom
of God shall have been perfected, it will also have
reached its full and final development, and be ripe
for the self-annihilation which awaits it. Then shall
it also appear that all along it had been entirely sub-
ject to the kingdom of omnipotence, and subservient
to the advancement of the kingdom of glory. In
New Testament times, the Christian Church and the
Christian State may be regarded as the twofold man-
ifestation of the kingdom of God ; which, however,
must not be confounded with the essence of the king-
dom of God. Lastly, the kingdom of God is the
kingdom of heaven, both in respect of its origin and
its goal, its essence and its manifestation, its King
and its people, its law and its citizenship — the royal
dominion of God in the souls of beUevers, through
Christ and his Holy Spirit.
6. We may view the asceticism and austerity of
John under a twofold aspect. On the one hand, it
marks him out as a perfect Nazaritc. The institu-
tion of Nazarites, with its various prohibitions, was
from the first intended as something sunilar to, nay,
* ["Z>o penance,^'' is the Roman Catholic version, made
at Eheims, A. D. 15!i2. It follows closely here, iis elsewhere,
the Latin Vulgate which renders the Greek iXiravoiiTi,
Matt. iii. 2, etc. : Poenitentiam ugete. This difference of
translation affects materially the whole conception of repent-
ance. Luther translates: "■ Thut Buase;" but there is a
difference between B>ms6, repentance, a.n(\. B'us8ung,pen-
ance.—V. S.]
74
THE GOSl'EL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
as a higher completion of, the legal priesthood
(Leben Jesu, i. 63 ; apost. Zeitaller, ii. 303 and 398 *).
Hence the circumstance, that both John and the
Apostle James were Nazarites, may be regarded as
forming an appropriate transition from the Old Tes-
tament priesthood to that of the Spirit under the
New Testament, just as the synagogue was a tran-
sition fiom the temple to the church. In other
words, the Nazarites were the connecting Unk be-
tween the Old and New Testament priests, just as
the synagogue was between the temple, the church,
and the washing with water, between circum-
cision and baptism, and the breaking of bread and
the cup of thanksgiving, between the passover and
the Lord's Supper. It was necessary that John
should occupy the position of a Nazarite in order to
pronounce sentence of impurity, not only upon the
Jewish people, but upon their priesthood. Nor was
his profession merely symbolical, implying a symbol-
ical renunciation of the world. He actually renounced
the pomp, the luxury, and the pursuits of his age and
nation, and appeared before his eotemporaries free
to utter his solemn denunciations against Pharisees
and Sadducees, against the rulers of the synagogue
and the rulers of the people.
v. It is most important to note the contrast be-
tween the grounds on which John was unwilling to
baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees, and those on
which he shrunk from baptizing the Lord. In his
judgment, the former did not come up to the law of
the Old Testament, while Jesus went far beyond the
Old Testament. The Pharisees were unfit for bap-
tism ; baptism was unfit for the Lord Jesus. The
rulers of his people appear in the presence of the
Baptist as " children," or rather as a race degenerate,
and alien to true Judaism ; while before Christ the
Baptist lowly bends as the humblest servant in pres-
ence of the most glorious Lord. How different, then,
the picture here presented of the spirit of the Old
Testament from that drawn by some, who would
identify the religion of the Old Covenant with Phari-
saical Judaism !
8. The circumstance, that the Baptist is here in-
troduced as denouncing sinners, sufficiently accounts
for the diiference between his delineation of the ad-
vent of Christ as the Judge, in the passage before us,
and his description of Christ as the suffering Saviour
m His address to His disciples, John i. Besides,
throughout the Old Testament, and indeed through-
out Scripture, judgment and salvation are closely
connected ; and it has been too much the practice
of scholastic theologians to sever and disjoin these
two ideas. Further, the picture presented to the
mind of the Baptist was evidently that of the advent
of Christ, in all its phases to its final manifestation,
commencing with the first, and including the second
appearance of the Saviour. The judgment of separa-
tion, which was to be completed at His second ad-
vent, commenced at the first. The " fruits meet unto
repentance," which the Baptist required, were evi-
dence of a genuine religious and moral renovation
and regeneration, which implied the opposite of mere
externalism and feigned repentance.
9. The baptism of wate-r, and the baptism ofjlre,
— the one administered by John, the other by Christ ;
the one bearing reference to the advent of the Mes-
siah, the other, to the Messiah Himself, who had al-
ready appeared ; the one, imto repentance in the
sense of renoimcing aud dying unto the world, the
* [The original substitutes hero a (— ) for a (,). I looked
at the work, quoted and rectified the reference. — P. S.]
Other, unto repentance in the sense of the death and
resurrection of Christ; the one, with water, which
can only purify externally (legally and symbolically),
the other, with the Holy Ghost, whose fire purifies
internally, aud purges away all dross ; the one, to a
forgiveness of sins which as yet was only matter of
hope, and was to be really obtained in -the baptism
of the Spirit ; the other, as the seal of actual forgive-
ness of sins. The baptism of John contained only
the germ of a sacrament in the peace of hope which
it conveyed, and the conditional assurance of a future
baptism of the Spirit or reception into the kingdom
of the Messiah ; while Christ's baptism of the Spirit
finds its appropriate expression in the sacrament of
Christian Baptism as the sign and seal of the inward
baptism of the Spirit. It is indeed true that the
baptism of the Saviour by John constitutes both the
origin and the basis of Christian baptism ; but it
were to detract from the full meaning of that sacra-
ment to assimilate it with the baptism of John, in-
stead of viewing the latter as gradually advancing
from the baptism of disciples to the baptism of
Christ. Christian baptism, on the other hand, in the
seme proportion in which it degenerates in the church,
relapses into the baptism of John, i. e., it approaches
to the character of mere water-baptism. But what-
ever way we regard it, this great difference remains,
that while the disciples of John still waited for the
formation of the Church, we behold it m all its
beauty, and with aU its blessings of forgiveness and
of peace. In other words, in the one case, the full
idea of baptism, in its objective import as a sacra-
ment, is reahzed, — the only requirement being, that
he who receives the ordinance receive it in spirit and
in faith ; while, in the other, the objective aspect of
baptism — or the Church — was still awanting. Hence
the baptism of John might be repeated ; not so Chris-
tian baptism. The baptism of John was not com-
plete : in it the full idea of the rite was not exhaust-
ed ; * while we, who are baptized into the death of
Christ, can fully enter into its meaning.
10. The transcendent majesty of the Lord ap-
pears, as He stands side by side with the Baptist,
the greatest among them born of women under the
Old Covenant. But the greatness of John consisted
mainly in his almost unexampled humility, which
from the first led him to designate his work which
shook Israel to its centre as merely preparatory,
and to subordinate himself at once to Him who was
far greater than he.
11. The baptism of fire — in the sense of its puri-
fying efficacy — had been already predicted by Mala-
chi (in. 3). Hence we conclude that the baptism of
John must have conveyed at least some of the effects
of this purifying fire. In another respect, also, there
is a close connection between John and Malachi, as
the denunciations of the Baptist were only a further
development and application of the great truths pro-
pounded by the prophet about the insufficiency of the
old theocracy; and just as Malachi pointed to the
Baptist, so the Baptist pomts to Christ. Although
the awakening produced by John, as every legal
awakening, was not of a lasting character, its effects
were permanent in the hearts of the elect, and more
* [Dr. Lange : "Die Tavfe des Johannes ging noch nicht in
die voUe 7'ie/i ; " — a play on words with reference to the ety-
mology of y'aufe from teu/en, tiefen, i. e., to phmge into the
deep, to submerge. With the same reference Dr. Lange
calls Christian b.iptism "die absolute Vertiefung,''' which 13
equivalent in meaning to the apostle's figure of burial with
Christ : '• Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism
into death." Eom. vi. 4.— P. S.l
CHAP. III. 1-12.
75
especially among his own disciples. This was suffi-
cient— the Lord found a soil ready and prepared.
12. The most marvellous evidence of the spiritual
power wielded by John was, that he induced the self-
righteous and hypocritical professors of his age to
submit to a baptism unto repentance, and that in
such numbers, that it became a kind of agreeable
fashion to go into the wilderness to be baptized
(John V. 35).
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
John and Christ ; or the Founder of the New
Covenant accredited by the lust prophet of the Old
Covenant. — John a connecting Unk between Malachi
and Christ. — Old Testament prophecy pointing to
Christ in the Baptist. — The baptism of John in its
import, 1. as a token from God ; 2. as conchidmg the
Old Dispensation ; 8. as a prophecy of the baptism of
Christ. — As the renunciation of the world initiated
by the Baptist only reached its completion in the
death of Christ on the cross, so the baptism of John
in that of Christ. — Baptism implies a descent into
the depths,* 1. of self-knowledge ; 2. of repentance;
3. of renunciation of the world ; 4. of self-surrender
to the grace of the Lord. — The call of the Old and
New Testaments, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand : 1. The agreement between John and
Christ in this call ; 2. the difference in their meaning
and application ; 3. the call of John fully understood
and completed in that of Christ. — The eternal basis
and fundamental idea of all preaching — repentance
and faith. — Baptism and preaching always go to-
gether.— John the prototyj^e of preachers of repent-
ance, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness :
1. The whole man, in all his saying and doing, a
voice i 2. only a voice ; 3. a voice crying ; 4. a voice
sounding through the wilderness, and awakening it.
— Consistency of practice and teaching as giving
point to our preaching — which is the voice of the
Spirit in the world. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
1. How it sounds: a. It soimds from every direc-
tion ; 6. in every place ; c. at every hour ; d. for every
heart. 2. What the voice requires : a. A way for
the Lord ; b. to prepare the way for the Lord ; c. to
prepare it in the wilderness. — The way of the Lord
is prepared by making a plain path. 1. The heart
which was Ufted up must be abased by repentance.
2. The heart that was abased must be Ufted up by
faith. 3. The heart which was wavering must have
a straight path marked out by spiritual decision of
life. — The outward renunciation of the world by the
Baptist an emblem of that inward renunciation which
every one has solemnly vowed in baptism. — Spiritual
life is that state in which we freely renounce all
things. — Wonderful eifect upon the world of a be-
lieving renunciation of the world. — When judgment
is at hand, our safety Ues in being ready to part with
all things. — Times of awakening are times of bud-
ding. 1. Their presence marks a spring-time from
on high ; 2. the blossoms must decay ; 3. many blos-
soms are empty and fruitless ; but, 4. some lasting
fruit also remains. — The baptism of John the last
festive hour of the Old Covenant. — Legal repentance
must be followed up by evangelical repentance ; i. e.,
sorrow for sin, caused by fear, must be followed by
sorrow for sin, caused by love. — Genuine confession
of sin marking spiritual decision and action. — Genu-
ine confession of sin the foundation of every con-
fession of faith. — Christ submitted to the baptism of
• ["Die Tau/e geht mit una in die Ke/e."— Comp. the
preceding note.— P. S.]
John, although even Pharisees and Sadducees had
received the rite. — The Pharisees and the Sadducees
applying for baptism, or professing penitence. 1,
Both parties were equally hypocritical. 2. They
differed in the peculiar form of their hypocrisy. 3.
They were equally overwhelmed by the judgment
which descends on all hypocrites. — The self-right-
eousness of reUgious formalism always produces a
generation of vipers hypocritically conforming to its
demands: 1. A low and unimpressiblc generation;
2. a cunning ; 3. a malicious and dangerous, genera-
tion.— The genuineness of our repentance must be
proved by good fruits. — Our spiritual state must be
brought to the test of everyday duty, or, Christian
virtue must imply and perfect natural virtue. —
There are in every age those who appeal to their
descent from Abraham. Such appeal has, 1. always
the same meaning ; is, 2. different in different ages ;
and yet, 3. m every age equally vain and pernicious.
— " God is able from these stones to raise up children
to Abraham ;" or, the creative power of free grace :
1. It can create children of Abraham from the stones
of the wilderness (the hard hearts of the heathen),
— for a stone has manifestly no Ufe. 2. Such a
change may be expected rather than in those who
hypocritically profess to be Abraham's children ; for
empty profession simulates life. — The Lord as Judge,
under the figure of a husbandman: 1. among His
trees ; 2. on His threshmg-floor. — " Tlie axe is laid
to the root of the trees ;" 1. Its meaning : judgment
has already commenced ; there is no time to be lost.
2. Its apphcation : be changed into good trees ;
bring forth fruits of righteousness ; there is still
time for it. — The majesty of Christ, as manifest in
the contrast between John and Christ. — The baptism
of water and the baptism of the Spirit ; the baptism
of the Spirit and the baptism of fire. — The baptism
of the Spirit is itself a baptism of fire. — The grand
final harvest in history ; or, judgment and salvation.
1. The fan on the threshing-floor; or, the word of
God separating the two classes. 2. The gathering
of the wheat into the kingdom of love ; or, the com-
plete salvation of God's people. 3. The chaff in un-
quenchable fire ; or, the judgment of hypocrites. —
The burning chaff, or the judgment : 1. As consuming
all those outward fonns, whether secular or spiritual,
which had served as the vehicle of life ; 2. as fiery
torments of mere professors of religion, who sought
for life in those forms alone, — a. throughout the
course of history, — b. at the end of the world. — All
empty profession as continually self-destroying and
self-consuming — a hell : 1. an emblem of hell ; 2.
that which really constitutes hell ; 3. the final object
of hell. — The judgment of the world is at the same
time the completion of the kingdom of God and of
His children.
Starke : — The sum and substance of all Divine
teaching is, repentance and faith. — He that would
enter into the kingdom of heaven must, with heart
and soul, forsake the kingdom of the world. — Wher-
ever Christ goes with His Gospel, He finds nothing
but a wilderness. — The law must rouse the conscience
and open the door for the Gospel. — Teachers of re-
ligion must neither be flatterers, nor self-seekers,
nor servants of men. — A Christian is satisfied with
such provision as he can get. Let a minister be con-
tent even though he be placed in a wilderness. —
Worldly men tremble, indeed, in view of judgment
and of wrath ; but although they dissemble and
humble themselves, they are not sincere in Christ. —
It is quite possible to combme a holy zeal with
76
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
genuine love. — Preachers should be acquainted with
the prejudices of men. — We become Christians,
not by birth, but by regeneration. — Outward
communion with tlie (,'liurcli will only ensure heavier
judgment to those who enjoy it without becoming
true believers. — The less merit a minister claims for
himself in the work of his Master, the more success-
ful will he be. — Holiness and humiUty advance at
equal pace. — A preacher must know both how to
allure and how to arouse his hearers.
Gerlach: — The tree which is unfit for bearing
good fruit is fit at last for firewood. The man who
will not be a monument of saving grace shall show
forth the justice and holiness of God.
Heubner : — To become a preacher in the wilder-
ness, requires moral heroism. — The doors of the
heart must be thrown wide open if the King of glory
is to enter in. — The confession of sinners (of sins) is
of incalculable value. — " Generation of vipers :"
there is frequently much of the serpent ahout the
human heart, both in its malice and inclination to-
wards faleehood and deception. — The plainness and
unsparing severity of John is far preferable to weak
gentleness ; the former rouses and excites juj ' appre-
hension, while the latter lulls asleep : iid cau.-.s false
security. — The false confidence of the Jews and their
ancestors a warning to all. — National pride. — Only
that which is good and pure can be admitted into
the kingdom of Christ : all that is impure will be
cast out.
B. Chapter IH. IS-IT.
{Second Pericope on Sunday after the Feast of Circumcision or New Year.)
Contents. — He who baptizes with the Spirit, and with fire, humbles Himself to submit to the baptism of water, adminis-
tered to a sinful community. From this communion with sinners the Father exalts Him into communion with the
blessed Trinity. The Baptist points Him out to the people as the Messiah promised to the fathers.
13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to [the] Jordan unto John, to be baptized of [by]
14 him. But John forbade him, saying, 1 have need to be baptized of [by] thee, and
15 comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to he so'^ now: for
16 thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway out of [from] the water: and, lo, the
heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
17 and lighting [coming] upon him : And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, Tliis is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
1 Ver. 15. — [The words to de «o,are unnecessary. Sufer it now, is sufficient for &<pes &pri. — p. S.]
the Messiah, as if by that act He had been inwardly
transformed into the Messiah ; the expression,
■wpiiTov iarXv i^fjuv (ver. 15), implies that He was con-
scious of being the Messiah, and of the relation in
which, as such, John stood towards Him." — We
thankfully admit the value of the comprehensive
summary furnished by Meyer of the various views
propounded on the subject of Christ's b.aptism. But
his own explanation does not make it any clearer,
either on what grounds Jesus submitted to a baptism
unto repentance^ or in what sense we are to under-
stand the words of the Saviour, " Thxis it becomes us
to fulfil all righteousness,^'' — an expression which
must evidently refer to Old Testament righteous-
ness. With this remark we return to our own ex-
planation. In strict application of the law of Moses
as expounded by Haggai (ii. 14), John had pronoun-
ced the whole people of Israel uupure. Jesus Him-
self, although sinless and holy, was included in this
general declaration ; His connection with His people
rendering Him levitically unclean. This unplied
that, from His coimection with the people, He must
needs sufl:er, or that He, being innocent, must suffer
for the people. And thus he lulfilled all righteous-
ness. Meyer is, of course, right m suggesting, that
when the Saviour thus freely yet obediently submit-
ted Himself to the judgment resting upon His people,
He was preparing for His own glory, and hence,
also, for " the declaration of His Messianic dignity."
But this formed the second or last element in the
baptism of Christ, not its basis or fundamental idea.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that our explanation
includes that of Ebrard ; only that, m our view, the
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 13. Then (rcire). — In contrast with the
baptism of the Pharisees and Sadducees, we have
here the baptism of Jesus. At that time Jesus came
from GalUee to Jordan, to be baptized of him.
Meyer suggests the following as the object of Christ's
baptism (p. 91) : — " Jesus did not come to be bap-
tized from a feeling of personal sinfulness (Bruno
Bauer, comp. Strauss) ; nor because, according to
the Levitical law, His personal connection with an
impure people rendered Him impure (Lange) ; nor
for the purpose of showing that there was no incom-
patibility between His aap'(^ aa-devda^ and life in the
Spirit (Hoffinann, Weissagung und Erfullung^ vol. ii.
82) ; nor because baptism implied a declaration of
being subject to the penalty of death (Ebrard) ; nor
in order to elicit the Divine declaration that He was
the Messiah (Paulus) ; nor to confirm the faith of His
followers, inasmuch as baptism was a symbol of the
regeneration of His disciples (Ammon, L. J. vol i.
268) ; nor to sanction the baptism of John by His
example (Kuinoel, Kern) ; nor to indicate His obliga-
tion to obey the law (Hofiinann, Krabbe, Osiander) ;
nor, lastly, because, before the descent of the Spirit,
He acted hke any other ordinary Israelite (Hess,
Kuhn, comp. Olshausen). The true explanation of
this act, as furnished in ver. 15, is, that, as the
Messiah, He felt that, according to the Divine will.
He had to submit to the baptism of His forerunner
in order to receive the Divine declaration of His
Messianic dignity (vers. 16, 17). It was not in bap-
tism that He first became conscious of His dignity as
CHAP. lU. 13-17.
77
idea of consecratiou unto death was not yet fully ex-
pressed in the baptism of Jolrn, which only implied
sufterings similar to death.
Vcr. 14. But John forbade Him [sought to
hinder him]. — According to Strauss and de Wette,
this passage is inconsistent with the statement in
John i. 23, "Ikncto Him not." But this passage
refers only to the prophetic or divine certitude of the
Baptist concerning the Messiahship of Jesus. Such
certitude could neither be the result of what liis
mother Elisabeth would tell him, nor of his previous
acquaintanceship with Jesus: it could only be ob-
tained by a distinct sign from on high. Still he was
sufficiently impressed with the reUgious and moral ex-
altation of Jesus to feel that He required not baptism
at His hands (Hoffmann). Add to this the wonderful
impression produced by the personal appearance of
the Lord, and by the increasing conviction of John
that what his parents had formerly told hun would
now prove to be true. Accordmgly, he felt as the less
in presence of the greater — as a sinner in presence of
the Holy One. The obvious inference from the bap-
tism which He administered, and to which Jesus
waa about to submit, seemed so strange to the Bap-
tist, that he shrunk from it. Hence the expression
he forbade Him, SiacwKvev — ^the composite being
stronger than the simple verb. Jesus removed these
objections by simply referring to the requirements
of righteousness ; by which our Lord must have
meant the Levitical consequences of John's prophetic
mission, and not that John would see what miracu-
lous sign should accompany the rite. The great
object was simple obedience. How to own and
glorify the obedience of His dear Son, God reserved
to Himself. Any confession of sin was, of course,
out of the question : there was only a profession on
the part of Jesus, that as an Israehte He became
subject to the law, and that He was connected with
humanity by the ties of blood, of history, of suffer-
ing, and of love. The apocryphal Prcedicatio Pauli
(see Credner, Beiirarje i. p. 360) first set forth the
false notion that Jesus made a confession of sin ;
while in the Evang. sec. Hehr. (see Hieronymus,
Contr. Pel. iii. 2), Jesus rephes to the soUcitations
of His mother and brethren to be baptized along
with them : " Quid peccavi, ut vadam et haptizer ah
eo ? nisi forte hoc ipsum quod dixi, ignorantia est."
On the discussion between John and Jesus in the
Evang. sec. Hehr., see Meyer, p. 92.
Ver. 15. Thus it becomes us. — The baptism of
Jesus was a duty, not only on the part of the Lord,
but also on the part of the Baptist.
Ver. 16. Went up straightway. — A special
meaning attaches to the word s ii 0 u s , as if He had
fiown upwards from out of the water. This miracu-
lous ascent from the deep was connected with the
equally miraculous descent of the Spirit of God
from on high.
Lo, the heavens were opened unto Him ;
ivecpx^vra- v. — The contradictory [rationahstic] ex-
planations of Paulus, who speaks of a clearing up of
the sky, and of Kuinoel and Ammon, who speak of
a thunderstorm, may neutralize each other. Meyer
maintains that it must not be considered as a poetic
description of what took place, but that the heavens
were literally opened, and the Holy Spirit descend-
ed through this opening. It is difficult to under-
stand the exact meaning of Meyer, as this view im-
plies that the event itself was mythical, and hence
also poetical. In another place {Lehen Jesu, ii. 1, p.
183), wo have ventured to suggest that even the
outward phenomena attending this great event were
unique, the stars making their appearance on the
occasion. In this way it would seem to bear analo-
gy with the darkening of the sun at midday during
the crucifixion, even as Clu-ist's baptism was analo-
gous, and formed a prelude to, His final sufferings.
But there was also undoubtedly a vision, in which,
although mainly designed for the Saviour, the Bap-
tist had also a part (comp. John xii. 28 ; Acts ix.
V; xxii. 9). For the Baptist must evidently have
heard the voice by which Jesus was designated as
the " beloved Son." Although the woid eiSe refera
primarily to Jesus Hunself, we conclude that John
also participated in the vision, — 1. from his having
heard the voice ; 2. from the account given by Luke
and by John. Thus, while the vision was primarily
designed for Christ, it must have been beheld by
both.
Like a dove (Luke : (To>p.arLKui eifSei dxrel
irepiaTepdv). — The expression cannot lie meant as
symbolical simply of the manner in whicli the Spirit
descended — rapid (Fritzsche), quiet (Ncander), pure
(Olshausen), creative (Baumgarten-Crusius). Meyer
very appropriately calls attention to the parallel
passage in Luke ; nor must we lose sight of the
import of the term ei^f. The Gospel of the Hebrews,
as quoted by Epiph. xxx. 13, correctly interprets the
phrase as implying that he saw the Holy Spirit of
God descending in the form (or rather in the vision-
ary form, eifSei) of a dove. It was not a real dove ;
but, to his vision, it appeared as the form of a dove
descending. A symbol this of perfect gentleness,
purity, fulness of life, and of the power of communi-
cating it.
Ver. 1*7. And lo a voice. — Comp. Luke v. 12 ;
xix. 20 ; Acts viii. 21 ; Rev. iv. 1 ; vi. 2 ; vii. 9.
Along with the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son
also now manifest themselves. The term Son is
apphed to the Messiah (Ps. ii. V ; Isa. xlii. 1), not
merely in reference to His official character, but
more especially to His Divine nature. There is evi-
dently an allusion here to the miraculous origin of
Christ by the Holy Ghost (Matt. i. 20 ; Luke i. 35).
The expression, 6 a.ya-K7]r6s,\s, neither equivalent
to our " most beloved " (in the superlative degree),
nor to " only one" but means " only beloved " or
beloved in a unique sense. — 'Ev & evSoKiia-a, In
whom I am well pleased. — The verb is put in
the Aorist to denote the eternal act of loving con-
templation with which the Father regards the Son.
There is a rhythmical connection between this
event, the testimony to the Son heard in the tem-
ple, and, lastly, the voice from heaven heard on
the Mount of Transfigui-ation. Nor must we omit
noticing the pecuUar demonstrative form of the ex-
pression, in Matthew, " This is My beloved Son,"
not, '■'■Thou art My Son:" implying, 1. that this
voice was specially designed as a revelation to John ;
2. that it was granted to him for the purpose of his
mission, which was to introduce Jesus as the Mes-
siah to the people. In the Gospels of Mark and
Luke, there is a more particular reference to Jesus
Himself as the source and spring of the vision,
" Thou art 3Iy beloved Son ;" while John lays spe-
cial stress upon the part which the Baptist sustamed
in the vision.
Oenkrai. Notes on the "Whole Section.— The ob-
jections raised by modern criticism against the /mtori-
cal character of this narrative fall to the ground the mo-
ment we acknowledge the supernatural element in tho
life of our Saviour. "We cannot even admit with Meyer,
that there Is a real difference between tho account as given
78
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTDEW.
by John and the other Evangelists ; far less can -we agree
with him in reducing the fact in the case to the vision of a
dove. The fact, that this was a vision, does not exclude tlie
objective reality of this miraculous event; on the contrary,
it is in perfect accordance with it. The question, whetlu-r
before that time the dove wiis regarded as a symbol of the
Holy Spirit, is one of considerable interest. Among the Sy-
rians, the dove was held sacred, as the symbol of the frwcti-
fving power of nature (Oreuzer, Symbolik, ii. SO). This
throws fresh light upon the expression in Gen. i. 2, that
" the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters : "
the Talmud has it, that He moved over it like a dove. But
the symbol is not farther carried out in the Old Testament,
thougli there is much significance in the dove of Noah's ark,
and the dove in the Song of Solomon. Our Lord also alludes
to it in Matt. x. 16. Taking a general survey of these em-
blems, we gather the impression, that the symbol of a dove
referred more particularly to the Church, as indeed the Holy
Spirit manifests Himself, and, so to speak, assumes shape in
the Church. On the Talmudical and rabbinical interpreta-
tions of this symbol, comp. Meyer, p. 98.
According to Str.iuss, the statement of the Evangelist,
that " Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy
Ghost," cannot be reconciled with the narrative in the text,
that at His baptism He was baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Critics of his school have attempted to connect this baptism
with the Holy Ghost, with the view of some of the Gnostics
(Cerinthus, Basilides, Valentinns, etc.). that the man Jesus
received at His baptism the heavenly Logos. But all these
assertions ignore the truth of the human development of
our Lord. At His hirtk. He was filled and actuated by the
Holy Spirit, so far as His talent and disposition was con-
cerned. This implied His perfect sinlessness. But at His
baptism, He attained t\ie fall consciousness of His nature
and mission as the God-Man and Saviour. From that
moment He became the organ of the Holy Spirit, not mere-
ly so far as He was personally concerned, but also as fully
realizing His mediatorial character and work, and its relation
to the salvation of mankind. He now received the Holy
Ghost in His capacity as founder of the spiritual community
about to be instituted. But this fulness of the Spirit re-
mained still concealed under the form of a servant, and in
the lowliness of His walk and work. It was only after the
work had been finished and accepted, that the "Spirit was
poured out in all His fulness upon His believing people ; and
the dove, which had erst descended into His heart, now
issued forth to move and to brood over the waters of the
nations of the earth.
In the passive baptism of Jesus (that by John), we have
the first glimmer of a distinct revelation of the mystery of
the J/ulij Trinity. It brightens into full glory at the active
baptism of Jesus, or the institution of Holy Baptism in
Matt, ssviii., which is in the n.ame of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. — The connection between the
two events is manifest.
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHIC.\X.
1. Jesus Cometh from Galilee to the lower Jordan
unto John, to be baptized of him. From this we draw
the following inferences : 1. The influence of the bap-
tism of John had extended over the whole people of
Israel. 2. Jesus came under the direct and irresistible
impulse of the Holy Spirit. This was His first act after
attaining manhood, since the time when, at twelve
years of age, He manifested Himself in the temple,
and agam retired to the obscurity of Nazareth. Yet
this act, so enigmatic to many of our modern theolo-
gians, was performed without any doubt or hesitation
on the part of our Lord. The Divine call had reached
Him, that He, the Holy One, should, according to the
demands of the law, submit to the judgment of sin-
ners. And this constituted, so to speak, the conse-
cration for His work, to which He submitted, in an-
ticipation both of the sufierings and the glory which
were to come.
2. John was surprised when he saw Jesus coming
to be baptized. The Baptist, no doubt, knew the
prophecies which his parents had uttered concerning
Jesus ; proba))ly, he was even personally acquainted
with Him. Add to this the impression produced by
the appearance of Jesus Himself But all this was
not sufficient to warrant him in presenting Jesus as
the Messiah to the people : He had yet to await a dis-
tinct revelation to that effect. But it was more than
sufficient to make him feel that baptism for purifica-
tion was entirely inapplicable to the Lord, viewing
Him in His personal character and dignity. Hence
he could not but shrink, for the moment, from the
tremendous consequences of his baptism ; aU the
more, that in the presence of Jesus he felt more deep-
ly than ever his own unworthincss and sinfulness :
hence his refusal and his confession : " I have need
to be baptized of Thcc." But Jesus judged other-
wise. The inference from the baptism of John was
none other than that from the law itself, which agam
only reflected the sacred and solemn object of His
incarnation and life. There is a Imforical connection
between the Holy One and His sinful brethren ; there-
fore must he suffer with and for them. Thus the
baptism of John was not only applicable to Jesus, but
attained its real meaning and object only by the bap-
tism of Jesus. Thus it became the symbol of His con-
secration unto death, for the salvation of the world.
Hence the exclamation of John, after the baptism of
Jesus, " Behold the Lamb of God I "
It seems as if, in this controversy between Jesus
and John, the Old and the New Testament had, for
the time being, changed sides. John appears almost
the representative of the liberty of the New, Christ
that of the legal rigor of the Old Testament. " Thus
the rods of Old Testament and of New Testament
righteousness are here joined into a cross {Leben Jesu,
ii. 1, p. 17Y). But the connection and unity between
the two dispensations appears in this intertwining
of its ultimate links. — Jesus conquers in this contest.
More than ever before does the Ijaptist now humble
himself, under a sense of the deep responsibility of
his office. The Lord also humbles Himself under the
law, to which he now formally becomes obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross (Phil. ii.).
3. This is the only instance in which there is
neither confession of sin on the part of Him who is
baptized, nor reproof and exhortation on the part of
the Baptist. The baptismal address comes from hea-
ven itself; but the blessings of the baptism descend
upon all mankind. Heaven once again opened at the
baptism of Jesus — primarily for Him, and, through
Him, for all mankind. The blessing which flowed
from this baptism — the prophetic import of which
attained its fulfilment in the death on the cross — ap-
peared at the close of Christ's mission on earth, iu
the institution of holy baptism for His people, with
the gracious blessing of the Trinity — Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost — attaching to it. For this purpose
did the Father reveal Himself on this occasion ; for
this purpose did Jesus obtain without measure the
anointing of the Spirit ; for this purpose did He as
the Son throw open the portals of heaven, and offer
himself by the Holy Ghost to the Father, for the sal-
vation of the world.
4. The germs of the doctrine of the Trinity which
occur in the Old Testament, are taken up in the com-
mencement of the Gospel history, where the miracu-
lous conception of Jesus through the Holy Ghost is
announced (Matt. i. ; Luke i.). This mystery is more
clearly brought out in the narrative of Christ's bap-
tism, and is more fully developed in the progress of
the Gospel history. This shows that what is called the
Trinity of revelation depends on the Trinity of essence.
For the relation Ijetween the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, as here revealed, is preeminently that of
nature or essence (ontological) ; wliile afterwards, in
Matt, xxviii. 19, it appears more especially as a rela-
tion of manifestation or of revelation.
5. The glorification of Jesus by the voice from
CHAP. in. 13-1 7.
79
heaven, heard at his baptism, may be regarded as the
second stage iu the miraculous events attending His
life, by which he was gradually and increasingly man-
ifested as the absolute Wonder, and hence as the
Wonderful or Wonder-worker. The first of these
heavenly attestations was His miraculous birth, and
with it the star and the angels' hjTnn. Then fol-
lowed the manifestation of Jesus at His baptism,
when, instead of the voice of angels, that from hea-
ven is heard, and which, from its utterance, we re-
cognize as the voice of the Father. Instead of the
star standing over Bethlehem, we have now the vis-
ion of a dove descending upon the Lord. This glo-
rious manifestation becomes still brighter at the trans-
figuration of Jesus on the Mount. Here also the
voice of the Father descends in the cloud upon the
Mount — it is heard close by ; while the fulness of the
Spirit resting on Jesus shines forth in His personal
appearance, as He stands transfigured before His
disciples. Once more is the same voice heard : this
time in the Temple, and in the midst of His people ;
and although it only conveys to Him personally the
assurance that the name of the Father shall be glori-
fied in Him, it appears to his followers to be the
voice of an angel, to the people — the sound of thunder.
This is the third occasion on which the voice from
neayen is heard. Lastly, on the Mount of OUves He
is carried upward to the Father in a cloud of glory,
and by the power of the Spirit. The various stages
of this direct attestation from heaven may thus be
marked : — 1. The miraculous origin of Christ from
heaven ; 2. the consecration, among His chosen ones,
for His appearance in the form of a servant upon
earth ; 3. the prelude of the transformation of His
earthly appearance as a servant, celebrated among
His disciples ; 4. the same as celebrated among the
people ; 5.- the resurrection-glory, and the final trans-
figuration,
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The mighty impulse of the Spirit leading Christ
to Jordan. This appears from the circumstance, 1.
that He came from a great distance ; 2. that He came
alone ; 3. that He came fully decided on the course
before Him. — Christ resolved on submittmg to bap-
tism.— Jesus does not shrink from the same baptis-
mal bath which the " generation of vipers " had re-
ceived.— The various humiliations to which Jesus
submitted during His youthful course : 1. from Beth-
lehem to Egypt ; 2. from the temple to Nazareth ;
3. from His sacred retirement to the baptism of sin-
ners.— How the Lord owned the Divine institution
of baptism. — How He honored the sacred office. —
The twofold difficulty of John's work : 1. He was
obliged to baptize the Pharisees and Sadducees ; 2.
he had to baptize the Lord. — John hunself required
the grace of the Lord. — How the Baptist confessed
that he stood in need of the baptism of Jesus. — How
the holy office entrusted to ministers must tend to
humble those who are in earnest, but how it also
elevates them. — The greatness of John as appearing
most fully in his humihty. — He who was baptized
greater than he who baptized. — " Suffer it to be so
now." The infinite import of the word now ; 1. A
summing up of eternity in time, and of time in " to-
day," and of " to-day " in the moment which claims
our decision ; 2. an enigma propounded by the past
and solved by the future ; 3. an altar on which our
obedience is claimed, and a blessing promised ; 4. a
passing phase of earth, which may be transformed
into a revelation of heaven. — " Suffer it to be so now :
1. Suffer it at last to be so ; 2. suffer it quickly to
be so ; 3. suffer it to be so for a moment ; 4. suffbr
it to be so once for all. — The baptism of Jesus the
fulfilment of all righteousness, 1. so far as the mis-
sion of John was concerned; 2. so far as the de-
mands of the law were concerne 1 ; 3. so far as the
dealings of God with men, according to the funda-
mental principles of His administration, were con-
cerned.— Import of the fact that the Holy One sub-
mitted to the baptism of sinners : 1. Sinners must be
immersed in the waters of judgment. 2. The Sinless
One is immersed along with them, in order to give
them courage for the judgment. 3. He must be im-
mersed for them to change that judgment, so far as
they are concerned, into salvation. — The glory of the
Lord in this great act of His humiliation. — The man-
ifestation of the Messiah. — The manifestation of the
Messiah in the glorious light of the Trinity. — " Out
of the water" a watchword of life. 1. The earth out
of water ; 2. Noah and his race out of the water ; 3.
Moses and his people out of the water ; 4. Christ and
His Church out of the water. — Heaven opened on the
occasion of baptism. 1. Heaven is opened, a. for all
the blessings which come down from above ; b. for
all the prayers which ascend from below. 2. It is
opened over hun who is baptized : a. over the Lord
Himself; b. over all who are baptized in His name.
— Heaven opened : the heart of the Father opened.
— " The Spirit of God descending like a dove : " 1.
In His purity like a dove ; hence He finds at first
only one resting-place — the head and heart of Jesus,
2. In His gentleness like a dove ; hence addressing
Himself to man. 3. In His harmlessness like the dove ;
hence conquering the wicked one. 4. In His love as
the dove ; hence imparting Ufe to the Church. — The
voice from heaven in the manifestation of Christ, and
its echo in the justification of the sinner. — How the
three tokens accompanying the baptism of Christ are
spiritually repeated in every baptism. 1. Heaven is
opened to the child which is now placed by the side
of the Son. 2. The dovehke mind of the Holy Spirit
is imparted by the Son to the child. 3. In the testi-
mony to the Son the child hears the testimony of
sonship, and of the Father's good pleasure. — The
baptism of Jesus as the seahng of His name. — The
baptism of Jesus the manifestation of His humiliation
and exaltation : 1. As His first actual and personal
humiliation and exaltation ; 2. as throwing light upon
the humiliation and exaltation of His childhood ; 3.
as the token of His future humiliation and exaltation ;
4. as the act deciding the future humiliation and ex-
altation of His whole Ufe. — Jesus undertaking His
work in full consciousness of what awaited Him, and
being attested by the Father and the Holy Ghost. —
The blessedness springing from certitude of the Di-
vine call.
Starke : — God has in His wisdom fixed for every
one of us the proper time when we are to come forth. —
However highly placed a man may be, he should pay
all becomiqg reverence to the Divine institution of
the word and sacraments. — Humility a jjrecious gem.
— Christ has consecrated the washing of regenera-
tion.— Let us be careful to know what " becometh
us " at every time. — Heaven, which was closed by
the first Adam, is opened again over the Second. —
To us also lias heaven again been opened by Christ,
the Lord from heaven.
Gossner : — As soon as the sinner opens his heart
to God m repentance, God opens the heavens and
owns hkn as His child.
80 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
FIFTH SECTION.
JESUS RENOUNCING THE WORLD, AND COMMENCING HIS CONQUEST OF IT. WHILE PRE-
PARING FOR THE PUBLIC DISCHARGE OF HIS OFFICE, HE HAS TO ENCOUNTER THE
THREEFOLD TEMPTATION OF SATAN, CORRESPONDING TO THE THREEFOLD FORM
IN WHICH A WORLDLY-MINDED PEOPLE HAVE SHAPED TO THEMSELVES THEIR
HOPES OF THE MESSIAH. THUS JESUS IS CONSTRAINED TO CONCEAL HIS DIGNITY
FROM THE PEOPLE, AND TO COMMENCE HIS WORK IN THE DESPISED DISTRICT OF
GALILEE. BUT GOD GLORIFIES HIM IN THE HOMAGE PAID TO HIM BY HIS DIS-
CIPLES AND THE PEOPLE.
Ohaptee IV. (Mark i. 12-20; Luke iv. 1-13; v. 1-11; John i. 19-28; iv. 43-46).
Contents : — The threefold temptation of Christ by Satan through the secular notions of the Jews concerning the Messiah,
and His threefold victory over the Tempter.
A. Chapter IV. 1-11.
(The Gospel for Invocavit^ or First Sunday in Lent.)
1 Then was Jesus led up of [by] * the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of
2 [by] ' the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was after-
3 ward a hungered.* And when the tempter came to him, he said. If thou be the Son
4 of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said. It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
5 the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him
6 on a [the] ' pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God,
cast thyself down : for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee :
and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time* thou dash thy foot against
7 a stone. Jesus said unto him. It is written again,^ Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
8 God. Again, tbe devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth
9 him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them ; And saith unto him, All
10 these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Je-
sus unto him. Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
1 1 God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels
came and ministered unto him.
» Ver. 1.— [-By is more expressive of vvi as distinct from iic.}
' Ver. 2.— [Brit. cd. : an hungered. Better in modern and usual English : ITe afterward hungered, or zcas hungry.']
s Ver. 5.— [Gr. rh nrepvyiov. See Com.] "« Ver. 6.— [Lest haply, jU^Trore.]
» Ver. 7— [Again it is w., ■KaXiv yeypairrai.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
On the LiTKRATTjEE of the History of the Temptation,
comp. Danz, p. 993, and Supplement, p. 109; Winer, i. 556,
Supplement, p. T9; Hase, Leben Jesu, §55. On the history
itself, comp. Ullmann on the Siiilessness of Jemis ; Alex.
Schweizer, Ueber die Dignitdt dea Religionsstifters, in the
"■'Tlieol. Stud. u. Kritiken;' vii. 564. For other works,
comp. Meyer's " Commentary," p. 100. See also especially
Kiinemann, Ueber die Versuchungngesohichte in "Eudel-
bach's Zeitachriff' for 1S50; and Laufs in the ''■Stud. u.
Kritiken'' for 1853, p. 355.
We have no rii;ht, with Ewald and Meyer, to infer from
the m.vsl'Ti lus character of the history before us, and from
the cleiniiiil ami circumstantial manner in which it is relat-
ed, thai :],■■ arciiunt given by Matthew (and by Luke) is a
later oiiilitir.hmc-nt of the more simple and older tradition
recordod in the Gospel by M.ark. Evidently, Mark fur-
nishes only a general summary of the event, which requires
to be supplemented by the details furnished by Matthew
and Luke.
Ver. 1. Thsn -ro-as Jesus. — ^To't e, i. e., after the
Spirit had descended upon Him. The first operation
of the Holy Spirit, when the Lord had attained to
the full consciousness of His character as the God-
Man, and of His work as the Redeemer, was, not to
lead Him into that world which He was to save, but
to drive Him out of it into the wilderness. No doubt
the primary object of this was to afford an opportu-
nity for blessed rest and joy, in the consciousness of
His character and mission. But, secondly, the Sa-
viour had now to consider the difficult question, how
to reveal Himself to His people, without confoi-ming
to their spurious, secularized views and hopes con-
ceniing the Messiah. It was this counterfeit of the
true Messiah among Israel which, so to speak, re-
pelled Him, and drove Him into the wilderness.
The third motive for His going into the wilderness
lay in the fact, that the i-eign of Satan was the cause
of all the misery in the world. Hence Christ had
to commence His work by conqueriug Satan ; and
this He did for the whole world, when He met and
CHAP. IV. 1-11.
81
overcame him in the personal contest here de-
Bcribed.
He was led up, av-hx^ '?> — *• ^-i ^''^"^ *^® ^'^^'
ert banks of the river to the wilderness of Judisa
properly so called. Tradition has given to this wil-
derness the name of Quarantania (wilderness of Jeri-
cho, Josh. xvi. 1). Comp. Robinson II. 65'i [i. 567] ;
Schubert iii. 73 ; v. Raumcr, p. 47. " From Joppa,
on the Mediterranean, the road leads by Ramhih for
about seven hours through the beautiful plain of
Sharon. Other six hours' journey over the calcare-
ous and desert mountain tract of Judah brings you
to Jerusalem. The road is exceedingly dilfieult,
going alternately up and down hill. From Jerusa-
lem the mountain tract extends for other five h.r.'.r:'
eastward, when it descends into the valley of Jordan
by Jericho. At this eastern slope of the chain is
the steep mountain called Quarantania., where, ac-
cording to tradition, the temptation of Christ took
place. The name is derived from the Lord's fasting
for forty days. According to Hasselquist, the moun-
tain is high and conical, and most dangerous of
ascent. A deep precipice descends at the side of it.
On the summit are the ruins of an ancient Greek
monastery, perhaps that built by the Empress Hele-
na. All along the mountain are caves and holes,
which formerly were tenanted by hermits; at the
base a brook springs, — according to tradition, the
same wliich Ehsha healed (2 Kings ii. 19-22)." For
further particulars, comp. v. Raumer, as above, Note
78. The district is better explored in the direction
from the Mount of Olives. " The wilderness of Jeri-
cho, extending between that town and the Mount of
Ohves, or rather Bethany, is a district full of precipi-
tous rocks and deep hollows (comp. Joseph. Aniiq.
X. 8, 2). The scene presents the appearance of a
most desolate wilderness, especiaUy after passing the
Caravansary which now laears the name of the Khan
of the Samaritan (comp. Luke x. 30), about two
hours from Jerusalem: comp. Mauudrell, Journei/,
p. 109. From this wilderness the road descends,
after a further journey of two hours, down a precipi-
tous height into the plain of Jericho. At the north-
em boundary of this plain rises a steep, calcareous
mountain, very difficult of ascent, which bears the
name of Quarantania, because, according to tradition,
Jesus passed forty days fasting in one of the many
caves on its side. The northern portion of this desert
was connected with the wilderness of Bethany, Josh,
xviii. 12." Winer, art. "irii-ste," No. 4. — As the
wilderness of Quarantania lies close by the banks of
Jordan, there is no sufiicient reason to doubt the
correctness of this tradition. The wildness of this
. desert, as indicated ui the expression of Mark : " He
was with the wild beasts," points to the same con-
clusion.
Of (by) the Spirit.— The context shows that the
Holy Spirit is here meant. The idea that it referred
to the personal spii-it of Christ, or to a state of ecsta-
sy (Paulus), could only have been broached from de-
fective theological views. The expression oa^rixdv
implies, indeed, an extraordinary state of mind on
the part of the Lord, indicating a wonderful impulse,
but not a miraculous transportation (which is not
meant even in Acts viii. 39, or in 2 Kings ii. "
3)— a
^1 pa
idea still more clearly expressed in the parallel pas-
sage in Mark i. 12. Meyer aptly remarks: "The
two opposite principles, vrrh rou TruivfxaTos and uirh
rov SiaffoKov, arc evidently here placed in pragmatic
correspondence or juxtaposition. Besides, the whole
circumstances of this history, occurruig immediately
after the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, show that
the Evangelist intended to relate the victory of Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit, over the devil (comp. Luke
iv. 1, 2). This consideration alone is sufficient to re-
fute the arbitrary invention of Olshausen, that, dur-
ing the forty days in the wilderness, Jesus had been
forsaken by the Spirit."
To be tempted of (by) the devil ; TretpaaSfi-
V a I. — Such was the final oVyect. The Holy Spirit led
Him purposely to this contest with Satan. In this
conflict He was to be tempted by the devil, to show
whether or not, in the exercise of His free determina-
tion. He would prove Himself, and continue, the or-
gan of the Holy Spirit in opposition to that satanic
principle, or spirit of the world, by whicli the hopes
of Israel concerning the Messiah had been perverted,
so as to become even matter of temptation to Him.
The basis and commencement of the work of salva-
tion was necessarily a personal contest and victory
of the Saviour over the principle of evil, as manifest-
ed in the corruption of the world. For further re-
marks on the tremendous coUision between these an-
tagonistic principles, comp. the author's ^'■Lebeu
Jesu" ii. 1, p. 205. — Aid^oKos, from Sm/SaAAa-, to
throw over, carry across, to slander, accuse, calumni-
ate ; hence Sid^oAus, the slanderer in general, and also,
in the most particular sense (Job i. ; Rev. xii. 10),
the accuser. In the Old Testament he is called Satan,
"I'-ifl (Job i. 6-12). The term means, adversary in
general, adversary in war (1 Kings v. 4 — in the
Hebr. text, v. 18; xi. 14); and with the article,.
"|dan, the adversary or enemy kut' ii^ox^'iv: the
prince of the fallen spirits (Gen. iii. ;. 2 Cor. xi. 3 ;
Rev. XX. 2 ; John viii. 44, etc.).
As the cause and origin of the fall of man, Satan
is the prince of the kmgdom of darkness, which has
sprung up and developed on earth in opposiiiou to
the theocracy ; the seducer of man to their destruc-
tion,, and hence the principal enemy of Jesus (Matt,
xiii. 28). Comp. works on Dogmatics (among others
my Positive Dogmatik, p. 559 sqq.) on the question
whether the devil should be regarded as a. person, or
merely as the symbol of what is called the principle
of evil (as if what is evil could have a real, and not
what merely appears to be a principle).
Ver. 2. And when He had fasted forty days.
— Besides the mythical theory, wliich we at once set
aside, there ai'e four different viev.-s entertained by
commentators in connection with this event. First,
as regards Christ's fasting, some refer it only to the
want of Iiis common nourishment (RosenmuUer,
Kuinoel, Kuhn, etc.) ; while most interpreters imder-
stand it as meaning absolute and entire abstinence
from food (comp. Luke iv. 2 ; Deut. ix. 9). Secondly.,
as regards the duration, seme critics regard the
" forty days " as a sacred number, and hence as de-
noting an indefinite period of time (Kostcr, Heriue-
berg, Neander); while most commentators take it
literally. In favor of the literal view, we refer to the
circumstance that Jloses and Elijah fasted for forty
days (Ex. xxxiv. 28, and 1 Kings xix. 8), in both
which instances we have' a record of supernatural
and miraculous events. Besides, the addition of the
clause, ^' forty nights,''^ and the remark in Luke iv. 2,
" He did cat nothing," show that both the time and
the act are not meant figuratively. Still the expres-
sion must not be understood as implying a legal and
absolute fast of forty days. Similarly, Jesus said of
John that he came "neither eating nor drinking,"
although we know that his nourishment consisted of
82
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
locusts and wild honey. The feature which charac-
terized this solemn fast, and distinguished it from
every similar event, was, that the Saviour was wholly
absorbed by spiritual realities ; a state which, although
never fully attained by any person, yet, even in the
modified degree reached by ordinary men, renders
them, for a considerable period, independent of the
common necessaries of life. The fast of Jesus form-
ed a striking contrast to the worldly-mindeducss of
the Jews (a that of Moses and of Elijah had been) ;
it was a higher expression of the feelings and of the
fasting of the Baptist ; and at last, when, after the
lapse of forty days. He was an hungered [or
hungry], it became the occasion for the grand as-
sault of the tempter. Comp. our remarks on the
freedom of some men from common wants under
extraordinary circumstances in the "Zeben Jesu"
ii. 1, p. 212 ; Heubuer, p. 34.
Ver. 3. And the tempter came to Him. — The
participle ire ipd(i>i !> is here used as a substantive,
as characteristic of the person. It is one of the chief
characteristics of Satan that he is the tempter. First,
the tempter in the guise of a friend, then the accuser
and open enemy. Various views are entertained as
to the manner in which the tempter approached the
Lord, or, in other words, as to the mode of this tempt-
ation. We may reduce the different explanations to
five classes. The temptation has been regarded, 1.
as an external occurrence ; 2. as a supernatural in-
ternal occurrence, or a vision ; 3. as an inward ethi-
cal transaction, or a psychological occurrence ; 4. as
a parable ; 5. as a myth. — Again, viewing it as an
objective or external occurrence, it has been regarded,
(a) as real, in the sense of having been a literal ap-
parition of Satan in the form of a man or an angel.
This is the view of many orthodox commentators.
But against this, we set the fact, that under no other
circumstances, and at no other period, Satan had
ever assumed human form ; and also, that there are
other circumstances in this narrative which cannot
be taken in their Uteral sense, — such as, that Satan
took the Lord to the holy city, or that he placed Him
on a high mountain, from which all the kingdoms of
this world and their glory could be seen. It has
been argued, (b) that what the Evangelist here de-
scribes as a real objective occurrence, must be traced
to earhest tradition, which invested the sjTnbolical
idea of a contest between Messiah and Satan in this
mythical form (Strauss) ; or else, that the misunder-
standing must be ascribed to the Evangehsts them-
selves, who viewed and recorded as something exter-
nal what in reality was an inward transaction, and
either told them in the form of a parable, or else was
only intended as a parable (Schleiermacher). To
this view, in a somewhat modified shape, we shall
again advert in the sequel. Meantime suffice it to
say, that the idea of a myth must be at once discard-
ed, whatever we may say of the other suggestions
advanced. Or, (c) it has been maintained that an
external occurrence is here described in symboUcal
language, and that the tempter was an ordinary man.
" This," says Meyer, " is the case with the absurd
suggestion of some interpreters, who substitute for
the devil an ordinary personage, such as a member
of the Sanhedrim, or a priest, who had come to f;uos-
tion and to gain over Jesus, or to lay a snare for
Him." (V. der Hardt, Venturini, Moller, Rosenmiil-
ler, Kuinoel, Feilmoser ; see also Bengel, who thinks
that Satan had a.])pea.red "sub :ii'hc/nate ypa^MTews
quia rh yeypawTai ei icr opponilur.") Hovrever, the
suggestion that the devil employed some member of
the Sanhedrim as his special instrument — which, of
course, Rationalists would repudiate [but which is
evidently the meaning of the orthodox and pious
Bengel — P. S.] — can scarcely be characterized either
as rationalistic or as absurd. We know, for exam-
ple, that Satan did employ Judas as his special in-
strument (John xiii. 27), and that " this devil " came
out against the Lord as His enemy (John xiv. 30).
Still, this view does not quite agree with the sj-mbol-
ical elements contained in the narrative before us. —
According to the second interpretation above men-
tioned, the whole occurrence was merely a vision.
In that case, it may be regarded, (a) as a vision called
forth by the devil (Origen, Cyprian, Theodoras of
Mopsuestia on Luke iv. 1, Olshausen, and latterly
again Heubner, p. 39). Against this we urge, that
the devil could not have possessed the power of pre-
senting to the Lord in a vision, either his own appa-
rition, or the pictures of these temptations. (6) As
called forth by God Himself (Farmer, Enquiry, etc.,
London, 1761), — a view which would render this oc-
currence wholly mysterious and unintelhgible ; or (c)
as called forth by natural causes (Clcricus, Paulas,
Gratz, and many other commentators), — not a his-
torical event, but a psychological and ecstatic state
of mind ; or lastly, {d) a " significant morning dream "
(Meyer [not the commentator, H. A. W., so often
quoted in this work, see below] in the " Studien u.
Eritiken" for 1831, p. 319 sqq.). But it is sufficient
to reply that decisive ethical conflicts do not take
place in the form of dreams. — According to the third
view above mentioned, this narrative must be con-
sidered as an inward ethical transaction or conflict:
(a) A conflict which took place in the imagmation
of Christ (Eichhorn, Dereser, Weisse, etc.). Against
this view it has been urged, that such an inward con-
flict, arising from a felt sense of the allurements of
evil, could not be reconciled with the sinlessness of
Jesus. (6) An inward conflict excited by the devil
(Krabbe) ; but we are at a loss to know the medium
through which the enemy assailed Christ, (c) An
inward transaction to which the disciples gave an ob-
jective form, as if it had been an external event (re-
jection of the false conceptions concerning the Mes-
siah— Ulhnann) ; but if we dismiss the idea that they
consciously and purposely clothed the event in a sym-
bolical form, we are shut up to the mythical theory.
{d) A fragmentary, symboHcal representation of trans-
actions in the iimer life of Jesus (Neander). But
this were to spiritualize away and to weaken a great
historical fact. — According to the fourth view above
mentioned, we are to regard this narrative as a para-
ble, not so much of what Jesus Himself had experi-
enced, but of what His disciples should keep in view
and guard against (J. E. Chr. Schmidt, Schleierma-
cher, Usteri, Alex. Schweizer, Baumgarten-Crusius).
But de Wette rightly objects, that in that case the
whole meaning of a temptation woiild be lost— and,
let us add, of tlie temptation Ko.r ^^uxv"- (Against
this parabohc view, comp. also Hasert, in the '■'■Stud,
u. Krity for 1830.) — Lastly, according to the fifth
view above proposed, we must regard this narrative
as a pure myth (Strauss, de Wette, Gfrorer, Meyer).
Thus Meyer boldly asserts, that " nothing is left but
to conclude that what the Evangelists considered and
described as an actual event, was merely an ideal
event, or a myth." * In reply, we simply remark
* [H. A. W. Meyer .id Matt. iv. p. 109, pronounces the
Temptation an ideal history, i. e. a mi/th, which arose among
the Jewish Christians from the anti-diabolical idea of the
Messiah, hut which already St. John silently excluded from
CHAP. IV. 1-11.
that modern theology has happily overcome the
mythical theory. The only thing mythical, in our
opinion, is the view entertained by some divines, by
which the sacred history, so full of sjnnbolical signifi-
cance and religious life, is transformed into a purely
external transaction. — The main objection to the v.a-
rious explanations which we have just sketched, is
that they proceed on the old scholastic plan of jire-
dicating an absolute alternative (a mode of interpre-
tation which has frequently obstructed the right in-
terpretation of Scripture), and that they do not suffi-
ciently appreciate the various moral agencies brought
into play, and their mutual influence. Nothing ap-
pears to ys more natural, than that immediately after
the baptism, in which Christ entered upon His work
as Saviour of the world, He should have encountered
and entered upon a spiritual conflict with the spuri-
ous ideas which the men of His age entertained about
the Messiah. The influence of these perverted views
concerning the Messiah upon His own mind, would
necessarily give rise to an assault and temptation of
Satan. In truth, Satan had thus perverted the hope
of Israel concerning the Messiah, for the very pur-
pose of turning aside the Messiah Himself. Thus
far, then, the narrative presents an inward transac-
tion indeed ; but, at the same time, also a real and
actual transaction between Christ on the one hand,
and the popular expectations and the kingdom of Sa-
tan on the other. But what had at first been an in-
ward transaction, concluded with an outward event,
which in some respects is mysterious. Satan really
employed, it seems to us, some of the chief priests
and scribes as his instruments to tempt Christ to un-
dertake the part of such a worldly Messiah as the
Jews at the time expected. (Comp. the owlao} /xov
here and Matt. xvi. 23.) The whole history of this
temptation — both in its inward and outward fjhases
— Jesus afterward communicated to His disciples in
the form of a real narrative, clothed in sjTnbolical
language. The difference between this and a mere
myth lies in the simple fact, that it really took place,
partly as an inward, and partly as an outward trans-
action; and in the circumstance that speaker and
hearers employed and listened to the symbolical lan-
guage in which the narrative was partly clothed, in
the full consciousness that it was such. The various
interpretations to which we have above adverted ig-
nore several important circumstances ; such as, that,
in accordance with his mission, it was the duf;/ of
John to point out the Messiah to His people, and, of
course, more especially to the representatives of the
people ; that, at the very time when Jesus was in the
neighborhood, a deputation from the Sanhedrim at
Jerusalem had arrived to inquire whether he was the
Messiah; that John returned, and must have re-
turned, a truthful reply ; and lastly, that this depu-
tation could not but take some notice of the direc-
tions which the Baptist had given them. Besides,
we must remember that, at the commencement of
Christ's work, it was not merely some kind of temp-
t<ation, but the great temptation, which had to be
overcome — i.e., the temptation arising from the lust
the ev.ingelical record. Still he nfterward claims for this
myth a hhtoHcal truth, inasmuch as it symbolizes the real
faH of Christ's victory over the empire of Satan, which
runs through his ufwie life. But this concession removes
the ground for all v.alid objection to the real historical char-
acter of the narrative. For what is internally true and cim-
Bistent may become a real fact. Of Hegel's maxim : AlUs
Vernuiiftirje, int xcirklich^ und alle^ Wirkliahe i»t verniinf-
tig. the first clause (everythinfj reasonable is real) is more
truthful than the second.— P. 8.]
of the world, even as, at the close of His course. He
had to encounter the temptation from the burden
and grief of the world. Lastly, it is manifest that
so decisive an inward conflict could not be merely
the result of an extraordinary state of mind, without
having been called forth by some deep historkal arv-
tagonism; and that, as it could be neither wholly
internal nor wholly external, it must have combined
both these elements, or, in other words, that it was
caused and excited by the devil, and carried into ex-
ecution through a human medium. We can readily
conceive how human sympathies, more particularly
Jewish chiliastic influences, may have acted upon the
human nature of Christ. Nor can we doubt that a
definite outward instrumentahty was employed. Such
could not have been wanting in this grand decisive
moment of the history of the kingdom of God; and
the glorious reality and the consequences of such an
era, are themselves suflicient to sweep away the cob-
web structures of any m}-thical theory. Hence we '
agree, 1. with Ullmann, in acknitting that the trans-
action was inward, but caused by external agency ;
2. with V. d. Hardt and Bengel, in beheving that the
transaction concluded with an outward event, to
which only allusion is made in the narrative ; 3. with
Schleiermacher, in concluding that the history is
clothed m a symboUcal and paraboHc garb.
Vers. 3 and 4. First temptation. — The first temp-
tation is occasioned by a feeling of hunger on the
part of Jesus, and by the expression of it. If Thou
be the Son of God, v. 3 — couched in the form of a
doubt to incite the Saviour to prove Himself such.
The word f / o ? is put first, to lay emphasis on the
Sonship. The expression implies three things : First,
that if the Son of God had come, He must be the ex-
pected Messiah. Secondly, that the Messiah could
not be any lower personage than the Son of God Him-
self, in the metaphysical sense of this term. Third-
ly, that the greatest miracles might be expected to be
wrought by Hun. — Eitte, Tva, Speak, in order
that. The effect is to be produced by a creative, or
rather a magical utterance. It may be asked wheth-
er the tempter meant this in the literal or the sym-
bolical sense, hke the statement of the Baptist : " God
is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abra-
ham." Whatever view we take of this point, it was
a covert suggestion to give Himself up to the satanic
principle, either by arbitrarily perverting the spiritu-
al power of working miracles into an unholy art of
magic, or as a call, in pompous Oriental phraseology,
to transform the wilderness into a storehouse, by
pronouncing a formula of surrender to the vanity of
the world. Probably the tempter intended that it
should bear a double meaning, as was also the case
with the second temptation. ^' The point of the temp-
tation lay in the suggestion that it seemed incompati-
ble for the Son of God, who could do all things, to
suffer hunger. But — doubt would ad-d — to suffer
hunger seems to imply that you are not the Son of
God. Thus, in the present instance, the doubt would
appeal to His power, to His reason, and even to the
duty of confirming the declaration that He was the
Son of God. The Son of God cannot be limited or
hardly beset ; He cannot suffer or participate in the
wants of humanity; He must at once sweep away
every difficulty and want by an act of omnipotence.
The Lord resisted this temptation by quoting the
Scripture, Deut. viii. 3, — the passage being quoted by
the Evangelist according to the Septuagiut. The
original (addressed to Israel) reads : " Jehovah suf-
fered thee to hunger, and fed thee with mam;a (which
84
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
thou knowest not, nuitlicr did thy fatlierr, know), that
lie might make thee know that man doth not live by
bread (upon bread) only, but by everything (upon
everything) that proceedeth out of the moutli of the
Lord doth man live." Tlic Septuagint renders: dAA'
enl iravTi priixaTi rcji (Krropevu,u^vci> Sia a-runarns ®iou
^j'/^rjTai b &v6pu>-os. In the Gospel of Matthew v.-e
have tV instead of eirl — in, or by, every word (not
thing) that proceedetii out of the mouth of
God shall man live. According to Olshausen, the
Saviour intended to point out an autitliesis between
earthly and heavenly food. De Wette suggests the
following exphmation : " If ordinary means of nour-
islunent fail, the Lord will employ extraordinary
means to preserve us alive by His creative Word."
But these extraordinary means — the manna — are
here generalized as " everything that proceedeth out
of the mouth of the Lord," and applied in a symbol-
ical sense, to indicate that man is not absolutely de-
pendent upon any kind of external nourishment, and
tliat his real life is sustained by the word of God.
Hence the meaning of Christ's reply is this : If even
man is not absolutely dependent upon the bread that
perisheth, — if he does not live upon bread only, but
rather upon the word of God, — how much more must
this be true of the Son of God, whose life flows from
the Father, and not from the bread of earth, and who
accordingly depends for the preservation of His
earthly Ufe, not on any arbitrary interference, nor on
.«atauic device or agency, but on the Father ? But
the Son of God has condescended to become man,
.and a=? such is willing to share the wants and sufter-
ings of humanity. In conclusion, the difference be-
tween the idea of miracles as laid down in the Bible,
and that entertained by the tempter — or even by
some modern theologians — deserves notice.
Vers. 5-7. Second temptation. — In the Gospel of
Luke this is mentioned as the third temptation. This
divergence arises not from any historical inaccuracy,
but from the symbolical view which each of the Evan-
gelists connected with these assaults. The symboli-
cj,l element which appeared in the first temptation,
" Command that these stones be made bread," comes
out more distinctly in the present instance. We trace
it, first, in the significant expression, Tro.pa\a/j.^dve i
anT liv, he takes Him by force with him, or takes Him
to himself as a companion (in his journey) ; and, sec-
ondly, in the term ih ttw h.'^io.v itaKiv, "^"ipT^ ^•^'S_
(Is. xlviii. 2; Neh. xi. 1), to denote Jerusalem, — so
called on account of the temple. (To this day the
Arabs call Jerusalem the place of the Sanctuary, or
the Holy City.) The devil is here represented as
liaving free access to the most sacred places, and as
familiar with them : He setteth Him (i'o- t 77 o- 1 v) —
not by force, for such he cannot exercise ; besides,
he had not yet dropt the mask and shown himself
the evil one. He appears as wearing a religious
garb, as one who had authority in the temple, and
setteth Jesus as his guest in a spot which commanded
the most extensive view. The supposition of Jerome,
that Jesus was carried thither through the air, is
purely fantastic ;* equally unsatisfactory is the sug-
gestion of Olshausen, that He was in a state of men-
tal transport. • It is quite possible that Jesus had at
the time gone for a day to Jerusalem, and that tliis
* Connected with this view are other similar notions for-
merly entertained, such as, that the wilderness was that of
Arabia, — the. mountain, Mount Sinai, or Mount Tabor, or
ilount Nebo; that Jesus was in a state of lowest humilia-
tion, and passive in the hands of Satnn, who earned him
away through the air, etc. Comp. Starke.
circumstance may have foi-med the external basis for
this temptation. Be this as it may, the fact that Sa-
tan set Jesus on the (not a) pinnacle [literally : the
wing] of the temple (rb -impvyiov tov Upov), im-
phed the suggestion that He sliould by Satanic means
become the priest-king of that temple. It is true,
the expression rov Upnv here used, was applied to
tiie whole set of buildings connected v>'ith the temple,
v/hile the word uaos referred to the principal building
of the temple. But the more general expression of
course included the temple itself, to which, besides,
the word tmpvyiov specially points. Nor is there
anything inconsistent in the account of Josephus,
that the roof of the temple was covered itarh. Koputf-iiv
with pointed rods to protect it from being occupied
by birds, as the Kopvf-q of the temple was probably
only the most holy place. Nor can the great sacred-
ness of the locality be urged as an argument, since
the special object in view was to place Jesus in the
most sacred locality. The real difficulty of taking
the statement, that the Lord was set upon a pinnacle
of the temple, in its literal meaning, lies in this, that
Christ was neither priest nor Levite, and that the
idea of setting Him publicly in such a place is en-
tirely incompatible with a secret conflict between
Christ and Satan. On the same ground we must dis-
miss the notion, that the devil set bun on any other
prominent place of the temple. Some commentators
have supposed that this " pinnacle " belonged to an
out-building of the temple, such as the hall of Solo-
mon on the east side (Joseph. Antig. xx. 9, 7), or the
a-Tiia PaatKiKv on the south side (ibid. xv. 11, 5),
both of tl'.em rismg along a frightful precipice. Kui-
noel, Meyer, and others suppose that the scene must
have occurred at the south side of the temple, from
the description which Josephus gives of its dizzy
height. But this would necessitate the strange sup-
position, that the Evangelist represented the tempter
as proposing to the Lord a descent, either into the
poor valley of Kidron, or into that of the Cheesema-
kers. If the narrative is taken literally, the object
must have been rather to work some ostentatious
miracle for the proud city of Jerusalem itself. In
this respect, also, the temptation had its double
meaning, the main point lying ia the suggestion
that Jesus should yield to Satan, place Himself at
the head of the priesthood, and in that character be
presented to the people. With this object, and in
this sense, Jesus was set on the pinnacle of the tem-
ple, and probably somehow or somewhere in the
temple itself. The spiritual attitude which He was
to assume is the main point.
As Jesus had turned aside the first suggestion of
the tempter by the word of God, the enemy support-
ed his second assault. If Thou be the Son of
God, cast Thyself down, by a quotation from Ps.
xci. 11, 12, "For He shall give His angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy
ways : they shaH bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." This
passage seemed all the better suited for the purpose in
view, since in its primary apphcation it referred not
exclusively to the Messiah. The plain inference was,
that if such a promise had been granted to aU pious
men, it must apply all the more forcibly to the Mes-
siah. But the apphcation of this promise was evi-
dently false, as the expression, in all thy ways,
was not equivalent to the ways of thine own choosing.
Indeed, the tempter wholly omitted this clause when
adducing the passage. Jesus replied to this quota-
tion— which in its original form was a poetical de-
CHAP. IV. 1-11.
85
scription of the promised help, and now was grossly
misinterpreted in its literal application — by referring
to a passage in the law : Ye shall not tempt Jeho-
vah your God, ver. '7. Dent. vi. 16. In tlie present
instance, Christ addressed it to Satan personally,
Thou, instead of Ye, — a change all the more ap-
propriate, that every tempting of God on the part of
man is directly caused ly the enemy of souls. Ud-
\iv does not mean " on the other hand " (Erasmus
Liud others), but again (Meyer, Engl. C. Ver.). Ben-
gel : Scriptura per Scripturam intcrpretanda — more
especially a poetical phrase by the precise statements
of the law. This reply to Satan is already an attack
upon him, since he is here characterized as temptmg
the Lord.
Vers. 8-10. TJdrd iemptaiion.—" The high
mountain (ver. S) from which all the kingdoms of
the world could be seen, must not be looked for upon
any of our maps ; it neither refers to the Mount of
Olives, nor does k6<t/uos mean Palestine (Kuinoel),
but it applies to the heathen world over which Satan
held exclusive dominion " (Meyer). Luke adds, cV
cTTtyur] xp^vov, to indicate the magic character of
the vision. And the glory of them, t^iu Sn^av
aiiruv. " The rich country, the splendid cities and
palaces, perhaps also the riches which they contain-
ed (although these could scarcely have been seen
from the top of a mountain)." — De Wette. The idea
of any magical influence of Satan upon the vision of
the Lord seems to us quite inappropriate (comp.
Lange : " Worte der Abwehr," p. 41). It is not worth
while to show at length that Satan could not have
exercised such influence over the eyes of the Saviour.
In our opinion, the prospect from such a high moun-
tain as that of the wilderness of Quarantania, or near
Jerusalem, was sufficient to ofi'er an appropriate basis
for a rhetorical description of the world, its king-
doms, and their glory.* Of course the mountain
must still be viewed as a symbolical expression, to
designate the political and chiliastic prospects which
the Jews portrayed to themselves at the time when
Messiah should come to conquer ihe world by world-
ly means. Xor must we, with Meyer, exclude Pales-
tine from this vista, since the course of the ambitious
conqueror, as sketched by the enemy, was to com-
mence at the temple itself. For, although it is true
that Satan had greater power over the heathen world
than over Palestine, we must not confound (as Meyer
does, p. 105) the later views of the Jews (as given
in Eisenmenger's " Entdecktes Judcnihum,'''' ii. p. 820,
etc.) with those of the New Testament. In the New
Testament Satan is designated as apxav tov Kon/xov
(Johnxii. 31), with special reference to his sway over
Palestine in opposition to Jesus ; while the expres-
sion KciaixoKpdrwp, in Eph. vi. 12, alludes more par-
ticularly to the heresies by which the Church of
Christ was endangered. We must not look in the
word of God for the gross, fanatical, and mythical
ideas of later rabbinical Judaism. The passage be-
fore us refers to the moral reign of darkness which
extended over the whole ancient world, although we
[*J(is. A'ldison Alrxaiider on Matt. iv. 8 (p. S5), places
the scene of this temptation on the Mount of Olives,
tnus explains the vision of all the kingdoms: '■'■ Sheweth,
optical illusion . . ; but either by u voluntary and miraciilou.s
causes Him to see, not upon a map or picture .
nor by an
extension of Ilis vision on His own part, or by u combii
tion of sensible perception with rhetorical description . . an
actual exhibition of what lay withiu the boundary of vision,
and an enumeration of the kingdoms which in different di-
rections lay beyond it, with a glowinjrrefircsentation of their
wealth and power (and the glory of them)." — 1'. S.]
must ever be careful not to admit the validity of Sa-
tan's pretension that he exercised in any sense abso-
lute sway over the world.
In this third temptation, Satan appears in his
proper character. Hence also it is not prefaced by
" If Thou be the Son of God." On the contrary, he
rather seems to claim this honor for himself, as Luke
plainly indicates in the words, '6ti ifxul vapaSiSorai.
The awful proposal, that Jesus should fall down and
worship Satan, and do him homage, is to some ex-
tent modified, when we bear in mind the pecuhar po-
litical and religious import of the word trpociKwuv
among Orientals. We do not imagine that Satan in-
tended to demand an act of absolute adoration, but
an act of homage, which, however, necessarily im-
plied worship. Primarily, it was not (as Strauss
supposes) a temptation to idolatry, though it is true
that, in its ultimate meaning and bearing, all idolatry
is devil-worship. Nor does this demand involve a di-
rect threat on the part of Satan that he would let
loose against Jesus the whole power of evil (Ebrard),
although Satan's claim to absolute sway over the
"whole world implied that he was its lor^l aud master.
Viewed in this light, the third temptation, from the
lust of the world, pointed already to that which Christ
had to endure at the close of His course from the
sorrow and misery of the v.-orld. The incredible pre-
sumption and impudence of Satan's demand (which,
indeed, was covertly implied even in the first and sec-
ond temptations) is in some measure accounted for
by his well-known axiom, " that every man has his
price at which his virtue may be bought." The
point of the temptation lay in tiie boldness of the de-
sign— Satan spreading out all at once a rushing pic-
ture of absolute sway over the world and of its glory,
and then offering all this to the lowly and rejected
Son of David, who of right could claim all the nur
tions of the world as His inheritance, and the utmost
ends of the world as His possession. Gerlaeh sug-
gests that the proposal to found the kingdom of
Messiah by outward power and pomp, and not that
of paying outward worship to Satan, formed the main
point of the temptation, ili.t this must evidently
have been the consequence of a surrender and hom-
age to Satan.
Ver. 10. Then saith Jesus unto him. — At last
the mask was thrown oif : Satan appears in his real
character, and is treated accordingly. Hitherto the
Lord had, in compliance with the usual forms of in-
tercourse, dealt with him according to his assumed
character, as one who seemed anxious to promote
the mission of the Messiah, although He sufficiently
showed that he had read the motives of Satan, —
having in His first reply designated hnn as one who
held men in contempt, and in Ilis second as the
tempter. But now he meets the pretensions of Sa-
tan to absolute power by a dis{:lay of His own su-
preme authority. Get "thee hence, Satan. [In
Greek a single word, 'On aye, begone, out of mi/ siffkt.'\
(The addition otzktqi iuov is not sufficiently authenti-
cated, and apparently an ancient interpretation de-
rived from Matt. xvi. 23, which seems to apply not
to Satan, but to Peter, whose right place as a follow-
er of the Lord was behmd, not before Him.) The
passage with which Christ dismisses the enemy (Deut.
vi. 13) is none other than the fundamental principle
of Monotheism. It is given in the form of a free
quotation from the Sep'tuagint ; the word irposKwh-
.7 6/5, which Satan hal used, being retained, instead
of <jio/3rj0i^(r77. Laying emphasis on the main idea of
the Old Tcstameac passage, our Lord says, "Him
80
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
only shalt thou serve." The devil is expressly des-
ignated as Satan, because in this temptation he dis-
played his real character as the adversary of Christ.
Lastly, tlie answer of the Lord conveys the expres-
sion of His enmity to all that is Satanic in the world,
and to the carnal hopes and views entertained about
the Messiah. It is, so to speak, a declaration of war
on the part of Jesus against Satan, and that on ac-
coinit of the daring promise to make Jesus Lord of
the world if He only submitted to his conditions.
" Tentatorem, quum is maxime favere videri vult,
Satanam appcllat." — Bengel.
In looking back on this threefold temptation, we
conclude that Satan offered to the Lord immediate
possession of His Messianic inheritance on condition
of His employing satanic agency, in the form of
magic, of false rehgious enthusiasm or fanaticism,
and of false and demoniacal worship. His first propo-
sal was to confer on Jesus the office of a magician-pro-
phet ; his second, to make Him the chief and prince
of a grand hierarchy ; liis third, to invest him with
the office of demoniacal and all-powerful monarch of
the world. But, manifestly, these were the three
great traits of the carnal and perverse expectations
which Israel entertained concerning the Messiah : the
first temptation representing more especially the er-
roneous tendency of the Essenes, who lived in the
wilderness ; the second, the spurious rehgion of the
Pharisees, whose centre was the temple service ; and
the third, the godless policy of the Sadducees, whose
ruUng passion was worldhness. The common psy-
chological applications of this narrative — such as,
that the first temptation was to sensual enjoyment,
the second to fanatical pride, and the third to ambi-
tion— do not exhaust the deep bearing of the event,
although they are impUed in the interpretation above
proposed.
The following is the chronological order of events :
1. The baptism of Jesus. 2. The forty days' fast-
ing. 3. The deputation to John the Baptist from
Jerusalem (John i.). 4. The temptation of Jesus.
5. The return of Jesus to John by the banks of Jor-
dan (John i. 35). 6. His return to Galilee (ver.
43).
Ver. 11. The victory. — The triumph of the Saviour
appears in these two facts : The devil leaveth Him ;
angels come and minister unto Him, thus paying
Him real homage, Sirj/coVouj' avTw. Bengel : "&'>ie
dubio pro eo, ac turn opus erat, sc. allato cibo [un-
doubtedly, by doing that which was then necessary,
namely, )3y bringing Him food]. Comp. the feeding
of Elijah by an angel, 1 Kings xix. 5." Thus Pisca-
tor, Wolf, and many others, — among them, Meyer.
Others understand the expression as denoting super-
natural Divine support (Maldonatus, Kuinoel, 01s-
hausen, Kuhn, Ammon, Ebrard). It deserves notice,
that most critics who at present defend the view that
the text imphes a miraculous supply of food by the
ministry of angels, characterize the whole narrative
as a mere myth. When Jesus had undergone these
temptations, He returned from the wilderness into
the company of men. Hence any such miraculous
supply of food for the body by angels would have
been unnecessary. In our view of the passage, the
Lord having conquered Satan, and established His
glorious supremacy, not only over man, but also over
the spiritual world, now entered into converse with
ministering angels (John i. 51), realizing in the su-
pernatural and heavenly support which He now en-
joyed, in the fullest sense. His own declaration, that
man lives not by bread alone.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The narrative before us establishes, in our
opinion, two facts — that Jesus could be tempted, or
the possibility of His falling ; and again, that He was
tempted, yet viithout sin. This threefold victory of
His sinless soul marks another stage in the Gospel
history. Before that, the God-man had, in the free
exercise of His will, risen to full and joyous con-
sciousness of His character and mission ; now this
consciousness became a settled divine-human mind
or disposition over against all temptations and allure-
ments of the world. From His first and decisive con-
flict with evil, which ever and again tempted Him
during the three years of his earthly ministry. He
came forth victorious to rear His kingdom on a spir-
itual and eternal foundation.
2. Solemn celebration in the wilderness of His
full attainment to consciousness of His character and
vocation, victory over the temptations of Satan, and
maturing of the plan for His work — such are the
three great phases in the preceding narrative, none
of which can be separated from the other.
The first of these three phases was that of solemn
celebration. Bearing in mind that Jesus was led into
the wilderness by the Spirit, we infer that He went
up in the full and deep consciousness of His vocation
as the God-man. Heaven had been opened over Him,
the wings of the blessed Spirit had been upon and
around Him. He had the testimony of His Sonship,
and of the delight of the Father in Him. In the
blessed enjoyment of these glorious realities, forty
days passed without His feeling the common wants
of humanity. But Jesus did not shut up within His
own breast this His " being equal with God," as if
it had been robbery (Phil, ii.), — least of all when He
had just submitted to that baptism, in which, while
humbling Himself to become the companion in sor-
row of sinners. He had also attained the full con-
sciousness of His theanthropy. Hence the solemn
inward feast celebrated in the wilderness served as
preparation for His Work : the fulness of the Spirit,
the fulness of love, the fulness of fife within His soul
— all summoned Hun to be the DeUverer of His peo-
ple and the Saviour of the world, even as the Fatlier
had called Him by His baptism and by the Holy
Ghost ; and in the depth of His sympathy with hu-
manity, He heard not only His own people but a
fallen world entreating deliverance.
But this very cry of the world contained a shrill
discord which constituted His temptation. With in-
finite longing Israel waited for the advent of Messiah.
But this glorious hope had become fearfully distorted
in the false theology of the synagogue, m the ideas
current among the people, in the hierarchical ten-
dencies of the age, and in the general vanity of this
world. Hence, while this longing for salvation in
the inmost heart of humanity was a loud call for
Jesus to reveal Himself to the world as the long-
expected Redeemer, He was repelled by the false and
unspiritual picture of the Messiah who was the ob-
ject of the carnal hopes of Israel. The Holy One
recognized in these perversions the agency of Satan.
Thus far there could be neither doubt nor tempta-
tion. But that which in itself was evil had assumed
a human form ; it had been embodied m human rep-
resentations, ideas, and aspirations ; and in this its
human form it made its appeal to His sympathies.
This spurious and unholy Messianic expectation ap-
peai'ed most closely intertwined with the loftiest as-
pirations and the hoUest hopes of humanity. It was
CHAP. IV. 1-11.
87
this seeming combination of two very dififerent ele-
ments which might give rise to doubt and diCRculty.
The Saviour must now discern the spuriousness of
this combination ; and, to separate its heterogeneous
elements, He had to overcome the temptation arising
from the fanatical sympathies of Hi-^ people and of
the world. This constituted His triuptatiou. Its
point lay in the attractions of human sym;3athy, al-
lurement, and entreaty ; as also, in the apparent con-
nection between what was perverse and what was
holy. In His conflict with this temptation, it assumed
a threefold form. In the first assault, the Prophet,
in all the pride and self-sufficiency of a Magician,
stands before His mind's eye ; in the second, the
High Pricftf, in all the pride and self-sufficiency of
hierarchical pomp ; and in the last, the Kinff, in all
the pride and self-sufficiency of secular policy and
power. All these pictures are presented in their most
attractive features, as painted in the bright anticipa-
tions of an expectant world, as drawn with all the
cunning of Satan, and as reflecting in a distorted
form His own person and vocation.
But He has overcome the threefold inward assault
upon His soul (comp. the Gospel of Luke) — and the
cravings of hunger indicate the weai-incss consequent
upon this tremendous conflict. The victory which
He has achieved in inward conflict, must now also
appear in actual and historical incidents, and the
outward temptations of Satan succeed His inward
struggle.
This threefold historical victory of the Lord over
the tempter also marks the grand scheme on which
His work as the Saviour of the world was to be car-
ried on. In opposition to the false principle of
the world, He clearly reaUzed the truth ; in oppo-
sition to the spurious plans of Messiah's kingdom
cherished by the world, He chose what was spir-
itual ; in opposition to the uilse ideas entertained
about the work of salvation. He manifested Himself
as the true Prophet, Priest, and King. To reject
the spurious plans of the synagogue, was at the same
time to adopt the true scheme of His mission. Mod-
ern [German evangelical] theology commenced with
a more full appreciation of the human nature [and
sinless perfection] of Jesus, and first spoke of His
plan or design. Thus Remhard has written a work
on the Plan of Jesus ; UUmann has rejected the idea
of any such scheme, but Neander has vindicated its
higher bearing. If by the expression, " plan," or
" scheme," we mean that the Saviour was distinctly
conscious of the principle, the development, the
means and the goal of His work, the Lord had un-
doubtedly a matured " plan." But it was the lead-
ing characteristic of this plan, that it rejected and
eliminated all that was merely external, every secu-
lar calculation ; and that, in unfolding its own glori-
ous proportions and spiritual phages, it proved mauily
a negation of all the chiliastic schemes of the syna-
gogue. One of its principal features consisted in
this, that while these spurious pictures of the Mes-
siah presented a Saviour who was such in name and
appearance only, Jesus would manifest the character
and the works of the true Messiah, and that He
would avoid even he designation of Messiah, until
by His working He had redeemed and purified its
idea, which had been so fatally perverted (comp.
the " Lebeii Jesu" ii. 1, p. 231). Then Jesus chose
the path of sufliering instead of that of joy ; humil-
iation unto obedience, instead of glory by self-exalt-
ation. Hence, when at the close of His course the
accuser tempted Him to despair, amidst the sorrows
and under the burden of a guilty world, the Re-
deemer once more conquered, and entered upon the
path of glory. Indeed, the most difficult part of His
work was accomplished at the outset of His mission,
when, in the power ofthc Spirit, He overcame Satan
and the satanic temptation, connected with the spu-
rious messianic expectations. He conquered Satan
as the tempter m all the temptations of worldly al-
lurement. Thus was the kingdom of darkness shaken
in its inmost principle. This threefold victory un-
folded and appeared in His ministry upon earth ; and
His triumph over the temptations of allurement, or
over the tempter, in the strictest sense of the term,
formed the prelude to His victory over the tempta-
tions of sorrow and sufiering, or over the accuser,
which awaited Him at the close of Ilis course.
Thus the history of Christ's temptation is of in-
finite import. The destruction of the foundations
on which rested the kingdom of darkness, and the
structure of the basis on which the salvation of man
was reared, are connected with the mystery of those
solitary conflicts which had been fought and gained
before He entered on the discharge of His pubUc
ministry.
3. The following contrasts are significant for
christology. The first Adam in paradise, Christ in
the wilderness. — Moses (Ex. xxxiv. 28 ; Deut. ix. 9,
18) and Elijah (1 Kings xix. 8) in the wilderness,
Christ in the wilderness. — The fasting of John, the
fasting of Christ. — The magic of the world, the pro-
phetic office of Christ. — The hierarchy of the world,
the priesthood of Christ. — The political despotism of
the world, and the kingdom of Christ. — Essenism
and Christ. — Pharisaism and Christ. — Sadduceism
and Christ. — Chiliastic tradition and perversion of
Scripture by Satan; the word of God, and ever only
the word of God, as adduced by Christ. — Christ in
the wilderness tempted by the allurements of the
world. — Christ in the garden tempted by the sorrow
and burden of the woii;!. — The tempter at the com-
mencement of the public ministry of Jesus ; the ac-
cuser at the close of it. — The offers of Satan, and the
triumph of Christ am! its results.
4. The symbolical import of the number 40 lies in
this, that it contains multiples of ten and four : — ten
is the perfect number for life, law, and freedom;
four is the number for the full circle of the world.
During these forty days, Christ, by the free act of his
will, 7-eaUy overcame the world and the spirit of the
world, even as Moses had done typically.*
5. As it was fitting that Christ should commence
His work by conquering Satan, so also was it m
keeping with the tendency of evil to overturn the
kingdom of God first of all in its Founder — and that
by means of pretended but false friendship.
6. By His victory over the tempter, Christ has
for ever separated His kingdom from the demoniac
principles, plans, and manifestations of Jewish and
carnal Christian chiliasm.
7. The first consequence of Christ's threefold re-
nunciation of the world in His victory over Satan,
was, that He betook himself to GaUlee.
* [Here the Edinb. trsl., misled by a strange error of tho
first edition of the oriijlnal, substitutes twice the number
seven for ten, the work of God io\- life, law &nd freedom-,
world and time {Weltzeit) tor orb or circle of the world
( Weltkreis), etc., and thus obscures or perverts the sense of
the passaee completely. Dr. Lance anticipated the correc-
tion of the later editions of M.att. in the preface to the first
edition of his Com. on Mark.— P. S.]
88
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Seasons of great quickening and joy are gene-
rally followed by great temptations. 1. This ap-
pears from the history of Abraham, of David, of Pe-
ter, and of the Lord. 2. The reason of this is, that
the Lord would lead His own to perfection from
stage to stage. — Christ's festive season a fast, and
Hirist's fasting a festive season. — From His festive
c.'lebration as the Son of God, Jesus as the Son of
man enters immediately into conflict, in order to
prove the truth of the testimony concerning His Di-
vme Sonship. — The temptation of Christ, a manifes-
tation by historical facts of the choice and decision
of which His baptism was tlie sacramental sign. —
By his threefold temptation and victory, Christ
manifests Himself as the victorious Messiah, or the
Christ of God: 1. as the infallible Prophet; 2. as the
faithful High Priest; 3. as the Supreme King.— The
decisive conflict between the fulness of the Spirit in
Christ and the appearance of spirituality in Satan.
— The Holy Ghost leads the Lord to this decisive
conflict with the devil. — Christ attacking human cor-
ruption at its root by conquering Satan. — The vic-
tory of Christ the preservation of Cliristians. — The
threefold temptation and the threefold victory of the
Lord. — How and in what manner our trials may be-
come temptations of Satan. — Every temptation of
■ Satan is, to the child of God, in reality a trial of
faith. — What constitutes temptation is, that through
the influence of the enemy we misunderstand and
misinterpret the trial of our faith. — Temptation as-
sails us through earthly instrumentality : more espe-
cially, L through our wants; 2. through spiritual de-
lusions ; 3. through worldly prospects and hopes. —
How victory over one may become the occa-sion of
another temptation. — How our first victory opens
the prospect of the triumphs to follow. — Our temp-
tations are numbered. — By the word of God, Christ
triumphs even over the chiliastic traditions connected
with the word of God. — Christ ever and again con-
quers by the word of God: 1. by His first quotation,
over fiilse doctrine ; 2. by His second quotation, over
a false interpretation of Scripture ; 3. by His third
quotation, over false and assumed authority. — The
power of this saying: " It is wriiien."
The first tcmptuiion. Christ has undergone for
us the temptation of human want and sufibving. —
Let not the contrast between our spiritual high es-
tate and our outward circumstances become a snare
to us. — According both to the Old and the New Testa-
ment, temptation commences with doubt.— The tempt-
er in the form of an angel of light. — Temptation to
distrustfulness. — Magic and miracles. — The magician
and the prophet. — Miraculous sustenance and magi-
cal sustenance* are two different things. — The magi-
cal manna [das Zauberbrod] which the world pre-
pares for itself in its wilderness. 1. Its origin: {a)
by wicked devices; (6) by wicked works. 2. Its
apparent character : (a) boundless wealth ; (b) bound-
less enjoyment. 3. Its real character; (a) guilt; (6)
bankruptcy.! 4. Its final consequences: (a) poverty
and want of the inner man ; (b) poverty and want of
the outer man. — He who would selfishly seek to con-
* {^'WanderhroduxiA.Zau'btr'bvod^''^ — literally: wonder-
hread .and miKjlc. bread. The sense is plain enough. But
the term admits of a wide application. Not only magicians,
sorcerers and soothsayers, but all those who live of dishon-
est gain and humbug, may be said to eat Zauberbrod.— V. S.]
t [Hclmld ; SohiUd6n,—\ii(i\-j.\\y : guilt ; debts. The
Edb. trsl. has difficulties, which is too general.— P. S.]
vert Stone into bread, will in reality convert even
bread into stone. — Satnn watches for the distress of
man, to make it an occasion for transfonning him
into a beast of prey and a wicked spirit. — Such is
the high calling of man, that he lives not by bread
only. — Whoso depends on the mouth of God, his
mouth shall not want food. — The judgment of Satan
and that of Christ eonceniing man, in his want and
distress. Satan in effect says : Man is a wretched
being, suffering hunger ; Christ says : So far as the
real life of man is concerned, ho is infinitely exalted
above the mere animal cravings of hunger. — Christ
would rather suffer hunger with man, than commit
sin with supernatural spirits. — Trust in (iod ensures
victory over the wants of the world. — The empty
phrase of Satan rebutted by the simple word of
Christ. — The bread of earth becomes transformed
by the bread of heaven. — Christ has also conquered
spurious anchoresism and asceticism.
7^he second temptation. The holiest things may
be perverted to become the most vile temptation: 1,
A stay in the holy city. 2. The prospect from the
pinnacle of the temple. 3. The promise contained
in an inspired psalm. — The victory of the Lord over
religious fanaticism. — Destruction of the temple of
spurious enthusiasm. — Victory of the great High
Priest over the priestcraft of the world. — Christ and
the show-miracles of the hierarchy. — The pomp of the
temple, and worship in the spirit. — The giddy height
on the pinnacle of the temple and the holy calm of
the Lord. — Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God ;
for, 1. to tempt God is to impute evil to God Him-
self, since it is an attempt to drag Him into the ways
of our own choosing ; 2. to tempt God is to suffer
oneself to be tempted by the evil one ; 3. hence, to
tempt God were to attempt rendering the Spirit of
light subservient to the spirit of darkness. — To
tempt God is to involve oneself in contradictions ;
for it implies, L faith without obedience; 2. prayer
without self-surrender ; 3. action without warrant
from on high ; 4. success without comfort or assur-
ance.— Even the dictates of common sense may serve
as a warning against fanaticism. — Where a way is
already prepared, we are not warranted in attempt-
ing to make dangerous experiments for ourselves. —
Pride goes before a fall. — The temple-stair itself
a sermon. — Fanaticism mistakes excitement for spir-
itual emotion. — Fanaticism and priestly pretensions
spring from one and the same religious delusion. —
Christ vanquishes the fanatical pride of the priest-
hood by calm reverence for the Godhead.
The third temptation. Christ vanquishes the se-
cular spirit of the world: 1. in its pomp; 2. in its
pretensions ; 3. in its cunning and deceit. — The
kingdom of Christ as contrasted with those of the
world. — When Satan offers to give away the world
in exchange for an act of humble adoration, he shows
himself to be, 1. a har ; 2. a deceiver ; 3. a maligner
of God and man. — The attractions of power, and the
desire of exercising it absolutely and indiscriminately,
are the two greatest temptations. — Satan has only
the right of claiming as his own the worldliness of
the world: 1. its vain show ; 2. its guilt; 3. its de-
spair.— Despotism and spurious worldly cunning,
and their dark background. — When wickedness
shows itself undisguised, we ought to designate it by
its proper name. — Christians must meet every spu-
rious claim to authority over their consciences, by an
appeal to the word of Him jvho wields rightful author-
ity over the conscience. — Daring usurpers will at
last be met and confounded by the royal dignity and
CHAP. rV. 12-1 7.
89
authority which belongs even to the humblest be-
liever.— By serving God, Christ vanquishes the sin-
ful service of the creature. — " Ilim only shalt thou
serve." — Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
— The ministry of angels after the assault of tlie dev-
il.— Christ the Prince of angels, by his victory over
the prince of the kingdom of darkness. — The greater
the conflict, the more glorious the victory. — In all
temptations Christ is our victory.
Starke: — We must prepare in retirement for im-
portant pubUc undertakings. — God often permits His
dear children to be visited by the mo-st grievous
temptations. — Sohtude a training-school of the Holy
Spirit. — Solitude is frequently the occasion of tempt-
ation.— In our temptations, let us ever distinguish
between what comes from God and what from Satan.
— Such a High Priest became us who was tempted
in all things, Heb. iv. 15. — Frequent conflicts ren-
der the Christian strong. — They fit ministers for
their work. — Or alio, mediiatio, tentatio fac'mnt theo-
logum. — We may readily recognise the bird of hell
by its song. — Fasting as perverted by tlie Papacy,
etc. — Moderation and temperance a continuous fast-
ing.— Christ hungered because He partook of our in-
firmities.— Christ can have compassion on us when
we suflfer from hunger or thirst. — The devil adapts
his temptations to the nature and circumstances of
man. — If the devil ventured to approach the Son of
God, how can the most advanced among us expect
to be secure from his assaults V — Outward prosperity
is not an evidence of sonshlp. — The word of God our
?a-mory. — Even the devil cannot set aside the Scrip-
tures.*— All depends on the blessing which the Lord
gives. — Outward means cannot sustain us, but God
by outward means. — God is a supply which never
falls or leaves unsatisfied. — If Satan does not suc-
ceed In one way, he will try another. — In his own
way, the devil Is learned In the Scriptures. — To per-
vert Scripture Is to follow in the wake of the devil.
— Satan fell by his pride and arrogance, and now
seeks to ruin others In the same manuer. — To ex-
pose oneself to danger, except In the way of our call-
ing, from necessity, or with the direct warrant of the
word. Is presumption. — Satan encompasses the fall
of carnal men by showing them even a small portion
of this world. — Satan promises his servants what he
* [Comp. Shakspeare, Merohant of Venice, Act I., Scene
3, wliere Antonio says to Bassanio :
" The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul, producing holv witness,
IB lite a villain with a smiling cheek ;
A goodly apple rotten at the heart ;
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath I "—P. S.]
himself does not possess, nay, what God has in Christ
already promised and given to His own. — It Is not
right to hear blasphemy without reproving It. — He
who would prevent us from serving God, and per-
suade us to serve the world, Is Satan so far as we
are concerned. — There Is a " hitherto and no fur-
ther" In every temptation. — Every honest conflict
win certainly be followed by victory. — Christ has
triumphed for us.
Gerlach :- — The word of God is our armor against
Satan. — Christ takes as His shield the law of God :
Thou shalt ! He was made under the law (Gal.
iv. 4).
Heubner : — If solitude has its advantages, it has
also its great dangers. — Satan appears here In his
true character : he arrogates to himself what belongs
to God alone — dominion over the soul ; In sliort, he
claims to be God. — The man who In his alms Is actu-
ated by ambition and love of power, is thereby ren-
dered unfit for the service of God ; yet how many
theologians are Impelled by such motives! — The
temptation of Christ; 1. wherein It consisted, and
how It was resisted (three stages, three victories) ;
2. its consequences : Jesus proving Himself to be
the Holy One ; Jesus our model in similar conflicts ;
Jesus our refuge and strength. — How temptations
followed Christ throughout His course. — The Impo-
tence of all temptations In the case of Christ. — Com-
parison between the temptation of Christ and that of
Adam. — Marheineke: — How closely good and evil
border upon each other in our human nature !— ■
Harms : — The conflict between good and evil. This
conflict is threefold; 1. A conflict between doubt and
trustfulness ; 2. a conflict between presumption and
modesty ; 3. the conflict between the lust of the
world and the love of God. — Schleiermacher : — The
temptation of the Lord viewed with reference to our
state and position In this world. — Bachmann : — The
temptation of Jesus the Son of God in the wilder-
ness. It was a temptation, 1. to doubt the word of
God ; 2. to presume upon the word of God ; 3. to
reject the word of God. — Greiliny : — The three pas-
sions by which men are commonly tempted to sin
(covetousness, pride, ambition). — Rcinhard : — The
decisive periods which commonly occur in the life
of every man. — Ahlfeld: — The conflict of Chris-
tians with the tempter: 1. His attack; 2. their
defence; 3. the victory. — (Comp. also Three Ser-
mons on the History of the Temptation by J. P.
Lange, Barmen, 1836. Bruckner: The History
of the Temptation of our Lord. Four Meditations.
Leipzig, 1857.)
B. Chapter IV. 12-lY.
Contents:— First appearance of Jesus as the light of the world amidst the darkness of the land of Galilee.
12 Now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, [dehvered up,*] he de-
13 parted into Gahlee''; And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is
14 upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim^: Tliat it might be ful-
15 filled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon,
and the land of NephthaUm, hy the way of the sea, beyond [the] Jordan, Galilee of the
16 Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great hght; and to them which sat
in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
90
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand,
' Ver. 12.— [irapfSJ^Tj, Lange: uherliefert. AVicl., Tynd., Cranm., Geneva: was taken; the Bishop's Bible (and the
Horn. C;itb. Vers, of Rheiins) correctly: delivered up, with the inarsinal explanation: ^'■that is, cast into prison," which
the Auth. Vers, received into the text, while it put the translation into the margin, influenced perhaps (as Dr. Conant sug-
gests) by Bcza's vcr.sion: tradUum esse in custodiam, and his note: id est, in carcerem conjectum esse. — P. S.]
'■' Vor. \i. — Galilee proper in the narrower sense of the term.
3 Ver. 13.— [Or: Zehulun and Naphtuli, after the Hebrew spelling, which is followed by the Auth. Vers, in the Old
Test. See the Hebrew concordances.— P. S.J
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 12. Now, when Jesus had heard. —
The Evangelist passes over a number of intervening
events, viz. : 1. the return of Jesus to Galilee (John
i. 41, etc.); 2. the marriage in Cana, the journej' to
Capernaum in company with His relatives and disci-
ples, and that to Jerusalem to the passover (John
ii.) ; 3. the stay of Jesus at Jerusalem and in the
land of Judaja previous to the imprisonment of John
(John iii.); 4. the return of Jesus by way of Sama-
ria, and His stay there (John iv. 1-42). — The event
recorded in the text took place at the time referred
to in John iv. 43-46. In the passage before us, Mat-
thew briefly alludes to the stay of Jesus at Nazareth,
— the same which is mentioned Luke iv. 14 sqq., — but
dilates on it more fully in ch. xiii. 53. We account
for this transposition from the peculiar structure of
the Gospel, — the object of the Evangelist being to
group events so as to present a continuous narra-
tive. The actual succession of events is more accu-
rately indicated in the Gospel by Luke, although it
also contains no mention of the first passover which
Jesus attended at Jerusalem, nor of His stay in Ju-
daea and Samaria. From the narrative of Luke we
learn that Jesus was even at that time rejected by
the people of Nazareth, and that he then uttered the
saying, that " a prophet had no honor in his own
country." But, according to John, Jesus spoke
these words when returnmg from Jerusalem to Gali-
lee through Samaria. Commentators have felt a dif-
ficulty in explaining the circumstance, that (accord-
ing to John) Jesus should have been saying that " a
prophet had no honor in his own country," at the
very time when He was on His journey to Galilee.
It might seem that such a statement would rather
imply His departure from Galilee. But the diffi-
culty is removed by recalling to mind the precise
geographical arrangements of the country. In John
iv. 43, the Evangelist uses the word Gahlee not in
the general sense, but as a man familiar with the
district would apply the term— a circumstance which
may be regarded as an indirect evidence of the truth-
fulness of his narrative. What he calls Galilee is
not the province in question as contradistmguished
from Judasa, but the district of Upper (xalilee in op-
position to Lower Gahlee, in which Nazareth was
situate. The boundary-line between Upper and
Lower Galilee ran due east and west between Naza-
reth and Cana. In John iv. 43, 44, the Evangehst
makes only a passing allusion to the rejection of
Jesus at Nazareth, and dwells in preference on the
fact, that the Saviour was gladly received by the in-
habitants of Galilee proper. From what we have
said, it will be clear that the accounts of Matthew
and John are not inconsistent, as Meyer imagines ;
although that commentator is right in maintaining,
against Wieseler, that the passage in the text does
not refer to the journey to Galilee recorded in John
vi. 1. Finally, we gather from the account in Mat-
thew that the imprisonment of John by Antipas took
place some time after the celebration of the first pas-
sover which Jesus attended, and after His stay in
Judaea.
That John was delivered up, {i. e. into pris-
on).— The ground on which the Baptist was impris-
oned is afterwards recorded, on the occasion of his
execution (xiv. 4). Fritzsche supposes that the impris-
onment of John induced Jesus to appear in Galilee,
lest the people of that country should be deprived
of spiritual support ; while Meyer regards this event
as a motive for His retirement to that province,
since " the more remote district of Galilee, although
under the rule of Ilerod Antipas, would naturally
attract less attention, and thus afford shelter." But
although Capernaum lay in Upper Galilee, yet, from
its proximity to Tiberias — the residence of Herod —
and the intercourse between these two places, both
situate on the Lake of Galilee, anything which oc-
curred in Capernaum would much more readily
attract attention than what took place in Nazareth,
which lay out of the way among the mountains. Be-
sides, it was at this very time that Jesus commenced
His pubhc ministry, and called disciples around Him.
The connection between the imprisonment of John
and the appearance of Jesus in " Galilee of the Gen-
tiles," as well as the cessation of the preparatory
baptism which the disciples of Jesus had for a time
admmistered (John iv. 1, 2,) may readily be other-
wise explained. The imprisonment of John, and the
tame acquiescence of the country in this act, had
put an end to the hope of preparing the people for
the kingdom of Messiah by Levitical purifications,
or legal purity. Now that the attempt at outward
purity had been thus rudely stopped, Jesus might,
in the consciousness of His own inward and eternal
purity, all the more readily commence His work in
Gahlee of the Gentiles, amidst publicans and sin-
ners, by gathering around Him a circle of disciples.
Ver. 13. He came and dwelt in Capernaum.
— Kacpapvaovfi, D^TO nCS, meaning, according
to Hesychius, Origen, and Jerome, vicus consolationia,
but according to others (Winer, Meyer), the village
of Nahum. The town lay on the borders of the
tribes of Zebulun and Naphtah, on the western shore
of the Lake of Gennesareth, probably near where
the Jordan entered that lake. It was a thriving
commercial place, on the road from Damascus to the
Mediterranean. Capernaum was inhabited both by
Jews and Gentiles ; in Jewish writings it is charac-
terized as the residence of heretics and free-thinkers
(von Ammon, " Leben Jcsu," p. 359). The contrast
between Capernaum, where Jesus dwelt, and Tibe-
rias, the residence of Antipas — a city which the Lord
uniformly avoided, but which, after the destruction
of Jerusalem, became one of the holy places of the
Jews,* — is striking. But the prediction of Christ in
* [The rise of Tiberias, as a Jewish city, is, however, of
much later date. For an account of the circumstances con»
ntcted with its final "Levitical purification,'' see Eders-
heim's Hist, of the Jewish ^ration, p. 488.— The Edinb. Te.]
CHAP. IV. 12-17.
91
regard to Capernaum, once so highly favored, has
been most signally and literally fulfilled (Matt. xi.
23). At this moment every trace of the site of
Capernaum has disappeared. Wilson and others re-
gard the ruins of Tell Hum (i. e. Nahura) as the an-
cient site of Capernaum. As the town is not men-
tioned in the Old Testament, it seems probable that
it was built after the return from the Babylonish ex-
ile. Josephus ( Vita, '72) calls the town Ka(papvw/j.-n.
In another place {De JBello Jud. iii. 10, 8) he assigns
the name of Kac^a/^vaoiy/i to a fountain in Galilee.
According to Robinson, this fountain is the modern
''Aln et Tin, by the Lake of Gcnnesareth, near the
Khan Minyeh, which he regards as the site of an-
cient Capernaum. But this opinion is not generally
entertained. Comp. the art. Capernaum in the Bibl.
Encycls.
Vers. 14 and 15. That it might be fulfilled.—
In this mstance we have the fulfilment of a verbal
prophecy, the passages in Isa. viii. 22 ; ix. 1, 2, be-
ing strictly Messianic in their primary meaning, al-
though the prophet seems also to have had in view
the oppression of the Assyrians, under which at that
time Northern Palestine groaned. But, as in every
other similar instance, the event recorded in ver. 13
did not take place simply on account of this predic-
tion, but on independent grounds. The passage is
cited freely from the original Hebrew : " At the first
(in ancient times) He brought to shame the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali ; but afterward (in
later times) He brought to honor the (despised) way
of the sea, beyond Jordan, the circuit (Galilee) of the
Gentiles. The people that walked in darlmess have
seen a great Ught ; and they that dwell in the land
of the shadow of death, upon them hath the hght
shined." In the quotation as given by Matthew, the
despised district is even more pointedly indicated as
the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, the
•way of the sea (the road by the sea, or the great
road of the traffic of the world), the beyond Jordan,
(even) Galilee of the Gentiles. In our opinion,
the kiea of Galilee was not so important a highway
for the traffic of the ancient world as to give to the
district around the designation of " the way of the
sea," more especially as the three expressions in the
text are not intended to designate three different ob-
jects, but one and the same thing viewed under dif-
ferent aspects. In the first clause, Galilee is desig-
nated as profane, being the way of the sea for all
the world ; in the second clause, as extending north-
ward beyond the sources of Jordan, the holy river ;
finally, in the third clause, as being really a heathen
district, largely inhabited by Gentiles. But the ex-
pression 77), without the article, may be regarded as
the nommative. Before o^hv eaAacro-Tjjwe must
again supply the 77) of the former clause, — toward
the sea, or the way of the sea. The absolute accu-
sative 65^1' is a Hebraistic form like Tp'^ , and equiv-
alent to the Latin versus (comp. Meyer, p. 111). The
expression iripav rod ' lopS dvov cannot in this
instance mean Peraea, or the country east of Jordan.
A reference to that district would be here quite out
of place, as the name " Galilee of the Gentiles " is
intended again to designate the tribes of Naphtali
and Zebulun. The territory of Naphtali extended
nortnward beyond the source of the Jordan ; and
from a theocratic point of view, this, and not Peraea,
would constitute the irfpav r. 'I., although that ex-
pression was commonly applied to Peraea. Besides,
Peraea was not the first scene of Christ's ministry.
Meyer, indeed, maintains that the Evangelist over-
looked the historical meanmg of the passage in
Isaiah, which was only Messianic in a theocratic and
political sense, referring to the deliverance of North-
ern Galilee from the oppression of the Assyrians,
But this commentator forgets that Isa. ix. 1 sqq. is a
strictly Messianic prediction, although it rests, of
course, on the historical basis of the age of the pro-
phet.
Ver. 16. The people -which sat in dark-
ness.— Apposition to the preceding designation of
the locality which was to be illuminated by the
light of the Messiah. The darkness of the country
is explained by the sad spiritual state of the people.
In view of the spiritual condition of the people
at the time, the Evangelist modifies the distinction
made by Isaiah between those that loalk in darkness,
who see a great light, and those that dwell or sit in
the land of the shadow of death. In the passage as
quoted by Matthew, the state of matters has appa-
rently become worse than in the days of Isaiah, and
even those who formerly " walked " are now repre-
sented as " sitting " in darkness. But the grada-
tion of the original is retained ; and we have still
the contrast between those who sit in darkness and
see a great hght, and those who sit in the region and
shadow of death, and only become aware of the
light because it has sprung up for therq. In the
Hebrew their passiveness is even more strongly ex-
pressed— Sn"''?? "^5^ ' ^P'^^^ ^^*<^'^ liglit hath shined.
" Ka0ii)/i€i/oy'sedendi verbum aptum notandae sohtu-
dini inerti," — (the verb to sit aptly denotes a sluggish
sohtude). — Bengel. S/cia davdrov, ni5Dbs , tenebrm
mortis. On the darkness of Sheol, comp. Job x. 21,
etc.
Ver. 17. From that time Jesus began. — Mat-
thew calls attention to the circumstance, that with
the settlement of Jesus at Capernaum, in Upper
GaUlee, a new period in His public ministry began.
The Kripva-aeiv of the kingdom of heaven in the strict-
est sense now commenced, and for this pui-pose He
set apart some of His disciples to be His Apostles.
The call. Repent, ixiravoelre, has now a higher
meaning than when first uttered by John the Bap-
tist (ch. iii. 2), and a more full manifestation of His
miraculous power proves that the kingdom of
heaven is really at hand. Although He does not
designate Himself to the people as the Messiah, yet
the kingdom of Messiah was appearing. From the
manifestation of that kingdom now vouchsafed, the
people are to recognise the Prince of Peace m His
true and New Testament character. (The assertion
of Strauss, that Jesus had not regarded Himself at
first as the Messiah, requires no special answer ; the
suggestion, that Christ gradually changed His origi-
nal plan, has been discarded even by the writer who
proposed it.)
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. As John carried on his public ministry at the
extreme boundary of the Holy Land, in the wilder-
ness, so Jesus also appeared first at another extreme
limit of the country, in Upper Galilee. Capernaum
became His earthly residence. This choice had a
twofold advantage. For while He thereby gave a
practical denial to the carnal Messianic hopes and
expectations of the people of Judaea, He also oc-
cupied a field most suitable for His own pecuhar
activity. There He found the greatest suscepti-
bihty for the kingdom, and readiness to receive Him,
especially among those retired worshippers of Jeho-
92
THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
vah who lived by the Lake of Galilee, and particu-
larly among the disciples of John, whom He had
already attracted around Him. This residence of
the Saviour in GaUlce had been predicted, and was a
signal fulfilment of the great Messianic prophecy of
Isaiah. Lastly, His abode among the fishennen of
Gahlee was in complete harmony with what His
baptism and the victory over the tempter implied ;
being, in truth, a perfect renunciatiou of the world
in reference to its carnal views concerning the the-
ocracy and the Messiah.
2. But we may also regard this as a manifesta-
tion of His Spirit and of His Gospel. Just as He
commenced His destruction of the kingdom of dark-
ness, by conquering the power of Satan in his chief
temptations, so He commenced the building up of
the kingdom of heaven among the most despised
portion of His people, the most needy and the most
destitute of the means which the synagogue provided
for cultivating spiritual life. It was among these
that the Saviour first publicly and unreservjedly pro-
claimed the kingdom of heaven.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Complete renunciation of the world on the part
of the Lord is followed by His full proclamation of
the kingdom of heaven. — When the kingdom of
heaven arrives, the symbolical administration of
priests is at an end. — When the work of John ceases,
that of Christ begins. — The kingdom of God will
never want messengers of God who stand in the gap.
— If one prophet is imprisoned, a greater one will be
sent in his place. If they burn the goose, a swan
will arise from its ashes.* — Jesus a stranger both at
* [This sentence: " Verbrennen sie die Gans, so kommt
der Schwan^" which Dr. Edersheim omitted, is an allusion
to an apocryphal prophecy ascribed to the reformer Hus,
who was burnt at the stake for heresy, July 6, 1415, by order
of the Council of Constance, and is said to have uttered, in
his last hour, the words: " To-day you roast a goose,"— oX-
luding to his name which is the Bohemian word for goose —
" Mit from mine ashes will arise a svjan" — the armorial
device of Luther — '■'■whom you will not be able to destroy.'''
This prediction occurs first in the Latin works of Luther
(Altenburg ed., vol. v., p. 599, etc.), and seems to have arisen
in the age of the Reformation from certain vague and gen-
eral sayings of Hus concerning the ultimate triumph of his
doctrines (comp. Gieseler, Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii., Part
IV., p. 417 eq.). The sentence has assumed a somewhat
proverbial significance, although very rarely used.— P. S.]
Nazareth, where His youthful years were spent, and
at Capernaum, where He appeared after attaining to
manhood. — Obscurity of that which is holy in its
own home, showing : 1. The corruption of the world ;
2. the spiritual glory of the heavenly Hfc. — The light
of salvation rising upon dark places: 1. Upon the
earth, in opposition to the external heavens ; 2.
ujjon Galilee, in opposition to the land of Judtea; 3.
upon the Gentile world, in opposition to tho Jews ;
4. upon the despised Germanic rac*^, in 0;i;.osition
to the ancient Romanic Church.— The land of the
shadow of death: 1. The home of sinners; 2. the
heart of the sinner. — The difference between those
who see a great light, and those upon whom a great
hght rises. 1. The former look upwards, the latter
look downwards. 2. The former descry the star of
salvation, the latter only the light which it sheds. —
From that time Jesus began. The ancient the-
ocratic institutions of Israel may be said to have been
abrogated when John was cast into prison. — The
call to repentance, from the commencement to the
end of the world, 1. always the same in substance;
2. always different in form. — The kingdom of heaven
is as closely at hand as Christ is. — The call : Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 1. It con-
tains two things : («) the kingdom of heaven is at
hand ; (6) therefore repent. 2. It may be summed
up in the expression, " kingdom of heaven ;" for,
(«) repentance is only the gate to the kingdom of
heaven ; (6) the kingdom of heaven h the grand ob-
ject and goal of repentance. — In His humiUation,
Christ has manifested His exaltation. 1. Rejected
on earth. He opened up His kingdom of heaven.
2. Obscure and unknown by man. He revealed the
spiritual world in aU its blessedness. 3. Renounc-
ing all, He bestows every blessing.
Starke : — Let us show holy obedience in being
ready to change our habitation when the Lord calls.
-—Many live under the full blaze of the Gospel as if
they sfill sat in the shadow of death. — When the
world silences one honored servant of the Lord, God
raises up others ; the Church shall never be left des-
titute of them. — Repentance without faith is no re-
pentance (and faith without repentance is no faith).
— Agreement subsisting between all pure teachers of
the Church (John and Jesus).
Heuhner : — It is God's method to cause light to
arise from humble and despised places. — Jesus would
not be far distant even from the Gentiles.
O. Chapter IV. 18-22.
{^The Oospel for St. Andrew's Bay.)
Contents:— In His obscurity and retirement from the world, which He had renounced, the Saviour commences the con-
quest of the world by calling four fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.
18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter,
19 and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he
20 said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straight-
21 way left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two
brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a [the] ^ ship with Zebedee
22 their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the
ship and their father, and followed him.
> Ver. 21. — [eV tw irAoi'a
Kheims: in a ship.— 2. S.) '
Tynd., Cranm., and the Bishop's Bible correctly: in the ship; Wicl.. Gen., Auth. V., and
CHAP. IV. 18-22.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 18. By the Sea of Galilee. — Lake Gcn-
nesaret, AiVvjj revvi]a-ap(T, Luke v. 1 (also rewrjadp,
FfwriaapTTts, Gcucsara, n"|i3 D^); V OdKaaara ttjs
TiPfpidoos, John xxi. 1 ; r; da\. tT;? TakiXaias, Matt.
XV. 29, etc. The lake, which is formed by the river
Jordan, is about six hours, or 150 stadia long, and
about half as broad [twelve or fourteen miles long,
six or seven miles in breadth, and 105 feet deep. —
r. S.]. The water is salubrious, fresh, and clear; it
contains abundance of fish ; the banks are pictur-
esque, although at present bare; toward the west
they are intersected by calcareous mountains, — to-
ward the east the lake is bounded by high mountains
(800 to 1,000 feet high), partly of chalk and partly
of basalt formation. It is of an oval form, being a
deep depression in an upland country (according to
Schubert, its level is 535 feet below the Mediterra-
nean).* Besides these remarkable natural features,
the contrast between the present desolation of its
shores and their flourishing state at the time of Je-
sus, when covered with cities and inhabited by a
busy throng, — above all, the solemn remembra:uce of
theLord'slabors, render it a most striking object.
On the difference between the accounts of Schubert
and of Robinson in regard to the beauty of the lake,
comp. Winer, art. Genezareth. Recent travellers
have furnished ample details of the district (comp.
Josephus, De Bdlo Jud. iii. 10, 7).
Simon called Peter. — The designation Peter is
given by way of historical anticipation. Simon, con-
tracted from Simeon, I'iS'^lIf (liearing, favorable
hearing). On the name Peier, comp. ch. xvi. 18.
Andrew. — A purely Greek name (see Winer
mb verba) ; which, however, also occurred among the
Jews at a latea period. Andrew and John were the
earliest disciples of Jesus, — the first who joined the
Saviour, following the direction of John the Baptist,
whose disciples they had been (John i. 39). It is
uncertain whether Andrew was the elder brother of
Peter. His home was at Bethsaida (John i. 44).
For further particulars about this disciple, see ch. x.
Casting a net into the sea. — The circumstance
that they were just about to commence their daily
labor, is mentioned for the purpose of bringing out
the significancy of their mstantly following Christ.
The same remark applies to the narrative of the call-
ing of the sons of Zebedee when preparing their
nets.
Ver. 19. Pollow me. — Meyer has again repeat-
ed the old objection, so frequently refuted, that this
passage is incompatible with John i. 37, and with
Luke V. 4. But John only refers to the first sum-
moning of disciples, while here we have an account
of their express call to follow the Lord, in the sense
of becoming His servants and messengers. In Luke
V. 4 we have the details of a scene connected with
this calling. Wieseler rightly distinguishes, 1. be-
tween their preUminary call, implying discipleship in
general and adoption of His cause, but without any
special obligation, John i. 35 sqq. ; 2. their selection
as continuous and regular followers of the Lord,
Matt. iv. 18 sqq. (also Luke v. 4) ; and 3. the choice
of twelve to be Apostles, Matt. x. 2-4. These stages
may also be arranged as follows: 1. Reception as
* [Accordins to Lieut. Symonds it is 32'?, according to
Lieut. Lynch 653 feet below the level of the Mediterranean.
^'e« the various Biblic. Dictionaries. — P. S.]
disciples in the most general sense (catechumens) ;
2. selection for service, by continuous following of
the Lord (Evangelists) ; 3. selection to be tlie repre-
sentatives of the Lord, with bestowal of the power to
work miracles (Apostles). The latter distinction
was, however, bestowed upon the Apostles with cer-
tain conditions and hmitations, until after the out-
pouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost
(Acts ii. 4).
I will make you fishers of men. — The mean-
ing evidently is, that by devotion, [)rudcncc, and per-
severance, they were to gain soids for the kingdom
of Christ from the sea of the world. Thus the im-
agery employed by the Saviour connects their former
with their new vocation, — their secular employment
serving as emblem of their spiritual calling. On the
other hand, the words indicate the infinite superiori-
ty of the work to which they were now called.
Ver. 21. James the son of Zebedee. — From
this passage it has rightly been inferred, that James
was the elder brother of John. The sons of Zebedee,
too, immediately relinquished their former occupa-
tion at the moment when they were about to resume
it with fresh ardor. Another feature in their spirit-
ual history is, that along with their nets, they are
called to leave their father also. The narrative seems
to imply that Zebedee gave his consent.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. " The sea is the emblem of the world. The
number four is the symboHc number of the world."
The first step in the conquest of the world was taken
when Jesus summoned these four Apostles to become
fishers of men to all the world.
Christ's spiritual renunciation of the world forms
the commencement of its spiritual conquest. Thia
conquest is accomplished by the power of the king-
dom of heaven, and for the kingdom of heaven of
which Jesus has become the king by His renuncia-
tion of the world. Among these four disciples, Pe-
ter may be regarded as representing the foundation
of the new church ; James the elder (as James the
younger at a later date) the government and preser-
vation of the same. Upon Andrew it devolved to
prepare the way of the Gospel, and its extension
throughout the world ; wlide John sounded the in-
most depths of spiritual realities. In striking con-
trast with the practice sanctioned by corrupt tradi-
tionalism, the Lord chose as His instruments pious
though unlearned fishermen, and not Rabbins.
These humble men had, indeed, also their prejudices,
which required to be overcome, but in vastly diflerent
measure from the learned of that age. It is there-
fore an entire mistake on the part of some older di-
vines, to speak of the want of proper quaUfication
and preparation in the disciples.
2. Luther: — "If the Gospel required the poten-
tates of this world for its planting and preservation,
God would not have committed it to fishermen."
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Christ's retirement by the Sea of GMilee the
inauguration of the kingdom of heaven. — The com-
mencement of the new era. — The Lord's walking
His most glorious work. — The irresistible power of
the call of Jesus in the hearts of the elect. 1. As
inherent in the call itself. It is the irresistible
power, (a) of the Redeemer, the God-Man ; {b) of the
Holy Spuit setting us free ; (c) of blessed love ; (d)
94
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of supreme power guiding and directing us. 2. As
springing from spiritual influence on the heart of the
disciples : (a) The Father drawing them, (b) by the
word of prophecy ; (c) by their first converse with
the Lord. — Only the call of the Lord can confer the
ministerial office. — Faithfulness in a lower sphere is
the condition and preparation for a higher. — The
call of the Lord, Follow me, 1. an invitation to
full communion with Him ; 2. a demand of perfect
self-renunciation for His sake ; 3. an announcement
of a new sphere of activity under Him ; 4. a promise
of rich reward from Him. — The call of Jesus to fol-
low Him, 1. a call to faith; 2. a call to labor; 3. a
call to suffering and cross-beai-ing ; 4. a call to our
blessed home. — How the Lord transforms our earth-
ly calling into an emblem of our heavenly. — The
work of apostleship under the simile of the art of
fishing. 1. We must know the lake; 2. we must
know how to allure ; 3. we must be able patiently to
wait ; 4. we must be ready to hazard our lives ; 5.
we must cast out the net in confidence ; 6. we must
expect a draught. — The Divine character of the
Church of Christ, as manifest in this, that it was
founded by unlearned fishermen and publicans. —
Christ manifesting Himself as the heavenly Master,
in the selection of His first Apostles. — He who
would follow the Lord, must be ready to leave all
things, — The four Apostles, brethren after the flesh,
and brethren in the kingdom of God. 1. A token
how true brotherly feeling leads to the Lord ; 2.
how the highest brotherhood is that in the Lord ; 3.
how heavenly brotherhood sheds a halo around
earthly relationship. — The four friends by the Lake
of Galilee, or the blessing of true friendship. 1. It
leads to seeking the Lord ; 2. it springs from finding
the Lord. — How the sovereignty of Christ over the
world appears by His making four fishermen from
the Sea of Gahlee princes in the kingdom of God. —
If we are to win others for the Lord, we ourselves
must have been first won by Him. — The ideal per-
fectness of every art and vocation in Christ. — That
which Christ teaches He also works in us. — The
calling of the Apostles the commencement of a new
creation.
Starke: — Jesus still chooses teachers for His
work, nay. He has chosen them from all eternity. —
Let none fancy that he can succeed by himself; even
Christ chose assistants. — A minister must be called
of God. — We must first follow Jesus ourselves be-
fore bringing others to Him. — Let us not only call
each other brethren, but prove ourselves such. — He
who would enter upon the ministry in the spirit of the
Apostles, must be ready to renounce every human tie.
Heuhner : — If Christ asks much. He also prom-
ises much. — The Apostles are our ensample how to
follow Christ.
D. Chapter IV. 28-25.
Contents:— Jesus passing through Galilee like an ordinary Eatbi, but manifesting Himself as the Saviour of all nations.
23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the
gospel ^ of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease,
24 among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria : and they brought unto
him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which
were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy ;
25 and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee,
and /rom Decapohs, and/rom Jerusalem, and /rom Judea, and/rom beyond Jordan.
' Ver. 23.— [Lange liljewise translates; Bas Erangelivm. I cannot agree with Dr. Conant and others who think that
where evayyeMov occurs in its original literal sense, it should always be translated ffood news, or glad tidings, and that
gospel should be retained only where the Greek has taken a later tropical sense. This change is unnecessary; for gospel
(God's spell, or good s^jell = good news) is the old Saxon equivalent for the Gr. evayyiMov, and so universally under-
stood.' The E. V. always translates the noun ihayyiKiov gospel {in 77 passages), but renders the verb evayyehi^nv
sometimes to preach the gospel, sometimes to bring or to declare glad tidings. Comp. Luke i. 19 ; ii. 10 ; Acts xiii. 32 ;
Kom. X. 15; 1 Thess. iii. 6.— P. S.]
the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias, and on the
south by Samaria, where in the west the brook Ki-
shon, and farther east a line drawn from Mount Ta-
bor to Scythopolis, and the promontory of Carmel,
formed its boundary. Originally the name ^"^-pyfl
(Josh. XX. V, xxi. 32) was confined to the circuit of
Upper Galilee ; afterward the province was divided
into Upper and Lower Galilee. The former was a
mountainous country, the latter partly level. Upper
Galilee extended from Beersheba to the village of
Baca, and from the village of TheUa, near Jordan, to
Meroth. According to Strabo, it was partly inhabit-
ed by Gentiles (by Phcenicians, Syrians, Arabs ; ao
cording to Joseph., Vita, xii., also by Greeks) ; hence
the name, Galilee of the Gentiles. The district is
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee. —
The term probably implies only Upper Galilee. The
passage may, however, be regarded as giving a sum-
mary or general view of Christ's activity throughout
Galilee. This activity formed part of His work in
the various districts of Palestine, since Matthew also
specially notes His labors in Persea and Judasa. Gal-
ilee, in the more general sense of the term, formed
the northernmost part of Palestine, being ten geo-
graphical miles long and four to five geographical
miles broad, and bounded on the west by the sea and
Phoenicia, on the north by Ccelesyria, on the east by
CHAP. IV. 23-25.
95
alpine, and of the chalk formation. Its mountains
do not rise to any considerable height ; the valleys
are very romantic. GaUlee was a most fertile coun-
try, equally adapted for agriculture and pasturage,
besides having the lake within its district. Hence
the large number of its inhabitants (Joseph., De
Bello Jud. iii. 3, 1). It contained 404 towns and
villages. The people of Galilee were brave, indus-
trious, and intelligent ; although the inhabitants of
Judaea proper looked down upon them on account
of their contact with the heathen and their uncouth
dialect. For further particulars, comp. Winer [Kit-
to, W. Smith], and the works on the Holy Land.
Teaching in their synagogues. — The general
sketch of Christ's sphere of activity is followed by a
description of its peculiar mode. Conforming to
Jewish custom, He appeared as a travelling Rabbi
in the various synagogues of Galilee. The awayu-
■)^ (from (rvuiyw, the congregation), in the Sept. for
ni^ and blip. The name embodied the idea that
each synagogue represented the congregation of
Israel as a whole, just as we designate each particu-
lar Christian community a church, in the sense of its
embodying and representing the whole Church.
After the Babylonish exile, the solemn gathermg in
the temple, which could only be enjoyed on special
occasions, and not without dlflQculty, led to the estab-
lishment of synagogues, accessible in every place and
to all, which may be regarded as the revival — with-
out the admixture of former errors — of the ancient
monotheistic or orthodox worship of the "high
places," and which unconsciously served as the pro-
totype for the arrangement and form of the Church
under the New Testament. According to Jewish
tradition, the institution of synagogues dates from a
very early period (comp. the art. in Winer's [W.
Smith, vol. iii., 1396 sqq., and other] Bibl. Encycls.,
and especially Vitringa, De Synagoga vetere, 1696).
The statement is correct, in so far as it implies that
a provision ior religious communion and edification
must have existed even previous to the temple.
" During the Babylonish exile, when the Jews were
shut out from the Holy Land and from the appoint-
ed sanctuary, the want of places for religious meet-
ings, in which the worship of God, without sacri-
fices, could be celebrated, must have been painfully
felt. Thus synagogues may have originated at that
ominous period. When the Jews returned from
Babylon, synagogues were planted throughout the
country for the purpose of affording opportunities for
publicly reading the law, independently of the regu-
lar sacrificial services of the temple (Neh. viii. 1,
etc.). At the time of Jesus there was at least one
synagogue in every moderately sized town of Pales-
tine (such as Nazareth, Capernaum, etc.), and in the
cities of Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, in which
Jews resided (Acts ix. 2 sqq.). Larger towns pos-
sessed several synagogues ; and it is said that there
were no fewer than 460, or even 480, of them in
Jerusalem itself." — Winer. A kindred Lastitution
were the -rrpoaevxai, or places where prayer was wont
to be made — oratories, commonly situate in the im-
mediate vicinity of some river, for the sake of lustra-
tions (Acts xvi. 13)'; while synagogues were general-
ly built in some elevated situation (in allusion to the
position of the temple). The synagogue may be re-
garded as forming in every respect the germ of our
local Christian churches. 1. Their foundation: by
communities, or by private individuals. 2. Character :
sanctuaries. 8. Time of meeting : on the Sabbath, on
feast days ; afterward also on the second and fifth
days of the week. 4. Arrangement : seats, separation
of sexes. 5. Mode of worship : prayer, reading of por-
tions of Scripture (the Law, the Prophets, and other
Old Testament books — Parashotli, Haphtharoth, Me-
gilloth) by a priest or elder ; expo.-ition of the section
read, and address ; Uberty of putting questions, of ex-
pressing opinions, and of "dehvering addresses (the pro-
phetic element) ; at the close, the priestly blessing
and prayer of the congregation. 6. Ofiicials of the
synagogue : the president, or chief ruler {apxoov rrjs
(Twayuyn's, apx^crwaycoyoi) ; the elders {irpea^vrtpoi,
TToi.uez/es), who administered the affairs of the syna-
gogue ; then the servant or messenger of the con-
gregation {legaius ecclesice), who acted as precentor,
clerk, and messenger; and the officer, or uTrTjperrjy
[the attendant or minister who handed the volume
to the reader and returned it to its place, Luke iv.
20] ; with the addition, probably, of ofiicials to col-
led; the alms. 7. Furniture : seats, pulpit or desk,
and bookcase. 8. Discipline: greater and lesser
excommimication, and bodily punishments. Every
Jewish town possessed its Sanhedrim, which was
subordinate to the great Sanhedrim in Jerusalem.
These Sanhedrims were no doubt attached to the va-
rious synagogues (comp. Winer, sub Synedrium).
Thus, in the providence of God, the synagogue was
destined to form a transition from the symbolical
worship of the Old, to the worship in spirit and in
truth of the New, Testament. Hence the circum-
stance, that the Lord and His Apostles made use of
the arrangements of the s}Tiagogue, must be regard-
ed not only as an act of legal obedience, but also of
inissionary foresight.
From various passages we infer that at first Jesus
was regarded by His disciples as a Rabbi (Mark ix.
5 ; John i. 38, etc.). But in their minds this title
implied acknowledgment of His claims as prophet
and Messiah, and it gradually gave place to full re-
cognition of Jesus as the Son of God (Matt. xvi. 16).
The people also regarded the Lord at first as a Rabbi
(Mark x. 51 ; John xx. 16), although the leading men
in Jerusalem were not willing to accede to Him that
designation (John vii. 15). The title Habbi ("^nn ,
vir amplissimus) was the honorary designation given
to Jewish teachers of the law and scribes {Magister,
Doctor). At the time of Christ, there was no formal
graduation, as at a later period ; although several
characteristics served to distmguish the regular order
of scribes. These were, 1. adherence to a certaia
school, and to scholastic traditions; 2. a pecuhar
method of explaming the law and interpreting the
Scriptures ; 3. connection with the hierarchy and
the orthodoxy of the time (Pharisaism), although a
number of the scribes belonged to the sect of the
Sadducees ; 4. the commencement of a regular organ-
ization of the order. Some of the Rabbins were mem-
bers or assessors of the Sanhedrim ; others presided
over schools ; while yet others were employed as le-
gal advisers, etc. The Rabbins were regarded by
the people as successors of the ancient prophets, with
certain modifications adapting their oflice to the
wants of the time. Accoi'dingly, Ezra already bears
the title of "'£0. When the Lord Jesus therefore
appeared as a Rabbi, without having previously pass-
ed through a regular scholastic training. He only
asserted the ancient right and title of a prophet.
And preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
— Here it is more definitely called the Gonpd of the
kingdom of heaven ; i. e., the Gospel which consti-
96
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
tuted the kingdom of lieaven, and which increasingly
manifested itself as the (jospel concerning Christ, the
Lord of the kingdom of heaven, and concerning rccon-
cihation through Him for the kingdom of heaven. —
Ei'O77e'A.(0f. Tlie meaning of the term in classical
Greek is, primarily, reward for good tidinyn ; and,
secondarily, the good tidings themselves ; in the New
Testament, it is used simply for good tidings. The
announcement, that the kingdom of Messiah was at
hand, made throughout the synagogues of Galilee,
was of such deep and decisive importance as to re-
quire some confirmation of the prophetic character
of Him who declared it. Hence Jesus jiroved by His
miracles that He was able to heal all manner of
sickness, and all manner of disease ; thereby
confirming His word. But the ultimate aim of these
miracles was the manifestation of Jesus Himself, and
of the kingdom of heaven, whereby the kingdom of
darkness was vanquished.
Ver. 24. His fame went tliroughotit all Syria.
— On the one hand, throughout Palestine ; and, on
the other, beyond its limits to Phreuicia and Syria
proper. Probably His fame spread along the road
frequented by caravans, which led Irom Damascus to
the Mediterranean by the Sea of Galilee.
And they brought unto Him all sick peo-
ple.— The passage must, of course, be taken in a re-
stricted sense : as far as faith in His miraculous power
extended, they brought such sufierers to Him.
That were taken with divers diseases and
torments. — The latter tei-m, though refenmg to a
distinct class of suffering, is still a general expression.
Three peculiar kinds of disease are specially mention-
ed : viz., those which were possessed with dev-
ils {dononiacs, Sai,uoi'i(6,u€voi), lunatics (epileptics,
ceKTiuia^uixevoi), and those that had the palsy
{^nervous disorders, ■jrapaKvTiKoi). Formerly, com-
mentators were wont to regard the demoniacs as per-
sons whose bodies were possessed by the devil, or
by devils, but who labored under no physical ailment.
Rationalistic interpreters, on the other hand, applied
these expressions to bodily or mental diseases exclu-
sively, as to mania, epilepsy, melancholy, etc., which
— according to their statement — popular ignorance
and prejudice regarded as a possession by devils.
Of late, however, sounder views have obtained ; and
we have learned to recognize both elements in these
unfortunate persons, viz., demoniac influences, and
excitements produced by unclean spirits, along with
bodily or mental derangements (see the author's Le-
ben Jesu, ii. 1, p. 285). Meyer (note to p. 115) dis-
poses rather summarily of this view, and repeats the
old rationalistic theory.* The diiference between
* [Meyer's view is thus stated by liim : " Besessene warcn
characterisiiche naturliche KranJce—Manie, Fallanckt,
Melancholie, Zustdnde der Contractheit, iemporure
Stummheit u. dergl. — deren Leiden man hei sehcinhar
physischer Gesundheit nicJit im abnormen Organigmus
Oder ill naturlichen Storungen des physischen I/abitux,
sondern in teufelischer Besessenheit begrundet glaubta.^''
He urges, among four reasons against the old orthodox
view, mainly the entire silence of St. John, which he re-
t'ards the more significant, as John lays special stress
on the destruction oi'the works of the devil by Christ. But
this silence concerning the healing of demoniacs mnst
be accounted for on the same ground as the omission of
other and more important facts in the Gospel of John, such
as the parabolic discourses of tJhrist, the institution of bap-
tism, and the Lord's Supper, etc. This silence is rather the
silence of approval of what was already generally known and
read in the churches when he wrote his Gospel. Aside from
doctrinal considerations connected with the personal exist-
ence of Satan and his supernatural agents, Meyer's and 'do
Wette's view is even e.\egetically untenable", unless we
choose to involve Christ in a popular error, or to rellect on
the three classes consists in this, that the demoniacs
were subject to disease through the influence of un-
clean spirits, the hmatics through that of the sidereal
bodies (change of the njoon, etc.), the palsied through
tliat of atmos)jheric changes. The common charac-
teristic of all these afflictions was, that their victims
were under the absolute control of some outward
influence, whether spiritual, psychical, or physical.
They were, so to speak, the representatives of those
more obscure and refined psychical and physical suf-
ferings and dissonances which have been introduced
in the psychical and external world by the moral power
of darkness. (For a list of books on Pastoral Medi-
cine or Cure of Souls, see Ueubncr, p. 43.)
Ver. 25. And there followed Kim great
multitudes. — Even at this stage of His ministry,
multitudes had gathered, who externally followed the
Lord. These v/ere drawn in the first instance from
Galilee itself, and swelled by others coming from
Decapolis, and even from Jerusalem, from the
land of Judeaa, and from beyond Jordan, i. e.,
Perpca. Decapoiis, or the Ten Cities, chiefly in-
habited by Gentile settlers : see Phnius, Hist. Nat.
16, and the Encyclops. According to Ritter, the De-
capolis was founded principally by veterans from the
army of Alexander (hence one of the towns was call-
ed Pella, from the city of that name in Macedonia).
The expression, Peraea, refers probably to the north-
ern part of that province. On the division of Perasa
into three distinct districts, comp. von Raumer, Pal-
estine, p. 205.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Note the contrast between Jesus going from
place to place, and the Baptist remaining stationary.
It seems to represent the moving and kindly charac-
ter of the Gospel, as embodied in a personal form.
2. From the conduct of Jesus, we infer that He
recognized the use and place of the synagogue in the
arrangement of Divine Providence. The Apostles
also observed the same line of conduct.*
3. The Lord now proclaimed everywhere the
Gospel of the kingdom of heaven. The announce-
ment, that a new spiritual order of things was at
hand, was everywhere received as a message of com-
ing salvation. But the Lord also proclaimed at the
same time the fundamental laws and promises of the
kingdom of heaven, as appears from the Sermon on
the Mount. By the numerous miracles which Jesus
now wrought. He proved that the kingdom of heaven
was really at hand ; that its character was spiritual ;
that it was a kingdom of regeneration ; and that this
new spiritual life consisted in a heavenly influence
and a Divine power, which restored not only the dis-
eased and departed life, but also the dead and dis-
eased heart. Thus it also clearly appeared that the
kingdom of heaven was indissolubly connected with
the person of Jesus. By His miracles, He revealed
Himself in His glory as the centre of the kingdom of
heaven. On miracles, comp. below, ch. viii.
His veracity, which is not to be thought of for a single mo-
ment. For the haiixovi^Sn^voi. are dearly and repeatedly
distinguished in the Gospels from ordinary physical diseases,
and represented as persons who are epiritually afflicted and
possessed or interpenetrated as it were by a double con-
sciousness and a double will, the one being foreign to tht^m
and taking forcible possession of their physical frame for a
time. Christ moreover addresses the evil spirits as distinct
from the persons possessed by them; and these spirits pass
out from one person into another, or even into a herd of
swine. Comp. also, on the general subject, the remarks of
Dr. Trench, On the Miracles, "p. 160, and Dr. Altbrd on
Matt. viii. 32 (4th ed, vol. i. p. 79 sq.).— P. S.]
CHAP. V. 1-16.
97
4. Like John, Jesus produced by His preaching
a general impression upon the people, but in a higher
measure. John remained stationary, Jesus went
about ; John announced the wrath to come, Jesus
brought to light the hfe-giving power of the Gospel ;
John displayed only one miracle, that of self-renunci-
ation and the moral greatness of a true prophet as
exhibited in his own history ; he did no wonders ;
while it appeared as the inmost and distinguishing
characteristic of Christ's life to work miracles of heal-
ing, of deliverance, of comfort, and of salvation. — To
John the people flocked in numbers, again to return
to their homes ; while of those who betook themselves
to Jesus, many remained to follow Him whithersoever
He went.
5. In measure as the kingdom of heaven shall
appear in the Church, the same Divine power — the
same power of faith, of love and of hfe, and the same
heavenly courage which ascends to heaven and de-
scends from it, to diffuse that which is heavenly, will
also manifest itself.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
Christ went about doing good to all. — 1. He went
about in the omnipotence of His love. 2. He did good
to all in the omnipotence of His love. — The labors of
ministers should extend to all withhi the sphere of
their activity. — Galilee, or the circuit of the Gentiles,
becomes the chcuit of the new life. — In preaching
the Gospel, we should follow up God's preparatory
agencies and dispensations. — Evangehsts should en-
deavor to find proper starting-points for their work.
— The teaching of Jesus in its fulness. It is, 1. a
preaching (an appeal to the heart, announcing some-
thing new) ; 2. it is Gospel ; 3. it is the Gospel of
the kingdom ; 4. it conveys salvation. — Defects to be
avoided in the Church : 1. It is sad when teaching
ceases to be preaching ; 2. more sad when preaching
ceases to be teaching ; 3. most sad when preaching
ceases to be the Gospel of the kingdom ; 4. not less
sad when destitute of the pov.'cr of life. — In oifr days
also, demonstration of the truth of the Gospel which
we preach is indispensable. — The practical demon-
stration of the truth of the Gospel should be as fol-
lows : 1. Our preachmg should always bear the un-
press of the love of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and
of power. 2. It should always be adapted to the
wants of the age. — The secret of Christ's power of
helping His people lay in their spiritual boldness : 1.
Based on spiritual humility ; 2. springing from spirit-
ual faith ; 3. manifestmg itself in spiritual love ; 4.
evidenced by spiritual life. — Spiritual cowardice opens
the door to the enemy. — Jesus still removes every
manner of sickness and disease. — The fame of Jesus
prepares the way for the word of Jesus. — The Sa-
viour from sin is also the Saviour from evil. — He
healed all that came unto Him. — In trouble and ne-
cessity we learn to know our Deliverer. — The king-
dom of Christ commencing amidst poverty and mis-
ery. The relation between those who follow the won-
der-worker, and those who follow the Crucified One.
— Conversion the evidence of true awakening. — Jesus
gathers His people. 1. How ? 2. For what pur-
pose?
Starke: — Christ extends His kingdom by the
Gospel, not with carnal weapons. — It is a small thing
for Him who gives us eternal life to restore our bod-
ily life. — AU Christ's miracles are blessings.
Heuhner : — These cures of Jesus are important ;
as being so many blessings and deUverances of wretch-
ed and needy persons ; as revelations of His goodness
and love ; as evidence of His divine mission ; as
pointing to the spiritual deliverance which He wrought
PART SECOND.
Christ manifesting Himself in outward obscm-ity as the true Saviour, by His
"works ; and proving Himself the promised Prophet, Priest, and King, in His contin-
ual conflict ^7ith the spurious notions entertained by the Jews concerning the Mes-
siah (ch. v.-x\'i, 12).
FIRST SECTION.
CHRIST MANIFESTING HIMSELF AS THE PROPHET. A. AS TEACHER OF THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, CH. V.-VH.
Structure of the Sermon on the Mourd. — The grand fundamental idea of the Sermon on the Mount is to
present the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven in its relation to that of the Old Testament theoc-
racy. This idea is arranged in three parts. Part first, which comprises the Sermon on the Mount in
the narrower sense, presents the nature and character of the righteousness of the kingdom of God,
from the commencement of spiritual life to its completion. Ch. v. 1-16. — At the close of this sectiou,
7
98
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the contrast between this righteousness and that of Jewish traditionalism is brought out in its fullest
manifestation (to suifer persecution for Christ's sake). Tliis induces the Lord to explain, in Part 2,
the relation between the righteousness of the kingdom of licaven (in doctrine and life) and that of the
Jewish theocracy.' The former is the genuine fullihnent of the Old Testament theocracy (of the Law
and the Prophets), in opposition to that false development of Jewish traditionahsm, which only pre-
served the letter of the law and the prophets. Ch. v. lY-vii. 6. — As the first section contained a de-
scription of the elevation of (he blessed to their final reward in heaven, although their course seems to
the world one of continual humiliation ; so the second section exhibits the i-ighteousness of the Piiari-
sees in its real character and results, to the judgment which shall finally sweep it away (beneath " dogs
and swine "), although to the world it seems to rise to the greatest height of exaltation. Lastly, Christ
shows in the third and practical section, how to avoid the false and choose the right way ; indicating,
at the same time, the mode and manner of genuine spiritual life (ch. vii. 7-27). The concluding verses
(vers. 28 and 29) record the impression produced by this sermon of Jesus.
LiTERATiTEE :— Comp. Tholuck, Comment, on the Serm.on on the Mount, 4th ed.. 1856 [transl. into End. by E. Lundin
Brown, Kdinb. and Pliilad., 1860] ; Klinff, Die Berqpredigt Ohrinti, Marburg, 1841 ; Arndt, Die Bergpredigt Jem Christi,
Magdeb., 1837 and 1838; Braune, Die Bergpredigt umeres Ilerrn Jesu Ohristi, 2d ed., Altenburg, 1855.— For the older
literature of tlie subject, see Winor, Danz, and Heubner.
The Sermon on the Mount in the narrower sense. The law of the Spirit. The fundamental laws of the
kingdom of heaven as fundamental promises and beatitudes of the Gospel. Gradual progress upward
to perfectness in righteousness, or, what is the same, in Christ.
Chapter V. 1-16.
(^Vers. 1-12, the Gospel for the l^th Sunday after Trinity.)
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain ; and when he was set [had
sat down], his disciples came unto [to] him : And he opened his mouth, and taught
them, saying. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek:
for they shall inherit the earth.' Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness : for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain
mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace-
10 makers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are per-
1 1 secuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye,
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against
12 you falsely,^ for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward
13 in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which [who] were before you. Ye are
the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ?
it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of
14 men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle and put it under a [the] ^ bushel, but on a candlestick;
16 and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which [who] is in heaven.
' Ver. 5. — The transposition of the second and third beatitudes in Lachmann's and Tischendorf s editions is not suflS-
ciently sustained by the testimony of Uod. D., the Vulgate, etc., and is at war with the logical order of the beatitudes.
^ Ver. 11. — Falsely, ^^evSofjiffoi, is poorly supported, and superfluous on account of the words : for My saJce. [The
evidence against i^ewSoMfO' is hardly sufficient to justify its removal from the text. The Vatican codex (as given by
Buttmann) and other weighty MSS. and ancient versions have it, and Alford, Wordsworth, and Tregelles retain it, but
Trcgelles marks it as doubtful. As to the connection, ^evZ6ii.evoi. belongs to stiTuai, or all the three preceding verbs, but
not to iirtKiV fJJ.OV. — P. S.]
' Ver. 15.— [The definite article here indicates the fimiliar household measure.— P. S.]
central-point of Christ's ministry in Galilee. It was de-
livered during the first year of His public career, some
time between the winter of 781 and the spring of 782
A. U. " The activity of John by the banks of Jor-
dan probably continued till toward the winter of the
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
General Remarks on the Sermon on the Mount.
-The Sermon on the Mount may be regarded as the
CHAP. V. 1-16.
99
year 781. While lie baptized in Galilee, Christ la-
bored in Judoea. About the time that John was im-
prisoned in Galilee, tlie Sanliedrim of Jerusalem be-
gan to view witli dislike the growing authority of
Jesus. On this account. He left Judfpa, and retired
to GaUlce. In the spring of the year 782, John was
still in prison. At that time he sent the well-known
embassy to Christ. From Matt. xi. 1, 2, we gather
that this inquiry was made at the close of the first
journey of Clirist through Galilee ; hence before His
attending the least of Purim, which is related in the
Gospel of John (ch. v.). Soon afterward the execu-
tion of John took place, probably between Purim
and Easter of the year 782 " {see my Leben Jesu, ii. ] ,
p. 162).
I 'V\' e mark three stages in the journey of Jesus
through Galilee. The first comprises the journey of
Christ through the mountainous district of Upper
Galilee. This is alluded to in general terms by Mat-
thew in ch. iv. 23. The calling of the first four
Apostles, together with tlie miraculous draught of
fishes, Luke v. 1, and the sermon of the Lord by the
Lake of Galilee, preceding that miracle, formed the
commencement of this journey. Its close is marked
by the Sermon on tlie Mount. On His second jour-
ney, the Lord passed beyond the bounds of Galilee
proper into Upper Pera;a. This tour commenced
with His second sermon by the Lake of Galilee, on
which occasion the Lord probably uttered the greater
part of the parables concerning the kingdom of God.
Other three Apostles were now added to the former.
That journey closed with the expulsion of the Lord
from Gadara, and some conflicts between Jesus and
the Pharisees, and a few of the disciples of John
(Matt. ix.). During His third tour, the Lord passed
through the towns on the Lake of Galilee to Lower
Galilee, and toward Samaria and Judsea. The num-
ber of the assistants and followers of Jesus was now
increased from seven to twelve, who are set apart as
His Apostles. The four companions of His first
journey, and the seven who attended Him during
the second, had only been His followers ; but others
are now added to their number. They are set apart
to be His Apostles ; and the Lord sends them before
Him, — as yet, however, with Umited powers, and for
a definite purpose. The narrative of this journey
commences with the calling of the Apostles, and
with the instructions given to them. While the
Apostles precede the Lord, holy women gather
around and minister unto Him (Luke viii. 1-3). The
towns of Magdala, in the southern part of the west-
em shore of the lake, and Nain, between the south-
em side of Mount Tabor and the Lower Hermon, are
mentioned as special points touched during this jour-
ney. Its goal — as appears from the sending of the
twelve Apostles — was Jerusalem, where, according
to John v., Jesus attended the feast of Purim. This
journey, wliich was intended to terminate in Judaea,
was interrupted by two events — the resolution of the
Sanhedrim at Jerusalem to compass the death of
Jesus (John vii. 1), and the execution of John tlie
Baptist (Matt. xiv. 12 ; Mark vi. 30 ; Luke ix. 10).
A close review of this tour shows that Jesus un-
dertook three public journeys to Jerusalem in order to
awake the attention of His people, and to lead them
to decide for the truth (John ii. 13 ; v. ; xii. 9)
It is important to understand the relation be-
tween the Sermon on the Mount as given by Matthew
and the account of it in Luke vi. 1 2 sqq.
According to Augustine {De consensu evanj. ii.
19), Andr. Osiander, Biisching, Hess, Storr, Gratz,
and others, the two sermons were delivered at differ-
ent times. But most modern interpreters are agreed
that they are only two different accounts of one and
the same sermon of Jes\is. Calvin, Schneckeubur-
ger, and Olsliauson hold that the account in Matthew
is the less authentic of the two ; while Tholuek, Eb-
rard, and Meyer (p. 1(38), think that Luke derived
his narrative from Matthew. Lastly, according to
Strauss, neither of the two accounts is strictly au-
thentic. In our opinion, they should be regarded as
two different sermons delivered in close succession,
— the one on the summit of a mountain in Galilee,
the other, on a lower ridge of the same mountain ;
the one, addressed only to His disciples ; the other,
to all the people who had followed Him. Still, so far
as their fundamental ideas and real subject-matter
arc concerned, the two sermons are identical, differ-
ing only in form and adaptation, — that reported by
Matthew being addressed to the disciples, and hence
esoteric in its form ; while that given by Luke is ex-
oteric, being addressed to the people. The funda-
mental idea of both is evidently the same — the ex-
altation of the humble and the humiUation of the
proud. This idea is couched so as to correspond to
the description of the Jewish year of jubilee, and
expressed in the form of beatitudes. But the differ-
ent aspects under which this fundamental truth is
presented, show that originally two sermons had been
delivered by the Lord ; for, 1. the number of the be-
atitudes is not the same in the two sermons, and the
beatitudes themselves are differently couched ; 2. in
the Gospel by Luke, there is always a woe to corre-
spond to each of the beatitudes. This contrast ap-
pears, indeed, also in that portion of the sermon, as
reported by Matthew, which treats of the righteous-
ness of the Pharisees and its consequences, but in a
form quite different from that in Luke. Add to this,
3. the difference in the account of the locaUty and the
audience. According to Matthew, Jesus delivered
the sermon on the top of a mountain, and sitting ;
while Luke relates that He came down and stood
in the plain or on a plateau, to preach to the people.
According to Matthew, " seeing the multitudes," He
retired among His disciples ; while Luke records that
He came down with His disciples, and stood among
the multitude in order to address them. " Thus we
have evidently two different discourses on the same
subject, and containing the same elements ; and, be-
fore we adopt any hypothesis which would represent
the one as inferior to the other, we should first endea-
vor to study them more closely, and to understand the
peculiar characteristics of the two Gospels. Viewed
in that light, these discourses bear each a distinctive
character. The Sermon on the Mount, strictly so
called, is a discourse which Christ could not, at the
time, have addressed to the people generally. This
remark specially applies to His description of the
Pharisees and scribes, and of their righteousness, and
to His exposition of the contrast between His own
teaching and theirs. Manifestly, Jesus could not
have addressed in this manner the Jewish people gen-
erally, without thereby needlessly exposing His own
followers. Nor were the people prepared to under-
stand or receive such doctrine. And even though
we were to assume that the Evangelist had introduced
into this discourse some things said on other occa-
sions, yet this sermon is so thoroughly connected in
its structure, that it is impossible to ascribe its com-
position, so far as its leading features are concerned,
to the Evangelist himself." (Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 369.)
Manifestly, this discourse is esoteric — an exposition
100
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of the fundamental doctrines of the kingdom of hea-
ven in their ri.'lation to the teacliing of the Old Testa-
ment, and to the ordhiances and practices of a spuri-
ous traditionalism, which could only have been in-
tended for the disciples. Hence the choice of the lo-
cality, the retirement from the multitude, and the gath-
ering of the disciples around Him. The Evangelist,
indeed, records at the close, " that the people were
astonished at His doctrine ; " but this apparent inac-
curacy— on our supposition — only confirms the view
that, after His descent from the mountain, the Lord
addressed to the people generally the discourse com-
municated by Luke. The latter is just what we would
have expected in the circumstances — a popular and
lively address, short, and illustrated by similes. This
exoteric form agrees with the context as mentioned
by Luke, who records that Jesus delivered this ad-
dress standing among the people, though His eye
would, no doubt, chiefly rest in blessing upon the
disciples.
Tlio time w/ien tlicRe two discourses were delivered.
— From some events recorded by Luke before his
account of the Sermon on the Mount (ch. vi. 1, etc.),
it might appear to have liecn deUvcred at a later
period. But this aj)parent inaccuracy must have
been occasioned by considerations connected with the
structure of his Gospel. The context shows that both
Evangehsts record it qs having taken place at the
same tune. Both in Lnke and in Matthew the history
of the centurion of Capernaum immediately follows
the Sermon on tlie Mount. Manifestly, then, the two
discourses were delivered during the same jouj-uey of
Jesus through Galilee. Similarly, the circumstances
mentioned by Luke prove that the discourse reported
by him followed immediately upon that reported by
Matthew. According to Matthcv/, Jesus left the multi-
tude, and retired with His disciples to the top of the
Diountam ; while Luke relates that He again descend-
ed from the mountain, with His disciples, " into the
plain " (fVl rijitov TTe^ivov), among the waiting multi-
tude. If to this we add the manifest internal connec-
tion between the two discourses, we obtain a very
distinct view of the subject. On the top of the moun-
tain Jesus addressed to His disciples the discourse
about the kingdom of heaven in an esoteric form :
while unmediately afterward He repeated it in an ex-
oteric form, in the midst of the people, on a plateau
of the same mountain.
The locality, or the mountain. — According to
Latin tradition, the Mount of Beatitudes was what is
now called the " Horns of Hattin.,''^ between Mount
Tabor and Tiberias. Robmson gives the following
description of this mountain (ii. p. 3V0) : " The road
passes down to Hattin on the west of the Tell; as
we approached, we turned off from the path toward
the right, m. order to ascend the Eastern Horn. — As
seen on this side, the Tell or mountain is merely a
low ridge, some thirty or forty feet in height, and not
ten minutes in length from i ast to west. At its east-
ern end is an elevated point or horn, perhaps sixty
feet above the plain ; and, at the western end, another
not so high ; these give to the ridge, at a distance,
the appearance of a saddle, and are called Kurun
Hattin, ' Horns of Hattin.' But the singularity of
this ridge is, that, on reaching the top, you find that
it lies along the very border of the great southern
plain, where this latter sinks off at once by a precip-
itous offset, to the lower plain of Hattin, from which
the northern side of the Tell rises very steeply, not
much less than 400 feet The summit of the
Eastern Horn is a little circular plain ; and the top
of the lower ridge hdviecn the two horns is also flat-
tened to a plain. The whole mountain is of lime-
stone."— The situation and the appearance of this
mountain agree well with the supposition that it was
the Mount of Beatitudes. It lay in a southwesterly
direction, about seven miles from Capernaum. We
can well conceive that, when, on His return from the
journey tlirough Galilee, Jesus reached this point,
lie partly dismissed tlie multitudes who had followed
Him. The description of the top of the mountain,
and of " the plain," agrees with the requirements of '
the case. Robinson has indeed shown that no weighty
grounds can be urged in favor of this tradition (li. p.
371). It is found only in the Latin Church, and is
first mentioned in the 13th century by Brocardus
[about A. I). 1283] ; while this tradition is apparent-
ly contradicted by another, which designates the same
mountain as the spot where Christ fed the five thou-
sand with the five loaves. Still, no valid ground can
be urged against it. A striking historical illus-
tration, by way of contrast, is connected with the
Homs of Hattin, assmuing that ridge to be the Mount
of Beatitudes. On the spot where Jesus had de-
scribed the kingdom of heaven, and pronounced the
meek and the peacemakers blessed, the most bloody
battles have been fought ! {See C. v. Raumer, p. 37.)
On the 5th of July, 1187, the celebrated battle of Hattin
took place, in which the last remnant of the Crusa-
ders was destroyed on the height of Tell Hattin, after
the army had been beaten by Sultan Saladin in the
valley. Again, on the plain of Jezrcel, Bonaparte
defeated, in 1799, with 3000 men, an army of 25,000
Turks. — From the frequent repetition of the expres-
sion, Jesus went up into a moiuitain, eis rh 6pos,
Gfrorer and Bruno Bauer have inferred that the
mountain was merely mythical, and that it always
referred to one and the same locality. But m all
these narratives, the term " mountain " is used in
contradistinction to the places where the people -were
encamped {Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 670). Ebrard {Krit-
ik, etc., p. 349) suggests that the expression is suffi-
ciently explained by the circumstance, that through-
out Palestine there was no plain from which moun-
tains rose, but that the country was an extended
plain intersected by valleys. But this is only par-
tially true, as there are considerable mountain-tops
in tlic country ; although the configuration of Pales-
tine may partly have given rise to such a general
mode of expression as " to c/o up into a moimtain.''^
Occasion of this address. — Accordmg to Wiesc-
ler (Chronologische Si/nopse, p. 205), the year from
the autumn 779 to that of 780 had been a sabbatical
year. Thus the remembrance of the jubilee was still
fresh in the minds of the people. For, although the
peculiar ordinances coimected with the jubilee were
no longer observed even at the time of the prophets,
the symboUcal import of the institution must still
have been cherished by the people. The passage
from Isaiah Ixi., which Jesus had shortly before read
in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke iv. 14, etc.), re-
ferred to the year of grace of the Lord. The sym-
bolical idea of this institution which had pervaded the
song of Mary, was fully unfolded and developed in
the Sermon on the Mount. (Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 571.)
Relation between tlie Sermon on the Mount as
reported by Matthew, and the parallel passages in
Luke and Mark. — This relation is explained, 1. by
the difference between the two discourses ; 2. by the
circumstance that Luke records in other passages the
admonitions which were specially addressed to the
1 disciples. This remark applies more especially to
CHAP. V. 1-16.
101
the Lord's Prayer, Luke xi. 1-4 ; to the admonition
to prayer, vers. 9-13 ; to the simile in vers. 84-30 ;
and to the warning against excessive care for the
things of this Ufo, Luke xii. 22-31. Still, it is possi-
ble that some of the statements in the first Sermon
on the Mount, which recur in the other Gospels, may
have been repeated on other occasions : for example,
Mark ix. 50 ; Luke xii. 34 ; xiii. 24; xvi. 13, 17, 18.
Others, again, may have been introduced by the
Evangehst in another context: for example, Luke
xii. 58.
Ver. 1. And seeing the multitudes, iS^v 5 6,
K. T. A. — This is evidently meant to account lov the
delivery of the Sermon on the Jlount. Jesus fre-
quently saw multitudes around Him, but here a pe-
culiar emphasis is laid on that circumstance. The
question then arises, whether the crowding of the
multitude around had induced Him to deliver the Ser-
mon on the llount in their presence, and that with all
which it contains concerning the scribes and Pharisees ;
or whether, on the contrary, it had induced Him to
explain these truths in a confidential manner to His
disciples alone. We adopt the latter view, which is
supported by the analogy of Mark iii. 12, 13 ; Luke
vi. 12, 13 ; John vi. 23, comp. with ver. 15.
His disciples. — It is evident that at that period
Jesus had already made a separation between His
disciples and the people. But Matthew distinguishes
between this and the later choice of the twelve Apos-
tles, ch. X. 1. The expression implies that a larger
circle of friends and assistants had gathered around
Jesus, among whom the twelve occupied a prominent
place.
Ver. 2. And He opened His mouth. — The
phrase h-voi-y^iv rh (TTo'^a, PiQ nrS ^ is, in the first
place, oriental and pictorial ; secondarily, it indicates
an important element, that of confidential and solemn
communication: Job iii. 1 ; Dan. x. 16. This ap-
plies especially to the moment when the Incarnate
Word opened His mouth to enunciate the eternal
principles of the New Covenant. We note here the
contrast, as between Sinai and the Mount of Beati-
tudes, the law and the Gospel, so also between the
speaking of God during the Old Testament, accom-
panied as it then was by thunder and lightning, and
Jesus " opening His mouth " under the New Testa-
ment.
Vers. 3-16. The Sermon on the Mount, in the nar-
rower sense (vers. 3-16) comprises the seven beati-
tudes, and their appUcation to the disciples of Jesus
imder the twofold smiile of the salt of the earth, and
the light of the world ; the latter being again ar-
ranged under two similes — that of the city on the hill,
and that of the candlestick. The seven admonitions
are rightly characterized as so many beatitudes. From
this we mfer, above all, the evangelical character of
this discourse of Jesus, since, 1. He designates each
stage in the development of the spiritual life a beati-
tude, because it imparts beatitude. The blessedness
which Himself at the first imparts, is succeeded by
beincf blessed, even unto perfect beatitude in glory.
2. ■ Since, on that account. He does not prescribe any
course of action conformable to the law or to His
teaching, but a life conformable to the law, as a man-
ifestation of His teaching. 3. He presents the great
outlines of New Testament righteousness as consist-
ing in self-knowledge, felt want, suffering, emptiness,
or susceptibility, wluch the Lord will meet out of the
heavenly fulness of His own kingdom. 4. He pre-
sents the blessings of the kingdom of heaven in their
perfectness as spiritual in their character, and as the
property of the beatified. 5. In the succession of
these beatitudes He marks the development of the
new life from its commencement to its completion.
Luther : " This is indeed a fair, sweet, and pleasant
commencement of His preaching and teaching. For
He docs not come in like Moses, or like a teacher
of the law, with commands, threats, and terrors, but
in the most kindly manner, with attractions, and al-
lurements, and most sweet promises." The old ar-
rangement into seven beatitudes is perfectly correct.
The seventh beatitude, " Blessed are the peacemakers^''
marks the climax : " They shall be called the children
of God.'''' In the eighth beatitude, the other seven
are only summed up under the idea of the righteous-
ness of the kingdom of heaven in its relation to those
who persecute it ; while the ninth is a description
of the eighth, with reference to the relation in which
these righteous persons stand to Christ. The seven
beatitudes, therefore, describe the blessedness of the
righteousness of God, as it appears in the last in-
stance, on the one hand, in being persecuted for
righteousness' sake, and on the other, for Christ's
sake. This also casts a new fight upon each of the
seven beatitudes : they are a conflict with false right-
eousness for true righteousness' sake : they are for
Christ's sake, and they are a conflict for His sake.
The seven beatitudes form an ascending line, in
which the new life is traced from stage to stage,
from its commencement to its completion. At the
basis we have poverty in spirit, the grand final re-
sult of the Old Testament discipline. But, in study-
ing this ascending line of Christian righteousness or
virtue, which rests on the basis of spiritual poverty,
we must not lose sight of the parallels which they
contain. Manifestly, each of the beatitudes ex-
presses a new (religious) relationship toward God,
and, side by side with it, a new (moral) relationship
toward the v/orld. This will appear more clearly
from the following table : —
The poor in spirit.
Thev that mourn.
The meek.
They which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness.
The merciful.
The pure in heart. The peacemakers.
Blessed are ye, the disciples, if ye are such. Thus shall ye be : —
(a) The salt of the earth. (6) The light of the world.
1. A city set on an hiU.
2. A candle put on a candlestick.
Ver. 3. Blessed, Ma^apiot, ''"!^'<, Ps. i. 1. I mence with "m (vers. 3-10), we gather what blessed-
— " From the explanatory sentences, which com- | uess Jesus has in view — that of the kingdom of
102
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Messiah." Again, Jesus declares those blessed
v/hom the men of the woild would hold to bo most
unhappy IW designates by that term circumstaucus
which, to those looking mcnely at the outside, would
appear far from enviable, and traits of character
I'unning directly contrary to the carnal views and
the legal righteousness of the Jews. Hence these
sentences are so many jwradoses. " Although these
statements of Christ run tlirectly counter to the car-
nal prejudices of His contemporaries, His utterances
contain nothing that was cither entirely new or un-
known, since all these beatitudes are based upon
passages of the Old Testament (Isa. Ivii. 15; Ixi.
1-3; Ps. xxxiv. 11-19; xxxvii. 11; Ixxiii. 1; 1
Sam. ii. 5; Ps. li. 19; Eccles. vii. 4, etc.)." 0. von
Gerlaeh. It is worthy of notice, that, like the be-
atitudes of Jesus, that in Ps. i. both presupj^oses a
corresponding state of mind, and admonishes believ-
ers to cherish and seek such a spiritual disposition.
The poor in spirit, oi tttcoxo' to? irvev-
ixar i . — The dative is here used to designate them
more particularly : in their spirit, or iu reference to
their spirit, or spiritual life ; those who feel themselves
spiritually poor, and hence reaUze their deep and in-
expressible want of the Spirit, and long for the leli-
gion of the Spirit. (The opposite of this in Rev. iii.
17.) Ilencc the expression does not imply poverty
of spirit in reference to man, far less intellectual
poverty (as Fritzsche thinks). The idea, that it re-
fers to external poverty, voluntarily chosen, or to a
vow of voluntary poverty, as some of the older Ro-
man Catholic commentators imagine (Maldonatus,
Cornelius h. Lap.), deserves no further notice. The
addition, t w ttv tv ixar i, forms a primary and es-
sential characteristic of Christianity. Although
wanting in the corresponding passage in Luke, the
expression refers there also to spiritual poverty.
Kcistlin fancies that the omission in Luke is due to
Ebionite leanings; while Matthew purposely added
the words, " in spirit," to mark the difference.
But this hypothesis is only an attempt to carry out
the theory of Baur, that the fii'st Christians had been
Ebionites. It is indeed true that the expression
bears special reference to the poor and needy of the
Old Testament theocracy (Isa. Ixi. 1 ; Ixvi. 2). But
those Ebionites were not poor in the sense of their
entertaining carnal expectations of the Messiah, but
in that of spiritual longing for true righteousness.
This feeling of spiritual poverty, which appeared at
the time of the prophets, had now attained full ma-
turity. It had been '■'■fulfilled;" and hence coin-
cided with the fxiTavoia in its origin, as this grace
unfolds in the two succeeding beatitudes, and forms
the germ of the Ta-rreivocppoaiivT). The full meaning
of the expression is brought out in the following re-
mark of Tholuck :-" To translate accurately, we must
render the term by egeni and mendici, for this is the
meaning of TTTw^oJ) while TrtVrjr corresponds to the
Latin pauper T On the humility cherished by Gen-
tile sages, especially on that of Socrates, comp.
Heubner, p. 50.
Ver. 4. They that moiim, ol Trevdodyre^,
Isa. Ixi. 2. — We must not apply the term (with Chry-
soBtom and most of the older interpreters) to deep
mourning on account of sin, nor yet to sadness and
soiTOw iu general. This state of mind is explained
by the poverty in spirit from which it springs, and
tends toward hungering and thirsting after righte-
ousness. From the first, the righteousness of the
kingdom of heaven was the great object aimed after,
—even in poverty of spirit, much more in mourning.
But as yet this object has not been clearly realized by
the consciousness. Hence it implies spiritual mourn-
ing, divine sorrow, in opposition to the sorrow of the
world (2 Cor. vii. 10). This mourning in God (by
His Spirit), after God (His blessings), and for God
(His glory), includes not only mourning on account
of sin, but also on account of its consequences;
more particularly, is it the expression of a state of
mind when the world, with its possessions and pleas-
ures, is no longer capable of satisfying, gladdening,
or comforting. Those who thus mourn are to be
comforted — of course, in the same sense in which
they mourn ; but their consolation is to be abso-
lute (see Rom. viii. 18 ; 2 Cor. iv. 17 ; John xiv. 3).
This comfort necessarily implies the forgiveness of
sins ; it also includes the promise that their godly
sorrow shall, in every respect, be removed by the
kingdom of heaven, which is promised to the poor
in spirit.
Ver. 5. The meek. — Ps. xxxvii. 11, according to
the Septuagint : ol Se -irpafh KA-qpoyo/x'fiiTovffi yriv.
They who suffer in love, or love in patience ; they
who, in the strength of love, boldly yet meekly,
meekly yet boldly, bear injustice, and thereby con-
quer. In this beatitude, the promise of the Holy
Land (the enemies being drive nout) is a symbol of
the kingdom of heaven; still, outward possession,
and that in all its fulness, is also referred to in the
expression : the land, the earth.
Ver. 6. Hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness.— A figurative mode of indicating a desire so
intense as to be painful. Wetstein. (The substan-
tive is here in the accusative, tV oiKaioawT^v, though
commonly in the genitive.) AiKaioavy-q, with the ar-
ticle, the only genuine righteousness, the righteous-
ness of the kingdom of heaven; but, above all,
righteousness not as a work of our own, but as a
gift, — a fact not of the outer, but of the inner life.
Hence the expression refers neither to the Christian
religion (Kuinoel) nor to uprigldness, the restora-
tion of wihch was, according to Meyer, the grand
object of Christ. Righteousness is correspondence to
the law ; the righteousness of the kingdom of hea-
ven, that to the law of the Spirit.
They shall be filled, i. e., with righteousness. —
This promise applies neither exclusively to justifica-
tion by faith, nor to final acquittal in judgment ; but
includes both justification, sanctification, and final
acquittal, — all of which, indeed, are inseparably con-
nected with justification.
Ver. 7. The merciful, according to the stand-
ard of the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven. De
Wette appUes this in the first place to the members of
the theocracy, who,victorious over the Gentiles, should
not execute vengeance upon them. The idea is correct,
if taken in a higher and a spiritual sense. They are
the meek, who, having formerly been on the defensive,
have now taken the offensive. The meek bear the in-
justice of the world ; the merciful bravely address
themselves to the wants of the world. They shall ob-
tain mercy, as being the objects of mercy. As mourn-
ing, they are delivered from the sorrows of life ; as
longing after righteousness, from the guilt of Ufe ; and
now as the merciful, from all the misery of life. But
this is only the negative element ; the positive ap-
pears in the gradation: they shall be comforted,
they shall be satisfied, they shall obtain mercy, be
inwardly renewed and restored. And all this, in
accordance with the grand fundamental principle of
the kingdom of God. See Matt. vii. 2.
Ver. 8. The pure in heart, oi KadapoX Tfi Kap-
CHAP. V. 1-
103
5 ia. — This must refer to righteousness as the ruling
principle of the heai-t and inner life. Purity of heart
consists in that steady direction of the soul toward
the divine life which excludes every other object
from the homage of the heart. Hence " inward
moral integrity " is not sufficient ; ir;'i}spectivG of the
fact, that such integrity bears refere.'ce to an exter-
nal moral standard. Our Lord, however, does not
require absolute purity; else He would have said:
Thei/ behold God. The term refers to a life pure in
the inmost tendency and direction of the heart, be-
cause it is entirely set upon what is eternally and
absolutely pure. Hence it applies to walking in the
Spirit, or to a life of sanctification, or to being born
of God (1 John iii. 9). When thus the inmost heart
is pure, its outgoings in life will also be pure. The
inner life will ever manifest itself more and more
clearly as " seeing God."
They shall see God. — The expression does
not refer merely to an internal knowledge of God (ac-
cording to Gregory of Nyssa, Theophylact, Tholuck,
etc.), nor (according to de Wette) to direct spiritual
communion with God here and hereafter, — far less
to Messianic beatitude generally (Kuinoel and others),
under the Oriental figure of a man beholding his
king, or appearing before him. These ideas are,
however, included in the final and perfect seemg of
God. But, on the other hand, we cannot agree with
Meyer, that it refei's to the beatific vision of saints,
when in the resurrection body they shall behold the
glory of God in the kingdom of His Son (Rev. xxii.
4). For it is evident that in aU these seven promises
no interval of space or time intervenes between the
longing and the satisfaction. This vision of God
commences when the eye of the soul opens, or when
spiritual vision begins in the regenerate heart (Eph.
i. 18): it is perfected when in eternity we shall see
Him face to face (1 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 John iii. 2).
Ver. 9. The peacemakers, ol (Ipriv oir o toi .
— The peacemakers of the true theocracy, not merely
the peaceful, dpriviicai, James iii. lY. It denotes the
exertions made by the pure heart on behalf of the
kingdom of heaven, alluding more particularly to the
messengers of peace under tlie New Testament, — not
with reference to their official capacity, but to the
power and truth of the word which they bear (Col.
i. 20 ; Prov. xii. 20). The promise which imme-
diately follows, corresponds with their exalted posi-
tion as here indicated.
They shall be called the sons of God (in
the full theocratic sense, as children of age, vioi, and
not merely re/cva). — The terra is not simply equiva-
lent to such expressions as vlodeaia and KAripoi/uuia,
in Rom. viii. 17, and Gal. iv. 5-7 (Meyer), nor to
being beloved of God (Kuinoel), nor to being like
imto God (Paulus) ; but indicates that, by their fel-
lowship with the Son, and their dependence upon
Him, they enjoy the exalted rank of full-grown
children of God. They are the children of God as
the messengers of Christ, the instruments of His
kingdom, and the organs of the Holy Ghost. The
terra sons may have been used, because the only be-
gotten Son had not yet fully revealed Himself in that
character ; after which they appear as His friends,
His representatives, His messengers, and His organs.
Their dignity and glory in the kingdom of heaven —
viewed spii'itually — constitutes the promise given to
them. Hence " KKrjBr^a-ovTat, not crunt (Kuinoel),
but what they really are, is here expressly recognised
by the 7iame given to them." — Meyer.
Ver. 10. They which are persecuted, BfSiuiy-
1^4 vol. — Here the conflict between the new spiritual
theocracy and its old degenerate form is introduced,
forming a transition from the ideal representation of
the disciples to the circumstances in which they were
actually placed, and which are specially referred to
in the following verse. — Ey righteousness is not
merely meant here the grace alluded to in ver. 6 ; it
rather comprises the substance of all the seven be-
atitudes,— i. e., righteousness not merely in its grand
manifestation, but also in its first origin and final
completion, tnore especially in the form in which it
appears in the peacemakers, exciting the resistance
of the world (see Matt. x. ; 1 Pet. iii. 14.)
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. — The
same expression as in ver. 3. Nor, indeed, could the
kingdom of heaven be here different from what it
was at the outset; only the manner of its possession
and enjoyment is now other than it had been. To
the poor in spirit the kingdom of heaven consists, in
the first place, in their being comforted ; while those
who are persecuted for righteousness' sake will, ac-
cording to ver. 12, partake of that great reward in
heaven itself which is promised to all who suffer for
the sake of Christ. In ver. 3, we have the kingdom
of heaven with all that it imphes, — here, with all
that it imparts ; there' as objectively set before us,
— here, as our own personal and actual possession.
Ver. 1 1. Blessed are ye when men shall re-
vile you, etc., for my sake.— Tlds is the special
application of what the Lord had above declared, or
the interpretation of the language used in ver. 10.
The disciples are those who are blessed ; righteous-
ness is personiiied in tlie Lord. Yet there is this
difference : the Lord is so unconditionally ; the dis-
ciples conditionally, viz., in as far as they prove
themselves disciples. We are not inclmed, with
Beza, to limit the expressions, " revile and perse-
cute," to outward sufferings by the civil magistrate.
The expression iv^K^ v i fj.uv refers to all the
three verbs, and the word \\) evBo txevoi is accord-
ingly supcrtluous.
By pointing to the great reward in heaven, the
Lord sets the fact more clearly than ever before His
hearers, that the kingdom of Messiah is not of this
world, and that perfectness will only be attained
there, while here we are to prepare for it by suffer-
ing and witness-bearing on behalf of Christ.
Ver. 12. For so persecuted they the proph-
ets.— The example of the prophets was intended
to show the disciples that this struggle between
them and carnal Judaism was not of recent date, but
had been carried on even at the time of the prophets
(Acts vi. 7). But it would also convince them that
they stood on the same level with the seers of old,
and that they were to continue and complete Divine
revelation under the New Testament.
Ver. 16. The liigh calling of the disciples had
been announced in the beatitudes. The Lord now
proceeds to show more fully bot!i its necessity and
its glory. Viewing tueir calling, 1. in its spiritual
and inward aspect, the disciples are the salt of the
earth ; 2. viewed externalhj, and in their corporate
capacity, they are the light of the world, viz., (a) a
city set on a hill, as being the Church of God, and
(6) candle on a candlestick, in their capacity as
Apostles. These tv/o ideas, however, must not be
viewed as exclusive of each other.
Ver. 13. The salt of the earth.— A figure of
the element of nourishment and preservation in the
Idngdom of heaven, preventing corruption, preserv-
ing nutriment, giving savor to it, and rendering it
104
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
hceltby. A similar U38 of the term " saft" occurs
in many of the proverbs and symbols of the ancients.
— The idea, that the term salt is here used to indi-
cate an indispensable commodity (Fritzsche), is far
too vague ; nor does it exclusively refer to the use
of salt in sacrifices, — the expression implying that
they were the salt of the whole earth. — The term
" eartJV is figurative, denoting, not mankind gener-
ally, but society as tlien existing, both in the the-
ocracy and the Gentile world, — being the definite
form which the world had assumed (Ps. xciii. ; John
iii. 12; Rev. xiii. 11). The disciples were destined,
as the salt of the ancient theocratic world, to arrest
the corruption which had commenced, and to impart
a fresh and lasting savor.
But if the salt have lost its savor, /jLcvpav-
drj. — In Mark ix. 50, avaAoi/ yfirjrai. Gomp. with
this the following extract from Maundrell's Journey
to Palestine : " In the salt-valley, about four hours
from Aleppo, there is a declivity of about twelve
feet, caused by the continual removal of salt. I
broke off a piece where the ground was exposed to
the rain, the sun, and the air ; and found that, while
it glittered and contained particles of salt, it had
wholly lost its pecuUar savor. But the portions
within, which were in juxtaposition to the rock, still
retained the savor of salt." Comp. also Winer sub
Salz [and other Biblical Encyclops]. Salt whicli is
quite pure cannot lose its savor, but only if it have
any foreign admixture. The same remark applies
to our spiritual life. Viewed in itself, it remains
pure salt; but in its human form, and with the ad-
raixtui'e of human elements, it may lose its savor.
At the same time the Lord here speaks hypotheti-
cally : if the salt have lost its savor. The point of
comparison hi the figure lies in the idea : salt which
has lost its savor cannot be salted again, nor a cor-
rupted evangelist be evangelized anew. Jansen: no?i
datur sal sails. (Comp., however, 2 Pet. ii. 21 ; Heb.
vi. 4.) For the salt is the thing to be salted [as the
Com. E. Vers, correctly translates : " wherewith shall
it be salted ? "], comp. the following ets ovUv, etc.,
and not the food, as Luthei-'s version would make it :
" Womit soil man salzen ? " (" Wherewith shall men
salt ? ") An apostate from the faith has, so far as
he is concerned, made void the saving power of sal-
vation ; nor is there another and higher substitute
for the spiritual office of the ministry, if once it have
become degenerate.
There remains, then, only the judgment. Salt
which has lost its savor is only fit to be cast out, and
trodden under foot of men. tliose who are hence-
forth to carry on and continue the history of the
world, will tread it under foot as they pass on their
way. According to Theophj'Iact, it refers to exclu-
sion from the office of teacher ; according to Chry-
sostom, to greatest contempt ; according to Luther,
to rejection by Christ.
Ver. 14. Ye are the light of the world. —
Comp. John ix. 5. In all these descriptions of the
disciples, the Lord presupposes that His Spirit and
His righteousness have become the principle of their
life. Tliey are the light of the world, as deriving
their light from Him who is the true light of the
world (Eph. iii. 9 ; Phil. ii. 15), just as they are the
sons of God in Him who is the eternal Son of God.
— Thus He awakens in them the knowledge of His
own dignity by a sense of their destmy.
A city set on a hill.— It is generally supposed
that Jesus had at the time the town of Sated in
view, which lies on the top of a hill. But Robin-
son has shown [iii. p. 425] that this supposition is, to
say the least, improbable, since it is doubtful whether
Safcd then already existed.
Ver. 15. Under a bushel. — The common meas-
ure used in houses, holding about a peck. " In the
East, the practice is to place a candle on the floor,
and to cover it with a measure used for corn, when
it is desired to keep it burning and yet to prevent
its effects for a time " (?). — Tholuck. Just as the can-
dlestick is the means of diffusing the light, so the
bushel that of confining it ; or, realizing the full idea
of an upturned bushel, confining it within very nar-
row limits. The same relation exists between the
limited measure of officialism, of intellect, of asceti-
cism, of traditionalism in life or teaching, and the
infinite fulness of light issuing from living Christian-
ity.
The candle on the candlestick.^^ — The min-
istry should not conceal the light of knowledge, but
hold it up, so that its brightness may be diflfused as
widely as possible throughout the apartment.
Ver. 16. Your light. — This proves that the
light by which they become candlesticks is not their
own, but given from above. It is this light which
is to shine before all men ; in other words, they are
openly and boldly to come forwai-d with the mes-
sage of the New Testament, in accordance with their
vocation as disciples.
That they may see your good works. —
From the wording of the passage, we infer, that by
the good works something different is meant from
the Ught mentioned above. We regard them as the
special graces and manifestations of the disciples
(such as miracles, the creation of a new life, the
fruits of regeneration), which must be viewed in the
light of Christianity, and may serve as a practical
commentary on the word.
Glorify your Father. — A most glorious pros-
pect is here opened up to those who are reviled and
persecuted. A lively representation this, also, of the
conviction wrought in men, and of the blessed certi-
tude resultmg from the conduct of the disciples.
Men shall glorify the Father of the Christians ; and
hence, also, adopt their faith and their acknowledg-
ment of God in Christ, and thus become blessed. But
all the glory is to be the Lord's.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In the Sermon on the Mount, the whole doc-
trine of Christ is exhibited in the first stage of its
development, as afterward it is expounded in a some-
what analogous manner in the Epistle of James. Wo
have here the new Christian life as the eternal law
of the Spirit, or else the old law in its Christian trans-
formation as a new life. If it is said that the Lord
here exhibited the law, or Old Testament right-
eousness, in all its fulness, we add, that this fulness
of the law removed the legal character of the law.
The spirit of the law transforms the outward letter
into something internal, into a power of life and vital
principle ; it substitutes one reality in place of
many ordinances ; and instead of the series of ten
commandments (and ten is the number of the world,
* [Dr. Conant substitutes lamp on the lamp stand, since
the C. V. may make a false imi)ression ; the candlestick being
necessary to this use of the candle, whether hid under a ves-
sel or not. "The lamp {Kvxi'os), being low, was placed on
a siijiport (Kvxy'^a) sufficiently high to give light through,
the room; and this latter would be equally necessary to th«
caudle with its candlestick, as we use the terms."— P. B.]
CHAP. V. 1-16.
105
while seven is that of the sanctuary), a succession of
seven stages of sacred and spiritual development of
the new Hfe. The former contrast between the de-
mands of God and the performances of man — be-
tween the Judge and the guilty sinner — becomes now
that of blessing and receiving, between a gracious
Father and merciful Saviour, and the humble believ-
er. In short, righteousness in all its fulness consists
in this, that Christ Himself is all righteousness, and
that His righteousness is imparted to man through
the grand medium of reception, viz., poverty in
spirit.
As the passage under consideration describes the
kingdom of heaven in its principles, power, and
graces, so Matt. x. details its organization, which
marks the second stage in the development of the
teaching of Christ.
2. The contrast between the Old and the New
Covenant is here strikingly brought out, — («) In its
representations and outward manifestation : Moses
and Christ. — Mount Sinai in the rocky wilderness,
and the Mount of Beatitudes in the midst of a popu-
lous district in the Holy Land. — Moses alone, con-
cealed from view by the clouds of an awful thunder-
stoi-m ; Christ surrounded by His disciples, and sit-
ting among them. — Mount Sinai, with bounds set
about it, and the people at a distance ; the Mount of
Beatitudes encompassed by multitudes. — In the one
case, the people fleeing from the mountain ; in the
other, crowding toward its summit, and waiting on
its ridge, (b) In its essential characteristics : Moses
received the law from Jehovah by the ministry of
angels, while in a state of ecstasy ; but Christ brought
it forth from the depths of His theanthropic heart,
in full and calm consciousness. — The law of Moses
written upon tablets of stone, the word of Christ on
the hearts of His disciples. — In the one case, thunder
and lightnings ; in the other, only beatitudes. — In
the one case, successive demands, each isolated, and
each taking away all hope of life ; in the other, suc-
cessive blessings, connected together and creative,
almost like the six days of creation. — In the one case,
the first tables of the law broken in pieces by Moses,
in his wrath at the apostasy of the people, and other
tables substituted with sacrificial injunctions, stricter
than the former ; in the other case, the first sermon
delivered on the Mount, and at its second deUvery,
adapted to the wants and the weaknesses of the peo-
ple.— In the one case, everything from without, in
the objective form of outward commandments ; in
the other, everything committed to the heart — every-
thing from within, wafted, so to speak, in the Ufe-
giving breezes of the holy mountain. — In the one
case, the ancient Gospel-promise transformed into
law ; in the other, even the law with its demands —
such as poverty of spirit, etc. — transformed into Gos-
pel.— In the one case, the theocracy founded in the
shadows of the letter ; in the other, the kingdom of
heaven in the reahty and life of the Spirit, (c) In
its results : Sinai was adapted to a particular era, to
a particular nation, and for a definite educational
purpose.* But the word of Christ equally appUes to
* We note here, how Sir Humphry Davy and Coccejus
independently arrive at the same conclusion: "The usages
and ceremonies which Moses instituted, appear to have been
superadded to its Sj'iritual worship, for the purpose of
adapting th.at religion to a ceitain elimate, and to the pecu-
liar Slate of the Jewi.sh people. They served rather as the
pari) of that religion, than as forming an essential part of it."
We should rather say, that tliey were the legal and symbol-
ical form of that religion, — a form in which even the moral
law was clothed.
all times and to all peoples, being the guide to salva-
tion.— The law terrifies the people, and makes them
flee ; the Sermon on the Mount addresses itself to
their hearts, and draws them to the Lord.
3. There is an obvious connection between the
Mount of Beatitudes and the other holy mountains.
The first beatitude (that of the poor in spirit) brings
us to Sinai ; the second and third (the mourning, and
the meek) point to Moriah and Zion ; the fourth and
fifth (those who hunger and thirst after righteous-
ness, and the merciful) direct to Golgotha, in its two-
fold import (as the Mount of the Curse and that
of ReconciUation) ; while the sixth and seventh re-
mind us of Gethsemane and the Mount of OUves, and
of Bethany and the Mount of Olives, or also of Mount
Tabor.
4. It were a great mistake to place the seven be-
atitudes of the Sermon on the Mount in the same
category with the ten commandments of the law.
This were not to enrich, but to make them all the
poorer. Their fulness consists in this, that each of
these beatitudes comprises all the ten commandments,
only from a higher and more comprehensive point
of view, as summed up in the law of the Spirit. Even
the first quality of poverty in spirit comprises Mount
Sinai, with all its commandments, inasmuch as this
state of feeling is the aim, the object, the spiritual
efiect, and the substance of the entire legislation;
and hence, also, the germ of the whole new life. It
is impossible to feel poor in spirit, without at the
same time longing for the riches of the Spirit of God,
or of the kingdom of heaven. Hence we draw the
following inferences as to the succession of the beat-
itudes: (1) Each new stage contains again the first
stage in a new form. (2) Each new stage preserves all
the former stages. (3) In the last, they are summed
up and presented under the form of life which has
attained its perfection. For, first, it is evident that
the seven beatitudes are in reality only one beatitude.
Secondly, the seven graces or spiritual states consti-
tute one grand direction in reference to God and to
our neighbor, even the direction of the heart unto
truth. Lastly, the seven promises are not seven dis-
tinct elements, but seven successive forms under
which the kingdom of heaven is presented. Under
the first form, the kingdom of heaven itself is pre-
sented, but mainly objectively ; while in the last
form it reappears, but this time mainly subjectively,
as finally possessed by the saints.
5. The following contrasts exhibit the relation
between the apparent descent, and the actual ascent
of souls, as presented in the seven beatitudes.
(1) To be poor in spirit, and — To possess the kingdom of
heaven, as the object set
before us, or as possession
of the heart.
-To be comforted without
measure.
•To obtain the dominion of
the earth by spiritual tri-
umphs.
-To be satisfied in the high-
est sense, and absolutely
(to obtain food and drink).
(2) To mourn without mea-
sure,
(3) Meekly to bear injustice
upon earth,
(4) To hunger and thirst in
spirit "after righteous-
ness (to bear the judg-
ment of God),
(5) In the service of mercy,
to devote our life to the
wants of the world,
(G) Purity of heart: absolute
renunciation of the world,
death of our own will,
(7) To bo peacemakers. To
be sent and crist into
every burning controver-
-To rest in the bosom of in-
finite mercy.
-To behold God. Absolute
possession of all in this vis-
ion of God. Blessed enjoy-
ment of this vision.
-The glory and beauty of
the sons of God, or of thoso
who are princes in His eter-
106
TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
sy of the world. To de- iiiil kingdom. The vehicles
Bcend as mediators to llio oJtlio ble.ssiiig whicli coin-
very gates of hell, etli from God. Transform-
ed into the image of the
Son of God.
Generally :
To siilfer for righteousness' —Actual inward possession
sake, of tho kingdom of heaven.
To sutler for Christ's sake, — A new world : tho eternal
inheritance, the great re-
ward in heaven.
6. The paradox exhibited iu these contrasting
statements, which probably comes out most distinct-
ly in tho first beatitude, indicates the relationship be-
tween Christianity and the world, and the judgment
of the world generally. Christianity itself is that
" foolishness of God " which is wiser than the wis-
dom of this world, and that truth of God which
sweeps away the delusive appearances of the world
(comp. 1 Cor. 1. 17, etc.).
7. It is evident that the seven stages here de-
scribed may be arranged under twice three stages,
based upon poverty in spirit, and indicating a three-
fold relationship toward God and toward the world :
1, religious and moral relationship to God : mourn-
ing, hungering, and thirsting; purity of heart; 2,
moral and rehgious relationship toward the world :
meekness, mercy, peacemaking. But besides, it is
important to notice how each of these stages is al-
ways the result of that which precedes it. Thus pov-
erty in spirit leads to mourning ; mourning renders
meek ; meelaiess obtains a view of eternal righteous-
ness; hungering and thirsting after this righteous-
ness renders infinitely merciful and compassionate ;
mercy surrenders everything, renounces all, and thus
becomes purity of heart, which surrenders all, and
devotes all. Purity of heart is the disposition requi-
site for the Divine commission of bringing peace into
the world. The peacemakers necessarily suffer for
righteousness' sake (Isa. lii. 7) ; and in measure as
they apprehend the kingdom of love in its essential
features, will they see and understand that all is but
suffering for Christ's sake.
This progress from poverty in spirit to the high-
est stage of peacemaking and suffering for Christ's
sake, is the effect of Divine grace acting upon and
influencing the soul which is humbled under a sense
of spiritual poverty. Accordingly, the first effect of
beholding the kingdom of heaven, is to mourn. —
Similarly, to be really comforted, leads to meekness.
— The consciousness of special victory achieved by
bearing wrong, issues in hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. — Those who are satisfied are merciful,
etc.
8. The Sermon on the Mount, which embodies the
spiritual principles of the kingdom of heaven in all its
bearings and aspects, may be compared with other
forms of religious and moral legislation. In the passage
succeeding it, a comparison is instituted between this
new form of the eternal law and the law of Moses
and the traditions of the Pharisees. Not that the
Sermon on the Mount is a rectification, but a harmo-
nious development, the continuation and appHcation,
of the law of God under the Old Covenant ; while the
contrast with traditionaUsm is strongly and markedly
brought out. (On the relation between the Sermon
on the Mount and the sayings of heathen sages,
comp. Tholuck's Commentarii. On the false applica-
tion of the Sermon on the Mount to civic and polit-
ical relationship, by Quakers and other sectaries,
comp. Stier's Discourses of Jesus.)
nOMILETlCAL AND PRACTICAL.
Glorious accomplishment of the prediction of
Moses : " A Prophet like unto me," etc. ; Deut. xviii.
If). — Mount Sinai, and the obscure, unknown Mount
of Beatitudes. — The sacred mountains. — Import of
the expression : " He went up into a mountain." * —
The law of the letter spiritually explained, and the
law of the Spirit expressed in the letter. — Outward
and inward tradition : Cain and Abel, Ishmael and
Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Caiaphas and Christ. — The
first and the second Sermon on the Mount, or the
disciples and the people. — The place whence Christ
taught, a symbol of Christian teaching: 1. A stone
on the summit (let our doctrine be simple) ; 2. the
summit of a mountain (let our doctrine be exalted) ;
3. a place of prayer (let it be holy, derived from hea-
ven) ; 4. a place of pilgrimage (let it be from life, and
for life). — "iTe opened His mouth: " this the comple-
tion of revelation.f — The Old Covenant with its ten
commandments ; the New with its seven beatitudes.
— The law given by Moses : grace and truth appear-
ed by Jesus Christ. — The one beatitude of Christians
unfolding into seven beatitudes. — " Blessed are : " we
must be blessed in order to become blessed. — Neces-
sity of a state of grace in the kingdom of God. 1.
Such a state is the condition of further attainments.
2. It precedes all gracious action. — The seven beati-
tudes marking deepening humiliation. — The seven
beatitudes marking (/rowing exaltation. — Correspon-
dence of this humihation and exaltation. — '^Blessed are
the poor in spirit : for,'''' etc. (Similarly each of the
other beatitudes by itself furnishing a theme for pre-
cious meditation.) — The kingdom of heaven in its
grand outlines : comfort, gain, satisfaction, enjoyment
of mercy, vision of God, adoption into the family of
God. — Or again, the kingdom of peace and of joy ;
of love and of meekness ; of righteousness ; of mer-
cy ; of blessed knowledge ; of heavenly peacemaking
and of glory. — Poverty in spirit the fruit of the law
(of the Old Covenant), and the germ of the Gospel
(of the New Covenant). — The crowning glory of the
law is poverty in spirit. — The triumph of the law
consists in that iu makes poor ; that of the Gospel,
in that it makes rich. — A well-marked and definite
state consists in a definite and well-marked tendency
of mind and heart : poverty in spirit is longing for
the entire kingdom of heaven. — A view of the king-
dom of heaven in its nearness leads to mourning. —
He who has been comforted by a manifestation of
the kingdom of heaven, becomes meek. — Victory
over men and the earth leads to hungering and thirst-
ing after the righteousness of God. — If we have been
satisfied in the house of God, we shall learn to be
merciful. — He who reposes on eternal mercy may
well surrender all, and be pure in heart. — One glimpse
of this vision of God converts man into a messenger
* [Chr. Wordsworth, in Matt. v. 1 : " Christ had four places
of spiritual retirement from the bustle of the world — all, in
a certain sense, exemplary: 1. "^V" ^P'lMo;', for fasting and
temptation, conflict with Satan. 2. r'b upo^, for prayer,
teaching, miraculous feeding, transfiguration, finally ascen-
sion. 3. rh -nXoiov (type of the Church), for teaching and
miracles. 4. The garden of Gethsemane, agony."— P. S.]
t [Dr. Wordsworth, quoting from the fathers on avoi^as
Tb arofxa avrov : "He who before had opened the mouth
of Moses and all tho Prophets, now opens His own mouth, —
He who had taught tho world by them concerning Himself,
now teaches in His own Person — God with us, and He de-
livers in the Sermon on the Mount a perfect code of Chris-
tian Duty."— P. 8.]
CHAP. V. 1-16.
107
of peace. 1. He has seen the peace of the Spirit,
and carries it to other spirits ; 2. he has seen the
peace of the blessed, and brings it to men ; o. he has
seen the peace of nature, and introduces it into soci-
ety.— The children of God, the image of the Son of
God. — The rigliteousness of the kingdom of heaven
springing from a sevenfold sense of unrighteousness :
poverty, mourning, etc. — To suffer for righteousness'
sake, is to suffer for Christ's sake, and vke versa. —
Holy sutlering the most glorious doing: 1. As the
crown and seal of every deed of faith ; 2. as the vic-
tory over temptation to evil-doing ; 3. as the victory
over the evil deeds of men ; 4. as a testimony to the
deed of God. — " Faheli/" or "/or 3/)/ sake." — It is
only if we really suffer for His sake that the Lord
charges Himself with it. — Blessed are they which are
persecuted for Christ's sake. — Even revilers contrib-
ute to our blessedness. — Christians as companions of
the prophets, 1. in their sufferings ; 2. in their bless-
edness.— The persecutions of the world designed to
prepare believers for being the salt of the eartli and
the Ught of the world. — The disciples of the Lord,
the salt of the earth, the light of the world. — The
disciples are to be the sail of the earth, 1. by con-
suming death, 2. by preventing corruption, 8. by pro-
moting life. — If the salt have lost its savor, nothing
can remedy the evil ; so also with a dead profession,
and a dead ministry. — Salt that has lost its savor is
cast on the great road of life, as exemplified, 1. by
heathen antiquity, 2. by theocratic Judaism, 3. by
mediaeval traditionalism. — The disciples of the Lord
the light of the world through the great light of hea-
ven.— Only in the light of the Lord can we diffuse
light.— The Church of God a citij set on a hill.— The
candle of the ministry in the house of God. — The
candle is not to be put under the bushel, but on a
candlestick : (a) Not under the bushel of the letter
merely, or of officialism, or of our limited understand-
ing, or of our narrow sympathies ; but (b) on the can-
dlestick of a sound confession, of ecclesiastical order,
of spiritual liberty, and of a Christian life. — The stake
of martyrs the lofty candlestick of the Church. — Let
your light shine, 1. to enlighten men, 2. to throw
light on Christian works, 3. to glorify the Father of
lights (James i.). — Our Father in heaven is glorified
by poverty in spirit, 1. because He bestows it; 2. be-
cause it leads to Him ; 3. because in Him it obtains
the kingdom of heaven.
Starke : — Christ will give us also a mouth and
wisdom, Luke xxi. 15. — A preacher must open bis
moutli without fear or liesitation ; confess the truth
without being afraid ; nor spare any one, whoever
he be, Isa. Iviii. 1. — The larger the audience, and
the more anxious it is, the more gladly should the
preacher open his mouth. — It ouglit to be the great
concern of man to obtain eternal life, Phil. ii. 12. —
By pride have we fallen from the kingdom of God,
and by humility must we again enter it, James iv. 16.
— God bestows all in return for all, or rather, in re-
turn for nothing. — The greater our faith, the deeper
our humility. — The more wretched a man is in his
own eyes, the more exalted and acceptable is he in
the sight of God. — Sufferings borne for the sake of
God, and tears shed for our own sins and for those
of our neighbors (Ps. cxis. 136) are the well-spring
of true comfort, Isa. Ixi. 3. — The comfort of man
only increases our sorrow. Job xvi. 2 ; but Divine
consolation makes the lieart joyous and assured, Ps.
xciv. 19. — Meekness builds up, while hot and rash
zeal pulls down. — The ungodly have no title to their
possessions in this world, and death shall at last de-
prive them of all, Ps. xlix. 18. — Luther: Where
real hunger and earnestness are awanting, fair ap-
pearances will lead to no result. — True hunger seeks
for that which affords nourishment and satisfaction.
— Whoever showeth mercy shall obtain fresh mercy
from God. — You forgive a small error, but God will
forgive all your sins. But woe to the unmerciful,
James ii. 13 ; Matt. xxv. 42 ; Luke xvi. 25. — By na-
ture no man is pure in heart, Jer. xvii. 9 ; Gen. viii.
21 ; Prov. xx. 9: God creates it in us, Ps. Ii. 12. —
Without hoUness no man can see the Lord, Heb.
xii. 14. — Happy he who, having been born blind, ob-
tains his sight; but more blessed by far the man
who, being born spiritually blind, is enabled
to see God, Rev. iii. 1*7, 18. — Those who love to
quarrel, to dispute, and to make strife, are the chil-
dren of the devil. — It is a sigTi that we ai-e the chil-
dren of God, if we love peace and advance it. — Not
only what we do, but what we suffer, is a fruit of
faith, Heb. xi. 33, 36. — Behevers are hated, reviled,
and persecuted on account of the things for which
they should be loved and blessed, John x. 32.
— Persecution for righteousness' sake has a great
reward. — The more painful to flesh and blood
the preaching of the cross, the more readily
should it be received, Luke ix. 44. — Luther:
What comfort that the Son of God Himself
calls us blessed, let whoever may speak ill of us!
1 Cor. iv. 3-5. — Christians, and especially ministers,
must submit to reviling and persecution: this has
always been the lot of the Church ; nor is it a good
sign when a servant of God is without it. Gal. vi. 12.
— The Church is preserved despite the fury of Satan.
— Let persecutors rage, since Christ offers us such
blessed comfort. — He who in his inmost heart re-
joices not in the cross of Christ, is not worthy of
Him, James i. 2. — To be reviled and persecuted by
the world for conscience' sake, is to be commended
and crowned. Rev. ii. 10. — By suffering we enter
into communion with the prophets and the Lord Je-
sus Himself — The inheritance of the saints is m
heaven. — Teachers are not only to have salt in them-
selves, but also to make right use of their salt, so as
to apply neither too much nor too little of the pun-
gent, 1 Tim. iv. 16. — When the children and ser-
vants of God remain stedfast under persecutions,
they prove themselves good salt; but If they give
way, the salt has lost its savor. — While attemptnig
to avoid persecution, we sliall all the more expose
ourselves to it. — Believers should be united, that the
world may recognize a visible Church, Heb. x. 29. —
The eyes of all are set upon religious men, especially
upon those who are teachers, and placed over a
church : if they act in accordance with their profes-
sion, many are edified ; if otherwise, the scandal is
all the greater, 2 Cor. vi. 3. — Every Christian must
be anxious to bring others to the hght and knowl-
edge of the truth, Luke xxii. 32. — A candle does
not put itself upon a candlestick, neither does a min-
ister take upon himself the sacred office, Eph. iv. 11.
— He who hides the grace of sanetification, shall
lose it. — Blessed the household over which even one
beheving soul sheds its light. — Faith alone leads to
truly good works. — Faith does not stop to inquire
whether it is necessary to do good works : it is its
nature to manifest itself in good works. — The grand
object of good works is the glory of God, 1 Cor. x.
31.
lAsco : — In the kingdom of Christ, possession of
the world is attained, not by might, but by meek-
ness.— What the sun is to this world as the hght of
108
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the cartli, that the disciples of Christ should be to
nianlcind generally.
Ga-lach : — The first four beatitudes apply to those
who arc seeking ; the last, to those who know how
to preserve what they have found. — The meek sliall
inherit the earth. Possession of his inheritance
commences, spiritually, immediately, since all things
belong to believers, and all contributes to their
salvation (1 Cor. iii. 21-23 ; Rom. viii. 28). But it
also literally commences on earth, since tlie Church
of God outlasts all the kingdoms of this world (Dan.
vii. IV, 18), and is destined to become the most ex-
tensive kingdom of this world. Lastly, it shall be
fully accomplished, when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, and we shall appear with Him in
glory. — The highest reward of love to God, is the
love of God. — If salt is pungent, it is also savory ;
if liglit penetrate and reveal, it also quickens and
revives : similarly the servants whom the Lord has
furnished for His own work.
Heuhner : — If we would listen to the Saviour, we
also must ascend with Him from what is earthly to
what is heavenly. — On the manifestations of God
witnessed in sacred mountains. — When Jesus opens
His mouth let us open our hearts. — Luther on the
passage : These are the three points which go to
make a good preacher: He must come boldly for-
ward; 2. he must open his mouth before all men,
and say something worth hearing ; 3. he must know
when and where to stop.* — Spiritual poverty. Pa.
xxxiv. 19 ; 11. 19 ; Isa. xh. 1*7 ; liv. 6 ; Ivii. 25 ; Ixi. 1 ;
Ixvi. 2. — Humility stands at the top of all the Beati-
tudes.— Luther: It is the prerogative of God to make
something out of nothing. — To be destitute of spiritual
poverty, is to be destitute of all practical religion. —
Auffustine, Enarr. in Fs. cxxxvi. : " multi flent fletu
Babylouio, quia et gaudent gaudio Babylonio. Qui
gaudent lucris et iient damnis, utrumquc do Baby-
lonia est. riere debes sed recordandi* Sion." — Let us
always bear in mind Rev. vii. 17, and xxi. 4: " God
will wipe away all tears from their eyes." But how
can we hope to enjoy this blessed privilege, if we
have not actually shed tears on earth ? — Spiritual
hungering and thirsting an evidence of spiritual
health. — It is our highest honor to bear the cross of
Christ. — "We shall be rendered perfect by enduring
affliction. — The gradation here uidicated is absolute-
ly necessary ; not one of the steps may safely be left
out. — Vers. 12. (Pericopc.) The order of grace, or
of beatitude: 1. It commences with repentance (vers.
3-5) ; 2. it rests on faith (ver. 6) ; 3. it requires con-
tinual sanctificatiou (vers. 7-9) ; 4. it is evidenced by
suffering (10-12).
* [If I remember rightly, Luther once gave this homileti-
cal advice (derived from the words: Jle opened His mmith)
in a more pointed form than Heubner, viz. : TVitt frisch
auf; thu '« 2Iaul auf; Iwr huld aufl i. e., "Get up bold-
ly; open the mouth widely; be done quickly." — P. S.]
n.
The doctrine and righteousness of Christ the genuine development and fulfilment of the Old Testament,
as being the true and absolute fulfilment of the law in contradistinction to spurious traditionahsm,
or the ossification and perversion of the law exliibited in the righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes,
in respect both of their teaching and in their practice. Christ and Moses ; Christ and traditionalism.
— Descent from the Mount of Divine Revelation to the arbitrary dispensations and ordinances of man.
Ch.v. iT-ch. vii. 6.
(Ch. V. 20-26, the Gospel for the 6th Sunday after Trmity.— Ch. vi. 24-34, the Gospel for the 15th Sunday
after Trinity.)
1. Christ and the Law ; or, Christ the absolute fulfilment.
Chapter V. 17-19.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
18 destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
19 one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever there-
fore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be
called the least in the kingdom of heaven : but whosoever shall do and teach them, the
same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
and custom — to be accustomed, to think, to imagine
(to suppose according to custom). Hence the expres-
sion here points to a legal prejudice: Do not sup-
pose that I am come to destroy the law.*
The connection between this and what precedes, is
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 17. Think not, ^^ votJii<T-r\r t . — The
choice of the expression, voixi^^iv, in connection with
the word v6^los mamediately following, must not be
overlooked. The verb implies : to recognize as use
* [German : das Geneiz zu enfsetzett, which might perhaps
be rendered: to illegalize or to outlaw the law.— P. S.]
CHAP. V. 17-19.
109
evident, although Meyer denies it. Immediately be-
fore, Jesus had spoken of persecution for righteous-
ness' sake and for His sake. This implied a con-
trast between His righteousness and that of the Pha-
risees and scribes. Accordingly, the question would
naturally arise as to the relation between His doc-
trine of the kingdom of heaven, the law, and the
Old Testament generally, since the disciples could
not, at the time, have been fully alive to the con-
trast between Jewish traditionalism and the law of
Moses. Evidently the prejudice might arise in their
minds, that Jesus intended to destroy the law.
This difficulty is immediately met by the declara-
tion, that He was come, not to destroy, but to
fulfil the law; nay that he was Himself its fulfil-
ment, and that not merely in respect o^ its types,
but of all the spnbols of truth which were afloat
among men, whether specially Jewish, or in heathen
religions, or even of those presented by history and
nature generally. Still, we must bear in mind that
Matthew always chiefly points to the fulfilment of
the Old Testament in Christ. The idea of an abso-
lute fulfilment of all types, is brought out in the Gos-
pel by John.
The law, or the prophets. — Xot merely the
Pentateuch as a book, or the prophets as the other
portions of the Old Testament, but also the gradual
spiritual development of Old Testament revelation
which they embody. The ^ is never used for Kai,
but always as a particle of distinction (comp. Winer,
Crram. of the^. T. ; Fritzsche ad Marc, p. 276 sqq.).
" In the present instance it means, to abrogate the
one, or the other." The Jews were guilty of vari-
ous kinds of abrogation of the law. The Sad-
ducecs destroyed the prophets, the Pharisees the
law, the Essenes, in part, both the law and the
prophets. But Christ preserved the Old Testament
in all its entirety, and fulfilled it in its deepest mean-
ing. As everywhere else, so here, the word f d w o s
refers to the ivhole law, and not merely to tlie Deca-
logue ; although we recognize in the Old Testament
a manifest distmction between the moral law, the
ceremonial law, and the national or civil law. The
ceremonial was intended to supplement the moral
law; while the civil law supplemented both, and
formed their basis. " The special quotations from
the moral law which are afterward adduced by the
Saviour, are only intended as examples of the whole
law (or of what was most important) — consisting of
some of those moral precepts which would most
readily occur in the circumstances. He fulfilled the
whole law, — not the smallest ceremonial or national
ordinance being destroyed in its ultimate idea, while
everything which the law prescribed, and of which
the ancient ordinances were only the (ttoix'^m, was
carried out to its fuU ideal" (Meyer). "The ex-
pression, Tovs Trpo<p7)Tas, cannot possibly refer
to the predictions contained in their writings (the
Greek Fathers : Beza, Calovius, and others, — among
them, Tholuck and Xeander), as nobody would
imagine that the Messiah would destroy fhem.
Taken in coimection with the \>6iJ.os (comp. also ch.
vii. 12 ; xxii. 40), it must refer to the injunctions of
the prophetic writings." But carnal Judaizers might
regard the contrast between the life of Jesus and
their fanciful and secularized views of what the lan-
guage of the prophets conveyed, as destroying not
only the law, but the prophets.
To destroy, KaraKvaa i, — in the sense of ab-
rogating, a revolutionary destruction of existmg in-
stitutions.
But to fulfil, a\Ao iT\rjp£cTa i. — The expres-
sion is differently interpreted, as meaning: 1. actually
to fulfil (Eisner, Woli; Bleek, and others); 2. to
complete doctrlnally, = TeAeituirai, to interpret more
fully, to perfect, i c, to bring out its spiritual mean-
ing (Lightfoot, Hammond, etc.); 3. combining the
two views : to make perfect as doctrine, and to ex-
hibit perfectly in the life. In adopting the latter
interpretation, we must keep in mind that this
ir\vpai(7ii is not to be understood as implying that
an imperfect revelation was to be completed, but that
a preliminary and typical revelation was to be pre-
sented in all its fulness, and completely realized by
word and deed. [Dr. Wordsworth : " Christ fulfilled
the law and the prophets by obedience, by accom-
plishment of types, ceremonies, rites, and prophecies,
and by explaining, spiritualizing, elevating, enlarg-
ing, and perfecting the moral law, by writing it on
the hea7-t, and by giving p-ace to obey it, as well as
an example of obedience, by takmg away its curse ;
and by the doctrine of free justification by faith
in Himself, which the law prefigured and antici-
pated, but could not give." Augustine : " Aide Christi
adventimi \c\jubcbat, non juvabat ; post, etjubet et
juvaty Maldonatus: " Abolet non dmolveiido sed
absolvendo, non ddendo sed pcrjiciendo. — ^P. S.]
Ver. 18. For verily, ajUT;;/ 7ap; "|t3X
aK-qeSi y, — a solemn asseveration, used to introduce
important announcements. In such cases, St. John *
always repeated the word.
Till heaven and earth shall pass away.
— 1. In the sense of never: Calvin, Luther, Zwin-
gle, etc., — heaven and earth being regarded as ever-
lasting: Baruch iii. 32, comp. Luke xvi. 17. 2. To
the end of the world: Paulus, Tholuck. The law shall
last till a new order of things shall be introduced.
Proof : According to the New Testament, heaven and
earth are to pass away. The old and symbolical
shape and arrangements of this world shall pass
away sooner than the old symbolical law, just as the
extremities of the body die before the centre, or the
heart. But the law can only pass away in the letter by
being accomplished in the spirit and in truth. View-
ed as a shadow and type of things to come, the law
disappears in Christ ; but as to its substance, it is
part of the word of God, and as such it abideth for
ever, even in heaven.
The Iota refers to the smallest Hebrew letter i ;
the tittle, K^paia, to a stOl smaller mark, by which
similar-looking letters were distinguished, or else to
the little dot inserted in the i. The meaning is,
* [The Edinb. translator hern erroneously snbstitutt>s the
Baptist for the Evangelist. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in
the discourses of the Saviour, uniformly (in more than 50
passases) use the single a/x-hv, while the Saviour, in the
Gospel of John, always (in 24 p,Tss3ges) uses the double
aixriv (a Hebrew (pizeuxis, or emphatic repetition of the
same word, comp. ~XS ~xr). See John i. 61 (52); iii. 3, 5,
11 ; V. 19, 24, 25: vi. 26, 3l>,' 47, 53 ; viii. .34, 51, 58, etc! etc.
The uniformity of this usage in the mouth of the Saviour,
and the Saviour only, is significant. Tholuck, Olshausen,
de "Wetle, and Meyer state the fact, but attempt no explana-
tion. Bengel (Gnomon ad Joh. i. 51) accounts for it on the
ground that the Saviour spoke in the name of the Father
and in His own, and adds that at the time when the first
three Gospels were written it was not yet se.isonablc to re-
cord the double o.ix'i}i', and the argument for the Divinity of
Christ implied in it. 1 venture to suggest that John, or
rather Christ himself, desired to emphasize the fact that He
was the absolute, the personal Truth, as He says, John xiv.
6, or the Amen, as He is called. Eev. iii. 14. For no one else
in the N. T. ventures to use the phrase : Verily (not even
once) I say unto you. — P. S.]
no
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
that the most delicate and apparently smallest de-
terminations and distinctions were to be preserved
in tlie delicate and finer outlines of spiritual life.
Till all be fulfilled. — Tims the law has a two-
fold termination, a ncj;ative and a positive. Nega-
tively, it terminates with the old world; positively,
it is realized in the new and spiritual world, now in-
augurated. Comp. Luke xvi. IV.
Ver. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break,
or iav olv Kixttj. — In the Conj. Aor., indicating
what may take place at some future period (the pos-
sible futurum exactum). The term used is Xvatj, not
KaraXvari, since, according to the Divine arrange-
ment, none could in the old woi'ld acliieve the koto-
Xvaai. of the law.
One of these least commandments ; referring
to the iota and tittle. — The expression, least, does
not apply to the pharisaical distinction between
great and small commandments (according to Wet-
stein), but to the difference made by the Lord Him-
self, between tlie law generally and its iota and tittle.
" Such a person is not entirely excluded from the
kingdom, because his opposition is not one of prin-
ciple, nor directed against the law itself, but only
against its minutiae." — Meyer.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The hiimilihi and majesty of Christ in defining
his relation to the "law. He declares at once his sub-
ordination to the Old Testament, and his superiority
over" it.
2. Christ destroys nothing but sin, which indeed
destroys itself. All that is divine in this world, nay,
even all that is truly human. He elevates and spirit-
uahzes. Thus Christ is the absolute fulfilment of
the Old Testament and of the old world — and that,
both in His hfe and doctrine. " All that is transient
— it is only a likeness, incomplete here — but reahty
there." *-r-" Generally, and in every respect, I have
come, not to destroy aught that is right or true : the
object of My advent has been to preserve, to carry
on, and to perfect every commencement, prepara-
tion for, and expectancy of, the kingdom of God
throughout humanity. Thus the Saviour lifts His
eyes beyond Israel on the heathen world, for whose
sake also He has come, and where his advent marks
a fulfilment of spiritual aspirations, which, though
dim, were already in existence, and only waited for
their unfolding and accompUshment. He looks into
the depths of humanity, as opened up before Him,
and views all history in its highest import as tending
toward, and as expectancy of. Himself." — Stier. .,
3. The fulfilment of the law and prophets is im-
plied in the appearance of Jesus : it has been car-
ried out in His life; it is still developing in His
Church ; and will continue until it becomes perfectly
manifest in the reappearing of Christ, or the mani-
festation of the new order of things, of which He is
the centre.
4. " There is a fulfilment of the law in its mere
letter, which is really a transgression of the law, as
expressed in that true saying: summum jus, summa
injuria. On the other hand, there is a transgression
of the letter of the law, which may be a fulfilment of
* [Allusion to the mysterious conclii
part of Goethe's Faust: '
of the second
' Alles VergaenglicheUtnuTein Gleichniss ;
Pas Vnzulaengliche hier v:ird's JSreigmss ^
T>as Unbegreifiiche hier v:ird's gethan;
Das ewig n'eiUiche zielit una hman."—P. S."|
its spirit."— Tholuck (p. 148). We add, that there
is a seeming destruction of the old, which, in reality,
is its fulfilment; while its ."i/iMWoMS preservation im-
phes real destruction.
5. The Lord here sets before us the contrast, not
between entire opposition to the law and its perfect
fulfilment, but between partial opposition and per-
fect fulfilment. To attempt destroying the law en-
tirely, were to be an enemy of the kingdom of
lieaven, and hence beyond its pale. But even the
attempt to destroy it partially in its least, but, at
the same time, most deUcate injunctions, brings
down the punishment of being called least in the
kingdom of heaven. So far as it goes, every such
destruction is a revolution, not a reform. " He shall
be called least in the kingdom of heaven, because
his spirit is least capacious, and because he finds it
impossible to realize the life of the law without
surrendering its special directions, and confining
himself to a few abstract principles." — Leben Jesu,
ii. 2, p. 593.
6. The order which Christ estabhshes, is that of
doing and teaching, not the reverse. But this order
of life becomes a disorder, where doing and teaching
have a negative tendency. If, on the contrary, we
do and teach the law in a proper spirit, we shall be
the means by whicli Christ fulfils and accomplishes
His regeneration and transformation of the world.
Hence we shall also be called great in the kingdom
of heaven.
7. In connection with this subject, we recall to
mind the various antinomian tendencies ; not merely
those in direct opposition to tlie law, but such, when,
under the guise of obedience, the spirit of the law
was contravened. The context shows that our Lord
referred to the latter as well as to the former. For
nothing is more revolutionary than rigid and tyran-
nical traditionalism.
8. Jesus carefully guards Himself against the sus-
picion that He was about violently to put an end to
the Old Dispensation and the ancient theocratic order
of things. The same line of argument was, at a
later period, adopted by the Apostle Paul, when de-
fending himself against a similar charge, Rom. hi. 31.
When Paul speaks of the abrogation of the law, he
always refers only to its temporary, transient, and
traditional form (Eph. ii. 15; Col. ii. 14). In this
sense the law must pass away, in order that its real
nature as the law of the spirit may appear. — But it
is important to remember, that in this passage the
Lord passed over the aljolition of outward and tem-
[lorary ordinances, while He laid emphasis upon the
fulfilment of the law in the Gospel, and that not
merely for the purpose of rebutting the antinomian
expectations hitherto entertained, as if the revela-
tion of the kingdom of heaven implied the destruc-
tion of the law. We rather conceive that His argu-
ment was mainly directed against the popular prej-
udice, that He intended to detract from the charac-
ter and obligations of the law.
nOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
Even on His first appearance, Christ felt that He
would be represented as a rebel and destroyer of the
authority of the law. — Against such suspicions He sol-
emnly protested. — Christ has guarded His Gospel and
His Cliurch from the suspicion of revolutionary ten-
i dencies.— The old error, which seeks to identify the re-
ligion of the Spirit with rebelhon, as appearing, 1.
I in the history of Christ ; 2. m that of His Church.—
CHAP. V. 20-48.
Ill
Christ the fulfiUer of the law. — The law and the
prophets. — The absolute fulfilment : 1. in His doc-
trine; 2. in Ilis hfe; 3. in His history; 2 Cor. i.
20 ; Heb. xiii. 8. — Import of the name of Jehovah,
Rev. i. 4. — Tlie law in its essence is eternal. — The
law must be fulfilled in all its parts : 1. As spiritual
requirement, which must be spiritually accomplished ;
2. as an emblem of the Spirit, which is to be real-
ized by the Spirit; 3. as a promise of the Spirit,
which the Spirit will fulfil. — Every sacred emblem
has its corresponding reality in the kingdom of
Christ. — Christ has fulfilled the law: 1. The moral
law by His obedience; 2. the sacrificial law by
His suflPeriugs ; 3. the civil or national law by His
institutions. — Even the laws and emblems of our
lives must become reaUty. — The law fulfilled by
the manifestation of the spirit of the law, since
the Spirit brings out, 1. the one grand principle
of the law, instead of its many injunctions; 2.
the life of the law in the individual ; 3. reveals the
infinite depth of the law. — The law is transformed
and glorified in its fulfilment. — A mere carnal ob-
servance of the letter may in reality be an abroga-
tion of the law. — To resist the spiritual unfolding of
the law, is, under the guise of allegiance, to rebel
against its authority. — The Gospel ju-esents the law
in its spiritual aspect. — He who, by his interpreta-
tions of the law, attempts to make the kingdom of
heaven small, cannot himself be great in the king-
dom of heaven. — Grandeur of free obedience. — Do-
ing and teaching: such is the order of Christ. — The
righteousness of Christ, and that of the Pharisees
and scribes.
Slarke : — The word of God abideth for ever, Luke
xvi. 17. — There is no commandment of God too
small to be obeyed, James ii. 10.
Gerlach: — The law was essentially spiritual; but
on account of the hardness of the Jewish heart, it
was fenced in under the Old Testament by outward
ordinances, which, for the time, prevented the full
manifestation of its depth. Hence, in order to " ful-
fil it," Christ broke through the barriers, and thus
unfolded its true glory ; while the Pharisees contra-
vened the spirit of the law by the observance of its
letter, which in reaUty destroyed, instead of fulfil-
ling it.
2. Relation between the Doctrine of Christ and the Law ; and between the latter and the Doctrine of the
Pharisees and Scribes, or Jewish Traditionalism, as exhibited in five special instances, — showing tlie
spurious in opposition to the genuine development of the Law, its narrowing by the letter, and its fulness
in the spirit.
Chapter V. 20-48.
{Ch. V. 20-26, the Gospel for the Gih Sunday after Trinity.)
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
21 Ye have heard that it was said by [toj^ them of old time, Thou shalt not kill ; and
22 whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judguient : But I say unto [to] you, That
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause [without cause] ^ shall be iu
danger of tlie judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in
danger of the council : but [and] whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of
23 hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy
24 brother hath aught against thee ; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy
25 way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with
thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him ; lest at any time the ad-
versary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be
26 cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till
thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by [to] them of old tirae,^ Thou shalt not commit
28 adultery : But I say imto [to] you. That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
29 hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend
thee [cause thee to offend], pluck it out, and cast it from thee : for it is profitable for
thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be
30 cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee [cause thee to offend], cut it ojff, and
cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
31 and not that thy whole body should be cast [depart, aTrikOrf] into hell. It hath been
said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving [save] for the
cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery : and whosoever shall marry her
that is divorced committeth adidtery.
112
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
33 Again, ye have lieard tliat it hatli been said by [to] them of old time, Thou slialt
34 not forswear thyself [swear falsely], but shalt perform mito the Lord thine oaths: But
35 I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: Nor by
the earth ; for it is his footstool ; neither by Jerusalem ; for it is the city of the great
36 King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because tliou canst not make one hair
37 wliite or black. But let your communication [word, Aoyos] be. Yea, yea; Nay, nay:
for whatsoever is more than these coraeth of evil.
38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
39 But I say unto }^ou, That ye resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right
40 cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take
41 away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel [impress]
42 thee to go a mile, go with him twain [two]. Give to him that asketh thee, and from
him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate
44 thine enemy. But I say unto you. Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you,* and pray for them which [who] despitefully use you,
45 and ^ persecute you ; That ye may be the children of your Father which [who] is in
heaven : for he m.aketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
46 on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have
47 ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what
do ye more than others [tliat excels, ti Trepia-a-ov] ? do not even the publicans [the
48 heathen] ® so ? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which [who] is in heaven
is perfect.
J Yer. 21. — [To7y apx^'O'^j to the ancients, is the interpretation of the Greek fathers, the ancient versions, and all the
English versions from Wiclif 's to the Genevan inol., and also that of Eheims. This is certainly much more natural than
the rare and mostly questionable abkitire use of the dative case, which Beza, in his later editions, preferred, and which
passed into the E. V. of 1611. Bensel {Gnomon in loc.) remarks: "Antitheton, ro&f«; unde patet, to7s apxaiois,
itntiquis (patribus, tempore Mosis) non esse casu sexto: faciliorque est constructio : dictum est antiquis, id est, ad anti-
quos, quam ab antiquis.'''' The word ippv^rj is always followed in the N. T. or the Septuagint by the substantive which
denotes the person to tchom (not by whom) the words were spoken, comp. Eom. ix. 12, 26 ; Gal. iii. 16; Eev. vi. 11; ix. 4.
Comp. also Com. — P. S.]
- Ver. 22. — Eirt^, without cause, omitted by Cod. B., several minuscule MSS., translations, and fathers. [Lachmann
and Tischendorf omit it, and Tregelles marks it as very doubtful. Alford retains it, and there is sufficient ancient authori-
ty for it to justify its continuance in the popular translations.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 27.— [The critical authorities are against ro7s apx^iots of the text. rec. in this verse, and throw it out of the
text. But Dr. Lange retains it in his transl. Comp. vers. 31, 38, and 43, where these words are likewise omitted.— P. S.]
■J Ver. 4-}.— [The clauses of the received text: "bless them that curse you, do rjood to them that hate you," are marked
as doubtful by Uriesbach, and omitted in the modern critical editions; but they are genuine in the parallel passage, Luke
vi. 27, 23. Hence Dr. Lange retains them here in his translation.— P. S.]
6 Ver. 44. The words: "ichich despitefully use you and \tuiv iirripfa^Si'Twv v/J-as Kai] are omitted by some
authorities. [Lachmann, Tischendorf; Tregelles, and Alford omit them, and Meyer is disposed to regard them as an inter-
polation from Luke vii. 28.— P. S.l
8 Yor. 47.— [Dr. Lange translates: die Ileiden, the heathen, following the reading: ol tbpiKoi (Vulgata: ethnici),
which is better authenticated in ver. 47 than reXwyai, publicani. The latter seems to have been taken from ver. 46i
where T^Koovai. is universally sustained. See Tischend., Lachm., Tregelles, and Alford ad loc.—V. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
General Remarks on the lohole Section. — (1) Real
abolition of the law under guise of rendering its in-
junctions more rigid ; hedging in of the law in its
spirituality and perfectness by the traditions of the
scribes and Pharisees, resulting in perversion of doc-
trine by converting the law into a series of outward
and finite ordinances.
First Instance: Abrogation of the law through
observance of the letter, by the conversion of a mo-
ral precept into a purely civil law, thus secularizmg
it, and destroying its spirit — as shown in the tradi-
tions connected with the commandment: "TJiou
shall not kill." Second Instance : Abrogation of the
law by weakening its force, and converting a Umited
permission into an encouragement — as shown in the
traditions connected with the commandment: '■'■Thou
shalt 7ioi commit adultery." Third Instance: Abro-
gation of the law by the perversion of a solemn assev-
eration into a common mode of assurance, or into
cursing — as exhibited in the injunctions connected
vnth oaths. Fourth Instance: Abrogation of the law
by the conversion of an ordinance of criminal law
intended to put an end to private vengeance into a
moral law, which, in reaUty, sanctioned vengeance —
as shown in the law of retaliation. Fifth Instance :
AboUtion of the law by sectarian interpretation and
false inferences — as exhibited in connection with the
great commandment : " TIiou- shalt love thy neigh-
bor."
(2) In opposition to these perversions, we have
five instances of the fulfilment of the law by the teach-
ing of Christ, "in each of which the law is traced
back to the mind and heart, or to the moral and re-
ligious life generally. In the first of the above in-
stances, the law is traced back to the passion of
anger ; in the second, to adulterous desires ; in the
third, to the sinful want of reverence ; in the fourth,
to yielding to the power of evil ; in the fifth, to sel-
fishness and sectarianism, which are incompatible
CHAP. V. 20-48.
113
with the requirements of universal love. In reference
to the first of these instances, the Lord requireth
from us brotherly feeling ; in reference to the second,
He demandeth sanctity in the relationship between
the sexes ; in reference to the third, calm assurance
in the fear of God, so that our " yea be yea, and our
nay nay ;" in reference to the fourth, meekness and
mercy, which overcometh injuries; while in refer-
ence to the fifth. He points out the infinitude of
love.
(3) In all these examples, Christ shows that,
viewed as a principle, in its true import and bearmg,
the law goes far beyond the mere letter, demanding
not only a definite outward compliance, but reaching
also the mind and heart. This boundless extent of
the law in its application to the inner man is here
presented in a definite form, and as special precepts ;
which, however, must not be interpreted Uterally, but
regarded as so many symbols designed to illustrate
the spirituality and depth of the law. Thus the car-
nal literalism and perversion of truth which appear
in the rabbinical interpretation of " Thou shalt not
kill," is met by a more literal yet infinitely deeper
application of the commandment. The dull stupidity
of their literalism is met, so to speak, bij a certain
irony of lUerality. Similarly, the lustfulness which
was legalized by the cunning perversion of the com-
mandment, " Tliou shalt not commit adultery," is met
by an uncompromising demand of the most complete
self-denial. In opposition to the third perversion of
the law, by which that -which was holy was thought-
lessly and sinfully dragged down, we have here a ma-
jestic prohibition uttered in the name of the highest
authority. Instead of the spirit of strife, fostered by
an abuse of the principle of retaliation, the Saviour
inculcates readiness to surrender even our own rights ;
while, lastly, the national pride and narrow sectarian-
ism of the Pharisees were to give place to the influ-
ences of a love so wide, as to break through all the
narrow bounds of bigotry. Thus Jesus refutes the
literaUsm of the scribes by literality ; and shows that
even in its literal hUerpretation, the letter of the law
was from the first only the symbol of its spirit.
Yer. 20. Except your righteousness shall
exceed, e^c, iav /u?j TTepia a-eua-r; . — The general
idea, to be better, or to excel, does not exhaust the ex-
pression, which implies to grow up beyond the right-
eousness of the scribes — to exceed it. The antithesis
lies in the statement, that the Pharisees have all their
reward here, while the righteousness of the kingdom
of heaven is not only lasting, but extends to the king-
dom of glory. The word ZiKawauvr} does not merely
refer to righteousness by faith, but in general to the
righteousness of the kingdom of lieaven as a princi-
ple, both in respect of doctrine and of life.
The directions here given by the Lord are man-
ifestly not intended by way of improvement upon
the law (Maldonatus and others), but as expressing
its true fulfilment in opposition to its destruction by
the traditions of the Pharisees. At first sight, it might
appear as if Christ were setting aside the letter of the
Old Testament ; while in reality He only refutes the
literaUsm of tradition, by which the true import of
the law was perverted. Against every other abroga-
tion of the law, the Lord protested on every occasion.
Ver. 21. By them, or more correctly : To those
of old, or to the ancients, to'ls apxa-ioi s. — Beza,
Schottgen, [our authorized version], and others, ren-
der, " by them of old." But this interpretation is ev-
idently strained, nor does it bring out the antithesis
in the words of our Lord, " But I say unto you."
They of old, or the ancients, are evidently the old re-
cipients of tradition, the Jewish synagogue, — not the
Lawgiver himself. The reference to traditionalism
in the word i pp tdi} is peculiarly apt. It were im-
possible to fix upon any one who had first propound-
ed these traditions ; they rather originated from the
general spirit of interpretation common in the syn-
agogue.*
Thou shalt not kill, Ex. xx. 13.— To this the
traditions of the scribes added, " Arid whosoever shall
kill," etc. — a gloss which destroyed the spiritual and
moral character of the law, and converted it into a
rigid and merely external legal enactment. For, in
the addition made by the scribes, the term kill man-
ifestly referred only to actual murder ; thus implying
that the law itself applied only to the outward act of
murder. — Shall be in danger of the judgment :
Kpiais, which, according to ver. 22, vras subject to
the Sanhedrim. Every town had such a local court,
the Council of Seven (consisting, accorduig to the
rabbins, of twenty-three members), which had the
power of pronouncing sentence upon crimes, and of
inflictmg execution by the sword (Joseph. Ant. iv. 8,
14 ; Deut. xvi. 18). The Sanhedrim, or the Council
of Seventy, alone had authority to pronounce sen-
tence of stoning, or to adjudicate in cases of grievous
heresy and of blasphemy.
Ver. 22. The word (Iktj (omitted in Cod. B, and
by some of the Fathers) is not of doubtful authority ;
at any rate, it would have to be mentally suppUed, as
the Scriptures do not condemn anger on proper occa-
sions, or moral indignation (see Eph. iv. 20 ; the ex-
ample of the Lord and His parables), f The passage
not only condemns unjust anger, but also the want of
love. — By the term brother, our Lord referred not
merely to Jews, but to our neighbors generally. — Ra-
ca. Variously interpreted as, 1. A mere interjection
by way of reproach ; 2. Xp"'"} , empty head ! a common
term of reproach at the tune. {See Buxtorf, Lex.
Tahn. ; also Ewald, who derives it from the Aramajan
N"p"i J and renders it 6?ac^^i<arc?.) 3. From pp'^j
to spit out — the prolonged imperative : Spit out, used
* [Dr. Alfonl, ad loc. : "Meyer (ed. 2) has well observed
[Dr. Bengrel did it before him] that 4ppy\d-q roh apxaiois
corresponds to Xeyu Se vtilv, and the iydi to the understood
subject of ip'p. He has not, however, apprehended the
deeper truth which underlies the omission of the subject of
ipp., that it was the same Person who said both. It will be
noticed that our Lord does not here spc.ilc against the aMise
of the law bv tnadition, but that every instance here given
is eitlier from the law itself, ovsuoJi traditional teaching as
■?0(/.s in accordance with it. The contrasts here are Dot be-
tween the law misunderstood and the Imo rightly under-
utood, but between the law and its ancient escposiiion, which
in their letter, and as given, were ksco — and the same as
f.jd/'iiualized, TreTrA.7jpoyu.eVo, l»j Christ ; not between two
laic(/irer8,'M.oses and Christ, but between ol apxcuoi and
vlu'ls ; between (the idea is Clirysostom's) the children by
tlie same husband, of the bo»d^coman f.id of thc./reewo-
man." Dr. Wordsworth : " toTs apxaiois—to those of old
(Chrys., Theoph., Maldon., Beng.), at the beginning of God's
written revelation, contradistingutshcd from viuv, '■to
%vhom I now speak face to face.' Our Lord not only opposes
tlic Pharisaic corruptions of the decalogue, but lie unfolds
it. Ho gives the kernel of it, its spirit, in opposition to
those who dn-elt only on the letter; foi the letter (?. «.,
talcen alone) killeth, but the spirit {added to it) giveth life,
Kom. vii. 14 ; a Cor. iii. 6."— P. S.]
+ [Orotius, ad loc, makes the appropriate remark:
" Merito gi'/cv odditum. Neque eum iracundus est quisquis
irasci solet, sed qui ols ov Se?, Koi icp' oh ov Se?, Kal /j.ci\-
\ov ^ 5eT, at Aristoteles loquitur."— P. S.]
114
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
as an interjection to designate Jierdics, at whom it
was customary to spit. In support of this interpre-
tation it might be argued, tliat the party so reproach-
ed was thereby, as it were, arraigned before the San-
hedrim.— The v,-ord fool, ixoip6s, bz': ^ indicates the
hopeless, helpless fool or atheist (Ps. xiv.). — Shall
be in danger of hell fire, evoxo<! ea-rai eiv
TiV yievfav. Here the dative is awantlng, as
mention is no longer made of any tribunal, but of the
punisliment at once awarded to such a person. The
New Testament term yiefi'u, or hdl, must be careful-
ly distinguished from the Jewish SJieol or Hades,
which means merely the realm of the dead or the re-
gion of the departed.* Originally, CSn N"!; , the
Valley of Hinnom ; more precisely, the Valley of the
Sons of Hinnom, at the southern declivity of Jerusa-
lem. Afterward, the place where, during the apos-
tasy, the service of Moloch was celebrated, 1 Kings
xi. V. King Josiah converted it into a place of abom-
ination, where dead bodies were thrown and burnt
(2 Kings xxiii. 13, 14). Hence it served as a symbol
of condemnation, and of the abode of lost spirits
(comp. Lightfoot, Eisenmenger, ErUdeckies Juden-
thum, and others).
Accordingly, the following are, in symbolic lan-
guage, the three gradations of punishment : —
(1) The sin of anger without a cause — in danger
of the local court.
(2) The sin of imputing heresy — in danger of the
Sanhedrim, or the highest spiritual judicatory.
(8) The sin of condemning one's neighbor — in dan-
ger of immediate condemnation.
These awards of the Lord are evidently not harsh
judgments, but in strict accordance with what is
absolutely right. He who pronounces judgment with-
out cause, is justly liable to the same judgment he
had pronounced, in contravention of the law of love
and of truth. The expression eroxos icrrai is pe-
culiarly apt, as meaning, he is liable, or justly subject.
This implies, not that he is lost in these judgments,
but that he stands in need of Divine grace. In His
explanation of the sixth commandment, the Lord does
not allude to actual murder, — according to Meyer —
because such a crime could not be supposed among
beUevers, or, as we tliink, because the Lord intended
to trace baclc every action to tlie state of mind from
which it sprung. In that respect, he who is angry
without cause stands on the same level with the mur-
derer, just as lust m the heart is in reality adultery
(1 John iii. 15).
Vers. 23 and 24. Going to the temple. There-
fore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar. — If thou
art about to bring an offering. In accordance with
the above principles, the party who deems himself
offended is treated as if he were the offender, or
as debtor to his brother. In short, the Lord addres-
ses Hunself to offenders generally. The passage
[The English 0. V., as also Luther's German V., have al-
most obliterated the distinction between hell and hades in
the popular mind, by translating •yitvva and norj? alike
hell {Ilijlle). The tern-i yievva occurs 12 times in the N.
T., viz., Matt. v. 22, 29, SO; x. 28; xviii. 9; xxiii. 15, S3;
Mark is. 4-3, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5; James iii. 6, and is always
correctly rendered hell. The term aSijs (sheol, spirit-
world, region of the departed, underworld, Tndtcnrich,
Untencelt) occurs 11 times in the N. T., viz., Matt. xi. 23;
xvi. 18; Luke x. 15; xvi. 23; Acts ii. 27, 81 ; 1 Cor. xv. 55;
Kev. i. 18 ; vi. 8 ; xx. 13, U, and U inaccurately rendered
hell in all cases except 1 Cor. xv. .W, where the authorized
Version translates £7mi^<3. The diffircnce of the two terms
has an important bearing on the doctrine of Christ's dcsct-nt
into Hades, and of the ^atm intermedius between death
and the resurrection.— P. B.]
teaches, 1. That when approaching the sanctuary, we
learn to fo^l our personal guilt. 2. In such case, it
is more urgent to pay our brother the debt of love
than to discharge our debt to the temple; since an
offering presented by one who is chargeable with
wrong could not be acccptal>le to God, and the moral
purification of man is the great object of the worship
of God: see Matt. ix. 13 (the imwrov must be con-
nected with vTtayi). — In the ancient Church, it was
customary for members of a family to ask each
other's forgiveness before going to the table of the
Lord.
Ver. 25. Going to the judgment-seat. This may be
regarded as supplementary to what preceded. Agree,
show thyself agreeable, evv oiiv, ready for recon-
ciliation, x(7ith thine adversary, or the opponent
in thy cause, — applying to the legal accuser, not to
the devil (Clement), nor to God (Augustine), nor to
the conscience (Euthymius Zig.). It is a mistake to
regard this as a mere prudential rule (Theophylact,
Paulus) ; it embodies a principle of moral right in
the form of a symbohc ordinance. Accordingly, the
whole passage, as that about going to the temple, has
a symboUcal meaning. The term prison, <pv\aK-n,
does not refer to purgatory (Roman Cath. interpre-
ters), but to the fuU measure of punitive justice,
which may, indeed, extend to Sheol (Olshausen:
" transition state ").
Ver. 26. Farthing. — The word Kodf)dvrTis,
quadrans, a quarter of an as, implies that the debt is
exacted to the last balance.* Meyer suggests that
6 (11 y, till, indicates a term, which, however, caimot be
reached.
Ver. 28. Whosoever loolreth upon a -woman.
— The explanation of our Lord here follows immedi-
ately upon the mention of the commandment in Ex.
XX. 14, to show that the scribes applied the com-
mandment only to actual adultery. But while the
matrimonial law of the Old Testament (although not
the seventh commandment) accorded certain privi-
leges to man in his relation to woman (such as the
permission of polygamy and of divorce), the Lord
here attacks and rebukes chiefly the sins of man.
To lust after her, irphs to 4iTi.euijLT)irai av-
T r) s. — "The word '^pos manifestly indicates the mental
object or aim " (Tholuck, p. 208). The statement,
therefore, refers to intentional and conscious, not to
unintentional desires.f Even the latter are sinful ;
but, as Luther expresses it, a sinful thought, without
the consent of the mind, is not mortal sin. " Never-
theless it is a sin, but included in the general forgive-
ness" (Tholuck, p. 210). In its strict grammatical
bearing, the statement would imply that the most
general, intentional desire of a carnal nature, is con-
trary to the spirit of marriage. — In his heart. — The
heart as the centre of hfe, and the seat of feeling and
desire.
Vers. 29 and 30. And if thy right eye offend
thee. — The word aKavSaKiC^iv ref is to incitement
to sin, which leads to the actual commission of it,
and not merely to incitement generally. The eye
and the hand are mentioned as the organs of temp-
tation : the former, as the symbol of dehght in look-
* [As KoSpdvTrts is one of the smallest denominations of
coin, the English farthing and the German Heller are the
precise equivalents as to meaning, and therefore good trans-
lations.—P. S.]
+ [Dr. Alford, aci ^oc; "The ^Xiitwv vpoi rh tmS,
must not be interpreted of the casual evil thought which is
checked by holy watchfulness, but the gazing with a view
to feed that desire (for eo Trphs rS with an Infinitive most
mean)."— P. S.]
CHAP. V. 20-48.
115
ing (sense of beauty); the latter, as the symbol of
converse and intercourse (social feeling, converse,
friendship). The right eye and the right hand, i. e.,
according to the popular view, the best : in the pres-
ent case, symbolically refenmg to the fairest view
and the highest intercourse. The hijunction must
neither be taken U/eralhj (Fritzsche), nor as symbol-
ical of self-denial in the right and lawful use (Grotius),
but as a figure of absolute and painful renunciation.
It is profitable for thee. — This cutting oi!' and
tearing out will be useful to thee. The word 'lua,
which follows, shows tliat av^rptpn refers to the pre-
vious clause. — This painful self-denial, this seeming
self-deprivation of life and enjoyment, is real gain.
For in that case only one organ of life is lost (/. e.,
only in one particular aspect) for this world, while in
the other the whole life — here indicated by the body
— is given over to hell. The word body is used for
life, on account of the nature of this sin.
Yer. ;>1. It has bsen said, Whosoever shall
put away Iiis wife, let hini give her a writing
of divorcement. — Christ here lirst takes up the
later perversions of the law about divorce, and re-
turns to the ordinances given by Moses, which He
then further explains and develops. " According to
Deut. xxiv. 1, ~rT ri"i" — '^^"'^''.5 ' uncleanness,'
'matter of nakedness,' something abominable in a
female — is admitted as a ground of divorce (Ewakl,
Alferfkumer, p. 234). Rabbi Shammai and his scliool
explained this as referring to adultery, while Hillel
and his school appUed it to anything displeasing to
a husband (comp. Joseph. Antiq. iv. 8, 23). Rosen-
miiller, Sckol. on Deut. xxiv. 1, sqq. Rabl)i Akiba
went even further, and permitted divorce in case a man
should meet with a more pleasing v/oman ; see Wet-
stein."— jleyer. The difference between the two schools
consisted not merely in this, that while Sliammai lim-
ited divorce to adultery, Hillel allowed it in a great
variety of cases ; but that Shammai insisted on the
necessity of a criminal and legal cause for divorce,
vfhile Hillel left it to the inclination of the individ-
ual. The terms employed by Moses implied at least
the germ of those spiritual views concerning mar-
riage which were the aim of the theocracy. But
the teaching of Hillel destroyed that germ, and con-
verted the law of Moses into a cloak for adulterous
lust. As the Lord shows in another place, Moses
allowed a bill of divorce in the case of moral aljerra-
tions on the part of a wife, in order to limit the
number of divorces. The Rabbins reversed the
meaning of the law by saying Moses has command-
ed, Matt. xix. 7. The practice of divorce was an
ancient and traditional custom, which Moses hmited
by insisting on a definite motive, and on a regular
bill of divorce. Hence, ?»s h.u a-rruKvari (according
to custom), SoToj airoffrdiTioi' (according to the new
arrangement in Israel). Its object was not merely
to serve " as evidence that the marriage had been
legally dissolved, and that the woman was at lib-
erty to marry another man " (Ewald), but to render
divorce more difficult.
Vcr. 32. Save for the cause of fornication.
IT ap e KT h t \ 6y o V Tropffias . — This exceptional
case is not mentioned in Mark x. ll,nor inLuke xvi.
18 ; but occurs again in Matt. xix. 9 {d fi-q enl Tropeiia),
and must be supphed in the parallel passages, — the
more so, as, according to Lev. xx. 18, adultery was to
be punished with death. Calov, Meyer, and others,
maintain that the mention of this one ground of divorce
excludes every other ; while de Wette thinks that this
one implies others also. But the question is not so
simple as appears at first sight. We must distinguish
between the legislation of the theocracy and that of
the state which is intermediate between Moses and
Christ ; and again, between these two and the spirit-
ual law binding upon Christians, and derived from
the word of Christ. Moses permitted a bill of di-
vorce, not to weaken, but to protect the marriage re-
lationship. Absolutely to forbid all divorce, would
have amounted to a practical sanction of the then
customary low views on the subject of marriage, and
to a rejection of the spiritual principles connected with
it. Hence Moses introduced the bill of divorce, which
rendered separation difficult, by requiring an ade-
quate cause for it, as in Deut. xxiv. 1. This arrange-
ment was intended as a lever gradually to elevate the
views of the people from the former customary laxity
to the spiritual ideal ultimately aimed at. It was left
to the gradual development of spiritual life in Israel
more clearly to determine and to settle the only suf-
ficient motive for divorce, at which Moses had darkly
hinted. This Christ did when He exhibited the full
ideal of the law, by the words Trape/cr^j \oyou irop-
i-eiciv. But the practical difficulty which the State
has to encounter in its legislation on this point, is
tliat it cannot anticipate this interpretation of the
Lord without raising the legal ordinances higher than
the idea of marriage commonly entertained by the
people. Still, this interpretatiou must always be the
goal aimed at. Standing at that goal, our Lord does
not refer to the recognition of an actual divorce, but
to a positive divorce, when a man repudiates his wife.
To make such a divorce, is certainly not allowed ex-
cept for the sake of fornication. But it is another
question, whether, if the divorce is actually accom-
plished by the other party, we are warranted in re-
garding and accepting it as accompHshed. To tlus
question Paul gives an affirmative reply in 1 Cor. vii.
15. The only difficulty lies in the question, Under
what circumstances other than fornication a divorce
may be regarded as actually accompHshed by the se-
ceding party ? In this respect, the explanations which '
our Lord adds, may be taken as a final directory.
Cause th her to commit adultery — viz., by
contracting another marriage. Strictly speaking,
the actual adultery consists in, and dates from, the
re-marriage of the woman who had been divorced.
The following is the state of the case as laid down
by the Lord. In the passage under consideration,
we are told that he causeih her to commit adultery ;
and in Matt, xix., that he wlio divorces a woman,
and marrieth another, himself committeth adultery.
In the former case, the husband who divorces his
vnfo is morally the cause of her committing adul-
tery, and in that respect even more culpable than
she. Still, the stigma of adultery is only attached to
marriage after divorce, or to fornication before di-
vorce. This implies, that where the guilty or the
divorcing party has not actually committed the act
of adultery (as above defined), the other party is in
Christian duty bound to wait in f\vith and patience.
This is the intermediate stage, or separation a men^a
et ihoro, which is the only kind of divorce allowed by
the Roman Church : another species of legalism, by
which the words of our Saviour are first converted
into a literal ordinance, and next, the letter of the
commandment — the napiKTls Aoyuv Tropviias — itself
is annulled. The bad consequences of this arrange-
ment are sufliciently notorious in the degeneracy of
the marriage relation in Roman Catholic countries,
especially in South Amei-ica.
IIG
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
" Our Lonl," says ^leyer, " docs not refer to the
case of adultery committed by the man, — there be-
ing no occasion for it, since a woman, according to
the law of Moses, could not divorce her husband.
But the spirit of Christian ethics fully justifies and
requires the application of the statement to the other
case." However, it ought to be noted, that Christ
speaks three different times of the siu of the wan,
but never of the woman: (1) Whosoever lookctli on
a woman, etc. ; (2) whosoever shall put away his
wife, etc. ; (3) whosoever shall marry her who is
divorced, etc. — Comp. Heubner, j). (58.
Ver. 33. Thou shalt not forswear thyself,
ouK ^TriopKVffeis {swear fulsehj): Ex. xxvii. ;
Lev. xix. 12. — In this instance, also, the Lord first
reverts to the law as given by Moses, showing its
full and spiritual import, and then condemns the
perversions of it introduced by traditionalism. Like
divorce, the practice of taking an oath was an an-
cient custom, which existed before the time of Moses.
Considering it indispensable in civil causes, the legis-
lator adopted it in his code (Ex. xxii. 11, comp.
Heb. vi. 16), just as he admitted divorce. But as all
license was restrained by the enactment concerning
the bill of divorce, so all levity by the ordinances
attacliing to an oath, viz. : (1) by the condemnation
of a false oath, Ex. xx. 7; Lev. xix. 12; (2) by the
injunction to regard vows as sacred, and to fulfil
them, Num. xxx. 3 ; (3) by the direction to take an
oath only in the name of the Lord, Deiit. vi. 13.
Honce, when Christ ordains, Swrear not at aU,
He enters fully into the spirit of this legislation, and
fulfils this law, or carries it to its ideal. The internal
agreement between the saying of the Lord and the
law of Moses is evident. As, in the case of the
law of divorce, Jesus had brought out the latent pro-
hibition of Moses, by presenting it without the tem-
porary and conditional permission attaching to it;
so here also the same latent prohibition appears
when the Saviour carries out the spirit of the fimit-
ations introduced by Moses, which ultimately aimed
at the complete abrogation of the oath. But the
law of Moses was intended to bring out the spiritual
nature of marriage, and not as absolute legislation on
the subject. Similarly, his ordinances concerning
oaths were not mtended to abrogate them complete-
ly, but to bring out the ultimate idea of an oath —
the yea, yea, nay, nay! — both as before God. In
these instances, however, Christ aims not merely
after a negative, but after a positive result, — in the
present case, to introduce the oath in its spiritual
aspect. Accordingly, He now shows the difference
between it and the practice common among the
Jews. This consists not merely in the fact, that
what had been sanctioned for ju(icial procedure was
now used in every-day life, but also in the introduc-
tion of additional asseverations and of self-impreca-
tions in the common mode of taking oaths, bfxoaai.
These asseverations by heaven, by earth, etc. — this
pledging as it were of things over which we have no
control — are manifestly sinful. In a certain sense,
they convert an oath into a curse. Hence, rendering
the words of Christ according to their import, we
might almost translate them : But I say unto you.
Curse not, not at all ! Since the oath, in the proper
sense of the term, had thus degenerated, and been
ahnost completely perverted, it was to cease, but
only in order to give place to what was implied in
the true idea of the oath — the cahn and solemn at-
testation : yea, yea ; nay, nay ; as in the presence of
God. The relation in which the Christian State and
the Christian citizen stand to this absolute spiritual
law, is the same as we formerly noticed in reference
to marriage. So far as our own personal conduct ia
concerned, we are to adopt in the fullest sense the
New Testament direction (James v. 12); it is the
duty of the State to aim after realizing the ideal
here set before it, while the Christian citizen is bound
humbly to submit. (In this, and in similar respects,
it is important to distinguish between the duty of
bearing testimony and that of obedience. There is
no inconsistency, for example, in the Christian min-
ister, who as an evangelist is opposed to all war,
and yet acts as an humble and efficient military
chaplain.) This explanation Christ has sanctioned
by llis example. Like the patriarchs of old (Gen.
xxi. 23, 24; xxxi. 34; xlvii. 31), He acknowledged the
lawfulness of the adjuration before the Sanhedrim
(Matt. xxvi. 64). It is not an isolated error when
certain sectarians — as the Anabaptists of the Refor-
mation period, the Mennonites, and the Quakers —
confound the duty of the individual Christian as
such with that of the citizen ; the mistake goes far
deeper. They deny in principle the moral and edu-
cational character and object of the State, which is
intended to be subservient to the kingdom of heaven
and to promote it. From the example of Paul (Rom.
ix. 1 ; 2 Cor. xi. 10) we gather how the spiritual na-
ture of the oath appears, when the Christian appeals
to his fellowship with God in support of the reality
and certainty of his assertions. Viewed in this light,
the oath of the Christian is based even on that of the
Lord Himself (Isa. xlv. 23 ; Heb. vi. 13). God swears
by Himself, i. e., He appeals to His absolute and
personal certitude; and the Christian swears before
God, when he solemnly attests his statement xmder
a calm sense of the presence of, and of communion
with, God. It is the duty of the State more and
more to modify the oath in conformity to the spuit
of the gospel, and to acknowledge a simple Christian
assurance as equivalent to an oath. The Church
cannot require an oath without obscuring the con-
sciousness of standing before the Lord with all the
solemn affirmations and vows of her members. Comp.
on the different explanations Heubner, Com. p. 71
[and Tholuck, Bergpredigt, p. 258-275].
The scribes insisted on the obligatory character
of vows, but distinguished between oaths which were
binding and others which were not binding. Mai-
monides : Si quis jurat per caelum, p)er tcrram, per
solem, non est juramentum.. Comp. Matt, xxiii. 16
Similarly, Philo regarded oaths by heaven, by earth,
etc., as not very important, and advised that they
should be employed rather than a direct appeal to
the Most High God.
Ver. 34. Swear hot at all.— For the diffiarent
interpretations of this prohibition, comp. Tholuck. —
To swear not at all, if it be incompatible with due
reverence toward God (Tholuck). — ^Not to swear
lightly in ordinary life (Berlepsch), — not to swear
after the manner and in the sense of the Jews
(Matthiii). — Strict prohibition which is binding, so
far as the kingdom of heaven is concerned, but not
applying to our duty as citizens in the State (de
Wette, Meyer). — Absolute prohibition binding at all
times, and under all circumstances (the Quakers)
Comp. also Winer, Heubner, Goschel {Der JSid), etc.*
* [Wo add the explanations of the latest English and
American commentators on Matthew. Dr. Ai.fokd (Epis-
copalian), 4th Ensrl. ed. ad loc. : " In the words, Swear not
at all, our Lord does not so much make a positive enact-
ment by which all swearing is to individuals Ibrbiddcu, e. g.
CHAP. V. 20^8.
117
Vers. 34-36. Neither by heaven, etc. — " These
modes of swearing were eustomiiry at the time
among the Jews. Comp. Philo, De spec. Icff. 7*76 ;
Lightlbot ; Meuschen, Novum Testam. ex Talm. il-
htstr. p. 58." — Meyer. [Dr. Thomson in his ex-
cellent work, 77ie Land and the Book, vol. i., p. 284,
says of the modern Orientals that they " are feaifully
profane. Everybody curses and swears when in
a passion. No people that I have ever known
can compare with these Orientals for profuueness
in the use of the names and attributes of God. . . .
They swear by the head, by their life, by heaven, and
by the temple, or, what is in its place, the church.
The forms of cursing and swearing, however, are
almost infinite, and fall on the pamed ear all day
long."— P. S.]
Ver. 3*7. But let your communication be,
Yea, yea, Nay, nay. — Similar expressions in the
Rabbins, "n "n and xb xis. Beza: Let your af-
firmative communication be yea, your negative, nay.
Grotius: Let your affirmation and negation be in
accordance with fact. Meyer: The repetition in the
formula indicates emphasis in the assurance. James
V. 12: Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.
Luther : A. yea that is yea. (The same as Grotius.)
Undoubtedly, the intention is to combine decidedness
of assurance with the certitude of the fact. But the
positive import of the " yea, yea," is overlooked by
those who imagine that the Lord concludes with a
mere negative result. The true oath consists in the
sunple asseveration, uttered in perfect consciousness
on solemn occasions, and for the satisfaction of others (for
that TvouUl be a mere technical Pharisaism wholly at vari-
ance with the spirit of the Gospel, and inconsistent with tlie
example of God Himself, Heb. vi. 13-17; vii. 21 ; of the Lord
when on earth, whose aM.7V a/Lti)c \iyw vixiv was a solemn
asseveration, and who at once respected the solemn adjura-
tion of Caiaphas, ch. xxvi. 63, 64; of His Apostles, writing
under the guidance of His Spirit, see Gal. i. 20; 2 Cor. i. 23;
Rom. i. 9 ; Phil. i. 8, and especially 1 Cor. xv. 31 ; qflTis holy
angels, Kev. x. 6), as declare to us, that the proper state of
Christians is, to require no oaths ; that when to iroi>r)p6v
is expelled from among them, every vai and ou wdl be as
decisive as an oath, every promise as binding as a vow. We
observe (<0 that these verses imply the unfitness of 'oows of
every kind as rules of Christian action ; {b) that the greatest
reg.ard ought to be had to the scruples of those, not only
sects, but individuals, who object to taking an oath, and
every facility given in a Christian state for their (?) ultim:.te
entire abolition." -(Does their refer to scruples, or is it a
mistake for its, i. e. the oath's?) — Dr. WoRDSwoRTn (Epis-
copiilian) gives a similar interpretation, though not so fully,
and quotes from St. Augustine : JSTon tim.es, von affecti>s, non
appetas jmjwandum, which is hardly sufficient. He also
remarks that the corresponding Hebrew verb J'S'iJ (from
!?2'1) , seven, the holy number of the covenant) is used only
in Niphal (i. e., to be made to swiar, or rather to seven one-
self i. e.. to take an oath confirmed by seven victims offered
as sacrifice to God, Gen. xxi. 28 sq.. or before seven wit-
nesses), and in JTiphil (i. e., to cause to sweur, to bind by an
oath); as much as to intimate that no one ought to swear
except when compelled to do so.— Alb. Barnes (N. S. Pres-
byterian) : -'Swear not at all. That is, in the manner which
He proceeds to specify. Swear not in any of the common
and profane ways customary at that time."— Dr. Jos. Addis.
Alexander (O. S. Presbyterian): "Christ teaches that the
Bin, where there is any, consists not in swearing falsely,
which is a distinct offence punished both by God and man,
nor in any particular form of oath, but in swearing at all
without necessity or warrant."— Dr. D. D. Whedon (Metho-
dist) ad loo.: "Neither in his prohibition of swearing nor
of violence (3'<-42) is our Lord giving any law for the masis-
trate or the governmental regulations, but for private con-
duct. The officer of government has still a right to use
force, and the magistrate to administer an oath. In fact, to
forbid these things in private life secures that they may be
done madstratively with better effect. None of the oaths
which our Lord adduces as specimens are judicial oaths, but
the ordinary profanities of the Orientalists.'"— P. S.]
and under a sense of the presence of God, before
Him, and in Him.
Cometh of evil, he rov Trovi]pou. — 1. Eu-
thym. Zig., 4k -rod 5ia/3(iAou. Similarly Clirysostom,
Theophylact, Beza, Zwingle, Fritzsche, Meyer, and
others. 2. From the -rrovnpuv, of evil, as a neuter. — •
The two in so far agree, as Christ uniformly traces all
■Kou-r}p6v, or evil i\\ the world, to the irov-npos. The
statement, however, is not to be interpreted as mean-
mg, that the traditional mode of swearing is of the
devil, but as implying that the kingdom of darkness
has occasioned tiiis kind of asseverations ; and that
actual evil also attaches to them, in as far as they in-
dicate a want of reverence, a pledging of things which
belong to God, and a kind of imprecation.
Ver. 38. An eye for an eye, Ex. xxi. 24. — The
right of retrilnition, jus talionis. A general princi-
ple of law, presented here in the form of a proverb,
and applied to a special case. This principle was
undoubtedly introduced into the judicature, not to
foster revenge (as de Wette imagines), but to sub-
stitute law for private vengeance (Lev. xix. 18).
We agree with Tholuck, that the Pharisees, in this
instance, converted a principle of judicature into a
rule of everyday hfe. But Meyer is likewise right in
adding, that a Christian should not exact even judicial
vengeance from his neighbor, as also appears from
the word Kptdrivai, which follows.
Vers. 39-42. But I say unto you, Resist not
T w -K ovi]p a>. — Chrysostom and Theophylact refer
this to the devil; Augustin and Calvin, to wrong; Tho-
luck, to evil; de Wette and Meyer, to an evil person.
The words oo-rtj <t e p a-w iae l are apparently in
favor of the latter interpretation. But, on the other
hand, the idea of evil men scarcely applies to the va-
rious cases afterward enumerated. We are not to
resist — as we understand it — the evil that is in the
world (the combination of sin and evil) : —
(1) As we encounter it in violent offenders;
(2) As we encounter it in litigious accusers ;
(3) As we encounter it in intrusive apphcants
for favors, or else slavish instrimients of
superior powers ;
(4) As we encounter it in beggars and borrow-
ers.
Beggars and borrowers can scarcely be ranked
among evil men. Hence our Lord must refer to the
sin and evil in the world which is conquered by wise
and Christian submission, rather than by strenuous
resistance. In all fiie instances just mentioned, we
do not yield from weakness to the course of events,
but voluntarily desist from our just claims in the ex-
ercise of self-denying love. This yielding, in reality,
constitutes true heroism, by which alone injustice
can be conquered. To be merely passive or non-re-
sistant were weakness ; but a passiveness which
springs from Christian ptinciple, and has a spiritual
object in view, is true strength and real victory. To
present the left cheek to him who smites us on the
right, is to return the blow in the right sense ; to
give the cloak, is to have gained the suit about the
coat ; to go two miles instead of the one that is im-
posed on us, is to overcome the arbitrary power that
would coerce us ; to meet the wants of others, is to
i;ender begging impossible; and not to turn away
from him who would borrow, is to train him to right
independence.
Of course, these expressions, in their paradox
form, must not be taketi literally. Tlie fundamental
idea of the passage is, that Christian love must make
us willing to bear twice as much as the world, in its
118
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
injustice, could demand. But in this case also, the
requirements of the moral law must guide us in ap-
plymg the principle here laid down to every par-
ticular instance (comp. the example of the Lord,
John xviii. 22).
Ver. 40. KpiOvvai, liiiffare, to stie at law. — X i -
T'liv (coat), the undergarment. — 'I fx.ariov, the more
expensive upper garment or cloak, which was also
used for a covering at night, and hence coidd not be
retained as a pledge over night (comp. Luke vi. 20).
Ver. 41. Compel. — ''Kyyapevfiv, a word in-
troduced from the Persian into the Greek and into
rabbinical language ; meaning, to compel for the pur-
poses of transport, or for conveying messengers, in
accordance with the postal arrangements of Cyrus,
who authorized messengers to compel others to con-
vey them : Herod, viii. 98.* This compulsion is men-
tioned third, because those who did it were officially
obliged to resort to such measures. Besides, the
word is here used in a more general sense, referring
to a traveller who exacts under the stress of neces-
sity. From the above we conclude, that those men-
tioned in the fourth example do not belong to a dif-
ferent category, as Ewald suggests.
Ver. 43. Thy neighbor, tt A tj rr ,
ns-ib Lev.
xix. 18. — This passage referred in the first instance,
as the context shows, to Jews, although ver. 34
proves that it includes love to our neighbors gen-
erally. The Pharisees argued, that the injunction to
love our neighbor implied that it referred only to
such, and that all Gentiles were to be hated. They
went even further, and regarding those only as Jews
■who adhered to traditionalism, stigmatized as strang-
ers not merely Gentiles, but pubhcaus, and every one
who shared not their pecuUar views. But their
great argument was, that every one who was not a
Jew was an enemy, and that every enemy should be
hated. Hence their pride and contempt of men, the
odium generis Jminani. Meyer adds, that " the casu-
istic tradition of the Pharisees explained the word
' neighbor ' as meaning friend, and inferring from it
— perhaps in connection v/ith Deut. xxv. 17-19
(comp. Mai. i. 3) — that every enemy should be hated,
— a principle, as is well known, shared also by the
Greeks." But ive see no reason for identifying the
system of the Pharisees with the popular prejudices
of the Gentiles. According to Grotius, the inference
— to hate our enemies — was derived jjiy the Phari-
sees from the command of God to destroy the Ca-
naanites, etc., — a statement whigli scarcely deserves
the serious refutation of Heubncr and Gerlach. The
latter was manifestly a special theocratic injunction,
bearing reference to the heathen institutions of the
Canaanites, and not to the people as individuals (as
appears from the history of Rahab).
Ver. 44. Love your enemies, — is the princi-
ple from which all the following directions flow. The
expression must be taken in all its hterahty, and the
injunction is universally appUcable. — By his very ha-
tred, our enemy becomes our neighbor, since his
* [Also Xenophon, Cyrop. viii. 6, 17. Comp. the classical
dictionaries sub verbo Angaria., and Tholiick. Meyer, Conant,
and Alford ad loa. Tlie corresponding English word for
ayyapevetv in its proper technical sense is to impress, i. e..
32, aud Mark xv. 21, where it is used of Simon who was im-
pressed to bear the cross of our Saviour to Calvary. The
Jews were strongly opposed to the duty of furnishing posts
for the hated iloman srovernment. The eVicrrad/i/a,
or billeting of the Eoman soldiers and their horses on the
Jews', was one kind of this ayyapia.—V. S.]
hatred tempts us to retaliate, and leaves us no choice
but to fall, or else to defend ourselves by the wea-
pons of love. In the latter case, cursing is met with
blessing ; hatred, which leads to injuries, by well-do-
ing ; threatening, or calumniating in secret (eTn^ped-
(av, from iwfipeia, threat, contumely), and persecijL-
tion, by prayer and intercession on our part. Comp.
Cyprian, Dc mortalifate, and Ileubner, p. '76.
Ver. 45. That ye may be. — The expression re-
fers not merely " to final salvation in the kingdom of
heaven," but means, that ye may prove yourselves
really the children of God, His sons, in the pecuUar
sense explained in ch. v. 9. For this constitutes
the evidence of being " peacemakers," whose great
model is Christ Himself. — The Lord appeals to the ex-
ample of His Father, in order to show the nature and
universality of highest love ; while the publicans and
the heathen exemplify the egotism and narrow-mind-
edness of a selfish community, — a sin of which the
Pharisees also were guilty, and -which they sought to
invest with the halo of special sanctity.
Ver. 46. The publicans, TfXuvai, partly natives
and partly Romans, employed in the service of the
Roman knights who had leased the taxes of the coun-
try. They were disliked as being tlie representatives
of Roman domination, and for their rigor and exac-
tions. The Pharisees no doubt regarded them as
under the ban, ami in the same category as Gentiles
(comp. Matt, xviii. 17).
Ver. 47. And if ye salute. — The persons saluted
are here designated as brethren, meaning co-relig-
ionists. Hence the salutation indicates friendliness
and readiness to serve.*
Ver. 48. Be ye therefore perfect, — in the
moral sense, perfectness being your ultimate aim.f
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
I. The Lord purposely makes no reference to
pure Antinomianism, because such opposition to the
law exposed or condemned itself. But He rends the
veil of pretended adherence to the law under which
traditionalism sought to hide its real Antinomianism,
and shows how in all its essential features it is de-
structive of the law — a hostility which at last mani-
fested itself in all its fulness in the crucifixion of
Christ. This tendency springs from a rigid and car-
nal adherence to the letter, which takes away the
symbolical import of the letter, and at the same time
converts the law into a series of secular and external
traditions. Traditionalism first converts the law it-
self into traditions, and then adds its own special tra-
ditions by way of explanation. It assumes various
forms : extcrnalism, which results from the spiritual
deadness of legaUsm ; perversion or detraction from
the true import of the law, as prompted by the dic-
tates of lust or passion ; and, finaUy, apparent in-
crease of rigidness resulting from egotism, fanaticism,
and spiritual pride. Thus, what was meant to serve
as the eternal foundation of humanity became chang-
* ['AaTrdffTirrSte may as well be taken, with Alfovd and
others, in its literal sense. Jews did not salute Gentiles,
as Mohammedans even now in the East do not salute Chris-
tians.—P. S.]
t [Comp. Alford, Wordsworth, Whedon, and other Eng-
lish commentators on this passage and its bearing on the
doctrine of perfectibility or the attainability of mor.al per-
fection in this life, which Alford opposes as inconsistent
with the whole discourse, especially vers. 22, 29, 32, as well
as with Phil. iii. 12 ; while Wordsworth and Whedon favor
it, the former in the patristic sense, quoting from St. Je-
rome, the latter in the sense of modern Methodism.- -P. S.]
CHAP. V. 20-48.
119
ed into hatred of mankind. — Wliat is here said of
Old Testament traditionalism equally applies to that
of the mediaeval Church, in its relation to the Gos-
pel.
2. Some have dilTiculty in regarding Christianity
as the genuine development of the teaching of Moses
and of the propliets. This partly u.ises from the
circumstance that, notwithstanding the express state-
ments of the Lord, many imagine that Christ abol-
ished the law of Moses in its substance. The state-
ments of Paul about the abolition of the law, so far
as its temporary form was concerned (Eph. ii. 15;
Col. ii. 11), are similarly misinterpreted, while his
declaration in Rom. iii. 31 is entirely overlooked. It
is only when we learn to trace throughout all history
a double course of tradition — one internal and ideal,
the other external and ever lapsing into secularism —
that we fully understand the diiference and the agree-
ment between the Old and the New Dispensation.
Hegel, too, only knew of the external tradition, and
assumes that Socrates and Christ died according to
law.
3. The positive idea underlying this section is,
that in the doctrine of Christ the teaclung of Moses
was fulfilled and carried to its spiritual ideal. Mur-
der, adultery, profane swearing, revenge, and the
rancor and selfishness of party spirit, are destroyed,
not merely in their outward manifestations, but in
their root. In their stead, Jesus sets before us a
holy, spiritual gentleness, a holy and spiritual mar-
riage, a holy and spiritual oath, a holy and spiritual
retribution, and a holy and spiritual love toward our
neighbor. These, however, are only instances by
which the whole law must be explained. Five are
mentioned as being the symbolical number of liberty
and moral development, whether for good or evil.
4. Christ is the end and the fulfilment of the law
(Rom. X. 4 ; xiii. 10). Here, then, we have another
picture of the life of Jesus. The Sermon on the
Mount presents to our view the righteousness of
Jesus in itself; here, we have it in its contrast with
that of the Pharisees and scribes. Himself, how-
ever, in holy meekness, stands in the background, and
only presents to His disciples this picture, as consti-
tuting their heavenly calling.
•5. It is strangely and sadly characteristic of the
Church of Rome, that it should have converted these
fulfilments of the law of Moses into so-called " cort-
silia evanc/elica" and thus declared them, (1) not
universally binding ; (2) a directory for a species of
higher legal righteousness, — such, for example, as
that of the monks. Similar instances of strange —
we had almost said, fatal — misinterpretation by the
same Church, occur in connection with the two
swords, Luke xxii. 38, the Lord's Prayer, the laws
on matrimony, etc.
[6. Ver. 48. Be ye perfect, etc. " We who are
created in God's image, and restored in Christ, and
made partakers of the divine nature in Him, are
bound by the conditions of our creation, redemption,
and sanctification, to endeavor to be like Him here,
that we may have the fruition of His glorious (Jod-
head hereafter. Eph. iv. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 15 ; 1 John
u. 1."]
nOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
The righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, and
that of the Pharisees and scribes: 1. The former
spiritual, from the Spirit of God ; the latter worldly,
and from the spirit of the world. 2. The former im-
plying a state of mmd ; the latter, outward and mere-
ly apparent service. 3. The former continuing
throughout eternity ; tlie latter passing away with
the world. — A living and true faith, and dead ortho-
doxy.— Antagonism between the spirit of the law
and the mere letter of the law. — True and false tra-
dition.— The ordinances of man an abolition of the
commandments of God. — While pretending to make
a " hedge " around the lav/ (which itself was a hedge),
the Pharisees trod down the plants in the garden of
the Lord. — The perveisions of truth which appear
under the guise of enforcing truth. — On the differ-
ence between " It is written,'' and " It has been said.'*
— " It has been said," as pointing to the impure
source of tradition. 1. It has been said; but we
know not by whom, where, or when ; 2. It has been
said, by religious indolence, by carnality and dead-
ness. — " It has been said," or the origin of tradition
witldn the kingdom of God. — Our proper respect for
what is ancient appears in proper reverence for what
is eternal, which is at the same time both old and
new. — The hearts of the fathers must be turned to
the children, then shall the hearts of the children
also be turned to the fathers (Mai. iii. 7 ; Lukei. 11).
— The word of the Lord : " But I say unto you." —
If the letter of the law were carried out to its full
length, it would consume the world, as did the fire of
Elijah. — Christ condemning the service of the letter
by the spirit of the letter. — Contrast between " It has
been said to them of old," and "i?M< I say unto you."
1. In the one case, it is the general unspiritual mass
that speaks ; here, it is the highest Personage — the
Lord Himself. 2. In the former case, it has been
said to past generations ; in this, the Lord speaks to
those around Him. 3. The former is a tradition
from the grave ; the latter, a word of life to the liv-
ing.— The explanation given by the Lord of the com-
mandment. Thou shalt not kill. 1. His correction of
traditionaHsm ; 2. the law of the spirit. — (The same
remarks apply to our Lord's explanation of the other
commandments.) — The anger of passion, the way to
judgment and to hell. — The passion of anger appear-
ing in reproaches. — He that judgeth set right in judg-
ment : 1. Sudden passion set right by the dignity of
the secular judgment-seat. 2. He who charges others
with heresy set right by the judgment of the Chui-ch.
3. He who condemns set right by history, or the
prospect of condemnation. — Goiny to the temple, an
admonition to reconciliation. — Going to the judge, an
exhortation to render satisfaction. — The sanctity of
marriage, as opposed both to concupiscence and to
divorce. — The sacred oath under the New Covenant
is Yea, yea ; Nay, nay. — The law of retribution: 1.
Private vengeance giving place to law ; 2. vengeance
left to the proper authorities ; 3. vengeance left to
I'he Lord. — Our enemy becomes our neighbor by his
aggressions upon us, which leave us no choice but
either to hate or to love. — Love toward our enemies
the weapon of spiritual defence against them. — Sun-
shine and rain preaching toleration and love. — The
Divine rule equally over the good and the evil. — Sa-
cred meditations during sunshine.^Sacred medita-
tions during the rain. — Party spirit only a, diiferent
form of egotism. — Party spirit under the guise of
sanctity : 1. So far as our own nation is concerned ;
2. so far as our religion is concerned ; 8. so far as
our own ecclesiastical denomination is concerned. —
Love the bond of perfectness in spiritual life. — To
feel that maUce is weakness leads to pity. — The chil-
dren of the Father in heaven : 1. Like their Father,,
they care for the world ; 2. they bring it sunshine
120
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
and rain ; 3. in their Father they are hid from the
world.
Starke : — Pharisaical legalists cannot but explain
the law falsely. — The law is spiritual. — The Gospel
has regard to the spirit, not to the letter, 2 Cor. iii.
6. — As one sin is more grievous than another (John
xix. 11), so the temporal and eternal punislmients of
God also (vers. 11, 22, 24). — A genuine Christian
will abstain from all opprobrious epithets. — All your
worship is vain, so long as your heart retains enmity.
Rcconcihation is more necessary than anything else.
— God has made our forgivenetss the condition of
His, Job xlii. 8 ; 1 Pet. iii. 7. — He who neither for-
gives nor asks forgiveness, nor makes restitution,
renders himself unworthy of the Lord's table. — Let
us not lose the season of grace. — True repentance is
painful, but salutary. — If thine eye offend thee, etc. ;
see Coll. iii. 5. — Men hke to interpret the Scriptures
according to their corrupt inclinations. — We must
enter into the married estate in the fear of God, if
our union is to prove happy. — If we sulFer violence
and bear it patiently, we shall be able to derive ad-
vantage even from the injustice of men. — To give and
to lend are both fruits of love, Ps. cxii. 5. — Even to
love our enemies is regarded as too difficult ; but who
among us thinks of blessing them and of praying for
them ? — Oh where shall we find Christians among
these Christians ? Hos. iv. 1. — By faith we become
the children of God, Rom. viii. 14 ; Gal. iii. 26. But
love proves that we resemble our Father (1 John iii.
10), who is love, 1 John iv. 8. — If God had not loved
us when we were still His enemies, we should never
have become His children, Rom. v. 8, 9 ; and now
we should cease to be the children of God if we
ceased to follow Him in love, Eph. v. 12. — God would
disarm our enemies by His long-suffering and by our
kindness. — Love toward our enemies is both an evi-
dence of sonship and a means of strengthening it, 2
Pet. i. 10. — Let us set more by the example of God
than by that of the world, with its hatred and callous-
ness, Luke vi. 36. — God rewards only such virtue of
which Himself is the beginning and the end. — God is
, willing to help all men, and His own people share the
same mind, Rom. x. 1. — Many are ready to imitate
God in His punitive justice, but few in His love.
I/lsco : — (The pericope v. 20-26.) Those who
have part in the kingdom of heaven cannot rest sat-
isfied with the righteousness which Judaism regarded
as sufficient, and which consisted in mere legalism
and outward morality^ without regard to the mind
and heart. — True love is the sacrifice of all sacrifices.
— Sinful lust must die in our hearts, and purity spring
up, ch. xviii. 8 ; Mark ix. 43. — Every oath is a sol-
emn asseveration of truth, in which God is invoked
as witness of the truth and avenger of untruth.
Hence it always bears reference to God ; and, wheth-
er it be in the form of witness-bearing or solemn
promise, it is always an act of worship. — True love
must bear and submit, and thus prevail. But this
does not imply that we are not allowed to seek assis-
tance or protection from magistrates or judges, who
are instituted by God for that very purpose (Rom.
xiii. 4). — There is in these commandments of Christ
a progression from what is easier to what is more
difficult. — To love our enemies was commanded even
in the Old Testament, Ex. xxiii. 4, 6 ; Prov. xxv. 21.
Hence it was a lying addition to the command of
God, to say. Thou shall hate thine eiumy. — Christ
says. Your Father and My Father, but never. Our
Father; the distinction is always marked, John i. 12.
— Perfect love is perfect bhss.
Gerlach : — The Old Testament itself contained
the germ which was destined to burst through all
husks. — Luther : Thinkest thou that God refers only
to thy fist when He says, " Thou shalt not kill " ?
Whosoever does not love is a murderer, 1 John iii.
15. — Every one of us is on his way to the Judge,
without knowing how long the road may be. — The
heart belongs to God, it is the temple of the Holy
Ghost. Who would not be afraid to commit adultery
in a temple made of stone ? and shall we not be afraid
to do it in our hearts ? * — Chrysostom : Have you
noticed how many steps He has gone up, and how
He has now placed us on the very summit of virtue ?
Look back ! The first step upward was to do no
wrong to our neighbor ; the second, not to reward
evil for evil, if he had done us wrong ; the third, not
to revile him, but to remain silent ; the fourth, to offer
our persons in order to take wrong ; the fifth, to offer
more than the offender demands ; the sixth, not to hate
him who had done us wrong ; the seventh, even to
love him ; the eighth, to do him good ; the ninth, to
entreat God for him. Do you now perceive the full
height of Christian virtue V — Every further explana-
tion of His requirements on the part of God is based
on a fresh manifestation of His holy character and
love.
Heuhner : — If you are angry with a child of your
Father, how can you venture to approach the Father?
Pericope for the 6th Sunday after Trinity : False and
true righteousness : 1. their character ; 2. their mani-
festations ; 3. their effects. — Spener's sermon on this
text preached at Frankfort, a. d. 1669.— "Thou hast
cleft my heart in twain. Oh ! throw away theworser
part of it, and live the purer with the other half: "
Shakspeare (Hamlet, iii. 4). — Not to resist, does not
mean to submit patiently and passively to all aggres-
sions, but not to meet evil by evil. — Harms : The
close connection between love to our neighbor and
true religion. [1. Love to our neighbor is one of the
grounds of true rehgion, and leads to it. 2. Love
to our neighbor is part of true religion, and belongs
to it. 8. Love to our neighbor is a consequence of
true religion.]! — Marhebieke: What that righteous-
ness is which excels the righteousness of the Phari-
sees and scribes : 1. Love to the commandment, yet
not disjoined from love to God ; 2. love to God, yet
not disjoined from love to man ; 3. love to man, yet
not disjoined from love to our neighbor. — Schleier-
macher (Sermons, vol. iv.) : What the Lord would
have us to learn from these words, especially with
reference to united worship and service. — Kniewel :
The righteousness of the Pharisees (its character;
how to avoid it).
* [This sentence should be credited to Starke, from whom
Otto von Gerlach {ad Matt v. 2&) almost literally borrowed
it. Starke remarks to Matt. v. 28 (N. T., vol. i., p. 13T) :
" J/rrra scheuet sich vor den Augen der MenBchen m einer
sfeinerneii Kirehe einen dusserlichen Etiehruch zu bege-
hen ; ■uvd ncheuet sich nicht vor Gottes Augen viel Ehe-
IrucJif im Tempel seines Herzens zu hegehen.'''' — P. S.]
t [Omitted in the third edition, but retained here from
the transl. of the first.— P. S.]
CHAP. VI. 1-18. 121
8. Christianity and Pharisaism in their relation to the great virtues of the law ; or, three examples from,
life, showing the perversions of the Pharisees and Scribes, and the spiritual elevation of true Chris-
Uanity.
CnAPTER YI. 1-18.
Fahe Spirituality of Traditionalism.
1 Take lieed that ye do not your alms [righteousness] ^ before men, to be seen of [by]
them : otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which [who] is in heaven.
2 Therefore, when thou doest thine ahns, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.
3 Ycrily I say unto you. They have [all] ^ their reward. But when thou doest alms, let
4 not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth : That thine alms may be in secret :
and thy Father which seeth in secret Himself shall reward thee openly.^
5 And when thou prayest,* thou shalt not be as the hypocrites arc : for they love to
pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
6 seen of [by] men. Verily I say unto you, They have [all] their reward. But thou,
when thou prayest, enter into thy closet ; and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to
thy Father which [who] is in secret ; and thy Father which [who] seeth in secret shall
7 reward thee openly.^ But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do :
8 for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore
like unto them : for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask
9 him. After this manner therefore pray ye :
10 Our Father which [who] art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is m heaven [lit. : as in heaven, so also on
12 earth]. Give us this day our daily* bread. And forgive us pur debts, as we forgive'
13 our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is
14 the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.^ For if ye forgive men
15 their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they
disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you,
17 They have [all] their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash
18 tliy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which [who] is in
secret : and thy Father which [who] seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.^
1 Ver. l.—[Text^t,s reo. : e\ei!}fioavvnv. But Dr. Lange translates: Eure Gerechtigkeit, ymir righteousness adopting
ZiKaioavvriv as the correct reading, which is much better authenticated, and preferred by the principal editors of the
Greek test. See the critical apparatus in Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf. Alford, and Tregelles, also Green: Devel-
oped Criticism, p. 8.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 2.-[The full force of a it e xovai is not given in the E. V., but in the German : aie hahen dahin, i. e., they haye
their reward in full, they have received all of it, and need not expect any more. See the Greek diet, mb direxfo. P. S.]
= Ver. i.—iv tw (pui-fow {openly) are omitted in Cod. B. D. Z., etc. [and in Lange's version].
■I Ver. 5.~Tea-t. rec. : urav Trpoaevxri. [But the plural irpoa^evxV'rde, yepjray, and ohK eatade, ye shall not ie, is
well su.stained and adopted by Dr. Lange.— P. S.]
s Ver. G.— Openly is better sustained here (E. K. L., etc.) than in ver. 4.
« Ver. 11. — ['^Daihj bread," or "tagliches Brot," is a free but substantially correct and generally intelligible transla-
tion of &PTOS eirtnvffios, and very properly retained by Dr. Lange from Luther's version, with which here the Author.
English and all other English versions (Tyndale, Cranmer, and Geneva) correspond, except Wiclif. who renders: hreed
ouir other siibstaunce, and the Eomi.sh V. of liheims and Douay, which follows the Vulgate and renders: supersuhKtan-
tial bread. Daily is also found in the Jtala of the second century (panem nostrum quotidiamim) in the Vulgata in Luke
xi. 3 (but not in Matt. vi. 11, where the Vulgate reads Hupermhstantialem), and in most of the modern European ver-
sions, the French (pain fjitotidien), the Dutch {dagelicks Broot), the Italian of Diodati (pane cotidiano). The only other
translation which is admissible and gives good sense, is that of the Peschito: "out needful bread" (comp. Murdock's
transl. of the Peschito, New York, 1852), or bread miited to our nature, or as others modify it: bread necessary for oii/r
suhxiHtence, sufficient. This is the explanation of Origen, Cbrysost., Theophyl., Beza, tholuck, Ewald, Arnoidi, and
amounts in meaning to the same as the more popular translation " daily bread." 'J'he precarious etymology and explanation
now in vogue and adopted by such eminent biblical philologists as Winer in his Grammar of the'N. T., and Fritzsche and
Meyer in their Com. on Matthew, derives iirtovaio^ from iiritvai, after the form of the fem. part. eTriovrra sc. ^m^P*
(dies cr.^stinns), and would tluis make us pray to-day for the bread which we may need to-morro^c. But this, as Lange
(in the Com ), Alford and others observe, is e\idently inconsistent with the Saviour's warning in ver. 34, and as Conant re-
marks in a judicious note ad loc., would make us pray for an absurdity, since we have no need to-day of to-morrow's
bread : "Taking the word Iread in the literal sense (as sustenance for the body), the only thing we can ask, without a
manifest absurdity, is bread sufficient for the, day, or daily bread." Salmasius made the same objection, and asked :
122
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
"Quid est ineptius, quain panoin crnstini diei nobiu quotidio postularo?" Scbottgen quotes passages from the Kabbis,
which show that even anion;,' tlio most pious of the Jews it was not customary to pray for the things of the morrow As
fTTtovTios is found only here and in the parallel passage, Luke xi. 8, but in no other Greek writings, its meaning cannot
be ascertained from usage, nor from etymology alone. Meyer, however, admits that iviovffios may be derived from the
noun ohaia (or from the fern, participle of eicaf, as Trapovtria, /.ierovaia). The objection that then it would be (Trovaios
instead of imovatos, is not decisive, since we have (ttotttos (visible), and the poetic form eirt'ovrTos ; comp. also (iriopKos
(from opicdi), 4niji.'pdS (from oitpos), ftrioySoos, seven and a half, iexquioctavus (from 07S00S). Nor does ovrrla
only mean existence and essence, but also substance, property, subsistence; comp. Luke xv. 12: rh iiri^aWov fxfpos rrjs
ovaia^, the portion of goods that falleth to me, der zufaUende Tlieilden VermoOens. And even if we take ouaia in the
sense of existence, t.novffios might still bo explained: needful or sufficient for our existence. Jos. Mede observes that
the petition may be thus paraphrased: rhv apTov TiiJ.m', ixv irfpiovcriov (not abundant or superfluous), aXAa rhv
f TT 10 licr 10;/ (but sufficient) sis 7/;uTi' o-TJ^fpof. He identifies the apros iiriovaioi with the iehein huki in Agur's
prayer, Prov. xxx. S, and derives this petition from it. So Lange in Com. — Bread, like the Hebrew CHb is a synec-
doche for everything iiecesfiary to sustain life, comp. Gen. xliii. 25, 31, 34. — P. S.]
' Ver. 12.— TVa'i. rec. : a'pie/j.ti', which is sufficiently sustained. For a.(j)7)Ka/j.€v are Cod. B. Z. and ancient fathers.
Perhaps it arose from liturgical arrangements (the reconciliation of men before the holy communion).
« Ver. 13.— The doxology [from: "For 77iine—Amen'"] is omitted in B. D. Z., etc. [Alford ad ioa. says: "The doit-
oiogy must on every ground of sound criticism be omitted. . . . Wo find absolutely no trace of it in early times, in any
family of MSS. or in any expositions " But on the other hand the Peschito already has it, and Stier eloquently defends
it, though on subjective grounds. It was probably inserted in the beginning of the 4th century from the liturgies and the
primitive hahit of the Christians in praying the Lord's Prayer. Comp. Com. below.— P. S.]
» Ver. 18.— eV t^ (pavipcS is omitted in many Codd., as in ver. 4.
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL.
Having exposed the corruptions of doctrine, our
Lord exhibits those of religious life under three ex-
amples, which present the tliree great forms in which
the self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees
and scribes manifested itself. They were, alms-giv-
ing, prayer, and fast'mg. These were the three
principal manifestations of practical piety among tlie
Jews (Tobias xii. 8, 9 ; xiv. 10 ; Judith iv. 9 ; Sirach
xxix. 11), and were abused by the Pharisees to ex-
hibit their superior piety.* The Church of Rome
still designates them as good works in a pre-emment
sense. The Pharisees imagined that they had reach-
ed the highest eminence in these three phases of
spiritual life, which mark a right relationship toward
our neighbor (alms-giving), toward God (prayer), and
toward ourselves (fasting); while their spirit of bond-
age and hypocrisy entirely destroyed the spiritual
character of these works, and morally placed them on
a level with the saddest and most sinful perversions
of the heathen.
Ver. 1. Your lighteouaness [not: your alms].
— We read ii.Kaio(Tvvi)v, and not iKirifjioavvi}v,
with Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and others,
according to Codd. B. D., etc. Jiighieousness, njD 12 ,
is upright and pious conduct generally. Thus we
have in the first verse a description of righteousness
generally, which afterward is followed by a statement
of the threefold manifestation of that righteousness.
The reward with our Father who is in heaven (Matt.
XXV. 31, etc.) is mentioned in opposition to that
which the Pharisees arrogated to themselves, or to
the outward acknov/ledgment which they claimed
from men.
Ver. 2. When thou doest alms, do not sound
a trumpet before thee. — A figurative expression,
meaning, to attract attention. So Theophylact and
many other commentators. Calovius, Wolf, Paulus,
etc., understand it literally, that the Pharisees gath-
ered the poor together by sounding a trumpet. Oth-
ers connect it with the modern custom of beggars in
the East, who blow the trumpet before him from
* Even in Tobias iv. 11,'13, alms are represented as right-
eousness before God, and as the means of obtaining forgive-
ness. In the ancient Church they were regarded as njeans
of indulgence. Comp. the Sermons of Loo the Great. Hee
Heubner, p. 78, ,
whom they ask alms (Henneberg). Lastly, some
refer it to the cUnking of the money in the chest,
which is supposed to have been shaped like a trum-
pet. Manifestly the metaphorical interpretation alone
is correct. — In the synagogues the alms were collect-
ed ; on the streets the benevolent were accosted by
beggars. These additions, then, only indicate the
occasion. The emphasis rests on the ^t/ o-aATrio-j/s.
— They have their reward. — ' Air^xova-iv,
they have it in fuU, or have wholly received their re-
ward [and will get no more]. The only thing they
wished was the praise of the multitude ; and that
they have got in all its vanity. — The expression
vTroicpiTTis occurs frequently in the Gospels, as in
ver. 16, vii. 16, and in other places. The verb vtto-
Kpivea6ai (Luke XX. 20) has much the same significa-
tion as anoKpivcadat, to answer, but probably to
answer under a mask, to play the actor, to feign.
" In the New Testament it is apphed to a form of
religion, where the reality is awanting."
Ver. 3. Let not thy left hand know. — " Not
a parsimonious counting of the money from the right
hand into the left (Paulus, de Wette), nor a search-
ing to take away again with the left hand (Luther) ;
but complete modesty, secret and noiseless giving,
metaphorically expressed (Chrysostom)." Gerlach:
" If the left hand does not know what the right hand
does, neither is the soul which animates both con-
scious of it." We can find no sense in this explana-
tion, and prefer his quotation of an Eastern proverb :
" If thou doest any good, cast it into the sea : if the
fish shall not know it, the Lord knows it." * — He
who sees in secret, or who is ever present. Avros,
He. You are not to take your own reward : He will
give it you. A reward of grace this, in the kingdom
of God.'
Ver. 5. And when ye pray. — On many grounds
we prefer the plural instead of the singular (see Lach-
mann, etc.). — They love to pray. Their position
in prayer is a matter of reflection and of choice, and
they love it so. — Standing. " The Jews prayed
standing with their face toward the temple, or toward
the most holy place, — 1 Sam. i. 26 ; 1 Kings viii. 22 ;
Mark xi. 25; Luke xviii. 11 ; Lightfoot, Ho^-ee, 292
sq. — or else kneeling, or prostrate on the earth." —
Meyer. But the word earures indicates a conscious
* r" Tiiusi d-u was Gutes, so wirfes in''s Meer,
Weiss es der Fisch nicht, so toeisa ea der Herr.'"]
CHAP. Via-18.
123
and ostentatious assumption of the posture ; comp.
Luke xviii. 11, 6 ^apiffoios cna6ei%. — In the cor-
ners, eV Tah yuviais. The Pharisees probably took
care that the hour iised for prayer should overtake
them at a cross-road or the corner of a street, in or-
der to afford them the desired opportunity of per-
forming their devotions in the most public places.
Ver. 6. Into thy closet, tty rh rauilnv aou. —
The room specially used for prayer was called vite-
pwof, the Ahjah, on the house-top. Vitringa, Si/n.
151. Although this apartment is not exclusively
here referred to, there is evidently an allusion to it,
as being pre-eminently "the closet" of a Jew when
engageei in devotional exercises. The antithesis be-
tween " the closet,'" and " the synagogue and corners
of streets " is manifest. Of course, the passage is
not aimed against public prayer. As Theophylact has
it: 0 to'ttos ou /8/\a7rTei, aW' o rpdvo'i, Kal o aKoirus
[it is not the place wliich hurts, but the manner and
the aim]. All display should be avoided in devo-
tion: He who addresses God must be wholly en-
grossed with thoughts of his own wants, and of Him
whose grace he entreats. Such abstraction wOl con-
vert the most public place into a ratxi'iov. The met-
aphorical expression, K\elaai tV Ovpav, also refers
to the latent desire of gaining the applause of men.
Ver. 7. Use not vain repetitions, /j.-/; ^ar-
ro\oyvaT]re . — Another perversion of prayer
closely connected with the former, and implying an
attempt to gain merit before God by superstitious
practices, just as the former abuse was intended to
gain merit with men. BaTTo\oydv occurs very
rarely in classical writers (Simplic. ad Epict. p. 340).
It has been variously derived from Battus, the name
of a king who stammered, or from Battus, a poet
whose compositions were full of tautologies, or from
C'na , Job xi. 3. Probably it is, as Hesychius sug-
gests, an onomatopoeticon, after the analogy of
^arTapi(eiv, — an imitation of stammering, and then
of garrulity. The explanation of its meaning is fur-
nished by the expression, much speaking, iroXv-
Aoyia, which follows. These vain repetitions of the
heathen are alluded to in 1 Kings xviii. 2G ; Terent.
Heautont. v. 1. — On the vain repetitions of the Jews,
see Matt, xxiii. 15 ; Sir. vii. 14 ; Wetstein, Schott-
gen, and others ; — on those of the Mohammedans,
Hottinger, Hist. Eccles. vii. ad Lectorem. — The vain
repetitions of the mediaeval Church (Gieseler, Kir-
chengcsch. ii. 1. p. 294), and of some modern sects,
are well known.
It is worthy of notice, that Christ ranks benefi-
cence and fasting along with prayer as rehgious
actions, and as the evidence of practical piety. This
impUes, that almsgiving and fasting are the neces-
sary accompaniment and manifestation of true pray-
er, which, so to speak, stands intermediate between
them ; the spirit of prayer being reflected in attention
to the wants of our indigent brethren, and to those
of our own inner life. The inferences from tins are,
1. that almsgiving, in the spiritual sense, does not
merely consist in care for the temporal wants of the
poor, by the instrumentality of established boards
and committees, but must take form after the ex-
ample which the Lord Himself gave when He reUeved
the wants of the needy ; 2. that religious fasting can-
not be reduced merely to principles of temperance,
sobriety, and order, but forms a distinct and special
exercise, which, however, must be reserved for spe-
cial eras in our lives, or for seasons of pecuhar expe-
rience.
Vers. 9-13. The Lord's Prayer.— General lie-
marks. — In this prayer our Lord shows His disciples
how an infinite variety of wants and requests can be
compressed into a few humble petitions. It em-
bodies every possible desire of a praying heart, a
whole world of spiritual requirements, yet all in tho
most simple, condensed, and humble form, re-
sembling in this respect a pearl on which the light
of heaven plays. It expresses and combines, in the
best order, every Divine promise, every human sor-
row and want, and every Christian aspiration for tho
good of others. In the opening address we have
Theism in its purest manifestation, which ever owns
and recognises the God of heaven as our Father.
From tbe three first petitions, in their relation to
the succeeding ones, we learn that man must not be
bent on entreating God merely for that which affects
himself, but that his spiritual well-being will be pro-
moted by self-surrender to God, and by primarily
seeking that which pertains to His kingdom.
The Lord's Prayer is commonly arranged into
three parts — the preface, the petitions, and the con-
clusion {see Luther's Smaller Catechism, the Heidel-
berg Cat., qu. 120 sqq., and the Westminster Cats.).
Then follows the arrangement of the separate
petitions. Bengel : Petita sunt septem, quae universa
dividuntur Mt duas partes. Prior continet tria pri-
ora, Patrem spectantia : tuum, tuum, tua ; posterior
quatuor reliqua, nos spectantia. — Olshausen : Viewed
as a whole, the pi-ayer contains only one idea, even
deep longing after the kingdom of God, which forms
the substance of all the prayers of the children of
God (for whose behoof Christ here gives us a model).
But this one idea is set forth under a twofold aspect.
In the first three petitions it is presented to us in the
fight of God's relation to men, exhibiting the king-
dom of God absolutely and in its perfectness, — the
final aim of God being always the burden of the be-
liever's desire. The four succeeding petitions, on
the other hand, bear reference to the obstacles in the
way of the kingdom of heaven, and present this
spiritual longing of the children of God in the light
of the existing relation between man and God,
Hence it is that in the first part of the Lord's Prayer
the infinite riches of God are unfolded : —
Hallowed be Thy name ;
Thy kingdom come ;
Thy will be done ;
While in the second part, the poverty of men is
brought to view :
Give us this day our daily bread ;
Forgive us our debts ;
Lead us not into temptation ;
Defiver us from evil.
Lastly, the rich doxology expresses the certain hope
that our prayers shall be heard, in view of the char-
acter of God, who, being Himself the highest good,
will also bring to pass the highest good, even His
own kingdom. The Lord's Prayer is, at the same
time, the utterance of the desires of individual be-
lievers, although the plural number in the petitions
indicates their feeling of fellowship with others, and
that of the aspirations of mankind generally. Ex-
pressing as it does the inmost feelings and wants of
humanity, and tlie relation betv/een God and sinful
man, it both meets the requirements of all, and satis-
fies the desires of the individual, provided his be a
hfe of faith. Every special request not directly con-
nected with things that pass away, but bearing on
what is eternal, is included and implied in the Lord's
Prayer." — De Wctte : " The sacred numbtr of tlreso
124
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
petitions — seven — indicates that they exhaust every
religious want. In the first three petitions, the soul
rises directly to God ; in the three following, we have
the hindcrances to these aspirations — from a feeling
of dependence upon what is earthly, and from a con-
flict with sin ; while the last petition sets before us
the solution of all these difficulties." — Somewhat
better Meyer : " Having rhen to what forms the
highest and holiest object of believers, the soul is
engrossed with its character (first petition), its grand
purpose (second petition), and its moral condition
(third petition) ; iu the fourth petition, the children
of God humble themselves under the consciousness of
their dependence upon Divine mercy even in tem-
poral matters, but much more in spiritual things,
since that which, according to the first portion of
this prayer, constituted the burden of desire, can
only be realized by forgiveness (fifth petition), by
gracious guidance (sixth petition), and deliverance
from the power of the devil (seventh petition)." —
Stier (i. 198) draws a parallel between the two tables
of the Decalogue and the two sections of tlic Lord's
Prayer. — Weber (Lat. Programme quoted by Tho-
luck, p. 360) suggests the following outhne : —
IIpoAoyos.
1. ndrep.
2. rjjxoov.
3. 6 eV Tois oupavols.
Ady(
1. aytacrdriTcc rh uvofjid
cov.
2. iKderai -i] fiaaiX^la ffov.
3. yevrjOriTca rh BeArtfjia,
aov, K.T.X.
Tholuck : " The attentive reader, who has otherwise
learned the doctrine of the Trinity, will find a dis-
tinct reference to it in the arrangement of this pray-
er. The first petition in each of the first and second
portions of the prayer, refers to God as the Creator
and Preserver; the second, to God the Redeemer;
and the third, to God the Holy Spirit." — Devotion to
God, and acceptance of His gifts are contrasted in
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
2. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be com-
forted.
3. Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth.
4. Blessed are they that hiwRer and thirst after righteous-
ness: for they shall be filled.
5. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
6. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, etc.
It has been remarked, that the Lord Jesus simply
taught His disciples to pray, " Forgive us our debts,"
but could not Himself have offered that petition
(comp. Tholuck, p. 375). If we take it hterally,
this is, of course, true ; though we must always bear
in mind, that in the depth of His human sympathy,
Christ felt more than any other the sins of human-
ity, and that He entreated their forgiveness as that
of a debt due liy the whole family of man.
Ver. 9. After this manner therefore pray
ye. — According to Schleierraacher, Olshausen, de
Wette, and Neander, Christ taught His disciples the
Lord's Prayer, not on this, but on a later occasion
(Luke xi. 1). Tholuck and Stier hold that the Lord's
Prayer was, so to speak, twice taught : the first time
as an example how to pray without vain repetitions ;
the second time, when His disciples expressly asked
Him, " Lord, teach us to pray." But this explana-
tion is forced, and at variance with Christ's ordinary
mode of instruction, which was always in the first
place ilireeted to the disciples, and then to the peo-
ple. But if we call up before our minds that inner
circle to which the Sermon on the Mount was first
addressed, we can readily imderstand how the disci-
ples would on that occasion proffer such a request.
After this manner, ovrw s. — In what respect ov-
TtosV Grotius: inhuncsensum. Calovius, Maldonatus,
Fritzsche, Tholuck, Meyer : in this manner, i. e., thus
briejly. De Wette : in these words, as a formula of
h'lTriixaTa.
1. rhv &pToi' r]fJi<'>y, k.t.K.
xt acpes W'") K.T.K
il fxr] eliTeyeyKTis fjfi.ai,
K.T.A.
ETTtA-oyos.
1. oTi (Tov fcrrtv t] ^affi
Ae'ia,
2. ffov iartv t) Siyafiis.
3. aov etrrtv t} 5({|a.
the Lord's Prayer. 1. Devotion to His name, to His
kingdom, and to His will ; heaven, heaven and earth,
earth : the place of His manifestation. 2. Accept-
ance of His gifts in reference to the present, the
pa^t, and the future. — We place in parallel columns
the seven petitions and the seven beatitudes, to ex-
hibit their internal agreement : —
— Hallowed be Thy name (the name of God our riches,
opening to us the kingdom of heaven).
—Thy kingdom come (and with it comes heavenly comfort
to ourliearts).
—Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (meekness,
the characteristic of heaven, the outstanding feature of
the new earth).
— Give us this day our daily bread (which above all includes
the Bread of life, John vi.).
— And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
— And lead us not into temptation (grant us victory in our
hearts).
— But deliver us from evil (gi-ant victory over the world).
prayer. We may call it a formula, provided we re-
member that its leading characteristic is to be free
from iroXvXoyia and formality, and that in briefest
form it bodies forth the deepest and the fullest
thoughts and feelings. And as, in the present case,
contents and form agree in this respect, the word
oi/TCT refers equally to the rich vein of thought, and
to the concise brevity of form in this prayer.*
' * [Among British and American commentators those
belonging to the Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist,
Baptist, and other non-Episcopal denominations general-
ly maintain that the Lord's Prayer was intended not a^ a
formula to be literally and invariably used, although it is
iindoubtedly very proper to use it within certain lim^its, but
as a general pattern rather for all our prayers, private and
public. See Henry, Barnes, Alexander, Owen, Jacobus,
Whedon, Nast ad Matt. vi. 9. Episcopalian commentators
differ like the Germans. Dr. Alford (a liberal Anglican)
says: "It is very improbable that the prayer was regarded
in the very earliest times as a set form delivered for liturgical
use by our Lord. The variations of Tas a/xaprlai i)fJ.&v '
Kol yap avrol d<piofj,ev ttavrl otpeiAovTL iffJ^v, and rh
icafl' i]p:.ipav in Luke, for the corresponding clauses in our
text, however unimportant iu themselves, have been re-
garded as fatal to the supposition of its being used liturgical-
ly at the time when these Gospels were written. It must
be confessed that we flud very few traces of such use in ear-
ly times," Di-. Wordsworth (conservative Anglican) on the
other hand remarks ad Matt. vi. 9 : " Our Lord here, by
this prayer (comp. the Benediction, Num. vi. 23; Deut.
xxvi. 13) authorizes forms of pr.ayer (and adopts petitions
already in use in Forms of Prayer among the Jews), and de-
livers a particular forjn of prayer to be used, and to serve
CHAP, YI. 1-18.
125
On the resemblance between this prayer and
other Jewish prayers, comp. Heubner (p. 87), Tho-
luck, and de ^Vet"te. " It derogates in no way from
the Lord's Prayer, that to a certain extent it em-
bodies ideas expressed in other Jewish prayers, since
it was not a mere repetition of these forms. Nay, in
the circumstances, it would hare been surprising if
every such allusion had been avoided. But Wetstcin
goes much too far in maintaining, ' tota hccc oratio
ex for 111 u! is Ilebrceoriiia concinnata est.'' After Light-
foot, Schottgen, AYetstein, Drusius, Yitriuga, Witsius,
and Surenhusius have laid under requisition every
conceivable parallel passage, even from much later
Jewish prayer books, the result of their learning and
industry shows that only the first two petitions of
the Lord's prayer contain what, after all, amounts to
no more than allusions to well-known Old Testament
or Messianic ideas and expressions. Besides, it is
quite possible that the Jews may have borrowed
even these from the Lord's Prayer." De Wette. — Nor
should it be forgotten that the characteristic features
of this prayer consist in the brevity and distinctness
of its petitions, in their order and succession, and
lastly, in their fulness and comprehensiveness.
With reference to the criticism of the text, 01s-
hausen remarks : " The doxology at the close is un-
doubtedly of later origin, and added for liturgical
purposes. It first appears in the Constit. Apost.,
where it reads, on aou icrnv ?; ^acriXeia els aiwva?.
'Kix-hv. But its meaning is so deep and so much in
accordance with the spirit of the prayer, that it must
have originated at a period when the genuine spirit
of the apostolic Church still prevailed. It is want-
ing in Codd. B. D. L. (Z.), and in many others, as
shown by Griesbach. But it occurs already in the
Peshito, where, however, it may be an interpolation.
Sinailarly the petitions, yivTqSi]ro> rh Qi\-r]ixa aou ojs
fv oiipavco Kal inl {rrji) yr/s, and aAAa puaai rjfxas airb
Tov TTovnpov, are wanting in the text of Luke. They
are not found in B. and L., nor do they occur in the
oldest of the Fathers — such as Origen, who expressly
mentions the omission. But it does not follow that
they are spurious in the prayer as given by Matthew.
In all likehhood, Luke simply abbreviated the ac-
count." Similarly, some read only wdrep in the
opening address. — On the transposition of the second
and third petitions in Tertullian, see Dr. Nitzsch in
the '■^ Studkn und Kriiiken" for 1830, iv. 846.
After Augustine and Luther, the nimiher of the
petitions has been fixed at seven. But Chrysostom,
and after him the Reformed Churches, enumerate
only six. It cannot be denied that the petition, " De-
liver us from evil,'''' expresses more than that, " Lead
us not into temptation ;" and in this respect it may
as a pnttern for the subject and order of our desires and pray-
ers, and therefore as a euide for our practice." — There is truth
here on both sides. This matchless grayer was undoubtedly
given both as a form to be rightly, i. e., devoutly and reve-
rently used on all proper occasions (comp. the A e 7 e t e
in Luke xi. 2), and as a model for all other prayers. The for-
mer abuse of the Lord's Prayer as an empty formula oft re-
peated without devotion and profit in the Roman Church
(hence Luther called it tbe greatest martyr), led some sec-
tions of Protestantism to the opposite extreme of neglect of
this shortest and richest, simplest and deepest of all prayers
ever uttered by man or angel, the perfect model prayer
which could only jirococd from the lips of the Son of God.
Dr. Thom.as Scott has hit the right medium in the following
note: "It may often be [better: it nndonhtecUy is] proper
to use the very words, but it is not always necessary; for
we do not find that the apostles thus used it: but we ought
Blways to pray after the manner of It, that is, with that re-
verence, humility, seriousness, confidence in God, zeal for
His glory, love to mankind, submission, and moderation in
temporal, and earnestness about spiritual things, which it in-
culcates; avoiding vain repetitions, and using grave and
be regarded as a separate petition. On the other
hand, however, it must not lie overlooked, that the
word a A A o connects the two parts of one and the
same petition.* Besides, symbolically, we should
expect to find the number six rather than seven — the
former being expressive of mental labor, the latter of
holy rest. Yiewcd as a sacred number, six is always
followed by a seven, which sums up the whole ; just
as in this case the six petitions are summed up in
the doxology, or originally in the close of the sixth
petition, or in the continuous inward prayer of be-
lievers,— concerning which Luther rightly says, " The
Christian prays a never-ending Lord's prayer."
Yer. 9. Our Father, -war ep -o/xw v. — Although
the spiritual experience of adoption sprung from the
atoning death of Christ on the cross, it was from the
first implied in Christ's message of reconciliation. —
Who art in the heavens, iv to'ls ohp avals.
The words show the infinite difference between this
and every other human relationship of a similar kind :
Our Father in heaven ; not a weak, helpless, earth-
ly parent (comp. ch. vii. 11 ; Eph. iii. 15; iv. 6).
The expression also indicates the place where tho
glory of God dwelleth (Isa. Ixvi. 1 ; Acts vii. 55, 56,
etc.), but without the limitations of the Old Testa-
ment— not in heaven, but in the heavens. Finally, it
is both a symbol of the contrast between the glory,
the purity, the infinitude, and tbe unchangeableness
of heaven and this world, and of the riches of God,
and the source whence the kingdom of heaven de-
scended upon earth.
Thy name. — The expression refers neither to His
Divine being, nor to His perfections ; as in that case
the petition, " Hallowed be Thy name," would be un-
intelligible. What is holy cannot be made holy.
The " name of God " is the impress of His being
upon the hmnan mind, the manifestation of His be-
ing in the world ; hence nearly equivalent to religion
as based upon Divine revelation. Comp. 1 Pet, iii.
15 : " Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts."
Yer. 10. Thy kingdom. — The kingdom of hea-
ven. As Christ announces and introduces the king-
dom of heaven, so His people arc to pray for, and to
anticipate it. The import of the expression, " king-
dom of heaven," appears, 1. from its contrast to the
symbolical kingdom of heaven under the 0, T, the-
ocracy ; 2. from its contrast to the kingdom of dark-
ness. Other explanations : The spread of Christian-
ity (Kuinoel) ; the victorious development of the
Christian Church (Tholuck). But these are only in-
dividual phases ; the grand fact is the kingdom of
heaven in its spiritual reahty, which includes both
time and eternity, f
As in heaven, — i. e., in absolute purity and per-
fectness, as apparent in the obedience of the angels.
comprehensive expressions." Comp. also tho remarks of
Ad. Clarke, and Dr. D. Brown ad loc.—V. S.]
* [Alford takes a similar view : " oAAa must not be taken
as equivalent to tl 5e fj.rj, q. d. '■but if thou dost, deliver,''
etc. ; but is rather the opposition to the former clause, and
forms in this sense but one petition with it,—' briiiff us not
into convict with evil, Mt rather deliver (rid) us from it
altogether.^ In another view, however, as expressing the
deep desire of all Christian hearts to bo delivered from all
evil . . . these words form a seventh and most affecting peti-
tion, reaching far beyond the last." So also D. Brown ad
loc.—V. S.]
t [Alford: "'Tiiv kinodom' here is the fulness of the
accomplishment of the kingdom of God, so often spoken of
in prophetic Scripture-; and by implication all th.at process
of events Which lead to that accomplishment. Meyer in ob-
jecting to all ecclesiastical and spiritual meaning? of 'Thy
kingdom,' forgets that the one for which he contends exclu-
s'wcly, the Me-fsinnio kingdom,, Coca in fact include or im-
ply them all."— P. S.]
12G
THE GOSPEL ACCOKDING TO MATTHEW.
Vcr. 11. Owe daily bread, — ti proi, like cnb ^
the requirements of daily life. — T hv iir t ovu lov
occurs again in Luke xi. 3, but nowhere else. Ex-
planations:— 1. The nourishment necessary for sub-
sistence, olxria. So Origen and many others. " This
explanation [says Meyer] has led to the inaccurate
rendering, ' daily bread ' (the "Vulgate, Chrysostom,
Luther, etc.)." Meyer objects that ohaia. does not
mean subsistence, but being or existence. But surely
the .subsistence of a man consists in the preservation
of his human being. 2. Jerome and Zwingli : " Epiu-
sion, hoc est supersubstantialem petamns, plus de ani-
mce cibo, quam corporis solliciii." Of course it were
a mistake to apply the passage, with Olshauscn and
Bome of the Fathers, to spiritual nourishment exclu-
sively, or even to the Eucharist. Manifestly, our
Lord alludes to daily bread — only not to merely ma-
terial bread, destined for tlie sensuous part of man
alone. Man requires earthly bread ; the Christian,
Christian bread, yet not supersensuous, but adapted
to all the parts of his being, which implies, above
all, heavenly and spiritual nourishment. 3. By some
the word is identified with iiriovtra, dies crastinus —
to-morrow's bread. So the Arabic aud Ethiopian ver-
sions, Scaliger, Meyer, etc. (Jerome : in Evangelio,
quod appellatur secundum Hebraos^ pro supersicbstan-
tiali pane repcri mahar, "niQ ^ i. c., to-niorroiv's
bread.) But this explanation agrees not with (ni.uf-
poc, nor with the statement in vi. 34. — Explaining it
as referring to bread suitable to our being, we- in-
clude in the term the idea of what is required fdr
our daily subsistence, corresponding to '■'pr\ V^rh
(" food convenient for me "), in Prov. xxx. 8.*
Ter. 1 2. Debts, o^eiKi)^ar a , — equivalent to
TTapaTTTa'uaTa, regarding them either in the light of
imputation, or of one's o^vn conscience.
As wo forgive. — ' a s expresses neither tlie
measure (Baumgarten-Crasius) nor the ground of fox--
giveness (nam, Fritsche, Meyer), but indicates the rela-
tion to our feelings of conciiiation toward our neighbor ;
the assurance of our own forgiveness being connect-
ed with and regulated by our vow of readiness to for-
give our neighbors. We feel assurance in Thy for-
giveness, perceiving within ourselves a readiness to
forgive others, which Thou hast implanted ; and we
pray for forgiveness while vowing, under a sense of
this gracious experience.
Ver. 1 3. And lead us not into temptation. —
A difficult passage : 1. Because God does not tempt
man, James i. 13 ; 2. because man should not shrink
from trial. Hence some have taken elcrcpfpetv, others
6 1 y , and Others vreipno-^oy, in an emphatic sense.
But tlio " temptation " here spoken of is only a trial
increased by the guilt which had formerly been con-
fessed as a debt; and the prayer, ^^ Lead us not,''''
is simply a consequence of the petition for forgive-
ness. Let us not experience in intense temptations
the consequences of our guilt, etc. (comp. L. Jem, ii.
2, p. 615). The popular sense is, that God may pre-
* [Alford takes iTriovcrios likewise in the sense: proper
/or our sustenance, after the analogy of eTriyaf.ios, Jit for
marriage, fiTLS6f)iTios,Jitfor the hanquet, and cunsiilers it
equivalent to t« itriTri^eia too ffdifjLaTos in James ii. IG
(rendered in Syriac transl. by the s.-vmc word). He also
tliinks we may safely understand the expression spiritn.ally,
of the bread of life, provided we keep in the foreground its
primary physical meanine, and view the other as involved
by implication in that. Tlie Andican Catech. understands
the daily bread to mean "all things that be needful for our
souls «nd bodies." On the different explanations, see espe-
cially Tholuck, Meyer, and Conant.— P. S.]
serve us from such temptations as might lead us into
sin (ch. xxvi. 41 ; 1 Cor. vii. 5) ; or else that God
would, with the temptation, give a way of escf^pe, 1
Cor. x. 13.
But deliver us from evil, p vcr at r/juas. —
The full sense of botli these petitions can only be
understood if we bear in mind the literal meaning of
(la-fpfpeiv and pv(,i.iai — to carry in, and to pull out.
The expression, pulling out, or delivering, impUes
bondage and inabiUty. — 'A nh rod -k ovtipov. Ex-
planations: 1. (5 TTovTjpu'i, the Evil One, the Devil.
So the older commentators, Erasmus, Beza, Kuinoel,
Fritzsche, Meyer. 2. rh ■wovr]p/>v. So Augustine and
Tholuck, after John xvii. 15 ; Rom. xii. 9 ; 2 Thess.
iii. 3. 3. From evil, or misery. Luther. — \fhy Tcov1^p6v
the power of darkness is meant, as manifested in the
kingdom of darkness, it would include not only that
kingdom itself, but also its author, and even its out-
ward .ind temporal consequences. Such is undoubt-
edly the meaning of the text. " The whole sphere
and bearing of the Treipao-^ao!," Tholuck.
For thine is the kingdom. — This doxology is
traced back to 1 Chron. xxix. 11. — 2 Tim. iv. 18 may
be regarded as containing the germ of this liturgical
addition to the text, although, according to Stier, it
only serves as an evidence of the genuineness of the
passage in Matthew. The words show that the ful-
ness of God, or His majesty, forms the basis, the
soul, and the aim of the whole prayer. On the foun-
dation of the kingdom of power, which rests in God's
might and appears m His glory, the kingdom of grace
is to be unfolded and perfected. [See Addenda."]
Amen, "iliX certainly, truly. — This certainty is de-
rived from the truth and faithfulness of God (n:!i?:N),
Christ introduces His most solemn statements with
this word ; and with it believers close their prayers,
in sign and testimony that all human faithfulness and
human certitude springs from the faithfulness of
God. This word, Amen, has its great history in bib-
lical theology, in the Divine services of the Church,
and in the lives of believers. But at the close of
the Lord's Prayer, " the Amen of every prayer antici-
pates that of the world." (Stier.)
Ver. 14. For if ye forgive men. Comp. Mark
xi. 25. — An explanation of the fifth petition, specially
important in this place, as showing that forgiveness
and readiness to forgive were among the leading
ideas in the Lord's Prayer. This was all the more
necessary, as the Lord could not yet speak of the
work of redemption which He was about to accom-
plish. De Wette is right in observing, that the circum.
stance of His not adverting to it, is itself an evidence
of the authenticity of the Lord's Prayer. — Ta trapa.-
irTu.'/j.aTa alnSiv, After Cod. D. and other witnesses,
Tischendorf has omitted these words, though without
sufficient reason.
Ver. 16. When ye fast. — This refers primarily
to voluntary or private fasting, Luke xviii. 12. But
it equally appUes to the great annual public fast. Lev.
xvi. 29. " By the law of Moses, the Jews were enjoined
to fast on the Day of Atonement from one evening to
the following (Lev. xvi. 29). Tradition prescribed
similar fasts in autumn if the latter rains did not fall,
or if the harvest was threatened {Taanith, p. iii.
§ 8). To these we have to add a number of extra-
ordinary fasts. The Pharisees regarded the practice
as meritorious, and fasted twice (Luke xviii. 12), or
even four times, in the week, — makmg their appear-
ance in the synagogue, negligently attired, pale and
sad, in order to exhibit their superior ascetic sanctity
CHAP. VI. 1-18.
127
before the people." Von Ammon. — It was the prac-
tice to wear mourning-dresses when fasting. 2Kv9pco-
iTol, Luke xxiv. 17; Gen. xl. '7.— Disfigure, atpafi-
Ce 1 1; with ashes and dust, Isa. Ixi. 3. Here a figura-
tive expression for the mournful gestures and the neg-
lected appearance of the head and beard. — " There
is a play upon the words, cKpayi^ovcri and cpavcicn.
They make their faces miappearable, that they may
appear unto men." So Meyer, who also suggests
that the expression alludes to the covering of the
face, as in 2 Sam. xv. SO ; Esther vi. 12.
Ver. 17. Anoint thine head. — In the East, it
was customary to anoint the head when going to a
feast, in opposition to the deportment observed on
fast days. Hence the advice must not be taken Uter-
ally. Of course, the opposite dissimulation cannot
have been enjoined. Our outward appearance when
fasting is to betoken spiritual triumph and rest,
which elevates above mere outward alistinence.
Ver. 18. In secret. — 'Ev r(2 Kpvpalw [twice for
the text rec, tV t^ Kpvwrtf.'] — So Lachmann and Tis-
chendorf after B. D. The word does not again occur
in the New Testament, but is several times found in
the Septuagint. [This note belongs properly to the
critical notes below the text. — P. S.]
DOCTraNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The one radical perversion of religious life
consists in the desire to appear before men. Spirit-
ual religion has, indeed, its outward and becoming
expression, — chiefly, however, in the meek and de-
vout worship of the Church, where the piety of indi-
vidual believers is lost to outward view. The worship
of the Church is, so to speak, the shadow in which
the humility and meekness of the individual worship-
per finds shelter and protection.
Hence perversion of religious life first manifests
itself in separatism of worship, which gradually in-
trudes upon the worship of the Church, and ultimately
perverts it. The consequences of this speedily appear
in the three departments of practical piety. Thus,
instead of charity toward our neighbors, we have re-
Ugious self-righteousness on the one hand, and reli-
gious idleness on the other — a show of kindness, and
a corresponding spirit of mean dependence. Simi-
larly, the worship of God assumes the form of length-
ened prayers and tedious processions without devo-
tion, while asceticism degenerates into hypocritical
fasts and monastic extravagances. But if, in our re-
ligion, we consciously and purposely aim after mere
externalism and show, we enter upon a course of
hypocrisy, setting up in our outward forms a coun-
terfeit of what is sacred. The commencement of this
fiilse religionism consists in painful service and out-
ward works. Although a man may at that stage
still set God before him, it is only in an external man-
ner. In worshipping Him, he no longer has regard to
the character and the love of God, because he realizes
not that God has regard to his affections and state
of heart. He is only anxious that God should have
regard to his work, and his service, just as he has
only regard to the v/ork of God and the reward of
God ; and as he regards this reward as merely exter-
nal, like his own work, he gi-adually comes to seek it
among men. His externalism now leads him to merge
his God in the opmion of men. Hence the outward
show which marks the second stage of religious per-
version. His great object now is to let his benefi-
cence, his prayers, and his fasts appear as fully and
as pompously as possible. From this spiritual oride
and spiritual servility the transition is easy to the
thiid stage, which is that of deception and imposition,
when the hypocrite conceals his hardness of heart
under the mask of beneficence, his coldness and dead-
ness under that of singular devotion, and his love of
the world and lustfulness, with the corresponding
works of darkness, under that of asceticism.
2. A piety which primarily tends to externalism
and show, is not only falsehood but folly. It may
be compared to a root growing upward. The proper
and genuine tendency of religion is inward, to secrecy
— to that God who rules in the secret sanctuary of
spiritual life. Hence also Christ urges in so strenu-
ous terms the importance of this matter. Let bene-
ficence remain a secret of our right hand — a shame-
faced and holy affection — an act of genuine pity, from
which we immediately pass without self-complacency.
Let true prayer be concealed in our closet, and let
us shut the door behind us. Let sincere fasting be
concealed under the cheerful garb of holy festivity.
This concealment is necessary, because true piety
consists in full self-surrender to God, leading us to
seek His, not ours ; and because we cherish the firm
confidence, that the Lord will o^vn openly, by His
leadings and by His blessings, in the domain of moral
and of pubhc life, in the kingdom of heaven here,
and yet niore hereafter, whatever is done in and for
His name, and that He will in His own time and way
attest both its reality and its value. Thus the root
spreads deep in the earth where no human eye sees,
in the assured hope that it shall spring all the high-
er, and spread all the more richly, in measure as its
life is hid beneath the ground.
3. In this instance also the Lord sets before His
disciples a picture which reflected His own life. In
the gracious dispensation of His benefits. He alike
removed the occasion of laendicancy and avoided the
pomp of spurious kindness. By His intercession,
He restored the Ufe-tree of humanity, by restoring
its root, and planting it in good soil, even in God. So
also He fasted and renounced the world as the Bride-
groom of the Church, — thereby and therein laying
anew the foundation of true enjoyment and peace.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
Outward manifestations of piety, genuine and
spurious: 1. Genuine, if springing from within, and
an evidence of what is within : or if in them man
seeks God, lives in God, and desires to glorify God ;
2. spurious, if in contrariety to the state of the heart,
if carried on to the detriment of our kiner man, or
leading to his ruin ; lastly, if man seek his oivn
glory in divine things. — True and false outward mani-
festations : 1. True, — the destiny of Adam ; false, —
the fall. 2. True, — Christ's advent ; false, — the state
of the world at the time. 3. Acknowledged by God
as true, — the bride of Christ ; condemned as false in
the final judgment, — the Baljylonish harlot. — How
false appearances have rendered life hollow, and how
they threaten to render hollow the life of the Church.
— Spiritual vanity tending toward spiritual pride, and
thus exposing men to greatest danger. But if we
have sounded the depths of life, we will not become
giddy on its heights. — Externalism in individual mem-
bers of the Church may give rise to externahsm in
the Church, or to carnal chiUasm : 1. Proof from
history, — the Pharisees v/ere chiliasis, and yet
they crucified the Lord of glory ; 2. from the nature
of the thing, — when many are seized with the spirit
of extemaUsm, they will be anxious to form a Church
128
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
pretending to outward perfectness, but which in re-
ality is only a Church of outward appearance ; 3.
from the diversity of this morbid externahsra in the
Church : with some it manifests itself in works ; with
others, in devotions ; with others, in pretended asceti-
cism.— Make sure that you give yourself wholly to
God, and in due time He will own you. — Take care
of the root ; and the leaves, the blossoms, and the
fruit will appear in due season. — In what way may
art, with its fair appearance, be rendered subservient
to Christian truth ? — Hypocrisy is religious play-act-
ing.— Whatever we may have or want, let us eschew
anything like religious comedy in the Church. — Who
can dispense with false appearances i' 1. He who
firmly trusts in the living Cod. 2. He who sincerely
cleaves to the truth. 3. He who patiently waits for
the day of the appearing of the Lord. — Let us exhibit
before men, not our own righteousness, but the light
which we have received from the Lord. — The three
great virtues of hypocrites are only splendid vices. —
The three great graces of saints are secrets with the
Lord. — Piety seeking concealment in its principal
outward manifestations : 1. The open hand; 2. the
door of the closet shut ; 3. the countenance open,
yet veiled. — The right hand in its wonderworking, or
our beneficence i-estoring the poor. — Pure benefi-
cence : pure poverty. — The door of the closet shut,
yet open: 1. Open to God, closed to the world; 2.
open to any one who would join us in prayer, closed
to mere idle onlookers ; 3. open to the kingdom of
heaven, closed to the kingdom of darkness. — True
prayer will everywhere find a closet. — True fasting a
joyous renunciation of the world. — The Father who
sees in secret, and the open reward. — The reward
which man takes to himself: 1. A theft; 2. a rob-
bery ; 3. a self-deception. — The reward which God
bestows : 1. a reward of grace ; 2. a reward of love ;
3. a spiritual reward ; 4. a reward of eternal life. —
The progress of hypocrisy : 1. Service ofvjorkfi, when
man loses sight of the character and the love of God
whom he serves, and forgets or denies that the God
whom he serves looks to the heart and affections of
him who offers worship. 2. Mere outward service,
where externahsm takes the place of real service, and
yet even professed extemalism is rendered impossible
by a show of service. 3. Service of sin, when devo-
tion, becomes a he, which is speedily overtaken by
judgment. — Progress of piety from concealment to
open manifestation : 1. It is a secret between the
Lord and the hearts of believers, hid from the eyes
of the world. 2. The light which proceedeth from
Him who is invisible, shines through the hearts of
behevers into the world, and becomes manifest there.
S. The divine life fully manifested iu the great day of
revelation.
The Lord's Prayer, as the prayer of Christian
behevers. — The Lord's Prayer a precious jewel, which
reflects the Ught of Christianity : 1. The teaching of
the Gospel ; 2. the life of the Lord ; 3. His grace ;
4. the discipline of the Spirit of Christ ; 5. the power
of the new life ; 6. the history of the kingdom of
God. — The Lord's Prayer, as expressing our adoption
and reconciUation : 1. There the promises of God and
our requirements meet ; 2. there the ways of God
and our ways meet ; 3. there the Amen of God responds
to our Amen. — The sad state of Christendom, as ap-
pearing in connection with the Lord's Prayer : 1. It
was intended against vain repetitions, and has itself
become a mere formula ;* 2. it was intended to obviate
* [Hence Luther somewhere calls the Lord's Prayer
"the greatest martyr."— P. S.]
all discord, and has become the shibboleth of many
a separation.* — The three portions of the Lord's
Prayer : The address — the petitions — the conclusion.
— " Our Father who art in heaven ; " or, the tnie in-
ward posture of him who addresses God. — The Lord's
Prayer viewed as an intercession. — The address,
" Our Father," so simple, and yet so novel : 1. infi-
nitely easy, and yet infinitely diflicult ; 2. natural, yet
supernatural ; 3. humble, yet exalted ; 4. the com-
mencement and the conclusion of all prayer. — Sur-
render to God, as implying our acceptance of the
kingdom of heaven: 1. The first three petitions ex-
press, that while surrendering ourselves to God, we
own and seek His kingdom ; 2. the last petitions,
that while owning ami seeking His kingdom, we sur-
render ourselves to Him. — The name of God consti-
tutes the first object of our petitions ; 1. From its
glory ; 2. from the dishonor which men cast upon it ;
3. from its sanctification. — The name of God includ-
ing and opening up the whole kingdom of heaven. —
If you would have the name of God hallowed in the
world, see that you first hallow it in your own hearts.
— Learn to know the name of God ; or, how readest
thou ? how seekest thou ? how knowest thou ? what
believest thou ? how stands it with thy learning and
with thy teaching ? — " 77m/ kingdom come ; " 1. That
the Old Testament, both in its law and in its types,
may be fulfilled ; 2. that the kingdom of darkness
may be destroyed ; 3. that the three-fold kingdom of
grace, of power, and of glory may be manifested. —
The petition, " Thy kingdom come," a missionary
prayer. — A pi'ayer for the final reconcihation of State
and Church iu the perfect kingdom of heaven. — Is
both your ruling and your obeying in conformity
with this fundamental principle ? — " Thy will be
done,'" etc. : 1. Filialness of this petition : Thy will ;
2. humihty of tins petition : on earth ; 3. boldness
of this petition : as in Jieaven. — Are your will and
conduct regulated by this principle ? — The three first
petitions viewed, 1. as the promise descending from
heaven to earth — Thy name in heaven. Thy kingdom
between heaven and earth. Thy will on earth : 2. as
a sacrifice ascending from earth to heaven — the sur-
render of our own name, of our own power, and of our
own win. — As exhibiting, with increasing clearness
and power, the union of heaven and earth : the rev-
elation of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. — " G-lve us this day our daily breads Appar-
ently one of the smallest, yet one of the greatest
petitions. I. Smallness of the petition: 1. We ask
what most men already possess ; 2. we ask it only
for the small circle of those around our table ; 3. we
ask only daily bread; 4. we ask it only for to-day.
II. Greatness of the petition: 1. We ask that earthly
bread should be converted into heavenly bread, or
manna ; 2. we ask that He would feed all those who
are ia want; 3. we ask that He would meet the daily
requirements of a waiting world ; 4. v^e ask it to-day,
and ever again, to-day. — The fourth petition as a vow,
1. of sonship; 2. of trustfulness; 3. of labor; 4. of
* [Dr. Lange alludes here more particularly to the dif-
ference between the German Lutherans, who pray: '•Vaier
miser," '■'■Father our" (which is the ancient form and cor-
responds to the Latin Pater noster), and the German Pve-
formed, who pray "■Unser Vater," " Our Father," which is
the modern German and was used by Luther himself in his
German version of the Bible, Matt. vi. 9 ; Luke xl. 2. This
difference, insignificant as it is, has often been exaggerated
and been a cause of alienation of feeling and disturbance in
devotion. So, also, the Lord's Supper, intended to be a sacred
feast of love and union with Christ and His people, has in-
nocently become the occasion of tlie most bitter theological
strifes.— P. S.]
CHAP. VI. 1-15
129
grcatitude ; 5. of kindness. — Prayer before meals in
its wider sense : 1. A prayer of the husbandman ; 2. a
prayer for our ordinary calling ; 3. a prayer for our
daily work ; 4. a prayer in our distress ; 5. a prayer
in ail our earthly wants. — This grace before meat in
its more restricted sense. — Moderation and content-
ment a fruit of trustfulness. — The prayer of content-
ment.— True conteutmeut proceeding from a view of
the hidden riches of God. — Hungering and thirsting
after spiritual supplies will render us contented with
our earthly supplies. — The prayer of penitence : " For-
give us onr debts :'''' 1. It realizes sin, and reahzes it
as a debt ; 2. it realizes the burden of sin as a debt
resting on mankind generally ; 3. it realizes forgi\ g-
ness as a free grace and a free gift. — How true ];c-k'!-
tence appears in the prayer of faith. — Assurance of
forgiveness calling forth the prayer, " Forgive us."
— Forgiveness and readiness to foi'give cannot be sep-
arated. Connection betv.-een the two : 1. Forgiveness
makes us ready to forgive ; 2. readiness to forgive
inspires us with courage to seek forgiveness ; 3. the
spirit of forgiveness ever joins the two more closely
together. — He who cannot forgive man, cannot find
forgiveness with God : 1. Because he will not believe
in forgiving love ; 2. because he will not act upon its
directions. — In what sense is it true that he who for-
gives shall be forgiven ? 1. His forgiving is not the
ground, but the evidence of his forgiveness ; 2. his
forgiving is an evidence that the forgiveness of God
preserves hun ; 3. his forgivmg shows the truth of
his testimony, that there is forgiveness. — He who
strictly reckons with his fellow-men in outward
matters, cannot have experienced the gift of free
grace in his inner life. — Forgiveness and readiness to
surrender all are inseparably connected. — " Lead us
not into temptation.'''' — How our trials by God may
become temptations to sin : 1. By the supervention
of our own evil inclinations ; 2. of "the world, with its
allurements ; 3. of the great tempter himself. — Every
temptation is at the same time a judgment for the
past and a danger for the future. — Even our neces-
sary contact with a sinful world is a source of con-
tinual temptation. — God tempteth no man (James i.
13), yet may He lead us into temptation : 1. Because
He leads us, and temptation is in the way ; 2. because
He tries us, and temptation supervenes ; 3. because
He deals with us according to our faith, and tempta-
tion exerts its power through our unbelief. — The dark
cloud which rests upon our future : 1. Not want, but
temptation ; 2. not the enmity of the world, but
its temptation ; 3. not death, but again temptation. —
Because we have, in our sinfulness, not trembled in
anticipation of danger, we must, when pardoned,
tremble afccr the danger is past. — A pardoned simier
has only one fear left, which leads to genuine fear of
God, but dcUvers from all other dread : 1. The fear
of defiUng the white garment, of losing the ring, of
being excluded from the man-iage feast. 2. This Teads
to true fear of God : he recognizes God everywhere
even in the midst of temptation ; he hides in pray-
er under the shadow of the Almighty ; his love casts
out fear. — The courage and boldness of Christ's sol-
diers srprLngs from their fear of temptation, just as in
battle the courage whicli defies death springs from a
calm view of the danger incurred. — Perfect love cast-
eth out fear. — ^'■Deliver us from evil!" — Along witli
the anticipation of the last assault, the believer will
also obtain anticipation of final deliverance. — Dehv-
erancc in its threefold form : — at the commence-
ment, in the middle, and at the end of our journey to
heaven. — DeUver us from evil : 1. From sin here and
hereafter ; 2. from evil here and hereafter. — The last
petition the commencement of triumph. — The inter-
cession of tlic three [or four] last petitions. — Our
confidence m prayer derived from the assurance that
God is able and willing to help us. — The climax of
our prayer is praise : " Thine is the kingdom,''' etc. —
The kingdom of God in its threefold form : the king-
dom of nature, of grace, and of glory. — The three-
fold manifestation of the poiuer of God : creation, re-
demption (the resurrection of Christ), and final judg-
ment and glory. — Threefold manifestation of the
glory of God : 1. The image of God glorified ; 2. the
Church of God glorified ; 3. the city of God glorified
(God all in all). — " Amen,'" or calmness and assur-
ance the fruit of prayer. — The Holy Spirit alone
grants the li'ue Amen, in prophciic anticipation of
the answer in peace. — The " Amen " as combining the
promise of God and the vow of man. — Christ our Yea
and Amen. — How in this prayer Christ, 1. Hallows
the name of God ; 2. brings the kingdom of heaven ;
3. reveals and fulfils upon earth the will of heaven ;
4. appears as the manna from heaven ; 5. introduces
pardon and peace ; 6. manifests Himself as the Shep-
herd and Guardian of His people ; 7. as perfect Sav-
iour and Deliverer ; and hence as the Burden of the
new song of the redeemed. — Prayer an outgoing of
faith, through Christ, to God. — Prayer, or personal
converse with God, is holy love. — The right relation-
ship of Christians toward their neighbors, toward
God, and toward themselves. — To give — to give one-
self, and to surrender* — is, in a spiritual sense, to
lend, to receive, and to enjoy.
Starke: — Jesus the Patron, the Advocate, and
the Provider of the poor, John xsi. 5. — God loveth a
cheerful giver, and His righteousness endureth for
ever, 2 Cor. ix. 7, 9 ; Prov. xxii. 9. — It is proof of
the folly of men, that they seek honor of each other,
John .xii. 43 ; and not rather that they may find ac-
ceptance with God, Ps. xxxi. 8. — Our best v,'orks be-
come sin, if done only for the sake of appearance. —
Our alms form part of our treasure ; he who does
uot hide it, seems like one anxious to have it stolen,
Mark xii. 42-44. — Pray without ceasing, 1 Thess. v.
17. — The prayer of the righteous availeth much, if it
be earnest, Ps. cxiv. 18; Jnmcs v. 16; but that of
the hypocrite availeth nothing, Luke xviii. 10, 14. —
"We may everywhere find a place for prayer, 1 Tim.
ii. 8 ; Jonah ii. 2, 3 ; but the prayer of the hj-pocrite
is a lie wherever it be offered, Ps. 1. 16, 17. — Sinful
intentions in the heart may destroy the most holy
outward acts, Luke xviii. U), 14. — Prayer presup-
poses solitude, at least of the heart, — the most se-
cret place in the house of God which is within, where
we should close the door behind us, even though it
be in public prayer, or in the largest assembly, 2
Kings iv. 4 ; Ps. Ixxvii. 3. — Qucsnel: Prayer requires
heart rather than tongue, sighing rather than words,
faith rather than reason, Mark xi. 23. — Wiirtemherg
Bible: Those brief ejaculatory prayorsf sent up to
heaven in few words, and which may be uttered even
while engaged in our daily labor, arc by far the rich-
est and best, ch. xv. 25. — Quesnel: Prayer is not in-
tended to inform (lod, but to set before man his
misery, to humble his heart, to awaken his desires,
to kindle his faith, to encourage his hope, to raise
his soul toward heaven, and to remind him that his
Father, his home, and his eternal mheritance are
above, Phil. iii. 20,
* [In German : Geien, Rlngehen, Aufgehen.—I
t [Called by Luther ; Kurze Stusuffelietleiti.—]
130
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
The Lord's Prayer. — Quesnel: — A king who
himself draws up the petition which is to be pre-
sented, must surely take great pleasure in granting
it, Isa. Ixv. 24 ; John xvi. 23. — It is not wrong for
an unlettered Christian to make use of a form of
prayer ; but it is well to accustom ourselves to bring
our wants before God m our own words. — Our heav-
enly Father alone is to be worshipped, and no crea-
ture, ch. iv. 10. — Maj. Harm. : The kingdom of God
comes from heaven to earth, in order that earth may
become heaven. None of us can ascend from earth
to heaven, unless the kingdom of God have first
descended on us from heaven to earth, Luke vii. 20,
21. — Poor sinful man ! — we are, so to speak, afflict-
ed with spiritual impotence, so that we cannot come
to the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God
must come to us, John vi. 44. — The will of God can-
not be done unless we are willing, so much as lieth
in us, to deny the will of our flesh, of Satan, and of
an evil world, Piom. xii. 21. — Our daily bread comes
from God, and not by blind fortune, or by fate, Ho-
sea ii. 8. — Let us be satisfied with what is absolutely
necessary, and not ask God for more than that, 1
Tim. vi. 8 ; Prov. xxx. 8. — The ungodly receive their
bread by the intercession of the saints. Gen. xli. 54.
— The poor equally pray for the rich, and the rich
for the poor. — If we are not ready to forgive, we only
pray against ourselves, or invoke wrath and ven-
geance, which God will execute upon us, even as we
reserve vengeance against our nciglibor, Sirach
xxviii. 14. — The life of the Christian a continual con-
flict.— 3faj. Harm. : Our comfort under all tempta-
tions is this, that God is with us, that He sets
bounds, and will make all things work together for
our salvation, 1 Cor. x. 13 ; 2 Tun. iv. 17. — We en-
dure under temptation, not in our own strength, but
in that of God, 1 Cor. x. 13 ; 2 Pet. ii. 9 ; Isa. xli.
10-14. — Quesnel: Ah! how many snares are there,
how many liindrances to what is good, how many oc-
casions to sin, how many enemies of salvation, how
much sorrow and misery ! Ps. cvi. — Thou who
temptest others to sin, who exposest thyself wan-
tonly to temptation, or who in temptation fightest
yet not with the armor of God, why wilt thou mock
God by praying, " Lead us not into temptation ? " 1
Pet. V. C; Eph. vi. 11. — Canst thou be afraid of
death, and yet pray, " Deliver us from evil ? " — He
has already delivered us from evil. He does deliver
us, and He will perfectly deliver us, 2 Tim. iv. 18 ; 2
Cor. i. 10. — The honor of God should be the first
and the" last object of our prayers (Thy name, etc. ;
for Thine is, etc.), Ps. Ixix. 31, cxv. 1. — Spiritual
fasting consists in ceasing from evil, Isa. Iviii. 6, 7 ;
and in temperance in all things, Luke xxi. 34. — The
popish fasts are a constraint of conscience, a mock-
ery, a hypocrisy, and a superstition, 1 Tim. iv. 3. —
The more a sinner seeks to attract the attention of
men, the further does God turn His compassion from
him. Acts xii. 21, 23. — In order to be a sincere
Christian, it is not necessary to hang our head like
a bulrush, Isa. Iviii. 5. — The life of believers is hid
with Christ in God ; but when Christ, who is their
life, shall appear, they also shall appear with Him in
glory, Col. iii. 3, 4; "2 Cor. vi. 9, 10.— Our good
works, though done in secret, are not lost.
Lisco : — True righteousness : It consists not in
appearance, but in reality and truth ; its objects are
not earthly, but heavenly ; it has respect to the judg-
ment of God, not to that of man. " Reference " to
God the sole motive of truly good works.
Gcrlach: — A comparison of this passage with
ch. V. 16 shows that in this instance also our Lord
teaches by contrasts. He unmasks selfishness in all
its forms, both when it conceals unbehef under the
garb of humility and retirement, and when it exhib-
its its fancied treasures to the view of men. It may
be equally wrong in the sight of God to hide our
good works (ver. 4) as to display them. — If you
would have your most ardent desire accomplished,
pray, " Thy will be done." — The object of fasting is
to set us free from the power of the flesh and of the
world ; but if we employ it to further our worldly
views, it will only serve to increase the gulf between
God and our souls.
Braune : — The address, leather, is also found Isa.
Ixiii. 16 : " Thou, 0 Lord, art our Father, our Re-
deemer." This was a temporary anticipation of
the higher life of the Spirit of Christ in the prophet
(1 Pet. i. 11). The name, Father, awakens in us the
sense of our relationsliip to God, the feeling of fiUal
love and trust. We have received the spirit of adop-
tion, Rom. viii. 1 5 ; Gal. iv. 6.
Heubner : — Chrysostom : If you have not heard
your own prayers, how can you expect that God shall
hear them ? — The will of God is in the first place His
will with reference to us, whicli we are to do. The
petition therefore means : Take away our own will,
and let Thy will be my rule. But, further, the will
of God also implies His purposes concerning us.
Hence the petition means : Give us such a mind as
to be satisfied with whatever Thou sendcst, and never
to murmur. — A Christian must learn also to have do-
minion over his body.
Literature. — Fr. Arndt [of Berlin] : Zehn Pre-
(ligten iiber das Gebet des Herrn, 1836; Niemann:
Zehn Predigten iiber das Vaier Unser, 1844. — [Also
Tertullian : De oratione (who calls the Lord's
Prayer : Breviarium evangelii) ; Cyprian : De ora-
tione Dominica ; Augustine : De serrn. M. ii. 4-8 ;
Serrn. 56-58 ; Origen : Xiipi ei'x'7^ ! Gregory of
Nyssa: De oratione Dominica; Cyril of Jerusa-
lem : Catech. xxiii. ; Bp. Anurewes (Anglican, who
calls the Lord's Prayer " a compendium of faith ") :
Works, Oxf., 1841 sqq., vol. v., 300-476); the ex-
planations of this Pra)'er in the leading Catechisms
of Luther, Calvin, Heidelberg, Westminster, of
Trent, etc. ; Lohe (Germ. Luth.) : Sermons on the
Lord's Prayer ; Wm. R. Williams (Baptist): LeC'
tnres on the Lord's Prayer, New York, 1850. —
P. S.]
CHAP. VI. 19-34.
131
4. Spurious worldliness of the Pharisees in their righteousness ; or, the Pharisees' sharing of the cares of the
heathen.
Chapter VI. 19-34.
{Vers. 24-34 the Pericope for the I5th Sunday after Trinity.)
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt
20 [consume], and where thieves break through and steal : But lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt [consumeth], and where
21 thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your^ treasure is, there will your
22 heart be also. The light of the body is the eye : if therefore thine eye be single, thy
23 whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be
full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
24 darkness ! No man can serve two masters : for either he Avill hate the one, and love
the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God
25 and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no [anxious] thought for your life,
what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; ^ nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
26 on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of
the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heav-
27 enly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you
28 by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature [age] ? And why take ye
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,
29 neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was
30 not arrayed like one of these. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0
31 ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or. What
32 shall we drink? or. Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek :) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
33 things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;* and all these
34 things shall be added unto [to] you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the
morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof.
^yeT.2l.—Jiecepta: vnuv. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Fritzsche, Meyer, and Alford give the preference to aov,
thy treasure. — P. S.]
- Vcr. 25.— Lachinarin if, following Cod. B., etc., ^ t( vriTjTe. The ad<iition is omitted by the younger authorities
and Tischendorf.
5 Ver. 33. — [Cod. B. : t. ZiKaioaiivf]v k. T?jr ^aai\iia.v aurov.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Connection. — Considerable importance attaches
to the question as to the connection between this
and the preceding section. According to Strauss
and others, the two are wliolly unconnected. De
Wette remarks : " Hitherto the discourse proceeded
upon a definite plan ; but now the connection seems
loose, and longer and shorter sayings follow each
other." Even A'eander regards the verses under con-
sideration as an interpolation of Matthew. Meyer
misses only the connecting link with the preceding sec-
tion, but maintains, against de Wette, the connection
of what follows, without, however, tracing it out.
[He adds, p. 154, that we must not confound the
unity of the Sermon on the Mount with the unity of
a modern sermon. — P. S.] Tholuck maintains, that
while in all probability this section belongs to the
context as given in Luke xii. 22-34, it is impossible
to deny that its position in the Gospel by Matthew is
the correct one. " The transition was natural from
the idea that good works should be done only with
reference to Him who is invisible, to the conclusion
expre.ssed in ver. 33, that in all our aims and under-
takings the mind should be set upon the things of
eternity." In our opinion (as expressed previously in
the Leberi Jemi, ii. 2, 619), the internal connection
between the two sections appears from Matt, xxiii.
14: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo-
crites ! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a "pre-
tence make long prayer." The false spiritualit;/ of
these hypocrites arose from the worldly-ndndedncss
with which they are specially charged in the text.
The external connection with the previous section
lies in the relation between the fxyj dTirravpiCeTf, and
the an-exoua-tv tuv /xtaObv avruiv of vers. 2, 5, 16.
Having shown how tlie Pharisees by their false spiritu-
ality sought to lay up for themselves treasures in a
figurative sense, the Lord next exhibits their hypoc-
risy and worldliness in seeking to gather trea.sures in
the literal sense. Thus far Tholuck is right in say-
ing that the admonition to lay up for themselves
treasures in heaven is closely coimected M'ith what
132
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
was formerly said about doing good works in secret,
which the Father would reward openly. But that
our Lord refers to worldly-mindeduess in the garb of
hypocrisy, and not to ordinary worldly-mindedness,
appears from the expression, " Ye cannot serve God
and mammon ;" and, again, from that most impor-
tant declaration, " If therefore the light that is in thee
be darkness," etc. The history of the Middle Ages,
of monasticism, and of the hierarchy, has ami)ly
proved that false spirituality is closely connected with
worldly-mindedness, long prayers with covetousness
and ambition, almsgiving with avarice, and fasting
with feasting. Indeed, this love of the world, while
ajiparently fleeing from it, is the characteristic feature
of monasticism.
Ver. 19. Qncravpovs, treasures. — Treasures
of any kind, but more closely defined by the addition
of the tenn upon earth, and ])y the possibility of
their being corrupted )jy moth and rust, or carried
away by thieves. The moth attaches itself princi-
pally to garments which are not u.scd, especially to
precious robes of office. — Consumption, ^pS>ais
(the Vulgate and our authorized version render it
rust, James v. 2, 3 ; Kuinoel and Baumgarten-Cru-
sius refer it to a species of wonns ; . Casaubonus and
others speak of a %v hia ouolu, hence ai)s ^pwaKovaa) ;
a general expression, but points primarily to provi-
sions, to accumulations of food and corn ; while the
breaking through of thieves refers to the possession
of gold and silver. The meaning seems to be, that
everything which is passing away has its own princi-
r)le of destruction, suited to its special nature, whe-
ther vegetable, animal, or moral. In general, it ex-
hibits the vanity of all earthly possessions, and the
unsatisfactory character of the enjoyments which they
yield. Irrespective of their use, these possessions
are dead, exposed to the moth, to consumption, and
to tliieves, — to the organs of physical and moral an-
niliilation. It scarcely requires to be added, that the
pltuv of these treasures, the ki?id of treasures, and
the manner in which they are collected, are in this
i Instance equally of the earth, earthy.
Ver. 20. Treasures in heaven. — Our attention
is iimt directed to the place where genuine treasures
are to be found, viz., heaven, where God reveals Him-
self, and where all is eternal. The kind of treasures
is in nccordance with their place, or with heaven.
Similarly, these treasures must be gathered in a hea-
venly manner — by kindness, by spiritual fellowship
with God, by self-denial; in short, by a surrender to
our Father who is in heaven. It is therefore quite erro-
neous (with Chrjsostona and others) to apply it to
almsgiving, in the expectation of a heavenly reward.
On the other hand, it may be necessary to remind
those \v'ho, like Meyer, seem to regard the kingdom
of heaven as something external and future, that this
heavenly life begins upon earth by faith. — The hea-
venly possessions are characterized according to their
negative advantages, where no moth doth corrupt,
etc. ; comp. 1 Pet. i. 4. — These words are also di-
rected against the carnal anticipations of the Jews,
especially of the Pharisees and scribes.
Ver. 21. For where your treasure is. — Our
treasure, or dearest possession, forms the ideal on
which our affections are set, and in accorJance with
wliich our feelings and desires assume shape. Hence,
if our treasure is on earth, our heart will also be
there, our inclinations and desires will be earthly ;
and, since this is contrary to our heavenly destiny,
the consequence must be eternal sorrow and shame.
But if the heart has its treasure in heaven, its affec-
tions will also be directed thither, and it will be trans-
formed in accordance therewith.
Ver. 22. The light of the body. — Connection.
Not : in order to fulfil this duty, you must " preserve
your inner light or reason (Chrysostom: 6 i'i,v<:) un-
dimmed ; " but : ye must preserve your mental eye
undivided in its gaze. The Lord evidently alludes
here to the Pharisees, whose attention and afi'ections
were divided between what was temporal and what
was spiritual. Their state of mind is illustrated by
the eye. The eye is the light of the body (lit from
the light of the sun). Everything now depends on
a right condition of the eye. It must be a-rrKov^,
i. e., simple, in opposition to the irovyjpds, or bad,
spoiled eye. If the contrai^t between a healtliy and a
diseased eye were intended (in the sense of any ail-
ment affecting it), it would have been otherwise ex-
pressed. We conclude, therefore, that it refers to the
contrast between proper sight and deceptive or
double sight. " The word is never used to indicate
healthy. Hence we might agree with Eisner and
Olshausen iu explaining it as an eye which does not see
double — double sight being a disease; and, with
Quesnel, apply it as meaning, that it knows only one
object of love — even God. But if we inquire what
Hebrew word corresponded to the Greek term, we
find that AquiJa and the Sept. translate ottAoDs for
the Hebrew ~n, "i-i = oKoK^ripos, which lattei', like
integer, is related to airXovs. Thus Theophylact ex-
plains airKovs and novripos hy.vytrj^ and yoawbris."
Tholuck. — But we object to any translation of definite
and distinct into more general teims, in order thus to
give them a meaning which is not warranted by the
context. The desire of serving at the same time
(iod and mammon may be characterised as a moral
double sight, as an evil eye, which is rightly desig-
nated by TToi/rjpAs, in direct contrast to an\ovs. But
the eye is oTrAors, when it wholly, consciously, and
calmly agrees with the state of the mind and heart,
— when it is not wandering, and therefore not
double-sighted nor untrue, and hence worse, than
blind. On the other hand, the eye is evil if it lose
its power of perceiving, or begins to wander and
miss the object set before it. Then the whole body
will be full of darkness, or enveloped iu night. But
the darkening of the mind has more sad consequences
than that of the body. Jf there/ore — a conclusio a
minor i ad majus — the light that is in thee (the inward
light) be darkness, etc.
Ver. 23. The question as to the meaning of the
light that is in thee, is of importance. Chry-
sostom : o I'lni^. Cahln : Lumen vocal Christus ra-
tionem, quantidaamque hominibus reliqua manct post
lapsum AdcE. Beza, Chemnitz, Gerhard, Calov:
" The eye which is enlightened by the word and
Spirit of God."— Tholuck : That which is left of the
Di\-ijie unage in man, after John viii. 47 ; xviii. 37 ;
or, as Gerhard has it, lumen natrirce, the hght of na-
ture.— Meyer : Reason, especially practical reason. —
The capacity of the inner eye of reason to become
the organ of knowledge is evidently here alluded to,
although the expression has a more special meaning.
It is not the inner eye itself, the vuvs, but the light o)
the inner eye, or the Old Testament revelation so
well known by the Pharisees and scribes, which ha'i,
Ijy their carnal views, been perverted into error. —
If tlie bodily eye is blind, the danger is less, because
precaution will be used. The real peiil lies in tlie
eye seeing falsely or double, because in that case tlij
li'^bt of the sun' will only serve to blind, which ii
CHAP. YI. 19-34.
133
worse than utter darkness. The same holds true of
the inner eye when it converts the light of revela-
tion into a blinding and misleading Ught. This was
the case with the Pharisees and scribes. They
would have had God and a carnal Messiah, — they
would serve the Lord and mammon.
As the organ of light, the eye of the body is, so
to speak, our light ; oq^upying, so far as we are con-
cerned, the place of the sun, and in that respect re-
presentmg the whole body, as if the whole body were
an eye. This makes it also the organ and symbol of
the inner eye, or of reason, by which the light of the
spiritual sun is communicated to the inner lite, and
which, if healthy, converts the whole inner life into
a capacity of spiritual perception. But just as when
the external eye is not simple or double in its sight,
the outward light only serves to dazzle, so also in
reference to the inner eye and the light of revelation.
How great is that darkness ! The history of
Pharisaical Judaism has amply corroborated the truth
of this statement.
The inward eye is intended to be the eye of the
heart. Eph. i. 18. The state of the heart and the
state of the eye influence each other. If the heart is
set on heavenly treasui-es, the eye must be directed
toward the light. Comp. the biblical psychology of
Beck, and DeUtzsch.
Yer. 24. No man can serve two masters. —
Double sight of the spiritual eye is both the cause
and the consequence of duplicity in reference to
the desires of the heart (James i. 8, ai'vp Siipvxos).
But the Pharisees, in their false spirituality, reduced
it to a system, and deemed themselves capable of
combining the service of Heaven with their earthly
incUnations. The Lord dispels in the text this delu-
sion. It is plam that no man can at the same time
truly serve two masters. One of the two services
must necessarily be merely outward, or, what is
worse, one of the masters must be hated or despised,
— because true service presupposes love and attach-
ment. Btit why two examples V Meyer : " He will
either bate the one and love the other, or else hold
to the one and despise the other." This commenta-
tor correctly reminds us that, as in other places, so
here, intadu and ayairuv must have their full mean-
ing, and not be interpreted hy posthabere and prce-
ferre, as de Wette and others propose. But then
there must have been some special object for giving
two instances. Perhaps the difference between them
may lie in this, that the real master cannot be de-
spised, but may be hated, since he must be respect-
ed, and it is imposssible to get away from him. But
if the real master is loved, the servant will hold to
him and despise the usurper, who has no real claim,
and from whose power it is possible and easy to with-
draw. The application of this to spiritual life is
plain. Man can have only one master, or only one
highest good and principle of life. But if he choose
the world as his highest good, and, along with the
worship of the true God, attempt the service of an
idol, he must decide for himself. First, however, let
him clearly understand that he cannot at the same
time serve two masters, and that, in attempting this
double service, he can only be a traitor and a hypo-
crite.
And Mammon. — Probably mammon was origi-
nally not the name of a mythological deity, but was
gradually imported into mythology from common life,
in a manner similar to that in which the term is still
employed. Bretschneider : " M a u « v a j, Hebr. "|i^ -,
fortasse significat id, cui confiditur, ttt Sept. ^jilTDN
Isa. xxxiil. 6, Oi^aavpovs, Ps. xxxvii. 3, ttXovtov,
reddiderunf, vel est, ut multi putanf, nomcn Idoli Si/-
rorum et Panorum, i. q. Phitos Grcecorum.'''' Au-
gustine remarks on this passage : " Congruit et pu-
nicum nomen, nam lucmm punice Mammon dicitur."
" Money, in opposition to God, is personified and re-
garded as an idol, somewhat like Plutus, although it
cannot be shown that such an idol was worshipped."
— Olshausen.
Luther : To have money and property is not sin-
ful, provided it become not thy master, but remain
thy servant and thou its master.*
Yer. 25. Take no thought.f — Connection. Anx-
iety, which is distrust of God, is the source of ava-
rice. Accordingly, the following sins follow each
other in regular genealogy : I . Anxious care, distrust
of God, commencement of apostasy; 2. avarice, and
service of mammon, along with spurious and merely
external service of God ; 3. hypocrisy, and further
development of external service into religious parade
before men. — Again, anxious care itself sprmgs from
evil inclination and vanity, from worldliness ( \V7tMt
s/iall we eat, etc. '.'), — which marks the Deginning of
apostasy from God. The word jitfpiuj/ac, to take
thought, denotes not merely " anxious\:sf!& " (de
Wette), which would be a tautology, but inordinate
or solicitous concern or grief beyond our immediate
wants, calling, or daily oceupa.tion ; hence it is in re-
ality to weaken one's hands in prospect of the work
before us, or the direct opposite of carefulness. From
its nature, care extends ei's r^v a'dpiov, ver. 34. — By
its soUcitude the heart becomes divided, which is
hinted in the word /xepiui^ai' (Tholuck). — T f) ^vx^y
in reference to the soul as the principle of physical
life. — Is not the life more ? — He who has given the
greater will also give the less. — Solicitude is entirely
at fault ; Christ teaches us to reason, — God gave me
life, which is the greater ; therefore also, etc.
Yer. 26. The fowls of the air [hteraUy: the
sky or heaven]. — ^''^t^n C\iv , which fly along
the heavens, — /. c, appear separated from earth and
its provisions, and yet fly so cheerily ; like the lilt/,
* [The same ide.a is expressed by St. Jerome in loo.:
" Non dixit (Dominus), qui habet, tVwihaa, sed qui servit divi-
t!is; qui divitianim servus est cuxtodit ut nerviis; qui ser-
vitutis excussit jH£!um, distribuit oas ut i/ominuii.'''' — P. S.]
t [Mr; ij.ipiij.var a: Take, not thought, he not con-
cerned about, care not for, be not solicitous, be not dis-
tracted (from u.f:f)i^M).^ Enalish interpreters generally tako
the word thought of the. Com. E. Vers, in the old English
sense for solicitude. «?i»ito«s care (Bacon ami Sbakspeare;
e. g., "Queen Catharine Parr died of thought'''). Hence
Campbell and others translate: '-Be not atio-ioKS.'^ \a.y'\n%
the stress wholly on the excexg of care or solicitude. Jos.
Addis. Alexander, ad Mutt. vi. 25: "The idea of excess is
hen; essential, so that ordinary thought or care is not ex-
cluded." Alford: "The E. V., 'Take no thought,^ does
not express the sense, but gives rather an exaggeration of
the command, and thus makes it unreal and nugatory. In
Luke xii. 29 we have iJ-h neTf<,ip.(i<T8f."' But the prohi-
bition has reference rather to the future (comp. ver. S4:
"Take no thought/or the morrow"), and to all that exceeds
our actual wa7ifs.SLS expressed in the petition: "Give us
this day our daili/ bread." Mkyeu says: "Care is here
generally understood eiiipliatically of anxious care (which
the word does not mean even in Sir. .vxxiv. 1), hut this is an
arbitrary assumption. Ji-mis prohibits to his disciples all
concern about eating, drinkintr, etc. (das Be.sorgtsein H-ber-
havpiy Yet some limitation is obviously suggested by
v<T. 84, as already remarked, and required by the nature of
the case as well as the consistency of Scripture ti'aching,
which plainly enjoins forethought and proper care in tem-
poral thinss, an<l condemns only that cire which springs
from unbelieving doubt and distrust in Providence; comp.
1 Tim. V. S; 2 The.-;s. iii. 10; John xii. 0; xiii. 29.— P. 8.]
134
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
'|dTi) which in its splendid apparel stands in the
midst of a desokte and dusty plain.
Ver. 27. Age [Coin. Version : Stature], ijKiicia.
— There are two interpretations of this term : First,
stature of the body ; Vulgate, Chrysostom, Luther [our
authorized version, also Fritzsche, Conant]. Secondly,
duration of life, aqe ; Hammond, Wolf, Olshausen,
Ewald, Meyer [de Wettc, Tholuck, Stier, Alford, J. A.
Alexander, Dav. Bro^Ti]. Both translations arc war-
ranted by the use of the language, but the context is
decidedly in favor of ." duration of life." For, 1. our
Lord refers to the preservation or the prolonging of
life ; 2. the adding of a cubit to the stature were not
something very inconsiderable, as is implied in the
text.* — A cubit (2 spans), a figurative expression,
denoting that the duration of life has its fixed mea-
sure. Similai-ly also the provision for our life is
fixed.
Ver. 28. Consider the lilies, KaTo.tx6.QiTi
TO Kpifa . — Very significant, as much as : learn to
understand, study the symbolical language of the
Hlies.
Ver. 29. In aU his glory, 56^a, which may either
mean his royal pomp, or the pomp of his royal anny.
The word Trepie^aAero, which follows, is in favor of
the first of these explanations. Solomon was to the
Jewish mind tlie highest representative of human
glory (2 Chron. ix. 15).
Ver. 30. The grass of the field, or every kind
of herb, — among them the lilies, which adorn and are
cut down with tliera. Dried grass and the stalks of
flowers were used for heating ovens. " A number of
beautiful flowers grow wild on the fields and meadows
of the Promised Land, — among them the splendid pur-
ple or bright yellow lily, of which the stem is three
feet high, and of a dark red color, the flower forming
a crown which is surmounted by a tuft of leaves.
Song iv. 5 ; vi. 2 ; 1 Kings vii. 19. In Palestine, the
grass withers in the course of two days under a
strong east wind ; when it is only fit for hay or fuel."
Gerlach. (Comp. Heubner, p. 90, on extravagance
in dress and avarice.)
Ver. 32. After all these things do the Gen-
tiles seek. — Such is the essential feature of heathen-
ism ; and this worldliness led to their apostasy, poly-
theism, and idolatry. It deserves notice, that Christ
here refers for the third time to the Gentiles, since
the Pharisees made it their special boast that they
wtre free from all heathen contamination. But the
very extreme of their traditionalism led them into
heathen views and practices. JL'
Ver. 33. Seek ye first. — Meyer: '■'■ XlpiiTov, first,
before ye seek anything else ; your first seeking.
There is no room then for any other seeking, as their
euiing, drinking, etc., ■Kpo(niQ-i](jiTaL. Not
seeing this inference, a few authorities have omitted
the word vpwTuv,a.^ in Luke xii. 31. De Wette is
mistaken in supposing that -KpiiTov at least ' indirectly '
implies the lawfulness of subordinately seeking other
* [The only objection to the version age, is that cuMt is
a measure of space, and not of time. But this objection is
oasily removed if we remember the frequent representation
of liuman life as a. journey, and the familiar phrase: length
(if life, *• LebensW/i^e." Comp. Ps. xxxix. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 7.
etc. Meyek: " Die von Gott geo.dnele Lehensdauer wird
i/)i Btlde eines bestimmten Lungenmaassea gedachV The
prim.iry meaning ot r)\LKia is age and corresponds better
with the parallel passage. Luke xii. 26: "If ye then be not
able to do that which is leaxt, why take ye thought for the
rest?" For to add a cubit, i. e., eighteen inches or a foot
and a half, to man's stature would be doing something verv
great— P. S.]
things. All Other seeking, whether the TrpwTov be
retained or not, is excluded by ver. 32 {irdi/Ta y. rav-
Tu TO e&cTj eVi(T)T.)and by «a2 — irpocrTefljitreTai." — But
in this case the word irpuTov must mean not merely
first in order of time, but refers to the principle which
actuates us in seeking, on which our earnestness in
our temporal calling, and the blessing upon that call-
ing, depend. This principle of ever setting before us,
even in temporal matters, the grand spiritual object,
leads onward and upward, until that which is second-
ary and subordinate is wholly sv/allowed up in that
which is spiritual. — The dift'erence between the sim-
ple ^y]Ti'iri and its compound eiri(riTodtTiu deserves
mention. The former refers to a seeking which in
itself is healthy ; the other, to that which is unhealthy
and excessive.
The kingdom of God, and His righteous-
ness.— The kingdom of heaven is here called that
of God, because the former verses refer to God as
the highest good. To seek the kingdom of God, is
to seek those blessings which are expressed in the
Lord's Prayer, and of which the corresponding right-
eousness is delineated in the Sermon on the Mount.
Ver. 34. The morrow, ?; avpiov, is personified.
Every day brings its own evil — KaKio., TaKainupia,
KaKOTTji — from an evil world, but also its own help
and dehverance from our heavenly Father.*
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The real nature of false spirituahty appears in
the dualism to which it leads, in the attempt violent-
ly to sever between God and the world ; and in the
false worldliness which it cherishes, in order to make
up for this deficiency. Hence, famim and profa-
num — holiday and v/ork-day ; priest and layman ; clois-
ter and the world ; spiritual and temporal care ; spirit-
ual and temporal power (the iwo swords, as they are
called) ; spiritual and temporal gain ; spiritual and
temporal possessions ; spiritual and temporal enjoy-
ment (Carnival and Lent). Or rather, more correct-
ly, it is not spiritual and temporal, but temporal and
spiritual.
True Christianity, on the other hand, combines
spiritual with temporal life, by viewing the world it-
self as the symbol of God, and by sanctifying every-
thing in it for the service of the Holy One.
2. Moths, consumption, and thieves corrupt the
possessions and the enjoyments of the world, if we
regard the world as our lasting habitation. See in
this respect the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, or the
Preaching of Solomon.
3. Science, natural philosophy, and even the high-
est poetry, have only recognized at a comparatively
late period the sun-like nature of the eye, while here
it is painted as with a sunbeam. To each of us, the
eye is his sun, provided it be calm and single. Thus
* [Dr. Dav. Beown, in loc. : " Sufficient unto the day in
the evil thereof. An admirable practical maxim, and better
rendered iu our version than in almost any other, not ex-
cepting the preceding English ones. Every day brings its
own cares; and to anticipate is only to double them." Dr.
^yoRDSwoRTH, in loc. : "This adage is found in the Talmud
Berachot, fol. 9, 2. Vorst, De Adag. 2^. T., p. 806. Here it
may be observed, that our Lord adopts and spiritualizes sev-
eral proverbial sayings in succession, which were known to
the Jews. In the same manner as in the Lord's Prayer He
adopted and spiritualized petitions from the Jewish Liturgy.
He thus exemplified His own precept concerning new wine
and new bottles (Matt. ix. 16, 17), and on bringing out of the
storehouse things new and old (xiii. 52). In all those cases
He animates the old letter with the new Spirit of His own."
-P. S.]
CHAP. VI. 19-31.
135
our vision depends on two conditions, — tlie outward
sun in tlie licavens, and the inward sun of the mind.
And thus the outward eye is at the same time a sym-
bol aftd a medium of the inward eye, or of intelli-
gence, the fovs. Our intelligence serves as the organ
of the sun of revelation, and becomes light, if it re-
flect not merely our own linite innljrstanuing, but
our higher reason, and transmit divine revelation to
the inmost soul. Otherwise the light itself becomes
darkness. And such night is the most dense, — more
80 than ordinary night, which is only black, implying
the absence of light, or ignorance. Less guilt at-
taches itself to this than to the gre)^ of mist — the in-
terruption of light by folly or prejudice. But worst
of all is that splendor of false Ught, when the light
of revelation is perverted by the worldly mind into
error, and truth itself converted into a lie.
4. Christ unmasks the worldliness which hides
under the garb of false spirituality, and traces it to
its ultunate source : hypocrisy, avarice, solicitude,
and worldly lust. He next invokes, against this spirit
of solicitude in its spiritual garb, the testimony of the
Spirit of God in nature, which the Pharisees, in their
ultra-piety, had overlooked. Throughout, nature
discloses its sjTubols to the Lord ; and they all serve
as symbols for the faithfulness of God and the trust-
fulness of man.
5. Christ Himself first sought the kingdom of
God and His righteousness, in the fullest and most
perfect sense ; and everything else has been added to
Him, I.sa. liii. So shall it also be with His people
(Rom. viii.).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How false spirituality always has its root in
worldliness : 1. Its source is secretly cherished world-
liness ; 2. it is essentially a manifestation of the car-
nal mind, and hence worldliness (Col. ii. 18); 3. it
seeks in vain to conceal the worldliness which it
everywhere betrays. Or, 1. Proof from the nature
of the thing ; 2. from history ; 3. from experience of
the twofold temptations with which every Christian
is familiar. — Temporal possessions: 1. What they
are in themselves ; 2. what they become by faith ; 3.
what they become to the carnal mind. — " Treasures
upon earth." A contradiction, when viewed in con-
nection with our never-dying souls : 1. As being out-
ward treasures ; 2. as being transient ; 3. as liable to
loss. — Treasures upon earth, — so unsubstantial, and
yet so dangerous : 1. Because they are spoiled by
moths, consumption, and thieves ; 2. because they
brbig moths, consumption, and thieves into the heart.
— The worm of death in its threefold ravages : 1. In
inanimate nature ; 2. in physical life ; 3. in human
society, or in the moral world. — A thief, or a deceiv-
er, the moth and consumption of the moral order of
things. — The treasures in heaven. — The treasures in
heaven, in their unchangeable character: 1. They
cannot be corrupted from within ; 2. they cannot be
consumed from without ; 3. they cannot be taken
away from beneath. — The treasures of earth and the
treasures of heaven. — Gathering in appearance and
gathering in reality. — False gathering is a casting
away, under the appearance of gain. — Real gathering
is gain, under the appearance of loss. — True and
false gain. — Wondrous character of the possessions
of heaven: 1. They are hidden, yet manifest ; 2. in-
finitely far, yet infioitely near ; 3. one treasure, yet
innumerable treasures. — Only in connection with hea-
ven can we again acquire earth as God's earth. —
" ]Vhe7'e your treas^ire is, there will your hiart be
also." ] . The truth of this saying (the heart ever
lives in its highest good). 2. Inferences from this
saying ; (a) As the treasure is, such shall the heart
become: the heart will become heavenly or earthly,
according as its treasure is ; (b) strictly speaking, our
heart cannot become earthly, — it rather becomes
devilish, a prey to the passions of hell ; (c) our heart
is of heavenly origin, and cannot find rest or satisfac-
tion in earthly possessions. — " The eye is the light of
the body:" 1. The truth ; 2. the symbol.— The body
in its relation to the mind : 1. It is an instrument of
the mind, by which man is to serve and glorify God ;
2. a symbol of the mind, by which God admonishes
man. — The eye and the light, in their pliysieal and
spiritual import: 1. The eye is also of the fight, and
shares the nature of light ; 2. the eye itself becomes
fight by receiving fight ; 3. the eye gives fight to the
whple body. — The eye and the sun: 1. The eye is
sun-like ; 2. the sun is the eye of heaven ; 3. the
eye and the sun combined give liglit to the body. —
A single eye and an evil eye, in their respective bear-
ing on the inner fife : 1. The eye, if single, has an
undivided, and hence true vision ; it beholds what is
right, because it rightly beholds. 2. The eye that is
evil is an ignis fatuus : its vision is divided, and
hence false ; it beholds what is false, because it false-
ly beholds. — The difference between a diseased eye
and an evU eye, or him who is really bfind and him
who is blinded. — Not the blind, but the blinded, fall :
for, 1. in their carelessness, they do not see; 2. in
their excitement, they do not behold the principal ob-
ject ; 3. in their confusion, they see everything in a
dim and disordered manner. — The inward eye and its
object: 1. Its nature: to perceive that which is eter-
nal. 2. Its light : the revelation of God in its widest
sense. 3. Its giving of fight : truthful appfication of
the fight which it has received. — An evil eye in our
hearts, or perverted reason, may turn even the fight
of revelation into darkness. — The most dense dark-
ness is that which the hypocrite makes to himself
from the light of revelation. — The threefold night :
1. The blackness of night : want of light, ignorance.
2. The grey of mist : obstruction of light, prejudice.
3. The bfindiag light,* or abuse and perversion of
fight, superstition and hypocrisy. — An evil heart
changing the inward light into darkness: 1. By its
spiritual pride ; 2. by its carnal security ; 3. by its
treating the flesh as if it were spirit, and perverting
the si)irit into flesh. — " How great is that darkness ! "
1. When the inner eye is not only bfind, but bfind-
ed ; 2. when the inner light is not only obscured,
but misleads ; 3. when the day of salvation is chang-
ed mto the night of destruction. — " No man can
serve two masters :" 1. The truth of this statement;
2. its import and weight. — Earthly possessions as
mammon. — Mammon the greatest of aU idols: 1. The
idol of all times ; 2. the idol of afi nations ; 3. the
idol of afi unconverted hearts ; 1. the origin of all
idolatry; 5. the first and the last among all the
hidden idols of God's people, both under the Old
and the New Testament. — The service of mammon
converts.the service of God into a lie. — True service
of God excludes the service of mammon. — It is im-
possible to (lisovm the service of our Lord and Mas-
ter, by serving Him unfaithfully : we may hate, but
we cannot cast off His authority. — If we despise him
* [Dr. Lanjro calls the three nights: lilack night;, gray
night, and white night, or Lichtmangel, Lichthermrvwng,
Lichtiersetzung. — P. S.]
136
TPIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
who falsely claims mastery over us, we shall soon
be free from his sen'ice. — Solicitude is the mother
of avarice. — Anxious care the certam consequence
of worldly lust. — " Take no [serious or anxious]
thought. '^^ 1. Neither for your life (your mainte-
nance); 2. nor for your body (your attire); 3. nor
for what may befall you (for to-morrow). — Spiritual
reasoning calculated to extinguish our solicitude. 1.
God has already given us the greatest and best gift :
(a) The Hfe of the Ijody is more than its nourish-
ment; (6) the life of the mind is more noble than
that of its instrument, the body ; (c) the hfe of life,
or the divine hfe, is the highest gain. 2. God will
also give us all other things in addition : nourish-
ment for the body ; preservation of the body, and spir-
itual sustenance for the life which is from Him. — The
birds of the air and the lilies of the field, preach-
ers of trustfulness. — The difference between sohci-
tudc and lawful providence. — What solicitude cannot
achieve and what it can achieve: 1. What it can-
not achieve : (a) It cannot pray ; (b) it cannot work ;
(c) it cannot create anything; ((/) it cannot alter
anything. 2. What it can achieve : (a) Conceal
heaven from our view ; (i) spoil earth ; (c) open hdl.
— SoUcitude the main principle of heathenism. It
springs, 1. from the ignorance of the heathen, who
know not the living God ; 2. from their deifying the
things of the world. — " Your heavenly Father know-
eth that ye have need of all these thingsy — God will
not only nourish, but also adorn us. — Hovir strange,
if the httle bird were to attempt sewing, or the lily
spinning ? — What solicitude loses, and what it gains :
I. It loses, (a) the present^ moment ; (b) to-day; (c)
all eternity. 2. It gains, («) foohsh projects ; {b)
anxious dreams ; (c) a terrible awakening. — Christian-
ity the source of highest oi-der : 1. It restores proper
order in our aSections and desires ; 2. it sets objects
before us jn their proper order ; 3. it sets our daily
work in order ; 4. it sets time and eternity in their
proper order. — SoUcitude, as indicating a divided
heart, is closely connected with the eye that is evil,
and with the attempt to serve two masters. — Care-
fulness and freedom from care.- — Solicitude and ever-
lasting neghgence. — Solicitude a sinful distrust: 1.
Of God ; 2. of our neighbor ; 3. of ourselves. — We
need not be concerned for what is least, since we
may obtain what is highest. — " Seek ye first the king-
dom of Gody How do we learn it? 1. From the
succession of things (Lord's day first, then work-day ;
prayer first, then work) ;* 2. mainly from our wants ;
3. in a unique manner, when we surrender ourselves
to God. — Our earthly calling is included in our hea-
venly calling. — He who prays well, will also work
well. — All the wants of the children of God are sup-
plied.— Nourishment and raiment are supplied with-
out money in the kingdom of God. — Do not allow
thoughts of the morrow to interfere with the duties
of to-day : 1. Let them not distract you ; 2. not tempt
you ; 3. not terrify you. — Wait each day upon God
for to-day. — Let to-day's duty engross to-day's atten-
tion.— Preparation for to-morrow forms part of the
duty of to-day. — Every day brings its burden from
beneath, but also its help from above.
Starke : — Parallel passages : ch. xix. 21 ;'Heb. xi.
26 ; xui. 5 ; 1 Tim. vi. 9-17 ; James v. 3 ; Ps. Ixii.
11. — We ought not to gather treasures from distrust
of God's providence, nor from a desire to become
rich ; but to save, in the fear of God, to gather the
* [Remember the familiar adage: " Ora et labora;
^ Bete tiAui arbeiie.^^ — P. S.]
crumbs, to make provision for our childi-en, 2 Cor.
xii. 14, is not displeasing to God. — Hedinger : What
does it profit a man though he gain the v/hole world,
and lose his own soul ? xvi. 26 ; Phil. iii. 7, 8, 19,
20; Col. iii. 1, 2. — Not to have treasures, but yet to
desire them is also sinful, 1 Tim. vi. 9 ; Ps. xlix. 17.
— This warning applies also to the poor ; for a beggar
may set his heart as much upon one crown-piece as a
rich man upon thousands, Luke xii. 19 ; Sir. xi. 17-
19 ; Tob. iv. 7-9. — The heart, which is created only
for God and for eternity, is dishonored and degraded
if we set it on things which perish, and, so to speak,
convert it into a moth, James v. 1, 2. — Quesnel: Ava-
rice, 1 Tim. vi. 9. — God has given man earthly pos-
sessions for use, 1 Cor. vii. 31 : he who is unwilhng
to employ them for that object, will frequently ex-
perience that they may either be taken from him, or
disappear in his hands, Ps. xxxix. 7. — If we forsake
our earthly possessions for the sake of Christ, wc lay
up for ourselves treasures in heaven, ch. xix. 29.
The best of all riches is the kingdom of God in the
soul, Luke xvii. 21. — If we frequently contemplate
the reality, the continuance, and the excellency of
heavenly treasures, our minds will not be engrossed
with transient and contemptible things. Col. iii. 1, 2 ;
Ps. Ixxiii. 25. — The heavenly treasures, which are
entrusted to God's keeping, are best kept, Luke xii.
21 ; Gal. vi. 9. — Passing possessions become ever-
lasting, if they are employed for the glory of God,
and in almsgiving. In this kind of exchange we
cannot be losers, Prov. xi. 1 ; Ps. Ixi. 2. — For where
your treasure is, Phil. iii. 20 ; Col. iii. 1, 2. — What
we love and esteem is always in our mmd. — He whose
every desire is in heaven, seeks nothing upon earth. —
Majus: — Totum mundum debet contcmnerc, qui sibi
thesaurizat in coelo ; Augustine, Ps. Ixxiii. 25. Every-
thing depends upon the heart, Isa. xxvi. 8, 9 ; Matt,
xii. 35 ; Ps. vii. 10. — Be careful that your heart be
single, sincere, and honest, or else all is lost. — Say
not, in your carnal confidence, I have a good heart,
Jer. xvii. 9 ; rather pray. Search me, 0 God, and try
my heart, Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. — Remain Thou, 0 God,
in my heart, and let my heart remain in Thee ; since
it is created only for Thee, and Thou alone deservest
it, cxsxii. 13, 14. — The light of the body is the eye.
There is nothing more single than the eye of faith ;
follov.' that light, and you are safe. — The eyes are the
road into the heart. — Hedinger, 1 Cor. xiii. 1. — The
way of the righteous is a way of light, but that of
sinners is only darkness. Cramer, Prov. xiv. 8. —
Tlie service of mammon, Hab. ii. 9. — Much here de-
pends on the little word serve. — Whoso seeks heaven
in the world, acts contrary even to nature and sound
reason, 1 Kings xviii. 21 ; 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. — The
service of mammon an abominable bondage. Majus.
— A covetous person i-enounces God, for covetous-
ness is idolatry, Eph. v. 5 ; Col. iii. 5. — ^Not cared,
well cared for, 1 Pet. v. 7. — All nature and every
creature is like a ladder by which we may ascend to
our lieavenly Father. — The birds of the air are only
the creatures of God, yet they are nourished. How
much more shall we be provided for, who are not
only His creatures, but called to be His children !
Isa. Ixiii. 16; Ps. ciii. 13. — If we would only consider
our high origin, we should trust more to mfinite
goodness and wisdom, Isa. xliv. 2 ; Sir. xi. 23. — Just
as solicitude is the punishment of unbeUef, so much
complaining is the fruit of unbelief. — Christians must
differ from the heathen not only in respect of their
faith, 'iut .also of their use of earthly things. — All the
requirements of this life are added along with the one
CHAP. VII. 1-6.
137
great possession of the kinf^dora of heaven. — Anxiety
for the kingdom of God makes rich, since it bestows
God Himself and all Ilis blessings, Ps. Ixxxiv. 12,
Ixxiii. 25. — The futm-e belongs to God alone.
Gossncr: — Yer. 21. What man loves attracts his
heart like the magnet the iron. If your treasure is
in the earth, your heart is in the earth also ; if your
treasure is in God and in heaven, your heart is in God
and in heaven. Braune : — Every man has a mastei".
Being freed from the service of sin, we become serv-
ants of righteousness.
Lisco : — Only one direction of the heart is right ;
to seek earthly things betrays inward defilement. —
To serve, means to dedicate all that we are and have
to another; in this sense we ought to serve God
alone. — Prayer and labor. — SoUcitude is foohsh, be-
ing useless.
Gerlach : — Our minds and hearts must be fully
directed toward God, so that everything else may
be subordinate. — " Lord, Thou hast created us in
Thine unage, and our heart is without rest till it
finds i-est in Thee." (Augustine.) — In this and the
following passage, care means anxious and distractr
ing solicitude ; not that carefulness which our calling
demands (Phil. iv. 6 ; 1 Pet. v. 1 ; Heb. xiii. 5).— Ps.
civ. 27; cxiv. 15. The circumstance, that many
birds and other animals die of cold and hunger, does
not afiect the argument, since this is not the conse-
quence of their want of solicitude.
Heuhner : — If the heart and inclinations are at
fault, the whole Ufe shall be at fault.— But if the will
is directed toward that which is good, everything
will bear reference to that one grand object: there
will be harmony and light withm and without ; man
will understand his wants, and where they may be
satisfied. — God demands our whole heart. — The ser-
vice of the world is slavery and idolatry ; that of
Christ, liberty. — The tendency of materialism to-
ward heathenism. — Difference between the absence
of solicitude in a Christian and in a worldly man: 1.
In the former, it springs from earnestness for the
great concern ; 2. in tlie latter, from thoughtlessness.
— What is the right state so far as care is concerned :
1. Noli to place what is heavenly on the same level
with what is earthly (ver. 2-1) ; 2. not to assign the
first place to what is earthly (vers. 25-32); but, 3.
to assign the first place to what is heavenly (vers.
33, 31). — Wrctcheil folly of earthly cares. — The great
care of the Christian. — The decisive question : The
world or Christ ? — How Jesus leads to true freedom
from care.*
Sermons on the pericope, vers. 24-34, by Schlei-
ermacher, Erchnann, Liebner, Reinhard, Drdseke,
Steinmeyer, and Claus Harms.
* [WoEDBWORTH : " Oiir Lord does not forbid provident
forethought (comp. 1 Tim. v. 8), as was imagined by the
'Euchites {'■ qtii wleliatit semper euxecri&ai etnunquamla-
horare''), against whom St. Augustine wrote his booli: '2>6
operemonachorum.' But He'forbids anxious, restless, and
distrustful solicitude about earthly things, and this He does
by seven considerations : 1. The care which God shows for
our life and bodies ; 2. for the inferior creatures which exist
for our salie ; 3. because all our care is vain without God ;
4. from a consideration of the flowers and grass which God
clothes and adorns ; 5. because such solicitude is uncliristian
aud heathenish ; 6. because God adds everything necessary
to them who seeker** His kingdom; 7. because sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof. Comp. Phil. iv. 6 ; 1 Pet.
V. 7."— P. S.]
5. Issue ar.
characteristic manifestations of Fliarisceism, as wicked harshness and abuse of what is holy.
{Inquisitions and Indulgences.)
Chapter VII. 1-
1, 2 Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
3 judged : and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.' And
why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam
4 that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the
5 mote out of thine eye ; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye ? Thou hypocrite, first
cast out the beam out of thine own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the
6 mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast
ye your pearls before [the] ^ swine, lest they trample them under [with, Gr. iv] their
feet, and turn again and rend you.
1 Ver. 2.— [The E. V. reads with the textusrec. avr inerp-n^riffeTar, hence again. But the oldest MSS., including
Cod. B. or Vaticanus (as published by Angelo Mai, and by Buttmann), and all the modern critical editors (Gricsb., Scholz,
Lachm., Tischend., Tregelles, Alf , Wordsw.) read ixerp-q^ri(TeTat. So also Dr. Lange who omits again in his G. version.
The reading avTififrp. was no doubt inserted from Luke vi. 3S.— P. 8.]
2 Ver. 6.— [The definite article in the Gr., as before dogs.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Connection. — De Wette and Tholuck — as for-
merly Calvin and Bucer — miss the connection between
this and the preceding section. Olshausen suggests,
that it lies in the idea that the character of the disci-
ples is in direct opposition to prevailing views. Stier :
Transition from a view of the inner man to what was
around. Ewald : How the Christian ought to deal
kindly and charitably toward those who are with-
138
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
out. Heubncr : However earnestly and zealously you
strive after perfection, be gentle and mild toward
others. Our own explanation has been given in
another place, and is substantially this. The spirit
of anxious, corroding care, in opposition to cheerful
confidence in God, marks the final stage of religious
perversion, which manifests itself, on the one hand,
by fanaticism and harsh condemnation of our neigh-
bor, and on the other, by carnal and callous trifling
with what is holy. For, these two extremes of .fanat-
icism and profanity meet, just as spurious asceticism
is generally connected with love of the world (Leben
Jc.iu, ii. 2, 623). A passage analogous to that under
consideration may serve to throw light both on the
connection and the meaning of what otherwise would
present some difficulty. In Matt. xxiv. 48 we read,
" But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart,
My lord delayeth his coming (worldly-mindedness
and worldly care) ; and shall begin to smite his fel-
low-servants (fanatical judging), aud to eat and drink
with the drunken (misspending and profaning of
what is holy), etc." Both these passages evidently
bear reference to the judgment to come. Accord-
ingly, we have the following antithesis: Be not sur-
charged with worldly cares for the morrow, but ra-
ther be filled with spiritual anxiety for the day of
judgment. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
• Ver. 1. Judge not. — The word /cpiVeic here un-
doubtedly implies unkind, condemnatory judgment
(Theoi^hylact, Kuinoel, Tholuck, and others), as ap-
pears from the opposite clause, 'iva [xt) KpidriTf.
Meyer denies this without reason, although the simile
about the mote and the beam, proves that the ex-
pression cannot simply mean condemnation. It is
general. Meyer is right in controverting the idea,
that the word Kpidrire refers exclusively to the judg-
ment of other men (Erasmus, etc.). He applies it to
the judgment to come ; but ver. 6 proves that judg-
ment on earth precedes the judgment of the last day.
Uncharitable judgment receives its meed here as
well as there. Comp. v. 22; vi. 14; the parable in
xviii. 23; James ii. 13. Heubner: ''■ Judr/e not. This
neither refers (imconditionally) to our private judg-
ment, nor to the official expression of our opinion
which we may be bound in duty to give (which, how-
ever, may run into ^e sinlul extreme here condem-
ned). Least of all does it apply to the sentence pro-
nounced by a judge (who should always bear iumind
that he is under the holy law of God), but to those
uncalled-for judgments which are neither dictated by
duty, nor prompted by love. Kpivnv therefore is
here equivalent to KaraKplveiv." Comp. Luke.*
Ver. 2. For v/ith what judgment ye judge ;
i. e., the strict measure of your judgment will be made
tjie standard according to which ye shall be judged (the
* [Dr. Dav. Brown, in his Com. on the Gospels (Glas-
gow, 1S63), ad loc: "To 'judge' here {Kpivav) does not
exactly mean to pronounce condemnatory judgment (/cara-
Kpiv(Lv) ; nor does it refer to simple judging at all, whether
favorable or the reverse. The context makes it clear that
the thing here condemned is that disposition to look unfav-
orably on the character and actions of others, which leads
invariably to the pronouncing of rash, unjust, and unlovely
judgments upon them. . . . What the Lord aims at is the
spirit out of which they spring. Provided we eschew this
unlovely spirit, we are not only warranted to sit in judgment
upon a brother's character and actions, but, in the exercise
of a necessary discrimination, arc often constrained to do so
for our own guidance. It is the violation of the law of love
involved in the exercise of a censorious disposition which
alone is here condemned. And the argument against it —
'that ye be not judged '—confirms this: 'that your own
character and acti<ms ba not pronounced upon with the like
Bevority ;' that is, at the great day." — P. 8.]
eV is used instrumentally). As professedly you con-
sider it right, you shall experience in your own case
whether your standard be true or false. "God in
His righteousness exercises the jus ialionis. Truth
and e()uiiy are, so to speak, elastic ; and in the moral
order of things, an unjust blow will recoil on him
who has dealt it. — And -with what measiire ye
mete. — Merpov, comp. Luke vi. 38. — M erpvo-fTut,
according to the majority of witnesses; in Luke,
a.i/Tiuerpr]eri(TfTai. A wider api)lication of the idea
of our relation toward our neighbor. The simile ex-
presses the general principle, that according to our
conduct toward our neighbors shall we receive at the
hand of God, whether directly or through the instru-
mentality of men. In general, the figure, however,
applies to harsh and uncharitable judgment.
Ver. 3. The mote, the splinter, Kdp<pos, fcstuca.
"Thus in a Tahnudical proverb, the word Cpip , for a
smaU fault (Buxtorf, Lexicon 7abn. p. 2080).'" Ao-
k6s, trabs, H V,p , h}'perbolically for a great fault.
"As in eh. vi., the eye of the body here represents that
of the mind ; our own sinfuhiess deprives us of the ca-
pacity to judge the moral perversion of others." Do
Wette and Meyer deny this reference. But although
it is true that the person who has the beam in his
eye is characterized as, in a certain sense, seeing
clearly, yet his vision is morbid. It also deserves
notice, that the text refers to faults which are outwardly
apparent. Fanaticism is specially bent on discover-
ing and condemning errors of knowledge, or heresies.
Viewed in this light, the mote in the eye might indi-
cate a comparatively trifling dogmatical error, wliile
the beam would refer to the destroying of the whole
system and bearing of truth.
Ver. 4. Let me pull out the mote. "Ac^er,
(K^dAoi (the conjunctive of encouragement). His
hypocrisy consists not merely in his refusing to see
the mote in his own eye, but also in his disguising
his want of charity for his brother under the garb of
compassionate zeal.
Ver. 5. Thou hypocrite. — He is a hypocrite
not merely in the judgment of God, but also in a
subjective sense, since he applies not unto himself
the measure by which he judges his brother. — A i a-
^\4\p€is. We must not overlook the meaning of
the compound verb. Then shalt thou be able to look
into it (properly), and really to aid thy brother. But
so long as the beam remains in thine own eye, thou
art ill fitted to perform the operation upon the eye
of another.
Ver. 6. Give not that which is holy. — Mal-
donatus, de Wette, Tholuck, deny that there is any
connection between this aud the preceding context.
Kuinoel, Neander, Bengel, and Olshausen mamtain
that vers. 6-11 are not in their proper place. Stier
suggests that Christ now proceeds to censure the op-
posite extreme of excessive laxity. Erasmus and
Meyer hold that the expression, SiaySAe'i^eis, leads
to the idea, that it must still be our endeavor to im-
prove our neighbor, and not to give that which is
holy to the dogs. But, as in former cases, the inter-
nal cormection between this and the precediug pas-
sage is, evidently, that the extremes of excessive
harshness and of moral laxity generally meet. The
outward connection lies in the contrast between the
brother whose benefit is apparently the object of the
harsh judgments pronounced against him, and the
dogs and swine, to whom that which is holy is at the
same time prostituted. Indeed, such conduct falls
imder the injunction, fx^i KpiVere, smce the judgment
CHAP. V. 1-16.
139
of sinners is hastened and increased when what is
holy is cast before, or even forced upon them (Matt.
xiii'. 10). Hence to withhold that which is holy from
the dogs, and pearls from swine, is the opposite of
judging them, and only what is right and proper in
the circumstances. — That which is holy, rb
ciyiov. — Von der llardt, Paulus, and Tholuck refer
it to the sacrificial meat, or to the provision of the
priests. Meyer controverts this view without ade-
quate grounds. The difference between ScSre and
the /8 a A 7j T 6 , which follows, deserves notice. The
word 5i5()Voi seems to imply — however horrible it
may seem — that the dogs receive it. The expres-
sion is evidently symbolical not only of Gospel truth
(the provision of the priests), but also of Christian
fellowship, and the privileges of the Church, such as
the sacraments. But if this SiSJvai betokened a most
iniquitous laxity, the ySaAAei;/ of pearls before swine
is the result of a laxity which almost amounts to
madness. Such, then, is the upshot of Pharisaism —
profanation of what is holy and good beyond rational
belief. — The pearls, an image of what is most pre-
cious. According to Gesenius (in Rosenm filler's
Hepcrtorium, i. 1'28), the figure is applied by the
Arabs to well-chosen words or apt sayings. De
Wette : A figure of pure conviction, and of the no-
blest disposition. But if by what is holt/ we under-
stand the highest religious possessions, the term,
pearls, may be applied to the highest moral posses-
sions, which were specially prostituted by the Phari-
sees. It has been suggested, that the figure alludes
to the resemblance of pearls with peas and acorns.
Certain it is, that the swine touch with their snouts
everything resembling food. As this casting of pearls
before swine — however foolish — must have had some
show of reason, it may perhaps represent an attempt
of satisfying their cravings. And such indeed is the
true character of laxity ; it prostitutes what is high-
est and hohest, to satisfy the animal and the devihsh
propensities in man. Both dogs and swine were un-
clean animals, according to the law of Moses (see
Sept. 1 Kings xxi. 19 ; xxii. 38 ; 2 Sam. iii. 8 ; ix. 8 ;
2 Kings viii. 13; Matt. xv. 26; Rev. xxii. 15, etc.);
and, indeed, throughout antiquity generally (Horat.
Epist. i. 2, 22 : vizisset canis immundus vel arnica
Into sus). The expression refers to what is impure
and wild in our nature ; more particularly, the word
dogs, alludes to that which is low, unclean, heretical ;
and swine, to the hostile element, and to stubborn
resistance. Augustine regarded the dogs as opjmcj-
natores, or hostile persecutors, and the swine as co7i-
temtores veriiaiis, or unholy persons who were inca-
pable of being impressed by what was spiritual. But
the context does not bear out this distinction, as the
swine are represented as ultimately the oppugnatores.
" St. Bernard was wont to quote this verse, in order
to incite the Christian knights to the Crusades.
Schrockh, Church Hist. xxv. 114." Heubner.
Lest they trample them with their feet, etc.
— Of course the pearls could not be broken, but only
trampled in the mire. — As this refers only to the
swine, Theophylact, Hammond, .and others, apply the
crrpacpevTes pri^aiffiv to the dogs. But it ap-
plies Ukewise to the swine. Although nothing is said
about the conduct of the dogs, the horrible sin of
giving that which is holy to the dogs sufficiently con-
demns itself, even without mentioning ulterior conse-
quences. Besides, the dogs ultimately become swine,
just as that which is holy is further designated as
pearls, and the iniquity of the first action passes into
the madness of the second. At last the full conse-
quences appear, when the swine turn from the gift to
the giver, and rend the profane sinners. It is need-
less to inquire whether swine can Uterally rend ; at
all events, they may tear off the flesh. (Besides, the
word pii^uaiv, like the dirmnpere in the Vulgate,
may allude to the disruption and destruction of the
communion of the disciples.) Srpac^e'vTes, turn-
ing [the again of the E. V. is superfluous], evidently
denotes the enmity (Chrysost»m) and the fury of the
swine, on account of the deception practised upon
them. Such, then, are the twofold consequences :
that which is holy, with all its treasures, is lost in in-
i(iuity and mire ; while its unfaithful and vile admin-
istrators also perish in their sin.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The passage is evidently intended to describe
the judgment awaiting the false spiritualism of those
worldly-minded Pharisees and scribes. Hence the
passage contains no reference to the proper conduct
of the disciples, in opposition to that of the syna-
gogue. They are merely warned against imitating
those sinners ; the Lord in His mercy conceahng un-
der a simile the fearful judgment that awaits all who
are guilty of such profanity.
2. It is a historical fact, meeting us both during
the Old Testament dispensation (at the destruction of
Jerusalem) and in the annals of the Church, that car-
nal zealots, while pronouncing harsh judgment against
their brethren, gave that which is holy to the dogs.
Fanaticism and indifferentism were combined in the
hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and we meet them but
too frequently at later periods ; as, for example, in
the Inquisition and the trafiic in indulgences, and
under many other, though perhaps more subtle,
forms.
3. We may connect with this passage the prophe-
cy in Revelation, which represents the beast out of
the sea as ultimately bearing rule over the external
sanctuary (Rev. xiii. 14).
4. From this disclosure of the lowest depth to
which the righteousness of the Pharisees descends,
we may profitably look to the opposite path, by
which the disciples of Jesus ascend into the kingdom
of heaven. Theirs is a gradual progress through suf-
fering to the glorious height of purity and of love, to
fellowship with the prophets, and to that final reward
which awaits them in the kingdom of God ; while the
Pharisees, with their spurious sanctimoniousness, are
at last degraded to the level of those who are com-
pared to impure beasts, and who become the instru-
ments of judgment upon them.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
'■'■Judge not, that ye he not judged.''^ For, 1. with
your own judgment (according to your own judicial
procedure) shall ye be judged ; 2. with your meas-
ure (of punishment) shall it be measured to you ; 3.
by your own judgment the beam will be found in
your own eye — the greater guilt will attach to you. — •
By anticipating the judgment of God by our own
judgment, we call down judgment upon ourselves.
For, 1. we take the place of the Judge (anticipate
Him) ; 2. of the last day (anticipate it) ; 3. of inex-
orable justice (anticipate it). — A tendency to judge
others is legalism in its full development as hypoc-
risy.— To take pleasure in judging, is to take no
pleasure in saving. Hence it is opposed, 1. to the
Gospel ; 2, to the Spirit of Christ ; 3. to the mercy
140
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of God ; 4. to our calling as Christians. — Difference
between judgment in the way of duty, and in contra-
vention of duty : 1. The former is done in the prose-
cution of our calling, and accompanied by pity ; 2.
the latter is done contrary to our calling as Chris-
tians, and accompanied by pleasure in condemning. —
Wherein thou judgcst another, thou condemnest thy-
self, Kom. ii. 1. — Needless judgment: 1. Its origin
(self-righteousness and want of love, self-exaltation
and pride, self-satisfaction and hypocrisy) ; 2. its
various forms (spealdng evil, casting suspicion, de-
tracting, putting the worst construction upon matters,
calumniating, accusing of heresy) ; 3. its poisonous
fruit (injury of evangelical truth, injury to our neigh-
bor v;hom we judge, injury to ourselves). — He who
judges without niercj', converts both heaven and
earth into a place of judgment. To look upon the
world with the eye of a judge, is to see it enveloped
in the flames of judgment. The consequence is, that
we lose, 1. our faith; 2. our love; 3. our hope. — As
we measure to our neighbor, we mete out to our-
selves.— As we measure to our neighbor, it shall be
measured to us, 1. by God ; 2. by man. — When
tempted to judge, let us remember that everything
around may rise up in judgment against us. — The
mote and the beam. The judgment about the mote,
sinful, 1. because it is an assumption on the part of
one who himself needs to be cured ; 2. because it is
a hypocritical offer of aid, on the part of one who is
destitute of love ; 3. because it is a lying pretence
of ability to help, on the part of one who himself is
helpless. — The hypocrite derives his own spiritual
greatness from detraction of his bi'other. 1. His ag-
grandisement springs from the littleness of his broth-
er ; 2. his glory from tarnishing him ; 3. his adorn-
ing from stripping him ; 4. his vindication from
condemning him. — If our justification flow from look-
ing to Christ, we shall be owned and exalted ; but if
from an uncharitable and harsh estimate of our neigh-
bor, we shall only descend lower and lower. — A Phar-
isee with the beam in his eye attempting to relieve the
eye of his neighbor, the most ridiculous, were it not
the saddest sight. — " He shall have judgment with-
out mercy who has shown no mercy" (James ii. 13).
— " G^ive not thai vjhich is holy to (he dogs, neither cast
ye your pearls before swine;" or, the sin of prostitut-
ing what is holy in faith and hfe : 1. How it is done ;
2. how it brings its own condemnation. — Harsh judg-
ment and sinful prostitution of what is holy springing
from the same root : 1. as exemplified by the spirit
of traditionalism ; 3. from history (Pharisaism, Medi-
cBvahsm, seventeenth century) ; 4. as apparent from
the temptations of our inner life. — The end of false
spirituality in profligacy. — The Pharisees at last the
prey of dogs and swine. — The goal of the disciples of
Jesus, and that of zealots for tradition.
Starke : — Judge not from partiality, James ii. 1 ;
nor from suspiciousness or want of love, 1 Cor. xiii.
7 ; nor from self-love or censoriousness, vers. 3, 4 ;
nor from envy and maUce, Job xxxi. 29 ; Prov. xxiv.
17 ; Sir. viii. 6. — That ye be not judged, or incur Di-
vine judgment, Rom. xiv. 10. — To judge is the pre-
rogative of God. Hence, to assume this function
without special authority, were to deprive God of His
glory, or to have the beam in our ov.'n eye. — The
Lord here warns young converts of a danger to which
they are peculiarly liable : that of judging others, and
forgetting themselves. Then He adverts to dangers
to which His disciples generally are liable, Luke ix. 48.
Such passages as 2 Tim. iii. 6-10; 1 Tim. v. 1, 13,
19 ; Gal. vi. 1 ; Rom. xiv. 4, refer to this zeal without
knowledge. — God has reserved to Himself :ilone to
judge the human heart. Learn \o knov/ ;hyself,
Gal. vi. 1 ; Luke xviii. 11. — The best remedy against
speaking evil of others, is to look attentively at our
own heart and conduct before censuring others. — He
who is unspiritual, being under the power of great
sins, is incapable of showing to others their trans-
gressions, Rom. ii. 19 ; John viii. 4-9. — He who only
delights in self, and looks down upon others, is blind-
ed and condemned. — Majus : Rom. xiv. 1 ; Prov. v.
21, 22. — Difficilius est, prcesfare, quarn exigere, meliiis
exemplo do^ere, quarn dictis. Hilarius in h. 1. Hab.
iii. 15. — Let our reformation commence within, Ps. L
19. — Dogs, swine; Prov. ix. 8 ; 1 Cor. x. 21 ; Phil.
iii. 2. Sanctity of the Lord's table, Rev. xxii. 15 ; 2
Pet. ii. 20-22.
Goss/ier : — Self-love makes blind toward ourselves,
and sharp-sighted toward the actions of our neigh-
bor.
Gerlach : — The passage refers to the disposition
to judge, and the assumption of superiority over our
neighbor.
Lisco : — It is a fundamental principle of the king-
dom of God, that no indulgence shall be shown to
those who have shown no indulgence to others (ch.
xviii. 23), but that strict retribution shall be awarded
them. — Aspire not to be the spiritual adviser of
another, if thine own conscience is not clear, Luke
vi. 41, 42. — But, on the otlier hand, prudence and a
proper judgment of others are indispensable, if our
spiritual welfare is not to be recklessly exposed to
danger. — Beware of communicating the gracious ex-
periences of your heart to daring, vicious, or hardened
persons. — Brief notes : The word of God is the
sanctuary by which aU other things are hallowed.
The dogs are those v>'ho persecute the word, upon
whom we may not force what is holy ; the swine,
those who despise the word, having surrendered them-
selves to carnal lusts.
Heubner : — Our conduct toward others wiU be
the measure by which God will judge us. — Cast out,
or pull out ; i. e., do not spare thyself, however pain-
ful it maybe; after that, see how thou canst take the
mote, etc., i. e., deal gently and cautiously with thy
neighbor. — It is a very difficult and delicate matter
to improve others, and requires great carefulness. —
You do not cast away your pearls to be trodden down
by beasts ; neither are you to prostitute to unholy
persons that which is holy, — the glorious truths of
Christianity, the sacraments, and your spiritual expe-
riences.— this, however, does not imply that we are
not to seek the spiritual good even of such im-
holy persons. — Christianity must remain a mystery
from the profane world — and yet be publicly pro-
claimed.
CHAP. YII. 7-20. 141
III.
Directions how to avoid the errors and sins of the Pharisees and scribes, and to enter upon the way which
leads into the kingdom of heaven. Practical order of grace. — Conclusion of the Sermon on the
Mount.
Chapter VII. 7-29.
{Vers. 15-23 the Gospel for the 8ih Sunday after Trinity.)
7 Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be
8 opened unto you : For every one that asketh receiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ;
9 and to him that linocketh it shall be opened^ [it is opened]. Or what man is there of
10 you,^ whom^ [of whom] if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
11a fish, will he give liim a serpent ? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which [who] is in heaven
12 give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets.
13 Enter ye in at [through, 8ta] the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the
way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be [are they] which [who] go in
14 thereat: Because [for] "^ strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto
life, and few there be [are they] that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which [who] come to you in sheep's clothing, but inward-
16 ly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather
17 grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth fortli good
18 fruit; but a [the, to] corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring
19 forth evil fruit, neither [nor] can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that
20 bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire, "Wherefore by their
fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
22 heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which [who] is in lieaven. Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in
23 thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And
then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
25 him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock ^: And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not :
26 for it was founded upon a rock.^ And every one that heareth these sayings of mine,
and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which [who] built his house
27 upon the sand^: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great was'the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were aston-
29 ished at his doctrine : For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
[their] ' scribes.
1 Ver. ^.—[It shall be opened according to the textrec. : ai>oiyri(TfTa^. But some of the oldest authorities, among
which is the Vatican Cod. B. (see the ed. of Angelo Mai, and Buttmann), also Laclmiann, Tregelles, and Conant, read
avoiyerai, it is opened, which seems to correspond better to the preceding receiveih, and findeth. lit. Conant's remark
is not without force : '■ The beautiful antithesis, made by the future and present tenses in vers. 7 and 8, is marred at the
close by the return to the future, in the faulty form of the Received Text, and in the Versions that follow it. In ver. 7 the
imperative is properly followed by the future tense, because the compliance and its reward are both in the future time;
but in ver. 8, the present (he that asketh) i3 properly followed by the same {receiveth), and so of the other two clauses.
The propriety and point of expression, which are so striking a characteristic of our Lord's manner in all His discourses,
should not be lost or marred in the version of them." Tiscbendorf, Alford, Wordsworth, and Lange in his G. version,
adhere to the Eeceived Te.xt. Meyer, otherwise so accurate in all that pertains to verbal exegesis, and Lange take no no-
tice of this difference.— P. 8.]
2 Ver. 9.— [Tregelles edits: ^ Ti'y e| vijlSju &v^pwnos, omitting iffTii/, on the authority of Cod. Vaticanus as com.
pared by Birch. But both Angelo Mai and Buttmann in their editions of the Vatican Codex give eariv. The discrepan-
cy is solved by the fact that iariv is the marginal reading, but not a correctore, as Birch supposed, but a prima manu,
as Vercellone in the second ed. of the published text, and Buttmann explain.— P. S.]
142
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
3 Ver. 9.— 'Ot- in Codd. B. C, etc. The Reccpta adds iiv, if. [Dr. Conant: ''Of whom; for whom, which is un-
pramniatical. . . . The construction of the sentence is not, indeed, rhetorically exact; but it belonirs to that graceful neg-
ligence of art and rule, which is the peculiar charm of the colloquial style, and is no less so in English than in Greek."—
p:s.]
< Ver. 14.— "Oxi [for]. This could easily be changed into ti [how strait], -which is Bupi)orted by many authoritieE
and .idoiited by Griesbach, Lachmann, Scholz.
* Ver. 24. — [It would be better here and in vers. 25, 26 to leave out the art. in Engl, and to translate "upon rock"
and "tijion sarid," instead of "■aroch'" (which might mean some particular rock), and "<Ae sand." The Greek has in
both cases the definite art. (ttjj' -ntrpav and ttj v &fifJiou), which here designates classes of sub.stances. Some com-
mentators refer the rock to Christ, as Cornel. A Lapide : " Mystice petra est Chwstus ; unde Glossa ' Ille iediflcat in Christo
qui quod audit ab illo facit.' " So also Alford and Wordsworth. In this case we ought to translate " upon the rock," and
"upon sand."— P. S.]
« Ver. 29. — [The word oiie is inserted by the E. V. and rather weakens the force of the expression ds i^uvaiau exoov,
Lange translates: icie im Besitz der Macht—V. S.]
' Ver. 29.— [The critical editions read ai/Tuiv, and Lange translates accordingly. Some add : Ko.l ol (papiaalot. —
P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPJTICAL.
Connection with the context. — De Wette and Mey-
er deny the connection with the preceding section. —
Heubner correctly : In order to attain the Christian
wisdom formerly mentioned, it is absolutely necessa-
ry to seek it by prayer.
To our mind, the transition is plain. In the for-
mer section, the awful danger of the judgment to
come was set before the disciples. "Weak, helpless,
and conscious of their inability to escape this judg-
ment in their own strength, or to attain the righteous-
ness of the kingdom of heaven, the encouraging call
meets them, "Ask., and it shall be given you,''' etc.
Seek a refuge in the New Dispensation, since the Old
is to perish amid such judgments. But the general
connection is even more definite. In the Sermon on
the Mount, properly so called, the Lord had described
the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven ; while
in its application, or in the practical address which
followed it, He had exposed the false righteousness
of the Pharisees and scribes, both in doctrine and in
life. In the passage before us, He now teaches them
how to avoid the way of destruction, and to enter
upon that of life. Methodology or order of succession
in the kingdom of heaven : 1. What to seek, vers. 1-
14; 2. what to avoid, vers. 13-23; 3. the evidence
of genuine rehgion, as exhibited in the parable of
the judgment, vers. 24-27.
Ver. Y. Ask, and it shall be given you. — The
three terms, ask, seek, and knock, alTiln, (riTilre,
KpoveT€, indicate a gradation. Some critics, as de
Wette and Meyer, hold that all the three terms refer
to prayer, in accordance with the remark of Luther :
" By this the Lord exhorts us the more strenuously to
prayer." Somewhat differently, Bengel seems to refer
the terms to different acts : " 1. Contra i7idigentiam
vestram dona petite ; 2. qucerite qv.ce amisistis occtdta,
recipienfes vos ex en-ore ; 3. pulsate, qui /oris estis, ut
iniromittamini." [Ask for gifts to meet your needs ;
seek the hidden thmgs which you have lost, and re-
turn from your error ; knock ye who are without, that
ye may be admitted within.] But Bengel evidently
connects the idea of prayer with the second and third
degree as well as with the first ; and Luther meant to
say that the burden and the object of our prayers
were increasingly to assume a more definite shape.
Tholuck : " In practical application, the term aiTilre is
generally referred to prayer, Cv^flre to our endeavors,
and KpoueTi to the investigation of the Scriptures."
We regard the passage as marking a clunax, — the
word {7jT6?T6, like 11";33 in Jer. xxix. 13, 14, indicat-
ing earnest desire; and Kpoimv perseverance, even
though an answer seemed denied. To ask, indicates
the loant of an object, which can only be obtained by
free gift ; to seek, that it has been lost ; to knock, that
it has been shut up — hence this prayer which is both
the work of life and the evidence of Hfe.
Ver. 8. For every one that asketh, receiv-
eth. — Such, indeed, is the invariable rule. Perse-
verance in prosecuting that to which we may fairly lay
claim, is generally crowned with success even among
men. How much more, then, if our ol^ject be the
kingdom of heaven, and our efforts those of prayer !
(The conditions of it appear from the context.) This
applies, in the first place, to the subjective bearing
of our spiritual efforts. The following verses show
that it is equally true objectively, or with reference to
Him from whom the blessing is sought.
Vers. 9 and 10. Or -what man? — The word or
does not mark the antithesis, — If it were not so, —
but refers to the contrast Ijetween the objective and
the subjective certitude of prayer. — The sudden turn
in the address is exceedingly striking : " Or where is
there a man of you whom his son shall ask for bread
(and who shall — no !), — he will surely not give him
a stone ? " The meaning is : However wicked any
of you may be, if his son were to ask him for bread,
surely he would not give him a stone, etc. Bread
and stone, fish and serpent, however similar in out-
ward appearance, are vastly different in reference to
the nourishment they afford. Tliere is evidently a
gradation in the expressions. Ihe most hardened^"
parent would not meet the entreaty of his child by
such cruel deception. It is noticeable that the text
does not refer to the possibility of not being heard,
but that it sets before us the alternative of a genuine
and a deceptive answer. This indicates that, if God
were not to hear our prayer, our state would not simply
continue what it had been before, but that the heart
would become a stone, and meat for the serpent.
Ver. 11. Being evil. — Meyer: Although, com-
pared with God, ye are morally evil {-Kpos avnoiaaru-
\))U rrjs a.yaQ6ri)ros rov Qeod, Euthymius Zigabe-
nus). But this " comparison with God" " must not be
pressed. We had rather explain it : Before God,
measured even according to the human standard, ye
are evil. The statement undoubtedly imphes the sin-
fulness of man, both in its universaUty and in its lim-
itation by traits of humanity and kindness." *
Know ho-w to give good gifts — not, soletis dare
(Maldonatus). The reference here is not to the abili-
ty of man, in opposition to his actual performance,
but to the powerful and ineradicable instinct of pater-
nal affection, which, in a certain sense, and for certain
*[Not: "m its in^eparalle connection with human
nature," as the Edinb. trsl. misunderstands the original :
''Bedingtheit durch die Zuge der Ilumaniidt, der Mensch-
lichkeif'—P. S.]
CHAP. Vn. 7-29.
143
purposes, is capable of overcoming even our -rrovripia.
If the paternal feelings of man are indestructible, how
much more will the goodness of God continue for ever !
— A conclusion a minori ad majus. Good things j
in Luke xi. 13, more definitely, the Holy Spirit. The
object is here left more indefinite, as opening up in
measure as we seek it.
Ver. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever
ye would. — Ewald maintains that this should have
been inserted in ch. v. 44, before the word ayaware.
The word " therefore " implies, indeed, a reference to
the preceding context ; which, however, v/e find in
the close of the former verse, where the free mercy
of God was set before the disciples. As if it were said :
In prayer commit yourself with perfect confidence
to the God who giveth every good and perfect gift ;
but on that very groimd imitate Him in your conduct
toward your neighbors. God answers prayer, for it
is His Spirit who teaches us to pray. Do to your
neighbor what is due to him : the demand which he
addresses to you will be found in your own heart, in
the shape of your demand upon your neighbor. Pray
with unbounded confidence, and with the same meas-
ure bestow your affection upon your neighbor. You
will descry m your own hearts what this measure
should be. From this the connection will be evident.
The sentence is the ethical counterpart to the promise :
"Ask, and it shall be given you," and is analogous
to the addition : " as we forgive our debtors," in the
fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer. On similar sa}'-
iugs among heathen philosophers, comp. Tholuck.
Wetstcin quotes the following from the Rabbins :
Quod tibi ipsi odiosum est^ pj-oximo ne facias, nam
hcBc est tota lex. There the rule is given negatively,
but here positively ; and hence in infinitely richer and
deeper bearing. De Wette thinks that the injunction
to love our neighbor as ourselves, implies much the
same thing, viz., moral equahty, and does not ex-
press the distinctive excellency of Christian morality,
which is pure, disinterested love ; for it refers not to
the matter of our conduct, and we may possibly ex-
pect from others something that is evil, such as flat^
tery. But it should be noticed that the statement
applies, in the first instance, to the form or mode of
our conduct. It is not said, "Do ye even that to
them," but, " Do ye even so to them (oStoij)." We
are not to do to people whatsoever they ask from
us, but we are to act toward them according to what
we would expect at their hands. The measure of
our demands is also to be the measure of our self-
denial and devotion. Thus our own heart will tell
us, by our requests upon others, what is the request,
and what the claim, of our neighbor. In other words,
our every demand must become a performance. But
this implies the mortification of egotism ; and thus,
what in the first place referred to the manner, applies
also to the matter, of our conduct. Viewed in this
light, the statement contains an injunction of love to
our neighbor, accordmg to the measure of our love
to ourselves. The " peculiarly Christian element " in
this injunction, is the novelty of the measure which
we are to apply to our love to our neighbor. A^one
of us would ask flattery from our neighbor, knowing
it to be such. What we desire from our neighbors
is, that they shall be ministers of good, not of evil,
angels, not devils, to us : hence our duty toward them
corresponds with this our demand. — For this is the
law and the prophets. — Matt. xxii. 39 ; Rom. xiii. 9.
Vers. 13 and 14. Enter ye in through the
strait gate. — First the gate, and tlicn the way (Mey-
er, Bengel) ; and not the reverse, as ascetic misun-
derstanding would have it, — first the way, and then
the gate (Calovius : the way, — the life on earth ; the
gate, — exitus vitm). Similarly de Wette and Tho-
luck. Perhaps the mistake has arisen from mixing
up this with another figurative expression : " It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a nee-
dle," etc.. Matt. xix. 24. Nor can the expression
ela-fpx^o'dai 5ia,in ver. 1 3, determine our inter-
pretation, since the same words are afterward ap-
plied to the broad way (eiVfpxoVfu' 8i' aln-qs). The
figure becomes even more striking, if we recall to
mind the former advice, to knock: We see, as it
were, two cities before us. The pilgrim mu.st quit
the one, which is the old world, over which judgment
is to burst (Bunyan's Pilgrimage), and enter into the
other, which is the kingdom of heaven, where alone
the soul can find a refuge. Again, viewmg the pas-
sage in the light of the judgment, which, according
to our Lord's prediction, was to overtake Pharisa-
ism, we may consider ancient Jerusalem as the city
which must be forsaken. But there are two gates
by wliich it may be left. One of these is strait,*
being the righteousness of Christ ; the road is nar-
row— the seven beatitudes ; and few are they that
enter in thereat to eternal life. But there is also a
wide gate — the legalism of the Pharisees, and a broad
way — that of external Judaism ; and many there are
which hurry along this road to that awful historical
destruction, — the great aTrciJAeia of the Jewish nation.
All this is but the outward manifestation of the eter-
nal contrast between the children of light and the
children of darkness. In this sense, the gate serves
as the figure of their choice ; and the way, as that of
their walk and conduct. By the strait gate we un-
derstand humility, repentance, and renunciation of
the world, through poverty in spirit. The wide gate
is the self-righteousness of the Pharisees, or the spu-
rious riches of a piety which is combined with the
service of mammon. Similarly, the narrow way is
the prosecution of those spiritual attainments de-
scribed in the seven beatitudes ; while tlie broad way
indicates that corruption in doctrine and life, which,
passing from one extreme to the other, renders the
way so wide and ill-defined. The contrast between
the goal of these two ways is exceedingly significant.
In the one case, it is life ; in the other, destruction,
— first, as matter of inwai-d experience, tlien of out-
ward f;ict, and, lastly, of eternal destiny (rest and un-
rest, deliverance and destruction, salvation and con-
demnation). The figurative language of this passage
is closely connected with what precedes about the
relation of Christians to their fellow-men. It is your
duty to devote yourselves to others, — not according
to the measure which they demand at your hand,
but according as you would have them do to you.
You are not to follow the multitude on the broad
way, but to seek with the few, the elect, the strait
gate, in order to knock at the door of the kingdom
of heaven. Such is the transition from the injunc-
tion of what we are to seek, to that of what we are
to avoid.
Ver. 15. Beware of false prophets. — If it ia
our duty to beware of the dangerous example given
us by the great crowd of those who go astray, we
must be even more careful against the small but
sti-ong influence of false prophets, derived from the
powers of darkness. Meyer : "The i^ei/SorrpncjbrjTai are
not Pharisees, nor impostors such as JuJas of Gali-
* [Chrysostoni : ffrev^ tj TriKrj, ovx V TrcJAir, strait is
the jrato, but not the heavenly city to which it lends.— P. S.]
144
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
lee (Acts v. S7 ; Joseph. Dc Bell. Jud. ii. 13, 4)^ but
false Christian teachers (Matt. xxiv. 11, 24), as ap-
pears from vers. 21-23. Comp. Chrysostom, Calvin,
Grotius." But the admonition " to beware" is evi-
dently connected with the last clause of the former
verse, "few are they that find it ; " showing that these
false prophets must somehow stand related to the
Pharisees. — The great danger which ye shall have to
encounter upon the new or narrow way, will arise from
the infiuence of false prophets. The Lord foresaw
that Pharisaism would in part merge with Clnis-
tianity, when its representatives would become " false
prophets," or heresiarchs. It was easy to infer,
that along with such Jewish forms of error, the cor-
ruptions of heathen philosophy and mythology would
find their way into the Church. The main idea of
the simile is the disguise of an old and evil kind un-
der a new garb of piety. They come to you {already)
in sheep's clothing. DeWette: " Not literally in
sheep's skins, which the old projihets wore (Grotius,
Kuinoel), but in clothing such as sheep wear, i. e.,
gentle and meek in their outward appearance." Ben-
gel : Vcstibus ut si cssent oves. The expression re-
fers, however, not merely to their gentle and mild
exterior, but also to their profession of Christianity
— the garb of the lamb ; while the term, " inwardly
ravening wolvea" (Acts xx. 29), indicates not
only their malice generally, but the old enmity and
opposition to Christianity, Matt. x. 16.
Yer. 16. By their fruits. — This is the decisive
evidence. Jerome, Calvin, Calovius, and others, re-
fer the expression '■'■fruits " to the false doctrine of
these prophets ; Tholuck, Meyer, and others, to their
works* But the passage alludes not to the works of
ordinary professors, but to those of false prophets.
These, as Spener remarks, are schools, institutions,
doctrinal principles, etc. ; which, of course, are
closely connected with their moral characters and
conduct (comp. 1 John iv. 1 ). The character of the
Ebionite and Gnostic heresies certainly appeared in
the works of their professors, in the harsh fanaticism
of the one, and the antinomiunism of the other, while
both exhibited the sectarianism, proselytism, and
hyjiocrisy common to all heresies.
Vers. lG-19. Illustration of this principle from
nature. At first sight, we might have expected that
the idea should be presented in the opposite form.
Shall we looJc for thorns upon the vinc^ etc. ? But
the Lord first shows what we should seek, viz., good
fruit, such as yrapes and figs. Compared with such
fruit, the false prophets are thorns and thistles.
" "AKavdai, or aicavQa, is the general name for all
kinds of thorns, of which the most common bears
small black berries not unlike grapes, while the
flower of the rpi^oXoi may be compared with the
fig." The false prophets resemble sharp thorns,
from their fanatical and harsh traditionalism ; and
thistles, from their proselytizing spirit, which takes
hold of and clings to every part of your person and
dress. Then follows the general law of nature : As
*[Alfokd: "The Kapiroi are both their corrupt doc-
trines ami their vicious practices, as contrasted with the
outward shows of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, their
sheep's elothing to deceive." Wordswokth: "From the
fruits of their teaching ; not from their acts alone, because
acts seemingly virtuous are often nothing more than the
sheep's clothing in which the wolf wraps himself in order
that he may deceive and devour the sheep." Whedon :
'■'■Their fruits— i\\Q\x own actions and the moral tendency
of their doctrines." D. Brown: "Not their doctrines. . .
for that corresponds to the tree itself; but the practical ef-
fect of their teaching, which is the proper fruit of the tree."
-P. S.]
is the tree, such is its fi-uit ; as the state of mind, so
the outward manifestation. Nor can it be other-
wise. What applies to thorns and thistles, holds
C(iually true of every kind of tree. — By the good
tree is evidently meant the fruit-tree. It is not so
easy to determine what is meant by the h4v^pov
(ra-n-puv. SaTrpo's signifies, in the first place, rotten ;
but Meyer is wrong in applying the expression to de-
cayed trees, which yielded only unwholesome fruit.
Sa/TpJv means also what is had ot iinuseahle ; Matt,
xiii. 48, applied to fish (de Wette). Even old wine,
if acrid, may be designated as aa-Kpos. Hence the
idea here impUed, seems to be that of the old and wild
growth of nature, in opposition to the new and pre-
cious fruit (comp. Gen. ii. and Col. ii. 8. Philosophy
icaTo. TO. (noix^la rod Koffiuov). — The judgment de
nounced against false prophets in ver. 19, is intended
to give emphasis to the admonition repeated in ver.
20, " By their fruits ye shall knoiv them.''''
Ver. 21. Not every one that saith unto Me,
Lord, Lord. — De Wette: "A warning against
merely external worship of the Saviour, or merely
external communion with Hiin, ver. 21. Chrysos-
tom, Jerome, Augustine, Maldonatiis, and after them
Tholuck, erroneously refer this to the false prophets,
as if it were a further explanation of the judgment
denounced upon them in ver. 19. Meyer regards it
as an application of the preceding verses to Christian
teachers. But these are only spoken of in ver. 22.
In another point also we dissent from this critic. He
considers this verse as expressing in plain and literal
terms what had been figuratively conveyed in ver.
16. The real connection between this and the pre-
ceding verses is as follows: In vers. 15-20, the Loi'd
had spoken of those who taught destructive doctrines
(mark the images of wolves, thorns, and thistles);
while here He refers to all (whether teachers or
taught) who rest satisfied with a mere profession,
without reality." — Hot every one, etc. The truly
pious, therefore, are among the professors.
Ver. 22. Many will say to Me. — This marlcs
another stage, being addressed to those who have
done certain things in the name of Jesus, but with-
out His Spirit. De Wette rightly observes, that it
does not apply to those wlio spread dangerous doc-
trines. Meyer holds that the term prophesied points
back to the false prophets of ver. 16. Against this,
see, however, 1 Cor. xiii. 2. In general, the passage
is intended further to develop the idea formerly ex-
In that day. — ^As in ch. xi. 24, and in Luke x.
12, iv viJ-^pO' Kpiaews.
Tec (Tw 6v6 uar I, by Thy name, or iJirom/h
Thy name, not in Thy name (Mark ix. 38), — i. e., by
means of Thy name.
Prophesied, irpoecp-nTe if ixa/j-ey. — Grotius
and Fritzsche understand it as j^'t'ophcsying ; Meyer,
as referring to the prophetic office of the early teach-
ers, 1 Cor. xii. 10. But this included prophesying in
the stricter sense.
We have cast out devils, etc., Zai\x6via
i^i0d\oij.ep, etc. — On the difference between
this and Swdixeis TroAAas, K. T. A., comp. 1
Cor. xii. The latter passage apphes more especially
to miracles of healing {xapia-fj-ara la/j.drui'), while
the casting out of devils has its analogon in the
ivfpyvixara Supdiufwf. The last clause of the verse,
however, must be taken rather in a general sense
tlian as applying to any particular manifestation.
It appUes to religious enthusiasm generally, whether
operating on the intellect, the will, or the sympathies,
CHAP. VII. 7-29.
145
but of a theurgic character (t&J o-aJ, not eV rdJ (t^),
for purposes of self-exaltation, and in the spirit of
boastfidncss, which Luther points out by repeating,
in his version; the expression, " have we not," three
times. But, despite their works, the true founda-
tion is awantiug,- — Christian love having never
been called into exercise: 1 Cor. xiii. ; John xiii.
34, 35.
Ver. 23. And then •will I profess unto them.
— The expression may mean, explain; altiiough it
alludes, no doubt, to their profession, as if the Judge
Himself were grieved in having to explain it to those
self-dchided persons. At any rate, it indicates that
the hollowness of many a fair appearance will only
be exposetl on that day.
I never knew you. — If the fruit of love docs
not appear, the inmost individuality of man, that
which constitutes his personal character, is not
brought out. For practical purposes we may explain
it: I never knew you as My people.
Depart froni Me— Ps. vi. 9; Matt. xxv. 41 —
ye that work iniquity. — Not merely on account
of what is awanting in them, but as having deceived
themselves and others, and unwarrantably used the
name of the Lord for the purpose of advancing their
own honor.
Vers. 24-27. Therefore, whosoever heareth.
— This is an inference from the preceding warning,
presenting the most terrible form of judgment — that
which is to overtake those who feign greatness of
faith, or high sjiiritual advancement. At the same
time, it forms also a most solemn and striking con-
clusion to the whole Sermon on the Mount.
' O i.ioiw(TO} . — The meaning of the active mood
is explained by the passive reading oixoiwevrreTai,
which is supported by many authoiities. The latter
evidently signifies, " he shall be esteemed, or treated
like." Accordingly, the active mood here must be
rendered : I shall esteem, or treat, him in the judg-
ment (Tholuck and Meyer). The circumstance, that
the verb in the active mood generally signifies, io
liken (xi. 16 ; Luke xiii. 18-21), would appear to
favor the passive reading.
Upon a [the] rock. — Theophylact, Jerome, 01s-
hausen [Alford, Wordsworth], refer this to Christ ;
others take it in a more general sense.* But the
bearing of the whole passage impUes that Christ is
the spiritual Rock upon which to build the house.
Here it is true more implicite than explicite.
The sand. — According to Olshausen, human
opinions ; but more properly, according to the con-
nection, all that which is transitory — the teaching
and works of man.
The winds. — Bengel : temptations ; Meyer : the
dolorcs Mcssice. We take it more generally, as the
trials intervening between this and the judgment.
It fell not. — Implying not merely life, but tri-
umph ; just as the falling involves not merely airw-
Afta, but the shame of being rejected. f
Vers. 28 and 29. Conclusion of the narrative. —
* [D. Brown: "the rock of true discipleship, or genuine
subjection to Clirist." — ]
t [D. Brown : "How iively must this iinasery have been
to iin audience accustomed to the fierceness of"an Eastern
tempest, and the suddenness and completeness with which
it sweeps everythins unsteady before it!" Chrysostom:
"The rain descended, etc. A prophecy verified in the pri-
mitive churcii, bearing all the brunt of the waves and storms
of the world, of people, of tyrants, of friends, of strangers, of
the devil himself persecuting her, and venting all the hurri-
cane of his rage upon her. She stood firm, because she was
built upon a rock. iSo far from being injured, she was made
more glorious by the assault." — P. S.j
10
^Hv SiSoo-zcan/ . — The verb tlvai is added to the
participle by way of increasing its force. It frequent-
ly denotes duration, continuance: He was teach-
ing.
As having authority, viz., to teach ; referring
not merely to human authority, nor to capacity
(Fritzsche : docendi copia), nor even to Divine mis-
sion, but to the full power of the word which is at
the same time the full authority of the word.
Ol y pafxtLUT i7<i . — Some codd. add. avrwv.
Another reading, still less approved, adds, oi <t>apt-
craioi. Not that the scribes appeared, in comparison
with Jesus, " as having arrogated to themselves the
office of teacher" (de Wette); but as wanting the
seal of the Si)irit, and hence of their Divine mission
and authoritv.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Messianic character and claims of Christ ap-
pear repeatedly throughout the Sermon on the Mount.
Not that He overstepped the landmarks of His his-
torical progress by asserting His dignity in so many
words, but that the authority of His teaching and
person must have been felt by all. Even the beati-
tudes would show that He who uttered them was a
Divine personage. In eh. v. 11, Christ calls them
blessed who are persecuted for His name — an expres-
sion which is explained in ver. 10 as equivalent to
suffering for righteousness' sake. His Divine author-
ity further appears when He designates His disciples
the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and
stiU more in the declaration that He came to fulfil
the law (v. 17). In the course of His sermon. He
claims the riglit both of interpreting the law, and of
enjoining its obhgations upon His disciples : " But /
say unto you." His Divine authority appears still
further in the denunciation of the rejiresentatives of
a spurious and carnal worship. All His admonitions
imply the existence of a contrast between men,
whose nature is evil, and Himself, who is the Holy
One. Finally, His Messianic dignity and office are
clearly brought out in the concluding part, vers. 21-
23. The people, also, gradually seem to have been
more fully impressed with the fact that He was sent
from on high, and that all power and authority were
committed to Him ; although, as yet, the feeling may
to a considerable extent have been vague and ill de-
fined.
2. Christ conveys a twofold assurance of the safe-
ty of the way on which He would have us enter. He
not only gives His own full and personal guarantee,
but He illustrates and enforces what He recommends
by grounds derived from fife, from nature, and from
experience. Among them. He adduces, 1. the suc-
cess of earnest human endeavors (ver. 8) ; 2. the
affectionate care of earthly parents, althougii them-
selves evil (ver. 9; comp. also Isa. xlix. 15; Eph.
iii. 14); 3. the moral duty implied in the ordinary
demands which we make upon our neighbors (ver.
12); 4. the contrast between the highway along
which the multitude travels, and the narrow path on
which the elect walk (ver. 13); 5. the natural law,
according to which the fruits correspond to the tree,
and the contrast between good and bad trees (ver.
16); 6. the right and proper disposition of things:
the evil tree is cast into the fire (ver. 19); 7. the
teaching of experience, as illustrated by the house
reared upon the rock, and that erected upon a foun-
dation of sand (ver. 24).
140
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
3. The following are the leading characteristics
of tlie way of galvation : I. In reference to what we
are to seek, — (n) Religious aspirations : asking, seek-
ing, knocking (the evidence of true asking is, that it is
followed by seeking, just as knocking is the evidence
of seeking. The expression, to seek, alludes to the
hidden path between the roeks ; hence it is said, " Few
there l)e tliat find it"). (/;) Moral aspirations spring-
ing from inward sincerity and earnestness, (c) Ac-
tual decision : we are to leave the city of destruction,
and to enter that of salvation. This forms a transi-
tion, II. to what we are to avoid: (1) With reference
to that which is witliout. (a) We are not to be car-
ried away by the multitude, — to avoid that which is
easy, mere passiveness. (6) We are not to be led
astray by false prophets. Search and try beyond the
outward appearance (not as it may appear at the
time, but wait for the autumn and tlie fruits). (2)
With reference to that which is within. («) We are
to beware of a dead profession and merely nominal
Christianity, which will prove equally discordant with
(rod, with His vrill, and with Christian duty to our
neighbor. (6) Above all, we are to beware of eon-
founding enthusiasm or excitement with spiritual life,
love to the Saviour, and fellowship with Him. III.
7'he true test. The prospect into the future, which
at the same time implies an examination into the
foundation of our present state : (a) Anticipation of
tlie storm which is to burst; (b) of the sunshine
which is to follow, and to shed its light either upon a
ruin, or on a fabric that has stood the tempest ; (c)
anticipation of the revelation of Christ as Judge, by
receiving Him into our inmost hearts as the founda-
tion of our faith and life.
•i. Heresy ; dead orthodoxy, or adherence to the
letter ; and religious fanaticism without spiritual ex-
perience : what an awful chmax !
5. True prudence consists in spiritual wisdom.
In building our house, we must look forward to the
ultimate cata.Urophe and to eternity. What appUes
to the individual, is equally true of the community.
The simile here used has received its grand fulfilment
in the contrast presented between the unbelieving
and the believing portion of the synagogue at the
time of the destruction of .Jerusalem. (Comp. Rom.
ix.-xi. Leben Jesu ii. 2, 635 ; iii. 88.)
6. Special remarks. — (1) As to prayer. The
words of the Lord imply that every prayer will cer-
tainly be heard and answered. Of course, this re-
mark only holds true of genuine prayer, — which pre-
supposes, (a) a right motive (from God) ; (b) a right
spirit (self-surrender); (c) a corresponding expres-
sion (fiUalness) ; (d) a right object (our salvation in
the glory of God, or the glory of God in our salva-
tion). Ileubner: We cannot be absolutely certain
that our prayers shall be heard, unless they concern
the kingdom of God or our own salvation. For tem-
jioral blessings we can only pray conditionally (which
will, at any rate, be the case in every genuine pray-
er) ; nor is the promise of an answer absolute in such
circumstances. Still, we are both permitted and en-
couraged to make known all our requests ; and the
more necessary the object is which we seek, the more
confidently may we hope for an answer. — The Lord
bestows temporal gifts even without our supplication ;
but spiritual lilessings are granted only in answer to
prayer. (Comp. the passage in the Apolog. of Ter-
tu^Uan about prayer, as the only kind of violence al-
lowed to Christians, — " Hccc v,;: Deo grata est.") —
" It is remarkable that, despite man's sinfulness, such
love for their offspring remains in the heart of fath-
ers and mothers. A glorious symbol this of the in-
I finite love of our heavenly Father." — (2) Jiule for our
I conduct toward our neighbor — negatively : Do not
j unto others what you would not have them do unto
yourself. (Tobith iv. 16. The sentence of Salvianus
to this passage, see in Ileubner's Com., p. 101.) With
this, Kant's celebrated moral principle may be com-
pared : Act in such a manner that your conduct may
be capable of being elevated into a maxim applicable
to all, or a universal principle. The rule here laid
down by the Lord finds an echo in every breast. But
it deserves notice, that while others may have ex-
pressed it in an imperfect and negative manner, the Sa-
viour alone disclosed it in all its richness and fulness.
— (3) Tlie narrow way and the strait gate, the broad
way and the wide gaie. We must not overlook the
historical application of this simile ; nor yet its gen-
eral import, as relating to penitence and impenitence,
to faith and unbelief, to sanctification and destruc-
tion. Heubner : " Oh ! how many go on the broad
way ! Thus the majority of men hasten to ruin, and
will ultimately be condemned." But Heubner here
combines tv/o very different statements, which are
not necessarily connected. Does not grace rescue
many a soul from the path of destruction even at the
last hour ? But, apart from this, it is well to call at-
tention to the awful prospect set before man in this
passage. See the sentences of Augustine, Luther,
and others, on the passage, quoted Ijy Heubner, p.
102. — Beware, etc., ver. 15. — The three kinds of false
spirits among Christians are here described with mar-
vellous accuracy and delicacy of touch; (1) False
prophets, manifestly referring to heretics ; (2) false
professors ; (3) spurious enthusiasts. On the diflPer-
ent explanations oi fruits, see Heubner, p. 106.
" As the thorns and thistles must have shown, at
first sight, that the tree on which thej' grew was cor-
rupt, it is evidently a mistake to refer that simile to
trees which never bare fruit, or to such as are hali'
decayed, but whicli, as is well known, ofttimes yield
some excellent fruit. Undoubtedly, it must apply
to degenerate trees. Accordingly, the expression is
significant, and indicates that our Lord acknowledg-
ed a gradual depravation of nature corresponding to
the progress of moral evil in the world, of which the
thorns and thistles are the symbol." (Gen. iii. ; Le-
ben Jesu, ii. 2, 645.)
In the concluding simile, the contrast between a life
of true faith and mere profession is set before us, just
as the figure of the twofold building represents, on the
one hand, the Church as the great structure reared
by Christ, and, on the other, the building raised by
the hierarchy.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Directions of the Lord how to seek the kingdom
of heaven. — Essential outlines of the way to heaven:
1. Turning to God (to ask, to srek, to knock). 2.
Turning away from the world, — {a) to give in love,
instead of taking in selfishness ; [b) to deny ourselves ;
(c) not to follow the multitude. We must beware of
following the example of the multitude, the teaching
of false prophets, the delusions of dead professors,
! and the deceitfulness of apparent achievements. 3.
Rearing our heavenly house upon the Divine Rock.
Ask. — The unconditional promise of answer in
every real want, or infinite and prevening love : 1.
Expressed in the Divine arrangement : ask — seek —
knock ; 2. illustrated by a general principle, appli-
cable to temporal as well as spiritual things : " For
CHAP. VII. 7-29.
147
every one that asketh," etc. ; 3. symbolized and
proved by the aflfection of earthly parents. — Every
genuine spiritual aspiration shall be satisfied ; " for
every one that asketh," etc. — The characteristics of
true prayer. It is, 1. genuine asking ; and becomes,
'2. earnest seekuig ; and 3. urgent knocking. — Grad-
ual progress in seeking after the kingdom of (iod.
Tl>e search becomes, — 1. increasingly definite in ref-
erence to its object (a) the gift of (Tod ; (6) spiritual
treasure ; (c) the door of heaven ; 2. leads to an in-
creased sense of our own poverty and ruin (want ;
sense of having lost ; sense of standing without, of
being lost) ; 3. increasingly urgent in its manifesta-
tions ; and hence, 4. results in increasing dependence
upon God (He must give, disclose, and open). — The
love of an earthly father a dim representation of the
love of our heavenly Father : (a) From its character ;
(6) from the confidence in His disposition which we
cherish ; (c) from our experience of past benefits. —
The ruhis of true humanity left in our sinful nature,
an indication and proof of our Divine origin. — Christ
presupposes tlae corruption of man, 1. to such an ex-
tent, as to speak of it only in connection with prom-
ises of salvation ; 2. so fully, as to except none ; 3.
so kindly, that He mentions at the same time any fea-
tures of genuine humanity still left.
Therefore all things (ver. 12) — the law and the
prophets, as included in the principle laid down by
the Lord: "therefore all things," etc. : 1. Proof of
it ; 2. inference from it. — This principle, as describ-
ing the conduct of Christ Himself (Matt. v. 17, 18) ;
as explaining the nature of true love, Rom. xiii. 10 ; as
both the gift and the requirement of His Spirit. — The
claims of others upon us are pled by the voice in our
own hearts. — Our demands the measure of our be-
stowing upon others.
Enter ye in. — Entrance into life rendered difficult :
1. From certain peculiarities which deter: (a) The
gate is strait ; (b) the way is narrow ; (e) difficult to
lind ; (d) there are few companions on it. 2. By the
attractions of the other road : (a) The gate is wide (the
principal entrance) ; (6) the way broad (highway) ;
(c) many walk on it ; and do not merely walk, but
intend and expect to go into the city byit (eiVep-
Xnfj^evoi 5i' ai/Tf)s). — Mai'ks of the true way. — Marks
of the false way. — We are neither to follow the mul-
titude along the highways, nor false prophets into
byeways. — Beware of false prophets : 1. ]V7iy ? Be-
cause they are/a?se prophets, («) in sheep's clothing
— very deceptive ; (6) inwardly, ravening wolves —
very destructive. 2. By what marks shall we know
them ? (a) By their fruits. From prophets we
expect good fruit, such as figs and grapes ; but these
yield only the fruits of the wilderness — thorns and
thistles. (6) From the judgment which (juickly over-
takes them. — False comfort flowing from trust in a
dead profession. — Dead profession is not rendered
better by our surrendering the Christian name, but
by a spiritual renewal. — Who shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven ? 1. He only who confesses the
Lord ; 2. not every one who outwardly confesses
Him ; 3. he who proves the truth of his profession
by a holy obedience. — Life in Christ, the will of the
Father concerning us. — It is one thing to do many
works by the name of Christ, and another to do them
ill the name of Christ. — Even enthusiasm and out-
ward success are not sufficient evidence of our disci-
pleship. — Spurious enthusiasm generally betrays it-
self by its boastfulness. — Many who appear great in
Church and State, will m that day be deprived of
their assumed character, and of their claims to re-
spect.— The threefold judgment upon false prophets,
dead professors, and zealots and selfish enthusiasts.
— The judgment implied in the words, ^^ I never knew
you.'" This means : 1. Ye have never known Me ;
2. never known yourselves ; 3. and therefore cannot
be known of Me. — To know, to love, and to praise, go
hand in hand.
The house built upon the rock, and that reared
upon the sand. — The rock and the .sand ; or the Eternal
Word in its compactness and firmness, and the world,
resembling particles of sand, without cohesion. —
Every spiritual structure shall be tried. 1. The truth
of this statement : (a) As proved by experience ; (6)
even the kingdom of God, or the inner life, has its
tempests. 2. Inferences : («) Many a false building
j has already been swept away ; (b) how careful should
I we be in rearing our own structure ! — The word of
I Christ a word of power : 1. Of real power (of truth,
i of love, of life, of the Spirit) ; 2. of perfect power
(of full authority and omnipotence). — The teaching
of the sciibes and the teaching of Christ. The for-
mer powerless, despite their appearance of power,
authority, science, and enthusiasm ; the latter all-
powerful, in the midst of deepest outward poverty
j and contempt.
i Starke:— Ask: Ps. 1. 15 ; Isa. Iv. 6 ; Ps. xxi. 2,
3 ; Zech. x. 1 ; James i. 5. Seek : Jer. xxix. 13, 14 ;
Luke XV. 5-9. Knock : Luke xni. 24 ; Acts xii. 13-
16 ; Rev. iii. 20 ; Gen. xxxii. 26-29. — Augustine :
Ideo non rult cito dare, ut tu discas ardentius orare. —
He who would show others the way, must himself
j seek everything from God in prayer : 2 Cor. iii. 6, 6 ;
t Acts X. 9." — True prayer is converse with G6d : Ps.
xix. 15. — Qiiesnel: 0 Lord, we ofttimes ask for the
stone of temporal possessions, which would make our
1 heart a stone ; but, instead of it. Thou hast given us
I the bread of Thy grace, of Thy word, and of Thy Son :
I Prov. XXX. 7. — Foolish children that we are, how of-
ten do we regard as a stone what is better for soul
and body than the finest bread, and as the poison of
j serpents, what proves tlie most blessed medicine for
our hearts ! Prov. xx. 14. — Every earthly parent may
I help to remind us of the love and faithfulness of God
toward His own: Isa. Ixiii. 7, xfix. 15. — Even if it
were possible that all earthly parents should forget
their duty, yet will God prove a Father: Isa. Ixiv.
16. — The" affection of parents toward their children,
a symbol of the hearing of prayer. — " Therefore, all
things whatsoever ye would." Jin speculum paraiis-
siinum, jusiitice brcviariurn, compcndiosum commoni-
torium. Jerome. — Each one of us carries in his
breast an adviser, judge, and monitor of his conduct
toward his neighbor : Ps. xv. 3 ; Matt. xxii. 39 ; Eph.
iv. 25 : 1 Tim. i. 5 ; Gal. v. 14 ; Rom. xiii. 10. — Here
you have the test of what you owe to your neighbors
— the spring of equity and the bond of mutual for-
bearance.— Selfishness will always find a ready ex-
cuse: 1 Cor. iv. 7; Luke xviii. 11. — Enter ye in at
the strait gate. There are only two roads which
lead to eternity, — that of the world and of the flesh,
which leads to hell and condemnation ; and that of
the Spirit, which leads to heaven and eternal life.
Therefore be sure which of these two thou hast cho-
■ sen. — Strive to enter in at the strait gate : Luke xiii.
24 ; Phil. ii. 24. — Christians are pilgrims : Ps. xxxix.
14 ; Heb. xiii. 24. — In its folly, the world hastens
along the broad way to hell, to the sound of music
and revelry. — The sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to l^e compared with the glory to be reveal-
ed: 2 Cor. iv. 17; Rom., viii. 18. — Luther: — It is
not the Lord Jesus who makes the road to lieaven fo
148
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
strait and narrow, but rather the devil, the world, and
our own flesh: ch. xix. 21, 22; Prov. xxvi. 13. —
Why is it that so few find the way to heaven ? Be-
cause of their negligence in seeking, their sloth in
striving, their daring in resisting God, and their mal-
ice in simiing. Hence their condemnation rests upon
their own heads : 2 Pet. i. 8 ; Acts xiv. 1 6 ; John
viii. 12 ; Acts xiv. 22 ; Rev. viii. 14. — Let us not be
offended at the small number of behevers, Isa. i. 8 ;
Zeph. iii. 12 ; nor at their many afflictions; but com-
fort ourselves in view of their blessed end, Zeph. iii.
17 ; Rev. iii. 2^).— Beware — Phil. iii. 18 ; 1 John iv.
1 — of false prophets, Jer. xiv. 14 ; xxiii. 20 ; Mic. iii.
5-12;' Zeph. iii. 4 ; 2 Pet. ii. 1 ; Rev. xvi. 13. —
Sheep^s clothing, John x. 5 ; 2 Cor. xi. 13-15; Jer.
xxiii. 21. — Jiauening wolves, John x. 8-12 ; Acts xx.
29; 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18; Ezek. xxi. 29; Matt. x. 16 ;
2 Cor. xi. 13, 14. — Qucenam sunt istce pelles oviuni,
nisi nominis Chridiani extrinsecus fades ? (Tertul-
lian.) — Hwretici sunt habitu oves, astu vulpes, aciu et
rrudelliate lupi. (Bernhard.) — Trust not every spirit,
nor every talker or seducer. — To speak like an angel,
to pamper the flesh, to gain the shnple by outward
devotion, by authority, by age, by tears or groans, |
to give one's body to be burned, to do miracles, — are [
not the signs of a true prophet : the worst deceivers
have exhibited all these, ch. xxiv. 4-11 ; 2 Thess. ii.
9, 10. — Sound doctrine and the fruits of sanctifica- ;
tion the evidence of a true prophet : 2 Tim. iv. 3, 4 ;
Ezek. xiii. 18 ; Jer. xxiii. 25, 26, 32; Hos. xii. 1. — [
JIajus : — Every Christian should try the spirits, and |
recognize the truth : Acts xvii. 11, the men of Berea. |
— All who lead us astray from the narrow way are i
false teachers, Jer. v. 31 ; Hos. xi. 1, 2. — Let no one
imagine that there is any Church entirely free from i
heretics, sectarians, or false teachers. — Bg their
fruits. Luther : — As if He would say, — The appear-
ance of false prophets may be fair, as if it were a |
precious thing ; but wait a while, until it is time to
gather and to collect the fruits, and see what you will
then find upon them. — Behold the goodness and
the severity of God in the fruits of the earth. By
reason of sin it bears, thorns and thistles, but it
also brings grapes and figs. — False teachers are like
thorns and thistles. Their teaching affords no con- \
solation, and only wounds the heart and conscience, j
Song. V. 7. — The marks of false teachers appear in j
the way they administer their office, in their doctrine, j
life, and conversation, in their motives, and in the ;
conduct of their disciples, John xv. 20. Zeisius. — \
Tlie hireling and the false prophet. — It is the duty [
of Christians to prove all things, and to hold fast the I
word of God, 1 Thess. v. 21 ; Ex. xviii. 15. — Ques- '
7i£l : Love, or rather faith, is the root of the good
tree. So long as this root remains healthy, the tree
will not yield the corrupt fruit of sin ; but if it is ;
awanting, you will in vain look for the fruits of right- I
eousness, 1 Tim. i. 5. — Majus : A wicked person
may be transformed into a righteous ; but, so long i
as he remains wicked, he cannot do anything that is
good. Matt. xii. 34; Philem. 11, 12. — Every tree
which bringeth not forth good fruit. John xv. 2-6 ;
2 Tun. iii. 9 ; Isa. viii. 20 ; Rev. xix. 20 ; Gal. v. 12 ;
Matt. xiii. 30 ; Ps. cix. 2. — Not every one who saith. i
1 John V. 12 ; 1 Thess. iv. 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 15 ; Matt. v.
19 ; John iv. 23 ; Rom. ii. 13 ; James i. 22 ; John
iii. 16-36. — Quesnel: To call God our Lord, and yet i
not to honor Him by our works, is to condemn '
ourselves, 2 Cor. v. 15 ; Luke x. 28. — Much knowl-
edge, without corresponding practice, entails the
heavier judgment : do what thou knowest. Hedingcr.
\ John XV. 14. — False Christianity makes its boast in
■■ words, in knowledge, and appearance — eh. xxiii.
27 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5, — but true religion consists in deed,
- and is spirit and fife. The former may be fikened
j to a painted figure; the latter, to a living man, ch.
I V. IG. — Mang will sag to Mr. in that day. Matt. xxiv.
36 ; 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2 ; Phil. i. 15 ; Acts xix. 13 ; 1
I Cor. xi. 13 ; 2 Thess. ii. 9 ; Rev. xiii. 13.— So deeply
j rooted is false conceit in our minds, that even in the
day of judgment men will not be able to comprehend
i how they incurred condemnation, ch. xxv. 44. —
, Quesnel : How many preachers are there, who in the
I pulpit seem to be prophets ; and how many minis-
: ters whose success is admired, but who, in the sight
j of (lod, are nothing, because they neglect His will !
I Luke xiii. 26. — 7'hcn will I prof ess unto them, — open-
ly on that day. John x. 14 ; 2 Tim. ii. 19 ; 1 Cor.
viii. 3; Matt. xxv. 12; John x. 27; Ps. i. &.—Dei
agnoscere servare est ; Dei agnoscere custodire est ;
non agnoscere damnare est. Augustine. — The grace
of God saves a soul, and not gifts. — Therefore, who-
soever heareth these sayings of Mine, etc. John iii.
I 17.— The Rock is Christ, Matt. xvi. 18 ; 1 Cor. iii.
I 11 ; X. 4; Jer. xvii. 7; Ps. cxviii. 22; Isa. xxviii.
; 16 ; Acts iv. 11, 12 ; Rom. ix. 33 ; 1 Pet. ii. 5-7.—
To build on Him, is to believe on Him. — At the close
of a sei-mon, we should admonish our hearers to obe-
■ dience and earnest application of the word. — Quesnel:
To employ ourselves in this building, is to be truly
[ wise, Isa. Iviii. 11, 12. — The wisdom of the just ap-
pears in their showing their faith by their works. —
And the rain descended. Ps. cxxiv. 5 ; xviii. 5 ; Rev.
xii. 15 ; Jer. Ii. 1 ; Eph. iv. 14 ; Ps. xlvi. 6 ; Isa.
xxv. 4 ; xxxii. 2 ; Rom. viii. 33. — Quesnel: — By the
practice of piety do we make our calhng and election
sure, 2. Pet. i. 10 ; 1 Tim. iv. 7, 8. — Cramer: True
Christians are exposed to many a tempest and storm,
but we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us.— Perseverance to the end the crowning
manifestation of faithful allegiance to Christ, 2 Tim.
iv. 7, 8 ; Rev. ii. 10. — Anddocth them not. James i.
22-24. — Majus: Hypocrisy bears to the world the
aspect of a great building, but it has no foundation,
and will fall, Luke xviii. 11-14. — And the rain de-
scended ; i. e., adversity and strong temptations be-
fell him, Ps. xxxii. 6 ; Prov. xvi. 4. Under such
trials a merely external Christianity speedily fails. —
This refers to the final judgment, when body and soul
shall be destroyed in hell. Gen. vii. 21 ; Ex. xiv. 27,
28 ; Job viii. 14 ; Ps. i. 5 ; xxxiv. 22 ; Ixxiii. 19.—
Quesnel : That fall cannot be repaired again.
Heubner : — Ask grace and the forgiveness of sin.
Seek, earnestly aim after, perfection. Knock at the
door of heaven, and it shall be opened. — Whatever
is needful for our salvation shall be granted in an-
swer to our prayers. — Ask in a cliildlike spirit for
what you may stand in as absolute need of, as of
bread, and God will give it you. — " Therefore, all
things whatsoever," etc. In your dealings, put your-
self mentally in the place of your neighbor. — The
strait gate : true repentance. — " Strait " refers to the
anxiety of the heart in the matter. — The wide gate :
impenitence. — Appearances deceive. — Beware of mere
appearance. — Neither good works alone, nor sound
doctrine alone, constitutes good fruits ; the latter are
the results of both life and doctrine. — A good tree is
that which has been ennobled, and refers to a regen-
erate man ; a corrupt tree is that which has degener-
ated, and means the unrenewed or natural man. — The
culture of grace alone can ennoble a man. — A cor-
rupt tree has no place in the garden of God. — " Not
CHAP. Vm. 1-13.
149
every one that saith, Lord, Lord." — The most splen-
did talents are oftentimes combined with a wicked
heart ; the most splendid deeds are ofttimes of dubi-
ous value. A man may be the most enthusiastic
speaker, the opponent of every injustice and wrong,
and the bold champion of all that is good and noble,
— yet all from selfishness and unworthy ambition. —
Each sin renders a man more untrue to himself —
The future judgment will consist in the manifestation
of the secrets of our hearts. Then the game is up,
and it will be said : Off with the masks. This applies
especially to unworthy ministers.
The pericope, vers. 15-23. — Warning of the
Lord against byeways which lead to destruction : 1.
Warning against being led astray by others — by false
prophets, ;. c, either by false teachers, or by any who
would seduce us from the truth ; 2. against being
led astray by our own hearts, by hypocrisy, and mere
profession. — Fourfold form of the call of the Lord :
(a) As a Divine call ; (6) as the utterance of Divine
truth ; (c) as that of the pure and holy heart ; (d) as
that of His love and concern for the souls of men.
The pericope, vers. 15-23. Erdmann : — Con-
cerning the true import of human works. — Draseke :
The desire to appear good : 1. Its nature; 2. its or-
igin ; 3. its moral character ; 4. its unavoidable dan-
gers.— Reinhard: — On the only certain mark of a
state pleasing to (lod. It consists not, 1. in outward
decency ; nor, 2. in a public profession of the Gos-
pel ; nor, 3. in personal attachment to Jesus (?) ; nor,
4. in extraordinary works (?) ; but, 5. in faith in Je-
sus, and in an endeavor to attain holiness by that
faith, — our aim being directed toward the reality,
rather than the outward form. — Marhdneke : — How
do we prove ourselves to be true professors of Christ ?
1 . Not by outward appearances merely, but by the pow-
er and life of faith ; 2. by works of love ; 3. by joy,
peace, and hope. Nitzsc'h : — The true value of good
works (Selections of Sermons i., p. 12). Zimmer-
mann : — The tree an image of man (root, stem, mar-
row, branches, leaves, blossoms, fruit). Fr. Krum-
macher :— Who enters into the kingdom of heaven
(Voices of the Church, Langenberg, 1852, p. 49). Ser-
mons on Ver. 15, by Rautenberg, Souchon, Ahlfeld.
Hopfner : — Four things necessary to constitute a
Christian : 1. Faith makes a. Christian ; 2. Y\ie proves a
! Christian ; 3. trials confirm a Christian ; 4. death
! crowns a Christian.
B. CHEIST MANIFESTING HIS PROPHETIC OFFICE BY MIRACLES WHICH ATTEST HIS
WORD. BUT IN HIS MIRACLES, AS IN HIS TEACHING, HE EXPERIENCES THE CON-
TRADICTION OF THE PHARISEES, AND IS ULTIMATELY REVILED. TRIUMPH OF
CHRIST OVER THE OPPOSITION OF HIS ENEMIES, BY PREPARING TO SEND FORTH
HIS TWELVE APOSTLES.— CH. VIII. IX.
Contents : — The miracles of the Lord, as the evidence of His prophetic office, misunderstood and reviled by the Pharisees
and Sadducees. 1. Miracles of the Lord beyond the pale of the ancient theocracy: the leper and the heathen. •!. .Mir-
acles of the Lord procecdina: from the circle of the new theocracy (the house of Peter): the mother-in-law of Peter,
those who were possessed of evil spirits. 3. Miracles during His missionary journey : the disciples, the storm at sea.
4. Miraculous works, despite the opposition of the kingjdom of darkness: the GadaroHcs, the man afflicted with the
palsy. 5. Miraculous works, despite the contradiction of leg.alism ; Matthew Levi the publican, the feast with the
publicans, and the twofold offence of the Pharisees and the disciples of John. 6. Miraculous works in the face of utter
despair and of death : the woman with the issue of blood, and the d.aughter of Jairus. 7. Miraculous works of Christ
as the dawn of His work of redemption, in opposition to the hardening and the reviling of His enemies: the two blind
men, and the person possessed with a dumb devil. 8. Royal preparation for the mission of Christ's disciples, and tri-
umph over those who reviled His prophetic office.
The leper, and the heathen, or the centurion of Capernaum. MiraculoziS works of Christ beyond the pale of
the ancient theocracy.
Chapter VIII. 1-13.
(The Gospel for tJie Sd Sunday after Bpiphany. — Parallels: — The Leper: Mark i. 40-45 ; Luke v. 12-16.
The Centurion of Capernaum: Luke vii. 1-10.)
1 When he was [had] come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying. Lord, if thou wilt, thou
3 canst make me clean. And Jesus [he] ' put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I
4 will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith
150
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
unto him, See thou tell no man ; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and ofier
the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
5 And when Jesus [he] was [liad] entered into Capernaum, there came unto iiim a
6 centurion, beseecliing him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the
7 palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8 The centurion answered and said. Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come
under my roof: but speak the word only [only say in a wordj,'^ and my servant shall
9 be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me : and I say to
this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and he cometh ; and to my ser-
10 vant, Do this, and he doetli it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them
that followed. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.'^
1 1 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down
[recline at table] ^ with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into [the] outer darkness: there shall
13 be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way;
and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the
selfsame hour.
[Cod. Sinait.] and other weighty testi-
1 Ver. 3. — '\r\ffovs is wanting in Codd. B., C. [Cod- Sinait.], etc.
2 Ver. %.—h('>y(f (dat.) xvith one V)ord, or in a ward, sustained by Codd.
monies, instead of the \6yov (accus.), the word, of the tevt. reeeptnu.
3 Ver. 10.—" With no one in Israeir Cod. B. and others.
< Ver. 11.— ['Aco«Aid7Voj'Tai, expressing the well known .mcient custom of recKning on couches at meals and ban-
quets. This explains, how St. John could lean on Jehus' bosom at the holy supper, .John xiii. 23. — P. S.]
infection (especially by cohabitation),^or a hereditary
taint. It sometimes continues to the fourth genera-
I tion (2 Sam. iii. 29), but the disease loses in intensity
I as it descends, and is generally confined in the fourtli
degree to ugly teeth, offensive breath, and sickly ap-
pearance.— Kinds and degrees. Leprosy is a form of
skin disease. Four kinds of it were known — elephan-
tiasis (an Egyptian disease, hence, idcvs yEgypti),
black lei)rosy, white leprosy, and red leprosy. Hip-
pocrates classified the different kinds of non-malig-
nant eruptions as a\<p6s, Afix^"- ^^''Kr], and \enpat.
I The first of these is the ppjS of Lev. xiii. 39, whicli
is quite harmless in its character, and disappears,
without causing any pain, in a few months or years.
We also read, in Lev. xiii. 47, of a leprosy attaching
to clothes (probably from small insects) ; and in xiv.
34, of one attaching to houses. The symptoms of
white leprosy, Barras, also known as lepra Mosaica,
— the form of the disease peculiar to the Hebrews, —
are sufficiently described in Lev. xiii. V/hen the dis-
ease is decided in its character, it is either rapidly
j cured, or else spreads inward. In the former case,
there is a violent eruption, so that the patient !.■>
white from head to foot (Lev. xiii. 1 2 ; 2 Kings v.
j 27) ; in the latter case, the disease progresses slowly,
j and the symptoms are equally distressing and fatal,
ending in consumption, dropsy, suffocation, and death.
The effects of elephantiasis are even more sad. It
chiefly affects the lower part of the body, and the pa-
tient may live for twenty years. It stiffens the ankle
(making the foot like that of an elephant, hence th(!
name), stupefies the senses, produces melancholy,
sleeplessness, terrible dreams (Job vii. 14), insatiable
voracity, and ends in fever or sudden suffocation. —
Legislation on leprosy. The Mosaic law took special
notice of leprosy, the priests were commissioned
carefully to watch its inroads. The object in view
was to protect the healthy portion of the community,
to pronounce on the harmless character of any erup-
tion which resembled leprosy, and to readmit into the
community those who had been cured. No remedy
was known for the disease itself: the leper was de-
EXEGETICAL .VND CPJTICAL.
Ver. 1. When He was come do"wn {rutn au-
tem descendissef. Vulg.). — Chronological arrange-
inent of the narrative. We account for the circum-
stance, that Luke records the healing of the leper (v.
12) before the Sermon on the Mount (vi. 20), on the
ground that he wished to relate the latter in connec-
tion with the mission of the twelve Apostles. Hence,
his arrangement is not in strict chronological order.
Besides, the introduction of the cure of the leper in
Luke breaks up the continuous narrative of the re-
turn of Jesus from the Mount of Beatitudes to Caper-
naum. Matthew expressly states, that the cure of the
leper was performed when Christ " had come down "
from the mountain. On the other hand, Luke re-
lates, that Christ, on His journey to Capernaum, en-
tered into a city ; and that the cure of the leper there
was the occasion of His retiring for a time into the
wilderness, probably in consideration of the preju-
dices of the Jews, as the leprous person had, contrary
to the injunction of the Saviour, published the fact,
that Jesus had touched, and so healed him. After
this temporary retirement to the wilderness, Jesus re-
turned to Capernaum.
Ver. 2. A leper. — (Comp. on the general subject
of leprosy Michaelis : Mosaisches Recht, vol. iv. p.
227, Winer sub voce, and Ewald : Judische Alterthii,-
mer, p. 218.) Leprosy, nsn^, Aenpa, as to its
general character, is a disease peculiar to Egypt, Ara-
bia, Palestine, and Syria, although it has penetrated
as far east as Persia and India, and as far west as
Italy. A most frightful calamity, resembling in some
respects the pestilence ; only that the latter sweeps
aivay its victims with great rapidity, while leprosy is
slow in its ravages. These two diseases formed, so
to speak, the centre of all others, such as blindness,
palsy, deafness, fevers, bloody flux, etc. Analogous
to these physical sufferings were the various kinds of
demoniacal possessions. — Causes. Leprosy is caused
by bad air, want of cleanliness, bad diet, dyspepsia,
CHAP. VIII. 1-13.
151
clared unclean, and excluded from intercourse with
all other persons. He had to wear the prescribed
mourning garment, Lev. xiii. 45, but was permitted
to associate with other lepers. Their abodes were
commonly outside the city walls (Lev. xiii. 46 ; Num.
v. 2)\ but they were allowed to go about freely, pro-
viding they avoided contact with other persons ; nor
were they even excluded from the services of the
synagogue (Liglitfoot, 862). In this respect we note
a great diftercncc between the synagogue and the
temple. On recovering from leprosy, several lustra-
tions had to be performed, Lev. xiv. The main
points in the prescribed rite were, to appear before
the priest, and to ofi'er a sacrifice ; the latter being
preceded by religious lustrations, and introduced by
a symbolical ceremony, in which the two turtles or
pigeons bore a striking analogy to the scape-goat
and the other goat offered in sacrifice on the day of
atonement. Lev. xvi. — In general, the ordinances
connected with leprosy may be regarded as the type
of all other directions in dealing with that which was
unclean. — Symbolical slgmficance. Accordingly, lep-
rosy was regarded as the symbol of siii and of judg-
ment (Num. xii. 10 ; 2 Kings v. 26 ; xv. 5 ; 2 Chron.
xxvi. 20, 21-23) ; also of inscrutable visitations. Job
ii. 7. On the other hand, recovery from leprosy was
regarded as a symbol of salvation, as in the case of
Naeman, 2 Kings v. 2 ; comp. Ps. h. 9, with Lev. vi.
'7. The uncleanness, the gradual destruction of the
system, the disgusting appearance, and the unexpect-
ed recovery by a full outbreak of the eruption, — and,
again, the slow but sure progress of the disease, the
isolation of those who were affected by it from the
society of the clean, the infectious nature of the trou-
ble, its long duration and hopelessness, — presented a
variety of views under which sin and guilt with its
consequences and effects, even upon innocent individ-
uals, might be symbolized.
Ver. 2. And worshipped Him — fell down be-
fore Him (on his face). " As in ch. ii. 2 ; xv. 25, a
sign of profound reverence. The leper regarded Jesus
at least as a great prophet, though it is difficult accu-
rately to define the measure of knowledge possessed
by such believers (comp. vers. 8-10). Hence the im-
port of this worship, and of the designation, ' Lord,'
differed under various circumstances. Some regarded
even the promised Messiah as a mere man (?), while
others were fully aware of His Divine charactei\"
Gerlach.
Ver. 3. His leprosy was cleansed, ina^a-
piff^T]. — By his being brought into contact with
Him who was absolute purity.
Ver. 4. TeU no man: Mark i. 44 ; Luke v. 14 ;
comp. Matt. ix. 30 ; xii. 16 ; Mark iii. 12 ; v. 43 ; vii.
36 ; viii. 26-30 ; Matt. xvi. 20 ; xvii. 9.— The injunc-
tion of silence upon the persons cured arose, in all
instances, from the same general motives. It was
primarily dictated by a regard for the spiritual and
physical welfare of such persons. Besides, to pre-
vent popular excitement, and not to endanger the
ministry of Christ, it was better to keep silence on
these matters. But, in each special case, there was
also a particular motive. Maldonatus, Grotius, Ben-
gel, and others, suppose that, in the present instance,
it was enjoined in order that no prejudice might be
raised in the mind of the officiating priest against
this recovery. Fritzsche and Baumgarten-Crusius
hold that it indicated that the first duty of the leper
was to show himself to the priest, before proclaiming
abroad the miracle. Olsliausen : Jesus issued this
injunction mainly to persons who were in danger of
being carried away ; while in other cases, especially
where the individual was by nature retiring and
prone to self-conteniplation. He commanded an oppo-
site course, Mark V. I'.i. But the principal motive,
as mentioned by Meyer (following Chrysostom), was,
that Jesus wished to prevent a concourse of the peo-
ple, and enthusiastic outbursts on their part. This,
however, is not incompatible with any of the other
motives ; as, in the I'resent instance, the person cured
had to undertake a journey to the temple at Jerusa-
lem (Fritzsche, Baumgarten-Crusius, Meyer). Ac-
cording to Maimonides, a person restored from lep-
rosy had, in the first instance, to submit himself to
the inspection of the priest of his district. He then
underwent a second inspection after the lapse of sev-
en days, after which he jjerformed the customary
lustration ; and then journeyed to Jerusalem, where
he offered the prescribed sacrifice, and was pronounc-
ed clean.
Ver. 4. Show thyself to the priest.— Com|).
the ordinauces of purification in. Lev. xiv.
For a testimony unto them. — Meyer ; i. e.,
" unto the people, that thou art healed." But we must
not overlook the fact, that the leper had been de-
clared unclean by the priests who were now to certify
to his restoration, and that his showing himself was
the evidence of this. The remark, " for a testimony
that I do not destroy the law " (Chrysostom), is in-
apt; as also the view of Olshausen, that the testi-
mony here referred to was that of the priests.
Ver. 5. ' E Karovrapxoi, centurio, a captain over
100, in the service of Herod Antipas. — According to
ver. 10, a Gentile, although in all probability a pros-
elyte of the gate. Comp. the intercession of the
ruler of the synagogue on his behalf, in the Gospel
according to Luke. — Proselytes, CI". ^ irpoa-h^vToi,
Sept. 1 Chron. xxii. 2 ; Matt, xxiii. 15 ; Acts ii. 10;
— those Gentiles who adopted Judaism in a more or
less restricted sense (Suidas : e| idvQiv irpoaiX-qXvOo-
T€s). According to the Gemara and the Rabbins, we
distinguish, — I. Proselytes of the gate, "yilT] "'•;i2 .
i. e., strangers who lived within the gates of Israel,
had adopted the reUgion of the patriarchs, and con-
formed to what were called the seven Noachic com-
mandments, which prohibited, (a) blasphemy ; (b) the
worship of the heavenly bodies, or idolatry ; (e) mur-
der ; ((/) incest ; (e) robbery ; (/) rebellion ; [g) eat-
ing of blood and of things strangled (Acts xv. 20).
They were also called ol (TfB:i/j.eyot {rhu Beov), Joseph.
Antiq. xiv. 7, 2 ; Acts xiii. 43, 50 ; xvi. 14 ; xvii. 4,
etc. — Instances: Cornelius, Lydia, the Ethiopian
eunuch, etc. II. Proselytes of righteousness, PiSn ^"i;
who had submitted to circumcision, and thus become
naturalized Jews. The distinction between these two
classes was kept up at the time of Christ ; when, in-
deed, the number of proselytes of the gate had great-
ly increased. — The two parallel cases of the centu-
rion at the cross (Matt, xxvii. C4) and of Cornelius
(Acts X.), will at once occur to the reader.
Ver. 6. My servant, b irals unv . — The slave, or
domestic servant, as distinguished from the common
soldier, who was only officially sulyect to him ; but
not a son (Strauss, Baumgarten-Crusius). From the
more detailed narrative in Luke, we learn that he was
held in special esteem by his master ; which, indeed,
may be gathered from this passage also. The ser-
vant is distinguished from the soldiers. The latter
come and go as it were mechanically, according to
the word of command ; while the servant doeth as
he is told — his master can intrust to his care the busi-
152
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ncss in hand. Evidently the centurion had only this
one servant (ver. 9).
Sick of the palsy, irapa\vriK6 9.* — There is a
manifost analogy between the sick of the palsy and
the demoniacs. The latter were deprived of their
consciousness, or of tlie organ of the soul ; while the
paralytics were deprived of the use of their bodily or-
gans. Those afflicted with epilepsy formed a kind of
intermediate link between these two ailments, being
occasionally deprived of the use both of their mental
and bodily capacities, and, at other times, of either
the one or the other. The irapaAvrtKoi are as it were
physically dissolved (TrapaAf Au^fVoi), and prostrated
on beds (Matt. ix. '2 ; Mark iii. 3, etc.). Luther trans-
lates ffichtbruchiff, which signifies only a particular
kind of the general disease of paralysis. " Modern
physicians apply the term paralysis to the loss of vol-
untary motion, or of sensation in some part of the
body, the muscles being entirely relaxed. This con-
stitutes the difference between paralysis and catalepsis
and the various kinds of fciannx, in which the muscles
are excited and rigid. In paralysis, the circulation
of the blood, animal heat, and the ordinary secre-
tions continue. The disease frequently comes on
suddenly (after a stroke of apoplexy), at other times
slowly and insensibly, but in every instance is difficult
to remove." Winer.
Ver. 9. For I am a man vnh e^ovalav, — in
service. — Meyer : " He adduces a twofold analogy :
the obedience which he is bound to give, and that
which he claims from his subordinates." But the
former cannot have been meant, as it would imply
that Christ was also a subordinate in spiritual matters.
The conclusion is, however, not simply a minori ad
majus, in the sense that Christ ruled in spiritual, as
the centurion in temporal matters ; but also in this
sense, that if he, a subordinate, could issue his com-
mands, much more could Christ, the absolute Lord.
Various opinions are entertained about the meaning
which the centurion attached to the supremacy of
Christ. Fritzsche understands it as applying to His
sovereignty over the demons as the supposed authors
of diseases ; Wetstein, Olshausen, and Ewald, over
angels ; Baumgarten-Crusius, over ministering spirits ;
Meyer, over diseases, as subject to Christ. But the
centurion must have referred to sway over subordin-
ate personages, and not merely over diseases ; nor
could it here refer to demons, as his servant was not
possessed by them. On the other hand, we can
readily conceive how a Roman, who was just passing
from heathenism to Judaism, would easily confound
his Roman notions about genii with the idea of an-
gels. Bengel : "sapieniiajidelisez ruditate militari
pulchre elucens." What gives such charm to the
illustration is, that the centurion ever again recurs to
his poor faithful servant. Some familiar servant of
the Lord Jesus, he thinks, would suffice to restore
his poor slave. — There was no need, he meant to say,
for His personal attendance, since even he was not re-
quired always personally to superintend the execution
of his orders. " Humility and faith always go hand in
hand." Meyer.
Ver. 11. From the east and -west. — Referring
not only to Gentiles, but to the more distant of them.
* [The English palsy is evidently derived by contraction
(rom the Greek TTapa\vai<:, as alms from i\friiJ.offvuri,
through the medium of the Latin.— P. 8.]
] without distinction of nationality, Isa. xlv. 6. — And
shall sit down, or rather recline at table, according
to OricTital fasliion. — In the minds of the prophets, a
symbolical meaning attached to this feast of Messiah,
as portraying the blessedness enjoyed in the kingdom
of heaven (Isa. xxv. 6). In this sense Jesus here era-
ploys the simile, which He afterward expands, as in
Luke xiv. 7 ; Matt. xxii. 1 ; xxvi. 29. No doubt
those around Him would understand the tei-m in
this manner. Meyer remarks : " According to Jew-
ish notions, splendid banquets with the patriarchs
formed part of the hajjpiness enjoyed in Messiah's
kingdom. See Berthold, C'hristologie, p. 196, and
Scliottgen, Hor. ad loc. The expression is employed
in a figurative sense by the Lord (although His Jew-
ish hearers would probablv understand it literally)."
This last clause is somewhat doubtful, as it would
scarcely reflect favorably upon the wisdom of Christ.
Meyer very properly calls attention to the contrast
between this promise of Jesus and the pride of the
Jews, as expressed in the following rabbinical say-
ing: ^^ In tnundo Juturo [dixit Detis) rnensam ingen-
tem vobis sternam, quod Gentiles videbunt et pudefi-
ent." Schottgen, Hor.
Ver. 12. But the children of the kingdom.
— The Jews were children of the typical kingdom,
or of the theocracy, and might cherish the expecta-
tion of becoming sons of the real kingdom — that of
heaven (Rom. ix. 5 ; xi. 16). The expression, king-
dom, must here be taken generally, as embracing
both economies — the promise and the possession.
The term viSs, "3 , indicates relationship either in a
physical or moral sense. In the present instance,
it refers to the heirs which belong to the kingdom,
as well as to tliose to whom the kingdom belongs.
Outer darkness, t^ a koto"; to i^drepo p. —
The banqueting hall is lit up, the feast is served in the
evening, and outside is utter darkness. So Judas
went from the supper of the Lord into the dark night,
John xiii. 30. The expression is here used in a compar-
ative sense. They are cast out into deeper, nay, into
uttermost darkness. Just as the feast refers to salva-
tion and bliss at the coming of the Lord, so this pic-
ture of night, to the darkness and the horrors of
judgment. Hence the description of their sufferings,
b KKav^ixo^. " The article [which is omitted in the
English C. V.] indicates that it is the well-known
wretchedness experienced in hell ; comp. xiii. 42, 50 ;
xxii. 13 ; xxiv. 51 ; xxv. 30 ; Luke xiii. 28."
Ver. 13. In the self-same hour. — Emphatical-
ly— as soon as Jesus had spoken the word : comp.
John iv. 46. In this case, as in John iv., and in the
cure of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman,
the miracle was performed by the Lord at a distance
from the subject of it. Several critics (Semler, Seif-
farth, Strauss, Weisse, Gfriirer, Baumgarten-Crusius,
j Baur) have confounded the history of the centurion
of Capernaum with that of the royal courtier there
I (John iv. 46). But this were completely to mistake
I the different characters of these two persons, and
j their marked moral peculiarities, as brought out in
1 the Gospels. The courtier was weak in the faith,
■ while the centurion was strong; the courtier deemed
the presence of Christ absolutely necessary, and urged
I Him to come down to his house, while the centurion
I regarded the word of command sufficient. Hence
I the difference of treatment on the part of the Lord.
i (Comp. Lange's Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 645.)
CHAP. Vni. 1-13.
153
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Tlie miracle. — The Lord confirmed and sealed
His ministry and prophetic office by miracles. The
miracle of His person is revealed in His miraculous
works. It is evident that the Evangelist here groups
together various miracles of the Lord, in order there-
by to exhibit Him as the Wonder-worker.
On the conception of miracles consult the works
on the Evidences of Christianity, and the Systems of
Biblical and Systematic Theology ; my Life of Jesus,
ii. 1, 258 ; my Fhilos. Dogmatics, 467 ; Jul. Miiller's
dissertation : De miraculorum Jesu Christi natura,
i., Marburg, 1839; ii., Halle, 1841 ; and other works
quoted by Meyer, p. 176.*
In the most general sense of the term, every man-
ifestation of God is a miracle ; and He docs wonders,
because He is wonderful. As the self-existent One,
all His works are jniracidoiis, whether in creation or
in providence: i. e.. He manifests Himself as the Al-
mighty Creator, both in calling forth and forming
ihal which is not, and in destroying, or rather trans-
forming, that which is. His wondrous deeds are de-
scribed in Ps. xxxiii. 9 (Ps. cxlviii. 5; cxv. 3); —
" He speaks, and it is done ; He commands, and it
stands fast;" and again, in Rom. iv. 17: "Who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things that be ■
not as though they were." — All creation is a wonder, ■
Ps. cxxxvi. 4 ; Isa. xl. 26. All His administration is
wonderful, Ps. Ixxxix. 6 ; Job v. 9, etc. His judg-
meni.i for the deliverance of His people are wonders, '.
Ex. XV. 6; Ps. Ixxvii. 15; ix. 2. So are His lead-
ings of Israel, Ps. cv. 2 sqq. Such also is His ad-
vent as Saviour,- Ps. xcviii. — We have already advert- i
ed to the second or inner circle of wonders, within
the first, or more general. In the ordinary course of !
nature and of history, God performs special miracles, \
for the purpose of restoring, oi judging, and of deliv- '
ering, Ex. xxxiv. 10 ; Ps. cv. 5 ; Isa. xxv. 1 ; Dan. I
vi. 27 ; Acts ii. 19. But these new miracles are in- |
timately connected with His general marvellous deal- j
ings. As the Almighty and the Creator, He performs
the more general miracles of His power. But His
special miracles are the manifestation of those new j
and higher principles which break through and over-
step the sphere of common Ufe, and introduce a new
and higher order of things, or, in other words, the
kingdom of God. These higher miracles appear
alongside of His word. Hence we distinguish in this
respect between miracles of the ^vord (predictions,
prophecies) and miracles of deed (Isa. xliv. 7 ; comp.
ver. 26, etc.). The miracles of deed confirm those
of the word, and distinguish them from the delu-
sive predictions of false prophets. Similarly, how-
ever, the miracles of the word confirm those of deed,
and distinguish them from the tokens of magicians.
— Under the Xew Covenant, the distinction between
miracles of word and deed merges in the person of
Christ. He is the Wonderful (Isa. ix. 6), — the per-
* [Comp. also R. Cii. Trench: Notes on the Miracles,
Preliminary Essay, p. 9-Sl (Amer. ed., 1S56; in England
this useful work has already gone through seven editions);
Horace BcsiiNELL (of Hartford): Nature and the Super-
naturiil as together constituting the one System of God.
New York, 1S5S (a work of rare power and genius), especial-
ly ch. X. and .xi. ; Dr. Tiis. H. Skinner: Miracles, the Proof
of Christianity, New York, 1863 (in the Amer. Presbyt and
theol. Kev. for April, 186.3, p. 177 sqq.); Prof. A. Hovet of
Newton Centre: The Miracles of Christ, Boston, 1S64; and
a number of recent dissertations on Miracles called forth by
the " fCstaiiS and Jievievjt" controversy, especially one bv
Prof. H. L Mansel, B. D. of Oxford, in the " Aids to Faith^'
Lend, and New York, 1862.— P. 8.]
I sonal, the highest, the absolute Wonder, — because
I He is the absolute Principle of all Life manifested,
the Word itself in outward deed, or God incarnate.
i As the absolute Womler, and the Principle of that
1 new and spiritual era which is destined to subdue and
I transform every relationship of the past. He cannot
but perform miracles, — nay, all His doings are mir-
I aculous. Himself the new Creation, He performs the
highest of all miracles — the wonders of regeneration.
These were introduced and attested by the miracu-
lous cures, in which He restored the mental and phys-
ical constitution, depressed through sin below the
ordinary healthy level, by those ahnighty interposi-
tions on His part, which we designate miracles in the
special sense.
In general, a miracle is that almighty and crea^
tive action of God, in which He manifests Himself as
the eternal, self-existent, and wonderful One. Crea-
tion is the miracle of deed, which is interpreted by
the word.
But within this general sphere, the miracles of
the kingdom of God were, so to speak, announced
and prepared by the special miraculous cycles in the
ordinary course of nature, in which the symbolical
miracle of nature appears. Here each stage of na-
ture prepai-es for a higher ; which in turn may be re-
garded as above nature, as contrary to nature, and yet
as only higher nature, since it introduces a new and
higher principle of life, into the existent and natural
order of things.* It is not the law of nature which
causes the principle of nature, but the principle of
nature which Ues at the basis of the law of nature.
Each lower stage prepares for a new, in which a high-
er principle of life appears. This higher sphere may
always be regarded as supernatural, because it goes
beyond the former stage, and even as in a sense con-
trary to nature, because the former stage becomes,
so to speak, the pabulum for this new and higher
life ; while in reality it is only a higher manifesta-
tion of nature which unfolds in accordance with the
principles of development peculiar to itself.
Thus the chemical principle appeared as a miracle
in the elementary world, as introducing a new and
higher life ; similarly, the principle of crystallization
is a miracle with reference to the lower principle of
chemical affinity ; the plant, a miracle above the crys-
tal ; the animal, a miracle in reference to the plant ;
and man, over all the animal world. Lastly, Christ,
as the second man, the God-Man, is a miracle above
all the world of the first man, who is of the earth,
earthy (1 Cor. xv.).
The Lord Jesus would have been an absolute
miracle even in the world before the fall of Adam ;
much more since, instead of ascending to spirituality,
man has through sin become the slave of the flesh,
and thus degraded nature below its proper level.
Hence Christ is not only a higher and a transforming
principle in the sphere of our natural world ; but, ap-
pearing among sin-laden men, He is also the Judge,
the Redeemer, and the Saviour.
The New Testament miracle, then, is that work-
ing of Christ by word and deed which springs from
the new principle of absolute life and salvation, and
manifests itself in judgment and deliverance, in re-
demption and transformation
* [In. German : " Hier ist d.is Wander der wohZvermittel-
ie, Ubernatiirliche, loidernaturliche und hohere natHrliche
Durchbruch eines neuen hoheren Lebensprincips durch die
bereits vorhandene gesetzmiissige Ordnung der. Dinge."
This is a fair specimen of Dr. Lange's stylo in the more doc-
trinal and philosophical portions of hie Commentary. — P. B.)
154
THE (lOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
But, as the advent of the first man was prepared
and predieted by those symbolical miracles of the va-
rious stages of nature that gradually ascended tovi'ard
man as their climax, so was the miraculous advent of
the second man from heaven — of Christ, the Redeem-
er and Transformer of the world — prepared and pre-
dicted by the miracles of the Old Testament, which
took place within that sphere of human life and na-
ture, which sin had darkened. These were essential-
ly miracles of the coming regeneration, or of the ad-
vent of the God-Man.
In the svinbolical sphere of nature, the miracle
appears, in the first instance, as a symbolical deed on
the part of God, which only to the mind of him who
is enlightened by the Spirit of God becomes trans-
formed into a miraculous word. It is otherwise with-
(1) a-qi-ulov, rfKfj.ripiov. (2) Swa/xts.
signum. virtus, patenter factum.
Prepared sign of the ajj- i Supernatural eSeet of
proaching new princi- \ this principle on its ap-
pearance.
in the sphere of the ancient theocracy. Here the
wondrous deed of God, and the human, but inspired
word of prophecy, which in its symbolic import
evokes the wondrous deed, go hand in hand (we
might almost say, in a harmonia pncstahilita). Last-
ly, within the sphere of Christianity, the miracle, as
deed, flows from the thcanthroi)ic word of the incar-
nate Word. In general, spiritual regeneration is al-
ways the first, and is afterward followed by miraculous
cure, or transformation of nature, though in individ-
ual cases that order may seem partly reversed.
We may sketch, in the following table, the miracle
in its development and varied manifestations (general
expression for miracles : Oavixara, Oav/xdaia, irapi-
5o|a, miracula ; xbc , nisbs'lD , nii<bE5 ).
pie in the kingdom of
God.
Definition of |
Augustine: ; Thomas Aquinas
Portentum non fit contra I Miraculum, quod fit prce-
naturam, sed contra
quam est nota natura.
{Be civitate Dei, xxi.
8.)
(Prevailing view in the Gos-
pel by Matthew.)
ter ordinera totius na-
ture creaicB. {Summa i.
qusest. 110, art. 4.)
(Prevailing view in the Gos-
pel by Luke.)
(3) Tfpas.
ostentum, portentum.
Contra-natural effect of
it, as compared with
the former stage, espe-
cially in the fallen con-
dition.
The 17th cent. ;
Quenstedt :
Miracula, quse contra vim
rebus naturalibus a deo
inditam cursuinque na-
turalem efficiuntur.
{Si/st. Theol. p. 4*71.)
(Prevailing view in the Gos-
pel by Mark.)
(4) ^pyof.
factum, opus.
n^htr: , etc.
Higher, or rather highest
naturalness. Manifes-
tation of the new, hea-
venly, and spiritual na-
ture.
Nitzsch :
Miracles are part of a
higher order of things,
which, however, is also
nature. {System der
Chrisil. Lehre, p. 85.)
(Prevailing view in the Gos-
pel by John.)
As the principle of all principles, Christ is the
absolute law of all laws of nature and life. Hence,
(1) There was preparation for Him. As all nature
tended toward, and was a prediction of, man, so all
humanity tended toward Christ and is fulfilled and
perfected by Him. (2) He was supernatural in ref-
erence to the old world and to man's ordinary na-
ture— the new spiritual man from heaven. (3) He
was contra-natural : old Adam must die, and the old
world perish. But this old natural life becomes in
turn the substratum and the element for a new spir-
itual life. (4) He is natural in the highest sense.
For in Him is all nature realized, redeemed, and ad-
mitted to share in the glorious liberty of the children
of God. — We notice the same features in His mira-
cles. (1) There is the preparation of faith on the part
of those who receive, or else by the affection of those
who intercede for others; occasionally, also, believ-
ing anticipation, as in the demoniacs ; or a waiting
for the Lord, as in the case of those raised from the
dead ; while no miracles are performed among unbe-
A. Miracles of the word and of fulfilment.
(1) Miraculous birth of Christ to a spiritual human
life in the world. He is of the Holy Ghost.
(2) Christ miraculously attains to full consciousness
of His calling as the Redeemer at His baptism
in Jordan, and is glorified from above. He has
the Holy Spirit as a spiritual power.
lievers. Matt. xiii. 58. (2) They are supernatural —
the manifestation of the almighty and saving power
of the God-Man. (3) In a sense contra-natural, as
putting an end to the existing state ; as, for example,
in the history of the Gadarenes, in the doom of the
barren fig-tree, etc. (4) Natural in the highest sense
(gradualness of the cui-e of the blind man at Beth-
saida, use of natural means): presentation, in an
outward fact, of the revival of inner life.
The series of Old Testament miracles opened, in
the history of Abraham, by the miracle of word and
of initial fulfilment (th^ wonderful birth of Isaac),
long before the ordinary miracles of deed commenced
with the life of Moses. The latter were in the first
place symbolical miracles ; they next became mira-
cles of judgment and deliverance, and grew into mi-
racles and healing, until, in the predictions of the
prophets, they pointed forward to the period of
transformation.
All these elements appear fully defined and per-
fected in the life of the Lord.
B. Miracles of deed.
(1) The miraculous birth of Christ is the regenera-
tion of humanity. Hence it is the power of re-
generating, of awakening the dead, and restoring
the sick. Jesus walking on the sea. Power of
the spirit over nature.
(2) Glimpse into heaven. Into the hearts (Natha-
nael); into the depths (the tribute penny, the
draught of fishes) ; into the future (the colt).
Miracles of judgment and deliverance. Deliver-
ances in the sphere of mind and of nature. Con-
versions, casting out of evil spirits. Symbolical
J
CUiVP. VIII. 1-13.
155
(3) Transfiguration of the Lord on the Mount. lie
reveals the Holy Ghost, and shines in the hght
of the Spirit.
(4) The resurrection of the Lord. Transition to the
second and hcaveidy life of man. Christ is
glorified and i-eiffns in the Iloly Ghost.
(5) Ascent of Christ into heaven : Christ rules far
and near.
(6) The outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon His dis-
ciples : He sends the Holy Ghost.
(7) Return of Christ to judgment.
Lastly, we remark, that Christianity itself shares
these characteristics of the miraculous life and work-
ing of the Lord. For, 1. Being the religion of histo-
ri/, the fulfilment of the Old Testament and of all
history, there has been due preparation for it in the
course of history. 2. It is supernatural; being di-
rectly from heaven, and entirely new. 3. It is con-
tra-natural ; dooming sin and the world to death in
its progress, and making use of natural life oidy as
the elpment of a higher life. 4. Yet this miracle is
only the highest naturalness ; being the religion of
true spiritual life, which leads to the transformation
of the world. On the other hand, all the effects of
Christianity may be arranged into miracles oi forma-
tion (regeneration), and miracles of deed (the healing
of the cosmos), until the goal shall be reached in the
transformation of the world.
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord had dis-
played the full riches of spiritual life. He preached
as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
This became evident immediately on His descent
from the high pulpit, by the miracles which He per-
formed. In the mind of the Evangelists, these mir-
acles, however different, are connected, and form a
higher unity, although their histoi'ical succession is
never overlooked. But the cure of Peter's mother-
in-law, and of the great multitude of sick persons,
especially demoniacs, belongs to a former period, as
has already been stated. All the other miracles
were performed at the time of Christ's second stay
in Capernaum. The interrupted journey to Gadara
is their centre.
But just as the utterances on the Mount- were Di-
vine deeds, so these deeds by which the Great Pro-
phet confirms His word are also oracles of God, —
i. e., Divine deeds which serve as symbols of the in-
finite truth and grace, and of the power of the Gos-
pel to save.
It is significant that the miraculous cures of Je-
sus began with that of leprosy. This cure marks
the new era in hfe, as the Sennon on the Mount
marked that in doctrine. According to tTie Old Tes-
tament, he who touched a leper became unclean.
Jesus touches the leper, and not only remains clean
Himself, but by His touch cleanses tlic leper. — Still
more remarkable is the second miracle. It consists
in help given to a Gentile, and tliat on the strength
of a faith v/hich is declared to surpass that of the
Jews. If in the former case the cure wa.s effected
by touch, it now takes place at a distance ; thus
Bymbolizing that the influence of the blessed Saviour
miracles of nature, both in judgment and deUv-
erance. ("Parallel miracles.") The calming of
the storm.
(3) Miracles of transfiguration. The disciples shar-
ing the heavenly rapture. The marriage at
Cana. The miraculous feeding of the multitude.
Bread and wine in the kingdom of heaven.
(4) Christ raising the dead. New spiritual life. The
maid on her death-bed. The young man in the
coffin. Lazarus in the grave. Movement in
the world of spirits at His resurrection. (Mat-
thew.)
(5) Miraculous cures at a distance.
(6) Anointing of His people; of believing humanity.
Speaking with new tongues. Spread of His
wondrous power in the hfe of Christianity.
(7) The withered fig-tree. The Apostles sent into all
tiie world.
extended not only to those who were near, but also
to the Gentiles at a distance. — Next, we have the
miraculous cure of Peter's mother-in-law — in contra-
distinction to the low estimate of woman in the old
world. He takes her by the hand, and, being re-
stored, she serves Him. — Jesus has now to cope with
the whole weight of demoniacal suffering in and
around Capernaum ; but He proves equal to the load,
and removes it. — Here we reach the period of His
journey to Gadara, during which the Lord, by a dif-
ferent mode of treatment, restored two of His pro-
fessing disciples from their spiritual disease — enthu-
siasm in the one case, and slowness of faith in the
other. — The Lord next appeases the storm at sea,
and, with it, the storm of anxiety in the souls of His
disciples ; — on the eastern shore, in the land of the
Gadarenes, He performs the cure of two demoniacs
who had been the terror of the whole district. But
this miracle diffused greater terror among the Gada-
renes than the demoniacs had ever done. The ban-
ishment of Jesus from that territory, consequent on
this cure, may be regarded as the first formal rejec-
tion of the Lord. Orthodox Israel expelled Jesus
for the sake of a herd of swine. No better fate
awaits Him on the western shore of the lake. The
heaUng of one afflicted with the palsy, whose faith
had overcome all obstacles intervening between
Christ and him, served as the occasion of stirring up
the enmity of the scribes, who denounced as blasphe-
my His forgiving of sin. Among these miracles,
Matthew introduces his own calling. A wonder of
grace this, not less than the others, that a pubUcan,
one excommunicated, should be called to the apostle-
ship. If the Pharisees found fault because He ate
with the publicans and sinners, the disciples of John
objected on the ground that His disciples fasted not,
as they and the Pharisees did. The former cavil the
Lord rebutted by reminding the Pharisees of the
contrast between sacrifice and mercy ; the latter, by
pointing out that between the marriage and fasting,
the new wine and the Old bottles. Then for the
first time the Lord raised the dead, restoring the
daughter of Jairus from the death-bed to life ; the
cure of the woman afflicted with an issue of blood
being introduced by the way. Next, two blind men
recovered their sight, on the distinct profession of
their faith that Jesus was the Messiah (the Son of
David). — We regard it as a further progress in these
miracles when He heals the dumb demoniac ; and by
tlie word of His power at the same time leveals and
removes the cause of his affiction. After all thcsj
156
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
miracles, the Pharisees be^n to revile Him, and to
say, that " He cast out devils by the prince of the
devils." These were the very worst devils with
whom Christ had to contend. The blind receive
their sight, but they who see become blind ; the pos-
sessed recover, but those who administered healing
in Israel are cast into the kingdom of Satan. Christ
now passes victoriously from His prophetic to His
royal administration, which commences with the
mission of His Apostles.
2. We have already pointed out how significantly
the series of miracles in Matthew opens with the re-
covery of a leper. Another point deserves notice. The
Old Testament provided no remedy for the leper, nor
was he tolerated in the congregation. His disease
was treated like sin ; he was banished from the camp ;
and whosoever touclicd him, shared for a time that
banishment. Levitical impurities, such as touching
the dead, ceased after a certain period had elapsed ;
but the leper was excluded for an indefinite time —
perhaps for ever. Their only hope of restoration to
the Church lay in their recovery. Meantime the leper
was left to the mercy of God. In this respect the
arrangements of the synagogue were, as we have
shown, less strict than those of the temple. In the
Old Church, to touch an unclean person, rendered un-
clean ; Christ, the Founder of the New Church,
cleansed the leper by touching him. There is a for-
mal disannulling of the old arrangement in this
stretching forth of the hand and touching the leper,
and in the words — " I will, be thou clean ! " And
yet the two institutions agree in spirit, for it is the
object of both to exhibit the Church pure and unspot-
ted. But what the Old Covenant could not bestow,
the Lord vouchsafed. The Old Covenant could only
distinguish, but not separate, between sin and mis-
ery. This the Lord accomplished. From the mo-
ment He touched the leper witli His finger, suffering
became hallowed, and the Lord entered into full fel-
lowship with it. From that moment until His death
on the cross, Christ remained in continuous fellow-
ship with the suffering of the world. True, it seems
as if His contact with the leper had not led to any
immediate suffering ; but from the narrative in Luke
we gather that such was the case. The leper related
what Jesus had done for him, and traditionaUsm may
have pronounced the Lord unclean. On this account
He retired for a time into the wilderness, thence to
issue to fresh manifestations of His miraculous pow-
er. If the first miracle presented a striking contrast
to the old order of things, the second was still more
remarkable as being performed on the heathen slave
of a heathen household. True, the attachment of
the centurion to the synagogue formed a kind of in-
termediate link of connection ; but Matthew passes
over this circumstance as apparently secondary, in 1
view of the grand motive influencing the Lord — the
faith of the centurion. Viewed in their combination,
the two miracles show that infinite mercy reaches to
the lowest depths of misery, and extends to the ut- |
most bounds of the earth — its only conditions being
personal need and believing trust.
S. The acknowledgment of proselytes of the gate
may be regarded as a victory of the genuine theo-
cratic spirit over Pharisaism, which at an earlier pe-
riod had been typified in the construction of a " court j
of the Gentiles " in the second temple. It was not a
new arrangement, but a recurrence to the faith and ,
practice of the patriarchs, in room of the rigor of le- !
galism. The synagogue and the court of the Gentiles '
were the gates by which the heathen might enter the
Jewish Church ; the proselytes of the gate formed
! the intermediate link between heathenism and the
theocracy. Thus the way was opened for the Gos-
pel. As in.stances of the religious movement among
soldiers at that time, we mention not merely the three
[ centurions in the Gospels and the Book of Acts, but
I also the soldiers who resorted to John the Baptist,
Luke iii. 14.
4. The judgment of outer darkness referred to the
severest dispensations upon earth, and in Ea.'.es; al-
though there is some diflFerence between it and the
final judgment of hell-fire, Matt. xxv.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The miracles of the Lord, as confirming His pro-
phetical word. — Christ the Great Prophet in word
and deed. — The words of the Lord effectual as Divine
deeds ; and the deeds of the Lord also a word from
heaven. — The miracles of Jesus in their blessed im-
port: L As witnessing to His Gospel; 2. as works
of love; 3. as seals of His power; 4. as manifesta-
tions of the liberty of the New Covenant ; 5. as rays
of His Divine glory. — The word of the Lord inspir-
ing poor fallen man with fresh courage: 1. Even the
leper may now hope for deliverance; 2. he presses
! forward among the people ; 3. he casts himself at the
feet of the Lord, as if he entered into the most holy
place; 4. his prayer implies the conviction that there
was help even for him. — The healing of the leper a
sign of hope to the world : 1. The Lord can restore
even where a case seems desperate ; 2. He is willing
to do it ; 3. He does it by entering into fellowship
with the sufferings of the world ; 4. by His suffering
He takes away ours ; 5. He separates between sin
and its counterpart, misery; thus taking away the
strength of sin. — The Lord is able also to heal the
leprosy of the inner man. — The power of death con-
' quered by that of life. — The purity of love removing
the impurity of misery. — The Lord of glory in con-
i tact with the infectious diseases of the world. — The
; glory of the Lord, as appearing in His mode of grant-
ing deliverance : 1. He quickly hears ; 2. He briefly
j speaks : " I will ! " 8. He sovereignly stretches forth
His hand. — " Tell no man, but show thyself to the
priest." True reticence and proper pubhcity of
I our recovery. — " Show thyself to the priest : "
or, how the Lord honors the Old Dispensation at
the very moment when He founds the New. — Faith,
whether obtrusive in its entreaties, or retiring in
its complaints and prayer, is always the same in
its nature. — The centurion of Capernaum a model of
believing confidence: 1. In his earnest entreaty; 2.
in his cordial affection ; 3. in his unfeigned humility ;
4. in the peculiar shape in which his profession of
Christ appeared. — Faith always goes hand in hand
with compassion. — Faith with its power of interces-
sion.— Humility the crown of faith : 1. It springs
from faith; 2. it rests upon faith, purifying and
quickening it ; 3. it manifests itself in the surrender
of every claim, and in firm confidence while praying.
— The distinguishing excellences of the centurion's
faith : 1. Humility, by which his military rank in the
world gave place to conscious poverty before the
Lord; 2. trustfulness, — his outward circumstances
and position serving as a testimony to the glory of
the Lord. — The pious household. — The faith of the
centurion and that in Israel. — The faith of the cen-
turion foreshadowing the bringing in of the Gentiles.
— The guests of the kingdom of heaven, gathered
CHAP. Vm. 14-17.
157
from the four corners of the earth, and the children
of the kingdom. — The great transformation of near
and/a>' in the kingdom of God : 1. In the course of
history : a. at the time of Clirist ; b. at the time of
the migration of nations ; c. at the time of the Ref-
ormation. 2. Its inner lesson : a. the penitent sin-
ner, who relinquishes every claim, hears the call of
mercy afar off; b. the least appearance of self-right-
eousness obstructs our view of the light of salvation,
however near. — The banqueting room ht up, and
outer darkness. — To be cast into outer darkness im-
plies,— 1. the darkness of final judgment, in opposi-
tion to the glory and beauty of the kingdom of God ;
2. the society of the spirits of darkness, in opposition
to that of the patriarchs; 3. sorrow and shame, in
opposition to eternal blessedness. — The three heathen
centurions compared with the wise men from the
East. — " I will come and heal him." — Jesus is willing
to come and heal the Gentiles. — Jesus is able to bless
the Getitiles, even at a distance. — " In the self-same
hour ; " or, the Lord sends help at the right mo-
ment.— The hour of grace. — Loving zeal a character-
istic of the kingdom of heaven: 1. The servant obey-
ing his master from attachment and devotedness ; or,
Christianity in the domestic circle and in civil soci-
ety. 2. The centurion serving his subordinate from
esteem and compassion ; or, Christian philanthropy.
8. Christ serving both ; or, the kingdom of grace.
Starke: — Quesnel: Ministers must ofttimes con-
descend to those who are in misery, visit them in
their sorrow, and point them for relief to the word
of God, Acts viii. 30. — A blessing ever attaches to our ,
following Jesus, ch. xix. 27; Luke viii. 43. — Majus:
If we have tasted Christ, the Bread of life, we shall
always hunger after it, and follow Him, ch. v. 6 ; Isa. j
Iv. 1. — Zeisius : Outward leprosy a type of original j
sin, or of spiritual leprosy, Ps. li. 7 ; Isa. i. 6. — Bodi- I
ly affliction often the occasion of leading us to Christ.
0 blessed sorrow ! 1 Pet. iv. 1 ; Jer. xxx. 11. — The
whole world a vast sick-ward. — A Christian must not
insist on anything in prayer, ch. xxvi. 39. — Zeisius :
The surest and most effectual means in all our sor-
rows, is recourse to prayer, Dan. ix. 3, 4 ; ch. xv. 25.
— Quesnel: Let us not despise even the greatest sin-
ners, nor avoid meeting them, provided we beware of
infection, Gal. vi. 1 ; James v. 19, 20. — Blbl. Tub. :
Jesus can and will deliver us in our most grievous
afflictions, and where all human means were in vain,
Ps. vi. 9, 10. — Majus : The word of Christ is an ef-
fectual remedy for curing spiritual leprosy, John xv.
3. — The most acceptable sacrifice on the part of those
who have been restored, is new obedience, John v.
14 ; Isa. xxxviii. 15. — We are bound publicly to ac-
knowledge the goodness of God, Rom. v. 11 ; Pa.
xxvi. — The ceniurion, a soldier, a heathen, and a su-
perior, cares for his subordinates, and prays for his
servant, is humble, and believes in Christ. ' Go thou
and do likewise. Rom. xv. 4; 1 Cor. x. 11 ; Bibl.
Tub. — Let us not despair of the conversion of any
man, in any condition of life. — What too frequently
military men are not, and what they should be. — Osi-
andcr : A genuine Christian will plead with Jesus not
only for his own wants, but also for those of his
neighbor. — The cross is sent even to pious families,
and sometimes to the best members of them. — " The
Lord is near to all that call upon Him," Ps. cxlv. 18,
19 ; vi. 10. — Lord Jesus, speak the word only ! — We
admire riches, beauty, power, or art ; but Christ ad-
mires faith. — All men have not faith, 2 Thess. iii. 2.
— Osiander : Ofttimes we find more fiiith with soldiers
and worldly persons than in many who pretend to be
saints. — Luther : Faith is not confined to time, place,
or condition. God has had a people at a time when
it was little thought, in places where we should not
have expected to find them, and among persons whom
we would not have imagined to be His. — Majus : Be-
lievers under the Old and New Testaments have all
the same doctrine, the same faith, the same kingdom,
and the same glory, Heb. xiii. 8 ; Acts xv. 11. — The
rejection of the Jews caused by their unbelief, Rom.
xi. 20 ; Isa. liii. 1 ; vi. 9 ; Deut. ix. 23.— Lo, the chil-
dren who trust in external service, in the temple, and
in the possession of gifts, are condemned; while
strangers who are sincere in the faith are received:
Isa. ii. 4, etc. — The more light and grace we have re-
jected, the greater will be the condemnation and
darkness awarded us. — Blessedness of intercession,
James v. 18 ; 2 Kings xix. 34 ; Jer. xxix. 7. — The
stronger our faith, the less will God refuse us, espe-
cially in spiritual requests. — True faith the source of
all other gifts. Quesnel.
Gerlach : — Luther (Randglosse) : Faith does not
knou\ it trusts in the mercy of God. Faith ever says,
If Thou wilt ; not, if Thou canst. — Weeping and
gnashing of teeth : the former perhaps the expres-
sion of softer, the latter of bolder, characters.
Heubner : — Jesus can and will deliver. — Jesus is
willing to come under our roof, although we be un-
worthy of it. — The kingdom of heaven the meeting-
place of the children of God from among all nations
and from all climes. — The power of a living faith in
Christ: 1. Its character. Faith cleanses from sin,
makes holy, and induces us to procure help for others
by leading them to Christ. 2. Inferences : Beware
of unbeUef, but strive after true faith. — All men are
equal before the Lord Jesus.
The disease in the family ; the diseases in the city. Salvation spreading from the household of Peter, or the
dwelling of the Lord (the Church), into the city.
Chaptee viii. 1^17.
14 And when Jesus was [had] come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother kiid,
15 and sick of a fever. And he touched her liand, and the fever left her: and she aro.se,
16 and ministered imto them [him].^ When the even [evening] was come, they brought
unto him many that were possessed with devils : and he cast out the spirits with his [a] '
158
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
17 word, and liealed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
Eaaias [Isaiah] tlio prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare [bore] our
sicknesses.
' Vcr. 15.— AuTt3 is better supported than the reading; of the text. rec. auro7s.
» Ver. 16.— [All the older E. V., also that of Khcims, correctly render \6ytf) ; wit?i a word, Wicl. hi word.-
-P. 8.]
EXEGETIOAL AND CIIITICAL.
The accounts in Mark and Luke confirm the state- ,
ment, tliat on the evenmg of the day when the Lord j
restored the mother-in-law of Peter, a large number |
of demoniacs in Capernaum were healed. Chrono- [
logically speaking, the event took place during the I
residence of the Lord at Capernaum, previous to His
first journey into Galilee, and to the Sermon on the i
Mount. The statement of Luke, that Christ rebuked
the disease, implies no contradiction. The healing
word of Christ is omitted by Mctthew and Mark,
while Luke omits to mention that He took her by
the hand and lifted her up. Lastly, according to
Mark and Luke, the cure was performed on the in-
tercession of the members of the family, — the sick
person herself bemg unable to entreat help. From
the circumstance that Jesus rebuked the fever, we
gather that her disease was somehow connected with
the sufferings resulting from demoniacal possessions
then prevailing in the town.
Ver. 14. Into the house of Peter. — Accord-
ing to John i. 44, Peter and Andrew, as well as
Philip, were natives of Bethsaida. Afterward, Peter,
and probably Andrew (ch. iv. 18), had settled in Ca-
pernaum,— partly, perhaps, on account of the fish-
eries, and partly from his connection by marriage
with the place. The marriage of Peter is also re-
ferred to in 1 Cor. ix. 5. It is remarkable that he
who is said to have been the first bishop of Rome
was a married man. Legend has it that her name
was Perpetua, or Concordia ; and that her husband
accompanied her on her way to martyrdom in Rome.
Their daughter was called Petronella., (Clement of
Alexandria.)*
Ver. 15. She ministered unto Him, hntKo-
V € I . — This refers particularly to waitmg at table and
serving, as an evidence of her perfect recovery.
Ver. 16. It was a time when there was in Caper-
naum a deep stirring of enthusiasm for the Lord —
the evening of a great day — when this general long-
ing seems to have seized the inhabhants of the place,
and they brought unto Him their sick, especially
those, who were possessed with devils, and laid them
down at the door of His house. On demoniacal pos-
sessions compare the remarks to Matt. iv. 24.
Ver. 17. That it might be fulfilled.— A refe-
rence to Isa. liii. 4: Our diseases (^II^'J^) has He
borne (siUD), and our sorrows (i:"'ri<352) He has
* [St. Jerome, in the interest of monastic celibacy, infers
that the wife of Peter was dead at the time, from the fact
that her mother, when cured, waited on the tulle. Arch-
bishop Kenrick (Notes on the fonr Gospels) s 'ems to ap-
prove of th s inference. But the ministering of the mother
is here evidently mentioned to show her complete recovery
and her love and gratitude for it. In the natural order a
long convalescence follows the cure of a fever before health
returns. Moreover St. Paul many years after this occur-
rence (A. D. 57) refers to Peter's wife as living and accom-
panying her husband on his missionary journeys, 1 Cor. ix.
5. The Prot. V. correctly translates aS(K^T]v yvva^Ka,
"a sister a wife" (Tynd. and Cranmer: "a sister to icife;'" J
Oen. : " a wi/i being a sister ") ; while the It. C. V. has : " a i
woOTrt?i. a sister." — P. S.] 1
taken on Himself (uhzo). In the Sei)t. more free-
ly : Tccr iiUapTias tjjuoic (pipe, Kol irepl ti/llwi' dSuuaTat.
— The Evangelist quotes from the original ; but in
strict accordance with its meaning, as Olshausen and
others rightly remark, though Meyer denies it. It is
true that in the original Hebrew, the Messiah is rep-
resented as bearing and expiating our sins. But our
diseases are undoubtedly connected with sin on the
one, and death on the other hand ; while the suffer-
ing of Christ depends on His taking on Himself our
sufferings, which again is connected with His carry-
ing them away. We must not, however, go so far
as Olshausen, and speak of spiritual exhaustion on
the part of Christ. Meyer and von Ammon have
overlooked the fact that, when healing those who
were diseased, Christ entered into and shared their
sufferings, — a circumstance evident from the narra-
tive in Mark v. 30 (showing that He felt the going
out of virtue from Him), as also from the resurrec-
tion of Lazarus. But, in the present instance, the
Lord had to contend with the concentrated sorrow
and sickness of the whole city, and that on the eve-
ning of a laborious day. For this labor and contest
of the Lord, the Evangelist can find no more apt de-
scription than by quoting the passage from Isaiah.
Christ takes away disease, in token of His removing
its root, sin, by taking upon Himself death as the
full wages and the full burden of sin.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The afflicted family and the afflicted city, both
highly privileged by the presence and grace of Christ.
Significant coimection between them : salvation
spreading from the house to the city.
2. The Evangehst gives us here the key to the
mystery of Christ's atoning death. By His fellow-
suffering with our diseases. He gradually descended
into the unfathomable depth of His full sympathy
with our death. Hence His miracles of healing par-
took of the nature of atoning suffering, and prepared
for it. Accordingly, as He suffered in all He did, so
His suffering and death crowned and completed all
He had done. His active and passive obedience are
most closely connected. But as in His fellow-suffer-
ing He took away the sting of suffering by taking
away sin and awakening faith, so also has He swal-
lowed up death in victory by discharging the debt of
sin in His vicarious death, finishing the work of re-
demption, and introducing justifying faith. Such,
then, was our reconciliation. In virtue of His per-
fect fellow-suffering. He submitted to the death due
to us ; by His perfect surrender to God, He became
our reconciliation, even as by His communication of
grace He wrought in us faith in the mercy of God,
and in the imputation to us of His sacrificial service.
His miracles form the introduction and the com-
mencement of His reconciliation. Comp. 1 Pet. iL
24.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The cross in the family. — The family and the
CHAP. VIII. 18-27.
159
town, as a household and a city of the Lord. — How
Christianity elevated woman. — Christ and His people
by turns engaged in the service of love. 1. He
serves them; 2. they serve Him. — Rapid change
produced in the house by the interposition of Christ :
1. One laid down by fever, an active hostess; 2. an
anxious family, a festive circle ; 3. the Lord a physi-
cian, the Lord a king ; 4. the house an hospital, the
house a church. — The right mode of celebrating our
recovery. — From the church, salvation spreads to the
city. — Glorious evening of power and grace. — The
morbid sympathy of man, and the healing sympathy
of the Lord. 1. With reference to the former, —
a. disease itself appears in morbid and irresistible
sympathy ; b. morbid sympathy increases disease and
pestilence ; c. at best, it leads to excitement and run-
ning to the Lord, while not a' few are unprepared
and unready. 2. The sympathy of Christ : a. Its
Divine power resists all sinful influences, especially
cowardice and despair ; b. it. penetrates into, and
lights up, the lowest depths of misery ; c. it conquers
i and removes the sufferings of man. — Tlie sufferings
of Christ in His miraculous cures, pointing to the
great miraculous cure by His sufferings on the cross.
[ — Jesus has taken upon Him the diseases of man
I also. — The wards where those mentally afflicted are
confined, belong also to the Lord. — The sceptre of
I Christ's triumph extends even ovei- the cursed realm
of demons. — The apparent strength of despair, and
the Divine strength of perfect confidence. — Solemn
night-seasons: 1. The night of suffering; 2. the night
of repentance ; 3. the night of death.
Starke: — If we recover from disease, it is our
duty to thank God, and all the more zealously to
serve Christ and our neighbor. — Let each bear an-
other's burden. Gal. vi. 2. — Zeisius: — Above all,
learn that sin is the root of all disease, and that by
true repentance thou mayest be set free from it. —
To visit, to comfort, to refresh, and to serve those
who arc laid on beds of sickness, Isa. xxxviii, 1, 4,
5; Ecclesiast. vii. 34. — Oossner: — To come, to see,
and to heal is here one.
m.
Miraculous works of Jesus on His missionary journey : The troubled disciples — the troubled sea.
Chapter VIIT. 18-27.
[ Ch. via. 23-27, the Gospel for the Uh Sunday after Epiphany. — Parallels : Mark iv. 35-il ; Luke viii.
22-25 ; ix. 57-60.)
1 8 Now, when Jesus saw great multitudes ^ about him, he gave commandment to de-
19 part unto the other side. And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will
20 follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; ^ but tlie Son of man hath not where to lay
21 liis head. And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and
22 bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, Follow i^=e ; and let the dead bury their
dead.
23 And when he was [had] entered into a^ ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch [so] that the ship was
25 covered with the waves : but he was asleep [sleeping]. And his disciples [they]* came
26 to Mm, and awoke him, saying. Lord, save us [save]:^ we perish. And he saith unto
tliem. Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith ? Then he arose, and rebuked the
27 winds [wind]® and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marvelled,
saying, What manner of man '' is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him !
' Ver. 18.— Lachmann with B. only: t»xA.of for ox^ovs. [Cod. Sinaiticus sustains the plural.— P. S.]
* Ver. 20.— [Dr. Lange translates: Wohnnester, Zelte, Iforste, dwelling places, tents, which is more literal for koto-
(TKTivJxret^, but not (=o popular as nests.— P. 8.]
3 Ver. 23.— [LansTo translates "Me ship," t b irXoTou, agrecins here with the Received Text and with Tischeodorf's
cditii>n. But Codd. B., C. and other ancient authorities, and tlio editions of Lachmann, Trogelles, and Alford omit the
article.— P. S.]
* Xer.25.—Iiecepta: ol /xabriral aurov. Various authoritio.s [and Dr. Lange] omit aiTou. [Lachmann, Tfe-
jrelles, Ewald, and Conant omit also ol fj.ad-nTai. So does Cod. Sinait— P. S.]
* Ver. 25. — Us, Ttficis is omitted in Codd. B., C. al. [Cod. Sinait.] The Ejieech is more lively and dramatic without
r^fj-as. (Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregclles, Lange, Conant, all omit r/^Sr.!
' Ver. 26.— [Cod. Sinait. reads the singular t^ avefxw for to?? auep-ots.—V. S.]
T Ver. 27.— [Conant: " What manner of man belongs to the b( st Eniilish usage. ' Wh<tt kind ofmu": i>r 'wlwt sort
of man,' is not a suitable expression here." A. Norton (Translation of the Gospels with Notes, Bost., 1855) translates:
"TTAo is this.'' But iroraird'i is not simply tis, but the interrogative of disposition, character, quality, i. q. Troios. —
P. S.]
160
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
EXEGKTICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 18. No-w, when Jesus saw great mul-
titudes.— 111 tliis instiince a motive for withdrawing,
as in cli. v. 1 ; John vi. 3, 15. — There were seasons
when the multitude would have proclaimed Him
King : sudden outbursts of carnal excitement, from
which the Lord withdrew. That such was the case
in this instance, we gather from the profession made
by the scribe in ver. 19.
E ( $ T b TT 6> a 1/ , to the opposite side of the lake.
Ver. 19. And one, a scribe, came. — The fis
refers to the ex epos in ver. 21 ; from which verse
we also gather that this scribe was already one of
Christ's disciples, in the wider sense of the term, and
that he now proposed henceforth to follow Jesus con-
tinuously. When the Evangelists mention these calls
to follow the Lord in a particular sense of the term,
they seem always to refer to the apostolic office, not
to discipleship. But as Andrew, John, Peter, James
the Elder, Nathanael or Bartholomew, and Philip,
had been previously called, and as the persons here
addressed could not have been any of the brothers
of the Lord (James the Younger, Joseph, Judas Leb-
beus or Thaddcus, and Simon), we conclude that they
must have been either Judas Iscariot, Matthew, or
Thomas. From the peculiar characteristics which
appear in the narrative, we venture to suggest, that
the first of the two scribes was Judas Iscariot, the
second Thomas, and the third individual (who is only
mentioned by Luke) Matthew. This is, however,
merely a hypothesis made more or less probable by
the nexus of history (comp. Lcben Jem, ii. 2, p. 651).
— In the Gospel of Luke, this event is introduced at
a later period, when Jesus prepared for His last
journey to Jerusalem (ch. ix. 51-62). A superficial
investigation will serve to convince us that the trans-
action between Jesus and the sons of thunder, re-
corded in Luke, had led to the introduction of this
history in that connection. It seems like a psycho-
logical combination designed to exhibit Christ's mas-
tery in dealing with dilferent dispositions (say the
four temperaments). Schleiermacher, Schnecken-
burger, Gfrorer, and Olshausen, adopt the chronology
of Luke; Rettig, Meyer, and others; ;. that of Mat-
thew.
Ver. 20. Kar a<r KTjpdxr e t s , " Dwelling-
places, not nests, as birds do not live in their nests."
Be Wette.*
The Son of man. — Jesus adopted the name
0 V ih s T 0 V avSi pdiir ov no doubt with special ref-
erence to the prophetic vision in Dan. vii. 13, where
Messiah is seen coming in the clouds of heaven,
tt53X "1^3 . (Comp. Hiivernick's Daniel.) Hitzig
imagines that the Son of man seen by Daniel in the
clouds was not the Messiah, but the whole people of
Israel ; — an absurd hypothesis, refuted by Ewald (in
his '•'■ Jahrhuclier'''' for 1850). Daniel saw only the
image or likeness of the Son of man, who appeared
in the full sense in Jesus of Nazareth. In all prob-
ability, Jesus chose this particular Old Testament
designation of the Messiah, because, unlike the
others, it had not, been grossly perverted to foster
the carnal especlations of the Jews. ""'Thus our Lord
met the morbid and fantastic expectations of His
contemporaries — and among them, apparently, those
* [Meyer to the same effect: "Places of abode where the
birds are used to live, to sleep, etc. comp. xiii. 32 ; not speci-
fically nests."—]
[ also of the scribe in the text — by laying emphasis on
His genuine and true hunymity as the Messiah. His
great aim was, that the people should view Him as
true man — in the lowUness of His outward appear-
' ance, but also at the same time in His high charac-
ter, as the Son of man, i. e., the ideal man, the sec-
ond Adaiii from heaven (1 Cor. xv.). The bold sup-
position of Weisse, that the term, " Son of man," is
I used in oiiposition to the name of Messiah, deserves
no refutation. ^^Tt is remarkable that John had si
ilarly avoided the title of Elijah, under which Mala
chi had predicted his advent, while he chose the
designation given him by Isaiah : " The voice of one
cri/inff in the wilderness." The reason of this was,
that carnal notions concerning the Messianic kingdom
were connected with the former, but not with the
latter expression (John i. 19, etc.). Meyer conceives
that there is an antithesis implied in the term, " Son
of man," as opposed to " Son of God," and denies ,
the conception of ideal hurnanity (p. 82).*# Accord-
ing to Augustine, tlTefe" irT 'faint allusion to the
boastfulness of the scribe in the expression, " birds
of the air." But this seems strained ; and we would
rather apply the term to the unreliable and fugitive
character of his enthu.siasm, while the word, " foxes,"
refers to cunning.
Where to lay His head. — A picture of a
homeless pilgrim : hence, not of want in the ordina-
ry sense, but of voluntary poverty. The answer of
Christ implied, not a positive refusal of the overture
of the scribe, but a solemn warning. He who saw
not as men do, perceived, under that excessive pro-
fession of this man, an amount of unreliableness and
insincerity which called for such caution.
Ver. 21. Another of His disciples. — In the
I stricter- [rather in the wider] sense of the term — such
as the " scribe " had been. Clement of Alexandria
{Stromal, iii. 4) suggests that this disciple was Philip;
but he had been called at an earlier period.
Bury my father. — The father had died. Ac-
cording to some critics, his old father was still alive,
and the expression, to hury, meant to take care of
him till his end, and then to commit him to his last
resting-place. But the call to follow Christ immedi-
ately, evidently implies, that at the time the father
I was actually dead. Burial was the most ancient
mode of disposing of the dead (Cic. Legg. ii. 22 ; Plin.
vii. 55), and was always practised by the Jews, inop-
I position to the Greek custom of burning the dead,
j which was quite exceptional among the Jews. It
was considered the duty of sons to bury their parents.
Gen. XXV. 9 ; xxxv. 29, etc. Tobith iv. 3. Comp.
Winer .^ub voce : Begraben, Schottgen's Hora [W.
Smith : Bibl. Diet, sub Burial, vol. i. 233].
Ver. 22. Let the dead bury their dead. —
Artificial explanations see in Meyer's Commentary.
j The sentence is an Oxymoron, by which the burial
I of the dead is assigned to those who are spiritually
j dead.f The expression conveys to the hesitating
' disciple that there were more urgent duties in the
; kingdom of heaven than that of burying the dead,
* [Not, however, in a ration.ilistic sense, but as contrast-
ed with His former 5o|a. Meyer correctly sees in the
term: the Son of man an expression of the Kevaiais, which
implies the consciomnei's of a purely divine and eternal
preexistence {in deren Hiniergrunde das Bewusstsein der
rein gottliehen Urexisiem liegt).—P. S.]
t [The key to this and all the other paradoxical sentences
of Christ is the different senses— a higher and a lower, a spir-
itual and a literal — in which the same word is used. Let
those who are dead in spirit (in trespasses and sins) bury
their kindred and friends who are dead in body. — P. S.]
CHAP. VIII. 18-2'7.
161
and particularly, of going through all the ceremo-
nies connected with a Jewish burial. At the same
time, it also alludes to the goal and end of those who
are spiritually dead — their last and highest aim here
is to bury one another. Death of the soul is connect-
ed with death of the body. — Celsus (according to
Origen) founded on this passage the objection, that
the Saviour demanded what was inconsistent with
duty to parents. But He only subordinates the duty
of a Christian toward his own household and family,
especially when another could take his place, to the
highest of all duties — those of his spiritual calling,
and to his Master.* Lastly, we infer from this trait,
that this and the former reply were addressed to dis-
ciples in the narrower sense of the term.
Ver. 23. The ship, t J) ttXo'Iov . — With the ar-
ticle, meaning a definite ship, which waited to take
them across the lake ; the words of Jesus having in-
duced His disciples (in the narrower sense) to follow
Him implicitly.!
Yer. 24. 2 e i (r ^ o j , — indicating the effect, of
which the cause (the winds, ver. 26) is afterward
mentioned — a violent commotion of the sea. On the
sudden storms occasioned by the situation of the
Lake of Gahlee, comp. Schubert iii. 2Li7 ; Robinson
ii. 416.
Ver. 23. Save! we perish! 'Swa-ov, ottoA-
Xv/xeOa . — Asyndetic (disconnected) language of in-
tense anxiety.
Ver. 26.' Why are ye fearful? — The word
"a/Vaif/" would be too weak, and ^^ coivai-dli/ " too
strong. At any rate, it was a fearfulness which the
Lord censured. It is worthy of special notice, that,
according to Matthew, the Lord first rebuked the
disciples, and after that the sea. See "i^J , Ps. cvi.
9. (Mark and Luke reverse the order.)
Ver. 27. The men, ul avepwirot. — The men
in their human nature, — ^move particularly, in their
rapid transition from extreme anxiety to boundless
admiration. Hence we infer that it apphed to the
disciples, and not, as Meyer supposes, to other par-
ties accompanying Jesus, xiccordiag to the account
given by Mark, other vessels went along with that
which bore the Lord ; so that He must have been fol-
lowed by a numerous company of disciples.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In dealing with the different characters of the
disciples, and adapting Himself to their natural dis-
positions, the Lord showed how closely He read, and
* [Chrysostom : "Jesus forbade him to go, in order to
show tiiat nothing, not even the most important work of
natural duty and affection, is so momentous as care for the
kinjrdom of heaven ; and that nothinfr, however urgent,
should cause us to be guilty of a moment's delay in providing
first for that. What eartldy concern could be more neces-
sary than to bury a father ? a work, too, which might be
done speedily. And yet the answer is: 'Let the dead bury
their dead. Follow thou me.' If, then, it is not safe to
spend even so little time as is requisite for the burial of a
parent, to the neglect of spiritual things, how guilty shall
we be if we allow slight and trivial matters to withdraw us,
who are Christ's disciples, from His service ! But rather
let ns endeavor, with Christ's aid, to raise those who are
spiritually dead and buried, from the death of sin to a life of
righteousness, as He raised Lazarus from the tomb, then we
shall be His disciples indeed."— P. S.]
t [Wordsworth likewise presses the def. art. t 6 , and
quotes from Bengel : "Jesus h.abebat scfwlam amhulan-
tem;"^ he sees in this ship an emblem of the church. But,
unfortunately for this interpretation, the article is of very
doubtful authority, sue our crit. note above.— P. S.]
11
how wisely He directed, the hearts of men. {Leben
Jesu, ii. 2, 651 ; iii. 422.)
2. The So?i of man. The description furnished
by Daniel of the appearance of Messiah, under the ^
form of the Son of man, indicates a very advanced
stage of the prophetic doctrine of the Messiah. But,
in order clearly to perceive its import, we must com-
pare this term, as used by Daniel, with the passage
about the seventy weeks (Dan. ix.). [In the sixty-
third week, the Messiah who was not a prince, was to
be set aside by the advent of the people of the Prince
who was not Messiah.] After seven weeks, i. e., at
the close of the seventy weeks — cometh the Messiah,
who, at the same time, is also a Prince. Hence the
figure of the Son of man combines the two ideas of
the sufiering and the glorified Messiah. As the Son
of humanity to which the curse attaches, He is hum-
bled and rejected; while, as the Son of humanity
on which the blessing is bestowed. He is exalted and
declared Lord of an eternal kingdom. Gerlach:
" The first man was simply called Adam — i. e., man,
and every descendant of his is called a son of man ;
but Christ is called the Son of man, as being derived
from Adam, and yet the Head of a new race, 1 Cor.
XV. 47."
3. Theimportof the miracle of stilling the tempest
has frequently been misunderstood. Paulus (of Heidel-
berg) resolves it into a natural phenomenon ; Ammon
regards it as an allegory or symbol ; while Strauss treats
it as a myth.* It may also be turned into magic,\ if,
with Meyer, we were to overlook the connection be-
tween the tempest in the hearts of the disciples and
that on the lake — between sin in man, and " the con-
vulsions and throes of nature " (Olshausen) — and re-
gard this history as merely a direct act of power ex-
ercised upon the elements, and nothing else. In this
respect, it is sufficient to remmd the reader of Rom.
viii. 20. Not that v/e thereby explain the miracle,
but that we present its Christian aspect. The Lord
rebukes the storm in the minds of His disciples ; thus
preparing for calming tiie tempest on the sea. — He
takes away the sin of the microcosm, in order then
to remove the evils of the macrocosm. Hence this
event has frequently been regarded as a symbol of
the passage of the Church of Christ through the
world. There is another aspect of it which deserve3
attention. In this miracle, the operation of the Son
and of the Father coincide ; as the New Testainent
completion of the Old Testament miracles upon na-
ture, it is at the same time a prediction and a. mir-
acle, and thus a sign that the Son had, in the name
of the Father, entered upon the government of the
world.
4. Our modem degenerate and false philanthro-
py fails to perceive the ditt'erence between a soul
that is mourning and one which is fearful or de-
sponding. It is altogether erroneous, and' must fail
of its desired efiect, if we administer to the fearful
the comfort which is only appropriate to the afflict-
ed. The latter, Christ ever upheld with words of
kindness ; while He rebuked the fearful, by setting
before them the terrors of His word, and thus recal-
Hng them to a bettor state of mind. Thus He rebuk-
ed those who were possessed, who by their coward-
* [In German: "Von Paulus naiuralisirt, von Ammon
allegorisirt, von Strauss ntythmrV^ Cbttt&r : mytkiflcivt).—
t[Not: "presented in a mater/dl light,'' as the Edinb.
tri. has it, misled by a printing erior of the first edition.
Tlie third ed. reads: " Es kann freilicli auch magisch se-
macht(not: watij/'jaiistrf) werden,"' etc.— P. S.J
[62
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ice had become the prey of unclean spirits ; and
similarly He rebuked the disciples, when from want
of faith they were desponding or fearful. Thus also
He rebuked the fever which weighed down the
mother-in-law of Peter ; and, in the present instance,
the sea and the winds. Such a rebuke must, of
course, be regarded as symbolical, since neither sea
nor tempest had personal consciousness. The ul-
timate ground of this rebuke lay in the fact, that
the disturbances of nature were caused by unclean
spirits. Christ apparently regarded those sudden
outbursts in nature not as manifestations of healthy
and regular force, but as manifestations of weak-
ness ; just as the fever was the consequence of in-
herent weakness, or of a germ of death, against
which nature employed her utmost efforts in convul-
sive struggle.
HOMILETICAL ANB PRACTICAL.
Jesus sees the multitude and approaches them ;
Jesus sees the multitude and retires from them. 1.
The fact itself, — (a) in the Gospel history; {h) in
that of the Church ; (c) in individual Christian com-
munities. 2. Explanation of the fact : (a) He ap-
proaches when He sees multitudes longing for His
salvation and waitmg upon His word ; {b) He retires
at the first appearance of fanaticism, which would
have confirmed the carnal expectations of man, and
not the word of God. — The Lord eschews the sinful
obtrusion of worldly men, in order to seek out the
poor and the needy, afar off. — The watchword of
Christ : To tlie other side ! 1. A watchword of
faith, breaking through all narrow boundaries ; 2. a
watchword of love, overcoming all selfishness ; 3. a
watchword of courage, overcoming all dangers. —
The Saviour and the spiritual distemper of His disci-
ples : 1. Spurious enthusiasm in our own strength (/
will) ; 2. spurious scruples and spiritual hesitation
{Suffer me). — Jesus the great model of pastoral work.
— Jesus warning superficial enthusiasts to count the
cost of following Him. — If we arc willing to follow
the Lord, we must become homeless wanderers, and
be ready to renounce all our comforts. — The Son of
man has not where to lay His head. 1. The fact : at
the commencement, the manger; at the close, the
cross ; during His pilgrimage, a bench on the ship.
2. Its import, — {a) so far as He is concerned ; (6) so
far as we are concerned. — The nests and caves of
professing disciples who are not ready to yield their
all to Christ. They seek, — (a) high places (nests) in
time of prosperity ; (b) places of concealment (caves)
in the hour of adversity. — Jesus teaches His faithful
disciples to get quit of their scruples and hesitation
by considermg the final aim of hfe. — Let the dead
bury their dead : 1. Compared with following Ciirist,
which he had undertaken, this was the lesser duty ;
2. others were able to take his place ; 3. the disciple
seemed to hesitate between two duties, while yet he
had taken upon hun the yoke of Christ. — Is a colli-
eion of duties possible ? As Uttle as, — (a) between
the commandments of God ; (6) between the angels
of God ; (c) between the ways of God ; for such, in-
deed, are all duties, so far as we are concerned. — It
is characteristic of the spiritually dead, that they
busy themselves with special affection about the cer-
emonials of life. — The dead bury their dead : such is
the end of all unbelieving hvc,-.— Syiubolical import
of the passage of Chriet with Ills disciphis across the
sea. It is a figure of all His leadings,— (<() of the
people of God (the ark, etc.); (6) in the history of
the Church ; {c) in the experience of believers. — The
unexpected tempest : 1. After so glorious a day, and
on the beautiful, tranquil lake ; 2. in company with
the Lord Himself. — We read only once of the Lord
being asleep, — a sleep full of majesty : (a) a sabbat-
ic rest after His labor at Capernaum ; {h) a sign of
deep calm in the midst of the dreadful tempest ; (c)
a preparation for the most glorious awakening; (</)
a type of His rest in the grave. — The cry of despair
))ecomes a prayer when in proximity to the Lord. —
How the Lord purifies even the supplications of the
helpless. — All fearfulness or despondency in life
springs from v/ant of faith. — The little faith of the
discii)les : 1. A want of faith in what it forgot (Christ's
presence in the ship ; the hope of Israel, the salva-
tion of the race) ; 2. still faith in that they took refuge
to Christ. — Jesus calms every storm. — What manner
of man is this I — The admiration of Jesus a tiansi-
tion to praise- and adoration. Our gratitude for de-
liverance and salvation should ever end in praise.
Starke: — We should occasionally retire into soli-
tude, Luke vi. 12; v. 16. — Mucli preaching wearies
the body, Eccles. xii. 12 ; Mark vi. 31. — Sudden fer-
vor and good inclinations are not equivalent to fol-
lowing Christ. — Many would like to be pious, but at
the same time to retain their nests, houses, riches,
honor, and comforts, ch. xvi. 24. — We must not run
before God calls, Rom. x. 15. — Christ rejects none
who come to Him, John vi. 37 ; but he who desires
only earthly things from Him, receives a solemn warn-
ing. Cramer. — Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth,
became poorer than the beasts that perish ; yet His
poverty is our riches, 2 Cor. viii. 9. — The poor, who
have nothing of their own, may well derive comfort
from the voluntary poverty of Jesus. Quesncl. — 2
Cor. xi. 27. — Man is always opposed to the will of
God : he either lags behind, or is determined to nm
before. The right way is, to wait till God speaks,
and then not to delay a single moment following
Him, Isa. Iv. 8. — The spiritually dead, Heb. xi. 6 ;
Jer. V. 3. — They who accompany the dead, are them-
selves subject to death. — A seafaring life affording
striking signs of God's wisdom and power (Ps. cvii.
23), but used for merely selfish purposes. Zeisius. —
God leads His own wondrously, but well, Ps. xli. 4. —
Through fire and water, Ps. xci. 14 ; Isa. xliii. 2 ; xlii.
16. — Genuine Christians follow their Saviour through
storm and tempest, even unto death, 2 Cor. vi. 4 ;
Ps. Ixxili. 23. — If Christ do not immediately come to
our help, we are prone to imagine that He is asleep ;
but He never oversleeps the hour of our deliverance.
— United prayer is the most effectual. — Prayer the
best anchor in danger. — Let Christians beware of
cowardice : His Church will continue so long as He
endures. Bibl. Wirtemb. — In seasons of extreme
danger, the omnipotence and mercy of the Saviour is
most fully and gloriously displayed, 2 Chron. xx. 12 ;
Isa. xxxiii. 10 ; 2 Cor. i. 8. — Weak faith is neverthe-
less faith, only it must increase.— After the tempest,
sunshhie. — The works of God, and His marvellous
power in our deliverance, call for praise and thanks-
giving.— Under the cross we learn what wonders our
Lord worketh. — Gratitude, Ps. xiv. 7 ; Rom. xi. 20.
Gossner : — Christ .taught His disciples in a wan-
dering school. Here He led them to the stormy
lake to teach them fearlessness. — Fearlessness great
happiness.
Heubner: — Our whole Hfe may be compared to
a sea voyage, in v.'hich we make for the heavenly ha-
ven.— " Chrkius habet suas horas et moras." — Christ
CHAP. Vni. 28-34, IX. 1-8.
163
the Lord of nature. — The passage across the lake, a
figure of our lives: 1. The commencement ; 2. the
jwogress ; 3. the end.
Lisco : — Luther : Some make a pretext of good
works for not following Christ ; but the Lord shows
tliat these are dead works. — Almighty power of Christ,
by which He overcomes tlie world, and renders every-
thing subservient to the Idngdom of God.
'i'he pericope, the calming of the tempest, vcr. 24-
27.
Drdseke : — The passage across the lake, a figure
of spiritual calm: 1. In reference to its character ;
2. in reference to its origin ; 3. in reference to its
cftects. — Marhcbieke: — How we may courageously
meet every danger, when near to the Lord. — Harms :
— This narrative a pictorial representation of the
Christian life : The vessel which carries believers ;
the sea, or the world, with its tempest and waves,
and 'the sufferings of the children of God ; Christ
asleep, or delaying His succor ; then follow prayer,
His rebuke. His word of command, and the exclama-
tion of marvel. — JIaffenbach : — Christ our refuge in
the tempests of life. — Grdling : — The inner calm of
the soul in the midst of the raging storm. — IluffeU : —
(iod is always and everywhere near us. — Kraussold :
— Lord save! we jjcrish ! 1. The distress; 2. the
cry for help ; 3. the dehverance.
[Alford: — "The symbolic application of this oc-
currence (the calming of the tempest) is too strikhig
to have escaped general notice. The Saviour with
the company of His disciples in the ship tossed on
the waves, seemed a typical reproduction of the ark
bearing mankind on the flood, and a foreshadowing
of the Church tossed by the tempests of this world,
but having Him with her always. And the personal
application is one of comfort and strengtliening of
faith in danger and doubt." — Hilary: — Those
churches where the Word of God is not awake, are
in danger of shipwreck, not that Christ sleeps, but
He is slumbering in its by reason of our sleep. But
where faith walehes, there is no fear of wreck from
the powers of this world. — P. S.]
IV.
Christ healing the demoniacs who profess His name ; banished from Gadara ; He restores the paralytic,
and is accused of blasphemy, — or, the blessed working of the Lord despite the contradiction of the
kingdom of darkness.
Ohaptee VIII. 28-34, IX. 1-8.
{Ch. ix. 1-8 the Gospel for the I9th Sunday after Triniii/. — Parallels: Mark v. 1-20; Luke viii. 26-39;
Markii. 1-12; Luke v. 17-26.)
28 And when he was [had] come to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes
[Gadarenes],' there met him two possessed witli devils, coming out of the tombs, ex-
ceeding fierce, so that no man [one] might [could, or was able to, wore fxr] lo-^u'etv] pass
29 by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee,
30 Jesus,^ thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And
31 there was a good way off from them a herd of many swine feeding. So the devils
besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer vis to go away [send us away] ^ into
32 the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out,
they went into the herd of swine [into the swine];* and, behold, the whole herd of
swine ran violently [rushed] down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the wa-
33 ters. And they that kept them [the herdsmen, ol ^o'o-Kovres] fled, and went their ways
into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to [had befallen] the pos-
34 sessed of [with] the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus ; and
when they saw him, they besought Mm that he would depart out of their coasts [bor-
ders].
Ch, ix. 1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed : and Jesus,
seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, bo of good cheer ; thy sins be
3 [are] forgiven** thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves. This
4 man blasphemeth. And Jesus, knowing^ their thoughts, said, Wherefore think ye evil
5 in your hearts ? For whether [which] is easier, to say, Thij sins be [are] forgiven thee ;
6 or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power
on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy
7 bed, and go^ unto thine [to thy] house. And he arose, and departed to his house.
[64
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
8 But wlien the multitudes saw it, they marvelled [feared] ^, and glorified God, which
[who] liad given such power unto men.
' Ver. 1'i.—\'a.'5ap-t]vu>v accortliug to B., C;., M., al. Griesbach, Scholz, Tischendorf [Tregelles, Alford, Conant]. —
Tipyiariviiv C. codd. luinusc, versions, Origen. — FfpaaTji'tii', the ruling lectio at the time of Origen; several ancient
versions, Lachmann. [L)r. Lango reads Gadarenes. Cod. Sinait. : ya^aprjucuj/. See Com.—]
2 Ver. ■20.— lr]ffoiJ is omitted in B.,'0., L. [Cod. Sinait.], ttc. Brjnowed from Mark v. 7; Luke viii. 28.
3 Ver. 31. — 'ATToirretKui' T]iJ.a.s, In Cod. B., [Cod. Sinait.], ino.st of the vt-rsions, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tisohcndorf
[Tregelles, Alford, Conant]. The lectio recepta, iirirpexpov ti/llIv ainXdity, is probably taken from Luke viii. y2, and ex-
planatory.
* Ver. .S2. — Efs tovs xo'povs, B., C, [Cod. Sinait.], Lachmann [for eij riiu a-yeAr/r tuv xoi-t'f^'v]. Probably taken
from the parallel passages.
' Ch. ix., ver. 2. — ['A(p eoi vt ai is the indicative, either the present tense and equivalent to atpwi/rai (as Homer uses
aUfV for 33177), or more probably the perf. pass. (Doric form) for apeivrai, remissa sunt. Comp. Winer, Grnmmai., etc.,
6th Germ, ed., ISS5, p. 74. Lachmann and Tregelles read aipievrai, r^m/WMJiifM/-, with Cod. B., Cod. Sinait., and the
Latin Vulgate.— P. S.l
' Ver. 4 —Lachmann, following B., M., re.ads tidds iustead of iSwy of the Received Text.
T Ver. 6.— [Cod. Sinait. reads iropevov for viray^.—'P. S.]
* Ver. 8. — 'E<t>oBvOv'rav, th-y feared, is much better supported than iOav/iiafrav, they mnrrelled. [It is sustained
by the newly discovered Cod. Sinaiticus and adopted in all the modern critical editions, except the Gr. Test, of Stier, and
Wordsworth who adhere to the Received Text.— P. 8.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 28. On the discussion about the readings,
V(pyiar]vu!v, Ta5aoT)i'S>v, Vepacr-qvoov, comp. the Com-
mentaries.— Bleek (Beitnige zur Evangelienkritik,
i. 26) : " From Orig. (mi Joh. Tom. vi. 24), we may
infer with tolerable certainty, that, at the time of
that Father, T(pyi<T-r\vi}v was not found in any of the
MSS. of the Gospels then current. He only men-
tions it as a conjecture, that this may have Ijeen an
older reading. From that time it seems to hare been
introduced into manuscripts. Origen found that the
common reading was Vepa(Ty)vwv, that of Tadap-r]vS)v
also occurring. The change of the former into the
latter word is easily accounted for, but not the
reverse. Hence the writer has always been of
opinion, that Vepaarivuv, which Lachmann also has
adopted, is the correct reading in all the three Gos-
pels. But as the town of Gerasa, in Arabia, could
not possibly be meant, we suppose that the name was
incorrectly written by the Evangehsts, and that they
probably meant the town of Gergesa, as Origen sug-
gests." Accordingly, we drop the reading r^pyea-r]-
j/ic, and only retain thus much, that Origen was ex-
egeticalli/ right in maintaining that Jesus landed in
the district of the Gergesenes, whose name at least
{repysffalot, Gen. XV. 21 ; Deut. vii. 1 ; Josh. xxiv.
11) is mentioned by Josephus {A7it. i. 6, 2). But
the MSS. are divided between the readings Gadara
and Gerasa. Hence, judging from the circumstances
of this narrative, we are warranted in fixing upon the
adjoining Gadara, which was the capital of Peraea,
rather than on the distant Gerasa, which lay on the
eastern boundary of Peraja, and indeed was consid-
ered by some geographers to have been situate in
Arabia. So also Winer and Meyer. Besides, the ex-
pulsion of the Lord is represented as an event of con-
siderable importance, which would not have been the
case had He been banished from Gerasa, and not
from the capital of Peraea. Expulsion from a village
by the sea-shore would only have induced Him to go
farther inland ; but banishment from the capital of
the district rendered at least a temporary removal ab-
solutely necessary. The pagan character of the dis-
trict (swine, raging demons) may have led to the
evangelical tradition, by which the scene of this nar-
rative was transferred from Gadara to Gerasa. Gad-
ara, the capital of Peraea (Joseph. Bell. Jud. iv. 8, 3),
situated to the southeast of the southern end of the
Lake of Geimesareth, south of the river Hieromax,
sixty stadia from Tiberias, upon a mountain, inhabit-
ed chiefly by Gentiles (according to Seetzen and
Burckhardt). It is supposed to have been the mod-
ern Oml-eis (but comp. Ebrard, who places Gadara
only one hour from the lake). See Winer and the
Encyclops. and von Raumer's Palestine. On the east-
ern shore of the lake, comp. Ritter's Palestine. Eb-
rard suggests, that there had been a village called
(ierasa in the neighborhood of Gadara. Euseb. Ono-
masiicon refers to such a village under the article
Gergesa, without, however, pronouncing decidedly on
the point.
Two possessed with devils. — Mark and
Luke speak only of one. Strauss and de Wette hold,
that the account of Matthew is the authentic narra-
tive ; Weisse and others prefer that of Mark and
Luke. Ebrard suggests, that Matthew joined the ac-
count of the possessed at Gadara with that in Mark
i. 23 ; others fancy, that our Evangelist is in the
habit of speaking of two individuals when there was
only one. Meyer leaves the diffictilty unsolved ; while
Augustine, Calvin, and Chrysostom suppose that one
of the demoniacs is specially mentioned, as the prin-
cipal personage and the greater sufferer. This idea
is confirmed by the consideration, that two demoni-
acs would not have associated, unless the one had
been dependent upon the other. For the details of
the narrative, the parallel passages in the other Gos-
pels must be consulted.
Coming out of the tombs. — This was their
abode, the only one left tlieni, after they had with-
drawn from human supervision and society. We
conjecture that they chose this haunt not merely
from melancholy, but rather from a morbid craving
for the terrible. These tombs were either natural
or artificial caves in the rocks, or built in the ground.
The calcareous mountain on which Gadara was
situated, was speciaUy suited for such sepulchres.
Even Epiphanius {adv. Hceres. i. 131) mentions these
rocky caves near Gadara, which were called ito\v-
dySpia and TVfx^oi.
Ver. 29. What have we to do with Thee ?
T\^1 ^ih na , 2 Sam. xvi. 10, etc. Grotius remark.^
ad loc. : " Hoc si ex usu Latini sermonis iJiterpreteris,
contemtum videtur itiducere. Ita enim Latini aiuni .
Quid tibi mecum est ? Ai Hehroeis aliud sgnijivr',
CHAP. Vin. 28-34, IX. 1-8.
165
nimirum cur mihi molestiam exhibes ? "* The ordina-
ry consciousness of the demoniacs was always affected
by, and mixed up with, thciv morbid consciousness,
lienco their power of anticipation was morbidly de-
veloped. By virtue of this I'acuUy they now recog-
nized the Divine power and majesty of the Lord
(comp. Luke iv. 34). Ileuce the question, whether
Trph Kuipov means : be/ore the judijmeni of the Mes-
siah, as de Wette and Meyer suppose. Perhaps they
also anticipated that the work of Jesus in the district
would be interrupted by them, and that it was not
ready for the reception of the Messiah.
To torment us. — The apparent contradiction iu
the conduct of the demoniacs affords a striking con-
firmation of the truthfulness of this narrative. On
the one hand, tliey seem to have felt the power of
the Lord ; they hastened to meet Him ; their fierce-
ness was kept in check, and they humbly entreated.
But on the other hand, they identified themselves
with the demons under whose power they were ; they,
so to speak, appeared as their representatives, and in
that capacity complained that Jesus was about to
torment them by healing the demoniacs, — i. e., that
He was about to send the demons to the place of tor-
ment. De Wette : " Torment us," by disturbing our
stay and rule in man.
Ver. 30. A herd of many swine. — The Jews
were prohibited from keeping swine, which were un-
clean animals (Lightfoot, 315 ; Eisenmenger, Unt-
dektes Judenthum, i. 704). The herd must therefore
have belonged to pagans, or else have been kept for
purposes of traffic. In any case, it might serve as ev-
idence of the legal unclcanness of the people, and of
their essentially Gentile disposition.
Ver. 31. Probably the request was expressed in
such terms as " Send us, avoarfiXov ?;u«s," but the
assent of the Lord was couched in the form of a per-
mission, or even of a sentence of banislimcnt. Hence
the other reading of the Received Text. The request
shows that these demons were antinomian, not Phari-
saical ; hence their choice of the swine. Possibly,
there was also the raahcious design latent, in this
manner to put an end to the work of the Lord in
the district. But in that case, the compliance of the
Lord must be regarded as an evidence that at that
time the awakening of terror was a sufficient effect.
Lastly, the request of the demons implies that they
were many (Meyer), which indeed is expressly men-
tioned in Mark and Luke.
Ver. 32. Go, vTaye-re . — The emphasis rests
on the command to go. Strauss and others have
raised an objection, on the ground that Jesus here
interfered with the property of others. In reply,
Ebrard appeals to the divinity and the absolute power
of Christ. He also reminds us of the casting out
of those who bought and sold in the temple ; which,
however, is scarcely a case in point, as every Jew
might claim the right of reproving and opposing
open and daring iniriuity. Probably the conduct of
Christ, in the cas-j of so manifest a contravention
of Mosaic ordinances, might be vindicated on the
same ground, as simply the privilege of every zeal-
ous IsraehtiJ.} But the text does not oblige us to
* [Comp. Comment, on John ii. 4. where Christ uses thi.s
phrase in spcakins to ITis mother.— P. S.]
t \V>r. Alforit thus disposes of this difficnlty: "The de-
struction of the swine is not for a moment to be tlioujht of
in the matter, as if that were an act repi:snant to tlic merci-
fiil character of our Lord's miracles. It finds it.s prirullel in
the cnrsing of tlie fl<?-tree (ch. x.ii. 17-2_') ; and we. may wi II
think that, if God has appointed so mnny animals daily to
be slaughtered for the sustenance of men's bodies, He may [ is at least possible.'"— P. 8.]
suppose that Jesus took any interference with the
herd of swine. He neither admuiistered justice, nor
enforced police regulations, nor took oversight of
the herds of swine of (Jadara. His only object was
to cure tlie demoniacs, which He did by command-
ing the demons simply to r/o. Other objections — such
as, that the demons would have acted foohshly by
driving the swine into the sea — are scarcely worth
repeating. Any such difficulty would arise from
the false assumption that demons can never be stu-
pid. It must be admitted that certain morbid states,
such as derangement of the nervous system, mad-
ness, idiocy, raving, etc., formed the natural sub-
stratum of demoniac possessions. Hence there is a
marked difference between the possessed, and those
who, like Judas and the Pharisees, voluntarily sur-
rendered themselves to the power of evil, as there is
also between the demons themselves, and Satan, or
between the renunciation of Satan in Christian bap-
tism, and exoi'cism, — a rite which originally was only
applied in the case of the possessed, and only intro-
duced into the ordinary ritual of baptism and con-
firmation of catechumens generally when spiritual
knowledge was obscured in the Church. The demo-
niacs were destitute of freedom, not merely on ac-
count of the psychical ailment under which they la-
bored, but because, while thus suffering, they were
possessed by unclean spirits (ir^/eiVtaTa aKadapTu).
The idea of bodil>/ possession, or the indwelling of
the evil spirit in the physical frame of the diseased,
was merely the popular notion. The main point was,
that they were under the power of some special de-
moniac influence, or of a number of such influences,
which proceeded from real demons, and were so
strong, that the persons possessed identified them-
selves in their own minds with tlie demons. But it
is quite possible that such influences may have pro-
ceeded not merely from the kingdom of Satan, in the
narrowest sense, but also from the spirits of the de-
parted. Hence Josephus (Be Bello Jud. vii. C, 3)
held, that the demons were the spirits of wicked men ;
an opinion which was shared by some of the oldest
of the Fathers, such as Justin Martyr and Athenag-
oras. Tertullian was the first to turn the current of
opinion on the subject, and ultimately, on the au-
thority of Chrysostom, the old idea of the sj)irits of
departed and lost men was discarded, and that of
devils adopted. But a closer inquiry into the char-
acter of sympathetic influences will show, that while
the question, whence these demoniac influences pro-
ceeded, is of secondary importance, such influences —
even to literal bodily possession — are quite pos.sible,
whether the party affected was conscious of them
or not. From this it follows, that a demoniac
might feel himself under the influence of a whole le-
gion of unclean spirits, as, from the account in the
other Gospels, appears to have been the case in the
present instance. Hence we must beware of tlie com-
mon mistake, of putting the guilt of the demoniacs on
the same level with that of wilful slaves of Satan. In
our view, the blame attachable to such pcr.sons va-
ried from the minimum, in the case of idiots, to a
maximum. The common characteristic of all was
also be pleased to destroy animal life when He sees fit for
the liberation or instruction of their souls. Besides, if the
confessedly far greater evil of the possession of tnun by evil
spirit", and all the misery thereupon attendant, was per-
mitted in God's ins 'riitable purposes, surely much more this
lesser one. Whether there tnay have been special reasons
in this case, sucll as the contempt of tlie Mo^^aic law by the
pevs of tlie .•;«-iiu-. we have no means of judging; but it
ioa
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SIATTIJEW.
cowardice, — a cowardly surrender of a weakened and
lowered consciousness to wicked influences. The
same remarks apply to Ihe moral aspect of madness
generally ; and we would adopt the idea, that all mad-
ness was connected with a kind of demoniac inllii-
ence, rather than the view, that the demoniacs of
Scripture were merely lunatics, or even that of older
orthodox interpreters, who regarded them as a class
of persons possessed by the devil, — God allowing it
at the time of Christ, and then only, for the purpose
of glorifying His name. We do not, however, deny,
that at that period, when all human corruption had
reached its climax, these demoniac possessions also
a])peared in a more full and patent manner. But if
we consider that the evil primarily depended upon
moral cowardice and non-resistance to evil, we shall
understand all the better the method of cure adopted
by the Lord. The thunderbolt of His power and di-
vine rebuke would once more kindle the ray of Ufe
and strength in the soul, fill the spirits who possess-
ed the demoniac with fear, and thus break the fetters
by which they held their victims. It snapped, so to
speak, the connection between the diseased mind, de-
prived of its freedom, and the demon ; while at the
same time the soul was brought under the influence
of the Divine Being. Such was the deliverance from
the 5aifi(i}i', who, although a personal being, is desig-
nated as dai/iiovtoi', m allusion to the impersonality of
the relationship.
They went into the herd of swine. — Of course
the demons, not tlie demoniacs. The commotion in
the herd, by which they rushed down a steep
place into the sea, is readily accounted for from
the well-known sympathy existing among gregarious
animals. If one of the herd was seized with terror,
all the others would be aSected. Probably the horse
is, of all animals, most liable to sudden fright, espe-
cially from spectral apparitions ; but swine are also
subject to such wild frights (comp. Scheitlin's Thier-
seelenkunde, vol. ii. 486). Perhaps the reason why
swine were Levitically unclean, may have been not
merely their outward conformation, "but their suscep-
tibility for impure psychical impressions. The cir-
cumstance, that the demons went into the swine,
seems indeed mysterious ; but the fright of these an-
imals arose probably from the last terrible j)arox-
ysm, which ordinarily accompanied the healing of the
possessed (Mark i. 26 ; Luke iv. 35 ; Mark is. 26,
etc.).
' O p jix ^ I', cum impetuferri, irruere, ch, xix. 29. —
Olshausen suggests, that the demons drove down the
herd; Henneberg, Neander, and others, that they
were impelled by an unknown, but accidental cause ;
while Meyer regards this as a mythical addition. We
prefer leaving it unexplained, as belonging to the
mysterious connection between the world of spirit
and nature.
Vcr. 34. The whole city. — For the moment,
tha terror produced by this miracle proved even
stronger than the indignation excited by the loss
sustained. Accordingly, as the heathen were wont
to go in solemn procession to the altars of the gods
in order to avert calamities, so the people of Gadara
went out to meet Christ, humbly beseeching Him to
depart from their coasts. They evidently feared, lest,
if He remained, they should sustain yet greater dam-
age. The cure of two furious demoniacs, involving
the loss of a herd of swine, appears a calamity in a
district where swine have their keepers, but men are
left uncared for. Jesus departs ; but those who have
been restored are left behind — more especially he who
M-ould fain have followed Him — to bear witness it
Decapolis of the power and grace of Christ.
Chapter ix. vers. 1-8.— Luke (v. 17) and Mark (ii.
3) relate this history immediately after the cure of the
lei)er. But this place belongs rather to the event
connected with the centurion at Capernaum. Besides,
the circumstance, that the scribes of Gahlee now
commenced their active opposition, proves that the
chronological ariangement in Matthew is correct.
Ver. 1. Into His own city. — In the Greek:
fir rvu i5ia V it 6 \ t v . Capernaum had the
honor of bearing that name (iv. 13).
Ver. 2. A irapaXvTtKQs. See Com. on ch.
iv. 24.
Jesus seeing their faith. — This faith appeared
more particularly in the bold plan which they adopt-
ed for bringing the sufl'erer into the presence of the
Lord, as related by Mark and Luke. But while all
shared that faith, the poor sufferer himself appears to
have given the special directions. Paralytic, but
healthy in soul, — a hero in faith on his sick-bed.
Matthev/ indicates the extraordinary character of the
circumstances by the expression : Koi iSov.
Be of good cheer, edpaei, t^kvov . — These
two miracles afford an insight into the various meth-
ods by which the Lord restores those who are cow-
ardly, and those who, strong in faith, are afflicted.
In the one case. He rebukes ; in the other. He com-
forts.— T^Kv uv, an affectionate address ; Mark ii. 5 ;
X. 24 ; Luke xvi. 2.5. Analogous is Qvyo.np, ver. 22.
Are forgiven thee, acii^wprai trot . — The
perfect tense (Doric). Beza : Empjhasis minime ncgli-
yenda. In this instance the palsy must have been the
consequence of the sin of the sufferer, though not in
other cases, John ix. 3. That Christ with His uniailing
penetration at once recognized and singled out these
instances, showed how vastly different His judgment
was from the prejudices of the people (Luke xiii. 4, and
the account of Lazarus). Strauss vainly imagines that
there is a contradiction between this and the other
accounts about the Lord. Comp. against him the
remarks of Meyer (note on p. 189), v/ho, however,
should not have denied that in the case before us the
forgiveness of sins was both the moral and the pjsy-
chical condition of restoration. It seems to us strange
that de Wette should half concede the statement of
Hase (in his LebtnJesu, § 73), who regards this history
as an accommodation to popular prejudices.
Ver. 3. And, behold, certedn of the scribes.
— Before this, the scribes had not even in their
thoughts charged the Lord with blasphemy. We
have here a third evidence that Christ read the inmost
thoughts of man. He traced the affliction of the
palsied man to its secret origin in sin ; He read the
measures adopted by the palsied man, and by those
who bore him, and traced them to faith ; and He read
the scribes, and descried their secret and blasphem-
ous objections, that He was guilty of blasphemy,
since God alone could forgive sins (Luke v. 21). Per-
haps these feelings may have appeared in their coun-
tenances, as the Jews were wont to express their ab-
horrence of blasphemy in the strongest manner, even
rending their garments and spitting when they deem-
ed the prerogatives of God openly invaded. In the
present instance, fear may have restrained such an
open expression of what was marked in their faces
and gestures. Hence de V/ette is wrong in suggest-
ing that the expression ISdv in ver. 4 is " well ex-
plained by the reading eiSws" (after B., M.). Mark
here correctly adds : rai iri/evixan. "To read the
thoughts and dispositions of others (comp. John ii. 24,
CHAP. VIII. 28-34, IX. 1-8.
167
25), was a characteristic of the expected Messiah {see
Wetstcin ad loc). In virtue of being the Son of God,
Jesus possessed this power, wliich may be consid-
ered analogous to that of working miracles." — Mey-
er. But wo must not forget the vast difference be-
tween the notion of a magical reading of tlioughts,
which the rabbins entertained, and thv !)ivinc-human
introspect of Christ, which in every instance was oc-
casioned by some mark overlooked by others, but
patent to the Master.
Ver. 4. Wherefore think ye evil ? — Olshau-
sen: Evil, Ijccause thi-y failed to understand His
Divine character. De Wette : On account of their
hasty, malevolent, and light judgment. Comp. Matt.
xii. 31. Their thoughts were evil in themselves, be-
cause ihey regarded the highest life as a blasphemy,
and also because they expressed not openly their
scruples. Hence iifxih, in opposition to those who
confided in Him. Probably they chiefly objected to
this, that Christ seemed to abolish, the arrangements
of the temple, by which the priest typically forgave
sins on offering the sacrifice appointed by the law.
It is absurd to interpret the expression used by the
Lord as a mere announcement of forgiveness of sins
(Kuinocl).
Vet'. 5. Which is easier?— i. c. In truth,
both are equally difficult, and presuppose Divine
power and authority. But, as the full effect of His
absolution could not be patent to the outward senses,
He accords a visible confirmation of it by a mir-
acle.* ■
Ver. 6. But that ye may know, Arise. — The
Evangelist purposely omits to indicate the change of
persons addressed,! in order ro make it more pictorial.
" That yc 9na;i knoiv thai power haa the Son of Man
(power is put first by way of emphasis) on earth (in
opposition to heaven) to forgive sins, ^me," etc.
P'or other details, see the account in Mark and
Luke. "^
•^ Ver. 8. They were afraid (in the authorized
version, marvelled), Q^o^rie-naav. — Those who
witnessed the occurrence experienced a spiritual con-
flict— the Spirit of Christ contending in their hearts
with the unbelief of the scribes. In these circum-
stances, the miracle of healing proved all the more
quickening, that the gracious working of Christ in
* [Dr. Trench, Nntes on the Miracles of our Lord, 6th
od., Lond., 185S, p. 206 sq., correctly ob.serve.5: "In our
Lord's argument it must be carefully noted that He does
not ask, ' Which is easiest, to forgive sins, or to rai.se a sick
man?' for it could not be affirmed that that of forgiving was
easier than this of healing; but, 'W4iich is easiest, to claiin
this power or to c^i^/wt that; to '^ay, Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to «ay. Arise ami walk?' And He then proceeds:
'That is easiest, and I will now prove my right to say it, by
saying with effect and with an outward consequence setting
its seal to my truth, the harder word, ' Rise up and walk:
By doing that which is snbniitio.l to the eyes of men, I will
attest my right and power to ilo th.-vt which, in its very na-
ture, lies out of the region of proof. By these vi.sible tides
of God's grace I will give you to know in what direction the
great under-currents of His love are setting, and that those
and these are alike obedient to my word. From this which
I will now do openly and before you all, you may conclude
that it is no 'robbery '(Phil. ii. (1) upon my part to claim
also the power of forgiving men their sins.' Thus, to use a
familiar illustration of our Lord's argument, it would be
easier for a man. equally ignorant of French and Chinese,
to claim to know the last than the first; not that the lan-
guage itself is easier, but that, in the one case, multitudes
could disi)rove his claim; and in the other, hardly a scholar
or two in the land." — I'. S.]
t [This change is indicated by the parenthetic words of
the Evangelist: tot* Aiyet tcS irapaKvrtKw. The regu-
lar construction would require either ilooi} a tf for iiSTire,
or Kiyta for T<iTe Aeyei. — P. 8.]
the face of this opposition implied a greater manifes-
tation of power.
Such power unto men. — Grotiua and Kuinoel
apply this simply to Jesus, regarding ai'dpcovrois aa
the plural of category. Baumgarten-Crusius explains
it : Such power to men for their salvation through
Christ. Jleyer and do Wette : A new gift of (lod to
humanity. But the expression referred especially to
the i^ovtr'ia of forgiving sins. This power, which
hitherto had been enthroned in the most holy place
as the prerogative of Jehovah, nov/ stood embodied
before them, as it were an incainate Shechinah.
Hence their joyous expression : He has given it to
the Son of Man, and therefore to men. The explana-
tions of Kuinoel and Meyer are not contradictory.*
DOCTRINAL AND KTIIICAL.
1. These two miracles have this in common, that
they were accomplished under exceedingly difficult
circumstances. In the first instance, the cooperation
of receptive faith v/as entirely wanting. The only
germ present was that awe with which the deraona
owned the power and supremacy of Christ ; while, on
the other hand, the Saviour had to contend not only
with the demoniacal spirit, but with the impui'c and
grovelling disposiiion of the Gadarenes. In the sec-
ond miracle, the unbelief of the Pharisees and scribea
formed a counterpoise to the faith of the palsied
man, and of those who bi'ought him forward. Add
to this, that the first cure was followed by expulsion
from Gadara, and the second by a secretly harbored
reproach of blasphemy on the part of the scribes,
which was fully expressed on a later occasion (Matt.
xii. 24).
2. The two miracles are still further connected by
the peculiar view of Christ which they present. More
than in any other instance in which He healed the
possessed, does the Lord here appear as the Mighty
One—as conqueror not only of demons, but also of
the dark and hostile powers of pagan or semi-pagan
countries ; while, in the second miracle, we see Him
penetrating to the root of t'N'il, to sin, and removing
the moral power of consciousness of guilt. His sav-
ing grace extends to the lowest psychological and
moral abyss of human misery. Combining these
two miracles with that of calming the tempest, we
behold Christ as the Lord over nature, over the pow-
ers of darkness, and over the depths of the human
heart.
3. The cure of the demoniacs at Gadara may be
regarded as forming the central-point of biblical de-
monology. It is also an explanation and defence of
the legal prohibition of swine-flesli under the Old
Covenant. But Lisco and Gerlach go too far in
maintaining that the destruction of the herd was in-
tended as a punishment. Jesus only permits it at the
request of the demoniacs, who have not yet complete-
ly recovered, and hence are not quite under His pow-
*[Alfokd: "ToTs avOpunroi^, to mwnkiiict. They re-
garded this wonder-working as something by God granted
to men — to mankind; and without supposing that they had
before them the full meaning of their words, those words
were true in the very highest sense. See John xvii. S." —
Trench, On Jliniclen, p. 'ZO'J: "They felt rightly that what
was given to one man, to the Man Christ Jesus, was given
for the sake of all, and ultimately to all, that it was indeed
given 'unto men;'' they felt, that He possessed these pow-
ers as the true Head and lleprosentatlve of the race, and
therefore that these gifts to Him were a rightful subject of
gladness and thanksgiving for every member of that race."—
1'. S.J
168
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
er. Nor must we forget that, despite their own im-
purity, the demoniacs coramonly possessed in in-
creased measure a clear sense of what was unseemly
(comp. Acts xix. 15). The demons chose to enter
into the swine. The demoniacs also chose to bring
an ironical punishment on their district, and thus to
vent their last paroxysm in a direction more wholc-
Bome than formerly. — Lastly, the Lord Himself re-
garded this judgment as wholly suitable, without,
however, having liirectly sentlt.
4. The absolution of the palsied man, and later
instances of the same kind, were in some respects an
anticipation of the moment when the veil in tlie tem-
ple was rent in twain. Sucli seems also to have been
the unconscious feeling of those who were present at
the time. This history forcibly presents to our view
the connection between sin and misery, between for-
giveness and recovery, and hence also between justi-
fication and the resurrection.
[5. The power of forgiving sins is a strictly Di-
vine privilege, as the Jews rightly supposed, and could
be claimed by Christ only on the ground of His Di-
vine nature. Hence we may use this claim as an
argument for the Divinity of the Saviour (as Athana-
sius did against the Arians). Yet He claimed and
exercised this power as the incarnate Son of God, or
as the Son of Man on earth, having brought it with
Him from heaven, as the one who is at once like unto
us, and above us all as the crown and perfection of
humanity. While on earth. He exercised the power
directly and personally ; after His exaltation He ex-
ercises it in His Church as His organ through the
means of grace, and the ministry of reconciliation.
Hence He conferred this power, commonly called the
power of the keys, i. e., the power of discipUne in re-
ceiving and excluding members, and thus opening
and shutting the gates of the kingdom of heaven,
upon His apostles (Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18), who m
this case speak and act in the name and by the au-
thority of Christ. The Church does the works of
heaven on earth {"facif in terris opera cmlorum "),
and binds and looses, but only by a committed, not
an inherent power, and only as the organ of Christ.
Comp. Trench, Notes on Mir., p. 207, and Words-
worth in Matt. ix. 6 : " Christ forgives sins not only
as God, by His omnipotence, but as Son of Man ;
because He has united man's nature to His own, and
in that nature has fulfilled the law and perfected
obedience, and so merited to receive all power on
earth (Matt, xxviii. 18) in that nature ; which power
He now exercises as Mediator, and will continue to
exercise, till all enemies . . are put under His feet.
As Son of Man, He ever exercises this power of for-
giving sin on earth, by means of the Word and Sac-
raments, and by the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor.
v. 18, 19), and by whatever appertains to what is
called 'the Power of the Keys.' . . . Besides, by
saying that sins are forgiven ' upon earth,'' our Lord
reminds us that after death there is no more place
for repentance and forgiveness, for then the door is
ehut." A false inference. The contrast is not be-
tween earth and eternity, but between earth and liea-
ven.—V. S.]
HOMILKTICAL AND PKACTICAL.
Jesus encounters the contradiction and enmity of
the world, not only in His teaching, but also in His
works of grace and power.— The glory of Christ's
miracles appears in this, that they are performed in
the midst of uubeUevers, if He only meet with a
gram of faith in those who apply to Him for help.
Jesus must pluck as brands from the burning those
whom He redeems from the unbelief of the world. —
Christ's casting out the unclean spirits, as connected
with His forgiveness of sins,'
7'Ae history of the Gadarenes. — Jesus makes a
way for His own both by sea and by land. — The in-
security of highways an indication of the state of a
country. — Connection between human raving and the
spirits of darkness. — Internal contradiction on the
part of those who were possessed: 1. They hasten
reverently to meet the Lord, and yet complain that
He would torment them ; 2. they betake tliemselves
to entreaty, and yet display malice ; 3. they are them-
selves cured, and yet become burdensome to others.
— The possessed gave a more suitalde reception to the
Lord than the people of Gadara. — The proximity of the
Holy One rendering uneasy and tormenting not only
open and wilful sinners, but also those who are de-
prived of their moral freedom. — It is easier for Christ
to heal the raving^ of maniacs than to remove calcu-
lating and yet stupid selfishness. — The Divine judg-
ment accompanying the cure : a trial of the country
and people. — The expulsion of the Lord, under the
guise of reverence, and in the form of an entreaty,
notwith standing the ceremony of a procession come
out to meet Him.
The cure of the Paralytic, ch. ix. 1-8.— The Lord
reading the secrets of the heart: 1. He descries in
the urgent endeavors of felt need, the faith which
prompts them, and brings it to maturity ; 2. He des-
cries in the misery the guilt which was its cause, and
removes not only the misery, but also its root ; 3. He
descries the secret unbelief of the heart, and obviates
its pernicious influences. — The miracle on the con-
science and the miracle on the sick life are always
combined: 1. The former is the root ; the latter, the
manifestation. 2. The one or the other may, indeed,
be more apparent ; but 3. the miracle on the hfe
cannot prove lasting without that on the conscience,
while that on the conscience is manifested by that
on the life. — This miracle on the palsied man reveal-
ing the fullest measure of grace of all the cures ac-
compUshed by Christ. — Son, be of good cheer ; thy
sins be forgiven thee. — The So7i of Man has power on
earth to forgive sins. — Christ will manifest in the
bodies of His people what He has done for their souls.
— The gospel of free grace confirmed by visible signs
before the eyes of His opponents : 1. By the recovery
of nations; 2. by the flourishing condition of coun-
tries ; 3. by the tokens of a coming resurrection all
over the earth. — The scribes and priests of the law
forgiving sins, and Jesus forgiving sins : 1. The for-
mer connected with outward ordinances, sacrifices,
and the services of the temple, typical in its nature
and arrangements ; 2. the latter proceeding from
free grace, received by faith, and manifested in anew
life. — The outward c'vidence of secret grace. — The
gospel of the forgiveness of sins by Christ, the most
glorious gift of God to man. — What God gave to
Christ, He gave through Him to men.
Starke: — The devils also beUeve and tremble,
James ii. 19. — Zeisius : — If the devil cannot have his
will, it is a tonnent to him ; so also with his children,
the wicked. — Osiander : — They who only seek to do
harm are certainly Satan's children, John viii. 44. —
Hcdlnger : — Now-a-days, also, the devil enters into
the swine. — God sometimes deprives us of our out-
ward possessions: 1. In compassion; 2. in right-
eousnp?s. Quesnel. — Hedinger : — What ingratitude
to retain the swine and to banish Christ ! — It is one
of Satan's devices to represent the gospel as causing
CHAP. IX. 9-11.
169
loss. — They who banish Christ in His members are
worse than the Gadarenes. — Ch. ix. 1-8. Hcdingcr :
— ^It is our duty to succor our neighbor in his dis-
tress.— When laid on a bed of sickness, we ought to
be more anxious for the health of the soul than for
that of the body. — True faith receives from the hand
of God what it sought. — He who from the heart re-
pents and believes on Christ has forgiveness, Acts x.
43. — Jesus reading the thoughts and intents of the
heart, John ii. 25. — It is impossible to be happy or
comfortable if we are not assured that we are (Jod's
children. — Each miracle of power or of grace the
earnest of another. — Forgiveness of sins comprehends
every blessing. — Qucsncl: — What is felt a stumbling-
block by the worldly-wise, is an occasion to the sim-
ple to praise God. — Admiration and praise must go
together.
Oerlach : — Those who hate Me love death, Prov.
viii. 36. — Miracles are but the anticipation and ear-
nest of a higher order of thmgs. Hence, as under the
Old, so under the New dispensation, Jesus occasion-
ally manifested Hunself in His miracles as the future
Judge of the world. — But this was not the main ob-
ject of His miracles, which, in general, were the man-
ifestation of His love, and performed by Him as Re-
deemer.— Miracles of judgment : this instance (?) ;
the money-changers, and those who bought and sold
in the temple (?) ; the unfruitful fig-tree ; terror
struck into the company of those who came out to
take Ilim. (Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas.) — In this
instance also, blessing and judgment were conjoined :
1. Safety restored to the district ; 2. the neighbor-
hood delivered from evil spirits ; 3. the possessed
cured ; 4. the attraction of a prohibited enjoyment
removed. — Ch. ix. 1-8. A special emphasis rests on
the name, " Son of Man" as signifying the Messiah
or the Saviour, as man among men. — Jesus has be-
stowed upon His servants authority to announce to
sinners forgiveness of sin in the name of God.
Heubmr (on ch. ix. 1-8) : — Even the faith of
others may aid us in obtaining forgiveness of sins. —
Christianity has, directly and indirectly, a beneficial
influence on bodily ailments. — Consciousness of sm
is the sting in all our bodily sufferings. — Forgiveness
is the first thing which man requires in his misery. —
Christ always addresses to afflicted souls the words,
" Be of good cheer.'''' — The common proverb, that
thoughts are free, is essentially untrue. — Common
tendency to suspicion. — The deliverance of others
should be matter of joy to us. — The healing of the
paralytic: 1. How Jesus begins it; 2. how He de-
fends it ; 3. how He completes it. — The power of
Christ to forgive sins : 1. Wherein it consists ; 2. its
condition.
Reinhard, 1802. — The foi-giveness of sins has the
most beneficial influence also upon the consequences
of our transgressions. — Harms : — The connection be-
tween sin and sutferiug : 1. Generally patent ; 2.
sometimes hidden ; 3. always certain. — Westermey-
er : — The power of Jesus to forgive sms on earth : 1.
The contradiction against it ; 2. the testimonies for
it ; 3. its glory ; 4. its conditions. Sachse : — Christ
the true Physician of the soul. Ranke : — The pow-
er of Christ to forgive sins. — C. Beck : — Christ knows
how to save truly : 1. He looks to the ground ; 2. He
heals from the ground. — Hopfier : — Christ at the
sick-bed. — Fiichs : — The blessmg of sickness. — H.
Midler : — I beUeve the forgiveness of sins.
The miracle of the call of Matthew to the Apostolate ; the feast of the Lord with the publicans ; twofold
stimabUngblock of the Pharisees and disciples of John ; or, Christ's gracious working despite the con-
tradiction of legal piety.
Chapter IX. 9-17 (Mark 11. 13-22; Luke v. 27-39).
9 And as Jesus passed forth [on] from tlience, he saw a man, named Matthew, sit-
ting at the receipt of custom [custom-house] : and he saith unto him, FoHow me. And
10 he arose, and followed him. Aiid it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat [reclined at
table] in the house, behold, many publicans^ and sinners came and sat down [reclined]
1 1 with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his dis-
12 ciples, "Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus ^ heard
that, he said unto them, They that be [are] whole need not a physician, but they that
13 are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacri-
fice : for I am not come to call the righteous^, but sinners lo repentance.*
14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast
15 oft [often], but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children
of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days^
will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
16 No man putteth a piece [patch] of new [unwrought] cloth unto [on] an old garment;'
for that which is put in to fill it up taketli from the garment, and the rent is made
17 worse. Neither do men put new wine into old [skin-] bottles: else the bottles break
170
THE (JOSFEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
[the skins burst], and the wine runiictli out, and tlie [skin-] bottkjs perish:' but thej
put new wine into new [skin-] bottk's, and both arc; preserved [togetlierj.®
' Vcr. \0.— [Publicans fuT Tf\ii.f at is better than iaxgathei-era which has been snsrpestod by some as more intelligible.
For, as Dr. ('(Jimiit correctly remarks, a tatrffiiiherer is not necessarily n puhliain, though s, pnhlican is a tatrgatherer.
The tiTiii jiuliliciii'- is as much established in Scriptual usage, as the terms PlutrUe'', ^Sudducee, scribe, Baptist, etc. It
snsj^'osts tlie o|ii)ros^iive system of taxation in the old Komaii empire and the arbitrary exaction and fraud connected with
it. The taxes were sold by the Koman Kovernmont to the highest bidders, who gave security for the sum to bo jiaid to
the st.atc, and were allowed to collect fiom the jirovinces as much as they could beyond it, for'their own benefit and that
of their numerous agents and subagents. — P. S.]
■•' Ver. 12.— 'iT/o-oCs is omitted in Cod. B. [also In Cod. Sinait] and in some translations. According to Meyer it was
inserted from the parallel passages.
3 Ver. 13.— [Dr. Lange omits the article before righteous, according to the Greek. The art. would seem to imply
that there are really righteous persons; while there are such only in their own conceit. Dr. Conant omits the art., and
translates: riyhteoua men. — P. S.]
■* Ver. 13. — Eis ix^Tavoiav is wanting in Cod. B., D., L., [Cod. Sinait], in several translations and fathers. Comp-
Luke V. 33.
s Ver. 15.— [2)ays, ^uUpal, without the article. So also Lange: Es ioe?'den aler Tagekummen. Cod. Sin.-iit. omita
the words: iXivaovTixi 5e ij/nepai, odav anapdrj air' wWuiv A vvfKpios. — P. 8.]
*• Ver. IC— [Dr. Lange : Js^iemand jlickt einen happen von migewalktem Zeug avfein altcs Kleid, i. e., a patch of
■wifidlnd cloth on an old garment, which is more literal.]
' Ver. 17. — Lachmann, following B. and other Codd. [among which must be mentioned novf the Cod. of Mt. Sinai] reads
avoKXvvTaL [instead of airoKovvrai].
^Yer. 11.— [Preserved together, cr vv rripovvTai ; Lange: '' miteinander erha\te-a.'''—P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 9. On the identity between Matthew and
Levi, comp. the Introduction ; Mark ii. 14 ; Luke v.
27. Probably Matthew had already, at a former
period, entered into closer relationship with the
Lord.
'E7r) rh TeXwviov . — The place where custona
was levied, loll-house, custom-house, collector's office.
His way led Him past the receipt of custom {-uapa.-
yoiif).
Ver. 10. As Jesus sat, better : lay, or recUn-
ed, at table in the house— according to Eastern
custom. It was the [practice to recline on divans,
resting upon the left arm. The house, which is here
designated with the article, was, no doubt, that of
the publican. Meyer maintains that it was the house
of Jesus,* since we read in the former verse that
Matthew followed Him, as if to follow the Lord meant
to accompany Him across the street ! Luke relates
that the feast took place in the house of Levi (Mat-
thew). We cannot see any difficulty, unless, like
Fritzsche and Meyer, we were to take in its gross lit-
erality an expression which evidently means, that
from that moment Matthew followed Christ as His
disciple in the narrowest sense. De Wettc correctly
remarks that it is not likely that Christ ever gave
dinner-parties, f
And sinners. — Meyer : Worthless persons
generally (!). We should rather say, in general, those
whom the Pharisees had excommunicated from the
synagogues.
Ver. 12. The whole — the sick, — i. e., accord-
ing to ver. 13, the righteous and sinners. De Wette
supposes that the former referred to [persons who
were really righteous in the Jewish and legal sense ;
while Meyer takes it ironically, as applying to their
boasted righteousness. We would combine the two
ideas. They imagined that they were righteous, re-
* [Meyer means, of course, the house in which Jesus
dwelt at the time. For from Matt. viii. 20; Luke ix. 58, it
is evident that Christ had no house of his own. — P. S.]
+ [It is due to Meyer to remark that he treats this objec-
tion as gratuitous, since the Evangelist, he thinks, speaks
only of an ordinary meal of Jesus with His disciples. But
whence the " many publicans and sinners," who took part
lnit?-P. B.]
garding legal righteousness as sufScicnt before God.
On the other hand, those who in the test arc called
sinners, were not merely such from the Jewish point
of view, but felt themselves guilty wh.en brought in
contact with the righteousness of Christ. Most apt-
ly, therefore, does Calvin designate this as an ironica
concessio.
Ver. IS. I will have mercy. — / fake pleasure,
Idesire. Hoseavi. 6, afterthe Septuagint. The opinion
of de Wctte, that the term "lOn , in Hosea, means piety,
is ungrounded. — And not sacrifice. The compar-
ison may be relative ; but when mercy and sacrifice
are placed in opposition to each other, it becomes
absolute, because the sacrifice then loses all its value,
and becomes an act of hypocrisy. The expression,
TvupevQivTis ixdOiT € . go and learn, answers to
the rabbinical formula, I'^b^i N^ . Schottgen.
Vcr. 14. The disciples of John, etc. — St.
Luke represents the Pharisees as in this case also
urging the objection, and Sclileiermacher considers
this the authentic version of the event. De Wette
regards the narrative of Luke as a correction upon
Matthew, and deems it improbable that the disciples
of John should have come forward as here related.
Meyer decides simply in favor of the account of Mat-
thew. Luke may have represented the Pharisees as
putting the question proposed by the disciples of
John, because the latter shared many of the views of
the Pharisees, and were in danger of going further
in that direction, from their attachment to Jolm and
to his asceticism. These were the disciiDles of John
who would not be guided by their master's direction
to the Lamb of God.
Ver. 15. The children of the bride-chamber,
ol viol rovvvjxcpwvos . — On the day of marriage,
the bridegroom went, adorned and anointed, to the
house of the bride, attended by his companions
(D''j;"no , Judges xiv. 11), and led her, attended by
her maidens, in festive procession, vdth music and
dancing, at even, by torchlight, into the house of his
father. The marriage feast, which was defrayed by
the bridegroom, lasted seven days. {See the Bibl.
1 Encyclops. sub Marriage.)
I Mourn. — The Lord here indicates that fasting
must be the result of vivei'LV. The other Evangelists
I have vrta-rei/eLi/. "Fasting should be the expression
CHAP. IX. O-IT.
171
of sorrow ; not merely an outward exercise, but the
expression of an inward state." De Wette. The
primary object of our Lord, therefore, was to show
the impropriety of tliose fasts which had no proper
motive, and lience were untrue. The present was
the festive season for the disciples ; and it was theirs
to show this by tlieir outward gladness. " The Ro-
man Catholics infer from this verse, that, since the
death of Christ, it is necessary to fast." Heubner.
If this were to be consistently carried out, we should
have to fast the whole year round.
Ver. 16. No man putteth a patch of un-
■wrought [or unf tilled] cloth. — Two similes taken
from common life to illustrate the principles of the
Divine economy. In both cases, it is not so much
the unsuitableucss of adding the new to the old
which is brought out, as the foUy of bringing togeth-
er what is not only new, hui fresh, with that which is
not only old, but antiquated. Hence, in the first ex-
ample, we have not only a piece of new cloth, but of
raw and unwrought material, which will shrink. Ac-
cordingly, the piece inserted to fill it up (-n-Xrtpuna)
will make the rent worse by the strain upon the old
cloth. Similarly, the new wine which is still ferment-
ing, expands, and will thus burst the old skin bottles.
The antagonism between the old and the new arises,
therefore, not merely from the imperfectncss of the
old, but also from that of the new, which, however,
from its inherent nature, must develop and expand.
An arrangement of this kind were, therefore, not
merely unsuitable, but even destructive, — making
matters worse, instead of improving them. The re-
sult in both cases would be, that the old and the new
would perish together. A careful examination shows
that the two similes are intended to supplement each
other. The first meets the case of the disciples of
John, with whom the old was the principal consider-
ation, and the new only secondary ; i. e., they regard-
ed Christianity merely as a reformation of the Old
Covenant, as a piece of new cloth to fill up a rent in
the old garment. The second smiile apphes more
especially to the disciples of Jesus. Here, Christian-
ity is the primary consideration (the new wine from
the Tine of Israel), whilst the old forms of the theoc-
racy were secondary. In both cases, the result is
the same. But, besides its special lessons, the sec-
ond simile is also intended to show how entirely false
the view alluded to in the first simile was, that Chris-
tianity was only a piece of new cloth to mend the
torn garment of the old theocracy.
Ver. 17. Bottles, or Ut. : skins, aa icoi . — In the
East, water, milk, wine, oil, and similar commodities,
were, and are still, preserved and transported in
leathern bottles, which were commonly made of the
hides of goats, rarely of camels, and asses. The ex-
terior of the skin, after having been suitably pre-
pared, was generally used as the interior of the bot-
tle. See the quotations of Heubner (p. 128) from
Lucian and Aulus GeUius.*
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It is unportant fo study the external and in-
♦ [Comp. also Dr. Robinson, BiJd. lieftearches, ii., p. 440,
and Dr. Hackett, lUimtrations of Scripture from JCastern
Travel, pp. 44-46. who tells us that he met these skin-bottles,
or bays made of the skins of animals for holding water, wine,
and other liqni Is in the houses, and transportin<!: them on
journeys, at O.iiro at almost every turn in the streets, and
everywhere in Eirypt :iiid Syrix It was a ' water-.skin ' (ac-
cordinsr to the Hebrew) which Abraham placed on the shoul-
der of Ilasar, when he sent her forth into the desert (Gen.
xxi. 14).-P. 8.]
' temal connection between the call of the publican
to the apostolate, and the commencement of open
hostility to the gracious forgiveness of sins by Jesus
, on the part of the Pharisee:'. When they who had a
I historical claim upon the Got^pel rejected its provi-
I sions, they were offered to those who had a spiritual
' claim vpon the glad tidings, by being prepared and
; ready to receive them. Clirist, the Saviour of sinners,
I reviled by the Pharisees, turns to the pubheans, and
calls one of their number to the apostolic office.
Thus, at a later period, the hostility of the scribes
and Pharisees of Jerusalem led to His entering a
heathen country, when He passed into the territory
of Tyre and Sidou, there to display His grace in the
case of the Syrophenician woman. Matt. xv. In an
analogous maimer, also, the Lord interpreted the Old
Testament narratives concerning Elijah and the hea-
then widow of Sarepta, and Elisha and Naaman the
Syrian (Luke iv. 25, etc.). The conduct of Paul wa3
precisely similar. When the Jews in their unbelief
rejected the Gospel, he turned to the Gentiles (Acts
xiii. 4G ; xviii. 6). Hence, while the conversion of
the publican was a grand sign that the Lord now
turned to the outcasts, the call of Matthew to the
apostolate was a miracle of grace.
2. The quotation of Christ from the prophecies of
Hosea, is generally adduced as expre.=smg the con-
trast between the New Covenant and the degenerate
form which the Old had assumed. Shnilarly, it may
be applied to the contrast between Evangelical Prot-
estant Christianity and the secularized mediaeval
Church. Nor are we, pei'haps, mistaken in tracing
a hke difference between a devout and living piety
and a fanatical orthodoxy, which too often contra-
venes the demands of tlie heart, and is radically op-
posed to Christian humanity.
3. Perhaps the circumstances in which John the
Baptist was placed, may in part account for the
gloomy disposition of his disciples. For some time
past John had been in prison, and 'they looked to
Jesus for help in this emergency ; nor could they un-
derstand how, in the meantime. He could take part
in festive entertainments.
4. It is significant, that even at that period the
objections of the disciples of John were allied to those
of the Pharisees. But there was this difference be-
tween them, that while the latter questioned the dis-
ciples, as if to turn them from their Master, the fol-
lowers of John addressed themselves directly to the
MoMer Himself. Even in their case, however, we
miss that full wap'p-naia which should characterize
the Christian. They do not venture to blame Christ
openly. The Pharisees had questioned the disciples,
" Why eateth your Master ? " etc. ; while the disci-
ples of John ask the Master, " Why do Thy disciples
fast not ? " Fanaticism assumes only the appearance
of ■Kapj)7\(jla, especially when, kindled by the sympa-
thy of an excited majority, it is arrayed against a mi-
nority. Then those flaming declamations of self-
satisfied eloquence burst forth, which the multitude
regard as the voice of an archangel, while they are
utterly opposed to that deep calm engendered by the
Spirit of adoption, who inspires even a weak mmority to
speak with wapp-n^ia. Finally, this occurrence seems
to form the turning-point in history at which the later
disciples of John separated from their teacher. The
difference, which was afterward fuUy established, con-
tinues even to this day.
5. The reply of the Lord to the disciples of John
contains a canon perpetually binding, in respect of
the relation between form and substance. The prin
172
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ciple itself has never been sufficiently appreciated.
Even Master Pliilip [Mclanchthoii] seemed always
prone to i)ut the new wine of Gospel truth into the
old bottles. The same attempt was made at a later
period by the Jansenists, and gave rise to the tragic
history of the Port Roiial. In our own days, also,
some seem still to be of opinion that tlie unwrought
cloth may be put upon the old garment, and the new
wine be preserved in decaying bottles. " The warn-
ing of Christ applies to all times, that the life of His
Church is not to be surrendered by forcing it into
antiquated forms. But it also imphcs that genuine
Christian forms should be preserved, along with the
truth which they convey."
6. " The reply of Jesus to His disciples appears
the more striking, when we remember the last testi-
mony of the Baptist concerning Him." He that has
the bride is the bridegroom : but the friend of the
bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoic-
eth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice (John
iii. 29). Jesus seems only to continue and to follow
up the speech of their master when He replied to
John's disciples : " Can the friends of the bridegroom
mourn and fast, so long as the bridegroom is with
them ? " Lastly, the Lord here points forward to His
future suiFerings and death as a period for inward
fasting. This fasting, which is to succeed the suffer-
ings and death of Christ, consists in a complete renun-
ciation of the world.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Jesus goes to all classes, into all streets, and to
all men. — The greatness of Divine grace, which can
make of a publican an Apostle. 1. According to
Jewish traditionalism, the publican was an excom-
municated person ; but he is now called to assist in
founding the communion of Christ. 2. He was an
apostate from the people of God, but called to be-
come one of the pillars of the Church of God. 3.
An instrument of oppression, but becomes an instru-
ment of glorious liberty. 4. A stumblingblock and
a byeword, but becomes a burning and a shining
light. — Grace is not stopped by any customhouse,
and pays no toll. — High call of the Lord to the pub-
lican, and great faith of the publican in the Lord. —
Matthew the Apostle relates, to the glory of God,
that he had formerly been a publican. — The publican
and the Apostle. — The Divine call must determine us
to relinquish an ambiguous occupation. — Strange cir-
cumstance, that the Lord and His disciples should sit
down at meat with publicans and sinners. 1. How
can this be ? Because the Lord does not conform
to the publicans and sinners, but they to Him. He
not only continues the Master, but becomes theirs.
2. What does it convey to our minds ? Infinite com-
passion, manifesting itself in full self-surrender, des-
pite difficulties and objections. — Christ and His disci-
ples are still at meat with publicans and sinners. —
When the Pharisees saw it, they said. Why? How
this question has ever since been reiterated in the
history of the Eucharist (Novatianism ; refusal of the
cup ; Eucharistic Controversy). — The reply of Jesus,
" They that be whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick : " 1. A calm exposition : they that are
whole are really whole, and they that are sick, really
sick, in the legal sense. 2. A solemn warning : they
that are whole are sick rmto death, because they deem
themselves whole ; while a sense of their spiritual
sickness renders the others capable of life. 3. A de-
cisive judgment : salvation is for sinners who feel
their need, not for the self-righteous. — Eternal im-
)iort of the saying, " I will have mercj', and not sac-
rifice." 1. Rather mercy than sacrifice, if the two
be put in comparison ; 2. only mercy and not sacri-
fice, if the two are put in antagonism ; 8. mercy ex-
clusively, to the rejection of sacrifice, if the one is set
up in contradiction to the other. — Mercy the most ac
ceptable and holy sacrifice. — Sacrifoes, to tVe exclu-
sion of mercy, not offerings, but roL'iery. — >:.d con-
flict between mercy and sacrifice, throughout the
course of history. — Lessons derived from the declara-
tion of Jesus, " I am not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance : " 1. Character and pros-
pects of the sinners who listen to the call of Jesus.
2. Character of the religion which ignores Clirist and
His pardon. — Inquiry of the disciples of John, or
characteristics of the legalist : 1. He would give laws
to others as well as to himself; 2. he would give
laws without heeding the requirements of the case ;
3. he is ready to take the part of the worst legalism
(" we and the Pharisees "), and to assail with his
puny objections the holiest liberty (" but Thy disci-
ples fast not "). — Arrogance of legalism : 1. The dis-
ciples of the Baptist assume the place of being the
masters of the Lord ; 2. they venture to censure Him
according to the traditions of their school ; 8. they
adduce the Pharisees as authorhics against Christ
Himself. — The bridal and the mourning season of
the disciples : 1. Wherein each consists ; 2. the ap-
propriate manifestation of each. — It is one of the first
principles of true Christianity, that every outward
manifestation must proceed from an inward state. —
The Christian life a continuous marriage feast, vrhich
may be interrupted, but is not broken up, by the suf-
ferings of this present world. — Christ the Bridegroom
of the Church: 1. As such He came at first ; 2. as
such He went away ; 3. as such He will return. —
Sad mistakes in the kingdom of God, which can only
entail harm : 1. To mend that which is antiquated
by putting on it a piece of new cloth ; 2. by forcing
the new life into antiquated fonns. Or, 1. To gar-
nish legalism with the gospel ; 2. to force the gos-
pel into the forms of legaHsm. — All attempts at patch-
ing unavaihng. — The law and the gospel camiot be
mixed up : L Because tlie gospel is infinitely more
strict than the law (the unwrought piece shrinks) ; 2.
because it is infinitely more free than the law (the
new wine bursts the mouldering bottles). — Hierarch-
ism might learn many a lesson from those who patch,
and from those who cultivate the vine. — The sentence
of Christ upon ecclesiastical questions : 1. New cloth,
a new garment ; 2. new wine, new bottles. — The true
principles of genuine ecclesiastical conservatism. —
Above all, we must aim to preserve, 1. the life along
with the forms ; and then, 2. the forms wdth the
life. — Consequences of false conservatism in the
Church : 1. These attempts at tailoring in spiritual
matters are opposed even to common sense and every-
day practice. 2. The old forms are destroyed by the
new life, and the new life by the old forms. 8. The
work of destruction is continued while they clamor
against destruction, until the new and the old are
finally separated. — How the Lord prepares the wed-
ding garment and the new wine for the Idngdom of
God. — Tlie threefold mark of the new life : 1. It as-
sumes a definite outward form ; 2. it cannot continue
in the false and antiquated forms ; 3. it must create
for itself corresponding forms.
Starke: — Christ is not ashamed of the greatest
sinners. — Osiauder: — It is easier to convert open
CHAP. V. 18-26. 173
sinners than hypocrites. This is more difficult than I pleasing in the sight of God. Hence Christ says that
to break through a mountain of iron. — Christ the ' His disciples fast not because the Bridegroom is with
hio'hest Physician. — Difference in ecclesiastical usages them : i. e., since (iod had not sent them sufferings,
isliot incompatible with unity in the faith.— Zm/i« .• and Christ was still with them to protect tlicm, they
Constraint and Christian liberty cannot well be neither sought nor invented sorrow for themselves, for
combined.
{?fr/rtcA .-—Marginal note of Luther: There are
two kinds of suifering, — the one of our own choosing,
such as the rules of the monks, just as the priests of
Baal cut themselves (1 Kings xviii. 28). The world
such were without value before God ; but when He
was taken from them, they both fasted and suffered.
Ileubner : — Compassion and love toward sinners
is the sacrifice most acceptable to God — of far gi-eat-
er value than the most pompous worship. — Chris-
the Pharisees, and the followers of John regard such tianity is opposed to all slavish discipline.— The doc-
8ufferin"-3 as a great matter, but God despises it. trine of Jesus cannot be eombmed with the old tradi-
The oth°er kind of suffering is sent us by the Lord ; tions of Pharisaism. This were only miserable patch-
and willingly to bear this cross, is right and well- \ work-
VL
The woman with aai issue of blood, and the dead maiden ; or, the twofold miracle. — Miraculous working
of the Lord in the face of despair and death.
Chapter IX. 18-26.
{The Gospel for the 2ith Sunday after TVinzVy.— Parallels : Mark v. 22-43 ; Luke viii. 41-56.)
18 "While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain [there came
in a] ^ ruler [of the synagogue], and worshipped him, saying,^ My daughter is even now
dead [has just now died] : but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.
19, 20 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. And, behold, a woman,
which [who] was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and
21 touched the hem^ of his garment: For she said within herself, If I may but touch his
22 garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her,* he
said. Daughter, be of good comfort [cheer] ; ^ thy faith hath made thee whole. And
23 the woman was made whole from that hour. And when Jesus came into the ruler's
house, and saw the minstrels [pipers, flute-players, auA.7jTas] and the people [crowd]'
24 making a noise. He said unto them, Give place : for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.
25 And they laughed him to scorn [laitghed at him]. But when the people [crowd] ® were
26 put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. And the fame
hereof [this fame, rj 4'W'^ '^^j went abroad into all that land.
1 Ver. 18.— Tisohendorf: elffeXQwv, according to Codd. C, D., E., M., X., etc. [and Cod. Sinait. Lange, in his G.
trsl., adopts this reading; so also Alford.]— Lachmann : efs, ir p o ff eXOdy, according to Cod. B.— Griesbach : eis
sKOdiv. [Engl, v.: a certain TxilovY—Recepta : iKdciv. [The original copy no doubt read in large letters: EI2EA-
©nN, which may mean dafABdv or els i\6cov, probably the former; for els is superfluous here, although it occurs fre-
quently in Mfitthew both after the noun, v. 41; vi. 27; sii. 11; xviii. 5; xxi. 24, and before it, xxii. 35; xxiii. 15; xxvi.
40, 69 ; xxvii. 14 The els refers to the house of Matthew where this scene, like the former, took place, comp. ver. 10.—
P. S.]
2 Ver. 18.— Lachmann retains the recitative ort after \fyo;v, which makes the speech more lively.
3 Ver. 20.— [Dr. Lange inserts here in smaller type : die Quaste, i. e., the ta^Sfl fringe, with reference to the fringes
on the borders of the garments which the Jews were commanded to wear (Numb. xv. 38). Dr. Couaat also translates
frinr/e.—V. S.]
4 Ver. 22.— [Literally: And Jems.iurning {arpacpus, the oldest reading, sustained also by Cod. Sinait., for eiriiTTpa-
<(>els) and seeing her. said.—]
» Ver. 2%— [Be of good cheer, is the usual rendering of the Greek Odpffei in the E. V., comp. Matt. ix. 2; siv. 27;
Mark vL 50 ; John xvi. 33 ; Acts xxiii. 11.— P. S.]
• Vers. 23 and 26.— [Lange translates 6x^os in both cases ITaufe^ crowd, which is better than people.— P. S.]'
I Luke viii. 41 ; apxiTwaywySs, nDJStn ll'X"i . Every
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. [ synagogue had its president, who siiperintended and
Ver. 18. Ruler, apx<^v. — The president of a j directed the services. The ruler of a synagogue was
synagogue. Hi;5 name was Jairus, see Mark v. 22 ; at the same time president of its college of ciders.
174
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
See Vitringa: Arckisynngog., Fvanek., 1686. — Jaims
was president of a synaj^ogue at Capernaum.
Tlie reading flaeAOdn', in vcr. 18, is not only
best attested, but most suitable. The arrival of the
ruler of the synagogue interrupted the conversation
of the Lord with tlie Pharisees and the disciples of
John, whicli took jilace during or after the meal in
the house of the publican. It thus happened, that
Jesus could prove to these objectors that He was
able and willing to rise from the feast and to sympa-
thize with the deepest suffering, nay, to enter the
valley of death itself. This constituted both the
fasting of Jesus and His mission to relieve the sick.
The description of the conduct of Jairus is exceed-
ingly vivid. His first appeal consists in faUing down
at the feet of Jesus, which he then explains by a few
urgent words of entreaty, leading him at once into
the midst of his domestic affliction. Accordingly, the
Lord first calmed the excitement of the father by
proceeding leisurely. In the circumstances, it was
quite m accordance with His purpose that the woman
afflicted with an issue of blood should have stopped
Hun by the way. This delay would serve both to
try and to strengthen the faith of Jairus.
My daughter has just now died, apn [in
this moment, opposed to TrdAai] iTe\(VT7]ffeu. —
Meyer supposes that there is a difFei'ence between
this account and those of Mark and Luke. But the
latter has h-al aurr) aTrfdv-q o-Kev, which agrees
with Matthew. According to these two accounts,
the effxaTcos ex6' of Mark must be explained.
Jairus left his daughter dying, and hence might ex-
press himself either in this way, She was (when I
went away) at the point of death, or else, She has just
died. The circumstances of the case account suffi-
ciently for the difference in the narrative. (So Chry-
sostcm, Theophylact, Grotius, Wolf, etc.).
Ver. 20. An issue of blood. — It is not neces-
sary to enter into details as to the peculiar malady
with which the poor woman was afflicted. "The
long continuance of this disease not only endangered
her general health, but was a direct cause of divorce,
and rendered it necessary for her to avoid every pub-
lic assembly." Von Ammon. According to the
law, it rendered unclean, Lev. xv. 19 sciq.
Came behind Him. — A sign of hopelessness.
The rapid movements of the Lord, and the peculiar
character of her disease, v/ould lead her to c()me in
this way — ashamed, as it were, and timorous. All
the greater appears the faith of this woman : she
takes hold of the fringes upon the border of Christ's
garment, in the conviction that she would thereby be
restored. The Hebrews wore four fringes (zisiih) on
the four bordei'S of their garments, in accordance
with the commandment in Num. xv. 38.
Ver. 22. Jesus turned Himself about. — The
other Evangelists report the event more fully. The
Lord asks who had touched Him. The woman then
comes forward, makes confession, and is dismissed
with a word of comfort. Matthew gives a more
brief account, satisfied to state the great fact, that
this poor hopeless v/oman by her faith obtained re-
covery from the Lord, while He was hastening to
the bedside of the daughter of Jairus. In this in-
stance, he7- faith is extolled as the medium of her
recovery, though it almost seems to stand in direct
contrast to that of the palsied man, whose earnest-
ness and energy overcame every obstacle. We
might compare the one to a robber, and the other to
a thief; but the difference is only in form, — their
faith was the same, both in its strength and decision.
Although the woman had obtained recovery by her
quiet and retiring faith, yet the Lord constrained her
to make public confession, partly to seal her faith
and to strengthen her recovery, and partly to present
her to the world as healed and clean. In ecclesias-
tical legend she bears the name of St. Veronica, and
is said (Euseb. vii. 1 8, and the Gospel of Nicodernus,
cd. Thilo, p. 561) to have erected to her Deliverer a
brass monument in front of her home at Paneas, by
the sources of Jordan. But Dr. Robinson {New Bibl.
liesearchcs in Palestine) thinks it pi-obable that the
statue was erected in honor of some Roman emperor.
— Owing to this delay by the way, a message could
reach Jairus, that his daughter was now dead.
Ver. 23. The minstrels. — The appearance of
these minstrels indicated that the preparations for
the funeral ceremonies had commenced. (Comp. the
corresponding articles in the Encyclops., Winer sub
V. Trauer, Lightfoot ad loc., etc.)
Ver. 24. The maid is not dead. — The idea of
a trance (Paulus, Schleiermachcr, Olshausen) is en-
tirely opposed to the spirit of the text. The words
of Jesus are evidently metaphorical, and intended,
on the one hand, to present death under a higher
than the common aspect (see also the history of Laz-
arus), and on the other, to prepare for the raising
of the maiden. The Lord first requested the hired
mourners to leave the room ; and then, when they
laughed Him to scorn, He expelled them. Evidently
those around Jairus shared not his faith, — a circum-
stance which we infer even from the messages
brought him by tlie way (as recorded in Mark and
Luke). All the greater was the faith of Jairus, and
especially the miracle of the Loid.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. We notice a gradual progression even in the
miracles of raising the dead. The maid upon her
death-bed, — the youth on the bier, — the man (Laza-
rus) in the grave. The same progression may also
be traced in the doctrine of the resurrection : First,
the Lord ; then the first resurrection of believers ;
and in the end the general resurrection, 1 Cor. xv.
Similarly, these instances of awakening from the
dead may be regarded as an earnest of the coming
resurrection. By His eternal power, Christ first re-
called from death to this mortal life, and then to
eternal life.
2. We behold the glory and majesty of the Lord,
in that, on the way to the house of Jairus, He dis-
played no trace of excitement, but that in calm con-
sciousness He is ready to receive any impression from
without. Of this we have clear evidence, when, in
the midst of the excited crowd, He perceives that
one in the agony of faith has touched the fringe of
His garment ; and when He stops to comfort and
confirm the trembling believer, whom His power and
grace had restored.
3. The maid was not in a trance; she was'dead.
But she had died in the anticipation of help, and
awaiting the return of her father. Such is the in-
ternal connection between the miraculous interposi-
tion of Christ, and her who was its subject. A sim-
ilar connection appears in all the miracles of Christ,
and especially in the raising of Lazarus.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
It is proof of a holy feast, and of holy joy, when
CHAP. IX. 2'7-34.
175
we can immediately leave for the house of mourning.
— We leam from Jairus, how parental affection may
stimulate and strengthen faith and piety. — The disci-
ples of the Pharisees and of John fast ; they object
and judge ; but they cannot bring help to the weary,
nor comfort to the afiiicted. — The ruler of the syna-
gogue must go to the house of the publican to lind
the Lord. — How felt need may drive many persons to
the Lord, whom in ordinary circumstances obstacles
around would have prevented from coming. — From
an uncongenial controversy, the Lord forthwith pro-
ceeds to a conflict with death, the king of terrors. —
To live in the Spirit, is to be always ready. — How
the Lord can convert even interruptions into active
duty, and an occasion for dispensing blessings. — Je-
sus, the Saviour of those also who are beyond human
hope. — The Saviour of poor diseased woman. —
These miracles prove that Christ was about to
awaken the dead. — Jesus notices even that faith
which is unperceived by men, and only finds utter-
ance in sighs. — He blesses and strengthens retirmg
faith, so that it breaks forth into open profession. —
"Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath
made thee whole." — Why Christ ascribes to faith
the deliverance which He alone works : 1. Because
faith alone can receive the deliverance of Christ ; 2.
because Christ is present in our faith, and works it ;
8. because He would convert the act of faith into a
life of faith. — " The maid is not dead, but sleepeth :"
1. She sleepeth according to her disease in this life ;
2. under the eye of her God and Saviour ; 3. till the
hour when she shall be raised. — Death and sleep :
1 . Sleep is a kmd of death ; 2. death is also a kind
of sleep. — Greatness of the moment when Jesus de-
clared that death was but sleep. — Opposition between
the old mourning for the dead and the new hfe of
the Lord. — Comparison between Jev/ish and Chris-
tian mourning: 1. Wherein they agree; 2. wherein
they differ. — What is implied in the mysterious si-
lence which the Lord enjoins before the performance
of the miracle? — Jesus delivering from the lowest
depths, — 1. All who believe on Him, or wait for
Him ; 2. from the depth of guilt, of misery, of death,
and of judgment. — The fame of Christ, as awakening
the dead, going forth into all the world : 1. The prep-
aration for Easter; 2. Easter itself: 3. the echo of
Easter throughout Christendom ; 4. the harbinger of
the day of judg-ment, which shall usher in the eter-
nal Easter.
Starke : — Zeisius : Woman, who has brought sin
and misery into our world, should be distinguished,
both inwardly and outwardly, by great humility, 1
Tim. ii. 14 ; 1 Pet. iii. 3. — The Lord oftentimes de-
lays long, but He always comes at the right moment,
Ps. xxii. 2 ; Hab. ii. 3. — God sometimes deprives us
of all outward means, or renders them insufficient, in
order to bring us to Himself — AVhen our faith has
saved us, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost succeed.
—2 Cor. v. 4; 1 Tun. vi. 7; 2 Pet. L 14:.— Zeisius :
Leave the pomp and vanity of the world, if you would
see the miracles and the glory of God and of Christ ;
for, in order to pei'ceive them, you retiuire quietness
of soul, Ps. Ixii. 2 ; Isa. xx.\. 15. — Cramer: Those
who scorn the Lord and His bencfus, are not deemed
worthy to witness His miracles, Isa. xxxiii. 1. — The
fame of Christ spreads through tiio whole laml, and
it is vain to attempt suppressing the Gospel.
Gossner : — For Christ death is not death, but
only a peaceful slumber.
Lisco : — Full of reverence for Jesus and of wo-
manly modesty, and feeling herself unclean in the
eye of the law, she seeks, in the fulness of her faith,
help in secret. — In prayer we also touch the Lord,
who, though invisible, is near to us. — Jesus, our De-
liverer from sorrow and death.
Heuhier : — Those who are in the higher ranks of
life (the ruler of the synagogue) should not be asham-
ed to seek the help of Christianity. — He worshipped
Him. The deeper our humiliation, the higher the
aspirations of the soul. — What consolation does
Christianity offer to parents on the loss of beloved
children ? — Christ still takes us by the hand. — Aoid
Jesus arose. This teaches His disciples that they
should spare no trouble to help men and to save
souls. — The woman a picture of modesty and humili-
ty.— Press through any obstacle that may intervene
between Christ and thee. — Faith renders the vv-eakest
means effective. — Those who are most timid and
shrinking, are oftentimes most gracious and near to
Christ. — The scorn of worldly men need not disturb
the faithful servant of (jod.— With His hving hand
did He take hold of the dead hand. — How we may
rightly touch Jesus. — The certitude of Jesus, and of
the believing soul. — Personal and domestic suffering
leading us to Jesus.
Bretschneider : — The laughter of unbelief about
the hope of immortality. — Theremin (in Zimmer-
m.ann's Collection, ii., 1827): — How sorrow and suf-
fering abound on earth, but how the Lord is able to
deliver from all suffering. — Rambach {Entwurfe,
1831): — Weep not for the dead. — Niemann {Ser-
mons, p. 855): — Believing remembrance of those
who have gone before, a rich blessing, as teaching
us, — 1. To love more purely; 2. to contend more
faithfully; 3. to pray more penitently; 4. to die
more joyfully. — Eylert: — Death under the picture of
sleep. — Reinhard^—-Ovi. the calmness v,ita which
Christians should act, even when surrounded by an
excited multitude. — On the fact, that the conduct of
true Christians frequently appears ridiculous to the
men of the world. — Grimeisen: — The perfectness of
the human life of the Redeemer. — Kraussold: — The
dear cross: 1. It comes from the Lord; 2. it leads
to the Lord ; 3. it is blessed by the Lord. — C. Beck:
—The power of faith: 1. Excited by affliction; 2,
strong in confidence ; 3. blessed in what it receives.
— Bachmann: — Jesus Christ the true helper in every
need.
vn.
The cure of the blind men and of the dumb demoniac ; or, the fame and the defamation of ih.'c miracles of
Jesus. The healing agency of the Lord, the earnest of coming salvation, in view of the hardening
and the blasphemy of His enemies.
176
TEE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
OUAPTER IX. 27-34.
27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed liim, crying, and saying,
28 Thoit Son of David, have mercy on us.' And when he was [had] come into the house,
the blind men came to him : and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to
29 do this ? They said [say, Xeyoucrtv] unto him. Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes,
30 saying. According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened ; and
31 Jesus straitly charged [threatened]'' them, saying, See that no man know it.^ But
they, wheii they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
32 As they went out,^ behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a
33 devil.^ And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake : and the multitudes mar-
34 veiled, saying, It [he] was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casteth
out devils through the prince of the devils.
1 Ver. IT.— [The original reverses the order: Haw mercy on us, Son of David.— ]
^ Ver. 30. — ['ErejSpi^Tja'aTo. Lacl'jiiaiin, Tischendorf, and Alford (in the 4th ed.) adopt the passive form fve^pinfiBTi,
which is quite unusual, but supported hy Codd. K (Sinait.), B., C. Angclo Mai's ed. of the Vatican Cod. (B) reads ivejip f t -
HV^TI, but Buttmanu's ed. : fVeySp i;U-^57j. The verb ifMBpifiarrdai (from the radix /3pM— coinp./«mo and the German
hriimrneii—s, heavy nuirmuring sound) signifies in general the utterance of vehement emotion either of wrath and indigna-
tion, or (as in John xi. 33) of grief; then threatening admonition, as here. Chrysostom in lac. : oux ajrAcDs KeAeue/, dAAa
Kol |U€Ta TToAAfjs TTJs acpoSp6TT]ros. Meyer in loc. explains the iimiyiiant threat in this case from the fear of its use-
lessnosf, comp. ver. 32. Lange renders tho dviffpif/.TuraTo: hedrohU; theVuIg. : comminatus est ; Luther and de Wette :
hedidncte; van Ess: hefafd i.hnen fm/itlich; Wiclif: thretened ; Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva : charged.; Rheims:
thrciitcned ; the C. Y. : straitly— i. e., strictly, rigorously— c7iargr«f7 ; Ooiiant : sternly charged. The authorized version
renders the word enfipi/xaaOa (which occurs five times in the N. T.), by three different verbs, viz. : straitly charged,
Matt. ix. 30; Mark i. 43; murmured, Mark xiv. 5; groaned, John si. 33, 38.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 80.— [Dr. Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union render 6puT€ unSeU yivaiffKeTo : Take heed, let no
one know it. So opare should be translated before the Imperative, as is done by the Author. E. V. in Matt. xvi. 6.—
P. S.]
4 Ver. 32.— [More correctly: And as they were going out, Ahruiv Sc i^^pxafJ-evciv.—V. S.]
^ Ver. 32. — [Lange: einen ddmonischen Stummen, or a dumb demoniac, i. e., a man who had become dumb in con-
sequence of the possession. The Author. V. makes the false impression that he was dumb before. — P. 8.]
persons here spoken of were not blind \)j nature, but
by disease. In Jolm ix. the contrary was the case,
and is so expressly stated.
Son of David. — The designation of the Messiah.
See xii. 23 ; xv. 22 ; xx. 31 ; xxi. 9, 15 ; xxii. 44-
45.
Ver. 28. Into the house ; — i. e., His dwelling at
Capernaum. The circumstance, that the blind men
followed Him thither, seems itself miraculous. t They
found their way in the train of Christ, as if some
gUmmer of light had already been granted. Similar-
ly, the persistence with wliich they openly ascribed
to the Lord a Messianic title which He had not yet
publicly assumed, was a signal manifestation of their
faith. They were not healed by the way, partly be-
cause Jesus would try their faith, and partly be-
cause as yet He would not in public reply to the ad-
dress of Messiah.
Ver. 29. [According to your faith be it done
to you. — An important word, which shows the re-
lation of man's faith to God's grace. Faith is
the hand which takes what God ofibrs, the spiritual
organ of appropriation, the opyavov Atjttti/co;', the con-
ducting Unk between emptiness and God's fulness.
" It is "the bucket let down into the fountain of God's
grace, without which the man could not draw up out
of that fountain; the purse, which does not itself
make its owner rich, but which yet effectually en-
riches him by the treasure which it contains." — P.
S.]
Ver. 30. Their eyes TO-ere opened, — i. e., they
received their sight. A common Hebrew expression,
as in 2 Kings vi. 17 ; Isa. xxxv. 5, etc.
Straitly [sternly] charged [threatened]
them. — Properly, lie threatened them, full of indig-
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
General Remarks. — These two miracles are re-
corded by Matthew alone. They are here related,
partly because they formed the close of a glorious
day, and partly because in them the power of Christ
appears in a new light. The distinguishing feature
in the case of the two blind persons consisted in their
invoking Jesus as the Son of David, or the Messiah ;
so that their supplication almost amounted to a dis-
tinct Christian profession. The opposite characteris-
tic marked the case of the dumb demoniac, who was
not dumb from any organic defect, but rendered such
by the evil spirit of whom he was possessed. He was
a demoniac without appearing to be such, since his
condition remained concealed under a dumbness
which originated either in unconquerable melancholy,
or in malicious stubbornness. The dumb person was
prevented by the demon from speaking, and the om-
niscience of the Saviour appeared in His immediately
recognizing the source of the evil. The miracle was
in so far extraordinary, as its only basis was the
faith of those who brought the demoniac to the Lord ;
while, at the same time, the malice and blasphemy
of the Pharisees served to confirm the power of the
evil one over his victim. Thus the first of these mir-
acles was, so to speak, enacted on the threshold of
the kingdom of heaven ; the second, at the gate of
hell.
Ver. 27. Two blind men. — Blindness is a very
common affliction in the East, especially in Egypt,
Arabia, and Palestine. It was caused by the strong
reflection of light, by lightning, dust, hot days, cold
nights, frequent sleeping in the open air, etc. The
CHAP. IX. 27-34.
177
nation, ive^pini)(Taro. They had already pub-
licly invoked Him as the Son of David, and He had
holpen them. Accordingly, they would be still more
prone to proclaim Him as Messiah, which might have
led the people of GaUlee into rebellion against their
temporal ruleis, and to a carnal movement, which
was quite contrary to the purposes of Jesus. Hence
the Lord now threatened them with all earnestness,
although without succeeding in imposing silence upon
them. In all probability the fame of this miracle
spread far beyond Capernaum. Hence the title. Son
of David, became now generally known, and Jesus
felt all the more inclined soon to leave the dis-
trict.*
Yer. 33. It [He] was never so seen, o v 5 e -
itoTe i tp avri o v t w s . — Meyer : It, i. e., the ex-
pulsion of demons. Rettig, Fritzsche : He has never
so appeared or shown Himself. (The common ex-
planation is, that o'vTois stands for rovro or roiovrd
Ti, against which, see Meyer.) If it were necessary to
limit the word it to that one peculiar kind of expel-
ling demons, we should feel constrained to adopt the
explanation proposed by Rettig and Fritzsche. Buf
this does not seem requisite in view of the emphatic
meaning attaching to the word 4(pdvn. The Jews
would necessarily connect the idea of appearing with
the appearance of the Messiah. Hence the expres-
sion would imply : never before has the appearance
(of the promised" deliverance) been so fully realized.
This also throws light on the expression, in Israel,
which evidently implies that this had been the bright-
est Messianic appearance as yet vouchsafed to the
theocracy. Perhaps the statement was intentionally
couched in indefinite language from fear of the pow-
erful party of Christ's enemies.
Yer. 34. Through the prince of the devils,
i V T(S apxovT I, K.T.A. — Afterward he is desig-
nated more particularly in ch. xii. 24. The particle
€ v indicates intimate connection and fellowship. He
is in league with Satan and his power, to which the
lower demons are subject. As mention is not made
of any reply by the Lord, we conclude that ou this
occasion the Pharisees had uttered the sentunent
behind the Lord, but in the presence of those who
acknowledged His power.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. This is the first mstance in which the Lord
performed a miracle when invoked in His character
♦ Vers. 30 and 31.— [Alford remarks on iveBpi/J-va-aTo,
or €V€/3piuTJ0rj as he reads with Lachmann: "The purpose
of our Lord's earnestness appears to have been twofold: (1)
that He might not be so occupied and overpressed with ap-
plications as to have neither time nor strength for the
preaching of the Gospel; (2) to prevent the already excited
people from taking .some public measure of recognition, and
arousing the malice of the Pharisees before His hour was
come.— No doubt the two men were guilty of an act of dis-
obedience in thus breaking the Lord's solemn injunction:
for obedience is better than sacrifice ; the humble observ-
ance of the word of the Lord, than the most laborious and
wide-spread will-worship after man's own mind and inven-
tion." Trench (Notes on Miracles of our Lord, Lond., 6th
ed., p. 19S) considers it characteristic that all the Komish in-
terpreters e-xcuse or rather applaud these men for not strict-
ly adhering to Christ's command ; while the Reformed,
whose first principle is to take God's "Word as absolute rule
and law and to place obedience above sacrifice, consider this
Eublishing of the miracle against the express admonition a
lemish in the faith of these men. I add the brief but ex-
cellent note of Wordsworth on ver. 31 : " Glory is not to be
obtained by seeking for it, but by declining it." Sequentem
fugit,fugi6niem sequiiur gloria. — P. S.l
12
as the Messiah. The expressions employed in tho
text are very remarkable. Jesus first asks, " Believe
ye that I am able to do this ? " — not, that I am the
Messiah ; and then adds. According to your faith be
it unto you ! But ou this very account He insisted
the more earnestly that the secret should be kept.
He could not, indeed, prevent that the cure of the
bhnd men should openly appear, nor that they should
ascribe it to His power. But He sought to prevent
their publishing in what name and character He had
performed it. The patent secret of His dignity was
now bursting forth with increasing clearness. Hence
also the reviling and the blasphemy of His enemies.
2. The heaUng of the dumb demoniac aflbrds a
glimpse into a class of sufferings which are apparent-
ly physical and organic, but whose seat is really in
the soul. The Spirit of Christ alone was able to light
up this darkness, and thus to remove their afflic-
tion.
3. The blasphemy of the Pharisees gradually de-
velops: 1. They blaspheme in their own minds; 2.
then behind the Lord ; 3. at last they venture open-
ly to confront Hun with their daring charge.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
How the two blind persons represent to us the
work of evangelists. I. They resemble evangehsts,
— a. in that they openly invoke the Lord as Messiah ;
b. in that, in their blindness, they follow in His train
to the house ; c. in that they have faith and con-
stancy, are tried and approved ; d. in that they ob-
tain help on making confession of faith. II. They
differ from evangelists in wantmg full obedience ; and
although their joy may plead their excuse, yet their
spiritual sight was evidently still weak, though their
bodily sight had been restored them. — Christ appear-
ing as the Master in the carefulness of His deaUngs
with sinners. — The light of the eye : I. a natural
gift of God ; II. a miraculous gift of the Lord ; HI. a
symbol of the spiritual gift of God. — The)/ brought t<y
Him. Persons in such a state of depression must be
brought to the Lord by their believing friends. — How
the Master immediately descries the secret evil under
which the demoniac labored. — If there be but a spark
of faith, the Lord can remove the most desperate
case of spiritual bondage. — Let us never lose sight
even of those who suffer under melancholy and obsti-
nate self-seclusion. — The highest achievements of
faith always evoke the greatest revihngs of uubeUef.
— It is a mark of the spirit of Satan to decry what
the Lord achieves as the work of Satan. — There is
always some patent self-contradiction about blasphe-
mies.— The triumphs of the Lord in view of His ene-
mies : the first manifestation of heaven and hell upon
earth. — Christ hfting the veil of revelation in a two-
fold manner : by healing the blind in His character
as Messiah ; and the dumb, by unmasking and over-
coming the demon who caused his disease. — At the
threshold of Christ's abode, precipitate evangelists
and dumb demoniacs may meet. — Christ between
precipitate professors and the obstmately dumb. L
He bids the former be silent, and the latter speak ; 2.
He is obeyed by the latter, rather than by the for-
mer.— Christ heahng us by removing our morbid sen-
sations ; more especially, a. excitement, in its imagin-
ary heights ; b. depression, in its dark depths. — The
miracles of grace extend from the gates of heaven to
those of hell. — Demoniac sins which we consciously
commit, such as blasphemy, are infinitely more dan-
gerous than demoniac sufl'erings, when we are dci iiv-
178
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ed of liberty. — Christ first removes tlie storm at sea,
and, last of all, the dark intricacies of settled melan-
choly.
Starke : — Faith of the heart and confession of
the mouth always go hand in hand, Rom. x. 9, 10. —
True faith is not deterred by delays. — According to
thy faith shall it be unto thee. — Envy and reviling
are not far removed from each other, 2 Cor. xii.
20.
Oerlach: — Christ Himself teaches us (John ix.
39) to regard the healing of the blind as an emblem
of inward illumination, or of the conversion of the
heart.
Ileubner : — One deliverance after another. — One
work of love leads to another. — Believe ye ? — a ques-
tion always addressed by the Lord to us when we
seek help. — The deaf and dumb, the picture of a sin-
ner whom the evil spirit within suffers not to confess
his n)isery, or to pray. — Should we be moved by the
judgment of schools, or parties, in opposition to true
religion, when Jesus Himself experienced such con-
tradiction from the learned ?
vin.
Triumph of Christ over the reviling of the Pharisees. Royal preparation for the mission of the Apostles.
The power of Christ unfolding m all its fulness, as also the misery of the people. The one Helper
about to manifest Himself by many helpers.
Chapter IX. 35-38.
35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching the gospel [good news] of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and eve*
36 ry disease [weakness, infirmity, fxaXaKLav] among the people.' But when he saw the
multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted [were ha-
37 rassed^], and were scattered abroad [abandoned], as sheep having no shepherd. Then
saith he unto [to] his disciples. The harvest truly [indeed] is plenteous [great, ttoXvs],^
38 but the labourers- are few ; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send
forth labourers into his harvest.
' Ver. 35.— [The words of the tert. reo. : among the people, iv r^ \a(S, are retained by Lange, but omitted in all
modern critical editions, German and English (including Wordsworth), and were probably inserted from ch. iv. 23.— P. 8.]
^ Ver. SO. — [Dr. Lange translates : serschlagen, as he adopts the reading e cr kv K/iie vo i, jaded, harassed (from
(TKvWa), to strip, to lacer*ate, then metaph. to trouble, to vex; hence the Vulgata : vexati), which is supported by the
best MSS., X ., B., C, D., etc., the ancient versions, and the critical editors, Griesb., Lachm., Tischend., Meyer, Alford, Words-
worth. The reading of the Ecceived Text : iicKiXv ix4vol (from 4kKvc», to loosen, debilitate, iKAvofiat, to faint,
to be exhausted) has no weighty critical authority in its favor. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 37.— [Lange after Luther: Die Ernte ist gross, i. e., great, which is more correct than plenteous, since ttoAuv
refers to the extent of the harvest field and the labor to be performed which far exceeds the capacity of the small number
of laborers. Comp. Conant ad loc. — P. S.]
Ver. 36. They were 4a k v\ /j-ev o i . — Expla-
nations : 1. The common reading, e k A. e A y ,u e »/ o t ,
faint, tired. So some. a. With reference to the
people, who had travelled a considerable distance and
were faint (Fritzsche). b. In a figurative sense, a
flock without a shepherd, and hence tired by going
astray (Kuinoel). — 2. According to the meraiing of
a KvX\€ IV, to tear, to plagiix. a. Bretschneider :
torn by wolves, h. De Wette : plagued by hunger,
by cold, by ravening beasts, etc. c Meyer and the
Vulgate : vexati. But the first jioint to be ascer-
tained is, whether the term refers to the difficulties of
a flock without a shepherd, or to positive sufferings
which it had to undergo. As the latter is evidently
conveyed by the verb, we explain it as meaning af-
Jlided, beaten down, and scattered by thorns, by anx-
iety, by ravenous beasts, and plagues of every sort.
— "Epp t fj. fjie V o I {piTTTeiv, to cast down, to stretch
doxtm), not scattered (Beza, Luther, Authorized Ver-
sion), but cast doicn, beaten dotvn by flight or by
weariness (Kypke, de Wette) ; or stretched dcnun as
sheep that are worn out (Meyer).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
The general narrative given in the text serves as
introduction to the following section, which describes
the mission of the Apostles. At the same time, it
also forms the conclusion of the preceding narrative.
As the Lord unfolds His power, the misery and need
of the people increasingly appear ; He stretches forth
His arms and raises up the Twelve Apostles, to carry
on the work, and to spread its blessings. Thus His
prophetic merges in His royal work.
Ver. 35. And Jesus went about. — From the
parallel passages we gather that Jesus now travelled
along the lake, through the cities and villages of Gali-
lee. It is but natural that the popular misery should
then unfold to His view in all its fulness. Accordingly,
we distinguish three missionary journeys of Jesus in
Galilee. 1. To the Mount of Beatitudes ; 2. across
the sea ; 3. through the valley, aK.'.ig the shorn, in the
direction of Jerusalem. It is to the latter that the
text refers.
CHAP. IX. 36-38.
179
Ver. 37. The harvest is great (occurs in Luke
X. 2, at the sending forth of the seventy) ; — i. e., the
number of people who are accessible to the Gospel,
and ready to receive it, is great. — The laborers are
few. — As yet, Jesus was the only laborer. Their
prayers were intended to prepare them lor their
mission.
Ver. 38. The Lord of the harvest, that He
will send forth laborers. — Ills v.ork is the work
of God: 6 K /3 a At;, the urgent necessity existing,
should determine the Lord of the harvest to drive
forth, or to thrust forth, laborers.* De Wette calls
attention to the circumstance, that it is God who is
asked to send laborers. He is so far right, as the
call of Christ ultimately proceeds from God, just as
the kingdom of the Saviour is that of God.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The deep need of the world determined the
Lord to manifest Ilis royal dignity. Neither the
priesthood nor the kingdoms of the ancient world were
capable of bringing any real help to men. Even cho-
sen Israel, with its high priests, sanhedrim, rulers,
and rabbins, were but a scattered, broken-down, hope-
less, and helpless flock. Under these circumstances
it was that Christ manifested Himself as the Shep-
herd of His people, which implied that He was the
Shepherd of all nations, f The deep moral misery of
the people appeared most clearly in the rich and fur-
tile district of Galilee, with its numerous and pros-
perous cities.
2. In the same moment, when Christ was about
to manifest Himself as King, and in His compassion
to condescend to the boundless misery of His people.
He prepared to found the apostolic office, which He
graciously endowed with His gifts and His Spirit, for
the salvation of the world.
3. In the life and actings of Jesus, we always find
these two elements combined : provision for what is
future and distant, with provision for what is present
and immediate — a due regard for what was general,
and care for that which was special and urgent.
IIOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
Jes2is went about doing good to all (Acts x. 38) :
1. The extent of His labors {about all the cities and
villager) ; 2. the order of His labors {teaehing in their
synagogues) ; 3. the characteristic feature of His
labors {preaching the gospel of the kingdom) ; 4. the
seal of His labors {healing every sickness, etc.). — While
the Lord passed through rich cities and villages. His
attention was mainly directed to the need and the suf-
ferings of the people. — How wants seem to grow in
proportion as the Lord gives help: 1. This help
brings them to light ; 2. it inspires with courage to
* [The verb iK^a.\\nv, to expel, to cast out, like the
Hebrew npilj and !lj"15 , signifies sometimes to sewd forth;
comp. Matt. xiii. 52 (E. V.: hringetJi forth out of his trea-
sure); Marlv i. 12 (drivcth him into the wilclernes.s); ver. 4.3
(sent him away) ; Luke x. 2, 35 ; John x. 4 (he putteihforth
his own sheep), comp. Matt. x. 34, jSaAe?;/ tlp-i]D-r\v, 'I am
come to send peace on earth.' But perhaps there is some
reference here to the urgent necessity of laborers, as Dr.
Lango explains above, or to the Divine impulse, .as Dr.
Wonlaworth suggests, whieh constrains men unwilling and
unable of themselves to labor in so great a work, and makes
them feel and sav: 'Woe to me if I do not preach the Gos-
pel'(1 Cor. ix. 1G).-P. S.]
t |Dr. WnEDoN on ver. 33 : "No doubt our Lord prima-
rily has in view the Jewish multitudes before Ilim. Yet
JD more distant prospect is to be included the wide field of
the world and iti vast harvest in the coming age.'" — ]
make them known. — But token He saw the multitudes,
He 7vas moved with compa,ision on them. — Christ look-
ing on the scattered flock of man : 1. A look of pen-
etration ; 2. a look of sorrow ; 3. a look of saving
mercy. — The impression which the people made on
the Lord : 1. Not admiration, but i)ity; 2. not aver-
sion, but pity ; 3. not discouragement, but pity.— The
Church under the hierarchical shepherds of older
and more modern times : 1 . Without a shepherd, and
therefore without protection, .and bi'oken down ; 2.
without a shepherd, and therefore not led to the
green pastures, and cast down. — Christ born to be
the Shepherd of men, and in His compassion the
Shepherd of His people. — Christ born to be the King
of men, by His compassion the King of His people. —
What induced Christ to manifest Himself as King in-
stead of Prophet. — The compassion of Christ enlist-
ing heaven and earth for our succor: 1. The grace
of the Father ; 2. the prayer of His people ; 3. the
service of His messengers. — 77ie hai-vest is great, but
the laborers are few. — How those who judge accord-
ing to the letter reverse this saying ; but those who
judge according to the spirit feel its deep import. —
The great need of man, the great harvest of God. —
The prayer to God for laborers forming the com-
mencement of the kingdom of heaven : 1 . The com-
mencement of the apostolate ; 2. the commencement
of the Church ; 3. the commencement of missionary
labors ; 4. the commencement of the final completion
of the Church of God. — The right laborers : 1. They
are sent by God ; 2. in answer to the prayers of His
people ; 3. furnished by Christ for the work ; 4. con-
secrated for the spiritual and temporal wants of the
people ; 5. histruments of mercy in the hands of
Christ. — Our Father in heaven, the Lord of the har-
vest : 1. The seed is His; 2. the field is His; 3. the
harvest is His. — How Christ is employed about the
harvest of God. He takes charge, 1. of the seed, as
being the Word from the beginning ; 2. of the field,
as being the great Laborer and Servant of the Lord ;
3. of the harvest, as being the Son and the Judge of
the world. — How Christ summons His ov/n to cooper-
ate with Him, in order to spread through them His
blessings over the earth.* — The great King, in whom
the grace of God itself has appeared to His people.
Jiieger : — The Lord always looked upon the com-
mon people with pity, treated them with indulgence,
and traced the cause of their misery to their leaders,
who exclude others from the kingdom of heaven.
Starke : — Good shepherds are one of the most
precious gifts of God, even as bad pastors are the
greatest misfortune and plague of the world. — Ques-
nel : — The whole earth is the field where the harvest
of the Lord is to be gathered. — Many labor in the
name of the Lord ; but few will He own as His ser-
vants.— Osiander : — Ministers are fellow-workers with
God, 1 Cor. iii. 9 ; 2 Cor. vi. L — Successful laborers
are obtained in answer to prayer. — Cramer: — This
prayer enters into the three first petitions m the
Lord's Prayer. — The prayer of the pious members of
the congregation is mightier than the protection of
the Gtate.
Heubner : — What an accusation against the scribes
and priests ! — Oh, if people would only pray as they
ought for pastors ! — That He send them (e/</8aAj)) by
the mighty impulse of His Spirit.
* [Dr. Wiikdon: "■ Pnnj ye therefore. — Divine operation
waits upon human cooperation. God will do, in answer to
prayer, what will not be done without prayer. Low faith
in the Church produces slow development of the work of
salvat'on."— P. S.]
180
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
SECOND SECTION.
CHRIST MANIFESTING HIMSELF AS KING.— A. AS SHEPHERD OF HIS PEOPLE, IN SEND-
ING TO THE SCATTERED SHEEP HIS TWELVE APOSTLES, ENDOWED WITH THE
POWER OF HIS SPIRIT, FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN.
CirAPTEK X. (Mark iii. 13-19; vi. 7-11 ; Luke ix. 1-5, etc.).
Contents: — Tho first evangelistic jonrney of the Lord had led through the mountains of Galileo; the second, across the
sea to the country of the Gadurenes. On His third journey, the Lord visits the jjopulous cities and villages of Lower
Galilee, along the coast of the lake and in the direction of Samaria and Jerusalem. In measure as help is extended
by the Lord, both the need and the desire for help seem to increase. Accordingly, the Lord is obliged to send forth,
in the power of His Spirit, His Apostles, in order, through them, to give succor to the multitudes around. Hence, the
first mission of tho disciples, the calling of the Apo.stles, and the instructions, vphich, although primarily given to them
and for that special occasion, are applicable to all times. The chapter describes, 1. The separation, calling, and setting
apart of the twelve. 2. The commission given them, corresponding to their equipment for the work; or, the mission
of the Apostles, and thoir means of subsistence. 3. Their special direction to those who were prepared to receive the
word, particularly to i)ious households, with injunctions about remaining and going away 4. Prediction of the hostile
reception which the Go.spel would meet in the world, and of the persecutions which would await the Apostles. 5.
Their duty under persecution : a. Freedom from anxiety as to what they should answer; 6. constancy to the end,
amid the dreadful contests between believers and unbelievers; c. holy flight; rf. encouragement from the similar
treatment received by the Master; e. fearlessness, openness, and readiness to meet death, in view of the one thing to
be feared ; /. trustfulness in the preserving care of the Father. 6. The reward of faithful witnesses and confessors of
. the Lord, and the punishment of those who denied Him. 7. The Gospel as declaration of war to the world, or, the
holy sword. 8. Supreme love to the Lord as decisive in this warfare: a. The opponents, and their judgment; b. the
friends and allies, and their reward.
1. Choice of the Apostles. Ch. X. 1-4.
1 And when he had called unto Mm his twelve disciples, he gave them power against
[over] ' unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness, and all
2 manner of disease [weakness, infirmity]. Now the names of the twelve Apostles are
these; The first,^ Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son
3 of Zebedee, and John his brother ; Philip, and Bartholomew ; Thomas, and Matthew
the publican ; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus ; '
4 Simon the Cananite,^ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed [delivered] him.
1 ver. l.—lOver (as in Conanfs Matthew and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union) is expressed by the construction of
e^oucrlav with the genitive, and need not be italicized as against in the E. V. — P. S.]
'^ Ver. 2.— [rip WT OS is, rendered by Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union : Jirst, viz. in the order of enume-
ration (nomen numerale), while the translation the find (nomen digyiitatin) implies a certain superiority of rank or pri-
macy of honor (but no supremacy of jurisdiction), in other words, makes V eier XJrirnns inter •pares (not summ-us supra
iiifernores). The C. V. is right here, since the other Apostles are not numbered, as we should expect, if npioTos referred
merely to the arrangement, or the priority of calling (which rather belongs to Andrew and John, and not to Peter, comp.
John i. 37-41). Maldonatus: "<Si numerale nomen esset, catera quoque numeralia nomina, quae post illud sequuntur
poxita ement." Most modern Protestant commentators admit a certain primacy of Peter, who stands first in all tho lists
of the apostles, a.s James, John, and Andrew follow neoct, and Judas stands last, but they deny the inferences of the Koman
Gath. Church, based upon doctrinal and historical assumptions which can never be proven. See Com.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 3.— [The oldest authorities read only either £e6&«?<s or Thaddeus; the tea:tus receptiis unites both with the
addition surnamed, 6 €Ti»fA.T70ets. Lange reads simply Lebbeus with Tischendorf and Meyer (also Alford in the 4th
ed.), and puts the words: surnamed. TJiaddeuH in brackets; while Lachmann, Tregelles, and Conant give the preference
to Thaddeus after the Vatican Cod., etc.— P. S.]
< Ver. 4.— The reading Kavafoios (for Kavaviri]s) is supported by Codd. B., C, D. [The word should be rendered
Ca7iunif6 as the revised edition of the Am. Bible Society (1S54), the revised version of Dr. Conant and the Am. Bible
Union have it, and as Dr. Crosby (The N. T. with Explan. Notes or Scholia) proposes, instead of Canaanite as in the
usual editions of the E. V., including those of the Am. B. Soc. since 1855.— P. S.]
then furnished and fitted them for their mission.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Meyer says : " The mission, not the choice, of the
twelve is here recorded." But we must distinguish
Ver. 1. And having caUed to Him His three calls : the first, to be disciples ; the second, to
twelve disciples, npo(T Ka\( adinevos, etc. — serve as evangelists ; and now the third, to the apos-
Luke relates that, having spent the preceding night toUc office. This call to the apostolate, however,
in prayer, the Lord called the twelve together, and was only preluninary, and limited by the present cir-
CHAP. X. 1-4.
181
cumstancos and position of the Church. The apos-
tolic office obtained its full proportions after the as-
cension of our Lord, when the knowledge of the dis-
ciples and their testimony was completed, and the
Holy Spirit poured out on the d.ay of Pentecost.
Tlic call of twelve Apostles, indicating a definite
and fixed number, shows that in its ultimate idea the
apostolate was one, and that each individual called
and sent by the Lord possessed the power and au-
thority of the whole college of Apostles.
His twelve disciples. — They were called to-
gether as Ilis twelve chosen disciples ; but, after re-
ceiving authority, they became His twelve Apostles.
A proof this, that a decisive change- had taken place
in their condition, although they did not cease to be
His disciples in the strictest sense of the term.
Twelve. — Theophylact: kuto. rhv apiOahu rS^v
SoiSeKa (pvKicv. Matt. xix. 28. They are, primarily,
ambassadors to the twelve tribes of Israel, and to
this their number corresponds. The twelve tribes
bore typical reference to the purpose which Israel
was intended to serve in the world. On the one
hand, they expressed the idea of a full number, or
of the fuhiess of the Spirit ; while, on the other, they
) represented the world, which, in all its forms, was to
be pervaded by this fulness of the Spirit. What the
twelve tribes of Israel were typically, the twelve
Apostles were in deed and in truth, being the twelve
representatives and vehicles of the spiritual fulness
with which Christ pervades His people, and, through
them, the world.*
* [Comp. Malbonatus, the distinguished Rom. C.ath.
cominentator in Qiuitiwr JScinigclia, ad loc. : '■•line ergo
de caima duodecim Ohristus apostolos e^se voluif, ut duo-
decim Patriarchamm Jiguram implerei; et quemadmo-
dwm ex duodecim Pairiarchia totits Judaieus populus
carnaliter propagatus est; ita totm populus Christiano-
rum spiritualiter ex duodecim Apostolis propagaretur ;
venerat enim Ohristus, ut cavnem in spiritum eommuta-
ret." Wordsworth remarks on Matt. s. 2: "The number
Twelve (3 X 4) in Scripture seems to be sisrniflcant of perfec-
tion and universality; and the twelve apostles were re^ard-
nd by the ancient church as typified by the twelve Sons of
Israel (comp Matt. xix. 28 and Ma'donatus hero), the twelve
wells at Elim (Ex. xv. 2T). and perhaps by the twelve stones
of the Urim and Thummim on the bre stplate of the Hi^h
Priest, the type of Christ (Ex. xxviii. 15-21); the twelve
loaves of she w-bread; the twelve 'esploratores' of the prom-
ised land, the type of heaven ; the twelve stones taken from
the bed of Jord:in. They seem also to be represented by the
twelve stars in the crown of the woman in the wilderness,
the Church on earth (Rev. xii. 1), as well as by the twelve
foundations of the Church gl(;rified (Rev. xxi. 14: Eph. ii.
•20)."— P. S.]
He gave them i^ovaiav, power, rule, au-
thority; or, here, the pov/er of conquerors. — De
Wette and Ewald think that this power was convey-
ed in a mystical and symbolic form ; Meyer, by a
mere declaration. No special form is, indeed, men-
tioned in the text ; but, as spnbolical signs accom-
panied the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, and
as, even before that, we read of the Saviour breath-
ing on them (John xx. 22) as the symbol of their
consecration, wo are warranted in inferring that,
when first sent on their apostolic mission, the be-
stowal of power was accompanied by some outward
sign. Perhaps the solemn authority given them in
the words, " Heal the sick," etc., may have been that
sign. For, as the Lord performed His miraculous
cures chiefly by the word of His power, so this word
may also have conveyed similar authority to others.
On the Mount of OHves there was the symbol of the
hand lifted in blessing, which pointed to the pente-
costal effusion.
Ver. 2. The names of the twelve Apostles.
— These now assume greater importance. Four lists
of the Apostles are extant : that in the text ; that in
Mark iii. 16 ; that in Luke vi. 14 ; and that in Acts i.
13.* The enumeration in the Gospel according to
Luke is made almost in the same order as in Matthew,
although it occurs at an earher stage, and in connec-
tion with the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke, the
name of Thomas occurs after that of Matthew;
that of James Alpheus along with that of Simon, in-
stead of Judas Lcbbeus, so that the latter is conjoin-
ed with Judas Iscariot. Probably this arrangem.ent
was adopted as more easy for the memory, while
that of Matthew was the more authentic. Again,
the enumeration iir the Gospel of Mark agrees with
that in the Book of Acts, which was determined by
the later positions occupied by the Apostles. Thus
we distinguish two lists of Apostles, — the first, as
determined by their earliest mission ; the second, ac-
cording to the relative position of the Apostles at the
feast of Pentecost and afterward. Bengel : Universi
ordlues habent tres quaterniones, quorum nullus cum
alio quicqnam, perrnutat ; turn, in primo semper pi'i-
mus est Petrus, in secundo Pkllippus, in tertio Jaco-
bus Alphcei ; in, singidis cceteri apostoli loca permu-
taut ; proditor semper extremns.
' ATr6<Tro\os {airoardWai), nsi^'iT , occurs also
in a wider sense, as in John xii. 16 ; Phil. ii. 25. In
the special sense of the term, it applies to the am-
* [I subjoin the following synoptic table which exhibits the agreement and the difference, and the fact that all the fonr
catalogues arrange the names into three classes, of which each class includes the same names and is headed by the same
name, viz. the first by Peter, the second by Philii), the third by James the son of Alpheus.— P. S.]
1 Matthew x.
2-4.
1 Mark ui.
16-19. 1 Luke vi. 14-16.
1 Acts i 13.
1
1
'S.ifJLOiv YliTpos
2
1 'AvSpeas
1 '1<XKW0O^
1 'AuSpea^
1 •idKlc&OS
3
1 'idKW^OS
1 'laidwrts
1 'Ia/cai;8oy
1 'lwdyur)s
4
1 'Iccipuv^
1 'AvSpe'a?
1 'Icuaci/Tjs
1 'AvS-^(as
5
1
* 1 A t TTTT 0 s
6
1 BapdoKn/jialos
1 Bap6o\o/j.a7o
1 Bapdo\onatof
j 0o^as
1
1 Qwixas
1 MareaToj
1 Mardalos
1 BapOoKonalos
8
1 Marealos
1 ®aifxa9
1 ©oi/uciy
1 MarflaTos
9
1
'idK
U0OS 6 Tov ' A\(paiov
10
1 A€&0a:os
1 0a55oros
1 2i>(uv 6 KaK. ZrjAcT^s
1 XnKV 6 Z7)Aa>Trjy
11
j Si'm^^'" 5 Kafavaios
1 2tVa.^
1 'lovSas 'IaKM/8ow
1 'lotiSus 'laKdfiov
12
1 'lotSas '{(TKapi
irv^
1
'Iov5as 'IffKapt'id.
1 Vacant.
182
THE GOSPEL ACCOllDING TO MATTHEW.
bassadors called by God, or the witnesses and repre-
sentatives oi' Christ in extending His Church, and
with certaiu limitations, in ruling His Cliurcli (Rev.
ii. 1, HyyeKus). The peculiar conditions necessary
for the apostolate are mentioned in Acts i. 8, and
ver. 21. In a secondary sense, the term is also ap-
plied to apostolic messengers, as Rom. xvi. 7; 2
Cor. viii. 32. (Comp. Schaff' a Hist, of the Apost.
Chiirch,_ §129, p. 512 sqci.)
rifJoiToj 'S.inoiv . — As the other Apostles are
not numbered, it follows that irpwroj i.s not acciden-
tal (Eritzschc), but indicates a priority. This dis-
tinction depended : 1. On the prophetic arrangement
of the Lord in this place ; 2. on the confession of
Peter preceding that of the others, Matt. xvi. IG ; 3.
on the appearance of Peter at the day of Pentecost,
when he was the instrument of founding the Church,
Acts ii. 4 ; 4. on the fact that Peter was the first to
carry the gospel to the Gentiles, Acts x. But tliat
this priority of dignity and mission did not imply a
primacy of ranlv — not even so far as his own person
was concerned, much less as a permanent arrange-
ment— appears from many declarations of the Lord
(Matt, xviii. 18; xx. 25 ; xxiii. 8; xxviii. 19; John
."tx. 21 ; Acts i. 8), from the conduct of Peter him-
self (Acts xi. 4; xv. ; see 1 Pet.), and from that of
the other Apostles and of the Church (Acts xi. ; Gal.
ii.).* Meyer suggests that Peter was also first call-
ed ; but Andrew and John had been summoned be-
fore him. The traitor is mentioned last, not merely
on account of his eud, but aLso because he was last
called. The arrangement into pairs is explained by
the notice of Mark, that they were sent forth by two
and two.
Vers. 2-4. The names.— I. "ir^D Su^ewr,
2i|Ue&Jv, SiVoJi/ {hearing^ answer, Gen. xxix. 33).
— nerpos, stone, rock, irtrpa, — in Chald. i<S"'3 ,
Krjrtms. The following is the explanation given in
Matt. xvi. 1*7 : Simon, thou son of Jonas, of the dove
( n:Si ), which lodgeth in the clefts of the rock (im-
age of the Church, Song ii. 14 ; Jer. xlviii. 28), thou
shalt be called the Rock (of the dove).— 2. 'Avdptas.
Winer regards it as of Greek origin ; Olshausen de-
rives it from the Hebrew ^1? , to make a vow.
There seems, however, to have been a peculiar con-
nection Ijetween the Grecians and Andrew and Philip,
wliicli also appears in their names (John xii. 22).
The name Andrew is related to auSpelus, manly, and
to di/SpittT, the representation of a man — a statue.
Probably this Apostle had also a Hebrew name; in
which case the name Andrew was given to charac-
terize hLs manly spirit. — 3. 'Mkoi^os, Sp^*^ ; pri-
marily, an Old Testament name of honor, the original
meaning of the name not being taken into account.
This James, or the Elder, is designated as 6 rov
ZeffeSaiov {see ch. iv.). — 4. '\wdvvT]S, "jni"! ,
given by Jehovah, or by the grace of Jehovah. By
the grace of God.f Properly, God is favorable,
gracious. He grants as of grace. — According to Mark,
the sons of Zebedee were called ^\^07is ofth^mder;"
not by way of reproof, but as characteristic of their
disposition. Probably the name applied primarily
to James. John was afterward designated the
* [Compr\rc the notes of Maldonntus, Olshausen, Meyer,
Alfunl, Barnes, Wordsworth, Alexander, etc., in loc, and
my disonssion of the quistion of Peter's alleged primaey and
supremacy in the Ilinlory of the Apontolic Church, §90
(End. tiansl., p. 350 .sqq.).— P. S.]
t [Compa'-e the Greek Theodor, the German Gotthotd,
Gottlieh.—l\ S.]
" friend of Jesus," and " the disciple whom the Lord
loved ; " in the ancient Church, i 4Tn(TTr,etus, i. e., he
who leaned on His breast [His bosom-friend], sat at
His right hand. — 5. * i Aitttfo s. The original de-
rivation of the word is not of personal importance in
this case. Pioljably he had another name. He was
a native of Bethsaida, and one of the earliest disci-
ples of Jesus, John i. 43. — 6. Bap6oAona?os, the
same Jis Nathaniel. In John i. 46, he occurs in con-
nection with Philip ; while in the other Gospels the
same event is coupled with Nathanael. bNjr? , the
gift of God; while Bartholomew, "^^bpl "3 ^ means
son of Tholmai, Sept. 2 Sam. xiii. 37. ""cbn , prop-
erly rich in furroics, cultivated field. Perhaps the
original designation, ".son of Tholmai," was after-
ward converted into an apostolical by-name, imply-
ing, son of a rich field, rich fruit. — 7. © w ^ a j ,
ZA'&r} , gemellus, twiri-broiher ; AiSuyuoj, John xi.
IG; XX. 24; xxi. 2. — 8. Marealos v TtKcovns:
on this name compare the Introduction. His origi-
nal name was Levi, the son of Alphens. — 9. 'laKa--
/3o5 o ToO ' AX(paiov, James the Younger, or the
son of Alpheus (though undoubtedly of other parent-
age than Matthew).— 10. Ae/3;8a7o5, ''ab (not from
the little town of Libba, near Carmel, as Gerlach and
Lisco suggest, but) from ~b ^ heart, and meaning al-
most the same as OaSSaTo?, """ri (which occurs in
the Talmud), from IP , the breast, — hence the hearty
or courageous. In later Codd., and in the parallel pas-
sages, in Luke vi. 16; Acts i. 13, he is called 'loi'i-
5a s 'laKSfiov, i. e., brother of James, fiTinii (ver-
bale fut. Hophal a fTl^ , Hiphil, professus est, celc-
bravit). — W.'S.lfxuiv & Kavavalos. The latter de-
signation derived from Nip, in Chald. "S'p. The
explanation of it appears even from the other read-
ing, Kai/afiTTj J, and still more from the title Ztj-
A WT7) s in Luke, — the brother of James of Alpheus
and of Judas.* On " the brothers of the Lord," see
the Encycls., and my article Jacobus in Herzog's
Jicallex.'-- 12. 'lovSas 6 ' Icr nap icirrjs, Uj^>t
Pl's'ip . From Kerioth in the tribe of Judah, Josh.
XV. 25. /See also Lightfoot. 'O Ka\ {qui idem)^Ta-
pa^ov% avTov, " Who also delivered Ilim " (not
"betrayed," which would have been expressed by
TT p 0 5 0 I'y s). So Meyer. In point of fact, the two,
however, are identical.
DOCTRINAL AKD ETHICAL.
1. From the occurrence of so many double
namesf of the Apostles, we are naturally led to infer
that each had his pecuUar designation. But Judas
the traitor had none: in the deepest sense he re-
* ZenMs, for the national religion, after the example of
Phinehas, Nnm. xxv. 7. Tbey were quite. in accordance
with the spirit of the theocracy, and acted as reprovers of
or>en and public sin. From the history of the List Jewi.«li
war we learn how fearfully this institution had degenerated.
t [Not hynames. as the Edinb. translator has it, misled
l>y the German Beiname, -ahKh means literally «i(77!<'?7?c.
cognomen, while Mcknnme or SpUzn<i7ne is the Kngli.^h
Vyiuime or ■nielcvame. "We must, however, observe a sliglit.
difference. The text uses the word Beiname, mirnnme, for
all the additional names of the Apostles, whether old or new
(as Peter); but with the ancient Romans coyvomen was the
third name indicat ng the house {familia) of the person (the
family name, surname, in German: FamUienna'ine\-\\)x\\ts
vomen described the class (gena). and prwnomcn (like our
Christian name) the Individual.— P. 8.]
CHAP. X. 1-4.
mained anonymous — the man of Kerioth. These ad-
ditional names serve in many respects to indicate the
characteristics of the Apostles. (Comp. Lehen Jesu,
ii. 2, p. 691.)
2. The selection of the twelve Apostles, no doubt,
depended on their exliibiting in the liighest degree
the most precious manifestations of the life of Christ.
In some respects their qualifications must liave been
similar. They were to be laymen^ unconnected with
the priesthood ; unlearned men, unconnected with
traditional philosophy ; and plain men, unconnected
with the false culture and the pomp of the world.
Again, so far as their positive qualifications were
concerned, they must be pious Israelites, believers in
the Jfessiah, disciples, men of gifts, and that of so di-
1. Peter, the Rock. Confession.
3. James, the son of thmider. Martyrdom.
5. Philip. Moral evidence of faith. Commit-
nion (" Come and see ").
1. Thomas, the twin. The spirit of inquiry and
sacred criticism.
9. James, the brother of the Lord. [V] Gift of
union, ecclesiastical government.
11. Simon, the Zealot. Zeal for a proper develop-
ment in the Church. Pastoral activity.
Tl;e calling of Judas Iscariot, who is designated a
devil, John vi. "70 ; a thief, xii. 6 ; the son of perdi-
tion, xvii. 12, forms a great theological problem.
Either of the two ordinary explanations — that Christ
had not known him from the beginning; or else,
that He had chosen him to become the voluntary in-
strument of judgment, and the involuntary instru-
ment of salvation — appears to us opposed to the
spirit of Christ. We would rather venture to sug-
gest, that, carried away by temporary enthusiasm,
Judas had offered himself to the Lord ; that the dis-
ciples, blinded by his glowing zeal, liad earnestly
recommended him to the Master ; and that, in the
fulness and boldness of His love, Christ had consent-
ed to receive a man so richly gifted by nature, chiefly
because His refusal might have proved a stumbling-
block to the disciples. [V]
[The biblical symbolism of numbers to which Dr.
Lange here alludes, is worthy of more serious at-
tention than it has received in English theology.
There is room here for fanciful theories; but the
main points hardly admit of serious doubt. The
careful student of the Scripture must be struck with
the frequency of the use of certain numbers, especial-
ly 3, 4, 7, 10, and 12, in significant connection with
sacred ideas and things, from Genesis to Revelation.
It is impossible to resolve all this into mere accident,
or an unmeaning play. God is " the wonderful Num-
berer, the Numberer of secrets" (comp. "'DiTsba ,
Dan. viii. 13, and the marginal note in the Auth.
Vers.), and "doeth all things in number and measure
and weight " (Wisdom si. 20). Number is expres-
sive of order, symmetry, proportion, and relativity.
1 is the symbol of unity or oneness, 2 of antithesis
and polaritj', 3 of synthesis, of the uncreated Divini-
ty, the holy Trinity (compare the Mosaic benediction.
Numb. vi. 24-26, the Trisagion, Isa. vi. 3, the bap-
tismal fornmla, the apostolic benediction), 4 of ku-
manity or the created ivorld as the revelation cf God
(think of the four comers of the earth, the four sea-
sons, the four points of the compass, the four ele-
ments, the four Gospels). From this may be ex-
verse a character as to form a kind of contrast, and
yet to display their higher unity in Christ. In this
respect they were to be the antitype of the tribes of
Israel (of the twelve gems in the breastplate of the
high priest; sec Rev. xxi. 19, 20, compared with Ex.
xxviii. 17), and to exhibit the great features of the
Church, as adapted to the various forms of spiritual
receptivencss and felt need in the world. The num-
ber twelve was that of tlic fulness of the kingdom of
God (so to speak, of the ideal presbytery), — three,
the number of the Spirit, multiplied by four, the
number of the world. Hence twelve was the sym-
bolical number of the world as transfovmed.
Viewed in this light, we have the following fun-
damental types : —
2. Andrew, the manly pioneer. Missions.
4. John, the beloved disciple. Myslicisrn and
ideal depth, and calmness.
6. Bartholomew. Perfect sincerity, simplicity,
and devoutrtcss.
8. Matthew. Theocratic and ecclesiastical learn-
ing.
10. Judas Lebbeus, Thaddeus. Earnestness for
the purity of the Church. Pastoral faithfulness.
12. Judas Iscariot. Secular administration of
the Church. Church property.*
plained the symbolical significance of 7 or 3+4, and
of 12 or 3 X 4. Seven, being the xmion of 3 and 4,
is the signature of the relation of God to the world,
or the covenant (the Hebrev,' word for seven, l"2'i ,
signifies also an oath. Gen. xxi. 31 ; xxvi. S3, and the
verb 1'2'd , to swear, " since seven," as Gesenius ex-
plains, " was a sacred number, and oaths were con-
firmed either by seven victims offered in sacrifice,
Gen. xxi. 28, or by seven witnesses and pledges ").
Seven figures very conspicuously in Scripture from
the first institution of the sabbath in paradise to the
seven churches, seven angels, seven Spirits, etc., of
the Apocalypse. Creuzer observes {Symbolik, vol.
ii. 161): "The universal sanctity of the number
seven was fully acknowledged even by the ancients
in all its bearing;!." Twelve, being the product of 3
and 4, symbolizes, from the twelve patriarchs and
twelve tribes down to the twelve foundations and
twelve gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, the indwell-
ing of God in the human family, or the interpene-
tration of the world by the Divinity. Ten is the
number of harmony and completeness, as in the ten
commandments.
This whole subject has been very thoroughly dis-
cussed, with special reference to the Tabernacle
where the numbers 3, 4, 10, 5, 7, and 12 control the
whole structure, by Dr. Chr. W. F. B^hr in his able
and learned work : Die Symbolik des Mosaisehen
Culius, Heidelberg, 1837, vol. i., p. 128-233, and
also by H. Kurtz in the Theol. Sludien und Kritiken
for 1844, p. 315-370. Of English divines Fairbairn
{Typology of Scriptures, 2d cd., 1854, vol. ii., 87 sq.)
adopts Biihr's view, as far as the number ten is con-
cerned ; Trench {Epistles to the Seven Churches, p.
83-91 of the Am. ed. of 1S61), and Wordsworth
(Com. on Matt. x. 2) with regard to 7, 3, and 4. The
recent work of Dr. M. Mahan (of the Episc. Gen.
Theol. Sem. at New York) : Pcilmoni ; or the Nv^
* [Comp. the delineation of the leading apostle.s, Peter,
John, Paul, and James in Schaff'3 Uintory of the Apostolic
Church, p. 4;3T sqq.]
184
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
rnerals of Scripture a Proof of Inspiration, New
York, 1863 (based in great part upon Browne's Ordo
ScEcu/orum, but ignoring Biihr), does not discuss, as
one might infer liom the title, the symbolic import
of Scripture numbers, but more the relation of num-
bers to events and the coincidences of periods. —
P.S.]
3. It is a remarkable fact, that Christ construct-
ed His apostolate on the basis of natural relationship
and of mental affinity. Six of the Apostles were
brothers: viz., Peter and Andiew; James and John,
the sons of Zebedee (probably cousins of the Lord ;
see Wieseler, in the Studien u. Kritiken for 1840, p.
648, and Winer, art. Salome) ; the sons of Alpheus
— James the Younger, Judas Lebbeus, and Simon
Zelotes (the cousins [?] and adoptive brothers of the
Lord, commonly called His brethren). Then we
read of the friendship subsisting between Philip and
Bartholomew ; Andrew, John, and Peter. Finally,
the three last-mentioned Apostles, and perhaps some
of the others also, had been disciples of John.
4. The sending forth of the disciples by two and
two, indicates that none of them by himself was a
sufficient representative of the fulness of Christ, and
that each supplemented the other, both in the way
of limitation and enlargement. This state of matters
ceased after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, when
the disciples became Apostles in the full sense of the
term.
6. We shall speak in another place of the breach
formed among the Apostles by the apostacy of Judas,
of the election of Matthias in his place, and of the
calUng of the Apostle Paul.
HOMILKTICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How the Lord converts His chosen disciples into
Apostles. — How He makes His redeemed fellow-
workers in His work of redemption. — How the love
and compassion of Christ branches out, and spreads
I over His people and over the world. — What we have
learned in the school of the Lord must be exhibited
in our life, activity, and teaching. — The call to the
work of Evangehsts : 1. What it implies ; 2. how it
presupposes one great calling; 3. how it includes
many calls. — The calling of the disciples a bestowal
of authority upon them by the Lord. — What power
do you, who profess to hold the apostolic office, dis-
play: to cast out unclean spirits, and to heal all
manne* of sickness and all manner of disease among
the people? — The apostolic office must appear in
spiritual jjower, which, under God, will awaken souls
to newness of life. — The twelve Apostles as repre-
senting the great features of the kingdom of God : 1.
The great features of the destiny of Israel ; 2. of the
fulness in Christ ; 3. of the Church ; 4. of the king-
dom of heaven in its perfectness. — The apostolic
name a type of the new name which Christians are
to obtain. — How personal character comes out and
becomes transformed in the kingdom of God, to the
glory of the Father and of Christ. — How all friend-
ship and relationship should be subservient to the
kingdom of God. — The calling of fishermen and pub-
licans to the apostolic office an evidence of the glory
of Christianity. — Judas, or the dangers of ecclesiasti-
cal office. — Even Judas must, for the time being, be
acknowledged as an Apostle of the Lord.
Starke: — Osiander : Let us not attempt to do
everything ourselves, without assistance. — Majus:
Those who are sent into the Lord's vineyard must be
properly furnished for the work. — Bihl. Wurt. : We
must not be offended at the humble origin and the
poor appearance of preachers.
Lisco: — Judas ; or, even the Church of God is not
absolutely pure. — The Apostles had personally seen
the Lord, were called directly by Him, accredited their
witness by naracles, were not bound to one congrega-
tion, and preached the word of God without error.
Heubner : — This mission was at the same time a
trial of their teaching.
2. The Mission, the Message, and the promised Support. Ch. X. 5-10.
5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying. Go not into the way
6 of the Gentiles,' and into any [a] city of the Samaritans enter ye not : But go rather
7 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom
8 of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,^ cast out devils :
9 freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in
10 your purses [girdles]^; Nor scrip [bag] for your journey, neither [nor] two coats,
neither [nor] shoes,^ nor yet staves [a staff] ^ : for the workman is worthy of his meat.®
' Ver. 5.— [Ei'y o5ov ibvS>v jjA] a-KiXb-qre. Ewald: Hin zu Heiden siehet nicht ; Lange: Gehet nicht ahwdrts
auf die Strasse der Heiden ; Campbell, Norton : Go not away to Gentiles; Conant: Go not away to Gentiles (omitting
the article) ; the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union : Go not into the way to the Gentiles; bShs idvuiv = Eeidenweg, i. «., way
to the heathen.—?. S.]
2 Ver. 8.— The words: viKpohs fyiipere are wanting in Codd. E., F., K., L., M., etc., in many transl., and fathers, and
hence omitted by Soholz and Tischendorf. But they are supported by the important Codd. B.. C. D. [and Cod. Sinait.],
and old versions, and the omission may be easily explained from the fact that no raising of the dead occurred on this first
mission. Griesbach and Lachmann [also Alford in the fourth edition] give the words after i&fpaTreucTf. [This is the
proper order of the oldest MSS. including the Cod. Sinait, .an<l hence Lange correctly translates: Ileal th6 sick, raise the
dead, cleanse the lepers, etc. So also Dr. Conant, and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 9.— [El J tos ^livas; Lange: Gurtel {-ta&chen).]
< Ver. 10.— [More literally: sandals, viroSvfJ-aTa. But Lange retains the more popular: Schuhe.]
s Ver. 10.— [Dr. Conant: "The Received Text, after Stephens' 3d ed. of 1550, has correctly pd^Soi/ in the sing., as in
our vern.acular verr^ion from Wiclif "s to the Bishops' Bible. Kintc Jrinies' revisers, following the false reading of the Com-
plutensian and of Stephei s' first and second editions, give the ])lural: staves; perhaps to avoid an imaginary discrepancy
with Mark vi. 8.'' Dr. Lange adopts the singular.— P. S.]
CHAP. X. 5-10.
185
« Ver. 10. — [Lan^re: Unterhalt, sustenance ; Conant: Kving.
port or sustenance of life. — P. S.]
The Greek rpocp-h includes all that is necessary for sup-
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
The instruction to the Apostles is contained in
vers. 5-42. The parallel passages are in the ninth,
tenth, and twelfth chaps, of Luke. As Matthew
was an eyewitness, we have sufficient guarantee
for the accuracy of the instructions as reported by
him.
Ver. 5. The way of the Gentiles ; — L c, to the
Gentiles, or into Gentile territory. This with special
reference to their own condition, and to the circum-
stance that they were to take the road toward Jeru-
salem, as appears from the following clause.
Into any city of the Samaritans. — Samaria
lay on their way from Galilee to Judaea. The Lord
does not pi-ohibit their passing through Samaria, but
only their settling for evangelistic purposes, for which
the time had not yet arrived. This passage, with its
injunction, not to the Gentiles, nor to the Samaritans,
but to the Jews, contrasts with the command after
His resurrection : " Ye shall be witnesses unto Me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." The Lord
assigns to the Samaritans a position intermediate be-
tween the Jews and the Gentiles, which is fuUy borne
out by their history. They had greater claim on the
gospel than the Gentiles, but less than the Jews.
This seems to imply (what Hengstenberg denies) that
they were a mixed race, whose religion consisted of
a combination of Jewish and heathen elements. The
Samaritans were the descendants of the heathen col-
onists (Gerlach ; Phoenicians and Syrians ?) whom
Shalmaneser sent into the country after the deporta-
tion of the Ten Tribes into Assyria (2 Kings xvii. 24),
and of the remnant of Israelites left behind, with
whom they intermarried. When the Jews returned
from the Babylonish captivity, they prevented the
Samaritans from taking part in rebuilding the tem-
ple. Accordingly, the latter reared, under Sanballat
and Manasseh (Neh. xiii. 28), a sanctuary of their
own, on Mount Gerizim, which was destroyed by
Hyrcanus, 109 b. c. The place, however, was re-
garded sacred, and prayer was offered there. The
Jews treated the Samaritans as heretics (not abso-
lutely as heathens). Their enmity was, perhaps,
partly accounted for by the conduct of the Samari-
tans, who neither consistently espoused the cause of
Judaism nor that of heathenism. This led to bitter
hatred and jealousy between these neighboring pop-
ulations. In later times, the Samaritans continued
strict Monotheists, cherished the hope of a coming
Messiah, and adopted the Pentateuch as their author-
ity in matters of faith. But even then heathen ele-
ments appeared among them. See Acts viii.
We must not overlook the difference between
^7j dire'xflTjTe and jut) eiafXOriTe. The con-
versation between the Lord and the woman of Sama-
ria, and His appearance in one of their cities, fully
prove that this was merely a provisional arrangement
for the disciples. The Lord Himself generally acted
on tlie principle of proceeding from the particular to
the universal (Matt. xv. 24), since His kingdom had
first to be founded and established in Israel. But
withal. He ever prosecuted His great object of extend-
ing His kingdom to the utmost boundary of the earth.
This temporary limitation to Israel was, however, the
condition necessary for the attainment of this object :
Matt. viii. 11, etc. In the ease of His disciples, He
strictly insisted on this methodical procedure ; and
the express prohibition in this instance shows how
readily the opposite might have taken place, or, in
other words, how deeply they were already imbued
with the spirit of catholicity. Accordingly, it is ab-
surd to urge that this prohibition is incompatible with
John iv. (Strauss), or with Matt, xxviii. 19 (Gfrorer,
Kdstlin). Heubner : To have sent the disciples to the
Gentiles and the Samaritans, would have been to close
the way to the hearts of the Jews. A people had
first to be gathered among them, for theirs were the
calling and the promises. During Christ's brief min-
istry on earth, there was neither time nor room for
going beyond the boundaries of Canaan.
Ver. 8. Raise the dead. — "The first instance
in which the dead were raised by apostolic agency,
occurs in the Book of Acts (ix. 36); but the Seven-
ty reported on their return, that the evil spirits were
subject to them, Luke x. 17." Gerlach.
Freely ye have received. — This refers both
to their teaching, and to the miraculous help which
they were to bring.
Ver. 9. In your purses, or rather girdles. —
The girdle of the upper garment served at the same
time as purse. In the East, the rich wear pockets
in their dresses. — Neither gold, nor silver, nor
brass (copper, small coins ; Vulg. : pecunia). A de-
scending climax, showing that even the least profit
from their office was prohibited ; but implying nei-
ther a vow of poverty nor of mendicancy, in the popish
sense. They were to introduce the great principle,
that the messengers of the gospel had claim on daily
support and free hospitality.
Ver. 10. The prohibition to provide themselves
with two under garments, and to bestow care on tra-
velling shoes and travelling staves, may have been a
symbolical mode of enjoining that they were rather
to stay in one place, than to liurry from one to an-
other,— in general, that they were to be lightly attir-
ed, and free of care. Perhaps the word vttoo t) /xa-
T a means travelling shoes in the strict sense, as dis-
tinguished from (T aud d\ta. The inroSru^a KolXov
refers to the Roman calceus. According to Mark,
they were not to put on two under garments. This
is merely a stronger expression. But it may be re-
garded as intended by way of explanation, that in that
Gospel the messengers of Christ are directed to take
a staff, and to be shod with sandals. This staff of
which Mark speaks, is not to be understood as in op-
position to several staves (hence, perhaps, the read-
ing pd^Sovs, in several Codd.), but to a larger outfit
for the journey. Hence the two accounts substantial-
ly agree. They were not to concern tlicmselves about
the staff, far less to make a profit of it by their of-
fice.
For the workman is worthy of his meat
[living]. — This serves as key to the preceding pas-
sage. Their maintenance and tlicir office were not to
be severed. They were to trust to their office for
their maintenance, and tlieir maintenance was to be
exclusively for their office (1 Cor. ix. 14 ; Gal. vi. 6).
Olshausen rightly calls attention to the difference of
times expressed in Luke xxii. 35. Among those who
were prepared to receive the gospel, they required
no provision for the future ; not so among enemies,
although in that case also anxious care was to be
banished {see ver. 19). The laborer is d | j o y , wor-
186
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
thy, — indicating liis personal value, of which he should
be conscious with dignity, i. e., with humility and
confidence.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
The instructions which the Lord gave to His am-
bassadors, were, in the first place, intended for their
first mission. Hut the terms arc so pregnant, the di-
rections so deep in their bearing, and so general in
their application, that they may be taken as the type
of all the commissions given by Christ to His ser-
vants. This remark applies, first, to the aim of their
mission, viz., to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ;
i. e., in the first place, always to those who are
most willing and prepared to receive the truth, as
well as to the mod needy. Next, as to the negative
direction about their way, we gather that we are not
to reverse the Divine order and arrangement in preach-
ing the gospel, — a rule which Paul invariably fol-
lowed. Acts xvi. 6, 9. Then, as to their commission.
They are, (a) to preach : to announce that the kmg-
dom of heaven is at hand. (6) To confirm their word,
— 1. by quickening.^ — healing the sick, and even rais-
ing the dead ; 2. by purifying, — cleanse the lepers,
cast out devils. The servants of Christ must always
aim after these two effects in their activity. — Lastly,
as to tlieir reward. Freely they receive, freely they
give. And yet there is no need for care, since the
laborer is worthy of support. The preaching of the
gospel must never be degraded into an ordinary
worldly employment ; nor, on the other hand, should
the evangehst be afraid or ashamed to accept of suf-
ficient support from those to whom he preaches, and
that according to their own mode of living. We are
unfit for building up the kingdom of heaven, or of
self-sacrificing love, if we approach the work in a
apuit of coveiousness or of anxious care, distrusting
the suppUes of the Church. That this freedom from
care does not exclude necessary provision, as indicat-
ed by our circumstances and by those of the persons
around us, nor the careful preservation of such pro-
vision, appears from the history of the miraculous
feeding of the multitude. In botli these instances
there was a small provision, and a larger one was
preserved. Gerlaeh mentions the cloak of Paul as a
case in point, 2 Tim. iv. 13. But this last circum-
stance also shows how free from all outward care the
Apostles had been.
HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL.
Christ sending forth His messengers : 1. The mes-
sengers ; 2. the akn ; 8. the way ; 4. the message ;
5. the price (freely, in the love of Christ) ; 6. the
provision and the supp.ort. — The mission of the twelve
Apostles, in its continuance to the end of the world.
— Fulfihnent of the prediction, " How beautiful upon
the mountains ! " etc., Isa. lii. 1. — How Divine wis-
dom orders the way of Divine love: 1. As need in-
creases, help enlarges ; 2. ihrough limitation to uni-
versality ; 3. from those who are most susceptible, to
those who are less susceptible ; 4. through the quick-
ening of the people of God, to that of the world. —
True and false separatism, as distijiguished from true
and false universrdism, in the spread of the faith. — Mis-
sionary zeal nmst accommodate itself to riglit order,
and move in the right direction. — How does" the Lord
indicate the manner in which to carry on His work V
1. By His word ; 2. by the history of His kingdom ;
3. by His spirit. — The eternal obligation to carry the
gospel to the Jews, as deiived from the injunction to
go to the lost .sheep of the house of Israel. — Symbol-
ical meaning of the injunction : 1. To go to the lost ;
2. to the lost sheep ; 3. to those on whom the hope
of the Church rests. — The message of salvation: 1.
An announcement of the kingdom of heaven by the
word ; 2. an exhibition of the word of God by deeds.
— How the ambassadors of the Church must prove
their Divine mission : 1. By healing the sick, not by
torturing the whole ; 2. by raising the dead, not by
killing the living ; S. by cleansing the lepers (here-
tics), not by representing as heretics those who are
pure ; 4. by casting out devils, not by setting them
free. — Freely ye have received, freely give : the fun-
damental principle for the spread of the kingdom of
God. — Freedom from care of the rciessengers of Je-
sus.— The pilgrims lightly attired, carrying in their
hearts the treasures of heaven : 1. Outwardly, unbur-
dened ; 2. inwardlj', laden with the greatest riches.
— The laborer is worthy of his hire ; or, th.osc who
publish the gospel should live by the gospel.
Starke: — The kingdom of Christ is not earthly,
nor of this world, but consists of heavenly and spirit-
ual treasures. — The ofBee of the ministry is not a
trade. — Quesnel : — What it is to have neither gold
nor silver in our scrips, but to have them in our
hearts. — A tnie minister of the gospel is not hinder-
ed by anything in his mission, but is ever ready
to go. — Duty of the Church to maintain its minis-
ters.
Gcrlach : — Disinterestedness one of the great
characteristics of the servants of Christ. — The grape
of God is free, even though it be communicated by
the instrumentality of man.
Hevhner : — Go not whither inclination carries,
but whither God sends you. — The greed of Gehazi
punished. — Ministers must not seek their own ease or
advancement.
3. Special Direction of the Apostles to pioics households. Reception and Rejection. Ch. X. 11-15.
11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and
12 there abide till ye go thence. And when ye come into a [the, r-qv] house, salute it.
13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let
14 your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
15 when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say
unto you, It sliall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of
judgment, than for that city.
CHAP. X. 11-16.
187
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 11. Inquire who in it is worthy. — A
still further limitation. Tiiey were to go to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel, and to inquire who
among them were worthy, i. e., susceptible, or pious
Israelites. This question could only be answered ac-
cording to objective marks, as the Searcher of hearts
alone knew their state and disposition.
And there abide. — Continuance in a place, the
formation of a centre, so to speak, in opposition to
transient) and broken activity.
Ver. 12. And when ye come into the hoxise
— i. e., the house of him who is worthy (Meyer) — sa-
lute it. — The common Eastern salutation had in this
instance a twofold meaning; — 1. being an offer of
spiritual fellowship in the peace which they bring to
the worthy ; 2. being addressed to the whole house-
hold, for the sake of the worthy person who was at
the head of it. ♦
And if the houss be worthy. — Not of your
salutation (Fritzsche), but of your abiding (Meyer).
— Let your peace come upon it. — The Lord Him-
self ratifies by His peace, their salutation of peace.
— Let your peace return to you ; — i. e., it shall
be taken from that household, and returned to you.
That household itself shall become poorer, but the
disciples shall be all the richer and more joyous. But
the expression also indicates that no further fellow-
ship should be held with such households, Isa.lv. 11.
Ver. 14. And whosoever. — The word, whoso-
ever, refers to persons who were worthy, as being the
representatives of worthy households and towns.
The meaning, however, is not, that on the first fail-
ure they were to avoid a house or a town, but, that
if they were personally not received, they should
leave first the household, and then the town. Of
course, even the first failure would appear ominous,
as the disciples had previously made the necessary
inqiuries. " To shake off the dust of the feef, — a sign
of contempt, as in the case of the heathen. The Jews
taught, pidverem terrw elhnicce ex contactu inqvinare.
Lightfoot, /Zbror, 331. Mislma, Surenhusius vi. Wet-
stein, comp. Acts xiii. 21." Meyer. But the action
must be regarded rather as symbolical of complete
cessation of all fellowship, of renunciation of all in-
fluence, and hence as an announcement of impending
judgment, but not as a mark of contempt. The ex-
planations of de Wette — " have nothing to do with
them," and of Ewald — " calmly, as if nothing had
happened," fall far short of the import of the pas-
sage.
Ver. 15. The land of Sodom \ — i. e., the m-
habitants of those doomed cities. The higher the
spiritual offer rejected, the greater their sin. In So-
dom, only the weak testimony of Lot had been heard ;
but to reject the Evangehsts, marked the climax of
guilt (Matt. xi. 20 ; Luke xii. 47). — UnbeUef is a sec-
ond fall (John iii. 36).
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. These directions of the Lord imply a telling
argument against extreme individualism, and for the
extension of the gospel blessings over whole house-
holds. The Lord sends His disciples to worthy heads
of families, and, through them, to their whole house-
holds. On account of the worthiness of the head of
the family, the whole household is generally received
into spiritual fellowship. And although there may
be divisions in the house with reference to Christ,
ver. 35, even these prove that, in itself and in its na-
ture^ the family must be regarded as a spiritual unit.
Nowhere do we meet in such cases with a distinction
of believing and indifferent persons, but only with
that of beUeving and unbelieving ; it is not majors or
minors, but friends or foes of Jesus. The latter break
up the natural unity and fellowshij) of the family.
Thus the proto-evangel was destined for the house of
Adam ; the ark contained the household of Noah (al-
though Ham formed one of them) ; the promise was
to Abraham and his household ; and circumcision
was the bond of unity for the house of Israel. Simi-
larly, the Apostles planted the Church in believing
families (Acts x. ; xvi. ; 1 Cor. i. 16). The question,
whether in every case children were baptized or not,
is comparatively of little importance. The Anabap-
tist principle overlooks the Divine institution of the
fandlij, aud its import in the Church, the interchange
between spiritual and natural communion, and the
idea of extended personality, the germ of the Church,
which every apostolic household formed (1 Cor. vii.
14).
2. First rule : To inquire for those who are wor-
thy (not to go by haphazard). Second rule : To
salute a worthy household — to receive them into the
fellowship of evangelical peace. Promise ; comfort.
Third rule : To break off fellowship, and to announce
judgment, in case they were not received. Yet not
rashly. It is said, "Whosoever shall not receive
you " (i. <?., decided rejection), " nor hear your words "
(where this also is decided), then only, etc. — Hence,
either the baptism of the Spirit or that of fire [of
judgment]. One of the two must come.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
First object of interest to the messengers of Christ
when entering a city or town. — Apostolical inquiry
for the best lodgings. — We may learn even from un-
believers who are the pious. — Who is worthy of
Christ's message of peace ? — How Christ has convert-
ed the common salutation into an evangelical mes-
sage of peace. — " There abide till ye go thence." —
The disciples sent to the family. — To salute the
house, means to receive it into fellowship. — The salu-
tation of the disciples is the blessing of the Master. —
The gracious house. — Your peace shall return to you :
1. Unbelievers will not keep it; 2. it will be added
to the beheving messengers : they shall not be cast
down, but encouraged. — To shake off the dust of the
feet, as the expression of solemn separation: 1. An
expression of calmness, of freedom, and of purity ; 2.
of being innocent of the judgment which shall befall
the unbelievers ; 3. of the cessation of fellowship ; 4.
the last sermon, a threatenmg of judgment. — The re-
jection of the gospel : the judgment. — Solemn im-
port of hours and days of grace. — Different degrees
of guilt and of judgment.
Starke : — Qucsncl : Ministers should love to take
up their abode with pious people. — Majus : The
treasures of the go.spcl must not be forced upon peo-
ple.— Osiander : Contempt of the gospel destroys
realms and countries, and plunges them into ever-
lasting misery.
Lisco : — They were to remain satisfied with the
house in which they were, and not to leave it merely
for the sake of more ease and comfort in another. —
They were not to intrude themselves.
Gerlach : — Your peace will return to you : a com-
188
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
fort for the laborers in the vineyard. — Dust off the
feet. Luther: Ye shall take nothing at all from
them, that they may know that you had sought not
your own advantage, but their salvation.
Heubner : — God has His children in every place.
— We must seek them out. — Pious people soon find
out each otlier. — Ministers must appeal to the sym-
pathies of those who are susceptible. — Christ regards
the rejection of His disciples as that of His own word
and person.
4. Trials waiting the Messengers of Jesus. ^'' Among wolves.'''' Cn. X. 16-18.
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : be ye therefore wise as
17 serpents, and harmless [simple]' as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver
you up to the councils [o-wsSpio, »jomiwaHribunals], and they will scourge you in their
18 synagogues [as supposed heretics] : And ye shall be brought before governors and kmgs
[secular tribunals] ^ for my sake, for a testimony [jaaprvpiov] against [to] them and the
Gentiles [aurots kol tois e^recriv].
' Ver. 16.— ['A/c/paioi, etym. (from KSfiavvvfii and a privativnin) unmixed, simple, pure. So Meyer after the Etyni.
Mag.: 0 yUT) KeKpa/xevos KaKols, oAA' ottAoDs Kal a-iToiKi\os. Comp. Eom. xvi. 19; Phil. ii. 15. Lange: ohne Falsch,
and in parenthesis, arglos, rein. Bengel, however, in loc, explains aKfpawi, " «iree comu, ungula, dente, aculeo : innoxii
active, atque adco etiam passive." — P. S.]
2 Ver. 18.— [The proper order after the Greek, as observed in Lange's German version, would require this change:
"Bat also before governors and kings shall ye be brought," kou iii\ Tq-yiixovas 5e /cat ^ao-iAeis ax^i\(re<T^s.-7. S.]
EXEGETICAL AKD CRITICAL.
Ver. 1 6. Behold, I send you forth. — We note the
gradation by which Christ prepares His disciples for
persecution. 1. They were not to expect enrichment,
but to obtain subsistence ; 2. they were to expect re-
jection ; they were to anticipate that even terrible
persecutions would befall them. This, however, only
after He had annoimced the judgment impending over
unbelievers. " Behold, I send you." The Lord rap-
idly passes to the painful experience awaiting them.
" The emphasis rests on iydu : I am He who sends
you into such dangerous circumstances." Meyer.
But the expression also impUes the gracious protec-
tion which would attend them (Theophylact, Beza,
Bengel).
in the midst of wolves : iv nia-co, not e t r ,
into, etc.* — The disciples are not sent to the wolves
as such, but in the midst of wolves, in order to seek
out those who would receive the kingdom. The meek-
est and most defenceless messengers of peace are
commissioned to execute their work among the most
furious, powerful, and, as it would appear to man,
unconquerable opponents of the truth. Even at this
early stage, Christ opens to their view the sufferings
which awaited them as Apostles, that so they might
courageously, and yet carefully, go forth into the
world. Sheep in the midst of wolves are to all hu-
man appearance wholly lost ; — what, then, were they
to do ? The wolves here signify not only cunning,
but also malignant disposition and hatred of truth and
of Christ ; for it is the favorite chase of wolves to
break into a herd of sheep. But here the old story
is reversed : a few sheep invade the territory of
wolves.
In the midst of these wolves, the sJceep were, so to
* [So also Bengel, Gnomon in loc. : "eV/^eVa", in me-
dio : non in medium.. Tam estis inter Inpos." Maldonatii?,
on the contrary, confounds the two prepositions here: "/7i
tnedium, iv pro ejr, sicut Hebraice 2 pro ?N , -"i^- .
—P. S.]
speak, to become transformed into serpents and doves ;
i. e., to deport themselves with the wisdom of ser-
pents, and the simplicity or harmlessness of doves.
In virtue of the former quality, they would be able
to avoid persecution without incurring guilt ; in vir-
tue of the latter, to encounter persecution without
compromising their principles. These qualities are
opposed to each other ; they never occur combined
in nature, nor in the natural disposition of man. But
the Spirit of Christ combines in higher unity these
natural antagonisms. The serpent slips innumerable
times from the hand of the pursuer, and the dove does
not settle in any unclean place, — it approaches him
who is gentle, and will never do harm to the persecu-
tor ; its safety lies m flj-ing upward. Lastly, the dove
is a symbol of the soul rising in prayer and faith,
and ultimately rising above death and the grave.*
Ver. 17. But beware of men. — In order to oc-
cupy a right position with reference to persecutors,
you must beware of men general!}', whose weakness
frequently degenerates into treachery. — The coun-
cils, or Sanhedrim, were the spiritual judicatories
connected with the synagogues of the country, where
the sentence of scourging pronounced upon heretics
was executed. (Comp. Winer [and W. Smith], sub
Synagogue.^.)
Yer. 18. But also before governors and
kings. — A gradation. They are to be brought not
only before spiritual, but also before secular judges,
as if they were common criminals. The 7]yi/j.uvesy
governors, were the provincial authorities, consisting
of the Proprsetors, the Proconsuls, and the Procura-
tors. The term kings embraces the rulers of Pales-
tine, of other countries, and of the Roman Empire.
In short, tlie passage applies to all civil magistrates
and rulers.
For a testimony. — These trials wdU result in a
* [Wordsworth, quoting from Hilary and Jerome: "It is
eaid that tbe serpent shows his wisdom in guarding his head,
whatever other part of his body is struck. So let us be
ready to sacrifice anything but our faith; or, let us guard
our head. Christ." The innocence of the dove, says Jerome,
is shown in likeness to the Holy Ghost. — P. S.]
CHAP. X. 19. 20.
189
testimony of tlie Lord, their martyrdom being the
highest spiritual coniirmation of the Gospel both to
the Jews and to the Gentiles. Such was the final ob-
ject of these persecutions, applying, as Meyer right-
ly suggests, to their testimony both before secular and
spiritual judges. We also agree with Him in referring
the word avrols to the Jews, and not the govern-
ors and kings, who were themselves the Gentiles. Ac-
cordingly, we have the following succession — first, mar-
tyrdom to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. The Jews
are here the representatives of all the later sufferings
of the Christians, as, indeed, the Judaizing spirit in
the Middle Ages was the real cause of the persecu-
tions of believers during that period. Meyer rejects
the explanation ti's i\eyxoi' avTwv, proposed byChry-
sostom. But we must bear in mind that the tAeyx"'
is the effect of the txaprvpiov, — to the one, to repent-
ance ; and to the others, who hardened themselves,
to judgment.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Lord here sets before us the essential
characteristics of true martyrdom, by which we may
judge every martyrdom which has taken place. One
inference at least is plain, viz., that martyrdom can-
not be avoided by any exercise of wisdom or caution.
Such, then, is the certain prospect opened to faithful
witnesses. But the object of their sufferings is cor-
respondingly glorious. Their martyrdom was to serve
to Jews and Gentiles as the final confirmation of the
gospel, and hence to manifest its highest effects.
2. The Sanhedrims, or spiritual tribunals, wheth-
er compost d of great or of small hierarchs, have al-
ways been in the van in the persecution of evangel-
ists. (The theologians of Jena, in 1561, were wont
to say of the Lutheran consistories, that in Rome
there was only one Pope, but in Weimar, nine !)
Then come the synagogues, or the historical religious
associations. At last, the act of real treason ensues,
when spiritual matters are handed over to secular
judges (according to the hypocritical principle : ec-
clesia nori s'dit sanguinem), and governors and kings,
incited by a furious rabble, become persecutors of
the truth. What then ? Beware of men : of men
in their inhuman human passions.
3. What Christ here predicted to His disciples
(including Judas), He Himself first experienced.
4. A life-picture of fanaticism in the people. Ver.
21 follows a life-picture of fanaticism in the fam-
ily.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Christ sends His witnesses as sheep in the midst
of wolves: 1. Apparent hopelessness of the mission
(sheep, wolves) ; 2. the miraculous deliverance (like
serpents, like doves). — How the councils of the Jews
and the scourging in the synagogues were re-enacted
in the Middle Ages (the Inquisition, torture, Cru-
sades).— Martyrdom, as predicted by the Lord : 1.
Its development; 2. its certainty; 3. its glorious
aim. — The contrast between martyrdom and fanati-
cism.— All fanaticism is unchristian, and becomes at
last antichristian, even where it professes to defend
the cause of Christ.
Starke : — The cross, not outward prosperity, the
sign of the true Church. — Gerhard : Sit serpentinus
oculus in corde columbino. — Even to this day, the
witnesses of Christ are charged with sedition and
heresy. — Qucsnel : A minister must not be afraid to
tell the truth even to kings.* — What comfort in per-
secutions, that we suffer for Christ's sake !
Gossner : — Patience under persecution for Christ's
sake is the greatest mark of true discipleship, great-
er even than miracles. It is itself the greatest mir-
acle. The devil may imitate miracles, but he cannot
inspire patience.
Heubner : — In a certain sense, this applies to all
Christians : they are in this world as sheep in the
midst of wolves. — The people of God ever cherish
kindly, trustful, and affectionate feelings; but are
met on every side by mahce. — Christians who are
innocently condemned by worldly tribunals, may feel
themselves infinitely superior to them : time shall be,
when they will be the judges of their accusers. — God
often so disposes it, that preachers of righteousness,
who otherwise would not have access to princes, should
be brought before them in bonds.
* [Quesnel adds what Starke and Lange omit: "but with
abundance of prudence (with the wisdom of the serpent^.
He who flatters them, makes himself au accomplice of their
sins."— P. S.l
5. Care about their Defence. Ch. X. 19, 20.
19 But when they deliver you up, Make no [anxious] ^ thought how or what ye shall
speak : for ^ it shall be given you in that same hour [in that hour] what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
1 Ver. 19.— [Dr. Lange reads with Codd. B., E., Sinait., etc., and Lachmann irapad Cia iv , tradiderint, instead of
7rapo5i5ai(n»', tradent.—V. S.]
2 Ver. 19.— [Mrj ixipifxvhff-nTi. Comp. the exegetical note on chap. vi. 25, p. 133, and the remark of Maldonatus In
loc. : " Non omnem prcecedentejn medUationem vetat; sed earn qum diffidentiam divince provide7iiim et apis habeat,
quceque nimio metu ac soUicitudine liberam Evangelii prcBdicationem impediaV Benoel: ^ Una,non cxirandi,
cura Kit. No7i omnis prcBparatio ex eo nobis proMbetur. 1 Tim. iv. 15; coll. Luc. xxi. 14; 1 Cor. xiv. 26." — P. S.l
3 Ver. 19. — Some Codd., D., L., al., omit the words ft-om SodriaiTai to Ka\TjaeTf, probably misled by the similarity
of sound with the preceding.
I the latter would have been first mentioned ; but, in
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. planning an address, the first care is always about
Ver. 19. How or what. — The form and the sub- the form. [Bengel : "Ubi rh quid ohtigit, rh quo-
stance; iri j ?) ri. — We might have expected that ' modo non deest, .. . . Spiritus non loquitur sine ver-
190
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
bis. Ddbo vobis os et mpientiam, TiUC. xxi. 15." —
P. S.]
Ver. 20. [It is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father, etc. — An indirect argu-
ment for the inspiration of the apostolic writings.
For if the Holy Spirit suggested their oral testimony
of Christ, He tilled them still more in the act of writ-
ing, since books are permanent, and can be read 'by
all. Comp. John xv. 26, 27.— Your Father.— It
is remarkable that our Lord never says our Father,
except in the Lord's Prayer, which He tauglit His
disciplen, but Mi/ Father, or 2/our Father ; for He is
the eternal and only begotten Son of the Father, we
are children by adoption through faith in Him. —
P. S.]
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In captivity, a person would naturally feel anx-
ious how to defend himself, especially if he were to
appear before the gi-eat, the learned, or the powerful
of this world. The desire to speak well would be all
the stronger, that they were deeply conscious of their
innocence, and hence felt no concern on that point.
But Christ knew better than any other how studied
eloquence restrains and obstructs, perhaps even sup-
presses, the warm outgushings of the heart; how
anxiety to hit upon the right word may suppress tlie
faith from which alone that right word can flow ; and
how deep spiritual life quickens and calls into being
appropriate exercises of the mind, so that, in every
situation of life, we shall find both the right thought
and the right word. Compare the speech of Paul
against Tertullus in Acts xxiv.
2. It shall be given you. This is further explain-
ed by, "/or if is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of
your Fathery The contrast is absolute, and so is
the doctrine of inspiration which results from it. All
personal anxiety must disappear in the anticipation
of the Spirit of the Father, who overrules all the
events of life, and can not only fill His people with
joy and peace, but elevate them to moral heroism.
But when we say that all self and self-seeking are
completely to cease, we do not mean that our intellec-
tual faculties are to be overpowered and bound by a
foreign influence (as in Montanism), but only that
they are to be set free from all lower motives, and to
be spiritually raised and quickened. Hence the in-
spiration promised will be of a moral rather than of
a psychical character. For the removal of all self-
ishness and self-seeking implies, at the same time,
the full development of the deepest spiritual motives
and views. The Lord presents these future eventa
as immediately impending, because the conduct of
the disciples, when imi)risoned, depends on their gen-
eral relationship to the Father, which had already
commenced at that time. Comp. Calvin's reply to the
confessors of the gospel imprisoned at Paris, in Hen-
ry's Calvin, i. 4G7.
3. The inference of the inspiration of Scripture,
derived from this and similar passages, is quite legit-
imate. Only, that the great point in inspiration is the
Ti, to which the iris is quite subordinate. Hence, in
the promise given, we read only of the ti, not of the
TTois. Similarly, the promise is simply Sodriaerai ti
AaArja^jf, not \a\.^(j7]Te.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The prohibition of carefulness about answering
before councils, in its relation to the general prohibi-
tion of carefulness, Matt. vi. 34.— Carefulness may re-
appear, even in the Christian life, in the guise of
piety, or in that of official zeal. — Take no thought for
the how and the what, and the what shall supply the
how. — Carefulness about rhetorical ornaments,* in
its dangers : 1. It springs from anxiety, and restraim
the spiritual life ; 2. it manifests itself by excitement
and excess, and adulterates the spiritual life ; 3. it
leads to weariness or self-seeking, and destroys the
spiritual life. — The puttmg aside of every false prep-
aration, as giving place to true preparation : prayer,
meditation, and inward conflict {oratio, meditatio, ten-
tatio). For it is not you, etc. 1. An instruction as
to the inspiration of the word by the Spirit of God ;
2. an admonition not to put in our own word ; 3. a
promise that the Lord will speak by us. — When the
orator has wholly disappeared, the True Orator shall
appear.
- Ileubner : — Consciousness of innocence, and of
the goodness of the cause in which we are engaged,
is the best defence. — A Christian will leave his de-
fence to God. — A Christian must not shape his own
course, but leave himself to the guidance of God ;
there should always be quietness and Sabbath-rest in
his soul. — The Holy Ghost the Comforter of the sim-
ple.— Proper sermons are they v/hich are given by
the Holy Ghost, not those which are artificially con-
structed.
* [In German : Gcistliche Schonrednerei, for which I
know no English equivalent.— P. S.]
6. Severity of the impending Persecution, to the extent of breaking the bonds of Natural Relationship. Great-
ness of the Persecution, its measure, and glorious end. Ch. X 21, 22.
21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child:*
and the children shall rise up against their parents,' and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of [by] all men ^ for my name's sake : but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved.
1 Ver. 21.— [Dr. Conant omits the art. as in Greek, and renders: "■And brother will (for ihnll) deliver vp brother to
death, andfalher chUdr But the latter clause shows that it will not do in English. The N. T. of the Am. Bible Union
has restored the article before every noun. Lanp:e also gives the art. — P. 8.]
2 Ver. '21. —[Here where the plural is used, it is better to omit the art. : children will rise tqi agaimt parents,
TfKva inl -ywi's. So Conant, N. T. of the A. B. U., Lange {Kinder gegen Eltern).—P. S.]
» Ver. 22.— [Tho interpolated men of the C. V. is quite unnecessary.— P. S.]
CHAP. X. 23.
191
EXEGETICA.L AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 21. Will rise up, iTTauaar-^irovTat. —
The verb means insurrectiou in the strictest sense, —
being in this case equally directed against parental
authority and the Spirit of Christ. This inward re-
bellion leads to the corresponding outward sin of
parricide, either by delivering up parents to the ma-
gistrates, or by inciting fanatical vengeance. Again,
the brother and the father show their hatred to their
brother or child by the TrapaStSouai, or dehvering
them up to death — a term which also implies treason
and vileness.
Ver. 22. Ye shall be hated by all.— This
strong expression (though without the article) indi-
cates the generality of the hatred toward Christ. It
will spread over the world like an infectious fever, or
a pestilence, and furnish the material with which, on
any given occasion, the fire of persecution may be lit
up.
For My name's sake ; — i. e., purely on account
of their Christian profession, and not on account of
the personal blemishes and errors which may mingle
with it.
But he that endureth — viz., faithful to his pro-
fession— to the end. — To the individual, the end is
martynlom by death, or else deliverance ; to the
Church as a whole, the end is the complete victory
of its distinctive confession of Christ over the hatred
of the world. In both these respects sufferings shall
have an end. There are different interpretations of
the expression e i s r 4\os (the end of these suffer-
ings ; of life ; the destruction of Jerusalem, etc.).*
— Shall be saved. — Here ver>i emphatically, abso-
lutely (TCDdTjo-eTai. The end of this way is salva-
tion (Luke xxi. 19), while every side-path leads to
destruction.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
Christianity is based on a new spiritual relation-
ship, and its effects — of love or of hatred — are much
stronger and wider than the natural bonds which con-
nect human society. Hence hatred of the gospel as-
sumes a demoniac shape, and wickedly dissolves all
the sacred bonds of nature. But even this fear-
ful outburst must not shake the confidence of believ-
* [" Endurinp: to the end " is the proper evidence of the
reality and solidity of the Christian pi'ofet<sion, "drawing
back unto perdition " exposes the want of foundation. It
f.ften occurs In connection with similar warnings, Matt. xxiv.
LS (he that sh.all endure onto the end) ; 1 Cor. i. 8 (confirm
you unto the end); Ilebr. iii. 6 (firm unto the end); iii. 14
(steadfast unto the end); vi. 11; x. 23, 26-29; Rev. ii. 26
(who keepeth my works unto the end). The phrase has
therefore obviously a universal applicability to all believers,
and to the end of individual life (reAor =Jinis vUcb) But
this does not exclude a special reference to great future
ers in the holy Name which they profess. It only
serves to convince them of the depth of human cor-
ruption. Ill the name of Christ they shall ultimately
succeed in transforming the natural bonds which con-
nect man to man, and by the love cf Chiist shall they
overcome the hatred of the world. Not that Chris-
tianity itself endangers tlie bonds of natural relation-
ship, but that it becomes the innocent occasion of
such hatred. But here also the name of Christ shall
prevail, and a higher bond of unity shall bind togeth-
er His Oivn.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Hatred of Christ is necessarily murderous in ita
character, — 1. because Christ is life ; 2. because sin
is real death. — The two great forms in which hatred
of Christ appears, are betrayal and rebellion. — Pro-
fession of Christ revealing the deep ruin of the world,
as apparent in the hatred of Jesus and His people.
— The hatred and persecution of the gospel an evi-
dence of its power and loftiness. — Fanaticism in its
relation to faith : 1. It dissolves all the bonds of life
and of love, but imputes the blame of it to faith ; 2.
it leads a man to acts of betrayal, of rebellion, and
of murder, while he imagines that he is offering ser-
vices acceptable to God ; 3. it institutes a community
of hatred in opposition to the community of love, and
mistakes the fire of hell for a sacred "flame of hea-
ven ; 4. it appears in the guise of rehgion, but for
the purpose of banishing Christ and His religion from
the earth. — Final preservation of all things in Christ,
despite the enmity of the worid. 1. The family and
fiiendship shall be preserved, though dissolved in va-
rious ways ; 2. humanity, despite its enmity ; 3. our
own 'life, although we surrender it. — "But he that
endureth to the end shall be saved." — Faithfulness to
the Lord the condition of safety.
Starke : — There is no hatred in the world so great
as that against Christ and His members. — The world
imputes every evil to Christians, although itself is the
sole cause of it. — God has put enmity between the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
Lisco : — In measure as these sufferings are pain-
ful, the reward is glorious. 1. The sufferings: a.
persecution by our nearest relatives ; b. general ha-
tred. 2. The reward : dehverance, blessedness.
Heubner : — It is evidence of the highest love to
renounce love for the sake of Christ.
epochs in a prophetical discourse like this (comp. ver. 23).
Hence t(Kos may be referred directly to the destruction of
Jerusalem (comp. ver. 23 and .xxiv. 1-3), and indirectly to the
tin.al judgment which was foreshadowed and typified by the
former. So o-cu^/jtreTai, likewise, was liter.ally fulfilled in
the timely escape of the Christians from the doomed city by
Divine admonition, and will bo absolutely fulfilled in the
everlasting salvation. Compare the prophetic discourses of
the Saviour in ch. xxiv and Commentary. — P. 8.]
7. Flight in Persecution, the means of spreading Christianity. First warning and comfort. Cn. X.
23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another [the oflur, ei? rr]v
oAAtjv] : ' for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till
the Son of man be come [shall have come].
192
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
' Ver. 23.— Gricsbach with many Codd. miniisc. : fls r^v irepav, Kav «'« toi'/ttjj iiuiKtixTLV ii/xas, (btvyeTS eU tV
iWrif. A later iiinplillcation. [Lachmann reads : eis rr/v er epay, and puts the words from «&;/ to &A\tiv in brack-
ets. Tischendorf, All'ord, Wordsworth read simply : els tvv aWriv. The Cod. Sinait. : ire pay. The de£ art. be-
fore aWriv or eripav denotes the next city in order which had not yet been visited, and fahows tliat there will be always
soirie other city to fly to. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 23. For verily, kfj-T^v yap. — The yap
here is of the greatest importance. The flight of an
Apostle from a city where general persecution had
arisen, was in reality not flight, but removal to a
larger sphere of usefulness. This duty maybe de-
duced from the fundamental principle formerly en-
joined, of turning away from those who were hard-
ened, and addressing themselves more and more to
those who were impressible. — '• Shake off the dust
of your feet." But, on the other hand, this alone
must be the motive for their flight. Subordinate con-
siderations (such as employment, home, etc.) must
not retain, nor fear of suffering drive them away.
Their flight must be determmed by concern for the
best means of spreading the name of Christ, that so
the natural instinct of self-preservation may be trans-
formed into a spiritual principle.
Ye shall not have gone over, ended, finished,
completed, nv ij.i] t e A <=' cr -;) t € . — Scarcely equivalent
to, " Ye shall not have been in all the cities." Mey-
er.— " To bring them to Christian perfection." Maldo-
natus, Hoffhiann, etc. The expression implies an
active finishing of their mission. Hence the interpre-
tation of Meyer is too narrow ; that of Maldouatus,
too wide. The meaning is : ye shall have abundant
room for your labors.
Shall have come, e A. 0 ?? . — 1. Until the victory
of the cause of Christ (Baumgarten-Crusius) ; 2. to
the destruction of Jerusalem (Michaehs, etc.) ; 3. to
the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit (Calvin and others) ;
4. till help shall have been afforded by the Son of
Man (Chrysostom) ; 5. till the second coming of
Christ (Meyer). But the commentators foi-get that
the Apostles only preceded Christ, and that this pas-
sage refers in the first place to that particular mis-
sion. Hence we explain it : till the Son of Man shall
overtake you. (So also Heubner.) The expression
is, however, also symbolical, and applies to the
Church generally. In this sense, it points forward to
the second coming of Christ ; including at the same
time the idea, that their apostolic labors in Judaea
would be cut short by the judgment impending upon
Jerusalem.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Having set before the disciples the sufferings
and dangers of their work, the Lord now encourages
and comforts them. The verse under consideration
furnishes the first consolation. Their sufferings would
be diminished from the higher obligation incumbent
on them to spread the gospel, whereby flight became
a sacred duty.
2. " But what constitutes their highest comfort
in this respect, is the promise, that the witnesses of
Christ shall always find new spheres of labor, and
that the Lord shall ever foUow them, both with the
baptism of the Spirit and of grace, and with that of
fire and of judgment." The fundamental idea of
this statement, so far as the kingdom of heaven is
concerned, is, that the work of Christ shaU not be
completed hj quiet and calm progress, until the last
place and the last individual .shall have been convert-
ed, but by great contests between light and darkness,
and amid great catastrophes which shall usher in the
judgment.
3. If it be asked, how this direction can be recon-
ciled with the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, where,
as He knew, death awaited Him ; we reply, that Christ
left Galilee, where, from the hostility of the Jewish
priesthood, every door was shut against Him, and
went to Jerusalem, where a multitude was prepared
to receive Him. In His care for the people, the Mes-
siah readily encountered every danger, which, indeed,
required to be met in the accomplishment of His
work. He went to keep the feast at Jerusalem, in
order to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel in
the midst of wolves. This may serve to furnish a
rule and a precedent for our conduct under persecu-
tion. If we are bound by promise, by duty, by our
ministry, or by the prospect of carrying out our call-
ing, we must not flee from danger, nay, if necessary,
go to meet it. But if these very motives point be-
yond the reach of danger, it is our duty to flee. To
labor, is the object ; to suffer, only the means toward
it. It was an error of the Montanists to regard thd
obligation to suffer as paramount to that of working.
Thus Tertullian (Z)e/w^a wi/iersecM^ioMe) disapproved
of flight under any circumstances, and regarded this
commandment only local and temporary. In this re-
spect, however, the Apostle Paul, and, at later pe-
riods, St. Athanasius {Apologia pro fuga sua), Lu-
ther (on the Wartburg), and Calvin [who fled twice
from France, and was once expelled from Geneva],
may serve as our models.
[Flight in persecution, from selfish regard to per-
sonal safety and comfort, is an act of cowardice and
sin ; but flight from conscientious conviction of duty
to God and to the Church, is right, and commanded
by Christ, and sanctioned by the conduct of the Apos-
tles and martyrs (as Polycarp and Cyprian). The
ancient Church rejected the fanatical and Montanistic
view of Tertullian, which condemned the flight in per-
secution without qualification. Augustine says, a
minister may flee if his flock is scattered by flight, or
if he can do more good by fleeing than by remaining
(quandocumque plus fugiendo quam mariendo juvare
potest). Chrysostom thinks, we may flee, provided
we do not thereby deny Christ, or endanger the faith ;
otherwise, we must risk our life for the sheep, which
the hireling will not do. Maldonatus ad he. : " Cum
Evangelium ipsum, projAer quod fugiendum non est,
postulat ut fugiarnus, fugiendum est. Tunc fugere '
non metus, sed pietas : non fugere non fortitudo, sed
periinacla est. Hac de causa D. Paulum fugisse legi-
mus. Maj.or gloria Dei et Ecclesice utilitas regula
nobis esse debet ; cum aut utraque, ant alteruira ut
fugiarnus a nobis exigit, own fugere peccatum est.''''
Wordsworth on </> e u 7 e t e , ver. 23 : " It was a
question discussed in early times, whether fuga in
persecntione was under any circumstances allowable.
TertulUan [De fuga in persecutione) argues that our
Lord's permission was only temporary ; but this is
contravened by St. Jerome ( Catal. Script, in Tertul-
lian). See also Gregory Nazian. {Orai. i. in Julian.),
and the excellent directions on the subject in St. Atha-
CHAP. X. 24, 26.
19H
nasius {Apol. de fwja sua, p. 258-266 ; cp. i\ La-
pide). The answer seems to" be given in our Lord's
words: 'The hircUng fleeth because ho is a hireling,
and careth not for the sheep' (John x. 13). 'The
good shepherd giveth liis lil'e for the sheep ' (John
X. 11). If a person lias a flocli committed to his care,
and that flock will be scattered or torn by wolves, if
he flies, then he must not fly."— Comp. " Matt, xxiv
15-20 ; Phil. i. 20-25 ; 2 Tini. iv. 6-8 ; Acts viii. 1 ;
IX. 25 ; xiv. 6 ; xv. 38 ; 2 Cor. xi. 33.; and Schaffs
History of tlie Christian Church, toI. i., p. 179.—
P. S.J
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
In how fiir flight in persecution is not only la.v- 1
ful, but duty.— When a Christian has to fly with his
Master, he may likewise fly by himself.— Holy flight :
1. Its motive ; 2. its conduct : 3. its ami.— All Chris-
tianity a flight, to the end of the world : 1. From city
to city ; 2. from country to country ; 3. from world
to_ world (from the old to the new).— Flight an act of
faith: 1. An act of wisdom; 2. an act of sparing
love; 3. an act of faithfulness ; 4. an act of enduring
hope.— The flight of the Church, its spread.— The
flight of the fearful and that of the courageous.—
When the disciples are expelled from a place, they
are succeeded by the judgments of the Lord —The
witnesses of Christ shall never want new spheres of
usefulness, if they leave at the right time such as
have- been closed to tlioir labors.— Whether to stay
or to go-, must in every instance be learned from the
^^'■'^■—^''''"t'^ersoeTer we go with the gospel, Christ
will follow u&.— The laborers of Christ sliall neith-
er_ want a field nor a blessing, till the Lord comes,
[buuilarly Wordsworth : the missionary work of the
Church will not cease till the second coming of Christ
Comp. Matt. ::ixiv. 14.— P. S.]
I
8. Christ has
suffered Persecution before His disciples, and they only suffer
warning and comfort. Ch. X. 24, 25.
with Him. Second
24 The [A] disciple is not above his [the] master, nor the [a] servant above his lord
J5 it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord If
thej have called [surnamed] ^ the master of the house Beelzebub fBeelzebull ' how.
much more shall they call ^ them of his household ? l j>
1 Ver. 2o.-'E7r«c{A6cre,/,B.,C.,LCod. Sinait.] Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford, Wordsworth. Meyer regards the
iKa.\icrev of the Elzevir text as an arbitrary substitution of the more usual verb.—]
achmann, Meyer, Alford, "Wordsworth, Conant,
1 arbitrary substitution of the more usual verb
2 Ver. 25.— [BeeA^e^oiiA is the true reading, adopted by Tischendorf L
Lange. The E. V. notes it in the margin. Comp. E.^eg. Notes.— P.
3 Ver. 25.— [This interpolation is unnecessary.—]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Yer. 24. The disciple is not, etc.— A proverb.
See the correspondmg passages in rabbinical writ-
ings in Schottgcn.
Ycr. 26. This is enough for the disciple, in
order that(iVa) he may ha (treated),, etc. ; i. e., the
subordination of the disciple to his teacher implies
that he must share his fate. The same remark apphes
to the servant in reference to his lord. So Meyer
against the common explanation of the word 'lua. in
this passage.
B66\Ce^o<^X.— The Syrian Codd., the Itala,
the Vulgate, and the Latin Fathers have Beelzebui
This, then, may be regarded as the first explanation
of the term— as equivalent to n^^l hV'z (2 Kings i.
2), ihQ fly-god. The second explanation is furnished
by Yi mer as follows : " By a Jewish pun, this name
was, by the change of a letter, converted intoi^3T b;'2
V^?3 , Chaldee), i. c., dominies stercoris, lordoj duny,
■n a manner analogous to that in which 2i/xf> was
turned into Si^x^p. It is very natural that the later
Jews, m their burning hatred of heathenism, trans-
erred the name of a celebrated idol m their nei"-h-
)orhood on Satan." Accordingly, Lightfoot, bSx-
-orf, and most modem critics explain it as the name
•t Satan, being the prince of all unpurity. A third
QterpretatioQ renders bl=T by habUaiion, and Beel-
zebul by dominus domicilii. This means, a. ac-
cording to Gusset, Michaehs, and Meyer : lord of the
kmgdom of darkness, where the evil spirits dwell •
b. according to Paulus : lord of Tartarus ; c. accord-
ing to Jahn : prmce of the power of the air (Eph. ii.
2) ; according to Movers : Saturn as holding a castle
m the seventh heaven.— With reference to the first
interpretation, it is enough to say, that most of the
readings are opposed to the form Beelzebub. It is
evidently an exegetical explanation of the name Beel-
zebul from Beelzebub, the god of the Phihstines, to
whom the chasmg away of flies was imputed.—
Against the second explanation it is urged, that the
word for mjid or dirt is b^T , not b^z) . Winer
indeed, suggests that uncommon fonns are occasion-
aUyused in a play upon words. StiU, they must
have some v.arrant in the use of the languat^e. Be-
sides, Meyer rightly calls attention (o the fSct that
the word Bei\((l3ov\ bears reference to the expres-
sion o ; /c 0 5 e o- 7r o T 7) s,. which Christ had here cho.sen.
Hence, " lord of the habitation." * Perhaps, then
this designation of Satan mav refer to the habitation
of demons in the possessed. The parallel passao-e in
Matt, xu., where the Pharisees sav (ver. 24) : "°This
fellow doth not cast out devils but" by Beelzebul the
prmce of the devils," seems m favor of this view
13
wh-i ^w , * reason Alford, also, ad-.pts Meyer's derivali.
while Wordsworth adheres to Winer" .h interpretation • f.'o
nu8 iitercoris.—l\ a.] i"<.i,iiMa. co
194
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
The Lord Himself afterward characterizes the rule of
the demons over the possessed under the biblical ex-
pression of " dwellers in a house " (vers. 25, 29 ; and
especially vcr. 45, "They enter in and dwell there").
If this be tlie correct interpretation of the term, it
will also explain how it does not otherwise occur in
Jewish writinf^s. The enemies of the Lord charged
Him with casting out devils through the prince of
the devils, whom they in derision called Beelzebul
(ix. 34 ; xii. 24). Jesus comments upon this in the
following manner : The Pharisees designate as the
prmce of the devilish possession the Master of the
house, who rightfully claims the heart of man as His
dwelling (xii. 29), and casts out the usurper, who oc-
casionally performed cures of demoniacs, for the pur-
pose of blinding his victims. Hence the expression
Beelzebul would refer only to the prince of devils who
take possession of men on earth, not to the prince of
evil spirits generally. Christ paraphrased the fact,
that they stigmatized Him as acting under the inspi-
ration of Beelzebul, by saying that He had been called
Beelzebul because His enemies asserted that Satan had
virtually devolved on Him the supremacy over demons.
The expression is used in a sense similar to that in
which the terms Satan and Antichrist occur in 2 Thess.
ii. This may serve as a sufScient answer to those
who ask. When the Jews had called Christ Beelze-
bul. Comp. xii. 24 ; John viii. 48. Similarly, it ex-
plains the inference drawn by the Lord : How much
more tliem of His household ? If the Jews had
designated Christ as the prince of devils absolutely,
that name could not have been applied to His house-
hold. But if they meant that He was the author and
patron of demoniac possession, they might apply
this even more boldly to His Apostles. Undoubted-
ly, however, the term bears also some reference to
the god of the Philistines. Perhaps the connection
may be traced in the following manner : As Beelze-
bul was supposed to banish, but also to bring, the
plague of flies, so Jesus was accused of expelhng
demons, because He was the lord of their habita-
tion.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
Christ, the Lord of the kingdom of heaven, who
sends the Holy Ghost, the rightful Master of the hu-
man heart, is characterized by His enemies as prince
of the kingdom of darkness, acting under the inspira-
tion of Satan, the chief of the demons, or as Anti-
christ. Similarly, the disciples of Jesus cannot
expect other than that their activity shall be charac-
terized as demoniacal and antichristian.
nOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
" The disciple is not above his Master : " this the
watchword of Christ's faithful witnesses : 1. As to
their conduct. They are subordinate in everything
to Christ. 2. In their sufferings. Every true disci-
ple must be willing to share the rejection of his Mas-
ter.— " The disciple is not above his Master, nor the
servant above his Lord : " this is sufficient comfort
when misunderstood or misrepresented : 1. As a dis-
ciple, he feels that if the Master's work has been ca-
lumniated, he need expect no better ; 2. as a servant,
he feels that if the Lord of the house was stigmatized
as a diabolical destroyer, he need not wonder if his
service in the Church or to individuals is traduced. —
It is a sad, yet an effectual, consolation to the witness-
es of Christ when they are calumniated, that their Lord
and Master was called Beelzebul. — Christ passes
through the blasphemies of His enemies unharmed,
as through a mist ; let His people follow Him joyous-
ly.— Satan condemning himself even when he blas-
phemes. He must, — 1. call that devilish which is
divine ; 2. he must represent as divine what is dev-
ilish.
Starke : — What comfort and honor, that Christ
is the Master of the house, and His people its mem-
bers!— Cramer: Ministers must, in the discharge of
their office, have regard to God and the truth of the
gospel, not to the threats of men.
Heubner : — The example of Christ is the most
blessed encouragement.
9. Holy boldness and candor the duty of the disciples^ based on holy watchfidness, and on confidence in their
safety, under the sovereign protection of God. Third and fourth warning and comfort. Oh. X.
26-31.
26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered [concealed, verMilW], that
shall not be revealed [enthiilU] ; and hid \yersteckt\ that shall not be known [entdecJct].
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in [the, tw] light: and what ye hear in the
28 ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops. And fear not [Be not afraid of, /jt-rj (jiajSelcrOe
aTTo] ^ them which [that] kill* the body, but are not able to kill the soul :
But rather fear him [^o/Seio-^e t o v] which [who] is able to destroy both soul and
29 body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing [penny]*? and one of them
30 shall not [not one of them shall] fall on the ground without your Father. But the very
31 hairs of your head* are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value
than many sparrows.
1 Ver. 28.— [I^aclimann and Ti.-;ohendorf read: fJ-V (po^e'iaOe a.ir6 (imper. prses. p:;ss.) noUte timere, inetm'6 ab its, on
the authority of Codd. B., C, (to which may be added Cod. Sinait., which reads twice, in vers. 28 and 31 : <po0i<r0f,
a mere writing error for (JJo^eTTet i. liut Cod. B or Vaticaniis, as published by Angclo Mai, reads: fi-v (poB-r\Bj]Te att6
(conjunct, aor. i. pass.), and in the more correct edition of Butlmann, with diflfercnt accentuation : jJ-h (po^rjQ-qTe av6
(imperat. aor. i pass.). So alao Cod. Alo-? .ndrinus, as published by B. H. Cowper, Lend., 1860 (^o/Srje^Ts), Origen, and,
CHAP. X. 26-31.
195
of modern critics, Alford {(po^-fid-nre), Fritzsolie and Conant {(po^rjOriTe). Meyer explains (pufi7]6i]Tf from ver. 26
and reads also in ver. 81 cpoPeT-jOe with B., D., L., Cod. Sinait., Lachmann, and Tischendorf. The main point for the
sense, however, is the difference in the construction, the a ir d after tlie firat <pu0f7ff6f and the ace. rov after the second,
concerning which the critical aiitliorities are all agreed. In English this difference can be best reproduced by translating
in the first case: be not afraid o/l and in the other : feai- }dm. See Exeg. Notes.— P. S.]
» Ver. 2S.-'A7io»fTfi'i/()i/Ta'v [double v, also in Cod. Sinait.] is the ^oli;in-Alcxandrian form [for a.iroKriiv6vr<x-v\
Lachmann, [Tischendorf, Alford]. See the note of Meyer [Com. i., p. 227].
3 Ver. 29.— [Luther and Lange render arrorapior (diminut. from the Lat as): Pfennig, de Wette: ITeller. The E. V.
uses //r//t/7!(7 inch. v. 26 for the Greek icopSaz/rrj?. But this is only the third or fourth part in value erf an atraaoiov
which is equal to a cent and a half of Am. money. Hence penny is more accurate. Conant: '-The Saviour means by it
the most triding pecuniary value, or ue.xt to nothing; and to ehauire the Commnn Version, merely for more minute exact-
ness in such a case, would be mere pedantry. But as diHerent words are u.'^ed in the Greels. and as farthing and penny
represent their exact relation and nearly their actual value, there is no harm in making tlie distinction."— I'. S.]
< Ver. SO.— [The Greek and the German have here the advantage over the English in being able to place ywr, in
marked contrast to the sparrows, at the beginning of the sentence, 't fxwv 5e Ka\ at Tp'i\(ts ttis Ke(paAris Lan^e (de-
viating from Luther) : "An etu-h aber Kind auoh die Ilaare des Ilauptes;' etc. Perhaps we might render: ^'^ But as to
you, the very hairs of your fiead," etc.— P. S.J
EXEOETICAL AND CPvITICAL.
Ver. 26. Fear them not therefore. — Because
every caliminy of their faith was in tlie first [jlace di-
rected against tlieir Master, wlio will set everything
in its true light. Confidence in His -n-apovaia is to
form the ground of their perfect wap^rjuia. All the
wicked secrets of their opponents .shall be brought to
light ; it would, therefore, be most unbecoming if
they were to spread their faith, the most precious of
all secrets, with timidity and by stealth,* as if it were
some dangerous mystery.
For there is nothing covered, etc. — These
two proverbial sayings or priucii)les are apparently
intended to supplement each other. The first of
them refers probably to the dealings of God : He con-
ceals and He reveals. The second refers to the con-
duct of man in connection witli the dealings of God :
men hide and conceal the truth, but it will be discov-
ered, Icnown, and acknowledged. The appearing of
Christ will place everything in its proper light, Matt.
XXV. 31 ; Eph. v. 13 ; 1 Cor. iv. 5.
"Ver. 27. What I tell you. — This means to im-
ply that the Lord recommended to His discijjles to
proceed more openly in their teaching than He had
done. But this was the fundamental principle of the
development of His revelation. His work was to be
established in His disciples before it could be estab-
lished in the world. Revelation had to receive its
final completion in secret, among the despised com-
munity of the cross, before it could be presented in
its fuliaess to the world. — Upon the house-tops. —
The roofs were flat, so that it was po.ssible to con-
verse, in a loud voice, from one house-top to another,
or into the street. A figurative expression for the
most public declaration.
Ver. 28. Fear not them that kill the body.-j-
— This irapprirria may indeed occasion their death.
But they should neither fear death nor those who
kill. They kill only the body. In other words, the
hope of the great appearing of Christ, which shall
make everything manifest, must raise them also above
the grave.
Both soul and body.— In my Life of Jesus (u.
2, p. 721), I have with Stier applied this to Satan, while
most commentators refer it to God. The former in-
terpretation I supported on the following grounds :
1. Because the same kind of fear which is felt toward
those who kill the body cannot be cherished in ref-
erence to God. But here I overlooked that the ex-
* [Tn German : mit dngstlicher JTeimlichtlmsrei. — ]
+ [These were the dving words of Ulrich Zwingli on the
battle field of Cappel in Switzerland, Oct., 1531.— P. S.]
pression used in the one case iB (po ^fta Q ( airo,
[comp. the Hebr. y^z X^^], and in the other, <po^v-
6-r]r f [0o;8e?.T0f] rov. The word (po^elv may also
be used in reference to proper fear, and the use of
the Aorist (implying the continuation of a fear al-
ready cherished), as also the accusative instead of
arrn, are in favor of this view. 2. Because the idea
of destruction of body and soul seems rather to ap-
ply to Satan. But the great enemy does not destroy
soul and body m hell {i v yfeVj/T?),* where he and con-
demned souls are punished (Matt. xxv. 41 ; Rev. xx.
10), but before that time, and for the purpose of hav-
ing them consigned to hell. The judgment of Ge-
henna is not administered Ijy Satan. 3. Because of
the expression ai!-6\\v/j.i, which in other places refers
to noxious destruction, or to laying waste, and the
name of 'AttoAXijoji/, "who dwells in the place of de-
struction." However, the text does not bear, " Fear
the destroyer," but, " Fear Him who is able to de-
stroy," which could only refer to God. Finally, from
the parallel passage in Luke xii. .5, " Fear Him who
hath power to cast into hell," we at once conclude
that this fear can only apply to the Almighty. Satan
works that sinful fear of death which is the bondage
from which we can only be delivered by a higher and
holier fear — that of God (Heb. ii. 14).
[This change of Dr. Lange, which supersedes
the protest of Meyer in loc. (4th ed., vol. i., p. 239),
is decidedly for the better. The Scripture no-
where uses the phrase (pa^elaOai rhv Sid^oKnu, nor
does it ever ascribe to Satan such power of destruc-
tion ; while, on the contrary, (po0€'ttT0at is usually fol-
lowed by rhv 6e6u, and God is represented through-
out as the Almighty di.spenser of life and death, both
temporal and eternal. Bengel aptly quotes James
iv. 12, which is decisive against Stier : " There is one
lawgiver who is able {6 dvi/d/x(vos) to save and
to destroy" (onroA eVai, the .^iame words as in our
passage). Christ sets God before us here as the sole
object both of our godly, child-like fear, and (in
vers. 29-31) of our child-like trust. We should fear
Him alone because of His power to destroy, and
should trust Him alone because of His power to save
and His ever-watchful care of His children. See Dr.
Alford's remarks against Stier, and also the note of
Dr. Owen in loc. : " Fear Him {i. e., God), not as be-
fore,/car f'om Him, because reverence and awe,
such "as is due from man to his Maker, is intended,
and not the fear or terror which human cruelty can
inspire." — P. S.]
* [Luther wrongly translates: in die Holle, for in der,
mistaking fV for <(s. The K. V. here, as elsewhere, is moro
accurate. — P. S.]
196
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Vcr. 29. Two sparrows. — The word arpovOla
properly signifies little binls J^cnerally [aviculi] ;
here, in the more definite sense, liUle sparrows [pas-
sercul/]. — Farthing, penny, aa rr dp t o v , the tenth
part of a drachm, or a Roman denar, afterward val-
ued still lower ; indicating the smallest coin. — Not
ono of them shall fall to the ground.— To por-
tray sudden death, the bird falling to the ground,
struck by a stone or an arrow. Irenajus and Cliry-
sostom refer it to the snare of the bird-catcher ; but
this would scarcely be so applicable.
Ver. 30. But the very hairs. — Indicating the
most special providence {provideHtia specialissima),
and the most absolute preservation. The hair as the
natural ornament of the head. No part of our life,
of what characterizes or adorns it, shall be lost.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The disciples must bear in mind that the gos-
pel of Jesus is destined to become a revelation for
all nations. They are to form a Church, and not a se-
cret society, or party, or school, or political frater-
nity. The contrast between the secrecy which the
Lord employed in teaching them, and the publicity
with which they were to come forward, indicates the
law according to which revelation was ever to devel-
op and break forth more clearly and openly, and
points far beyond the mission then entrusted to
them.
2. They which Mil the body. — (1) Psychology :
body and soul; (2) doctrine of immortality; (3) es-
chatology : the kingdom of Christ belongs pre-emi-
nently to the other world, beyond death and the grave.
Mark also the contrast between killing the body and
dfstroylny body and soul. The soul cannot be an-
nihilated. Lastly, it also implies the doctrine of the
resurrection of the body. The bodies of the lost
shall Euifer with their souls in hell.*
3. Not a hair of your head shall perish without
your Father, far less your head itself. — An expression
implying their complete safety. — " Of more value
than many sparrows." This depends upon the Sm-
Of/'tir, and is intended to indicate the infinite superi-
ority of the disciples over irrational creatures. The
climax is as follows : — The humblest of God's crea-
tures have their value in His sight : how much more
human beings ! Especially Christians : but, above
all, the witnesses of Jesus. The value of the life of
Jesus is the height of the climax, but does not ap-
pear here.
IIOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL.
The address of the Lord to His people : Fear
not. 1. The fear from which we are delivered (of re-
vilers and of murderers, of the loss of honor and of
* [We add the remark of Dr. Beown: ^'■hotJisoul and
hndy in hell. A decisive proof this that there is a hell for
the body a& well as the soul in the eternal world; in other
words, that the torment that awaits the lost will have ele-
ments of suffering adapted to the material as well as the
spiritual part of our nature, both of which, we are assured,
will exist for ever."— P. S.l
life) ; 2. the fear by which we are delivered {Fear
Ilhii v.'ho is able, etc.) ; 3. the spiritual gi'ounds for
being fearless (confidence in the gi-cat revelation of
Christ, consciousness of our immortality and of oar
complete safety in the hands of God) ; the blessed ef-
fect of such fearlessness — perfect joy in bearing wit-
ness for Jesus (or in particular cases, triumph of life
over death, entrance into glory). — With the manifest-
ation of Christ's righteousness, everything else must
become manifest. — When God makes known what is
hid, men can no longer succeed in concealing it. —
The impending great revelation in its twofold effects :
1. As giving perfect comfort to the disciples : 2. as
the greatest terror to an evil conscience. — Holy and
spiritual fear will set us free from all carnal fear. —
A right sense of our immortality consists in the feel-
ing that we are perfectly safe in the keeping of our
Father. — The price of articles in the market an em-
blem of the high price which God attaches to life. —
Money, or the price which men attach, a symbol of
the value which God sets. — '■'■Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing ? " or, the birds of the air a ser-
mon to us, both in death and in life. — God cares for
all living, after its own kind : 1. According to its
life (the Living One cares for the living, the God of
providence for every individual, the sympathizing
Saviour pities every one) ; 2. according to its pecuhar
mode of life (for His creatures in His goodness, for
persons in His love, for beUevers in His grace) ; 3. ac-
cording to the object of their lives (Christ, for His
own sake and for that of His people ; Christians, for
Christ's and their own • sakes ; and all creatures, for
the sake of Christians and of the kingdom of God).
— " The very hairs of your head are all numbered ; "
or, the complete safety of Christians in the keeping
of their Father : 1. Their whole life, with all that cha-
racterizes and adorns it, is safe ; 2. they lose their
earthly life, only to gain a higher ; 3. their life, with
all its gain, is bestowed on them by their Father in
heaven.
Starke : — Those who fear to proclaim the whole
truth are false teachers, and neither cold nor hot. —
Qtiesnel : It is sinful to withhold the word of God
from the common people. [Quesnel adds on ver. 27 :
" The Church has no more hidden mysteries, nor se-
cret truths ; and it is now the time to reveal all the
knowledge and grace which Christ has committed
to her. It is to injure religion, to imagine that it con-
tains some truths or mysteries which ought to be
concealed." — P. S.] — Cramer: Human fear must be
overcome by the fear of God. — Eternal death is the
only evil which really deserves to be feared. — Ques-
nel : It is a sign of great blindness to allow our souls
to be destroyed. — The contemplation of the provi-
dence of God a powerful means for overcoming the
fear of man. — What infinite value attaches to a soul
for which Jesus has shed his blood ! [We add from
Quesnel on ver. 28 : " It is prudence to deliver up
the body in order to save the soul. This is to cast
the ladmg of the vessel into the sea, to preserve the
men from destruction. A man loses nothing when
he loses that only which must perish." — P. S.]
Heubner : — Nothing in the life of His people is of
small importance before God. — Infinite value of an
immortal soul.
CHAP. X. 32, 33.
197
10. 'Confession and Denial; historij of the kinr/dom of God, and judgment of the world. Fifth warning
and comfort. Ch. X. 32, 33.
32 Whosoever therefore [Every one, therefore, who] ' shall confess me before men,
him -will I confess also [also confess, Kayoi] before my Father which [who] is in heaven
33 [in the heavens]." But whosoever [whoever] shall deny me before men, him will I
also deny before my Father which [who] is in heaven [in the heavens].
' Ver. 32.— [n a s ovv oVrir, Lange : Jeder nun, der ; while in ver. 83 we have simply SffTir, without irar.— P. 8.]
' Ver. 32. — 'Ev toTx ovpavols both here and in ver. 33.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 82. Every one, therefore, who shall
confess [acknowledge] Me ; 6 /.in a o y n a- 1 1 i v
4 fj.0 I, — literally : confess in Me* " This corresponds
with the idea of eV Xpiaraj e/i/ai." So also in Luke
xii. 8. [The eV is not equivalent to in behalf of Me,
as Owen explains, but it shows the ground or root of
the confession, namely, a hving union with Christ.
He does not mean a mere outward confession of the
mouth, but a genuine and consistent confession of
the whole life. " He will not confess the confessing
Judas, nor deny the denying Peter," because the con-
fession of the former was hypocritical, the denial of
the latter a transient weakness, followed immediately
by the deepest repentance. — P. S.]
[Him will I also confess, . . him will I also
deny, etc. — It is worthy of notice, as Alford suggests,
that both here and in the Sermon on the Mount, vii.
21—23, the Saviour, after mention of the Father, de-
scribes Himself as the Judge and Arbiter of eternal
life and death.— P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Every genuine and earnest testimony for Christ
is a confession, while every unchiistian deed is a de-
nial. " The world, in its indifference and hesitation
between heaven and hell — or, rather, in its antago-
nism to God, under the pretence of morality — con-
demns only two things : secular crimes and heaven-
ly virtues, or the manifestations of faith ; nay, the
latter incur its special ire, as it considers them the
worst of crimes. Hence our testimony for Christ
must always be in face of the opposition of the world,
which readily seizes upon it and treats it as a crime ;
thus converting our profession into a confession."
Let it, however, be also remembered, that every gen-
uine confession is not merely concerning Christ, but
in Christ — concerning all revelation, and concerning
the neiv state of matters which this revelation is de-
signed to inaugurate.
2. This confession of Christ on the part of His
people indicates the contrast between the import of
the judgment of the world and the cause of Christ.
On the other hand, the confes.sion of His people on
the part of Christ before the Father, marks the con-
trast between the humble estate of Christians here, and
the glory to which they are called. In both instances,
the contrast is infinite ; but it is the faith of His peo-
ple on the one hand, and the love of the Saviour on
the other, which influences the confession. — Again :
Denial on the part of Christ, implies denial of the
kingdom of heaven, of love, and of life. According-
ly, this virtually implies the judgment. Substantial-
ly, it is equivalent to the verdict, " I never knew
you," Matt. vii. 23 ; only with increased intensity,
since it applies to His messengers and witnesses, who
were specially commissioned to make confession of
Him. Any Christian element in such persons shall
be utterly ignored, since it had not led to that true
confession which is the victory over the world. They
are unregenerate, and hence remain unacknowledged.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The glorious presence of God in Christ, the ground
on which Christians are called to make confession :
1. It is a revelation which brings everything to light,
and hence fills the Christian with joy in the word ;
2. by it the whole life of beUevers is preserved and
completed ; accordingly, they are also encouraged
wholly to own Jesus. — The kingdom of God and the
Christian hfe as summed up in the word confeasing :
1. Our course here may be summed up as either si
confession or a denial of Christ ; 2. so also the judg-
ment to come, — it is either a confession or a denial
on the part of Christ. — As Christ is to us before men,
so shall we be to Him before Ilis Father in heavcii.
— Unutterable cowardice and vileness of the man who
attaches greater value to the judgment of men than
to that of our Father in heaven. — A genuine confes-
sion is a confession both in the Lord un J of the Lord.
— A genuine confession must be in accordance with
what we confess : 1. It is an outward manifestation
which must also increasingly appear in the life ; 2. it
is a life which ever proves a manifestation of tlie
faithfulness of God. — The administration of (iod will
be sealed and confirmed by this, that Christ shall
confess His own before His Father. — The great pro-
mise attaching to Christian faithfulness.
Starke : — Christ is not only denied with th.e lips,
but also by an ungodly life. — Zeidus : Woe to all
apostates.
Heubner : — The judgment of Christ alone is de-
cisive.
[ Quesnel : — To confess Jesus Christ is to follow
His precept and example ; to suffer for His sake ; to
love, teach, and practise His doctrine. — We refer
this great truth to the times of the martyrs, because
we will not ourselves be martyrs for the truth, ^t be-
longs to all times and all believers, every one in his
proper way. — To appear before the tribunal of God
wiihout liaving Christ for our Advocate, and, on the
contrary, to have Ilim there as a witness and a judge,
how can we think of it and not expire with horror ! *
-P. S.]
* [De Wette and Alford: .V Hebraistic or r:ither Syriuc | * [Dr. Adam Cl:irke ((><ui. (in M.-iit, x. 3Si appropriates
mode of expression for, sli.all niiik3 Me till! object of his ac- i the l:i.<t sentence from Quesncl lilorally, without aay ac-
knowledj;ment among and before men. — P. S.] \ knowlccigraent.]
198
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
11. Christ come to send into the old world, not peace, but a sword, because He sends, in Ilia love, ahsolvie
peace and eternal life. Sixth ■warning and comfort. Ch. X. 34-39.
34 Think not that I am come to send [to throw, ySaXciv] peace on [the old] earth : 1
35 came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against
[witli] his father, and the [a] daughter against [witli] her mother, and the daughter-in-
36 law [a bride, vv/x<^7/v] against [with] her mother in-law. And a man's foes shall he
37 they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me : and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth [hath found or gained, f.vp(l)v\ his life [•/'^x^''] shall lose it: and ^ he
that loseth [hath lost, uTroAecras, i. e., sacrificed for Christ] his life for my sake shall
find it.
-[Cod. Sinait. omits the clause: 6 evpuv
' ; but it is sustained by all other authorities.—
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 34. I came not to send peace. — How does
this agree with the angelic hymn, Luke ii. 14 ? Mey-
er : " This is not merely a rhetorical expression, but
Jesus really states an object, although not the Jinal
object, of His advent ; since He clearly foresaw the
hostile opposition as an unavoidable transition from
the old to the new state of things, which, in the exe-
cution of His Messianic office, He must therefore
have willed." So far well ; but the expression itself
must have rendered any misunderstanding impossii^le.
Hence 13a A sly is so chosen, that it does not apply
merely to ;tt a % a i p a v. Wetstein erroneously regards
it as equivalent to sowing. It evidently implies sudden
action ; probably also throwing, casting. It there-
fore accords with the expression i-rrl t ?; */ yvv,
and implies something quite different from the angel-
ic song, e tt 1 yri s iipi)vr).* Luke (xii. 51) uses
the expression Zovvai iv t?) 7^, and accordingly does
not employ the word PaWetv, which, however, occurs
in ver. 49 : -rrvp i)KQov Pa\e7v els rriu yriv. By the
term " earth," we are to understand the ancient and
established theocratic and political order of things,
•John iii. 31 ; Rev. xiii. 11. To it Christ could not
bring peace, but the sword, i. e., a contest for life and
death, in order to estaljlish His kingdom of peace.
The kingdom of God on earth can only be established
by the destruction of the sinful principles of the old
man, the old world, and the old earth.
Ver. 35. For I am come. — Not a mere repeti-
tion of ver. 21, but the reverse of the picture there
given. The terms, Six""^"' Kara, indicate a di-
rect influence from the Lord ; hence, the son, the
daughter, and the daughter-in-law, are here the repre-
sentatives of Christ. It has not inaptly been suggest-
ed, that these special terms have been selected, be-
cause the younger members and the female portion
of households were commonly the first to embrace
the gospel. There is also an evident reference here
to Micah vii. 6, although in a modified and free man-
ner. Stier calls attention to the fact, that according
to the predictions of Micah, war and the sorrows of
the daughter of Zion were to usher in the kingdom
* [In the Sfime chapter of Luke, where the Gloria in ex'
celsU occurs, we are told, that Christ was set fur the fall .as
well as the rising of many, ii. 34. His Gospel is a savor of
death unto death to unbi-lievers, as it is a savor of life unto
life to believers, 2 Cor. ii. 16.— r. S.]
of peace. " The best and most precious peace on
earth, as well as the ground of every other, is domes-
tic peace and family concord. But so long as it rests
on a false foundation, it must be broken up by the
introduction of the peace of Christ." For kindred
rabbinical sayings, see Meyer and Schottgen, p. 105.
Ver. 3Y. [He that loveth, etc. — Our Lord claims
here a love stronger than the dearest natural attach-
ments, a love and devotion as is due only to a truly
Divine being. This is one of those extraordinary claims
which in Him, the God-Man, are perfectly easy, nat-
ural, and irresistible, while in others they would be
extreme madness or intolerable presumption. — P. S.]
Ver. 38. He that does not take his cross,
Kafi^dv f I, — freely ; referring to the Roman cus-
tom, by which the cruciarii were obhged to carry
their cross (xxvii. 32). A prophetic reference to the
death of Christ ; no doubt purposely chosen, in order
to prepare the disciples for that fearful prospect.
That the Lord anticipated this consummation at an
early period, appears from John iii. 14. [His cross,
as I shall carry Mi/ cross.]
Ver. 39. He "that hath found his life.— De
Wette : " \pvxv means here, in alternate clauses, the life
of the body and eternal life, or the salvation of the
soul." He that gains, or saves, his earthly life, pre-
serving it by unfaithfulness, shall lose the life of his
hfe. But he that loses it by faithfulness, shall find eter-
nal life. At the same time we must remember that the
Lord only speaks of one true kind of life. Hence,
the finding or preserving of life in the first case, and
the loss of it in the second, are only in appearance.
Lastly, it seems to us quite incompatible to suppose,
with Meyer, that this eternal life shall only be enjoy-
ed at the second coming of Christ, or at the resurrec-
tion of the dead.*
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. "These verses contain a cycle of ideas which
had never before been uttered by mortal. All the
* [So also Alford: "The first yf/vx"^ is the life of thU
If orW, which we here all count so dear to us; the «#co?k/,
implied in ahr-iiv, the real life of man in a blessed eterni-
ty." But the contrast is not between this present life and
the life to come (comp. the past p.articiples : evpdcv and
diroAsVas, who has found, who has lost, not: vrho_fi}ideth,
who loseth); but between the outward, earthly, secul.ir life,
with .ill its pleasures, comforts, and the inw.ird, sjiiritual,
eternal life, which commences already here in faiih, but will
be perfected in heaven. — P. S.]
I
CHAP. X. 34-39.
199
former prophetic expectations concerning the Idng-
dom of God are here presented to our view as super-
sensuous, future, and heavenly, — quite in accordance
with the deeper sense of the predictions of inspired
seers, yet never before expressed in a manner so clear
and decided. This, then, is the great barrier cast by
the Lord in the way of all who would construct the
kingdom of peace in this world from worldly ele-
ments,— begiiming with the Jews, whose folly is here
exposed, and ending with the thoughtless builders of
the last time." Stier.
2. The Lord makes an onslaught upon the cor-
ruptions of the world with the holy sword of His
word, allowing the world to employ the sword of per-
secution against llimself and His people. Comp. Jer.
viii. 11; vi. 14 ; Micahiii. 5, 11 ; Ezek. xiii. 10, 16 ;
1 Pet. iv. 4. This passage may also serve to throw
light on the charge brought against Protestantism,
as if it had served to divide nations, and led to civil
wars. [The civil wars in France, the thirty years'
war in (iermany, the civil war in England.]
3. The Lord makes on this occasion the first allu-
sion to His death on the cross. A masterly prepara-
tion of His disciples. Crucifixion was the worst kind
of punishment then known ; hence the phrase, to take
his a-oss, signifies the voluntary readiness to suffer
the utmost in this world for Christ. Indirectly,
Christ presented Himself already here as the first
bearer of the cross {follow after Me).
4. The declaration of the Saviour, that he that
will save his life shall lose it, etc., holds true both
historically and spiritually. That species of egotism
which ever seeks to preserve its life, and constantly
aims after its own, shall find death ; while faith, with
its devotion and self-sacrifice, is crowned by life.
Compare the mystic work : Theologia Germanica,
of the middle ages, which follows out this idea.*
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Dangerous delusion, as if Christ had brought a
delusive peace to the delusions of the old order of
things. 1. Character of this delusion, — a. historical-
hj : the ancient and more recent chifiastic views, as
appearing in ecclesiastical and sectarian tendencies ;
b. dogmatically : it springs from an overestimate of
the old order of things, from an underestunate of the
Spirit of Christ, and from a false estimate of what is
external, compared with what is internal. 2. Its per-
nicious etfects. We lose Christ, the true Prmcc of
Peace, to follow the standard of a false messiah. We
lose true peace, and, Vi^ith it, the prospect of that
kingdom of peace which is yet to cover the wliole
world. Lastly, we surrender our hope 'vn the great
and glorious appearance of the Lord of peace. — The
world in its unregenerate state is just like the old
garment, upon which it were folly to put the new
cloth of Christ's peace. — Tlie lost estate of the world
appears most distinctly in the false peace which it
cherishes. — Christ sends a sword in order to send
peace. — The sword of Christ, and the sword of the
world ; or, suffering on the cross, and affixing to the
cross. — The family as the basis of every spiritual
movement: 1. The basis of the kingdom of peace ;
2. the battle-field of the spirit of peace ; 3. the first
manifestation of the kingdom of peace, or of the
Church. — Christ's warfare infinitely preferable to the
* [An English tr.inslation by Miss C. Winkworth with
Introductions tiy the late Chevalier Buiisen, and Charles
Kingsley, republished at Andover.— P. S.l
peace of the world. 1. The peace of the world enda
with* the eternal rebellion and warfare of hell ; 2.
the warfare of Christ ushers in the eternal kingdom
of heavenly peace. — The sword of the Lord is true
peace: 1. It proceeds from His peace ; 2. it is wield-
ed in the service of His peace ; 3. it leads to His peace.
— The claims of Christ are identical with those of
God Himself (Ex. xx.). — The love of Christ in its re-
lation to the love of the family. 1. Its value : (a) It
is higher than family love ; (6) it may even come
into conflict with the latter, for, (o) Christ sticketh
closer than a brother ; (d) His love forms the basis
of true family love ; (e) it gives an cterual and spirit-
ual character to the love of the family. 2. Its claims:
" He that loveth father or mother," etc., is not wor-
thy of Christ ; for, (a) he betrays the highest love ;
(b) he does not properly love even his own ; (c) he
is lost to true love wliich gives to man his real value.
— Enlarged view. The love of Christ far above all
earthly love. — The love of Christ may well claim from
us the surrender of those we love, and of our own
life also: 1. Explanation of this statement; 2. de-
monstration of it. — Spurious aifection for our own, is
in reality only disguised self-love. — Relation between
the fifth and the first commandment : 1. The former
is subordinate to the latter, because, 2. it springs
from it, and 3. it is fulfilled in it. — The first utterance
of the Lord concerning His cross was when He sum-
moned His disciples to share it with Him. — " He that
findeth his life : " 1. The historical motto of Chris-
tianity ; 2. the motto of the inner life ; 3. the motto
of every relationship of fife, of every possession, en-
joyment, or claim.
Starke: — The blame rests not with Christ, the
Prince of Peace, Isa. ix. 6 ; nor with the gospel, Eph.
vi. 15 ; but with the malice of man. — Zeisius : Christ
the Woiiderful ; Prince of Peace, yet disturber of
peace. — Satan and his children the real cause of all
disturbances in tlie world. — Quesnd: Our nearest
friends oftentimes the greatest enemies of our salva-
tion.— Natural affection is proper in its own place,
but it must not occupy the first rank. — Ever let us
assign to God the uip;liest place, as the first com-
mandment enjoins. Amandus est genitor, sed prce-
ponendus est creator {Augustine). — Christo nihil prcB-
ponere debemus, quotdam ci ille nihil nobis prceposuii
{Cyprian). — To deny what is earthly, forms a great
part in the divine life. — We cannot love Christ if we
cherish the love of the world. — Our closest relation-
ships often lead aside from the highest good ; hence
they must be abnegated. — Every Christian must bear
the cross. — To love oneself inordinately, is in reality
to hate oneself. — Loss for the sake of Christ is true
gain. — Death for the sake of Christ is true life.
Heubner : — Christianity a declaration of war to
the world, and yet a message of peace for the world.
— Surrender of natural ties. — What does Christ offer
in their stead ? Heavenly, spiritual, and eternal con-
nections.— How much of natural aifection has been
sacrificed upon the altar of Christ [but in this case,
sacrificing is not surrendering, but sanctifying and
giving up to God] ! — Christ has displayed the greatest
love toward us (1 John iv. 19). — To shepherds : Do
you love the flock of Christ more than your own
house? Deut. xxxiii. 9, 10. — False application of this
declaration Ijy monasticism. — No cross, no crown. —
Without Christ, no true happiness. — Nothing is lost
that is surrendered for Christ.
*[Not: '^springs from" as the Edinb. trl. reverses tho
German : " ge/U uus in cltn (not": von dem) ewigon Auf-
ruhr und Krieg dor Iliille.'"— P. 8.]
200
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
1 2. Along with the cross of Christ, His servards bring, not misery, but the highest happiness into the world.
They who receive them, receive Christ and God Himself, and their reward is from Him, is God Himr-
self. Seventh warning and comfort. Ch. X. 40^2.
40 He that receiveth you receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that
41 sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a pro-
phet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man
42 shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one
of these little ones ^ a cup of cold ivater^ only in the name of a disciple, verily I say
imto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
> Ver. 42.— [Cod. D., etc., read: tZv (\axi(rro3V for rwv fxiKpwu.—P. S.]
" Ver. 42.— [Cod. D., Origan, and some Later MSS. add u 5 o t o s , water, after ^vxpov, cold. —P. B.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 40. He that receiveth you. — Such is the
general principle. Tha explanation ef de Wette —
" your cause is Mine, and the cause of God " — does
not exhaust its import. It implies, not merely that
the disciples shall find welcome and succor, but also,
1 hat the cross which they bring with them shall be
the well-spring of infinite blessing. — This principle
also embodies tlie two great features of salvation —
it is to receive Christ and to receive God. [Alford :
" 5 e X « "^ " ' li^s here the wider sense of not only re-
ceiving to house and board, but receiving in heart
and life the message of which the Apostles were the
bearers. See John xx. 21." — P. S.]
Ver. 41. He that receiveth a prophet. — The
special apphcation and inference from the prmciple.
— In the name. In rabbinical writings, u'ch ■
Meyer : " With reference to that which the name un-
plies. [Alford : " e i y oj'OjU a, a Hebraism (ccb j :
because he is, i. e., for the love of Christ, whose proph-
et he is. The sense is : He who by receiving a proph-
et because he is a prophet, or a holy man because he
is a holy man, recognizes, enters into, these states as
appointed by Me, shall receive the blessedness of
these states," shall derive aU the spiritua,l benefits
which these states bring vrith them, and share their
everlasting reward." — Wordsworth ; '^ els ivona is
more forcible than eV tcS hvoixan. It signifies an in-
ward movement of love to, and, as it were, identifica-
tion with the prophet, and consequently a reception
of his message into the soul. He who receives a
minister of Christ, because he is suth, and v/ith love
and adhesion to Christ, the True Prophet (as distin-
guished from men, who are only His instruments),
shall partake in the reward promised to those ' who
turn many to righteousness ' (Dan. xii. 3). The proph-
et to be received may be an unworthy person — a Ju-
das. Our Lord, foreseeing this, says that the office is
to be regarded, and not the person ; and that you
will not lose your reward if you receive a prophet,
though he who is received is unworthy. Receive him
in the name of a prophet, not for the sake of any sec-
ular pre-eminence or any worldly consideration, but
because he is a prophet, and you will receive a pro-
phet's reward." — P. S.] — A prophet's reward ; —
De Wette : Such as a prophet receives, not such as
he gives (Paulus).
A righteous man ; i. e., one who embodies
prophecy in his faith and Ufe. Evidently alluding to
the righteousness of faith in Christ.
Ver. 42. Unto one of these little [lowly]
ones. — With reference to the disciples. Fritzsche
suggests that they are so called, because the Rabbins
designated their disciples as CiS-p .* Meyer sees in
it an allusion to their future low and despised condi-
tion. In our view, the expression refers on the one
hand to the contrast between the disciples and Christ
their Master, and to that between their low position
in the world and their high place in the kingdom of
heaven. — A cup of ccld w^ater ; /. e., the smallest
favor, the least act of Christian charity. — His re-
ward ; — i. c, the reward meet and due to him.
On the result, and the work achieved by the Apos-
tles, corap. Mai'k tL 12, 13 ; Luke ix. 6.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The principle, "He that receiveth you," etc., is
closely connected with the fundamental principle of
Christ's own mission into the world, John xx. 21.
He was sent by the Father, and He in turn sends His
Apostles. Accordingly, they who receive His Apos-
tles, receive Him ; and they who receive Him, receive
God. " This not merely imphes : it shall be consid-
ered as if he had received, etc. ; but, that Christ real-
ly comes to us in and by His servants. ' I in them,
and Thou in Me,' John xvii. 23." Gerlach.
2. This principle is in perfect accordance with
the fundamental i-elations of spiritual Ufe. By means
of spiritual susceptibility, man comes to share and
enjoy spiritual fellowship, and thus both blessing and
blessedness ; or, the reward of him who communi-
cates spiritual blessings. Receptive spirits enter into
spiritual fellowship and enjoy spiritual community
with productive spirits ; behevers through the Apos-
tles with Christ and God.
3. Even in the Sermon on the Mount, persecution
for righteousness' sake had been declared identical
with persecution for Christ's sake. Here also the
term " righteous " evidently points to the righteous-
ness of Christ, and that all the more distinctly, that
even in a historical sense, Christ, as the Righteous
* [But such a Eabbinical phra.se is donbtful. In the pas-
sage quoted by Wetstein ="'3t:p B\ea\\&parciili, i. e., chiU
dren. See Meyer hi loc, p. 241.' Still the word might easi-
ly have assumed this meaning as distinguished from ST ,
ffreat, a master. Alford is disposed to take fxtKpol
literally of some children who may have been present (xviiL
2-G); but TovTWuis evidently to be taken buKTiKuis
as pointing to the disciples present— P. 8.]
CHAP. XI.
201
One, formed the connecting link between the proph-
ets and the Apostles. — Lastly, this promise implies
a corresponding warning of impending judgment in
case of resistance.
4. Extent and conditions of the authority of the
Apostles.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The witnesses of Christ must not be afraid of the
detrimental consequences which the message of peace
brings, so far as this world is concerned. — A Chris-
tian may well invite others to share the cross, since
he invites them to share the crown. — Blessed misery
which Christianity causes in the world. — " He that
receiveth you," etc.; or, the apostolic authority: 1.
What important conditions attach to it ; 2. how these
conditions constitute its greatness. — How the great-
ness of Christ's servants appears and disappears : 1.
It appears in their bemg ambassadors of the Spirit
of Christ and of God; 2. it disappears before the
Spirit, the Saviour, and the Father, whom they bring
to those who receive them. — Susceptibility, or trust-
fulness, the bond of spiritual fellowship and spiritual
communication between heaven and eai-th. — Those
who are susceptible obtain the reward of Heaven's
messengers whom they receive, and that in ascending
line : 1 . The reward of a prophet ; 2. the reward of
a righteous man ; 3. the fullest reward of a righteous
man in the reward of all the Apostles. — Faith in the
Righteous One : the righteousness of faith. — Even
the smallest service of love may obtam the richest
reward, if, in doing it to the Lord's people, we de-
vote it to the Lord Himself. — If it is intended as ev-
idence of our having received the Lord.
Sta7-ke: — Luke x. 16 ; John xiii. 20. — Cramer :
— He that receives the servants of God, receives God
Himself into his house. — The more lowly in outward
appearance the messenger who is received, the great-
er the faith which sees Christ in him, and looks only
to the Lord. Matt. xxv. 31. — Osiander : — It shall
be well both in time and eternity with him who pro-
motes the Christian ministry and schools, and who
does good to believers.
[^Quesnclon ver. 42 : — Charity heightens the small-
est actions. It is this which recommends good works.
— Under a just and merciful God, no sin is unpunish-
ed, no good action is unrewarded. — Jesus Christ con-
firms this last promise with the solemn Verily, to
stimulate us to acts of charity, and to destroy all
doubt as to the reward. — In the world, great services
only receive great reward ; in the kingdom of God,
the smallest acts of kmdness to the humblest persons
may justly hope for a very gi-eat reward. — P. S.]
Heubner : — The spirit of faith and of love trans-
forms every work, and surrounds even the meanest
with a halo of glory. — God leaves not the smallest
deed of love unrewarded.
General survey of the 2vhole chapter. — Homily on
the apostolic mission of the disciples of Jesus : a.
Their mission, and their preparation for it by the
Lord ; 6. the goal, and the order of their journey ; c.
their freedom from care, and their sustenance; d.
their stay, and their further progress ; e. their suffei^
ings; f. their encouragements and consolations. —
Lectures on smaller portions : The Apostles and
their mission (vers. 1-10). — The world in its bearmg
toward the Apostles (vers. 11-22).— Admonitions
and consolations of the Lord, to stir us up to faith-
fulness in our work of bearmg witness to the Chris-
tian faith (vers. 23-42).
B. CHRIST MANIFESTING HIMSELF AS THE KING, BY CLEARLY BRINGING OUT THE
FACT, THAT HE HAS NOT BEEN OWNED AS PROPHET, AND BY MANIFESTING HIS
ROYAL DIGNITY. COMMENCEMENT OF THE GREAT CONFLICT BETWEEN CHRIST
AND THE OLD THEOCRATIC WORLD, PREFIGURED BY THE DIFFICULTIES EXPE-
RIENCED BY THE BAPTIST, AND BEGINNING WITH THE UNBELIEF MANIFESTED
IN THE CITEES OF GALILEE.
Chapter XI.
{The Gospel for the U Sunday in Advent: XI. 2-10.— ParaUels : Luke vii. 18-35 ; x. 13-15, 21, 22.)
00!JTr.NT8 :— While Christ's blessed activity w.as bearing richest fruits, .ind during the course of His third journey, when
p.issin5: along the shores of the Lake of Galilee, where His advent had boen announced and prepared by His
twelve Apostles, the great conflict between Him and the old secularized theoenacy commenced. Hitherto the
attacks of the Pharisees and scribes on the Lord had been at least isolated. But now commenced a scries of
contradictions, springing from opposition avowed, and on principle, and incited by the chiefs of the party at
Jerusalem. The contest opens with the serious circumstance, that even John, the Baptist and forerunner of
the Lord, seems for a moment in danger of being offended at Him. Christ feels, however, so certain of His victory
over John, that immediately after replying to his inquiry, Ho publicly claims him iis His associate and precursor. All
the more, therefore, docs He lay it to the charge of His cotemporaries, that they had disbelieved both John and Him-
self. The hopeless captivity of John was sufficient evidence that the people had given him up: whilo the unbelief of
the cities of Galileo formed a plain indication that they were also ready to aarrender the Lord. It is characteristic of
202
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
tbe systematic method of Matthew, that he records on this occasion the sentence of condemnation pronounced by tho
Lord upon these cities, which, in the actual course of events, was uttered at a later period, when Christ finally left
Galilee. But this unbelief and opposition evoke, in all its depth and fulness, Christ's (^)nsciousness of His royal digni-
ty, as it appears in the concluding sentences of this chapter. In ch. xil. this conflict appears as one of principle, — the
Pharisees meeting the Lord with the charge, that His disciples, and He Himself, broke the sabbath, and obliging Him
to withdraw from their machinations against His life. At last, they come publicly forward with tbe accusation, which
they had before spread in secret, that the Lord practised magic, was in league with .^atan, and cast out devils by the
prince of the devils. This daring accusation obliged the Lord publicly to rebuke and to warn them of blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost. In return, they insist on some sign from heaven to verify His J/es«ianio claims, which His
disciples had published as a secret. The Lord Jesus points t!iem to the token from the deep, the sign of the prophet
Jonas — the type of His death on the cross, and to the impending judgment of becoming subject to the sway of domon.s,
which awaited them after His decease. Tho opposition to Jesus was now so great and gener.al, that even His mother
and His brethren were, in their mistaken kindness, offended at Hiui, and attempted to withdraw Him from His ene-
mies under a pretext,— a circumstance to which the Evangelist faintly alludes. In this context, the Evangelist re-
cords the seven p.arables concerning the kingdom of heaven (ch. xiii.), some of which had, however, been uttered at a
former period. These parables also indicate the altered position of the Lord with reference to the people. He now
requires to instruct them by parables in the kingdom of heaven. The ofl'ences still continue and increase. At tbe
close of these parables, the Evangel'st records, that the Lord w.is rejected even by His own city, — a circumstance
which had occurred at an earlier period. Jesus then withdraws (though, chronologically, at an earlier period, see ch.
sii.) from Herod Antip.is, the ruler of Galilee, who had shortly before ordered the execution of John the Baptist, and
betakes Himself to the eastern shore of the sea (ch. xiv.), where He spreads a table for the multitudes. On several
subsequent occasions, He teaches on the western shore; the last two times to be opposed by the Pharisees, chs. xv. and
xvi. Ouly in passing, and preparatory to His journey to Jerusalem, does He again visit His own country (ch. xvii-
We have been obliged, in some measure, to anticipate the course of this history, in order to exhibit the series of
conflicts between the Lord and the unbelieving people. But there is another and higher fact to which this chapter
points. We see in it the royal consciousness of Jesus gradually unfolding with increasing majesty. 1. Clirist restores
the wavering Baptist to the pristine confidence of his faith. 2. He presents the Baptist to the people as Elijah, who,
according to Malachi, w;is to precede the advent of the royal Angel of the Covenant. 3. He places him by His own
side, as sharinj that rejection which Himself had met from His life. 4. In His indignation on account of the unbelief
of Galilee, Ho manifests His royal dignity by announcing the coming judgment. 5. This dignity He manifests still
farther by a grand hymn of praise to His Father, and by the revelation of His own majesty. 7. He graciously invites
those who are weary and heavy laden to find rest in Him In the kingdom of meekness, of patience, ahd of holy suf-
fering.
1. TJie Baptist wavers, but the Lord remains siedfast, and restores His wavering friend. Ch. XI. 1-6.
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve dis-
2 ciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had
heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his [through his] ^ disciples,
3 And said vmto him, Art thou he that should come [that cometh],* or do we look [shall
4 we look] ^ for another ? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again
[report to John] ^ those things which ye do hear and see :
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in [at] me.
1 Yer. 2.— The reading: S i a tSiv fj.aZ-r\ruv aurov, through His disciples, adopted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, is
strongly supported by Codd. B., C, D., etc. But even Origen and other fathers favor the reading: 5uo, and this cor-
responds at all events with the actual fact as stated by Luke vii. 10. [Aid is undoubtedly the original reading, support-
ed by the oldest M9S., including the Cod. Sinaiticus, and adopted also by Tregelles, Alford, Wordsworth; while Siio is a
correction from Luke vii. 19. Lectio difficilior primatum tenet.— V. S.]
-\ur.Z.—[Ov: the coming One, 0 f px^M f "<"> ^'2^! , ;. e., the Messiah. &e Com.— P. S.]
s Ver. 3.— [npy(r5o/fw,ufc is the conjunctive here. See Com.]
* Ver. 4.— [The word again in the E. V. does not mean here a second time, but represents the preposition otto In
dira77eiA.aT6. But report, make known to, is a better translation. See the Dictionaries, s. verio.—V. 8.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. Thence. — From the place whence He
had sent His disciples, somewhere to the south of
Capernaum.
To teach and to preach — It was during this
journey that Jesus soon afterward reached Magdala,
where He was anointed by the woman who had been
a sinner, and then Nain, where He raised the widow's
son. During His onward course, a number of female
disciples gathered around Him and ministered unto
CHAP. XI. 1-6.
203
Him, Luke viii. 2. — On tins occasion He was over-
taken bj the messengers of John, who had been
committed to prison in the later part of the au-
tumn of the year 781. The journey closed with
the appearance of Jesus at the festival of Purim
in the year 782, after which the Baptist was exe-
cuted.
In their cities, avruv . — Fritzsche (after Ger-
hard) : In the cities where the Apostles had already
preached. To this Meyer objects, that Jesus follow-
ed immediately upon His disciples. But if the dis-
ciples had distributed themselves over the different
cities which Jesus afterward visited in succession,
they must have been considerably in advance of
Him. Meyer's own explanation — in the cities of
those to whom He went — amounts to a mere tau-
tology. Euthym. Zigabenus : the birth-places of the
Apostles.
Ver. 2. In the prison. — In the fortress of Ma-
chffirus, Joseph. A7ii. xviii. 5, 2. — The castle of Ma-
chferus, on the southern border of Peraja, toward
Moabitis — probably the modern Mkaur — was, after
Jerusalem, the strongest fortress of the Jews, being
protected on all sides by deep valleys. It fell into
the hands of the Romans after the destruction of
Jerusalem (Joseph. De Bello Jud. vii. 6, 1).
The works of Christ. — Probably referring to
His mode of working, and more especially to the
events above recorded ; His gracious mtercourse with
publicans and sinners (ch. ix., etc.). The Baptist
would obtam from his disciples the latest reports of
the works of Christ.
He sent. — Following the reading Sm, instead of
5yo, we might feel almost inclined with Meyer to
take Tri^^as absolutely, and to connect 5ia rHv,
/f.T.A.., with iliTfvauTai. He sent atid said utUo
Him bi/ his disciples. But this would scarcely give
a good meaning. Accordingly, whatever view we
may take of the reading Hid, we must join ireV'I'as
with the words that follow (de Wette).
Ver. 3. Art Thou He ? — 2 v is put first by way
of emphasis. — 'O ipxa/j-ffos, He that cometh,
KSn , a designation of the Messiah, which, accord-
ing to Ps. xl. 8,"^ would be peculiarly suitable at that
time, and especially in the circumstances of the Bap-
tist ; comp. John i. 27.
ITpoffSoKci^ej/, in the conjunctive, shall we
look, or are we to look,f and not in the indicative.
* [Olshansen derives the designation from Ps. cxviii. 26:
"Blessed is He that cometh ;" Hengstenberg from Mai. iii. 1 :
"Behold He cometh."— P. 8.]
t [Dr. Lange and his Edinb. trsl. add here: "after the
Vulgate, etc."' But this is an error. The Vulgate trans-
lates: erpectamus (indicative). So also Tertullian (Adv.
Marcionem, Ab. iv. chap. IS), Kra^mus, Beza, Fritzsche.
But Bensel, de Wette, and Meyer more correctly reg.ard
it as a deliberative conjunctive'which agrees better with
the psychological condition of John and his disciples at
the time. Comp. Mark xii. 14: Sdjfj.fv ■!) u^ Scuyuei/. De
Wette adds: "This question decidedly indicates doubt, if
not concerning the Messianic mission, at least respecting His
Messianic .activity or mode of proceedinz which did not fall
in with the theocratic notions of the Baptist." Others re-
gard the question merely as a question of impatient zeal and
indirect admonition to proceed faster. But even this would
imply a certain discontent on the part of John. The same
is true of Alford's explanation that John, hearing the con-
tradictory reports concerning the works of Clirist, intended
to bring him, through this embassy, to an open profession
of His Messiahship, and thus incurred a share of the
same rebuke which M.ary received at Cana (John ii. 4).
Most of the fatlity-s on the other hand, with the exception
of Tertullian. jfar. Marc. iv. 18, Opera omnia, ed Ochler,
tom. ii. p 203 (not iv. 5, as Dr. Wordsworth misquotes),
especially Origen, Chrysostom, Thcophylact, Jerome, Am-
— The old explanation of the passage (Origen, Chry-
sostom, etc. ; Calvin, Beza, Melanchthon, Stier), thatv
John himself felt no doubts at all, but that he sent^
this embassy to Jesus for the sake of his disciples, |
who doubted, is not supported by the text, and can /
only have originated in a desire to vindicate the Bap-
tist, or else to obviate an objection against the doc-
trine of inspiration, since John had previously pro-
claimed that Jesus was the Messiah [iii. 14, 16;
John i. 29]. But these commentators ignore the
fact, that if such were tlie case, John would have had
recourse to the doubtful expedient of assuming a false
appearance and simulating difficulties which he had
not felt ; they vindicate his orthodoxy at the expense
of his morality. Similarly do they ignore the history
of the Old Testament saints, all of whom stumbled
at some one of the great critical periods in their Uvea
(Moses, David, Elijah, Job). Specially striking here
is the analogy between Elijah on Mount Horeb and
his antitype John. But, on the other hand, we do
not suppose (with Meyer, and many others, com-
mencing even with Tertullian) that the Baptist had
cherished any dogmatic doubt as to the Messiahship
of Jesus. In our opinion, the two views must be
combined, — that John, in the midst of his mental
perplexities and trials, was offended by the kindly
and gentle mode of Christ's activity (Paulus, Olshau-
sen, Ebrard, and others), and that his embassy was
designed to determine the Lord to manifest Himself
openly as the Messiah, by some solemn act of judg-
ment (Lightfoot, Hase, and others). Above all must
we clearly realize the situation of the Baptist. Dur-
ing a long and dreary winter had he been imprisoned
in the lonely fortress of Machaerus. Meantime Herod
Antipas was in the immediate neighborhood, indulg-
ing in every kind of luxury ; while Herodias, with
whom he lived in adulterous connection, meditated
vengeance upon the bold preacher who had denounc-
ed her sin. When preaching the baptism of the
Spirit, John had also proclaimed the coming baptism
of fire, or the impending judgment. At this period
the disciples of the Baptist returned from their \isit
to Jesus, full of indignation, and reported to the
captive and offended ascetic that Jesus accepted in-
vitations to feasts with publicans and simiers. It
was impossible for John to doubt either his own
mission, or the vision he had seen. But he might
doubt the conduct of the Lord, whom he had owned
as Messiah. Hence his embassy. It was prompted
by doubt and disappointment about Christ's conduct ;
by an inordinate desire for His more public mani-
festation ; by an Elijah-like wrath on account of the
corruptness of the court and world ; by a desire him-
brose, Hilary, and Augustine, deny that John was in any
doubt. Stier among the modern German, and WordsworthN
among the English, commentators, elaborately defend the y
patristic view. The latter regards this seidina of his dis-y/^
ciples as the crownins act of the ministry of John, who thus
L'uarded against a schism between his own disciples and
those of Jesus, and bequeathed his disciples to Christ. I
asree substantially with Dr. Lango's view, viz: that John
(like all saints in this world) was temporarily under a cloud
of depression and doubt, not respecting the Messiahship of
Christ (as Meyer in a long note, pp. 244 and 245, 4th ed., as-
serts, contrary to vers. 7 and 8), but respecting the slow and
unostentatious mode of His manifestation, and tlie true na-
ture of His kingdom. It is very pl.ain, what Langj does not
notice, that the answer of our Saviour is directid to John
himself (dira77eiA.aT€ 'Icuai/i'j;), and not to his disciples,
which implies that he needed it'as much as they, for his own
spiritual comfort and encourasement. That the messiige of
Christ had the desired effect upon both may be inferred from
the martyrdom of John and from the action of his disciples,
who " took up his body and buried it and came and told Jc-
«iM," Matt. xiv. 12.— P. S.]
204
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ficlf to witness tlie manifestation of that kingdom of
heaven which ho had announced ; above all, by ar-
dent longing for a decisive word. But the faithful-
ness and strength of this friend of Jesus, in the midst
of his weakness, appears even in the form of his
message — straightforward and directly to Jesus.
This characteristic is the earnest of his victory.
Vcr. 5. The blind see, etc. — The evidence of
the Messiah's working as given by the prophets, Isa.
XXXV. 5 ; Ixi. 1. The cleansing of lepers and raising
the dead, Ezek. xxxvi. and xxxvii. [Comp. the rais-
ing of the daughter of Jairus, ix. 18-26, and of the
widow's son at Nain, which, in the Gospel of Luke,
immediately precedes this embassy, Luke vii. 11, 18.
P. S.] Most commentators refer the expression poor
to spiritual poverty ; Meyer, to the national misfor-
tunes of Israel. The statement with reference to
these poor must, of course, be taken in a limited
sense ; just as that about the blind, the lame, etc., —
to all of whom it only applied on condition of their
EusceptibiUty to the influence of Christ.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. As the representative of the law, the prophet is
another Moses : he may call for lightning, for thun-
der, or for fire from heaven. As messenger of the
gospel, the prophet is only a precursor of Christ ; and
hence has not attained the full height of Christianity,
especially in regard to patience under suiFering. In
this respect, also, it holds true that the least in the
kingdom of heaven is greater than he. — From the in-
quiry of the Baptist — shall weivaitfor another ? — we
learn the extent of his temptation. In the case of
Israel, this query has, alas ! been answered affirma-
tively, and they wait for " another," to their own con-
demnation. But with John the difficulty arose from
the knowledge that Messiah would also appear as
Judge. And although he could not be ignorant of
the difference between the suffering and the glorified
Messiah, yet he was not aware of the distance inter-
vening between the advent of the one and of the
other ; and his impatience was all the greater that he
did not even see the Messiah suffering, in the strict-
est sense of the word. But the special object of his
inquiry sepms to have been, to urge Jesus publicly to
declare Himself before all the people.
2. Formerly (in ch. ix.), Jesus had met the disci-
ples of the Baptist by recalhng to their minds the
last testimony of the Baptist concerning Himself (the
Bridegroom and His friend). He now repUes to the
Baptist, whose wan-ant was derived from the prophe-
cies of Isaiah (ch. xl.), by appealing to another part
of these predictions (ch. xxxv. and Ix.), nay, by refer-
ring him even to the prophetic figure of the advent
of the Lord through the wilderness. John impatient-
ly longed for assistance, for retaliation, and for the
vengeance of God. * This was the occasion of his of-
fence. Jesus replied by reminding him of the char-
acteristics of Messiah in Isa. xxxv. 5, which are in-
tended to meet such unpatience as that of the Bap-
tist. For, in the verses precedmg those quoted by
Christ, we read : " Strengthen ye the weak hands,
and confirm the feeble knees. Say ye to them tliat
are of a fearful (hasty) heart. Be strong, fear not :
behold, your God cometh to vengeance, even Godcom-
eth to a recompense, that He may save you. Then the
eyes of the blind shall be opened," etc. — The descrip-
tion of the Messiah which follows — the transition
from physical to spiritual deliverance, and the con-
nection between the two — the relation between these
deliverances and the character of the Messiah as
drawn by Isaiah — lastly, the connection between this
description and that of his own situation, — could not
but have a beneficial and quickening influence upon
John, especially when taken along with the conclud-
ing words, which would recall the prediction in Isa.
viii. 14.
3. The conclusion of Christ's rcj ly to the Baptist
indicated that the miracles of Jesus \.cre al.-o intend-
ed as emblems of spiritual deliverance. This view has
been entertained by all sound interpreters, and only
called in question on insufficient grounds. Lastly,
we infer from this passage, that the miracles of Jesus
were also designed to serve as evidence of His Messi-
anic mission and Divine nature.
4. Hitherto Jesus had carefully avoided publicly
taking the name of Messiah. John now urged Him
to assume that title. This might easily have led to*
a popular movement in favor of John. But in His
reply, Jesus combined the highest wisdom with the
highest power : He appealed to His works, by whiclk
John could not fail to recognize Him as the Messiah ;
v/hile at the same time He refused to yield to the
suggestion of John, and openly avow Himself the
Messiah.
HOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
Jesus everywhere accompanies His honest mes-
sengers, to confirm their work. — Jesus teaches and
preaches in the cities of His faithful witnesses (in
their fields of labor : schools, churches, institutions,
and works). — The call of the Lord penetrates every-
where, even vritbin prison-walls. — The embassy of
John the Baptist to the Lord, an evidence of strength
in weakness. 1. An evidence of his weakness. For-
mer joyous certitude of the Baptist; his present of-
fence. Explained by his situation and his Old Testa-
ment character. Courage to bear suffering and the
cross was only preparing. The temptations of saints. 2.
Evidence of his strength : John addresses the Saviour,
even as Christ Himself, in His last trial on the cross,
appealed to the Father : My God, My God, etc. — The
inquiry of the Baptist : Shall ive look for another ? —
a wavering between truth and error : 1. True, in so far
as it referred to the second advent of Christ ; 2. false,
as a misunderstanding of the first advent of Christ ; 3.
a doubt, or uncertainty as to the connection between
the first and the second advent of Christ. — Glorious
answer, by which the Lord in His strength restores
His zealous friend in his v.-eakness : 1. Glorious in
its contents ; 2. glorious in its humility and in its
wisdom (He avoids the declaration that He did all
this, and that He was the Messiah) ; 3. glorious in
its mode of expression (reference to the passage in
Isaiah in its context) ; 4. glorious in its promise (the
dead are raised — which applied especially to John —
and to the poor, etc.). — The miracles of Jesus an evi-
dence of His claims and character. — The physical
miracles of Jesus, signs and seals of His spiritual mir-
acles : 1 . Signs preceding them ; 2. seals following
them. — Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offend-
ed at Me : 1. Deep import of this saying (Whosoever
shall not be offended at My infinite patience with the
world, at My veadiness to suffer, at My delay of judg-
ment) ; 2. solemn warning : to judge and decide
hastily may lead even to apostasy ; 3. the great pro-
mise : he that overcometu the temptation to be of-
fended in Christ, has cou(|uercd and is saved.
CHAP. XI. 1-16.
205
2. T7ie authority of the Baptist as preparing the way for the Messiah vindicated. Cn. XI. V-15.
7 And as thej departed,^ Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John,
TVhat went je out into the wilderness to see?* A reed shaken with [by] the wind?
8 But what [What then] went ye out for* to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?*
9 behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for
10 to see? A prophet?^ yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he,
of whom it is written, Beliold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall pre-
11 pare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you. Among them that are born of
women there hath not risen a greater than John tlie Baptist : notwithstanding, he that
12 is least® in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence [is assaulted by storm],' and
13 the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14 And if ye will receive it^ this is Elias [the Elijah], which was for to come [who was to
15 come]. He that hath ears to hear,^ let him hear.
1 Ver. 7. — [Lit. : And as these were departing, tovtccv Se Ttopfvofievuv. — P. S.]
2 Ver. T.— [Conant ami the revised N. T. of the Am. Bible Unioti: behold, for see, to express more fully the meaning
of BediTaadai, to gaze, to look vpon, as a public spectacle.— P. S.]
3 Ver. S. — [For is unnecessary; aWa ti t^riKdeTe lde7i/.]
* Ver. S.— [Correct as to the sense. The text. rec. (with Cod. Ales, as edited by Cowper) reads tyuarioiy after iJLa\ar
(CO??, probably from Luke vii. 25. Codd. Sinait., Vaticanus, tho Latin Vulgate {mollibus), and other ancient authorities
omit it. So Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Alford. Lachmann retains the noun, but in brackets. — P. S.]
6 Ver. 9.— [After an ancient reading of Cod. B. : £iit why went ye out? to see a prophet ? a.K\'a ri i^TiKOan ; irpo-
(prirrjv iSeiv ; Lange,. with Tischendorf, Meyer, and Alford (who, however, omits the punctuation after e^-i}X0aTe, regard-
lag the whole as one sentence) adopt this reading, which has now the additional weight of the Cod. Sinaiticus; but Lach-
mann and Tregelles defend the usual reading: aWa ti i^7}\daTe iSe7v ; 7rpo07JTr)i'; the only real difference is as to tho
position of iSfiy — P. S.]
5 Ver. 11.— [Lit. : less, or the lesser, 6fj.iKp6Tepos.. So Lange, van Ess, the Latin Vulgate {minor), and all the
older Enslish versions, Wiclif 's, Tyndale, Cranmer. Geneva {less), the Khemish (the lesser). But Luther {der Kleinste),
de Wette'((/er Geringste), and the authorized English version {least) render the word in the superlative. Dr. J. A. Alex-
ander lid toe. c:dls this '■ one of the few gi'oundless innovations introduced by the translators of King James' Bible." But
this is too hasty. The translation depends on what we supply to the comparative 6 /ui/cpdrepos. If we supply: tJian
John the Bnptist, less or the lesser h the proper translation; but if we supply: than all others (twv aAAoji') which is
likewise allowable {see W^iner, p. 218) and even preferable, the English idiom seems to require he that is least, or the least.
See E.xeg. Notes.— P. S.]
" Ver. 12.— [In Greek: /Sidferai, Lange: wird mit Sturm angelavfen ; Luther: leidet Geicalt {suffers violence).
All English versions from Wlclif to that of King James have: suffereth violence &ite.t th.Q\\x\gaX&: vim patitur. See
Exeg. Notes. — P. S.]
8 Ver. 15.— The verb uKoveiv is omitted by Tischendorf [and Alford] after Codd. B., C, etc. [But Cod. Sinait. has it.
—P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL.
Ver. v. Jesus "began to say. — The Lord hasten-
ed by His commendation to restore the authority of
the Baptist, which be himself by liis embassy had
endangered.
A reed. — The figure is derived from the lower
banks of Jordan, where reeds grew in abundance ;
referring to a person wavering and easily influenced
by outward circumstances (Ol.shausen, Meyer). With
special allusion to what had just taken place : John
will not waver in his faith, though on this occasion
he seemed to do so. Some critics have taken the
word in a negative sense : Surely ye would not see a
reed, etc. (Grotius, de Wette, etc.). This, however,
were not only idle, but would weaken the pregnant
expression, " shalcen by the wind.''''
Ver. 8. What then. — 'AAA. a , hut, implies a si-
lent negation.
In soft raiment. — The /uaAaKot l/idTia, or
only fxaKaicd, according to B., D., Z., etc., are a
mark of effeminate and luxurious persons. Under
the first simile, Christ shows that John was not wav-
ering in his faith ; by the second, He proves that he
had not dispatched his embassy from selfishness, or
cowardly fear for his life. Both similes presuppose
the fact, that His bearers had formerly regarded John
as a person entirely inaccessible to such motives.
The Saviour would now recall their former feelings
of veneration for the Baptist. The antithesis, they
that -wear soft clothing, alludes to the enemies of
John at the court of Herod Antipas, who were the
occasion of bis imprisonment.
Ver. 9. One who is more than a prophet,
TTf ptaff orepo v. — Fritzsche takes this as masculine ;
Meyer, as neuter, which seems to agree better with
the" context. John was more than the prophets, as
being the precursor of the Messiah. The meaning is,
You have seen one who is greater than the prophets,
although you have not understood his character.
Ver. 10. Of whom it is written, Malachi iii. 1.
— In the original : " Behold, I will send My messen-
ger, that he may prepare the way before Me : and
suddenly cometh to His temple the Lord whom ye
seek, and the Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye
desire : behold. He cometh, saith the Lord of hosts."
In the Hebrew, Jehovah identified Huuself with Mes-
siah when announcing the forerunner ; while in Mat-
thew a distinction is made, and the text is presented
as embodying a promise of God to the Messiah.
Ver. 11. Among those born of women. —
Job xiv. 1, etc., n^i'X iV^i, a general designation of
man, more especially witli reference to mankind be-
fore the coming of Chri.st. We must not overlook
206
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the use of the plural number. Gal. iv. 4 is not a par-
allel passage, but rather indicates the contrast. The
expression, "born of a woman," differs from that,
" born 0/ wowew," just as " Son of Man " from " man!"
The former expression is specially intended to refer
to the human limitations of Christ, to His humilia-
tion in the form of a servant.
There hath not risen a greater. — Not merely
a greater prophet (Roscnraiiller, etc.), but, in general,
none greater than he. As preparing the way for the
Messiah, John represented the highest perfection of
the Old Covenant. The antithesis which follows : " He
that is least in the kingdom of heaven," etc., shows
that the expression refers to superiority not in respect
of moral righteousness, but of theocratic development
and dignity. Hence it is needless to make an excep-
tion in favor of the patriarchs, as Olshausen proposes.
He that is less [least], 6 Se 1J.1 Kp6r e p o s . —
Meyer : Not he that is least, as the comparative is never
used for the superlative. See Winer's Grammar (p.
218*). De AVette entertains a different opinion, and
translates least. But the passage is so important, that
unless forced by the use of the language, we are not
warranted in deviating from the literal expression,
though we do not deny that the rendering, he that is
least, gives good sense. The meaning is, he who is
comparatively less in the kingdom of heaven, accord-
ing to the standard of that kingdom (Cyrill, Theodoret,
and others), or who occupies a lower place in it, is
greater than John, in respect of the development of his
faith and spiritual life. Maldonatus [quotes the log-
ical axiom] : " Minimum maxlmi rnajus est maximo
minimi.'''' Even the least in the kingdom of the New
Testament enjoys what John could not have had, viz.,
peace in the finished work of Christ, and, with it,
patience in suffering and death, and quiet expecta-
tion of the second coming of Christ, when every
wrong shall be righted. Other commentators have
applied the expression, " less," to Christ Himself
(Chrysostom, Luther, Melanchthon, etc.). " The less,"
who at the time was eclipsed by the glory of John,
will in the kingdom of heaven be greater (the punc-
tuation of the verse being changed), or will as the
Messiah excel him. But this interpretation is evi-
dently untenable, as there could be no comparison
of the kind between Jesus and John, certainly not
without express limitation. f
* [Sixth German ed., Leip., 1S55 (§ 35). The original
quotes p. 2S0, which is no douht an error of the printer.
Winer says that we must supply to p-iKporepos either (to;;/)
&A.Aa)i/, or 'Iwdvvov rod Pairriarov. Meyer (Com., p. 247)
prefers the latter and explains (p. 248): "He who shall oc-
cupy a lower standpoint or degree of value and dignity in
the kingdom of the Messiah, than John the Baptist now oc-
cupies in the old theocracy, is greater than he, of whom I
have just said such great things." I much prefer to supply
Tiiv &Wuiv, and explain : John being nearest to Christ and
standing at the very threshold of His kingdom is quoad sta-
turn the greatest of all Old Testament prophets and saints;
but the least or humblest Christian who has actually eiitered
into the gospel dispensation is quoad statum or as to his
standpoint (not as to personal merit) greater than he. It is
not denied, however, that John may hereafter enter into the
kingdom of the Messiah, and then occupy a much higher po-
Bition than millions of Christians. The comparison refers
only to YiXsprenent position in the cdwv ouro^. — P. S.]
t [Dr. 'Wordsworth, from respect for the fathers, endea-
vors to combine the interpretation of Chrysostom, Enthy-
mlus, Theophylact, with the other, but at'the expense of
clearness Alford declares the former to be entirely adverse
to the spirit of the whole discourse, and agrees substantial-
ly with Meyer. Alexander is here very unsatisfactory, and
weakens the force of this profound passage by reducing it
simply to this: "All that is really asserted is, that ono"in-
ferior to John in some respect is greater In another."' But
in what respects ?— P. S.]
Ver. 12. And from the days. — The days of
John's great usefulness were past. Jesus intimates
in passing the coming calamities. He also indicates
the imm.cnse contrast between the days of the Baptist
and His own advent.
Suflfereth violence, is assaulted by storm,
/3 ict ^6T a I. — Explanations : 1. It is violently per-
secuted by the enemies, and the violent take it from
men (Lightfoot, Schneckenburger, and others). But
this is opposed to the context, which is evidently in-
tended to explain the greatness of John, the contrast
between the days of the Baptist and those of Christ,
and the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven. — 2.
As referring to the advancement of the kingdom of
heaven by violent means: («) Taking ^la^trai in
the middle sense, as meaning, it forcibly irdroduces
itself, breaks in with violence (Melanchthon, Bengel,
Paulas). But this is incompatible with the expres-
sion ^ laa-Tui which follows. (6) Passively : Mag-
na vi prced'icatur (Fritzsche) ; but this is arbi-
trary, (c) It is taken by violence, or intense endea-
vors— in the good sense (Hesychius : ^iaiws KparCi-
Toi). — The expression is evidently metaphorical, de-
noting the violent bursting forth of the kingdom of
heaven, as the kernel of the ancient theocracy,
through the husk of the Old Testament. John and
Christ are themselves the violent who take it by
force, — the former, as commencing the assault ; the
latter, as completing the conquest. Accordingly, this
is a figurative description of the great era which had
then commenced.
Ver. 13. For all the prophets. — Proof of what
had just been stated. Difference between the charac-
ter of the old period and the new era. All the proph-
ets prophesied of that era, or predicted it ; but they
could not call it into existence. [The emphasis lies
on prophesied, i. e., they only predicted i\\e kingdom
of heaven, as something future ; while now, since
the coming of Christ, it is an actual reality. In the
Greek, the words, until John, precede the verb, and
are connected with o vojxos. John still belonged to
the dispensation of the law, but on the very threshold
of the dispensation of the gospel, whose advent he
proclaimed. " Usque ad Johannem lex, ab eo evan-
gelium." Comp. Luke xvi. 16. — P. S.]
Ver. 14. And if ye wiU receive it. — The an-
tithesis with the preceding verse — the prophets have
prophesied — is here hinted at : now is the time of the
fulfilment. The idea itself was before expressed as
the kingdom of heaven suffering violence. This then
furnishes an explanation of the manner in which it
suffereth violence. John was the Elijah who was to
come as the precursor of Messiah, according to Mai.
iv. 5. The expression was metaphorical, and referred
to the character of the precursor of Jesus as that of
a prophet of judgment, even as the mission of Eli-
jah had been symboHcal of the coming judgment.
The Jews, however, understood the passage literally,
and expected that Elijah would arise from the dead,
and actually appear among them (Wetstein, Light-
foot, Schiittgen). Jesus removed this mistake (comp.
Matt. xvii. 12), by acknowledging John as the Elijah
of whom Malachi had spoken. In one sense only
may the prophecy have been still partially unfulfilled,
as the second coming of Christ would also be pre-
ceded by judgments. But even then the character
and mission of Elijah could only be metaphorical, not
literal.
Ver. 15. He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. — Comp. ch. xiii. 9, 43 ; Rev. ii. 7. A pro-
verbial expression to evoke attention, or to mark a
CHAP. XI. 16-19.
207
conclusion from certain premises. In the present in-
stance, the inference was obvious. If the time of
the first ;8iao-T7)? was past, the second and greater
must he at hand. Thus Christ complied as far as
possible with the request of the Baptist to pronounce
Himself the Messiah. Those who knew the Scriptures,
and believed them, would be able to recognize Him ;
while at the same time He would not assume the title
before the people, since in their minds it was still
connected with ideas of rebellion and carnal conquest.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. This passage affords a fresh view of the great-
ness of Jesus as compared with John, whom He first
restores, and then acknowledges before the peo-
ple, in whose presence John had almost reproved
Him. The contrast appears most clear and distinct
between John and Christ, between the Old and the
New Testaments, between calm development and a
stormy era. And as John had first testified of Christ,
go Christ now bears testimony of John.
2. In truth, the Baptist himself was a sufficient
reply to his own inquiry — Ai-t Thou He? His being
offended implied a doubt in his own mission. Hence
also it could only be transient.
3. The violent manifestation of the kingdom of
heaven upon earth was brought about by the holy
violence of John and Jesus, who ushered this king-
dom into a sinful world.
4. [Dr. Thomas Scott : " In every age, ' the king-
dom of iaeaven suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force.' . . . They who are determined at all
adventures, to find admission, will surely succeed :
but such as postpone the concerns of their souls to
worldly interest, pleasures, and diversions, will be
found to come short of it ; as well as those who seek
salvation in any other way than by repentance to-
ward God and faith in his beloved Son." Matthew
Henry : " The kingdom of heaven was never intend-
ed to indulge the ease of triflers, but to be the
rest of them that labor." Comp. Luke xiii. 24 :
" Strive {a.yi£vi^iij&^) to enter in at the strait gate."
—P. S.]
HOMILETICAL ANB PRACTICAL.
The glory of the Lord as it appears by the side
of John. — Entire freedom from all jealousy in its full
majesty (John and Christ). — The commendation of
the Baptist as reflecting greater glory upon the Lord
than even on John : 1. As exalting the Baptist ; 2.
still more the Lord (uttered at such a moment, after
such experience, in such terms, with such reservations
as to His own person). — In what sense those who are
least in the New Covenant are greater than the great-
est under the Old. — Every fresh manifestation of the
kingdom of heaven requiring luroism of faith. —
Christ bringing the kingdom of heaven to this earth,
and at the same time taking the kingdom of heaven
by force for this earth. — The kingdom of heaven pass-
ing from its typical form into reality through the
faithfulness of His witnesses. — Holy violence. —
Christ's perfect suffering constituting His perfect vio-
lence.*— Clearness of the Old Testament testimony
about Christ. — He that hath earn to hem\ let him hear :
the loudest call to a life of faith : 1. As pointing to
our origmal calling, to hear ; 2. as condemning the
sin, that man has ears, yet does not hear ; 3. as
an admonition to come to the knowledge of Christ
by our hearing. — Properly to understand the Scrip-
tures, is to know Christ. — Every call of God is at the
same time both general and special.
Starke : — Does it become a sei-vant of the cross
of Christ to imitate the pomp of the world, or to
trim his sails to the wind ? — Wavering preachers can-
not expect stable hearers. — They who are under the
influence of the love of the world, will scarcely
prove fit to root it out of the hearts of others, Luke
X. 30. — Hedinger : — We must be thoroughly in ear-
nest if we are ever to reach heaven. — As the sub-
stance exceeds the shadow, so the grace of the
New, that of the Old Testament, Col. ii. 1*7 ; Heb.
viii. 5 ; x. 1. — Gerlach : — Knowledge of Christ is the
sole standard for measuring spiritual greatness.
Heubner : — Jesus commends John after his dis-
ciples have left His presence. Let this serve as an
example, f — Jesus knew the Baptist better than the
latter knew himself. — Human opinions are like the
wind: beware of being their weathercock. — Inde-
pendence a high honor and glory.
* [So also on the part of his disciples. Ambrose in Luke
xi. 5 (as quoted by Wordsworth) : Vim facimus Domino,
non compellendo, sed Jlendo ; non pruvncando injutHis,
sed lac.rymls exorando. O beata violentia ! Ilasc sunt
armajidei noairce.—P. S.]
t [Comp. the remarks <if Matthew Henry : " Christ spoke
thus honorably of John, but as lliey departed, just as they
were gone, Luke vii. 24. He would not so much as seem to
flatter John, nor have these pr.aises reported of him. Though
we must bo forward to give to all their due praise for their
encouragement, yet we "must avoid everything that looks
like flattery, or may be in danger of pufling them up. Pride
is a corrupt humor, wliich we must not feed either in others
or in ourselves." — P. S.]
3. The Baptist and the Son of Man, as judged by a childish generation. Ch. XI. 16-19.
16 But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the
17 markets, and calling unto their fellows [to the others],^ And saying, We have piped
"unto you, and ye have not danced; we liave mourned [wailed, sung dirges] unto you,'
18 and ye have not lamented [beat the breast].^ For John came neither eating nor drink-
19 ing, and they say, He hath a devil [demon]. The Son of man came eating and drink-
ing, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous [a glutton], and a wine-bibber,* a friend of
publicans and sinners. But Wisdom * is justified of [on the part of] * her cluidren.
' Ver. 16.— Lachmann : to?? eraipoiy [Vulg. : cocEqualibui, companions, playmates], after G., S., U., V., etc.
[Lachmann quotes as his authorities Ii. and C, as previously compared by others; but the printed edition of Cod. Ephraami
208
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Syri (C.) by Tischendorf, and Angelo Mai's cd. of the Cod. Vaticanus (B.) both read ertpoir. Bnttmann's edition of the lat-
ter, however, sustains Lachmann, and the dAATjAoiy in Luko vii. 32 favors eraipois.— P. S.] Griesbach: ro'is irfpois
[a/as], after most Codd. [including Cod. Sinait.]. So also Tischendoif [and Tregclles. Alford does not read irepois
as stated by Conant, but eraipois- So also "Wordsworth. Lange's interpretation requires erfpois.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 17.— Lachuiann and Tischendorf omit the second vfxlv, following B., C, [Cod. Sinait.], etc.
s Ver. 17.— [Lange more literally: Wir hahen (euch) die TodtenkUige ffemacht, nnd ihr liaht nicht (im C?ior) ge-
jammert; Scrivener: We have sung dirges unto you, and ye. have not smote the hreiist; Andrew Norton : We have sung
a dirge to yoxi, and you have not heat your hreuUs ; Conant and the revised version of the Atn. Bible Union: We sang
the lament, and ye heat not the hreast. Qprivuv refers to the funeral dirge, and Ko-nnadaL (middle verb) to the oriental
expression of sorrow by beating the breast, cotnp. Ezek. xx. 34 (Sept. : Kux^/ende ru. -n-puawna); Matt. xsiv. 30; Luke xviiL
13; xxiii. 48, and the dictionaries. The authorized version is veiy vague.— P. 8.]
* Ver. 19.— [ Wine-hihher is a felicitous translation of the Anacreontic oivottStt]^. Dr. Conant and the N. T. of the
Am. Bible Union : a glutton and a winedrinker. Luther and Lange stronger: ein Frekser mid Weinsdvfer.—V. S.l
6 Ver. 10.— [We prefer capitalizing Wisdom as in older editions of the Bible. See Exeg. Notes.— P. S.]
« Ver. 19. — [Lange : von Seiten ihrer Kinder. So also Meyer, and Conant, who quotes Meyer and refers to Acts ii. 22
for the same use of atr6, instead of vtto (oLv'bpa atrh Oeov a,iTo5eSeiy/xei/oi/ eis vfxas 5vvdfj.ecn, k.t.A.) — P. S.]
EXEGETIOAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 16. But whereto shall I liken this gen-
eration?— It seemed as if John were about to
identify himself with his generation in reference to
the Lord. But Jesus restores him to his right place,
and exhibits Himself and the Baptist as one in op-
position to the spirit of the age. A transition from
His verdict upon John to that on his contempora-
ries, with special reference to the present and im-
pending fate of the Baptist. While John and Jesus
were engaged in spiritual labors and warfare, the
conquest of the kingdom of heaven, " this ffeneraiion "
would only seek childish amusement.
It is like unto children. — The common inter-
pretation of this passage (first proposed by Cfirysos-
tom, and recently defended by Stier) is, that the ex-
pression, piping and mourning, refers to John and
Jesus, and that the Jews were the other children
who refused to give heed. But this is enth'ely un-
tenable. For, 1. " this generation " is likened to
children playing in the market-place. 2: These
same children are represented as urging the olsjec-
tions which Christ subsequently puts into the mouth
of the people. Both in the simile and in the explana-
tion of it, the Jews are introduced as speaking. 3. If
these terms had referred to Christ and John, the or-
der of the figures would have been reversed ; idp-rj-
viiffaixev — riuXricrafxev. 4. There is a manifest anti-
thesis between the idea of children plajing, and the
former figure of taking the kingdom of heaven by
violence. 5. The conduct of the children is repre-
sented as inconsistent and contradictory. 6. We
have the fact, that this generation really expected
that its prophets should be influenced by the passing
whuns of their carnal views and inclinations. Hence
we conclude that the piping and mourning children
represent the Jews, and the « t e p o i , " the others,"
John and Jesus. These ere pot form no part of
the company represented as playing in the mar-
ket.
[So also de Wette, and Meyer, p. 251 : " The
TTaiSia are the Jews ; the erepoi are John and Jesus."
But I object to this interpretation, the reverse of
the other, for the following reasons : 1. Because it
is contrary to the parallel passage in Luke vii. 32,
where we have aAAr)Aois,to one another, instead
of 6 T 6 p 0 1 s , so that the playing children and the si-
lent children form but one company, although dis-
agreed among themselves (as the Jews were in fact
with their many sects and their contradictory carnal
notions about the Messiah). The same is true, if we
read with Lachmann : e t ai po i s . 2. Because it
would represent Christ and John as the dissatisfied
and disobedient party. 3. Finally, I reject both inter-
pretations, that refuted, and that defended by Dr.
Lange ; because John and Christ could with no de-
gree of propriety and good taste be represented as
playmates and comrades of their v/ayward contempo-
raries. We conclude, therefore, that both classes of
children refer to the wayward, capricious, and dis-
contented Jews ; the children who play the mock wed-
ding and the mock funeral representing the active,
the silent children who refuse to fall in with their
playmates, the passive discontent, both with the aus-
terity of John and with the more cheerful and gen-
ial conduct of Christ. So Olshausen : " The sense
is this : the generation resembles a host of DI-
humored children, whom it is impossible to please in
any way ; one part desires this, and the other that,
so that they cannot agree upon any desirable or use-
ful occupation." Compare also the illustrative re-
marks of Wordsworth, who m this case dissents from
his favorite Chrysostom : " By the children [or
rather 07ie class of the children] many interpreters
understand the Baptist and our Lord. But this seems
harsh. The yfved itself is said to be n/xoia 7raiSiois,
and the querulous murmur of the children, complain-
ing that others would not humor them in their fickle
caprices, is compared to the discontented censorious-
ness of that generation of the Jews, particularly of
the Pharisees, who could not be pleased with any of
God's dispensations, and rejected John and Christ, as
they had done the prophets before them. The sense,
therefore, is, Ye are like a band of wayward children,
who go on with their own game, at one time gay, at
another grave, and give no heed to any one else, and
expect that every one should conform to them. You
were angry with John, because he would not dance
to your piping, and with Me, because I will not weep
to your dirge. John censured your licentiousness, I
your hypocrisy ; you, therefore, vilify both, and ' re-
ject the good counsel of God,' who has devised a va-
riety of means for your salvation (Luke vii. 30)." —
P.S.]
Ver. IT. We have piped unto you, etc. —
Among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, it was cus-
tomary to play the flute especially at marriage dances :
Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. Similarly, solemn wailing was
customary at burials. The expression, danced, cor-
responds with piping, just as the funeral dirge was
expected to evoke lamentation among the mourners,
especiaUy by beating the breast (hence the expression,
Ezek. xxiv. IG; Matt. xxiv. 30, etc). The figure is
that of children imitating the festivities or solemni-
ties of their seniors, and expecting other children
who take no part in their play to share their amuse-
ment.
Ver. 18. For John came neither eating nor
drinking. — A hyperboUcal expression, referring to
CHAP. XL 16-19.
209
his abstinence and asceticism, as contradistinp;nished
from Christ's freer conduct. And they say, He has
a demon ISat/j.dptov]. — A demon of niolancholy (John
X. 20). The figure of piping, to which John respond-
ed not, is all the more striking, that the spurious
marriage at the court of llerod was the occasion of
John's imprisonment ; and again, the dance of the
daughter lierodias, tluit of his execution. In another
place also, Jesus says that the Jews would have liked
to use John, as it were, by way of religious diversion
(John V. So).
Ycr. 19. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking. — Referring to His more free mode of con-
duct, and with special allusion to the feast in the house
of Matthew, in the company of publicans and sin-
ners [and the wedding feast at Cana]. This induced
the Pharisees to pronounce an unfavorable judgment
of Christ. AccorcUngly, His contemporaries already
commenced to condemn Him as a destroyer of the
law. It has been suggested, that our Lord here hints
at the occurrence formerly related, when He had
admonished one of His disciples to "let the dead
bury their dead." But it seems more likely, that if
the figure contains'any allusion to a definite event, it
referred to the imputation of Jolm's disciples, that
during the captivity of their master, and until after
his death, Jesus should abstain from taking part in
any festivities. But we are inclined to take a broader
view of the subject, and to regard the statement of
the Lord as referring to the anger and sorrow of the
people about their national position, with which our
Lord could not sympathize in that particular form.
Their carnal mourning for the outward depression of
Israel could meet with no response from Him.
Ver. 19. But Wisdom, etc. — Final judgment of
the Lord as to the difference obtaining between the
people, John, and Himself. The tr o </> i a . Jerome :
J^go, qni nuni del virtus ct sapientla dei juste fecisse
ab apostoUs meis filiis comprobalus sum. Chrysos-
tom, Theophylact, Castellio : Wisdom, whicii has be-
come manifest in Jesus. De Wette : A personifica-
tion of tlie wisdom of Jesus. — The term undoubtedly
refers to the spirit of the theocracy as manifested in
John and in Christ, and which bears the name of
Wisdom (Prov. viii. and is. ; Sir. xxiv.), because the
conduct of John and of Jesus was guided by a defi-
nite oljject, and derived from the spirit of Wisdom in
revelation.*
Is justified on tiie part (or, at the hands)
of her children. — Eisner, Schneckenburger : Judg-
ed, reproved, i. e., by the Jews, who should have
been its disciples.f Ewald : Really justified by that
foolish generation, since their contradictory judg-
ments confuted each other, and so confirmed Wis-
dom. Dc Wette takes the aor. in the sense of habit,
and gives the statement a more general sense : The
children of Wisdom (i. c, those who receive it, or My
disciples) give, by their conduct, cause for approving
* [Ileace Windom .should be capitalized, as in some edi-
tions of the English Version.— P. S.]
t [In this case the sentence would be a solemn irony, or
an indifrniknt rebuke of the bad treatment of God's wise and
gracious I'rovidence on the p.irt of those who claimed to be
its orthodox admirr^rs and authorized e-xpounders. Dr. J.
A. Alexander leans to tliis interpretation. But no clear case
of ironv (nor of wit, nor of humor) occurs in tlie discourses
of our Saviour. The childlike children of Wisdom in ver. 19
gecm to be opposed to the childinh and wayward children of
this [generation in ver. 16. Comp. Ben;iel, in, Luo. vii. 35:
JIuimSapienticB liheri non mnt PharUmi horumqiie ni-
mile/;. aed apostoli, puhlicani et peecatores omnes ex toto
po2)>ilo ad Jemt-m conversi: qtios sic appell/tt, ad osten-
dendam, attain cum iUia necesnUudineTJi et jus converean-
di, oalumtiiatorurruiueperversitatem. — P. S.]
Wisdom. Meyer, opposing de Wette's view of the
aor. : Wisdom has been justified on the part of lier
children, viz., by their having adopted it. The pas-
sage must bo read in the hglit of ver. 25 sqq. In both
cases, a joyous prospect i's being opened up to their
view. Truth and Wisdom have been justified and
owned, though neither by the men of this generation
nor by the wise and the prudent. But in this pan-
sage sorrow seems still to predominate : 1. Wisdom
has been traduced by this generation, and obliged to
justify herself ; 2. for this purpose, new children had
to be born and trained. The word inro might almost
lead us to adopt another interpretation. Wisdom was
obliged to justify herself by a judicial verdict from
the accusation of her children (or rather, ironically,
of those who sliould be her children). But then, this
proposition only refers to the occasion or cause of a
thing. It is not the children who justify Wisdom,
but the means of proving her justification are deriv-
ed from the testimony which appears in her chil-
dren.
DOCTPvINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. On this occasion, Jesus foretold the judgment
which the world has at all times pronounced on the
kingdom of heaven. To the men of this world, the
preaching of the law appears too severe, too much
opposed to the innocent and lawful enjoyments of
life ; while the message of pardon meets with the hos-
tility of Pharisaical legalists, who describe it as favor-
ing carelessness and shielding sin.
2. The spirit of the world is also accurately delin-
eated in the figure of successive piping and mourn-
ing : first, festive enjoyments, and then mourning for
the dead. The Wisdom of the kingdom of heaven
sanctions the opposite order : first the law, and then
the gospel ; first death, and then life ; first penitence
and sorrow, and then joy ; first the Baptist, and then
Christ.
3. Lastly, this passage serves to show the close
connection between the Christology of the synoptical
Gospels and the Logos of Jolni, and the 'S,o<pia of the
Old Testament and the Jewish Apocrypha.
4. This is the second instance that Christ borrow-
ed a similitude from the market.
IIOMILETICAL AND PEAOTICAL.
Worldly-mindedness, in the garb of spirituality,
attempting to make a farce of the solemn duties of
spiritual life. — The contemporaries of Jesus, a figure
of the common opposition to the gospel at all times.
— The world insisting that the prophets of God should
take their teacliing from its varying oj)inions. — Puri-
tanical strictness and moral laxity, the two great ob-
jections which the worid urges against the preaching
of the gospel. — From piping to mourning; or, the
childish amusements of the world a.uid the solemni-
ties of life. — Contrast between the wisdom of Christ
and the folly of the world : 1. In the case of the lat-
ter, amusements are followed by mourning and death ;
2. in the case of the former, the solemnity of death
by true enjoyment of life. — Tlie Wisdom of the gos-
pel is always justified in her children. — Those who
are justified by Christ before God, should justify Him
by their lives before the world.
atarke : — From Iledinger : — When people dishke
a doctrine, they abuse the teachers of it. — Majus : —
Nobody is more exposed to sinful and rash judgments
210
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
than ministers. — Cramer : — The children of God can-
not escape the judgment of the world, whatever they
may do. — If the conduct of Christ called down the
rebuke of the world, how much more shall that of
upright ministers be censui-ed ! — We are not to find
fault with, but humbly to submit to, the teaching of
heavenly wisdom.
Ilcubner : — John decried as a fanatic ; Christ, as
a man of the world : see how the world reads charac-
ters!
4. Royal denunciation of Judgment on the cities of Galilee. Ch. XI. 20-24.
20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wlierein most of his mighty works [wonderful
21 works, or miracles] ^ were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin !
woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works [miracle.s], which were done in you,
had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and
22 ashes. But I say unto you. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day
23 of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven,^
shalt be brought down [go down] ^ to hell [hades]*: for if the mighty works [miracles],
which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
24 this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in
the day of judgment, than for thee.
' Ver. 20.— [Lange, with de Wette, trans^lates ^vvafx-i is: Wunder, justly differing from Luther, who renders simply :
Thaten. The N. T. has three words for miracles (in the general sense) or supernatural deeds and events: 1) rep as,
which occurs 10 limes and is uniformly and correctly rendered in the E. V. wonder (an extraordinary, mysterious, and in-
explicable phenomenon, portent); 2) ourci/Cieiy, miracles proper, as the effect of a supernatural power, which is vari-
ously translated: wonderful works {)\?iXX. vii. 22), more frequently: mighty works, and still oftener: miracles (Mark
ix. 39; Acts ii. 22; viii. 13; 1 Cor. .\ii. 10, 28, 29 ; Gal. iii. 5); 3) (T'jj/^ e 7o r, Sigrji, pointing to the moral aim of the supernat-
ural act; here the E. V. varies somewhat .arbitrarily between sign (about 40 times), miracle (about 20 times), and wonder
(3 times). Comp. Lange's doctrinal comments on Matt. viii. 1-13, p. 154, and the dictionaries suh verbis.— V. S.]
2 Ver. 23.— The reading: v^wdilaa in K., M., X. ; i/ij/ ci 6 tj s in Griosbach, Tischendorf, on the authority of E.,
F., G., etc. ; Mr) v tp ca 6 -i^ (T 7} in Lachmann with B., C, D. "The last gives no good sense." Meyer. [It gives good
sense if we regard it as a question with the expectation of a negative answer (/tir/): Shalt thou be exalted to heaven f
Nay; thou shalt go down to the underworld, or as Irenseus quotes the passage {Adv. hmr. iv. 36): Et tu Capernaum,
numquid usque ad coeluni eiPaWd)erist Usque ad inferos descendes. The reading: fj.r) . . . i\//a) 615 cr?) is now also sus-
tained by Cod. Sinaiticus, and adopted by Tregelles, Conant, and Alford in the 4th edition.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 23.— Lachmann, Tischendorf [Alford] : Kara^riaTj, descend, go down, after B., D., Vulg., Itala. The lectio re-
cepta is taken from Luke x. 15. [Cod. Sinait. sustains the passive Kara^i^aGehori, thou shalt he brought down.—V. S.]
< Ver. 23. — [Lange: Utiterwlt,i. e., underworld. So .also Dr. Conant, and the revised version of the Am. B. XJ.
throughout. I prefer Todtenreich for the German, and hades for the English. The English language, owing to its cos-
mopolitan or {sit venia verba .') p.anlinguistic composition, can much easier retain and appropriate for popular use the
Greek term than the German. Why should we not use it as well as the terms paradise, Eden, and many other foreign
words which have become perfectly familiar to the reader of the Bible? This translation cuts off all disputes about locali-
ty (of which we know nothing certain), and the different renderings which might be propoaeii, a.s undertcorld, spirit
world, region, or rather state of the dead or departed, etc. The important distinction between hades (aSTjr), i. e., the
world of all the dead, the intermediate spirit world, and hell (yievva), i. e., the final abode and state of the lost, should be
restored in the English Bible, if it should ever be revised. (Comp. footnote on p. 114.) In this passage hades, with its
gloomy depth below, i.s contrasted with the heaven or the blessed height above ; comp. Ps. cxxxix. 8; Job xi. 8; Kom. x.
6, 7, and especially Isa xiv. 15, to which our passage seems to allude; fls aSov Kara^-i]ari (Babylon). See Com.— P. S.]
house of fishes; or, home of hunting, or catching. A
city of" Galilee (John xii. 21), on the western shore
of the lake (Mark vi. 45 ; viii. 22). The home of
Peter, of Andrew, and of Philip, John i. 44 ; xii. 21.
— Another town of this name was situate in Lower
Gaulonitis, on the eastern side of the lake. Philip
the tetrarch elevated it to the rank of a city, giving
it the name of Julias, after the daughter of the
Emperor Augustus (Luke x. 10). The situation
of Bethsaida is not marked by any ruins, and wholly
unknown.
[According to this passage, most of the miracles
of Christ were done in these cities of Galilee, and yet
not one is recorded in the Gospels as having been
done in Chorazin and Bethsaida. A confirmation of
John xxi. 25.— P. S.]
Tyre and Sidon. — Heathen cities in the imme-
diate neighborhood. The point of the comparison
lay in their being inhabited by a large, busy, heathen
population, whose corruptness had been exposed even
EXEGETICAL AND CPaTICAL,
Ver. 20. Then began He. — The accent lies on
Tore, not on ^p^aro . According to the account
of Luke, the decisive denunciations of Christ on the
cities of GaUlee occurred at a later period, when He
took final leave of them. This is quite in accordance
with what we would have expected at the close of
His ministry. But even at this stage, partial predic-
tions of judgment must have been uttered, which
Matthew, according to his systematic plan, here re-
cords in their final and complete form.
Ver. 21. Chorazin. — The name occurs neither in
the Old Testament nor in Josephus, and in the New
Testament only in this place and in Luke xiii. Ac-
cording to Jerome, it was situate two miles from Ca-
pernaum. See the different conjectures as to its un-
known locality in the Encycls., and Robinson, ii. 405.
— Bethsaida = mi^"n"'3 , commonly rendered.
CHAP. XI. 20-24.
211
in the writings of the prophets. The original seats
of the service of Baal.
[They TO-oiild have repented. — The knowl-
edge of our Saviour extended iiLso to contingencies,
i. e., to things which would have happened under cer-
tain conditions. Comp. Henry and AVordsworth,
in foe— P. S.]
In sackcloth and ashes. — In the East, it was
common for mourners to put on a black garment
which resembled a sack, with holes for the arms, and
to strew ashes upon the head. Hence this was regard-
ed as the symbol of mourning and of repentance. —
Luke : sitting : k c:d-h fiev at . Mourners and pen-
itents were wont to sit on the ground.
Ver. 23. IHxalted unto heaven, or highly glo-
rified.— " Not by its rich produce of fishes (Grotius,*
Kuinoel, Fritzsche), but by the residence and works
of Jesus (Bengel, Paulas)." De AVette.
To hades. — In opposition to heaven — the lowest
depth (comp. Ezek. xxxi. 16). The temporal judg-
ments which soon afterward passed over these cities,
till their every trace has been swept from the earth,
are here referred to, as well as the final judgment.
— The Greek word aSrjs is equivalent to, though not
quite identical with, the Hebrew .sAeoZ, bixd. On
the doctrine of Sheol, compare the article " Hades "
by Glider, in Herzog's Encycl. This must not be
confounded with hell or gehenna. The essential ideas
attaching to hades are : (1) Habit9,tion of the dead
before the completion of redemption; (2) contrast
between tlie higher and the lower region, between
the place of rest and that of torment, Luke xvi. 19-
31; (3) state of imperfectness of the souls in hades
— disembodied state, longing, waiting for final deci-
sion, 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; (4) continuance as an intermediate
Idngdom till the end of the world. I'ojiular views
concerning it : It was a subterranean place, etc.
Symbolical import : Depth of misery or of judgment,
intermediate states, purifications, to the end of the
world.
[J. J. Owen in he. : " The word here rendered
fiell, is not gehenna, but hades, the invisible or lower
world, where dwell, according to the ancient concep-
tion, the shades of the dead. It does not here signi-
fy the place of future punishment any more than
Heaven, in the preceding clause, means the seat of
bliss where God dwells. Both are figuratively used,
to denote great spiritual privileges as well as tempo-
ral prosperity [?], and the depth of ruin into which
they would fall through the abuse of these privileges."
— J. A. Alexander in loc. : " Hell here means the
unseen world, the state of the dead, the world of
spirits, without regard to difference of character and
condition. ... It is here used simply in antithesis
to heaven, and must be explained, accordingly, as
meaning tlie extremest degradation and debasement
of a moral kind, but not perhaps without allusion to
the loss of all external greatness, and oblivion of the
very spot on which the city stood."]
Ver. 24. Unto you — comp. in thee, ver. 23. —
* [It si'ems improbable that such a man as Grotius should
frive .such a low and silly interpretation. But so it is. He
Bays ill loo. : '■•Iloc non duhito quin ad res huius vitte per-
tiiieai, ut in his qucB sequuntur assurgat oratio. Fli>i-ehat
Caperruiumum piscatu, mercatu et qtuB alia esse solent
comnuida ad mare sitat-um urbium.'" Even Barnes still
speaks in this connection of the successful commerce, tem-
poral wealth anil prosperity of Capernaum, although he
rises above Grotius by empliasizins the spiritual privileses,
which here alone are meant. Stier (/'flen Jesu. i., p. 491)
refers the expression to the lofty situation of Capernaum,
which is not much better and besides a matter of geographi-
cal uncertainty. — P. S.]
Euthymius Zigal., very correctly: t^ /xtu v ij.7u Trphs
Tovi TToAiTor TTJr TrdAeojj iKelvr^s uprjTat, rh 5e
(TO \ TTpo? T7;i' TT 0 \ I V .
For the land of Sodom. — Compare the history
of Sodom in the Book of Genesis, and the art. in the
Bibl. Cyclops. Nor must we overlook the contrast
between the Dead Sea and the. Lake of Tiberias, as,
in the former comparison, that between the cities of
Galilee and Tyre and Sidon. Lake Gennesareth shall,
from the wickedness of the people, descend in judg-
ment to a lower level than the cities of the Dead Sea.
The two comparisons are taken from different periods :
the one from the present, the other from antiquity ;
the one from a region over which judgment has al-
ready passed, the other from cities wliich were yet to
be judged. But the cities of Gahlee had experienced
a much more gracious visitation than cither the
doomed region of the Dead Sea, or heathen Tyre and
Sidon. They had been the scene of most of His
mighty deeds, and Capernaum had even been chosen
as His abode.
[It is a remarkable fact, that the very names and
ruins of these three cities on the Lake of Gennesa-
reth have utterly disappeared, and their locality is a
matter of dispute among travellers, while even that of
Sodom and Gomorrlia is pointed out on the shores of
the Dead Sea. Thus the fearful prediction of our
Saviour has already been literally fulfilled on these
cities ; but a more terrible spiritual fulfilment is await-
ing its inhabitants on the great day of judgment. —
P.S.]
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The woe which Christ here pronounces on the
cities of Galilee is a proof that the judgment of hard-
ening had already passed upon them. But clear evi-
dence of this only appeared when Jesus finally for-
sook Gahlee. SiUl, every woe of judgment pro-
nounced 1)7 Christ is the echo of a woe of pity in His
heart, and indicates that outward judgments are now
unavoidable, since the inward judgment of hardening
had already commenced.
2. The Lord here evidently assigns to His mira-
cles the highest power and import in quickening and
strengthening faith. Similarly, He knows and per-
ceives that Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom would have re-
pented sooner than those cities of Gahlee, which im-
plicitly yielded themselves to the deadening influences
of Pharisaism. History has confirmed this predic-
tion so far as this was possible. T)Te became a Chris-
tian city ; while, by the Lake of Galilee, sprang up
Tiberias, the capital of Jewish Talmudism.
[3. Import of the passage, especially the words :
It will be more tolerable, etc., vers. 22, 24, on the
doctrine of different degrees of punishment, corre-
sponding to the measure of opportunity enjoyed, and
of ingratitude manifested in this life. Comp. Matt. v.
21, 22 ; X. 15 ; Luke xii. 47, 48 ; John ix. 41 ; xt.
22, 24 ; Rom. ii. 12. This distinction removes many
popular objections to the doctrine of eternal punish-
ment.— P. S.]
IIOMILETIC.VL AND PKACTICAL.
How the royal dignity of Christ appeared, both in
His compassion and in His indignation about the
hardness of His contemporaries. — The woe pronounc-
ed by the Lord : 1. A cry of woe in His heart ; 2. a
cry of woe in the heart of those cities (their judicial
212
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEAV.
hardening) ; 3. a cry of woe in the dispensation of
outward judgmcutd. Or, 1. a verdict ; 2. a predic-
tion ; 3. an earnest of judgment. — Jesus taldng leave
from (jalilee, and His taking leave from the temple
and from Jerusalem. — The predictions of the Lord
confirming His Divine character, even as His miracles
had done. — The height of privileges despised, leading
to tlie depth of Divine judgments. — Three chosen
cities sunk so low (among them, Bethsaida, the city
of the Apostles, and especially Capernaum, that of
the Lord Himself). — Christ's mild judgment on the
heathen world : 1. An evidence of His unfathomable
wisdom ; 2. of His inexhaustible mercy ; 3. of His
Divine penetration. — The different degrees of judg-
ment and of punishment. — The final judgment will
throw light on the import of temporal judgments.
[ Quesnel : — Ver. 20. We cannot complain that we
have seen no miracles, since all those of our Creator are
exposed to the eyes of our mind and our body, and
all those of our Saviour to the eyes of our faith. Let
us take to ourselves these reproaches of our Lord,
eince His miracles also are designed for us. — Ver. 2L
An impenitent Christian is worse than a pagan. —
Ver. 22. How terrible are God's judgments on the
impenitent ! Everything will help to overwhelm them
at the tribunal of God ; the benefits and favors which
they have received, as well as the sins which they
have committed. — Ver. 23. The proud, who of aU
sinners are the most difhcult to be converted, shall
likewise be the most humbled. Pride hardens the
heart even more than the greatest sins of impurity.
There is nothing more opposite to the Christian re-
ligion, the whole design of which is to make us hum-
ble. Lord, humble us at present, rather than reserve
us for the eternal humiliation of the reprobate ! —
Starke : — Zcisius : The brighter the summer-day,
the louder the thunder-storm. — The greater grace, the
heavier judgment, John xii. 48; 2 Pet. ii. 11. — Open
and notorious simiers will more readily be converted
than hypocrites. — As some sins are more heinous than
others, so also shall they receive greater condemna-
tion.— Many a nominal Christian will receive heavier
punishment than the poor heathen.
Ileubncr : — Great is the guilt of those who de-
spise the means of grace. — Sometimes places which
experience the most gracious visitations are the most
barren. — Every one shall be judged according to the
measure of the means of grace which he has enjoy-
ed.— Fallacious prosperity of great cities. — The high-
er they stand in their own imaginations, the lower
shall they be cast down.
5. The Son of God displaying the full consciousness of His royal dignity while rejected of men.
Ch. XL 25-30.
25
At that time Jesus answered and said,'
I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
Because [Tliat] ^ thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
And hast revealed tliem unto [to] babes.
26 Even so,* Father; for* so it seemed good in thy sight.^
27 All things are delivered unto me of [by, dird] my Father :
And no man knoweth the Son, but tlie Father ;
Neither [Nor] knoweth any man the Father, save [but] the Son,
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him [it].
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me [become my disciples] ; for 1 am meek and
30 lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto [for] your souls. For my yoke is easy
[good, wliolesome], and my burden is light.
• Ver. 2.5.— [We follow tlie division of Dr. Lange in the rhythrnical arrangement of this incomparable prayer of our
Saviour. — P. S.]
"^ Ver. 25.— [That is the proper meaning of oTi here. So Luther, de Wette, Meyer, Lange. All the older English
versions from Wiclif to that of James have became, following the Latin Vulgata: quia. — P. B.]
« Ver. 26.— [Better : Yea, uai] the Lat. Vulg. translates: ita ; Luther, de Wette, Ewald, Lange: ja; Tyndale and
Author. Vers.: even so; Cranmer and Geneva Vers.: verily; Eheims Vers, and Conant : yea.—V. S.]
■• Ver. 26.— [Meyer renders on: that (dass), as in ver. 25, and makes it dependent on i^ofj.o\oyoi'tJ.ai croi. So also Co-
nant. But Lange, with Luther, de Wette, and most other versions (Vulg., Wiclif, Tyndale, Eheims, Author. V.), trans-
lates denti,for. Oomp. Lange's note.— P. S.]
5 Ver. 26. — [A f.u- superior version of evSoida e/j.vpoadev aov, th.in that of the Eomish N. T. of Eheims : for so hath
it toell pleased thee (Vu\g.: siofmtplacitv/m antete); Tyndale: so it pleaset?t thee ; Cranmer and Geneva: so it was thy
good pleasure. Lange translates: denn also geschah der RnthschluKu, der ror dir stand. But Luther: denn es ist also
■wohlgefdllig gewenemvor dir; de Wette: denn also geschah dein Wille; Meyer: dass so geschah, was wohlgefdllig ini
vor dir; Ewald quite literally: dass (denn) solcJies ward ein Wohlgefallen-vor dir.—V. S.]
inferred. According to Luke x. 21, the return of tlio
Seventy formed this occasion (Strauss and Ebrard) ;
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL. according to Ewald and older commentators, that of
the Apostles. To this Meyer objects, that the ex-
Ver. 24. Jesus answered. — 'AiroicpiVo^ai, like pression iv tudvy tw Kaipw implies that — however
ii3»,to speak on some definite occasion. Meyer: probable in itself — such was not the connection which
This occasion is not here mentioned, and cannot be Matthew had ui view. In our opinion, the verses
CHAP. XI. 25-30.
213
under consulcration form, so to speak, a response to
the denunciations in the preceding context. The two
sections are intended as an antiphony by the Evan-
gelist. Gerlach suggests that tlie words bear special
reference to tlie disciples who stood before Him.
Their presence was virtually an assurance on the part
of His heavenly Father : Behold, I have given these
unto Thee. And Jesus answered, I thank Thee, 0
Father, etc. — De Wette takes the expression in a
more general sense, as equivalent to, He commenced :
conip. Matt. xxii. 1 ; xxviii. 5.* We fully achuit,
however, that the outward and historical connection
is more clearly marked in the Gos]5el of Luke than in
that of Matthew.
I thank Thee [f^oixo\oyo'''iJ.at, I fulhj con-
fess, thankfidhj acknowledge the justice of Thy doings'].
— This thanksgiving refers equally to both the facts
mentioned m the last clauses of the verse, to the
air (K pvi\i a i and the air e Ka\v \^ as . " These are
the two aspects of one and the same dealing on the
part of God, the necessity of which Christ recogniz-
ed (comp. John ix. 39). Meyer. Some critics (as
Kuinoel and others) hold, without good reason, that
the first of these two antithetic clauses implies only
permission.
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. — The
pecuhar form of this address is determined by the
idea of His administration. In hardening some and
eaUghtening others, God manifests Himself as abso-
lutely reigning both in heaven and on earth. The
term irarrip precedes k vp to s , even as love abso-
lute sovereignty.
[Observe that Christ does not address the Father
as Hh Lord, but as the Lord of heaven and earth. We
have four more (not two, as Alford says) instances
of such apubUc address of our Saviour to His Father,
John si. 41 (at the grave of Lazarus) ; xii. 28 {Fa-
iher, glorify Thy name) ; xvii. 1 (in the sacerdotal
prayer) ; and Luke xxiii. 34 (on the cross : Father,
forgive them, etc.) — P. S.]
These things, ravr a . — From the preceding
verses we gather that the expression refers to the
principle of the great Suvdnas, which He had reveal-
ed in the cities of Galilee, with special reference to
ver. 15 {Re that Iiathcars to hear, let him hear). Ac-
cordingly, the expression alludes to the evidence of
His Divine character as the Messiah and Son of God,
derived from His word and works.f
To the wise and prudent. — Applying not mere-
ly to the Pharisees and scribes [Meyer], but also to
the wise and prudent courtiers of Herod, and to the
worldly-wise among the people generally. Babes,
«/ 1) TT ' 0 1 • Originally, the C"iXPQ , or those unac-
quainted with Jewish wisdom ; here, tlie beUeving
followers of Jesus generally, or those whom the
Pharisees despised ; comp. John vii. 49.
Ver. 26. For so, etc. — Gersdorf, Fritzsche, Mey-
er, suggest that b T : should be translated by that,
as in ver. 2.5. De Wette defends the common trans-
lation, which is more suitable, as the e u S o k / a of
the Father forms tlie ultimate groimd of consolation.
The former apparent paradox is here resolved. But
by translating the particle un by tlmf, the ditSculty
would only be increased, and the whole stress would
* [Alford: " The whole ascription of praise is an answer;
an answer to the mysterious dispensativns of (tod's provi-
dence above recounted." Unsatisfactory.— P. S.]
t [Differently Alfokd: "Tavra, these mi/HtericniJi ar-
rangements, by which the sinner is condemned in his pride
and unbelief, the humble and childlike .saved, and God justi-
lied when lie saves and condemns." — P. S.]
be laid on the authority of the preceding val of Christ.
Comp. iii. l? ; Luke ii. 14, etc.
Ver. 27. All things are delivered unto Me.
— Grotius, Kuiuocl, and others, apply this exclusive-
ly to the doctrine of Christ. De Wette refers it to
His rule over men, as in John xiii. 3 ; Matt, xxviii.
18. But Meyer rightly takes it in an absolute sense,
as meaning that everything was committed to His
government by the Father. This, however, does not
imply that the rule of the Father had ceased, but
tliat all things were by the Father brought into con-
nection with, and subordination to, the economy in-
stituted by Christ. His preaching of the gospel in
Galilee had led to a twofcjld and contrary result.
The salvation and the judgment initiated by it in
that district were a pledge that the same results
would follow in koctuos generally. The main point
lies in the idea, that not the saved only, but also the
lost, are His. Their rejection of Christ might seem
as if it arrested His arm and baffied His omnipotence.
But even their unbelief becomes the occasion for a
display of the full consciousness of His royal power.
They also who rejected Him are subject to His pow-
er. Thus the gospel of Christ is absolute in its ef-
fects, and this fact is here clearly and pointedly
brought out.
And no man knoweth. — ' E -k i ywcoTKeiv means
more than the simple yLviiaicfti'. The difference. (to
which Meyer rightly adverts) is similar to that between
the words cognition (Frkenntniss) and knowledge
{Kenntniss). Tholuck ( Credibility of the Gospel His-
tory, against Strauss) has called attention to the af-
finity between this verse and the general import of
the Gospel of John. In this respect, it may serve as
an indirect evidence of the credibility of the Gospel
according to John.* — Connection tvith the preceding
context : The unlimited and unique cognition of
Christ is connected with His unlimited and unique
power. Connection with the succeeding context : The
consequence of His infinite power, and of His infinite
cognition of the Father, are his ability and willing-
ness to save to the uttermost all that come unto God
by Him.
Ver. 28. [Come unto Me, all, etc.— This is the
great and final answer to the question of John, xi. 3 ;
" Art Thou He that siiould come, or shall we wait for
another V " No mere man could have spoken these
words. Alford.]
All ye that labor, kott luvres Ka\ ir « -
<popT i(T fjii vo L [the laboring and the burden-
ed].— The first of these verbs refers to the idea
of laboring and struggling, rather than to that of be-
ing wearied and faint. Both expressions refer to the
burden of labor, only viewed from dift'erent aspects :
1. As voluntary, and undertaken by themselves ; 2.
as laid upon them by others. [The active and pas-
* [Alford and D. Brown likewise correctly observe, that
"the spirit of this verse, and its form of expression," are tru-
ly Johannean. We have here a connecting link between the
synoptists and John, and an incideiitiil testimony of Mat-
thew to the originality and credibility of the weighty dis-
courses of Chri.st concerning His relation to the Father,
which are only recorded in the fourth Gospel. Although
the fourth Gospel may with the church fitliers be emphati-
cally called !i,^0„.,il. {irvtvuariKov), and the synoptic.il
Oosoels corr^pfeul {iyjiu.o-Tiica.\ the difference is only rela-
tive, since' John represents the real, incarnate, historical'
Christ, and the synoptists, e.^pecially in this passage and the
corresponding section of Luke (x. 21, ii), rise to tlie pure
height of the spirituality and sublimity of John. The bear-
ing'of this striking n-.seinblance again.st Strauss, Baur, anil
all'wh') deny the genuineness of the Gospel of John, must be
apparent toVvery unprejudiced mind.— P. S.]
214
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
sive sides of human misery.] Both these remarks
applied to the legal efforts of the Jews. Only those,
however, who felt the spiritual import of the law of
God realized the existence of such a burden. Ac-
cordingly, the expression is nearly akin to poverty
in sjjirit. The law itself was a sufficient burden ; add
to this what was imposed by the traditions of the
Pliarisecs and scribes (Matt, xxiii. 4). Hence, in
general, those laboring under a sense of sin.
And I, Kayw. — Emphatically, in opposition
to the teachers who laid those burdens on them.
Ver. 29. My yoke. — " Allusion to the yoke of
the law ; a name commonly given to it by the Jews
(Wetstein). Without any reference to the yoke which
Christ Himself bore, or to His cross (Olshausen)."
De Wette. — That is' to say, it primarily refers not to
the cross of Christ, but to His rule, doctrine, and
leadership ; which, however, also implies the bear-
ing of His cross. The emphasis must be laid on
the call, to learn of Him, in opposition to the legal
teaching and the ))urden imposed by the Pharisees.
This applies also to what follows.
For I am meek and lowly in heart. — In op-
position to the meek and lowly appearance assumed
by the scribes.* These qualities were the reason
why they should learn of Him, not the subject to
be learned. They are, in the first place, to seek from
Him rest for their souls, avair ava iv , ^ii"^^
Jer. vi. 16, — the final aim of all reUgious aspira-
tions.
[Alford: Our Lord does not pi-omise freedom
from toil or burden, but rest in the soul, which shall
make all yokes easy, and all burdens fight. The
main invitation, however, is to those burdened with
the yoke of sin, and of the law, which was added be-
cause of sin. Owing to our continued conflict with
sin and evil in this world, the ai^dwavats of Christ is
still a yoke and a burden, but a fight one. Comp. 2
Cor. iv. 16, 17. The rest and joy of the Christian
soul is to become like Chriat. — P. S.]
Ver. 30. For My yoke is good. — X pTja-T 6 s,
when appfied to persons, kindly ; here, good, benefi-
cent. Meyer : salutary, or bringing safety. [Augus-
tine, in one of his sermons, beautifully compares the
yoke of Christ to a bird's plumage, an easy weight
which enables it to soar to the sky : " Hcec sarcina
nonestpondus oneraii, sednla volaiuri." — P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The spiritual elevation of the soul \ of Jesus
appears in all its glory from the passage before us.
From a denunciation of the cities of Gafilee, He
passes to a solemn thanksgiving to the Father, and to
a declaration of His majesty. In other words, from
a deep sense of the dishonor cast upon Him by this
generation. He turns in fufi and blessed conscious-
ness of His exaltation far above all humanity, and
* [The word KapS'ia is only here used of Christ. There
is; 88 Olshausen susrgests, an essential dift'erence between
HUMILITY OP HEART, wbich Christ possessed in the highest
degree from free choice and condescending lore and compati-
sion, and povkkty op spirit (Matt. v. 8) which cannot be
predicated of Him, but only of penitent sirwers conscious
of their unworthiness and longing for salvation. Corapare
the rich remarks of Olshausen on this whole passage, for the
elucidation of which his genial, lovely, gentle spirit pecu-
liarly titled liim (in Kendrick's revised translation, vol. i., p.
43i-437). But Lant;o has gone still deeper in the doctrinal
reflections and homiletieal hints which fui:ovv.— P. S.]
t [An imperfect rendering of retoioje Suhwungkraft des
6emuths.—e. S.]
the world. Similar transitions from sorrow to joy
appear at His last passover, in Gethsemane, and on
Golgotha. On the other hand, there is a transition
from highest joy to deepest sorrow in Ilia utterances
in the temple, when the Greeks desired to see Him,
at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem over the Mount
of Olives, and in that awful conflict in (icthsemane
which followed on His intercessory prayer. In these
solemn transactions the divinity of Christ was, so to
speak, reflected in the mirror of His human soul, and
the eternal Spirit of God in the eagle-fike ascension
and descension of His feelings.
2. Christ displayed, on this occasion, must fully
the sense of His royal dignity, which, indeed, seems
to have been speciaUy evoked by the rejection of
the world. Even in the case of great and truly
humble men, reviling and ill-treatment evoke the
native sense of dignity and power. Comp. the his-
tory of Paul and of Luther. But Christ could in
perfect truthfulness first pronounce a woe upon the
cities of Galilee, then declare His own superiority
over all, and finally add, " / am meek and lowly in
heart."
3. Ko one knoweth the Son. — There is an abso-
lute and unique mystery of spiritual community, both
in reference to power and to knowledge, between
the Father and the Son. Thence we also infer the
spiritual community of their nature, or co-equality
of essence. But, as formerly the hitfing and re-
vealing of these things had been ascribed to the
Father, so it is now assigned to the Son. It is the
province of Christology to define the co-operation
of the two Persons of the Trinity in these acts.
The Father executes the decree according to the
calling of the Son, and the Son the calling accord-
ing to the decree of the Father.
4. Come unto Me. — One of the most precious
gospel invitations to salvation in the New Testament.
The call is addressed to those who labor and are
burdened, fatigued and worn out. The promise is
that of rest to the soul ; its condition, to take upon
ourselves the gentle yoke of Christ, in opposition to
the unbearable yoke of the law and traditions.
Christianity, therefore, has also its yoke, and demands
obedience to the supremacy of the word of Christ
and the discipfine of His Spirit. Nor is the burden
wanting which ultimately constitutes our cross. But
the yoke is good and beneficial, and the burden easy
(eAat^pos, related to €\apus, light as a 7-oe). This bur-
den, which is to be drawn or borne in the yoke, be-
comes a lever, and ever raises him who bears it high-
er and higher.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The humifiation and exaltation in the conscious-
ness of Christ, a sign of His external humiliation and
exaltation. — The deepest sorrows of Christians must
be transformed into highest praise. — Every affliction
becomes transfigured by the gracious purpose of
the Father, who rules sovereignly in heaven and on
earth. — Even judgment. — Love is enthroned above
righteousness, because it is holy love. — The judg-
ments of God always go hand in hand with His de-
liverances ; the hiding with the revealing. — What
serves to form and open heaven to believers, forma
and opens hell to unbelievers. — The great Divine
mystery, ignorance of which turns the wise and the
prudent into fools, while it imparts knowledge and
experience to babes. — Self-confident wisdom closes
agamst us the heaven of revelation, while humble
CHAP. XII. 1-14.
215
longing after truth opens it.* — Spiritual self-elevation
in its varied manifestations : 1. It assumes diflerent
fo}-ms (wisdom, righteousness, strength), but is the
same in spirit (closed against the influence of Divine
grace) ; 2. different etf'trts (loss of revelation, of rec-
onciliation, of salvation), but its ultimate destruction
is the same. — Christ manifesting the sense of His
royal dignity amid the contempt and rejection of the
world. — How the Redeemer anticipated His advent
as Judge. — The omnipotence of Christ appearing
amid His seeming impotence. — The unique knowl-
edge of Christ : the source of all revelation to the
world. — Connection between the power and the
knowledge of Christ : 1. In His Divine person ; 2. in
His work ; 3. m the life of His people. — How the
Father draws us to the Son, John vi. 44, and the Sou
reveals to us the Father. — Come unto Me ; or, the
invitation of Jesus : 1. On what it is based ; 2. to
whom it is addressed ; 3. what it demands ; 4. what
it promises. — Rest of soul the promise of Christ.
—The yoke and the burden of Christ as compared
with other yokes and burdens (of the law, the world,
etc.). — Relationship between the yoke and the bur-
den: 1. The difference; 2. the connection; 3. the
imity. — .rinyhow, we are put into harness in this life ;
but we have our choice of the yoke and of the bur-
den.— The gospel ever new to those who labor and
are heavy laden. — Christ the aim and goal of all gen-
uine labor of soul. — Christ the Rest of souls : 1. Their
sabbath, or rest from the labor of their calling ; 2.
their sabbath, or rest from the labor of the law ; 3.
* [Compare the lines of Schiller, the best he ever wrote:
their resurrection day from the labor of death. —
Christ gives rest to the soul by revealing the Father.
Starke: — God claims honor and praise, both in
respect of His justice upon those who harden them-
selves, and of His mercy toward the small band of
His believing people, 1 Cor. i. 26. — What the wisdom
of God demands at our hands. — Quesnel : Let us
adore with fear and trembling the holy government
of God, in the way in which He dispenses His gifts.
No man cometh to the Father but through Christ,
John xiv. 6. — Cramer: Every search after rest or
joy is vain without Christ. — The promises of the gos-
pel are general ; he alone is excluded who excludes
himself. — Zeisius : There is no burden in the world
more heavy than that of sin on the conscience. —
Christ the Teacher in word and deed. — Let us learn
meekness and humility in the school of Christ. —
Quesnel: What Christ bestows, sweetens every af-
fliction in the world.
Heuhner : — Both the Christian faith and the
Christian life are summed up in this : " revealed by
God." — Luther : AVe cannot instruct the heart. — God
alone is its Teacher. — He that knoweth the Son know-
eth the Father also, and vice versd.
[Augustine : Th nos feeisti ad Te, et cor nostrum
inquietuin est donee requiescat in Te. This famous
sentence from the Confessions may also be so modi-
fied : Man is made for Christ, and his heart is with-
out rest, until it rest in Him. — Christ's invitation
welcomes us back to the bosom of the Father, that
original and proper home of the heart. — Comp. also
the practical remarks of Matthew Henry, which are
very rich, but too extensive to be transferred here. —
P.S.]
O. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIS ROYAL DIGNITY BY PROVING HIMSELF LORD OF THE
SABBATH, LORD OF THE PEOPLE, CONQUEROR AND RULER OF THE KINGDOM OF
SATAN, THE FUTURE JUDGE OF HIS OPPONENTS, AND THE FOUNDER OF THE
KINGDOM OF LOVE, OR OF THE FAMILY OF THE SAINTS.
ClIAPTEE XII.
Contents: — The two Sabbath-day discussions in Galilee. Project ag.iinst the life of the Lord, and His consequent retire-
ment, to which many of the people follow Ilim. Healinj? of the demnniac w ho was blind and dumb, and accusation
of the rharisees, that Jesus was in league with the devil. Reply about blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Hostile
demand of a sign from heaven. Jesus rejoins by pointing to the sign of Jonas, and by warning ag.iinst the demoniac
possession with which the synagogue was threatened. Even the mother and brethren of Jesus now becortie afraid, —
the Lord taking occasion from tliis to refer to Uis spiritual and royal generation. In all these great conflicts, Christ
manifests Himself as sovereign, higher than the temple and the Sabbath, King of His poor peofde, Conqueror of the
kingdom of Satan— as having consecrated Himself unto death in the anticipation of the glory to come, and as foretelling
the judgments that were to beliill Israel, as Preacher of repentance to Mary and her sons, and as Founder of the holy
kingdom of love, far above all worldly apprehensions or measures of prudence.
1. The twofold offence connected with the Sabbath ; or, the Lord of the Temple and of the Sabbath.
Cii. xn. 1-14.
(Comp. Mark ii. 23-28 ; Luke vi. 1-5.)
1 At that time Jesus went on the sahbath day [sabbath] througli tlie corn [grain-
fields] ; ' and his disciples Avere a hungered [were hungry, or hungered],^ and began to
216
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
2 pluck the ears of corn [ears of grain], and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw ?V, they
said unto liim, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath
3 day [sabbath]. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he
4 was a hungered [was hungry, or hungered], and they that were with him ; How he en-
tered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread [the sacred bread of the altar],
which was not lawful for him to eat, neither [nor] for them which were with him, but
5 only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days
6 the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless ? But I say unto you,
■ 7 That in this place [here] is one greater [a greater] ^ than the temple. But if ye had
known what this nieaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have con-
8 demned the guiltless [blameless]. For the Son of man is Lord even"* of the sabbath
day [sabbath].
(Comp. Mark iil 2-6; Luke vi. 6-21.)
9, 10 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold,
there was a man which had his hand ^ withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it
1 1 lawful to heal on the sabbath days [sabbath] ? that they might accuse him. And he
said unto them. What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if
it fall into a pit on the sabbath day [sabbath], will he not lay hold on it, and lift it
12 out? How much then is a man better than a sheep ? Wherefore it is lawful to do
13 well on the sabbath days [sabbath]. Then saith he to the man. Stretch forth thine
14 hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. Then
the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him,
: Yer. 1.— [Lange: Getreidefeld ; tuther: Snat; van Ess: Saat/eld. The Greek ra cnropiua from mref'pa) meana
gown field n, (train-fields, corn-fields. In the parallel passages, Mark ii. 23 and Luke vi. 1, the word is translated In the E.
V. : com -fields.— V. 8.]
2 Ver. 1.— [Comp. iv. 2, and the crit. note p. 80.]
3 Ver. 6.— Codd. B., D., K., M., etc., [also Cod. Sinaiticus] read the neuter (U eT^'or, which is therefore better authen-
ticated than the received reading ixilCoiv. [Lange translates: ein Hbheres <ds der Tetnpel ist hier— something higher, or
a greater thing, than the temple is here. Alford and Wordsworth also read /ueT^oi', which sustains the parallel better.
Oomp. ii. 19.— P. S.]
* Ver. 8.— The k o i (even) before rod craBBoLTov is wanting in the best authorities [also in Cod. Sinait.], and seems
to be borrowed from the parallel passages of Mark and Luke.
5 Ver. 10.— The words of the text, rec: ?iu riiv before X^'^P'* are wanting in B., C, etc., [Cod. Sinait.], and hence
doubtful.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Chronological Order. — The journey of Christ
through the cities of Galilee — during which He had
sent forth His disciples as Apostles, and received the
embassy of the Baptist — had closed with His appear-
ance, in Jerusalem at the festival of Purim in the
year 782 (John v.). The cure which He performed
on the Sabbath-day at the pool of Bethesda led the
Sanhedrim to determine upon His death. This may
be regarded as the turning-point in the history of His
public ministry, when the enthusiastic reception He
had at first met gave place to continuous persecu-
tions. Henceforth His journeys resembled almost a
perpetual flight. From the festival of Purim, Jesus
retired into Galilee (John vi. 1). When in the vicin-
ity of Tiberias, He learned that the Baptist had in
the intei-val been executed (comp. John vi. 1-21 with
Matt. xiv. ; also Mark vi. 14-.56 ; Luke ix. 7-lY).
The Apostles now returned from their embassy.
Jesus withdrew from the overtures of Herod to the
eastern shore of the lake. First miraculous feeding.
Jesus walking on the sea. The manna from heaven,
John vi. 22-71. The Easter festival of the year of
the persecution (John vi. 4). During this feast, Je-
sus probably came to Bethany, but not to Jerusalem
(see Luke x. 38). Immediately after that, the events
occurred which are related in the text. The charge,
that Jesus desecrated the Sabbath, followed Him
from Jerusalem to Galilee, whither the Sanhedrim
and the synagogue sent their spies.
Ver. 1. On the sabbath. — Luke designates this
sabbath by the term hevTipoirpwrov. The ex-
pression probably refers to the first sabbath of the
second festive cycle in the Jewish year. It was
probably the first sabbath after the Passover of the
year 782.
And began to pluck ears of grain. — The
plucking of ears of grain was in itself no crime.
According to Deut. xxiii. 25, it was allowed when
prompted by the cravings of hunger. The same
custom still prevails in Palestine. Robinson, i. 493,
499. — But the Pharisees fixstened upon the circum-
stance that this was done on the sabbath, in order to
charge the conduct of the disciples against their
Master, as a breach of the fourth commandment.
They had evidently received their instructions from
Jerusalem, where Jesus had healed the sick man at
the pool of Bethesda. His death had been determin-
ed upon ; and these Pharisees only acted as over-
zealous si)ies. Whenever the disciijles commenced
to pluck cars of grain {^p^avro), they immediately
brought forward their charge. " Traditionahsm ap-
plied the law of sabbath-observance to all harvest
work, among which plucking of ears of grain was
also included. Maimonides, Shabb. 8 ; Lightfoot,
and Schottgen." Meyer. The only exception was
iu the case of famine.
Ver. 3. Have ye not read ? 1 Sam. xxL
i
CHAP. XII. 1-14.
217
Ver. 4. Ho entered into the house of God,
— L c, into the tabernacle at Nob. — The twelve
loaves of shew-bread, C^wSn cnb , were not in-
tended as an oftering to Jehovah, but symbolized the
communion of Jehovah with the priesthood. Ac-
cordingly, like the Passover lamb, they were a type
of the Lord's Supper. The candlestick in the temple
symbolized the Hght which Jehovah shed on men
through His chosen instruments ; the altar of in-
cense, prayer, by which men dedicated themselves to
Jehovah ; the golden table with the shew-bread, the
communion and fellowship of God with man. The
basis of all these symbolical ordinances was the altar
of sacrifice in the court, and the sprinkling with blood
in the temple. The shew-bread was changed every
week, and that which was removed from the temple
given to the priests. David was the great model of
Jewish piety; and yet he went into the house of
God, contrary to the commandment, and ate of the
consecrated bread.
Ver. 5. The priests in the temple profane
the sabbath, Num. xxviii. 9 ; — i. e., break the out-
ward and general regulations for the sabbath. — Not
merely : " consistently with your traditions " (Meyer).
This would apply merely to the expression, to break,
or profane. The conditional character of the sab-
batic law appeared from this, that the enjoyment of
the sabbath by the people depended on the regular
functions of the sacred priesthood on that day. The
first instance adduced required to be supplemented.
It only confirmed the lawfulness of similar conduct
in case of famine, but not that of doing something
on the sabbath which resembled labor. The latter
is vindicated by the second example.
Yer. 6. A greater (a greater thing, /xerCoj/,
stronger than jit e i ^co j/ *) than the temple is here.
— Comp. 1 John ii. 19. The reasoning is as follows:
The necessary duties of the temple-service authorize
the servants of the temple, the priests, to break the
order of the sabbath [according to your false under-
standing of sabbath profanation] ; how much more
can He, who is the real temple of God on earth, far
elevated above the symbolical temple, authorize His
disciples to break the order of the sabbath [as ye
caU it], in case of necessity. A conclusion a minori
ad majus. The whole deportment of the disciples
was a contmuous service in the temple.
Ver. v. But if ye had known. — Having de-
fended Himself against their attacks. He now turns
round upon His opponents. Once more He recalls
to their minds the passage in Hosea vi. 6 ; this time
applying it to them individually. Had they not just
insisted upon sacrifice, instead of that mercy which
those who were an hungered might claim at their
hands?
Ver. 8. For the Son of Man is Lord. — The
emphasis rests on the word Lord, which according-
ly is placed first in the original, f The ydp confirms
the judgment, that the disciples were blameless. » The
Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. — As being Him-
self the Divine Rest and the Divine Celebralion,\ lie
is both the principle and the object of the sabbath ; He
* [Comp. also ttKuov ^Xwva. and ttXuov ^oXo/xUvos
Inch. xii. 41,42— P. S.]
t [In German the exact order of the Greek: Kupioi yap
eTTi ruv aa^fidrov b vihs rov avQpdiirov, can be retain-
ed, as in Lange's version: De.nn Ilerr den Sabhats ist der
MeruicJoemohk.—V. S.]
J [Germ.: die personliche GoUesruhe, Gottei/eier, the
personal embodiment or incarnation of the rest and worship
-■<= --PS.]
rests in God, and God in Him : hence He is the Me-
diator of proper sabbath-observance, and tlis Inter-
preter of the sabbath law. Even the Jews admitted
that the authority of the Messiah was greater than
that of the laws of the sabbath. (Berthold, Christol.
p. 162 sq.) As the opponents of the Lord now di-
rectly attacked His Messianic dignity. He was con-
strained to meet them on their own ground. They
could not but understand the expression, " Son of
Alan,'''' in this connection, as referring to the Mes-
siah. Still, it was not His last and official confes-
sion. Hence the Pharisees soon afterward tempted
Him, asking a sign from heaven. The expression,
'■'■ Son of 3[an," then, refers not to the general right
of man in connection with the sabbath (Grotius, Cle-
ricus, etc.). Still, it is peculiarly suitable in this
connection, especially when taken along with the in-
troductory remark recorded by Mark : for the sab-
bath has been made for man, not man for the sab-
bath*
[Alford : " Since the sabbath was an ordinance
instituted for the use and benefit of man, — the Son
of Man, who has taken upon Him full and complete
Manhood, the great representative and Head of hu-
manity, has this institution under His own power."
Wordsworth : " He calls Hhnself the Lord of the
sabbath — a prophetic intimation cleared up by the
event, that the law of the sabbath would be changed,
as it has now been under the gospel, not by any al-
teration in the proportion of time due to God, but in
the position of the day ; by the transfer of it from
the seventh day of the week to the first, in memory
of the resurrection of the Son of Afany D. Brown :
" In what sense now is the Son of Man Lord of the
sabbath-day ? Not surely to abolish it — that surely
were a strange lordship, especially just after sajing
that it was made or instituted {iyeviro) for Man —
but to ovm it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and
to ennoble it, by merging it m 'the Lord's Day'
(Rev. i. 10), breathing into it an air of Hberty and
love necessarily unknown before, and thus making it
the nearest resemblance to the eternal sabbathism."
-P. S.]
Ver. 9. And vrhen He had departed thence.
— Luke relates that He had come into the synagogue
on another sabbath, probably on that which followed
this event. Meyer interprets the ixira^as eKe7-
0 6 J/ as meaning, on the same sabbath, and insists
that there is a divergence between the accounts of
Matthew and Luke. We only see an absence of de-
tails in Matthew, while all the circumstances wai-rant
us in supposing that this Evangelist also meant the
following sabbath. This view is strengthened by the
mention of the change of place, of the lapse of time,
and by the circumstance, that Matthew relates how
they had laid a regular plan to entrap Him.
Into their synagogue, — i. e., the synagogue of
these very opponents. The place in Gahlee is
not mentioned ; but from the manifest authority of
* [Mark ii. 27. A great principle which must regulate
the wliole s;ibb:itli question, and settles both the permanent
necessity <if the sabbath for the temporal and eternal welfare
of man, and the true Christian freedom in its observance.
So the family is made for man, i. e., for the benefit of man,
and therefore a most benevolent institution, a gracious gift
of God. Government is m.ado for man, i. e., it is not an end,
but a ueces.'-ary and indisi)Rnsable means for the protection,
development, well-being and happiness of man. If the
means be turned into an end, the benefit is lost. I havo
given my views on the sabbath-question and the merits of
the Anglo-American theory and practice as compared with
the Continental European, in a little book published by the
Am. Tract Society, New York, ISW.— P. 8.]
218
THE GOSPEL ACCOKDING TO MATTHEW.
His antap;onists, we infer that it must have been one
of the principal cities. From Marli ii. 6, we miglit
suppose tliat it had been Tiberias, as the Herodiau
court-party appeared at the time among His oppo-
nents. But we do not read that Jesus had at any
period been at Tiberias. Meyer suggests that the
scene is laid at Capernaum.
Ver. 10. A man with a withered hand. —
Comp. 1 Kings xiii. 4. Probably it was not merely
paralyzed in its sinews, but dried up and shrivelled.
Comp. Mark and Luke. This person appears to have
been an involuntary and unsuspecting instrument of
their malice. He is introduced by the Evangelist in
the words kuI l5ou. " According to traditionalism,
healing was prohibited on the sabbath, excepting in
cases where life was in danger." Meyer, referring
to Wetstein and Schottgen in loc. But it is improb-
able that this tradition was already settled at that
time. The instance adduced by Christ, " What man
shall there be among you ? " etc., speaks against it.
For later traditions also laid down the ordinance,
that if a beast fell on the sabbath into a pit, or re-
servoir for water, it was only lawful to give it neces-
sary food, or straw to lie upon, [or to lay planks] by
which it might perhaps also be enabled to come out
of the pit. (Maimon. in Shahbath. Sepp, Life of
Christ, ii. 333.) — Jerome quotes from the Gospel of
the Nazarenee, to the effect that the man with the
withered hand had been a stonecutter, who entreat-
ed Jesus to heal him, that he might no longer be
obliged to beg his bread.
Is it lawful ? — Properly, if it is lawful ; although
the 6 I in the Nev/ Testament and in the Sept. fre-
quently follows upon direct queries. Still, it indi-
cates doubt or temptation. Meyer supplements men-
tally, " I should Hke to know whether." The mean-
ing of the 6 1 would be still stronger, if, while anx-
ious to induce the Lord to heal the man, they had
left Him to draw the formal inference. If it is
lawful then — (here stands the poor man). Mark
and Luke relate how the Pharisees lay in wait for
Him.
That they might accuse Him. — Viz., before
the local tribunal of the synagogue (ch. v. 21),
where, as appears from the context, they were the
judges. But they expected not merely an answer
which would enable them to accuse Him of teaching
a violation of the Sabbath, but also an outward act,
which they might charge against Him as an actual
breach of the fourth commandment.
Ver. 11. What man is there among you ? —
The construction as in Matt. vii. 9. Luke introduces
this on another occasion in xiii. 10, and xiv. 5.
Ver. 13. And he stretched it forth. — By this
act the restored man defied the authority of the Phar-
isees, and acknowledged that of Christ. Hence it was
a signal manifestation of faith, even as the cure, in
the midst of such contradiction, was an instance of
speciid power. To stretch forth his hand, was to
have it restored.
Ver. 14. And held a council. — A formal here-
sy-suit was to be immediately instituted. According
to Mark, they combined for this purpose with the
Herodian court-party, which had probably been of-
fended by the recent refusal of Jesus to meet Herod,
Luke ix. 9. Thus neither the clear arguments of
Jesus had convinced them of their error, nor His gra-
cious manifestation awakened in their breast aught
but feelings of bitterness. Their murderous purpose
was still further stimulated by the admiration of the
people, who followed Him m large numbers.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Among the offences which the Pharisees took
against the work and teaching of the Lord, that of
breaking the sabbath stood only next in importance
to the unnamed, yet chief stumblhigblock in their
minds, that He would not be a Messiah according to
their own ideas (John i. 29 ; comp. Matt. iv. ; John
ix. 30, 31 ; X. 24). Christ first excited the attention
and suspicion of the Jews by His cleansing the tem-
ple (John ii. 13). What He had said upon that oc-
casion about breaking down the temple, they had
perverted and stored up against Him. Henceforth
they were filled with susjiicion, and narrowly watch-
ed Him (John iv. 1 ). Then followed the offence con-
nected with his intercourse with pubhcans (Matt. ix.).
This was succeeded by His mode of treating their
ordinances about the sabbath. His cure of the im-
potent man at the pool of Bethesda had decided them
against Him, when the two events recorded in the
text completed the excitement. The charge was in
the first place brought against the disciples, and then
against their Lord. As formerly in Jerusalem, so
now in Galilee, His death was resolved upon. The
scene recorded in Luke xiii. 17, which now occurred,
probably took place in the country, and hence excit-
ed less notice. This was again followed by the sec-
ond and greatest offence given by Jesus, when He
healed the blind man at Jerusalem during the Feast
of Tabernacles (John ix.) ; an offence which was not
obviated by the circumstance, that in connection with
this miracle, Jesus made use of the pool of Siloam,
on the temple-mount.
From all this it appears, that their offence about
the sabbath formed the basis and centre of all their
other accusations against Jesus. In view of this,
His miracles were represented as resulting from fel-
lowship with Satan ; His claim to the Messiahship,
as an arrogation of the prophetic office, and a seduc-
tion of the people ; and His taking the name of " Son
of God," as blasphemy. Objections of less weight,
and an interminable catalogue of calumnies, were
connected with these charges. But the real stum-
blingblock of the Pharisees, was that conflict between
the spirit and the dead letter, between the gospel
and traditionalism, between salvation and unbelief,
righteousness and hypocrisy, and holiness and proud
self-seeking, which Christ represented and embodied.
— It is a striking fact, that the pharisaical hierarchy
which had charged the Lord with desecrating the
sabbath, was obliged to hold a council on the great
Easter-sabbath, to run into the heathen and unclean
house of the Gentile Pilate, and then to seal the
stone over the tomb of Jesus in the unclean place
of a skull.
2. Christ is Lord of the sabbath in the Church
and in believers ; and the statement, that the sabbath
is made for man, is surely all the more apphcable to
the Lord's Day. Viewing the fourth commandment
as enjoining a day of festive rest, it is as much bind-
ing on the Christian Church and on civil society as
any other of the ten commandments. But in its true
meaning, the Jewish sabbath law was a Divine law
of humanity and of protection for man and even for
beast (" thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor
thy cattle, nor thy stranger "), and prepared for the
Christian sabbath in the highest sense; which is
much more than a law or outward ordinance, it is a
Divine-human uistitutiou, a new creation and a life
in the Spirit. According to this standard, we may test
CHAP. XII. 1-14.
219
our mode of sabbath-observance, whether or not it cor-
respond to the mind of Christ, and to the spiritual
import of His resurrection-day. Every urgent ne-
cessity must at once put an end to the outward ordi-
nance ; and to discharge such duties, is to establish,
not to invalidate, the right observance of the sab-
bath. Works of necessity are conditioned by com-
passion and mercy. Christ is Lord of the sabbath,
being Himself the personal sabbath : all that leads to
Him, and is done in Him., is sabbath observance ; all
that leads from Him, i^ sabbath-breaking . Therefore
let it be ours to oppose every desecration of the sab-
bath, in every form and in every sense.*
3. In strict consistency with the view of the Phar-
isees, who represented the disciples as having done
what amounted to harvest labor, it might have been
argued, that the priests were engaged on the sabbath
in the occupation of butchers and bakers, and this in
the temple itself. But what should be said of the
Christian minister who would condemn works of ne-
cessity and mercy ? " The sacrificial services, and
the ceremonial law generally, were designed to be
subservient to the highest law of love, 1 Sam. xv. 22 ;
Psa. 1. 8-14 ; li. 18 ; Hos. vi. 6 ; Matt. ix. 13." Ger-
iach. Comp. also Isa. i. 13, 14 ; Ixvi. 2, 3, etc.
4. Christ spares the representatives of traditional-
ism even while resisting them : He heals the man
with the withered hand, merely by His ivord, not by
touching him, nor by taking hold of his hand.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Traditionalism denouncing the Lord as a heretic :
1. The narrative; 2. its eternal import. — How the
spirit of traditionaUsm perverts false worship into an-
tagonism to genuine worship. — The outward ordi-
nances of the sabbath perverted into antagonism to
the spiritual principle of the sabbath. — Genume sab-
bath-observance.— How does it manifest itself ? 1.
By the removal of the sal^bath interruptions caused
by misery and want ; 2. in works of mercy and com-
passion ; 3. by transforming the work of the week
into spiritual labor and labor of love. — Vers. 1-8 :
"Works of necessity. — True and spurious works of
necessity. — Vers. 9-14 : Works of love. — True and
spurious works of love. — How the teaching, institu-
tions, and history of the Old Testament tliemselves
supply a spiritual interpretation of the letter, vera. 1-
8. — How the conduct of legal zealots testifies against
their traditions, vers. 9-14. — How hypocrites care
more for their ceremonies than for their cattle, and
more for their cattle than for their suffering breth-
ren.— We are to be compassionate even to animals. —
Even annuals should have a share in our festive days.
— Christ victorious over His opponents. — Christ the
true temple. — Christ the Lord of the sabbath. —
Christ leading us to true sabbath-observance. — Sab-
bath-breaking and desecration of the temple, as ap-
* [Dr. J. P. Lange, the author of this Commentary, com-
posed a beautiful hymn on the Sabbath of which I will quote
the first stanza :
" Sinter, ItiVger Sahhathtaa,
Wie nn hekrer Glockenaclila
I hekrer Olockenachlag
Aui dem Dom der Ewigkilt
T nut du dutch's Gewi'rr der Zeit,
J)ase der Meiuch aui dcm GewuhU
Seiner Werke znm Ge/Me
Seinee ew'gen Wesena kommi
Und bedenke, waa ihmfromme.''—'P, S.]
pearing in the conduct of the enemies of the Lord
when condemning Him to death for an alleged breach
of the fourth commandment. — Object of the Lord's
Day, and object of Cliristiau worship. — To convert
these means into the oly'ect, is to destroy the object
itself. — How self-righteous traditionalism hardens it-
self amids-t the most glorious manifestations of Christ.
— The Lord's Day either the most blessed season of
spiritual rest, or the most dreary workday. — The
Church either the most blessed place of rest, or the
most dreary workhouse. — Explanation of the foui-th
commandment by the life and teaching of the Lord.
Starke : — Vers. 1-8. Ques7iel : — It is better to
suffer want with Christ than to indulge in earthly lux-
ury.— The preservation of man is more important
than any outward ordinance. — Hedinger : Let us re-
member the glorious liberty of Christianity, which
should not be readily surrendered for the yoke of
outward ceremonies. Col. ii. 16-20. — It is the com-
mon practice of hypocrites to make of trifles a matter
of conscience and a sin, while at the same time they
are not afraid to commit grievous sins against God. —
Those who have zeal without knowledge must be re-
proved by the word of God. — Works of mercy,
of necessity, and for the glory of God are not
prohibited on the sabbath day ; but let us take care
not to make a case of necessity where there is none.
— Osiander : Necessity dispenses from observance of
the ceremonial law, but not from that of the ten com-
mandments.— True sabbath-observance : rest of the
soul from sinful lusts, and dedication of the heart to
God. — The Lord of the temple must be sought in the
temple. — The real character of all works and pre-
tences to piety should be aseertamed. — A dihgent ex-
ercise of genume love the most acceptable worship,
James i. 27. — Vers. 9-14 : Persecution must not de-
ter the servant of God from coutmuing his work. —
Zeisius : Following the example of Christ, we should
rejoice in frequenting meetings for religious exer-
cises.— Majus : It is worse than ungodUness to go
into the house of God only in order to spy, to lay
snares, and to find vent for our malice. — Cramer :
The godly are always engaged in a controversy with the
world ; but at length, they invariably obtain the victory.
— Osiander : We must do good to our neighbor, even
though we should be evil spoken of on that account by
wicked men. — A pair of strong working arms is a
great blessing from God. — Determined and wilful en-
emies of the truth are beyond recovery. — 2 Tim. ill.
13.
Lisco : — The Pharisees misunderstood the object
of the ceremonial law, which was to support and
to strengthen the moral law. — The Lord shows by
the example of David, that not the letter, but the
spirit, of the law was of importance. — Our whole life
should be a sabbath devoted to the Lord, a type of
the eternal sabbath in the world to come.
Heubner : The disciples were poor ; but they pre-
ferred to suffer hunger with Christ, rather than enjoy
affluence without Him. — Hypocrites are always the
most censorious. — Genuine love and esteem for man
are the best interpreters of the law.
[Dr. Brown : — How miserable a thing is a slavish
adherence to the letter of the Scripture, which usual-
ly, the closer it is, occasions only a wider departure
from its spirit. — Wordsworth : — In the sabbath of
eternity we shall rest from evil, but doing good will
be our sabbath itself. — P. S.]
220
TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
2. Royal adininistration of Christ among the people in His retirement. Ch. XII. 15-21.
15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes
16 [many] ^ followed him, and he healed them all; And charged them that they should
17 not make him known: That it might be fulfilled* which was spoken by Esaiaa
18 [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, "Behold my servant [son],* whom I have chosen;
my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit ujion hiin, and
19 he shall shew [announce] judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry;
20 neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break,
21 and smoking fiax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And
in his name^ shall the Gentiles trust" (Isa. xlii. 1-3).
1 Ver. 15. — ['Ir7(r. yvovs auex'^p'tio'ev : ''■JesJt.s knowing'''' it, i. 6. (as Lange inserts in the text in small type), that
they soiitrht to Uestroy Ilis life, ''withdrew Himself.'"— V. 8.]
^ Ver. 15.— Lachniann, on the authority of Cod. B. and the Latin Vulgate, omits iixA.oi. The omission was probably
exegetical, to avoid the appearance of exaggeration in what follows. [Cod. Sinait. sustains Lachmann and, like the Vatican
Cod., in Mai's and in Buttmann's edition, reads simply ttoAAoi.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 17.— [This is the proper transl. of 'Iva (or ottw;) TrXTjpwdfj. Not: and thiis was fulfilled, as Webster and Wil-
kinson in loc. explain, which is superficial and ungrammatical. ' Iva is not to be taken e'/c/SaTi/caJy, butTfA.i«is;
it signifies not simply the result, but the divine purpose and aim. Comp. Meyer on Matt. i. 23, and Lange in the Exeg.
note on xii. 17. — P. S.]
•• Ver. 18. — [The Lord (as also the Sept. in the passage alluded to, Isa. xlii. 1) uses the word 6 irais fiov, not the
more usual o dov\os fiov, for the Hebrew ^'^^55 , a signiflcaut change, which Dr. Lange overlooks, as he translates:
meiii Knecht. See Exeg. note on ver. 17, etc. — P. S.]
^ Yer. 2L— [Text. rec. : eV t^ 6v ofiar t. But Lachmann, Tischondorf, Alford, Wordsworth, etc., omit eV, on
the best critical authorities. Meyer: " eV is an addition, as also eVi In Euseb. and some minuscule MSS." This is the only
case in the N. T. where i\iri(^€Lv is constructed with the simple dative, although it is good Greek (comp. Thucyd. iii. 97)
and signifies the cause and object of hope. Elsewhere, as in the LXX, the verb is constructed with eV, eis, or eVi.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL,
General Survey. — The reference of the Evangelist
in this section to the more private activity of the
Lord, appUes to the whole period of His retirement
from the persecutions of the Jewish hierarchy. It
commenced at the festival of Purim, in 782, and
closed with His public appearance on leaving the wil-
derness of Ephraim, before the Passover of 783. In
the interval, He enjoyed only temporary seasons of
rest, especially in Perrea. The following took place
during this period: (1) The return over the Sea of
Galilee to Gaulonitis, on the occasion of His coming
to Galilee from the festival of Purim, when he was
informed of the execution of John the Baptist (ch.
xiv); (2) a quiet journey through the country during
the Easter festival, extending probably as far as Beth-
any, and return to Galilee (chs. xii. and xiii.); (3) a
journey from Galilee, through the territory of Tyre
and Sidon, and the northern highlands, to the eastern
and western shores of the Lake of Gennesareth (ch.
XV.) ; (4) the return from Magdala, and over the lake,
to the eastern mountains ; (5) a secret journey
through Galilee and the country, terminating in His
sudden appearance at Jerusalem, at the Feast of Tab-
ernacles, in the year 782 (ch. xvi. ; xvii. 1-21); (6)
the last appearance of Jesus at Capernaum, and jour-
ney to Persea through the country lying between
Samaria and Galilee ; (7) the first stay of Jesus in
PerEca, and going up to Jerusalem to the Feast of the
Dedication of the Temple ; (8) the second stay in
Peraja, and going to Bethany to raise Lazarus ; (9)
the retirement of Jesus to the wilderness of Ephraim,
under the ban of the Sanliedrim, till the last Easter
festival. The statement of the Evangelist refers more
particularly to this period, although it applies, in gen-
eral, to the whole lile of Jesus.
Yer. 15. He healed them all. — By healing their
sick. He restored the people generally. Living con-
nection between the healthy and the diseased.
Ver. 16. And charged them. — This does not
refer to their keeping the place of His residence se-
cret, but to the duty of reserve in publishing His
deeds and dignity as the Messiah. He was desirous
of arresting for a time an open rupture between His
carnal followers and His enemies.
Ver. 17. In order that (Vj/a) it might be ful-
filled, Isa xlii. 1. — Freely quoted from the original
Hebrew. The expression, nin^ '^??) servant of Je-
hovah, in the second portion of the prophecies of Isa-
iah, must refer to the Messiah. As the idea of a
personal Messiah had been clearly expressed in the
first portion of these prophecies, the hermeneutical
rule here applies, that a biblical doctrine can never
pass from a definite to a more indefinite form. The
interpretation of the Sept., applying the term to Ja-
cob and Israel, only shows the peculiar Alexandrian
tendencies of the translators. Possibly they may
have been misled by the expression m Isa. \'iii. 14,
although even there the terms, Jacob and Israel,
should be taken in an ideal rather than a literal sense.
The Chaldec Paraphrast and Kunchi apply the pas-
sage to the Messiah (comp. Isa. xi. 1 sqq.). The
prophecy reads as follows : " Behold My servant,
whom I esiahUsh (place firmly) ; Mine Elect, in whom
My soul delighteth : I have put My Spirit upon Him ;
judgment to the nations ((^entiles) shall He bring.
He shall not cry, nor be loud (lift up the voice, strain) ;
and He shall not cause His voice to be heard outside
(m the street, outside the camp). A bruised reed
shall He not break, and the dimly-burning flax shall
He not quench : according to truth (unto truth) shall
He manifest (bring forth, complete) judgment. He
shall not keep back (being wearied) nor (prematurely)
break through (^Sn , transitive), till He have planted
CHAP. XII. 15-21.
221
judgment on the earth : and the isles (the uttermost
ends of the earth) shall wait for His law." — This
prophecy, then, is a verbal prediction in the strictest
sense.*
Ver. 18. Judgment. — Decisive final judgment,
John iii. 36. — To the Gentiles. — The multitudes
which follow the Lord, in disregard of the condemna-
tion of the Pharisees, were an emblem of the Gen-
tiles. [Alford : "In these words the majesty of His
future glory as the Judge is contrasted with the meek-
ness to be spoken of : ' And yet He shall not bruise.' "
-P. S.]
Ver. 20. A bruised reed and smoking flaz. —
An emblem of the people bowed and broken under
the load of traditionahsm.f The poor people (or, in
general, the poor in spirit, are not to inherit death,
despair, and perdition in judgment, but) are to re-
ceive from the Lord, both spiritually and physically,
a new life.
Till He send forth judgment unto victory
[eVySciAj? eh v1ko<; tvv Kpi(nv,CJcire jusserit, cause it to
issue in victoi-y, so that no further conflict will re-
main].— An abbreviation and paraphrase of Isa xlii. 3
(raxb , etc.) and 4 (0''r;|i"n» , etc.). The judgment
is to be transformed into a victory of truth, or into
an absolute victory. This was implied in the expres-
sions used by the prophet, but is brought out more
distinctly in the text of the EvangeUst. The word
€ K ;8 d A-p (comp. ix. 38) indicates great power, over-
coming all resistance.
Ver. 21. In His name. — In the original,
imirb . The Sept. renders it as in Matthew, substi-
tuting name for law.-jj. The name of the Messiah im-
pUes the principle, the summary of His doctrine.
Meyer : " The Gentiles will trust, on the ground of
what His name as the Messiah impUes." This view
is supported by the use of the dative, rijJ ovSnari.
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The breach between the Messiah and His peo-
ple widens. The King is rejected, and His sufferings
approach a crisis. This impUed, at the same time,
* [Dr. "Wordsworth calls this quotation, ver. lT-21, a re-
markable specimen of the manner in which the Holy Spirit,
speaking by the evangelists, deals with the prophecies of the
Old Test, in order to interpret them, "iva (or otfwj) irA?;-
pttiOti rh prjdiv, is the form used by the evangelists when
this process of divine exposition is performed. It is the title
of an evangelical targum or paraphrase. For the Ilebrew
^T^" , rny servant, the Lord does not say ^ 5 o {5 A. o s txov
my' servant (as the Septuagint usually translates, though
not in this passage), but 6 irals fMov, which admits of a
double sense, servant and son (comp. Acts iii. 13, 26; iv. 27,
30), and suggests the union of the obedience of the servant
and the deafness of the son in the person of Christ. In a
similar way "Wordsworth explains the other modiflcations of
the words "of the prophecy here quoted.— P. 8.]
t [A proverbial expression for. " He will not crush the
contrite heart, nor extinguish the slightest spark of repentant
feeling in the sinner." Alford. — P. S.l
X [The LXX renders : e tt I Ty ofS/xart, Matthew, ac-
cording to the true reading : tqJ ovofjLaTt, -without preposi-
tion. Both followed another Hebrew reading: iiadb for
•in-iinb .—p. s.]
a breach between the enemies and the adherents of
Jesus in Israel, which in turn typified that which
would ensue between unbeUeving Israel and the be-
lieving Gentiles.
2. On this occasion, the peculiar manner in which
Jesus was to administer His kingly office appeared
more clearly than ever before. He might now have
manifested Himself as Judge, broken the bruised
reed and quenched the smoking flax. But, instead
of that, He retired, and adopted a more private mode
of working, in anticipation of His full and final suf-
ferings. Accordingly, the EvangeUst most aptly ap-
pUes the prediction of Isaiah to this period of retire-
ment; because, while characteristic of the activity
of Jesus generally, it referred specially to this year
of persecution.
3. Christ fled for His enemies, while He retired
from them. His was not the flight of fear. He al-
ways addressed Himself only to those who were sus-
ceptible— i. c, to those who labored and were heavy
laden — not to judge, but to save them. — The time for
His final sufferings had not yet come ; there was still
ample room for active work, although of a more pri-
vate character. On this ground He now retired, and
dwelt chiefly with the poor people, among whom
also He displayed the greatest number of His mirac-
ulous deliverances.
nOMILETICAL AND PPvACTICAL.
Christ's retirement from His enemies a solemn
sign, — 1. not of fear or weakness ; but, 2. of power,
of wisdom, of compassion, and of judgment. — The
Lord can never want a Church. — Jesus ; or, perfect
patience amid an impatient world. — The patience and
meekness of Jesus as predicted by the prophets. —
Christ the Elect of God. — Christ the Root of the
elect. — Patience, endurance, and perseverance, the
evidence of election. — The Elect the servant of God.
— God's beloved Son His perfect Servant. 1. As
Servant, the Redeemer of the world ; 2. as Son, the
ground and object of the world's redemption. — Christ
the true Priend of the people. — Jesus the Saviour of
nations. — The patience and meekness of Christ over-
coming the world.
Starke: — Qucsnel: It is good sometunes to re-
main concealed with Christ, whether it be from hu-
mility or from necessity. — Jesus Christ above all the
Servant of God, and alone worthy to serve Him. —
Oh, how lovable is meekness in the servants of Christ !
He who loves strife and debate cannot be His. — Zei-
slus: Christ in the form of a servant, Phil. ii. 7, 8. —
Let our courage never fail, truth must prevail. —
Christ the hope, not only of Israel, but of the Gen-
tiles.
Gossner : — It is characteristic of the Lord that
He quietly proceeded on His way and accomplished
His work without noise and commotion. Many seem
to do a great deal and yet accomplish nothing. — If
we hold a smoking flax to the fire, it is easily kindled
again.
Jleubner : — Where there is even a germ of good,
there is still hope. — The bruised reed : a soul bowed
down under a sense of sin. — Smoking flax : a soul
m which a spark of the Divine Ufe is still left.
222 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTDEW.
8. Wiraculous healing of a demoniac, blind and dumb. Blasphemous accusation of the Pharisees, that Jesus
was in league with Beelzebub ; and reply of Christ about the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. T/ie
Pharisees seek a sign from heaven ; but Jesus promises them a sign from the deep, and announces the
impending spiritual doom of an apostate and unbelieving race. Ch. XII. 22^5.
(Mark iiL 20-30 ; Luke xi. 14-26 ; 29-32.)
22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, bhnd, and dumb : and he
healed him, insomuch that [so that, wcrre] the blind and dumb ^ both spake and saw.
23 And all the people were amazed, and said. Is not this [Is this] ^ the Son of David?
24 But when the Pharisees heard it., they said, Tln^ fellow \r)ian\ ^ doth not cast out devils,
25 but by Beelzebub [BeelzebuZ], the prince of the devils. And Jesus knew their
thoughts, and said unto them. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desola-
26 tion; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: And if Satan cast
[casts] out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
27 And if I by Beelzebub [-ZJ cast out devils, by whom do your children cast thevi out?
28 therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then
29 the kingdom of God is come unto you [upon you].'* Or else, how can one enter into a
strong man's ° house, and spoil [take from him, seize upon his] ^ his goods [instruments,
(TKevrj, i. e., here the demoniacs], except he first bind the strong man ? and then he will
30 spoil [plunder] his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that
31 gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you. All manner of
sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but the blasphemy a^awsi the Holy
32 Ghost [of the Spirit] shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word
against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against the
Holy Ghost [Spirit], it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world [teon], neither
33 in the world [that which is] to come. Either make the tree good, and his [its] fruit
good ; or else make the tree corrupt, and his [its] fruit corrupt : for the tree is
34 known by his \its\ fruit. 0 generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good
35 things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out
of the good treasure of the heart' bringeth [sendeth] forth good things: and an evil
36 man out of the evil treasure bringeth [sendeth] forth evil things. But I say unto you,
That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day
37 of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned.
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered [him],* saying. Master,
39 we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but
40 the sign of the prophet Jonas [Jonah the prophet] : For as Jonas [Jonah] was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly [belly of the great fish] ; so shall the Son of
41 man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh
shall rise in [the, ev ttj] judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : because
[for] ' they repented at the preaching of Jonas [Jonah] ; and, behold, a greater than
42 Jonas [Jonah] is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this
generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts [the ends] of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking
44 rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house ^^ from whence I
45 came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then
goeth he, and taketh with himself [him] seven other spirits more wicked than himself,
and they enter in and dwell there : and the last state of that man is worse than the
first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
> Ver. 22.— 1. B., D., [Cod. Sinait], Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford]: Thv Kwcpoi; [the dumhl 2. L., X., D., Syr.:
Koxphv Kal TV(l)\6v, [dumb and Wind:]. 3. Latter Codd., the text, rec., Griesbacb, Meyer, [Wordsworth, Stier and
Theile, etc.]: luv rv(p\hv Kcd Ku(p6i/, [the blind and dumb]. We suppose that in the second place Kuxpus is used in a
more general sense, signifying stupidity.
= Ver. 23.— [M t; t i oStoj 4(niv, etc. Lange, correcUy, according to the German idiom : Jst doch dieser nicht etwat
Conant and the revised version of the A. B. Union : Is this, etc. This is the original rendering of the English Version in
CHAP. XII. 22-45.
223
— [Fellow implies contempt, whidi is not warranted by tlie use of the demonstrative pronoun ovtos,
■ in tlie preceding verse. Howard Crosby rrhe N. T. witli explanatory Notes or Scholia): ''Fellow is an un-
o introduce here, althonsrb it was not so objectionable when our version was formed. Thero is no word in
the editions of 1611 and of 1613, in this p.issaf:e (though not in John iv. 29): Is this the Son ofDaridt But most editions,
including that of the Am. B. Soc, road: Is not this^ etc. A change for the worse. For ^ 7) t i or /U?';, both in the N. T.
and in classic Greek, always implies some doubt and tho expectation or the wish otanegatite answer; while ou in ques-
tions looks to an attirmativo answer. Winer, Grammaiik, 6th ed., p. 453 : j-lt) {tx-ljT t) steht ico eine vkrneinendb Ant-
wort vorriii.^gein't^t Oder erwdrtetwird, T>ocmiicaT? .... Dir Fragende legt esimmer auf eine negative Antwnrt an
und wurde nichi Uberrascht sein, wenii er eine solche ei'hielte, John iv. 33; viii. 22 ; ildtt. xii. 23; John io. 29; vii.
26, 35. "-P. S.]
3 Yer. 24.-
either here (
happy word to i
the Greek, the pronoun 'this^ standing alone. We may say 'thlK one.'' " — P. S.]
< Ver. 2$.— ["EfpSaiTfj' e'(J)* vfxai, which the E. V., in the parallel piissage Luke xi. 20 renders: the kingdom of God is
come upon you. ^Oivnv with the Classics means prcevenire, to precede, anticipate, overtake, and so 1 Thess. iv. 15 (E. V. :
"shall not prereiit—i. e.. in the old English sense ot prcerenire— them which are asleep"); but in Hellenistic and in mod-
ern Greek it means also pen-enires, to come near, to come upon, yet often with the idea of surprise, .as here. Wesley and
gtier: Is already upon you, i. e., before you jooked for it.— P. S.J
* Ver. 29. — [Lit. : the strong 7nan's, r ov ta-xupov, with reference to the particular case in hand, but not: the strong
on.6, viz. Satan (Campbell) ; for the S.aviour draws .an illustration from common life to show his relation to Satan.— P. S.]
* Ver. 29. — [According to the true reading ap-w aa ai, instead of OiapTrdaai, which occurs in the following verse —
P. S.]
' Ver. 85.— The best MS3. [including Cod. Sinait] omit t tj y KapSias {of the heart), which seems to be an inter-
pretation.
8 Ver. .SS.- Tho best MSS. [also Cod. Sinait] .add aiir^ .after a.TreKpie-r)aav.
» Ver. 41.— [As otj is correctly translated in the par.allel case ver. i2: for she came.— P. S.]
10 Ver. 44. — The best authorities favor the emphatic position of i7ito my house at the beginning of the sentence. [The
Cod. Sinait likewise re.ads: eix tIv oIkov uov iTiurpe^oi. But this does not do as well in English, as in the Greek and
German languages.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Chronological Arrangement. — Luke relates these
addresses imperfectly, and in another, but apparently
more correct, order. This section manifestly de-
scribes the close of the public ministry of Jesus in
Galilee, and the open breach between the Lord and
the Pharisaical party in that province, corresponding
to the conflict in Jerusalem, related in chs. xxi. and
xxiii. Ch. xiv. records a prior event ; and the two
conflicts in chs. xv. 1 and xvi. 1 form only the con-
clusion of the contest which was now opening. After
the festival of Purim, the pharisaical party in Gal-
ilee had received instructions from Jerusalem to per-
secute the Lord. This behest was obeyed, though in
a coarser manner than by the chiefs in Jerusalem.
The former private accusation, that Jesus was in
league with Satan (ch. ix. 34, comp. x. 25), was now
publicly and boldly brought forward. " The resem-
blance between this occurrence and that recorded in
ix. 32, is not owing to the circumstance that diflerent
facts are mixed up (Schneckenburger), nor to a tra-
ditionary embelUshment of one and the same history
(Strauss, de Wette). The two events are in reality
dififereut, though analogous. The former demoniac
was dumb, while this one is both dumb and blind ;
which latter circimistance Luke, following a less ac-
curate tradition, does not record." Meyer.
Ver. 22. One possessed with a devil, blind
and dumb. — Not blind and diuidj by nature, but by
demoniac possession. To reUeve one so fearfully
under the power of the enemy, was the most difficult
miracle, especially as the Pharisees watched Him
with imbelief and in bitterness of heart.
Ver. 23. Is this the Son of David ?— The peo-
ple were here on the point of openly proclaiming Je-
sus as the Son of David, or the Messiah. But they
were prevented by the hierarchical party, who now
came forward with their blasphemous accusation.
Ver. 24. This (significantly put first) — should it
be this one ? This one docs not cast out devils, etc.*
♦[Meyer: " Mt^ti ouToy, etc. Question of surprise,
where the emphasis lies on o5to5: It can hardly be that
this man, who otherwise has not the appearance of the Mes-
Biah, should be the Messiah." — P. 8.]
— We have already shown that the term Beelzebul
is equivalent to, the prince of the devils; hence
the latter expression {apxovTi, without an article)
serves as explanation of a name invented by them,
probably with reference to Beelzebub, the god of the
Philistines.
Ver. 20. If Satan casts out Satan. — Meyer
rightly argues against the rendering, If one Satan
cast out another. " There are many demons, but Sa-
tan alone is the chief of them." Hence the charge
implied, that Satan was represented both by the de-
mon who possessed the individual, and by the demo-
niac exorcist; or, that in reality he cast himself out.
In the same sense Christ employs also the simile of
a city or a house divided against itself. Not that He
denied that discord prevails in the kingdom of dark-
ness ; but this does not amount to an absolute breach,
or to complete self-negation, which would necessarily
lead to immediate annihilation. On the other hand,
it is to be observed, that the kingdom of Satan had
been of long standing, and hence must possess a cer-
tain measure of unity and consistency. The argu-
mentation of Jesus was based on the distinction be-
tween this relative and an absolute division in the
kingdotu of Satan, and not, as de Wette supposes, on
transferring the principles of the kingdom of light to
that of darkness. Meyer is also right in suggesting,
that the supposition of the Pharisees, that Satan
might in this instance have damaged his own cause,
is refuted by the constant antagonism waged between
Christ and the kingdom of darkness. Besides, it de-
serves notice, that Christ here claimed to cast out,
not merely individual demons, but Satan himself*
* [We add the remarks of Trench {Kotes on the Mira-
clex of our Lord, 6th ed., p. 69): "There is at first sight a
dilliculty in tlie argument which our Saviour dr.aws from
tlie oncniss of the kingdom of Satan — namely, that it seems
the very idi-a of this kingdom, that it should be an anarchy,
blind rage and hate not merely against God, but each part
of it warring against every other part And this is most
deeply true, that hell is as much in arms against itself as
asainst heaven; neither does our Lord deny that in. respect
of itself l\\a.t kingdom is infinite contradiction and division:
only he itsserts that in relation to the kingdom of heaven
it is one : there is one life in it and one soul in oppusition to
that Just as a nation or kingdom may embrace within it-
self infinite parties, divisions, discords, jealousies, and heart-
burnings; yet if it is to subsist as a nation at all, it must not,
as regards other nations, have lost its sense of unity ; when
224
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Ver. 27. Your children — i. e., in a spiritual
sense, your disciples, Jewish exorcists. Acts xix. 13.
Arg}(nicntum ex concessis. On the exorcism of the
Pharisees, see von Ammon, Lchen Jesu, ii. p. 151.
"In the schools of the Pharisees, a so-called higher
magic was taught, by which demons were to bo ex-
pelled and drawn out of the noses of persons possess-
ed, by means of certain roots, by exorcism, and by
magical formulas, supposed to have been derived
from king Solomon." Comp. Joseph. Ant. viii. 2,
5 ; De Bdlo Jud. vii. 6, 2. — It were an entire misun-
derstanding, with Gerlach, to apply the expression,
" your cklldren,^'' to the disciples of Jesus. Nor is
there any ground for apprehending that the authority
of the miracles of Jesus might be invalidated by an
acknowledgment of Jewish exorcism. Compare the
contrast between Moses and the magicians of Egypt.
Ver. 28. The Idngdom of God is come upon
[not: unto] you. — As in 1 Thess. iv. 15, so here, the
term i<i> dacr ev must be taken in its full meaning :
/;; has come upon you in a sudden manner, by sur-
p'l'ise, and finds you unprepared. The statement
also implied that Jesus stood before them as the Mes-
siah. Tims ver. 28 forms a transition from the de-
fensive to the offensive; while the expression, iv
TT i^ e I'j fj. a T I @ i 0 V, which refers to the contrast
with Beelzebul, serves as introduction to what is
afterward said about the blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit.
Ver. 29. Or else, how can one. — This is not
merely " another argument," but at the same time
also a more exphcit statement of the idea, that, com-
pared to Satan, Jesus was the stronger, or the Lord
of the kingdom of heaven. — The strong man (too
J (T X w p o C ), with the article — with special reference
to the Tis, who combats him ; but also with a view
to the fact, that the preceding explanation rendered
the figure completely perspicuous. Comp. Isa. xlix.
24. — "And take from him his instruments,"
<T Ke I'/T} . — Referring to those who were possessed.
[The author, version, ^^ spoil his goods,''^ gives a differ-
ent sense.] The casting out of devils implied the
bindhig of the strong man, i. e., a spiritual victory
over Satan. No doubt the Lord here alludes to the
history of the temptation in Matt. iv. At a later pe-
riod, Christ had, indeed, to enter on another physical,
psychical, and spiritual conflict with Satan, when He
was assailed by the enemy in connection with the
sorrows and the misery of the world. But His for-
mer victory over the temptation from the lust of the
world, laid the foundation and prepared the way fw
His later conquest.
Ver. 30. He that is not with Me. — The decisive
moment of the breach with the opposition in Galilee
was approaching. The idea is further carried out in
ch. xxi. 43, 44. On this occasion, however, it was
still couched in hypothetical and general language.
Still, the alternative here presented evidently applied
to the Pharisees and scribes ; and any other mter-
pretation overlooks the importance of that decisive
moment. (Bengel, Schleiermacher, and Neander ap-
ply it to Jewish exorcists ; Chrysostom, to Satan,
etc.) This is further shown by what follows : where-
fore I say unto you ; viz., with reference to your
it (lops so. of necessity it falls to pieces and perishes. To
the Pharisees He says" 'This kingdom of evil subsists; by
your own confession it does so; it cannot therefore have de-
nied the one condition of its existence, which is, that it
should not lend its powers to the overthrowing of itself, that
it should not side with its own foes; My words and works
declare that I am its foe, it cannot therefore be siding with
Me.' "—P. S.]
blasphemy of My Person, by which your enmity ap-
jjears. Know then what this enmity implies. In
significant contrast the Saviour says inreference to
the disciples, Mark ix. 40 and Luke ix. 60, " He that
is not against us is for us." [Alford : " I believe
Stier is right in regarding it as a saying setting forth
to us generally the entire and complete disjunction
of the two kingdoms, of Satan and God. There is
and can be in the world no middle party ; they who
are not with Christ are against Him and His work,
and as far as in them Hes arc undoing it." — P. S.]
Ver. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy.
— i. e.. Every sin shall be forgiven to men, even to
blasphemy in the general sense, provided they do not
progress to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, but
turn from it. Hence, on the supposition of repent-
ance. And thus shall it be in every case — they shall
cither return, or j^rogrcss to blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit. The blasphemy which is still capable
of being forgiven, is both a species and an aggTava-
tion of general sin. De Wette : ^^^\aa<prifj.ia,
not merely blasphemy against God ; but, on the other
hand, not simply evil-speaking generally, but defam-
ing of what is holy, as, for example, of Christ, the Sent
of God." In general, the idea of a malicious attack
upon a person, whose fame is calumniously injured
(y3Aa7rTfij' T5> (p-i)ix7}v), attaches to the term, blasphe-
mj'. Hence, defamation of what is good, noble, and
holy, on its appearance in the world, with malicioua
(lying and murderous) intent. Up to this point
blasphemy forms the climax of sin, but of sin which
may still be forgiven ; because, in his fanatical en-
thusiasm for what he deems noble, good, and holy,
a man may overlook and misunderstand even a high-
er manifestation of it. But blasphemy against the
Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. It is open and full
opposition to conversion, and hence to forgiveness.
The Holy Spirit, who is here spoken of in distinct
terms, is the last and highest manifestation of the
Spirit of God, who completes and perfects the reve-
lation of God, and in that capacity manifests Him-
self in the human consciousness. Blasphemously
to rebel, in opposition to one's better knowledge and
conscience, against this manifestation and influence
of the Holy Spirit, is to commit moral suicide, and
to destroy one's religious and moral susceptibility.
In fact, this can never be fully accomplished, on ac-
count of the infinite contrast between blasphemy and
the Holy Spirit. But the approximation thereto im-
plies impending judgment, which extends far beyond
tlie present world into endless existence. Although
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, in its full idea, is
infinite, yet blasphemy against the Son of Man, or
against Christ in the form of a servant, constitutes
an approximation to it. Hence the Lord adds, ver.
22, by way of explanation, as approximating to this
sin : Whosoever speaketh a word (in passing) against
the Son of Man. The person whom, from prejudice
or ignorance, a word of blasphemy may escape against y
Christ — whom in His form as a servant he may pos- /
sibly mistake — shall be forgiven; but whosoever
speaketh (without the addition, a vjord) — whosoever
speaketh decidedly against the Holy Spirit, etc. In
this case, to speak and to blaspheme is identical. —
Jleyer and other critics maintain that the accusation
of the Pharisees, in ver. 24, was an instance of blas-
phemy against the Holy Spirit, But theirs was, in
the first place, only a blasphemy against the Son of
Man, and against the power in which He wrought.
In committing this sin, they necessarily approximat-
ed blasphemy agamet the Holy Spirit; but how
CHAP. XII. 22-45.
225
closely (see John vii. 39), our Lord does not express,
as appears even from the peculiar warning given them
of their danger. In these circumstances, criticism
cannot help us in defining the matter more clearly.
In the Gospel of Marli, the first statement (about
blasphemy) alone is mentioned ; in that of Luke, the
second (about speaking a word).
Ver. 32. Neither in this world; or, rather, in
this JBon. — ' O alcav ovtos, ^^Xl ^^"^^ ! » aliov
fieWw;/, xan chiS . A'e Lightfoot, Wetstein,
and others. Li the first place, the period before and
after Christ's " appearing " ; then, secondarily, the
contrast between the one and the other order of
things, as based on the old and. the new era. It
should not be overlooked that His historical advent
laid the foundation for His future -n-apovaia, and con-
sequently that the new Kon, like the kingdom of hea-
ven, is already at hand, and unfolding itself in the
old, breaking through it and gradually aboUshing it.
Hence the Jewish theology was not wrong in dating
the new seon from the advent of the Messiah ; only
they were wrong m not making a proper distinction
between the suffering and the glorified Messiah.
Yer. 33. Either exhibit, present (in the au-
thorized version, maA-e). — The term ttoi e?;/ cannot
refer to " planting," as we have here an allusion not
only to the tree but also to its fruit. It must refer
to a mental act, or to a representation, and alludes
here to the iroielv of the poets.* Those who blas-
pheme are bad and self-contradictory poets. In the
strangest manner, they conceive and represent as a
poisonous tree (Christ as inspired by Satan) that
which only yielded good fruit (casting out of devils).
Hence, not in the sense of a declarative judgment —
make (Thcophylact, Erasmus, Meyer, etc.) ; least of
all with exclusive reference to the Pharisees (Miin-
ster, Castellio, de Wette) ; nor yet as equivalent to
pu(, or plant, regarding and treating these blasphe-
mies as fruits (Ewald) ; but in the sense of, to suppose^
to represent (Grotius, Fritzsche, etc.). The first tree
is manifestly intended as an emblem of Clirist ; the
second, of the Pharisees, who manifested their inward
state by their outward fruit, or their blasphemy.
For the tree is known by its fruit ; comp. ch.
vii. 20.
Ver. 3-i. O brood of vipers. — The terms in
which the Baptist had from the outset addressed the
Pharisees (ch. iii. 7), are now taken up even by the
merciful and compassionate Saviour. The expression
yeyvhtiara ix'^viiv is closely aUied with the
SeySpov (T a-rr p6v. Poisonous plants, and a gen-
eration of vipers, were the noxious remnants of pre-
Adamic times, and hence served as allegorical fig-
ures of Satanic evil (which are not to be confounded
with the thorns and thistles consequent upon the
curse). Hence the first S}-mbol of coming salvation
was, that the seed of the woman should bruise the
head of the serpent. — How can ye ? etc. — The
physical impossibility that a generation of vipers
could give forth what was salutary, served as an em-
blem of the moral impossibiUty of this moral genera-
tion of vipers speaking good things.
For out of the abundance, the overflowing. —
But this abundance is not passive ; it is organic, and
reproducing itself. With this it may be well to con-
nect the bibhcal idea of irepifffftvuv, to develop organ-
ically.
Ver. 35. Out of the good treasure. — Another
• Se6 the wcll-knowu beginuing of norace''a Are poe-
tica.
15
figure in which the heart is represented as a spiritual
treasury. Each one can only give forth what he
finds in his treasury. The expression, heart, im-
plies the sum-total of all the thoughts, words, and
works of a man ; in short, his entire spiritual posses-
sions.
Vers. 36, 37. Every idle word. — The term
pri/xa, in its connection with apynv, meaning moral-
ly useless, and at the same time hurtful, — tt ourjpoi;
as some minuscule MSS. read. This judgment accord-
ing to their words, would not exclude that according
to their deeds. From Matt. xxv. 31, we gather that
the actions of the righteous and of the wicked are
scaled by their word.s. A man's speech, as elucidat-
ing, and elucidated by, his life, will serve as a suf-
ficient index of his character in the day of judgment
— as Heulmer explains it, partly from its wickedness,
and partly from its pharisaical severity, which recoils
on him who is guilty of it.
Ver. 38. Then certain of the scribes and of
the Pharisees answered. — His opponents felt that,
in these statements, Jesus had confronted them in
His character as the Messiah, invested with royal and
judicial authority. Accordingly, they were constrain-
ed either to acknowledge or to reject His clauns. In
this difficulty, some of them tried to tempt Hun ; i. e.,
partly in derision, and partly with a fingering desire
after the manifestation of a worldly Messiah, they
asked for a siff7i, by way of accrediting His claims.
No doubt they referred to the chiUastic sign from
heaven. Thus we notice here the appearance of a
new hostile device, which appears in its full propor-
tions in ch. xvi. 1, just as that which had first appear-
ed in ch. ix. 34 had now been fully brought out.
Gerlach and Lisco suggest that these Pharisees were
better inclined, and less opposed to Jesus, than the
others. But in our opinion, they were rather the
worst among the bad.
Ver. 39. An adulterous generation. — M o i -
X a A 1 r. Theophylact : is a<ptcrTa./xevoi atrh rov Qeov.
Adultery, taken in a spiritual sense, according to
the Old Testament idea, equivalent to apostasy or
idolatry; Isa. xviii. 17. Jesus foreknew that the
apostasy of the Pharisees would lead them even to
an outward alhance with the heathen in the act of
His crucifixion.
There shall no sign be given to it. — Christ
considered His miracles as signs, John xi. 41. The
perfect sign of His Messiahship, however, was His
death on the cross, and His resurrection. And as
the true Messiah was exactly the opposite of the car-
nal counterfeit which the Pharisees had drawn for
themselves, so was the true and great sign of the
Messiah the direct contrary to their carnal and un-
warranted clamor for a sign from heaven. This ap-
plies especially to the solemn call to repentance
which His answer contained. The Pharisees sought
a sign from heaven, to confirm and to crown with
success their own corrupt views and state: the Lord
offered them a sign from the deep of the realm of
death, to condemn their hypocritical worldliness.
Hence the sign of Jonah ; i. e., the sign which had
typically appeared in the history of Jonah, ii. 1.
Ver. 40. The belly of the great fish : toD
KTiTovs, blTa i'n . — The expression does not neces-
sarily mean a ichale [as the E. V. translates], but
any sea-monster. We suppose it was a shark [the
white shark, squalus carclcarias, also called lamia,
which is found to this day in the Mediterranean,
sometunes as long as sixty feet. — P. S.] rather than
226
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
a whale. Heubner relates an instance of a sailor who
was swallowed by a shark, and yet preservcdv
So shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights. — A round number according to the
popular mode of Hebrew rcckouinjr, 1 Sam. xxx. 12;
although Christ lay only one day and two niglits in
the grave.* — In the heart of the earth. — 1. In
the grave. So most interpreters. 2. In hades (Ter-
tuUian, Irenseus, etc.).f Meyer pronounces in favor
of the interpretation hades, on the supposition that
it is analogous to Kapoia t^? OaKdaarjs in Jonah ii.,
which referred to the depths of the sea. Besides, in
Luke xxiii. 43, Christ Himself had designated His
death as a descent into hades [or rather an entrance
into paradise as a part of hades]. — But we remark,
first, that these two things, the gi-ave and the realm
of the dead, cannot be disjoined. Secondly, that the
Lord frequently uses the tenn, " earth," in reference
to the ancient hierarchical and poUtical constitution
of the world. Jonah was only buried in the depths
of the sea; Christ in that of the ancient earth (the
grave and hades), and of the ancient world (its con-
demnation and contumely). Paulus, Schleiermacher,
Neander, and others, apply the expression, " sign of
Jonah the prophet," to the preaching and appearance
of the Loid. But this view requires no formal refu-
tation. Such could scarcely have been designated as
in any specific sense a sign of the prophet Jonah ;
not to speak of the fact that it ignores the expla-
nation furnished in the Gospel of Matthew itself. We
do not deny, however, that the expression may con-
tain some reference to the universal mission of Jonah,
which constituted him a type of Christ. Jonah was
unwilling to preach to the heathen Ninevites, and was
buried in the depths of the sea, which is an emblem
of the sea of nations. Jesus designed His gospel for
all nations, and was hurled by the Jewish hierarchy
into the depth of the earth, and into that of their
theocratic and hierarchical condemnation. But Jo-
nah emerged once more to preach repentance to the
* [St. Jerome: "This is to be explained by a figure of
speech called syneccloehe, by which a part is put for the
whole ; not that our Lord was three whole days and three
nights in the grave, but part of Friday, part of Sunday, and
the whole of Saturday were reckoned Jis three days."
Metek: '^ Jesus war nur einen Tag und eicei Ndchte todt.
AlUin nach populdrer Weise (vergl. 1 Sam. axcx. 12 sq.)
sind die Theile des ersten und dritten Tages als game
Tage gezdhlt, tcozu die darzustellende gegenhildliche
Aehnlichkeit rnit dent Schicksal des Jonas veranlasste.'''
Alfoed : '■ If it be necessary to make good the three days
and nights, it must be done by having recourse to the Jewish
method of computing time. In the J'erus.alem Talmud (cited
by Lightfoot) it is t-aid 'that a day and night together m.ake
up a nS'ijJ (a wx^VfJ-^pov), and that any p.art of such a
period is' counted as the whole.' See Gen. xl. 1-3, 20 ; 1 Sam.
xxx. 12, 13; 2 Chron. x. 5, 12; Hos. \\. 2." Wordswoeth :
"The days of Christ's absence from His disciples were short-
•ened in mercy to them as for as was consistent with the ful-
filment of the prophecy (?).— P. S.]
+ [So also Theophylact, Bellarmin, Maldonatus, Olshau-
een, Konig {Lehre von der IlbUenfahrt Christi, 1S42, p. 54),
Alford, Wordsworth, while D. Brown and all the American
•commentators of Matthew, A. Barnes, J. A. Alexander,
Owen, Whedon (Jacobus' Notes I have not at hand), under-
stand the heart of the earth to mean simply the gi'ave. But
Lades agi-ees better with the parallel of the belly of the sea-
monster, than the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, which was
on the surface of the earth rather than in the heart thereof;
secondly, Jonah himself calls the belly of the sea-monster
bisaJ "(Ii? 5 LXX : e/c Kotkias aSov, "out of the belly of
hades'" (not hell as in the E. \.\ Jon. ii. 3 (2) ; and finally,
there should be no more dispute now as to Christ's actual
descent into hades, see Luke xxiii. 43 ; Acts ii. 27, 81 (Greek
text); Eph. iv. 9; 1 Pet. iii. 19. But no doctrinal state-
ments concerning the locality of hades can be justly deriv-
ed from such popular expressions, which must necessarily
adapt themselves to our imperfect finite coTictptions. — P. S.]
Gentiles ; so Christ also rose to preach the gospel to
the nations. — The circumstance, that our Lord re-
peats this simile in Matt. xvi. 4, shows that He at-
tached considerable importance to it.
Ver. 41. Shall rise — i. c, as witnesses in the
judgment. "So C^Ip in Job xvi. 8." — "On, for;
not, becanse [as in the author, version]. — This judg-
ment is that of the Lord.
Ver. 42. The queen of the south. — See 1
Kings X., and the article Sheba in Winer's ReaU
Wbrterb. [and in Cahnet's Diction, of the II. Bible,
Taylor's edit, Lond., p. 815 sqq.]. Sahara, a district
in Arabia Felix. Josephus erroneously represents
her as a queen of Ethiopia {Ant. viii. 5, 5). Similar-
ly, modem Abyssinian tradition assigns to her the
name of Maqueda, and represents her as a convert to
Judaism, and as having had a son by Solomon, whose
name was Menilek. The Arabs mention her, under
the name of Balkis, among the rulers of Yemen.
Ver. 43. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man. — A simile referring to the state of
the Jewish nation, with special reference to the cast-
ing out of devils, and to the blasphemy of the Phari-
sees and scribes, which had just taken place. The
man set free from the unclean spirit is an emblem of
the Jewish nation as under the sway of Pharisaism.
Hence the heahng represents the blessed and gra-
cious activity of Jesus in Israel. — The unclean spirit
who is cast out walketh through dry desert places —
deserts being represented as the habhation of devils,
Job viii. ?> ; Bar. iv. 35 ; Rev. xviii. 2 ; Lev. xvi. 21.
The wilderness, an emblem of their dwelling-place it
another world, of their activity, of their desolation
and their banishment into desolation.
Ver. 44. He findeth the house empty,
swept, and garnished. — Not, as de Wette has it,
the soul restored, but invitmg to the unclean spirit, —
not being mhabited by a good spirit.
Ver. 45. Seven other spirits more wicked
than himself. — This evidently refers to a more fuU
possession by devils, — i. e., to a voluntary and dam-
nable self-surrender to Satan by a wicked life, or to
such hardening of unbelief as that of which the Jew-
ish hierarchy and nation were guilty. — And the last
state is worse than the first. — Their former low
and miserable estate is followed by moral guilt, and
a voluntary surrender to the power of evil, — such,
alas ! as has been manifested in the history of Is-
sael.
From the details of Christ's dealing with the
Pharisees, as recorded by Luke, we derive a clear
view of His increasing earnestness and directness in
reproving them. What in the beginning He had only
said to the disciples in the first Sermon on the Mount,
and in His instruction to the Apostles, lie now pub-
hcly repeated, — partly in the hearing of the Phari-
sees themselves, and partly in presence of all Hia
professing disciples.
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. " From this and other passages of Scripture
(vers. 26-30), we learn that the kingdom of darkness
has also its head, who serves as a centre of connec-
tion, combining all the isolated forces into common
resistance to Christ and His kingdom." — Lisco. See
ch. xiii.
2. The position of the Lord with reference to the
Pharisaical party had now reached that stage of de-
cision when each one must choose a distinct part.
CHAP. Xn. 22-45.
227
This was clearly indicated in the solemn statement,
— He that is not tvith 2fe (in this conflict) is affainst
Me (and hence on the side of Satan, against whom
the conflict is waged) ; and he that galhereth not with
Me (in the harvest) scattereth abroad (is a destroyer
of God's liarvest).
3. Blasphony against the Holy Spirit^vers. 31, 32.
— For a full discussion of this subject, we must refer
to other works, especially my Le.hen Jesu, ii. 2, p.
825 ; my Fosit. Dogmatik, p. 453, and the exegetic-
al, dogmatical, and ethical treatise of Phil. Schaff:
Die Siinde ivider den Heil. Geist, Halle, 1841 (writ-
ten with reference to the dissertations on the same
subject by Grashof, and Gurlitt in the Studien und
Kritiken for 1833 and 1834 ; Tholuck in his Aliscella-
nies, 1839 ; Nitzsch, St/stern dcr chrisflichen Lehre, etc.,
and with a historical appendix on tlie terrible end of
Francesco Spiera).* " In all the legislations of an-
tiquity, a distinction was made between inexpiable
and expiable transgressions. Blasphemy of the Di-
vine name belonged to the former class. If, there-
fore, there was au}"thing inexpiable and unpardonable
under the New Testament dispensation, blasphemy
would naturally be the Old Testament symbol of it.
Nor can there be any doubt that the Lord had, in this
respect, warned His hearers against the sin of blas-
phemy ; at the same time distinguishing various de-
grees of it (Matt. xii. 31 ; Mark iii. 28 ; Luke xii.
10). More especially do we gather from the Gospel
of Mark, that Jesus here intended to deflne more ac-
curately, or to give a more correct explanation of, the
law of Moses, in Lev. xxiv. In that passage, a pun-
ishment was denounced (ixzjn Nii^) against any
blasphemy of the Deity (C"^n'bx b^j:?), while the
punishment of death was awarded to express blas-
phemy of ' ■'"CO . This distinction between sim-
ply punishable and absolutely unpardonable blasphe-
my ('ca/foAoyia, 1 Sam. iii. 13, Sept.), was explained
by the Saviour, in the Gospel of Mark, in the sense
that the pardonable sin consisted in blasphemy against
Elohim, while in the Gospel of Matthew, He applied
it to blasphemy against the Divine Messenger, or
the Son of Man. In Ijoth Gospels, however, the un-
pardonable blasphemy against the name of Jehovah,
is further explained as being the blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit. We cannot, therefore, see sufficient
ground for the view advocated by Olshausen in his
Commentary, that there were three degrees in the sin
of blasphemy — that against the Father, that against
the Son, and, finally, that against the Holy Spirit."
(Nitzsch, Si/stem., etc., p. 200.) The following dog-
matical points seem to us of special importance : (1)
From its very nature, every sm tends toward blas-
phemy, and every blasphemy toward blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. (2) It is unscriptural to
identify blasphemy against the Holy Spirit with sin
against the Holy Spirit.f This mistake has given
rise to much distress of mind, and should be careful-
* [Com p. also Julius Mullee : "Die christliche Lehre
von der Sunde, 3(1 ed., in the latter part of the .«e-;nnd vol-
ume. An English translation of this profound and impor-
tant work by Wm. Pulsfoep (The Christian Doctrine of
Siti exhibited) appe.'ired at Edinburgh, 1S52, as a part of
Clark"s Foreign, Library.— V. S.)
t [In the wider sense every sin of the believer who has
experienced the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, may
be called a sin a^'ainst the Holy Spirit, althougli far from
approaching the nature and guilt of blasphemy. The Scrip-
ture speaks of qnenchine the Spirit, 1 Tliess. v. 19, grieving
the Holy Spirit of God, Eph. iv 80, resistins the same, Acts
vii. 51, and vexing him, Isa. Ixiii. 10; but all these sins are
Still within the reach of pardon. M. Heney : " It is not all
ly avoided.* (3) Accordingly, we must reject as un-
satisfactory and dangerous the patristic and other
specifications of this sin as if it referred to rejection
of the gospel (Gnosticism, according to Irenaeus), or
to denial of the divinity of Christ (Athanasius and
Hilarius), or to every mortal sin committed after bap-
tism (Origen), or " duriiia cordis usque ad finem hu-
jus vitce,'^ — meaning thereby every impenitent death
in the judgment of the Church (Augustine), or to the
sin of the Pharisees, as recorded in the text (as some
modern interpreters have it). (4) A complete com-
mission of this sin can scarcely be conceived, since
the Holy Spirit would withdraw His manifestations
from the blasphemer ; and the latter would be stag-
gered, being unable always to perceive the presence
of the Spirit of God. (Hence the view of H. L. Nitzsch
the elder is not without a measure of truth : de pec-
cato homini cavendo, quamquam in hominem non
cadente. Viteb. 1802.) (5) StiU, according to the
statement of the Lord, and from the very nature of
the thing, a man may approach most closely to thia
sin, even to the insuring of his own certain condem-
nation. (G) Consequently, this state must be regard-
ed as a hardening of the mind, which leads to, and
manifests itself in, blasphemies. But we cannot agree
with Grashof and Tholuck, in regarding this state as
pure hatred against what is holy; nor yet with
Nitzsch, as decided deadness and complete indiffer-
ence. We conceive, with Schaff, that these two ele-
ments are here combmed, since it is nnpossible to hate
the true life without complete deadness, or, on the
other hand, to be completely dead to the true life
without hating it. (7) It is necessary to bear in mind
that, following the example of the Lord, this warn-
ing must be cautiously handled. He only employed
it at a season of extreme peril, and in the prospect
of that sin. Heubner : " The Holy Spirit is referred
to in the text more operative than personaliter, as a
Divine principle, working on the heart of man in the
way of awakening, rousing, and urging them, of all
which man is conscious." Still the complete revelation
of the Holy Spirit includes also that of His personal
glory ; and blasphemy against what is holy is close-
ly aUied to blasphemy against the Person of the Spirit.
Compare, however, the instructive communications
of Heubner, p. 170 sqq., on this question.
4. Neither in this world, nor in the world to come,
ver. 32. — De Wette: "The expression is evidently
equivalent to never, in the absolute sense, no matter
whether we understand the terms 6 ulwv 6 fxeWwv of
the kingdom of Messiah and of eternity, or only of the
latter. But, in order to deduce from it the eternity
of future punishments (Olshausen), we would require
to take the words of Jesus in their strict literality,
while they are evidently a proverbial expression {see
Wetstein). The mild Chrysostom saw nothing in
them beyond the idea of highest guilt, — or, perhaps,
more correctly, difficulty of amendment." f — But what
speaking against the person or essence of the Holy Spirit, or
some of Hi.f more private operations, or merely the resisting
of His internal working in the sinner himself, that is here
meant; for who then should be saved t "—P. S.l
* The common reply to such doubts is well known. It
is to the effect, that he who is guilty of the sin against the
Holy Spirit would not feel sorrow for it; and that the fact
of such sorrow is itself an evidence that this sin has not been
committed. [So also M. llcnry in loo. : "Wo have reason
to think, that none are guilty of this sin, who believe that
Christ is the Stm of God, anA sincerely desire to have part
in His merit and mercy: and those who fear they have com-
mitted this sin, give a good sign that they have not."— P. S.]
t [In the same way even ■Wobdswoeth weakens the
force ot ov K a(pedr}a-€T ai: "is very vnlikehj to ob-
tain forgiveness." He quotes from Augustine, Retract, i.
228
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
if this difficulty were here declared absolute, or
amounting to an impossibility ? Nor must we lose
sight of the fact, that there can be nothing general
or unmeaning in a declaration v/hich contains some
most important dogmatic distinctions. The follow-
ing ideas are evidently liud down in it : (1) In every
sin there is hope of pardon, except in this, — tlie blas-
phemy against the Holy Spirit. (2) Pardon may be
accorded in the world to come, as well as in tliis
world. Comp. 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; iv. 6. (3) There is no
pardon either in this world, or in the world to come,
for blasi)liemy against the Holy Spirit. (4) To blas-
pheme against the Son of Man, is to approximate to
this sin ; but in how far and how closely, the Lord
does not warrant us to say. (5) The decision as to
the amount of difference between the damnable ap-
proximntion to tlie sin of blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit, and that sin itself, belongs to God alone, who
rules both in this world and in that which is to come.
(6) Even an approximation to this sin leads to corre-
sponding punisliment in this world. (7) It is of the
utmost importance that this sin should be described
as one manifesting itself in a completely hardened
state of mind, ;md in analogous outward expressions.
This may be popularly explained as follows : God
cannot forgive this sin, because it consists in perfect
hardening and impenitence ; and therefore iu'dl He
not forgive it. True, such hardening is itself a judg-
ment of God ; yet in the sense that its guilt arises
from, and depends upon, the moral state of man, and
not on any fate or decree connected with time, place,
or anything that is external.
[The importance of the subject justifies and de-
mands some remarks, explanatory and cautionary, on
the second inference of Dr. Lange from ver. 32, con-
cerning the remission of sins in ilie future worlds since
it runs contrary to the old Protestant doctrine, and
the prevailing views of the Anglo-American churches.
St. Augustine was the first, I believe, who clearly
and decidedly drew this inference from the passage,
De Civil. Dei, xxi. 24 (Opera ed. Beued. vol. vii. p. 642
sq.) : " Sicut etiam facta resurrcctione mortuorum
non deerunt quihus poi^t poenas, quas patiuniur spiri-
tus mortuorum, impertiatur misericordia, ut in ignem
non mittantur ceternum. Neque enim de quibusdam
veraciter diceretur, quod 7ion eis remittatur neque in
hoc sceculo, neque infuturo (Matt. xii. 32), nisi essent
quibus, etsi non in isto, tamen remittetur infuturo?''
Since that time, this passage, together with 1 Cor. iii.
15 (ai/Ttis 5e ffcadvcreTai, ovTws 8e ais 5 i o tt u -
p 6 $), has been often quoted by fathers, schoolmen,
and modern Roman divines, in favor of the doctrine
of purgatory, and a proljationary state after death.
Compare Maldonatus ad he. : " Ccctcrum recte Au-
gustinus et Gregorius, Beda, Bernardus, ex hoc loco
purgatorium prohaverunt, .... colligentes aliqua in
futuro sceculo peccata remitti." Several modern
Protestant commentators of Germany, including 01s-
hausen (vol. i. 460, in Kendrick's edition, who lets it
19: '■'■ De nullo quamvis pessimo in hac vita desperdndum
estV This is true enough, because we never know whether
a man has committe<i the unpardonable sin, and we must go
on the assumption that he has not. The only hopeless case
was that of Judas after Christ Himself with His infallible
knowledge ha<l called him the son of pei-(Jition^ for whom it
were better never to have been born. Meyer (p. 268, note)
correctly observes: "The eternity of punishment here taught
is not to be explained away and changed into 'difficulty of
amendment' (de Wette), or reduced to the milder conception
of the highest degree of guilt (Chrysostom), or greatest difli-
ciilty of forgiveness (Socinians), and such like." Whedon:
" It is diflicult to say in what words the eternity of retribu-
tion could be more unequivocally expressed." — P. S.]
pass without protest), find a similar idea implied in
this declaration of our Lord, but they divest it, of
course, of the Romish figment of purgatory.
The Roman system, according to the principle :
extra ecclcsiam (Bomavam) nulla salus, hopelessly
condemns to hell all unbaptized persons, including
children, though, of course, with different degrees of
punishment, according to the measure of guilt {see
Dante's /w/erwo), and confines the second probation of
purgatory exclusively to imperfect Christians, who are
too good for hell and too bad for heaven, and conse-
quently must pass after death through a tedious and
painful process of penances and self-purifications be-
Ibre tlieir final entrance into heaven. The modern
German Protestant opinion in its evangelical form,
starting from the idea of the absolute justice and uni-
versal love of God, maintains that Christ M'ill ulti-
mately be revealed to all human beings, and prove to
them, according to their faith or unbelief, either a
savor of life unto Hfe, or of death unto death ; that
there is therefore a possibility of pardon and salvation
in the middle state between death and the resurrec-
tion for unbaptized children, heathen, and all others
who die innocently ignorant of Christ ; and that par-
don can be obtained there on the same condition as
here, viz., repentance and faith in Christ whenever
He is presented to them. This view I defended my-
self at length in my juvenile work on the Sin against
the Holy Ghost, which Dr. Lange quotes above with
apparent general approbation ; but I based my argu-
ment (if I remember rightly, — for I have no copy be-
fore me just now) not, as St. Augustine and Dr.
Lange do, on an inference from the words : ovt i
i V T 9? /a € A A o 1/ T ( , but on the doctrine here
taught by our Saviour (vers. 31 and 32), that every
sin, even the greatest, may be forgiven, except the
sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit ; that con-
sequently repentance and pardon become impossible
and condemnation absolute only after this blasphemy
has been committed, which cannot be committed, it
seems to me, by children, heathen, or any persons
who are not acquainted with the character and ope-
rations of the Holy Spirit. Every sin, if obstinately
persisted in, will ultimately complete itself in that
terrible consummation of rebellion against God under
His last and highest manifestation as the Holy Spirit,
and perpetuate itself in a hopeless state of absolute
and incorrigible impenitence, so that even God Him-
self cannot forgive it without overthrowing the funda-
mental law of all forgiveness and moral reform, viz.,
repentance. But before this awful goal is reached,
there is still a possibiUty of repentance, and conse-
quently of pardon and salvation, and this possibility
extends to the period of the final judgment for ail
those who, without their ov/n guilt, have never been
brought into contact with the gospel in this life.
This was substantially my view as published in Ger-
many in 1841, for which I was charged with heresy
before the Sj-nod of the German Reformed Church ui
America, in 1846. And this is substantially the view
of Dr. Lange and many of the leading evangeUcal di-
vines of Germany.
But the orthodox Protestant divines of England,
Scotland, and America almost unanimously reject the
whole idea of a probationary state and the possibiUty
of forgiveness after death, and deny that this passage
justifies any inference favorable to it. We quote
some of the latest commentators on Matthew. Al-
FORD : " No sure inference can be drawn from the
words 01/T6 4v T w IX 4 Wovr I — with regard to
forgiveness of sins in a future state. ... In the most
CHAP. Xn. 22-45.
229
entire silence of Scripture on any such doctrine, every
principle of sound interpretation requires that we
should hesitate to support it by two difficult passages
[he refers to 1 Pet. iii. 19], in neither of which does
the plain construction of the words absolutely re-
quire it." Wordsworth (who in this case omits to
quote from his favorite fathers) : " Some have hence
inferred that sins not forgiven in this world may be
forgiven in another. But this inference contradicts
the general teachmg of Scripture (Luke xvi. 26 ; John
ix. 4 ; Heb. iii. 13; ix. 27). . . . The phrase taken
together signifies nunquam, and is a Hebraism found
in the Talmud." Owen : " The whole expression,
' neither in this world, neither [710?-] in the world to
comc,^ is beyond all question an emphatic never.^^
Then he contradicts Olshausen, and adds that the
idea of the remission of sins in the other world " is
neither taught here, nor in 1 Pet. iii. 18 [19], and is
directly at war with many other passages, expressly
declaring the immutability of the soul's condition
beyond the grave."
As to my present opinion on this difficult subject,
I freely confess that I am not so wise now in regard
to the future fate of the heathen as I thought I
was in my twenty-first year, when I wrote the book
referred to, and consequently I would not speak so
confidently and positively. But I still hold as an ar-
ticle of hope and charili/ (though not of faith a,ndpttb-
lic doctrine), that the offer of salvation, on condition
of repentance and faith in Christ, will sooner or
later be made to all human beings, and will reach,
in some way and manner which I camiot explain,
those countless millions of unl^aptized children and
adults who constitute by far the greatest part of the
human race, and live and die without any knowledge
of the Christian religion. Why should God's bound-
less love in Christ not extend far beyond the present
narrow limits of the visible Church on earth, when
even the grace of God under tlie old dispensation ex-
tended beyond the covenant of circumcision, to such
persons as Slelchisedek (the mysterious priest-king
and type of Christ !), Jethro, Rahab, Ruth (the moth-
ers of Christ !), Hiram, the queen of Sheba, Naeman,
Job (the subject of the most wonderful poem of anti-
quity), and the wise men from the East ? Comp. John
i. 5, 9, 10; Matt. xi. 21-24; xii. 41, 42; xv. 2S ;
Acts X. 35 ; xiv. 16, 1*7 ; Rom. i. 19-21 ; ii. 27-29 ;
also my History of the Apostolic Church, second Ger-
man edit., p. 146 sqq. ; Engl, ed., p. 140 sqq. As
far as children are concerned who die in infancy, and
who constitute one half of the human race, American
divines inchne decidedly to the opinion that they will
be saved, whether baptized or not ; but if saved at
all, they cannot be saved on the ground of their in-
nocency, but only on the groimd of the atonement of
Christ ; and this imphcs, it seems to me, that Christ
must in some way and at some period be offered to
them and accepted by them ; for the principle that
out of Christ tliere u no salvation, is absolutely funda-
mental, and must be held in all its exclusiveness. All
the adults who have in this life enjoyed and neglected
the oj)portimiiy of salvation, can expect no other op-
portunity in the future world, but only a just reward
for their unbelief. And even as to all others, it may be
said that the present life is decisive, and determines
their final fate ; but their judgment will be according
to the measure of light and grace enjoyed in this
world.
Accorduigly, the difference of opinion, after mu-
tual explanation, is considerably narrowed down, and
confined to the future condition of the heathen (and
all those who f;tll under ihe same category). This
condition, it must be candidly admitted, is not clearly
revealed to >i3, and this no doubt for good practical
reasons. Everybody sees at once the cooling effect
whicli the teaching of the possible conversion of the
heathen in iha future world must have with i\\Q pop-
ular mind upon the work of heathen mission. This
whole subject, tlierefore, should be treated with all
due caution and reserve. We may have our private
theological opinions on it, but m'c have no right to
preach them from the pidpit ; we may hope and pray
that the Gentiles may be saved ; but it would be
wrong and dangerous to teach it as an article of faith.
We must admire the wisdom of God in the silence of
Scripture as well as in its teaching. — P. S.]
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Opposite effects produced by the glorious mani-
festations of the Lord, in those who are susceptible,
and in those who are opposed to Him: 1. Admira-
tion, indignation; 2. confession, praise — rejection
and blasphemy; or, recognition of the power and
majesty of God, and reviling of the Divine revelation
as the power of Satan. — The healing of one most
fully pos''"ssed by an unclean spirit, more easy than
the recovery of a hypocrite. — It argues a devil-
ish mind to represent as satanic what is Divine. —
Marks of the devilish cunning of the wicked : 1.
They impute this cunning to the Holy One ; 2. they
surrender themselves to this cunning; 3. they are
ensnared by the cunning of the Evil One without be-
ing aware of it. — The wicked artifice which attempts
to represent that which is holy as an artifice, is itself
the prey of the worst artifice. — Christ victorious over
the calimmy of His opponents : 1. In His defence ;
2. in His justification and manifestation of Himself;
3. in His accusation of the Pharisees ; 4. in His
v/arning. — The consequences of sm. — In what sense
can Satan be said to have a kingdom ? — Christ the
Almighty One, who has bound the strong man. — Any
power which the Evil One wields here, belongs not
to him of right, but is usurped and arrogated. — Un-
clean spirits envying and grieving at the happiness
of man. — Solemn effect on His people in the world,
to the last day, of the indignation of Christ, occasion-
ed by the charge, that He carried on His work in
conjunction with Satan. — The great hour of decision
between Christ and Israel: 1. How awful; 2. how
solemn ; 3. how glorious. — The watchword of the
Lord : For Me, or against Me. — Agreement between
these two watchwords : he that is not with Me, etc.,
and he that is not against us, etc. — It may have been
possible not to recognize the Son of Man in the form
of a servant, but it is not possible wholly to ignore in
our consciousness the Holy Spirit in His glory. —
Tlie Holy Spirit glorifies the Son of Man, and makes
the cause of Christ His cause. — The sin of prejudice
akin to, yet different from, the sin of conscious re-
jection of what is holy: 1. In its motive ; 2. in its
consciousness ; 3. in its object ; 4. in its effects.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 1. In its
source : (a) sin in general ; (6) blasphemy in general.
2. In its gradual manifestation : blasphemy of what
is divine, of the Son of Man in the fonn of a servant.
3. In its completion : blasphemy against the highest
revelation of (iod in our consciousness, or against the
Spirit of the gospel which had roused the conscience.
— A warning figure of that sin in all its fulness, and
of complete comh mnation. — The sin of the satanic
consequence of pride, when man hardens his mind
230
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
against the Sun of highest revelation, whose rays pen-
etrate into it. — Spiritual suicide, or the sin unto death
(I John v.), the end of one of two ways: 1. Of hard-
eninp;; 2. of apostasy. — How the warning against
blasphemy is to be applied by the children of God : 1.
Each one is to beware of it ; 2. it is not to be imputed to
any one ; 3. the tendency to judge others would lead
to an oppo.site course of conduct. (For example, the
Pharisees have committed it, but we cannot commit
it; heretics, etc., but we the orthodox, etc.; those
beyond the pale, etc., but we the priests, etc. ; our op-
ponents, etc., but we who are in the right, etc.) —
Christ is always the same ; and the glorious charac-
teristics of the gospel appear even when He speaks
of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. — All manner
of sin shall be forgiven unto men.
The tree is known by his fruit. — If we cannot ;
condemn the fruii, we should not condemn the tree.
— If we cannot praise the fruit, we should not com- !
mend the tree. — How men may become a generation |
of vipers in their relationship toward the kingdom [
of God. — Out of the abundance of the heart the I
mouth speaketh. — A man's words as indicating his
inward state: 1. As being its fruit;. 2. as being its j
spiritual coinage ; 3. as being a decisive deed. — The j
account demanded of every idle word. — How our justi-
fication or condemnation may depend on the fugitive I
texture of our words. — Hypocrisy ever betraying it- i
self by the base coin of its words. — Spiritual forgery
the worst, and therefore the most unpardonable, fraud :
upon the kingdom of Christ.
The demand of a sign from heaven, made on the |
Lord of heaven, a sign of unbelief and hardening. — I
The sign of the Messiah from the deep, the highest [
sign from heaven. — Jonas a type of Christ. — Devout
heathens the strongest witnesses against hypocritical i
Christians. — The queen of the south ; or, holy long-
ing in those who inhabit the dark places of the earth.
— A greater than Jonah is here, and a greater than
Solomon ; or, Christ, the man of sorrows and the
Lord of glory, in both respects surpassing all others :
or, the glory of the New Testament ; or, the com-
bined glory of the preaching of repentance and of
the doctrine of life, of deed and of word ; or, the Lord
going to those who are distant, and those who are
distant coming to Him. — Hardening, a sevenfold pos-
-The hardening of Israel. — Those who are '•
against their will, in a much better condi- I
tion than those who voluntarily surrender themselves j
to be the mstruments of unclean spirits. — The worst
devils are those who pretend to be the most spiritual. !
— Lamentable condition of an individual, but espe- \
cially of a nation, which renounces and contravenes ■
its spiritual experiences, — The signs of an evil gen- i
eration. .
Starke : — The tyranny of Satan is great ; for he 1
deprives man both of the natural and spiritual gifts j
bestowed upon him. — Hcdingcr : Christ came into I
the world that He might destroy the works of the \
devil, 1 John iii. 8. — Is Satan a king who has a
mighty kingdom; then who would not beware of
him ? — Christ alone is able to destroy the kingdom
of Satan, Acts x. 38.— Where the Spirit of God is,
j there also is the kingdom of God, Rom. xiv. 17. —
What concord hath Christ with Belial ? 2 Cor. vi. 15.
— Majus : The divinity of the Holy Spirit appears
also from this, that the sin against Hun is unpardon-
able, Heb. iii. 10, 11. — Osiander : Ministers should
speak with caution of the sin against the Son of Man,
and of that against the Holy Spirit, lest tender con-
sciences be frightened and cast down. — Quesnel :
The resurrection of Christ the greatest miracle, and
the seal of His mission, 1 Cor. xv. 16. — The example
of the Ninevites. — Canstein : Those who are nearest
to the gospel often despise it most; but thereby
they condemn themselves, so that they are without ex-
cuse, Heb. ii. 2. — Hcdinger : Away, false security ;
though driven out, the devil may return in greater
force. — Let him who has escaped take care lest he be
ensnared again. — Those who invite the devil to take
them, garnish the house of their heart for his recep-
tion.— The more frequently man resists the grace of
God, the worse does he become, 2 Pet. ii. 22.
Lisco : — TJie Ninevites: There only a prophet,
but here the Son of God Himself; there only a call
to repentance, but here the announcement of mercy,
and the gift of grace to repentance ; there repent-
ance, here impenitence, and hence the punishment
which they escaped by their penitence, Luke xi. 32.
— The queen of the south: She came from a far
country, despite the difficulties in the way, while here
they reject what is pressed on their acceptance ; yon-
der longing and faith, here satiety and unbelief;
yonder Solomon, here Christ, with His infinite wis-
dom.
Gerlach : — A man's words are the evidence on
which he is to be tried before God.
Heuhner : — One stronger must come, viz., Christ,
by whom we can do all things. — Neutrality in matters
of religion and of faith, will receive the severest con-
demnation.— Sin a poison. — The heart and the mouth
caimot be separated. — The mouth betrays the heart.
— An evil treasure a wretched possession. — A good
treasure is inexhaustible.
[Wordsworth (on the sign of Jonah, ver. 39,
40) : — Here is an observable instance of the uses of
the Gospels in confirming the Old Testament. By
this specimen of Divine exposition, our Lord suggests
the belief, that whatever we may now find in the 0.
T. difficult to be understood, will one day be explain- o
ed, and perhaps be seen to be prophetic and typical
of the greatest mysteries of the gospel ; and that in
the mean time it is an exercise of their faith and
a trial of their humility, — a divinely-appointed instru-
ment of their moral probation. And it is because
they are strange and marvellous, that such histories
as those of Jonah and Balaam are the best tests of
the strength of our faith. — P. S.]
4. Even the mother and the brethren of Jesus now hesitate. But this hesitation affords the Lord an oppor-
tunity of calling attention to His spiritual and royal generation, in which they also were included. Ch.
Xn, 46-50.
(Mark iii. 31-35 ; Luke viii. 19-21.)
46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren [brothers] '
47 stood [were standing] without,- desiring [seeking]^ to speak with him. Then one said
I
CHAP. Xn. 46-50.
231
unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren [brothers] stand without, desiring
48 [seeking] to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him tliat told him. Who
49 is my mother ? and who are my brethren [brothers] ? And he stretched forth his hand
50 toward [upon, eTrt'j his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For
whosoever shall do the will' of my Father which [who] is in heaven, tiie same is my
brother, and sister, and mothf.'r.
' Ter. 46. — [The E. Aversions, from Wiclifs down to the Authorized, render aSeKipoi; hrfthren, even where It signi-
fies natural relationship, as here, Matt. 1. 2 (Judah and his brethren); ii. 11; iv. IS; xiii. 55, and many other passages, so
that the term brothers nowhere occurs in our Engl. Bible. But present usage confines the word brethren to moral and
spiritual relationship. Worcester : '• The word brothers denotes persons of the same family ; the word brethren persons
of the same society; but the latter is now little used, e.xcept in theology or in the solemn style."— P. S.]
2 Ver. 46.— [ZrjT 0 Oi'T e s. Lange adds in small type: with vain effort. Comp. Luke viii. 19, who says, they
"could not come at him for the preas."— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 46. While He yet talked to the people
(multitudes, 6 x^ o is), etc. — The transaction prob-
ably occurred at Capernaum, in some public place
near to a synagogue (Mark iii. 20, 21). Tlie words,
they were standing without, only imply that the
Lord was surrounded l>y a dense crowd of people,
and that His mother and brothers stood outside of it.
But it clearly shows that Christ was not in a house.
His mother and His brothers now appear, seeking in
vain to speak to Him. The event is more fully re-
corded in the Gospel according to Mark. The occa-
sion v,as as follows : The news spread through Caper-
naum with great rapidity, that Jesus had, in presence
of all the people, broken with the pharisaical party ;
that He had been condemned by His enemies, against
whom He had denounced the most awful judgments,
and who were now encompassing His death. The
crowd of heartless, worldly-wise poUticians would
add, m the complacency of their own wisdom, that it
was madness to risk such a conflict. Probably it
was soon suggested that He must be beside Himself.
These reports would speedily reach His family, and
alarm them not a little. We may either assume that
they were now really staggered as to His position,
and that they really believed that He was beside
Himself, and that it was their duty to prevent fur-
ther exposures (Olshauscn). But in that case, their
state of mind were deplorable indeed. On the other
hand, however, we may also assume that from pru-
dential motives they pretended to credit the popular
rumor, in order, under this pretext, to withdraw Him
from a danger which in their judgment He did not
sufficiently appreciate. In our opinion, there are suf-
ficient grounds for adopting the latter view. They
do not press through the crowd, nor lay violent hands
on Him ; they send a respectful message, and patient-
ly await His answer. Besides, we find that some
tune afterward the brothers of Jesus arc not of opin-
ion that He should not work at all, but rather ask
Him to transfer the scene of His operations from
Galilee to Judea, and openly to come forward before
aU the world (John vii. 1, etc.). In this light the
conduct of His family must be viewed. Their unbe-
lief consists not in doubting Him, but in imagining
that it was theirs to preserve and direct Him by their
worldly policy. Meyer is therefore mistaken when
he maintains that the mother of Jesus was, at the
time, not decided in her faith. Such instances as
tlie later suggestion of His brothers (John vii. 1),
the history of Peter (Matt. xvi. 33), that of Thomas
(John XX.), nay, that of all the disciples, prove that
during the period of spiritual development prior to
the Feast of Pentecost, there were seasons when even
! believers might for a time be unbelieving, i. e., self-
1 willed, and deficient in the spirit of full surrender
I to Christ. The announcement of the mother of
Jesus led to that exclamation of a woman in the
crowd recorded in Luke xi. 27. Manifestly the cir-
cumstances are identical — in both cases we have the
simile about this generation, and the demand of a
sign. When, by His reply. Who is My mother ?
j Christ had overcome the temptation from that source,
He was invited by one of the Pharisees, as stated in
Luke xi. 37. The situation is explained in the Gos-
pel of Mark. The crowd was so great, that there was
no leisure so much as to eat bread (ch. iii. 20) ; or, as
we understand it, quietly to return to His home. A
Pharisee, whose house was close at hand, took occa-
sion to invite the Lord, — no doubt with a malicious
purpose. No sooner had Christ sat down, than the
Pharisee immediately reproached Him with omitting
the customary washings. Probably the Pharisees
present at the meal were desirous of employing this
opportunity for their wicked devices against the Sa-
viour. But the Lord addressed them in language of
even more solemn and conclusive warning (Luke xi.
39) — the main ideas being afterward further devel-
oped and applied in His last address to the Pharisees
at Jerusalem. In the midst of these machinations
of His enemies, vast multitudes of people gather
around (ch. xii. 1) ; Jesus is soon restored to His dis-
ciples ; He continues His warning address against the
Pharisees ; and having refused a request to settle a
dispute about an inheritance (ch. xii. 13), He betakes
Himself to the shore of the lake, where He deUvers
(at least some of) His parables concerning the king-
dom of heaven (Matt. xiii.).
Ver. 47. Thy mother and thy brothers.—
Meyer holds that the latter expression implies that
they were His uterine brothers ; but an analogous
argument might be derived from the term, father, in
Luke ii. 48. The only legitimate inference from the
Jewish use of language is, that they were His legal
brothers, no matter whether they were uterine or
merely adoptive brothers. , For the arguments in fa-
vor of the latter view, we refer to the article Jacobus,
in Herzog's Real Encyclop."^
* [There aie not two, but three different views on the
four brothers of Christ, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judaa
(sisters also are mentioned. Matt. xiii. 56): 1, children of
Joseph by s, former marriage, and hence older half-brothera
of Jesus. So the oldest Greek tradition. 2, children of Jo-
seph and Jt/ary, and licnce younger full-brothers of Jesus.
So Tortullian. llelvidius (who already produced Matt. 1. 18,
24, 25; Luke ii. 7, and other arguments in favor of this view,
but was violently assailed by Jerome {see my History ofthi
Christian Church, vol. ii., p. 231), and a number of modern
Protestant divines, as Herder, Stier, Neander, Winer, etc. ;
8, children of a sister of the Virgin Mary, and hence only
cousins of Jesus. So Jerome, tlu' lioman Catholic and many
Protestant commentators, among whom are Olshausen and
232
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Ver. 49. Upon (eVi) His disciples. — Here the
disciples in the wider sense. Jesus here places spir-
itual above carnal ties. His relatives are set aside, in
as far as, for the moment, they had turned from the
obedience of discipleship ; but they are included, in
as far as, by grace, they arc enabled to stand fast in
this temptation. Thus the Lord guards His position,
the sanctity of His calling, and the holy effect of this
grand moment, which would have been destroyed by
worldly prudence. At the same time. He also watches
over the faith of Plis mother and of His disciples, and
gives a living example how everything else is to be
subordinate to the Divine calling. Bengel: Non
spernit mafrem, sed antepoTiU patrem. — There is noth-
ing in the text to warrant the supposition of Ebrard,
that the announcement of His mother and brothers
was made use of by some cunning enemies, in order
to interrupt His denunciations ; nor in that of Meyer,
that in all probability Jesus did not admit them to
His presence. But the latter critic is right in contro-
verting the idea of Chrysostom, that this message was
a piece of ostentation on the part of the relatives of
Jesus. Lisco : Perhaps the presence of His family
was announced for the purpose of showing that one
who had such humble relatives could not be the Mes-
siah. But we see nothing to warrant this view. Be-
sides, the announcement was made at the request of
the mother of Jesus.
Ver. 50. [The same is my brother, and sis-
ter, and mother. — Note, that Christ does not intro-
duce the term, father, since he had no human father.
A hint of the^nystery of the supernatural concep-
tion.—P. S.]
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. With the position here assigned to the mother
of Jesus, we may contrast the decree of Pope Pius
IX., A. D. 1854, about the Immaculate Conception of
Mary. Like John the Baptist, she wavered — no doul^t,
partly from unbounded love to her Son ; but, like
him, she was upheld by the strong hand of Jesus.
[Alford : " All these characteristics of the mother
of our Lord are deeply hiteresting, both in themselves,
and as building up, when put together, the most de-
cisive testimony against the fearful superstition which
has assigned to her the place of a goddess in the
Romish mythology. Great and inconceivable as the
honor of that meek and holy woman was, we find
her repeatedly {see John ii. 4) the olyect of rebuke
from her divine Son, and hear Him here declaring,
that it is one which the humblest believer in Him has
in common with her." — P. S.]
2. Gregory the Great : To announce the gospel is,
so to speak, to Ijecomc the mother of the Lord ; for
thus we bear Him anew. Cornp. especially Rev. xii.
2. The Church, as bearing Christ. Every Christian,
as priest, declaring Christ and bearmg Hun, figura-
tively the mother of Christ ; as following Him, and
manifesting the same mind. His brother ; as receiv-
ing and receptive. His sister. But we must not preSs
the symbolical interpretation. The terms, mother,
Lange. The brothers of Jesus are mentioned in the follow-
ing passages: Matt. xii. 40 (comp. Mark iii. 31; Luke viii.
19); Matt. xiii. 55, 56 (Mark vi. 3); John ii. 12 ; vii. 3, 5, 10;
Acts i. 14; 1 Cor. Ix. 5. I have discussed this difficult sub-
,iect at length in my book on James, the brother of our Lord,
Berlin, 1842. Comp. on the literature Winer .sub Jesus and
sub Jacobus, Meyer ad Matt. xii. 46 (p. 275), and my Exeget.
Note on Matt. xiii. 55 below.— P. S.]
brother, sister, signify the nearest relatives, the mem-
bers of the spiritual family of Christ.
[Pope GuEGORY says {Moral, in Evang.) : " Qui
Christi f rater est credendo, mater efficitur prcedican-
do ; quasi enim parit eum quern in corde audientis in-
fudcrit." Compare also the remarks of Chkysostom :
" How many women have blessed that holy virgin
and her womb, and have desired to be such a mother
as she was ! What hinders them ? Christ has made
for us a wide way to this happiness : and not only
women, but men may tread it ; the way of obedience,
this is it which makes such a mother — not the throes
of parturition." Wordsworth: "There is but one
true nobility, that of obedience to God. This is great-
er than that of the Virgin's relationship to Christ."
Matthew Henry : " All obedient believers are near
akin to Jesus Christ. They wear His name, bea^
His image, have His nature, are of His family. He
loves them, converses freely with them as his rela-
tions. He bids them welcome to His table, takes
care of them, provides for them, sees that they want
nothing that is fit for them ; when He died, He left
them rich legacies ; now He is in heaven, He keeps up
a correspondence with them, and will have them ill
to be with Him at last, and will in nothing fail to do
the kinsman's part, nor will ever be ashamed of His
poor relations, but will confess them before men, be-
fore the angels, and before His Father." — P. S.]
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Let us never imagine that we can preserve the
cause of God by worldly policy. — Sad state of mind
of those who fancy they must preserve the cause of
God by worldly artifices or other worldly means (the
staying of the ark, etc.). — The chosen handmaid
wavering in the hour of temptation. — Wherein the
natural kindred of Jesus differ from His spiritual
family. 1. According to His human descent, He
springs from the former ; according to His Divine
dignity and mission, the latter springs from Him. 2.
The former may misunderstand Him ; the latter is
founded in knowledge of His glory. 3. The former
was saved, as belonging to the latter ; while the lat-
ter occupies a place of equal intimacy and affection
with the former. — The Holy Family of Jesus. — Meek-
ness of Jesus, in that He is willing to be born in the
children of His Spirit. — He that doeth the will of My
Father, etc. ; or, the servant of God, Christ's kins-
man.— Jesus the Saviour of Mary, — the Saviour of
all the elect. — The Mighty One, who upholdeth all
the wavering heroes of God.
Starke : — Friends and relatives are ofttimes in
needless anxiety about those near and dear to them.
— Puljlic duty must always take precedence of domes-
tic obligations. — We must not be detained or hinder-
ed by intercourse even with our best friends. — Hed-
inger : — We know not Christ after the flesh. — Cra-
iner : By faith we are as closely related to Christ as
if we were of His kindred. — Osiander : Man's high-
est nobihty consists in having been born of God,
and being the friend of Christ, 2 Pet. i. 4.
Gerlach : — The bonds of earthly affection must
be renounced, if they stand in the way of the progress
of the kingdom of God.
Heubner : — Care for relatives and nepotism have
made more than one Eli, 1 Sam. in. 13. — Behold
how wide the heart of Jesus is !
CHAP. Xni. 1-51.
233
D. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIS ROYAL DIGNITY BY PRESENTING, IN SEVEN PARABLES,
THE FOUNDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIS KINGDOM THROUGH ALL ITS PHASES,
FROM ITS BEGINNING TO ITS END.
Chapter XIII. 1-51.
(Parallels: Mark iv. 1-20, 30-34; Luke viii. 4-15 ; xiii. 18-21.)
COMTENTS :— The parable of the sower; or, first parable concerning the kingdom of heaven: its institution by the "Word.
The teaching of Jesus concerning parables.— Second parable: the tares among the wheat; or, the seed of the Spirit
and the heresies.— Third parable : the grain of mustard-seed ; or, the spread of the Church.— Fourth parable : the wo-
man and the leaven ; or, the Christianization and evangelization of the world.— Fifth parable : the treasure hid in the
field ; or, invisible salvation hid within the visible Church.— SL-ith parable : the pearl of great price ; or, Christianity
as the higliest spiritual good in the world.— Seventh parable : the net full of fishes; or, the judgment which ushers in
the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven.
EXEGETICAL NOTES ON THE WHOLE SECTION.
[LlTEBATUEE ON THE PARABLES. — UnGF.K: D6 parobo-
larum Jesu witura, interpreiaiione, usu. Lips., 1S28. F.
G. Lisco : The Parables of Jesus, Berlin, 1S31. and later.
Akndt: The Parahles of Jesus Christ (16 Meditations),
Magdeb.. lS-t2. E. (xri'Swell: Exposition of the Parables
and of other paiis of the Gospels, Lond., 1S30, vols. 6
EicuARD C'ltENEVis Tren'ch (now archbishop of Dublin) :
Azotes on the Parables of our Lord, 9th ed.. Lend., 1863 (a
former (.dition reprinted in New Tork). A very useful and
deservedly popular book. Special Introductory essays on
the Parable by l>r. Lange in Herzog's Encycl., sub Gleich-
fiiss vol v., p. IS'2 sqq., and another in Schneider's
Deutwhe Zei^sehrift. fur cliri.stl. Wi.'i.'iensehaff, etc.. for
lSo6; by Card. WisemIn in his Misc. Essays; by Dr. Ger-
HART in the "Mercersbiirg Review,'' etc. Among the com-
mentators of the Gospels, Olsiiausen and Stiep. ( Words of
Jesus) are especially rich on the Parables. For older works
on the Parables and the exposition of particular Parables,
see Dasz and Winer in their Mayiuals of Theol. Liter., sub
•<!&x\sn Parabel; Heubnee: Comment, on Matthew,-^. Vi>\\
and Trencu : Notes^ etc., pp. 49-1 and 495 (6th Lond. ed.). —
P. S.]
1. The Evangelist Matthew combines the seven
parables of the Lord concerning the development of
the kingdom of heaven into a connected series, and
at first siglit creates the impression that they were
uttered on the same day. But we must remember,
that on that day Jesus had already been engaged in
another great work, and that Matthew himself inti-
mates at least two distinct pauses between the differ-
ent parables (comp. Mark iv. 10). But according to
Mark (iv. 1 seq. ; comp. ver. 35 and Matt. viii. 18
seq.), three of these parables — that of the sower, that
of the grain of mustard-seed, and between them the
beautiful parable concerning the natural growth of
the seed — had been taught l)y Jesus at an earUer
period, viz., on the day when He passed over to Gad-
ara and calmed the storm. Luke records the par-
able of the sower together with the calming of the
storm at sea somewhat later (Luke viii. 5 seq. ;"22 seq. ;
comp. Matt. viii. 23 seq.). Hence we must not look
here for a strict chronological succession, while from
the definite notices of Mark we infer that some of
these parables had been uttered at an earlier period.
But Matthew had good internal reasons for the prag-
matic unity of his narrative. Foremost among these
is the motive which induced the Lord to choose the
parabolical form of teaching. This motive, which
had appeared at an earlier stage of this history, be-
came a distinct and avowed principle of action when
the enmity of the Pharisees and of the people broke
forth m an undisguised manner, and forced Him to
come out with the full doctrme concerning the king-
dom of God ; while at the same time, on account of
the spiritual decay of the people, it could be set forth
only in the form of parables. Another motive which
helped to determine the arrangement adopted by
Matthew, was the close internal affinity of these seven
parables, although we cannot, with Meyer, regard it
as necessarily implying chronological succession. The
greater part of them were, no doubt, delivered on
one and the same day ; and it is quite possible that
Jesus, for the sake of their connection, again repeat-
ed on this occasion the parables which He had pre-
viously spoken.
2. The omission of the particle 5e serves to give
additional force to the expression in ver 1. For, in
this case we have not merely a historical continua-
tion ; the term implies that on that day the Lord
fully adopted the parabolic mode of teaching
DOCTPvINAL AND ETHICAL IDEAS ON THE PARABLES.
1. The Parables of Christ. — As parables were
one of the forms in which the Lord conveyed His
doctrine, they should, in the first place, be studied in
connection with His other methods of teaching.
The first and most direct of these was the simple
declaration ov preaching of the gospel, which accom-
panied the fads of the gospel — such as the procla-
mation of the kingdom of God, of forgiveness of sins,
the call to discipleship, the bestowal of a new name,
or of power and authority, special promises, special
injuncti'jus, etc. When addressed to a sympathetic
audience, this declaration of the gospel was delivered
in a regular, didactic maimer, in the form of maxims,
or gnomes — as, for example, the Sermon on the
Mount. The use of proverbs, gnomes, or sententious
maxims {tt ap o ifiia, proverbium, blTn , which,
however, may also denote a parable), was a favorite
mode of teaching among the Jews, after the example
of Solomon in the Book of Proverbs. The proverb
is a short, epigrammatic, pointed sentence, frequently
figurative Pud concrete, occasionally paradoxical and
234
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
hyperbolical, at other times poetical, but always vivid
and sharply outlined, so as to presetit in a transpa-
rent and significant form a deep, rich, and pregnant
idea, whicli shines in the light of truth and burns in
the fire of personal ap];)lication — briglit and brilliant
like a true gem. Ihit in dealing with individuals, the
Saviour made use of the didactic dialogue (instead of
the formal declaration), which in the presence of
His intimate disciples assumed the form of the most
direct address, at once instructing the mind and mov-
ing the heart. So especially in the parting discourses
of the Saviour as recorded by St. John. When, on
the other hand, those before Him were cither stran-
gers to His word or prejudiced against it, the heaven-
ly Teacher made use of similitudes ov parables. Un-
der special circumstances, these were extended into
parabolical discozirses, — i. e., discourses which as-
sumed the form of parables, or parables to which the
interpretation was added. Lastly, when confronted
by enemies and accusers, Christ adopted the method
of questioning (disputation), following it up by a wai-n-
ing, or by what would serve to silence an opponent —
the ultimate mode of dealing with such persons being
cither oi)en rebuke, or else solemn testimony. Final-
ly, His silence also should be ranked among the forms
of His teaching — viewing, as we do, each of them
not merely as a speech, but as a fact.
The object of the parables, therefore, was to pre-
sent the truth, more especially the doctrine of Christ
concerning the kingdom of heaven, as in all its phases
in direct opposition to the popular prejudices of the
Jews, yet in a manner adapted to the weak under-
standing of a people ruled by these errors.
The use of parables for conveying instruction
was very common among Eastern nations generally,
and more particularly among the Jews {see Judges
ix. 7 ; 2 Sam. xii. 1 ; Isa. v. 1 ; Unger, de Parabola-
rum Jesu natura, inierpretatione, usu, Lips. 1828).
The parable is a species of figurative speech, bliJ^
(which, however, comprises with the full parable also
the parabohc sentence and the gnome). Unger de-
fines a parable as " collatio,per narratiunculamjictarru,
sed veri similcm, serio illustrans rem sublimiorem.^^
Meyer regards it as " the narrative of a fictitious but
common and natural occurrence, for the purpose of
embodying and illustrating some doctrine." But in
treating of the parables of Scripture, it is not suffi-
cient to enumerate only these outward characteristics,
more especially as in the Gospel of John the outward
and visible order of thmgs is throughout employed as
the transparent symbol of the invisible world, or of
the kingdom of heaven. This mode of teaching it-
self must have had some special meaning and object,
and convey some evangelical truth. The parable is a
distinct outward reflection of spiritual life, under the
form of a scene taken from real and everyday hfe,
which, besides its primary object of embodying some
particular lesson, also conveys the general truth, that
spiritual hfe is capable of being symbolized and re-
flected.* The real, though figurative, relations sub-
sisting between the outer and the inner, the lower
and the higher life, suggest the elements from which
the didactic and poetic parables were constructed,
which in turn were either extended into parabolic
discourses (or gave rise to them), or else summed up
in parabolic expressions. To illustrate this, we sub-
mit the following Table : —
* [Dr. Trench, in tlie General Introduction to his Azotes
on the Parables, instead of adding anotljer to the many de-
finilioiis of the parable already given by the Greek fathers
(comp. SuicER : Thesaurus s. v. irapa^oAv), by Jerome,
by Benj-'el, Unger, Teelmann, and other modern writers, pre-
fers to explain its nature by noting the dilferences of the
parable from thafah/e. the myth, the proverh, and the al-
legory. Dr. Alfoed like\viso briefly distinguishes the para
ble from these kindred forms of composition, and then de-
fines the parable, similarly as Unger and Meyer, to be " a
serious narration, within the limits of probuiility, of a
course of action pointing to some moral or spiritual
Truth."— V. S.]
(1.) Consiiiueni Elements of Parables ; or Parables in the narrowest .
a. TUTTOS.
The outUne, archetype, or mo-
del of some reality which was yet
to appear. Similitude of essence,
difference of development, proto-
type of that which was to he deve-
loped and evolved. Thus the ordi-
nances and institutions of the Old
Testament were, in their inward
essence, types of the New Testa-
ment. Similarly, the first era
serves as a type of the second.
b. 'S.iixjioTvov.
Tlie equivalent, visible sign of
what is invisible. That which is
outward a sign of that vv'hich is in-
ward, and hence the lower a sign
of the higher. Similitude of mode
and form, difference as to the stage
of life, emblem of what is higher.
Thus the outward rite is a symbol
of the inner life.
c. ' AWriyo p la.
The mark and indication of
outward similarity, or also of the
internal relationship and connec-
tion of things. A counterpart
and reappearance of what has the
same shape and form, either in
the world of matter or of mini
Thus the serpent was an allegory
of Satan.
(2.) The Didactic and Poetic Parables.
(With these the strictly poetical form of parables should be conjoined, if they had a place here.)
The Typical Parable. b. The Symbolical Parable. c. The Allegorical Parable.
The parables of the Used only in certain aspects, and for the pur-
Lord (the ivapaBo\i]), even pose of supplementing^ the symboUcal parables^
philologically akin to the
avi.i.fioKoi'. (In some of
their phases allegorical ; for
example, the tares.) Exhi-
bition of spiritual transac-
tions and facts in the de-
scription (not fiction) of
scenes and events taken
from everyday life.
The sacraments of the
New Testament as marking
the great outUnes of the
kingdom of heaven. The
Church as a type of the
kingdom of God. Represen-
tation of the state of future
perfectness in the first
sketch and plan, or when
commencing to carry the
scheme into execution.
as m God's world and in reahty evil can only
exist in allegorical signs of outward appearance,
not in symbolical signs of wicked subsistence.
Hence also the Apocalypse deals most largely in
allegories. In secular poetry the allegorical ele-
ment is chiefly embodied in the form of fables.
The only expression in the N. T. reminding us
of this style of composition, is the allusion of
the Saviour to Herod : Tell that fox.
CHAP. XIII. 1-51.
235
(3.) The Parabolical Discourses; or, Extended and Applied Similitudes.
(i. c, Figurative discourses, in which parables are conjoined with ti.oir interpretation, or application or
with some doctrinal statement; as, for example, in Matt. vii. 24 ; xi. 16.) '
a. Typical Parabolical Dis-
course.
Figurative anticipation of full
development and completion when
only the principle of it exists, e. cf. :
"The blind see," etc.— "The
dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God," John v. 25. — " Who-
so eateth My flesh," etc., John vi.
54.
b. Symbolical Parabolical Dis-
course.
The sayings and discourses re-
corded by John concerning the
Israelite without guile, the temple,
the new birth, the brazen serpent,
the fountain, the manna, the vine,
the good shepherd, etc.
c. Allegorical Parabolical Dis-
course.
The sending forth among
wolves, the corrupt tree, etc.
(4.) The Parabolical Expressions ; or. Rhetorical and Figurative Allusions.
a. The typical parabolical ex-
pression, or Synecdoche ; or, used
and viewed with reference to form,
the Metonymy. The hairs of your
head are "numbered." Bethsai-
da, Capernaum, the land of Sodom.
— "I am the resurrection."
2. Object of the Use of Parables. — According
to the modern view, our Lord had recourse to par-
ables for the exclusive purpose of presenting the truth
in a form adapted to the weak and carnal understand-
ing of a people which otherwise could not have grasp-
ed it. Then the parables would be merely a popular
mode of teaching. But the explanations of their ob-
ject furnished by the Lord Himself (Matt. xiii. 13 ;
Mark iv. 11 ; Luke viii. 10) go far beyond this peda-
gogical view of the subject. " Therefore," He says,
" speak I to them in parables, because seeing they
see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they
understand." This perhaps might be regarded as in-
dicating that the only object of Christ was to render
His doctrine more plain and easUy intelligible. But,
on the other hand, the reference to Isa. vi. 9, 10,
which speaks of the hardening of the people under
the preaching of the prophet, and which our Lord de-
clares was being then fulfilled ; the declaration of
blessedness in regard to the disciples, to whom the
Master could interpret these parables; and, lastly,
the use of 'iva in Mark and Luke (that, or in order
that, seeing they may not see), instead of the 3ti of
our Gospel, — show that the motive of the Saviour in
making use of parables was more deep and solemn
than the above theory impUes. It was certainly in
judgment that He could not set before the Jews the
bare and undisguised truth concerning His kingdom.
Still, it was not primarily intended as a judicial blind-
ing, but in order to present the truth in a form ac-
cessible to the senses, which would at the same time
serve both to conceal and to reveal it, according to
the state of the hearers ; or, iu other words, to pre-
sent the truth in such a coloring as the diseased vis-
ion of the people alone could bear. Unbelievers
would not so readily eHcit the spiritual truth from
this symbolic form, and hence not so easily pervert
it to their own condemnation. Accordingly, while
this mode of teaching was in itself a judgment, it was
also combined with mercy, since it averted from them
the doom of hardening themselves under the truth.
It was impossible, moreover, to found and prefer
charges of heresy agamst His teaching when pro-
pounded in that manner, even although hostile hear-
b. The symbolical parabolical c. The allegorical parabolical
expression, or Metaphor. — " What expression, or the simple rhetori-
I tell you in darkness, that speak cal figure, and figurative compari-
ye in light." " '-' "
house-tops.
Preaching upon the son.—" As a thief in the night.'
j ers might have comprehended its import {see ch. xxi.
j 45). On the other hand, those of the people who
I were susceptible would be enabled more and more
, clearly to gather the spiritual truth when conveyed
m this transparent form. Indeed, Matt. xiii. 35 shows
that such was one of the objects which the Saviour
had in view ; while Mark iv. 33 pomtedly indicates
the fact, that Jesus chose a form adapted to all His
hearers, and to both parties, in order to set before
them the doctrine concerning the kingdom of heaven.
The parables of the Lord were an exhibition of the
spiritual history of His kingdom, presented in pictures
and figures derived from the things of this world.
Even this continual comparing of the kingdom with
the things of time and of sense, must have shown the
people that the kingdom itself was not of this world.
Finally, the parables of the Saviour resemble His
miracles, in that, on the one hand, they exhibit the
power of the kingdom of heaven in a variegated and
striking light, while on the other they present it, as
it were, in broken rays and isolated facts and
events.
3. The Parables of the Lord in their connec-
tion.
(1.) The key and introduction to the seven open-
ing parables concerning the progr-ess and development
of the kingdom of God in general (Matt, xiii.), is found
in an eighth parable, recorded by Mark (iv. 26),
which is intended to show the fixed law and regular-
ity of this spiritual development.
(2.) The parables concerning the compassion and
mercy by which the kingdom of God is founded (as
opposed to the prejudices of the Jews). — a. Misun-
derstanding and misajjplication of mercy and compas-
sion leads to judgment. 1. Misunderstanding and
misapplication of the blessing of God ; or, the folly
of the rich man, Luke xii. 16. 2. Misunderstanding
and misapplication of the long-suftering of God ; oi|
the barren fig tree, Luke xiii. 6. — b. ^Pure compas-
sion, divine or human, but especially the compassion
of Christ : the good Samaritan. — c. Compassion tum-
ingaway from tlie l^linded (the guests who had been
invited), and turning to the poor and needy : the great
supper, Luke adv. 15; mercy and judgment as ap-
236
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
pcaring in the figurative narrative of the supper. Ac-
cordingly, this parable forms a transition to the
exhibition of divine mercy. — d. Saving meroj. It
discerns the wretched state of the lost ; but at the
same tnue also discovers a value attaching to them,
derived from the bestowal of mercy upon them. The
lost sheep ; the lost piece of mouey ; the lost son,
Luke XV. 'The conditions of mercy. Repentance.,liu-
mility : the Pharisee and the publican, Luke xviii.
9-14. The delays and answers of mercy ; its de-
mand : prayer. The working and wrestling of gen-
uine faith (Luke xviii. 1-8 ; comp. Luke xi. 5-8 : the
call and demand made upon the friend at night). Evi-
dence of the experience of grace. The blessing at-
taching to mercifulness ; or, the unjust steward, Luke
xvi. 1. The judgment pronounced upon un-jcrciful-
ness, — presented in a negative form (worldly unmer-
cifulness*) : the rich man, Luke xvi. 19 ; — presented
in a positive form (spiritual unmercifulness, sancti-
monious uncharitableness, harsh judgments): the
harsh servant. Matt, xviii. 23.
(3.) Retributive justice as directing the administra-
tionoi the kingdom of God. — The one penny to each
of the laborers in the vineyard ; or, the reward as of
free grace {MsitL xx. 1). The ten servants and the
ten talents ; or, the Lord as a trader during His ab-
sence from the city, and during its revolt ; or, the re-
ward 0? quiet, persevering faithfulness, as contrasted
with the punishment of unfaithfulness during the re-
volt of the world, on which judgment descends (Luke
xix. 11). The three servants, and the blessing attach-
ing to the faithful use of the gifts entrusted to us, as
contrasted with the curse attaching to the misappli-
cation of gifts and talents (Matt. xxv. 14-30).
(4.) 2'ke judgments which complete and usher in
th»Jcingdom of God. — a. Mercy and judgment. Un-
der the figure of the marriage feast. Matt. xxii. 1.
The two sons of the owner of the vineyard. Matt. xxi.
28. The unfaithful husbandmen. Matt. xxi. 33. The
foolish and the wise virgins, Matt. xxv. 1-13. — h.
Final judgment upon the ministry of the word, or
the evil servant. Matt. xxiv. 48. c. Final judgment
upon the nations. Mercy presiding even on that
awful occasion, — presented in the form of a parable,
Matt. xxv. 31.
" Here, at the climax of all the parables of the
New Testament, we see the bud of the parabolical
form of teaching opening up and disclosing the beau-
teous flower which it had enclosed. The manifesta-
tion and appearance of the kingdom of God is now
clearly and undisguisedly presented, although the
manifold symbolical outlines by which it is surround-
ed show that this section embodies only the climax
of all the parables." Lange, Lcben Jesu.
Another point deserves special mention. The
parables of the Lord all pointedly exhibit the con-
trast between the kingdom of Christ — its fundamen-
tal principle and laws — and the carnal notions of the
Jews concerning the reign of the Messiah ; more es-
pecially, the contrast between the free and universal
grace of God, and the hierarchical and national con-
ception of the Deity, and a partisan reign ; between .
the apostasy of the Jews, and the faith of pubhcans
and sinners, and even of Gentiles; between the
Church and the world ; the external and the internal ;
Church ; the children of outward forms, and those i
of the spirit ; between the judgment passed by the j
* [The Edinb. trsl. has here: ''what unmercifulness," i
from the first edition of Lange : " welche Unbarmherzigkeit," i
which is an evident misprint for weltliche, as opposed" to the !
following '' geistUche Unbarmherzigkeit."— P. S.] I
Master upon spiritual piide, selfrighteoi]
charitableness, sanctimonious harshness and rigorism
of doctrine, and the gracious salvation accorded to
humility, to believing service, to endurance, to love,
and to gentleness.
4. The Seven Parables which treat of the
DEVELOPMENT OF THE KINGDOM OP GOD, MaTT. XIII.
— It will readily be perceived that these parables ex-
hibit the entire development of the kingdoi^i of God
in its leading outlines, from the ccrnmencLiiient to
the close of it. The first parable treats of the insti-
tution of the kingdom of God, and the last, of its
completion on earth by the final judgment ; while the
five intermediate parables successively mark its pro-
gress : the wheat among the tares ; the grain of mus-
tard seed among the trees ; the leaven leavening the
whole lump ; the treasure found in the field ; the
kingdom of heaven as the pearl of great price.*
At the same time, each of these parables forms
in itself a complete and independent section, — like all
the other doctrinal portions of Scripture, and espe-
cially the various pi'ophetic sketches in Isaiah and in
the Book of Revelation. Still, under every new phase
as it emerges in each of these parables, the kingdom
and its history are presented from another aspect, and
in a new form, marking its onward progress fiom the
commencement to the completion. If parables present
the ideal phases in the development of the kingdom of
heaven, we shall naturally expect that they also bear
reference to the historical succession of the different
forms through which the visible Church has passed.
Accordingly, we cannot fail to trace in the parable of
the sower a picture of the apostolic age ; in the par-
able of the tares, the ancient Catholic Church spring-
*[Alfoud: "The seven parables related in this chapter
cannot be regarded as a rcillcrtion made by the evangelist as
relating to one subject, the Kiiudnni of lle'avi-n and its devel-
opment; they are cle:n!r inliriitcil by ver. 5o to have been
all spoken on ovr hk.! t:,, ,,,.),• ot'ru'.sion, vm\ form indeed
a complete a; ' ^' 1 "le in their inner and deeper
sense. The A'/ ' ■ i !,-'■ [larables iippear to have been
spoken to the. mr::,! :t..'. jf.r.i the fillip; X\i6la>st three, tothe
disciples in the ho2t.se." D. Bkown: "These parables are
SEVEN in number; and it is not a little remarkable that
while this is the sacred number, the first foub of them
were spoken to the nii.xed inultitnde, while the remaining
THREE were spoken to tb.e Twelve in private — these divi-
sions,/(;!tr and three, being themselves notable in the sym-
bolical arithmetic of Scripture. Another thing rem.arkable
in the structure of these parables is, that while the first of
the seven— that of the Sower— is of the nature of an intro-
duction to the whole, the remaining six consist of three
pairs — the second and seventh, the" third and fourth, and
the fifth and sixth, corresponding to each other; each pair
setting forth the same general truths, but with a certain
diversity of aspect. All' this can hardly be .accidental." —
Observe .also the natural and easy transition in the or-
der of the seven parables, from the sower and the good seed
to the enemy and the tares among the wheat; from the
sown field to the mnstai-d seed and mighty tree, from the
external growth of the plant to the internal growth and pro-
cess of penetration and .".ssimilation ; then to the treasure in
tlie field, suggested by the seed buried in the ground, from
the lucky discoverer to the earnest seeker and finder, from
the treasure to the precious pearl, the treasure of the deep;
which suggests the sea, the fishermen with their net, the
mixed crowd on the beach, the final separation and consum-
mation. Thus from the first sowing of Christianity in the
d.aj's of Christ and the apostles to the genera! judgment wo
have one continued process of growth and development of
good and bad. Christ and Anti-Christ (wheat and tares), ex-
ternal and internal (mustard seed and leaven), finding with-
out seeking (the tri asure in the field), and seeking and find-
ing (the pe.arl of great price), and a continuous partial judg-
ment and separation — since the history of the world and the
church is a (not the) judgment of both— foreshadowing and
ending at last in the final consumm.ation on the banks of
eternity (the parable of the net). All these processes go
hand in hand and act and react one upon another, each pe-
riod doing the same work under new aspects, with peculiar
gifts, with fresh zeal and energy.— P. S.]
CHAP. Xm. 1-51.
237
ing up in the midst of heresies ; in the parable of the | picture of the closing judgment. These parables cm-
mustard bush, resorted to by the birds of the air as \ body both the bright and the dark aspect of the his-
if it were a tree, and loaded with their nests, a re- j tory of the kingdom of heaven ; while the seven be-
presentation of the secular state-Church under Con- atitudes reflect the light (being primarily a delinea-
stantiuc the Great ; in the leaven that is mixed amon.
the three measures of meal, the pervading and trans-
forming influence of Christianity in the medisoval
Church, among the barbarous races of Europe ; in
tlie jiarable of the treasure in the field, the period of
the Reformation ; m the parable of the pearl, the
contrast between Christianity and the acquisitions of
modern secular culture ; and in the last parable, a
1. The poor in spirit: the
kingdom of heaven.
1. The sower: the good field
and the fruit.
2. They that mourn: com-
fort.
2. The wheat among the
tares.
3. The meek: possession of
the earth.
3. The grain of mustard seed
grown into a tree.
4. Himgering and thirsting
after riditeousness : being filled.
0. The merciful : obtaming of
4. The leaven put among
three measures of meal.
the
mercy.
6. The pure in heart:
of God.
7. The peacemakers:
of the children of God.
dignity
5. The treasure found in the
field.
6. The pearl of great price:
sought and obtained at great sa-
crifice.
7. The net drawn out of the
sea: separation of the good and
the bad fis
We do not mean to say, however, that the ideal
progression in these parables fully reflects the histor-
ical succession of the principal phases in the history
of the kingdom of God ; it only delineates its gen-
eral outlines.
All the seven parables, then, are intended to repre-
sent, in regular succession, the development of the
kingdom of heaven in its conflict with and victory
over the opposition of the world, and in its hidden
character as contrasted with the Jewish notions of
the reign of Jlcssiah. Hence in each of the parables
the lights and shadows of the kingdom of heaven are
brought out. These shadows are, in the first para-
ble, the three varieties of bad soil ; in the second, the
enemy, the tares, and the indiscriminating zeal of the
servants ; in the third, the mistake of treating a large
garden plant as if it had been a forest tree, and the
lodging of the birds in its branches (regarding and
treating the kingdom of heaven as if it had been a
worldly kingdom) ; in the fourth, the mixing up and
the hiding of the leaven in the meal ; in the fifth, the
concealment of the treasure ; in the sixth, the seem-
ing disappearance of the pearl of great price in the
hands of the merchants, and among other pearls ;
and in the seventh, the mixing up of the good fish
with the bad, and with other foul breed of the sea.
On the other hand, the bright side of the picture, in
the first parable, is the rich field waving with fruit ;
tion of the ideal progress and advancement of beUev-
ers), and the letters to the seven churches in the
Book of Revelation, mainly the shadows of the final
catastrophe, or of the coming judgment (being pri-
marily a delineation of the seven churches of Asia
Minor). The subjoined table will serve to give a
clearer view of this :
1. Ephesus. Patience and per-
severance in the loork of faith.
Deficiency in the root of the life
of faith.
2. Smyrna. Rich and flour-
ishing, by the side of the syna-
gogue of Satan.
3. Pergamos. Hath held fast
amidst martyrdom. Dwelleth
where Satan's seat is (in the
world). Balaamites or Nicolai-
tanes : combination of Christiani-
ty with the lust of the world. '
4. Thyatira. Abundance of
works. The woman Jezebel: a
fanatical prophetess committing
fornication with the world.
5. Sardis. Hath a name that
it liveth, and is dead. A few
names in Sardis, which have not
defiled their garments, walk with
the Lord in white.
6. Philadelphia. An open
door. A little strength. Kept
the word. Victorious over many
of the synagogue of Satan.
7. Laodicea. Neither cold nor
hot. " I will spue thee out of My
mouth. Be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door."
in the second, the wheat outgrowing the tares ; in the
third, the wonderful upshooting of the grain of mus-
tard seed ; in the fourth, the leaven acting as a
stronger power, pervading and affecting by its unseen
eificacy the three measures of meal — thus represent-
ing the influence of the divine Ufe overcoming and
transforming our old nature ; in the fifth, the picture
of the treasure found, and of the surrender of all
other things for its possession ; in the sixth, the pic-
ture of the pearl of great price, and of the ardent de-
votcdness with whi(£ it is sought and procured ; in
the seventh, the picture of the good fish, and of the
net now free from the encumbrance of the bad. In
accordance with the structure and symbolical mean-
ing of the number seven, we direct our attention, in
the first place, to the first four parables. Here we
observe that the first and second parables primarily
dchneate the immense obstacles which the king-
dom of heaven has to encounter — negatively from
want of susceptibility (the first parable), and posi-
tively from error, heresy, and offences (tlie second
parable). The third and fourth parables form an
antithesis to this description, and delineate the won-
derful progress of the kingdom of heaven as it sweeps
before it these obstacles. Thus the parable of the
n)ustard seed brings out the marvellous growth of
the kingdom — how it springs up and forces itself
upon the observation of the men of the v/orld, till
238
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
they even attempt to combine the Church with the
world, and take their lodgment in it, just as if this
garden plant had been any ordinary tree ; while the
parable of the leaven refers to the unseen, but all-
powerful and all-transforming, efficacy of the gospel
among the nations. If the first four parables present
mainly the objective aspect of the kingdom of heaven,
and tlio work of the Lord, of His servants and of
His Church, the three last parables equally show the
subjective bearing of th^ kingdom, or the action of
believers. On this accoiiiit the divine treasure is now
represented as something which is there, but which
must be sought and acquired. In the first of these
parables the discovery appears as a happy incident,
or rather as a free gift of Providence — the treasure
being hidden ; while in the second it is presented as
the result of conscious higher aspirations, which must
be regarded as being in themselves, though not con-
sciously, Christian, the treasure being concentrated,
as it were, into one pearl of infinite value. The last
parable is again prevailingly objective in its bearing.
It treats of the judgment, when the kingdom, falsely
expected by the Jews in connection with the first
coming of the Messiah, comes out in its full light and
glory. Finally, if, according to the analogy of the
first beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount, we re-
gard the first parable as the basis of all the rest, the
other six parables form an antithesis ; the first three
tracing the manifestation of the kingdom uf heaven
in the visible Church, and the last three delineating
the hidden Christianity of the invisible Church. This
invisible aspect of the kingdom of heaven corresponds,
as we might have expected, with the great element
of subjective faith and striving, and with its final tri-
umph (comp. the exegetical notes on ver. 44).
Throughout all these parables, however, the pro
gress of the inward form of the kingdom of heaven
is also clearly marked. In the first parable, the seed
is the direct preaching of the gospel ; in the second,
it is sound doctrine in opposition to the noxious weeds
of heresy ; in the third, a Christian confession, and a
professing community of Christians ; in the fourth,
Christianity as the spirit of fife, and the power of re-
generation ; in the fiith, saving truth in its grand, all-
comprehensive principle (Christ for us); in the sixth,
the spiritual treasure in its highest and clearest con-
centration— the love and peace of Christ, or Christ in
us ; and iu the seventh, the final result of all history
and of the judgment — the heavenly feast.
HOMILETICAL HINTS ON THE WHOLE SECTION.
The wisdom of Jesus as a Teacher. — The words
of the Lord " hke apples of gold in pictures of sil-
ver."— The parables of the Lord are gospel to the
poor, even so far as their popular form is concerned.
— Oliiject of the parabolical mode of teaching : both
judgment and mercy. — The parabohcal discourse, a
repetition and revisal of the revelation of God, which
man had forgotten. L At first God revealed Him-
self to man by the parable of creation, and by spe-
cial parables connected with it, but after that by the
word ; 2. man made an idol of the parable itself, and
thereby came into opposition with the word ; 3.
Christ now shows again to man the word in the par-
ables, in order to reclaim him for the spirit of His
word. — The truth obliged, in compassion, to disguise
itself in the form of parables in the presence of its
children. — The gospel a fruit of the tree of life, both
as to its kernel, and as to its husk. — The seven par-
ables concerning the development of the kingdom of
heaven prefaced by the parable concerning the fixed
rule of this development (Mark iv. 26). — The seven
leading phases of the kingdom of God. — The seven
forms of human economy which portray the economy
of God : the sower ; field-servants ; husbandry ; the
mistress of the house preparing bread ; the farmer ;
the merchantman ; the fisherman. — Import of the
fact, that in these seven parables the Lord brings out
with increasing distinctness the province and activity
of man in the kingdom of God. — How the treasure
of the kingdom of God is increasingly to assume a
more definite form in our minds. — How it is ultimate-
ly to be transformed into the pearl of great price. —
We ourselves attain value in the sight of God by find-
ing the pearl of great price.
1. First Parable concerning the kingdom of heaven, and teaching of Jems concerning Parables generally.
Ch. Xin. 1-23.
I, 2 The same day* went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great
multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat [down] ;
3 and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in
4 parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow ; And when [as] he sowed, some
5 seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up : Some [And others,
ciXXa Se] fell upon stony [rocky] places, where they had not much earth : and forthwith
6 they sprung up, because they had no deepness [depth] of earth : And when the sun was
7 up, they were scorched ; and because they had no root, they withered away. And
8 some [others] fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them : But
other fell into [on the] good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some
9 sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto hira. Why speakest thou unto them in para-
1 1 bles ? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the
CHAP. Xni. 1-23.
239
12 mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath,
to liim shall be given, and he shall have more abundance : ^ but whosoever liath not,
13 from him shall be taken away even that he hath.^ Therefore speak I to them in para-
bles: because they seeing [seeing they] see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do
14 they understand. And in them is fultilled the prophecy of Esaias [Isaiah], which saith,
By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall
1 5 not perceive : For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and should imderstand with their heart, and should be converted,
16 and I should [shall] heal them.^ But blessed ere your eyes, for they see : and your
17 ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear
those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18, 19 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.* When any one heareth the word of
the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked [evil] oJie, and catch-
eth [snatcheth] away tliat which was sown in his heart. This is he which received
20 seed [he that is sown, 6 . . crTrapeis] by the way side. But he that received the seed
[is sown] into stony [on the rocky] places, the same is he that heareth the word, and
21 anon [immediately, at once, eu^us] with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in him-
self, but dureth for a while : for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the
22 word, by and by [immediately, eu^us] he is offended. He also that received seed [is
sown] among the thorns is he that heareth the word ; and the care of tliis [the] world,®
23 and the deceitfuluess of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he
that received seed [is sown] into [on] tlie good ground is he that heareth the word, and
understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold,
sixty, some thirty.
' Ver. 1.— The particle Se is wanting in B., Z., and A., and is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf. It weakens the
stress laid upon the fact tbat Jesus on the same day changed his mode of teaching into that of parables before the people.
[Cod. Sinaiticus likewise omits 5e. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 12. — [More is unnecessary. The Greek is simply: Ka\ irepiffffevd-fiffeTui, and he shall le made io
abound, or have abundance. Coinp. ch. xxv. 29. — P. S.]
= Ver. 12.— [According to the order of the original : even what he hath, shall le taken from him.]
* Ver. 15.— I shall heal them. The future Idaofjiat for the conjunct. idffcofJLai, is supported by the best authorities,
B., C, D., etc., Lachmann. Tischendorf. Comp. also Is. vi. 10 {Sept.). [See exeget. note to ver. 15, where the Edinb. trsl.
erroneously has Idawixat for Idaofxai, in opposition to the explanation. Cod. Sinaiticus, as edited by Tischendorf, reads:
ia,a'Ofit=:ldcronat. — P. S.]
s Ver. 18.— Lit. : of him thai solved- <rir e'lpavro s (Codd. B., X., etc.. Lachm., Tischend.) ; not (nreipovros.
So also ver. 24 : cnrtlpavri. [Cod. Sinait. likewise reads aweipavTos.—'P. S.]
« Ver. 22.— Lit. : the world ; rovrov (this) being omitted in B., D., [Ood. Sinait.], Lachm., Tischend., and probably
an explanatory addition by a later hand (Meyer).
The expression refers to soil from which the thorns
had not been removed, and not to thorn bushes.
Ver. 8. A hundred fold, etc. — Round parabol-
ical numbers, to indicate the rich return of the seed,
although the high computation is based on tlie fer-
tility of Galilee, and of other districts in tlie East.
For the monastic applicadon of this passage by Jei--
ome, see Ileubner, p. 185.
Ver. 11. It is given unto you. — This, and
what follows, is understood by Calvin to refer to the
doctrine of decrees (Instit. iii. ch. 24, § 13). But
Hcubner objects, " (1) that ver. 12 points to a moral
cause, existent in the Apostles ; (2) that ver. 1-4 in-
dicates that the bUndness of the people was caused
by their own guilt." — The mysteries. — The myste-
ries concerning the Ivingdom of heaven (the genilive
being here that of the object) are mysteries to the
natural man, whose mind is darkened by sin. Thi.s
held true in an especial manner of the Jewish exclu-
siveness of those days, both as regards the npirituali-
ty of the kingdom of Christ, from which uubeheving
Israel was excluded, and its universaliiy, in which
believing Gentiles were embraced. The passage may
therefore be regarded as a first reference to the
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 2. A ship. — The ship being here analogous
to " tlie mountain." He sat down, while the people
stood in a line along the shore or the beach {i -k \
r h V a I y t a \ J V ).
Ver. 3. [By the wayside. — "The ordinary
roads or paths in the East lead often along the edge
of the fields, which are unenclosed. . . . Hence as the
sower scatters his seed, some of it is liable to fall be-
yond the ploughed portion, on the hard, beaten
ground which forms the wayside." Dr. Hackett :
IllustratioHH of Scripture., etc., p. 1G8.]
Ver. 5. Rocky ground, to. ttst pdSri . — Not
merely soil covered with stones, but 7-och/ soil. Think
of the terraces used for agricultural purposes in an-
cient Palestine. The cultivated soil terminated in
the rocky abutments of the hills.
Ver. 6. Gerlach : " When the sun rose higher, after
the winter was past." But the parable evidently re-
fers to a very rapid withering.
Ver. 7. Among thorns ; — literally, upon thorns,
i. e., upon soil from which thorns were springing.
240
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
" mystery " which Paul afterward declared had been
epecially intrusted to his ministry, Eph. iii. 4 ; Rom.
xvi. 25. These mysteries the people could only bear
in the form of parables ; but to the disciples it was
given of (Jod, that Christ could, along with the par-
ables, also grant them the interpretation ; and that in
increasing measure He could speak to them about
these mysteries " jjlaiuly," and without parable or
figures (John xvi. 29). The truth concerning the
kingdom of heaven has, since the Fall, become a
mystery to man, (1) by his guilt and self-delusion ;
(2) by the divine judgment of concealment. Hence
the restoration of this knowledge is a revealing of
mysteries, an inroKaKv^pis.
Ver. 12. Whosoever hath. — A proverbial ex-
pression. " A i-ich man easily grows more wealthy,
while the poor readily lose the little which they have."
Meyer. The l^earing of the iirst clause is sufficiently
plain ; but with reference to the second, the proverb-
ial interpretation of Meyer is dovibtful. Still more
unsatisfactory is his explanation : " The people would
lose even the limited amount of knowledge they pos-
sess, if I did not aid their capacities by the use of
parables." The interpretation which would most
readily occur to the i-eader is : By the use of par-
ables the people lose even what they have, since they
cannot readily perceive those mysteries when pre-
sented in that particular form. But, on the other
hand, we may suggest that the word apd-na-erai
does not necessarily mean " shall be taken away."
The primary rendering of the verb aipew is to lift up,
or to lift OH hlfjh ; and then among other meanings
it may also be rendered, to take upon oneself, to pre-
serve or keep* And thus indeed it frequently hap-
pens that the little which a poor man hath is taken
away from him, in the sense of being tutorially ad-
ministered for his benefit. Whether this explanation
h& correct or not, such at least is the fact in refer-
ence to the present instance. The economy of tutors
and governors is that form in which the truth requires
to be disguised under legal ordinances and types, or,
as in this case, under parables, in order that in this
manner it may be presented in a strmige and external
form, and be administered by otitcrs, until gradually
it comes to be more fully understood.
Yer. 13. Because seeing, etc. — The rendering
of oTi by because is warranted by the use of 'iva in
the parallel passages in Mark and Luke.
Ver. 14. Is fulfilled, or rather, is completely
fulfilled {kva ■KKT}povTai). — A Strong expression, not
otherwise used by Matthew, put foremost in the sen-
tence by way of emphasis. The quotation from Isa.
vi. 9, 10, is made after the Septuagint. In the days
of Isaiah it was in a certain sense fulfilled that the
Jewish people had hardened itself under the preach-
ing of the " Evangehst of the Old Testament." But
this was most completely fulfilled when the Jews re-
sisted the gospel itself In this respect, therefore,
the words of Isaiah were a typical prophecy of gos-
pel times. But as this saying had in a conditional
sense been formerly fulfilled, the Evangelist does not
* [Dr. Lange has hers in view no doubt the threefold
meaning of the corresponding German verb aufheben, which
plays such an important part in the Hegelian philosophy,
but cannot be rendered well in English. It means (1) to dc-
6tvoy—ahrogare,tollere; (2) to ^ee}f—pre!ierrare.; (3) to
olevato or raise to a higher position— eiect/re. Thus the
child is avfgehohen in the man, i. «., it ceases to bo a child,
it is preserved as a human being, and it is raised to a higher
position, from childhood to manhood. The seed is destroy-
ed!, in the plant as to form, preserved as to substance by j
being elevated to a moro perfect form of existence.— P. S.] |
employ the simple verb nXripouTai, but the compound
a.i>aTr\7]podTai.
Ver. 15. This people's heart is waxed gross,
4ir ax^vd 7). — Properly, it became fat, in a figurative
sense — i. e., their heart became carnal, and lost the
spiritual Ufe. The same process of carnalization took
place with reference to their ears and their eyes, all
sjjiritual life being surrendered, or rather, tradition-
alism transforming the things of the Spirit into a se-
ries of external, finite, and carnal ordinances. Their
ears became dull of hearing, and their eyes they
closed, covering them with a film, and thus depriving
them of the power of vision. The same carnahty ex-
tended through all the departments of spiritual life ;
their heart was dead to spiritual experience, their ear
to spiritual obedience, and their eye to spiritual knowl-
edge. It deserves special notice, that in the prophe-
cies of Isaiah the passage reads, in the imperative
spirit of the Old Testament: "J/a/i-e the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes," while in the Gospels the Lord specially points
to their own guilt in this judicial visitation. Every
spiritual faculty in them had become gross, or rather,
they had made it gross. Their eyes they have closed,
ii{dij.ij.vaav. The expression refers primarily to the
shutting of the eyes, and, from a reference to the
words of Isaiah, must be understood as implying a
continuous and determined closing of the eyes against
the light of truth.
Lest at any time, ix^-rrofe. — This statement
also must be read in the light of our former remarks.
In the prophecy of Isaiah the result here mentioned ia
traced to the judicial purpose of God; in the text, to
the determination or their own wicked hearts, eyes,
and ears : They will not (comp. John v. 40), and
therefore they can not. [Moral unwillingness resulting
in moral inability. — P. S.] In this respect it deserves
special notice that, according to the correct reading,
the future tense, lao-o^ai, is here used (as also in the
Sept.), and not the conjunctive. Accordingly, the
statement does not mean that they were not to ob-
tain healing now, during this season of judgment, but
only, that they had prevented the healing which
would otherwise have been accorded to them. This,
indeed, implies that the peojile were actually under
the judicial dispensation of God — a state of things
which the Lord admitted by His use of parables ; so
that it was not quite so simple a process as Meyer
supposes, nor merely designed for educational pur-
poses (comp. also Acts xiii. 46 ; xxvi. 27 ; Rom. x. ;
2 Cor. iii. 14). But the object in view seems to have
been as follows : Those who were aroused by the par-
ables would progress and inquire, as the disciples in-
quired ; while those who were ready to harden them-
selves would be preserved from suddenly incurring
that awful guilt which the full disclosure of the mys-
teries of the kingdom would have entailed.
Ver. 16. But your eyes, blessed are they. —
Mark the peculiar emphasis of the vixuv Se, etc.
Blessed are the eyes. A concrete mode of expression,
alluding to the fact that their outward vision was in-
spired and directed by their spiritual sight, in opposi-
tion to these who were destitute of spiritual vision,
Acts V. 9 ; Isa. Iii. 7.
Ver. 17. Many prophets and righteous men.
— The SiVaioi are the Old Testament saints, who were
not only blameless " as concerning the law," but who,
like the prophets, looked and longed for a higher and
better than this external righteousness. They only
aspired to an Idi^lv, not a /SAeireii' ; but even this they
did not obtain in the same measure as the disciples.
CHAP. XIII. 1-23.
241
1 Pet. i. 10, to whom also the /SAeVeiv was granted,
1 John i. 1.
Ver. 18. Hear ye therefore. — Not merely un-
derstand (de Wette), but hear, with the spiritual per-
ception accorded to you.
Ver. 19. When any one. — The diDSculty in the
structure of this sentence arises from the putting for-
ward of these words for the sake of emphasis. The
word (Tvvi^vai is scarcely rendered by the German
verstelieii (as Meyer thinks), and the English under-
stand. It implies active and personal apprehension,
or entering into th& matter. The genitive indicates
that the " catching aioay " takes place almost during
the act of hearing.
Ver. 10. This is he which received seed by
the -way-side, or, rather, this is he who is sown
by the way-side. — Meyer : " A change in the figure
quite common among Orientals. It should have been :
This is he in whose case the seed was sown by the
way-side." But there is a deeper meaning in this
change. The loss of the seed becomes m reality the
loss of one's own life, just as the seed sown on good
soil, so to speak, becomes identified with our person-
ality. The change in the figure obviates the possible
mistake, as if Satan could catch away and keep the
word of God itself.
Ver. 21. Yet hath he not root in himself. —
In his own individuality. His foith and adherence
had their I'oot only in the general excitement and en-
thusiasm around him. Accordingly, he duretli only
for a while, is changeable, Trp6 cr k ai po y, temjjora-
rius.* He wants the perseverance of personal con-
viction. It deserves notice that the grand defect of
such a person is characterized as (:vQvs /j-era xo-pus
\aa&6.vuv avTov. He immediately receives the word,
as gladsome secular news are received, without ex-
periencing its spiritual poignancy, in the moral con-
flicts and the deep sense of repentance which it en-
genders.— By and by he is offended, or rather,
immediately he taketh offence and falleth,
ffKavdaKiCiTai. — Not, he is oHended, but persecution
becomes to him a aKauhaKov, as if there were some-
thing wrong with the word ; and he stumbles and
falls at this rock of offence; Luke viii. 13, afiarav-
rat.
Ver. 22. He that heareth the word; or ra-
ther, is a hearer to the word. — Pre-eminently a
hearer. The expression is emphatic : ovt 6 s iar iv
6 Th V \6y ov a.Ko vw u , and means more than
the simple hearing, already noticed.f — The care of
the [not : of ihi^l world, ■!] fxe pi/xva rod alaivos.
— Not "of the pre-Messianic time." The absence
of ovTos deserves notice. Worldhness in persons
of a serious cast of mind has a twofold aspect —
that of worldly cares, and that of the entangle-
ments of property, or of the deceitfulness of riches
(personified), 2 Thess. ii. 10 ;_ Heb. iiL 13.— The ex-
pression, " deceitfulness of* riches," does not pri-
marily apply to luxuriousness (delectatio), which
would rather fall within the range of tlie other two
classes of gospel-hearers. It refers to the deceitful-
ness of a false confidence in this worldly ground of
subsistence, on the part of persons otherwise serious.
— And he becometh unfruitful ; aKap-rrus yiv-
€ T a J . — He docs not jield fruit ; there is every ap-
pearance of fruit — the stalk, the leaves, and the ear ;
*[Alfoed: "irpoo-Koipos eVTij/, not only ' enduveth for
a while,' but also 'is the creature of circumstances,' chang-
ing as they change. Both ideas are included." — I*. S.]
t LBut the same expression occurs in ver. 20 and ver. 23,
of two other classes of hearers. — P. 8.]
16
but there is no spiritual life, no full surrender to the
word, and accordingly no fruit.
Ver. 23. He that heareth the w^ord, and un-
derstandeth it, in the fullest import of both terms.
— The cu-eumstance, that in neither of the other three
cases such understanding of the word had taken place,
impUes that the hearing had likewise been defective.
In the first case, there was dulness and carnality ; in
the second, fancifulncss and a combination of world-
hness with the truth ; in the third, legalism, a servile
spirit, and the absence of entire self-surrender. But
he that heareth aright also understandeth the word,
and accordingly is he " which also (&s S?;) beareth
fi'uit." — The different measures of fruitfulness de-
pend on differences of disposition, of gifts, and of
capacity for receiving, promoting, and representing
the kingdom of God.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. " The general truth lying at the basis of this
parable is, that the culture of the earth reflects that
of heaven. The great outstanding features of hu-'
manity — the husbandry of God, are reflected in those
of earth — the husbandry of man."
2. In accordance with this view a wider bearing
might be given to this parable by referring it to the
sowing of God's word generally in the world. But
evidently the passage applies in a special manner to
the foundation of the kingdom of heaven under the
New Testament. The sower is Christ, and the seed the
gospel. His scattering the seed in such abundance is
explained on the ground, (1) of the freeness and fulness
of His grace in sowing {iv r<fi crTreipeiv avruv)-^ (2) of
the poor condition of so much of the soil. If it is ob-
jected that this would savor of fatahsm, we reply, —
(1) That the passage under consideration is a parable,
and hence does not in every respect adequately ex-
press the idea which it is intended to convey ; (2)
that the difference in the various kinds of spiritual
soil is mainly the result of our own doing ; (3) that
this difliculty is removed by the change which the
Lord introduces in the explanation of the picture.
Those who received the seed were themselves sowed.
The four classes of hearers form at the same time a
gradation and a contrast: (1) By the vrsLj-sidc: souls
trodden down and beaten down into hard, impene-
trable soil by the lowest and meanest kind of worldli-
ness and corruption. In their case the word is caught
away even durmg the hearing of it. (2) Rocky ground,
covered by a thin layer of earth : souls all the more
enthusiastic in their early ardor, the less solid and set-
tled they are in their personal convictions, — mere
weathercocks, turning with every change of wind;
the word apparently springing up with marvellous
rapidity, but, not having root, withering away in the
hour of trial. (3) Soil which might have yielded rich
fruit, had it not been covered with thorns i earnest
but legal minds, promising but superficial hearers,
whose divided heart or worldliness causes them to
lose the reward ; the word springing up — the stalk
and blossom appearing, but the fruit wanting. (4)
Lastly, abundant fruit, showing that the soil from
which it sprung is not only deep, but that weeds and
thorns had been removed : souls whom the hearing
of the word leads to its practical understanding, and
to growing self-surrender unto the Lord.
The seed of the kingdom of heaven being thus scat-
tered broadcast, it folkjws, from the character of the
soil, that the kmgdom of hecven — as outwardly visi-
242
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ble — cannot present the picture of a pure and un-
mixed community of saints.
3. To the Jews, and to mere nominal Christians,
this parable conveys the solemn truth that only part
of the soil which is sown bears fruit. Of course, any-
thing like an arithmetical calculation of the " fourth
part " is out of the question ; still, it implies that the
number of God's people is small.
nOMILETICAL AND PIJACTICAL.
The kingdom of heaven under the figure of the
BOwer and the seed: 1. The sower; 2. the seed ; 3.
the manner of sowing ; 4. the field ; 5. the harvest.
— The kingdom of heaven is a sowing in hope on the
field of the world : 1. Dangers which encompass this
hope — bad soil, the fowls of the air, a burning sun,
thorns ; 2. certitude of this hope. Final destiny of
the soO, its husbandry, the seed, the sowing. — The
various classes of gospel-hearers : 1 . The four class-
es (all hearers) ; 2. the three classes (merely hear-
ers) : 3. the two classes (those who merely hear and
those who receive) ; 4. the one class (they who truly
hear being those who also receive). — The difference
in the soil as accounting for the difference of result
from the sowing : 1. The difference in the soil : a.
Soil that is trodden down — the way-side (service of
sin) ; 6. light, stony ground (superficial enthusiasm,
outward appearances) ; c. ground from which the
thorns have not been removed (a divided heart, legal-
ism and worldliness) ; d. good ground which has un-
dergone a threefold preparation (been turned up, been
broken down, and from which thorns and weeds have
been removed). 2. The difference of result : a. Scarce-
ly has the seed been scattered when it is carried
away by the enemy ; b. springing up too rapidly, it
withers and passes away ; c. the ears make their ap-
pearance, but, alas ! are empty ; d. the full ear bend-
ing under its precious load. — Difference between mere
appearance and reality in the kingdom of heaven : on
the one hand, seed-corn exposed by the way-side —
too rapid growth of the stalk, and large but empty
ears ; on the other hand, the seed taking root and
sprouting unseen, springing slowly, growing up, and
the full ear ripening. — How the seed becomes identi-
fied with the soil on which it is sown ; or, the his-
tory of the word in our hearts as marking our own
history. — Glorious character of that harvest which
the Lord Hunself desires, and with which He is
" satisfied." — There may be difference in the quanti-
ty of the return, and yet the whole field be good soil.
— Spiritual fruit as it is matured ever forming new
spiritual seed. — How the kingdom of heaven is being
completed by a continual alternation of seed-time and
harvest. — " He that hath ears to hear," etc. ; or, the
great importance of parables for the increase of our
spiritual knowledge. — Let us ever seek to apprehend
the meaning and language of the signs of which God
makes use. — Why the Lord speaks by parables. —
The kingdom of heaven the one great mystery which
comprehends and sums up all other mysteries. — It
is ffiven us to understand the mysteries of the king-
dom.— " Whosoever hath," etc. The gifts which the
Lord grants may be infinitely increased and extend-
ed.— ^How even the external senses seem to lose their
natural capacities where the soul is dead to spiritual
considerations. — The process of hardening as gradu-
ally growing into the final judgiiicnt. — " Bler-sed are
your eyes." — Dignity and responsibility of tae Chris-
tian in the world. — How Jesus explr.':; His parables.
—Jesus explaining by His Holy Spirit all the para-
bles both of creation and of life.
Starke: — Qucmel : The heart of man is God's
own field. — Let us beware lest our heart become hke
the way-side — ever open and accessible to the world,
and to the things of the world. — Those who harden
themselves will wax worse and worse, 2 Tim. iii. 13.
— How is it that so many who go to the house of
God, and listen to His word, remain unmoved V — Be-
ware of quenching the Spirit. — The great privileges of
the New Testament Church. — Cramer: Rest assured
that where God has His word preached, the devil wiU
not be far away (where Christ builds a church, the
devil rears a chapel). — Nothing more dangerous than
want of stability : to-day professedly for Christ, to-
morrow against Him ! — Prepare for trials the moment
you give yourself wholly to the Lord (the cross and
the crown are always combined). — The word of God
will never return void unto Him, Isa. Iv. 11. — The
word of God not a dead letter, but living seed.
Lifico : — The parables serve at the same time to
reveal and to conceal spiritual truth. — In the case of
genuine inquirers they reveal the truth to the eye of
faith, while they conceal it from the carnal, the sen-
sual, and the ungodly. — Explanation of the parable
in the text : 1. Those whose minds and hearts are
dead; 2. those who are light-minded and unstable;
3. they who love the world, or who are undecided ;
4. they in whom none of these obstacles prevail.
Gerlach : — The parables are like the pillar of the
cloud and of fire, where darkness was presented to
the Egyptians, but light and brightness to the coven-
ant-people, Ex. xiv. 20. They resemble the husk
which preserves the kernel from the indolent, and
for the earnest and the diligent. — Every gift of God
requires personal appropriation. — Care has precisely
the same effect on the heart as riches ; clinging to
the things of earth keeps the poor as well as the rich
from coming to Christ. — To hear, to understand, and
to bring forth fruit !
, Heubner : — It is a matter of indifference where
we preach ; the word of God sanctifies the place. —
Let us learn to discern a spiritual bearing and im-
port in the things that are visible. — To be always, as
it were, lying by the way-side will at last convert the
heart into an open highway, trodden down by those
who pass by. — Birds: a most apt figure of evil
thoughts, which ever flutter around the soul of hard-
ened sinners and catch away anything good. — Let
every one who is engaged in scattering the seed re-
member that an unseen enemy lieth in wait to mar
his work ; accordingly, let us ever be on our watch,
and warn our hearers of the danger. — God is able to
soften even the hardest heart. — Stony ground : senti-
mental religion (or dead orthodoxy) ; religion affect-
ed and imitated for the time. — A straw-flame is soon
burnt out. — Thorny ground : a divided heait. Lu-
ther : These are they who serve two masters. But
bear in mind also that the good ground does not
yield fruit of itself. Theirs are hearts in themselves
empty, but whom a sense of poverty has softened and
rendered susceptible. — They bring forth fruit with
patience (or rather, with perseverance, Luke viii. 15).
— Blessed is he who daily sees and hears Christ in
His word. — The patient waitmg of the fathers for
Christ should stir us up to think what cause for grat-
itude we have who live in gospel times. — The gospel
the power of God unto salvation to every waiting,
longing soul. — How young ministers are prone to ex-
pect too much. — The power of divine grace amidst all
the obstacles which the world raises. — The patience
CHAP. Xin. 24^3. 243
which both ministers and hearers require. — The I heart of man. — Opposite effects of the preaching of
preaching of the word of God the grand test of the | the word. — The right preparation of the heart.
2. The Second, Third, and Fourth Parables, and Interpretation of the Second Parable. Ch. XIII. 24-43.
24 Another parable put he forth unto them,' saying, The kingdom of heaven is hkened
25 imto a man which [who] sowed'' good seed in his field: But while men slept, his ene-
26 my came and sowed [over]' tares ^ among the wheat, and went his way. But when
27 the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So
the servants of the householder came and said unto him. Sir, didst not thou [thou not]*
28 sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares ?^ He said unto them. An
enemy liath done this. The servants said unto him. Wilt thou then that we go and
29 gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also
30 the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest : and in the time of
harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in
bundles to burn them : but gather the wheat into my barn.
31 Another parable put he forth unto tliem, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to
32 a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field : Which indeed is
the least of all seeds : but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs [greater
than the herbs],' and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in
the branches tliereof.
33 Another parable spake he unto them ; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,
which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables ; and without a parable
35 spake he not [he spake nothing]^ unto tiiem : That it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet,' saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
36 Then Jesus [he]'" sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his dis-
37 ciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He
ansAvered and said unto them,"
38 He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good
seed [these, ourot] are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the children of
39 tlie wicked one ; Tlie enemy that sowed them is the devil ; the harvest is the end of
40 the world; and the reapers are the'** angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and
41 burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this [the]'' world. The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
42 offend, and them which [that] do iniquity ; And shall cast them into a [the] furnace of
43 fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth '■* as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who iiath ears to hear, let him
hear.
* Ver. 24— [nape0i7K€f, He set or laid lefore them another parable as a spiritual riddle, challenging the close attention
and solution of the hearers; comp. Mark iv. 34, tireKv^ey iravra, Ae «oZt'e<i all, viz., the parables, E. V. : he expounded
all things to his disciples.— P. S.J
^ Ver. 24. — B., M., X.. al. crveip a vri. [So also Lachmann and Alford, following the Vatican Codex, etc. Tischendorf,
in his edition of 1S59, reads trrreip o fTt {seminanti, instead of qui seminavit). Perhaps be will in a new edition adopt
the other reading, since the Cod. Sinaiticus, as published by him in 1S63, reads (Twipavri, a provincial (Egyptian?) spelling
for ffinipavTt, as the same Cod. frequently has i for ei, e. g., (pofiKrde for (poffi'iaBe in Matt. .v. 2S, 31.— P. S.]
' Ver. 25.— Cod. B., [also Cod. Sinait], L.ichmann, Tischendorf: € ir eanetofi' {>n- ianeipe. [Vulg.: e?j^er8eminavit ;
Ehemish Vers. : oversowed; Lange: sdetedurauf; soiced over the first seed.— P. '&.'\
< Ver. 25.— [Zifoj/itt (probably a Hebrew word), i. e., darnel; lolium Umulentum; Germ.: Lolch, ToUkorn;
French: ivroie, so called to indicate the vertigo which it causes when eaten in bread. Set- the Exee. Notes. But tares
is more popular, as the German Unkratit in Luther's version is better understood than Lolch or ToUkorn. Hence the
propriety of a change in this case might be questioned. I would prefer the term hastard wheat. — P. S.]
* Ver. 2".— [Conant: "The form in the Common Vers on : didst not thou, gives a false emphasis; for, in the Greek,
the negative verb qualifies the verb, and not its subject." — P. S.]
* Ver. 27. — The ancient testimony is decidedly against the article in to ^ifoi/ia. [Lance misplaces this note to ver.
26, where the critical authoriiies have the article. The Engl. Vers, is right in both cases.— P. S.]
' Ver. 32.— [In Gr. : fJLiiC"" ■'"'>''' Kaxii/onv; Lange: grosser ate die (a/it/erft).fi>aM««r (alle andernGartengewachse);
i. e., larger than any herb. — P. S.]
244
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
8 Ver. 34.— B., C, M., [Coii. Sinait.], Lachmann, TiscLendorf read o !> 5 cV [instead of o u «■].
' Ver. S5.— The addition: Imia/i, is false in fact and on critical grounds. [Cocip. the critical note in Tischendorf'fl
large edition in loc, vol. i., p. 59. — P. S.]
'" Ver. 8G.— 'O 'I tj ffo 0 s is an explanatory addition not fonnd in the oldest MSS.
>i Ver. 37. — Lit: He answering mid; a utoTs {to thein) is omitted in the critical editions.
12 Ver. 2,'i. — \^Angels, without the article which is omitted in the Greek : wyyiXoi iiaiv.—V. S.]
'3 Ver. 40. — Lachinilnn, Tischendorf, following B., C, D., al., read simply tov ali>vos [omitting tovtov. Alford, how-
ever, retains it aj^ainst the decided weight of authorities, including Cod. Sinait. — P. S.]
i< VcT. 43.— [ShtJie forth, i k Aauxl/oucrii', which is more than \du\povm, effulgebnnt (not simply : /«^(7«&Mn<, as the
Latin Vulg. trauslates), hervorsiraJilen, and signifies the sudden bursting forth of the inherent glory of the righteous,
Oomp. Dan. sii. 3, and Meyer in loc. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 24. The kingdom of heaven is likened,
or made like, i^ i.Loid>e -q . — A delineation of the
trials to which the kingdom of heaven was exposed
from its first introduction into the world, and un-
avoidable connection with it. Hence the sower, who
is the chief figure in the parable, cannot prevent the
enemy from sowing tares among the wheat. The
same expression is also used, ch. xviii. 23. The rep-
resentation of the kingdom of heaven by " a certain
man " recurs again in ver. 45, and in xx. 1. It is an
entire mistake to interpret the passage as implying
that the kingdom of heaven was " at the time not yet
founded."
Ver. 25. While men slept f — i. e., at night, when
evil-disposed persons would try to injure the property
of their neighbors. Hence, the application of this
clause to the negligence of Christian teachers, who
were appointed to watch and guard the field (Chry-
sostom, Augustine), is incorrect.* Still less does it
refer to the sleep of sin (Calovius). Nor is it, on the
other hand, merely a rhetorical figure (Meyer). It
aUudes to the weakness of men, through wiiich the
enemy succeeds in mixing up errors with saving truth,
without this being perceived. Or perhaps it may de-
note, that professors of religion too frequently seek
exclusively their personal comfort, without seriously
reflecting upon, or being zealous lor, the truth of the
doctrines propounded.
Ver. 25. Tares [lit. : darnel]. — The weed grow-
ing among wheat, ^i^dv lov , lolium temulenium,
darnel. The only species of grass which in Eastern
countries springs up wild among oats or wheat (Virg. :
'•'■infeUx lolium^'' Georg. i. 154). At the first it looks
like wheat, but its fruit is black, not yellow, and its
effects are intoxicating and otherwise detrimental.
If allowed to grow till the harvest, it is extremely
difficult to separate it from the wheat ; and, accord-
ingly, it happens not uufrequently that it becomes
mixed up with the flour. The Taimudists regarded
it as a degenerate wheat. 8ee the Art. in the En-
cycls. [St. Jerome, who resided long in Palestine,
speaks in loc. of the stiiking simihtude between tri-
iicutn and zizania, wheat, and bastard wheat. Dr.
Hackett {Illustrations of Scripture, p. 130) collected
some specimens of this deceitful weed, and found, on
showing them to friends, that they invariably mistook
them for some species of grain, such as wheat or bar-
* [It should be observed that the Saviour says : "while
niMi slept," not : "while the men (belonging to the owner
of the field), or the servants slept; " and that, in the exposi-
tion of the parable, He brings no charge of negligence against
them, although there is, alas I always more or less of itin all
ages and branches of the church. Trench: "The phrase is
equivalent to 'at night,' and must not be further urged (Job
xxsiii. 15; Mark iv. 27). This enemy seized his opportuni-
ty, when all eyes were closed in sleep, and wrought the se-
cret mischief upon which he was intent, and having wrought
it undetected, withdrew." So also Alford.— P. S.]
ley. Hence the rabbinical name, bastard (i. e., bas-
tard wheat}.— P. S.]
[The sowing of tares among wheat is a kind of
injury frequently practised to this day in the East,
from malice and revenge. Roberts {Biblical Ulusira-
tions, p. 541, as quoted by Trench) relates of India:
" See that lurking villain watching for the time when
his neighbor shall plough his field ; he carefully
marks the period when the work has been finished,
and goes m the night following, and casts in what
the natives call pa'iidinellu, i. e., pig-paddy ; this, be-
ing of rapid growth, springs up before the good seed,
and scatters itself before the other can be reaped, so
that the poor owner of the field will be for years be-
fore he can get rid of the troublesome weed." Trench
{JVotes on the Parables, p. 83, 9th Lond. ed.) re-
lates a similar trick of malice from Ireland, where he
knew an outgoing tenant, who, in spite of his ejection,
sowed wild oats in the fields of the proprietor, which
ripened and seeded themselves before the crops, so
that it became next to impossible to get rid of them.
Dr. Alford, too, in loc, 4th ed., mentions that a field be-
longing to hun in Leicestershire, England, was malici-
ously sown with charlock, and that heavy damages
were obtained by the tenant against the offender.
—P. S.]
And went his way. — The devil or his emis-
saries sow the seed and go their way ; those who af-
terward hold the errors which they have sown, enter-
tertaining theta rather in consequence of their natural
darkness and folly than of set hostile purpose.
[Trench: " The mischief done, the enemy ^ went his
u'ai/,^ and thus the worlc did not evidently and at
once appear to be his. How often in the Church the
beginnings of evil have been scarcely discernible;
how often has that which bore the worst fruit in
the end, appeared at first like a higher form of
good ! "—P. S.]
Ver. 26. Then appeared the tares also; —
•(". e., it became then possible to distinguish them.
The most fascinating error is seen in its true charac-
ter whenever its poisonous fruit appears.
Ver. 29. Lest ye root up also the wheat. —
Gerlach : " Our Lord allows both to grow together,
not because His servants might be apt to mistake the
tares for the wheat, — which would scarcely be the
case if they knew anything of the matter, and which,
at all events, would not apply to the reapers (ver.
SO), — but because, however different the plants in
themselves, their roots are so closely intertwined in
the earth." This remark is very important; but
some other elements must also be taken into account,
such as the excitement and haste of these servants —
they are not angels, as the reapers spoken of in ver.
30; and, lastly, that the difference between wheat
and tares is not so distinct as at the time of the har-
vest.— The same commentator refers this verse ex-
clusively to excesses of ecclesiastical discipline, for
the purpose of excluding all unbelievers and hypo-
crites, and constituting a perfectly pure Church. He
CHAP. XIII. 24-43.
245
denies all allusion to the punishment of death for
heresy, since the Lord spoke of the OMirch^ and not
of the secular power. But the Church here alluded
to is the Church in the world, and tainted more or
less with secularism.
Ver. 30>In the time of the harvest, ev Kaipai,
etc. — At the right and proper time, and hence in the
time of the harvest.
Yer. 31. A grain of mustard-seed. — The mus-
tard-plant, T ii aiv cLiT I {sinapis oricntalis, in Chaldee
bn"in), — a shrub bearing pods, which grows wild,*
but ii\ Eastern countries and in the south of Europe
is cultivated for its seed. Three kinds of mustard
were known, the black and the white being most in
repute. The Jews grew mustard in their gardens.
Its round seed-corns "(-1-6 in a pod) were proverbial-
ly characterized by them as the smallest thing (Bux-
iovi, Lex. Talm. 82-2) ; "which, indeed, holds true
so far as the various kinds of seed-corn used in Jew-
ish husbandry are concerned, though scientific botany
knows still smaller seeds " (Winer). In hot chmes
the mustard-plant sometimes springs up to the di-
mensions of a small tree. Meyer and Royle refer the
expression to the mustard-^rfc called Salvadora Per-
sica. (Comp. Winer, and Ewald, Jakrbucher for
1849, p. 32.) But this view is manifestly inapt, as
it would destroy not only the popular character, but
also the point of the parable. We cannot believe
that the Lord would introduce a tree growing in Per-
sia into a picture drawn from common life in Judea.f
Besides, nobody would deem it strange that a tree
should grow up to its proper dimensions ; but that the
small shrub vi'hich had sprung from the least of all
seeds should spread into a tree, and that the birds of
the air should seek a lodgment in its branches, might
well form ground of surprise, and serve as the basis
of this parable. Heubner: Think of the mustard-
seed of Eastern countries, not that of Europe,
which grov/s to the height of from nine to fifteen
yards.
Which a man [handling it] took ; Xa^wy. —
Meyer : " Circumstantiality and pictorialness of de-
tail." In our opinion, it alludes to the fact, that a
man was obliged cautiously and carefully to take up
the seed, lest he should lose hold of it. So small as
scarcely to admit of being handled.
Ver. 32. Lodge in the branches thereof. —
Not merely, nestle or seek shelter, but lodge and re-
main, KaTamcrivovv.
Yer. 33. Unto leaven; C^ixt). — Eeferring to
the uuperceived power and efficacy of the gospel,
pervading, transforming, and renewing the mind,
heart, and hfe. Starke : " The term leaven is used
in other passages (xvi. 11 ; 1 Cor. v. 6, 7) in the
sense of evil. Accordingly, some commentators un-
derstand it as also referring in this parable to the
corruptions which have crept into the Church, and
ultimately perverted it ; and the woman as alluding
to the Papacy and the Piomish clergy (Rev. ii. 20 ;
xvii. 1), who, with their leaven of false doctrine, have
leavened the three estates of Christendom (the three
measures of meal). However, the gospel may also,
in many respects, be likened unto leaven ; as, for ex-
* [And to a very considerable size, in the fertile soil of
Palestine, as higli as the horses' heads.— P. S.]
t [But the Salvadora Persica was also found by Irby and
Mangles on or near the peninsula of the Dead Sea. See
Royle in Journal of Sacred Lit., 1^-19, p. 271, and Kobinson,
Diet, sub nivaTvi. But if the vxu&iavA-tree h.ad been intend-
ed, it would hardly have been numbered among the herbs,
KdxO'fay ver. 32, which grow in the garden. — P. S.J
ample, with reference to its pervading influence (Heb.
iv. 12), to its rapid spread (Luke xii. 49), to its ren-
dering the bread palatable and wholesome, etc. Ac-
cording to Macarius, the parable before us alludes to
both these elements " (the leaven of original sin, and
its counter-agent, the leaven of grace and salvation). —
Rieger {JBeiracht. Hber d. N. T. i.) better : " In other
passages of Scrfpture the term leaven is used as a
figure of insidious and fatal corruption, finding its way
into the Church. But manifestly this cannot be the
case in the present instance. The passage does not
bear : The kingdom of heaven is hke unto three
measures of meal, with which leaven became mixed
up ; but, The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven
— shov/ing that the leaven, which in itself is not nox-
ious and evil, but^ on the contrary, highly useful and
wholesome, serves here as a figure of the secret but
all-pervading and subduing power of the gospel. In
point of fact, the same idea recurs in Heb, iv. 2,
where we read of the word being mixed with faith in
them that hear it." To these remarks we add: 1.
It were contrary to the rules of hermeneutics to treat
an allegorical figure Uke a dogmatic statement. Thus
in different passages the lion is used as a figure of
Satan, but also of Christ ; the serpent as a figure of
the enemy, but also of the wisdom needful to the
Apostles ; birds as a figure of believing trustfulness,
but also of the devil catching away the word. 2. All
the parables in this section bear upon the develop-
ment of the kingdom of heaven. Hence, if Starke's
supposition were correct, the parable under consid-
eration would be quite out of its place in this con-
text. 3. It is impossible to conceive that the king-
dom of heaven could be leavened by evil as by a
power stronger than itself, and thus be hopeless-
ly destroyed. 4. Leaven may indeed be employed as
a figure of sin and evil in the sense of being stronger
than individual Christians, when left in their own
strength to combat with error, etc. (xvi. 6 ; 1 Cor.
V. 6, 7), but not in that of being more powerful than
the kingdom of heaven. 5. Leaven as such is no-
where in the Bible a figure of evil, but a neutral fig-
ure of an all-pervading, contagious power. Mark
also Lev. xxiii. 17 : " They shall be baken with
leaven ; they are the first-fruits unto the Lord."
Three measures. — 2 a.r ov , nj\D,a hoUow
measure used for dry substances ; according to Jose-
phus, equal to 1^^ Roman measures. The expression,
three measures, is not accidental, but intended to
denote the large quantity which the leaven has to
pervade. Three is the symbolical number for spirits
ual things. The Spirit of Christ pervades and trans-
forms our spirits in an unseen and spiritual manner.
" The Fathers interpreted the number three allegcri-
cally." Theod. of Mopsuest. referred it to the Jews,
the Samaritans, and the Greeks.* This, however, is,
strictly speaking, not an allegorical interpretation ;
comp. Acts i. 8. Olshausen approves of a reference
of the number three to the sanctification of the three
powers of human nature [body, soul, and spirit] by
the gospel. Sunilarly it might be appUed to the
three grand forms in our Christian world — individ-
uals (catechumens). Church and State, and the physi-
cal Cosmos. The main point, however, is to remem-
ber that the wliole domain of mind, heart, and life,
in all their bearings, is to be pervaded and transform-
ed by the Spirit of Cod.
Yer. 34. He spake nothing (o u 5 e v) unto
them ; — i. e., to the people concerning the kingdom
* [Augustin, and quite recently Stier, refer it to tho
three sods of Noah. — P. S.]
246
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of heaven, especially at that particular period. Hence
also the use of the imperfect. Meyer.
Ver. 3.1. By the prophet. — A free quotation
of Ps. Ixxviii. 2. Meyer reminds us that in 2 Chron.
xxix. 30 Asaph is designated a " seer," or prophet.
Yer. 38. The good seed are the children of
the kingdom ; but the tares are the children
of the wicked one. — J'ritzsche : fnigcs ex semine
enatce. As in the explanation of the first parable, so
here also the seed is identified with the souls in which
it was sown. Our life becomes identified with the
spiritual seed, and principles assume, so to speak, a
bodily shape in individuals. Such a concrete mode
of presenting this truth is all the more suitable in this
place, since our Lord is further developing and ap-
plying this parable. — The children of the wicked (lit-
erally here the tares) are sown by the wicked — of
course, in a moral sense, not according to the sub-
stance of their human nature, just as the sons of the
kingdom are specifically " the seed " sown by the Sa-
viour in the moral and religious sense. These men
have become what they are by the principles which
they have embraced. This appears from the expres-
sion in ver. 41 : " They shall gather out of His kmg-
dom TT av T a to. aKai/SaAa k al t o v s ir o i -
ovvT as ri] y av o /u-lav ." The scandala are offen-
ces in respect of doctrine, heresies, and seductive
principles ; the anomists arc those who represent or
embrace these principles (among whom Christ also
included the representatives of Jewish traditionalism).
Ver. 40. At the end of the Tvorld, or rather,
of this .Eon. — 4 Esra vii. 43 : Dies judicii erit finis
temporis hujiis et initium temporis futuroe immortali-
tatis, in quo (ranskit corruptela.
Ver. 41. Out of His kingdom, — clearly show-
ing that the <tvvt iKe la must be regarded as an
interval of time, and hence indicating that there is a
period intervening between the reappearing of Christ
and the first resurrection connected with it, and the
last resurrection, or that transformation of the pres-
ent ^on, which marks the close of the final judg-
ment ; Rev. XX., compared with 1 Cor. xv. 23. Mey-
er : " The separation of which the Lord speaks, is
that of the good and the evil (individuals), and only
thereby a separation of good and evil (things)." But
in the text the a Kav^aKa are mentioned before
the TT o lovvr es , who are here identified with these
o-KctcSaAa. Similarly also the righteous are identified
with that heavenly brightness which now shines forth
in them.
Ver. 42. A furnace of fire. — Not Sheol, or
Hades, but Gehenna, or Hell, Rev. xx. 1 5 ; Matt. xxv.
41 ; the place of punishment and ^on of those who
are subject to the second death. [Trench : Fearful
■words indeed ! and the image, if it be an image, bor-
rowed from the most dreadful and painful form of
death in use among men. David, alas ! made the
children of Ammon taste the dreadfulness of it. It
was in use among the Chaldeans, Jer. xxix. 22 ; Dan.
iii. 6. Antiochus resorted to it in the time of the
Maccabees, 2 Mace. vii. ; 1 Cor. xiii. 3. In modern
times, Chardin makes mention of penal furnaces in
Persia.— P. S.]
Ver. 43. Then shall the righteous shine forth,
iKKa tj.\\i ova iv . — Then the brightness of their
oo|a shall visibly break forth ; Dan. xii. 3 ; Rom. viii. ;
and other passages.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Pakable of the Takes among the wheat.
— The basis of this parable is the natural tendency
of the ground to produce noxious weeds, thorns, and
briers, or to degenerate. Hence the parable is in-
tended to represent the obstacles with which the
kingdom of heaven meets, and which it has to over-
come. As in the natural earth tares and weeds rap-
idly spread, till they threaten to destroy the precious
grain, so the seed of natural corruption in the heart
and life threatens to choke that of the kingdom of
heaven. The parable embodies three leading ideas.
In opposition to the heavenly sower we see His ad-
versary similarly employed ; by the side of the good
seed which Christ scatters we have that of the tares
and the weeds of the devil ; while the noxious plants,
as they spring up, threaten to choke or to spoil the
precious fruit. In other words, the kingdom of God
is opposed by another kingdom — that of conscious
malice, of which Satan, the adversary of Christ, is
the head. His seed are the oKav^aKa, or spiritually
seductive principles, here represented by the tares,
which look like the wheat, just as heresies resemble
the ti'Uth. This seed he scatters at night ; i. e., the
enterprise, dictated by the malice of the enemy, suc-
ceeds through the weakness and folly of man. Pro-
tected by the darkness of night, the noxious weed,
scattered all through the wheat, springs up, and, re-
sembling the good fruit, grows up luxuriantly, till it
threatens to choke the wheat, or to spoil it by for-
eign and dangerous admixture. In passing, we have
already hinted that the picture of men sleeping may
refer to the contrast between the religious comforts
and enjoyments indulged in by the Church, and the
watchfulness of schools on behalf of purity of doctrine.
2. Movement on the part of the servants. — This
constitutes the second great feature of the parable.
Their proposals arose partly from indignation against
the enemy, partly from an impatient zeal for outward
appearance of purity — from pride in the field, and
partly from appi'ehension for the good seed. They
were desirous of removing the tares. The Lord pro-
hibited it, lest they should also root up the wheat.
These considerations have been matter of the utmost
importance in the history of the Church of Christ.
It is well knowTi that Novatianism on the one hand,
and the papal hierarchy on the other, have address-
ed themselves to this work of uprooting, despite the
prohibition of the Lord, and that the Romish Church
has at last ended by condemning to the flames only
the best wheat. But from this passage we learn that,
according to the ordinance of the Lord, the Old Tes-
tament punishment denounced upon false prophets
and blasphemers does not apply to the New econo-
my.* It is contrary to the mind and will of Christ
to pronounce a ban, in the sense of denouncing final
judgment upon men, by way of removing them and
their errors from the Church. This toleration must
not, however, be regarded as implying that evil
and sin are to escape all punishment in the Church :
it only implies that we are to remember and strictly
to observe the distinction between the sowing and
the reaping time. But within the limits here indi-
* [The mediasvnl divines who defended the cajjital pun-
ishment of heretics, found a loophole in the words: letitye
root up also the wheat with them; from which they inferred
that the prohibition was binding only conditionally. But
unfortunately for this inference, the Saviour continues: Let
both grow together until the liarvest, and makes no excep-
tions at all. On the other hand, however, this passage must
not be abused and misunderstood so as to sanction the Eras-
tian latitudinarianism and to undermine discipline which is
elsewhere solemnly enjoined by Christ and the apostles, and
is indispensable for the spiritual prosperity of the Church.—
P. 8.]
CHAP. Xin. 24-43.
247
cated, it is our duty to correct all current mistakes,
James v. 19 ; to refute every error and heresy, 1 Tim.
iv. 1-6 ; and either to remove from the Church anti-
christian doctrine and practical offences, with all who
are chargeable therewith, or else to induce such per-
sons to leave the Church by refusing to own and ac-
knowledge them, Matt, xviii. 15 ; 1 C -r. v. ; iS John
ver. 10.
But all these arrangements are only intended by
way of discipline during the course of the develop-
ment of the New Testament economy — in hope, not
as a punitive economy of judgment. It is scarcely
necessary to add, thai, they bear no reference wliat-
ever to the civil administration of justice (Rom. xiii.
4).
[Dr. Lange might also have referred to the famous
Donalist controversy in the African Church during
the fourth and fifth centuries, whose chief exegetical
battle-ground was this parable of the tares. The
Catholics, represented by St. Augustine, claimed the
whole parable, and especially the warning in vers.
29 and 30, against the disciplinarian rigorism and ec-
clesiastical purism of the Donatists ; while the Donat-
ists tried to escape the force of the parable by insist-
ing that the field here spoken of is not the Church
but the world, ver. 38. The parable, they said, has
no bearing on our controversy, which is not whether
ungodly men should be endured in the world (which
we all allow), but whether they should be tolerated
in the Church (wliich we deny). The Catholics re-
plied that the mixture of good and bad men in the
world u beyond dispute and known to all ; that the
Saviour speaks here of the kingdom of heaven, or the
Church which is catholic and intended to spread over
the whole world. Trench speaks at length on this
important disciplinarian controversy hi his Notes, p.
84 sqq., and defends throughout the Augustinian view
(as does Wordsworth) ; but there was an element of
truth in the puritanic zeal of the Donatists and kind-
red sects in their protest against a latitudiuarian,
secularized state-churchism. Comp. the forthcom-
ing second volume of my History of Ancient Chris-
tianiii/,ch. vi. §§ 69-71.— P. S.]
3. Vnfil the harvest. — A final and complete sep-
aration shall certainly be made. But it requires the
heavenly clearness, purity, calmness, and decidedness
of angels properly to accomphsh this process. —
" Then shaU the righteous shine forth."' This shining
forth is brought about by the deliverance of the
Church from the burden of its former comiection
with evil, by its complete redemption (Luke xxi. 28),
and by the change and entire transformation now
taking place in everything around, — thus combining
at the same time inward blessedness with outward,
glorious manifestation of spiritual life, in all its ful-
ness and perfectness.
4. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. — This
passage has rightly been adduced as one of the strong-
est proofs that Christ propounded the doctrine con-
cerning the devil as of His own revelation, and not
from accommodation to popular prejudices. For, (1)
Our Lord speaks of the devil not in the parable, but
in His explanation of its figurative meaning, which,
of course, must be taken in its literal and proper
sense ; (2) He speaks of him not in presence of the
people, but within the circle of His intimate disci-
ples; (3) He refers to the devil as the personal
founder and centre of the kingdom of darkness, and
as opposed to the person of tlie Ijon of Man, the cen-
tre and founder of the kingdom of light. Other pas-
sages show that, on many occasions, Jesus of His
own accord bore witness to this doctrine (comp. Matt
iv. ; John viii. 44, etc.).
[Trench, Notes, p. 89 : " We behold Satan here,
not as he works beyond the limits of the Church, de-
ceiving the world, but in his far deeper skill and
malignity, as he at once mimics and counterworks the
work of Christ : in the words of Chrysostom : ' after
the prophets, the false prophets ; after the Apostles,
the false apostles; after Christ, Antichrist.' Most
worthy of notice is the plainness with which the doc-
trine concerning Satan and his agencj', his active
hostility to the blessedness of man, of which there ia
so httle in the Old Testament, comes out in the New ;
as in the last parable, and again in this. As the
lights become brighter, the shadows become deeper ;
not till the mighty power of good had been revealed,
were we suffered to know how mighty was the power
of evil ; and even here it is in each case o.ily to the
innermost circles of disciples that the explanation
concerning Satan is given." Bengel {Gnom. on
Eph. vi. 12) makes a similar remark : " Quo apertiua
quisque Scripturoe liber de Keonomia et gloria Christi
agit, eo apcrtius rursum de regno contrario tenebra-
rum.'"— P. S.]
5. The furnace of fire, into which the wicked are
to be cast at the manifestation of the new Man, is
probably intended as a counterpart to the fiei'y fur-
nace to which, during the best period of the old Jion,
the faithful had so often been consigned (Dan iii.).
If from the one furnace a hymn of praise and thanks-
giving rose to heaven, from the other resounds the
wailing of anguish and pain, and the gnashing of
teeth in rage and malice ; comp. Rev. ix. 2. The
fieiy torments which the righteous underwent afford-
ed a view of heaven as in tnd among men ; those
which the wicked endure bring out the inward hell
existing in the bosom of humanity. Similarly the
" outer darkness," where there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth (viii. 12, etc.), forms an antithesis
to the sacred darkness in which Jehovah dwelleth,
Ex. XX. 21, amidst the praises of Israel, Ps. xxii. 4;
and to the darkness of trials and sorrows which the
Lord lightens up, Isa Iviii. 10. All these contrasts
point to the fact, that it is the wicked who make hell
what it \A. The auto dafc's of the Middle Ages were
only a horrible caricature and anticipation of that
fiery judgment.
6. Tkeji the righteous shall shine forth as the sun.
With the separation at the judgment, the Christian
fife, subjectively and objectively considered, appears
in its full heavenly glory. [Trench: "As ^Ve was
the element of the dark and cruel kingdom of hell,
so is light of the pure heavenly kingdom. Then,
when tlie dark, hindering element has been removed,
shall this element of light, which was before strug-
gling with and obstructed by it, come forth in its full
brightness. Col. iii. 3 ; Rom. viii. 18 ; Prov. xxv. 4,
5. A glory shall be icvealed in the saints : not mere-
ly brought to them and added from without; but
rather a glory which they before had, but which did
not b^'fore evidently appear, shall burst forth and
show itself openly, as once in the days of His flesh,
at the moment of transfiguration, did the hidden
glory of our Lord. That shall be the day of ' the man-
ifestation of the sons of God.' " — P. S.]
7. The Grain of Mustard-seed. — The first two
parables were intended (just as Mark iv. 26-29) to
delineate the succession of events in the development
of the kingdom of heaven ; that of the grain of mus-
tard-sued bears reference principally to its extension
in space, not in tune, while at the same time it de-
248
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
picts the conquering power of the gospel. At first
it seems as if the hostile principle had now wholly dis-
appeared. The grain of mustard-seed — so small and
despised in the outward appearance of Him who bore
the form of a servant, or rather, in that of His disci-
ples— shoots up, and the smallest of seeds grows into
a high bush, so as even to resemble a tree. But in
consequence of this very growth, the birds of the air
mistake the bush for a tree, and seek to make a lodg-
ment in its branches. This was verified in the ecclesi-
astical establishment which Constantino founded, in
the mediaeval Church, and indeed aj)plies to the visi-
ble Church generally. Not only sweet songsters, but
even birds of prey, seek to build their nests on this
heavenly tree.
[Alford : " This parable, like most others re-
specting the kingdom of God, has a double reference
— general and individual. (1) In the general sense,
the msignificant beginnings of the kingdom are set
forth : the little babe cast m the manger at Bethle-
hem ; the Man of sorrows with no place to lay His
head ; the crucified One ; or agam the hundred and
twenty names who were the seed of the Church after
the Lord had ascended ; then we have the Kingdom
of God waxing onward and spreading its branches
here and there, and different nations coming into it.
' He must increase,' said the great Forerunner. We
must beware, however, of imagining that the outward
Church-form is this kingdom. It has rather reversed
the parable, and is the worldly power waxed to a
gi'eat tree, and the Churches taking refuge under the
shadow of it. It may be, where not corrupted by
error and superstition, subservient to the growth of
the heavenly plant : but is not itself that plant. It
is at best no more than (to change the figure) the
scafiblding to aid the building, not the building itself
(2) The individual application of the parable points
to the small beginnings of divine grace ; a word, a
thought, a passing sentence, may prove to be the lit-
tle seed which eventually fills and shadows the whole
heart and being, and calls ' all thoughts, all passions,
all delights,' to come and shelter under it." — P. S.]
8. The Leaven. — Heubner : " If the former para-
ble presentc the extensive power of Christianity, this
exhibits its intensive, dynamic force." Sec also the
list furnished by that author (p. 199) of works on
the effects of Christianity, and the works of writers
on Apologetics, Missions, etc. The woman is an apt
figure of the Church.* Leaven, a substance kindred
and yet quite opposed to meal, — having the power
of transforming and preserving it, and of converting
it into bread, thus representing the divine in its rela-
tion to, and influence upon, our natural life. One of
the main points m the parable is the " hiding,'''' or
the mixing of the leaven ki the three measures of
meal. This refers to the great visible Church,f in
which the living gospel seems, as it were, hidden and
lost. It appears as if the gospel were engulfed in the
* [So already St. Ambrose {Expos, in Luc. vii). Trench
{Notes, p. 115) remarks : "In and tbrouarh the Churcli the
Spirit's work proceeds: only as tlie Spirit dwells in the
Church (Eev. xxii. 7) Is that able to mingle a nobler clement
in the msiss of humanity, in the world." . . "The woman
took the leaven from- elsewhere to mingle it with the lump:
and even such is the gospel, a kingdom not of this world,
not the unfolding of any powers which already existed
therein, a kingdom not rising, as the secular kingdoms, 'out
of the earth' (Dan. vii. IT), but a new power brought into
the world from above ; not a philosophy, but a Kevelation."
—P. B.]
t [Lange calls it Weltkirche. by which be does not mean
either the church secularized nor the various established or
etate-churches, but the large body of nominal Christendom.
world ; but under the regenerating power of Chris-
tianity it will at last be seen that the whole world
shall be included in the Church. Here, then,
the transformation of human nature, of society, of
institutions, of customs, in short, of the whole Cosmos
— or the gradual " regeneration " (Matt. xix. 28) —
forms the principal point in view.* But this Chris-
tianization of the whole world is not incompatible
with the development of Antichrist in the world, nor
with the unbelief and the hardening of individual sin-
ners. Nay, this very dedication of fife as a whole, in
consequence of which the Church will at last possess
and claim everything, only becomes a judgment, un-
less it be made ours by personal regeneration, just as
unbelief transforms the most glorious truths into
the most awful and the most dangerous errors, 2
Thess. ii.
[Alford : " The two parables are intimately !&•
lated. That was of the inherent, self-develop-ing power
of the kingdom of heaven as a seed containing in it-
self the principle of expansion ; this, of the pemer
which it possesses of penetrating and assimilating a
foreign mass, till all be taken up into it. And the
comparison is not only to the power but to the effect
of leaven also, which has its good as well as its bad
side, and for that good is used : viz., to make whole-
some and fit for use that which would otherwise be
heavy and insalubrious. Another striking point of
comparison is in the fact that leaven, as used ordi-
narily, is a piece of the leavened loaf put amongst the
new dough — (jh ^v/xcoOeu oiira^ C'-'I^V T'VfTai tw \onr^
TTo-Kiv. Chrys. Horn. xlvi. p. 484 a) — just as the
kingdom of heaven is the renewal of humanity by the
righteous Man Christ Jesus. — The parable, like the
last, has its genercd and its individual application :
(1) In the peneti-ating of the whole mass of humanity,
by degrees, by the influence of the Spirit of God, so
strikingly witnessed in the earlier ages by the drop-
puig of heathen customs and worship ; — in modern
times more gradually and secretly advancing, but
still to be plainly seen in the various abandonments
of criminal and unholy practices (as e. g. in our own
time of slavery and duelling, and the increasing ab-
horrence of war among Christian men), and without
doubt in the end to be signally and universally mani-
fested. But this effect again is not to be traced in
the establishment or history of so-called Churches,
but ill the hidden advancement, without observation,
of that deep leavening power which works in-espect-
ive of human forms and systems. (2) In the trans-
forming power of the ' new leaven ' on the whole be-
ing of individuals. ' In fact the Parable does noth-
ing less than set foi'th to us the mystery of regenera-
tion, both in its first act, which can be but once, as
the leaven is but once hidden ; and also in the con-
sequent (subsequent ?) renewal by the Holy Spirit,
which, as the ulterior working of the leaven, is con-
tinual and progressive.' (Trench, p. 97.) Some have
contended for this as the sole application of the par-
able ; but not, I think, rightly. — As to whether the
yvvi] has any especial meaning (though I am more
* [Dr. Tkench (p. 16) aptly illustrates this feature of the
parable from the early history of Christianity, whose work-
ing below the surface of society was long hidden from the
view of the heathen writers, and yet went on with irresisti-
ble force until the whole Eoman world was leavened by it
And yet the external conversion of the empire was only a
part of the work. Besides this, there was the eradication of
innumerable heathen opinions, practices, and cubtoms which
had entwined their tibres rouud the very heart of society.
This work w.as never thoroughly accomplished till the
whole structure of Eoman society went to pieces, and the
new Teutonic civilization was erected on its ruins. — P. S.]
CHiVP. Xnr. 24-43.
249
and more convinced that such considerations are not
always to be passed by as nugatory), it will hardly be
of much consequence here to inquire, seeing that
yvvaiKis (TiTonoiol would be everywhere a matter of
course." — P. S.]
9. 2Yiat it mic/ht he fulfilled which was spoken by
(he prophet (not as a verbal, but as a typical prophe-
cy).— Asaph was a seer, and the Psalm here quoted
was prophetic, tracing iu a series of historical pic-
tures the disobedience and the hardening of Israel,
the divine judgments, and the subsequent compassion
and mercy of God. This prophecy was fulfilled in
the parables of Christ, so far as concerned both tlieir
form and their matter. In reference to their form,
Christ unfolded iu them all the mysteries of the king-
dom of God ; in reference to their matter, the first
parables bear chiefly on the hardening of the people,
while the subsequent parables exhibit His infinite
and glorious compassion.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
A. The Parable of the Tares, Matt. xiii. 24-
30, and interpretation of the same in vers. 36^3. —
The tares among the wheat in the field of Christ : 1.
What is their character ? (outwardly they resemble
the wheat, but in reality they are quite different and
opposed.) 2. How did they come among the wheat ?
(through the malice of the devil and the weakness of
man.) 3. What are the dangers accruing from their
presence? (they injure the wheat by robliing it of its
beauty and strength ; and, indirectly, through the
imprudent zeal of the servants, they even endanger
its existence.) 4. Still they are made to subserve a
good purpose (teaching us to watch, to discern, to
live, and to spare hfe, and to wait in humiUty and pa-
tience). 5. They assuredly shall be separated in the
day of harvest (judged by their own fruit, by the sen-
tence of Christ, by the angels of heaven, by fire). —
And he went his way (cowardice, malice, calculation).
— How the seed of the evil one frequently assumes the
appearance of human nature, and even of the divine
hfe. — Mark ! it is not the wheat among the tares, but
the tares among the wheat (in answer to the charges
of ancient and modern Novatianism against the
Church). — An enemy hath done this. — Impatience of
thcservardH in the kingdom of God : 1. Its higher and
nobler motives ; 2. marks of its carnal and sinful
origin. — Spurious zeal (fanaticism) the worst enemy
we have to meet in the Church. — Satan accomplishes
more by calling forth false zeal in the disciples than
even by sowing tares. — Has the Church of Christ
always obeyed this injunction of the Master ? — Let
both grow together: 1. Absolutely and uncondition-
ally ; yet, 2. within how narrow limits ! — How the
tares and the wheat mutually protect each other till
the time of harvest. — How the godly and the ungod-
ly serve and assist each other in the kingdom of God.
— Freedom of religion must be connected with reli-
gion of freedom. — A proper religious toleration, at
the same time a proper discipline, in the spirit
of the gospel. — Let us seek to distinguish the
visible and the invisible Church, but not to separate
them upon earth. — The whole world is the field of
Christ. — As the seed in our hearts, so are we. — Final
judgment upon the offences in the kingdom of God,
and the glorious manifestation of the Church of
Christ.
Starke: — Osiander : God spares the wicked for
the sake of the godly who live among them. — Chry-
sostomus : Fortem diabolum facit nostra negligentia,
nan illius potentia. — When the watchmen sleep, the
devil is awake, Acts xx. 29, 30 ; Nova Bibl. Tub. —
Quesncl: Let faithful ministers be careful to point
out the tares. — Cramer : The devil is the cause of all
the evil in the world, John viii. 44. — It is not every
kind of zeal for the glory of (lod which deserves com-
mendation.— Zcisius : The good seed must not be
neglected on account of the tares : one sincere and
earnest Christian is worth far more in the sight of
God than a thousand hypocrites and sinners. — It is
impossible to transform the tares into wheat ; but
the grace of God may, through the earnest zeal of
the disciples, convert the ungodly into humble fol-
lowers of Jesus. — The ungodly despise Christians, but
they are indebted to them for preservation and im-
munity from judgments. Gen. xviii. 26. — Canstein :
If we would understand the mysteries of the kingdom
of God, let us iu retirement seek enhghtemnent from
the Lord. — The Church is the husbandry of God.
Heubner : — 77ie enemy gocth his way. — How the
evil one succeeds iu craftily concealing his presence I
— Along with the spread and extension of good, evil
also increaseth. — The will of (he Master is, Nay ! —
The long-suffering and patience of God puts them to
shame, and worketh patience in them. — Here Christ
bears witness to that divine toleration which He man-
ifests in the government of His Church. — Reasons
of this prohibition : 1. The servants might commit a
mistake (confound the wheat with the tares) — some
may have the root of the thing in them ; 2. they
might root up the wheat along with the tares (since
good and evil are often very closely intertwined) ; 8.
the godly are to be tried ; 4. the wicked may yet be
saved. — They are bound in bundles : indicating their
fellowship in misery. — The real and internal dignity
of God's people does not yet appear.
Driiscke : — The enemy comes when people are
aslegp. — What a strange mixture in the kingdom of
heaven ! — Bachmann : The mixture of the godly and
of smners in the Church of Christ. — Reivhard : On
the view which Christ Himself entertained of His
kingdom upon earth.
B. The Parable of the Grain of Mustard-seed.
— The kingdom of heaven under the figure of a grain
of mustard-seed : 1. The least of all seeds (poverty
and humility of Christ ; His Apostles, pubhcans and
fishermen ; His message, reconciliation through a cru-
cified and risen Saviour). 2. The greatest among
herbs (the Church universal and a universal reUgion) :
a. The richest and best among herbs (the planting of
the Lord) ; 6. appearing to be a tree (so strong as to
be able to bear even that worldly spirits should lodge
in its branches). — Christianity, as reflecting both the
liumility and the majesty of its Founder (at first so
small in its outward appearance, that men could
scarcely seize it ; then so large, as to comprehend
all : thus, both in history and in the life of the indi-
vidual Christian). — The contrast between the infinite
smallness of the seed and the greatness of the herb,
an evidence of the intensity of the principle of growth
in the plant. — Christianity twice misunderstood and
twice glorified : at first in its smallness, and then in
its vast extent. — The commencement of all the works
of God small in the eyes of the world : commence-
ment of creation (the fight), of humanity (the first
pair), of the covenant-people (Isaac, the younger of
the two brothers), of the Church (the confession of
fishermen), of the new life (faith). — Contrast between
the commencement of Christianity and that of the
kingdoms of this world.
250
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Starke : — Marginal note of Luther : There is not
anywhere a word more despised than the gospel ; yet
there is none more powerful, since it justifies those
who believe in it, which neither the law nor works
could do. — This passage may be applied either to the
gospel or to the Church. — Vanstchi : This is the
work and wisdom of God, that He makes something
of things which are not, and mighty things of those
which are weak, while He humbleth and abaseth the
things which are high and great, 1 Cor. i. 26, 2*7. —
Zeisius : The weakest faith will grow and extend, and
comprehend more than heaven and earth, even Christ
Himself, with all that He is, and all that He hath,
Eph. iii. 17 ; 1 Pet. v. 10. — Majus : No human pow-
er-is able to obstruct or prevent the extension of the
Church.
Lisco: — Small the beginning, gradual the prog-
ress, but great and glorious the issue. — Nations shall
flock into the Church of Christ, where they will find
safety, salvation, peace, and true happiness. — Ileub-
ner: The great things of God have always had a
small beginning (to outward appearance). — When
commencing, in humble confidence on the Lord, what
seemeth a small work, always remember that it may
grow into a mighty blessing to those who are near,
and to those who are afar off. This, indeed, is the
proper way of triumphing : a small beginning and a
mighty ending. The opposite is a lamentable failure.
C. The Parable of the Leaven. — Christianity
the hidden power of regeneration both in the world
and in the life of believers. — The Church under the
figure of the woman hiding the leaven among the
meal : 1. The woman; 2. the leaven; 3. the three
measures of meal ; 4. the hiding of the leaven among
them ; 5. the result. — The life from God in its progres-
sive victory over the natural life of the world. — The
more fully the leaven is hid, and the more complete-
ly it seems to have disappeared, the more rapidly and
powerfully does it penetrate and leaven the whole
mass. — The work of regeneration : 1. On what if de-
pends (leaven stronger than meal) ; 2. its process
(hidden, gradual, all-subduing) ; 3. the result (all the
measures of meal leavened, the divine life penetrat-
mg everywhere and everything). — The regeneration
of humanity does not necessarily imply that of every
individual. — The higher society as a whole is elevated
by Christianity, the lower may the individual sink. —
The transfonuation of the heart must correspond to
that of the world.
Starke : — The eye of the Lord is not only upon
important affairs of state, but also upon our common
and humble employments. — Hedinger : Not only
vices, but also good examples are infectious. — If the
word of God is to appear in all its power and efficacy,
it must be mixed with faith in the heart.
Lisco : — Man remains man, but he becomes par-
taker of the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 3, 4 ; and hence
an entirely changed being. — This power works invis-
ibly, gradually, effectively, and irresistibly, till the
whole nature of man, from its principle to its indi-
vidual faculties, is penetrated, transformed, subdued,
and assimilated, and until every foreign and ungodly el-
ement is expelled. — IndissolulDle communion between
what is leavened and the leaven : between believers
and Christ.
Heubner : The all-penetrating power of the gos-
pel and of its economy, especially of the blood of
reconciliation in the death of Jesus. — Even avowed
enemies of Christianity have been ol^hged partly
to own the power of the gospel. — Where the leaven
of Christianity is wantmg, the whole mass will become
corrupt. — Each Christian should operate as leaven
upon all around.
D. Fulfilment of the peophect (vers. 34, 35).
— Christ the revelation. — Christ the revealer of all
secrets : 1. Of those of God ; 2. of humanity ; 3. of
the history of the kingdom of God ; 4. of the king-
dom of heaven. — The parables of Christ revealed so-
crets of God. — Even the paraboUc form used by
Christ, partly for conceaUng the truth, became a new
revelation.
Starke: — Osiander : Whenever we see natural
things, let us elevate our minds to heavenly realities.
— Quesnel: The mysteries which from all eternity
had been hid in God, and which from the beginning
of the world had been presented in types and prophe-
cies, were at last revealed by Christ, and are more
and more fulfilled in and by Him, Rom. xvi. 25.
8. The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Parables, and Parabolical Close of this Section. Ch. XIII. 44-52.
44 Again,^ the kingdom of heaven is like unto [a] treasure hid in a [the, rw] field ; the
which when a man hath found, he hideth [which a man found, and concealed ;], and for
joy thereof [he] goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman [merchant],- seeking
46 goodly pearls: Who [And],^ when he had found one pearl of great price, [he] went
and sold all that he had, and bought it.
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like tmto a net [draw-net], that was cast into the
48 sea, and gathered [gathering together, crvvayayov<Trj\ of every kind: Which, when it
was full, they drew to [the] shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels,
49 but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come
50 [go] forth, and sever [separate] the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them
into the furnace of fire : there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
51 Jesus saith unto them,* Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him,
52 Yea, Lord.^ Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is^ instructed unto
[in] the kingdom of heaven,' is like unto a man that is a householder [to a householder],
which [who] bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
CHAP. XIII. 44-52.
251
' Ver. 4-i.— [Again, irdXiv, is wanting in the best MSS., as B., D., also in Cod. Sinait., in the Latin Vulgate, and is
thrown out by Tiscbcndorf, Tregelles, Alford, nnd Conant. Laclimann retains it, but in braclicts. It may easily have been
inserted from vers. 45 and 47; but it may also have been omitted here at the beginning of a new series of parables. Lange
retains it in bis translation and ingeniously defends it in the Kxeg. Notes.— P. S.]
2 Ver. ib. — [Merchant-TOa?j is now only used of a trading vessel, as distinguished from a ship-of-war. See the English
Diet.— P. S.J
s Ver. 46.— [According to the true reading of Codd. Sinait., Vatic, Contabr., etc., and the critical editions: fupwv Se,
Instead of os fvpiiv. See Meyer, p. 278.— P. 8.]
* Ver. 51.— Codd. B., D., It.il., Vulg., etc., omit: Xtyei alrols 6 'Irjaovs. So Lachmann and Tisohendorf, [Tregelles,
Alford, Conant] ; but Meyer defends the sentence. It looks like an exegetical interpolation. [Cod. Sinait. omits the words.]
' Ver. 51. — Kt'pie is wanting in numerous authorities.
• Ver. 52. — [The interpolated words: Which -is, are better omitted.]
' Ver. 5-2.— Different readings. Tj] fiaai\eia [for di ti]v ^aaiAelav] is supported by B., C, K., etc. [Also by Cod.
Binait. which reads: ttj PaffiKia, substituting i for ei, as usual in this MS. It is the dative of reference: "instructed in
the kingdom of heaven." — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPJTICAL.
Ver. 44. Again, the kingdom of heaven is
like to a treasure. — Tisclieudorf, following Codd.
B., D., etc., omits waKiv, affoAn. But Meyer with good
reason defends it. The omission appears to have
originated in a st5'listic correction. But a considera-
tion of the parables in their connection will convince
us that this particle is necessary. — After a general
introduction about the parables, the first of them is
at once introduced in the form of a simple narrative.
This parable is then succeeded by the following well-
marked paralleUsm : —
1) aWrju irapafioXiiv, ver. 24. 1) iraKiv o/xoia, ver. 44.
2) " " ver. 81.2)" " ver. 45.
3) " " ver. S3. 3) " " ver. 47.
From the unmistakable antithesis here indicated, we
gather that the first three parables — introduced by an
&K\oi — are intended to exhibit the kingdom of hea-
ven under a threefold aspect, being each time pre-
sented as more enlarged and universal in its charac-
ter. And although the third parable bears more par-
ticularly upon the unseen efiScacy of Christianity, this
power is only hid in order afterward to appear all the
more glorious in its absolute uuiversaUty, when the
entire mass shall have been leavened by the gospel.
It is at this point that the antithesis comes in. Most
significantly it is introduced by irdKiv, which seems
to point back to the seed hid in the ground, spoken
of in the first parable. Shortly before, Christianity
had been presented m its universal extent, under the
figure of a tree in whose branches the birds sought
lodgment, and as humanity leavened by the gospel.
Now again the scene is changed, and Christianity is
likened unto a treasure hid in the field — to a rare pearl
which seems to have disappeared, — nay, even to a
draught of fishes concealed in the depths of the sea.
[The transition in these parables is very easy and
natural : from the seed buried in the ground and the
leaven hid in the meal, to the treasure buried in the
field ; from the treasure to the pearl of great price,
the treasure of the deep, which suggests the sea ; the
fishermen with their net, the mixed throng on the
beach, the bank of time, the final separation. Comp.
also Alford and Trench.— P. S.]
In the field. — Meyer remarks in reference to
the article : " In that particular field in which it lay
concealed." But this were mere tautology. The ar-
ticle points out a contrast, showing that the treasure
was left there, having no special owner. The cir-
cumstance that it lay hid ui a field where it would
not be looked for, impUes that the finder might re-
gard it as a treasure-trove. But there was still a de-
fect about the title to this possession. Accordmgly,
the finder again hides the treasure, and purchases
the field in which he had discovered it. Meyer quotes
a similar instance from Bava Mezia, F. 28. 2. R., in
which Rabbi Emi purchases a field where he had
found a treasure, " ut pleiio jure thesaurum possideret^
oimiemque litium occasionem prcecidereV Paulus
{Execj. Handbuch, ii. 187) rightly observes: "It
would have been foreign to the purpose of this par-
able, and to the point of the comparison, if Jesus
had entered on the question as to the legal right and
title to what was found." However, the action of the
person who found the treasure is mtended to shov/ his
strict honesty. The treasure is represented as a lost
and unclaimed possession, lying where such a deposit
would never be looked for. But as the field itself
belonged to another proprietor, the person who found
it selleth all that he hath in order to purchase the
ground. Even in this view of the matter, hovv^ever,
it is not intended to discuss the absolute right of the
case. The notions of right current on such a ques-
tion, serve as a basis for presenting higher and spirit-
ual relationships.
For joy thereof. — With Erasmus, . Luther,
Beza, etc., we read outoD as the genitive of the ob-
ject.
Ver. 45. A merchant. — In this figure of the
kingdom of heaven, the merchant and the goodly
pearl must be regarded and treated as a unit. The
kingdom of heaven is here exhibited as presenting
the contrast of conscious aun, and of the surpassing
possession accorded to it.
Ver. 48. The good fishes. — la Ka\d and iroTrpa,
here in the same sense as above, in chaps, vii. and
xii. Not bad fishes only, but all kinds of unclean
sea animals, had got into tlie net. That such ani-
mals are here referred to, and not merely fishes, ap-
pears from the contrast between KaA6u and aairpnv —
clean or good, and unclean, wild, or whatever is de-
voted to destruction, whether in the vegetable or in
the animal kingdom. To the same conclusion point
the words, sk iravTOS yifovs auuayayovar;. Bad fishes
could scarcely be designated as forming a peculiar
yffos. The Aorists in vers. 47 and 48 are used in
the narrative sense, and not in the sense of habit or
custom.
Ver. 52. [Every scribe, ypo/UM are us.— The Jew-
ish writer or scribe, "isio , a teacher (connected with
"130 , a book), also called ro/^t/cos, vofioSiSdrrKaAus, is
a transcriber and interpreter of the sacred Scriptures
of the 0. T., a theologian and a lawyer. So the word
is used in the Septuagint and in the N. T. Many of
them were members of the Sanhedrim, and hence
they are often mentioned in connection with the
elders and priests. But here, as Meyer correctly sug-
gests, the empirical conception of a Jewish scribe is
raised to the higher idea of a Christian teacher, who
252
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
is a pupil of the kingdom of heaven: iJ.aOT)Tev0els rrj
$aa: r. ovp., or a disciple of Jesus, as the Jewish
scribes were disciples of Moses, xxiii. 2 ; John ix. 28.
The true Christian divine is always learning at the
feet of Jesus, and true learning is always connected
with childlike docility and humihty. — P. S.]
Things new and old. — Olshausen, following
many older commentators, applies the expression to
the law and the gospel ; Meyer, to things hitherto
unknov.-n, and to things already known and formerly
propounded. The most obvious explanation is, the
things of the new world [the Christian order of
things] under the figures of the old.*
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Treasure in the Field. — The following
points are clearly laid down in this parable: 1. The
kingdom of heaven is represented as having once
more become invisible in the visible Church, as hid
like a treasure, erst concealed in a most unlikely
place (in the midst of worldly things). 2. It appears
as a treasure-trove, i. c, as a free gift of grace, dis-
covered by a person in a fortunate hour, though
while he was engaged in digging. 3. True Chris-
tianit}-, when again discovered, a subject of great joy.
4. The surrender of all our possessions (of works, of
our ov/n righteousness, of the world, and of self) in
order to secure this treasure. We first become poor
in order to be made rich by the possession of this
treasure. — The only difficulty in the parable lies in
the statement about buying the field. If "the field "
refers to external worldly ecclesiasticism, the expres-
sion might mean that we were not to carry the trea-
sure out of the visible Church, as if we were stealing
it away ; but that we should purchase the field in
order to have a full title to the enjoyment of the pos-
session hid in it. Accordingly, it would apply against
Novatianism and every other kind of sectarianism.
But if the expression included also the m.ediseval
Church, it would of course not imply that we were
to become Papists, but that we were to make Cathol-
icism our own, as the symboUcal garb under which
the gospel was presented, — in other words, that we
were to convert all mediseval and legal symbols into
evangehcal truths and forms of life. (Comp. my
work : The legal Catholic Church a symbol of the
free Evangelical Church.)
2. The Pearl of Great Price. — The following
points are plain : He who obtains the kingdom of
heaven is no longer represented merely as a fortunate
finder, but at the same time as an untiring searcher.
He is consciously seeking and strivmg after goodly
pearls, or precious spiritual goods, f At the same time,
what was formerly described as a treasure is now
characterized as a pearl of great price : it is present-
ed in a concentrated form, as the one thing needful,
bright and glorious in its appearance, — i. e., the per-
son of Christ, and fife in Him, are now all and in all.
Accordingly, all fonner possessions are readily sur-
rendered. Not that everything great and good,
* [Doubtful. Better: the old truths reproduced in new
and living form from the Bible, from history and from por-
eonal experience. In the kinjrdom of God the old is ever
new, and the new old. The old becomes stagnant and dead, if
not always renewed and personally applied ; the new must
be rooted in the old, and grow out of it. Comp. the addi-
tions in the Doctrinal and Ethical Notes, sub No. 5. — P. S.]
t [Trench instances Augustine as an example of the dili-
gent seeker and finder, Nathanael and the Samaritan woman
a.s examples of the finders without seeking.— P. S.]
which may formerly have been sought or attained, is
to be cast away, but that it merges into this new
possession and pearl of great price. — The difficulty
in this parable lies in the circumstance that the pearl
of great price seems to have become matter of mer-
chandize, -and, like the jewel of the fable, is found
somewhere in a distant part of the world. Probably
the meaning of this is, that Christianity is now in the
midst of the most active mental Ufc and int'i course,
and that the pearl of great price ciiunot bo found
without merchandize, i. e., without spiritual inter-
course, and moral and earnest aspiration. But when
this pearl is discovered, it is made the inmost property
of the soul, and our highest ornament : the merchant
gives up hie business, and has become a prince through
his new possession.
3. The Net in the Sea. — The whole Church is
now presented in her missionary capacity, as a net
cast into the sea of nations. Christianity alone com-
bines the nations of the world, and converts them, so
to speak, into one spiritual ocean. The net itself is,
of course, only intended to enclose a draught, not to
separate its contents. Accordingly, along with the
good fishes, unclean sea animals, bad fishes, mud,
etc., are brought to land. This exactly applies to
the Church in her missionary capacity. Hence the
process of separating judgment at the close, which
forms the main point in this parable ; while in that
of the wheat and tares it was only introduced in or-
der to supplement and explain the prohibition ad-
dressed by the Lord to His servants. From the cir-
cumstance that those to whom the process of separa-
tion is entrusted are said to sit down on the shore,
and to gather out the good, we infer that " the day
of judgment " will be a season, of judgment, or an
ason in the appearing of Christ.
4. The leading idea which pervades the three last
parables is, that vital Christianity is concealed from
common view. In the first parable it was represented
as hid in a field which sparingly yielded earthly bread
— or amid established ecclesiastical order ; in the
second, we discover it in the course of busy mercantile
enterprises, or in the midst of active mental inter-
change ; while in the last parable it appears conceal-
ed by the waves and the depths of the sea of life.
Similarly, the believer is represented, first, as a hus-
bandman cultivating a field not his own, or, as de-
pendent, without possession of his own in the Church,
and only able to acquire anything for himself in his
private capacity (in consequence of his own research-
es and prayer) ; in the second parable he is described
as a merchant, who has entered into active men-
tal and spiritual intercourse ; and in the last, under
the figure of a fish in the sea, whose new nature and
life are safely preserved amid the waves, the dangers,
and the unclean animals of the deep. Lastly, we
note, that while in the first parable Christianity was
characterized as a treasure that had been hid, of un-
defined, unknown, yet of infinite value ; and in the
second, as the one pearl of great price ; it is set be-
fore us in the third as a draught of good fishes —
Cliristianity and Christians being here indissolubly
connected and identified. In the first case, the ac-
quisition of the treasure was a happy discovery, grant-
ed while the finder was earnestly engaged in the ser-
vice of works ; in the second, it was the highest aim
of conscious endeavors ; and in the third, it was the
experience of the decisive final catastrophe, when
Christians are to be separated from the things of the
world, put into a clean vessel, and thus made to ful-
fil then- heavenly destmy. Hence also the judgment
CHAP. Xm. 44-52.
253
is in tliis instance exhibited in all its power. In the
first parable the judgment was chiefly negative — the
land yielded no fruit; in the second parable it was
confine.l to the real authors and representatives of
spiritvi.il evil on the earth ; while in the third, every
kind of unclean animals are doomed to share the fiery
judgment awarded to the wicked.
5. Tiri: True Scribe. — The expression manifestly
applies to Christian teachers, or else to genuine dis-
ciples who follow the example of the Lord. The true
scribe must bring forth out of his treasure not only
things old and dead, but also things new and living —
the one along with the other ; the new in the garb and
in the light of the old, and the old in its fulfilment
ajid development as the new.
[Cur. Wordsworth ; " Christ in His own para-
bles, precepts, and prayers did not disdain to avail
Himself of what was already received in the world.
He built His religion on the foundation of the Old
Testament, and also on the primeval basis of man's
original constitution and nature rightly understood.
And He teaches His Apostles and ministers not to
reject anything that is true, and therefore of God ; but
to avail themselves of what is old, in teaching what
is new, and, by teaching what is new, to confinn what
is old ; to show that the gospel is not contrary to the
law, and that both are from one and the same source,
in harmony with nature, and that one and the same
God is the author of them all. God the Father is the
original of all ; and God the Son, the eternal Logos,
who manifests the Father by creation and by revela-
tion,— who made the world and who governs it, —
is the dispenser and controller of all." Matthew
Henry : " See here (1) what should be a minister's
furniture, a treasure of things neio and old. Those
who have so many and various occasions, need to
stock themselves well in their gathering days with
truths new and old, out of the 6. T. and out of the
N. ; wit'a ancient and modern improvements, that the
man of God may be thoroughly furnished, 2 Tim. iii.
16, 17. Old experiences and new observations, all
have their use ; and we must not content ourselves
with old discoveries, but must be adding new. Live
and learn. (2) What use he should make of this fur-
niture ; he should bring forth : laying up is in order
to laying out, for the benefit of others. Sic vos non
vobis — you are to lay up, but not for yourselves.
Many are full, but they have no vent (Job xxxii. 19),
have a talent, but they bury it ; such are unprofit-
able servants. Christ Himself received that He might
^ve ; so must we, and we shall have more. In bring-
ing forth things, new and old do best together ; old
truths, but new methods and expressions, especially
new afiections." — P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAU
The three parables in their connection : Christian-
ity manifested m a threefold form, and again con-
cealed in a threefold manner. — The divine invisibility
of the Church concealed under its worldly visibility.
— Christianity the great revelation, and yet the great
mystery in the world, to the end of time, 1 Tim. iii.
16.
1. The Treasure in the Field. — True Christian-
ity ever again like an unexpected discoveiy, even in
the ancient Church. — The best possession we can
find, a gift of free grace. — Every one must find and
discover Christianity for himself. — Description of him
who found the heavenly treasure of a free gospel in
the earthly field of the Church. 1. What he may
have been : one who had taken the field for a tune,
and was busily employed upon it (engaged in earnest
endeavors after righteousness) ; or else a miner, who
may have anticipated the possibihty of some discov-
ery ; but certainly not an indolent perspn engaged in
digging for treasures. 2. What he ccriainli/ was :
most faithful in his labors, and happy in his discov-
ery ; finding something for which he had not wrought,
nor even sought. — In order to secure possession even
of what we have found, without any merit of our
own, we must be willing to sacrifice all ; or, salvation,
though entirely of free grace, requires the fullest self-
surrender.
Starke : — Marginal note of Luther : The hidden
treasure is the gospel, which bestows upon us all the
riches of free grace, without any merit of our own.
Hence also the joy when it is found, and which con-
sists in a good and happy conscience, that cannot be
obtained by works. This gospel is likewise the pearl
of great price. — Hedinger : Let us hazard every-
thing— honor, possessions, and life — for the sake of
the gospel, which so far surpasses everything else in
value. What were temporal possessions without this
treasure ! comp. vi. 26. — If we lose Christ, then in-
deed all is lost ; but if Christ be found, nothing can
be said to be lost. — He who has Christ as his own
is rich indeed, and may well rejoice.
Braune : — He was silent about his discovery. By
silence the kingdom of God is most efiectually pro-
moted. (Yet there is a time for speech and a time
for silence.)
Lisco : — Learn to understand and know this
mark of the kingdom of heaven. It always seem-
eth as if he possessed it who possesses it not, and
again as if he possessed it not who really possesses it.
The treasure is hid, etc,
Gerlach : — In order to be certain of our posses-
sion of the kmgdom of heaven, let us first seek in-
ward assurance of our part in it by faith, before
we come forward openly, lest we lose everything. —
Not, as if we could purchase or acquire for ourselves
the kingdom of God. — Self-abnegation is always re-
quisite. Only, it must be of free choice and willing-
ly, not of constraint.
Heubner : — The treasure is lost. 1. The natural
man knows not its character or value ; 2. the world
does not care for it ; 3. it can only be received by
and in the heart. — Where is it concealed ? In the
field : the visible Church, or else the word.* — Comp.
Muslin, Sermon iv. on Col. iii. 3, " Your Ufe is hid
with Christ in God" (although this is a different
thought).
2. The Pearl op Great Price. — Without spirit-
ual aspirations, Christian life is impossible. — Chris-
tianity the necessary goal of all true aspirations of
the soul. — If we have been awakened to true, inward
aspirations, we shall not be satisfied with anything
less than goodly pearls : 1. We shaU seek genuine
spiritual possessions; 2. such as arc simple, most
precious, and yet easily preserved ; 3. which never
lose their value. — Christianity under the figure of a
merchant : 1. The man and his calling (he takes
pleasure in his business, and carries it on with enthu-
siasm, not as a hired laborer). 2. His oVjject : to
find goodly pearls. What he wishes to avoid — spu-
rious pearls ; what he scarcely dares anticipate — the
pearl of great price. 3. His discovery : far surpass-
ing his hopes. 4. His resolution: to give up his
■ [Not world, as the Edinb. translation has it. Heubner
means the Bible, as containing tlie treasure of truth. — P. 8.]
254
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
merchandize, and to retire, enjoying his new princely
possession. — The goodly pearl : the person of Christ,
all in one. — This pearl reflects both the waters of the
world and the brightness of heaven. — On the dangers
and the blessings connected whh the rapid mental
interchange of modern times. — True disciples com-
bine the gracious and free gift of life from above with
earnest seeking and striving after heavenly blessings.
— Who has discovered the goodly pearl ? He that
has found the Lord in His gospel, that has found him-
self in the election of grace, and that has found both
heaven and earth, by finding and experiencing the
love of God.
Starke. : — Quemel : Merchants who go from one
end of the earth to the other, and venture everything
in search of worldly gain, may well put to shame
many Christians who care so little for the Lord, and
their own salvation. — Osiander : Men often at great
cost buy pearls and jewels, which cannot save them
from death ; but the gospel, etc. — One thing is need-
ful, Luke X. 42. — Zeisius : Oh wise diligence ! Oh
blessed discovery ! — To adorn the body with pearls,
but to forget the pearl of great price, will bring to
shame in the day of judgment. — Gossner: Christ —
truth — peace — a pearl of gi-eat price indeed. — Lisco :
The transcendent value of the kingdom of heaven.
— Heubner : In the first parable the discovery was,
so to speak, a matter of good fortune, while in the
present instance the merchant is busy searching for
pearls. — Souls awakened (Justin Martyr). — Christ in
us is the pearl of great price.
3. The Net cast into the Sea. — The whole
Church of Christ essentially missionary in its char-
acter.— The net encloses every species, both good
and bad. — First they are gathered, and then separat-
ed.— For a season souls are at the same time in the
sea and in the net : L In the sea, and yet in the net ;
2. in the net, and yet in the sea. — The whole world
drawn to the shore of eternity in the net of the
Church. — Ultimately, it is not the net, but the draught
of fishes, which is of importance. — The kingdom of
heaven in the Church at the end of the world : L The
whole world one sea ; 2. the entire Church one net ;
3. the whole kingdom of heaven one draught of fishes.
— The separation of the clean from the unclean: I.
It is not done precipitately (only when the net is
full) ; 2. nor tumultuously (they sit down and gather) ;
3. but carefully (the good into vessels) ; and, 4. de-
cisively (the bad are cast away) ; 5. universally. —
Fiery judgments descendmg upon sinners. — The
gnashing of teeth of the condemned shows that their
wailing is not weeping. — Those who are finally cast
away cannot truly w-eep.
Starke : — Quesnel : In the net of the divine word
souls are drawn from the depths of error and sin into
faith and blessedness. — The world as resembling a
tempest-tossed sea, Isa. Ivi. 20. — The fishermen are
the ministers of the gospel. — Hcdingcr : Bad fishes,
or hypocrites, will be found even in the hohest as-
semblage.— Everybody wishes to appear pious, and
none likes to be thought godless ; but the day of
judgment will disclose the true character of men. —
The net is still in the sea. — Heubner : The kingdom
of heaven here means the apostolic or ministerial of-
fice in the Church. (This is too narrow. It is the
Church as an institution of grace.)
4. The True Scribe. — " Have ye understood all
these things ? " — The parable about the parable. —
The scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven. —
The living treasury containing old, and ever sending
forth new treasures. — Defects and dangers of com-
mon religious instruction : 1. It presents the old with-
out the new ; 2. or the new without the old ; or, 3.
fails to exhibit the proper relationship between them.
— The ministerial office a constant " bringing forth :"
L Presupposing a continual receiving from on high ;
as, 2. again manifesting itself by a right " bringing
forth " (of wise, fresh, and rich instruction).
Starke : — Let teachers frequently examine their
pupils. — The kingdom of heaven must form the cen-
tral-point of all theological leammg. Nov. Bihl. Tub.
— Majus : Approved teachers are only trained in the
school of Christ and of the Holy Spirit.
Lisco : — The ability and the activity of a true
teacher.
Gerlach : — Everything connected with the king-
dom of heaven is at the same time old and new.
Heubner : — Jesus the model for all preachers. —
Love the secret of true popularity. — Rhetorical fig-
ures and worldly oratory is what many hearers most
admire. — Authentic definition here given of what con-
stitutes a good divine : his inspirations ai-e drawn
from Scripture (he is instructed in the kingdom
of heaven, and bound to extend it. All science and
learning which do not tend to the furtherance of
Christ's kingdom cannot be divine) ; his treasure
(things new and old. He learns from others and draws
from his own resources, finding in his meditation and
spiritual experience things both new and old). — On
the danger of preaching oneself empty [by neglecting
and despising the old, or by ceasing to produce new
thoughts and sermons].
THIKD SECTION
CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF AS THE HIGH PRIEST IN HIS SUFFERINGS;
JECTED— (A.) BY HIS OWN CITY NAZARETH.
BEING RE-
Chapter XIII. 53-58 (Mark vi. 1-6 ; Luke iv. 14^30).
53 And it came to pass, tJiat'^ when Jesus had finished these parables [of the kingdom of
54 heaven], he departed thence. And when he was come [having come, iX6wv] into his
own country,^ he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch [so] that they were aston-
ished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works [the mir-
55 acles]?^ Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his bre-
CHAP. Xni. 53-58.
255
56 thren [brothers],* James, and Joses [Joseph],* and Simon, and Judas? And his sis-
57 ters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And
they were offended in [at] him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without
58 liouour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty
works [miracles] there because of their unbelief.
> Ver. b9.—[Thai is an unnecessary interpolation placed before, when in Cranmer's and James's versions, or before he
departed by Tyndalc and the Geneva Bible, and is omitted by Wielif, the N. T. of Rbeinis, also by Conant in his work on
Matthew, but restored before he departed, in the revised Vers, of the Am. Bible Union.— P. S.]
' Vev. b-i. — [Lange, as also de Wette, Ewald, and others, translate irar piSa here: Vaterstadt, paternal (m.aternal)
town, for Vaterland (Luther), father^/Hrf. Nazareth is meant as the residence of his mother and reputed father. Euthyra.
Zigab.: Kiyn ttju Na^apsr, dij TrarpiSa rrjs ixtjrph-: avrov Kcd tov voixi^oiiivov irarphs avrov, kuI cLs rpacpeU iv
OUTJ).— P. S.]
3 Ver. 54.— [A / Suj/a^ets, de Wette : die Wtmder ; Lango : die Wunderkrdfte ; Ewald : die BeilsmudUe.
Comp. the note on si. 20, p. 210. The definite article here is more emphatic than the demonstrative pronoun of the E. V.
-P. S.]
* Yer. 55.— [Comp. my note on sii. 46, p. 231.-P. S.]
' Ver. 55.— B., C, and several translations read 'lui(r-))(p. So Lachmann, Tischendorf. Many uncial MSS. D., E.,
P., G., etc., 'I o> d v V t] i •, — K., L., etc., 'I to cr f; r . lu the parallel passage of Mark the reading Jose>i is by far better sup-
ported than Joseph. According to Lightfoot the T.ilmudists write ''Oi^ for vlOT^. Perh.aps the person in question was
called by both names already in the apostolic age. [Dr. Lange, in his Gerpian translation, retains Joses from the received
text. But Joseph is undoubtedly the true reading according to the .ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinaitiuus, and is
adopted also by Meyer, Tregelles, Alford, Conant. The reading has some bearing on the question concerning the brothers
of Christ. For if 'lwa-ii<p be the true reading, there remains but one brother of Christ, viz. James, of the samo name with
one of the two sons of Mary, the wife of AlphiBus (supposed to be the same with Cloophas), ch. xxvii. 5G ("Mary the mo-
ther of James and Joses''); and this argues against the view defended by Dr. Lange, that the brothers of Christ were
merely his cousins. See below.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
According to Schleiermaclier and many others,
the passage before us is identical with Luke iv. 16.
But this view is controverted by Wieseler, Ewald,
and Meyer. The opinion of Schleiermaclier is, how-
ever, supported by the fact, that in both passages
the people of Nazareth are described as putting the
question : Is not this the carpenter's son, or the son
of Joseph? and that in both cases the Saviour re-
plies that a prophet is not without honor, etc. But
the chronological arrangement seems to be rightly
given by Luke, as his narrative fully accounts for the
removal of .Jesus to Capernaum. Matthew indeed
furnishes different details as to the time and circum-
stances of this occurrence (vers. 53, 54). But we
would suggest as probable, that the Lord may, after
His controversy with the Pharisees, have retired for
a time with His disciples into the mountains and to
Nazareth. This may explain the introduction of
this narrative. When recording the stay at Naza-
reth, Matthew, in his usual pragmatic method, also
relates some events which had formerly taken place
there. At the same time, it will be observed that
the Evangelist only states the great outUnes of this
conflict of Jesus with His fellow-citizens, without re-
peating the details connected with it.
Ver. 54. His own city. — On the situation of
Nazareth, and the meaning of the word, comp. the
Exegetical Notes on ch. ii. 23.
Whence hath this man ? — t ovrep. By way
of contempt, as if they were inquiring what schools
He had attended while in their city.
Ver. 55. The carpenter's son. — The word
reKTwv (artifex), faher lir/narius in the widest
sense (carpenter, wright, etc.).
[The occupation of a carpenter was always regard-
ed as an honorable and respectable employment ; hence
this question was not a question of contempt, but of
surprise. The Nazarenes regarded Jesus not as their
inferior, but themselves as His equals, and doubted
only His claim to superiority, which was forced upon
them by His wisdom and miracles. It is the same
natural surprise which is always felt if an old
acquaintance meets his former humble associates
with a distinguished rank or reputation as a scholar,
or artist, or statesman, or merchant-prince. — P. S.]
A prophet. — A fact of experience — exculpatory
in its general bearing, but condemnatory in its spe-
cial application in this instance.
Ver. 58. He did not many miracles. — Mark :
" He could there do no mighty works ; " i. e., He
found them not prepared to receive, and therefore
would not as He could not. The latter expression
indicates not a want of power, but the moral limits
which Himself imposed on the exercise of His power.
However, it also implies that we are not to regard
these displays of Christ's power as merely the mani-
festations of absolute might.
Ver. 55-57. The brothers of Jesus.
Matt. xiii.
vi. 3).
Mark xv. 40.
Mary.
John xix. 25
The Apostles,
Matt. X.
(the s
phaeus
phas).
James, Joses,* Simon, Judas (Mark
James the Less, Joses, their mother
James
1 of Al-
or Cleo-
(Mary the wife of Cleophas.)
Simon Ze- Lebbeus (Thad-
lotes. deus) (or Ju-
das, the bro-
ther of James.
Luke \'i. 16).
Simon Ze- Judas, the bro-
ther of James.
lotes.
Acts i. 13.
the son of Al-
phseus.
From the above we conclude :
(1.) That three brothers of the Lord bore the
names of James, Simon, and Judas ;
That three Apostles also bore the names of
James, Simon, and Judas :
(2.) That James, the brother of the Lord, had a
brother called Joses [Joseph] ;
That the Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus, had
a brother called Joses :
(3.) That the father of the Apostle James the
Less bore the name of Alphaeus ;
* [Or rather Joseph. See the critical note above.— P. S.]
256
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
That the father of Joses, the son of Mary, bore
the name of Alpha;u3 :
(4.) That the Apostle Judas had a brother called
James ;
That Judas, the brother of Jesus, had a brother
called James:
(5.) That the wife of Clopas or Cleophas was
called Mary, and that she was the mother of James
and Joses.
(6.) Hence that
Cleophas was the father of James and Joses ;
" " " of the Apostle James ;
" " " of Judas, the brother of
James.
(Brother of the Lord ;
Brother of James (brother
of the Lord) ;
Apostle of the Lord.
Manifestly, then, the brothers of the Lord and
the Apostles whom we have just named are identical.
The relationship existing between them was probably
as follows : Clopas (Cleophas), or Alphajus, was a
brother of Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus (Euse-
bius, iii. 11). It is a mistake to suppose that Mary
the wife of Cleophas was the sister of the mother of
the Lord.* Alphseus probably died early [V], and
Joseph [the poor carpenter ?] adopted his family [of
at least six children ? and tliis, when their mother
was still living, John xix. 25 ? — P. S.] ; so that the
cousins of Jesus became His adopted brothers, and
in the eye of the law were treated as His brothers.
Probably they were older than Jesus, and hence ap-
.pear to have interfered on several occasions with His
work. Although at an early period they were in the
faith, some time elapsed before they attained to full
obedience. Besides these sons, Alphesas seems also
to have left daughters [?].
The idea that the Apostles James the Less and
Judas were dififerent from the brothers of the Lord,
originated among the Judaso-Christian sect of the
Ebionites. The oldest Catholic tradition, on the
contrary, has always regarded them as identical
(Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen).f For
further particulars, see my article Jakobus in Herzog's
Real Encyclop. [vol. vi., p. 406 sqq. Comp. also
Alford on Matt. xiii. 55 ; Dr. Mill : On the Brethren
of our Lord (quoted by Alford and Wordsworth, as
defending the cousin-theory), and Sam. S. Andrews :
The Life of our Lord, N. Y., 1863, p. 104 sqq.—
P. S.]
[Note on the Brothers of Jesus. — After a re-
newed investigation of this difScult exegetical and
historical problem, I beg leave to difl^er from the
cousin-theory, even in the modified form so plausibly
defended by Dr. Lange here and elsewhere. I shall
present as clearly and concisely as I can the princi-
pal execfclical data in the case, on which the right
conclusion must be based. For a fuller treatment I
refer to my monograph on James (Berlin, 1842),
where the whole subject is discussed exegetically and
historically, with special reference to James the bro-
ther of the Lord and his relation to James the Less.
* Comp. WJeseler in the Studien wnd Kritiken for 1840.
p. 648: '•There stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, aud
the sister of Ilis mother — i. e., Salome—, Mary the wife of
Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene." John xix. 25. Comp.
Mark xv. 40; Matt. xxvii.'"56.
t [But it must be added, that the oldest tr.idition, includ-
ing the most distinguished Greek and Latin fathers, .is Ori-
gen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandiia, Epiphanius,
Hilary, and Ambrose, regarded the brothers of Christ as sons
of Joseph by a former marriage. &e the passages in full in
my book on James, p. 80 sqq.— P. 8.]
(Compa,re also my History of the Apostolic Church,
p. 3*78, and the notes in previous parts of this Com
mentary, on ch. i. 25 ; xii. 46, 47 ; xiii. 55 above.)
1. The brothers of Jesus, four in number, and
bearing the names Jacob or James, Joseph, (or Joses),
Simon, and Jude, are mentioned wither wis liout their
names, fourteen or fifteen times in the N. T. (not ten
times, as Alford in loc. says), twice in connection
with sisters (whose number and names are not record-
ed), viz., twelve times in the Gospels, Matt. xii. 46,
47 ; xiii. 55, 56 {khiXtpol and ah^Kfpo.i); Mark iii. 31,
32; vi. 3 (here the sisters are likevifise introduced);
Luke viii. 19, 20; John vii. 3, 5, 10; — once in the
Acts, i. 14 ; — and once by St. Paul, 1 Cor. ix. 5, to
which must be added Gal. i. 19, where James of Je-
rusalem is called " /Ae brother ' of the Lord^ Be-
sides, the Saviour Himself speaks several times of
His brothers (brethren), but apparently in a wider
sense of the term, Matt. xii. 48, 49, 50; Mark iii. S3,
34, 35 ; Matt, xxviii. 10 ; John xx. 17.
In the former fourteen or fifteen passages it is
agreed on all hands that the term brothers must be
taken more or less literally of natural affinity, and not
metaphorically or spiritually, in which sense all Chris-
tians are brethren. The question is only, whether
the temr means brothers proper, or cousins, accord-
mg to a somewhat wider usage of the Hebrew PIN .
2. The exegetical or grammatical (though not per
haps the dogmatical) a priori presumption is undoubt-
edly in favor of the usual meaning of the word, the
more so since no parallel case of a wider meaning of
kdnX'pus (except the well-known and always apparent
metaphorical, which is out of the question in our
case), can be quoted from the New Testament. Even
the Hebrew nx is used only twice in a wider sense,
and then only extended to nephew (not to cousin),
viz.. Gen. xiii. 8 ; xiv. 16 ; of Abraham and Lot, who
was his brother's son (xi. 27, 31), and Gen. xxix. 12,
15, of Laban and Jacob his sister's son (comp. ver.
1 3). Here there can be no mistake. The cases are
therefore not strictly parallel with ours.
S. There is no mention anywhere of cousins or
Jcinsmen of Jesus according to the flesh ; and yet the
term av e\li i6 s , con'iobrinus, covsin, is well known
to the N. T. vocabulary (compare Col. iv. 10, where
Mark is called a cousin of Barnabas) ; so also the
more exact term v Ih s rf/s aS e \(p t) s , sister''s son
(comp. Acts xxiii. 26, of Paul's cousin in Jerusalem) ;
and the more general term cr vyy e vn s , kinsman,
relative, occurs not less than eleven times (Mark vL
4 ; Luke i. 36, 58 ; ii. 44 ; xiv. 12 ; xxi. 16 ; John
xviii. 26 ; Acts x. 24 ; Rom. ix. 3 ; xvi. 7, 11, 21).
Now,, if the brothers of Jesus were n^erely His
cousins (either sons of a sister of Mary, as is general-
ly assumed, or of a brother of Joseph, as Dr. Lange
maintains), the question may well be asked : Why
in the name of sense did the sacred historians never
call tkem by their right name, av f\l/ to i, or viol
T^s aSe\(pri ^ rfjs Map i as, or rov ad s A(p ov
rod ' lu ai] (p , or a,t least more generally tr 1^77 e-
r 6 ts ?* By doing this they would have at once pre-
vented all future confusion among commentators;
while by uniformly using the term aSeAfoi, without
the least intimation of a wider meaning, they certain-
ly suggest to every unbiased reader the impression
that real brothers are intended.
4. In all the passages where brothers and sisters
* Hegesippus (ap. Euscb. H. E. iv. 22) speaks of cousins
of Christ, calling Simeon, the successor of James in Jerusa-
lem: ave^ihf Tov Kvpiov dei/repoy.
CHAP. XIII. 53-58.
2r)7
of Jesus are mentioned, except in John vii. (where
they are represented in conflict with the Lord), and
1 Cor. ix. (which was written probably after the death
of Mary), they appear in close connection with llim
and His mother Mary as being under her care and
direction, and as forming one family. This is cer-
tainly surprising and unaccountable, if they were cou-
sins. Why do they never appear m connection with
their own supposed mother, Mary the wife of Clopas
(or Alphieus), who was living all the time, and stood
under the cross (Matt, sxvii. 56 ; John xix. 25), and
at the sepulchre (Matt, xxvii. 61)?
Lange calls to his aid the double hypothesis of
an early death of Clopas (whom he assumes to have
been the brother of Joseph*), and the adoption of
his children by the parents of Jesus, so that they be-
came legally His brothers and sisters. But this stdop-
tion, if trae, could not destroy their i-elation to their
natural mother, Mary, who was still living, and one of
the most faithful female foUowei'S of Christ. Besides,
both the assumption of the early death of Clopas
and the adoption of his children by Joseph, is with-
out the shadow of either exegetical or traditionary evi-
dence, and is made extremely improbable by the fact
of the poverty of the holy family, who could not in
justice to themselves and to their own Son adopt at
least half a dozen children at once (four sons and two
or more daughters), especially when their own mother
was still living at the time. We would have to as-
sume that the mother Ukewise, after the death of her
husband, lived with the holy family. But would she
have given up in this case, or under any circum-
stances, the claim and title to, and the maternal care
of, her own children ? Certainly not. The more we
esteem this devoted disciple, who attended the Sa-
viour to the cross and the sepulchre (Matt, xxvii. 56,
61 ; John xix. 25), the less we can think her capable
of such an unmotherly and unwomanly act.
5. There is no intimation anywhere in the New
Testament, either by direct assertion or by implica-
tion (unless it be the disputed passage on James, in
Gal. i. ] 9), that the brothers of Christ, or any of them,
were of the number of the twelve Apostles. This is
a mere inference from certain facts and combinations,
which we shall consider afterward, viz., the identity
of three names, James, Simon and Judas, who occur
among the brothers of Christ and among the Apos-
tles, and the fact that a certain Mary, supposed to be
an aunt of Jesus, was the mother of James and Joses
(but she is never called the mother of James, Joseph,
Simon, and Jude), and with the fact of the eminent,
Apostle-like position of James, the brother of the
Lord, in the church at Jerusalem.
6. On the contrary, the brothers of Jesus are
mentioned after the Apostles, and thus distinguished
from them. In Acts i. 13, 14, Luke first enmneratos
the eleven by name, and then adds : " These all [the
Apostles] contmued with one accord in prayer and
SuppUcation, with the women, and Mary the mother
of Jesus, and with His bretJireti.'" Here they seem
to form a distinct class with their mother, next to
the Apostles. So also 1 Cor. ix. 5 : ul Aonroi a-n-o-
* IlegesippiTS (in Eiisebins' H. K. iii. 11) asserts that Clo-
pas was the brother of Joseph. Lange denies that Mary, the
wife of Clopas, was the sister of the Virgin .M.ary. But Lich-
tenstein {Lehensgeschichte des Iferm, Krlangcn, 1S56, p.
124) assumes, that the two brothers, Joseph "and Clopas,
married two sisters, both named Mary. Clopas dying, Jo-
seph took his wife and her children into his family. Schneck-
enburger reverses the hypothesis and assumes that Mary,
after the early death of Joseph, moved to the household of
her bister, the wife of Clopas.
(TToAoi Kal ot a.5e\(t>o\ -rod Kvplov. Such distinct men-
tion of tlie brothers after the Apostles was not justified
if three of the four, as is assumed by the cousin-
theory, were themselves Apostles ; consequently,
only one remained to make a separate class. The
narrative. Matt. xii. 46-50, likewise implies that the
brothers of Jesus who stood without, seeking to
speak with Him, were distinct from the disciples
(ver. 69), who always surrounded Him.
v. More than this : before the resurrection of
Christ, His brothers arc represented in the (iospel of
John, in ch. vii. 3-10, long after the call of the Apos-
tles, as unbelievers^ who endeavored to embarrass the
Saviour and to throw difiiculties in His way. This
makes it morally impossible to identify them with the
Apostles. Even if only one or two of the four had
been among the twelve at that time, John could not
have made the unqualified remark : " Neither did
His brethren [brothers) believe in Him " (vii. 5) ; for
faith is the very first condition of the apostolate.
Nor would Christ in this case have said to them :
"My time has not yet come ; but your time is always
ready ; the world cannot hate you ; but Me it hateth "
(vers. 6, 7) ; nor would He have separated from them
in His journey to Jerusalem. It will not do here to
weaken the force of iricmveiv, and to reduce their
unbelief to a mere temporary wavermg and uncer-
tainty. The case of Peter, Matt. xvi. 23, and that of
Thomas, John xx. 25, are by no means parallel.
The whole attitude of the brothers of Christ, as
\'iewed by Christ and described by John, is entirely
inconsistent with that of an apostle. It is an atti-
tude not of enemies, it is true, but of doubtful, dis-
satisfied friends, who assume an air of superiority,
and presume to suggest to Him a worldly and ambi-
tious policy. After the resurrection they aj'e ex-
pressly mentioned among the beUevers, but as a dis-
tinct class with Mary, next to the Apostles.
All these considerations strongly urge the conclu-
sion that the brothers of Christ were real brotliers^
according to the flesh, i. e.^ eitlier later sons of Mary
and Joseph, or sons of Joseph by a former marriage
(more of this below), unless there are very serious
difficulties in. the way, which make this conclusion
either critically, or morally, or reUgiously impossi-
ble.
Let us now approach these difficulties.
8. There are serious but no insurmountable ob-
jections to the conclusion just stated.
(a) The first objection is the identity in name of
three c^f these brothers with three of the Apostles,
viz., James, Simon, and Jude.* But it should be re-
membered that these were among the most common
Jewish names. Josephus mentions no less than
twenty-one Simons, seventeen Joses's, and sixteen
Judes. Why could there not be two or three persons
of the same name in the apostofic Church? We
have at all events two James's, two Simons, and two
Judes among the twelve Apostles. This difficulty is
more than counterbalanced by the opposite difficulty
of two sisters with the same name.
[b) The second objection, likewise of a critical
and exegetical character, is derived from Gal. i. 19 :
" But other of the Apostles saw I none, save {el yurj)
James, the Lord's brother." Here James, who waa
one of the brothers of Jesus, seems to be included
* Dr. Lance, in his article Jakobns in Herzogs Encycl.,
vol. vi,, p. 412, calls this die UnhiUtbarkeit einer dreina-
rnigen Itoppetgdnijerlinie in dem apostoliscfien Kreise,
and afterward eine unerMrie zwei- bis vierfache Boppel-
gdngerei.
17
258
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
among tKc Apostles, and this must have been James
of AlphiEUH, or James the Less.* But the passage
bears tlic exactly opposite interpretation, if after fl /j-r,
we supply simply : eiooi', and not'' eUov rhv a-:rSi>TuAui;
viz. : " I saw none other of the Apostles (besides
Peter, ver. 18), but only (I sav/) James, the Lord's
brother." This interpretation is very old,! and is
defended by some of the highest grammatical au-
thorities of our age.:j: I think with Meyer § that James
is here distinguished from the tv/elvc to whom Peter
belonged, and yet at the same time mentioned with
the Apostles m a wider sense of the term. In other
words, he is represented as a man who, on account
of his close natural relationship to Clirist, and of his
weight of character and piety, enjoyed an apostolic
dignity and authority among the strict Jewish Chris-
tians. He was the acknowledged head and Icader-of
this branch and the first bishop of Jerusalem, where
he permanently resided and died, while the apostles
proper were not fixed in a particular diocese, but tra-
veling missionaries, with the whole world for their
field of labor. That this was precisely the position
of James is evident from various passages in the
Acts, in the epistle to the Galatians, from Josephus,
Hegesippus, and the traditions of the Eastern
Church." II
(c) The third objection is of a moral character,
and derived from the consideration that Christ on
the cross could not have commended His mother to
the care of John if she had other sons (John xix. 26,
27). " But why," we may ask with Andrews,*]" " if
James and Judas were Apostles and His cousins,
sons of her sister and long inmates of her family, and
it was a question of kinship, did He not commend
her to their care ? " The difficulty then remains, and
must be solved on other grounds. The brothers -of
Jesus at that time, as appears from John vii., were
not yet full believers in Christ, although they must
have been converted soon after the resurrection (Acts
i. 14). Moreover, John was the most intimate bosom
friend of the Saviour, and could better sympathize
with Mary, and comfort her in this peculiar trial than
any human being. If the modern interpretation of
John xix. 25 be correct, as it probably is, Salome (not
Mary, wife of Clopas) was a sister of Christ's mother,
consequently John His cousin. But we would not
urge this as an additional reason of the commenda-
tion, which must be based on a deeper siDiritual affin-
ity and sympathy.
(d) The fourth objection is rcligioria and dogmat-
ical, arising from the pious or superstitious belief in
the perpetual virginity of Mary, and the apparent im-
propriety of the birth of any later descendants of the
house of David after the birth of the Messiah. The
perpetual virginity of the mother of our Saviour is an
article of faith in the Greek and Eoman Church ; it
is taught also in a few of the older Protesiant sym-
* So Schneckenburser on the Epistle of James, and all
the commentators on Galatians who adopt the ci.usin-hypo-
thesis, also EUicolt ad Gal. i. 19, who, however, does" not
enter Into a discussion of the jreneral question.
+ Victorinus, in his Comuientary in loc, says: "Paul
disclaims James as an apostle, saying, that he saw uo other
apostle besides I'eter, but oiilv Jame.s."
t Winer, Grammatik, Cth ed., p. .557 (§ 6T, snb T. e) ;
who quotes for a similar use of el jxi] Acts xxvii. 22 and
Rev. xxi. 27; Frilzsche, Comment, in Matt., p. 4S2. who
translates: alium apostolnm. no" rixU, atd vidi Jacohum ;
Blcek (in Studien tend Kritiken for lSo6, p. 1059), and, as to
the inference drawn, also Meyer and Hilpenfeld ad Gal. 1.
19.
8 In his Comment, on Gal. i. 19.
I This subject is fully discussed in my book on James.
^ The Life of our Lord vpon the EarV>. p. llj.
bols,* and held to this day by many evangelical di-
vines. Bishop Pearson says that the Church of God
in all ages has maintained that Mary continued in the
same virginity. f Olshauscn takes the same view,
and Lange, though the latter only as far as offspring
is concerned. Dr. Jos. Addison Alexander, a Presby-
terian, wlio will not be accused of any sympathy with
Romanism, says with apparent approbation : " Multi-
tudes of Protestant divines and others, independently
of all creeds and confessions, have believed, or rather
felt, that the selection of a woman to be the mother
of the Lord, carries with it as a necessary implication
that no others could sustain the same relation to
her ; and that the selection of a virgin still more ne-
cessarily imphed that she was to continue so ; for if
there be nothing in the birth of younger children in-
consistent with her maternal relation to the Saviour,
why should there be any such repugnance in the birth
of older children likewise ? . . . The same feeling
which revolts from one hypothesis in some, revolts
from both hypotheses in both.";]:
A doctrine or feeling so old and widely spread must
be treated with proper regard and delicacy. But it
should be observed :
In the first place, that these doctrinal objections
hold only against the view that the brothers of Christ
were younger cliildren of Mary, not against the other
alternative left, that they were older children of Jo-
seph by a former marriage.
Secondly, the virginity of Mary can be made an
article of faith only as far as it is connected with the
mystery of the supernatural conception and tlie ab-
solute freedom of Christ from hereditary as well as
actual sin. But neither His nor her honor require
the perpetual virginity after His birth, unless there
be something impure and unholy in the marriage re-
lation itself. The latter we cannot admit, since God
instituted marriage in the state of innocence in Par-
adise, and St. Paul compares it to the most sacred
relation existing, the union of Christ with His
Church.
Thirdly, the Apostles and Evangelists, who are
certainly much safer guides iir all matters of faith
and religious feeling than even fathers and reformers,
seem to have had no such feeling of repugnance to a
real marriage betv/een Joseph and Mary, since they
not only frequently mention brothers and sisters of
Christ, without any intimation of an unusual or in-
definite sense of the word, but Matthew and Luke (ii. 7)
call Christ the/rsi-bom son of Mary, and Matthew
moreover says (i. 25), that Joseph knew not Mary,
i. e., did not cohabit with her as man and wife, till
she had brought forth her first-born son. I admit that
neither vrptoTciTOK-os nor 6a>i ol are conclusive in fa-
vor of subsequci\t cohabitation and offspring, but they
naturally look that way, especially in a retrospective
historical narrative, and in connection with the subse-
quent frequent mentipn of the brothers and sisters of
* The Articles of Sinalkald, Par^. I. art. IV. (p. 803. ed.
Ilase): "Ex Maria pura, sancta, semper virgine.'" The
Form of Concord, p. 707: "Undo et veve SeoroKO?, Dei ge
netrix est, et tamen virgo tnanitit." Even Zwingli shared
in this view, Comment, in Matt. i. IS. 25. and the Helvetic
Confession speaks of Jesus as " natus ex Maria semper zir-
gine.'"
+ Exposition of the Creed, art. III.
i Commentary on Matthew, siii. 56, pp. 3S3 and 884, and
in the same language. Com. on Mark vi. 3. Dr. Alexander
does not decide bne'wHV or the other (though leaning to tho
cousin-theory), and thinks that the difference of taste and
sensibility on this subject is likely to continue to affect the
interpretation until the question has received some new and
unequivocal solution.
CHAP. Xm. 53-5S.
259
Christ by the same writers. At all events, we are war-
ranted to say that those terms could not have been
used by the Evangelists if they had regarded legitunate
cohabitation as essentially profane, or in any way de-
grading to Joseph and His mother. The Old Tcsta-
mcut, it is well known, nowhere sustains the ascetic
Romish views on the superior merits of ceUbacy, and
represents children as the greatest blessing, and ster-
ility as a curse or misfortune.
Finally, it may be regarded as another proof of
the true and full humanity and the condescending
love of our Saviour, if He shared the common trials
of family life in all its forms, and moved a brother
among brothers and sisters, that " He might be touch-
ed with a fceUng of our infirmities." This last con-
sideration, however, has its full weight if we adopt
Dr. Lange's modification of the cousin-hyjjothesis,
viz., the formal adoption of Christ's cousins into the
holy family.
9. It rcmaius to be seen whether the cousin-
theory is more free from difficulties. This theory is
very old, and goes back not only to Jerome, as is gen-
erally stated, l>ut even to Papias, at the beginning
of the second century,* probably also to Hegesippus,
although tills may be disputed, and has the authority
of the whole Latin Church, and the older Protestant
divines, who, however, paid very little attention to
this question. I But this theory did not obtain credit
and currency without an undue weight of dogmatical
considerations connected with the perpetual virginity
of Mary and the superior sanctity of celibacy (as is
very evident fi'om Jerome's work against Helvidius).
It has moreover to contend with all the facts pre-
sented under No. 1-7, wluch are as many arguments
against it. And finally it has to call to its aid
two assumptions, which are at least very doubtful,
and give the theory an intricate and complicated
character. These assumptions are :
(a) That Mary, the mother of James and Joses
(Matt, xxvii. 56 ; Mark xv. 40), was a sister of the
Virgin Mary, and that consequently her children were
cousins of Jesus. But who ever heard of two sisters
bearing the same name without any additional one
by which to distinguish them ? Then, the only pas-
sage on which th.e alleged relationship of the two
Marys is based, John xix. 25, admits of a different
and more prolwble explanation, by which the term
" His mother's sister " is appUed to Salome,t who
stood certainly under the cross {see Matt, xxvii. oo ;
Mark xv. 40), and could not well be passed by in si-
lence by her own son, Ft. John, while he, with his
accustomed modesty and dchcacy, omitted her name,
• In a remark.iblc fragment on tlie four Maivs (ap. Itorxii.
Reliquiae, tsao-ce ex Cod. M6S. 2697): "I, J/<iHu, mater
Domini. II. Maria, Cleoph* sive Alpr^i uxor, qu:c fiiit
maUr Jacobi E/dscopi ft Apontoli, et Simonis, et Tluidei
[Judae Jacobi], ct cujusdam Joseph. III. Maria Salome,
uxor Zebodei. luatc-r .Joannis evan-'elistiu ct Jacobi. IV.
Marici Magdalf nil."' But Papias umits one. Mart/ of Beth-
any, and is well known to bave been somewhat weakmind-
eil, superstitious, and confused ; althouph in a mere matter
of f..ct his testimony may neverllieless be very valuable.
t Calvin for instance regards the question as one of idle
cnriosity in Slatt. i. 25: '■'■ Cei-te nemo tinquam hac de re
questionem movebit iti»i curiosu« ; nemo vera pertinaciter
imUstet nisi conUntiomis rixainr."
t Ttii.s explanation was broncht out first clearly by Wiese-
ler (in the Studien nnd Kriiileen for 1S40, p. 64a fqq.), ami
adopted by Meyer, Lan^e, and Alford. ■ But the old Syriac
version already iijij)lieil this interpretation by inserti"n>: a
Kai before Mapi'a, and translating: "And there were stand-
ing near the cross of Jesus, Ilis mother, and His mother's
sister [Salome], and Mary of Cleophiis, and Mary Macda-
Icne."
and intimated her presence by bringing out her re-
lation to Mary.
{h) That Clopas, or Cleophas, the husband of
Mary, the supposed sister of the Virgin Mary, is the
same with Aiplia:as, the father of James, the younger
Apostle of that name, who is called '\a.Kufio% b rod
'AXcpaiov (Matt. X. 3; Mark ii. 14; iii. 18; Luke vi.
XV ; Acts i. 13). But this, though not improbable,
and supported by the testimony of Papias, is at least
not certain. Besides, Matthew (or Levi) was also a
son of Alphsous, Mark ii. 14, and if 'loi'Sas 'laieii-
000, and Simeon, two of the twelve, were likewise
among the brothers of Christ, we would have four
Apostles, of whom it is said in John vii. that they did
not beheve. Finally, Mary, it should be remembered,
is called the mother of James and Joses only, but
never the m.other of Sunon and Jude, the other two
brothers of Jesus, and both of them supposed to have
been Apostles, which Joses was not. It is nowhere
intimated that she had more sons than two, or any
daughters at all ; and even from her two sons, one,
Joses, must be exenii^t from being a namesake, since
Joseph, and not Joses, according to the con-ect
reading, in Mu,tt. xiii. 55, is the second brother of
Christ.
Dr. Lange, it is true, avoids some of these dif-
ficulties by giving up the sisterhood of the two Marys,
and assuming in its place the brotherhood of Clopas,
or Alphfeus, and Joseph,* as the basis of the cousin-
ship of their sons, and calling to his aid the addi-
tional hypothesis of the early death of Alphseus and
the adoption of his children into the holy family, —
but all this v.ithout a shadow of exegetical proof.
The absence of all allusion in the Evangelists to
Mary, the real and still living mother of these chil-
dren, when they are collectively mentioned, is a sur-
prising fact, which speaks as strongly against Lange's
hypothesis as against the older and usual form of the
cousin-theory.
10. We conclude, therefore, that the strict gram-
matical explanation of the term brothers and sisiers
of Christ, though not without difficulties, is still far
more easy and natural than the explanation which
makes them mere cousms.
But from the exegetical data of the New Testa-
ment we are still at Uberty to choose between two
views :
(a) The brothers of Jesus were younger children
of Joseph and Mar I/, and hence His uterine brothcr.s,
though in fact only half-brothers, since He had no
human father, and was conceived by the Holy Spirit
over=;hadowing the Blessed Virgin. This view may be
supported by the ea> s and the tt^wto to/cos in Matt.
i. 25 and Luke ii. V, and has been adopted by Ter-
tulliau, Helvidius, and many modem Protestant di-
vines of (xermany, as Herder, Neander, Winer, Meyer,
Wieseler, Rothe, Stier, and by a few English divines,
Alford (on Matt. xiii. 55), T. W. Farrar (in W. Smith's
Diilionari/ of the Bible, vol. i., p. 231), and, though
not decidedly, by Andiews {Life of our Lord, p. 114).
This view of the case is the most natural, and would
probably be taken by a majority of commentators,
if it were not from the scruples arising from the long
and widely cherished doctrine of the perpetual vir-
ginity of Mary. Once clearly and fully estabhshed
on the testimony of Scripture and history, this theory
would give a powerful polemical weapon into the
* Ileprsippus, in Eusebius' H. E. iii. 11, comp. iv. 22, as-
serts, that Clopas was liic brother of Joseph, but it does not
afipear whether he uses the term brollior strictly, or for
brother-in-law.
260
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
hands of Protestants, ;md deslioy by one fatal blow
one of the strongest pillars of Itomish Mariology and
Mariolatry, and the ascetic overestimate of the state
of celibacy. But the case is by no means so clear at
the present state of the controversy that we could avail
ourselves of this advantage ; and Protestants them-
selves, as already remarked, differ in their views, or
i'eelings, or tastes, concerning the perpetual virginity
of Mary.
(h) The brothers of Jesus were older son.'t of Jo-
seph from a. former marriage, and thus in the eyes of
the law and before the world, though not by blood,
brothers and sisters of Christ. This view has the
doctrinal advantage of leaving the perpetual virginity
of Mary untouched. It seems, moreover, to have
been the oldest, and was held not only among the
Ebionites, and in the pseudo-apostolical constitution,
but by several early fathers, as Origen, Eusebius (who
calls James of Jerusalem a " son of Joseph," but no-
where of Mary), Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria,
Epiphanius (who even mentions the supposed order of
birth of the four sons and two daughters). Hilar)',
Ambrose, etc.* It is equally consistent with the Scrip-
ture data on the subject as the other alternative, and
in some respects even more so. For it agrees better
witii the apparent difference of age between Joseph
(who early disapjiears in the gospel history) and Mary,
and especially witli the patronizing and presumptuous
air of the brothers of Christ, when they sought an inter-
view with Him at a particular crisis (Matt. xii. 46), and
when they boldly dared to suggest to Him a more
expeditious and ostentatious Messianic policy (John
vii. 3-10). This is at least more readily explained,
if they were older according to the flesh ; while on
the other theory some of them must have been al-
most too young to figure so prominently in the gos-
pel history. It is true, they are nowhei-e called sons
of Joseph ;\ but neither are they called sons ofj/ar)/.
The reason in both cases must be found in the fact,
that Christ is the great central figure in the Gospels,
round which all others move. — P. S.]
DOCTEIKAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In this narrative the Evangelist sets before us
the circumstances under which the sufferings of our
High Priest were introduced — by successive rejections
of His person and claims. This in all probability in-
duced him to relate in this connection that Christ was
rejected even in His own city. But the historian
drops a veil over the particulars an'' circumstances
of His rejection. Nazareth adjoined Matthew's na-
tive city, and, perhaps, lay even within the district
of his home.
2. On the fact that our Lord had no uterine bro-
thers or sisters, comp. my Leben Jesu, ii. 1, p. 139
sqq. To our mind, there seems nothing offensive in
the idea, that Joseph and Mary lived on conjugal
terms ; :[: but it appears to us inconceivable that the
* See the quotations in my book on James, p. 80 sqq.
Cbrysostom may also be incluiled in this class; at least he
clearly separates the brothers of Christ from the apostles, for
the reason that they were for a long time unbelievers (Hom.
V. in Matt.).
t Eusebiu.s, however, H. E. ii. 1, calls James of Jerusa-
lem a "son of Joseph."
X [In this point Langre differs from the view of the Greek
and Latin Churches, which deny every conjugal intercourse
as degrading the character of the holy Virgin, and inconsistent
with her perpetua Yirginitas.— P. S.]
mother of Jesus should afterv.'ard have given birth
to other children. Besides, the brothers of the Lord
are introduced as speaking and acting hke persons
who claim to have more enlarged experience than
Jesus, or, as we infer, as His seniors.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The (question : " Is not this the carpenter'' s son? "
or prejudice. — How the people of Nazareth condemn-
ed themselves, while Imagining that they judged Je-
sus.— How they unconsciously verified the exclama-
tion of Nathanael : " Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth?" — How every prejudice against Chris-
tianity contains the germ of its own condemnation.
For, 1. it evidences a want of proper faith, (a) in the
power of God, (6) in humanity, (c) in the miracles of
history, (rf) in the deeper recesses of our own inner
life ; 2. and yet even iirejudice must confess that the
wisdom and the works of Christ are most mysterious
and inexplicable. Hence such persons readily have
i-ecourse to lying and hostile criticisms. — The offence
of the people of Nazareth on account of the humble
origin of the Lord, a picture of all other offences in
Him. 1. An offence, (a) in His terrestrial state and
existence ; (h) in His human lowhness ; (c) in His
brothers and sisters with their human weaknesses.
2. Yet an offence which will leave us self-condemned,
since it implies an admission of His wisdom and of
His deeds. 3. A most fatal offence, since unbelief
deprives us of the blessings of Christ's wondrous
works. — The saying of Christ, ".4 propliet is not
without honor, save in his own country, and in his own
house:" 1. As an extenuation; 2. as a reproof. —
Jesus rejected by His own city. — The rejection of
Jesus in Nazareth a prelude to His rejection by
the people. — Nazareth, so poor, yet casting out the
Lord of glory : 1. Nazareth in Galilee ; 2. the land
of Judea so poor ; 8. the earth so poor. — The inmost
characteristic of tmbelief is, that it implies contempt
of our own being and higher nature. — Whenever we
read that the Lord " could not do," or else that He
" knew not," the circumstancco connected with it
show that it was not from weakness or ignorance, but
that His infinite power and wisdom were controlled
and limited by supreme love and faithfulness. —
How the King gradually merged into the High
Priest.
[Matt. Henry : — ^Ver. 58. Unbelief is the great ob-
struction to Christ's favor. — If mighty works are not
wrought in us, it is not for want of power or grace in
Christ, but for want of faith in us. — P. S.]
Starke : — Caiistein : Jesus is in truth the son of
the carpenter ; but of that Carpenter who made hea-
ven and earth. — Ungrounded prejudices are too often
obstacles in the way of faith, John vii. 40-42. —
Jerome : Naturale propemodxmi est cives civibus inn
videre. — Homines familiaria contemnere, peregrina
exosculari et in admiratione ac pretio habere solent.*
Gerlach : — Carnal men look at the outward ap-
pearance ; and this state of mind repels them from
the Son of God, appearing in the form of a servant.
Heubner : — Jesus does not force His love or His
blessings upon us. — Pride brings its own punishment.
(Of this, history furnishes ample confinnation.)
* [Comp. the proverbs: "Familiarity breeds contempt;"
"Distance lends enchantment to the view;" '■'■ Es ist 7iichi
tceit her " (It is not far oil).— P. S.]
CHAP. XIV. 1-13.
261
B. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF AS THE HIGH PRIEST IX HIS SUFFERINGS; BEING
REJECTED BY THE POLITICAL DESPOTISM OF HEROD, THE RULER OF GALILEE.
Chaptek XIV. 1-33 (xMark vi. 14^56; Luke ix. 7-17; John vi. 1-21).
Contents: — Jesus -withdraws Himself from the court of Herod Antipas, M'ho had just murdered John the Baptist. Th€
priestly realm of the Lord iu the desert among the poor people ; or, the first miraculous feeding of the multitude.
Priestly sway of the Lord amid the terrors of the night at sea.
1. Retirement oftlie Lord from the vicinity of Herod. Cii. XIV. 1-13.
1, 2 At that time Herod the tetrarch lieard of the fame of Jesus, And said mito his ser-
vants. This is John the Baptist ; he is risen from the dead ; and therefore mighty works
3 do shew forth- themselves in hun.^ For Herod had laid hold on John, and bomid him,
and put him [out of the way] ^ in prison for Herodias' sake,^ his brother Philip's^
4, 5 wife. For John said unto him. It is not lawful for thee to have her. And Avlien he
would have put him to death, he feared* the multitude, because they counted [held]
6 him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept,® the daughter of Herodias
7 danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to
8 give her whatsoever she woidd [should] ask. And she, being before instructed of [led
on b}'] ' her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger [platter].^
9 And the king was sorry :^ nevertheless [but] for the oath's sake, and them which sat
10 [that reclined] with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent, and
13
beheaded John in the prison. And his head was brought iu a charger [platter], and
given to the damsel : and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came, and
took up the bodj','" and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
AVhen Jesus heard of it, he departed [withdrew from, dve^wpT/crev] thence by ship
into a desert place apart : and when the people had heard thereof they followed him on
foot out of the cities.
' Ver. 2. — [Ai ^uvolll^is (uepyovaiv ev avTa>; Lange : dar^im. wnlten die Wiinderkrufte in ihm ; Ewald: desswe-
gen wirken die IleilmCivMe in ihm ; J. Wesley : Tlicrefore these mighty jxywers exert themnelves in him ; Green (Gram,
of the N. T., p. 151) : The Spiritual Powers are active in him ; Conant and the revised N. T. of the Am. Bible Union :
therefore do these powers work in hitn. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 3.— Lachmann : awfOeru, after Ood. B. So also Origen twice. [Cod. Sinait. sustains the more expressive read-
ing et> (pvKaKfi dTT edero instead of t6ero eV (bv\. — P. 8.]
^ Ver. 3.—' [Conant and the N. T. of the A. B. U. more smoothly : for the sake of Herodias.— P. 8.]
* Ver. 3. — ^iK'tTTTrou is wanting in Cod. D., Vulg., etc. Meyer regards it as an insertion from Mark.
6 Ver. 5. — [Lange: er war willens (ge-eigt) ihn zu ibdien^farchtete »ich aher, etc. Conant and the N. T. of the A.
B. U. : and he desired {bi\cav) to put him to death, hut feared {i(i)o PvO tj). — P. S]
^ Ver. 0. — ^Lachmann, Tischendorf: yeuecrinis 5e -/(i/ofxeuois, after B., D., Z. [Cod. Sinait. sustains this
reading for the received reading: -YeveiTiuv Se ayo/nevajv. — P. 8.]
' Ver. 8.— [Lange translates v pa P i^arrB elrr a: hearieilet von; Luther: zngerichtet; de Wette : hewogen;
Slier: angestiftet; Meyer: gefordert, d.azu gehracht; Ew.ild still stronger: avfge-sUichelt. Conant: "The verb
■Kpo&iBiC^tv means to lead forioard, to lend on, the only use of irpn in this compound. The error of the English vernac-
ular Bible originated in the Vulgate xaaA&ria'^ ijrmmonita. Margin of the Bishop.s' Bible: ' Or enticed, or induced.'"
* Ver. 8. — [Tyndale, Coverd.aIe, Cranmer, Genevan, and the Bi.shop.s' Bible, all correctly render e5r! vlvaKi:
in a platter (a large, shallow dish), for which the translators of King James sub.stituted: in a charger, which also means
a large dish, but now more commonly a horse used in battle. Wiclif and the Eheims Vers, have: in a dish, the Lat. Vulg. :
ill disco.— v. S]
» Ver. 9.— The reading: iKvr-rjd'/) is not quite suie. Laohmann and Tischendorf [also Tregelles and Alford] read
with B., T>., etc. : X u 7r 77 0 e i s . [But this does not affect the sense, nor the English rendering. — P. 8.]
"> Ver. 12. — Laohmann, after the oldest authorities, reads : tttw jxa. [Cod. Sinait. sustains Trroi/ua, corpse, against
the usual crui/xa, liodi/.—V. 8]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Chronological Arrangement. — The offence which
Christ had experienced in His own citt/ is followed by
another offence on the part of His sovereign. This
may have been another practical reason why Matthew
records in this connection what had taken place on
a former occasion. The chronological succession of
events appears from Jolin vi. 1. After the return
of Jesus from the festival of Purim, He passed over
the Sea of Galilee, as it would seem near Tiberias.
Evidently the feeding of the multitude, here record-
ed, was the first occasion of that kind ; the circura-
stances are the same as in John — five loaves, two
262
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
fishes, five thousand people, twelve baskets full of
fragments ; — the narrative being followed in both
Gospels by an account of Christ's walking on the sea.
On the other hand, Luke reports the return of the
Apostles (Luke ix. 10), after having recorded that
Ik-rod had wished to see Jesus. Christ, however,
withdraws with His disciples into the wilderness near
Bethsaida (on the other side of tlie lake). There
the miraculous feeding of the multitude took place.
Mark records in the same manner and connection
the motive for His passage across the sea, as also
His feeding the multitude and walking on the wa-
ters. From all this we conclude that this event took
place at the time when Jesus again met His disciples
in Galilee, on His return from the visit to Jerusalem,
which closed with His last missionaiy journey through
Galilee. On the other hand, Matthew, xi. 12, 13,
represents the Saviour as again going .iboutwith His
disciples.
Ver. 1. Herod Antipas {'Avt i-n as = 'A I'r l-
TT o T p 0 s), the son of Herod the ( jreat and of Mal-
thace, a Samaritan. In his testament, Herod had
appointed him tctrarch of Galilee and Perpea. Anti-
pas entered into a secret contract of marriage with
Herodias, the daughter of Aristobulus, his half-bro-
ther, and the wife of another half-brother, Herod
Philippus ; and in consequence repudiated his lawful
wife, the daughter of Aretas, long of Arabia. Are-
las declared vrar and conquered Herod ; but was pre-
vented by the Romans from following up his victory.
From motives of ambition, Herodias persuaded her
weak and indolent husband to repair to Rome, after
the accession of Caligula, in order to secure lor him-
self the title of king, which had been previously ob-
tained by Herod Agrippa, the nephew of Antipater
(Jos. Aritiq. 18, 7, 1). But, on the accusation of
Agrippa, Antipater w.is deposed by the emperor, and
banished to Lyons, where Herodias, his wife, followed
him. He died in Spaiu, whither probably he was af-
terward transported. From the first, Herod was a
light-minded, unreliable, prodigal, and luxurious
prince ; hence also he proved superstitious and cun-
ning (Luke xiii. 32 ; Mai'k viii. 15), and on certain
occasions, either from folly or weakness, utterly
heartless, cruel, and callous (see the history of the
Passion). Jewish tradition likeivise represents him
in an unfavorable fight. Herod Philippus, the son
of a high priest's daughter, was disinherited by his
father, and Uved as a private citizen. He must not
be confounded with PhiUp the tetrarch. According
to Jerome {Contra Rv.fin. iii. 42), Herodias vented
her fury even against the dead body of John the
Baptist. The daughter of Herodias here spoken of
was by the first marriage; her name was Salome
(Jos. Antiq. 18, .5, 4). — On the title rerpdpxvh
comp. Bretschneider, Lexicon. The term tetrarch,
or ruler over a fourth part of the country, is here
used in a general sense, and as equivalent to eth-
narch. Properly speaking, Herod was a triarch.
See ch. ii.
At that time. — The sovereign over the country
of Jesus seems now to have heard of Him for the
first tune. Grotius suggests that Antipater had only
returned from Rome ; Baronius, that he had been
engaged in war with Aretas. In our view of the
matter, the tetrarch had been wholly absorbed by
the pleasures and the foUies of his court, until, as his
conscience became aroused, he began to bestow more
attention upon such events and tidings. However, it
is probable that at the time when Jesus went through
the Tarious cities along the Sea of Galilee, Antipater
had resided at Macha^rus, which was at some distance
from the scene of Ihe Saviour's preaching.
Vcr. 2. Unto his servants, — or "slaves, viz.,
his courtiers. An Oriental mode of expre.'iKioii.
This is John the Baptist. — It has sometimes
been argued that Herod was a Sadducee, partly on
the ground of a mistaken combination of Mark viii.
15 with Matt. xvi. 6 (the expression in the one pas-
sage being, "the leaven of Herod," in the other,,
" the leaven of tlie Sadducoes "), and partly from
the notion, now exploded, that the Sadducees were
immoral libertines. But then the difiieulty naturally
arose, how he could in that case have befieved in the
resurrection of the dead. Wetstein suggests that an
evil conscience hud awakened in his breast doubts
and fears on this subject ; while Meyey infers from
the passage that he had not been a Sadducee. Still
more unsatisfactory is the explanation offered by Gro-
tius, and others, that Herod had referred to the trans-
migration of souls, as the monarch distinctly speaks
of [he resurrection of John. The Jews never serious-
ly entertained such a doctrhie, although it has some-
times been imputed to the Pharisees. In our opin-
ion, Herod was neither a Pharisee nor a Sadducee
by conviction, although he was identified with the
latter party, chiefly, perhaps, from tendencies shared
by the whole of his family. In this view of the case,
it is quite conceivable that he should have spoken
under the influence of a conscience roused and quick-
ened by siTjjerstitious fears, and that all the more
readily, that the people generally, and even the court-
iers of Herod, seem at that time to have been specu-
lating upon, and discussmg the character and mission
of Jesus. The rejection of the Pharisees must to a
certain extent have counteracted the pubfic testi-
mony borne to Jesus. Hence some said that He was
Elijah ; others, that He was one of the old prophets,
perhaps Jeremiah ; while some broached the idea,
that in Him John the Baptist was risen from the
dead (Luke ix. Y). We may readily suppose that, in
the circumstances, some of the flatterers at court, in
their desire to quiet the fears of their prince, may
have caught at this. Suffice it, Herod immediately
took it up. It might serve various purposes. At
any rate, it implied a kind of denial of the Messiah-
ship of Jesus ; besides, it would diminish his guilt,
accord with his superstitious disposition, flatter his
theological ambition (remember Henry VIII.), and
serve as apology for his desire to see Jesus, Avhich to
some might appear suspicious. Nay, he may even
have given expression to these views in a semi-hypo-
critical manner, as " a fox," Luke xiii. 32. At all
events, a theological curiosity like that of Herod,
and such motives, could only repel the Lord Jesus.
Ver. 4. It is not lawful, Lev. xviii. 16 ; xx. 21.
— Josephus adds, that besides this motive for im-
prisoning John, Hercd was also afraid lest John
should excite a popular tumult {Antiq. 18, 5, 2).
But this apprehension must have originated in the
Baptist's denunciations of his adultery.
Ver. 6. Herod's birth-day. — The anniversary
of his accession to the throne, his kirigly birth ; Ps.
ii. 7; 1 Sam. xiii. 1. Suicer, Thesaurus, i. p. 746;
Vi^ieseler, 293.* — The dativ. ahs. [according to the
true reading] is probably intended to indicate that
the feast was nearing its close ; hence that the guests
were intoxicated, and that the excitement of the
* [The word yevicria may just as well be takcu m the
usual sense, birthday, as is doue by Meyer. See his refer*
ences i7i loc.—V. S, ]
CHAP. XIV. 1-18.
263
scene offered the most favorable opportunity for ac-
complishing the Satanic purpose of llerodias.
Danced before them. — The dance of Salome
was, " without doubt, mimic, and probably voluplu-
ous. Hor. Od. 3, 6, '21." [Meyer.] The po-jr girl
was on the mother's side a grandchil 1 of Ma.iamne,
the Asmonean princess. Her dauciuj; was a crime
not only against the Baptist, but also against Philip
her owni fother. To engage in a profane dance, and
that, as the test has it, < v t w ju e j- <f — in the raidst,
referring probably not merely to the banqueting-hall,
but to the circle of spectators which formed around
her — was to forget even the decency and decorum of
a Jewish maid,
Vcr. S. Bat she being prepared {wrought i<pon,
lei on) by her mother. — Meyer: '■'■ir po^ifia-
n-Qilaa., induced, instigated, not instructed." But
the verb includes the idea of instructing along v/ilh
that of training and determining. In the present
instance, not merely was moral resistance overcome,
but, evidently, cunning and detailed instructions
had been given. Every one of the expressions used
by her points to the determination of taking Herod
by surprise.
Ver. 9. And the king was sorry. — This is not
incompatible with ver. 5. Herodias had on former
occasions sought to kill the Baptist. (Lachmann,
following Cod. C. and others, reads f C'Rei in Mark
vi. 1V>.) But Herod (infiueaeed by her) was mere-
ly willing, or inclined toward it (9 * A w y ; the word
eiKeiv is frequently applied to inclination, where as
yet there is no decision). Two opposite motives
kept liiiu in a state of hidecision. On the one
hand, he was urged on by the rancor of Herodias ;
while, on the other, he was kept back by fear of the
people. Nor was his sorrow merely caused by a
sudden call of conscience ; he was startled by this
terrible demand, made in so daring and ghastly a
manner, which awakened him all at once from in-
toxication to full consciousness of the important po-
litical consequences of this act.
Per the sake of the oath. — An instance of
smful performance of an oath (Meyer). But the re-
mark about them that reclined with him at ta-
ble is significant. Two elements besides his oath
seem to have determined him — his princely honor,
and tlie hatred of the court to the Baptist. In all
this fashionable throng, no angel's voice was heard
onbehalf of John.
Yer. 11. And his head was brought in a
platter. — The narrative seems to imply that the
head of the Baptist was brought while the feast still
lasted. This circumstance, however, suggests the
place where the banquet was held. If Herod had
been at Tiberias, his usual residence, the messengers
would have required two days to execute their com-
mission. Fritzsche assumes that Herod was at the
time actually at Tiberias, and concludes that the nar-
rative must be incorrect in this particular. Follow-
ing the opinion of Maldonatus, Grotius, and others,
Meyer holds that the feast had taken place in Ma-
chccrus itself. According to Hug and Wieseler,
it was celebrated at Julias or Livias, another place
of residence of Antipas, situate not far from Machse-
rus, in the mountains on the eastern side of the Dead
Sea. This view seems to us to have most in its fa-
vor. Not only was there a royal palace at Livias,
but the narrative, more especially in Mark, conveys
the impression that the messengers of- Herod were
despatched to some distance.
Ver. 12. And went and told Jesus. — An evi-
dence that the faith of the Baptist had been entirely
re-estabUshed by his embassy to Jesus, and that it
had also served to attach the disciples of John to tho
pei'son of the Saviour — a bond further strengthened
by tlie death of their master. However, some of
Jolin's disciples may have taken offence when Christ
still persevered in His course of endurance and sub-
mission ; and tliis may have driven them into the an-
tagonism which afterward issued in the formation of
a separate sect. The execution of the Baptist took
place shortly before Easter, in the year 782 (John
vi. 4). When in the summer of the year 781 Jesus
returned from Judea to Galilee, John was at ^Enon,
near Salim, in the midst of his ministerial activity.
But M'hcn, toward the month of Adar (about March)
of the year 782, Christ journeyed to Jerusalem to at-
tend the festival of Purhu, John had been already
for some time confined to prison. Accordingly, we
infer that his imprisonment must have taken place
during the autumn of the year 781, and that he was
confined I'jr fully half a year. Thus his active life
was somcAvhat shorter than that of the Lord. While
the operations of Christ gradually extended from Ga-
lilee to Juuoa, the reverse was the case with those
of the Biiptist. Commencing his work in the wilder-
ness of Judah, he gradually'passed through the lower
valley of tiie Jordan to Salim and yEnon, John iii. 23,
and lastly to the court of Herod. And as the Lord
met death at Jerusalem, so His forerunner at. the
court of the ruler of Galilee.
Ver. 13. When Jesus heard of this. — Refer-
ring in the first instance to the tidings brought by the
disciples of John. Besides, we must not overlook,
as an additional motive for Christ's departiu'c, the
impression produced by these tidings upon the disci-
ples. No doubt the Apostles, us well as the disciples
of John, were deeply moved by t'ne news of the Bap-
tist's execution. The enthusiasm with which they
had returned from their first mission had in great
measure given place to depression. This seems to
be implie.i in the language of Mark : " Come ye your-
selves apart, and rest a Avhile." Luke conveys the
impression that Antipa^; v/as tiiking measures to bring
about an interview with Jesus. This determined
Christ i;i:!rr'';,,ii i^ to leave the place where He then
was — pi'd' ii'ily '."I'lijrias, whiiher Antipas may in the
interval h^!,vu returned. The motives of the Saviour
were, moral abhorrence and distrust of Herod, and
the necessity of restoring the disciples to a right state
of feeling — the more so, that Judas was in his heart
already forsakmg the cause of the gospel. On the
eastern shore of the lake, and in the wilderness, He
and they were safe under the mild sway of Philip, the
only one of Herod's sons who deserved the name of
a good prince. {See the article in the Encyclops.)
Into a desert place apart. — According to Luke
ix. 10, in Gaulonitis, near the easiern Bethsaida. In
the dominions of Philip, Jesus found a safe retreat,
where His followers might recover their tone of mind,
and prepare for going tbrth anew.
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. On three different occasions was the Lord re-
pelled by the duplicity and utter want of all charac-
ter in Herod. On the occasion just considered, this
prince was anxious for an interview, partly from po-
litical motives, and partly from superstitious curiosi-
ty, in the hope of thereby assuaging the voice of
conscience. Again, shortly before the Saviour for
264
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the last time left Galilee, Herod conveyed to Him by
a third [)arty a threat, for the purpose of inducing Him
immediately to quit his territory (Luke xiii. 31). Last-
ly, on the day of Christ's final sufierings we mark the
same bold and carnal intrusiveness, inducing him to
ask for signs and miracles — demands which the Sa-
viour met with unbroken silence, Luke xxiii. 8. Thus
Antipas may be designated as the representative of
that class with whom the Saviour enters upon no
terms, — whom He avoids when they flatter, rebukes
when they threaten, and at last punishes by complete
silence. Again, we may learn from the case of An-
tipas, the sad upshot of a d'lsposition to be interested
in., and patronizingly to condesceiid to., ilie gospel,
which characterizes the relation of so many supersti-
tious worldlings toward that which is holy.
2. Herod seems to have been inclined to bestow
on the Lord the vacant place of honor formerly oc-
cupied by John at his court (conip. Mark vi. 20).
But Christ treats the execution of the prophet as aim-
ed against Himself. And so it really was. After all,
every true martyrdom is the martyrdom of Christ in
the world.
3. Besides the two elements already adverted to
— the Lord's independence of all worldly pomp and
His wisdom — we may also notice m this history both
the faithfulness of John's disciples, and the earnest-
ness of the poor people who followed Him on foot
out of all their cities.
4. It is a strange fact that the marriage offences
in the families of princes during the Middle Ages ap-
pear to have been partly an heir-loom of the Cru-
sades, and thus to point back to the Arabs and to
Hagar. The Idumeans were a race kindred to the
Arabs. The history of the family of Herod is full
of such oliences. Nor can we fail to perceive the in-
creased importance attaching to such sins in the case
of princes, though, in general, the family must ever
be regarded as the root of the state.
5. The vows of Herod. Sinful vows must be re-
pented of. Gossner : God would rather have us
break our word than His word.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
How the great of this world stand affected toward
the message concerning the works of Jesus : 1. It
is late of reaching them ; 2. it is ill understood ; 3.
it is wrongly interpreted. — Herod Antipas the figure
of a weak despotism, as Herod the Great was of a
strong tyranny. 1. Wherein they agree: In their
contempt of men, selfishness, want of feeling, cun-
ning, and affectation of intellectual and spiritual as-
pirations. 2. Wherein they differ: In the case
of strong despots, pride and cruelty are foremost, and
voluptuousness only secondary ; while the reverse
is the case with weak tyrants. — How a Herod seeks
to appease his conscience: 1. By superstition; 2.
by theological pretensions ; 8. by an affectation of
interest in spiritual achievements. — How supersti-
tion and the service of sin support and minister to
each other. — Sketch of a demorahzed court : 1. Hy-
pocritical religiosity ; 2. dissolute manners and mar-
riage scandals ; 3. a poor statecraft ; 4. luxurious
festivities ; 5. bloody donations and payments. — Sad
portraiture of the world and its pomp : 1. Its religion
and its theology ; 2. its pretended liberty and its
love : 3. its works and its feasts ; 4. its interest in
the Beautiful and its art; 5. its oaths and its scrupu-
lous honor. — Bloody marriages connected with the
history of martyrs (Ahab, Herod, etc.*). — The feast
of Herod viewed in the light of his reign. — The
festivities of worldliness. — The character of Herod.
— Herodias. — The courtiers. — The flattery and deceit
of the fashionable world. — How the tempter watches
for the moment of our intoxication. — Cordial agree-
ment between the wicked both at the beheading of
John and at the crucifixion of Christ. — The sorrow
of Herod, and the fear of Pilate. — How they both
thought themselves excused. — Salome; or, awful
lessons given by a mother. — Art in the service of sin.
— The oath of Herod ; or, how he wishes to be con-
scientious in his own way. — The courage and faith-
fulness of John the Baptist. — Becoming, modest,
and yet firm and faithful manner, in which the Bap-
tist reproved the sin of Herod. — Faithful unto the end.
— Different estimate attaching to the blood of proph-
ets : 1. In the sight of the v/icked, and of their blind
instruments ; 2. of vain people ; 3. of faithful disciples ;
4. of the Lord Himself. — Bloody presents of tyrants
and of enemies of the truth. — How the sufferings of
the saints often sei-ve to efface both their disappoint-
ments and their weaknesses. — How the Lord applied
as to Himself the death of John. — How in reahty
it was Christ's death which was encompassed. —
Christ suffering in His martyrs. — How moral ab-
horrence drives the Lord across the wide sea, and
far into the wilderness. — Conduct of Jesus toward
Antipas. — The decease of John a prelude to that
of Christ. — Comparison between the end of John and
that of Christ: l.'The one long confined, the other
suddenly carried away; 2. in the one case the se-
crecy of the prison ; in the other, the concourse of
the people at Golgotha; 3. the one beheaded, the
other crucified, etc, — Blessing of good princes in
whose territories believers have often found a ref-
uge.— Safe retreats which the Lord in ancient and in
modern times has prepared for His own. — The ser-
vants of the Lord recovering themselves in retire-
ment.
Starke : — Courts are generally the paradise of
foxes and of flatterers. — Hedingei- : Many an honest
man has paid with his fortune and success, if not
with his life, for the dancing, the flattery, or the
calumnies of a harlot. — A sedate and devout Chris-
tian leaves dancing to goats, calves, and children,
and orders his steps according to the word of God,
and not the directions of the dancing-master. — Incest,
adultery, and unlawful divorce, were combined in
this instance. — Hedlnger : Persecution, reproach, and
death are like daily bread to faithful preachers. —
Great lords may issue their injunctions, but they can-
not annul one of God's commandments. — The ser-
vants of the Lord must bear testimony to the truth,
whatever may befall them in consequence. — /. Hall :
Courage and impartiahty — two very necessary quali-
ties in a preacher. — Zeisbis : There is nothmg m
which courts are more deficient than in preachers of
* [ReTnember also the fearful night of St. Bartholomew,
Aufr. -24, 15T2, and the massacre of the Huguenots in Paris,
atttr llie marriaae of Henry of Navarre with the sister of the
kinfT of France,"to which all the leaders of the French Pro-
testants had been treacherously invited, to be most cruelly
murdered. Pope Gregory XIII., on hearing the news of the
destruction of twenty or thirty thousand Protestants in one
nisht, and the probable destruction of heresy in Prance,
caused a Te deum to be sung in the churches of Eome, and a
medal to be struck in commemoration of this infernal trage-
dy. This approbation is one of the foulest deeds of popery
and one of the darkest spots on the pages of its history, de-
plored and condemned even by many Catholics. Comp.
WAriiLER ; Die Bhithochzeit, Leip., 182S, and the respective
sections in the Histories of the French Pveformation.— P. S.]
CHAP. XrV. 14-21.
265
the truth. — Osiander : The noble and the mighty
too frequently imagine that they are at liberty to
do anything they please, just as if there were no God
in hearen. — What folly to be afraid of man and of
the devil, and not to fear God ! — In the godless, one
affection often restrains another ; so that it is nature,
not grace, which restrains them from many a sin. —
A thoughtless oath. — Contradiction : To swear by
the name of God in the midst of sinful festivities. —
Thoughtless and daring promises. — Curse of patents
who encourage their children to sin. — Cans/eln :
There is nothing so bad or so devilish which an adul-
terous and shameless woman would not undertake
and perform, Pro v. xxiii. 27, 28. — It is the way of the
wicked to prefer their own honor to that of God. —
Hall : It is more difficult to arrest sin in its progress
than to avoid its commencement. — Zeisius : The death
of God's people is precious in His sight, however
grievous the torments which men may inflict on them.
— Abel the first just one under the Old, John under
the New, Testament. — The birthday of Herod to full
shame, that of John to full glory. — Majus : In gen-
eral, harlots are not afraid of shedding blood, and
often murder their own children. — Osiander: The
splendid banquets of the wicked have often a very
sorrowful termination. — True disciples and hearers
will reverence a faithful teacher even after his death.
— Zeisius : Let the bodies of the saints be honorably
committed to the grave : they are the temples of the
Holy Spirit. — Qiicsnel : Let us open our hearts to
Christ. — It is an alleviation of our misery to ha able
to communicate it to friends. — It is an act of friend-
ship to warn another of his danger.
Hcubncr : — Anecdotes on the connection be-
tween unbeHef and superstition ; instances of a bad
conscience, of bold reproof from the pulpit, p. 205-
207. — Courtiers have enough to do to discuss their
worldly affairs. But when tlic kingdom of heaven
spreads among the people, the gTeat of this world
take notice of it, if it were only on account of the
pohtical influence which it may exert. — Frcfiuently,
however, the world takes notice of what passes in
the kingdom of heaven from hostiUty to it, or in or-
der to mock. — The coarser unbelief, the nearer to su-
perstition.— How did Herod come to think of John?
— An uneasy conscience. — An evil conscience sees
terrors everywhere. — A Jezebel could not be scanting
in the history of the second Elijah. — Fear of the peo-
ple often acts as a curb upon despotism. — The fear
of God delivers from that of man. — Worldly festivi-
ties often become the occasion of iniquitous deeds. —
Danger, when mothers try to show off their children.
— Sinful promises can never bo binding. — False am-
bition.— Tyrants are themselves under the most ab-
ject tyranny. — The head of a prophet a spectacle to
gaze on. (" The body of Coliguy was exposed dur-
ing the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and his head
sent to Rome.")
2. The First Mraculous Feedimj. Ch. XTV. 14-21.
] 4 And Jesus [he] ^ went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with com-
15 passion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his [the] * dis-
ciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time [hour, wpa] is now past ;
send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves vic-
IG tnals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
17, 18 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said,
19 Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down [reclme,
(tva.KXiQr]vai\ on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up
to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to Ms [the] disciples, and the
20 disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat [all ate],^ and were filled : and they
21 took up of the fragments that remained twelve [travelling-] baskets full. And they
that had eaten [ate] * were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
1 Ver. 14.— 'Itjo-oDs is wanting in Codd. B., C, etc., as also in ver. 22 [and ver. 25]. Probably in both [all] cases
inserted from the beginning of Scripture-lessons. [So Meyer. Cod. Sinait. likewise omits 'iTjtroCr in vers. 14, 22, and 25
-P. S.]
2 Ver. 15.— [The critical editions omit avrov after oi /xadriTat. Lange, however, translates : '•«}««. lunger," and
takes no notice of this ditference of reading.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 20.— [■'E 0 07 0 1/ TravTis, lit: they all ate. It is the simple p:i.st tense, while the C. Vers. : did all eat
Is in niodf-rn English an omphalic expression, the auxiliary did implying a doubt or denial of the foot.— P. S.]
< Ver. 21.— [Lit. : the persofis eating, oi 5e icreiovres. The present participle means the time present, as
usual, but with reference to a past act of numbering the persons fed.— P. S.]
EXEGETia\X AND CPJTICAL.
Ver. 14. And when He went forth, e | e A -
dti V . — According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
Christ had gone tU fpTi/xoi/ tuttqv kqt' ioiav ; accord-
ing to John, also els r6 tjpo's. He now went forth
upon the ground covered by the multitudes who had
followed Him ; and, moved with compassion. His first
occupation was again to heal tlieir sick.
Ver. 1 5. And when it was evening, ' o^las
5e y fuofxi vris . — " This refers to the Jirst evening,
which lasted from the ninth to the twelfth hour of
the day [according to the Jewish mode of counting
from sunrise to sunset] ; while ver. 23 refers to the
second evening, which commenced at the twelfth hour
266
'Ih'E GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTUEW.
[at six o'clock P. M.]. Sec the word -"j::: in Gcsen.
Lex." Jleyer.
The hour is now past. — Fi itzsche and Kiiufler :
tempus opportunum^ sc. dhserardi et sanandi. — De
Wette, Meyer : Tlie day-time. Why not more defi-
nitely, in view of what follows : the hour of the even-
ing meal? — De Vr'etle and Meyer have erroneously
supposed that the account of this event, as recorded
by John, where Jesus Himself is represented as in-
troducing the qut-ition as to the bread, is incompat-
ible with the narrative in the otlier gospels. But as
John evidently intended to relate merely the fact of
the miraculous feeding, we must not press his words
as if he meant that the Saviour had put this question
when first beholding the people. According to the
account in John, it was a lad who had the five loaves
and the tv/o fishes.
Ver. IS. To recline on the grass. — In Pales-
tine, spring commences in the middle of February.
If, therefore, the festival of Purim occurred that year
on the 19th of March, the miraculous feeding must
have taken place in the second half of March, or
during the middle of spring in the holy land.
[Green grass (eTt t&5 x^^PV X"P'''Vj ^^ Mark vi.
39 has it), or pasture, which, according to John vi.
10, abounded in that region, was a delightful resting-
place at that season of the year in Palestine. Mark
adds a graphic touch concerning the manner in which
the Saviour commaaiie.i the multitude to recline on
the pasture ground, vi/,., in ranks (better, by par-
ties, or in groups, Greek : irpamai, Trpaaial = areo-
latim, in square garden plots), by hundreds, and
by fifties (vi. 40; comp. Luke ix. 14 : '■'■ by fifties,
in a company "). They probably formed two semi-
circles, an outer semicircle of thirty hundreds, and
an inner semicircle of forty fifties. This was a wise,
symmetrical arrangement, which avoided all confu-
sion, and facilitated an easy and just distribution
of the food among all classes by the disciples. — P.
S.]
Ver. 19. He took the five loaves. — Baked ac-
cording to Jewish fashion ; bread-cakes, in the shape
of a plate. i
He blessed.— Literally, lie gavepraise, evAoyn-
<T €. John expresses it : eux^P'^'^'Vay. Luke uses the
terms €u\uyr](rev avrovi, indicating the consecration of
the bread, as in the Eucharist, 1 Cor. x. 16. "Accord-
ing to Jewish custom, at the commencement of every
meal the head of the house gave thanks while he
broke bread. This prayer was called ' a blessing.' "
According to Mark, the disciples distributed the
bread among the people, who were arranged in
groups, Mark vi. 40.
Ver. 20. Of the fragments. — Broken pieces,* not
crumbs. [Olshausen: Vfith the God of nature, as
with nature herself, the most prodigal bounty goes
hand in hand with the nicest and exactest economy.
This notice of the Evangelist is an additional mark
of the truthfulness of the narrative, and the divine
character of the miracle. The gathering of the frag-
ments was also for the purpose of impressing the
miracle more vividly on the memory, and perpetuat-
ing its effect, as well as for teaching a lesson of econ-
omy.—P. S.]
Twelve travelling-baskets full, ,c6(piuoi.—
The number twelve seems to refer to that of the Apos-
tles, although it by no means implies that the bas-
kets belonged to them. The Apostles gathered these
* [KXacr/xara from KXdoi, to ireaJc, as fragments
immfrango, Bruahstucke from hreclien.—V. S.]
fragments, when each brought his basket full. At
the second miraculous feeding, the seven baskets are
called (TTT V p 1 S e s , the term employed for the round
plaited baskets commonly used for bread and for
fishes. De Wette : " The narrative clearly conveys
the fact, that more fragments were left than would
have constituted the five leaves. Paulus [the ration-
alist] attempts to paraphrase the language of the
text : ' they took there twelve baskets full.' Of course,
that would destroy the miraculous character of the
event. But this clumsy device may now be regard-
ed as only a historical curiosity."
Ver. 21. And they that had eaten. — As the
feast of Passover was at hand, the people had already
collected in larger numbers.
General Remarks. 1. On the relation of this
miracle to the other miraculous feeding related in oh.
XV. 32. — The critical conjecture of Schleiermacher,
Strauss, and others, that the first and the second
miraculous feeding were, in reality, two different and
incorrect nai-ratives of one and tlie same event, is
evidently untenable. Irrespective of the confusion
which is presumed to exist in the account of the
Evangelists, even a slight consideration of the differ-
ences in point oftime and circumstances will convince
us of its groundlessness. The provision, the num-
ber of the people, and the fragments left on each
occasion, were entirely dissimilar. Besides, in the
first instance, the miracle was wrought on the even-
ing of the first day; in the secoiid, after the people
had remained for three days with the Saviour. Last-
ly, there is an equal difference bctvi'een the events
which preceded and succeeded each of these miracles.
In the one instance, Jesus had passed over from the
western shore, and the feeding of the multitude was
succeeded by His walking on the sea. In the other
instance, Jesus had arrived at the eastern shore, af-
ter His journey through the Phoenician territory, and
the distiict around the sources of the Jordan, while
the miracle was succeeded by His last conflict with
the Pharisees and Sadducees of Galilee. Again, the
people which were fed on each occasion were, aa
might readily be supposed, those who had just lis-
tened to his teaching, and who followed Him from
the places which He had visited. Accordingly, on
the first occasion they were chiefly gathered from the
cities along the western shore of the lake ; wliile, on
the second, they assembled from the mountains on
the eastern side. Lastly, as the place where the
miracle took place was different, so the time also, —
the first occurring in spring, and the second a con-
siderable tune after Easter, or in summer.
2. The miracle itself. — Different theories on the
subject have been current. 1. It has been attempt-
ed to explain it away : («) By excgetical devices, or
attempts to represent it as a natural event. Thus
Paulus suggests that those who sat doT?n at this meal
were induced by the example of Christ to give up
their provisions, etc. Similarly, Gfrorer, Ammon,
etc. {b) On the mythical theory ; it being supposed
that it v/as an imitation of Old Testament models (Ex.
xvi. ; 1 Kings xvii. 8-16; 2 Kings iv. 1, 42), with
the view of meeting the popular notions concerning
the Messiah (Strauss).* (c) By viewmg it symbolic-
* [In Ids new and more popular work on the Life of Je-
.<:«.«, which has just appeared (Leipzig, 1864, p. 496 sqq.),
Strauss takes tlie same mythical view of tliis miracle, as in
his Iav.<!:er work, and states that the account of the evange-
lists contains no feature which may not be satisfactorily ex-
plained from the Mosaic-prophetic precedent of the twofold
miraculous feeding of Israel in the wilderness (E.\od. xvi.
CHAP. XIV. 14-21.
267
ally* This may be characterized as a combination
of the theory of Paulus with the mythico-poetical
theory of Strauss. It is supposed that, with special
reference to certain analogous passaj-es, a natural
event had assumed in the mind of the Cliurcli a sym-
bolical bearing ; the truth thus conveyed being sim-
ply, that Jesus had broken the bread of life, or the
bread of Christian fellowship (de Wette). {d) By re-
garding it as a parable {i. e., as mythical only so far
as its form is concerned) ; the narrative being sup-
posed to have arisen from what was originally in-
tended as a parable (Weisse). — 2. The miracle has
been fully admitted, but it has been viewed, — (a) as
an abstract miracle, or simply as the result of omni-
potence, no attempt being made to account for it
either in a mental or moral sense ; nay, these inter-
mediate links of connection being intentionally ig-
nored or denied. (6) An attempt has been made to
account for the manner in which the miracle was
brought about by what Olshausen calls a quickening
and acceleratinct of the natural process — an explana-
tion which we frankly confess our inability to under-
stand.! (*■) Christ eifected IJie increase of the pro-
vision rS Aiiyqi Ka\ ri) ei'/Aoyiot (Origen, Meyer).
Everybody admits this ; but the difficulty is, what
we are to understand by the expression ev\6yr]cr€u
avTovs in Luke, (d) We regard it as a concrete and
moral nuniifestation of tlte miracidous poiocr of
Christ. This miraculous feeding may be viewed as
a parallel to the miraculous production of wine at the
marriage in Cana, and both as foreshadowing the
Eucharist. In His capacity as glorified Redeemer,
Christ is here working and acting upon His creatures,
quickening, so to speak, and inflnitely enlarging the
qualities inherent in bread ; wldle, at the same time,
Ho awakens a corresponding disposition in those who
sit down to partake of the meal. It is a heavenly
meal where hearts and minds as well as bodies are
fed, and where the inner man is not dead, or standing
witliout, like a beggar, but where, for the time, all
are treated as members of Jesus in the house of the
Lcrd. Viewed in this light, the increase of quantity
is just the blessing of God the Son, as Creator of the
kingdom of bliss and of love. This explanation, we
venture to say, has not yet been sufficiently under-
stood and appreciated. However, it must not be re-
garded as implying that the result produced was
merely moral and religious. As in the production of
the wine, power went forth from the Logos, by which
earthly water was converted into heavenly wine — real
wine, though not of earthly vintage ; so, in the pres-
ent case also, power went out from Him which in-
creased the natural quality of the bread — enlarged it
— just as, to some extent, the leaven does. Even the
operation of leaven shows that bread is thus capable
and Numb, xi.), and from tbo antitype of tbe Christian eu-
chanst.-l>. S.]
* [Ilase, and de Wctte.l
t [Olshausen's idea of a divinely hastened process of nn-
ture (eiii beHchleunigler Mi(urprooess), by wliicli Cliii.^t
brought about In a niomcnt, what comes to pass by the slow
process of growth in .several months, does not suffice in the
ciiso -without the additional hypothesis of a hastened process
of art {Kanttprocexis), or tli'e combined labor of inowinfj,
reaping, thrfsliini.', grinding, and baking, by which wheat is
ch.".n<;ed int" bread. Nor does the forni of the miracle favor
this attempt to explain the inexplicable. AVe should rather
expect in this case tliat the Saviour had cant a few grains of
wheat into the ground and m.ade them germinate into a rich
harvest at once. But this would have been rather an un-
natural udracle, sucli as the apocryphal Gospel of St. Tho-
mas really ascribes to the child Jesus, at least as regards
the quantity of wheat produced from a single grain for the
benefit of the poor. (Tuilo : Cod. Apocryph., p. 302.)—
P. S.]
of having its powers increased.* Something of this
kind seems to have been present to the miml of Ols-
hausen, who also aptly remarks, that " throughout
the gospel history we never read of any purely crea-
tive work on the part of the Saviour. Just as nature
forms a new creation from the seed, so Christ trans-
forms water into wine, or increases the five loaves ;
but without some substratum He creates neither wine
nor bread. "f In thinking of similar miracles under
the Old Testament, we specially recall to mind the pro-
vision of manna and of quails ; while we regard as a
parallel case what is recorded of Elijah in 1 Kings
xix. 8 : " And he rose, and did eat and drink, and
went in the strength of that meat forty days and
forty nights unto Uorcb the mount of God."
[The English and American interpreters general-
ly pass by in silence, or expressly reject, all attempts
to make this and similar miracles intelligible, and
resort to an act of divine omnipotence on the part
of Hira who was the Eternal Word of God, similar
to the original act of creation, with this difference,
however, that in our case there was a material sub-
stratum to work on in the five loaves and two fishes,
so that it was not a creation out of nothing, but an
act of ci-eative accretion; the bread growing and
multiplying in the hands of Christ (so J. A. Alexan-
der, and Owen), or of the distributing apostles (so
Alford, following Meyer), or of the eaters, or of all,
at all events in such a manner that the whole multi-
tude were abundantly fed, and much more remained
and was gathered in the twelve travelling-baskets,
than the whole original provision. Teexch, Notes
on the Miracles, p. 267 (6th ed., Lond., 1858):
" Here, too, even more remarkably than in the case
of the water changed into wine, when we seek to
realize to ourselves the manner of the miracle, it ever-
more eludes our grasp. We seek in vain to follow
it v/ith our imaginations. . . . But this is the wis-
dom of the sacred narrator, to leave the description
of the indescribable unattempted. His appeal is to
the same faith which believes ' that the worlds were
framed by the Word of God, so that things which
are seen, were not made of things which do appear '
(Hebr. xi. 3)." J. A. Alexander, on Matt. xiv. 21 :
" The greatness of the miracle consists not merely in
the vast increase of nutritive material, but in the na-
ture of the process which eflected it, and which must
be regarded as creative, since it necessarily involves
not merely change of form or quality, or new com-
binations of existing matter, but an absolute addi-
tion to the matter itself. . . . The only rational al-
* [As, indeed, God's creatures should not be viewed as
dead abstractions, but as possessing living powers and prin-
ciples, on which the Creator may breathe, giving them new,
or rather enlarged capacities ; thus working what to the
carnal onlooker' may seem a miracle, in the sense of being
an interference with the course of nature, while the deeper
thinker, or the devout believer, sees iu it only a higher or-
der of nature, the .setting free of qualities and powers,
bound <lown by sin, through the operation of an ever-pres-
ent, .•ilmiiihty, and all-gracious Sovereign.— The Edinb.
Translator.]
+ f Olshausen add.s, however (vol. i., p. 520, in Kendrick's
edition): ''In these remarks 1 refer only to tlje recorded
facts; liow far it is conceivable th.at Christ's miraculous
powers might have been put forth in a di.'lerent form, is an-
other quo.stion. According to the gosjiel history, tlie Sa-
viour constantly api)ears as the restorer of creation. He
creates no new men, but lie tran.sforms the old; He makes
no new bodily members formerly wanting, but He restores
the old that were useless."— But on the other hand He raLsed
tho dead to life, and is literally and truly the Kesurrection
and the Life. Ho brought life and immortality to light.
The regeneration of the Spirit, too, is a new birth, a new
creation, by which we become "now crcitm-es " in Christ
Jesus.- P. S.]
2G8
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ternative is either to refute the overwhelming proof
of authenticity and inspiration, or to accept the pas-
sage as the Htcral record of a genuine creative mir-
acle, the lirst and greatest in the history [is the rais-
ing of L;izarus not efjually great if not greater?], and
therelore ])crhaps fully detailed in all the Gospels."
Even the German commentator H. A. W. Meyer, so
often quoted in this work {Com. on Matt., p. 298 sq.
of the 4th ed.), in view of the unanimous testimony
and circumstantial agreement of the evangelists, fully
admits the miracle, but, in view of its transcendent
creative character, renounces all attempts at a ra-
tional explanation. He derives the interpretations
of Faulus, Strauss, Weisse, de Wette, from a denial
of the possible creative working on dead matter, a
power which is not explained by the heterogeneous
idea of a hastened process of nature (Olshausen), but
■which stands historically so firm, that we must rest
satisfied with its absolute incomprehensibleness {dass
man sick bei der volUgen Unbegreiflichkeit dieser
moc/Ucfien schop/erischen E'mwirkung heruhigen muss,
auf Veransclmulichung dcs Processes durch tiatiir-
liche Analogieen verzicMend). But compare the for-
cible second doctrinal reflection of Dr. Lange, which
foUows.— P. S.]
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The holy feast spread in the wilderness for the
upbuilding of the spiritual Israel is evidently intend-
ed as a contrast to the bloody festivities enacted in
the palace of Herod, which may be said to have ac-
celerated the ruin of the nation. Here, the curse of
sin destroys the enjoyment of the choicest gifts, and
the guests at the rich banqueting table are still thirst-
ing for the blood of the prophet. There, heaven's
blessing converts a few barley loaves and fishes into
a spiritual feast. Thus the holy desert realm of
Christ rises in all its beauty and majesty by the side
of the crumbling kingdom of the old world, sinking
through moral decay. Israel in the wilderness, fed
by the manna, may be regarded as the Old Testament
type of this history ; — as its counterpart, David in
the wilderness and in the cave of Adullam, when all
■who were distressed gathered around him. There is
the same contrast, as here, between Saul the perse-
cuting tyrant, and David the anointed of the Lord, —
only the excellency, as always, is of the New Dispen-
sation ; for if David had to ask the shew-bread from
others, Christ gives it to all the people around Him.
Nor are similar instances in the history of Christ's
people wanting. Severinus, Columbanus, and others,
remind us of the miraculous provision (das Wmider-
brod) ; while the Waldenses, the Hussites, the Hu-
guenots, [the Puritans], and other of God's persecut-
ed people, have often partaken in the wilderness
of such miraculous food. Nor let us forget that
since so large a portion of the gifts of earth is de-
voted to selfishness, luxury, and sin, it is the more
incumbent on God's people to devote the remainder
to the Lord, in order that, by the blessing of Christ,
it may be converted into the miraculous provision of
the kingdom of love. Thus is it at all times true,
that Jesus, while poor Himself, feeds the hungering
people of rich Herod.
2. The Church has rejected the doctrine of Pa-
tripassianism as a heresy. We would add a warn-
ing against a parallel error which we might call Pa-
trimcssiani-sm, in reference to the miracles of Chi'ist.
The distinction betv/een the economy of the Father
and of the Son must ever be kept in mind : crea-
tion being ascribed to the Father, and redemption —
which, however, also includes transformation — to the
Son. Hence it is a confusion of these economies to
represent as strictly (or rather abstractly and magic-
ally) creative acts what really are manifestations of
this transfoi'raing power. Besides, we must not for-
get that when the Church repudiated Monophysite
views in reference to the person of Christ, i' e same
principle also applies to the manifestation and the
economy of the Son. Hence we must always view
Him as the God-Man, and all His working as thean-
thropic. He is the Creator in a moral and religious
sense, who above all influences the heart, and who,
by and with the heart, transforms all old things into
new. Under His word the withered hand moves and
extends, along with the withered heart. Perliaps
the idea, that a ban of miscarriage and of barren-
ness rests on our earthly bread, which Christ remov-
ed by this miracle, showing the positive fulness which
it contains when His blessing descends upon it, may,
in some measure, help us to understand the grand
mystery which awaits us at the final transformation of
this world (the transformation of what is mortal, the
renovation of the earth, the setting free of its fulness,
and the restoration of the tree of life).
IIOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
The tidings of the death of the Baptist an indicor
tion to the Lord to prepare in retirement. — Infinite
riches of Christ even when a fugitive. — The wicked-
ness of Herod could not embitter the heart of Christ.
— Despite the opposition cf the great of this world,
the people were drawn after Him. — How the Lord
still rewards with His miracles the confidence that
leadeth after Him into the wilderness. — The Lord,
who withdrew into tlie wilderness from the intrusive-
ness and presumption of the great, is drawn out
again by tlie confidence of the poor and the needy
who look up to Him for help. — The compassion of
the Lord ever new, and ever assuming new forms. —
How the disciples closed the day's work, and how
the Master closed it. — The old and the new time as
represented by these two sayings : " Send the multi-
tude away," and, "Give ye them to eat." — It is not
necessary for them to go away. — It is not necessary
to go away from Jesus for anything. — The feast of
Herod and the feast of Christ (the ibrmer at first a
meal of pleasure, then of guilt, and lastly of anxiety
and of sorrow ; the latter at first a meal of necessity,
then of the Spirit, and at last of heavenly transport).
— The desert realm of Christ founded in love a figure
of His heavenly kmgdom. — The Lord gives every-
thing in His Idngdom without price : \. Healing ; 2.
teaching ; 3. pro^'isiou. The grace before the meal
and its effects. — How those around the Lord enter
into spiritual fellowship with Him by faith : 1. The
Apostles, by inviting to the meal ; 2. the people, by
gathering arouiid Him. — The miraculous feeding at
meeting, and that at parting. — Trust entirely to the
blessing of Christ. — Throw open the secret springs
of blessing. — Gather the fragments ; or, the super-
abundance of the kingdom of heaven is always com-
bined with the greatest carefulness of its resources.
— How the Lord of glory watcheth over His gifts
and husbandeth them : 1. In nature (life from death) ;
2. in gi-ace (Christ made poor) ; 3. in glory (every
thing converted into good). — How the Lord converts
the wilderness from a dwelling-place of evil spirits
CHAP. XIV. 22-33.
269
into a well-spriDg ioi- the kiugdom of heaven: 1. In
a literal sense ; 2. in a figurative sense.
Starke : — Quesncl : the further Christ appears to
remove fi-om us, the more closely should we endea-
vor to follow Him. — Jesus has never been idle, but
lias alwaj-s wrought with His Father, John v. 17 ; 2
Thess. iii. 8. — It is often unseasonable to Hsten to the
dictates of reason, when we should rather think of
the gooilness and the omnipotence of God. — Still it
is right to use all ordinary and prudent means, since
God always honors their employment. — Hed'mger :
Christ can create l)rcad even in the wilderness, Ps.
Ixxviii. 19. — It matters not with the Lord whether the
provision be great or small, Ps. cvii. 36. — It is the
Lord who addeth the blessing.— We should bring back
to the Lord the bread which we have got from His
hand, in order that He may bless it. — Let us not tliink
of the smallness of our provision, but rather of the
blessing of God. — Cramer : Why weepest thou? the
Lord reigneth, Ps. cxlv. 45. — Let us not preserve
anything from covetousness, but for future use. — To
bestow alms on the needy will never make us poorer.
— God can nourish those who have many cliildren
quite as readily as those who have none.
Gvrlach : — Meat is sanctified by the word of God
and prayer, 1 Tim. iv. 5. — Hence the wicked first de-
file and corrupt the meat, and then, by the meat,
themselves. — Tliose who arc desirous of witnessing
this glorious miracle must be willing to be content
with barley loaves and dry fishes. — Tleubncr : Christ
never continued late meetings with a large multi-
tude. His example may therefore be rightly quoted
in reference to protracted conventicles al night (.still,
a Christian congregation can scarcely be placed on
the same level with this multitude, conip. Acts xx.
7). — Jesus as the Head of a house. — Grace before
meat enjoined by the example of Clirist. — Similarly,
carefulness, preservation, order, and arrangement
taught by His example. — The daily miracle of the
feeding of the millions who people our earth.
[FrudetiHus : — Tu cibus panisque noster, Tu joe-
rennis suaviias ; nescit csurire in cevwa, qui Turim
sumit dapein. — Trench : Christ proclaims Himself
in this miracle the true bread of the world, that
should assuage the hunger of man, the inexliausted
and inexhaustible source of all life, in whom there
should be enough and to spare for all the spiritual
needs of aU hungering souls in all ages. — D. Brown:
(Com. on Mark vi. 35-44) : The Bible, so little iii bulk,
like the five barley loaves and the two fishes, what
thousands upon thousands has it fed, and will it feed,
in every age, in every land of Christendom, to the
world's end ! — P. S.]
3. Jesus Walking on the Sea. Ch. XIV. 22-33.
22 And straightway Jestis [he] constrained his disciples to get [enter, cyn^T^vat] into a
ship, and to go before him unto [to] the other side, whife he sent [until he should liave
23 sent] the multitudes away. Aud when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up
into a mountain apart [Kar IStav] to pray : and when the evening was come, he was
24 there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with [vexed by the]
25 waves : for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night [at 3 o'clock,
26 A. M.] Jesus went unto them, walking on [over] the sea.' And wlien the disciples saw
him walking on the sea,^ they were troubled, saying. It is a spirit [spectre, ^di/racr/xtt] ;
27 and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto thein, saying, Be of
28 good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it bo
29 thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he ^ walked on [over] the water [irrl to, vSara], to go
30 to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and begiiming to
31 sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his
hand, and caught [took hold of] him, and said unto him, 0 thou of little faith, where-
32 fore didst thou doubt? And when they were [bad] come [up]* into the ship, the wind
33 ceased. Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying. Of a truth
thou art the Son of God [©eoC vtos elj.
1 Ver. 25.— 'EttJ t^v SaAao-ffOf, B., E., D., al., [Cod. Sinait.], instead of the led. reeepta: eirl rrji ^a\d(T(T-ns.
[Lanee: dahin schreitend uber das Meer; Ewald: wandelnd uber den See; Meyer: uber den See kin wandelnd.~
'^ Ver. 26.— Here B., C, T>., etc., [Cod. Sinait.], read eirl rris ^a\a(TCTr]s ;— the text. reo. with younger MSS. : iwl t^p
dd\a(T(Tav. [The E. Vers, obliterates the distinction between inl r-qv (accusative of motion), and eirl rris (the geni-
tive, of the mere appearing on the lalie) ; as does also the Lat. Vulgate (nuper mare in both cases), and Luther (auf dent
Meer). The change of case is appropriate. The disciples saw the Lord walking on tho lake, when He walked over the
lake to meet them. Coinp. the Exeg. Note, and Meyer in loc. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 29.— [Better Conant: And coining down from the ship, Peter walked, etc., KaTojSas ciTrb toC irKoiov 6
Uerpos, K.T.\.—P. S.]
* Ver. 32. — [The oldest authorities, including Cod. Sinaiticus, read avafiavrcav, "when they had come ?//>," for the
t fj. PdvTwv of the received text. Tischendorf adheres to the latter, but Lachmann, Tregellcs, and Alford adopt the for-
mer.—r. S.]
270
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
EXEGETICi^L AND CRITICAL.
Connection. — The same order as that of tlie nar-
rative before us is observed in the Gospels of Mark
and John. Luke wholly omits the event.
Ver. 22. Straightway He constrained His
disciples, e vd 4 w s ij yay k aa e . — The miracu-
lous feediug had made the strongest imi)rGSsion on
the minds of the people, who now wislied to make
Christ their king, i. e., to proclaim Hira Messiah,
John vi. 15. On this, as on other occasions, Jesus
had considerable difficulty in withdrawing Himself
from the multitude, which, according to John, follow-
ed Him, to the western shore. The reason why Jesus
dismissed his disciples was probably their sympathy
with the enthusiasm of the people. In proportion as
they had at J3.rst been encouraged by the success of
their apostolic mission, must have been their depres-
sion when the tidings of John's martyrdom arrived
(Mark vi. 30, 31 ; Luke ix. 10). This sudden revul-
sion of feeling rendered them all the more suscepti-
ble to impressions such as those evoked by the scene
which they had just witnessed. In all likelihood, the
proposal to make Jesus king was intended in con-
trast to the crime of Herod, and was hence all the
more dangerous. Tlie Lord tarried behind in order
to withdraw Himself the more easily from the people
after lie had calmed them. Upon a lonely, quiet
mountain-top would He offer His sacrifice on that no-
table and glorious day.
To go before Him.— With Lightfoot and Wie-
seler, we view the event as follows : — The disciples
were not to pass over directly, but only to go before
Him along the coast, and to take Him up at the place
appointed {ir ph s Bi^e a aXSdv, which Wieseler un-
derstands as referring to the eastern Bethsaida,
above the mouth of the Jordan). When Jesus had
dismissed the people and ascended the mountain, the
ship was already a prey to the wind and waves, and
driven, contrary to the will of tlie disciples, into the
middle of the sea. (The expression Haa-av 1(6 iJ.e -
voy implies that the ship was helpless.) During
three watches, or till about three o'clock in the morn-
ing, the disciples had vainly endeavored to bring the
ship back to the eastern coast, in order to meet the
Master near Bethsaida. They were oidy driven far-
ther westward ; and -svlien the Saviour finally came
into the ship, they were alrea:ly quite close to the
western shore. \Vhile thus laboring tiU completely
exhausted, the Lord Jesus avraited them on the east^
em shore. It was under these distressing circum-
stances that He felt impelled to manifest His miracu-
lous power, in an entirely new manner. Compassion
for those who toiled on the sea, and arSSnse of exalt-
ation over the rebellious - element Vi^hich separated
Hun from His disciples, determined Him to go forth
upon the sea. la this view of the matter, this mir-
acle is as fullof meaning and importance as any other
of the many displays of His compassion and love.
— According to the common view, which is adopted
even by Meyer, the liOrd had commanded the disci-
ples to pass over before Him ; but their passage was
much retarded by contrary winds, wdien He, walking
on the sea, overtook them, and cahned the storm.
Against this view we have to urge the follov/ing con-
siderations : 1. If the above view were correct, we
should have expected that the disciples would have
asked the Master how he intended to pass over.^Xo
other ship than theirs was in waiting (John vi.) ; nor
would it have been possible to have contemplated
the long road by land, more especially as the Evan-
gelist speaks of 7r poa7e <r, which implies a short
passage, until He had dismissed the people. Least
of all would the disciples expect that Christ would
walk over the sea, else they could not afterward have
been afraid and regarded Him as a spectre. 2. If it had
been intended that the disciples should have directly
passed over, and not have met the Lord on the east-
ern shore, the journey by which they so soon reached
the middle of the sea would have been extremely ra-
])id, and the statement about contrary winds would
appear unaccountable. 3. As the disciples were close
by the western shore when the Lord came up to
them, the miracle which He performed would have
been entirely useless if they had hitherto followed
their intended destination. On the other hand, we
urge in favor of our own interpretation : 1. The terms
TT 0 0 a 7 0 1 !/, e w s , — implying that He intended to
join them very shortly. The expression ds to tt i-
p au must be explained as meaning, " in the direction
of," or " toward the other side," or else " with a view
to passing to the other side." 2. If, as John states,
Capernaum was their ultimate destbiation, the ob-
vious interpretation of -it ph s B-n da- a'iSdv would
be that it referred to the eastern Bethsaida, not far
from the mouth of the Jordan, and that the disciples
were to sail along the coast, and there to meet the
Lord. 3. Under such circumstances, it would indeed
be contrary to their will when they fouml themselves
in the evening in the midst of the sea. The ship had
been driven out by a contrary wind, and all their ef-
forts at rowing proved insufficient to counteract its
eiiects. The ship was Harrai'i^oiu.eyoi'. 4. Ac-
cording to the account in John, they were close by
the western shore when the Saviour joined them, and
the wind was stil! strong. Had it been a westerly
wind their difficulties would by that time have been
almost overcome, and thus help arrived too late. But
here the objection may be urged, that, according to
the narrative of Mafthew and Mark, the wind was al-
layed when Jesus entered the ship. It might be
ai-gued that the wind, which was contrary to them
while they sought to reach the eastern shore, would
now be propitious, when, after having received Jecus
iuto the ship, they would steer for the western shore.
But a glance at the map will remove this difficulty.
From any point on the eastern shore the disciples
would require to steer northward in order to reach
Juhas. A strong northeasterly wind had driven them
in an opposite direction, and far into the sea. Hence
they were probably a good way beyond Capernaum ;
and if the wind had lasted, it would still have been
contrary to tliera in reference to reaching that port.
This also explains the terror of Peter. The Lord
came in a northeasterly direction, while Peter, m
meeting Him, had to go against wind and waves 5.
Lastly, according to our interpretation of this mira-
cle, it was evidently called forth by the distress of
the disciples, which at the same tune was symboUcal,
while the miraculous help afforded them had both a
direct and a symbolical import.
Ver. 23. ill the four J h watch of the night, —
i. e., between three and six o'clock in the luomir^g.
At an earUer period both the Jews and the Greeks
divided the night into three v.atches, each of four
hours. From the lime of Pompey, hov/ever, they
adopted the Roman practice of reckoning ibur watch-
es, each of three hours, viz., oi/zf, fierrotvuTK.i'. dXtKio-
poipwvia, -rrput (Comp. Winer sub Nachttuachc.)
Ver. 25, 26. Over the sea (ver. 25, eVi t v, v '^.i-
Aairaaf, according to the true reading) ; on the sea
CHAP. XIV. 22-33.
271
(rer. 26, eVl t ?} s SaA..). — The text thus points out a
nice, but very important distinclion. In ver. 25, the
main point of ti\e narrative lies in this, that Jesus
hastened over the sea to join the disciples ; while in
ver. 26 the disciples are chiefly struck with the mirac-
ulous sight of one walking on the sea. It is scarce-
ly necessary to say that the gloss of Paulus, Stolz,
and Gfrorer, " walking on the high shore above the
sea," is a poor evasion of the difliculty.* Any such
idea is completely refuted by the expression irepie-
■n-arria-eveTrlra iJS ara (ver 29), and by the
scene beLween Christ and Peter, as well as by the
impossibility of a conversation carried on between
Christ on the shore and the disciples in the midst of
the sea [especially during a storm on tlie lake]. Be-
sides, the terror of the disciples shows that the event
was miraculous.
The miraole itself. — It has been regarded : 1.
As merely a manifestation of the sway of the Son of
God over tha elements — a Monophysite view which
has lately again been advanced by Meyer, f In re-
ply, it is sutiicient to say, that tl'ic naiTative implies
not merely sway over the elements, but also omnipo-
tent sway over the body of the Lord Jesus, which
was not a docetle, but a real body. 2. We have al-
leady adverted to the natural [or rather unnatural,
because grammatically and excgetically impossible]
explanation by Paulus and others, v/hich is wholly in-
compatible with the narrative. 3. Some have repre-
sented it as merely a natural event, which tradition
had clothed in a symbolical or mythical form (Baum-
garten-Crusius, Hase, and partly also de Wette). 4.
Bolten speaks of swimmmg (! !). 5. Some have char-
acterized it as a mythical anecdote of the sea, with
special reference to 2 Kmgs ii. 14 ; vi. 6 ; Job ix. 8,
and to foreign legends (Strauss). 6. Weisse views it
allegorically ; while, V. Olshausen holds that our
Lord here manifested a power inherent in His higher
corporeity. Meyer denounces this view as docetic, —
a charge which Olshausen might have retorted with
much greater justice ; for manifestly, if we suppose
that the divinity of Christ had sustained His human
nature whUc walking on the water, we make a com-
plete separation between the two natures in the per-
son of Christ, wliicii after all is Docetlsm. Olshausen
is, in the main, right in remarking that it is a mistake
to regard the transformation of Christ as the work of
a moment, but that this transformation and perfec-
tion extended over all His life; We object only to
the manner iu which he expresses this truth. It were
more correct to say, that while the transfiguration of
Christ, viewed as a state, commenced with His resur-
rection, the disposition toward it was not only inhe-
rent in His body from the first, but increasingly man-
ifested itself and developed during the whole course
of His life. Ilenee also the Lord manifested this
glory on special occasions, even before His final suf-
ferings. At His baptism it had appeared in a sign
from heaven. Again, at the miracle in Caua, and
* [The preposition fTi with the genitive may mean : on
the hank of, but only after verbs of rest, as in John xxi. 1
(eVl T7)s ii>a\6.(xay]s -rf/v Ti/3fpia'5oy), not after verbs
of motion, as vipiiraTitv, and still less with the accusative.
—P. S.]
t [I can see no monophysitisni in Meyer, who simply
says in loc. (p. .300) : " Die Sache bleibt ein wiinderbafes
Gehen auf ilem See, welches .... untor den Gesiehtspunkt
der Christo als Sohn Gottes inwohnenden Ilerrsehaft iiber
die Elementfi und ihre Kriifte zii stolli-n, hinsichtiich des
Wie der Ausfulirurif; aber vollig iinbostimnibar ist; " *. e.,
Meyer admits here a snpernatural miracle, which must bo
derived from Christ's power over nature dwelling in Him
when miraculously feeding the multitude, it had !
forth, and that not merely as inherent in Him, but a?
extending to others and working wonders. And now,
in the extremity of his disciples, it burst forth in all
its majesty ; while soon afterward it manifested itself
even in a visible manner on the Mount of Transfigu-
ration, for the twofold purpose of showing that the
Lord Jesus entered, of His own free choice, upon the
path of suffering which now opened before Him, and
of coufirmiug the failli of the disciples. From the
fact that by faith Peter could shai-e in this matter,
we infer tliat the walldng on the sea was a moment-
ary manifestation of a spiritual power, inherent in tho
body of Christ, which had not as yet appeared, Pe-
ter— as indeed our human nature generally — possess-
ed the same inherent power, which represents the
germ of the resurrection. But in our present state
this power is clogged and fettered by sinfulness ;
and in this instance is only awakened by the wonder-
working word of the Lord, while it again disappears
so soon as faith gives place to doubt. Thus this mir-
acle of Christ is a miracle on His own person, just
like the miraculous birth, the testimony at His bap-
tism, the transfiguration on the mount, the resurrec-
tion, and the ascension — pointing back to the first
two, and again forward to these other events. This
miracle on Him led to the miracle by Him, or to
the summons addressed to Peter to walk with Hirn
on the water. The instances sometimes adduced of
somnambulists* and others who have \valked on tho
water can by no means explain this miracle, but
they deserve notice as mechanical and pathological
manifestations of a power, showing what is possible
P-vA inherent in human nature, weighed down as it
still is by sin, and concealed by the contrast be-
tween the first and the second life. At any rate, they
shed a dim light over that world of higher life which
the God-Man opened up, and into which Peter for a
short space entered, through the operation of faith.
[Trench, following Olshausen, Neander, UUmann,
and other German divines, remarks on this miracle
{Notes on the Zfiracles, p. 286): " The miracle is not
the violation, nor yet the suspension of lav.', but the
incoming of a higher law, as of a spiritual in the
midst of natural laws, and the momentary asserting,
for that higher law, of the pi'edominance which it was
intended to have, and but for man's fall it would al-
ways have had, over tho lower ; and v/ith this a pro-
phetic anticipation of the prevalence which it shall
one day recover. Exactly thus was there here the
sign of the lordship of man's will, when that will is
in absolute harmony with God's will, over external
nature. In regard of this very law of gravity, a fee-
ble, and for the most part unconsciously possessed,
remnant f of his power survives to man in the well-
attested fact that his body is lighter when he is
awake than sleeping [as was observed even by Pliny,
Hist. Nat. vii. 18] ; a fact v/hich every man wli.o has
carried a child v/ould. be able to attest. From this
we conclude that the human consciousness, as an in-
ner cintre, works as an opposing force to the attrac-
as the Son of Goil, but the exact mode of which cannot be
defined. -P. S.]
* Die Siherin tion PrerorH, i. 77.
t [This collocation of woids, jilacing two or more adjec-
tives, \vhi:;h are defined by :ulvi;rl>3, before tho noun, is a
l)alpable Germ.ani.-^in, wbicli to the English ear .sounds heavv
un<r inelcsant. It in strange that Dr. Trench, who wrol'e
such readable books on the Eiii^lisb language, and the study
of words, ami u otherwise a fresh, racy, aiul idiomatic wri-
ter, should be frequently so careless and nonchalant in his
style.— r. S.]
272
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTUEW.
tion of the eartli and the centripetal force of gravity,
however unable now to overbear it." — P. S.]
Ver. 26. It is a ghost, or a spectre [not spirit,
as m the E. V.], (p d v t a a /.i d [not tt i^e v/na] i a-
T I V . — Their belief in the apiiarition of spectres is
here presupposed. The vivid sketch of their sudden
terror may be regarded as an indirect evidence of the
faithfulness of the narrative. They seem to have re-
garded the apparition as an indication of coming evil.
— According to the narrative of John, they were al-
ready between twenty-five and thirty furlongs from
the eastern shore, i. c, across about three fourths of
the lake.
Ver. 28. [Alford : " This narrative respecting Pe-
ter is peculiar to Mattliew. It is in very strict accord-
ance with his warm and confident character, and has
been called almost a ' rehearsal ' of his denial after-
ward. It contains one of tlie most pointed and strik-
ing revelations which we liave of the nature and an-
alogy of faith, and a notable example of the power
of the higher spiritual state of man over the inferior
laws of matter, so often brouglit forward by our Lord.
See ch. xvii. 20 ; xxi. 21." — Peter's faidt lay in the
words : " Bid «i^," which betray an ambitious and
overconfident desire to outdo and outdare the other
disciples, and may be regarded as a prelude of the
boastful : " Although all shall be offended at Thee,
yet will not /."—P. S.]
Ver. 29. And He said : Come! — One of those
commands Of sovereignty which prove that the Lord
possessed the full consciousness of His power. [But
it is more probably the permissive Come, i. e., " Make
the experiment, if thou desirest." The Lord knew
that Peter's courage would fail him. — P. S.]
Ver. 30. But when he saw the wind boister-
ous,— i. e., the high waves, impelled by the wind,
rushing against him. [As long as Peter looked to
Jesus only, he rose by faith over the elements of na-
ture ; but as soon as he looked away from Jesus to
the boisterous waves, he began to doubt, to despond,
and to sink.— P. S.]
Ver. SI. Wherefore didst thou doubt? —
A Iff rd( e Lv means properly, to turn irresolutely in
two directions, to waver. Matt, xxviii. l*?. Xlpwrov
fxif idappTitras, vcrrfpov Se ibeiXiaaas. Euth. Ziga-
benus.
Ver. 32. And when they were come into
the ship. — Meyer : " According to the narrative in
John, Christ did not enter the ship, though the disci-
ples were willinr/ to receive Him. An actual though
unimportant discrepancy." Olshauseu accounts for
the difficulty by remarking that the disciples at first
sought to avoid what they regarded as a spectre ; but
when they recognized the Lord, they were anxious to
receive Him, — which implied, as a matter of course,
that He actually entered the ship. Agahi, in the
Gospel of Mark, we read : ije e\e irape \e elu av-
T ovs . Apparently it liad been the intention of
Christ to precede the disciples, and to point out the
direction in which to follow Him. This intention was
afterward modified by the occurrence with Peter.
Accordingly, we interpret the narrative in John as
I'ollows : They were willing to receive Him into the
ship on the eastern shore at the commencement of
their passage, and now (after the scene on the sea,
and His entering the ship, which John passes over)
they were immediately at the western coast, whither
they went. Thus Christ had passed over the greater
part of the sea liefore meeting the disciples.
Ver. 33. Of a truth Thou art the [a] Son of
G-od. — Not merely the Messiali in the ordmary sense,
but with special reference to His divine character aa
revealed in the New Testament. Meyer : " According
to Matthew, Jesus is here for the first time owned by
man as the Son of God (iii. 17 ; iv. 3 ; viii. 2fi)."
[The persons here introduced as o i ev t w nKoicfi,
were probably the crevr of the ship, the boatmen, the
mariners, and perhaps some other passengers, as dis-
tinct from the disciples; comp. vers. 15, lit, 22, 26,
and ol &vBpuTToi, ch. viii. 27. So Jerome : Nauue at-
que vectorcK. Jerome adds : " The sailors acknowledge
Him to be truly the Son of God on witnessing one
miracle, the calming of the tempest : yet Arius pro-
claims Him to be a mere creature." But it should
not be overlooked that the omission of the article be-
fore vlo% generaUzes the meaning of the term. Christ
is more than a son of God, He is the Son of God, in
a unique and absolute sense, as He is the Son of Man.
The mariners, however, being probably Jews, could
not understand the term in a polytheistic sense, and
meant to infer from Christ's control over the elements
that He was clothed with divine power. — P. S.]
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. On the miracle itself, see the exegetical
notes. ,
2. Scripture often compares the people with the
sea and its waves (Ps. xlvi. ; Dan. vii. 3 ; Rev. xiiL
1). Christ had just assuaged a storm on land, which
had almost swept away the disciples. The same scene
is now re-enacted in a figurative manner. Jesus
sways the waves of the sea as He had calmed those
of the people, and as He shall sway those of the na-
tions. But the Apostles are unequal to the emergen-
cy. And when Peter ventures for a while to walk
with the Lord on the waves, lie soon sinks in the storm,
and is onlij preserved when Christ brings him back
into the ship which contains the rest of the Apostles,
with the reproof : 0 thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt ?
3. Along with a view of the exaltation of Christ
over all nature, v.-e here obtain a glimpse not only of
the future glory of the children of God, but also how
the throes and struggles of nature are calmed and
cease at the feet of Jesus. The narrative contains
tliree miracles combined. The first prefigured and in-
troduced Christ's resurrection and ascension. From
the second we learn how, even upon earth, believers
may, in anticipation of their future glory, triumph
and conquer in the midst of waves or flames. The
third aflbrds us an insight how nature herself shall
be delivered from her subjection to vanity into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. Lastly, we
have here a typical prophecy of the future dominion
of the spirit of Christianity over the sea of nations.
A British painter, H. Richter, has given us the most
affecting representation of Christ's walking over the
sea.
4. Shortly before this, Christ had conquered two
giants which ever endanger society — famine, and rev-
olutionary attempts to estabhsh a new millennium.
By removmg the terrors of the deep, He overcame a
third and equally great danger. In the interval He
had been on the mount. From the mountain of
prayer did the great Captain of humanify conduct
all il'is wars, and gain all His conquests. But Christ
preferred to meet these three giants, rather than trust
Himself to the whims of that despot who, after hav-
ing murdered the Baptist, showed a disposition to
condescend to Hunself.
CHAP. XIV. 22-33.
273
5. Fronj that time forward commenced the sway
of the Spii-itof Christ, by which He will ultimately
subdue th cse three giants in the world.
6. It is true that Peter could swim ; but in his
terror he. lost not only his spiritual, but even his nat-
ural, atvamments.
[T REXcii : Peter is here the image of all the faith-
ful oC all ages, in the seasons of their weakness and
\'neir fear. So long as they are strong in faith, they
are able to tread under foot all the most turbulent
agitations of an unquiet world ; but when they lose
heart and fear, they begin to sink ; and were it not
for Christ's sustaining hand, which is stretched out
in answer to their cry, they would be wholly over-
whelmed and swallowed up. — P. S.]
HOMILETICAL A^"D PRACTICAL.
Christ walking on the sea : 1. He goes over the
sea to bring help ; and hence walks, 2. on the sea,
displaying His omnipotence. — The three miracles
combined prefiguring the threefold transfiguration :
1. Of the Lord ; 2. of believers ; 3. of nature (Rom.
viii.). — Why the Lord constrained His disciples to
quit the nmltitude ; or, the dangers accruing to the
Church from the enthusiasm of popular excitement.
— Christ had as frequently to withdraw from the peo-
ple as to go and meet them. — The disciples would
have sent away the people when they were hungry ;
Christ dismisses them when they were too weU satis-
fied.— Jesus, in those nights of prayer solitary on
mountains, alone with His Father. — The lonely nights
of the Saviour, of which the blessing descends on the
world in the light of day. — The disciples driven by
the sea from the Lord until the fourth watch : 1. In
the gospel narrative ; 2. in the history of the Church.
— How the necessity of the disciples evokes the most
glorious power of the Lord. — The miracles occasion-
ed by the need of His people. — How the fear of spirits
increases a thousandfold the real terrors of life. — The
fear of spectres : 1. The truth lying at the foundation
of it ; 2. its errors and dangers. — Sad self-deception
on the part of the disciples : to be afraid of their
Lord and Saviour as if He had been a spectre. — How
the disciples in the ship of the Church still cry out
from fear, whenever the Lord comes over the waves
with a new display of His glory. — How they imagine
that the Lord Himself is always obliged to pass over
in a vessel. — How the world will be set free from its
fear of spectres: 1. From superstition, by faith; 2.
from apparitions, by miracles ; 3. from fear, by
peace ; 4. from crying out, by giving praise. — " Be
of good cheer: it is I ; be not afraid." — The reply
of Peter : " Lord, if it be Thou," — indicatmg the ap-
pearance of uncertainty in the midst of faith. — The
faith of Peter. — The character of Peter the same here
as at the ti;ne of Christ's last sufferings, and during
his later apostolate (Acts ii. x. ; Gal. ii.). — The his-
tory of Peter on the sea, a prelude to his fall. — " And
He said : Come." — How it clearly appears that the
Lord grant.s help only on condition of a faith, which,
however, Himself has called forth. — Origin of doubt :
he looked much at the wind, and little at the Lord.
— How the Lord rescues His own from all depths of
the sea. — Jesus, the Saviour of His people amid the
terrors of the sea. — Christ an all-sufficient Saviour
both at sea and on land. — The Spirit of Christ in His
victory over the resistance of nature. — If our strength
prove insufficient to bring us to Christ, His strength |
18
is sufficient to bring Him to us. — How unexpectedly
at the end of the journey! — They wislied to land on
the eastern, but landed on the western shore. — The
first confession of tlie Messiah as the Son of God, the
fruit of a night of unparalleled terror. — The most
glorious success following the most hopeless toil. —
Evening and morning Avituessing the miracles of the
Lord. — How Christ ever reminds us of His former
miracles by working new wonders. — " They worship-
ped Him ; " or, the homage due to Christ as king. —
Christ walking on the sea, a prelude to the history
of His sufleruigs and rcsuiTcction : 1. Christ separat-
ed by the people from His disciples ; 2. Christ lost to
view in the darkn&ss of night on the other shore ; 3.
the disciples driven from Him, anil toiling in deep
sorrow and need; 4. the miraculous reappearance
of Christ : fear and joy.
Starke : — Quesnel : An humble person will with-
draw from praise and glory. — Zcis'ius : The word
which we have heard and learned must be evidenced
by the cross. — Osiander : The kingdom of Christ
not of this world. — Christ withdrew from worldly
honors, while we seek them ; is this to follow after
Him ? — J. Hall : Worldly prosperity is more danger-
ous than adversity. — If Christ was thus instant in
prayer, how much more should we wrestle in it ! — ■
The quiet of evening the time for prayer. — Alone
with God. — Quesnel : The Church like a sliip in the
midst of the sea. — God leads His own people often in
strange, but always in a blessed and holy, way, Ps.
iv. 3. — If Jesus be absent, there is only misery and
temptation. Nov. Bihl. Tub. — ,/. Hall : Man's ex-
tremity is God's opportunity. — New wants will bring
fresh help and fresh experiences. — Hedinger : The
heart of man is unstable, — bold now, and again fear-
ful, Jer. xvii. 9. — Bihl. Wurt. : Alas ! how fearful do>
believers often become in their difficulties and sor-
rows.— Canstein : Even believers are afraid when
God comes to them in an unusual way. — J. Hall :
The gi'acious help of Christ comes always at the right
moment. — " It is // " I am with thee in trouble, Ps.
xci. 15. — The confidence of Clmstians. — The assur-
ance of Christ's gracious presence the greatest com-
fort of Christians in their deepest sorrows. — Hall :
A good sheep knows even the voice of its shepherd,
John X. 4. — Lord, bid me come unto Thee. — The
word of Christ a strong bridge. — With God Ave can
achieve mighty things. — Xature and grace side by
side. — However good our purpose, it is sliaken by
temptation. — Bihl. Wiirt. : Beware of being too bold.
— Christ does not suffer us to sink in our weakness.
— Quesnel: It is good for Christians that God from
time to time allows them to feel their weakness and
their impotence. — Our help is in the name of the
Lord. — The Lord sometimes allows His people to sink,
but only in order to humble them. — Osiander : To
doubt the help of God, must lead to adversity; there-
fore keep firm hold of the promise, and do not sink,
Isa. xhii. 12. — Canstein : The Lord mimsters to His
ministers more than they minister to llim. — Zeisius:
Christ the wonder-worker, whom even the wind and
waves obey. — Quesnel: A consideration of the mira-
cles of Jesus tending to strengthen our faith. — Christ
claiming our worship, Pliil. ii. 10.
Gerlacli : The glorified body of Christ was, as it
were, visible even through His earthly body ; ch. xvii.
Hence the waves Avere like finn soil under Him ; just
as Christ passed through the Avorld untouched by hu-
man corruption and umnoved by the passions around
Him. — In his faith and deep attachment to Jesus,
Peter can no longer bear the uncertainty. As on other
274
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
occasions, so now, lie precedes the other disciples ;
but not knowing his own weakness, he soon fails. —
Greater than common demands are made upon those
who come pi'omineutly forward ; but if their tempta-
tions are stronger, their deliverances are also more
glorious.
Hmhncr : — In the history of Christ, work and
prayer always succeeded each other. Ora et labora.
— His need of solitude. — God allows sorrow to befall
us because He foresees its end. — When He is absent,
rest is wanting. — When the Helper is expected, lie
is ah-eady present. — He knows the need of His peo-
ple.— The presence of Jesus drives away all fear. —
Peter feels his human impotence only when he is on
the water ; i. e., when he has progressed beyond hu-
man experience and strength into the domain of
faith, where the power of God alone can sustain him.
lie now feels that he has passed beyond thie limits of
human nature, and this sense overpowert.i him (but
only because his heart is divided). — Faith can never
wholly sink ; it takes hold of the right hand of the
Lord.
l^AuffJisUne : — AmasDeum, amhulas supey mare:
sub pcdihus iuis est seculi tumor. Arnas seimlum,
absorbebit tc. — Chrtjsostom : We need not fear the
tempest, but only the weakness of our faith. Henc «
Christ does not calm the storm, but takes Peter by
the hand. — It is of no use to be near Christ in person,
unless we are near Him by faith. — Wordsworth : Pe-
ter was enabled by Christ to walk on the sea ; so the
risen bodies of the saints will be enabled to fly up-
ward and meet Him in the air, 1 Thess. iv. 1 1. — Pe-
ter sinks without Christ. (Think of the Church of
Rome in her errors.) — P. S.]
O. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF AS THE HIGH PRIEST IN HIS SUFFERINGS; BEING
REJECTED BY THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES OF JERUSALEM, OR THE THEOLOGI-
CAL AUTHORITIES OF THE SCHOOLS.
Chapter XIV. 34-36, XV. 1-38.
Contents :— Secret landing of the Lord in Galilee, and His recognition. Accusation of the deputation from the synagogue
at Jerusalem, that His disciples transp-essed the traditions. Reply of Jesus, and rebuke addressed to the Pharisees of
Galilee. Christ's teaching to the disciples in reference to tradition. Jesus journeying into the heathen country of
Tyre and Sidon, and the woman of Canaan. Second miraculous feeding of the multitude ; or, second realm in the
desert, as contrasted with that of the spiritual authorities, which allowed the people to perish from want
1. The deputation from Jerusalem, and the rebuke of Jesus addressed to the Pharisees of Galilee. Christ's
teaching to the disciples in reference to tradition. Ch. XIV. 34-30, XV. 1-20.
Ch. XIV. 34 And when they were gone [had passed] over,^ thej^ came into the land of
35 Gennesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him,^ thej sent out
36 into all that country round about,^ and brought unto him all that were diseased; And
besought him that they might only touch the hem [fringe] * of his garment : and as
many as touched were made perfectly whole. ^
Ch. XV. 1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which [who] were of Jerusalem,®
2 saying, Why do tliy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not
3 their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also
4 transgress the commandment of God by [because of]' your tradition? For God com-
manded, saying,* Honour thy father and mother : and, He that curseth father or mother,
5 let him die the death [surely die].^ But ye say. Whosoever shall say to his ^^ father
or Ms'^'' mother, It is a gift [devoted to God, a sacrifice], by whatsoever thou mightest be
6 profited by me ; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall he frcc.^'^ Thus have
ye made the commandment [law] ^^ of God of none [no] effect by [because of] your
7, 8 tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias [Isaiali] prophesy of you, saying, This
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, ^^ and honoureth me with their lips ;
9 but their heart is far from me. [Is. xxix. 13.] But in vain they do worship me,
10 teaching for [as] doctrines the commandments of men. And [then] he called the mul-
11 titude, and said mito tliem, Hear, and imderstand: Not that which goeth into the mouth
defileth a [the] man \i. f., makes him legally unclean] ; but that Avhich cometh out of the
12 mouth, this detileth a [the] man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Know-
13 €st tliou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he an-
CHAP. XIV. 34-36, XV. 1-20. 275
swered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be
14 rooted up. Let them alone: they be [are, ctcrt] blind leaders of the blind. And if the
15 blind lead the blind, both shall [will] fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter and
16 said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said. Are ye also yet without
1 7 understanding ? Do not ye yet [Do ye not] ^^ understand, that whatsoever entereth in
18 at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things
which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart ; and they defile the man.
19 For out of th 5 heart proceed evil tlioughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
20 witness, blasphemies: These are the things which deSie a [the] man: but to eat with
unwashen hands defileth not a [the] '° man.
I Ch. xiv., ver. 34— [A lairepda avr es, E wald and Lange : da sie Jdnubergesehifft icaren ; G. Campbell : having
passed ocer; A. Norton, Conant, and the N. T. of the A. B. U. : passing over; Kheims and Archbishop Kendrick (TVta
Four Gospels, N. Y.. 1849) : having passed the tcater; Wicllf : whanne thei hadden passid ouer the see.— P. S.]
^ Ver. 35.— [Lange: da die Leiite . . . Ihn erkamiten; Norton: when they sate who he was; Campbell, and Conant :
knotoing him, iiriyvovTes ai/rdv .—P. S.]
3 Ver. 35.— [E i s oX-qv r'fip Trepix'^pov eKeivriv, into the whole neighboring country; Lange: in die
game Umgegrnd ; Campbell: throiigit, all that country ; Conant: into all that country roiMid {omitling only the abo^it
oftheE. v.— P. !?.]
■* Ver. 8G. — [Kpdo'ireSa correspond to the n^lt'^S , which the Jews were directed to wear on the corners of the outer
garments, Kum. xv. 3S sq. Campbell, and Kendrick translate: tuft; Norton, and Conant: fringe; all the older English
versions to A. D. 1611 : hem.— I'. S.]
5 Ver. 36.— [Campbell, Norton, and Conant drop: perfectly; but Lange retains it : (ToUstd7idig) geheilt, hitafeQt]-
a ay] Meyer: sie wurden durchgerettet, so dass sie sofort gesund aus dor Krankheit hervorgingen.- P. SJ
^ Ch. XV., ver. 1.— [Simpler .and better with modern translators and revisers: Pharisees and Scribes from Jerusalem
(dropping: which were), even in case we retain the article ol before dird, which is omitted in the authorities of Lachmann
and Trcgelles, and also in Cod. Sinaiticus. — P. S.]
' Ver. 8. — [A ta t^]v TrapdSoaii' v/xwy, or on account of, or for the sake of (Conant), but not: on the pretense of
(Norton), nor : by (E. V. and Campbell). The proposition 5 1 a with tho accusative seldom, if ever, denotes instrumental-
ity; besides this would not suit the connection; for, as Conant correctly TemnTy.»,'' it was regard for traditi07i, as of
higher worth and authority, which led them to set aside the word of God, and it is this with which they are here charged."
The Vulgate correctly translates: propter traditionem ve.stram; the Poschito (Syriac V.) likewise : 07i account of your
tradition; Wiclif, Eheims:/o/- your tradition; Cranmer : because of; Tyndale and Geneva B. falsely: through, ior
which the Bishops' B. and King James' B. substituted by. All the good German versions have : um . . willen, or wegen,
on account of. — P. S.]
8 Ver. 4.— [So according to the reading : euerti\aro Keyaiv. But the older reading of manuscripts, versions,
and patristic citations, is 6 Ittc, said (without commanded). So Lachm. and Tischend., while Alford retains eVereiAa-
To Kiyuiv. Lange puts geboten und {commanded and) in smaller type in parenthesis.— P. S.]
» Ver. 4— [©az/arw TeAeuraTo;, lit: shall end by death, shall be executed, the inaccurate LXX rendering of the in-
tensive Hebrew form t^^-Q"^ niTS , Ex. xxi. 17; Lev. xx. 9.— P. S.]
10 Ver. 5.— [His hefore father and mother, need not be italicized; the definite article in Greek (to? -jraTpl ^ t?;
/ui]Tpi) having here the force of our possessive pronoun.— P. S.]
II Vers. 5 and G.— [The translation of this somewhat difficult sentence, which is generally regarded as elliptical, bnt-
not necessarily so, dejiends partly on the construction (.see Eseg. Notes), partly on the reading. The common text reads,
ver. 6: ov p-v riuriari (which tho E. V. co-ordinates with t>-v ei'Trj;, as a second part of the protsais : ichosoerer shall
say . . .and honor not) ; but the majority of ancient critical authorities are in favor of the future : oii ^J.^^ ri/x-naei,
either with Kai (so Tischondorf and Alford), or without Kai (as Lachmann and Tregelles read). The Cod. Sinait like-
wise omits Kai, but reads t i fj.7] ar] , and inserts after cb(pi\T}dij'; the words : ovSev ear iv , which I have not seen
in any other manuscript or critical apparatus (the reading is: ovSev ecmv ov fj.ri ri/j.T](T7i tov irpa, abridged for Trarfpa,
etc.). The choice lies between the following explanatory translations : (1) But ye say: ''Whoever saith to his father or
motlier : 'A giff [_i. e., it is an offering consecrated to God, and therefore not alienable to other use], 'whatsoever thou
mightest be profited with from me'' \i. e., by which I might support thee] ; a')id honor not (koX ov /xr) rtfiriaT], coordinate
with iiv ei-rrr), and second member of the protasiti) his father or his mother ..." (supply the apodosis: he shall be fi'ee,
or is free, viz., from the obligation of the fifth commandment). Ayul [words of the Saviour] ye have made the law of God
of no effect, for the sake of your tradition. (2) Or, if we re.ad {noX) ov jxt] Tt/ar^afi, and commence here the words of the
Lord, we must translate: But ye say: "Whoever saith to his father or his mother: 'It is a gift [i. e., an inalienable
altar-offering] /row which t/iou mightc.^t be benefited by me,''\ . . [supply the apodosis of the Pharisees : the same is not
bound to honor or support his parents, since by doing so he would violate his vow, or alienate what belongs to God].
{And) he [words of Christ] sluill in no ■iri.^e honor his father or his mother. And thus ye have made the law of God of
no effect, etc. So Meyer and Lange. But this ellipsis seeuis somewhat forced and unnatural. (3) Or, finally, we rilay re-
gard the second clause, with Grotius, Bengcl, Winer, and Conant, as the apodosis, no matter whether we read : Kai ov
uT) T i p.'h a' ri , or ov /j.^ t i/ul-t) a e i. I prefer the latter (without Ka)) as the older reading, and explain : But ye say :
"Wfioezier saith, etc., lie (the same) s?i.ail in no wise honor his father or his mother.'''' Thiis have ye, etc. This explana-
tion avoids the hypothesis of aa aposiopesis and requires no supplement of an apodosis ; it also retains the full force of
ov /i'»}, a strong negative asseveration, which in connection with the future expresses earnest dissuasion or positive pro-
hibition (as in Matt. xvi. 22: ov /j.^ tcrrai aot tovtu). If we retain Kai we must explain it, with "Winer: "he too,''''
i. «., In such a case (comp. Winer's Grammatik, etc., §64 sub aposiopesis. p, 529, note : wer eu seinen Fltern spricM . . .
d^r braucht auch — in diesem Falle— seine EUem nicht eit Wircw), or render with Scrivener: he shall not then ho>ior.
At all events it seems to me most natural to regard the second chanso as the apodosis of the Pharisees, whicli expresses
their decision and ncutr.ilizes the fifth commandment. The Saviour thinks it unnecessary to refute them and simply
states the result: Thus ye have made the law of God of no «jfecf.— Conant observe.s, that the ellipsis in the Common Ver-
sion : he sluill be free, " is supjilied from Beza's Latin Version : insons erit, and is one of the many evidences of its in-
fluence (often injuriou,") on King James' revisers,'"— P. S.]
12 Ver. 6. — [The autliorities are divided between Trju ii'To\r]v, the comnunidment, tov v6fxov.,th6 law,
(Tischend., Alford), and rhv \6yov, the word (Lachm. and Tregelles.— P. 8.]
13 Ver. 8.— The words of the text, rec: iyyi(ii (xoi b \abs ovros t^j (rroVaTi aiiruiv, are wanting in the oldest
276
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
authorities [including Cod. Sinait.], and uiiiittud in all critical editions [since Griesbacli]. Probably an insertion from tho
fecjituagiut.
'< Ver. 17.— [Leave out yet. The best authorities and editions read o y, not, for o^-nu, not yet. Dr. Lange includes
7ioc7t, yet, in parenthesis.— P. S.]
's Ver. 20. — [The Greek has always the definite article before &.vd))unros in this Fcction, and the E. Vers, thus renders
it in ver. lb: dcjile the, man. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CEITIGAL.
Ver. 34. Into the land of Gennesaret. — As
the time of persecution had commenced, tliey prob-
ably landed on a retired part of the coast. This ap-
pears, 1. from the manner in which the place where
they landed is described ; 2. from the circumstance
that the people of that place brought sick persons
from the scattered houses in the district, and that,
according to Mark, Jesus passed through villages
and towns before He appeared in the synagogue at
Capernaum ; while, lastly, this view is also supported
by the analogous account of the landing, contained
in ch. XV. 39. The designation, "land of Gennesa-
ret," Mark vi. 53, was given to the western shore of
the lake ; from which, indeed, the latter derived its
name. According to Josephus {De Bella Jud. 3, 10,
8), the district extended 30 furlongs in length and
20 iu breadth, so that it must have comprised only
a part of the western shore. Robinson (ii. p. 400)
suggests that it extended from Khan Minyeh on the
north to Mejdel on the south ; in which case it would
nearly embrace the modern district of el-Ghuweir, or
the " Little Ghor." According to Josephus, the cli-
mate of this district was very mild, and the soil fer-
tile.
Ver. 35. And when the men of that place
had knowledge of Him. — Meanwhile morning had
dawned, and Jesus was immediately recognized by
the people.
Ver. 36. The fringe of His garment. — Comp.
is. 20. Christ merely passed through the district,
and the haste of His journey accounts for the man-
ner in which the cures were performed ; the expres-
sion being at the same time symbolical, and indicat-
ing on the one hand the most passing touch, and on
the other the strong faith of the people in that dis-
trict. We might almost have expected that tradi-
tion would have laid the scene of healing the woman
with the issue of blood in the country of Gennesaret
iastead of at Paneas. If that woman lived here
after she was restored, we may perhaps conjecture
that ever afterward special importance attached in
the mind of the people to tliis mode of healing. But
we must remind the reader that Jesus passed through
the lower district of the sea-shore when He perform-
ed that miracle.
Ch. XV. 1. Then met Jesus, etc. — The follow-
ing three sections (about the washing of hands, the
woman of Canaan, and the second feeding of the
multitude) are only related by Matthew and by Mark.
Between these events and those formerly related, we
must insert the address of Jesus, in the synagogue at
Capernaum, concerning the manna of heaven (John
vi. 22-71), as also the festival of Easter, which, ac-
cording to John vi., was close at hand, even at the
first feeding of the multitude. From Luke x. 38, we
would infer that Jesus had on that occasion tarried
in Bethany, wliile the disciples went on to Jerusalem.
In the Jewish capital, the disciples seem to have
given offence by their bold statements and by the
evangehcal liberty of their conduct. Hence Jesus
jff^as now pharged with heresj in Galilee, and was
watched in tlie field. Then followed the healing of
the man with the withered hand, and of him who
was possessed with a blind and dumb devil, the last
conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees of Galilee,
the parables and probably the events recorded in
Luke xiii. 1-9 and 11-1 7. Meantime, the deputa-
tion of Pharisees and scribes, with winch our section
opens, had arrived from Jerusalem ; having been
despatched partly on account of the offence which
the disciples had given in the holy city, and partly
on account of the report of the Pharisees of Galilee,
to the eft'ect that Jesus was too powerful for them,
and that they required assistance from the capital. —
The arrangement of Matthew follows the order of
things more than of time. After having related how
the Lord was repelled by the ruler of Gahlee, he now
records the conflict between Jesus and the supreme
authorities of the synagogue.
The Pharisees and Scribes. — With the arti-
cle.* We adopt the arrangement of Codd. B., D.,
Grig., etc., by which the Pharisees are mentioned be-
fore the scribes, although this is opposed by Lach-
mann and Tischendorf. The persecution at Jerusa-
lem originated with the Pharisees, the scribes having
given it a proper legal form in the shape of a deputa-
tion from the synagogue. This is no doubt indicated
by the use of the article, and not, as Meyer supposes,
" the scribes who lived in Jerusalem and had come
thence." The deputation represented the whole body
of the Pharisees and scribes in Jerusalem. There
are references to several such deputations in the New
Testament.
Ver. 2. Why do Thy disciples transgress ? —
Referring to the occasion to which we have above
alluded. The charge is at first urged iu a cautious
manner, although the Master is made responsible for
the supposed transgressions of His disciples. — The
tradition, irapaBocns . — A new and more danger-
ous mode of attack. Hitherto they had only charged
Him with violating the Sabbath, or with supposed
transgressions of the law itself. But now they based
their accusations upon tradition, as of acknowledged
aiUhority. The miraculous cures of Jesus and His
teachmg might be urged in answer to their charges
of violation of the law ; but the disciples were appar-
ently transgressing the traditions without any excuse
for it. The irapaSoo-ij, aypatpos SiSaaKaXia. Hesy-
chlus. See the Sermon on the Mount. Within the
circle of His disciples, Jesus had from the first de-
clared Himself opposed to traditions, but their renun-
ciation on the part of His followers had only of late
appeared. This charge of the Pharisees is illustrated
by the following extract. Meyer : " The Jews at-
tached greater value to tradition than even to the
written law, appealing in support of it to Deut. iv.
14 ; xvii. 10. More especially did they pay respect
to the traditionary injunction of washing the hands
before meals, to which it was thought Lev. xv. 11
referred. See Lightfoot, Schijttgen, and Wetstein on
the passage." Jesus did not reject this tradition,
viewing it merely as a custom (which was also com-
mon among the Persians, Greeks, and Romans). He
* [See my critical note 6, p. 2T5. Cod. Sinait likewise
puts the Pharisees first. — P.S.]
CHAP. XIV. 84-36, XV. 1-20.
277
only refused to recognize it as a binding or religious
ordinance, and hence omitted it in urgent circum-
stances. Tlie whole passage may be regarded as
throwing a peculiar light upon the history of Phari-
saism, with its " hedge around the law," and upon
that of the Sanhedrim and of the Talmud.
Of the elders. — Fritzsche : The teachers of the
law. Meyer : Our ancestors, with special reference
to lleb. xi. 2. But we must not forget that the
official irpfa-^vTefjOi of the Sauhedrin and of the
synagogues were the theocratic authorities which
administered and sanctioned the traditions of their
ancestors.
Ter. 4. Let him die the death. — In the original
Hebrew : r^or nio , he shall surely die. The Sept.
rcudei'S it, he shall end by death (by execution) :
Oavdrcf) re\evra.Tw.
Ver. 5. But ye say. — The change of the verb
deser\^es notice. It is a gift, Swpov, "3"};^ , a sacri-
fice or gift to the temple. There are two significant
omissions in the phraseology of the text. 1. eVri or
eiTTai is omitted. If a person merely jn-onounced the
word " Corban " over any possession or property, it
was irrevocably dedicated to the temple. Thus it
became a kind of interdict. Compare Lightfoot,
von Ammon ii. 226. Mishna, cmD , de votis.
Joseph. Confr. Ap. 1, 22. — 2. "But ye say, or make
the tradition, Whosoever shall say to his father, or
his mother, It is a gift ! that with which thou might-
est be assisted by me," . . . Here Jesus breaks off and
allows His opponents to state their own conclusion,
which was as follows : " he is free of his duty as a
child." Tlie Lord seems unwilling to draw, or at
least to state, the sinful conclusion at which Phari-
saism had arrived. Hence the aposiopesis, which
appears most clearly in the language of Mark, is
peculiarly suitable.* Perhaps the inference might
have been differently expressed by some of tiae Puib-
bins. Jesus, however, draws his own conclusion,!
which is : He will surely not honor his father or
his mother. So Meyer. But Grotius, Bengel, and
Winer regard this clause as being the words of the
Pharisees themselves, implying : He neetl not honor
his father, etc. But this view is improbable in
itself, and contrary to the language of the text.
[Not at all. Comp. my critical note 11 on vers. 5 and
C, p. 275.— P. S.]
Ver. 6. Made of no effect. — More than merely
" transgressed." Some Ral^bius (as Rabbi Eliezer)
regarded the duty of children to honor their parents
as higher than all the commandments. But the
Jewish authorities insisted that vows, even if incom-
patible with this injunction, were binding.
Ver. 7. Well (aptly, ica\u)<;) did Isaiah pro-
phesy of you. Is. xxix. 13. — Not in the sense of
natural inspiration (de Wette), uor of prediction in
the strictest sense (Meyer), nor merely of applica-
tion (Maldonatus) ; but as iu Matt. xiii. 14 sqq. with
special reference to Isa. vi. We have here the other
aspect of the hardening to which the prophet re-
ferred, in the shape of a i)retcndcd sanctity. As the
statement of Isaiah in reference to the hardening of
his cotemporaries was completely fulfilled in the co-
* [The 'tposiopesis is clear in tlie parallel pascage of
Mark vii. 11, after Kop^av, but he omits the second clause
altogether, viz. the words: (ku'i) ov ut) Tiix-fimt (ti.uV/o-j;),
which create the only ditHciilty in our case.— P. S.]
+ [This is inconsistent with the preceding remark that
the Saviour was unwilling to draw or to state the conclusion
of the Pharisees.— P. 3.]
temporaries of Jesus, so also his statement about
their pretended sanctity ; in other words, his verbal
prophecy alxiut his cotemjioraries was, in this respect
also, a typical prophecy of the times of Jesus.
Ver. 9. In vain, ^ ci t rj c . — Meyer explains the
expression as implying that it was />?«tZes.s (without
moral result) and groundless (temere). In our opin-
ion, it expresses the idea of emptiness or vanity,
which includes groundlessness in point of principle,
and fruiflessness so far as results were concerned.
The Hebrew text has no expression corresi)onding to
this M a T rj r ; but the Sept. may probably have trans-
lated from another reading.
Ver. 10. Then He called the multitude.— The
Saviour turns away from these hypocrites, whose
questions about the washing of the hands He does
not even condescend to answer, since out of their
own mouths they were convinced of making the com-
mandments of (jod of no effect. Christ now turns to
the people, and instructs them in the difference be-
tween Levitical and real defilement. •
Ver. 11. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth ; — i. e., with reference to the rela-
tion between Levitical defilement and the br\ ,
or profa7ius, in the real sense of the term. The
Lord presents the Levitical idea of impurity in a
moral light. The question is not — to take the pres-
ent instance — to be decided by the physical mouth
(or tlie use of certain meats), but by the moral
mouth (or the language). What is here said con-
cerning the going into and coming out of the mouth,
applies to the whole series of Levitical and moral
injunctions concerning purity. The statement was
in the first place, indeed, intended as a justification
of His disciples on the charge brought against them
by the Pharisees. But the inference was obvious,
that all these injunctions required to be fulfilled in a
higher sense (although this did not imply that the
Lord denied their validity as Levitical ordinances).
As a matter of course, when the symbol would be
completely fulfilled, its outward representation must
fall to the ground.
Ver. 12. After they heard this saying. —
" This remark is commonly referred to vers. 3-9.
But we would rather apply it, with Euthyni. Zigab.,
to ver. 11." Meyer. It is, indeed, quite true that it
would have been unpossible for them to have replied
to vers. 3-9, while in answer to ver. 11 they might
bring against Him the charge of subverting not only
tradition, but even the written law. Still, their
anger about His application to them of the prophecy
of Isaiah must have increased their resentment and
offence at His \6yos. Nor must we here omit to ob-
serve the moral distinction between giving offence
to the Pharisees and to the least of the disciples.
Ver. 13. Every plant. — Referring to the ieach-
ing and the iraditiom of the Pharisees (Ewald,
Meyer, etc.), not to tlieir persons (Fritzsclie, Olshau-
sen, de Wette). At the same time, we should also
bear in mind what was said in Matt. xiii. about the
identification of individuals with the doctrines which
they professed.
Ver. 14. Into the ditch. — The cistern. Meyer
supposes that the expression refers to Gehenna, im-
plying that they were hopelessly lost. But, in our
opinion, it primarily ap[)lies to historical and na-
tional, not to personal judgments. We infer this
from the fact, tluvt both classes of the blind are said
to fall into the ditch, — those who feel their need of
being guided (or the people), as well as those who
2T8
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
think they see, and assume to be leaders {see John
ix.). The dift'erence between them, however, was
very great ; and with reference to the Jewish people,
comp. Rom. ix.-xi.
Ver. 15. Peter. — Acting as the representative of
all the disciples ; see Mark vii. 17. — This parable. —
The whole discourse was parabolical, but sufKciently
explained by the context, and not, as Peter seems to
have supposed, a separiile parable in the more Um-
ited sense of the term. It appears as if Peter had
felt it difficult to distinguish between the symbol and
the reaUty. Jesus had em'ployed the physical as an
emblem of the moral mouth, and in that particular
His statement might be regarded as parabohcal.
But even in that respect the paraljolical form had
not been strictly carried out.
Yer. lY. Do not ye understand ? — The place
where the bodily functions are iinally purified, is
that where they terminate, 6 a <t> t o p d' v (which, ac-
cording to Suidas, designates both anum and sd-
lam ; derivatur enlm airh t uv iSpwv. The tenn
is evidently related to £i(f)e5poy, by which the Sept.
render the place where menstruous women under-
went purification). But that which constitutes the
true nature of man can only be cleansed if the heart,
whence words o,nd actions issue, is purified. And
this is the only true purity, contrasted with which
all symboUcal purifications are of no value. {See
above, the antithesis between mercy and sacrifice.)
A symbol becomes null and void if applied against
the truth which it had been intended to present to
the mind. In that case its real object is lost, and it
does harm instead of good. Compare here Mark.
Ver. 19. For out of the heart proceed. — The
Saviour implies that c'v'il works first pass th.rough
the channel of an evil mouth, thus disclosing the evil
state of the heart.
DOCTIUNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. As the Gospel histoiy unfolds, the gulf be-
tween the beUeviug and tJie unbelieving portion of
the people becomes wider. If the former would fain
touch the hem of Bis garment in order to be restored,
the latter excommunicate Him, because His disciples
had offended against their traditions.
2. Let us mark the progressive hostility against
the Lord. First the Pharisees of Judea, then they
of Galilee, had pronounced against Him ; while both
are now combined against Him und His word. The
expression, " the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusa-
lem," clearly imphes that they were a deputation
from the synagogue, representing the whole body of
the Pharisees and scribes.
3. No doubt the peculiar arrangement adopted by
Matthew was intended to indicate this state of mat-
ters. Hence the description of Christ's conflict with
the secular authorities is followed by that of the
assaults on the part of the Pharisees and scribes.
4. The increasing bitterness of His enemies ap-
pears also from the circumstance, that they now
charged Him, in presence of the people, with setting
at nought pojiular traditions. They evidently seem
to have regarded the conduct of the disciples as
reflectmg the teaching of their Master. Hence the
Lord feels called upon to set before the people the
contrast between self-righteous traditionalism and the
eternal commandments of God. This He illustrates
in connection with tlie first and most special law of
humanity. But the principle here laid down em-
braces a far wider range. It condemns all dead tra-
ditionalism which is inconsistent with life, and indeed
every ecclesiastical ordinance v/hich in spirit or iu
form is uicompatible with the fundamental principles
of our humanity, with the institutions of God, or with
the demands of our moral nature.
5. The mere traditions of men are plants which
our Father in heaven has not planted. They have
sprung from temporal motives, were suljservient to
temporal interests, and becajue a temporal curse to
those who blindly follov/ed them. Hence also they
shall at last meet with an earthly fate, and be rooted
up. According to Heubner, the future tense, here
used, must be regarded as implying that a certain
thing must necessarily be done. Btit although it is
cjuite true that Christ by His word roots up the prin-
ciple of tradition in His Church, yet the actual pro-
cess of uprooting will take place in the course of
those judgments which the progress of history shall
evolve. Comp. 1 Cor. iii. 18.
6. The antithesis between the mouth in the phys-
ical and in the moral sense involved a principle by
vihich all the ordinances concerning meats were re-
moved, in A-iew of and as fulfilled by the law of the
spirit. This, indeed, was the main gi'ound of offence
to the Pharisees. However, it was not the intention
of the Lord to annul on this occasion these ordinan-
ces, as little as He meant to enjoin the cessation of
sacrifices when He quoted the saying of the prophet,
" I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." In the pres-
ent uistance also, a reference to the Hebrew expres-
sion would exhibit the right relationship between
what was material and what unmaterial (which had
been perverted by hypocrisy), implying, as it did,
that the latter was of no importance, and even con-
temptible, when contrasted with what in itself was
material. On the symbolical import of these ordi-
nances comp. the well known works on Old Testa-
ment SymboUsm [by Biihr, Kurtz, Fairbairn], and
the article lieinic/keit in Winer's Bilil. Encycl. The
religious lustrations prescribed in the law gave rise
to the Pharisaical ordinances concerning the wash-
ing of hands before meals. • In His teaching the
Lord goes back upon the fundamental principle
of all lustrations, laying peculiar stress on the an-
tithesis between what was external and what was
internal, since the Pharisees were in danger of substi-
tuting what was intended as a symbol, for the reality
to which it pointed.
7. The words of Jesus may be regarded both as
a doctrinal and as a controversial statement. The
charge of the Pharisees implied that He and His dis-
ciples were a company of defiled sinners. Our Lord
retorts by showing that defilement really attached to
the Pharisees, not in any outward sense, but by the
wicked thoughts issuing from their hearts. The doc-
trine, that out of the heart come e%il thoughts, is not
inconsistent with the dogma concerning the devil,
since Satan can only tempt man, not produce sin in
him. Comp. James i. 14.
8. The moment when Christ turns from the rulers
of the synagogue to address Himself to the people, is
both highly significant in itself and typical. The
same may be said of the fact, that immediately after-
ward He passed for the first time beyond the bound-
ary of the Holy Land ; not, indeed, directly into the
coast of Tyre, although soon afterward into the terri-
tory of Sidon. " Perhaps He found it necessary to
impress upon the disciples, who as yet could not
fully receive the contrast between Pharisaism and
the"rehgion of the Spirit, that the curse of defilement
CHAP. XIV. S.4-36, XY. 1-20.
279
hung over the Holy Land." Shnikrly, Ehjah, when
he could no longer find a habitation in Judea, had
passed into Phoenicia, and even tarried there for a
time.
HOMILKTICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The welcome and the ban which aw.iited the
Lord on His return into His own country. — The
secret landing of the Lonl anon a public event. — The
secret arrival of Christ a blessed event %r the poor
and needy who trusted in Him. — How the Pharisees
and scribes would have shut up the way of the Lord :
1. Opposing their human authority to His di\due
mission ; 2. their vain scholastic questions to His
heavenly revelation ; 3. the objections of their tradi-
tionalism to His proclamation of mercy ; 4. their
miserable pretensions to His blessed reality ; o. their
thoughts of death to His way of life. — Sad decay of the
once glorious synagogue. — The small masters in the
presence of the great Master. 1. They call on Him,
who is the Judge and Saviour of the world, to rebuke
His disciples ; 2. to wash that hand which restores
life and health ; 3. to purify that mouth whose word
and breath sanctify the world ; 4. to hallow the meal
of Him who is the bread of hfe. — The tradUionalisni
of the elders in its antagonism to the law of the Eter-
nal One: 1. By a perversion of the law it dares to
prefer cliarges against Him who is the personal law ;
2. by its traditions it renders vain even the eternal
commandments of God ; 3. under the mask of sanc-
tity it dares to condemn everlasting righteousness
itself. — Inseparable connection l)etweeu zeal for tra-
ditions and hypocrisy. — How the Lord brings to
nought the plans of these zealots : 1. By replying to
them, (a) throwing light on their doctrine; {li) on
their character ; 2. by turning from them, (a) giving
liberty to the people by the word of hberty ; (Ij) giv-
ing hberty to His own disciples by the call of liljerty :
" Let them alone." — Hypocrisy in its historical de-
velopment : 1. What fonns it assumed at the time of
Isaiah ; 2. at the time of Christ ; 3. in our own days.
— The unprofitableness and the judgments of hypoc-
risy : 1. It is a spurious service of the lips ; 2. it is
a vain and external service of the temple ; 3. it is the
vain service of the schools (unreal in the family, in
the church, in the school, and in the state). — Let us
meet the hypocrisy of officiahsm by imitating the
example of the Lord and turning to the people. — The
teaching of the Pharisees, and the doctrine of the
Lord. 1. The former exalt what is sensuous above
that which is spiritual, the external (as, for exam-
ple, washings, fasts, prayers, almsgiving, etc.) above
the internal ; while Jesus sanctifies what is external
by that which is internal. 2. The Pharisees convert
the emblem into the reality, and thereby destroy it ;
while Jesus merges in and fulfils the symbol by the
reahty. — The ofi'ence of the Pharisees. — Objections
to traditionalism : 1. It wants a divine origin. It
has not its root in truth or in life, and hence has
neither divine authority nor divine efficacy. It will
give way before divine institutions (it is rooted up) ;
it must give way before spiritual civilization, like
heathenism, or hke primeval forests. — " Let tJiem
alone" (ver. 13), or justification of tlie Reformation
by the mouth of the Lord. — The blind leaders of the
blind. 1. What they have in common: [a) Their
guilt ; (6) their ultimate fate. 2. Wherein they
differ: the blind leaders are responsible both for
themselves and for those whom they mislead ; but,
on the other hand, it is equally sinful on the part of j
the bhnd to allow themselves to be led by ])lind load-
ers.— The fall into the ditch. — " Do not ye yet under-
stand, that whatsoever cntereth into the mouth,"
etc. ? — Terril)k! import of these words of the Lord in
regard to those who pass moral judgments upon
points connected with merely outward observances.
— Even the mouth must be regarded as sacred to the
Lord, and what it partakes becomes a spiritual feast,
but only fron\ its connection with, and dependence
upon, the state of the heart. — If we seek purity in
external things, our purification, being of the earth,
will pass away. — That which proceedeth out of the
mouth Cometh forth from the heart. — Keep thy heart
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of hfe,
Prov. iv. 23. — The deeds of the heart manifesting
themselves by the words of the mouth. — Whatever
cleaves to and defaces an object contrary to its pur-
pose, defiles it ; hence the defilement of sin. — The
progress of that defilement which separates between
the Lord and us: 1. Evil distinctions (exaltation of
the outward over the inward) ; 2. adulteries (apos-
tasy from the Uving God) ; 3. fornications (with the
world and its pomp) ; 4. thefts (what is holy is taken
from the Lord and given to the world) ; 5. false wit-
nesses (lying accusations against what is holy) ; 6.
blasphemies (see Matt. xii.). — What defileth a man
before God: 1. Wherein defilement consisteth ; 2.
how it is contracted. — How eternal purity answered
the charge of defilement brought against it by im-
pure sinners. — How the wondrous beauty, purity,
and deUcacy of the emblem may be perverted into
impurity, if it is set up in opposition to the reaUty
which it was intended to foreshadow.
Starke : — Nov. Bill. Tub. : Those self-conceited
hypocrites who boast of being the Church, are gen-
erally the worst enemies and persecutors of the king-
dom of Christ. Full of impurity themselves, they
represent as sin what is not sin, and spy out the
hberty of Christians, Gal. ii. 4 ; 2 Tim. iii. 5." — What a
shame that the name of God should be used as a pre-
text to cover ambition and covetousness ! This the
false church has always done. — Que-inel : A desire
for new inventions, and love for old errors and super-
stitions, are the fruitful source whence the disturban-
ces of the Church spring, 1 Tim. i. 4-7. — Cramer:
This is the mark of all hypocrites and sanctimonious
persons, that they treat as a matter of conscience
things indifiercnt, while they deal lightly with things
of which they should make a matter of conscience. —
Woe to children who would rather see the back than
the face of their parents, who would rather commit
them to the grave than support them ! — Quesnel: It is
sacrilegious to devote to God what should have been
given in fulfilment of duties to v.hich the mstincts of
nature and the law of God equally point. — Hedinger:
Beware of sanctimonious people : they deceive the
simple, but are ignorant of Christ. — Nothing is to be
refused if it be received with thanksgiving, 1 Tim. iv.
4. — An unwashen mouth. — The heart in its natural
state a poisonous fountain of evil thoughts. — Every
plant, etc., 1 Cor. iii. 12. — It is quite possible to be
spiritually blind while possessing accurate knowledge
of the letter and even outward learning, Isa. Ivi. 10.
— Nov. Bihl. Tub. : That which is external can
neither defile nor sanctify what is within, but the
mind and heart sanctify or defile the outward deed.
— Gossner: Lymg traditions are turned into truth,
and the Word of God and the truth of Christ are
condemned as lies and heresies. — God desires above
all tlie heart. — Look to your plants. What does not
proceed from God. is not tolerated by God. — Preach-
280
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ers and hearers often lie in the same ditch of igno-
rance, worldliuess, and pharisaical self-righteousness.
Lhco: — It is characteristic of a false faith to
exalt the traditions of men above the commandments
of God. — Gerlach : — It is characteristic of sin that it
cannot remain quiescent, but must manifest itself
outwardly, and thereby be completed. — A high repu-
tation before men, and the applause of our cotempo-
raries, are of no avail in the kingdom of God if the
new birth be wanting. — That which is external re-
mains such, even though a man have received it in-
ternally.
Heubner : — Genuine and spurious purity. — The
false teachers calling the heavenly Master to account.
— They accuse Him of fhstilling into His disciples
erroneous and dangerous principles. — Let us not be
astonished when we see the most vain and heartless
persons arrogating to themselves the post of leaders
in religious matters. — Custom has frequently the
most pernicious authority, and proves a fetter to the
truth. — Immense difference between the traditions of
men and the commandments of God. — Outward reli-
gious claims can never come into conflict with those
of love. — None could have been further removed
from a religion without love and righteousness than
Christ. — Any religious or ecclesiastical usage which
proves inconsistent with the law of love is an abom-
ination unto Him. — The words of the prophets always
true. — Th% human heart the same at different periods
of time. — Man has a natural tendency to hypocrisy.
— How careful are we to be outwardly ])ure, regard-
less of the state of matters within ! — To follow Jesus,
we must be free from all human authority. — The
heart of man, which ought to be a temidc of the
Holy Spirit, naturally the dweUing-place of all abom-
inations.
2. Chrisfs Journey into the Heathen Coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and the Woman of Canaan. Ch. XV.
21-28.
(The Gospel for Reminiscere.)
21 Then Jesus went tlience,^ and departed [withdrew, av^x^PW^^^ "^to the coasts [re-
22 gions] of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a. woman of Canaan came out of tlie same
coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, thou Son of David ;
23 my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil [KaKws Sat/tovt^erat] . But he answered
her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying. Send her away
24 [dismiss her]^; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, 1 am not sent but
25 unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying,
26 Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet^ to take the children's bread,
27 and to cast it to [little] dogs. And .she said, Truth [Yea, Nut], Lord: yet [for even]*
28 the [little] dogs* eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, 0 woman, great is thy faitb : be it [done, yev^^r^Tw] unto
thee even ® as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour,
1 Ver. 2].— [Lit. : went forth from thence {i^eKdwv iKe70ev) ; Lange: ging aiis von dori.—P. S.]
2 Ver. 23.— [Lange translates dirdKvaov avTov : finde sie ah, either by granting or refusing her request; Campbell,
Norton, Conant, Alford : dimiiss her. So also Meyer : entlasse sie, viz., by granting her request, which is implied in the
answer of Christ, ver. 24. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 26.— Fritzsche, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford] read: ovk «|e<rTi, following D. and some versions and
fathers [instead of the foa-i. rcc. o 1/ K ecrri ku\6;', it is not good, or proper]. A false interpretation. [Meyer derives
the received reading from Mark vii. 27, and prefers ovk e^ecrr i, es ist nicht erhmht, it is not lawful, it is wrong.
Lange retains tlie received reading and translates Ka.\6v: fein. Codd. Alex.. Vatic., and Sinait. sustain the text. rec. :
oiiK ear I. Ka\6r.—V. S.]
■• Ver. 27. — [Ka.1 yap cannot mean yet (Luther : aierdoch; Campbell: yet even), -which denotes opposition, and
would qualify the preceding affirmative: Yea, but /or also, nam etiam, or nam et (Lat. Vulgate), denn audi (Lange), by
which the wonv^ supports her assent to the Saviour's assertion and turns it to her own account. Alford: "The sense of
Ka\ yap is not given by 'yeV in the E. V. The woman, in her humility, accepts the appellation which our Lord gives
her, and grounds her p)lea upon an inference from it. . . . Our Lord, in the use of the familiar diminutive [(du'ctpm],
has expressed not the iincleanness of the dog. so much as his attachment to and dependence on the hvman family ;
she lays hold on this favorable point, and makes it her own, 'if we are dogs, then may we fare as such;— be fed with the
crumbs of Thy mercy.' She was, as it were, under the edge of the table— close on the confines of Israel's feast." Comp.
also Lange's Exeg. Note.— P. S.]
* Ver. 27.— [Lit. here and in ver. 26 : Utile dogs, Kvpdpia; Vulg. : catelli ; Luther and Lange : Jliindlein. The
Lord purposely softened the harsh term, and caused his mercy to shine through the Jewish contempt of the heathen.
Comp. Enreg. Notes.— V. S.]
^ Ver. 28. — \_Dven is an unnecessary insertion of the E. V. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 21. The journey of Jesus through the
regions of Tyre and Sidon. — The representatives
of the Pharisees and scribes at Jerusalem had not
merely accused the Lord of transgressing the tradi-
tions, but also indirectly declared Him defiled, or
profane, because in the circle of His disciples He
had omitted the washing of hands. To this charge
Jesus had replied, by convincing them of their own
moral defilement, contracted by their words and
CHAP. XV. 21-28.
281
thought;;. The interview had ended in their taking
offence, which, of course, imphed that Jesus was now
to be formally accused of heresy. Accordingly, as
pi'eviously in Judea, so now in Galilee, He could no
longer show Himself openly without being exposed to
their murderous jilans. But His decease was to be
accomplished at Jerusalem. Hence lie withdrew
from Galilee (a c e x '^ P 'I <'■ « ")• It '"'^s as if He were
driven into the boundary lands of heathenism by His
horror of Jewish hypocrisy, as well as by way of
precaution against their designs. In the first place
He passed northwest through the mountains of Up-
per Galilee, and into the border land of Phoenicia.
Hence He literally went e i s to. fie f>^^, and not mere-
ly in thr.t direction (Grotius, Bengel). But, accord-
ing to ver. 22, He only touched the heathen bound-
ary line (Kuinoel, Vatablus, Meyer). From Mark vii.
24 we infer that He had wished to continue there for
some time in retirement, probably to prepare for fur-
ther public movements. Thus He had, so to speak,
been again driven to the very limits of human society,
just as at His birth, on entering upon His office, and
again at last on Golgotha. The Jewish world was
closed against Him ; nor had the hour yet come when
the heathen world would Ije open to His word, the
wall of separation not having yet been broken down
by His death. For a season, Jesus seems hemmed
up La the narrow border land between Canaan and
Phoenicia, there to meditate in deep solitude upon
His further movements. But He could not remain
unknown. The healing of the Syrophenician woman's
daughter, who had discovered His presence in those
parts, spread His fame. He now travelled northward
through the territory of Sidon (Lachmann and Tis-
chendorf read Sm ^lSuvos in Mark vii. 31, after B.,
D., L.), and came to the foot of Mount Lebanon.
Thence He passed (Mark vii. 31) through the bound-
ary land of Decapolis {i. e., the northern districts of
the Decapolis, which according to Pliny included
Damascus ; according to Lightfoot, only Cesarea
Phihppi). Thus the Lord again arrived at the east-
em shore of the Sea of Galilee. "As Jesus passed
through the territory of Sidon from north to south,
to return to the Sea of Galilee through the boundary
districts of the Decapolis, He must have described a
Eemicircle, passing through the mountain solitudes
and valleys at the foot of Lebanon and Anti-Leba-
non, and close by the snow-capped top of Hermon.
Under a deep sense of having been driven from His
own country. He travelled through the solitudes of
that district. His mind already engaged with the de-
cease which He was to accomplish." {Leben Jesu, ii.
2, 870.)
Ver. 22. And, behold, aw^oman of Canaan.
— X av av aia , a Phcenician. " During the earliest
times of Jewish history, several tribes of Canaanitcs,
■■JSZS , who were the original inhabitants of Pales-
tine, had retired northward before the Israelites.
From these the Phoenicians were descended. See
Keland, Palcsiina, pp. 7, 50 ; Winer, Peal - Worter-
huch ; Lightfoot, in loc." Meyer. Further particu-
lars are given in the Gospel of Mark. — Came out.
— From the territory beyond to the place where
Christ was. — (Thou) Son of David. — The Messian-
ic hopes of the Jews were well known. Besides, we
conclude that the woman had somehow been informed
that the Son of David, or the Messiah, was at hand.
She believed, although from ver. 26 it appears that
she was not a proselyte of the gate, and the genuine-
ness and spirituality of her faith required to be tried.
— Have mercy on me. — Bengel: Suam feccrat pia
mater miscriam flicp. Of course, the heathens
would share the Jewish belief in demoniacal posses-
sions.
Ver. 23. Dismiss her. — Or, " have done with
her," as we might render the sense otairoAvcroy
auT-n V — leaving it indefinite whether this was to be
accomplished by fulfilling or by refusing her request.
The fonner, however, is more likely ; for the answer
of Jesus shows that the disciples had interceded on
behalf of the woman. [Alford : " The word 6.ir6-
\v<Tuv does not necessarily imply granting her request,
nor the contrary ; but simply, dismiss her, leaving
the method to our Lord Himself." But Jesus, who
penetrated into the heart of the disciples, interprets
their request as an intercession in behalf of the poor
woman (ver. 24), which agrees better, also, with their
natural sympathy and charity. — P. S.]
Yer. 24. I am not sent but to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. — The question has been
urged, whether this statement implied a positive
or a hypothetical refusal of the woman's petition.
Hase, de Wette, Stier, Ewald, and Meyer, hold that
it was intended as a real refusal, which afterward,
however, ivas overcome by the firm trustfulness of
the woman. But what meaning do these commenta-
tors attach to the term overcome ? Jesus could only
be overcome as God Himself is overcome. In other
words, for the sake of magnifying the office of faith,
He allows the trial of our faith to assume the form
of a conflict. On the other hand, it cannot have been
His sole aim to try the faith of the woman (Chrysos-
tom and others). If this were the case, the reply of
Christ would still remain unexplained. In our view,
the faith of the woman was tried in order to show
that slie really was a spiritual daughter of Abraham;
in which case she would in truth be reckoned one of
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Possibly she
might have attached only heathen ideas to the ex-
pression. Son of David, when her faith would merely
have been superstition. This would become mani-
fest, if, on trial, the spiritual elements were found to
be wanting, \iz., perseverance, Immilitt/, reflection, and
confidence. In these respects the faith of the woman
v.as now to be tried and proved. Such a test would
show to the disciples that she really was a spiritual
daughter of Israel. For, while showing mercy to
those who were susceptible among the heathen, the
Lord would not give offence to His own people in
Israel. Hence it was necessary to prepare the disci-
ples themselves to receive the woman into their fel-
lowship. The same principle also regulated the pro-
gress of the Church subsequent to the feast of Pente-
cost. It is a summary solution of the question to
say, that before Pentecost only Jews had been re-
ceived, and afterward heathens also. If the hea-
thens who were now received wanted outward cir-
cumcision, they had undergone the circumcision of
the heart (Kom. ii.). Only as belonging to the spir-
itual Israel could they share in the salvation of Isra-
el ; and the believing Jews themselves were con-
strained to acknowledge that they had part with
them (Acts x. xi.), having previously been taught
that they themselves were the true Israel, only under
the same conditions of faith and circumcision of the
heart. Thus the narrative of the text prefigures the
future enlargement of the Church, and the reception
of the heathen into it. And this at the right mo-
ment— when, on the one hand, the conduct of Israel
had driven the Lord into the border land of heathen-
ism ; while, on the other, the anticipation of the in-
gathering of the heathen would elevate Him above
282
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the sorrow which weighed upon Him. But such in-
dividual instances of mercy shown to the heathen be-
fore tlie death of Christ, differ from the general call
addressed to them after His decease, in that, in the
former case, those who obtained mercy had become,
so to speak, beheving Israelites — owning the privi-
leges of the chosen race and the validity of their law
— while by the death of Christ the law itself was ful-
filled, and therefoi'e abolished, so far as its outward
fonn was conceined.
Ver. 26. It is not meet, or proper. — The read-
ing it is not lav/ful, is evidently a gloss or interpre-
tation. Such a reply would have removed all doubt,
and cut off every hope ; v/hile the expression actual-
ly used allows tlie law of the spirit to shine through
that of the letter. At first sight it might appear as
if Jesus Himself designated this order of things " ex
publico Judoeorum affectu " (Erasmus). But a closer
examination shows that this was not the case. For,
while the Jews were wont to designate the heathen
as doga (Lightfoot, Suicer, Wetstein, Eisenmeuger,
Entdecktcs Judenthum, ^13), they are in the text only
called Kvv6.pt a, not nwis \ implying that they
were not like the great wild dogs wliich in the East
infested towns and villages, but that they miglit be
compared to small dogs attached to households (in
Luke xvi. 21, hoAvever, the word uvve<i is used). This
apparently slight distinction forms the basis of the
woman's reply. Besides, the antithesis — "to take
the bread from the children and to give it to Uttle
dogs" — would serve to show the huinane motive
prompting the seemingly inhumane conduct — the
Christian spirit under the Jewish guise, and to con-
vince the woman that the question was not to be de-
cided by any ordinance of traditionaUsm, but by the
law of the spirit.
Ver. 27. Yea, Lord. — The word v a l by way of
admission, not of contradiction ; but not exclusively,
or even pi-imarily, referring to the desigTiatiou " Uitle
dogs." To have done so would have been to miss
the meaning of Christ, although He had, no doubt,
also intended to set before her mind the defilement
clinging to her as a heathen. She acquiesces in the
truth of the ivhole statement^ humbly submitting to
the judgment implied in the figure employed — that
she had no right or title to the covenant-dispensa-
tion. But adopting this very figure (not with dAAa,
as Chrysostom, Luther, [and our authorized version]
have it, but with Ka\ y a i>), she converts it into an
argument. Yea, Lord — she says — it is even so : it
is not meet to give the children's bread to the little
dogs ; but, on the contrary, the little dogs are sus-
tained by what is left over from the superabundance
on their master's table. De Wette interprets : "For
dogs must be content with the crumbs which fall
from their master's table." The meaning of her re-
ply seems to be : Even so. Lord ; for it is not cus-
tomary for the children to suffer want in order that
the little dogs may be fed, but rather that the latter
are sustained by the crumbs which fall from the ta-
ble.* Viewed in this liglit, the reply is most becom-
ing, indicating: 1. Ilnmiufi/, or submission to a
* [So iilso Wordsworth : 'Tea, Lord, Thou sayest true, it
is not risrht to tako the children's iread and (five it to the
dogs: for the dops eat of the crumbs that fall from their
master's table. Let me therefore have not bread, but only
crumbs; and do not give me even them, but let me pick
up what f<Ms from the table. A beautiful image of the hu-
mility of the faithful Gentiles, hungering and thirsting for
the least fragments of the gospel which dropped from the
table of the Jews who despised it." Comp. Alford's expla-
nation quoted above. — I*. S.]
figure which apparently involved shame and, as un-
derstood by tlie Jews, reproach. 2. Ferseverajice,
transibrming a seeming refusal into an implied pro-
mise of help. 3. Spiritualiiij, recognizing under the
repulsive garb of the figure, the mind of Christ, whose
love and benevolence she realized even through the
unpromismg medium. Evidently she beheld the
rich fulness of Christ and of His kingdom. 4. Con^
fidcnce, that the goodness and grace of the Lord
were unlimited and illimitable.
Ver. 28. O woman, great is thy faith. — Thus
showing that, in the one main point, she was one of
the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
From that very hour. — See ch. ix. 22 ; John
iv. 53. An instance of healing at a distance, as in
ch. viii. 13 ; John iv. The intermediate link in this
case was the heart of the mother, so closely knit to
that of her daughter ; as in the other two instances
it had been the paternal affection of the royal offi-
cer, and the deep faith of the centurion at Caper-
naum.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Christ banished as impure from the Holy Land,
and passing through heathen countries. Historical
parallels : Elijah, Paul.
2. The conduct of Christ in this case was occa-
sioned by His twofold desire of influencing His dis-
ciples, as well as trying the faith of the woman.
When her deep trustfulness became apparent, it must
at the same time have evoked in the disciples the
conviction that she was a genuine daughter of Abra-
h.am. It was not, and could not be, the intention of
the Saviour to form a new communion of Ijeheving
heathens by sweepmg away the old communion of
believing Israelites. Thus the event here recorded
was not an exception to His ordinary dealings, but
rather a Symbolical directory which afterward guided
the conduct of the Apostles ; comp. Acts x. xi., and
the journeys of Paul to Jerusalem, with which each
of bis missionary expeditions terminated.
3. When modifying the Jewish prejudice to
the effect of treating as little dogs, who are included
in the economy of mercy, thosewhom the Jews would
have excluded from it as mere dogs, our Lord ex-
presses the theocratic contrast between Judaism
and heathenism in such a manner as to enable
the woman to urge it in support of her plea. As or-
dained by God, this contrast implied that salvation
was to be communicated to the heathen through the
spiritual training and preparation enjoyed by Israel.
But this arrangement had been perverted by Jewish
prejudice, and the heathen were represented as im-
pure dogs who had no part in the divine economy,
and were excluded from the hope of salvation. Christ
rectified this error by transforming the term of re-
proach employed by prejudice into a parable. It is
not meet to take the bread from the children of the
house, and to give it in the first place to the little
dogs. Not that He imphed that the house was poor,
but that the time for the little dogs had not yet ar-
rived. And such, indeed, was the general rule. But
in her spiritual wisdom the woman took up the other
aspect of the figure. The house and the table — she
urged — are both full, and even during the meal
crumbs fall to the ground. These may surely be
eaten by the Uttle dogs. Thus, while acknowledging
the arrangements of the Old Testament economy,
CHAP. XV. 21-28.
she exalted the fulness of Christ, which far exceeds
all limitations.
4. On the miraculous cures at a distance, comp.
my Lehen Jesu, ii. 1, 275. These mysterious com-
munings of mind form, so to speak, the basis for
gracious blessmgs granted in answer to intercessory
prayer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The journey of Jesus through heathen territory
an imphed injunction of missionary labor. — As Juda-
ism gradually closed, the heathen world commenced
to open to the gospel. — The new place of retreat of
the Lord. — The sorrows and joys of the Lord on this
journey. — How the v,'orldly-mindeduess of His pro-
fessmg people always drove Him anew into the wil-
derness : 1. In His infancy; 2. after His baptism;
3. in the midst of His activity ; 4. before His last suf-
ferings ; 5. at His ascension. — Elijah and the widow
of Sarepta (1 Kings xvii. 9) ; Jesus and the woman
of Canaan. — The woman of Canaan ; or, successful
prayer : 1. So earnest ; 2. so believing ; 3. so humble ;
4. so wise ; 5. so instant and persevermg ; and hence,
6. with such glorious results. — Boldness of this peti-
tioner : 1. She cned afier Him ; 2. she fell down
before Him. — Greatness of the trial to which the
Lord subjected her faith : 1. Her difSculties : (a) He
answered her not a word ; (b) He appeared to refuse
her request, — " I am not sent," etc. ; {c) He gave her
a seemingly harsh reply: "It is not meet," etc. 2.
Yet there was hope for her : (a) He gave not a pos-
itive refusal, or did not turn from her ; (b) He spoke
of the lost sheep, or reasoned with her ; (c) He only
said that the httle dogs were not to be fed if it de-
prived the children of their bread, or He put a plea
into her mouth. — How it must clearly appear that
ours is genuine faith, and not superstition, if we are
to have part in the salvation of Israel. — How even
the heathen may, in the sight of the Lord, belong to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. — How the Lord
trains His disciples to be apostles to the heathen. —
Shortcomings in the intercession of the disciples : 1.
Their motive was good (the woman required help,
and the Lord was able to grant it) ; 2. their argu-
ments were insufficient (they were molested by her
cries) ; 3. but even these insufficient arguments indi-
cated the presence of love and compassion (the cry
of a heathen went to their heart, and they forgot
their Jewish prejudices). — It is impossible to con-
tinue cherishing fanaticism if we but rightly under-
stand the cry of the human heart for help. — Why
the Lord would have the disciples receive the woman
into their communion. — Let us not go forth to the
heathen attempting to win souls for a particular sect
at home. — Exclamation of astonishment about the
faith of this poor heatiien. — Glorious declaration,
" Be it done to thee even as thou wilt." — The great-
ness of her faith consisted in great humility, great
trustfulness, and great ardor, notwithstanding a very
small measure of knowledge. — Maternal love and
faith here combined. — Thus the Lord showed Him-
self victorious over the devils even among the hea-
then.— Intercession as opening up the heathen world
to Christ. — How the longing of the world and the
compassion of the Church meet and coml:)ine at the
footstool of Jesus.
Starke : — Cansiein: God withdraws His gracious
presence from those who are weary of it, ami who
despise His word and benefits : Acts xiii. 40; Hosca
V. ] 5. — If we listen to the doctrine of men, we shall
lose sight of Christ, Gal. v. 4. — Zcisius : It is the
gracious will of God that even the heathen should be
gathered into the kingdom of Christ, Isa. xlii. 6 ;* xlix.
6. — Hedincfcr : God frequently exercises His people
by manifold trials ; He even appears to be cruel in de-
laying His aid, in order to draw out their prayers
and to prove their faith. — Canstein: Even the tyran-
ny of Satan must be subservient to the glory of the
divine name. — Lo, how the ci'oss drives people into
the arms of our blessed Saviour ! — 0 thou precious
cross, how very needful and useful thou art ! — Pros-
perity leads from Christ, but adversity brings to
Him. — Parents should feel the misery of their chil-
dren as deeply as their own ; but the greatest of all
afflictions is, if they are under the dominion of Satan,
and do his works. — Parents should be concerned for
the physical, and still more for the spiritual, well-
being of their children. — Canstein : God is faithful,
who adapts the measure of our temptations to that
of the grace given us, 1 Cor. x. 13. — It is sinful to
spend upon dogs or other animals that by which we
ought to reUeve men, who are the children of God.
— We should not withhold even from annuals their
necessary sustenance. — Osiander : It is a grievous
temptation to think that you are not one of Christ's
sheep ; still, continue to cleave implicitly to Christ,
and you will overcome. — Quesnel : A genuine peni-
tent will not be discouraged by the way in which God
deals with him. — Faith will only increase, not de-
crease under trials, 1 Pet. i. 6, '7. — The Lord is near
to all that call on Him, Ps. cxlv. 19. — Intercession,
James v. 14, 1.5. — If we desire to receive from God
what we ask, we must be content first to bear what
God may be pleased to send, even though it were
the greatest trial. — The prayers and the faith of
parents bring down the richest blessing upon their
children.
Gossner : — The Canaanites, once so corrupted
that they had to be expelled from the Holy Land,
lest the Jews might be ruined by their contact, were
now in fact better than the Jews, and this woman
left hur home to meet Jesus.* — If we would show
mercy, we should not be too hasty, but proceed cau-
tiously.
Gerlach : — The woman of Canaan had heard lit-
tle of Christ ; but her faith shows how even small
knowledge may produce great effects, if received into
a humble and broken heart. — Analogous passages of
Scripture : the parable of the unjust judge, Luke
xviii. 3 ; the wrestling of Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 24 ; the
distress of Moses, Ex. iv. 24 ; the cry of Jesus, Matt.
xxvii. 46 (Ps. xxii.). — It is remarkable how, in a cer-
tain sense, this woman rectified the v.'ords of Jesus ;
but this arises from the nature of the thing. — The
law, which accuses and condemns man, is removed
by the grace which faith appropriates.
Henbner : — Expelled from His own country,
Clu'ist still remained faithful to it. — He often delay-
eth His answer, lest we should grow weary of calling
upon Him, and that although the promise remaineth
true, Isa. Ixv. 24, " Before they call, I will answer ;
and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." — Let
us not be tempted to treat the entreaties of any one
as troublesome. Ees sacra miser. — Chrijsostom :
Jesus fulfilled even the law which prohibited the
Jews from having communion with the Canaanites
(Dent. vii. ; although it only api^Ued to their idola-
trous customs, comp, the life of Elijah), in order
*rTh
P.S.J
thought is borrowed from St. Chrysostom.-
284
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
that He might be able to say, Which of you con-
vinceth me of nin? John viii. 40. — A Christian
combines love to his own country with affectionate
interest in the world generally. — Import of the word
" nevprthdess,''^ to which the Christian cleaves in
pleading with God, Ps. Ixxiii. 23-26.— Truth, Lord ;
yet* — The whole system of faith contained in these
three words. — In one sense I have no claim upon
Thee, yet in another I have. — Faith will stand the
most searching and painful trial, and at last obtain
the victory. — " Truth, Lord " (humility) ; yet (faith).
— Bemjel : Let us ever bear in mind that we are hea-
thens.— We should be glad to receive the crumbs
which fall from the table, instead of attempting to
jump upon it, and even to upset it — Chrysostom :
" Great is thy faith : " thou hast not seen a single
miracle ; thou hast not heard any one of the proph-
ets ; thou hast not been trained in the law ; thou
hast been passed by and treated with contempt by
Me. Still thou hast persevered ; receive then the
acknowledgment of thy faith. — Noble mother of Ca-
naan ! how many mothers has thy example encour-
aged ! — Wisdom and grace of Jesus in His deaUugs
with the woman of Canaan : 1. In drawing her ; 2.
in trymg her ; 8. in rewarding her. — The woman of
* [Assuming this rendering of the Authorized English
Version, and the corresponding German Version of Luther
(aber dock) to be correct, against which compare the Sxeg.
Kotes.—V. S.]
Canaan a figure of the Christian wrestling in faith. —
Faith and prayer are inseparable.
Reinhard: — On the connection between true hu-
mility before God and genuine confidence in Him. —
Mehlins : Even when help is deferred our confidence
should not fail. — Bachmann : The Lord the Author
and the Finisher of our faith. — Krabb (of Langen-
berg) : Jesus and the woman of Canaan ; or, faith :
1. How it wrestles ; 2. how it conquers.
[Matthew Henry: — Those whom Christ intends
most signally to honor, He first humbles and lays
low in a sense of their own meanness and unworthi-
ness. We must first feel ourselves to be as dogs,
leas than the least of all God^s mercies, before we are
fit to be dignified and privileged with them. — Christ
delights to exercise great faith with great trials, and
sometimes reserves the sharpest for the last, that be-
ing tried, we may come forth like gold. — Special or-
dinances and church privileges are children's bread,
and must not be prostituted to the grossly ignorant
and profane. Common charity must be extended to
all, but spiritual dignities are appropriated to the
household of faith. — If we cannot reason down our
unbelief, let us pray it down. — " Great is thy faith."
The woman had many graces, wisdom, humility,
meekness, patience, perseverance in prayer ; but
these were the fruits of her faith, which of all graces
honors Christ most ; therefore of aU graces Christ
honors faith most. — P. S.]
3. The Second Miraculous Feeding. Ch. XV. 29-38.
29 And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh unto the Sea of Gahlee ; and [he]
30 went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great muUitudes came unto him,
having with them those that were lame, bhnd, dumb, maimed,^ and many others, and
31 cast them down at Jesus' [his] feet;^ and he healed them: Insomuch [so] that the mul-
titude [multitudes, rov<; oxXors] wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak [speaking,
AaXowras], the maimed to be whole [whole], the lame to walk [walking], and the blind
32 to see [seeing] : and they glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples
unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me
. now three days, and have nothing to eat : and I will not send them away fasting, lest
33 they faint in the way. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we have so
34 much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude ? And Jesus saith unto
35 them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. And
36 he commanded the multitude [multitudes, 6)^ols\ to sit [lie] down on the groimd. And
he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to
37 his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat [all ate], and
were filled: and they took up of the broken meat [of the fragments] that Avas [were]
38 left seven baskets full. And they that did eat [ate] were four thousand men, besides
women and children.
1 Ver. 30.— The order in the enumeration of the sick varies in the critical authorities. The one followed in the text is
supported by E., G., R., etc., Lachinann.
2 Ver. 30.— [For the tea^t. rec. : tt o' 5 a s rov 'I t; cr o 9 , all the critical editions read Tro'Sar avrov, Uh feet. So
also Lange in his version. — P. fc>.]
the sources of Jordan, He again arrived at the east-
ern shore of the sea, and sat down there, or settled
on the mountain, — i. e., continued His solitary com-
muning in prayer. But He could not remain un-
known.
Ver. 30. — The text here mtroduces a new de-
scription of sulFerers, the k vWol, or maimed iu
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 29. From thence,— further on; ixtra-
fids. See above.
And sat down there. — He must needs return
to His people. Accordingly, after having passed round
CHAP. XV. 29-
285
hands or feet. Perhajis the term may allude to cre-
tins.— The people cast them down at His feet, —
iudicatiug. according to Bciigcl and Meyer, their
haste ; according to Fritzsche and de Wette, imiJicit
confidence; and according to Baumgarteu-CrusHS,
the helplessness of the persons who were afflicted.
But may it not at the same time indicate both tte
rudeness of these mountaineers, and their confidence,
boldness, and their rapid movements in order to
bring to the feet of Jesus all who were diseased "?
Among these cm-es Mark specially instances that of
a deaf and dumb pei-sou (vii. 32).
Vcr. 31. They glorified the God of Israel. —
These remote mountaineers knew Uttle of the Messi-
anic character of Jesus. Probably they had adopted
many heathen notions, and were wont to compare
other gods with the God of Israel. Hence they now
glorified the God of Israel, in consequence of the
miracles of Him whom they acknowledged as His
prophet.
Ver. 32-38. But Jesus called His disciples to
Him. — The case was much more urgent than on the
former occasion. The multitude had followed Him
from the mountains, and not, as formerly, gathered
in preparation for the festival of Easter. For three
days they had continued with Him, partly forgetful
of the wants of nature. Such scanty provision as
they had brought with them was consumed. There
was no possibility of either going into neighboring
towns, or quickly returning across the lake. They
could only retire to their mountain homes through
the passes by which they had followed Hun. They
might therefore readily faint by the way. Similarly,
the case was one of much greater difficulty than for-
merly. The multitudes here collected were more
ignorant of the extent of Christ's power. On the
other hand, the supply of the disciples was somewhat
larger — seven loaves and a few fishes ; vvhilst the
multitude was smaller, at least by a thousand men.
These circumstances will explain why the disciples in
their discouragement designated their fishes as ( x ^ v-
h la, and why Christ here commanded {eKeKevae)
the multitude to sit down.
From the similarity of this narrative to that of
the first feeding of the people, and from the evident
perplexity of the disciples, Schleiermacher and others
have erroneously inferred that Matthew had here a
second time reported one and the same fact. Krabbe,
Hoflmann, Ebrard, and others controvert this view.
Meyer thinks that the two events were different ; but
that the narratives had, in the course of tradition,
become more like each other than the facts them-
selves. But the difltereuce between them appears
even in the terms for the baskets {airv pi5e s , bas-
kets for provisions) in which the fragments were
gathered, and in the circumstance that there were
seven of them. Meyer : " The seven baskets corre-
spond to the number of the loaves ; the twelve bas-
kets to that of the Apostles." If it be asked why
less was left over when the provision had been ori-
ginally greater, and the number of guests smaller, we
might, perhaps, in reply, point to the difference in
the baskets. But if the twelve baskets impUed that
the Lord would make abundant provision for all the
Apostles if they surrendered everything for Him, the
seven baskets may indicate both that He would rich-
ly reward their sacrifices (seven baskets for seven
loaves), and that their requirements were diminishing
since their pUgrimage was nearing its end.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
As above in the account of the first feeding of the
multitude, ch. xiv. 14-21.
IIOMILETICAL AND rEACTICAL.
They cast those who were afflicted at Jesus' feet.
— Cast all your care upon Him. — How the gracious
help of tlie Lord should incite us to compassion. —
Christ and His cures: 1. The variety of sufiermgs
(the maimed also) ; 2. the rude attendants ; 3. the
Saviour always ready to help. — The repetition of the
miraculous feeding of the multitude reminding us of
ihe words of the Lord, " The poor ye have always
vith you." — Comparison between the two occasions
on which the multitudes were fed: 1. The second oc-
casion was seemingly less distinguished than the first
(seven loaves, five loaves ; five thousand, four thou-
sand ; twelve baskets, seven baskets). 2. In reality,
it was greater. (On the first occasion the people
knew Him well, while on the second they were igno-
rant mountaineers from the utmost boundaries of the
land ; on the first occasion the crowd was preparing
to go up to the feast, while on the second it was
gathered from the mountains ; on the first occasion
the miracle took place at the close of the first day,
but on the second after they had contmued for three
days with Jesus.) Suuilarly, the results were differ-
ent. (On the first occasion they would have made
Him their king, while on the second they glorified
the God of Israel.) — What lessons the Lord here im-
parts for Christian households. He teaches them :
1. Confidence in His own superabundant riches ; 2.
carefulness in the use of the blessings which He be-
stows on them. — Provision is always made for the
women and children along with the men. — The cir-
cumstance that the women and children are not
specially mentioned, implying a promise for their
provision.
Starke : See how obtuse our reason is when we
contmue to hai'bor doubts and unbeUef, although we
have so many evidences of the power and goodness
of our God, Num. xi. 18-23. — Osiaader : When God
bestows His blessing, that which seemeth little be-
cometh much. — Cramer : Nature is satisfied with
plain fare (bread and fishes). — To cat and be satis-
fied are always combined when God spreads the ta-
ble for His children. — Carefulness turns everything
to account. — Quesnel : The more liberally we employ
the gifts of God in a manner pleasmg to Him, the
more abundantly shall we receive of them. Gal. vi. 9.
— Luther : Let us frequently think of the great multi-
tude of peoples who daily sit down at God's table,
and are satisfied. This will help us to glorify the
love and power of our God. — Quesnel : Let heads of
houses rely upon the divine provision, however nu-
merous their families, Ps. Iv. 23.
Lisco : — Erroneously : " This event occurred near
Magdala, a city by the Lake of Galilee." — Gerlach :
Magdala, a city by the Lake of Galilee, not far from
Gadara. — This mistake seems to have originated with
Lightfoot and Wetstein.
Heuhner : — The less the people thought about
eating and drinking, the more did Christ care for
their wants. — " Many children, many prayers." —
Christ the spiritual Head of the house. — The Chris-
tian parent after the example of Christ.
28G
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
D. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF AS THE HIGH PRIEST IN HIS SUFFERINGS ;— BEING
REJECTED BY THE PHARISEES AND SADDFCEES, OR BY THE COMBINED THEOCRAT-
ICAL AUTHORITIES OF GALILEE.
Chapter XV. 39-XVI. 12.
Contents :— Although the Lord landed privately on the western shore near Magdala, He was immediately met by His
enemies. The combined authorities of tlie country now demand of Him to prove Ilis claims to the Messianic title by
showing that sign from heaven, which in their carnal expectations they connected with the appearance of the prom-
ised Deliverer. Their object evidently was to represen'. His probable refusal of their request as an acknowledgment
of His being a false Messiah. Jesus dismisses them witii a rebnke, in which He again points them to the sign of Jonah,
i. e., to His death and resurrection. Thus rejected in Jralilee, Ho immediately returns across the sea to the eastern
shore, there to prepare in retirement for His last jouri.ey to Jerusalem. The warning addressed to tlie disciples about
the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes was intended iO teach them that they were now to forsake Galilee, which had
practically surrendered itself to heathenism, just as Jloses and his people had left the land of Egypt.
1. The Sign from Heaven. Ch. XV. 39-XVL 4.
Cn. XV. 39 And he sent away the multitude [multitudes, o;i(Xous], and took ship [entered
into the ship],^ and ca;me into the coasts of Magdala [Magadan].^
Ch. XVI. 1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came,^ and tempting, desired him
2 that he would shew [to show] them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto
3 them, When it is evening, yo say, It will he* fair weather: for the sky is red. And in
the morning, It toill he foul weather to day : for the sky is red and lowering. 0 ye
hypocrites,^ ye can [ye know how to] ^ discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not dis-
4 cern the signs of the times ? A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ;
and there shall no sign [and no sign shall] be given unto it, but the sign of the proph-
et' Jonas [Jonah]. And he left them, and departed.
1 Ch. sv., ver. .39.— ['Aj/e'/STj ils rb irAoiof.]
2 Ver. 89. — [The authorities are divided between Ma75o\a»', tliaya^ av^ and M 07 5 a A. a. The Vatican and
the Sinaitic MSS. read Ma-yaScir, and so do Tischendorf, Lachmann, and Alford. Lange prefers MaySaAoy.
See bis Eseg. and Grit. Notes in loc.—P. S.]
3 Ch. xvi., ver. 1. — [Better: And the Pharisees and {the) Sddducees came, Koi irpoaeXdnyrfs 01 ^aptaaloi Kcd (oi)
:S,a5SovKa7oi.-P. B.]
* Ver. 2. — [The interpolation hero and in ver. 3 is unnecessary. Fair weather ! is more lively. So Ewald, Lange:
Schon Wetter! Meyer: Ileiteres Wetter! The Greek has only one word in each case, evSia (from eS and Aio's,
gen. of Zsuf), clear sl-tj^fine weather, and x ^ ' /^ '« »') utorm, rainy, foul weather.— 'P. S.]
* Ver. 3.— 'TiroKpiTai, hypocrites, is wanting in Codd. C, D., L., etc., and thrown out by Lachmann and Tischendort
[Cod. Sinait. omits all the words from oi(/i'os yevof^ei/Tjs to Suvacrde, ver. 2-3, probably by an oversight of the transcri-
ber.—P. S.]
6 Ver. 3.— [rij/cto-Kere. So also Lange : ihr ■verstefifs. The second discern (SiaKpivfiv) of the E. Vers, is an in-
terpolation, but makes the sense clearer. The lit. rendering is: Te know {-yivwaKere) how to dii^cern the face of the
sky; hut can. ye not {oh dvi/airde) the sir/ns of the times f Lange gives r d> u KaipHv an emphatic sense and trans-
lates : die Zeichen dejr Entxcheidungszeiten, the decisive epochs, such as the one of Christ's ministry on earth.— P. S.J
' Ver. 4.— T ov Trpocprirov is wanting in B., D., L., and erased by Lachmann and Tischendorf. [It is also omitted
in the Codex from Mt. Sinai, and in the editions of Tregelles, and Alford. Lange retains it in his version, but in smaller
type and in parenthesis.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CUITICAL.
XV. 39. — Into the coasts of Magdala [Mag-
dalan, Magadan], — The circumstance that Jesus
secretly lands in an obscure and unknown place,
throws considerable light on the degree of hostility
and persecution which lie had to encounter during
His last journey in Galilee. The watchfulness of the
Jewish leaders appears from this, that despite the
precautions used by the Lord, they are seemingly
ready immediately to meet Him, this time with a
categorical demand. — Magdalan lay on the western
shore of the lake. Probably it is the modern small
village of el Mejdel, about an hour and a half to the
north of Til^erias, and protected toward the sea by
high cliffs (Robinson, ii. 397; Schubert, iii. 250).
Robinson enumerates the various arguments against
placing it on the eastern shore of the lake. In all
likelihood the name of Mary Magdalene was derived
from this place, which also gave birth to several of
the Rabbins mentioned in the Talmud. According
to Mark viii. 10, the landing took place in the dis-
trict of Dalmanutha, probably a village not far from
Magdalan. We conjecture that the Lord touched
the shore somewhere between these two village'^, and
nearer to Dalmanutha than to Magdalan — the ac-
count in Mark being the more accurate, while
Matthew only speaks of Magdalan, as being the place
more generally known. Winer suggests that Magda-
CHAP. XV. 39-XVI. 1-4.
287
Ian was tlic bs ^^5^ of the Old Testament ; Ewald,
that it was Megiddo, which, however, according to
Robinson, ii. 329, lay farther inland. The view of
Ewald is based on the reading MayaSdv, in Codd.
B., D., the Syriac version, etc. (which has been
adopted by Lachmann and Tischendorf), and with
which the readhig MayeSdv (Vulg., Ital.) may be com-
pared. 15ut Codd. C, M., the Coptic translation, etc.,
read MaySaKdv. Now it is qnite possible, either that
this diflcrcnce of reading may have originated from
a, desire to assimilate this name to that of a better
known place, or else that Magada, the name of an
obscure village on the lake, may have been con-
verted into that of the well-known birthplace of Mary
Magdalene.
XVI. 1. And the Pharisees and (the) Saddu-
cees. — According to Strauss and de Wette, this is
the same event as that recorded in ch. xii. 88. The
remark is true, but only so far as the spirit, the
tendency, and some of the external features, not so
far as the peculiar characteristics, of the narrative
are concerned. Evidently, it occurred at a later
period of history ; the place where the Saviour land-
ed, the demand made upon Him, and His reply, are
all different. Strauss and de Wette regard it as im-
probable that the Pharisees and Sadducees should
have combined. And yet these two parties must
have united in the Sanhedrin which condemned
Jesus to death ! Instead of such idle conjectures, it
would have been well if critics had rather inquired
how it came that the two parties even at this early
period united in their hostility to the Saviour. That
both the Pharisees and the Sadducees are introduced
with the article,* implies that in this case they repre-
sented the hierarchical authorities of the country
generally. In the former contest, the Synarjogiie
alone had been represented, while now in all prob-
abiUty the Sanhedrin itself, in its official capacity,
deals with Jesus. Hence also the express demand
of a sign from heaven, which may be considered as
the logical inference from the last interview between
the Pharisees and Jesus. On that occasion, the
Saviour had not only discarded the authority of
traditionaUsm, but His statements might even be
interpreted as implying superiority to the law itself
This they knew was equivalent to asserting His
claims as the Messiah. Accordingly, they now gave
full utterance to the idea which the Pharisees of
Galilee had previously urged, tliough in a less dis-
tinct manner (ch. xii.), by demanding a sign from
heaven. Withal, as Theophylact remarks, their re-
quest still implies the supposition that the miraculous
cures performed by Him had been effected by the
power of Bcelzebul.
Tempting {-Keipa^ovres), or in order to tempt
Him. — This does not necessarily imply the presuppo-
sition that He was really a false Messiah, and hence
unable to show the sign from heaven. For, if He
had acceded to their request, they would have been
well satisfied with Him, and He would have been a
Messiah according to their own mind, pledged to
fulfil all their carnal hopes {see Matt, iv.) Repeatedly
afterward did they utter their secret desire that it
might even be so ; nor does this hope seem to be
wholly extinct even in the derisive taunt, " If He
be the Son of God let Him come down from the
cross." But these carnal hopes were already in
* [The article before 'S.a^dovKo.'ioi is omitted by Tischen-
dorf, Lachin.-inn, and Alford on the best authorities, which
Dr. Lange must have overlooked. — P. 8.]
great measure eclipsed by their unbelief and their
hostility. Hence the primary object of this twofold
temptation was to represent Jesus to the people as a
spurious Messiah, who was unable to substantiate
liis claims.
A sign from heaven The same request had
already been proffered by the Jews after He had
driven from the temple those .that bought and sold
(John ii. 18) ; and His reply "Destroy this temple,"
etc., substantially conveyed the same meaning as the
answer given on the occasion recorded in the text.
A second demand to the same effect was made,
according to John vi. oO, immediately after the first
miraculous feeding of the multitude, or about the
same time as the request mentioned in Matt. xii. 38 ;
a proof that the artifice of entrapping Him by such a
proposal was at the time further carried out. In the
text, this demand is brought forward a third time,
and now in most exphcit language. This sign from
heaven was popularly expected to be outwardly
visible; such passages as Dan. vii. 13 being inter-
preted in a sensuous manner, and probably referred
to some visible manifestation of the Shechinah.
From the answer of Christ, in which the appearance
of the clouds as a sign of the weather is subordi-
nated to the signs of the spiritual world, we infer
that the Pharisees and Sadducees shared the popular
notions. The sign which they expected was, there-
fore, something purely external, belonging to a totally
different sphere from the miraculous cures performed
by Jesus. That the term « tt e p c t ci i/ impHes not
merely questioning (as Fritzsche and Meyer suppose),
but a formal demand, appears from the reply of
Jesus: yeved, k.t.X., ar) ^le'io v e tt i (.'tj t € ?, and
from the meaning of ripuTcav in ch. xv. 23. The
reply of Jesus is entu-ely adapted to the character of
the deputation. If on a former occasion He had
convinced the deputation from the synagogue that
they were wretched teachers of the "law. He now
shows that these rulers were equally indifferent poli-
ticians, i.e., very superficial observers of the signs of
the times. They knew how to prophesy the weather
for the ensuing day, but not how to interpret the
signs of the times.
Vers. 2 and 3. When it is evening. — Curiosi
erant admodum Judcei in observandis tempestatibus
cceli et tem.peramenlo aeris. Lightfoot. We woidd
suggest that the Lord attached a symbolical meaning
to what He said about the signs of the weather. The
red at even of the Old Testament betokened fair
weather at hand. Sunilarly, the red sky at the com-
mencement of the New Testament indicated the
storm about to descend upon Israel. But they were
incapable of understanding either one or other of
these signs.
Ver. 3. The signs of the times. — The plural
TO. <rif)ixi'ia Tuv Katpwv IS here used on account
of the contrast of these two times. Beza, Kuinoel,
and others, apply the expression to the miracles of
Jesus ; Grotius, to the fulfilment of Old Testament
prr,[ihecies ; Meyer and de Wette, to the Messianic
hopes and views entertained by the people in con-
nection with Jesus. But undoubtedly these sign3
of the times depended mainly on their own relation-
ship and conduct toward the Lord, which really con-
stituted the contrast between tliis evenmg and mom-
mg, or the contrast of these i<atpu>y. Accordingly,
we might apply the redness of the sky at evening to
the activity of Christ, and the red and lowering sky
in the morning to His sufferings on the cross. This
would strictly accord with His sign of the prophet
288
TOE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Jonah. Bosiiles, the reply of Jesus also involved the
rebuke, that Iheh- views of the sign from heaven
were entirely carnal and sensuous, applying only to
the clouds and the outward sky ; while the true
sign from heaven consisted in the spiritual indica-
tions of the tunes. The circumstance that Jesus
thus addressed the Pharisees and Sadducees before
the people, seems to li^ve been the reason why Luke
records the event in a diiferent connection (ch. xii.
D4). Compare also the /.i-n nerecDpi^faOe of Luke
xii. 29.
Ver. 4. The sign of Jonah. — This time without
any further explanation ; implying that their present
demand was connected with the former request of
the Pliarisccs (cli. xii.), and hence that they were
already ac(|uainted with His explanation of the sign
of Jonah. As if He would say, I refer you to My
former statement on this subject as sufficient and
iinal.
And He left them. — This abrupt termination
indicates that He judicially gave them up. Bengel :
Jusia sever Has. Comp. ch. xv. 10; xxi. IV ; xxii.
46 ; xxiv. 1. But the strongest evidence of this
judicial surrender lies in the fact that Jesus at once
passed to the eastern shore, and in His warning of
the disciples against the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees. Manifestly Jesus now immediately re-
turned with His disciples to the other side. (Comp.
here Meyer against Fritzsche.)
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The demand of the Pharisees for a sign from
heaven was certainly in itself no absurdity. But it
depended upon an entire confusion of the first and
the second advent of Christ. It is quite true that
the prophecies on which they founded their views
contained references to vast transformations in the
world which would result from the completion of
Christ's mission. But as tJie death and resurrection
of Christ are related to the end of the world as the
principle to the full development, or as the seed-corn
to the I'ipe fruit, so also is the sign of Jonah (or
Christ's death and resurrection) most definitely con-
nected with those signs from heaven which shall
usher in the final catastrophe. Indeed, strictly
speaking, it is the sign from heaven in principle
which by and by will also appear in the clouds of
heaven (Matt. xxiv. SO).
2. Ye know how to discern the face of the sh/,
but. — Of course this statement does not imply that it
was easier to interpret the signs of the spiritual
world than those of the sky. But the former, and
not the latter, was the calling and business of the
Sanhedrin, while in reality they were better prophets
of the weather than interpreters of those prophecies
which it was their duty to expound. Besides, the
statement also indicates that the signs of the sky are
uncertain, and may deceive us ; while moral signs,
if properly understood, never mislead.
3. Mark relates that the Saviour sighed deeply
in spirit w-heu His enemies again met Him with tliis
demand. He fully comprehended the decisive im-
portance of that hour. Henceforth He could no
longer tarry in Galilee — Gahlee rejected Ilim. This
holds even more true of Judea, whence these perse-
cutions issued. The Master felt that now only a
brief time of respite was left Ilim on the other side
of Jordan, to prepare Himself and His intimate dis-
ciples for the decease at Jerusalem.
4. This was the third occasion on whicli Jesus
was driven from Galilee, and passed over tlic lake
into the mountains. The first time it was to avoid
the court of Herod ; the second time He retreated
before the tradilionaUsm of the schools ; the third
time before the hardened hierarchy of the whole
country.
IIOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The demand of a sign from heaven ; or, the old
temptation under a new form. 1. The old tempta-
tion : (a) The proposal itself, to be a worldly Mes-
siah, a Jewish con(iueror, not a Saviour of nations ;
to overthrow the old world, not to renew the spiritual
world by regeneration, and thereby to transform the
external world. (6) Why a temptation ? Because
it was based upon elements of truth which were per-
verted into error. 2. The new form of this tempta-
tion, (a) It was under the guise of a sign from
heaven ; {b) partly an allurement and partly a threat,
forming a transition from the temptations from the
plercsures of the world (Matt, iv.) to those from its
sufferings (Matt, xxvi.) ; (c) it was urged with the
evident intention to represent the Lord to the people
as a false Messiah, and thus to destroy His influence,
even if He escaped their hands. — How the Jewish
politicians, in their knowledge of the weather, over-
looked the signs of the spiritual weather : (a) They
lost the brightest day; {b) they encountered the
severest storm. — The successors of the prophets
sunk to the level of weather-prophets, — a warning
example. — How even their superficial knowledge of
nature would rise in testimony against their theol-
ogy.— Why the Lord here calls them hypocrites ?
(a) Because they neglected and misunderstood those
spiritual signs which it was their calling to interpret,
while, on the other hand, they gave themselves to
the interpretation of outward signs with which they
had no business ; {b) because in general they per-
verted their spiritual into a secular calling. — Out-
ward calculations of things always end in this, that
a man at last becomes slavishly dependent upon
wind and weather. — How most men allow themselves
to be so engrossed by tlie signs of the visible sky as
to overlook what is going on in the si^iritual sky. —
The true signs of the time. — Signs at evening and in
the morning in the kingdom of God. — Let us not
be dependent on wind and weather, but look up to
the Sun of righteousness. — Why no other sign than
that of Jonah could be given to this evil and adulter-
ous generation. — lie left them and departed ; or, the
decisive hour : 1. His death was now decided upon;
2. their fidl and judgment were now decided ; 3. the
grand course of events during the long-suffering of
Christ, from His resurrection to His second advent,
was now decided ; 4. the future condition of the
Church as sharing the fate of her banished and per-
secuted Lord was now decided ; 5. the termination
of the old things of this world by the final judgment
was now decided. — And He left them ; or, the silent
commencement of a new era. — He departed; but
they are still standing and waiting for the sign from
heaven.
Starke: — The Pharisees and the Sadducees. —
Hedinger : In any undertaking against Christ or His
people, Pilate and Herod will always be ready to join
hands, Luke xxiii. 12. — The enemies of Christ always
repeat objections which have already been thorough-
ly answered and refuted. — Unbelief trusts God no
CUAT. XYI. 5-12.
289
further than it can see with its eyes and feel vnth its
hands ; while true faith simply relies ou the word of
God, even though it sees neither signs nor miracles.
— Camtcin: Let us give heed to those tunes w\ni'h
God has marked by certain signs. — Woe to those
from whom Josus departs; who is to be their
Saviour find Helper '?
Ocrlach : — If your vision were not at fault, you
would descry miracles enough to satisfy you !
Heuhner: — How fruitful is human wisdom in
expedients for our earthly concerns, and how inex-
perienced and imskilful in divine things ! — Thqi-e are
" signs of the times " in the kingdom of heaven. —
These signs only a devout mind can read ; the Sph-it
of God discloses the purposes of God. — A t'luistiau
and a spiritual policy. — Christ does not beg for ap-
plause.
2. The Leaven. Cn. XVI. 5-12.
5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take
6 bread. Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Phari-
7 sees and of the Sadducees [and S.].^ And they reasoned among themselves, saying,
8 It is because we have taken [we took, eAa/3o/xcv] no bread. Which when Jesus per-
ceived," he said unto them, 0 ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, be-
9 cause ye have brought [ye took, IXdfSere] ^ no bread ? Do yc not yet understand, nei-
ther [nor] remember tlie five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets
10 [travelling-baskets] * ye took up [eAa^ere] ? Neither [Nor] the seven loaves of the
1 1 four thousand, and how many baskets [provision-baskets] ye took up ? How is it that
ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread [spake not to you of
loaves],' that ye should [but] beware*' of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Saddu-
12 cees [and S.]'? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the
leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees [and S.].'
' Ver. C— [Without the article, which is wanting in the Greek before Sadducees.— V. S.]
2 Yer. S.— [Better : And when Jesiia perceived it, he said, or : A7id Jes^iS knoviing it said to them, yvov^ 5 f 6
'iTjfroCs elirfj/ aliro'is. — P. S.]
3 Ver. S— For e \a;8 €T e, B., D., Vulgata, etc., read e x « ■"■ « i 2/« ^«'^'*- So Lachmann. Meyer favors it. Tischcn-
dorf [and Alford] adhere to the i?(;c«;)^rt, which accords best with tlio connection. [Codex Sinaitlcus reads: exsTt,
and omits the words ov firriixovi v er e in the following verse. — P. 8.]
* Ver. 9.—[Ko<pivovs, as distinct from airvpiSas in ver. 10. "The K6<pivos was proverbially the Jewish trav-
elling-basket; corap. Juv. Sal. iii. In; \^iidais, quorum cophimis foemtmque supeUea.''" Kobinson, G'r. and K Le». of
the N. T. 2 TT u p ( r {(Tirupa) is a round jilaited basket for storing grain, bread, flsh, and other provisions ; comp. Matt.
XV. 87; Mark viii. 8, 20 ; Acts is. 25. The Vulgate translates tlie one cophiiws.iha othor spnrtas; Ewald uses: JTorbo
and Ilandkorhe; Lange, better : Reisek'oihe a\u\ Speinekorhc (travel! ing-biiskets o.x\iX provixion-hagketii)', Wiclif: cqfyna
and lepiis; the Rheims Vers. : baskets anil moumles; Campbell likewise: baskets and maunds; but all other Eugk
Vers, which I compared, use baskets in both coses.— P. S.]
* Ver. 11.— Tischendorf, following Griesbach and the majority of witnesses, reads the plural &praii'. [So also Lach-
mann, and Alford, who regards the leet. rec. &pr ov as an emendation to express the sense better. Codd. Sinaitlcus, Va-
ticanus. and Eplir.Tmi Syri, the three oldest extant, unanimously sustain the plural, but Cod. Alexnndrinus (as published
by B. II. Cowper) reads tlie singular, and so the Lat. Vulgate (pane). Lange translates Srode, loai-es.—V. S.]
« Ver. 11.— np o IT e X e T 6 5 * , according to B., C, L., al., Lachmann, Tischendorf, against Trpoadxfif- Ilenco a re-
peated admonition, not simply a narrative. See Meyer against Fritzsche. [Cod. Sinaitii'us, and the English critical edi-
tors of the Greek Test., Tregellos and Alford, likewise read the imperative irpoaexfre 5f', but beware, instead of the In-
finitive trpoa-fxft", ^ beware, or tliat ye should beware.— F. S.]
"> Vers. 11 and 12.— [Omit of the, .is in ver. G; the article not being repeated in the Greek.— P. S.]
Schneckenburger and de Wette, our Lord here refer-
red to the hj-pociisy, not to the teaching of the Phar-
isees, which the Lord commenilH, comp. ch. xxiii. 4.
But Meyer rightly insists that the expression refers
not to their teaching in general (including their agree-
ment with the law), but only to their sectarian pecu-
liarities.* The iVTaAfiara avOpuinwv (xv. 9), however,
* [Tho Edinb. translator, who never .seems to have re-
ferred to Meyer, so often quoted in tins Commentary, makes
him and Lange say here the exact reverse, viz. : '• Meyer In-
sists tliat tho expression applied not merely to their own
teaching, but also to those iiointw in which they agreed with
the law' itself." In this case C'luist would have warned tho
disciples against the law of (io.l ! l!ut Meyer says, p. 816
(note), after opposing t'cliiu'cki'iibiirgor's and de Wetto's
reference of the leaven to the hi/pocris;/ of the Pharisees:
" Aus dein Bilde des Sanerleias erliellt von selbst, dass tiicht
die Lehre jencr Secten Hberhuupt vnd im Gansen (auch
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 5. The circumstance that the disciples for-
got to take bread with them forcibly illustrates their
excitement, and the haste with which they had left
the western shore. According to Mark (viii. 14),
they had not more than one loaf in the ship with
them. The event here recorded took place during
the passage across the lake.
Ver. C. The leaven. — " 7.vixt]v tjjv SiSax'V iKa-
Xeffev, (lis o^aSri ical aairpau. Euth. Zigab. On the
analogous apjilication of "ixb Ity the Rabbins (to
every contagious influence of and for evil), see Bux-
torf, Lcxie. Tahn. p. 2303 ; Lightfoot on the passage.
Differently, xiii. 33." So Meyer. According to
19
100
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
constitute only one part of the leaven. Applying to
the two sect8'(the Sadducces as well as the Phari-
sees), the expression must refer to the corruptness
of their teaching, arising from their sccularisni,
which, like leaven, had infected and poisoned the
vrhole peoi)le, and from which even the disciples were
not quite free ; more especially Judas, in whose heart
this leaven was probably already beginning to oper-
ate. On the significance of the leaven, compare our
remarks on Matt. xiii. 33. — With the usual super-
ficiality of rationalism, von Ammon (ii. 285) supposes
that domestic requirements or business engagements
may have rendered the return to the eastern shore
necessary, entirely overlooking the deep import of
this event. In point of fact, it was a virtual banish-
ment. As such the disciples also felt it. But a
short time before they had traversed the length and
breadth of the lake under peculiarly trying circum-
stances. Now they returned in the opposite direc-
tion by the same track. A second time they saw Ca-
pernaum at a distance, and they felt as if their home
there were already lost. The Master read these feel-
ings, and understood their sorrow. With brave de-
termination, but as yet only partially renouncing the
world, they followed Him ; but their hearts still clung
to the scene of their aifections and hopes. Under
these circumstances, Jesus addressed to them the sol-
emn warning, " Take heed, and beware," etc. " When
the children of Israel went out of Egypt, they were
commanded to put away the leaven, and to leave it
behind them (Ex. xii. 15-1 7). At the time, the ex-
pression referred to the spirit of Egypt as an infec-
tious principle, most powerful for evU. They were
not to take to Canaan any of the infectious corrup-
tions of Egypt (comp. 1 Cor. v. ; Stier, ii. 158). This
journey of the Lord with his disciples resembled the
passage of the children of Israel out of Egypt ; like
them, they now left behind the heathenism of the
Pharisees and Sadducees. The Saviour felt that the
great Paschal feast — not symbolically, but in reality
— was at hand. Withal, He was deeply affected by
the thought that, unconsciously. His disciples still
carried with them some of the leaven of the Phari-
sees and Sadducees." Hence the warnmg (see the
author's Lehen Jesu, ii. 2, 878).
And Sadducees. — Mark has instead : kuI rris
Cv/jLTjs 'HpwSov. If the Sadducees had enlisted the
sympathies of Herod in demanding a sign from hea-
ven, the situation of matters had become even more
critical. But this does not necessarily follow from
the text. There was a twofold kind of leaven, which
might be designated as hypocritical secularism, and
distinguished, as assuming in the one case the garb
of exclusiveness, in the other that of liberalism. Here
we have for the first time an indication of another
offence than that of pharisaical exclusiveness, in the
shape of the worldly policy of Herod coquetting with
the Roman authorities of the land. We see, as it
were, the germ of the later calumny, that Jesus
claimed to be a king, and must therefore be au enemy
to Caesar.
How many baskets. — From Acts ix. 25, Ben-
gel rightly infers that a anvpis was larger than a
ihreUebereinstimmuugmit dem Gesetze mit eingeschlossen)
gemeiut gewesen sei, sondern ihi\^ charakteristische Sectcn-
Lehre, ihre die Moralitiit verderbenden 4vTa.Kfx.aTa. avdpili-
irwv (xv. 9), daher Er aueh die Lehrc beider zusammen als
&IJ.t) darstellen konnte, so verschieden auch ihre beider-
seitingen Princlpien waren."— P. 8.]
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The false exegesis of the disciples on the words
of the Saviour may be regarded as the prototype of
uiany a later miserable performance of the same kind.
At first they probably tiied to understand them lit-
erally, and therefore as meaning : Beware of partak-
ing of the bread of tlie Pharisees and Sadducees, or
have no further conamunion with them. But this
would have implied that they would have had to make
a separate provision for themselves, as the whole
country was divided between the parties of the Phari-
sees and Sadducees, and hence any provision which
they might have got from without would have been
impure. — These thoughts were succeeded by the rec-
ollection that they had no bread, and by cares which
drew down upon them the rebuke of the Lord about
the littleness of their faith.
2. Do ye not yet understand ? The expressions are
the same as before in connection with the washing
of the hands. Now that the separation had actually
commenced, it was high time that they should have
better understanding. The Gospel of Mark gives a
fuller outline of this rebuke.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The threefold retirement of the Lord across the
lake. — Resemblance between the passage of the Lord
across the lake and that of the children of Israel out
of the land of Egypt. — Beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and Sadducees : 1. Its designation : a two-
fold kind of leaven, and yet in reality only one leaven
(exclusive bigotry and lax imiversalism, — after all
only secularity under the guise of piety). 2. The
warning : (a) Beware ; (6) so that, while avoiding one
of these errors, ye fall not into the other. — To cross
with Jesus to the other side implies and requires
complete renunciation of the world. — It matters httle
that we outwardly leave Egypt, if we carry its cor-
ruption in our hearts. — The feelings of the Master
and those of His disciples on leaving the realm of the
Pharisees : 1. The foresight of the Master, and the
negligence of the disciples ; 2. the freedom from care
of the Master, and the anxieties of the disciples ; 3.
the calumess of the Master, and the excitement and
distress of the disciples. — Connection between the
memory and the heart: 1. Excitement the spring of
forgetfulness ; 2. calmness and peace the surest
means of presence of mind. — The circumstance that
the disciples had so frequently misinterpreted the
meaning of the Lord, recorded for our warning. —
Principal causes of false interpretations of the word
of God: 1. Slavish literality; 2. personal interests;
3. fear ; 4. arbitrary perversions. — How the Lord had
to repeat to His disciples, and to question them on,
the history of the twofold feeding of the multitude. —
The anxiety of the disciples after the miraculous feed-
ing of the multitude itself a mournful wonder. — Al-
though the Lord ever performs new miracles, yet frith
in Him still continues a miracle. — Then understood
they (ver. 12): when error is removed, truth finds an
entrance. — The Lord emphatically reiterates : Be-
ware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
— The leaven of Jewish legalism and of heathen sec-
ularism in the Church of Chi-ist.
Starke : — Quesiiel : We do not lose by following
Christ so closely as for a tmie to forget every earth-
ly consideration, since, after all, we have the best
CHAP. XVI. 13-XVn. 27.
291
part, Ps. Ixxiii. 25. — Majus : Let us not mix up dif-
ferent creeds. — Beware of heretics and false teachers.
— Cramer : As leaven pervades the whole mass, so
will a single error on any fundamental doctrine cor-
rupt all our other views, depriving them of their spir-
itual value, 2 Tim. ii. lY. — Zeisius : Hearers are apt
to suppose that certain sermons are aimed agamst
them, while this may be due to the voice of their
own conscience, not to the words of the preacher. —
Majns : The mistakes of disciples, and their conse-
quences.— Canstcin: How often does anxiety for dai-
ly bread take the place of anxiety for the soul ! —
Jesus searching the heart. — Christ bearing with the
weakness of our faith, and givmg more grace. — Cra-
mer: Frequent meditation on the past gracious and
wonderful provisions of our God an approved reme-
dy for unbelief. — How fi-equently is it thus that
they who ought to have been teachers have need
to be taught again the first principles of divine
truth !
Gerlach : — The words of Jesus may be misinter-
preted or forgotten simply from weakness of faith. —
Accordingly, the Lord rebukes not so much their ig-
norance, as their weakness of faith and their carnali-
ty, which was the source of that ignorance.
Heubner : — Pharisaism : appearance of piety,
hypocritical ostentation of faith. Sadducism: ap-
pearance of a spirit of inquiry, concealment of faith
from fear of men. — On ver. 7 : Similarly we might
say, Simple-minded Christians do not understand the
arts and plans by which unbelief undermines Chris-
tianity.— Vers. 8-10: A clear evidence this that the
Apostles were neither credulous, nor on the watch for
miracles.
PART THIRD.
Christ presents the future history of the Kingdom of Heaven, in opposition to the
Ancient World and the Theocracy.
Co>JTENT8 (from ch. xvi. 13-xx. 16) :— The period has now arrived for founding the Church of Christ, or iKKkrjffia, as a
distinct and visible Community, in opposition to that ancient form of the Theocracy which was henceforth doomed to
judgment. Tlie open and full confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, formed, so to speak, the moment
when the eKKAritria was born. From that hour Christ manifested and owned His Chnrch as such, through the con-
fession -R-hich the Church made of Ilira. This Church is here presented in its leading characteristics: 1. In its ^w-
pketio character as confessing Christ, from ch. xvi. 13-xvii. 27; 2. in its priexUy capacity, from ch. xviii. 1-xis. 26;
a. In its kingly manifestation, from ch. xix. 27-x.x. 16.
FIRST SECTION.
THE CHURCH IN ITS PROPHETIC CHARACTER, AS CONFESSING CHRIST, THE SON OF
GOD, IN OPPOSITION TO THE LEGAL OPINIONS CONCERNING HIM, ENTERTADfED
BY THE SYNAGOGUE.
Chaptee xvi. 13-XYII. 27.
The Church of Christ in its prophetic character is here set before us, first, as confessing Christ, ch. xvi.
13-20 ; then as bearing the cross of Christ, in contrast to that worldly fear of the cross by which He
was assailed, vers. 21-28 ; then, as in real fellowship with the spirits of the blessed, in opposition to
the sohtary tabernacles of spurious separation from the world, ch. xvii. 1-8. — Next, the Church is de-
scribed as wholly unknown and hidden, vers. 9-13; yet as wonder-working, vers. 14-21 ; though still
in human weakness, vers. 22, 23 ; as free, but voluntarily subject and paying tribute to the old tem-
ple, vers. 24-27.
The historical succession of events was as follows : — In company with His disciples, the Lord
passed along the left bank of the Jordan, toward the mountains. At Bethsaida JuUas He performed
the cure of a blind person (recorded in Mark viii. 22), at the same time enjoining strict silence upon
him. Thence they continued their journey to the immediate neighborhood of Ca;sarea Phihppi, touch-
ing (as it would seem from Mark viii. 27) only the adjoining villages, but avoiding the town itself. It
was in these coasts, or district, that the Lord evoked the confession of Peter, which was followed by
292 TnE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the aiinounccmcut of the foundation of His Church, 4KK\rioia. Immediately afterward, Jesus distinct-
ly announced liid impending sufferings, since tliese were connected with the foundation of His Church,
as the latter was with the confession of His name. On this occasion Peter began to rebuke IJira ; and
he who had lately been commended as confessing, was now reproved as tempthig. The event just
recorded led to the admonition, addressed to His disciples generally, on the subject of taking up the
cross and following Him. A week later, the Lord called His three most intimate disciples to witness
His transfiguration on the Mount. As they came down, Jesus explained to them the advent and mis-
sion of Elijah. At the foot of the mountain, the healing of the lunatic boy, possessed with a devil,
took place. From thence Jesus secretly passed through Galilee, ])robably for the purpose of acquaint-
ing His friends with those impending sufferings, for which He had already prepared His disciples.
Refusmg the solicitation of His brethren to jom the caravan going up to the feast. He went secretly to
Jerusalem, to the Feast of Tabernacles, whicli was celebrated in autumn. Thus the history advances
to the nio;ith of October of the year 782 (according to Wieseler, to the 12th October), John vii. 1-10.
In Jerusalem the events i-ecorded in John vii. 11, etc., took place, when Jesus pointed to the fulfil-
ment of the Old Testament symbols in His life. The healing of the man blmd from his birth (John
ix.), hastened the full and final determination of the Jewish authorities to put Him to death. But in
all probability Jesus did not continue in Judea during the interval between the Feast of Tabernacles in
October, and the festival of the Dedication of the Temple in December (according to Wieseler, the
2'7th December). During that period He appears to have paid a farewell visit to Galilee, and to have
passed from Samaria to Perea, where He tarried till the feast of the Dedication of the Temple {Lebcn
Jem, ii. 2, 1003). After His return to Galilee, Jesus again appeared in public, though probably, as
in Jerusalem, only surrounded by a large number of His friends. For the last time Jesus now came
to Capernaum, where He was asked for the payment of the temple tribute, ch. xvii. 24-27. Thus
far our section.
A. The Church as confessing Christ, the Son of God. Ch. XVI. 13-20.
{The Gospel for the Festival of St. Peter and Paul— Paxa&ds: Mark viii. 27-30; Luke ix. 18-21.)
13 Wlien Jesus came into the coasts [parts, to. iiiprj] of Cesarea Pliilippi, he asked his
14 disciples, saying, Whom [Who] do men say that I,^ the Son of man, am? And they
said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist ; some, Elias [Ehjah] : and others, Jere-
15 mias [Jeremiah], or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom [who] say
16 ye that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said. Thou art the Christ [the Messiah],
17 the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-jona [Bar Jonah, son of Jonah] ^ : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it
18 unto thee, but my Father which [who] is in heaven [the heavens]. And I say also
[And I also, Kayw 8e, say] unto thee, That thou art Peter [IleTpos], and upon [on] this
rock [-TreVpa] ^ I will build my Church [cKKXTyo-ia] ;* and the gates of hell [hades] ^ shall
19 not prevail against it." And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven
[the heavens] : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall he bound in heaven [the
heavens] ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall he loosed in heaven [the
heavens].
20 Then charged 'he his [the]* disciples that they should tell no man that he was
Jesus the Christ [he is the Christ].**
1 Ver. 13. — The pers. pron. IJ.4 in Cod. C. after AfjovTi, [in the text. rec. before the verb], is wanting in Cod. B.
[and in Cod. Sinaiticus] and in several versions, and is omitted by Tischendorf [and Tregelles and Alford] ; Laehmann re-
tains it, but in brackets. The insertion is more easily explained than the omission.— [If we omit /.i. 6, we must translate,
with Campbell and Conant : Who do men say that the Son of Man is ? Or with Alford, who retains the grammatical anom-
aly, if not blunder, of the Author. Vers. : Whom (riVa) do men say that the Son of Man is ? Thv viuv tov ai/Opci-Kov
is equivalent to 7 in the corresponding sentence below, ver. 15. Some who retain /x e in the text (Beza, Clericus, etc.)
translate : Who do men say that 1 am ? the Son of Man f i. «., Do they believe me to be the Messiah ? But this does not
suit the form of the answer, and would require either .an affirmative Yea, or a negative Xo. In the received text
rh If vibv r uv ^ e ov must be regarded as in apposition to fie , and is so rendered in the E. V. — P. S.]
* Ver. n.—[Bar ("'-) is the Aramaic or Chaldaic word used by Daniel in the prophetic passage, vii 13 (_'' J saw . . .
and one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven" etc.), for the Hebrew Ven ('jS), son. In the Authorized
E. V. it is retained as the patronymic of Peter, as Matthew retained it in Greek : Bap 'I ai c a ; Jerome in Latin : Bar-
Jona; Bengel, do- AVctte, and Ewald in their German Version.-!: Bar-Jona ; while Tyndale, Cranmer's, and the Geneva
Bibles, also Luther and Lange translate it into tho corresponding vernacular. Compare similar compound names: Bar-
CHAP. XVI. 13-XVn. 27. 293
Abba% B(7r-Jesu<, Jiar-^\il/as, Bar-Sabas, Bar-Timmus, Bar-Tholonucun. Tho transliitiou depends on whether the
name is here simply the patronymic, or whether it has an allegorical meaiiinj:, as Olshausen and Laujre contend. In the
latter case it must bo translated : son of Jonah, or Jonas. See Langes Exeg. Jfote, and my protesting footnote, on ver. 17.
3 Ver. IS.— [2 i» el IIsTpoy, Kal iirl ravrri ttj ireTpa, — one of the profoundest and most far-reaching
prophetical, but, at the same time, one of the most controverted saying's of tlie Saviour, the exesetical rock on which the
Papacy rests its gigantic claims (but not by direct proof, but by inference and with the help of undemonstrable interven-
ing assumptions, as the transferability of Peter's primaej'. his presence in Konic, and his aotiinl transfer of the primacy upon
the bishop of Kome), under the united protest of the whole Greek Catholic and I'rotestaiit Kvaiifrelical Churches, who con-
tend that Christ says not a word about successors. Leaving the fuller exposition to (he J-S.rcjiiicdl Kotes, we have to do
here simply with the verbal rendering. In our Engl. Vers., as also in the German, the emiiliasis is lost, since rock and
jFe/« are never used as proper names. We might literally translate : " Thou art P«ffr and upon this ;>ic</-e.ss,-" or: "Thou
&rt Stone, Bookman, Man of rock (Felsenmann), and upon this rook;'" but neither of them would sound idiomatic and
natural. It is perhaps remarkable that the languages of the two most Protestant nations cannot render the sentence in
any way favorable to tho popish identification of the rock of the church with the person of Peter; while the Latin
Vulgate simply retained tho Greek Petrus and petra, and the French translation: "Tu cs Pierre, et sur cette pterre,"
even obliterates the distinction of the gender. The Saviour, no doubt, used in both clauses the Aramaic word ND^D
(hence the Greek K-ri<pa.s applied to Simon, John i. 42; comp. 1 Cor. i. 12; iii. 22; ix. 5; .\v. 5; Gal. ii. 9), which means
rocJc and is used both as a proper .and a common noun. Hence the old Syriac translation of the N. T. renders tb« passage
in question thus: '■'■ Anath-her-KivnK.'v'aUhodeYivenx.'''' The Arabic translation has alsachram both cases. The prop-
er translation then would be : " Thoti, art Rock, and upon this rock," etc. Yet it should not be overlooked that Matthew
in rendering the word into Greek, no doubt under the influence of the Holy Spirit, deliberately changed the gender, using
the masculine in the one case and tho feminine in the other. Ho had, of course, to use Tier po s in addressing a man
(as Maldonatus in loo. correctly remarks ; Petrus, quia vir erut, non petra foemineo, sed Petrus masculino nomine
-cocandus erat); but ho might with perfect propriety have continued: e'lri tovtu> red Tier pay, instead of cirl
T avTTj rri tt 4t pa (which change Maldonatus less satisfactorily accounts for simply on the philological reason that tho
ma-culine Trerpof ei Atticum et rartim est). The masculine irerpos in Greek (in Homer and elsewhere) means gen-
enilly only a piece of rock, or a stone (like the corresponding prose word \i6os), and very rarely a rock. (Meyer, how-
ever, quotes for the latter signification a passage from Plato: ^iav(pov irirpos, one from Sophocles, and one from Pin-
dar) ; but the feminine irfTpa always signifies rock, whether it be used literally or metaphorically (as a symbol of firm-
ness, but also of hardheartedness). I would not press this distinction, in view of the Syriac N2"'3 , and in opposition to
such eminent commentators as Bengel and Meyer, who, like the Rom. Cath. commentators, admit no difference of the
terms in this case. (Bengel: 7iceo duo, ireTpa et Trerpos stant pro uno nomine, sicut unum utrinque nomen
Kepha legitur in Si/r-iaco.") But it is certainly possible, and to my mind almost certain, th.at Matthew eo'prexsed by the
slight chanse of word in Greek, what the Saviour intended in using, necessarily, the same word in ~\ ri::<', ■, i/ . liiut the
petra on which the Churclx is built by Christ, the Divine architect and Lord of this spiritual i.iii|i:' . . rson
of Peter as «McA, but something more deep and comprehensive; in other words, that it is /"('("cr (/,.'' /. <.t' the
central mystery of Christianity, or Peter as the confessor of Christ, Peter in Christ, and Peter, iiuiniu w. :i- r i ■ -. nting
alt the other apostles in like relation to Christ (coiiip. £ph. li. 20; Rev. xxi. 14). Nor should we c.xphiin ver. IS indepen-
dently of ver. 23. It is very significant that, while the leliexing and confessing Peter here is called rock, the disobedient
and rfJss?taf7in£7 Peter immediately afterward (ver. 2-3), with surprising severity, is called for the time being Satan, the
enemy of Christ. If the papacy has any claim to tlie rocklike nature of Peter, it has certainly also fallen at times under
the condemnation of the .satanic, anti-clni i im. himI denying Peter. Let us hope that it may imitate Peter also in his
sincere repentance after thd denial. I _ \ : i.iit Petra romana,ne cadat sub censuram versus %Z. — Comp. tlae
Exeg. Note^ below, and my llistonj . / .i .■ ('hurch, §89, p. 851 sqq.— P. S.]
* Ver. IS.— [All the Engli.sh versions before t,>ueen Elizabeth, except that of Wiclif (which reads chirohe), translate
eKK\r](ria by the corresponding English word congregaiinn : but the Bishops' Bible substituted for it cAwrcA, and
this, by express direction of King James, was retained nut, only here, but in all other passages of the N. T. in the revLscd
and authorized version of 1611. Among German translators and commentators, the Poman Catholics (van Ess, Arnoldi,
Allioli) render fKKK-qffia by the term Kirche (^church) ; while the Protestant translators and commentators (Luther, John
Fricdr. von Meyer, Stier, de Wette, Ewald, H. A. "W. Aleyer, and Lange) render: Gemeinde (congregation). The Greek
iKic\v(ria, from fHKaXfo-; to call out, to summon, occurs 114 times in the N. T. (twice in the Gospel of Matthew, but in
no other Gospel, 24 times in the Acts, 6S times in the Epistles, 20 times in Eevelation), and corresponds to the Hebrew
bnp . It is not to be confounded with the more spiritual and com^rthQxi&XYd term kingdom of God ov kingdom of
heaven, so often used by our Saviour. It means generally any popular convocation, congregation, assembly, and in a
Christian sense the congregation of believers culled out of the world .and consecrated to the service of Christ. It is used
in the N. T. (1) in a general sense, of the whole body of Christian belierers, or the church universal, Matt. xvi. 18; 1
Cor. xii. 28; Gal. i. 13; Eph. i. 22 (and in all the passages where the church is called the body of Christ); 1 Tim. iii. 15;
Heb. xii. 23, etc: (2) more frequently in a particular sense, of a local congregation, as in Jerusalem, in Antioch, in
Ephesus, in Corinth, in Eome, in Galatia, in Asia Minor, etc. ; hence, also, it is often used in the plural, e. g.,
at (KKXriaiai tt)? 'Ao-i'ay, 1 Cor. xvi. 19; ai a<K\riaiaL toju zOpcoi', Eom. xvi. 4; the seven churches, Kev. i. 4, 11, 20,
»etc. The Saviour Himself makes use of the word only twice, viz. : in our passiige, where it evidently means the church
■universal, which alone is indestructible, and in Matt, sviii. 17, where it can be understood only of a local church or con-
gregation (tell it to the church). John never uses the term except in his third epistle. The word churc/t. is properly no
translation of e/ftcATV'Ji'a at all, but has etymologically a different meaning, being derived from the Greek Kvp laKov,
i. «., belonging to the Lord, through tho medium of the Gothic, whence also the cognate terms in the Teutonic and Sla-
vonic languages, the German Kirche, the Scotch kirk, the Swedish kijrka, the Danish kyrke, the liussian serkow, the
Polish cerkiew, the Bohemian zyrkeic. (Leo, Ferienschriften, Halle, 1847, derives the word from the Celtic cyrch or
cyloh, i. e., centre, meeting place; but this would not explain the introduction of the word into the Slavonic nations, who
received Christianity from the Greek church.) The word cAwrcA is now used both in the general and in the particular
sense, like eKKky\aia, and in addition to this also in a third sense, viz., of a building, or house of worship (Eusebius,
Hist, heel., ix. 10, calls the meeting houses of tho Christians Kvpiaica olKela). As regards the English translation of
fKK\T)aia, a number of modern commentators advocate a return to tho term congregation throughout the whole N. T.
But it is neither possible nor desirable to expel the term c?iurch from the English Bible, which has long since become the
full equivalent of the Greek ewJcAtjcria. "We might use church, where the word signifies the whole body of believers, and
congregation, where a particular or local assembly of Christians is intended. But even this is unnecessary. The Geneva
Bible also employed the term church in a few passages, though not in ours, where it seems to me to be more appropriate
than congregation. — P. S.]
5 Ver. 18.— [n ijA.0 1 a Sou, in Hebrew biXCJ "'"'"Iii , sMare eheol, an alliteration, Isa. xxxviii. 10. On hades, aa
distinct from hell, compare the Exeg. Kotes below, and also the Crit. Notes on xi. 23, p. 210.— P. 9.]
* Ver. 18. — [O u /ut) icar iit xoo^ ov a iv ainris, Uom KaTKTX^'f^v twos, prwtalere adverstis aliquem, comp.
Isa. XV. 18. Sept. Tyndale, the Bishops'. Kinc: James', and the Douay Bibles as-'ree in translating: sJiall not pre/vail
against it; the Lat. Vu!gate: non pjrcevaleb^int adversus earn; Luther, de Y^'^ette, Ewald, Lange: ubericdltigen ;
294
THE GOSl'EL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Meyor: die. Ohermacht hahen (hehaUen). I prefer the prevail of the Authorized Vers, to overcow,e (Geneva Bible), aa
expressing better the idea of lonji-continuea resistance on tlie part of hades. The term must be e.xpliuned in
conformity to the architectural fl^re which runs tliroiigh this whole passage t—fi-a^^s, hnild, keys. Hades is represented
as a hostile fortress which stands over against the apparently defenceless, yet immovable temple of the Christian Church,
to which our Lord here promises indestruetihle life. (Ecclesia non potest dejicere.) The gates of hades, or the realm of
death, by virtue of the universal dominion of sin, admit and confine all men, and (lilce the gates in Dante's Inferno with
the famous terrific inscription) were barred against all return, until the S;iviour overcame death and "him that hath the
power of death " (Heb. ii. 14), and came forth unharmed and triumphant from the empire of death as conqueror and Prince
of life. Hades could not rctidn Him (Acts ii. 27, 31). The same power of life He imparts to His people, who often, espe-
cially during the ages of persecution and martyrdom, seemed to be doomed to destruction, but always rose to new life and
vigor, and shall reign with Christ forever. Comp. Kev. i. 18: "I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of death and
h.ades; " and 1 Cor. xv. 2C: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed, is death." This interpretation of the figure appears to
me much more appropriate than the usual one, which takes hades here in the sense of hell, and assumes an active assault of
the infernal armies, rushing, as it were, through these gates and storming the fortress of Christ's Church. To this interijro-
tation I object: (1) That "c/ates are not an active and «firy/'«swi-«, but a passive and co»/?m;!gr power; (2) that 7w/d<'«, al-
though closely related to gehenna or hell and including it, is yet a wider conception, and means here, as elsewhere, the
realm of death (das lieich der Todten), which swallows up all mortals and confines forever those who have no part in
the victory of Cnrist over death, hell, and damnation.— P. S.J
' Ver. 20. — Lect. rec. : 5 tear e iKaT o Ipracepit, imperavii]. Codd. B. , D. : iiv qt iix7](T ev \com7ninatu8 esf],
probably from Mark viii. 30; Luke i.^. 21.
" Ver. 20.— [The oldest MSS., including Cod. Sinait., read simply: rots fMadijrals without avTov. Meyerand
Lange overlook this difference of reading. See Tregelles and Alfbrd.— P. S.]
" Ver. 20.— 1 7j (TO C J is wanting in important MSS. [The correct reading of all critical editions, sustained by the
oldest MSS., including Cod. Sinait.,tho ancient versions, and patristic quotations, is simply: on aitros 4irriv 6
X p iffT 6 s, that he is the Christ (the promised Messiah). The insertion of Jesus in later MSS. was a blunder of some
mechanical copyist, who paid no attention to the connection, and added the personal to the oflicial appellation, according
to tho usual designation of our Lord. Everybody knew and admitted the personal name of our Saviour, and it would
have been useless to deny or to affirm that He was Jesus. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 13. Into the parta of Caesarea Philippi.
— The cure of the blind person at the eastern Beth-
saicla (Mark xiil. 22) had taken place before that.
Ccemrea Fhilippi, formerly called Payiean (Plin. H.
N. V. 15), from the mountain Panius, dedicated to
Pan, in the immediate neighborhood. The town is
supposed to have been the ancient Leshem, Josh.
xix. 47 ; Laish, Judg. xviii. 7 ; and Dan — " from
Dan to Beersheba." It lay near the sources of Jor-
dan, at the foot of Mount Lebanon, a day's journey
from Sidon, in Gaulouitis, and was partly inhabited
by heathens. The town was enlarged and beautified
by Philip the Tetrarch, who called it Ccesarca [Kings-
ton) in honor of Caesar Tiberius. The name Philip-
pi was intended to distinguish it from Ocesarea Pal-
estince (Robinson, Palest, ii. 439 ; also, vol. iii. sect,
ix.). Tradition reports that the woman with the is-
sue of blood resided here. Her name is said to have
been Berenice. Agrippa II. further embellished this
city, and called it Neronias in honor of Nero. The
modern village of Banias, and the ruuis around it,
mark the site of the ancient city.
Who [not whom] do men say that I am ? —
How do men explain the appearance of the Son of
Man? Meyer: What do they understand by the
designation, Son of Man '? De Wette : I who am a
humble, lowly man. But this completely misses the
peculiar import of the expression, Son of Man.
Ver. 14. Some say. — " The reply shows that, in
general. He was not yd looked upon as the Messiah."
Sleyer. But according to the representation of the
evangelist, we must rather infer that Christ's enemies
had by their calumnies succeeded in lowering the
popular estimate concerning Him.
John the Baptist. — Sea ch. xiv. 2. This, for a
time, had been the opinion of the courtiers of Herod.
— £jlijah, — as the precursor of the Messiah. Such
was the view professed by those whom fear of their
superiors induced to deny His claims to the Messian-
ic office, while, from a desire of not entirely surren-
dering the expectations which had been excited by
His appearance, they still regarded Him as a proph-
et.— Jeremiah. — Of course, in the same sense as
Ehjah, — not in the sense of literally revisiting the
earth, nor in that of implying the doctrine of the
transmigration of souls [metempsychosis].* The
opinion of these persons concerning Jesus was evi-
dently lower than that of those who regarded Him as
Elijah (Mark xv. 85 ; John i. 21). The one party re-
ferred especially to what might be designated as the
reformation inaugurated by Jesus, while the other
had regard to His denunciations of the corruptions of
the times. — Or one of the prophets. — According
to the lowest view. He was represented by diseour-,
aged friends as one of the old prophets. Three points
are clearly brought out in this conversation : 1. That,
to a certain extent, Jesus was still generally acknowl-
edged by the people. 2. That the faith of the major-
ity had been lowered and misled by the influence of
their superiors, so that diverging opinions were now
entertained regarding Him. 3. That this incon-
stancy and wavering led to a decreasing measure of
homage.
Ver. 15. But who say ye that I am ? — This
was the decisive moment in which the separation of
the New Testament iKKKriaia from the Old Testa-
ment theocracy was to be made. The hour had
come for the utterance of a distinct Christian con-
fession.
Ver. 16. Simon Peter. — Peter answered not
merely in his own name, but in that of all the disci-
ples.f — Thou art the Christ, — i. <?., the Messiah
Himself. And this not in the sense in which carnal
Jewish traditionahsm held the doctrine of the Messi«
ah, but in the true and spiritual import of the title —
* [Some, however, no doubt believed in a bodily resur-
rection of Elijah or Jeremiah. The latter was accounted by
the Jews as tlie first in the prophetic canon. See Lightfoot
on Malt, xxvii. 9.— P. S.]
t [This is the correct view, already maintained by the
fathers, e. y., Chrysostoni, who, in Hom. 54, calls Peter in this
connection the mouth of the apostles, rh (TTo/jt-a twv airo-
(TToAoij', by Jerome : Pctrus ex persona omnium aposio-
lorum. projitetur, and by Thomas Aquinas: Ipse re~ipoudet
et pro se et pro aliis. Some Kom. Cath. commentators, as
Passaglia and Arnoldi, for obvious reason.^, maintain that
Peter spoke only in his own name. But the Saviour ad-
dressed His question to all the disciples, and they certainly
must have assented to Peter's confession of faith, which they
had from the time of their calling, and without which they
could not have been apostles. Comp. John i. 42, 46, 50, also
the remarks of Dr. Schegg, a Eom. Cath. Com., in lac. (vol.
ii. p. 349).-P. S.]
CHAP. XVI. 13-20.
295
the Son of the living God. — The latter expression
must not be taken merely ia a 7iegaiive sense, as de-
noting the IVue God in opposition to false deities ;
it must also be viewed in a positive sense, as referring
to Him whose manifestations in Israel were complet-
ed in and crowned by the appearance of His Son as
the Messiah. This, however, implies Sonship not
only ui a moral or official, but also in the ontologieal
sense. Thus the reply of Peter had all the charac-
teristics of a genuine confession — being decided, sol-
emn, and deep.
[The confession of Peter Is the first and funda-
mental Christian confession of faith, and the germ
of the Apostles' Creed. It is a confession, not of
mere human opinions, or views, or convictions, how-
ever firm, but of a divinely wrought faith, and not of
faith only (/ believe that Thou art), but of adoration
and worship {Thou art). It is christological, i. e., a
confession of Jesus Christ as the centre and heart of
the whole Christian system, and the only and all-suf-
ficient fountain of spiritual life. It is a confession
of Jesus Christ as a true man ( T/iou, Jesus), as the
promised Messiah {the Christ), and as the eternal Son
of God {the Son — not a son — of the living God), hence
as the God-Man and Saviour of the world. It is thus
a confession of the mystery of the Incarnation in the
widest sense, the great central mystery of godliness,
" God manifest in the flesh." — Compare also the ex-
cellent remarks of Olshausen (in Kendrick's Am. ed.,
vol. i. p. 545 sq.) and Alford, who, following Olshau-
sen, says in loc. : " The confession is not made in the
tenns of the other answer : it is not ' we saij,^ or ' /
say,' but ' Thou art.' It is the expression of an in-
ward conviction wrought by God's Spirit. The ex-
cellence of this confession is, that it brings out both
the human and the divine nature of the Lord : 6
Xpi cTTo s is the Messiah, the Son of David, the
anointed King •,dvihsrod & eo v rod (uvt o s
is the Eternal Son, begotten of the Eternal Father, as
the last word most emphatically impUes, not ' Son
of God ' in any inferior figurative sense, not one of
the sons of God, of angelic nature, but the Son of
the living God, having in Him the Sonship and
the divine nature, in a sense in which they coidd
he in none else. This was the view of the person •f
Christ quite distinct from the Jewish Messianic idea,
which appears to have been (Justin Mart. Dial. p.
26*7) that he should be born from men, but selected
by God for the office on account of his eminent vir-
tues. This distinction accounts for the solemn bles-
sing pronounced in the next verse. Za> ut os must
not for a moment be taken here, as it sometimes is
used {e. g.. Acts xiv. 15), as merely distinguishing
the true God from dead idols : it is here emphatic,
and imparts force and precision to vl6s . That Pe-
ter, when he uttered the words, understood by them
in detail all that we now understand, is not of course
here asserted, but that they were his testimony to
the true Humanity and true Divinity of the Lord, in
that sense of deep truth and rehance, out of which
springs the Christian life of the Church." . Meyer,
indeed, takes rov ^ivros simply as the solemn epithet
of the true God in opposition to the dead idols of the
heathen ; but there was no reason here for contrast-
ing the true God with heathen idols, and Peter must
have meant to convey the idea, however imperfectly
understood by him at tlie time, that the Godhead it-
self was truly revealed in, and reflected from, the hu-
man person of Christ in a sense and to a degree com-
pared with which all former manifestations of God ap-
peared to him like dead shadows. He echoed the
declaration from heaven at Christ's baptism : " This
is my beloved Son m whom I am well pleased," and
recognized in Him the essential and eternal life of
the great Jehovah.— P. S.]
Ver. 17. Jesus answered. — Also a confession,
decided, solemn, and deep ; being the divine confes-
sion of the Lord in favor of the Church, which had
now eonl'essed His name, and of her first witness.
Blessed art thou (comp. Eom. x. 9), Simon, son
of Jonah.* — Meyer denies in vain the antithesis be-
tween this address and the new title given to Peter.
Different views have been taken in reference to this
antithesis. 1. Paulus explains it : Simon, or obe-
dient hearer, — son of Jonas, or sou of oppression.
2. Olshausen : HDl'^ , dove, with reference to the Holy
Spirit under the figure of a dove. Thou, Simon, art
a child of the Spirit. 3. Lange {Lcben Jesu, ii. 2,
469) : Thou, Simon, son of a dove (which makes its
nest in the ro<?k, a figure of the Church), shalt be
called a rock (the rockhke dwelling-place of the dove,
i. e., of the Church).f With this antithesis the other
in the same verse is connected. According to the
flesh, thou art a natural son of Jonah ; but accord-
ing to this revelation of the Spirit, a child of the Fa-
ther who is in heaven (referring to his regeneration,
and consequent faith and confession). [Similarly Al-
ford : The name " Simon Bar Jonas " is doubtless
used as indicating his fleshly state and extraction,
and forming the greater contra.st to his spiritual state,
name, and blessing, which follow. The name 2iVa)j»
'\wvu, Simon, son of Jonas or Jonah, is uttered when
he is reminded by the thrice-repeated inquiry, " Lov-
est thou me ? " of his frailty, in his previous denial
of his Lord, John xxi. 15, 16, 17.— P. S.]
]Flesh and blood. — Various views have been
taken of this expression. 1. Calvin, Beza, Neander,
de Wette, refer it to our physical nature in opposi-
tion to the TTVivixa. To this Meyer objects, that our
physical nature is termed in Scripture only aap^, not
aapi, KoX alixa (in 1 Cor. xv. 50, '■'■flesh and blood "
should be literally understood). 2. According to Light-
foot and Meyer, it must be taken (with special refer-
ence to the fact, that t'ne Rabbins use Oil ni!33
as a kind of paraphrase for Son of man, including
the accessory idea of the weakness involved in our
corporeal nature), as simply dei.oting loeak man,
equivalent to nemo moriaUnm (as in Gal. i. 16). 3,
We explain it : the natural, carnal descent, as con-
trasted with spiritual generation. John i. 13 : ol
ovK ii, aina.Taii', ot/5e fK ©.ATJitiaroy aapKoi, k. t. A.
This appears still further from the connection be-
tween the expressions, "^mA aw(^ J/oor/ " and "son
ofJo>iah," and from the antithesis, "Mi/ Father who
* [Accorrling to Lange's version. Comp. my critical note
abovo.-r. S.]
t [I confess that this allegoric.il exposition of the term
appears to me as far-fetched and as improbable as that of Ols-
hausen. Bar-Jona has nothing to do with a dove, but is a
contraction for Bar-Joanna (Chaldaic), i. e.. Son of John,
as is Evident from John xxi. 15, 16, 17, where Christ ad-
dresses Peter: SiVtw ^loxit-vvov. But there may be in thi^
use of the patronymic an allusion to the title Son of Man 1*
ver. 13, which would give additional emphasis to the coun-
ter confession, in this sense : That I, the Son of Man, am at
the same time the Messiah and the eternal Son of God, is as
true as that thou, Simon, art the son of Jona ; and as thou
hast thus confessed Me as tlie Messiah, I will now confess
tliee as Peter, etc. If the Saviour spoke in Aramaic or
Clialdaic, as lie undoubtedly did on ordinary occasions and
with His disciples. He used the term Barm ver. 17, with
reference to Dan. vii. 13, the prophetic passage from which
the Messianic appellation Son of Man was derived, so that
Bar-enahsh {Son of Man) and Bar-Jona would correspond.
-P. S.]
296
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
98 in heavoi." Hence Gal. i. 16 must mean: When
I received a commission to preach to the Gentiles, I
conferred not with my Jewish nationality ; and Ej)h.
vi. 12 : I., reality, we wrestle not with beings of hu-
man kind, but with the powers of darkness, whose
representatives and instruments they are ; and 1 Cor.
XV. 50 : The kind which is of this world (of the first
man, who is of the earth) shall not inherit the king-
dom of God ; but we must enter it by a complete
transformation into a second and new life which is
from heaven. Accordingly, the antithesis in the test
is between knowledge resulting from natural human
development, or on the basis of natural birth, and
knowledge proceeding from the revelation of the Fa-
ther in heaven, or on the basis of regeneration.
Hath not revealed it, — but My Father. —
A difficulty has been felt, how to reconcile this dec-
laration with the fact, that the disciples had at a much
earlier period recognized Jesus as tfte Messiah (John
i. 42, 46, 60). 1. Olshausen holds that this confes-
sion of Peter indicates a much more advanced state
of knowledge : 6 vlhs tov ©eoi", rod ^d'UTos, 2. Ne-
ander thinks that all earlier revelations had more or
less proceeded from flesh and blood. 3. Meyer sug-
gests that the text refers to that first acknowledg-
ment of Jesus as the Messiah, in consequence of
which the disciples came and surrendered themselves
to Him.* 4. In our view, the new element in this
confession lies, first of all, in its ethical form. It was
no longer a mere knowledge (or recognition) of Christ.
While the general knoivledge of the Jews concerning
the Messiah had retrograded, and degenerated into
discordant and self-contradictory opinions^ the knowl-
edge of the disciples had advanced, and was now
summed up and concentrated into an act of spiritual
faith in Peter's confession, which, in view of the
hostility of the Jewish rulers, may be characterized
as a real martyrdom {napTvpia). Another new
element lay in the view now expressed concerning
the Messiah. On all the main points, the Jewish
and traditional notions of the Messiah had evident-
ly been thrown off, and a pure and spiritual faith
.attained from converse with the Hfe of Jesus. In
both these respects, it was a revelation of the Fa-
ther in heaven, i. e., a heavenly and spiritual produc-
tion. The new life was germinating in the hearts
of the disciples. — De Wctte regards this passage as
incompatible with the earlier acknowledgments of
the Messiah ; while Fritzsche, Schneckenburger, and
Strauss talk of'a twofold period in Christ's ministry :
the first, when He was a disciple of John ; the sec-
ond, when He attained to consciousness of His Mes-
sianic dignity. But these critics have wholly misun-
derstood this narrative.
Ver. 18. But I also say luito thee. — The ex-
pression shows in a striking manner the reciprocity
existing between Christ and His disciples. Their con-
fession solicits His confession, f
* [Not exactly. In the fiiiirtli edition of his Com. on
Matt., p. 320, Meyer assumes that Peter, although long since
♦ convinced, with the rest of the disciples, of the'Messiahship
of Jesus, -was on this occasion iivvored with a special divine
revelation on the subject, and spoke from a state of inspira-
tion. "J9a7i«?'," he says, "w< a-rr f Ka.\v\p e nicht auf
e/ine, schon heim ersten Anse/iliesscn an Jesiim, erhalte/iie
Offenharung, welche den Jungern gewordcn, zu heziehen,
sondern auf Petrcs ^ind eine ihn auszeiduiende heson-
dere airoKaXv^ is zu leschrdnken" Bat Peter con-
fessed in the name of all the other apostles, see p. 294.— P. S.]
t [Maldonattjs : " Et ego. Elegans antithesis, Greece
etiam efflcacior : Ko.yclo 5 e , sed et ego dico tibi ; quasi
dicat: tu, qui homo es, Filium Dei vivi me esse dixisti,
ego vero, qui Filias Dei livi siijyi, dico te esse Peirum, id
Thou art Peter, — n 4rpos, in Aramaic sta"'3 >
the stone, or the rock {see Meyer). The Greek mascu"
line noun arose from the translation of the name into
(ireek ; the name itself had been given at an earlier
period, John i. 42. It was now bestowed a second
time to indicate the relationship subsisting between
Peter and the Ecclesia, rather than to prove that Pe-
ter really was what his name implied (Meyer). From
the first this name was intended to be symbolical ;
although its real meaning was only attained at a later
period in the history of Peter. But at the same time
the words of Jesus imply the acknowledgment that
his character as Peter had just appeared in this con-
fession. [It should be observed that in John i. 42
(in the Gr. text, ver. 43) we read : " Thou shall be
called {KK7]ei]fT7i) Cephas," but here : " Thou art (el)
Peter."— P. S.]
And on this rock. — For the various inter-
pretations of this passage, see Wolf's Curie. We
submit the following summary of them: 1. The
term "rock" is referred to Christ Himself Thus
Jerome,* Augustine, f Chemnitz, Fabricius, and oth-
est vicarimn meum [?], quern Filium Dei esse confessua
es. Nam Ecclesium meam, qiim super me adijicata est,
super te etiam, tanquam super secundaritim quoddam
fundamentum cedijicaho." — P. SJ
* [This needs modification. .Jerome, in his Comment,
on 3/att. xvi. 18 (C/"/.'. -!. V;irM>,, toin. vii. p. 124). ex-
plains the passage tliu- • /iinnti Jjio.^fo/is do-
n<tvit,ut lumen m,t(i"i' i ' -r. rattrnqiie (3- Do-
mino sortiti s^mt vociihn'i : i'.l ,/ ,yi>ilO?n\ (jUl CKEDEBAT
IN PETEAM Chp.istum, J'ctri lavgitus est vomcn. Ac se-
cu7iditin metax/horwm peirm, rel-te dicitur ei: jEdificabo
ECCLESiAM MEAM SUPER TE." The last words (super te)
show that he referred the petra not only to Christ, but in a
derivative sense also to Peter as the confessor. So in an-
other passage (Fj). ad Dainas. papam, Ep. 15, ed. Vail., i.
8T sq.) he says of Peter: '■'•super illam petnim adificatam
ecclesiam scio." Jerome also regards the bishop of Eome
as the successor of Peter, but advocates elsewhere the equal
rights of bishops, so that he can be quoted only in favor of a
Eoman primacy of honor, not of a supremacy of jurisdiction.
Comp. on Jerome's views concerning the papacy the second
vol. of my Ge?ieral Church History, now preparing for tho
press, § CI, p. 304 sq.— P. S.]
t [/. e., ArrGCSTiNE in his later years; for at first he re-
ferred the 2)etra to the person of Peter. He says in his Jie-
tructations, i. cap. 21, at the close of his life: "I have
somewhere said of St. Peter that the church is built upon
l^m as rock. . . . But I have since frequently said that the
word of the Lord: 'Thou art P(tru8, and on this petra I
will build my church,' must be understood of Him, whom
Peter confessed as Son of the living God; and Peter, so
named after this rock, represents the person of the church,
which is founded on this rock and has received the keys of
the kingdom of heaven. For it was not said to him : ' Thou
art a rock' {x>etra), but, ' Thou art Peter'' {Petrus); and
the rock was Christ, through confession of whom Simon re-
ceived the name of Peter. Yet the reader may decide
which of the two interpretations is the more probable." In
the same strain he says, in another place: "Peter, iu virtue
of the primacy of his apostolate, stands, by a figurative gen-
eralization, for the church. . . . When it was said to him, 'I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,' &c.,
he represented the whole church, which in this world is as-
sailed by various temptations, as if by floods and storms, yet
does not foil, because it is founded upon a rock, from which
Peter received his name. For the rock is not so named from
Peter, but Peter from the rock (jion enim a Petro petra,
sed Petrus a jyetra). even as Christ is not so called after the
Christian, but the Christian after Christ. For the reason
why the Lord says, ' On this rock I will build mv church,' is
that Peter had said: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God.' On this rock, which thou hast confessed, says
he, I will build my church, i' or Christ was the rock (petra
eirim, erat Christus), upon which also Peter himself was
built ; for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid,
which Is Jesus Christ. Thus the church, which is built
upon Christ, has received from Ilim, in the person of Peter,
the keys of heaven ; that is, the power of binding and loos-
ing sins." (Aug. Tract, in Frang. Joannis, 124, §5.) Am-
BuosE, too, at one time refers the pet?-a to Christ, as when
he suys in Luc. ix. 20: "Petra est Christus,' etc., hut at
other times to the person of Peter, as in tho famous morn-
ing hymn quot«d by Augnstin (ffoc ipsa petra ecclesia
CHAP. XVI. 13-20.
297
ers.* — 2. It is referred to Peter's confession. Thus most
of the Fathers, several Popes, Leo I., f Huss in the
Tradat. cie ecclesia, the Articuli Smalcald. in the Ap-
Canente, culpam diluU), atid afrain to his confession, or
rather to Peter and his confession. Comp. my Church
History, vol. il. p. 804. A similar apparent inconsistency
we find in other fathers. The reference of the rock to Christ
was also advocated by Theodoeet, ad 1 Cor. iii. 11, the
venerable Bede in Marc, iii : "J'etra ernt ChriMiM (1 Cor.
X. 4). Kam Simoni qui credebat in Petram Chkistum,
Petri largitus est nomen;" and even by Pope CJreaoiy
"VII. in the inscription to the crown he sent to the German
rival emperor Rudolph: "Petba (/. e., Christ) dedit Petro
(Peter), Petbus (the pope) diadema liiidolpho."' — P. S.]
* [Especially Calovius, of the Lutheran, and quite re-
cently Dr. Wordsworth, of the Anglican, and (evidently
under the influence of Wordsworth's arguments) Dr. Jos. A.
Alexaxder, of the Presbyt. Church (although the latter, as
usual with liim in critical passages, does not finally decide).
Dr. Wordsworth rests his labored defence of the later Augus-
tinian interpretation mainly on the difl'erence between
irerpos, stone, and treipa, rock, which he thinks (referring
to Lightfoot .ind Beveridge) had a parallel in the Syriac
Cephan and Cepha (doubtful) ; on the foct that in the O. T.
the title Rock is reserved to God Almighty (2 Sam. xxii. 32;
Ps. xviii. 81; Ixii. 2, 6, 7, etc.); and on the admitted equality
of the apostles. He thus paraphrases the words of the Sa-
viour : '" I myself, now confessed by thee to be God and
Man, am the Kock of the Church. This is the foundation
on which it is built.' And because St. Peter had confessed
Him as such. He says to St. Peter, ' Thou hast confessed
Me, and I will now "confess thee; thou hast owned Me, I
will now own thee; thou art Peter; i. e., thou art a lively
eione, hewn out of, and built upon Me, the living Hoch.
Thou art a genuine Petros of Me, the divine Fetra. And
whosoever would be a lively stone, a Peter, must imitate
thee in this thy true confession of Me the living Kock ; for
upon this Rock, that is, on Myself,^ believed and confessed
to be 60^/4 God and Man, I will build My Church.'" — This
Is all true enough in itself considered, but it is no exposition
of the pas.sage. Everybody knows and admits, th.at in the
highest sense of the U'vm Christ and He alone is the im-
movable (divine) Eock of the Church, the foundation
(6e^eAiu$), on which the apostles built and besides which
no other can be Laid, 1 Cor. iii. 11 ; comp. 1 Cor. x. 4 (ireVpo) ;
Matt. vii. 24, 25. But it is equally true that in a subordi-
nate sense the apostles are called the (human) foundation
on which the Church is built, Eph. ii. 20 (eVoiKoSo^Tj^eV-
T6S eVj Tw de,ue\icii tCjv diroaToXoiv ico.l irpocpTiTiiiv,
K.T.\.); Eev. xxi. 14 (06,ue'\io( SxS^Ka, K.r.X.). Now in
our passage Christ appears not as rock, i. e., as part of the
buildintc itself, but under a higher figure as architect and
Lord of the whole spiritual temple; and the mixing of fig-
ures in one breath, as this interpretation implies, would be a
plain violation of rhetorical taste and propriety such as we
ehould not for a moment think of in connection with our
Saviour. Again, the antanarlasis (t. e., the rhetorical fig-
ure of repeating the same word in a different sense) is
conclusive against this explanation. The demonstrative
ravTT) must refer to H erpo s, which immediately pre-
cedes;'for there is not tlic least intimation that the Sa-
viour, after having said : " Thou art Rockman," turned
flway from Peter, and, pointing to Himself, continued:
"flwrf on THIS rock {i. <?., Myself, fV ifj.avTu) I toill build
My Church.'" On the contrary. He immediately continues:
^^And Iicill give TO TBr.F.,'''' Kal Swaco aoi, which can, of
course, mean nobody else but Peter. This interpretation of
Augustine and Wordsworth destroys the rhetorical beauty
and emphasis of the passage, iind can give us no advantage
whatever in our controversy with Rome, which must and can
be refuted on far better grounds than forced exegesis.— P. S.l
t [This reference to the fathers is too indefinite, and
hardly correct as far as Leo and the popes are concerned.
The majority of the fathers. Hilary, Ambrose, Jerome, Au-
gustine. Leo I., Gregory of Nazianzen, Chrysostom, Cyril of
Alexandria, Theodoret, etc., vary in their interpretation, re-
ferring the petra sometimes to the person of Peter, some-
limes' to his faith or confession, and sometimes (as Jerome
and Augustine) to Christ Himself. (Coinp. Maldonatus,
Comment, in quatuor Evangelistas, ed. Martin, torn. i. p.
219 sq., and my History of the Christian Church, vol. ii.
§§61 and 68, pp. .802 eqq. and 314 sqq., where the principal
passages are quoted.) But this inconsistency is more ap-
parent than real, since Peter and his faith in Christ cannot
be separated in this passage. Peter (representing the other
apostles) as believing and confessing ChrUt (but in no
other capacity) is the 7;«<rrt ecciexive. This is the true in-
terpretation, noticed by Lange sub number 3. b). Comp.
pend.., Luther,* Febronius, and others, f — 3. It is ap-
plied to Feter himself, (a) In the popish sense, by
Baronius and Bellarmin, [Passaglia,] as implying that
Peter was invested with a permanent prunacy,| (6)
With reference to the special call and work of Peter
as an Apostle. By thee, Peter, as the most promi-
nent of My witnesses, shall the Church be founded
and established : Acts ii. and x. So, many Roman
Catholics, as Launoi, Dupin, — and later Protestant
expositors, as Werenfels, Pfaff, Bengel, and Crusius.
Heubner thinks that the antanaclaals, or the connect-
ing of Peter with -n- 1 t p a , is in favor of this view.
But he [as also nearly all other commentators who
represent this view] combines with it the application
of the term to the confession.§ — 4, It is applied to
Peter, inclusive of all the other Apostles, and, indeed,
of all believers. Thus Origen on Matt, svi, 18:
" Every believer who is enlightened by the Father is
my Critical Note, 3, p. 293. But the confession or faith
alone cannot be meant, for two reasons : first, because this
construction assumes an abrupt transition from the person
to a thing and destroys the significance of the demonstrative
and emphatic rauTj? which evidently refers to the nearest
antecedent Petros; and secondly, because the church is not
built upon abstract doctrines and confessions, but upon liv-
ing persons believing and confessing the truth (Epli. ii. 20;
1 Pet. ii. 4-6; Gal. ii. 9; Rev. xxi. 14). Dr. Jos. A. Alexan-
der, however, is too severe on this interpretation in calling
it as forced and unnatural as the Roman Catholic. It un-
doubtedly implies an element of truth, since Peter in this
passage is addressed as the bold and fearless confessor of
Christ.— P. S.]
* [In Luther's Randglosse, but so as to combine this ex-
planation with the fourth mentioned above (of Origen):
" Alls Christen sind Petri iim der Bekcnntniss u-illen, die
hier Petriis ihut, welche ist der Fels, darauf Petrus und
alle Petri gebauet sind."— P. S.]
't [Among modern commentators Ewald, Die drei ersten
Evangelien, p. 272, who understands, however, by trirpa,
not so much the confession, as the faith itself which pre-
cedes it.— P. 8.]
X [The Romish interpretation is liable to the following
objections: (1) It obliterates the distinction between petros
and petra; (2) it is inconsistent with the true nature of the
architectural figure : the foundation of a building is one and
abiding, and not constantly renewed and changed ; (3) it
confounds priority of time with permanent superiority of
rank ; (4) it confounds the apostolate, which, strictly speak-
ing, is not transferable but confined to the original personal
disciples of Christ and inspired organs of the Holy Spirit,
with the post-apostolic episcopate; (5) it involves an injus-
tice to the other apostles, who, as a body, are expressly
called the found.ation, or foundation stones of the church ;
(6) it contradicts the whole spirit of Peter's epistles, which
is strongly antihierarchical, and disclaims any superiority
over his "fellow-presbyters ; " (7) finally, it rests on gratui-
tous assumptions which can never be proven either exegeti-
cally or historically, viz., the transferability of Peter's prima-
cy, and its actual transfer upon the bishop, not of Jerusalem
nor of Antioch (where Peter certainly was), but of Roma
exclusively. Comp. also the long note to § 94 in my History
of the ApostoUa Church, p. 374 sqq.— P. S.]
§ [So also OLSirAusBN: " Peter, in his new spiritual char-
acter, appears as the supporter of (;hrist's great work ; Je-
sus Himself is the creator of the whole, Peter, the first stone
of the building;" de Yv'ette: " eVl TauTjj rj} TreVpqi,
on thee as this flrtn confessor ; " Meyer : " on no other but
this {ravTri) rock, i. e., Peter, so called for his firm and
strong faith in Christ;" Alfokd: "Peter was the first of
ihose foundation-stones (Eph. ii. 20; Rev. xxi. 14) on which
the living temple of God was built: this building itself be-
ginning on the day of Pentecost by the laying of three tho^
sand living stones on this very foundation;" D. Brown:
"not on the man Bar-jona; but on him as the heaven-taught
Confessor of such a faith ; " and more or less clearly, Gro-
tius (•'■Petrus a me nomimitus es, quia eris quasi petra"),
Le Clerc, Whitby, Doddridge, Clarke, Bloomfield, Barnes,
Eadie, Owen, Crosby (who, however, wrongly omits the ref-
erence to the confession), Whedon, Nast. I can see no ma-
terial difference between this interpretation and Lange's own
sub No. 5, which is only a modification or expansion of it. I
have already rem.arked in a former note that this is the true
exposition which the m.ajority of the fathers intended, though
with some inclination to tlie subsequent Romish application
of the promise to a supposed successor. — P. S.]
298
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
also a rock." — 5. In our opinion, the Lord here gen-
eralizes, so to speak, the nidividual Peter into the
general ireVpa, referring to what may be called the
Pctrine characteristic of the Church — viz., faithful-
ness of confession* — as first distinctly exhibited by
Peter. Hence the words of Jesus only refer to Peter
in so far as by this confession he identified himself
with Christ, and was the first to upbuild the Church
by his testimony. But in so far as the text alludes
to an abiding foundation of the Church, the expres-
sion refers not to the Apostle as an individual, but to
TreVpa in the more general sense, or to faithfulness of
confession. That Peter was here meant in his higher
relation, and not in himself, appears from the change
of terms, first tt e t p o s , then -k i t p a\ also from
the contrast in ver. 22 ; while the fact that his dis-
tinction conferred no official primacy is evident from
this, that the same rights and privileges were be-
stowed upon all the Apostles : Matt, xviii. 18 ; John
XX. 23 ; Eph. ii. 20 ; Rev. xxi. 14. That he himself
claimed no preeminence appears from his First Epis-
tle, in which he designates Christ as the corner-stone,
and Christians as living stones, 1 Pet. ii. 5, 6 (as
themselves Peters, or related to Peter). Lastly, that
he knew of no successors in the sense of the Papacy,
is proved by his exhortation to the presbyters not to
be lords over God's heritage (the kKi) poi, 1 Pet.
V. 3).
My Church. — Here the €KK\7i<Tia of Christ
appears for the first time in distinct contrast to the
Jewish congregation, bri|5 . Hence the passage
refers not simply to a community of believers, but
to a definite organization of this community (compare
what follows on the keys). Accordingly, the passage
alludes to the Church as the organized and visible
form of the 0aai\iia raiv ovpavwv. The Church is
not the kingdom of heaven itself, but a positive insti-
tution of Christ by vifhich, on the one hand, the king-
dom of heaven becomes directly manifest in the
world by its worship, while, on the other hand, it
spreads through the world by means of its missionary
efforts. The Church bears the same relation to the
kingdom of heaven as the Messianic state under the
Old Testament to the theocracy, the two being cer-
tamly not identical.
The gates of hades (underworld). — De Wette :
" Here, equivalent to the kingdom of Satan." But
this is not the scriptural conception of hades or
sheol. Throughout the Bible hades means the king-
dom of death ; which is, indeed, connected with the
kingdom of Satan, but has a more comprehensive
meaning. Hades is described as havmg gates ; it is
figuratively represented as a castle with gates (Song
viii. 6 ; Job xxxviii. 17 ; Isa. xxxviii. 10 ; Ps. cvii.
18). These gates serve a hostile purpose, since they
opened, hke a yawning abyss of death, to swallow up
Christ, and then Peter, or the Apostles and the
Church, in their martyrdom. For a long time it
seemed as if the Church of Christ would become the
prey of this destroying hades. But its gates shall
jiot ultimately prevail — they shall be taken ; and
Christ will overcome and abohsh the kingdom of
death in His Church (see Isa. xxv. 8 ; Hos. xiii. 14 ;
1 Cor. XV. 15 ; Eph. i. 19, 20). Of course, the pas-
sage also imphes conflict with the kmgdom of evil,
and victory over it ; but its leading thought is the
triumph of life over death, of the kingdom of the
resurrection over the usurped reign of the kingdom
of hades. — Erasmus, Calvin, and others, refer it to
* [Die petrinische Bekenntnisstreue.—P. S.]
the victory over Satan ; Grotius, to that over death ;*
Ewald, to that over all the monsters of hell, let loose
through these open gates ; Glockler, to that over the
machinations of the kingdom of darkness (the gate
being the place of council in the East) ; Meyer, to
the superiority of the Church over hades, without
any allusion to an attack on the part of hades. The
idea, that the Old Testament e/cKATjiri'a would fall
before the gates of hades, is here evidently implied
[Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 887.)
Ver. 19. The keys of the kingdom of heav-
en.— Luke xi. 52 ; Rev. i. 18 ; iii. 1 ; ix. 1 ; xx. 1.
It is the prerogative of the Apostles, either to admit
into the kingdom of heaven, or to exclude from it.
Meyer : " The figure of the keys corresponds with
the figurative expression oikoSomwoi in ver. 18 ;
since in ver. 18 the eK/cArjuia, which, at Christ's
second appearing, is destined to become the PaaiXda
raiv uiipavuv — (as if this were not already its real,
though not its open character, which at Christ's
second coming shall only become outwardly mani-
fest !) — is represented as a building. But, in refer-
ence to Peter, the figure changes from that of a
rock, or foundation, to that of an olKoyo/jLos ; or, in
other words, from the position and character of
Peter to his office and work." But evidently the
antithesis here presented is different from this view.
Peter is designated the foundation-stone as being the
first confessing member of the Church, though with
an allusion to his calling ; while in his official rela-
tion to the Church he is represented as guardian of
the Holy City. Hence the expression, rock, refers to
the nucleus of the Church as embodied m Peter ;
while the keys allude to the apostohc office and voca-
tion in the Church.
[Alford : " Another personal promise to Peter,
remarkably fulfilled m his being the first to admit
both Jews and Gentiles into the Church ; thus using
the power of the keys to open the door of salvation."
WoRDSWOETH appHcs the promise in a primary and
personal sense to Peter, but in a secondary and gen-
eral sense also to the Church, and especially the min-
isters who hold and profess the faith of Peter and
are called to preach the gospel, to administer the
sacraments, and to exercise uiseiplhie. Augustine :
" JIas claves iion homo unus, sed imitas accepit eccle-
siw."—F. S.]
And whatsoever thou shalt bind. — A some-
what difficult antithesis, especially with reference to
the preceding context. IJretsehneider (Lexicon) :
" The expression ' binding ' means to bind with the
Church ; and ' loosing,^ to loose from the Church."
But this is to confoimd ideas which are very difierent.
Olshauseu understands it of the ancient custom of
tying the doors. But the text speaks of a key.
Stier regards it as in accordance with rabbinical
phraseology, taken from the Old Testament ; binding
and loosing being equivalent to forbidding and per-
mitting, and more especially to remitting and retain-
ing sins. But these two ideas are quite different.
Lightfoot, Schottgen, and, after them, von Amnion,
hold that the expression imphed three things : 1.
Authority to declare a thing unlawful or lawful. ^
Thus Meyer regards Steiv and Kueiv as equivalent to
the rabbinical *iOX and "iTn , to forbid, and to
permit. 2. To pronounce an action, accordingly, as
* [Grotius has a long aud learned note on the passage, and
says: '■^ Is^'usquam reperis aSov vocem neque apud Ed-
lenistas neque apud novi foederis scriptores in alia signi-
fieatione quwm aut mortis, aut sepulchri, aut status pout
mortem, qum omnia sv/nt inter 86 a£mix," etc. — P. 8.]
CHAP. XVI. 13-20.
299
criminal or innocent. 3. Thereupon to pronounce a
ban or to revoke it. But as the Lord here speaks
of the keys of the kingdom of lieaven, He can only
hare referred directly to the last-mentioned meaning
of the expression, though it involved the first and
second, as the sentence of the Apostles would always
be according to truth. A comparison of the par-
allel passage ui Matt, xviii. 18 confirms this view.
There Church cUscipUne is enjoined on the disciples
collectively, to whom precisely the same assurance is
given which in the text is granted to Peter alone ;
wliile in John xx. 23 the order is reversed : the ex-
pression, remiUhiff sins, being equivalent for loosing,
and retaining sins, for binding. The whole passage
forms a contrast to the ecclesiastical disciphne of
the Pharisees, Matt, xsiii. From the evangelical
character of the Xcw Testament ministry, it seems to
us impossible to interpret the expression as meaning
to forbid and to permit, according to the analogy of
rabbinical usage. To bind up sins, as in a bundle,
implies coming judgment (Job xiv. 17 ; Hos. xiii. 12) ;
while, on the other hand, sins forgiven are described
as loosed (LXX. Isa. xl. 2). Both figures are based
on a deeper view of the case. When a person is refused
admission into the Church, or excluded from it, all the
guilt of his Ufe is, so to speak, concentrated into one
judgment ; while its collective effect is removed, or
loosed, when he is received into the Church, or
absolved. The object of this binding and loosing is
stated only in general terms. No doubt it combined
aU the three elements of the power of the keys, as
the non-remission or remission of sins (Chrysostom
and many others), — viz. : 1. The principle of admis-
sion or non-admission into the Church, or the an-
nouncement of grace and of judgment (the kingdom
of heaven is closed to uubehevers, opened to be-
lievers). 2. Personal decision as to the admission
of cate(^umens (Acts viii.). 3. The exercise of dis-
cipline, or the administration of excommunication
from the Church (in the narrower sense, i. e., without
curse or interdict attaching thereto). In the anti-
thesis between earth and heaven, the former expres-
sion refers to the order and organization of the
visible Church ; the latter, to the kingdom of heaven
itself. These two elements then — the actual and the
ideal Church — were to coincide in the pure adminis-
tration of the Apostles. But this promise is limited
by certain conditions. It was granted to Peter in
his capacity as a witness, and as confessing the
revelation of the Father (Acts v.), but not to Peter as
wavering or declining from the truth (Matt. xvi. 23 ;
Gal. ii.).
Ver. 20. That they should tell no man. —
Since the people would not give up their carnal
notions of a worldly millennium. The Christian
acknowledgment of the Messiah was not to be mixed
up with Jewish expectations. Christ's Messianic
life had to be actually completed before His disciples
were to testify of Him as the Christ. Nay, the Lord
Himself was to be the first pubhcly to announce it
to the people, in the hour of His martyrdom (Matt.
xxvL 64).
DOCTEINAL AXD ETHICAL.
1. At first sight it may seem an accident that the
first announcement of the Church as distinct from,
and in contrast to, the State — while the ancient theo-
cratic community combined both Church and State —
should have been made in the district of Csesarea,
which owned the sway of so mild a monarch as
Philip. At any rate, the event was one of universal
historical importance, and may be regarded as the
preparation for the feast of Pentecost.
2. In what passed between our Lord and His
disciples we are led to observe, — (1) The contrast
between human opinions of rchgion and a confession
of faith prompted and evoked by the grace of God :
— in the former case, fear, dejection, uncertainty, and
discordance ; in the latter, courage, frankness, cer-
tainty, and unity. (2) The indissoluble connection
between true confession and a life of revelation and
in the Spirit, or regeneration ; (3) between a common
confession and the formation of the visible Church ;
(4) between the confession of the Church to Christ
and Christ's confession to the Church ; (5) between
the character of the first behoving confessor and his
official calling.
3. In the text, Peter is presented to us in a two-
fold relationship : (1) As Peter ; (2) as receiving the
keys. The former designation applied to him as the
first believing confessor, the first member of the
iKK\7i<ria, to which others were afterward to be
jomed. Hence it referred to his practical Ufe as a
Christian bearing witness to Jesus, rather than to
bis official position in the Church. This spiritual
character formed the basis of his office in the nar-
rower sense, the main purport of which was to ar-
range individual believers into a community, and, by
organizing a visible Church, to separate between the
world and the kingdom of heaven. As being the
first witness to Jesus, Peter, so to speak, laid the
foundation of the Church : (1) By his confession on
this occasion ; (2) by his testimony. Acts ii. ; (3) by
his admission of the Gentiles into the Church, Acts
X. ; (4) by being the means of communicating to the
Church the distinguishing feature of his character —
fidehty of confession.
4. On the fact that the Church indelibly bears
not only the characteristic of Peter, but of all the
Apostles ; or that all the apostoUc offices are un-
changeably perpetuated in it, comp. Com. on ch. x.
(against Irvingism), and Schaff's History of the
Apostolic Church, § 129, p. 516 sqq.
5. In its apostolic micleus, its apostolic beginning,
and its apostolic depth and completeness, the Church
is so thoroughly identified with the kingdom of
heaven itself, that its social determinations should
in all these respects coincide with the declaration
of God's Spirit. But this appUes only in so far as
Peter was really Peter — and hence one with Christ,
or as Christ is in the Church. That there is a
difference between the Church and the kingdom of
heaven, which may even amount to a partial opposi-
tion, is impUed in the antithesis : " on earth " — " in
lusavenP
6. The present occasion must be regarded as the
initial foundation, not as the regular and solemn insti-
tution, of the Church. The promises given to Peter
still relate to the future. For the strong faith which
prompted his confession was rather a prophetic flash
of inspiration (the blossom), than a permanent state
of mind (the fruit). This appears from the followmg
section.
7. In this passage Peter is represented as the
foundation-stone, and Christ as the builder ; while in
1 Cor. iii. 11, Christ is designated the foundation,
and the Apostles the builders. " The latter figure
evidently aUudes to the relation between the chang-
ing and temporary laborers in the Church, and her
eternal and essential character, more especially her
eternal foundation ; while the figurative language of
300
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Jesus applies to the relation between the starting-
point and commencement of the Chinch in time, her
outward and temporal manifestation, and her eternal
Builder." (From the author's Lehcn Jcsu, ii. 2, p.
886). Richter {Erklarte Hamhibel, i. 157): "The
Cliurch opens tlie way into the kingdom Oi heaven.
Chri.st built on Peter and the Apostles, not His king-
dom., but His Church, which is one, though not the
onhf, form in which Christianity manifests itself."
Hence Olshausen is mistaken in regarding the eKK\T}-
aia as simply tantamount to the ^aaiXtia -rod Qeov.
[Wordsworth observes on the words : they shall
not prevail: "That these words contam no promise
of infallibility to St. Peter, is evident from the fact
that the Holy Spirit, speaking by St. Paul in Canon-
ical Scripture, says that he erred (Gal. ii. 11-13).*
And that they do not contain any promise of mfalli-
bility to the bishop of Rome is clear, among other
proofs, from the circumstance that Pope Liberius (as
Athanasius relates, Historia Arian., 41, p. 291) lapsed
into Arianism, and Honorius was anathematized of
old by Roman pontiffs as an heretic." — P. S.]
8. For special treatises on the supposed primacy
of Peter, sec Heubner, p. 236 ; Danz, Universal-
toorterbuch, article Primat ; Bretschneider, Syste-
tnatische Entwicklung, p. 796, etc.
9. On the power of the keys, see Heubner, p.
240; THE author's Positive Dogmatik, p. 1182, —
the literature belonging to it, p. ll'Qe ; Berl. Kirchl.
Vierteljahrsschrift, ii. 1845, Nr. 1 ; Rothe, Ethik, iv.
1066. [Compare also Wordsworth, Alford, Brown,
and the American commentators, Barnes, Alexan-
der, Owen, Jacobus, Whedon, Nast, on ch. xvi.
19.— P. S.]
UOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The Church of Christ founded under the sentence
of expulsion pronounced on Christ and His Apostles
both by the Jewish Church and the State: 1. Its
preparatory announcement, ch. xvi. ; 2. its complete
and real foundation (Golgotha) ; 3. its solemn insti-
tution and manifestation. Acts ii. ; comp. cb. iii. and
iv. and Heb. xiii. 1 3. — The decisive question, " Who
do men say that the Son of Man " is ? — Difference
between opinions about Christ and the confession of
Christ. — The first New Testament confession of Christ.
#viewed both as the fruit and as the seed of the king-
[dom of heaven : 1. The fruit of the minful labor and
sowing of Christ ; 2. the germ and seeSlTFbvei^ fuLum
confession of Christ. — The ct)ntession 6f V'^lkf^
evidenc(iiOis_apiatual_life : 1. In its freedom and
cheerful self-surrender ; 2. in its decidedness ; 3. in
its infinite fulness ; 4. in its general suitableness for
all disciples. — Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living
God : 1. In His nature ; 2. in His mission ; 3. in His
work. — The joy of the Lord at the first fruits of His
mission. — The confession of the Lord to His Congre-
gation : 1. How it will continue to become more
abundant even to the day of judgment. (" Whoso-
ever shall confess Me," etc.) 2. What it imports.
(The blessedness of Simon in his character as Peter.)
— The Son of the Uving God acknowledging those
who are begotten of the Father as His own relatives
and brethren.— The life of faiUi of Christians ever a
revelation of the Father in heaven. — Genuine confes-
sion a fruit of regeneration. — The rock on which
* [But this was only an error of conduct, not of doctrine ;
and hence proves notliing against the inspiration of the apos-
tles, nor the pretended infallibility of their successors.— P. S.]
Christ has founded His Church, or Peter in a spir-
itual sense, is faithfulness of confession {Bekenrdniss-
treue). — Fidelity of confession the first characteristic
mark of the Cliurch. — Relation between Christ, the
Rock of the kingdom of heaven, the corner-stone of
the everlasting Church, and the rock-foundation on
which His visible Church on earth is reared : 1. In
the one case, the Apostles are the builders, and Christ
the rock and corner-stone ; 2. in t'u3 other c.se, the
Apostles are the foundation, and Chiist the Guilder.
— Only when resting on that rock which is Christ
will His people become partakers of the same nature.
— How the Church of Christ will endure forever, in
spite of the gates of Hades. — The old, legal, and
typical Church, and the new Church of the living
Saviour, in their relation to the kingdom of death :
1. The former is overcome by the kingdom of death ;
2. the latter overcomes the kingdom of death. —
Complete victory of Christ's kingdom of life over the
kingdom of death. — F'irst Peter, then the keys ; or,
first the Christian, then the ofiice. — The power of
the keys as a spiritual office : 1. Its infinite impor-
tance : announcement of the statutes of the kingdom
of heaven ; decision respecting the admission and
continuance [of members] ; or, in its threefold bear-
ing— (a) on the hearers of the word generally, {b) on
catechumens, and (c) on communicants. 2. The
co7idiiions of its exercise: a living confession, of
which Christ is the essence; readiness to bind as
well as to loose, and vice versd, the ratification of
the kingdom of heaven. — The keys of the prisons
of the Inquisition, and of the coffers of Indulgences,*
as compared with the keys of the kingdom of heav-
en ; OX', the difference between the golden and the
iron keys. — The confession of faith kept as a secret
from the enemies of Christ. — The preparatory festi-
val of the New Covenant.
Starke; — It is useful, and even necesltry, for
preachers to be aware of the erroneous fancies which
are in vogue among their hearers on the subject of
religion. — Cramer: Every man should be able to
give an account of his faith, John xvii. 3. — The dis-
cordant thoughts respecting the person of Christ. —
Majus : The just must five by his own faith. —
Osiander : Be not vacillating, but assured in your
own minds. — Jerome: Quemadmodum os loquitor
pro toto corpore, sic Petrus lingua erat Apostolorum
et pro omnibus ipse respondit. — The other two con-
fessions of Peter, Matt. xiv. 33 ; John vi. 68. — If we
acknowledge Gferist aright in our heart, Vv-e shall also
freely confess Him with our mouth, Rom. x. 10. —
The divine and human natures combined in the per-
son of Christ. — Blessedness of faith. — To know
Christ is to be saved, John xvii. 3. — Quesnel : True
blessedness : 1. It consists not in the advantages of
birth, nor in natural gifts, nor in riches, nor in repu-
tation and dignity ; but, 2. in the possession of the
gifts of grace through Christ. — Hedinger : All true
faith is the gift of God. — Osiander : If the truth of
God is mixed up with human fancies, it does more
harm than good. — Let no one hastily talk of the
* [In German : Die TnquisiiiomkerherscJilussel und
Alhtniikasteiischlmsel. The Edinb. transl. mixes these two
distinct ideas into one by rendering: " The keys of the pris-
ons und indulgences of the Inquinition." The cotters of
the indulsences, according to the scholastic doctrine, arc
filled with the treasures of the so called supererogatory
■works and merits of canonized saints from which the popes
can dispense extraordinary indulgences or remissions of sins.
It was this trade in papal indulgences carried on by a monk-
ish quack or humbug, Tetzel, which gave rise (as the exter-
nal occasion, but not as the caiiso which lay far deeper) to
the Lutheran Eeformation.— P. S.]
CHAP. XVI. 21-28. 301
good which he has received, but let him first make
experiment of its reality, Eccles. v. 1.
Gerlach: — The Christian Church possesses this
power of the iceys, not in its outward capacity or
valent opinions. — Peter's confession not his faith
only, but that of all disciples, John vi. C8. — Peter's
confession the collective confession of the Apostles. —
See what value Christ sets on this faith. — It is impos-
organization, but in so far as the Spirit rules in it. sible for. any man, even though lie were an apostle, to
Hence, whenever it is exercised as a merely outward impart faith to another. This is God's prerogative,
law, without the Spirit, the Lord in His providence
riknwii'; tlipdp fikp nrptf>Ti«inns of thn vi^ihlp nhnrph versos the meaning of the original, thus Biaking Heiibner
dibowns these talhC pietensions ot tnt mmDIC Oliuicn. (.o„trudict himself in the next sentence. Heubner alhides
Heubner : — In order to be decided, and to become \ to the confused and contradictory opinions of the Jews con-
cur own faith, we must publicly profess it. — How j ceming Christ, ver. 15, and then contrasts with them the
little value attaches to the opinions of the age on ?"", f"?^';.';.",'?^ "^ ^'"*'; * ■»,? f,^"""' ^'''■' ^^- ^''e^t ™en, dur-
— . - - ^ — .. . . p. ing their lifetime, meet with the very opposite judgments at
the bar of ever-changing popular opinion, and they are not
truly great unless they can rise above it and quietly pursue
the path of duty, leaving the small matter of their own fame
in the hands of a just God and of an appreciating posterity
which will judge them by the fruits of their labor. — P. S.]
great men ! * — The independence of Christians of pre-
*[Not: ffato much great men are influenced by the
opiniovs of the age, as the Edb. trsl., misled by the Ger-
man %cie iiel (which must be understood ironically), re-
B. The Church as bearing the Cross of Christ, in contrast to that worldly fear of the Cross by
which the Lord is assailed. Cn. XVI. 21-28.
(Mark viii. Sl-ix. 1 ; .Luke ix. 21-28).
21 From that time forth ^ began Jesus to show unto [to] his disciples, how ^ that he
must go unto [to] Jerusalem, and suffer many things of [from] the elders, and chief
priests, and scribes, and be killed [put to death], and be raised again [rise] ^ the third
22 day. Then Peter took him,* and began ^ to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee,
23 Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned,® and said unto [to] Peter, Get thee
behind me, Satan ; ' thou art an offence unto me [my offence] : * for thou savourest
24 [mindest] not the things that be [are] of God, but those that be [are] of men.^ Then
said Jesus unto [to] his disciples. If any man [one] will come after me, let him deny
25 hiniself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall
26 losAt ; and whosoever will [may] lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a
man profited [will a man be profited], '° if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his
27 own" soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man
shall come in the glory of his father, with his angels ; and then he shall reward every
28 man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be [are] some standing here'^''
which [who] shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
1 Ver. ^\.— [Forth is unnecessary and may be omitted, ^he Greek is airh Tore .—P. S.]
» Ver. 21.— [Better: that, on, without how, which dates from Tyndale.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 21. — [The Vulgate correctly translates resurgere; Luther, Ewald, and Lange: auferstelien, rise; taking
iyepB^iyat in the middle sense, as in ch. viii. 15, 26 (rjyepdri, she arose) ; ix. 0 {arise) ; xvli. 7 (ai'ise) ; xxv. 7 (arose) ;
xxvi. 46; xxvii. 52, 64, etc. Wiclif, Tyndale, and the Genevan Bible had it correctly : to rise again; but Cranmer changed
It Into the passive, and this was retained in King James's version, although the intervening Bishops' Bible (ed. 1583) fol-
lowed the older rendering.— P. S.]
■• Ver. 22.—inpo<TAa06fj.evos may be rendered: taking hold of him (English Vers, and Lange), or taking Jam aside,
to himself, apart from others (Euthym. Zigab., Ewald, Meyer, Conaut). The first is stronger. See the Exeg. Notes.—
P. S.]
6 Ver. 22.— "HploTo. The difference of readings is here important. Cod. B. omits ^p|aTO and reads: Ae'yct
avT<fi iir IT ifiS>v . Cod. D. and others: fip^aro avTw iir it t fiuv Kal A.eyeij'. Similarly the text, rea,
[Cod. Sinait. reads, like the text. ree. : ijplaro siriTifxav avrta Xeyuv. So also Tischendorf and Lachmann (ex-
cept that the latter places uvtw before iinrinciv); while Alford here follows the reading of Cod. Vaticanus, omitting
fip^aTO. This verb implies that the Lord interrupted Peter and prevented him from finishing the rebuke.— P. S.]
8 Ver. 23.— [Or, turned round, in ktt pacpi 19, as Lange reads, following D., K., L., etc., instead of the led. reo.
cr T p a * e I y .—P. S.]
' Ver. 2Z.— [Satan is the proper translation of the Vulgate (satana), and nearly all the English and German versions,
and is not to be weakened into the more general adversary. The word occurs &i times in the N. T. (generally with the
art., sometimes without it), and is always the Hebrew proper name for the Devil, d Std8o\os, the Prince of evil. See
Exeg. Note.-V. S.]
8 Ver. 23.— [So Lange: du list mein Aergernis.i, literally according to the reading of the text, rec: ffKavlaXSv
fiov el (Tischendorf ), or fl efxov (Lachmann following Cod. Vaticanus, with which here, as very often. Cod. Sinaiti-
cus agrees). El ifioi, and the Lat. Vulgate: scandalum, es mihi, is more mild and looks like a later modification.
Lachmann's text here (efJ-ov) is the same in sense with the received text ((uou).— P. S.]
9 Ver. 2.3.— [O y (ppove'is to. tov Qtov, aWa to. tSiv a v 6 p u> it w v , thou art not minded like God bvt
like men, or thou art not of the mind of God. hut of men, or ttoM mindest not the things of God, but of men. Lange : du
denkest nicht aufdas was Gottes ist, etc. ; Ewald ; du sinnest nicht was Gottes, sondern was dor Mensohen. All Eng-
302
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTBEW.
lish versions from "Wiclif to James have savoref.t. This is a Latinism from sapere and the Vulgate rendering:: non eaj>ia
ea qum Dei sunt, and must ni)t be taken in the usual sense of the transitive verb to savor, i. e., to relish, to delight in,
Campbell makes it too strong by traublatinfr : rellihest.—P. S.]
"• Vor. 2G.— The future 0)<pe\rjQricT erai is strongly attested by Codd. B., L., al., against ai(|) e \ € Tt a 4 , but may
be conformed to the following hoiffn. ['n<pe\7]6r)airai is also sustained by Cod. SiiiHit., and adopted by Tischendor^
Lachmann, Tiegelles, and Alford.— P. S.]
11 Ver. 20.— [Owre is an unnecessary addition, and implies a contrast to anothA- man's souL— P. S.]
i'-* Ver. 28 —Tiiv «5e ecrTiiruv, warranted by B., C, D., etc.
EXEGETICAL AND CPJTICAL.
Vor. 21. From that time. — From the first
Jesus had given obscure intimations of the sorrows
which were before Him : John ii. 4, etc. Now, bow-
ever, He made a distinct announcement of the pre-
cise form of His sufferings ; 1. because the disciples
were strong enough in faith to bear this intelligence ;
2. because their laith in the Messiah would thereby
be effectually guarded from the admixture of carnal
Jewish notions ; 3. because the Lord could not con-
ceal from His disciples what awaited them, and
would have none but voluntary followers on His path
of suffering. But Christ not only announced His im-
pending suiferings ; He also explained and showed their
necessity — it was a Be iKvve iv '6t i S el, although
interrupted by the remonstrance of the disciples.
Of the elders. — The detailed enumcrption of
these parties proves that there was a general con-
spiracy on the part of all the Jewish authorities, and
hence indicates the rupture of the whole outward
theocracy with Christianity.
And rise again the third day. — ^Even Meyer
considers it impossible to reconcile so clear and dis-
tinct a prediction of the resurrection with the circum-
stance that the disciples were so much disheartened
by the Lord's death, as not to expect His restoration
to life, and that they did not know what to think of
the empty sepulchre, etc. Accordingly, this critic
assumes, with Hasert, Neander, de Wette, and
others, that Christ had on this occasion indicated
His resurrection in a much more indefinite manner
than in the text, and that this intimation had
assumed the shape of a distinct prediction only ex
eventu, and from tradition. Siisskind, Heydenreich,
Kuinoel, Ebrard, and others, regard, on the other
hand, the narrative in the text as an accurate ac-
count of what took place at the time. {See also
Lehen Jesu, ii. 2, p. 894.) Nor can we see any dif-
ficulty in regard to the later conduct of the disciples.
As they evidently did not receive Christ's announce-
ment of His impending death, we cannot wonder at
their failing to apprehend and remember what He
had said of His resurrection. Besides, until the day
of Pentecost, they were very doubtful expositors of
the words of Jesus ; the figurative and symboUcal
language employed often leaving them uncertain
what to take in a literal and what in a symbolical
sense. Hence they frequently explained figurative
expressions literally. Matt. xvi. V ; Jolm iv. 33, xi.
12; while, on the other hand, they understood
literal expressions figuratively, John vi. 70 ; Matt.
XV. 15-17. Accordingly, in this instance also the
disciples seem to have remained in doubt in what
sense the Lord uttered this solemn and mysterious
saying, and that even after He had repeated it a
second time, Mark ix. 10. Their uncertainty was
all the greater from the state of their minds, which
assumed an attitude of opposition whenever the Lord
made such disclosures. Hence, we conceive that
the ^' p I a T o of the Lord (" He beffan to show them,"
etc.) was interrupted by the vehement remonstrance
of Peter, just as Peter's attempted rebuke was inter-
rupted by the Lord's reproof. In all these instances,
we must not picture to ourselves the Lord as deliver-
ing lectures ex cathedra to His disciples, but as mak-
ing disclosures and revelations which caused intense
commotion. Besides, the statement that the disci-
ples gave way to despair after the death of Jesus, is
quite contrary to the account of the EvangeUsts.
The honorable interment, the anointing of the corpse
(which must not be regarded as identical with the
Egj^itian practice of embalming), their meetings,
and their going to the grave, sufliciently show that
there were gleams of fight in their darkest hours.
On the other hand, their doubts in regard to the
resurrection — even after they had been informed of
it — are explained by the prodigious greatness both
of the anticipation and of the reality. (The idea,
that the language of Jesus was sjTnbolical, and re-
ferred to a fresh impulse to be given to His cause,
scarcely requires refutation.)
Ver. 22. Then Peter took Him; — vpocrXa-
^onevos . — He laid his hand upon Him, or seized
Him from behind, as if he would have moved Him by
main force to alter His purpose. He stoj^ped the
Master in this manner for the purpose of remonstrat-
ing with Him. Grotius explains it : he embraced
Him ; Euthymius Zigabenus and Meyer : he took
Him aside, kut^ Ibiav. The account says nothing of
either. When Jesus turned round. He taklressed
Himself not only to Peter, but also to the other dis-
ciples ; for, as in his confession, so at this time, Peter
represented the general feeling. Meyer rightly in-
fers from the exi)ression ^p^aTo, that Jesus did not
allow Peter to finish his address. But we see no
reason to conclude that He turned His back upon
Peter; the expression, 6 Si aTpa<peis, or tTrt-
(TTpacpeii (as in Mark), being rather against this
■^ipposition. Jesus turned round to Peter and the
other disciples ; and the conmiand, vwaye h-nlau nov,
Referred to the fact, that in a spiritual sense Peter
was attempting to obstruct His path.
/ Be it far from Thee. — 2'his shall not happen
ho thee, 'l\ews aoi, a proverbial expression, d-q 6
iQeos being understood : Propitius sit tibi Deus, God
he merciful to thee, God preserve thee I — equivalent
I to the Hebrew "^"'Sn (2 Sam. xx. 20 ; xxiii. 17, Ixx).
I [The sudden change in Peter from a bold confessor
|of Christ and rock of His Church, to an adversary
and stumbling-block of His Master, although unac-
countable on the mythical or legendary fiction-theory
of Strauss or Renan, is nevertheless true to life, and
easily explained and understood in view of the san-
guine, impulsive, and ardent temper of Peter, and
in view of the high praise and lofty promise just
(bestowed upon him, which was a strong temptation
(to his natural vaiuty and ambition. The experience
/^jf beUevers confirms the frequent occurrence of the
same sudden transition. As there is but one step
from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the tragical
to the comical, so also in spiritual life opposite ex-
tremes often meet, and Satan is most busy to seduce
us, when we are most highly exalted and favored by
Christ.— P. S.]
CHAP. XVI." 21-28.
303
Vcr. 23. Get thee [lit. : go, begone] behind Me
[out of Mij sight, aicay from Me], Satan. — -"Ttt a y e
6 IT i aw fj.ov. See ch. iv. 10; Luke iv. 8, where
Christ uses the same words to Sataa in the wilderness.
The expression Sainti is here used in a more general
sense, denoting an Adversary, or Tempter, with an allu-
sion to the Satanic element which was unconsciously
at work in Peter, and tempted the Saviour away from
His true calling and path of duty. The meaning
therefore is : " What, is Satan come again to tempt
Me, as he did of old ? Get thee hence, thou Tempt-
er ! " It is scarcely necessary to say that it was not
meant as a term of reproach or as a mere expression
of abhorrence or contempt. Most Roman Catholic
critics adopt the suggestion of Hilary, and maintain
that only the first words ( Go out of My sight) were
addressed to Peter, and the rest (from Satan) to
the personal Devil.* Maldonatus takes the term
" Satan " in the general sense of adversariu-s, which
may be admitted, provided we keep in mind that
there was an allusion to Satan himself. As Judas
afterward became permanently and consciously, so
Peter now became momentarily and unconsciously, a
representative of the cause of Satan, who would iain
have banished the cross and the kmgdom of Christ.
In opposition to this, Christ chose the cross as con-
formable to the divine purpose, as the manifestation
of His righteousness, and as the basis of His re-
demption.
Thou art an offence unto Me. — According to
the better readmg : My offence, or My stumbling-
block,! o-Kov Sa\6v fiov, which is stronger than
ffjLoi (a stumbling-block to Me). The word a-Kav-
SaKov, a later form of aKavSaXridpoi^, a trap-stick;
hence a snare, or generally, an obstruction in the
way, especially in a metaphorical sense.
Thou mindest {carest for) the things of God,
TO roil Qeov . — The things of God as represented
by the will of Christ. The antithesis to this : the
things of men, r a r u v a v 6 p unr wv . It deserves
notice that human depravity is always expressed by the
plural, and not the singular. If the singular is used,
the epithet TraKaios is added to avOpuTroi. The rea-
son is obvious. Human nature is not represented as
in itself opposed to God, but only in its present state.
The general meaning of the passage is : On this occa-
sion thou thinkest not of what is conformable to the
holy counsel of God, but to the smful inclination of
* [Maldonatus, who dwells at great leng:th on vers. IS and
19 (pp. 217-224), disposes of ver. 2-3 very briefly. He refers
the term Satan correctly to Peter, but in a wider sense, and
accounts for the severity by the importance of the subject,
not by the guilt of Peter: At cur tarn aeriter reprehenditf
non iam quod Petri culpa, si qua tamenfuit, quam qx(,od
rei. de qua ngebatur, magnitudo merehaiur. Schegrg, one
of the latest Roman Catholic commentators (Dieheil. £cang.,
Munich, 1S57, vol. ii. p. 376) admits in strong language the
awful severity of the rebuke, one of the severest ever ut-
tered, but gets over the difficnlty by three considerations :
(1) that the rebuke was intended for all the apostles, whom
Peter presented in their aversion to Christ's suffering, as be-
fore in his faith (which is correct): (2) that the primacy
promised in ver. IS was not yet actually conferred on him
(which admits the force of the rebuke) ; (3) that the transfer
of the primacy does not create a new man (which admits
the possibility of the pope's falling under the same con-
demnation as Peter). Bengel, in his Gnomoti, warns Rome :
" Videat Petra romana, ne cadat sub censuram versus 23."
—P. S.]
+ [Or stumbling-stone, which would be in keeping with
the metaphorical Petros, a foundation-atone. Compare
Ai0o9 TrpoffKOfxnaTOi Kal irirpa aKav5d\ov,
a stone of stumbling and a rock, of offence, as Peter him-
eelf calls Christ for those who are disobedient, ivhilo to
them who believe He is the chief corner stone, elect and
precious. 1 Pet. ii. 7.— P. B.]
men. Its special application is : Thou rejectest the
counsel of Him who has determined to make the
cross and its sufferings the ground of salvation, and
payest homage to the carnal views and expectations
of the Jews concerning a secular kingdom of the
Messiah.
Ver. 24. If any man will come after Me. —
This declaration throws light both upon tlie state-
ment of Christ and the counter-statement of Peter.
The impending sufierings of Christ would certainly
involve the disciples in simOar persecutions and
trials, though perhaps not immediately or outwardly.
Hence they were unfit to follow Him ; nor could He
employ them, unless they were ready and willing
wholly to surrender themselves to Iliu), and to suffer
for His sake. To follow Jesus requires both inward
self-renunciation and an outward manifestation of it,
in wilHng submission to whatever sufferings may be-
fall us as disciples. This renunciation must amount
to self-denial, that is, it must become complete abne-
gation and surrender of our selfish nature and of our
self-will. The expression deny himself forms a
solemn prophetic contrast to Peter's later denial of
his Lord. Taking up the cross was a proverbial
expression ; but in this connection referred to readi-
ness to endure even the most painful and ignominious
death in following Christ. At the same time, it also
alluded to the Lord's crucifixion, and may be taken
as a typical expression for the later death on the
cross of Peter himself. See Matt. x. 38 ; John xxi.
Here, as at an earlier period of His history, when
the first signs of persecution and of popular defec-
tion appeared, the Lord left it to the free choice of
His disciples whether or not they would continue
to follow Him.
Ver. 25. For whosoever will save his life. —
Comp. ch. X. 39 (p. 198). Words these of the deep-
est import, embodying the fundamental prmciple
both of the hidden and mystical, as well as of the
outward and temporal life of a Christian. The fear
of death subjects to the bondage of death, Heb. ii.
15 ; while readiness to suffer a holy death for
Christ's sake opens up before us true life. This is
our watchword in baptism, Rom. vi. ; and, indeed, in
all our Christianity.
Ver. 26. For what is a man profited, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose (forfeit.^.
fr) /ti 1 CO 0 >7) his own soul? — If his soul be for-
feited by' this bargam. The explanation, " and
damage,^'' or " mjure, his own soul," * falls entirely
short of the meaning of the expression. The fol-
lowing four propositions are implied in the statement
of the text, which is intended to show that a man
win lose his life except he follows Christ : 1. Who-
ever seeks to save his life by ungodly means, wishes
* [As Luther has it in his version : Schaden nehmen or
leiden an seiner Seele. instead of seine Seele einbu«sen, or
ihrer veriustig werden, animce detnmentum pati (Vulg.),
to suffer the loss of his soul (or his higher life), to forfeit it,
as .a penalty for a fault or a crime. This is the true force of
i-nfiiwdr], which should be translated forfeit, to distin-
guish it from the more general term oTroXeVj;, ver. 25.
Comp. the parallel passage, Luke ix. 25 : iavrhv aTroAfVas
fl (7)iJ.tot)deis, having lost or forfeited himself, i. e., his
whole beins. Wvyv in this connection, of course, does
not mean, as in ver. 25, the perishing life of the body (which
a man can not lose and at the same time gain the whole
world), but the true eternal life of the soul, which begins in
this world by faith in Christ and will be fully developed in
the world to come. The word iJ'uX'? '>'is ^^^ double
meaning life and soul, for which thero is no corresponding
term in English or German.— P. S.]
304
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
for a portion of worldly gain. 2. But to gain the j
world (as such) iu a selfish and sinful manner, im- I
plies the loss of the soul. 3. This loss is infinitely
greater than even tlie gain of the whole world, j
asisuming that such were possible. 4. In truth, I
whoever has lost his own soul for the world has !
gained even the world only iu appearance, but lost it
in reality.
Or what shall a man give in exchange [lit. :
as an exchange] for his soul {avTdAAay/j.a xf/vxv^)-
— A proof that the loss of the soul is i)erpetual
and irreparable. If a man loses his soul, he can
find no equivalent for it within the whole range
of tlie apparent possessions of this world, by
which to ransom it from its bondage unto death.
'Avrd\kayij.a, properly counter-p)-ice. The price
which a man gives is the aWaypa ; the countcr-
price which a man receives is the a p t dway/xa.
Hence the expression, c/iving an avrdway/xa (not
takiiiff it), must imply the idea : •' if the bargain
should be broken oif." This is, indeed, possible in
secular transactions, but not when a man has bar-
tered his soul for the world ; since, in point of fact,
he has gained only an iUusory demoniacal image or
Ukeuess of the world, not the world itself {see Leben
Je^i^ ii. 2, p. 899).* — The Lord here shows that the
desire and endeavor of gaining the world really lay at
the root of the carnal Messianic hopes of the Jews,
as, indeed, had already appeared in the third tempta-
tion by which He was assailed at the commencement
of His course, Matt. iv. A caricature this of the real
KKt]povofx[a.
The next verse shows that the Lord referred not
merely to a negative damage, but also to a positive
punishment.
Ver. 27. For it shall come to pass that the
Son of Man shall come.— M e A A « j 7 d p . [Em-
phatically placed at the beginning of the sentence.]
Not a suuple future, but meaning : the event is hn-
pending that He sliall come, He is about to come.
On this second advent, see ch. xxiv., xxv. ; 2 Thess.
ii. ; Rev. xix., xx., etc. — In the glory of His
Father. — Not merely as the representative of the
Father in the judgment which is to be executed, but
as the Founder of a new world, the Centre and
Autlior of the new creation (-TraAiyytj/ecria). He
■will reward every man according to liis
work, — TT p 5 1 1 r , or the total outward manifestation
of his inner life as a believer or unbeliever. This
reference to the second advent is specially intended
to prove the former statement : " Whosoever will lose
?iis life for My sake shall find it.''''
Ver. 28. There are some of those standing
here. — [The twelve then present, and immediately
addressed, and the crowd referred to, Mark viii. 34.]
Various explanations of this ditficult passage have
been ofiered. 1. Chrysostom and many others hold
that the limit, until they see the Son of Man coming,
etc., refers to the history of the Transfiguration, im-
"mediately following. 2. Grotius, Capellus, Wetstein,
Ebrard, [Alford, Owen], etc., apply it to the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem and the founding of the Church.
3. Dorner interprets it of the conquests and progress
of the gospel. 4. Meyer and others apply the expres-
* [Comp. J. A. Alexander in Inc. : " The Lord pursues
the awful supposition further, to the verge of paradox and
contradiction, but with terrible advantage to the force of
this transcendent argument. ... A m.an may lose his present
life and yet live on and have a better life in lieu of it ; but
when he loses his eternal life, ho is himself lost, lost forever,
and the thought of compensation or recovery involves a
contradiction."— P. S.]
sion to the proximity of the second advent itself, and
assume that the disciples understood in a literal
sense, and hence misunderstood, Christ's figurative
statements about His ideal advent. 5. De Wette
seems in the main to agree with the opinions of Gro-
tius, Wetstein, sub (2.): "According to Mark and
Luke, Christ merely predicted the advent of His
kingdom." But we question whether Mark ix. 1 can
be separated from viii. 38, or Luke ix. 27 from ver.
26. 6. In our opinion, it is necessary to distinguish
between the advent of Christ in the glory of His
kingdom within the circle of His disciples, and that
same advent as applying to the world generally and
for judgment. The latter is what is generally mider-
stood by the second advent ; the fonner took place
when the Saviour rose from the dead and revealed
Himself in the midst of His disciples. Hence the
meaning of the v/ords of Jesus is : The moment is
close at hand when your hearts shall be set at rest
by the manifestation of My glory ; nor will it be the
lot of all who stand here to die during the interval
The Lord might have said that only two of that cir-
cle would die till then, viz.. Himself and Judas. But
in His wisdom He chose the expression, " some
standing here shall not taste of death," to give them
exactly that measure of hope and earnest expectation
which they needed.*
Taste of death. — T eveareai Oavarov, a, rab-
binical, Syriac, and Arabic mode of expression;
death being represented under the figure of a bitter
cup or goblet.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the preceding Ezegetical Notes.
2. Tlie prediction of Christ's death. — Two pomts
here I'equire to be kept in view : 1. The difference
of the times when, and 2. the difference of the per-
sons to whom, Jesus spoke. The more obscure
intimations took place at an earlier period, and were
made to a wider circle of Christ's hearers. Hence
also they are more frequently recorded under these
circumstances in the Gospel of John. But, after the
last decisive events, Jesus made the most full and
clear disclosures on this subject within the circle of
His disciples. Nor could He have concealed His im-
pendmg death from the disciples, when the Pharisees
had so manifestly laid snares for Him over the whole
land.
3. Tlie prospect of the resurrection on the third
clay. — The progressive clearness with which it was
announced, was closely connected witli the prophecies
of the Old Testament. It is a mere sophism on the
part of certain critics to maintain that Jesus should
at once have derived full knowledge of it either from
the Old Testament or from His own supernatural
consciousness. Christ was conscious of embodying
iu His person the fulfilment of the Old Testament.
* [A. Barnes refers the passage to the day of Pentecost
and the founding of the cliurch. J. k. Ale.xander gives it a
more general and indefinite application to the gradual and
progressive establishment of Christ's kingdom, cspeci.illy
the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and
the destruction of Jerusalem, as the two salient points, be-
tween which, as those of its inception and consummation,
lies the linaering death of the Mosaic dispensation, and the
gradual erection of Messiah's kingdom. This is the last
passar'e of Scripture on which the lamented Dr. Jos. Addison
Alexander of Princeton commented in full. Of the remaining
chapters of the Gospel of Matthew he left, a few diiys before
his death in 1860, merely ^ meagre analysis, "as though ho
anticipated the approaching interruption of his earthly la-
bors."—P. 8.]
CHAP. XVI.
305
In its pages He found everywhere indications of the
progressive experience of His life, or of His humilia-
tion and exaltation. In the most general manner
this principle was embodied in the history of the
covenant-people itself. But the curve of humiliation
and exaltation seemed always to become stronger,
the more exalted the life of those who occupied
prominent places in the theocracy. With these
saints of old, it seemed to descend into ever lower
and more awful depths, and again equally to rise
into more glorious heights. This contrast, whicli
appeared distinctly even in the history of Abraham,
came out more fully in his successors — in Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, David, and Elijah. But Christ would
i'Ot only discover this fundamental principle in the
Nistory of the Jewish people aud its most prominent
representatives, but also trace it in numberless fea-
tures of Old Testament history : in the Book of
Psalms, in the types of the law, and in the utterances
of the prophets. It seemed as if this curve were the
distinguishing characteristic of things great and small.
Thus every page of the Old Testament would convey
to the Lord not only the certainty of His death, but
also the assurance of His resurrection ; just as the
fundamental idea of the pointed arch may be traced
in every part of a Gothic cathedral. But how could
Jesus predict that He would rise 07i the third day '
Hasert (on the Predictions of Christ concerning His
death and resurrection) repUes : " According to the
regular course of nature, in the process of the separa-
tion between soul and body, the absence of all traces
of life during three days, is regarded as an evidence
of death." But Christ was assured in the Spirit that
He should not see corruption (Ps. xvi. ; Acts ii. 27,
31). Thus He drew from the depth of His thean-
tkropic consciousness evidence, explanation, and
assurance of the types and predictions of the Old
Testament — all these being sealed, as it were, by the
administration of His Father in the experiences of
His life. — (On the remarks of Strauss against the pre-
dictions of Jesus, see Ebrard, p. 540.)
4. When the Lord informed His disciples about
His approaching sutrerings, He at the same time an-
nounced to them His return in glory. In doing this,
He might well set before them His approaching ad-
vent in the resurrection in the full glory of His final
advent at the end of the world, since to believers His
resurrection implied His final advent, beii^g the jrrin-
ciple of His full glory. Comp. the concluding dis-
courses of Jesus in the Gospel according to John ;
and Phil. ii. 6-11. We also observe a distinct
gradation in these revelations: Matt. xvi. 21 ; xvii.
22,23; XX. 18, 19; X3:vi. 2.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
How the Lord purifies the enthusiasm of His dis-
ciples for the approaching kingdom of the Messiah,
by directing their thoughts to His path of suffering.
— From the knowledge of the Divine Messiah to that
of the suffering Saviour is a great step. — Connection
between confession and the path of the cross. — The
New Testament Church and the preaching of the
cross commenced at the same moment. — Peter the
first coirfessor of Jesus, and His first tempter on the
path of suffering. — How the Spirit of Christ is re-
flected in His disclosures respecting His impending
Bufferings : 1. His divine clearness of vision, survey-
ing the whole way. 2. His wisdom : hitherto a spar-
ing uxdication ; now disclosures adapted to the knowl-
20
edge of His disciples. 3. His fiuthfulness : they are
to follow Him freely and voluntarily. 4. His cer-
tainty of victory : on the third day.— Why the dis-
ciples had not rightly received the saying about the
resurrection. — Only that man can believe in tho
resurrection who is willing to beheve in the cross of
Christ. — The quick relapse of Peter from divme
power into human weakness. — Still, despite all his
relapses, he was Peter. — The spurious imitation of
Peter during the progress of the history of the
Church: 1. Seizing the Lord ; obstructing His path ;
abounding in protestations ; simulating love. 2.
Shunning the cross ; loving the world. — Peter set by
the Lord before the Church as a warning example. —
IIow Peter anticipated his destiny. — He wished to
bind the Lord Himself, but to loose the world. — How
he shut himself out, while seizing in a carnal spirit
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. — The leading
element in Peter's mistaken advice: 1. It was the
device of men, in opposition to the good pleasure of
God ; 2. love to the human Messiah instead of faith
in the Son of God ; 3. attachment to life, in opposi-
tion to the right way of life ; 4. hoping for the in-
heritance of the world, in opposition to the inherit-
ance of the kingdom of heaven. — The address to the
disciples with which the Lord entered on His path
of suffering : 1. Its divine clearness : the whole path
is traced out. 2. Its heavenly decision : whoever
obstructed His path was a Satan. 3. Its holy sum-
mons : " If any man will come after Me." 4. The
foundation and ground of this call : " What shall it
profit a man ? " 5. The promises connected with it :
" the Son of man in the glory of His Father." 6.
The gracious comfort: "There are some standing
here." — Self-denial the preliminary condition of fol-
lowing Jesus. — Following the Lord on the path of
suffering : 1. Its commencement : confession of
Jesus ; denial of self. 2. Its course : looking up to
tlie Lord, who goeth before ; taking up the cross.
3. Its goal : transitory sufferings with Jesus ; eternal
glory with Him. — If in life we die with Christ, we
shall in dying live with Him. — Whoever in fife par-
takes of the cup of Christ's death, wiH in death drink
abundantly of the cup of His fife.
Starke : — Zeislus : Christ the pattern of Christian
teachers, as gradually and carefully progressing from
the easier to the more difficult lessons. — Hedinger :
Christ must suffer, and thus enter into glory, Luke
xxiv. 26. — The doctrines of Christ's sufferings and
I'esurrection must always be conjoined. — A mere
good opinion is not sufficient. — Canatein: Our best
friends, so far as this world is concerned, are often
our greatest enemies in spiritual and heavenly mat-
ters.— To the carnal men of the world, the crucified
Saviour is still either a stumbling-block, or else fool-
ishness, 1 Cor. i. 23 ; 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. — Hedinger : Be
not lifted up by knowledge or prosperity : how easily
mayest thou fall, and from an angel become a Satan !
— Zeisius : All carnal wisdom which opposeth itself
to the word an<l will of God, is only deviUsh, how-
ever great or plausible it may appear. — Majus : If
the truth is at stake, we must not spare our dearest
friends. — If we do not deny ourselves, we cannot
bear the cross. — It is the duty of believers to die
mito self and to live unto Christ. — Majus : What
appears to us to be gain, must be regarded as loss
for Christ's sake, Phil. iii. Y, 8. — Quesnel : The loss
of the soul can never be repaired. — If thou suffercst
Injustice at a human tribunal, wait ^ith confidence
for the future righteous judgment of Christ.
Lisco : — After death, the resurrection. Through
306
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
death to life ; through shame to glory ; by the cross
to the crown ; through defeat to victory ! Thus
Christ, and thus His people. — Sufiering is insepara-
ble from following Christ. — To take up the cross de-
notes our readiness to suffer. — Fear of suffering is
fatal. — (jlorious reward of grace which will follow
Buffering.
Gerlach : — Confession and suffering must go to-
gether.
Ileuhncr : — Human wisdom would dissuade us
from making sacrifices for the sake of duty. — Jesus
regarded and treated every one as Satan who wished
to turn Him aside from His heavenly mission. — To
dissuade from duty is not friendship, but seduction.
— Luther : What is the Papacy at the present day,
but the carnal kingdom which the Jews expect from
the Messiah ! — As with Christ, so with His followers,
the path to exaltation is through humiliation. —
Christ's frankness in announcing the fate of His dis-
ciples.— The Christian's mode of calculation. — The
loss of what is eternal cannot be compensated by
the gain of earthly possessions. — The future is no
illusion.
[On the infinite value and possible loss of the soul^
ver. 26. — M. Henry : 1. Every man has a soul of
his own ; 2. it is possible for the soul to be lost, and
there is danger of it ; 3. if the soul is lost, it is the
sinner's own losing, and his blood is on his own
head ; 4. one soul is more worth than all the world ;
so the winning of tlie world is often the losing of the
soul ; 6. the loss of the soul cannot be made up by
the gain of the whole world ; 7. if the soul be once
lost, it is lost forever, and the loss can never be re-
paired or retrieved. — P. S.]
C. The Church as a Spiritual Communion, in oppositio7i to the Solitary Tabernacles of Spurious Separa-
tion from the World. Ch. XYII. 1-9.
{The Gospel for the &th Sunday after Epiphany. — Parallels: Mark ix. 2-9; Luke ix. 28-36.)
1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, [and, KaC] James, and John his brother, and
2 bringeth them up into an high mountain apart/ And [he] was transfigured before them:
and liis face did shine [shone] ^ as the sun, and his raiment [garments] was [became,
3 cycVero] wliite as the hght. And, behold, there appeared ^ unto them Moses and EHas
4 [Ehjali] talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good
for us to be here : if thou wilt, let us make [I will make] ^ here three tabernacles ; one
5 for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias [Elijah]. While he yet spake [was yet
speaking], behold, a bright [luminous, ^wreivvj] cloud ^ overshadowed them: and behold
a voice out of the cloud, which said [saying, Aeyo-ucra], This is my beloved Sou, in
6 whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him. And when the discij)les heard it, they fell on
7 their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise,
8 and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save
9 Jesus only. And as they came down from [out of] ® tlie mountain, Jesus charged
them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, imtil the Son of man be [is] risen again' from
the dead.
' Ycr. 1.— [After apart there ought to be a period, and he inserted after And in ver.£.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 2.— [There is no necessity for did in translating e A a^usj/ e .—P. S.]
3 Ver. 3.— [The third person singular, uxpdri, is preferred by Lac.hmann, Tischendorf, and Alford, and is better attest-
ed, especially by Codd. Vaticanus and Sinai ticus, than HxpOrja a.v , but it has no effect upon the English translation.
Langc translates : erschienen, not erschien. — P. S.]
< Ver. 4.— Codd. B., C, etc., read: noiiiaai, I will make. So Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford]. The led. rec,
'irotri(To>iJ.ei', let us make, corresponds with the text in Mark and Luke. [The first person singular, ttoito-u; is also
.iupported by Cod. Sinait., and is more in keeping with the ardent temperament and self-confidence of Peter.— P. S.]
^ Ver. 5.— B., D., and most of the authorities read vepeKr] ^oir eivi) (bright cloud), against v((p. (poor 6 s (cloud
of light). The sense is essentially the same.
• Ver. 9.— The critical authorities and editions favor e k, out of, against k tt c, from. It indicates probably that they
proceeded from a mountain-cave.
^ Ver. 9.— B., D., etc, iyep6fi.
EXEGETICAL AND CRPriCAL.
Ver. 1. Since the fourth century tradition has
fixed on Mount Tabor, in Galilee, as the locality of
this event. See the description of it in Schubert
and others. This opinion is, however, evidently un-
tenable. Not only was Motmt Tabor inhabited to
its summit at the time (see Robinnon), but it seems
exceedingly improbable that Jesus would have so
suddenly left His retreat in the highlands cf Gauloni-
tis, and transferred the scene of one of His most se-
cret revelations to Galilee, where He was everywhere
persecuted. Besides, ver. 22 implies that the change
of residence to Galilee took place at a later period,
while in Mark ix. 30 it is distinctly stated, that af-
ter these events Jesus had secretly passed through
Galilee.
The highest mountain -top in Gaulonitis was
Mount Hermo7i. Accordingly, some fix upon Her-
mon itself as the scene of this event ; others on Mount
Fanius, near Caesarea Philippi. But from the de-
CHAP. XVII. 1-
307
Bcription of the mountain, and the statement in ver.
9, (hat "they came down" from its height, it seems
likely to have been Hermon.
After six days. — So Matthew and Mark. Luke
has it wcrtl 'on. 4 pat hKTci). According to the
common phraseology, tlic expression, aboiit eicjht
da;is, denoted a week — or, after a'?x days, adding the
day of Peter's confession. During a whole week the
disciples had been bearmg about, and meditating
upon, the revelation which Christ had made concern-
ing His cross. At the close of it, the Lord prepared
for them the iirst Sabbath of the New Testament,—
an earnest and foretaste both of Uis resurrection and
of tlie Christian Sabbath.
[Alford and others suppose that the transfigura-
tion probably took place m the nigJit, for the follow-
ing i-easons: 1) Jesus had gone up to the mountain
to'pray, Luke ix. 28, which He usually did at night
(Lukevi. 12; xxi. 3Y ; xxii. 39; Matt. xiv. 23, 24).
2) The Apostles were asleep, and are described as
liaviug kept awake through this occurrence, hiayp-q-
yopt'iaauTss, Luke ix. 32. 3) They did not descend
till the next day, Luke ix. 37. 4) The transfigura-
tion itself could be seen to better advantage at night
than in dayhght.— P. S.]
Ver. 2. And He was transfigured. — Matthew
and Mark use the term p-erenopcpdid)] ; Luke expresses
it, eyeVfTo rh tlSor rod irpoawiTou auTov erepov, ic.t.\.
According to Luke, this transformation of His ap-
pearance took place while He was praying. Ac-
cording to Matthew, His face shone as the sun,
and His garments became white (bright) as the
light. Luke has it : " the fashion of His connte-
nance was altered, ajid His raiment was white and glis-
tering [AeuKos ila.arpa.Trrwv, white-glistening, zoeiss-
leuchtendy Mark dwells upon the brightness of the
raiment : " it became shining, exceeding while as snow,
so [^sitch] as no fuller on earth can. white [whiteii]
themy Meyer observes, that " this event is not to
be regarded as a parallel to what is recorded in Exod.
xxxiv. 29, since the shining of Moses' face was the
consequence of the preceding appearance of God."
As if the text did not refer to a ditFercnt presence of
God from that recorded in Exod. xxxiv ! " We know
how the human countenance is often lit up by joy,
beautified by affection, or wonderfully transformed
by the peace and blessedness reaUzed in the hour of
death. The revelations vouchsafed to the prophets
often made them pale as death (Dan. x.), at other
times resplendent with joy. The face of Moses shone
when he came down from Mount Sinai, so that no
one could bear to look upon his countenance. In
the text, we have the highest instance of this kind
which could possibly occur in human experience.
The infinite fulness of the Spirit was poured out over
His whole being ; the heavenly glory of Uis nature,
which was still concealed under His earthly appear-
ance (and during His conflict with the kmgdom of
darkness), now broke forth." (Leben Jcsu, ii. 2, 905.)*
Meyer rightly remarks, that this manifestation of His
5d|a was an anticipation of His future state of glory
(John xii. 16, 23 ; xvii. 5, 22-24; 2 Cor. iii. 18;
Matt. xiii. 43).
Ver. 3. And behold! — Indicating that this was
even more marvellous than His own transformation.
There appeared unto them. — The reading
♦ [This bursting forth of the inherent glory of Christ is
hardly sufficient to account for the brilliancy of His gar-
ments. I see no objection to call to aid an external heaven-
ly illumination, which undoubtedly surrounded Moses and
Elijah as they descended from heaven.— P. S.]
&^et\, B., D., does not alter the sense. The vision
of Moses and Elijah was outward and actual, though
implyuig, at the same time, a pecuUar subjective state
on the {jait of the disciples, which was caused by
their communion with Jesus. Luke [a physician by
profession] furnishes what might be called a psycho-
logical account of the matter, when he describes
them as heavy with sleep and yet awake throughout.
The proximity of these glorified spirits produced, not
indeed a morbid state of somnambulism, but a pe-
culiar moral state, like that of the ancient seers. It
is an idle inquiry, how they came to know the per-
sons who appeared on this occasion; we presume
that they immediately recognized the vision in the
same manner as they beheld it.
Moses and Elijah. — The appearing of these
blessed spirits explains the change which passed on
the Lord. For the time He exchanged His inter-
course with this world for that with the world above.
The fact that a person looks very differently in the
midst of festive joy, and when engaged in the ordi-
nary labor of his calling — on a journey, or surveying
the scene from a mountain height, and surrounded
by his daily cares — while triumphantly standing forth
on behalf of some great principle, and when v^eighed
down by temptation or trials, — affords a very faint
analogy of this transformation. Commonly, Jesus
was engaged in conflict either with the lust or the
sorrow of this world ; on this occasion, it was the
festive celebration of the Messiah.
Talking with Him. — Meyer remarks that we
have no information as to this conversation. But
the Evangelist Luke states that " they spake of His
departure lohich He should fulfil at Jerusalem." This
also furnishes the key to the meaning and object of
this vision. It presents the two chief representatives
of the Old Covenant as the forerunners of the Messi-
ah, and as acquainted with and cognizant of His im-
pending course of suSering. Hence this may be re-
garded as an evidence of the agi-eement of the Old
and New Testaments in reference to the sufferings
of the Messiah.
Ver. 4. Lord, it is good for us to be here. —
Not : It is weU that we the disciples are here (Paulus,
Baumgarten-Crusius, Meycp), that we may provide
dwellings for a longer stay ; for, although ij fxas pre-
cedes w 5 f, the expression evidcLtly includes the
Lord. Hence we adopt the common explanation of
the verse (proposed by Chrysostom, etc.) : It is good
for us to be in this place — in opposition to Jerusa-
lem ; but not as contrasted with the impending suffer-
ings, as is often assumed. The latter would imply
that Peter had agaLa lapsed into the carnal views
expressed in ch. xvi. 22, which were incompatible
with that kingdom of Messiah which was to be estab-
lished by suffering. On the contrary, we understand
the words of Peter as implying that he was even will-
ing to give up the prospect of that coming glory,
satisfied if, separated from the world, he could con-
tinue, with the Lord and His companions, va. spiritual
communion with Moses and Elijah. At a stiU later
period we find him ready for suffering, though in the
sense of a conflict of suffering by the sword. Hence
we may trace the following course of development in
his spiritual history: 1. Anticipation of the glory of
Messiah in connection with the ancient national pol-
ity ; 2. in opposition to that polity, but as victorious
over it ; 8. relinquishment of the hope of the Messi-
anic kingdom in this world, both in its sufferings and
its glories; 4. willingness to suffer — but with the
sword in hand ; 5. after his denial of the Saviour, sim-
308
THE GOSPEL ACCORDIXG TO MATTHEW.
pie willingness to suffer — in hope ; 6. anticipation of
the glory of the king<lom through suffering and con-
flict by the swon! of the Spirit. These various stages
of his experience may be regarded a'; respectively
typifying the Jewish Church — the Gentile Church
under Constantino the Great — the monastic Church
— the Popish Church, with its two swords — and
(5 and 6) the true Church, with its sword of the
Spirit.
Three tabernacles. — Arbors, forest tents, her-
mitages.
Ver. 5. Behold — and behold. — A threefold
progression, commencing in ver. 3. The first mir-
acle was Christ transfigured and surrounded by the
beatified spirits of the representatives of the Old Cov-
enant. The second miracle was the bright cloud,
which constituted the sign from heaven, refused to
the .Jewish authorities who had asked for it, and now
granted, unsolicited, to the disciples. The third mir-
acle was the revelation of the Father by a voice from
heaven.
A luminous cloud. — The expression ve<p 4xri
<pw T e IV 7) denotes a light-like, luminous cloud, and
not merely " a bright cloud or mist lit up by the sun "
(Paulus), (^ciTiivhs 'i]\ios). It was of the same kind
as the cloud at the ascension, or the clouds of hea-
ven at the advent of the Son of man (Matt. xxiv. 30 :
KoX Tore (ftavricrerai rh ay)fXiiav Tov vlov rov apOpaiwov
iv T<^ ovpava. Mark xiii. 26 : koI rare oi^oj'Tai rhu
vlhv Tov ai/dpu!irou ipxafxivov iv v^(pi\ai<s yuexa ivva-
fieois TToAAvls KoX 5d|7)s. Luke xxi. 27 : Iv v^cpiKri
IXSTO. Svvdfxew; Kal 5(i|-()? TroAArjs. Comp. Dan. vii. IS).
Hence, this was the sign from heaven, the real Shechi-
nah (nj^Ztli , Talmud, prcesenfia Dei; from 'r'c3,
to lie down, to rest, to dwell), of which that in Exod.
xiii. 21 ; xl. 34, formed the type, and which in turn
was a symbol of the spiritual glory resting on the
New Testament Church, separating between the holy
and the unholy (Isa, iv. 5), and at the same time
also a ii/pe of the splendor of the New Jerusalem,
Rev. xxi. 23.
Overshadowed them; avrovs. — According
to Lc C'lerc, all present ; according to Wolf, Beivjel,
etc., the disciples ; according to de Wetie and Meyer,
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.' De Wette appeals in con-
firmation of his view to the account given by Luke.
But to us his narrative conveys the impression that
all present were overshadowed by a dazzling light,
which, as it were, separated them from the earth
generally ; while Jesus, Moses, and Elijah entered into
the cloud which hovered over them, floating along
with it. There seems to have been a mutual attrac-
tion— of the cloud downward, and of the glorified
figures upward. A prelude this of the ascension.
Olshausen explains the expression " overshadowed,^''
as implying that the fight was so overpowering and
dazzling as to prevent their looking into the cloud.
" The strongest light is = ctkotos. Hence the latter
is used in Scripture instead of the former. The Lord
is said to dwell in <pws airpdairov, and again in dark-
ness,! Kings viii. 12; Ex. xx. 21." Meyer misses
the point in remarking that such a cloud would over-
shadow or place the figures in semi-darkness, etc.
The eifect of the cloud was to overshadow the disci-
ples, or for the time to separate them, on the one
hand, from the immediate bodily vision of Jesus,
Moses, and Elijah, and of God coming to them ; and,
on the other, from the profane world. The shadows
of a heavenly night were closing around them. Thus
Mary had been overshadowed by the Swo/xis in|/i'o--
Tov. Under the Shechinah which overshadowed the
Virgin, and separated her from the whole ancient
world, bringing her info tlie most immediate divine
presence, Christ was conceived, through the inspira-
tion of heavenly faith.
A voice. — Comp. Lulv^ ii. 14 ; Matt. iii. lY ;
Mark i. II ; Luke iii. 22; John xii. 28. Similarly
in 2 Pet. i. 17; John i. 33. The solemn attestation
of the Messiah and Son of God, vouchsafed to the
Jewish theocracy by the voice from heaven, heard by
John the Baptist, and through him by the whole na-
tion, had been rejected by the unbeHef of the repre-
sentatives of the synagogue and of the schools.
Hence another direct testimony was now granted,
this time to the Apostles as the representatives of
the (KK\7)uia. — Hear ye Him, — a. in o'n a ic o v e t e,
in an emphatic sense. Tlie divine attestation of Je-
sus which they had just witnessed, implied the duty
of perfect obedience, and of complete self-surrender.
At the same time, this command would also convey
to the disciples that ideas such as those which Peter
entertained, about tJic king<iom of the Messiah and
about the Church, must be laid aside.
Ver. 7. And Jesus came and touched them.
— Comp. Isa. vi. 5-7 ; Dan. x. 9, 10; Rev. i. 17.
Ver. 8. Save Jesus only. — The moment had
now arrived when the Lord required no further testi-
mony from Moses or Elijah in the presence of His
disciples. Hitherto the Old Testament had been
their warrant and evidence for the New. But now
I the New Covenant was not only self-evidenced, but
serving as confirmation of the Old. The expression
also indicates that the hour of festive joy, in antici-
pation of the coming glory, was now past. From
their fellowship with the spirits of the blessed, they
were now to descend into the world and into fresh
conflicts.
Ver. 9. The vision. — -"O pafj-a; the outward
and objective manifestation which they had seen in
a state of prophetic inspiration. Different views are
entertained about the reason of this prohibition.
Meyer suggests that the Lord wished to prevent er-
roneous expectations of Elijah. We are incUned to
take a more general view of the matter. For the ob-
ject aimed at, it sufficed that the principal nucleus
of the Church, or the confidential disciples of Jesus,
should be strengthened by this glance of spiritual re-
alities, while the secrecy with which it was invested
would tend to preserve the deep and powerful im-
pression. Besides, the vision could not have been
related to the other disciples without including Judas
among them. In all likehhood it would have incited
envy, carnal hopes, or doubts in their minds. The
people were, of course, not prepared to receive such
a communication. Those among them who were fa-
vorably disposed would again have given way to out-
bursts of enthusiasm; while the adversaries would
have either directed their hatred and persecutions to
the three disciples who had witnessed the glory of
Christ, or else sought to controvert and to shake their
blessed conviction of the spiritual realities which
had opened before them. Not till after the resurrection
of Christ from Sheol was the world to be taught how
much better and happier than, in their dread of death,
they had hitherto imagined, was the state of the pious
in Sheol (for example, Moses and Elijah). The fact
that Christ — the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever
— had all along lit up the gloom of Sheol, was only
to appear when, at and by His resurrection, Sheol it-
self ceased to exist.
CHAP. XVII. 1-9.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the Exegetical and Critical Notes.
2. The historu of the Ttnnsfguration. — Various
views are entertained on this sulyect : 1. It has been
regarded as merely a vision. Tims Tertulliau ( Con-
tra Marc. iv. 22), Herder, and Gratz. 2. Meyer re-
gards it as partly a vision, and partly an objective
reality. The appearance of Moses and Elijah was, m
his opinion, merely a vision ; while the glorious
change in the outward appearance of Jesus was an
objective reality. 3. All the ancient dogmatic writers
characterize it as a purely outward and visible event.
To this Meyer objects, that it would imply that the
resurrection of Moses was past ; as if the spirits of
the blessed were necessarily destitute of all corporei-
ty or form. To the same effect Grotius remarks:
Il€ec corpora videri possunt a Deo in hutic usum as-
servaia ; while Thomas Aquinas suggests that Moses
made use of a body not his own.* 4. A number of
natural explanations of the event have been hazard-
ed. Thus it has been represented — (a) as a vision
in a dream (Gabler, Rau, Kuinoel, even Neander) ;
(6) accompanied by a thunder-stonn (Gabler) ; (t) as
a meeting between Jesus and two secret, unknown
adherents (Kuinoel, Venturini, Paulus, Hase) ; (d)
as an atmospheric phenomenon (Paulus, Ammon).
5. Ewald regards it as a real occurrence, but with
mythical embellishments. 6. Schulz, Strauss, and
others represent it as a pure myth, on the ground of
the injunction to keep it a secret, which they regard
as a fhstion.f V. It has been viewed as an allegory,
or a figurative representation of the spiritual light
imparted on that occasion to the disciples respecting
the character and work of Jesus (Weisse). 8. In our
opinion, it belongs to a higher sphere of existence,
combining the two elements of outward manifestation
and spiritual vision (see Lehen Jesu, ii. 2, p. 904 ; and
on the general question, ii. 1, p. 41). Even Meyer,
who represents one part of the narrative as an ob-
jective reaUty, and the other as merely a vision, ad-
mits that although the voice from heaven was a spir-
itual and inward transaction, yet it seemed an out-
ward perception to those who were in a state of
vision.
3. The transfiguration of the Lord was a manifes-
tation of the spiritual world in the midst of earthly
life. It was as if the Lord had already entered His
mansions of glory. Viewing it as a stage in the his-
tory of His personal development, the transfiguration
may be characterized as occupying a place interme-
diate between the walking on the sea, and the hear-
ing the voice from heaven in the precmcts of the
temple, John xii. " In certain diseases, a luminous
appearance of the body has been observed by physi-
cians as a strange ai^d rare symptom. This may
* [Delitzsr-h, BiU. Pxijchologie, p. .<569, supposes that Mo-
ses assumed an immaterial yet extern.al visible (?) appearance
conformable to his former body. — P. S.]
+ [Strauss view.s the transfiguration as a poetic imitation
of the event related, Ex. xxiv. 1 : xxxiv. 29 sq., when Moses
went up to Mount Sinai into the pre^ence of Jehovah, and
on returnin? "his face shoue," that the children of Israel
were ;ifraid to come nigh bim. Strauss thinks the only alter-
native lies between his mytho-poetic and the old orthodo.x
view. See his new Leben Jexu,1S<il, p. 5\6 sriq. But the
circumstantial asfreement of the three Evanjjelists in their
account, the definite chronological date of the event, its con-
nection with what follows, the allusion to it by one of the
witi. esses in 2 Pet. i. 16-18, and the many peculiar traits to
whicli no parallel is found in the transfiguration of Moses,
make the mythical view impossible here. Ecnan, in his Vie
Ue Jesue, ignores the transfiguration. —P. S.]
serve at least to show the physical possibility of such
an emission of light from tlie body, although it has
never been noticed as marking the highest state of
health and vigor." Both the founder and the restor-
er of the kingdom of God under the Old dispensation,
who had equally been removed from this world in a
miraculous manner (Deut. xxxiv. 6 ; 2 Kings ii. 11),
and Jesus Himself (whose resurrection was at hand),
were transfigured into the same glorified state. 0.
von Gerlach : " At His baptism Jesus had as the Son
of Man entered that new kingdom of God upon earth
whicli He Himself had founded. But at the trans-
figuration He had reached the period of His history,
when, having fully shown His active obedience, He
was to display chiefly His passive obedience. This
may be described as a season of rest m His half-ac-
complished -victory."
4. The meeting of the Lord •v^th Moses and Elijah
conveys a threefold lesson, (a) It shoics the bearing
of the future upon the present world. The dead are
waiting the appearance of the Lord. He lit up the
gloom of hades, brought life to its inmates, and threw
open its gates. The most exalted of the departed
spirits here do homage to Him. (b) It discloses the
bearing of the visible upon the invisible world. The
event here recorded may be regarded as the earnest
and commencement of Christ's preaching to the spirits
in prison. It was succeeded by the movement which
took place among the dead when Christ arose (Matt,
xxvii. 42), and fully realized when He descended into
hades to preach the gospel there (Matt. xii. 40 ; Eph.
iv. 9 ; 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; iv. 6).* (c) We gather how this
viorld and the next meet, so to speak, and coalesce in
the resurrection of Jesus. The difference of time and
circumstances here gives place to a higher unity.
The disciples were now taught that the sufferings and
death of the Messiah did not sever the connection
between Him and the Old Testament, — more especial-
ly, that between Jesus and the lawgiver who con-
demned blasphemers to death, and even the zealous
prophet who had called down tire from heaven ; while
these very sufferings constituted the superiority of
the Saviour over the representatives of the Old dis-
pensation. " Again, as at Jordan, did the represent-
atives of the two covenants meet." Besides, the gulf
of space was also bridged over by this event. In the
person of Christ the barriers which separate between
this and the other world began to give way. They
gave place to a higher unity. This transition was
completed at His resurrection. Hence also this.meet-
ing may be characterized as an anticipation of the
final " reconciling " of thmgs in heaven and in earth
(Col. i. 20).
5. The cloiid. — ("Not a dark cloud, hke that
which rested on Smai." 0. von Gerlach.) — It served
not merely as a figure of the presence of CJod, but,
like the pillar of cloud and of fire which intervened
between Israel and the Egyptians, it had a twofold
aspect — bringing light to the one party, and conceal-
ing it from \he other. "As the brightness which
overshadowed them may be regarded as a manifestar
tion of heavenly in the midst of earthly life, so the
luminous cloud as the outward garb which heavenly
life prepares for itself from earthly objects, since it
cannot appear in all its inherent glory. Similarly is
the hght of heaven tempered for our earth by the in-
tervention of clouds," which reflect that hght for us
as need reciuireth. To us it appears exceedingly sig-
nificant, that the cloud which separated the disciples
* [Compare here ray note on p. 228 sqq.— P. S.]
310
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
from the Lord appeared at the very moment when
Peter uttered a saying whicli, as we have seen, was
indicative of his peculiar state of mind. Hence the
command, " Hear ye Him," may be regarded as m a
special manner addressed to him.
6. From Luke ix. S3 we gather that Peter ad-
dressed this proposal to the Lord when he saw Moses
and Elijah about to part from Him. It was then that
the cloud overshadowed them, and the voice from
heaven was heard. It seems as if Peter would have
outwardly detained those blessed spirits to protract
the glory of that hour. " He wished to institute a
sort of liigh-church estabUshment,* or to found a
monastic order. The communion which he was about
to inaugurate was to have Christ for its leader, Moses
for its lawgiver, and EUjah for its zealot, — in short,
there was to be an outward amalgamation of the Old
and New Testament* Hence the attempt to detain
those who now enjoyed a spiritual existence, and to
perpetuate their terrestrial appearance in this world.
Thus spake Simon, not Peter — a type of that Church
which still appeals to his authority. The Evangelists
add, by way of apology, ' He wist not what he said ' "
{Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 907). He was now ready in one
sense to renounce the world ; but his surrender was
merely outward. The proposal forcibly recalls to our
minds a later scene and utterance : " Lord, not my
feet only, but also my hands and my head."
1. The prostration of the disciples at the vision,
reminds us of the similar experience of the proph-
ets. At another time, John experienced the same
awe (Rev. i.), showing the infinite majesty of Christ's
appearance. Such also shall be the effect of the sign
from heaven on the nations of the earth in the day
of judgment (Matt. xxiv. 30).
8. The object of this vision. — Before the disciples
could with safety descend into the depths of tempta-
tion connected with the cross of Christ, they were, so
to speak, fastened to heaven by thcicords of this vis-
ion. "The Church was to have fellowship with
spiritual realities, and with the world of spirits, be-
fore those weak hearts could be converted into bold
and triumphant witnesses to meet the world, death,
and hell " {Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 909).
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The anticipation of Christ's final glory. — The
miraculous transfiguration of the Lord a pledge of
our miraculous transfiguration by the Lord. — And
after six da^s ; or, the first week of suff'ering on the
part of the disciples, previous to the sufferings of the
Lord Himself : 1. Its beginnmg: the confession of
Peter, and the announcement of the Lord's suffer-
ings. 2. Its employment : famiharizing their minds
with thoughts of the cross. 3. Its close : a glo-
rious Sabbath on the holy mount. — The three inti-
mate disciples of the Lord an image of His close fol-
lowers in the Church: 1. John, as representmg the
friends of Jesus who rest on His breast ; 2. Peter, or
the servants of Christ who prepare the extension of
His kingdom ; 3. James, or the courageous and per-
* [In German : ITocMirche, a term often improperly
used by German writers as a noun, anfl as identical with the
established church of England, when high church, low
church, and broad church are adjectives only to designate
the different parties or theological schools in the Anglican
Church, or in tlie Protestant Episcopal Church of the
United States. It is surprising that the Edinb. translation
literally renders High (jh'n-di, which, to tl:e best of my
knowledge, is never used as a noun in good English.— P. S.j
severing witnesses of His cross : Or, contemplation,
preaching, and martyrdom. — We must be willing to
follow the Loi'd to the summit of a high mountain,
if we wish to see His own gloiious fight shed over
the deep valley of His humiliation and sufierings. —
The holy mountains. — Prayer the path to glory {see
the Psalms which ascend from supplication to praise).
— Prayer the direction of the heart toward heaven. —
How by prayer the heart of the pilgrim may outstrip
his footsteps to the heights of transfiguration. — The
transfiguration of Jesus on the mount at once the
deepest mystery and the most glorious revelation. —
The transfiguration of the Lord an earnest of the
transfiguration of His sufferings. — The brightness of
spiritual joy, as reflected by the flame of the sacri-
fice of a heart which surrenders all unto God. — The
shining raiment of Christ the garb of believers. —
The natural body destined to become a spiritual body,
1 Cor. XV. — The Church of Christ at its first festive
season appearing as a sjjiritual ccmm.union : 1. A
communion of the saints of the Old and New Cove-
nant ; 2. of the Church below and the Church above ;
8. of the Lord and His disciples ; 4. of the Father,
and of all the blessed spirits who serve the Son. — The
suffering Saviour in His relationship to Moses and
Elijah. — The office of the law, and that of the gospel,
2 Cor. in. 7. — The three glorified figures, and the
three non-glorified figures — between them the Father
— a picture of the Church universal, miUtant and tri-
mnphant. — Moses a witness of immortality under the
New Testament. — The history of Peter's spiritual de-
velopment a type of that of the Church. — The good
intention, and the error of Peter : 1. He was anxioua
to display the agreement between the Old and New
Covenants ; but by an outward amalgamation, not by
their internal connection. 2. He was ready to re-
nounce the world ; but by an outward institution
(such as monasticlsm and anchoretism), not by an in-
ward act. 3. He wished to perpetuate this season of
spiritual fellowship ; but by giving it an outward and
fixed form, not by converting it into a spring of hid-
den life. — That ibrm of antichristian error which ap-
peals to the authority of Peter has given rise to the
erection of three tabernacles (Moses : the Greek
Church ; Elijah : the Roman Church ; Christ : the
Evangelical Church). — While Peter was speaking, a
cloud intervened, which for a while separated the
disciples from their Lord. — The bright overshadow-
ing cloud, a figure of the gospel as the great revealed
mystery, 1 Tim. iii. 16. — How the heavenly voice
ever continues to resound through the Church : " This
is My beloved Son! " {See 2 Pet. i. IV.) — How the
disciples received a fresh prophetic consecration when
they were overawed by the majesty of God. — The
awe of the elect under the manifestations of the Lord.
— How Christ restored His disciples from the awe
produced by this revelation, in order that they might
experience its blessedness ! — When they raised their
eyes, they saw no one but Jesns alone — true of reli-
gious experience generally : 1. It applied to the dis-
ciples in reference to Moses and Elijah ; 2. to the Re-
formers and their knowledge ; 3. to behevers and the
ground of their salvation. — During our whole earthly
pilgrimage we must always again come down from
the Mount of Refreshment. — In order to rise the
higher, we must ever be ready to descend lower and
lower. — We should jealously watch over our Chris-
tian experiences, and not lightly cUvulge them. — AU
our spiritual comforts are granted to strengthen us
for the conflicts which we have to encounter, until
the last decisive conflict. — The transformation on
CHAP. XVII. 10-13.
311
the mount, a symbol of Christ's eternal glory, John
xvii.
Starke : — Nova Bihl. Tub. : How blessed to en-
joy close fellowship with Jesus ! for then shall we be
allowed to see His glory. — The Lord bestows a pecu-
iiar measure of heavenly comfort on those whom He
calls to greater than ordinary trials. — .special revela-
tions and communications are special gifts which all
are not able to bear. — Christ's glory on the mount a
foretoken of His greater glory in heaven, Rev. i. 12.
— How great will be the briglitncss of the saints in
glory, when they shall be transformed into the image
of the glorified body of Christ ! 1 Cor. xv. 41.— J/a-
jm : All the glory of tliis world is not worthy to be
compared with the transcendent glory of eternity. —
Canstcln : Satan and his kingdom is darkness ;
Christ and His glory (His kingdom) pure hght. — He-
dinger : The blessed communion of the saints in glory.
— the communion of the Church militant and trium-
phant.— Zehius : Thus tlie doctrine Of immortality is
established and sure. — The saints of former ages will
return in greater glory. — Osiander : Those who have
tasted (even in small measure) of the powers of the
world to come, will forget all that is transitory, even
though it have been glorious. Zeisius : If Peter so
soon recognized Moses and Ehas, whom he had never
seen, what must be the mutual recognition of the
elect, and what their commimion in heaven ! — See to
it, that you be found in Christ, and God will also be
well pleased in you, Eph. i. 6. — Catistein: Sinful men
cannot approach unto God without a Mediator. —
Cramer : Christ's hand is strong to heal ; whatever
He touches becomes vigorous, strong, and sound. —
Osiander : God reveals Himself unto us, not to de-
stroy, but to save. — Such also will be Christ's voice
at the last day, " Arise, and be not afraid ! " John
V. 25. — In Christ the law and the prophets are ful-
filled : hence Moses and Elias must vanish, and Christ
alone remain ; for there is salvation in none other.
Acts iv. 12. — Zeisius : Truths have their destined
time of revelation from God, Dan. xii. 4, S, 9. — High
revelations should not exalt any one, 2 Cor. xii. 7. —
Cramer : In the discharge of our ministerial duties
we should do nothing without a special call, or for
the purpose of advancing our own reputation and
glory.
Braime : The lawgiver (Moses) and the preacher
of repentance (Elijah) give way at last before the
glory of the Son of God. — Jesus alone.
Gerlach :* — When entering upon His sufferings,
the Lord Jesus was confirmed in His digiiity. — In this
* Gerlacli and Lisco adhere to tho tradition that Tabor
was the mount of transfiguration. But it would betray
weakness and want of freedom to insist upon this point in a
sermon simply on account of the catholic tradition.
vision the disciples were to recognize — 1. The unity
and connection of the Old and New Covenants ; 2.
that of the kingdoia of grace and of glory ; 3. of our
perishable eartlily, and of the glorified body. —
With what calmness Christ entered into a state by
which His disciples, in their weakness and carnality,
were overpowered. — The similarity of the glory of
Christ and that of Moses, and their diiference (2 Cor.
iii. ; Exod. xxxiv. 29). 1. Moses only reflected a
higher light; Christ was received into it. 2. The
glory of Moses was dazzling and terrifying; that of
Christ, though overpowering, was full of comfort. 3.
The glory of Moses gradually vanished; while the
transfiguration of Christ remained till the cloud con-
cealed Him from view.
Lisco : — This foretaste of blessedness must have
lightened the cross, strengthened the disciples for the
coming conflict, and awakened within them a longing
after full perfection.
Heuhner : — The transfiguration of the Lord in its
practical import : 1. So far as the Lord Himself was
concerned, it served to strengthen Him on the path
of sorrow and suflering on which He was about to
enter. 2. So far as the disciples were concerned, it
served as an evidence that Jesus was the Son of God ;
it impHed a promise of support under severe trials,
and a pledge of the resurrection of the body.
Sermons on the transfiguration, by Ephraim 8y-
rus, Theremiii. — J. Midler (in Fliedner's Ein Herr^
ein Glaube) : the three stages in the Christian life :
the transfiguration of Jesus, the emotion of the dis-
ciples, the thronging of thg people. — (Jhle : How we
should act when hearing reports of extraordinary op-
erations of grace: 1. We are not at once to reject
the account ; 2. nor to attempt exciting or forcing a
revival ; 3. but in the humble and faithful discharge
of our work, to await a gracious manifestation from
on high. — Rambach : Heaven on earth : 1. Where it
may be found : (a) In secret fellowship with God ;
(6) in a life of spiritual love and friendship ; (c) in
the court^s and at tlie altar of the Lord. 2. How it
should be sought : (a) By preserving purity of heart
(or by perseverance in the faith) ; (6) by constant in-
crease of spirituality in our wishes and inclinations
(or sanctification) ; (c) by ever keeping before our
minds and hearts our eternal calling (or watching and
prayer). — Carstddi in Zurn's Fredigt-Buch, 1843 :
How Christ is still transfig-ured in those v/ho follow
Him up to the mountain. — Hagenbach : Seasons of
transfiguration in the fife of Christians. — Gruner : The
spirits of our friends in glory hovering around us so
long as we continue worthy of them. [Compare a
most eloquent sermon of Ur. Fr. W. Krummacher
on the Transfiguration, at the close of his Elijah the
Tishbiie.—P. S.]
The Church as xoholhj unknovin and hidden.
(Mark ix. 11-13.)
Cn. XVn. 10-13.
10 And his disciples asked him, saying. Why tlien say tho scribes that Ehas [Ehjah]
1 1 nnist first come ? And Jesus [he] ' answejed and said unto theni,'^ EUas [Ehjah] truly
12 shall first ^ come [cometh], and [shall] restore all things.^ But I say unto you, That
Elias [Elijah] is come already,'^ and they knew him not, but liave done unto him [with
him, Iv avrw] whatsoever they listed [would, y]OiXr](ja.v\ : likewise shall also the Son of
312
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
13 man suffer of [by, in] them. Then the disciples imderstood that lie spake unto them
of John the Baptist.
1 Ver. 10.— 1 7) (7 0 u y is omitted in Codd. B., D., L., Z., etc. [also in Cod. Sinait., and in all the modern crit editions.
See TrefTclIes and Alfnrd.— P. S.]
"^ Ver. 11.— A vTo'it, v/ito tliem, is omitted in B., C, D., etc., and by Lachmann and Tischendorf. [The literal trans-
lation, therefore, according to tlie oldest reading, would be : And lie ansicermg said. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 11.— n pwT ov, Jtrnt, is wanting in B., D., and many other witnesses [also in Cod. Sinait], and looks like a
repetitious insertion from ver. 10 and Mark ix. 12. [So also Meyer and Alford.]
■• Ver. 11.— ['H A I as uec epx^rai Kal aw o k a-r aff ri) (t e i iravra\ Lange : Eliaa kommi freilich mid
wird Allea vyiederhemtellen ; Ewald : EUa swar koinmt und wird Allen wiederherstellen ; Conant: Elijah indeed
comes and shall restoi'e all things. The present tense in the first verb is simply an assertion of the certainty of the com-
ing of Elijah without reference to the past or future, and involves, therefore, no contradiction with ^Sij ^ \6 ep
in ver. 12. The verb epx^ <^Oai, however, like the English to come, and the German kommen, includes in the nature
of the case the signilicance of the future tense, conip. John iv. 23: tpx^TCit wpa Kui vvv iariv ; iv. 21; xiv. S; xvL 2, and
the part, praes. 6 i p xo fJie v o %, of the Messiah, Matt. iii. 11, and the apoc.ilyptic formula: o &!V Ka.\ 6 9iv Kal 6
i PX^ f^ ^ " o i . There is, therefore, no necessity whatever to resort in such cases, after the old fashion, to a supposed
Hebraism, an arbitrary enallage temporum, which falls with tlu- assumption that the Hebrew language uses promiscue
the past for the future and rice versa, an error which has bi-en amply refuted by Ewald, J^rit. Granunat., \i. 523 sqq.
Comp. also ^Yiner■s tirammat, §40, p. 237; and Alex. Buttmanns Gramrnat. des N. T. (Berlin, 1S59), p. 176.— P. S.]
^ Ver. 12. — [Better: already come, -^Stj ijKQev.l
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
Ver. 10. Why then ? — Although the particle
ovv seems at first sight to connect this query with
the preceding proliibition of Christ (Meyer), it rather
refers to the fact that Elijah had departed, and was
not accompanying them (Grotius, Michaelis, Fritzsche,
Olshausen, and the author in his '■'■ Leben Jesu^^)."^
Euth. Zigaben., and others, erroneously interpret the
clause : Why did Elijah not come before Thee (not
till now) ? — Equally untenable is the view of Chry-
sostom, Theophylact, and Xeander, who understand
it as implying the inquiry, whether the appearance
of Elijah which had just taken place was that to
which the scribes referred, or whether another was
still to be expected. Still more erroneous is the glos-
sary of Schleierniacher and others, that the disciples
remarked that Elijah had not yet appeared. Light-
foot observes (on the passage) : It was expected that
Elijah should come and settle the controversies pend-
ing between the various Jewish schools, bring back
the pot of manna and Aaron's rod, and sanctify the
people by a lustration.
Ver. 11. Elijah truly shall first come, or lit.
and according to the true reading : Elijah indeed
cometh. — Jesus confirmed this doctrine, which was
based on Mai. iii. 13 ; iv. 5. He adds : k a l a it o -
Kar acTT -1)^ i L tt avr a, " which is derived (says
de Wette correctly) and somewhat enlarged from
Mai. iv. 6, ' he shall turn the heart of the fathers to
the children, and the lieartof the children to their fa-
thers'' (compare Luke i. 1*7) ; and iii. 1, ' and he shall
prepare the way before J/e ' (Luke iii. 4). Properly
speaking, the awoKaTdaTaats TtavTciiv (according to
the Sept. Mai. iv. 6), comp. Acts iii. 21, is specially
the work of the Messiah, and EUjah could only be
said to prepare the way for it." Of course the ex-
pression must be understood as merely implying such
a preparation. Meyer : A re.stihitio in integrum of
the position and circumstances of the theocracy,
fwhich was to be eSected by the Messiah, and prepar-
ed and introduced by Elijah. — In the confirmatory
reply of Christ, the present ^pxerai is used in the
sense of the future, while the future tense in the
* [Alford refers oSy to both, the withdrawal of Elijah
from the eyes of the disciples, and the injunction of the
Lord not to tell the vision. " How should this be ? If this
was not the coming of Elijah, was he yet to come t If it
was, how was it so secret and so short f ' — P. S.]
next clause indicates that the Lord enters into this
dogma. Hence it is not incompatible with what fol-
lows : " Elijah is already come."
Ver. 12. But I say unto you. — A more distinct
explanation of the disclosure which He had already
made on an earlier occasion, Matt. xi. 14. Hence we
conclude that the prophecy of Malachi concerning the
advent of Elijah was fidfiUed, in the proper sense, in
the appearance of John the Baptist, who had accom-
plished the preparatory anoKaTdaTairts, by his preach-
ing of repentance, by his testimony to Jesus and by
pointing his disciples to Him, as well as by his mar-
tyrdom.
They knew him not. — In his peculiar charac-
ter as the forerunner of the Messiah (or in respect of
the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning Elijah).
The persons here alluded to were his contemporaries
generally, more especially the scribes (ver. 10). Comp.
Matt. xi.
Done unto him, or better : with him.* — Uoieiv
iv Tivi, not classical, taken from the Septuagmt, Gen.
xl. 14 ; Dan si. 7 ; [Luke xxxiii. 39]. — Whatever
they "would, '6 a a tjO e\7] a a v. — In wilful apostasy
from their living connection with the prophets, and
in opposition to the obedience due to him. A pre-
lude this to the similar and decisive rejection of the
Messiah Himself.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. t)n the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi,
see the preceding notes and Matt. xi. Otto von Gei^
lach remarks : " It refers to the ministry of one or
more messengers of God, in the spirit and power of
Elijah. In this sense, Elijah had reappeared in John ;
and in the same sense will another Elijah precede the
second coming of the Lord." But we must maintain :
1. That the prophecy of Malachi was distinctly ful-
filled in John the Baptist. 2. That in the same sense
no other Elijah can come, as the Old Covenant, which
both represented, is abrogated by the gospel. — Still,
in every age, the Lord has His forerunners of the
order of Elijah, and especially before His final ap-
pearance.
2. On descending from the mountain, the fact of
Christ's future sufferings is immediately brought for-
ward again. Gladly would the disciples have taken
* [Lange : qn ihm gethan.}
CHAP. XVII. 14-21.
313
the glorified spirits down with them into the conflict
with the unbelief of the world. The question seems
to have haunted their minds, Could not Elijah pre-
vent the impending conflict and sufferings ? To this
mental objection, Christ replied, according to Mark,
" How it is written of the Son of Man, that He must
suffer many things, and be set at nought." In other
words, they were to read the prediction concerning
Elijah in the light of those concernmg the Son of
Man. Then follows the declaration : Elijah is indeed
come ; but, so far from preventing the sufferings of
the Messiah, he himself has fallen in the service and
ministry of God. From this the disciples might infer
what His future would be. And now, more than ever
before, were they to feel that they were about to wit-
ness the most solemn and awful conflict, and that a
deep abyss of suffering, into which they were imme-
diately to descend, intervened between the old and
the new order of things.
3. All mere traditionalism and ritualism are here
denounced as arbitrary will-worship, and a demoni-
acal service of the flesh and of self. The blessed
spirits who represented genuine and divine tradition
— the prophets, restorers and reformers of the king-
dom of tiod — received the same treatment at the
hands of these guardians of outward and legal tradi-
tionalism, as civilized men do who land on inhospi-
table shores, inhabited by savages and cannibals. In
short, they failed to understand and see what their
own symbols implied, nor did they acknowledge their
living "embodiments, because their will was perverted,
and, while feigning the strictest adherence to the let-
ter of the law, they m reality served the will of the
flesh.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The fresh perplexities of the disciples on descend-
ing from the Mount of Transfiguration. — After the
barrier which separates this life from the other has
fallen, the deep abyss of the cross opens, intervening
between the old and the new order of things. — How
the scribes by their false Uterality perverted even the
word of God into traditions, and transformed it into
dangerous error. — The Scripture has been fulfilled in
a much wider sense than that elicited by the dead
learning of the letter only. — How traditionalism fails
to recognize EUjah, even while studying his descrip-
tion as given in the word. — Self-seeking under the
garb of traditionalism.-^The true Church of the Lord
hidden and unknown amidst the old and formal com-
munity of Israel. — The gi-eat messengers of God,
known only by report in the world: 1, They were
I announced, but not properly expected. 2. They came,
i but were despised and ill-treated. 3. While actually
I in the world, their future coming was still expected
1 with fanatical anticipations. — Even in this world, a
! distance wide as the poles intervenes between the
j children of God and the servants of the devil. — Tra-
ditionalism persecuting and murdering the living
I prophets, and at the same time adorning the graves
of the old prophets whom their fathers had murder-
I cd (Matt, xxiii. 29). — The glorious day of God is hid
j in this mortal life from the children of darkness. —
Elijah had just been among them ; yet they still con-
tinued to expect and to teach that Elijah would come.
All God's dealings and works are spiritual, and pass
by unknown and unnoticed on account of the carnal
services which men mistake for the reahty. — The
spirit of true rcUgion, and a dead ministry and ser-
vices.— John the Baptist the Elijah of his age: 1.
The affinity of their character ; 2. of their mission ;
3. of their success (Elijah prepared the way for the
Messianic prophecies — John, for Christ Himself). —
The age of Elijah and that of John: 1. The external
difference between them (in the one case, unbelief
and apostasy from the law ; in the other, traditional-
ism). 2. Their internal agreement (in the one case,
worldlincss, apostasy, and hatred of the prophets;
in the other, obduracy against the voice and reproofs
of the Spirit). — The sufferings of John a foretaste of
the sufferings of Christ. — Preserve in your hearts the
blessed mystery of the Mount of Transfiguration,
and then boldly descend into the terrors of the val-
ley.
Starke : — Majus : We must not take in a literal
sense what is intended to be spiritually understood
in Holy Writ, as this would necessarily give rise to
errors. — Quesnel : There never was an age which
had not its Elijah, zealous and jealous for the honor
of God ; but woe to him who stops his ears ! — The
world knows not the children and the servants of God,
1 John iii. 1. — All witnesses to the truth must suffer
sorrow, ignominy, and tribulation. Acts xiv. 22. — Je-
sus the best expositor of Scripture.
Heubner : — All preachers of repentance are fore-
runners of Christ. — Great men have commonly the
same fate. — From the fate of His forerunner, the
Lord Jesus might anticipate what awaited Himself.
— 'hiTOKadiffTavai, i. c, to restore the ancient, divine,
and original order of things. But the main point is,
to determine the right date, and what the genuine
original really is. — Thus we are to go back for our
authority to the time of the Apostles, and not, Uke the
Roman CathoUcs, to the state of things immediately
before the Reformation.
E. The Church as working Wonders by (he Power of Spiritual Prayer and Fasting. Ch. XVII. 14-21.
(Mark ix. 14-29 ; Luke ix. 37-43.)
14 And when they' were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain^ man,
15 kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son; fo« he is lunatic
[o-eXyji/id^erat], and sore vexed [sorely afflicted] : ^ for ofttimcs he falleth into the fire,
16 and oft into the water. And I brouglit him to tliy disciples, and they could not cure
17 him. Then Jesus answered and said, 0 faithless and perverse generation, how long
shall I. he with you? how long shall I suffer you [bear Avith you, dve^o/xai v/awi'] ?
18 Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil [him, aurw], and he [the de-
314
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
mon, TO BaifiovLov] ^ departed out of him : and the child was cured from that very ^ liour.
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief [little faith]": * for verily I say
unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed [mustard], ye shall say unto this
mountain, Remove lieuce to yonder ])lace ; and it sliall remove; and nothing shall be
21 impossible unto [to] you. ilowbeit [But, Be] this kind goeth not out but [except] by
prayer and fasting.
> Ver. 11.— Codd. B., Z. [and Cod. Sinait.] omit avTwv, and so does Lactiniann. Tischendorf reads iXddiv after Cod.
D., Vulgate, al. [Tliis must refer to a former edition, for in the (•ditio sepUma of his large Greek Testament, 1859, Tisehen-
dorf reads : 4\0 I'l v t ca » avT ui v . So does Alford.— 1'. S.]
2 Ver. \\.—{Ccrt'nn. is an unnecessary interpolation, which dates from Tyndalo and was retained in all the later Pro-
testant E. V. But Wiclif and the N. T. of Eheinis omit it.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 15.-Ka/c&ir TraffX^ '• Lachmann reads ex«' ^ft<"*' ^-i I'-i 2., [also Cod. Sinait.], which is probably an
emendation, since it a<r x^ >■ seemed to be superfluous after k a ic do y. So Meyer. [Mark has instead of it ex"'' '"v^v-
fia a\a\oy, and hence Lango translates here: hat e.'n hi^st^ Lc'iOcn, has a malignant evil. — P. S.]
< Ver. IS.— [The tran-^position of devil and the pronoun in some of the English versions, is an attempt to improve the
etyle of the original, which is no part of the translator's vrurk. k-:ist of all in the Bible.— P. 8.]
^ Ver. IS.— [/^/'om tiMt hour, inrh ttjs wpas iKeivTis. Very is an unwarranted addition, which presents
the case more strongly than the sacred writer, in his natural simplicity and modesty, intended. — P. S.]
^ Ver. 20. — [Lachmann reads with his authorities 6 \ tyoTr icr r i av, little faith. This may be an emendation to
soften the expression, as Meyer and Alford assume; but it has the authority of the Vatican, and of the Sinaitic MS. If we
retain aw lar iay, with Tischendorf and Alford, it should be rendered want (absence) of faith, instead of unbelief which
is too strong. — P. S.l
EXEGETICAL AisD CRITICAL.
" In all the three synoptists, the cure of the luna-
tic follows on the transfiguration — a circumstance
which may be regarded as one of the evidences of
the genuineness uad authenticity of the narrative,
and against the mythical hypothesis." Meyer.
"Ver. 14. Kneeling down to Him. — He saluted
Him, doing homage with bended knees : yovvweruv
av T 6 f .
Ver. 15. Lunatic. — Meyer seems to suppose that
lunacy and epilepsy, and demoniacal possession ex-
cluded each other. Our conviction, on the other
hand, is, that a certain amount of nervous derange-
ment uiiifonnly accompanied all demoniacal posses-
sions. Comp. our previous remarks [on ch. iv. 24,
p. 96, and on ch. viii. 28, etc., pp. 164-166]. The
suggestion of Olshausen, that they were partly caused
by sensual indulgences, appears to us based on a
confusion of two different states — surrender to the
power of demons, and to that of sm.
Ver. 1 1. Perverse Generation, yevea diea-
Tf)anixivr] . — The expression is not merely intended
as a general designation, but has a pecuhar and dis-
tinctive meaning. It implies perversion, in the sense
of being seduced or led astray (5iatrTpe'<j)eo-eai). In
their grief at the announcement of the Lord's impend-
ing sufferings, the disciples who had been left be-
hind, had, at least partially, given way to the spirit
of the world. A shght analogy may here be traced
to the return of Moses from the mount, when he |
found the people assembled around the golden calf |
According to the ancient expositors, these words of j
Jesus were addressed to the person who sought
reUef ; according to Calvin, to the scribes ; accord-
ing to Paulus, Olshausen, and others, to all the peo-
ple present ; according to Bengel, de Wette, and
Meyer, to the disciples. No doubt the Lord referred
primarily to the disciples, though evidently as in con-
nection with the persons by whom they were sur-
rounded. The rebuke itself may be regarded as a
gentle moral exorcism, addressed to them before the
Lord proceeded to cure the demoniac. Meyer speaks
of the " strong leelmg " expressed by Jesus. This
should, however, be viewed in its higher bearing as
an indignant emotion, by which the Saviour first of
aU expeUed the spirit of dejection from the circle of
His disciples.
How long shall I bear with you ? — Be Wette
remarks : " Jesus here blames their want of self-
dependence, tlieir continual dependence upon Him,
since He would so soon have to part from them {ta o-
/ji a t), and that tliey so often put His patience and
forbearance to the test." In that case, the first eas
TT or e would mean : not long shall I be with you ; and
the second : too long^ etc. But this view is evidently
untenable. Besides, in tlie parallel passage in Luke,
the expression eajs Trore occurs only once. But, on
the other hand, we must not understand it as imply-
ing, I have been and borne too long with you. In
our opinion, the consciousness of His approaching
departure from the disciples seems to have led the
Saviour to a twofold application of it to present cir-
cumstances : How soon will you require, in depen-
dence on My Spirit, to stand and act alone ! and
again : How soon shall your present state of weak-
ness, which calls for infinite forbearance on My part,
require to give place to spiritual decision !
Bring him hither. — Although this is addressed
to the disciples, it must also have applied to the
father of the lad. According to the narrative in the
Gospel by Mark (which furnishes a number of de-
tails), the crowd gave way at the appearance of
Christ. The people ran to meet the Lord, — fore-
most among them, no doubt, the father of the chUd,
and the disciples. The scribes probably followed
more slowly, the lad being in their company. While
they were bringing him to the Lord, he was seized
with a fearful paroxysm whenever he came wjthin
sight of Jesus. See also the narratives in Mark and
Luke.
Ver. 18. And Jesus rebuked him. — In accord-
ance with His ordinary method of heahng demoniacs.
See above. The details of the cure are furnished by
Mark and Lute.
Ver. 20. Because of your unbelief [better:
want of faith, Sia tt^v a.iriar ia v\ — The reproof
does not refer to unbelief in regard to the divine power
of effecting this miracle. In point of fact, they had
attempted to cure the child. But Christ here alludes
to their dejection on account of His impending stifi'er-
CHAP. XVn. 14-21.
315
ings, which arose from unbelief of the heart. They
had not yet sufficiently exercised prayer and fasting,
which would lead them to full renunciation of the
world.
As a g^rain of mustai-d. — See ch. xiii. 33. — To
remove mountains. — Comp. Matt. xxi. 21, where
the expression is even more strongly worded than
here. In botli cases, it is a figure implying the
removal of the most formidable obstacles, 1 Cor.
xiii. 2. For legends about the removal of mountains,
see Calovius and Starke. Similar miracles were
ascribed, amongst others, to Gregory Thaumaturgus
and Hilarion. — Among the Jews, an eloquent teacher
was described as one who removed mountains. Stier,
ii. p. 242.
Ver. 21. This kind, to Cm rh yivo^. — ^Va-
rious explanations of this expression: 1. It has been
appUed to the demons generally, as constituting a
" ^•^«(/." Thus Chrysostom, Fritzscbe, and others. 2.
This particular kind of demons. Grotius, de Wette,
Meyer. 3. Sieffert refers it to the airicrTla of the
disciples. 4. Theile applies it very strangely to the
Apostles, in the sense, this kind of men proceed no
further than prayer and fasting (!) — The second
view (of Grotius, etc.) is so far supported by the cir-
cumstance, that the case of this demoniac was pecu-
liarly aggravated. He was dumb and deaf ; he
threw himself into the fire and into the water,
foamed and gnashed, and could only be healed dur-
ing a fearful paroxysm. After the evil spirit had
left him, he fell down as if dead ; and the Lord was
obliged to restore him by a second miracle, taking
hold of him by the hand. Still it were a mistake to
regard this demoniacal possession as different from
others in kind, and not merely in degree, and hence
as constituting a pecuUar kind, for which specific
prayer and fasting were required. The Lord rather
conveyed to His disciples that they had not preserved
or cultivated the ^tate of mind and heart necessary
for the occasion, that they were not sufficiently pre-
pared and coUected to cast out so malignant a demon.
The dumbness and deafness indicated a melancholy
and obstinacy, from which, in their dejection about
the impending sufferings of Christ, the disciples
themselves were not at that moment quite free.
Besides, we must not forget on all such occasions
that Judas was still among them.
Prayer and fasting. — Some commentators
erroneously apply this statement to the diseased per-
son. Thus Chrysostom ; the prayer and fasting of
the sufferer. Paulus : proper diet and abstinence (!)
Ammon : invigoration of the soul by devotional
exercises, and depression of the body by suitable
abstinence. De Wette, Meyer, and others correctly
refer it to the conditions necessary for such a faith
as to work miracles. Meyer regards vers. 20 and 21
as a gradation. But even in ver. 20 the term moun-
tain is intended to convey the idea of a very great
difficulty, such as that before them. Hence ver. 21
is intended to furnish directions in what particular
manner they were to prepare for meeting this kind
of demons. The demons of such deep melancholy
could only be overcome by the sacrifice of most
earnest prayer, and complete renunciation of the
world.
From the circumstance (recorded by Mark) that
during the absence of Jesus the scribes had mingled
with the disciples, Neander infers tliat the transfigur-
ation must have taken place in GaUlee. But there is
no reason for assuming that scribes had not also
resided in the ten-itory of the Jewish prince Phihp.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The great contrarjt: Christ's transfiguration
on the mount, and the scene of misery and unbehef
in the valley below, here brought together in imme-
diate contact. In the art of painting, Raphael has
solved the difficult problem [in his famous Transfig-
vraiion, the last creation of his genius, representing
Christ with Moses and Elijah in heavenly glory above,
gazed at by the three favorite disciples at their feet,
and the frightful scene of the lunatic below. — P. S.].
2. The disciples at the foot of the mountain were
to be strengthened for the impending conflict in a
manner quite different from that by which the three
more intimate disciples of Jesus were prepared for
it. They were to be taught and trained to stand
alone. Still, despite their number, they were thrown
into peculiar difficulties. At that particular season
they were asked to cure a peculiarly severe case of
demoniacal possession ; they were surrounded by
hostile scribes, ready to draw the worst inferences
from their inabiUty to afford relief, and to dispute
with them ; while the crowd of spectators were in
danger of giving way to frivoUty and derision. Hence,
also, the multitude were greatly agitated when Christ
appeared. The heavenly leader had to repair a se-
vere defeat of His adherents. He accomplished it
instantaneously and victoriously ; thus at the same
time both humbling their unbelief, and evoking and
strengthening their faith. The three more intimate
disciples of Jesus had been strengthened by the ex-
perience of communion with the blessed spirits of
heaven. The rest were now strengthened along with
them by witnessing the power of their Lord, which
proved victorious over the worst demons of hell.
HOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
How closely the Church of Christ borders on the
precincts both of heaven and of hell ! — Christ the King
and Lord of aU blessed spirits, and the conqueror of the
lost. — In the Church of Christ it appears how both
heaven and hell exert their influence upon earth. —
The descent of the Lord and of His disciples into the
valley: 1. Illustrated by the descent of travellers
from bright mountam heights to dark gorges of val-
leys ; 2. a lively hnagc of the conflicting experiences
reahzed by those who now descended from the moun-
tain ; 3. a foretoken of the descent of Christ into
the kingdom of the dead. — The cure of the lunatic
child itself a great victory, and accompanied by two
other miracles. 1. This miracle was rendered more
difficult— (a) by the character of the sufferer ; (b) by
the failure of the attempt made by the disciples ; (c)
by the malicious questions of the scribes ; (c?) by the
presence of a perplexed multitude ; (e) by the cir-
cumstance that the faith of the father of the child
was shaken, although immediately restored. 2. The
introductory miracle : the removal of the wrong state
of feeling in the persons assembled, and of the inward
dejection of the disciples. 3. The supplementary
miracle: the rescuing of the child from the deadly
stupor which proved all but fatal. — Although the
Church of Christ may appear weak in many of its
members, it always rctams possession of miraculous
power in its Lord" — How the disciples of Jesus ought
to recover themselves from their unbehef, when they
observe the loss of their power. — The error of the
516
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
disciples on the mount, and the error of those in the
valley. The former wished to surrender themselves
to the vision of heavenly objects, or to a merely con-
templative life ; the others ventured without sufficient
faith upon the most trying conflict with the world
and hell (attempting the cure, disputing with the
scribes, and risking their reputation before the peo-
ple).— "^'.ve have faith as a grain of mustard,'''
etc. — In what order must our faith remove moun-
tains ? 1. First of all, the unbelief out of our own
heart ; 2. then unbelief in those who are disposed
to believe ; 3. after that, the unbelief of the world.
The disciples miscarried in their work, because
they reversed the right order. — We are to remove,
first of all, the mountain which stands nearest in our
path. — In tins instance, the Jewish authorities had
placed themselves in the way of the disciples as a
mountain which they could not remove. — Faith can
only achieve what it has recognized and felt as the
will and call of God. But this it will certainly ac-
complish in the strength of the Lord. — Faith makes
no experiments ; what it undertakes is already decid-
ed and done in the counsel and power of God. —
" This kind goclh not out,''' etc. — Prayer and fasting
are the fundamental conditions of the victory of faith
over the kingdom of darkness : 1 . Prayer as faith,
taking hold on the Lord and deriving strength from
Him. 2. Fasting as faith in its practical renuncia-
tion of the v/orld. — We can only overcome the spirit
of melancholy in the world by a cheerful renunciation
of the world.
Starke: — /. Hall: Felt need makes a man at
once humble and eloquent. — Great is the misery of
one bodily possessed ; but infinitely greater that of
one spiritually possessed. — Canstein: Satan makes
use of natural causes (such as lunacy) for his designs.
— There are, no doubt, even at the present day, many
incurable diseases which are ascribed to natural
causes (alone), and which yet may be (jointly) the
effects of the invisible evil spirit. — Quesnel : (jod of-
ten allows His servants not to succeed in the cure of
souls, partly as a judgment on these souls, and part-
ly to humble and arouse His servants. — The indigna-
tion of Christ. — Cramer : His reproofs and chastise-
ments, Ps. cxli. 5. — Osiander : If Jesus bears with
our great weaknesses, should we not bear with those
of our brethren? 1 Pet. iii. 8. — Cramer : Teachable
scholars should be willing to acknowledge their dul-
ness, and should often ask questions. — Zeisiiis : Un-
belief stands in the way of the power and manifesta-
tions of the Lord, while faith at all times works mir-
acles and removes mountains, if not materially, yet
spiritually. — Hedhiger : Behold how we must grap-
ple with the powers of darkness.
Heuhner : — The father of the lunatic, a consola-
tory example for poor parents who have children
similarly afHicted. — They should seek help from
Christ Himself. — The patience of Christ toward His
disciples. — Let ministers ask themselves why they
have so little success in their work. — We cannot ex-
pect to drive out the evil spirit, if our state of mind
be in harmony with that which he produces.
F. The Church in its human weakness. Ch. XVII. 22, 23.
(Mark ix. 30-32 ; Luke ix. 43-45.)
22 And, Avhile they [again] abode ' in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of man
shall be beti'ayed [is about to be given up, jxikXu TrapaSt'Soo-^at] into the hands of men ;
23 And they shall kill him [will put him to death], and the third day he shall be raised
[rise] again.^ And they were exceeding sorry.
' Ver. 22.— Lachmann reads : (rvcrrp i(po fJ-evaiv [to tarn about icith, to gather together], with Cod. Vaticanus I.
[and Cod. Sinai ticus], for avacrrpetpoixevuv [to return, to move abovt, to sojourn]; Meyer regards it as a gloss to
prevent avaaTpecpoixiuuiv from being understood of return into Galilee ; hence in the interest of the tradition of Tabor as
the locality of the transfiguration. [So also Alford.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 23.— Lachmann, following Cod. B., etc., reads: a ratm; (rera j for eyepO-fiaerai. [But even if we
read with Tischendorf and Alford : eyf pdv<T er ai, it should be translated : he shall rUe, as in ch. viii. 15, 26 ; ix. 6 ;
zvi. 21; xvii. 7; xxv. 7, etc. In the N. T., and with later Greek writers, verba media in the reflective or intransitive
sense, prefer the passive form of the aorist to the middle form. Comp. Alex. Buttmann : Grammatik des neu-iesiament-
Hchen Sprachidioms, p. 45, 49, and 165; also Robinson: Lexic., sub iyeipo), middle intransitive, to awake, to arise,—
P. S.]
the Gospel of Mark seems to intimate, which has
been understood by some as referring to bye-roads
(Grotius). It was on this occasion that His brethren
asked Him to attend the feast at Jerusalem — that He
declined to go up with the company of pilgrims —
that He privately went afterward, and unexpectedly
made His appearance at the I^'east of Tabernacles.
Then followed the events connected with it, and His
last visit to Capernaum, ver. 24.
Jesus SEiid unto them. — Not a mere repetition
of what He had formerly intimated to the disciples ;
for the term TrapaSiSoo-Oai conveyed an addi-
tional element of information, — viz., that He was to
be given up and surrendered,— an mthnation which
EXE6ETICAL AND CEITICAL.
Ver. 22. The expression av aar p e<po ix-ivvcv
indicates that they had returned into Galilee. But
as the former circumstances had not changed, the
object of this visit must have been to prepare for the
last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem.
The Lord was now ready, and His disciples were
forewarned. Hence He returned to Galilee in order
to commence the journey which was to bring Him to
Golgotha. In all probability He did not pass over
the sea, but went privately through Upper Galilee to
His own country, as the expression TtixpeTropivovTo in
CHAP. XYII. 24-27.
317
was afterward more fully explained. Jesus passed
privately through Galilee (Mark ix. 30). On this se-
cret journey Ho prepared His disciples, in the wider
sense of the term, for the issue before Him. An an-
alogous expression, only more comprehensive, occurs
in Matt. xx. 19.
Ver. 23. And they were exceeding sorry.
— For further details, see the accounts in Mark and
Luke. This communication, in its eifects on the dis-
ciples, is not incompatible with the fact that Jesus
had so clearly intimated His resurrection. Irrespec-
tive of its bearing upon them in their individual ca-
pacity, the announcement of Christ's crucifixion im-
plied what would affect their views about the future
of the world. The death of Jesus on the cross in-
volved the destruction of their whole scheme — of
their hopes of a Messianic temporal kingdom, and of
their expectation of a state of immediate glory in this
life.
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The young and newly-formed band of mem-
bers of Christ's Church now began to anticipate the
immeasurable consequences of His course of suffer-
ing. Thus the transition from the Jewish to the
Christian view of the relation between the first and
second aeon was preparing. A change such as this
woidd necessarily be accompanied by manifold doubts,
struggles, and conflicts.
2. It may be regarded as an evidence of the work
of Christ in the hearts of His disciples, that they en-
dured this conflict ; nor can we wonder tliat, notwith-
standing all this preparation, they felt deeply per-
plexed during the solemn and awful interval between
the last supper and the resurrection.
3. Thus it seems as if, like a timorous fugitive.
the Lord had to pass by mountain tracks and bye- .
roads througli His native land, in order to prepare
His friends for His impending sufferings.
IIOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The journey of Jesus through Galilee, now and
formerly. — How everything wears a different aspect
as the end draws nigh! — The secret journey of Je-
sus through His native land, a comfort to persecuted
beUevers at all times. — How faithfully and calmly
the Lord foretold His end to His disciples ! — The
Church of Jesus in its first human sorrow about the
divine sufferings of Jesus : 1. The nature of this
grief, in distinction from the peculiar sorrow about
Christ's death : it was exalted, though not yet sacred,
2. Its form and expression. Contrast between the
narrative in the gospel, and the festivals to commem-
orate the event, introduced by the mediajval Church.
3. Its ground : acquiescence in Christ's sufferings,
implying the surrender of all worldly views, hopes,
and expectations. — Difference between human and
divine sorrow in connection with the cross. — Heaven-
ly wisdom and strength of the Lord Jesus. — The
Lion of the tribe of Judah did not hesitate to assume
the appearance of a fugitive. — Like a chased roe
upon the mountains, and yet Hunself, 1. the Lamb, 2.
tlie Lion.
Starke : — Canstein : When the time of our de-
parture draws nigh, we should prepare our friends
for it. — Osiander : How salutary is the remembrance
of the cross !
Gossner : — Christ could not find attentive hear-
ers, when preaching on the subject of His approach-
ing death.
Heubner : — In mercy, God often grants us fore-
tokens of heavy trials to come.
G. The Church asfree^ and yet voluntarily subject, and paying Tribute to the ancient Temple at the time of
its approaching end. Ch. XVII. 24-27.
24 And when they were come to Capernaum,^ they that received [the receivers of the]
tribute money [to. 8tSpa;^a, e. e., two drachmas, or half a shekel] ^ came to Peter, and said,
25 Doth not your Master pay tribute [ra 8t8paxju.a] ? He saith, Yes. And when he was
[had] come into tlie house, Jesus prevented him [anticipated him],* saying, What
thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom [customs, tcAt;]
or tribute ? of their own children [of their sons, ciTro tZ>v vlCJv aurwr],'* or of strangers
26 [the other folks, twv dAAorptW, i. e., those not of their household] ? ^ Peter [he]® saith
unto him, Of strangers. Jesus sahh unto him, Then are the children [the sons, ol vioi]
27 free. Notwithstanding [But], lest we should oflend them, go thou to the sea, and cast
a hook, and take up the fisli that first cometh up ; and when thou hast opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money [a stater, aTarrjpa, i. e., four drachmas, or one shekel] :
that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
* Ver. 24. — Different readings, but of no bearing on the sense. v
^ Yer. 24.— [Tribute-money and. tribute 13 a generalizing c:sp\anatoTy TenAenns: of ra 5 IS paxi^ct, lit.: the double
drachma, or v,-hiit is its equivalent In Hebrew, ^Ae half-shekel. The deflnite article moans: the obligatory, cnstomary.
Tyndale, the Geneva, and the Bishops' Bible translate: poll-money; Cranmer, and King James's Kevisers : tribute-
money; the Rheims Version: the dir/rauhmes; Campbell: the didrachma; Archbishop Newcombe, Norton. Conant,
and the revised N. T. of tl)e A. B. U. : the half-shekel. Luther: Zimgroschen ; de Wette, van Ess, Allioli : die Dop-
peldrachme ; Ewald : Zinagulden {yiiih. the note: jdhrliche TempeUteuer); Lange : Doppeldrachma, and in parentlio-
eis : Tempelsteuer. la the English Bible the term double drachma, or half-shekel, might be retained with a marginal
318
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
note : the annual tribute to (he temple, or the temple-tax. As our Authorized Version now stands, tlio relation between
the value of the annual tfinple-otTuring (2 drachmas or half a shekel) and the piece of money miraculously supplied, ver. 27
(4 drachmas or a shokcl), is lost to the English reader.— P. 8.]
'■> Ver. 25.— [n poecpeacTfu avrov, from ir poipO dvoi, to preveiit, to forestall, which occurs only here in the N.
T. ; but the verb simplex (pdai/etv occurs seven times. The English Version (since Craumer), here as also in 1 Thess.
iv. 15 {wc snail not prevent, /xi] (t>Od(Tuifji.€y, them who are asleep), and several times in the O. T., uses the word pre-
vent in the old English sense = proivenire, to cmne or go before, to precede (so also in the Commoa.l'rayer Book : " Pre-
vent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with Thy most gracious favor"); but now it has just the opposite meaning to hinder, to
obstruct. On the contrary the old English verb to ^e*, which is used in the E. V. of 2 Thess. li. 7 for Karexe'")
to hold back, to detain., to hinder, to prevent, and in Rom. 1. 13 for kwKvuv (wan let, i. e., prevented, hitherto). Is now
only used in the sense to permit, to leave {lasse^i) ; or also to lease. In such cases, which, however, are very rare, the com-
mon reader of the Bible is apt to be misled and should be guarded by marginal notes. Campbell renders our passage:
before lie spake, Jesus said to him; Norton: before he had spoken of it, Jesus said to him; Tyndale, the Genevan Bible,
Wakefield, Conant better: Jesus spake first, saying. But our anticipated him is more literal and corresponds with the
usual German Version : kum, ihm zuvor, etc. — P. S.]
< Ver. 25.— [/Sons is more expressive here, especially in view of the bearing of the analogy on the Sonship of Christ
(see my footnote on ver. 26), than children, or Kinder as Luther has it. Ewald and Lange, also, translate: 8uhiie. The
possessive own of the E. V. is hardly necessary (although Lange. too, inserts in smaller type eigenen), and might convey
the false idea that the contrast was between the children of the kings and the children of others, while the contra.st is be-
tween the princes and subjects, or the rulers and the ruled.— P. 8.]
6 Ver. ib. — \_Strangers, like the alieni of the Vulgate and the Fremde of Luther's and Ewald's versions, is almost too
strong a term for oAAoTpioi, which in this connection means simply those who are not viol rwv ^aai\iu>v, who do not
belong to the royal household. Hammond (one of the best of tlie older English commentators) renders : other folks; da
Wette and Lange : andere Leute. 1 would prefer subjects if it werenot too free.— P. B.]
« Ver. 26.— lie Tp OS is omitted in B., D., etc. [Also in Cod. Sinaiticus and In all the modern critical editions.— P. 8.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL.
Circumstances connected with this event. — Jesus
had returned from the Feast of Tabernacles at Jeru-
salem. He had explained the symbolical import of
the temple service, and shown how it was fulfilled
in His own life. The drawing of water (John vii.
37); the lighting up of the temple (ch. viii.); the
temple as His Father's residence, where He appeared
as the King's Son ; the fountain of Siloah (ch. ix.) ;
the theocracy itself (ch. x.) — all pointed to Him.
Immediately afterward, the Jews had brought, before
the ecclesiastical tribunal, the man born blind, whom
Jesus had restored, and finally excommunicated him
(ix. 34) ; which implied that Jesus Himself had been
excommunicated previous to this event, probably ever
since the cure of the lame man at the pool of Bethes-
da (ch. v.). The Lord now waited in retirement at
Capernaum for the next festive season. So far as
we know, He performed no further miracles in Gali-
lee. The cure of the man afflicted with dropsy, which
occurred at the end of this period, took place under
very pecuhar circumstances (Luke xiv. 1-24). From
the retirement of the Lord, His enemies might almost
have inferred that He now intended to settle down
in Galilee, to give up His work, and to submit in si-
lence to the institutions of the land.
Ver. 24. The receivers or collectors of the
didrachmas, or the double drachma. — The de-
mand of the temple-tax from Jesus, although prhiaa-
rily addressed to Peter, forms a contrast to the rela-
tion in which Jesus had placed Himself toward the
temple when in Jerusalem. The Lord, who was the
living and real Temple, was to pay tribute to tlie
types and shadows of this reality, or to the legal
symbols of the temple. According to Exod. xxx. 13 ;
2 Chron. xxiv. 6, Joseph. Antiq. 18, 9 {see Wetstein,
Michaelis, and Ewald, Allerthumcr, 320), every male
from twenty years old was obliged to pay half a
shekel yearly for the temple service. This half shek-
el was equal to two Attic drachmas (one shekel =
four Attic drachmas, Joseph. Antiq. iii. S, 2). Ac-
cording to the LXX. (Gen. xxiii. 15 ; Josh. vii. 21),
the Alexandrian drachma was equal to half a shekel.
The whole shekel amounted to about 2s. %d. sterling,
or about 60 cents in American money.* After the
* [Dr. Lange estimates the value of the shekel at 21 gute
Groschen or more (afterward, Mote on ver, 2T, at 23 to 24
destruction of Jerusalem, this tax went to the Ptoman
capitol. It was due in the month Adar (March).
Hence it may be inferred that Jesus was in arrears.
The supposition of Wicseler {Chronol. Synopse, p.
264), that the demand for the temple tribute was only
made about the time when it was actually due, and
that it must hence have been a Roman tax, is erro-
neous. Local payments might be delayed by absence.
(The same remark may also apply in reference to
the objection, that the presentation of the infant Je-
sus must necessarily have taken place before the
flight into Egypt.) The use of the solemn term ra
5/5paxiua indicates that it was a religious, not a secu-
lar tax ; the plural number implying, as Meyer ob-
serves, that it was annually and regularly levied, not
that on this occasion it was asked both for the Lord
and His disciples. Besides, the supposition of a Ro-
man impost would be entirely incompatible with the
reasoning of the Saviour. Of course, ideas derived
from the theocracy could not have been applied to
the Roman government. This act of the oflicials of
the temple may be regarded as an indication of the
feehng of the priests. The servants began to act
rudely toward Jesus, who had become an offence to
their superiors. Still, there is a certain amount of
good-natured simplicity about their conduct, and it
ahnost seems as if they fancied that Jesus was about
quietly to settle down iu Capernaum.
Doth not your Master pay the double
drachma? — Manifestly presupposing the expectar
tion that He v,-ould pay— not, as some have suppos-
ed, a doubt, that, since priests and Levites were free,
He might v/ish to claim a similar exemption.
Ver. 25. Jesus anticipated him. — This antici-
Groschen or about a Prussian dollar). But its v.alue is dif-
ferently festimated from 2s. 8(f. to over 3s. sterling, or from
50 to VO cents. Before the Babylonian exile the shekel was
only a certain weight of silver, since the time of the Macca-
bees (1 Mace. XV. 6) a coined money; but as these coins
grew scarce, it became customary to estim.-ite the temple
dues (a half shekel; as two drachmas. It must not be con-
founded with the gold coin, more accurately called shekel,
which was equal not to four, but to twenty Attic drachmas.
See the Dictionaries, sub ?f?'r , (xIk Ko s ., Shekel, also sub
5 ( 5 p o X M « and apyvpiov, especially Winer, sub
i<ekel (Bill. 12ealworterbuch, yi>\. il, 4iS sqq); W. S.mith,
sub Money (Dictionary of the Bible, vol. ii., 4U4 sqq.) ; and
Dr. M. A. Lkvy: Geschichte der jtidischen Munzen, Brcs-
lau, 1862 (which is mentioned .as an important work in
Smith's Diet, sub Shekel, vol. iii., p. 1246; but which 1 have
not seen myself).—?. 8.]
CHAP. XVn. 24-2Y.
319
pation iraplics a miraculous knowledge of Peter's
assent. TfX-n, veciigaUa, duties on merchandize,
customs ; k9]v<t os^ capitation or land-tax. [Peter's
afSrnnative answer to the tax-gatherers was rather
hasty, and lost sight for a while of the royal dignity
and prerogative of his Master, who was a Son in His
own house, the temple, and not a servant in anoth-
er's, and who could claim the offerings in the name
of His Father.— P. S.]
Or of strangers. — Not of the princes, but of
their subjects.
Ver. 20. Then are the Sons free. — A conclu-
sion a minori ad majus. The earthly royal preroga-
tive serves as a figure of theocratic right. God is
King of the temple-city ; hence His Son is free from
any ecdesiastical tribute.* — De Wette regards the
passage as involving some difBculties, since Jesus had
disowned every outward and earthly claim in His
character as Messiah, and had become subject to the
law.f Accordingly, this critic suggests that Jesus
had only intended to reprove the rashness of Peter's
promise, and to suggest the thought to him (as he
was still entangled with Jewish legaHsui), that, in
point of law, the demand made upon Him was not
vahd. On the other hand, Olshausen maintains that
Jesus asserted His exaltation over the temple-ritual
(as in ch. xii. 8 : The Son of Man is Lord of the
Sabbath — One greater than the temple). Meyer re-
minds us, that although as Messiah Jesus was above
the law, yet in His infinite condescension He submit-
ted to its demands. This explanation is so far more
satisfactory. But commentators seem to forget that
the breach between the ancient theocracy and the
fKK\7]a-ia had already begun in Judtea and Galilee,
and that Jesus had entered on His path of sufferings.
It was inconsistent to reject, and virtually (though
perhaps not formally) to excommunicate Jesus, and
yet at the same time to demand from Him the temple
tribute. And in this sense the Apostles themselves
were mcludcd among the vioi (in the plural). They
were to share in the suffering and in the excommuni-
cation of their Master. Pavilus and Olshausen apply
the expression to Peter in connection with Jesus ;
Meyer regards it as a locus communis referring to Jesus
* [In Latin tlie intimate relation between sonsbip and
freedom miglit be thus rendered: Lib eri sunt liberi. The
plural v'lo i is necessitated by the figure of the "kings of
the earth," and does not interfere with Christ's unique position
as the only begotten of the Father, but rather establishes it
by way of analogy, since there Is but one King in heaven.
Grotius: '■'■Flunili mmiei'o utdtnr, non quod ad alios
earn extendat liberiateni, sed quod comparatio id exige-
bat, sumta non ab unius sed ab omnium regum more ao
consuetudiney Trench: "It is just as natural, when we
come to the heavenly order of things which is there shadow-
ed forth, to restrain it to the singular, to the one Son ; since
to the King of heaven, who is set against the kings of the
earth, there is but one, the only begotten of the Father "'
Observe also in ver. 27 He says not : for us, putting Him-
self on a par with Peter, but: for Me and thee ; comp. John
XX. 17: "unto M>/ Father, and your Father," and His uni-
form address to God: "My (not : Our) Father," all of which
implies His unique relation to the Father. — P. S.]
t [This objection of de Wette rests on a false assumption
and is inconsistent with his own admission, in his note on
ver. 24, that the temple-tax was a theocratic or religious, not
a civil, tax, a tribute to God, not to C'sesar. Many commen-
tators—Origcn, Ausustine, Jerome, Maldonatus, Corn, a La-
pide, 'Wolf," even Wieseler (Chronol. Si/nopse, p. 265). and
others — have overlooked and denied this fact and missed
the whole mr-aning of the miracle by the false assumption
that this money was a civil tribute to the Eoman emperor,
like the penny mentioned on a later occasion. Matt xxii. 19.
The word tribute in the E. V. rather fivors this error. The
emperor Vespasian converted the temple-tax into an im-
perial tribute, but this was after the destruction of Jerusalem
and the temple, aa Josephus expressly states, De Bello Jud.
vii. 6, 6.-P. S]
alone, since, in the argument as used in the text, it
could only designate the Lord Himself. But, accord-
ing to the Apostle Paul, believers have fellowship
with Christ in virtue of their vloe^aia, and in Him
are free from the law. " The Roman Catholic Church
employs this passage to prove the freedom of the
clergy from taxation, at least in reference to ecclesi-
astical charges " (Meyer). In our opinion, it would
be more appropriate to deduce from it the freedom
of the living Church from the burdens of the law.
[The inference of the Roman Cathohcs would prove
too much, viz., the freedom of all the children of
God from taxation. — P. S.]
Ver. 27. But lest we should offend them. —
Meyer refers the latter expression to the tax-gather-
ers : Lest we should lead them to suppose that we
despise the temple. As, in dealing with the Phari-
sees (ch. XV.), Christ did not avoid giving them of-
fence, we are led to infer that in the present instance
it would have been an offence to " these httle ones."
Besides the tax-gatherers, many other persons in Ca-
pernaum, who could not clearly apprehend the spir-
itual bearing of Christ's conduct, might readily have
taken offence, under the impression that He placed
Himself in opposition to the temple.
A piece of money, lit. : a stater. — A coin =
4 drachmas, or about a Prussian dollar [or rather less,
about 60 cents].
Various views are entertained in reference to this
miracle. 1. De Wette contents himself with caUing
attention to the difficulties connected with the ortho-
dox view of the narrative (tRe miracle was unneces-
sary ; it was unworthy of Jesus, since He had on no
other occasion performed a miracle for His own
behoof ; it was impossible, since a fish could not have
carried a stater in its mouth, and yet bite at the
hook, as Strauss misstated the case). 2. Paulus and
Ammon have attempted to represent it as a natural
event. Thus Paulus paraphrases the language of
Jesus : When thou openest the mouth of this fish to
detach the hook, it will be found worth a stater. [A
wonderful price for a fish caught with a hook !] Or,
If there on the spot {ainov) you open the mouth to
offer the fish, etc. 3. Strauss characterizes it as a
myth, derived from legends comiected with the lake
of Gahlee.* Sunilarly, Hase represents it as figura-
tive language, referring to the success accompanying
the exercise of their calling, vi'hich tradition had after-
ward transformed into a miraculous event. 5. Ewald
makes the curious comment, that we do not read of
Peter having actually caught such a fish, but that the
saying was one which might be readily employed, as
pieces of money had sometimes been found in fishes.
6. It has been regarded as a miracle, in the proper
sense of the term, (a) As a miracle of jwwcr, di-
rectly performed. The fish was made to fetch the
coin from the deep, and then to come up to the hook.
So Bengel.f Or, (b) As a miracle of knowledge on
* [Strauss profanely calls it ^'■den mahrchfinhnften Aus-
Idnfer der See-Anekdoten,'" e.nA in his new Life of Jesus,
1S64, p. 34, he endeavors to ridicule Dr. Kbrard for suppos-
ing, very unnecessarily, that the fish spit the piece of money
from the stomach into the throat the moment Peter opened
its mouth. In this case tliere is no assignable occasion, or
Old Tt stament ])r(>cedent, or possible significancy of a myth-
ical fiction.-P. S.]
1 [So also TuENCit (A^'otes on the Miracles, p. 3S5): "The
miracle does not lie in the mere foreknowloc'ire on the
Lord's part as to how it should be with the fish which came
up; but lie Himself, by the mysterious potency of His will
which ran through all nature, drew the particular fish to
that spot at that moment, and ordained that it should swal-
low the hook. We may compare Jonah i. 17: 'The Lord
520
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the part of Jesus. So Grotius and Meyer. Adopt-
ing the latter explanation, we would call attention to
the fact, that in performing this miracle the Lord was
equally careful to maintain His rights as King of
Zion, and to avoid giving oflence. Hence the tribute,
for which Peter himself was naturally liable, was to
be procured through the personal exertions of that
Apostle. But, as in this case he acted as the repre-
sentative of the Lord, the money was miraculously
provided. All the requirements of the case seem to
us sufficiently met by the fact, that Jesus predicted
that the first draught of Peter would yield the sum
needed. Hence the words, " Wheti thou hast opened
his moicth" might almost be regarded as a metaphor
for " when thou takest off the hook " — in which case
it would imply simply a prediction that Peter would
catch a very large and valuable fish. But the state-
ment, that he would find a piece of money, conveys
to our minds that the Apostle was to discover the
state?- in the inside of the fish. The main point of
the narrative, however, hes in this, that the stater
was to be miraculously provided. By his rashness,
Peter had apparently placed the Lord in the diffi-
culty of either giving offence, or else of virtually de-
claring Himself subject to tribute. Under these cir-
cumstances, the Lord looked and descried the stater
in the lake ; and the miraculous provision thus pro-
cured might serve both for Himself and for Peter,
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. We have here a remarkable instance of the
vast difference between giving offence to the " httle
ones " and to the Pharisees. Similarly, we learn
from the narrative that Christian wisdom must be
able to discover a way out of evei-y seeming conflict
of duties, since such conflicts can only be apparent,
not real.
2. It were a great mistake to suppose, that be-
cause Matthew does not record that Peter actually
caught the fish, found and paid the stater, all this did
not really take place. But, on the other hand, we
infer from this omission, that the great object of the
Evangehst was to record the spiritual import, rather
than the outward circumstances, of this event. It
was intended to set before the Apostles the principle
which should regulate the future relations between
the free Church of the gospel and the ancient legal
community at the time of the cessation of its services
and ritual. The point here lies in the contrast be-
tween the sons of the King, or of the true theocracy,
and mere subjects, who in the text are very signifi-
cantly called aWoTpioi, strangers. Christ and His
people are the children of the kingdom ; the Jewish
legalists its subjects, or rather its bondsmen. (Comp.
John viii. So : The servant abideth not for ever in the
house, or in the temple ; but the Son abideth there
for ever.)
3. "The children of the kingdom, who them-
selves are the living temple, could not be made out-
wardly or legally subject to the typical services of
the temple. As the free children of God, they were
superior to all such bondage. But perhaps some
had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.' Thus we
Bee the sphere of animal lif« unconsciously obedient to His
will ; that also is not ovt of God. but moves rn Him, as does
every other creature. 1 Kings xiii. 24; xx. 36; Amos ix. 3."
Yet Trench does nut assume that the stater was miraculous-
ly created for the occasion, but brought In contact with the
fish by a miraculous coincidence.— P. S.]
historical claim might yet be urged upon them, or
else they were not to shock the prejudices of some
of these 'little ones' (comp. Matt, xviii.). Hence, in
all such cases, it was their duty to avoid giving of-
fence, and to perform what was expected from them.
But in so doing, they would display such joyousness,
freedom, and princely grandeur, as to vindicate their
liberty even in the act of submitting to what might
seem its temporary surrender" {Zeben Jes2i, iii. p.
110). It is scarcely necessary to add, that by pro-
fessing adherence to a particular ecclesiastical sys-
tem, we, as Christians, incur the obligation of con-
tributing to its support. Every such profession is a
voluntary obligation, which, among other things, im-
plies the duty of outwardly contributing for its main-
tenance.
4. There is something peculiarly characteristic
of Peter in this history. With his usual rashness,
he would make the Lord Jesus legally subject to trib-
ute. This obligation he has now himself to discharge,
and that by means of a fish (the symbol of a Chris-
tian) which is found to have unnaturally swallowed a
stater.
5. In this instance, also, Christ did not perform
a miracle " for His own behoof," but as a sign for
others.
[Trench {Notes on the Miracles, p. 8'79) : " Here,
as so often in the life of our Lord, the depth of His
poverty and humiUation is lighted up by a gleam of
His glory ; while, by the mamier of His payment,
He reasserted the true dignity of His person, which
else by the payment itself was in danger of being ob-
scured and compromised in the eyes of some. The
miracle, then, was to supply a real need, . . . differ-
ing in its essence from the apocryjDhal miracles, which
are so often mere sports and freaks of power, having
no ethical motive or meaning whatever." — P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The great danger of the servants of Christ to at-
tempt bringing Him, in His Church, in subjection to
tradition. — The outward, secular subjection of the
children of God under outward temple ordinances, a
contradiction. 1. In general : they vv-ho possess the
reahty, are expected to be in subjection to shadows.
2. In a special sense : it is required of the stones of
the living temple to maintain the symbolical temple
buildings, of the living sacrifices to promote the typ-
ical sacrifices, of the children of the Spirit to main-
tain the emblems of spiritual things. — Contradiction
of hierarchism : it excommunicates and yet levies tax
upon the children of the Spirit. — Cupidity of the me-
diaeval Church in seeking the fortunes and posses-
sions of those who were stigmatized as heretics. —
Important consequences implied in the rash assent
given ))y Peter. — How Christ avoided giving offence
to devout prejudices, Rom. xiv. 13. — The humility
and the glory of Christ in paying the temple-tribute.
— How Christians, in bearing witness to their faith,
may preserve their liberty while voluntarily surren-
dering it for the sake of charity. — The three draughts
of Peter. — How Christians (fishes) who have the world
(a piece of money) in their hearts, may be caught
and made subservient to outward ordinances. — A
Christian will always find a miraculous way of escape
through the intricate mazes of apparently conflicting
duties. — The Lord prepares a way even in our great-
est difficulties, viz., those of conscience. — If we have
anticipated the Lord, we must submit to severe testa
CHAP. XVni. 1-14.
321
of our obedience. — How the Lord can most glorious-
ly repair the damage done by His people by their
rash anticipations of His decisions.
Starke: — Quesnel : Jesus humbles Himself, and
submits to all human ordinances. (The text, how-
ever, does not refer cither to the payment of civil
taxes or to any secular arrangements.) — Let us avoid
giving offence to any one. — Let us avoid the appear-
ance of evil. — Canstchi: It docs not matter though
the children of God may not possess what they re-
quire ; (xod will care for them (though the text docs
not imply that the whole company of disciples at
Capernaum did not possess the small sum of about
three shillings demanded of them). — Ze'mus : Christ,
Lord over all His creatures, even in His estate of hu-
miliation.
Oerlach : — While Jesus never forgot, from false
humility, what was due to Dim, He only manifested
His dignity before those who were capable of under-
standing Him, and at the same time was willing to
become the servant of all.
Heubner : — Ministers must be ready to prove
that they really despise earthly things. — Humiliation
and exaltation combined in this event. — We may
submit to civil oppression even while preserving in
our minds and hearts our dignity and rights.
SECOND SECTION.
THE PRIESTLY ORDER IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
Chapter XVIII. 1-35.
Contents :— This section furnishes a sketch of the Church in its priestJy, or in its strictly ecclesiastical, relations. The
basis of these is the hierarchy of the service of love (ch. xviji. 1-14). Rising on this foundation, the Church is to dis-
play, on the one hand, spiritual carnestuess by its discipline (vers. 15-20), and, on the other, spiritual gentleness by its
absolution (vers. 21-35). This delineation of the priestly character of the Church is continued in the next section,
which tre.ats of marriage in the Church, of children in the Church, and of property in the Church.
Historical Succession. — The scene is still in Galilee, and in all lilveUhood at Capernaum. Once more had
the hopes of the disciples been raised, probably in connection with the late miracles of Jesus in Judoa
and Galilee, and from a misunderstanding of His calmness and of the declaration which He had made
when providmg the tribute-money. Friends now gather around the Lord, preparatory to going up to
Jerusalem. The disciples discuss the question of the primacy in the kingdom of heaven. This dispute
(to ver. 5) was no doubt occasioned, if not by the confession, yet by the general position, of Peter.
According to Mark ix. 38, John now gave occasion to the saying of Christ about offences (vers. 6 sqq.).
Lastly, the question of Peter again evoked the teaching of Christ concerning absolution, and the parable
connected with it. On comparmg the corresponding passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we conclude
that the saymgs and events recorded in chap, xviii. belong to the period of Christ's stay at Capernaum.
Of course, in holduig this view, we imply at the same time that the Lord uttered on two different occa-
sions the parable concerning the hundred sheep. These transactions were followed by the commence-
ment of the journey to Jerusalem.
A. Tlie Hierarchy of the service of Love. Ch. XVIII. 1-14.
{The Gospel for St. Michael, ch. xviii. 1-11.— Parallels: Mark ix. 33-50; Luke xv. 4-V; xvii. 1, 2.)
1 At the same time [At that time, kv eKuvrj ry wpa] ^ came the disciples unto Jesus,
2 saying, Who [then, apa] is the greatest* in. the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called
3 a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto
you, Except ye be converted [Unless ye turn],^ and become as httle children, ye shall
4 not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself^ as
5 this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall re-
6 ceive one such child in my name rcceiveth me. But whoso shall offend [give offence to,
o-fcavSaXto-rj] one of these little ones which [that] believe in me, it were better for him
21
322 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
[it profitetli him, yea for this] ® that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that
7 he were drowned [plunged] in the depth ® of the sea. Woe unto the world because
of offences [(Itto twi/ o-KavSuAwv] ! for it must needs be that offences come ; ' but woe to
8 that [the] * man by whom the offence comoth ! Wlierefore if [But if, d Se] thy hand
or thy foot offend thee, cut them [it] " off, and cast them, from thee : it is better for thee
to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast
9 into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:
it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be
10 cast into hell fire. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say
unto you. That in heaven their angels [their angels in heaven] "* do always behold the
1 1 face of my Father which [who] is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that
12 which was lost." How [What] think ye? if a man have a hundred sheep, and one
of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goetli into the
mountains, and seeketh [doth he not leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and go
13 and seek] ^^ that which is gone astray? And if so be [if it be, eav yevTyrttt] tliat he find
it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep [more over it, iir airw /xaXAov],
14 than of [over] the ninety and nine which [that] went not astray. Even so it is not the
will of your Father which [who] is in heaven, that one of these little ones sliould perish
[that . . . perish, tVa . . . d7roA.rjTat].
1 Ver. 1. — Lachmann reads tj fie pa (day) for wpa (7wMr), according to certain authorities of Origen. Less attest-
ed. [Origen leaves the matter undecided, saying simply: Kara jxiv riva rSiv avTiypa.<paiv ev eKeivTj ry wpa
rrpoarjAdov ol fj.a8riTa\ rtS 'IrjeroD, Ka-ra. Se aWa iv eiceivrj ttj rj/xepa. Cod. Sinait. with the great majority
of witnesses read Sipa, 'which has been retained by Tischendorf and Alford. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 1.— [Literally: greater (than others, or the rest), major; Lange : der Grbssere. It is a superlative in effect,
though not in form. The English idiom requires here the superlative, as fjiiKp6T(po<s in Matt. xi. 11 is correctly rendered
in the Authorized Version : he that is least, etc. Comp. my notes on pp. 205 and 206. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 3. — ['Eay /H?; (TTpa</)f;T6, equivalent as to sense to ixeravorire. The older English trsls., Tyndale,
Coverdiile, Cranmer, Eogers, the Genevau N. T. of 1557, the Bis-hops' Bible, also Conant, the N. T. of the A. B. U' (1864)
unanimousl}'' render: except ye turn; Luther : es sei denn, dass ihr lim'kehret (Luther, however, inserts eac/t, which is
omitted in some modern editions); Lange: wennihrniohtmngekehrtseid. The Authorized Version: except ye he con-
verted, is derived from the ed. of the Genevan Bible of 1560. Similarly the Eheims' Kew Test, of l.o82: unless ye he con-
verted. Campbell and Norton translate : unless ye he changed. ^rpecpfffOai, to turn oneself, is here evidently used as
a term for conversion under the figure of turning hack from a path previously pursued, or a return to our proper and
normal relation to God, as His obedient and confiding children. It is thus equivalent to p<.iT avoilv ^ to change the
mind, which imphes repentance and i^iith. Lange presses the aorist {unless ye shall have turned), as implying that the
disciples were already converted and needed only to be confirmed. See his Exeg. Notes. But the Saviour refers here
more particularly to a return of His disciples from the path of amhitious rivalry, which is implied in the question of ver.
1, to a spirit of childlike simxAicity and humility. Conversion may be repeated and sliould be repeated after every fall,
but regeneration c;innot be repe.ited as little as the natural birth. Convereion is the act of man (under the influence of
the Holy Spirit), regener.ation is the act of God. — P. S.]
4 Ver. 4.— Lnchmann and Tischendorf [and Alford] adopt the future t an e ivco ae i [for the led. rec. rair e ij/cii ir]?],
after Codd. B., D., Z., etc.
s Ver. 6.— [This is a more literal translation of ffv ficpepe i avTw, and corresponds with Dr. Lange's Version: es
nutzt ihm—ja dazu. Comp. his Exeg. Note below. But for popular use I would prefer the Authorized Version: it were
hetterfor him, and Luther's Version : dem ware es he^ser, which Ewald retained, while de Wette renders: ihmfrommete
««.— P. S.]
« Ver. 6.— ['E v ireXayn, literally : the high, the open, the deep sea, as distinct from the shallows near the shore.
Lange : aufder Eohe (in die Tiefe) des Meeres. The drowning is a necessary consequence of being plunged in the high
sea with a mill-stone around the neck, but is not necessarily implied in /caTCTrovTi'^ai, to cast or sink down in the sea
[irSyTov) — P. S.]
■ Ver. 7.— [Dr. Lange inserts here in the text in smaller type: geworden—historisches Gerichtsverhdngniss, i. e., scan-
dals have hecome (are not originally) necessary, as a. judgment of history.— F. S.]
8 Ver. 7.— [Lachmann and Tregelles with some of the oldest authorities, to which must now be added also the Codex
from Mt. Sinai, omit i k e ivu after "rw ai/6ptiiro: Lange translates accordingly: wehe dem Menschen, but does not no-
tice the diflFcrence of reading. Tischendorf and Alford, however, retain (Kelvcc. — P. S.]
9 Yer. s.— B., D., L., and many other Codd., read avrov (it) for alrd, which looks like an emendation. [The for-
mer conforms in gender to the nearest noun, but .as to sense refers to both.]
i» Ver. 10.— [The order in the Greek: ol ayyeXot ainwv 4v ovpavots. The order of the E. V. misleads,
as if in. heaven belonged to the verb. — P. S.]
" Ver. 11.— ['HAfle yap 6 vlos rov avdpanrov cSiaai rh aTToAcoAds] is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, on
the authority of Codd. B., L., T., [Cod. Sinait, likewise omits it], and in Fome ancient versions. But it is found in Cod. G.,
id., and required by the connection. It was perhaps omitted, as de Wette suggests, to avoid the .appearance of numbering
the children with the lost. [It is generally supposed that ver. 11 is an insertion from Luke .\i.\. 10, but there is no good
reason for such insertion, and it is mtide improbable by the omission of the verb (riTrjcraL of Luke before awaai (to seek
and save), which would have suited the Cv^e^ of ver. 12. See Alford, who retains the received text.— P. S.]
1= Ver. 12.— [This is the proper construction, connecting inl ra upr] with a<piis. So the Vulgate (nonn^. re-
linquit nonagintanovem in montihu^. et vadit, etc.), the Peschito, Luther, Bengel, de Wette, Ew.ild, Lange, Wiclif, Tyn-
dale (doeth he not leave ninety nine in the mountains, and go and seek), Cranmer, Genevan, Eheims Verss., Campbell,
Conant, etc. The error in the Authorized Version seems to be derived from the Bishops' Bible, where I find it.
'ETri with the accusative suits the verb d(/.si j and the idea of a flock of sheep scattered over a mountain. Laclnnann reads
a(p7)<rei — Kal Tropivdeii, tcUl he not leare—and going 8«eX:, etc. (instead of acpfis — iropevdeis). Dr. Lange,
following this reading, stops the question with vyrj. Objectionable. —P. S.]
CHAP. XVm. ]-14.
323
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. At that hour. — Referring to tlie liour
m which the transaction about the tribute-money
took place. The Mes.-;ianie hopes of the disciples had
been greatly raised, both by that miracle, and by
the explanation of Jesus as to His relation to the
theocracy.
Who then is the greatest ? rls &pa . — The
inference implied in & pa seems to allude to Peter,
who had apparently again been honored by an extra-
ordinary distinction. — The greater (major), in rela-
tion to all others, is the first. The Major Donms, or
the Primus. Who is ? in the present tense. From
the statement of the Lord, that, as Son of the King,
He was free from the legal obligations of the theoc-
racy, they inferred that the kingdom of the Messiah
was already founded. Besides, the question was evi-
dently also intended for the purpose of eliciting a
distinct statement on that subject.
Ver. 2. A little child. — A little boy. Accord-
ing to [a late and imrehable] tradition, the martyr
Ignatius ; according to Paulus, an orphan ; accord-
ing to Boltcn, one of the young ministering disci-
ples. Each of these views appears to us strained.
The main point was, that He set before them a Utile
child.
Ver. 3. Except ye be converted,* etc. — The
use of the aorist tenses deserves special notice. Je-
sus presupposes that all this had already taken place
in His disciples — that they were converted, had be-
come like children, and entered into the kingdom of
heaven. Hence He refers only to the necessity of
self-examination and probation, not to that of a new
conversion. We note the antithesis in the expressions,
" the greatest in the Jcinrfdom of heaven,^'' and '■'■enter-
ing into the kingdom of heaven.'''' The meaning is :
The first question which you should put, is about
your having entered into the kingdom of heaven. H'
they had entered it, they had become like the child
before them ; in which case their question could only
have been caused by temporary surprise. Hence, if
any one should display hierarchical tendencies, or give
vent to such feehngs, the question would naturally
arise, whether he was really converted at all. More
than that, the statement implies that in a certain
sense all hierarchism is opposed to, and incompatible
with, the kingdom of heaven. In John iii. 3, 5, this
condition of entering the kingdom of heaven is put
in the present tense, and more strongly expressed, as
being born again. Conversion, being a complete
turning in moral respects, implies a new birth so far
as its divine cause and the totality of the change are
concerned ; while, so far as its moral aspects and its
claims to acknowledgment are concerned, it may be
described a? becoming children.
Ver. 4. Whosoever therefore shall humble
himself as this little child. — ^^Vhoso will appear
humble and small, hke this child ; not, humble him-
self like this child. Valla : i&te parvulus; non se hu-
miliate sed humilis ent. The use of the future tense
shows that something of this kind was now again to
take place in the disciples as the condition of their
future greatness. The expressions of the Saviour
prove that the point of the comparison lay in the
modesty of the child, in its want of pretension, which
enabled it to enjoy whatever came before it, without
* [In Germ. : Wenn ihr niclit umgekehrt seuf, unless ye
shall tiave turned. Comp. the Critical I^ote, No. 3, p. 322.
—P. 8.]
seeking or claiming more as its due. The real great-
ness of the chUd consists in its perfect contentment
with its littleness and dependence. By our outward
demands and our claims upon the future, we only lose
the present, and with it, both life and reality ; while
the want of pretension and care in the child secures
to it, with each passing moment, the enjoyment of
life. And this constitutes also the condition of its
future greatness. If the child aimed at anything be-
yond the limits of its capacity, such a claim would
of itself ensure disappointment. This absence of pre-
tension in the disciple of Christ constitutes true hu-
mility, to which, even after our conversion, we must
ever and again revert. Only by thus reverting to
our littleness before God and the brethren, can we
hope to realize the life of the kingdom of God, or to
enter upon the path of development and future great-
ness. The use of the simple future [j a-w ^ ivwa e i)
seems to indicate that this conversion would take
place at a later period in the history of the disciples,
and especially in that of Peter. In this connection,
the reader will also recall the last hours of Jesus. —
The greatest. — According to the measure of humil-
ity, and each one according to his own idiosgricrasy.
Ver. 6. x\nd whoso shaU receive [even or
07ilg'\ one such little child. — The consequence and
evidence of humility is, to receive one such little
child. The question has been raised. Whether we
are to understand the terms in a literal or in a spir-
itual sense, in other words, of a child in years, or of
a child in spirit, as just descril)ed. The former view
is adopted by Bengel, Paulus, Neander, and de Wette ;
the latter, by Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, and
Meyer. But it could scarcely be regarded as a spe-
cial evidence of humility, to receive in the name of
Jesus a Christian of such marked humility. Besides,
the context and Matt. xxv. are in favor of the former
view. It is the most honorable office in the kingdom
of heaven to receive the King Himself; hence our
Lord says : This distinguished office commences even
when you receive a child in My name (comp. John
xxi. 15, and the end of Gerson's life*). But this
does not imply that the Saviour here referred to a
natural, in opposition to a spiritual, child. Even a
poor negro, who is desirous of being admitted into
the school of Christ, may be such a child. In gen-
eral, the expression applies to those who are appa-
rently small, as contrasted with those who are appa-
rently great, in the kingdom of heaven ; hence, to
catechumens and Sunday-school scholars, or to those
who receive instruction, in opposition to those who
impart it — to the Church under guidance, in opposi-
tion to that part of it which guides. The real glory
of office, and the real primacy of the Apostles, was
to appear in their spiritual service and in their con-
descension to those who were smadl, in the care of
the Lamb of Christ in the school and the catechetical
class. And this promise applied in all its fulness to
such service of love, even in a single case. — Shall
receive, i. e., into spiritual fellowship.
* [Dr. Lange refers here to the celebrated John Charlier
Gcrson, who was chancellor of the university of Paris and
the theolofrical leader of the rcforiiiatory councils of Pisa
(1409) and Constance (1415). After takinj: a prominent part
in all the great questions of his age, he retired to a convent
at Lyons, and found his chief delight in the instruction of
little children. As lie felt the approach of de.ath, he called
once more the children that thi-y might pray with him:
Lord of mercy, have mercy upon Thy poor »ervai;t ! He ap-
pears greater In this humility, than wiien he swayed by his
eloquence the council of bi>hoi)S. He died A. D. 1429, 66
years old.— P. 8.]
324
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
In My name. — Proi)crly, on the ground of My
name ; tlie fellowship of faith coiribininf:; and uniting
the teacher and the luiiglit in the name of Clnist.
Hence, neither referring exclusively to the faith of
him wlio was to receive (de Wette), nor to that of
those who were to be received.
Ver. C. But whoso shall give offence. — Who-
so shall give him occasion for relapsing into unbe-
lief, as was done by hierarchical arrogance. This
was the offence with which the Church was at that
moment threatened. There the hearts of the fathers
were turned from their children, giving occasion for
the hearts of the children turning from llie fatlicrs
(see Mai. iv. 6, the concluding utterance of llie Old
Testament, and Luke i. 17). These later generations
were led into unbelief by the hierarchical pretensions
of the fathers, with tlieir traditions.
One of these little ones (a smgle one). — Those
of whom this child was a type. As formerly, the lit-
tle ones being the beginners in the faith, or occupy-
ing a lower place in the Church ; hence those who
were naturally cr spiritually little. But evidently
those who had become little, in the sense of being
thoroughly luunbled, are not so easily shaken in their
faith by hierarchical pretensions.
It were better for him, or literally : it profit,
eth him for this (m; u<i>e p e i avrw 'iva) that
a millstone were hanged, etc. — Meyer deems it
imperative to take tlie V v a. , in the expression
(TviJ.(pipei 'iva, in the proper sense. He ex-
plains, though not very clearly, that the text im-
plies that his conduct would subserve that special
purpose. Following the trace here indicated, we
infer that the offence given arose from a desire
after spiritual dominaiion. This motive, then, of his
offence (domination over the conscience) is ironically
characterized in the text as profiting him (badly),
for the purpose of having a millstone hanged, etc.
We may illustrate this by quoting on analogous say-
ing of Luther, addressed to the Elector John : " A
forced Christian is a very pleasant and agreeable
guest in the kingdom of heaven, in whom God takes
special delight, and whom He will ceitainly set high-
est up among the angels — in tlte deipest bottom of
hell.'''' Of course, the statement applies much more
fully to hierarchical pretensions. Mis arrogance and
his domination profiteth him — yes, for this purpose,
that a millstone shall be hanged, etc. — We are now
prepared to understand the symbolical expressions,
millstone and sea. From other passages we learn
that hierarchism is destined to perish in the angry
waves of the sea of nations, or in the midst of revolu-
tions (Matt. vii. 6 ; Rev. xiii. 1, etc.). The expres-
sion millstone is, in the first instance, intended to des-
ignate a very large stone (Rev. xviii. 21), more
especially the large upper millstone which was driven
round by asses.* However, the term is not merely
intended to refer to the weight of the stone, but also
to the object which it serves in the mill. The latter
is a figure of life, in its means of support (Matt. xxiv.
41 ;_Rev. xviii. 22), while the millstone refers to the
motive power. But the possessions of the temple
were the load by which a corrupt hierarchy was ulti-
mately drawn into the depths of the sea of perdition
(James v. 1). To the Jews generally, the temple be-
came in the end a millstone himg round their neck,
■which drew them into the depth of the sea of nations.
* [Hence de Wette and Meyer translate fxvKos oi'ik6's
literally : Eselsmuldntein, in distinction from the smaller
/uind-miUstones.—P. 3.]
But this was not the end of offences. The k o r o -
TT oi'r t (T fj.i'i $ " was a mode of punishment common
among the Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Phfenicians,
but not among the Jews. Hence it may be regarded
as a dramatic and strong cxju-ession of the idea : he
shall be deprived of life." (Meyer.) But even this
heathen form of punishment deserves notice. The
Jewish hierarchy was to be swept away by hea-
thens.
Yer. 7. Woe unto the world because of of-
fences.— The world as such does not ff/vc, but receive
offences from false disciples ; and that in what may
be designated its border land, where it is represented
by the little ones. The oifence of these little ones
would accumulate to such an amount as to bring a
woe upon the whole world (comp. Matt, xxiii. 15 ;
Rev. xvii. 5).
For it must needs be. — Not referring to fate,
or to a metaphysical, but to a historical avdyK-n, or
the necessary connection between guilt and judg-
ment ; and in this sense not merely allowed by God,
but " ultimately traceable to the divine counsel."
(Meyer.)
But woe to the man by whom the offence
cometh. — The offeoice {to a-KavSaXoy) is the
guilt of an mdividual, giving rise to offences (to (tkuv-
5 a A a), which themselves are sent by way of judg-
ment. And if woe descends on the world on account
of these offences, how much more does it hold tnie
of the man who is the cause or the occasion of them !
Instances of individuals who gave such olfences wiU
readily occur to the reader ; as, for example, Judas,
Caiaphas, etc. (On the other aspect of historical ne-
cessity, comp. the word of Paul, 1 Cor. xi. 19.)
Ver. 8. Wherefore, if thy han4 or thy foot
offend thee. — Comp. ch. v. 29. De Wette and oth-
ers regard this as a mere repetition not suitable in
this connection, as referring to seduction by our own
senses and not by the instrumentality of others. But
it should be noted, that in the former passage the ex-
pression is used in connection with marriage offences ;
and here, in regard to ecclesiastical offences, — the
link of connection being the mystical idea of mar-
riage. Hence it means, If thine hand, or thy foot, or
thine eye, threaten to sever the union between thy
heart and Christ. The ministers of Christ are them-
selves offended by their hand, their foot, or their eye,
before they become an offence to others. The text
aptly adds, the foot, to the other emblems mentioned
in ch. V. 29, which in this connection have a different
meaning from the earlier passage. The hand here
designates special aptitude and inclination for ecclesi-
astical government ; the foot, for ecclesiastical exer-
tion and missionary undertakings ; the eye, for ec-
clesiastical perception and knowledge. All these gifts
should remain in subjection to the Spirit of Christ,
and serve for the advancement and edification of the
little ones, instead of inducmg pride or contempt of
inferiors.
It will look fairer, Ka\6 v a oi i a t tv {it
is better for thee). — The Hebrews combined the
two ideas of goodness and beauty under the term
good, while the Greeks comprehended them under
that of fair. Both views may equally be expressed
in Christian language. In the present instance, the
idea of beauty is brought prominently forward, with
special reference to the maiming caused by moral
necessity. Philologically we note, that the positive
degree kolKop is here combined with the compara-
tive ^, on account of the attractive combmation
of the two constructions. (Comp. Meyer.)
cm\^. XVIII. 1-14.
325
Halt. — The loss of one foot causes the other to
halt. The expression " maimed" refers more partic-
ularly to the arras.
Yer. 10. Take heed. — Our Lord again addresses
Himself to the disciples, who were not to give of-
fence, lie mentions the cause of such oflfence as con-
sisting in contempt, more especially of these little 02i.es.
Accordingly, He now points out the high value which
God sets upon tliem.
Their angels in heaven do always behold.
— De Wette : " In the Old Testament we only read
of guardian angels of empires (Dan. x. 13, 20). But
at a later period the Jews believed also in the ex-
istence of guardian angels for individuals (Targ. Jon-
athan; Gen. xxxiii. 10 ; xxxv. 10; xlviii. 1(5. Eisen-
menger, Neuentdeckies Judentkum, i. 389). Similarly
also the New Testament (Acts xii. 7 ?) The expres-
sion, that the guardian angels of these children al-
ways behold the face of God, or are near unto Him
(as the servants of a king, 2 Kings xxv. 19), implies,
that God specially cares for them. But as Jesus
cannot ascribe any partiality to God, even for inno-
cent children, the whole statement must be regarded
as a figurative expression, indicating the high value
attaching to these children, and the importance of
their spiritual welfare." Meyer, in opposition to
de Wette, justly remarks : "The belief in guardian
angels is here clearly admitted by Christ. Critics
should simply acknowledge the fact, without adopt-
ing the idea that it applies to patron saints enjoying
peculiar bliss in heaven." Grotius takes the Roman
Catholic view of this passage, which of course most
Protestant divines controvert. Grotius appeals to
Origen [Homil. viii. in Genesin), to Tertullian (de
Baptismo), and to Clement, who speaks of the pro-
tecting demon in which the Platonists believed. Still,
Clement does not maintain in so many words that
every one had his patron angel. Origen, and after
him Gregory of Nyssa, held that every person was
accompanied both by a good and by an evil angel.
The view of Grotius is somewhat different. He be-
lieves in the general guardianship of angels, rather
than in the attendance of individual messengers of
mercy. Olshausen apphes the passage to the pre-
cxistent ideal of men. But it deserves notice, that
while Jesus evidently admits the doctrine concerning
guardian angels, which had been fully developed dur-
ing the period of the Apocrypha, He lays special em-
phasis not so much on that subject, as on the fact,
that the angels of these little ones always behold the
face of God. Not only are they highly placed, but
they do not seem to be actively employed — as if God
were through them always Himself looking upon
these little ones. There is a most special Providence
watching over the little ones, of which the angels are
the medium, and in which the angelic life of these
children is combined with the highest guardianship
in heaven and on earth. The fundamental idea is,
that the highest angels of God in heaven represent
the smallest subjects of His kingdom on earth, Ps.
cxiii. 5, 6. The eye of God rests in special protec-
tion on the young seed in His kingdom (Matt. xix.).
But as Christ is the Angel of His presence in a unique
sense, while here we read of angels of the presence
in the plural (the idea being formed after the analogy
of the ministers of eastern kings, 2 Kings xxv. 19,
comp. with 1 Kings x. 8), it follows, that Christ Him-
self, as the great Advocate and Intercessor, is Him-
self the central-point of this angelic guardianship.
Yer. 1 1 . That -which is lost. — A strong gener-
al expression, designating those who are lost. Meyer :
those who had incurred eternal damnation. But the
succeeding pava))le shows tliat our Lord rather refers
to those who had strayed and were in misery. The
conduct of Christ forms a direct contrast to that of
the men giving offence. • He came to save that which
was lost ; while they, in their pride, repelled those
who had lately given hope of escaping from their lost
state. Hence also, as the Angel of the presence, and
as Saviour of the lost, Christ Himself is surety to us
that tlicse little ones are represented in the presence
of His Father by Himself and His associates.
[Stiek : " Here is Jacob's ladder planted before
our eyes : beneath are the little ones [the children
of age and of grace] ; — then their angels ; — then the
Son of Man in heaven, in whom alone man is exalted
above the angels, who, as the great Angel of the
Covenant, cometh from the presence and bosom of
the Father to save tliose that were lost; and above
Him again (ver. 14) the Father Himself, and His good
pleasure." — P. S.]
Yer. 12. What think ye? — In^ch. xv. 4, this £ c
parable is again introduced in a different context.
But we readily trace an internal connection between
these two occasions, both in reference to the circum-
stances in which they were uttered, and to the state
of feehng prevaOing at the time. The difference, that
in the one case the ninety-nine sheep are represent-
ed as left in the mountains, and in the other in the
vjilderness, is unimportant. Of greater moment is
the fact, that in the Gospel -of Matthew the parable '
is addressed to the Pharisees, who themselves repre-
sent the ninety-nine sheep, while in the Gospel of fiyO
Luke it is spoken to the New Testament shepherds,
who, after the example of the Master, were to take
special charge of the lost.
Ver. 14. JElven so it is not the will of your
Father. — He has no fixed purpose that one of these
little ones perish. We regard this as a decisive
statement against the doctrine of actual predestina-
tion to condemncdion. This negation implies, in the
first instance, a denial of all those assumptions ac-
cording to which hierarchical minds attempt judicial-
ly to fix the state of souls. For this they have no
authority whatever in the gospel ; on the contrary,
their human traditions are in direct opposition to the
will of God. The statement of Christ, also, evidently
implies an affirmation, that God willeth that all should
be saved (1 Tim. ii. 4). He would secure for Him-
self the full number of His flock ; and hence caileth
sinners, and more particularly the lost. On this very
ground, then, His great care is on behalf of that
which is lost ; His is saving grace. To such an ex-
tent is His administration directed by grace, that, in
view of it, one lost sheep may exceed in importance
ninety-nine who are not lost. These ninety-nine sheep
either feed themselves (according to the passage in
the text), or else deem themselves independent of
special help (according to the passage in Luke). At
all events, the case is quite different with the lost
sheep, whether the idea of " lost " be taken in the
objective, as in t!ie text, or in the subjective sense,
as in Luke. To all such the blessed decree of grace
applies, and for such the Son and the Spirit are
waitmg.
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. It scarcely requires any argument to show that
this statement of the Lord concerning the little child
affords no evidence against the doctrine of original
326
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
sin. When Jesus called Peter blessed, He referred
to his faith as Peter, not to his individuality as Si-
mon. Similarly, vhen setting the child in the midst,
it is its eliildlikenoss, and not the mere fact of its
youth, far less that of its innocence, which is intend-
ed as an emblem and model. Children are here a
symbol of humility, just as natural birth is a symbol
of regeneration. Hence we also infer that the Lord
here alluded to the natural humility of the child, to
its dependence, need of affection, and consequent
want of pretension, as well as to its enjoyment of the
passing moment.
2. IVho is the greatest in tJie kitigdom of heaven ?
— Who has the primacy? It might almost seem as
if the disciples were relapsing into their old Jewish
views of a carnal kingdom, with political offices,
ranks, and dignities attaching to it. But this was
not the case. They knew that their ficKAriaia was
destined to form a contrast to the ancient theocracy,
and to the kingdoms of this world. Still, they had
as yet no adequate conception of a spiritual order of
things, and accordingly transferred to the Church
their political and hierarchical associations. If a
Church was to be founded, a hierarchy must, in their
opinion, be instituted along with it. This idea seems
to have been further confirmed in their minds after
the transaction about the tribute-money, in which
they seem to have noted rather the distinction con-
ferred on Peter, than the humiliation wliich he had
experienced.
3. As the inquiry of the disciples bore so dis-
tinctly upon the establishment of a hierarchy, the
symbolical action of the Master, in placing a child in
the midst of them, formed the most complete refuta-
tion of their theory. Still, this ti-ansaction does not
in the least invalidate the institution of the apostoli-
cal and ecclesiastical office (ch. xvi.). Hence the pas-
sage must be regarded as only more clearly defining
the ecclesiastical office, as a ministry of love (a min-
isterial office for the sacerdotium of the whole con-
gregation, according to the principles of the gospel),
— a ministry of humility, in opposition to hierarchical
claims ; of condescension to little ones, in opposition
to that of ascending grades ; and of pastoral watch-
fulness, in opposition to hierarchical pride and dom-
ination, which is here characterized and condemned
both as the grand offence of New Testament times,
and as the greatest temptation and corruption of the
Christian world. From this explanation of the Lord,
we are enabled to gather the great outlines of New
Testament Church order: 1. Its leading principles
(in our section) ; again, 2. the rules of Christian dis-
cipline ; 3. tliose of Christian and ecclesiastical ab-
solution. The leading principles are as follows :
a. First principle : Except ye be converted. —
Conversion is the primary condition, not only of be-
ing leaders in the kingdom of heaven, but even of
being members of it.' This conversion must be more
particularly characterized by a childlike want of pre-
tension,— i. e., by spiritual humility, which may be
described as repentance in a permanent form. Hence
the imperious hierarch excludes himself, both by his
spirit and by his conduct, not only from office, but
even from the kingdom of heaven itself. He ceases
not merely to be a servant of Christ, but even a
Christian. All such desires after primacy must be
removed by conversion and regeneration. Luther :
" Who has ever seen an animal living after its head
was dead V "
b. Second principle : Whosoever therefore shall
humble kimself. — Rank or dignity in the kingdom of
heaven is to be proportionate to humility and to the
ministry of love. In other words, real condescension
(not merely by such jjhrascs as the i)apal servus ser-
voruin) is to be the measure of our real exaltation.
The general basis underlying all is, that all are equal
and one in Christ. The desires after primacy are to
give place to an opposite desire after fraternal ser-
vice of love.
c. Third principle : Whoso shall receive one
such little child. — Christ would have us recognize and
receive Himself in these little ones, or in beginners
in the faith. Our evangelical ministry is to be char-
acterized by respect and veneration for the life that
is of God, or for Christ in His little ones. Thus the
pastoral office is to combuae the qualities of freedom
on the one, and of love on the other, hand ; while it
is at the same time made the means of training the
young and the weak in faith to the manhood and
full stature in Christ.
Thus there are three degrees of evangelical pri-
macy— humble faith, condescension to the little ones,
and the training and elevating them — in opposition
to the three stages of hierarchical primacy. The lat-
ter are — 1. Progressive symbolical conversion to hie-
rarchism ; 2. hierarchical gradations ; 3. contempt
of the congregation of the little ones. Accordingly,
the triple crown of the true minister of Christ con-
sists in conversion and humility, fraternal service of
love, and veneration for the priestly character of the
congregation (Christ in the little ones).
4. But ivhoso shall offend. — We have now a delin-
eation of the opposite conduct.
a. From the context we gather that the passage
applies exclusively to offences arising from hierarch-
ical pride, self-exaltation and contempt of these little
ones. The Lord first refers to the sin, and then to the
punishment.
b. Jesus announces that great danger and cor-
ruption would accrue to the world from these offen-
ces. Woe unto the world because of offences !
e. The Lord shows how His servants may come
to give offence to others, having been first tempted
and seduced themselves (being offended by their
hand, their foot, or their eye). From the context we
gather that in this connection the term hand refers
to ecclesiastical despotism (Matt, xxiii. 13, 14), /oo<
to activity in proselytizing (Matt, xxiii. 15), and eye
to pride of knowledge which would seek to exalt pa-
tristic, gnostic, theosophic, or mystical lore and fel-
lowship above the Church, Rom. xii. 3. The Apostle
John, who was the occasion of this saying, himself
afforded a signal instance of the manner in which a
right hand was to be cut off {see the author's Leben
Jesu., ii. 2, p. 1021). Stier (iii. 26) seems to overlook
the necessity of John's special training for the high
place which he was to occupy in the kingdom of
God.
(/. The source of these offences : contempt of the
little ones. This is to give place to a proper acknowl-
edgment of their character, of their mysterious prox-
imity to God, of their calling and object in the king-
dom of heaven, and of their glorious and blessed
representatives and guardians, viz., the angels and
Christ Himself.
5. Both the above antitheses are now explained
and illustrated by the fundamental idea and charac-
teristic feature of the kingdom of heaven, which is
compassion. For the Son of Man is come to save
that which was lost. Christ primarily came to seek
that which was lost, and not merely the little ones.
In this economy of sovereign pity, where the Saviour
CHAP. XVni. 1-14.
327
descends to the lowest depth of misery, there to dis-
play in all its fulness His character as Redeemer, it
is impossible' that His subordinate servants should
enter upon an opposite course. The waichfubiess of
the faithful shepherd in the moimtains serves as an
emblem of the faithfuhiess of our he. .venly Shepherd.
But the root and spring of their life : lust ultimately
be traced to the gracious purpose of our Father in
heaven, who willeth not that one of these Uttle ones
perish.
6. The fact, that in Matt, xviii. the disciples are
introduced as asking the Lord who was the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven, mcoiUcstably proves that
He could not have meant His statement in Matt. xvi.
to imply that Peter was to enjoy any primacy in the
Church.
v. We may here remark, that for educational pur-
poses it is well, wisely to set before children the two
great dangers — of excessive childishness, on the one
hand, and, on the other, of an unchildlike spirit.
aOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The Lord Himself must settle the question about
primacy. — Primacy in the kingdom of heaven belongs
to obscure children. — The solemn declaration of the
Lord against any human primacy in His Church. —
Let us take the little ones, and not the great of this
•world, as our model for the offices and dignities in
the Church. — The httle child a warning lesson set be-
fore thf Apostles. — How the Lord has made children
a perpetual and living condemnation of spiritual and
ecclesiastical pretensions. — The child a twofold em-
blem: 1. A model to those who deem themselves
great, how they are to become little, and thereby really
great ; 2. a symbol of those who are Uttle in a spirit-
ual sense, and who are not to be offended by sjiirit-
ual domination. — Personal regeneration the condition
of ecclesiastical greatness. — It is altogether vain to
contend for a position in the kingdom of God, if there
is any question as to our having entered into it. —
" Except ye be converted ; " or, aims after worldly
greatness in the Cl^urch, are in reality aims after go-
ing beyond its pale. — A perversion of the office of
minister into ruler, as raising the question of the gen-
uineness of our first conversion. — In what respect
may children serve as models to the ministers of
Christ ? — To Christians generally? — Self-abasement
the only road to exaltation in the kingdom of heaven.
— How the little ones grow, just because they are
little. — How the want of pretension in children se-
cures their enjoyment of life and their pre-eminence.
— The threefold sermon of the Lord on the subject
of the little ones : 1. Become as little children, in or-
der to become Christians ; 2. Receive these httle
children for Christ's sake ; 3. Offend not these httle
children, who enjoy the guardianship of the angels
and of the Father who is in heaven. — Whoso shall
receive one such Uttle chUd. — Only he who can feed
the lambs can feed the sheep ; see John xx. 15. —
Honorable distinction of the office of teacher. — Sa-
credness of the catechetical office. — Solemn judgment
resting on those who give offence to the little ones. —
To what offences did the Lord specially refer in the
text ? — Ofi'enccs are unavoidable, yet their authors
are chargeable with them. — If we are to avoid giving
oifence to the members of Christ, let us beware of
taking offence in our own members. — How a Chris-
tian may become an oifence in the Church : 1, By
the domination of his hand ; 2. by the spurious pros-
elytizing zeal of his foot ; 3. by the fanatical and
distorted perceptions of his eye. — How a Christian
is to make sure of his fellowship with the Church,
even at the cost of the most painful sacrifices, Rom.
xii. 3 ; in the same manner also to secure his own
salvation. — The abuse of God's gifts for selfish pur-
poses will ensure our ruin. — Christ condescending to
seek that which was lost a model to His servants. —
How the ways of the Lord, and of those who would
assume the mastery in the Church, are opposed: 1.
Christ descended, and then ascended ; 2. they ascend,
and then descend, as if a millstone were hanged
round their necks, and they drawn into the depths
of the sea. — The ministry of the gospel not priestly
domination, but pastoral service. — The faithfulness
of earthly shepherds a symbol of that of the Great
Shepherd. — Why the Shepherd cherishes so much
tlie lost sheep : 1. Because it is a lost life, and not a
dead possession ; 2. because He is a faithful Shep-
herd, full of compassion, not one who reckons close-
ly.— One lost sheep may be of greater importance to
the Good Shepherd than ninety and nine who have
not gone astray; or, the infinite glory of the king-
dom of grace. — " It is not the will of your Father,"
etc. Lessons to be derived from this by the Church :
1. In resjiect of doctrine; 2. in respect of rule; 3.
in respect of the mission of the Church. — The three-
fold will : to save that which was lost. The wiU, 1.
in heaven above ; 2. on Golgotha ; 3. in the heart
of the Church.
Starke : — Hedinc/er : What a shame that the
disciples of Christ should be engrossed with pride
and ambition, when their Head has become their ser-
vant, and for their sake humbled Himself even unto
death ! — Zeisius : It is the wicked way of man that
each one seeks to become high, not lowly — to ride,
not to serve. — It is not said. Become Uttle children,
l3ut, Become as little children. — Langii opus bihl. :
The innocence of children appears especiaUy in their
simplicity, h\nniUty, love, kindliness, and obedience,
viewing these qualities alone, and irrespective of their
faults. — Zeisius : He v.ho is lowest in his own eyes,
and in those of the world, is greatest before God. —
Think not hov/ you may becotne great, but rather
how ye may be made small. — What a blessed work,
and what glorious reward, to become the patron and
friend of children, of orphans, and of the weak ! —
Canslcin : To build orphanages is a great work. —
What precious treasure have parents in their chil-
dren, since for their sakes the holy angels and Christ
Himself lodge with them ! Bibl. Wurt. — Quesnel :
If to offend one soul is to incur the wrath of God,
how awful must be the judgment of those who offend
a whole town or country ! — Offences are the source
of fearful evil to the world ; but they are made to
work together for good to them that love God.
Lisco : — The main point consists in that sense
of weakness and dependence which is characteristic
of children.
Gerlach : — On account of their weakness, chil-
dren require the special protection of angels; but
they are so precious in the sight of God, that He
selects for that purpose His most exalted messen-
gers.
Heulner : — The human heart is naturaUy inclined
to self-exaltation, and both ambition and pride find
their way even into the kingdom of Christ. — How
Christ answered the inquiry, what constituted true
and what spurious greatness. — Each one of us re-
quires a thorough conversion of the heart. — A child-
328
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 5IATTIIEW.
like spirit, the basis of true religion. — A childlike
spirit : humility, guilelcssness, forgetfuhiess of self,
teachableness, "faith. — G-'o/te (from )Spangenberg and
Luther) : The child the living symbol of the destiny
of man. — The more willing thou art to become a
child, the more fully wilt thou experience that (>od
is thy Father. — The time will come when God will ac-
knowledge quiet, humble, and retiring souls. — Those
who seduce simple and unsuspecting minds incur the
heaviest guilt. — The woi-ld the scene of offences. —
Every other evil is as nothing compared with the
number of seductions in the world. — Children and
childlike persons the special favorites of Heaven. —
To train children is to give joy to the angels. — Bren-
tiiis, Prof alio calechismi : In medio jmerorum ver-
sari est esse in medio angelorum. — On the whole
section: — The conversion to childhkeness of spirit
which the Lord here requires: 1. Its character; 2.
its importance. — How Christ, the Friend of children,
recommends children to our care. — Christ is that
faithful Shepherd who has left His thousands on the
heavenly mountains (the angelic hosts, as Cyril of
Jerusalem has it. Cat. xv.) to come down and seek
the lost sheep of liumanity. — Rieger {Five Sermons,
Leipzig, 1766): The gracious care of our Father in
heaven and of Christ even for a single soul.
Bachmann : — The high value attaching to chil-
dren in the kingdom of God.
B. The Discipline of the Church. Ch. XVIII. 15-20.
15 Moreover [But] if tliy brother shall trespass [sin, ajxapTrjo-r}] ' against thee,'' go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained
1 6 thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more,, that in
17 the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established [crTa^yl]. And if
he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church : ^ but if he neglect to hear the
church [also, Kat], let him be unto thee as a heathen man [heathen] and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
19 and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again [verily]* I
say unto you, That if [only] two of you shall agree ^ on earth as touching anything
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which [who] is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them.
1 Ver. 15.— [Compare ver. 21, where the E. V. renders ap-apravnv : sin. — P. S.]
- Ver. 15.— Lacbimmn and Tischendorf [not in his large critical edition of IS.^IO], iifler Cod. B., al., omit els a 4
(rtgainst thee). The oruission made the sense clearer; but for this very reason the words should be retained.
3 Ver. IT.— [Here 4 k k\7i a ia is used in the sense of a particular or Incal congregation, as often in the Epistles,
while in xvi. 18 it means the church universal, since no individual congregation (or denomination) has the promise of in-
destructible life. Couip. on e rf /c At; o" i a , and its proper translation, the Crii. Note No. 4 on p. 293.— P. S.]
■1 Ver. 19. — The reading TtaKiv a fir) if [instead of tt d\iv without a/.i^f] is very strongly attested [and adopted
by Tischendorf and Alford. Laehuiann reads afiriv without TraAii/, and gives Cod. B. as his authority. But this is an
error ; the Vatican Codex, both in the edition of Angelo Mai and that of Phil. Buttmann jun., reads ir d\ tv afirj v,
-P. S.]
^ Ver. 19. — The future a v ij.<*^ co vt} a o v rr iv is best attested. [Adopted by Tischendorf and Alford. Sustained by
Cod. Sin.ait. which reads: iav Svo ffvfKpwr-fifTovmv e| uixajv. Lachmann reads with Cod. Vaticanus and tecct. rec. the
subjunctive av/j-cbwurjcr co aii', which looks like a grammatical emendation. Mover (1858) and Tischendorf (18.59) quote
Cod. B. in favor of the future, but both the editions of this Codex by Angelo Mai (Rome. 1857, and sec. ed., 1859) and that
of Phil. Buttmann (Berlin, 1SC2) read the subjunctive, as stated previously by Birch and Lachmann. The o> or ou scorns
to be very indistinetlv written in the original MS., so as to account for the difference among the collators and editors.
Comp. the note in Biittmann's edition ofCod. Vat., p. 501, sub Matt, xviii. 19.— P. S.]
Ver. 15. Again.st thee. — Xot merely referring
to personal offences, but rather to sins, which, bemg
done in presence of others, cannot but excite atten-
tion and give offence. Viewed in the context, it
might be paraphrased : Sin not against thy brother
by giving liim offence. Again, on the other hand,
overcome by the disciplLae of love the offence which
he has given thee.
Between thee and him alone. — First measure.
Brotherly admonition, or private entreaty. Meyer:
" The administration of reproof is here represented
as intervening between the two parties." But this
critic is mistaken in supposing that the text refers to
party disputes. Of course, the expression implies
that the guilt rests with our brother.
Thou hast gained thy brother. — Euthym.
Zigab. : In respect of brotherly fellowship. Meyer,
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
Logical Connection. — Meyer denies the existence
of such a connection with the precediug context, and
objects to the construction of Beza : " ITbi de iis dis-
seruit, qui sunt alas offendiculo, nunc quid sit iis fa-
ciendum declarai, quibus ohjcctum est offendiculum^
.The connection lies in the condemnation of hierarchi-
cal practices. Hence the view of Beza is substan-
tially correct. Give no offence to your neiglibor, but
rather overcome by love the offence which he gives
to you. Or, in the special form in which it is ex-
pressed in the text. Put no stumbhng-bloek Ln the
w,iy of your neighbor by hierarchical offences, but
rather assist the Church in removing such of-
fences.
CHAP. XVm. 15-20.
more correctly: For the kingdom of the Messiah.
Both ideas, however, seem combined in the text.
The person who has been gained for the kingdom of
the Messiah becomes the brotlier of him who has
thus gained hun. He has been (/ained by wisdom
and cautious dealing, when serious loss seemed im-
pending. Such private expostulation implies self-
denial and courage, while it gives our brother the
hnpression that we feel for him, that we love him,
and would willingly spare him. Such an assault of
love upon his heart may gain him. The opposite
course, of hastily divulging his fault, is an evidence
of pride, harshness, cowardice, want of love and of
prudence. In all probability, it will only tend to em-
bitter, and thus further to alienate our brother. Be-
sides, in our personal dealings as individuals, we are
not entitled to go beyond this private expostulation,
unless wc know that we act in the spirit of the
whole Church (Acts v. ; 1 Cor. v.).
Ver. 16. One or two more. — This is the sec-
ond measure to be adopted. One or two witnesses
are now to be called in. The law of Moses enjoined
the judicial examination of witnesses (Deut. xix. 15).
In this instance, the final judgment of God is sup-
posed to be already commencing, and witnesses are
called in, because the guilty brother is to become
his own judge.
The question has been asked, whether the word
ff T a 0 j) here means, " be established,^^ or else, " stand
stin, rest, dependy The latter meaning seems to be
preferable, as the guilt of the offending brother is
apparently admitted. The fault of our brother is
not to be prematurely published. Hence, while in
the first clause of the verse we read, " Take with
thee one or two," the last clause speaks of two or
three witnesses. If our brother confesses his fault,
he becomes himself the third witness, and there are
no longer merely two, but three who know of the
fault.
Ver. 11. To the church (congregation). —
Third measure. From ch. xvi. 1 8, the term iKKXr)-
(T I a must always be understood as referring to the
Christian Church, or to the meeting of believers,
whether it be large or small. Calvin, Beza, and
others mistake equally the meanuag and the connec-
tion of the passage in applying it to the Jewish syna-
gogue. In opposition to this, de Wette remarks, 1.
That the term iicKXriaia is never appUed to the syna-
gogue ; 2. that Jesus could not have meant to direct
His disciples to apply to a community which was
estranged from them in spirit, for the purpose of re-
storing brotherly relations among themselves; 3.
that vers. 18-20 evidently refer to Christian fellow-
ship, and to its power and quickening by His pres-
ence. But when de Wette suggests that both this
passage and ch. xvi. 18 were a historical prolepsis,
he must have wholly missed the connection of the
gospel history in the mind of Matthew. Similarly,
Roman CathoUc interpreters are entirely in error in
explaining the passage : Tell it to the bishops. Even
de Wette and Yitringa go beyond the text, in sup-
posing that it applies to the function of the rulers of
the Church as arbitrators or judges on moral ques-
tions. On the contrary, the iicKXriaia is in this pas-
sage put in antithesis to the question touching the
ixei^cju iv TTj $a.cri\eia roiy ovpavHiv. Uence this
would have "been the most unsuitable place for any-
thing like the sanction of a hierarchy. It is indeed
truethat the Church is, in the first place, approach-
ed and addressed through its officials. But then we
must also bear in mind, that there is an entire ac-
cordance between the views and dealings of these
officials and those of the Church, and not anything
like hierarchical assumption on their part (comp. 1
Cor. V. 4). [Alfoud : " That e/cKAijo-io cannot mean
the Church as represented by her rulers, appears by
(from) vers. 19, 20, — where any collection of believ-
ers is gifted with the power of decidmg in such
cases. Nothing could be further from the spirit of
our Lord's command than proceedings in what were
oddly enough called ' ecclesiastical courts.' " — P. S.]
Let him be unto thee. — The Jews regarded
heathens and publicans as excommvmicated persons.
As such we are to consider a Christian who perse-
veres in his offence : he is no longer to be acknow-
ledged as belonging to the fello^vship of saints. The
accord of the Church m this step is implied. Still
the verse reads. Let him be to tliee — not, to the
church ; the personal impulse being in this case a
prophetic manifestation of the gift of discerning the
spirits. Viewing it in this light, we cannot imagine
how Meyer could infer that it did not apply to ex-
communication— all the more so, that he himself re-
fers it to the cessation of all fellowship with such a
person. However, we question the correctness of
the latter statement. In our opinion, the text only
implies the cessation of ecclesiastical fellowship, not
of civil or social intercourse. In point of fact, it
was the mistake of the Jews to convert what was in-
tended as an ecclesiastical censure into a civil pun-
ishment. Perhaps this might be excusable under
the ancient theocracy, when State and Church were
not yet distinct. Nay, when the theocracy was first
founded, it, was even necessary under certain condi-
tions, and for a season {see the laws against the Ca-
naanites). But under the New Testament dispensa-
tion this confusion of civil and sacred matters has
entirely ceased. Christ did not regard the pubhcans
and heathens, viewed as such, as belonging to His
communion ; but He considered them the objects of
His mission. Accordingly, we must take the idea of
excommunication in this light. The Roman Catholic
Church has, on the question of discipline, again
lapsed into Judaism. Regardmg those who are ex-
communicated as heretics, if not as heathens and
pubhcans, it hands tliem over to the civil tril^unals.
Ver. 18. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever
ye shall bind on earth. — It is very remarkable
that Christ should have employed a solemn adjura-
tion, when according the power of the keys to all
His disciples, and with them to the Church generally,
or rather to the Church along with the disciples.
For, evidently, while ver. 17 lays down the rule for
the conduct of the Church, ver. 18 shows that the
Church is warranted in this conduct. This right is
agam solemnly confirmed by the amen in ver. 19.
The similarity of expression with ch. xvi. 19 shows
that this passage also refers to the office of the keys ;
and hence that both vers. 17 and IS referred to its
exercise. The privilege therefore of Peter only con-
sisted in this, that he was the first to make confes-
sion and to bear witness (.see Acts v., viii., xi.), in
accordance with the Church generally, to which he
also was subject. But whenever he occupied a sep-
arate position, he also subjected himself to the dis-
cipline and reproof of the Church (Gal. ii. 11).
Ver. 19. Again, verily I say unto you. — The
reading irakiv ajxy]u is very fully attested. This amen
was afterward omitted from the text, probably from
an apprehension that it might be quoted in support
of separatism. — That if [only] two of you shall
agree. — The smallest number which could foi-m a
330
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
fellowship. They shall agree on earth, i. e., in form-
ing a social and visible fellowship. This, however,
does not imply that two believers will always suffice
to form a church. Tiie emphasis rests on the word
avfx^uivia. Such a full agreement of two persons
could only be wrought by the Holy Spirit. Hence
it represents in principle the cathoUcity of the whole
Church. The smallest fragment of a straight line
may be closely and homogeneously joined to all sLm-
Dar fragments. Suffice it, that the Church may com-
mence, continue and be reformed with two individ-
uals. The prayer of these two humble individuals
on earth brings down the gi-acious answer of the Fa-
ther who is in heaven, thereby attesting and confirm-
ing the character of the Church.
Ver. 20. For where two or three are gath-
ered together. — A confirmation and explanation of
what liiid preceded. The two individuals must not
stand aloof in a sectarian spirit, but seek to become
three. Similarly, their crv/xcpuvia must consist in
being gathered togctlier in the name of Jesus. If
such be the case, Himself is in the midst of them by
His Spirit. It is this presence of the Shechinah, in
the real sense of the term, which forms and consti-
tutes His iKK\7)(xia, or Kahal. Hence it also enjoys
both the blessings and the protection of our Father
who is in heaven. Lightfoot ; " Simile dicunt Jial-
bini de duobus aut trihus considentibus in judicio,
quod Schechina sit in inedio eorumP
The statement in ver. 19 must evidently be re-
garded as primarily a continuation of the second
measure prescribed in cases of offence, when two or
three witnesses were to be called in. It is as if the
Lord hoped that, by their earnest continuance in
prayer, these witnesses would prevent the necessity
of extreme measures. But if they should be obliged
to assemble in His name in order to lay a formal ac-
cusation before the Church, the Lord promised to be
in the midst of them. The fact that tlie phraseology
of the text so closely resembles that of ver. 16,
seems to imply, in a certain sense, an antithesis.
Probably the meaning is: The two or three who
form a true Church shall not be entirely dependent
upon tlie large majority of a larger sKKX-qiria, nor
upon the possible abuse of the power of the keys.
Their outward minority is compensated by the bless-
ing of the Father, and by the presence of Christ, or
by an inward and real excess of power. Thus the
Lord points to the circumstance, that the essential
characteristics and the power of the Church lie not
in the existence of an outward majority, or in the
presence of great masses of people. Christ inter-
venes between the first and the thii-d measure of dis-
cipline.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. According to the direction of the Lord in the
passage under consideration, ecclesiastical discipline
should above all things rest on the basis of brotherly
faithfulness in the private intercourse of Christians.
This is the first condition for the proper exercise of
Church discipUne.
2. According to apostolic direction, excommuni-
cation was only to take place if the person who gave
offence obstinately resisted the Church itself. In
that case, both truth and honor required that such
bold and open opposition, either to the principles,
doctrines, or practice of the Church, should not be
tolerated in the midst of it. More than this ; esteem,
love, and faithfulness toward the offending brother
himself demanded such a step. Still, such an one
was only to be ranked with that class from which he
had at first been taken, and from which the Church
is ever willing to receive proselytes, and hence also
to welcome penitents. All this implies that the ex-
communicated person was not to be subjected to
civil pains and penalties by the Church. — " Let him
be iinio thee as a heathen and a publican^ These
words convey a very different meaning to Christians
from what they did to the Jews. The latter despised
and condemned heathens and pubhcans ; Christ re-
ceived them. In other words, where the discipliiie
of the Church ceases, its missionary work com-
mences anew. Perhaps we might rather call it the
catechetical office — as the penitent professes a desire
to have the bond which had been broken restored,
and hence does not require to be again admitted by
a new baptism, but only to be restored to the fellow-
ship of the Church.
3. The characteristic of true cathohcity is not
outward uniformity, but inward unity in the Spirit of
Christ. Therefore, when even two are completely
united, they are, in point of fact, in fellowship with
all the holy spirits both in heaven and on earth, and
Christ Himseli' is m the midst of them.
4. Not " three or two,^^ but " two or threeP The
pure Church may for a time be very small, but it
must always aim after imiversality. Besides, it de-
serves notice that this saying of the Lord was close-
ly connected with His teaching about primacy in the
Church, and about offences ; hence we may see with
what tender care He watched over the interests and
how He defended the origin of the evangelical
Church.
5. On the subject of Jewish excommunication,
comp. Winer's Real-Wvrtcrbuch^ sub Bann, and on
Christian excommunication, Herzog's Real-Encyclop.,
sub Barm. The lesser excommunication implied only
the cessation of full and purely ecclesiastical fellow-
ship. The person excluded became, for the time, a
non-communicant. A deep meaning attached to the
practice of the ancient Church, by which such an
individual was in cei'tain respects ranked among the
general hearers of the word and the catechumens.
In truth, his connection with the Church had not
wholly ceased; it may be regarded rather as sus-
pended for a time, than as completely terminated.
Hence the greater excommunication may be said to
be no longer applicable to any individuals, as it neces-
sarily involved civil consequences. At first sight,
some of the statements of Paul seem to imjily such
a procedure ; but a further examination of the pas-
sages in question will modify our ideas on that point.
Thus, 1 Cor. V. 11 refers probably to the common
meal of brotherly fellowship ; while the formulas in
1 Cor. xvi. 22, and Gal. i. 8, 9, appear to us to be
couched in hypothetical language, as a thing that
might and should take place in certain circumstances,
not as one that had actually occurred. Of recent
writers on the subject, we mention Meyer of Rostock,
Otto (Bonn, 1856), M. Gobel, On Eccl. DiscipUne in
the Reformed Church until Calvin {Kirchl. Viertel-
jahr''s Schrift, ii. Jahrg., BerUn, 1S45). Also the
Transactions of the Gorman Church Diet for 1856.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The necessity of ecclesiastical discipline. 1. The
gospel cannot be preserved without salt ; nor, 2. fra-
CHAP. XVIII. 21-
331
temal love without frankness : nor, S. a particular
church without discipliue ; nor, 4. the Church in gen-
eral without the spirit of discipline. — The object of
all Christian and ecclesiastical reproof is to gain our
brother. — The frankness of affectionate, brotherly
faithfulness, the basis of ecclesiastical discipline. —
The exercise of ecclesiastical discipline implying the
institution and the establishment of a Christian
Church ; but, ou the other hand, churches must be
trained and educated to this duty. — The training of
the Church for the exercise of Christian discipline
forms the commencement of that discipline. — How
the discipliue of the Church is to prove affectionate
care for the spiritual welfare of our brother: 1. Its
object is to exclude sin from the Church, but to re-
tain our brother ; 2. its mode of exercise — frankness,
decision, wisdom, prudence. — How genume Church
discipliue observes the principle of progressing from
private to open dealings. — The object of Christian
reproof being to awaken, not to harden, we must
display — 1. Compassion, to the extent of even ap-
pearing to share the guilt ; 2. compassion, to the ex-
tent of even appearing to cry for help ; 3. compas-
sion, to the extent of even appearing to be inexorable.
— The three different kinds of Church disciphue: 1.
Our brother is excommunicated, but sin is retained
in the Church ; 2. sin is cast out along with our bro-
ther ; 3. sin is eliminated, and our brother restored.
— The right of reproof: The individual may exercise
it privately, if he has strength and courage for it ; a
small number of friends may administer it in kindly
intercourse; the Church may publicly exercise it,
i. e., not in opposition to the ministry, but as repre-
sented by it. — The exercise of discipline incumbent
on the Church and its representatives. — To whom
did Christ say, "Tell it to the Church?" 1. He
said it to Peter ; 2. to all the Apostles. — The Church
called to take an active part in the administration of
Its most sacred affairs. — The power of the keys vest-
ed in the apostolic Church. — How fellowship of
prayer leads to fellowship of faith. — Agreement of
the Spirit, a confirmation of the power of the keys.
— Evidence of this. — How the keys have lost their
power when the spirits are not subject to Christ. —
How the v.'hole Church of Christ may revive in the
smallest community. — The great Church appears in
a small conmiunity: 1. If there be agreement in the
spirit of prayer, securing the answer of the Father ;
2. if there be union in the name of Jesus, and hence
the presence of Christ. — The characteristic features
of the true Church: 1. An inward life of prayer; 2.
an outward Ufe of confession. — What is the state of
a church if, 1. the former of these two characteristics
is wanting ; or, 2. the latter ; or, 3. both are gone. —
The great promises of Christ shall be fulfilled, even
in the expeilence of the weakest church. — The watch
word of the Church and the watchword of sectarian-
ism. The former : two or three ; the latter : three or
two. — How this promise of the Lord was fulfilled in
the fomiation of the Protestant Churches.
Starke: — Zeisius: Secret sins should be secretly
rebuked and expiated, but open sins, openly. — Cra-
tner : It is very dangerous to be excluded from the
communion of the saints. — Hedingcr : The prayer of
a righteous man availeth much, nay, everything;
James v. 16.
Gerlacli: — What in ch. xvi. 19 had (apparently)
been bestowed upon Peter alone, is here conferred
on the whole Christian Church, being ultimately
traceable to the character of Christian communion
as the outward manifestation of the invisible Church.
— The Church of Christ on earth consists of a num-
ber of circles, dra^ai around the same centre, and al-
ways widening. Its well-being consists in this, that
all have the proper centre, and that none of the cir-
cles interferes with the other.
Gossner : — The principal thing is the agreement.
— All depends not on large numbers, but on the pre-
sence of Christ as the third or fourth in a spiritual
communion.
Heuhner : — We can only call those persons our
own whom we have gained for the kingdom of
heaven. — The decline of, and the difficulties attend-
ing upon, the exercise of scriptural discipline, con-
stitute glaring evidence of the sad decay of our State
Churches (or rather, of the hierarchical disinclination
of office to train the congregation to spiritual self-
government).* — Wherein may two be agreed ? Mani-
festly, not in temporal things (or rather, in matters
of pure egotism).
* A Prussian regulation of March 27, 174S, prohibits the
minister from excluding any of their church members from
the holy communion. "Now cases of the kind must be re-
ported to the royal consistories.
C. Absolution in the Church. Ch. XVIH. 21-35.
{Vers. 23-35 the Gospel for the 22d Sunday after Trinity.)
23
24
21 Then came Peter to liim, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me,
22 and I forgive him? till [imtil, ews] seven times? Jesus saith mito him, I say not unto
thee. Until [ewg] seven times : but, Until seventy times seven.
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king [a human king,
dvOpwTTU) ^aa-iXel], which would take account of [who desired to make a reckoning
with] ^ his servants. And when he had [only] begun to reckon, one was brought^ unto
25 him, which [who] owed hiin ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not [as he
was not able] to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children,
26 and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and
27 worshipped him, saying, Lord,* have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then
the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed [released] him, and
28 forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow ser-
332
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
vants, which [who] owed him a hundred ponce [shiUings? ht. : denaries, Sr/mpta] : * and
he hiid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying. Pay me ^ that tliou [Pay if
29 thou] " owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet,' and besought him, saying,
30 Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.* And he would not: but went and
31 cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what
was done, they were very sorry, and came and told (mto their [own, iavrwv] lord all
32 that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou
wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst [betoughtesij me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion [pity] on thy fellow servant, even as I
34 had pity on thee ? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till
35 he should pay all that was due unto him.^ So likewise shall my heavenly Father do
also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their tres-
passes.^"
• Ver. 23. — ["Os i}df\rj(Tf cvvupai \iyov fierd, /c.t.A. ; Lange : welcher abrechnen icollte, i. e., to maJce a reckon-
ing or settlement. Comp. 2 Kings xxi. 7, where the E. V. correctly renders : There was no reckoning made with tftem
of the money, etc. The Authorized Version in our place conveys a different meaning in modern English.— P. 8.]
- Ver. 24— n poa-r^x^V [for the more usual word : Trpoarivfx^V] in Codd. B., D., Origen, Lachmann. Tiscbendorf,
[Alford].
3 Ver. 26.— Kyp<e is omitted in B., D., etc., and by Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford].
* Ver. 28. — [Tlie UngUsh. pemiy is less than one seventh of a denarius, a Roman silver coin equivalent to the Attic
drachma, or about seven and a half pence sterling or fifteen American cents in value. See the Dictionaries. The inapt-
ness of the usual English rendering (in all the old English versions) appears more fully in ch. xx. 2, where laborers are
hired '■'■for a 'penny a day!:' instead of nearly eight times that amount. About two thii-ds of a denarius a day was the pay
of a Koman soldier. As there is no corresponding English coin, it is nooo-sary to adopt an inaccurate rendering or the
foreign word dendry, which would require a marginal explanation. Shilling (in the New York sense, i. e., one eighth of
an American doU.ar) would come nearest, but would lead to confusion, si iirc tin- Kii
(23 cents). Ewald, however, in his German translation, renders: Srl:i i , -• . T :;
in parenthesis Denare, Zehner (dimes). Campbell and Norton: <h>'> '
not in a Bible for popular use); Conant, and the N. T. of the Am. V'r.. • •
Trench in his interpretation of the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (,i. i:.i • ::i!.l tl
ITO), takes no notice whatever of this mistranslation and speaks repeatedly of an hi
P. S.]
s Ver. 2S.— Codd. B., D., L., etc., omit fx o t ,'me.
•^ Ver. 2S. — The reading eH ri is best attested and much stronger than on. It is a demand for payment in the
form of a rebuke : Thou wretch, he who owes, must pay! [Kwald and Lange translate: Bezahle, wenn duwas schuldig
hist.' Pay, if thou owest anything. Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford unanimously adopt the reading: 'AirdSos
e i' T I 6 (p 6 I A € I s , which Is now sustained also by Cod. Sinait. Dr. Conant ignores this difference of reading. — P. S.]
' Ver. 29.— The addition of the received text : eis rovs TvSSas ainou (at his feet) is omitted in Codd. B., C, D., etc.
[Tischenilorf and Alford ret.ain and defend the words against Lachmann, Tregelles, and Meyer, who omit them.— P. ii.]
8 Ver. 29.— The best authorities [also Cod. Sinait.] omit irdvra (all), which seems to be inserted to conform to
\er. 2G.
" Ver. 84.— B., D., etc., omit aura. [Lachmann and Alford omit it, Tischendorf retains it.— P. S.]
1" Ver. 85.— B., D., L., etc., omit the words: ra -w apanT dfj-ar a auroiv (their trespasses), which seem to be
inserted from ch. vi. 14, 15 ; Mark xi. 25, 26. [Cod. Sinait., .and all the critical editors, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles,
Alford, omit the words.— P. S.]
shilling is nearly double ;n value
I .;> Luther's Crosc/iew, but adds
■i ill a learned Commentary, but
. /'dries. It is surprising that
;lii' Laborers in the Vineyard (p.
ed pence as if it were all right. —
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 21. Until seven times, eos lirraKij. —
The directions of Christ in regard to the discipline
of the Church presuppose readiness to forgive. If
our brother listen to our admonition, and be recon-
ciled, he is to be forgiven. But the Lord had not
indicated how often this mercy was to be exercised.
It seemed to Peter as if there must be some limit in
the matter. His query indicated that he still regard-
ed forgiveness as something outward and quantita-
tive, rather than as something inward and spiritual.
His proposal, " until seven times " — the sacred num-
ber— is very characteristic of his state of mind. It
was, however, greatly in excess of the rabbinical or-
dinances, which prescribed forgiveness only three
times : " Homini in alterum peccanti semel rejniitunt,
secundo remittunf, tertio rem/ltiunt, quarto non remii-
tunt." Babyl. Joma. — [The Jewish rabbins based
the duty of forgiving three times and no more, upon
Amos i. 3 ; ii. 6 ; Job xxxiii. 29, 30. Peter, under
the influence of the spirit of Christian charity, in-
creased the number to seven, because in the Old Tes-
tament this number is closely Unked with the idea
of the covenant and of forgiveness, as well as with
that of retribution; comp. Lev. xxv. 28; xxvi. 18,
21, 24, 28 ; Ps. xxviii. 25 ; Dan. iv. 15 ; Rev. xv. 1.
—P. S.]
Ver. 22. I say not unto thee; — i. e., I do not
prescribe to thee.
Seventy times seven, k^^op.-nKovTaKis
eirrd. — Jerome, Erasmus, Grotius, de Wette,
[Trench], and others, explain seventy times seven-
fold [i. e., four hundred and ninety times]. But
Origen, Augustine, Bengcl, Ewald, and Meyer, ex-
plain seventy times and seven, or seventy-seven
times, as iindtus does not again occur at i^Sof^rjKov
TaKii sTrrd. Meycr says : "According to the Greek
idiom, tliis should have been expressed either by
eTTTtt Kal ifiooixrjKovTdKis or by e&5o,u7tKovTa eirrdKis.
But the expression is derived from the Sept., Gen. iv.
24 : ' If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly La-
mech seventyfold and seven.' " * The reference
* [Jerome already observed this significant contrast of
our Lord's seventy times seven of forgiveness to the antedi-
luvian Lamech's seventy and sevenfold of revenge. So
Trench asserts (p. 145), referring to Jerome's works'^ vol. ii.
p. 565, of the Benedictine edition. But I cannot find the
psissage in the Vallarsi edition, which I have before me. In
his Commentary on Matt, in loc. (Opera, tom. vii. col. 141,
ed. Vail.) Jerome makes no allusion to Gen. iv. 24, and
s.ays sim])ly : " Non iisque septies, sed usque septuagiei
CHAP. XVIII. 21-35.
seems tojbo in poiut ; all tiie more, that the saying
of Cliiist was probably intended to form a direct con-
trast to the revenge which Lamech imprecated.
Still, even though we bear in mind the symbolical
import of the number seven, yet the bare addition of
that numeral seems peculiar, and almost detracting
from tiie force of the injunction. It might, indeed,
be urged, that, according to the analogy of 101, it
implied nothing more than as it were the measure
seventy shaken and pressed down. First, seventy
times, and then, if you like, in addition to this, your
own seven times ! But Grotius translates Gen. iv. 24,
n:J::ttil CI^'DltJ, septuagks et id ipsimi scpiies ; nor
does tlie translation of the Sept. seem to us decided-
ly in favor of the opposite view. Besides, seventy
times sevenfold seems to us a more apt symbolical
expression for never-endmg forgiveness than seventy
tunes seven. However, grammatically and philologi-
cally, the point is not clear. Seventy is seven times
ten," or the symbolical number of the world multiplied
by that of the covenant. Of course, the expression
is intended to indicate by the figure of a large num-
ber the quality of endless forgiveness. TMs view
was already advocated by Theophylact.
Yer. 23. Therefore is the kingdom of hea-
ven likened. — Referring to the reply which had
been given to Peter. The parable which follows is
intended to illustrate the teaching of Christ about
our readiness to forgive. Meyer maintains that the
Saviour insists upon unlimited forgiveness, and not,
as de Wette suggests, merely upon readiness to for-
give. But the latter miplies the former; and, in
fiict, the two are identical in point of principle. The
act of forgiveness presupposes genuine repentance
on the part of our brother. — Likeyied. On account
of the guilt of man, it had become necessary that
the kingdom of heaven should rest on compassion as
its foundation.
Unto a human king.* — The expression is in-
tended to mark the antithesis to the heavenly King.
— His servants. — Here represented as administer-
ing his possessions. — He desired to make a reck-
oning, or settlement. — This refers to eternal jus-
tice ever seeking to right matters, and to the im-
pending judgment; hence more especially to the
economy of the law and its results.
Ver. 24. But "when he had onlyf begun. —
Very solemn and significant. — One was brought
unto him, — i. e., one of the first and highest. — Ten
thousand talents. — " An expression intended to in-
dicate the infinite debt incurred, which could nevei"
be dischai'ged. As it were an immense number of
the largest coin." The Attic talent was equal to 60
minm [6,000 draclwicB^, or 1,375 Prussian dollars
{see Boeckh's StaatshaushaU der Athener, i. 15),:]:
and the mine to 100 denarii.^ " Hence one talent =
septies, id est, quadringentis nonaginta vicibus, ut totics
peccant! fratri dimitteret in die, quoties ille peccare non
possit.' — P. S.]
* [Meyer likewise emphasizes avQpdnrcf, which the Eng-
lish Version renders: a certain king. '■'■ Zu P aff i\ et
ist nieht ohne Griind a. v d p d) ir cf) eugesetzt, da das
HiMMELKEicn mit einem MENScnLicnEN Konige verglichen
•wird, Vergleiche uhrigens das Ilomerische avijp fi a-
o-iXeis ."—P. S.]
+ [Dr. Lange inserts only, to emphasize ap^afityov
at the beginning of the sentence.— P. S.]
$ [Dr. Kobinpon, Dictionary, sub r aXavT o v , esti-
mates the .common Attic talent at £'2rl3 15s. sterlinij, or
abont$l,lTO.— P. S.]
§ [The original reads 10 for 100 denarii.— a. palpable
printing error, which the Edinb. transl. faitlifully copies.
6,000 denarii, and 10,000 talents = 60,000,000 rfe-
nar-iV^ Gerlach suggests that the Saviour referred
to tlie Syrian talent, which was much smaller than
the Attic, amounting only to about one-fourth of it.
According to the value of the Attic talent, the sum-
total would amount to over 13 millions of Prussian
dollars.
Ver. 25. His lord commanded him to be
sold. — In accordance with tlie law of Moses, Exod.
xxii. 3 ; Lev. xxv. 39 ; 2 Kings iv. 1. See also
MiciiAKLis' Laws of Hoses, § 148. — And (thus)
payment to be niade — The sum obtained would,
of course, prove wholly inadequate. Still Fritzsche
is mistaken in explaining it as meaning that the sum
realized was actually to be paid. De Wette renders
it : " And that this should be paid." Better Meyer
in more general terms, " and payment to be made."
The leading idea is, that the king insists upon pay-
ment being made. The exact amount is subordi-
nate.
Ver. 28. A hundred denaries. — Equal to near-
ly 21 Prussian [or 15 American] dollars. See the
article in the Encycls. — Took him by the throat.
— According to Roman law, a creditor was allowed
to drag his debtor by the throat before the tribunal.
The harsh form in which he demanded payment de-
serves special attention. His address to his fellow-
servant implied his own condemnation. Meyer
rightly objects to the view of Fritzsche and Olshau-
sen, who explain the expression ei n as due to
Greek urbanity. Others regard it as equivalent to
on. Paulus and Baumgarten-Crusius understand it
as implying that it was uncertain whether such a
debt had really been incm-red. In our view, it was
intended by way of expressing reproof — the claimant
all the time forgettmg his own case and difficulties,
which were not only similar, but even much worse.
In fitct, it would seem as if the remission of his debt
had only called forth pride and self-confidence. His
fellow-servant humbled himself in a more becoming
manner than he had done before his master (-Trpotre-
ic uve I avr ai , Trap e Kd\ f i aiiT 6v); although we
should bear in mind that in the latter case the credi-
tor was the lord and king of the servant.
[Trench : " Such is man, so harsh and hard,
when he walks otherwise than in a constant sense of
forgiveness received from God. Ignorance or forget-
fulncss of his own guilt makes him harsh, unforgiv-
ing, and cruel to others ; or, at best, he is only hm-
dered from being such by those weak defences of
natural character which may at any moment be
broken down." — P. S.]
Ver. 31. Their own (eauroiv) lord. — Meyer
accounts for the word eavr Siv by remarking,
"They had recourse neither to their hard-hearted
companion nor to any other person." But this
would scarcely have required special mention. On
the other hand, their appeal to his and their lord ex-
posed them to danger, if his anger should burst forth
against them also. Still, they ventured to apply to
him — compassion and sorrow inspii-ing them with
courage. In this case, then, we see severity from
pity, as formerly harshness in spite of mercy.
Ver. 34. And delivered him to the tormen-
tors.— The imprisonment refers in both cases to tem-
porary confinement, until payment should be made.
'■'■Attica p-va {mma) fiiit centum drachmariim; liotna-
na, dracJimarum nonaginta sex ; Aiexandrina l&O drach-
niarum Atticarum." See Joa. Scapula, Lexicon Orceco-
L<tt., Oxford ed., p. 1006. An Attic SpaxjJ-'tl is nearly equal
in value to a Iloman denarius. — P. S.]
334
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
But, besides this, the servant whom his master now
sent to prison was also delivered r o7s ^aaavta-
To?s, "/o the iortneniors" to be tormented by
them. The punishment of being sold into slavery,
with which he had formerly been threatened, was
much hghter than that which he had now to endure.
However, the Idng was generous, and the wife and
children of the offender were not molested. In its
first form, they shared the guilt of that wicked ser-
vant ; but the sin which he had now committed rest-
ed upon himself alone. Still, except in reference to
the manner in which payment is now enforced, the
language of the parable continues the same as before.
The imprisonment and the torments are intended to
enforce payment ; but as, in the present instance,
this is manifestly impossible, they serve in reahty as
a punishment. Fritzsche renders the term ^aaavia-
rai by "body-guard of the king"{!); Grotius, by
"gaolers" [diiT/xocpvAaKes]; Meyer, correctly, by
"tormentors."* According to the sentence pro-
nounced, the imprisonment would necessarily be both
never-ending and hopeless (Chrysostom : Tovrea-Ti
Sirjveicca?, ovre yap aTTobwafi iroTf). Still, we are
scarcely warranted hi referring these torments to the
sufferings of Gehenna.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The symbolical import of the number seveii is
spiritual and festive rest after the work has been
finished ; ten, that of the world. Hence the number
seventy represents the power of the Spirit as con-
quering the world (the VO disciples). Again, seven-
ty times seven would convey the all-conquering
power of the Spirit in all His fulness, as reconciling
us, and rendering us willing to be reconciled. The
largeness of the number would indicate that there
was to be no measuring or limitation in the exercise
of kindness ; but that infinite love was, in its fulness
and strength, to sweep all barriers, and that forgive-
ness was to be bounded by no other limits than
those demanded by truth, i. e., more especially, by
the state of mind of him who had offended against
us.
2. This parable must not be applied merely to
the private relations subsisting between Christians ;
but also refers to the general administration of the
servants of the Lord in the Church, which, however,
if improperly exercised, may degenerate into a mat-
ter of private interest or favor. Under such circum-
stances, the contrast between the wondrous pardon
granted by the Master, and the cruel exactions made
by the servants, would appear in the most glaring
manner. Strange, that the most harsh and heartless
treatment should be connected with the dispensation
of highest mercy ! Compare the history of church
discipUne ia the middle ages, and the bitter contro-
versies on the doctrine of the holy Communion.
3. Faustcs Socinus ("i)e Ckristo Servatore")
argues from this passage, that as the king forgave
* [Among the ancient Komans there were certain legal
tortures, as a heavy chain and a sy.stem of half starvation,
which the creditor might apply to hi.s dehtor, for bring-
ing iiim to terms. A'e« Arxold, History of Rome, i. p. 136,
and Tkknch, Notes on the Parahlen, p. 1.54: "The tormev-
iors are those who shall make the life of the prisoner bitter
to him; wring out from him the confession of any concealed
hoards which he may still possess; even as there are tor-
mentors in that world of woe, whereof this prison is a figure
—fellow-sinners and evil angels— instruments of the just yet
terrible judgments of God."— P. S.]
without ransom or surety, so God similarly pardons
sinners. To this Oleakius repHes, that the object
of this parable was to delineate the subjective condi-
tion of pardon on our part, not the objective ground
of acceptance with God. Besides, each separate
parable was not intended to give the whole scheme
of salvation. Perhaps, however, it were more accu-
rate to say, that the objective ground of compassion
is embodied and presented in the atonement made by
Christ. But the latter point was not intended to be
presented in this parable. [Meyer remarks that the
parable implies a vaTipuv npoTipov, since the infinite
forgiving mercy of God could only appear fuUy in
the atoning death of Christ.— P. S.]
[4. Till he pay all that ivas due unto him, ver. 34.
The offender, it seems, is not imprisoned for the act
of unmercifulness to his fellow-servant, but for his
old debt to God which had been forgiven him. But
it must be remembered that every sin against our
neighbor, or against ourselves, is at the same time a
sin against God, and so the conduct of the unmerci-
ful servant contracted a new debt due to God. This
passage is often quoted in the discussion of the ques-
tion : Utrxmi peccata semel remissa redeant, whether
sins once forgiven return on the sinner through his
subsequent transgressions? Hammond says, the
king revoked his designed mercy ; but the debt was
actually and absolutely forgiven ; yet forgiven, of
course, as always, on certain moral conditions, the
violation of which impUes the forfeiture of the bene-
fit. Forgiveness is ins^arable from union with
Christ. If we forsake Him we relapse into a state
of nauuv, which is a state of wrath ; yea, our case
becomes much worse than it was before conversion,
and our guilt increases in proportion to the mercies
received. How many, alas ! forfeit the benefit of
baptism, i. e., the remission of sins, by a life of im-
penitence and ingratitude, and become worse than
heathen.— P. S.]
[5. The same verse (and ver. 26) is also quoted
by some Roman Catholic interpreters for the doctrine
of purgatory, and by Universalists and Restoration-
ists, for the doctrine of the final salvation of all men.
In both cases the e co s ov is pressed as implying a
final discharge of the debt and a consequent deliv-
erance from the prison of purgatory or a temporary
hell. But this argument proceeds on the radically
wrong assumption that man can atone for his sins or
discharge his moral debt to God. The debt is ex-
pressly represented, in ver. 24, as enormous, so as to
make it impossible for any human being to discharge
it. The debt, moreover, instead of diminishing is
daily accumulating ; since the utmost that man can
do is to perform his present duty, comp. Luke xvii.
10. The phrase: till he pay all, aic, ecus ov airo-
5 (5 irav, like the proverbial ad 7ivmvm solvere, ad
extrcmum assfni solvere, signifies that the debtor shall
have justice without mercy and taste the extreme
rigor of the law. Trench (p. 158) goes even further,
and says : " Since the sinner could never acquit the
slightest portion of the debt in which he is indebted
to God, the putting that as a condition of his libera-
tion, which it is unpossible could ever be fulfilled, is
the strongest possible way of expressing the eternal
duration of his punishment." Maldonatus, one of
the best Roman Catholic expounders, remarks :
" QuocsQUE EEDDERET. Id est semper, ut Chrysosto-
mus, Euthymius et ITieopjhylactus inttrpjretaniur ,
non enim significatur, fore, ut, qui damnaii surd,
pmnas aliquando persolvant et, quasi reddito debito,
libereniur, qui Origenistarum error fuit ; sed fore,
CHAP. XVm. 21-85
835
ut numquam liberenfur, nisi pcenas persolvant, quas
quia persolvere tmmqtiam poierunt, numquam, tibera-
buniur." Olshausen in he. (vol. i. p. 594, American
edition) admits that the debt of the sinner to God
can never possibly be liquidated ; nevertheless he in-
fers partly from the sa-s oS, partly from the servant's
acknowledgment of his debt that ho will be finally
released. I cannot see how we can hold this opinion
without adopting substantially the Roman Catholic
dogma of purgatory. But ecos docs not necessarily
fix a limit beyond which the preexisting state of
things must cease (comp. the Saviour's promise to be
with His people to the end of the world, ews rrjj
(ruvTt\iia<! Tov alcivos) ; and if the mere admission
of sin and guilt insures ultimate salvation, a Judas
might have been saved as well who confessed that
he betrayed innocent blood. — Comp. also the N'otcs
on ch. V. 26 (p. 114) and on ch. xii. 32 (pp. 225 and
227 sqq.).— P. S.]
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
" Till seven times ? " or, the tendency of the class
of which Peter is the type to count and limit spirit-
ual acts. — Acts of forgiveness, prayers, and sunilar
deeds, should not be counted. — Seventy times seven ;
or, the sacred number, — which implies that our love
must not be limited by the rules of arithmetic. — The
kingdom of heaven under the figure of reckoning :
1. The king reckoning ; or, the remission of an infi-
nite debt. 2. The servant reckoning ; or, the harsh
demand of a small claim. 3. The final reckoning of
the king occasioned by that of the servant. — The
great alternations in the kingdom of heaven, occa-
sioned by the unfaithfulness of man in opposition to
the faithfulness of God : 1. From the judgment of
the law to the mercy of the gospel ; 2. from mercy
to judgment. — The grace of God has converted the
economy of the law into that of the gospel ; but the
unmercifulness of Christians seeks to transform the
dispensation of the gospel into one of judgment. —
How could the servant who had been forgiven act
with such cruelty against his fellow-servant? 1. It
was suspicious, that he who apparently was among
the first of his fellow-servants should have incurred
so heavy a debt without accounting for the money
long before that ; 2. it was still worse when he only
plead for delay, promising payment which he well
knew he never could make ; 3. but it fully indicated
his state of mind, when he could go from the pres-
ence of his master cherishing such feelings of pride
and bitterness. — The unconditional and the condi-
tional remission of debt in the kingdom of God:
1. The former is full and irrevocable ; the latter is
only granted to try us. 2. The former is real, both
in respect of its basis and its character ; the latter
only emblematical. 3. The former leads to humility
and compassion; the latter may readily call forth
pride and harshness in the unconverted. — The un-
merciful are equally destitute of feeling and memory.
A. 1. They forget "their own guilt and humiliation;
2. the pardon extended to them ; 3. nor are they
even reminded of it by the entreaty of a fellow-ser-
vant, so similar to their own pleading ; 4. they only
remember it in the hour of final judgment. B. Such
persons have only a heartless memory for their own
selfishness, for their own claims, demands, etc. —
How the remission of our immeasurable debt should
induce us to forgive the small debt incurred by our
brother: 1. We are bound to do so; 2. enabled;
and, 3. impelled to it. — How the harshness and cru-
elty of those who are proud and insecure seems to
come out in all its fulness in the gospel kingdom of
grace. — How tlie evil disposition of the servants has
transfoi-mcd : 1. The gospel of grace into compulsory
conversions; 2. the call to repentance into forced
penance ; 3. the discipline of the Church into the
tortures of the Inquisition ; the exhibition of the Re-
deemer into a call for the Judge. — Guilt under the
law called forth grace; but harshness under the
gospel will bring down the judgment, Matt. xxv. 31,
etc. — The complaint of the fellow-servants in its
effects, viewed historically. — Heavy judgments im-
pending on those who show no mercy, James ii. 13.
— How unmercifulness introduces an order of things
which ensures its own ruin. — The tormentors and
torments of the next world in their relation to those
of this life. — Unmercifulness is practical unbelief. —
The practical bearing of this second fall. — Tlie do-
mestic guilt which is remitted, and the personal guilt
which is retained. — "So likewise," etc. Or, this
parable as specially applicable to the Apostles, and
the servants of Christ both in Church and State. —
"My heavenly Father." 1. The Father of mercy,
and of the Saviour — grace itself. 2. The Father of
the Judge of the world — justice itself. 3. The Fa-
ther of Christ in the congregation, or of the Church.
Starke: — Canstein: It is a great honor to be in
the employment of a mighty potentate ; how much
more, then, to be a servant of the King of kings and
the Lord of lords ! What faithfulness and care are
requisite in such a service ! — God will require an ac-
count of all that has been entrusted to our steward-
ship: Job ix. 3; Ps. cxxx. 3; cxliii. 2. — Osiander:
Sin has subjected not only our persons, but all we
have, to the curse. — The natural man is not wiUing
to rely on free grace, and to trust for atonement and
righteousness to Christ alone ; but would always like
to contribute something of his own. — Forgetfulness
of the freeness of God's gifts a fruitful cause of re-
lapse into sin. — Quesnel : As genuine love to God
and compassionate affection townrd our neighbor is a
fruit of genuine conversion, so is ingratitude toward
God and hardheartedness toward our neighbor an
evidence of spurious religion. — Canstein: To insist
on full restitution, is to be inexorable. — Your fellow-
servants will see it, and lay the case before their
Master. — Quesnel: To be unwilling to forgive an
offence, is to provoke the wrath both of heaven and
earth. — Feigned penitence is like that wicked ser-
vant, promising all, but performing nothing, Ps. xii.
0. — The Lord quotes the example of men, in order
to render them inexcusable. — Would we hke to
know whether we have obtained forgiveness from
God ? Let us ask ourselves how we stand affected
toward others. — Forgive, and He will forgive you.
Lisco : — God reckons with us when setting before
us, in our consciences and by His word. His law and
His just demands. — By his harshness the wicked ser-
vant loses the affection and esteem of liis fellow-ser-
vants, nor can his conduct remain concealed.
Heuhner : — This command to be ever willing to
forgive, implies much rich and blessed comfort. — If
man is to forgive so frequently, how much more will
our Father in heaven be ready to extend mercy ! —
Unless we rightly know the extent of our guilt, we
cannot properly appreciate the fulness of grace wluch
the Lord is wilUng and ready to vouch.-afe. — How
our sins ever involve others in ruin, and generally
those nearest and dearest to us. — "We should
despair of being ever able to discharge our debt, and
rely on grace and mercy alone." — What contrasts
336
THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
here ! 1. God, tlie King of kinj^s, toward a servant ;
and again a servant toward his fellow-sei'vant. 2.
An infinite debt, and again a small debt. 3. Impos-
sibility and inability ; and again, possibility and abili-
ty. 4. Compassion and khidness ; and again, hard-
heartedness and cruel behavior. — Woe to him whom
the tears and sighs of those who are oppressed and
injured accuse before the tribunal of God. — A harsh
person calls down the judgments of God upon him-
self.
Rcrnhard: — What obligation God lays upon us
to forgive those who offend against us. — Kidnocl: —
The character of self-righteousness: 1. Confession
of debt; 2. promise of payment; 8. the manner in
which this promise is kept ; 4. the sad issue of the
whole matter. — [^Bourdalue : — Sur le pardon des in-
jures. Serm. 34. Pour le 21 Dimanche apres la
Peutecote. — Massilon: — Du pardon des offenses, —
and other famous CathoUc sermons on the pericope,
vers. 23-35.— P. S.]
THIRD SECTION.
THE PRIESTLY FAMILY IN THE CHURCH.
Chaptee XIX. 1-26.
COKTENTs : — This section sets before ns, in their remarkable connection, the three principal features of the Christian
household as it should exist in the Church of Christ : viz., the marriage-relationship in the Church, ch. xix. 1-12; chil-
dren in the Church, vers. 13-15; and property in the Church, vers. 16-26.
Historical Connection. — After the transaction at Capernaum, recorded in Matt, xviii., the Lord commenced
His festive journey to Jerusalem, in company with His disciples, Luke xiii. 22-30. On this occasion
the Pharisees attempted — probably at the instigation of Herod — to frighten the Lord into a speedy re-
moval from Galilee, vers. 31-35. They next invited Him to a feast, in the hope of thus ensnaring Him,
Luke xiv. 1-24. The Lord now set before those of His followers who were not yet decided for Hun,
the dangers connected with discipleship, Luke xiv. 25-35. On the other hand. He declared His readi-
ness to receive penitent pubUcans and sinners, Luke xv. 1-1*7. The festive company now entered the
territory of Samaria, but were not allowed to pass through it (Luke ix. 51-62). This refusal to receive
Him led to the sending forth of the seventy disciples (Luke x. 1-16). The Lord next took a sorrowing
retrospect of GaUlee (Matt. xi. 20-30) ; and then passed into Percea through the boundary land of Sa-
maria and Galilee (Luke xvii. 11-19). The return of the seventy disciples (Luke x. 1*7-37). Jesua
an-ived in Peraea previous to the transactions recorded in Matt. xix. (Matt. xix. 1, 2). The Evangelists
have not preserved many of the details connected with Christ's twofold visit to Perasa, before and after
the feast of the Dedication of the Temple, during the winter of the year 782. Thus much, however,
clearly appears, that He was gladly received in that district. We are told that, during His fu'st stay
there (Matt. xix. 2), " great multitudes followed Him there, and He healed them (their sick)." Of His
second visit to Peraea we read, that " many resorted unto Him," and " believed on Him there " (John x.
40-42). The events recorded in the section under consideration, most probably occurred while the
Saviour visited Peraea the second time. According to the account in the Gospel of Mark, the rich
young man came to the Lord when He was gone forth into the way ; according to Matthew, He departed
from Galilee after having laid His hands on children, — an act which the Evangehst seems to connect
with His teaching on the subject of divorce {see the Leben Jesu^ ii. 2, p. 1079).
During his journey to Peraea, where Jesus on the first occasion made only a very brief stay. He re-
plied to the intrusive and curious question, whether few or many were to be saved (Luke xiii. 23). It
was probably in Pertea that He uttered the parable concerning the Pharisee and the publican, and sev-
eral others which are recorded in the Gospel by Luke. He next appeared at Jerusalem at the feast of
the Dedication of the Temple (John x. 22-40), which, according to Wieseler, commenced that year on
the 2oth December. Once more the Jews now tempted Him with the question, whether He was the
Messiah (in their sense of the designation — the inquiry being urged partly from motives of hostiUty, and
partly in the hope of having their carnal expectations realized). In their peculiar state of mind, the
reply of Jesus implied both more and less than they had anticipated or wished. Hence they wished
to stone Him. But He passed majestically through the midst of them, and — protected by His followers
— soon appeared a second time in Peraea, in the same locaUty, where afterward, at Pella, His Church
CHAP. XIX. 1-12.
found a refuge. But iu Perjea also lie was met by Pharisees, who had been stirred up and instructed
by their colleagues at Jerusalem. Accordingly, questions similar to those set before Him in the capital
of Juda?a were now urged. With these the section under consideration opens.
It is quite in accordance with the plan adopted by Matthew in his Gospel, that only those portions
are recorded in which the Christian family in the new Church is described in its various aspects and
bearings.
A. Marriage in the Church. Ch. XIX. 1-12.
(Mark x. 1-12.)
And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from
Gahlee, and came into the coasts [borders, ra opta] of Judea beyond [the] Jordan ;
2, 3 And great multitudes followed him ; and he healed them there. The Pharisees also
came unto him [And there came to him Pharisees],^ tempting him, and saying unto
4 him,^ Is it lawful for a man * to put away his Avife for every cause ? And he answered
and said unto them,* Have ye not read, that he which [who] made them at the be-
ginning [from the beginning, (xtt' app^Tjs, i. e., iu paradise] made them male and female,
5 And said. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his
6 wife : and they twain [the two, oi hvo\ shall be one flesh ? Wherefore they are no
more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not* man put
7 asimder. They say unto him. Why [then] did Moses then command to give a writing
S of divorcement, and to piit her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the
harshness of your hearts suffered you to put av/ay your wives : but from the beginning
9 [txTT apx^s] it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife,
except it he for fornication,^ and shall marry another, committetli aditltery : and Avhoso
10 marrieth her which [who] is put away doth commit [committetli] adultery. His dis-
ciples say unto him. If the case of the man be so with his wife \i. e., if this is the legal rela-
1 1 tion between husband and wife], it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men
cannot [Not all, ov TrdvTes, can] receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some^ eunuchs, which [who] were so born from their [the] mother's
wombs: and there are some eunuchs, which [who] were made eunuchs of [by, vtto]
men : and there be [are] eunuchs, which [who] have made themselves eunuchs for the
kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
' Ver. 3.— [Kal TrpoariKQov ahrw ^apiaaloi ; the article ol of the tert. rec. is wanting in the best MSS. and thrown
out by the modern critical editors (except Tischendorf ). also by Dr. Lange in his version.-^P. S.]
* Ver. 3.— fAuTw, to him, is likewise missing ia the oldest authorities, also Cod. Sinait., and omitted by Lachmann,
Tischendorf, Alfoid.-P. S]
3 Ver. Z.— hv e p 6 TT 0) , for a man, is omitted by 15., L., [Cod. Sin.iit.], and thrown (i:;t by Lachmann and Tischen-
dorf; but seems to be required by iiroiriaev avTovs.
* Ver. 4.— [.A. uT oTy, to them, is omitted in the critical editions, but refuincd by Lange.— P. S.]
5 Ver. 9. — Lachmann, with B., D., reads: rrapeKThs Aoyov iropveias. Meyer regards it as a gloss from ch. v.
82. [The ^ea-i. >•«(;. reads : ej /xv; etti Tropyeia; Tischendorf and xUford : ht} 6 7rt tt., which reading is sustained
also by Cod. Sinaiticus. Ei may easily be an explanatory addition. The sense is not affected in the least by this difference
of reading.— P. 8.]
« Ver. 12.— [Home before eunuchs is an interpolation of the E. V., and should be underscored or omitted.— P. S.]
'h irepaia, sc. x^P°-) extended from ?Troabitis, or from
the Amon, to Pella on the north — " certainly to the
Sheriat Mandhur, since Josephus designates Gadara
(Omkeis), which lay on the Mandhur, as the capital
of Perasa. Toward the east, it adjomed, according
to that writer, the territory of Gerasa, Rabbath Am-
raon, and Arabia." L. von Raunier. From the
same authority we learn that Persea, in the wider
sense, embraced that part of Palestine which lay
east of the Jordan, embracing the whole territory of
Persea from the sources of the Jordan to the Arnon.
Lastly, a still wider meaning attached to that name,
which was also given to the whole eastern part of
the Jordan-valley, or the Ghor (Arabah), stretching
from the sources of Jordan to the southern cxtremi-
EXEGETICAL AND CP.ITICAL.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass. — The passage
from Gahlee to Peraja formed part of the journey of
the Lord to Jerusalem. The circumstance, that
Matthew (as well as Mark and Luke) only records
the last journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, is readily ex-
plained from the general plan on which his narrative
is constructed.
Into the borders ; or, boundary land. — It de-
serves notice, that Jesus entered not merely the ter-
ritory of Persea, but penetrated to its utmost boun-
daries. According to Josephus {Bell. Jud. iii. 3, 3),
Pereea proper (or " the other side," i. e., of Jordan —
22
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
ty of the Dead Sea, and running beyond it to the
Elanitic Gulf, between the mountains of Edom in the
east and the high coast on the west. When on for-
mer occasions traversing the lake (Cassarea, Gadara),
Jesus had visited Perasa in the second and last-men-
tioned acceptation of that term. Hence we conclude
that He went at this time into PerEca proper, which
formed part of the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas, who
ruled over that province as well as over Galilee.
From this circumstance we account for the fact tliat
the Lord now betook Himself to the boundary dis-
tricts, or coasts, of Peraa, — the latter term being
scarcely applicable to the boundary district of Judaea
itself.
A special interest and importance attaches to the
province of Peraea, where Jesus retired on tv/o occa-
sions previous to His decease and found a refuge,
and whither afterward His infant Church retired be-
fore the destruction of Jerusalem, seeking shelter
among its mountains, and making Pella Iheu- capitak
On the difficulties connected with the topography of
Pella, comp. the author's Aposiol. Zcua.ltcr, ii. 461.
Great probability, however, attaches to the sugges-
tion of Robinson, who, according to his latest re-
searches, places it on the site of the modern Fahil,
between the Jabbok and the Hieromax; in which
case, the statement cf Josephus would refer to Pella
as being a boundary town of Pcrrea, in the narrowest
or political sense of the term. On the blessed work
of Jesus in that province, comp. the author's Lehen
Jesu, ii. 2, p. 1094. The general conformation of
the district is calcareous and cretaceous in the south,
till beyond the Arnon, and basalt in the eastern por-
tion. It is mountainous, with high plateaus, and
traversed by many rivers. The northern part is
woody, and suited for grazing (the oaks and bulls of
Bashan) ; the southern, exceedingly fertile.
An attentive consideration of the narrative in the
Gospels will easily enable us to answer the objection
of Meyer and others, who deem the account of Mat-
thew incompatible with that of Luke (ix. 51; xvii.
11), according to which, Jesus had passed through
Samaria. The Lord had evidently intended to jour-
ney by Samaria. But when the inhabitants of that
country refused to receive Him, He passed into Pe-
reea through the boundary land of GaUlee and Sama-
ria {see Lehen Jesu, ii. 2, 1053). Similarly, in answer
to the alleged contradiction between our Gospel and
John X. 22, 40 — which records that Jesus went from
Jerusalem to Perasa — we remind the reader, that the
Lord visited that province on two different occa-
sions.
Ver. 3. Pharisee.?. — Pertea was removed from
the great centres of Jewish hierarchism. Henee the
Saviour found there a sph.cre of labor even after He
had been banished from Galilee and Judaea. But
even there the sect of the Pharisees was by and by
roused to acts of hostility, partly at the instigation
of their colleagues at Jerusalem, and partly from
personal rancor. On this and other grounds, we
conclude that the transactions here recorded had
taken place during the second visit of Jesus to Pe-
ra;a. The question has been raised, wherein the
" temptation " of this inquiry lay. Meyer suggests
that it consisted in the attempt of involving Hiiii in
the discussion between the schools of Hillcl and
Shammai {see the Exeget. No'.es on ch. v. 31). "It
was hoped that, by His reply, Jesus would virtually
support the view of one of these cLiuagonistic schools
— more particularly that of Shammai, and that thus
the opposite party might be more fully enlisted
against Hun." But in that case He would al.'rO mani-
festly have gained the favor of the followers of Sham-
mai. Ewald thinks that it was intended to entangle
Jesus, while in the dominions of Herod Antipas —
whose conduct in his married relationship John had
reproved — in a declaration and fate similar to that
of the Baptist. To this it has been objected — as we
think, without sufficient reason — that there is no in-
dication of such a scheme in the text. Meyer holds
that the decision cf Jesus was stricter than that of
either of the schools. The statcracnt is incorrect, as
our Lord did not go bej'ond the principles laid down
by Shammai ; whUe, unhke that teacher. He did not
convert the absolute principle of marriage in the
Church into an outward and civil statute.
For every cause. — The question is manifestly
put from the point of view taken by Hillcl.
Ver. 4. Made them, or created them. — The
ideas of v.iQpwKo% (which accordingly v/e retain as
the reading) and 'jvvr\ are presupposed. The Lord
explains that they were not created arbitrarily, or in-
dependently of, but for each other, and as suitable
and adapted to eacli other ; which is expressed by
apaiv Kal OvXv, referring to the male and female
nature. The two first individuals of the male and
female sex were not merely a man and a woman, but
tnale and female, in the sense of being destined and
intended exclusively for each other. Hence they
constituted the type of marriage in its full meaning
and principle, as an indissoluble union.
Ver. 5. And said. — In Gen. ii. 24, these words
are recorded as having been spoken by Adam, while
in this place they arc uttered as quoted by God, —
not simply because every statement of Scripture is
the word of the Lord, but, as Augustine [I)e nvpt.
ii. 4] expresses it, " Deus utique per liomhiem dixit
quod homo jjrophetando prcedixit." Or rather, per-
haps, because, before his fall, man uttered absolute
spiritual truth, or what in point of fact was the word
of God.
For this cause shall a man leave father
and mother. — Added not merely by way of quotas
tion, but to show that the relationship between a
man and his wife was higher, stronger, and closer
than even that toward his father and mother.
The two. — The expression docs not occur in the
original Hebrew, but is found in the Septuagint, as
implied in the text, and bringing out more fully its
idea and meaning. Tlie two apparently different in-
dividualities are to become one flesh by marriage,
i. e., to form the generic unity of human nature.
This unity, while implying the mental and moral ele-
ments, isbased on that of the adp^, as indicating and
completing the union.
Ver. 6. No more, or, neve?- more, ovk4ti.
— Ver. 9 forms no exception to this rule, as the i-e-
lationship there referred to is incompatible with, and
in direct antagonism to, the idea of marriage.*
* [Vers. 3-0.— The Pharisees wished to cntant'le our Sa-
viour in their scholastic party disputes on the marriage- and
divorce-question and in the adultery-case of Herod Antipas,
which caused the imprisonment and death of John the Bap-
tist, and mav have excited as much feeling and debate in its
day as the divorce-case of Henry VIII. in the 10th century
durins the Keformation period. The Saviour answered the
treacherous question of His enemies by referring them first
(in ver. 4) to what God cHd, who in the original creation of
man instituted the sexual relation and marriage as an indis-
soluble union between one man and one woman ; secondly,
to what God said through Adam as the representative of the
race (in ver. 5), viz., that husband and wile are inseparably
united, i. e., within the limits of their life in the flesh, or their
earthly life; and then He states His own irresistible conclu
CHAP. XIX. 1-12.
339
Vers. 7, 8. Why did Moses then command ?
Deut. xxiv. 1. — A misapplication of the pass;i
which the Lord exposes and censures. The object
of Moses in laying down the rules about givin;
writing of divorcement, was not to countenance or
promote divorces, but to diminish their number by
subjecting them to certain rules and limitations, with
the view of again elevating the married relationship,
and realizing its idea. Moses coniiuanded, not that
divorces should take place ; he only enjoined that in
such cases certain forms should be observed, and
that the ground of the separation should be em-
bodied in the '■'■ivriting of divorcement.''^ But the
Jewish Rabbins completely perverted the meaning
and object of all this (ch. v. 31). Hence we note
the t^^/ofold antithesis: ^'^ Moses did command,"
'^ Moses suffered;" and again: "Moses did com-
mand " in general, and, " Moses suffered you " in
particular. So far from having commanded it in
general, he only suffered you individually, because of
tlie hardness of your hearts.
Yer. 8. From, the beginning it -vsras not so.
— In the original state of things in Paradise. The
first instance of polygamy is recorded in Cen. iv. 19.
It deserves special notice, that it appears in conjunc-
tion with murder, avenging of blood, and sinful poe-
try ; and that it occurs in the line of Cain, not in
that of Seth.
Ver. 9. Except for fornication. — An explana-
tion of the ~3'i ri'^y . Comp. the Uzeg. litotes on
ch. V. 31, 32, p. 115. Roman Catholic writers are
naturally anxious to have this clause omitted from
the text (Hug, von Berlepsch), but there is no criti-
cal warrant for this.
Ver. 10. It is not good to marry. — The mean-
ing of the disciples is: if the ideal principle laid
down by our Lord about marriage was to be imme-
diately and unconditionally applied to existing rela-
tions, then, etc. In Bis reply, Christ admits the
difficulty of such application.
Ver. 11. Not all can receive this saying. —
It requires divine illumination.
Ver. 12. The explanation of His further state-
ment— For there are eunuchs, etc. — is exceeding-
ly difficult. Neander thinks that Matthew inserted
in this place something which the Lord had taught
op the same subject on another occasion, and in
quite a different connection. Certainly, the common
interpretation, that Jesus here referred to the various
exceptional cases in which marriage should be avoid-
ed, is very unsatisfactory. The three classes of
eunuchs here enumerated (the expression being used
figuratively for those who are not to enter the mar-
ried relationship), are evidently intended to embrace
all the grounds on which marriage was inadmissible.
First of all, then, there is a class of eunuchs "vyho
sion (in ver. 6) in a sentence which is since repp.ited in every
marriase ceremony in Christian lamls, and will be repeated
to the end of time" to inaugurate and protect with its divine
authority and power this holy and fundainontjil relation. —
We add the remarks of Dr. "Alfoed on vers. 4-6: (1) Our
Lord refers to the Mosaic account of the Creation as a /lin-
toricid fact, and grounds His argument on the liUtul ex-
pressions of that narrative. (2) He cites both from the first
and second chapters of Genesis, .showinsr them to be conse- i
cutive parts of a continuous narrative. (3) He quotas words
of Adam (Gen. ii. 21) as spoken by the Creator; they must, \
therefore, be understood as said in" prophecy, divino ajffliitii,
the,more so since the relations alluded to by those terms did |
not yet exist. (4) The force of the argument consists in the
previous unity of male and female, not indeed organically,
bat by implication, in Adam. He m.ide them, i. c, man .-is
a racej male (not a male), and female (not a female). — I', i
S.] 1
•were so born from the mother's -womb, i. e.,
who arc physically disqualified for marriage, such as
those lal)oring under disease, or whose mental or
bodily organization is defective. Next, there was
another class ''who were made evmuchs by
men." As, in the first and third class enumerated,
the term eunuch is evidently used in a figurative
manner, we take it in the same sense here — the more
so, as in the literal sense it would apply to a compara-
tively small number of persons. Hence we regard it
as referring in general to those who are prevented
from entering hito marriage, in the highest and only
true unport of the idea, by social and moral consid-
erations, and who are hence in duty bound to re-
nounce the married state. The last class to which
the Saviour alludes, consists of those who have
made themselves eunuchs for the sake of
the kingdom of heaven, i. e., those who, being
married, yet for the kingdom of heavens sake are
as if they were not married, i. e., are ever ready
to sacrifice their conjugal enjoyments for the sake of
their spiritual calling; or — as the Apostle expresses
it, 1 Cor. vii. 29 — have wives as though they had
none. — Thus this threefold renunciation, which, in
accordance with the divine will and purpose, runs
through the actual marriage-relationship, — viz., the
reimnciation of natural union, or of ideal union, or
of the full enjoyment of the married estate, — was to
form the basis on which this relationship was hence-
forth to rest. Such a union was to combine the ele-
ments of deep personal attachment and interchange
of soul with subordination to the divine arrangements
and requirements in the theocracy, where this as well
as every other good gift should be regarded as sec-
ondary, and subservient to the grand purposes of the
kingdom of God {Leben Jesu, ii. 2, p. 1103). The
expression (vvovx^C^iv is also used by the Cabbalists
in a figurative sense. It is strange that Roman
Catholic divines (as, for example, Skpp, Leben Jesu,
iii. IIY) should have quoted in support of celibacy a
passage which, in reahty, so far from representing
marriage as something beneath the disciples, elevat-
ed that relationship far above the views and circum-
stances of the times, and placed it on a high and
spiritual platform. Similarly absurd is the notion of
Strauss, that this passage savors of Essenism, which
degraded woman, v/hile the Saviour here restored her
right position. Comp. Ebrard, p. 453. It is well
known that a misunderstanding of the import of this
passage induced Origen literally to carry it into exe-
cution,— a historical fact, which has latterly been
again established by Engclhart and Redepenning
against Schnitzer and others.
[Xote. — I beg leave to differ from Dr. Lange's
figurative exposition of the second and third class of
eunuchs ; which last would, in this case, embrace all
Christians, since temperance and chastity is a funda-
mental virtue and duty for the married as well as
the single state, and since all are required to sub-
ordinate their earthly relations to their spiritual call-
ing. As I understand the mysterious passage,
the Saviour distinguishes three kinds of eunuch-
ism : (1) congenital, which implies neither merit nor
guilt; (2) forced, which implies misfortune on the
one hand and guilt on the other; (3) voluntary,
which has moral value and merit if it proceeds from
faith and love to Christ, but no merit superior to
chastity in the mairied state. The first and third are
only improperly called eunuchism. To speak more
fully, the first class of eunuchs embraces the com-
paratively small number of those who are constitu-
340
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
tionally cither iucaptiblo of, or averse to, marriage ;
the second ehiss, the eunuchs jiroper, or mutihited
jiersons, wlio at tliat time were quite numerous, espe-
cially at courts, and are still found in Eastern coun-
tries, among heathens and Mohammedans (yea, even
in the choir of the papal Sixtiue chapel in Kome ; the
famous Miserere being sung by the clear silver voices
of these unfortunate victims of sacred art) ; the third
class, those who deliberately abstain from marriage
either altogether, or from second marriage after the
death of their first husband or wife, not, however,
for the purpose of thereby (jaining the kingdom of
heaven {nd rec/num calorum fromerendum, as Ori-
gen, Iiilarius, Euthyrnius, Maldonatus, and the Ro-
man Commentators generally misinterpret the words
lib. Tjjy /SaoiAeictv t. ovf).), but for the purpose of
vjorkivg for the kingdom of heaven from pure and
disinterested love to Christ, believing that they can
seive Him more unreservedly and eifectually in the
single state, or remain more steadfast in times of
peculiar trial and persecution (Sia t^v ivfaTicaav
ai'dy:c7iv, 1 Cor. vii. 26). To this class belong St.
Paul (1 Cor. vii. V, 26), Barnabas (1 Cor. ix. 5, 6),
probably also St. John (who in the Greek Church
bears the standing title, 6 Tropdevos, with reference to
his virgin purity), and thousands of missionaries, di-
vines, ministers and pious laymen, sisters of charity,
virgins and widows in all ages and among Protes-
tants as well as CathoUcs. The great and serious
error of the Roman CJmrch consists in making a law
for the whole clergy of what the Saviour left to free
choice on the basis of a special calling and gift of
God (ver. 11), and in attaehmg a superior merit to
celibacy at the expense of the holy and normal state
of marriage. From a grossly literal misunderstand-
ing of ver. 12, Origen, in the youthful ardor of enthu-
siasm for Christ, and misguided by the ascetic no-
tions of his age, committed the unnatural deed which
forever disquaUlied him for marriage. But this was
justly condemned in the ancient church, and was
made subsequently a reason for his excommunication
from the church of Alexandria. — On the v/hole sub-
ject of marriage and ceUbacy in the N. T., comp.
Schaef's History of the Aposiolic Church, § 112, pp.
448-454.— P. S.]
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Compare our remarks on Matt, v., p. 115 sq.,
and the foregoing Exegetical Notes.
2. The scribes seem always to have been entan-
gled in the antagonistic views of Shammai and Hillel.
But Christ here calls their attention to a very differ-
ent kind of antagonism, — viz., that between the
fundamental, eternal, and absolute principle of mar-
riage, and the theocratic or political law on the sub-
ject. So far as the prineijjle of marriage was con-
cerned, every such union was necessarily indissoluble,
being based on the fact, that man and woman were
destined for each other. But in point of fact this
principle had been lost sight of, equally because
unions were improperly formed, and because they
v;ere improperly dissolved. Hence, the object of
Moses was to keep this heathen degeneracy within
bounds. By means of the " writing of divorcement,"
he wished gradually again to train the Jews by the
law, so as to elevate their views, and to introduce
among them marriage in the true and spiritual sense.
But this measure was frustrated and perverted for
the opposite purpose, by the loose and lascivious in-
terpretations put upon it by the Rabbins. In our
opinion, it is the duty of legislators and magistrates
not to (legenerate into literalism, or to go beyond the
above principle, as Romanism has done, but to see
to it that, so far as possible, practice should corres-
pond with this ideal. Accordingly, our Lord here
lays down the following leading principles, viz. : (1)
The law concerning adultery applies to man as well
as to woman — indeed, more especially to the former.
(2) Marriage is dissolved only by actual fornication ;
in which case the non-offending party is again free.
(3) What constitutes a legal divorcement is not the
separation of the two parties, — which, as in morally
faulty marriages, may not only be excusable, but
perhaps even duty, — but re-marriage after separa-
tion, and that whether it be a marriage by which the
divorced woman is finally abandoned, or else a wo-
man that had been divorced is espoused. Thus far
the legal settlement of the question. In practical
legislation, it is necessary to keep two points in view,
viz. : v/hal constitutes fornication ; and the difference
between mere separation and the right of entering
into another union. With regard to fornication, we
must — according to 1 Cor. vii. 15 — here include re-
ligious, spiritual apostasy. But in reference to the
re-marrying of those who have been divorced — ex-
cept under the above circumstances — we believe that
no human tribunal has, as a matter of right, the
power of granting such a permission, although (in
the opinion of the author) it may be conceded as an
act of grace on the part of the reigning sovereign,
especially in cases where mitigating circumstances
justify such an act of dispensation. {See the author's
Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 1101; iii. 1*79; Posit. Bogmatik,
p. 1215.)
The matrimonial law of the Roman Catholic
Church, and the common statute law of Prussia and
other Protestant countries of Germany, are instances
of the two opposite extremes and aberrations to
which a misinterpretation of this passage has given
rise. The former starts from the supposition, that
actual union, or the solemnizing of matrimony, con-
stitutes of itself and alone an indissoluble marriage.
The history of the Middle Ages, the state of society
in Italy and in other Roman Catholic countries, espe-
cially in South America, furnish a sad illustration of
this principle. While the bed in which the stream
was to flow has been converted into a hard, stofie-
built channel, the river has broken through all
bounds, and cutting out a channel for itself, winds
its Avay irregularly and wildly through forests and
swamps. The false assumption in this case seems to
be, that the law of Moses had occupied the lowest
stage — that it was ih& minirmim oi right; not that
it embodied a principle, and was intended to prepare
the way for realizing the full idea of marriage. In
many Protestant countries, on the other hand, the
opposite error has been committed ; the legality of
marriage has been thoroughly undermined, and free
love substituted in its place as the controlhng prin-
ciple of true marriage. In that case, the writing of
divorcement is not, like that of Moses, intended to
render sepai-ation more difficult, but, like that of
Hillel, to make it more easy.
It deserves special notice, that the great reforma-
tion here inaugurated by the Lord is introduced by
an explanation of the circumstances under which
marriage should be avoided. All such cases may be
arranged under three classes: those who by their
physical constitution are disqualified for such a
union; those in which moral and social relations
CHAP. XIX. 1-12.
341
prevent the carrying out of marriage in its full im-
port ; and, lastly, those who, being married, were to
subordinate their married relationship to their chilling
as Christians, and in this respect to renounce it.
Thus marriage was to be regenerated on the basis of
ideal renunciation.*
[3. David Brown on ver. 12: "When our Lord
holds forth the single life as designed for and suited
to certain specific classes, let Christians understand
that, while their own plan and condition of life
should be regulated by higher considerations than
mere inclination or personal advantage, they ai-e not
to lay down rules for others, but let each decide for
himself, as to his own Master he standeth or falleth.
For he that in these things serveth Christ is accepta-
ble to God and approved of men." Alfokd (after
Neander) on ver. 12 : "It is to be observed that our
Lord does not here utter a word from which any
superiority can be attributed to the state of celibacy :
the imperative in the last clause being not a com-
mand but a permission, as in Rev. xxii. lY. His
estimate for us of the expediency of celibacy, as a
general question, is to be gathered from the parable
of the talents, where He visits with severe blame the
burying of the talent for its safer custody. The re-
mark is Neander's {Lebeii Jesu, p. 584, 4th ed.), and
the more valuable, as he himself [and his sister wlio
took care of him] lived and died unmarried." — Christ
certainly nowhere commands, or even recommends,
voluntary cehbacy to any one ; the most which can
be gathered from the last clause of ver. 12:6 Swd-
l^evos x^P^"^" X'^?^''-'^'^'i i^ connection with ver. 21, is
that He expected such a sacrifice from some of His
disciples. Comp. de Wette in loc. — P. S.]
4. The great object of the Lord in this section is
to reinstate woman in her original rights. In the
imcient world, as still in heathen countries, woman
was treated as a slave. Even among the Jews the
right of divorcement was refused to woman, although
it was accorded to her by the Roman law. This,
however, does not imply that the legislation of Rome
occupied higher ground than that of Israel. In the
former case, the rights of the free citizen were chiefly
guarded ; while in Jewish law the idea of the family
prevailed. Still, the law of Rome may be said to
have prepared the way for Christian legislation on
the subject of matrimony.
5. " The creation of one couple may be regarded.
* [The next section of about tialf a column is omitted in
the translation, since it relates exclusively to the Intricate
marriage difficulties In the Prussian state-church-estublish-
iiient, taking a middle ground between the rigorous reform
party and the conformist majority of pastors. The Prussian
laws on marriage, dating from tlie infidel reign of Frederic
II., are scandalously lax and demoralizing, by increasing the
causes, and facilitating the accomplishment of divorce.
With the revival of true Christianity in Prussia .i reform
movement commenced, which aims at a return to the law
of Christ. The subject has been extensively agitated for the
last twenty years by the religious press, on Synods, Pastoral
Conferences, and also on the German Church Diet. Comp.
a number of articles in IIengsten berg's Evang. Kirchen-
zeitung, for l;>iO-"00; Liebetrut: Ueber georduete Ent-
xcickhing der Eke. Berlin, 1S5G; and Goescukn, article Ehe
in Herzog's Ileal- Eacyclopatdie, vol. iii., pp. CC6-707.—
P. S.]
(1) As proof that monogamy alone is agreeable to
the will of God; which al.so appears from the foct
of the continuance of the same proportion between
the male and female sex, even with a numerical ad-
vantage on tlie part of the male sex, which would
have been reversed if polygamy had been intended
by the Creator. (2) As evidence that this union
was to continue unseparated ; otherwise, God would
have created more than one couple or more wives.
In this respect also the order of nature is the order
of God." Heubuer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Wherever Christ goes, friends and foes follow
Him: 1. As His friends, those who need help; 2. as
His enemies, the representatives of slavish legalism
and licentious antinomianism. — The doctrine of
Christ concerning marriage : 1. Its binding character
as instituted by God ; 2. its decay in the progress
of history ; 3. its prepared restoration under the
law ; 4. its transformation by the gospel. — Marriage
an institution of God. — Marriage as completing and
consecrating creation — as the basis of the family — as
the complete communion of life — a iigure of the
communion between the Lord and His Church, Eph.
V. — How sin has obscured this best and most blessed
relationshij) of life, and frequently perverted it into
the most fruitful source of misery. — The writing of
divorcement in its different aspects. — How Christiani-
ty has elevated woman, and restored her rights. — Gen-
uine and Christian love the great preservative against
disturbing intiuences. — Unchastity always a renuncia-
tion of self-respect and of personal dignity, — a disso-
lution of the hoUest of bonds. — Solemnity and earn-
estness of the marriage relationship. — The threefold
renunciation of marriage under the gospel, preparing
the v/ay for Christian marriage. — Christ the founder
of the Christian ftvmily: 1. Of the law regulating
marriage ; 2. of the law regulating children ; 3. of
the law regulating property.
Starke: — Quesnel : The union of man and wife
more close even than that of parents and children,
Gen. ii. 24. — Hedinger : Husband and wife should be
not only one flesh, but also one heart and mind, Eph.
V. 31. — The order of marriage is instituted by God
Himself; but, alas! many persons enter this state
not only without God, but against His mind and will.
— Osiander: Satan attempts to interpret Scripture
through his servants ; but he perverts it, and misrep-
resents its meaning.— deisms ; Under the new dis-
pensation, everything is not sanctioned that Avas
tolerated under the law. — Phcator : Cehbacy is not
a more holy state than marriage.
Gerlacii : — In this relationship, man is to show
that he has con(iuered the flesh and nature by the
power of the Spirit.
Heubyier : — Christ is not determined by the opin-
ions of the scribes ; but points back to the original
institution as founded by God, which is the source
and ground of all further enactments.
842
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
B. Children in the Church. Ch. XIX. 13-15.
(Mark x. 13-16 ; Luke xviii. 15-lV.)
13 Then were there ^ brought unto liini little children, that he should [might] put his
14 hands on them, and pray : and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Sufier
[the, Ta\ little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is ^ the
15 kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."
' Ver. 13. — [77iereis an unnecessnry interpolation of the E. V. — P. S.]
- Ver. 14.— [Or: to such helongeth, Tyndale, Conant, etc. The Saviunr docs not say: ahruiv ear iv rj liaai-
Aeia Tiiv oi/paviiv, of them, as in ch. v. 3, 10 (although the children are certainly included), but, estendins the
bless-ins : t wv t o tovr wv e ar Iv , ofmch, i. «., of all tho.se that have a childlike spirit and are like those little ones
that believe in Christ, comp. xviii. 2-6. Calvin is right in explaining: tain pareuli, quam eorum similes.— T. S.]
3 Ver. 15.— [The difl'erent readings in this section have no cflect on the sense, and are omitted by Dr. Lange. I will
merely mention them: Ver. 13 : irpos-nvix^'t — Trpos7)v4x6vo'°-'' 'y eTrirl/jLTiaai' — i-nerifxaiv; Ver. 14: elwev — ela-fj'
avToh; TTpoi fif — TTposifJ-e; Ver. 1.5: avTu?s — ir:' avrovs. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AXD CRITICAL.
Yer. 13. Then were brought to Him little
children. — Forming a glorious contrast to the ques-
tions previously propounded. Jli^. lilc^ug ^f jiiul-
drenm opposition to marriage offences. [Li tile chil-
dren, -rraiSia, not only littl(_- boy- and girls, but also
infant:', or fi-'.bt.i, m i< t.-vi'li-nt iV'-u ilii_' term iipiq>T\
of Luke xviii. I-"'. — I'. S. )
To Him. — From this ili.■^tu^y we gather, that in
Perasa Christ was not merely regarded as a sacred
personage, but that His dignity and character were
also in some measure acknowledged.
That He should put His hands oh them. —
Not merely as_.a symbol, but also as an act of bene-
dictioiv — i- e., as enectually conferring some moral
l)lessing. ^Similarly, it was also expressive of coyise-
cratioil and of healing. Gen. xlviii. 14 ; Exod. xxix.
10; 2 Kings iv. 34. Comp. the article Handaufie-
gung in Ilerzog's Eeal-Encyclopcedie. Hebrew mo-
thers would be accustomed to seek in this manner a
blessing for their children. The presidents of syna-
gogues were also in the habit of putting their hands
on children.
The disciples rebuked them.— rAccoxding to
Mark, those who brought them ; and Meyer suggests
that the term ■npoarivix^'n indicates that the word
avrols in the text refers to these persons. But in
our view the Evangehst intends to indicate, that
while the rebuke was addressed to those who brought
the children, it was in reality diiected toward the
children themselves. Accordingly, our Lord replies,
Suffer little children, etc.
Ver. 14. Of such is the kingdom of heaven.
— Various views are entertained of this passage: 1.
Bengel and de Wette apply it to children in the lit-
eral sense. 2. Meyer interprets it of persons of a
childUke 3isposition, ch. xviii. 3. Calvin remarks:
tarn parvuli, quam corum similes. 4. The Church
commonly applies it to the institution of infant bap-
tism, explaining it as meaning, children which are
offered to the Lord, and come to Him. Hence, such
as are dedicated unto God in baptism, — the children
of the theocracy as the generation which embodied
the hope of the kingdom of heaven. But accordmg
to the parallel passages in Mark and Luke, it must
alio be regarded as a symbol of a childUke spirit,
"just as baptism itself is the type of personal regen-
eration.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. This section may be regarded as shedding a
precious light on that which preceded. The blessing
of having children, and presenting them to the Lord,
seems to banish the sorrows and miseries which the
disciples had anticipated.
2.. The believers in Pera3a appear to have been
sufBciently advanced in spiritual knowledge to tm-
derstand that Christ was able to bless even little chil-
dren {Bpf<t>v, according to Luke), and that they were
capable of receiving a blessing. But in this instance
the disciples seem to have displayed a less hberal
spirit — we should almost say, that they were inclined
to Baptistic rigorism. They regarded the request of
these parents as an unseasonable interruption of a
most important discussion, and as a premature step
on their part. But while rebuking the ignorant zeal
of His disciples, tlte Saviour returned a gracious an-
swer to the humble aspirations of these mothers in
Israel, and at the same time fully met the uncon-
scious wants of their children.
3. Of such is the kingdom of heaven. — The an-
cient Church has rightly regarded this passage as a
proof m favor of the doctrine of infant baptism.
Our Lora here distinctly states — 1. that little chil-
dren are capable of receiving a blessmg from His
hands ; 2. that this blessing refers to the kingdom
of heaven, and their entrance into it ; 3. He shows
that it is accompanied by, "and may be conveyed
along with, a spnbolical action. Baptists are apt to
i ignore the possibility of faith as a seed in the heart
of infants, just as they fail to perceive the full idea
! of the Christian family, and of the blessing which
may descend from Christian parentage. On the
other hand, our Lord evidently includes children
among those that are called into His kingdom, and
who are intended to share the blessing of the Chris-
tian family. See also our notes on ch. x. 12-14 (p.
187).
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Children God's blessing on the married relation-
ship.— How the happiness of children counterbalances
the misery of marriage.* — How marriage should be
* [Much better in German : Wie der Kinder jtibel den
Ehejummcr ubertont, lit. : "How the jubilation of children
outsounds (Bilences) the lamentation of marriage." The
Edinb. trsl. omits this and similar sentences altogether.]
CHAP. XIX. lG-26,
343
sanctified even by a regard to the children. — Children
arc to be brought to the Lord. — Children are capable
of receiving a blessing. — The attempt to debar children
from Christ rebuked and resisted by the Lord. — The
children of believers are admitted into the kingdom
of heaven. — ^'' Suffci- little children^ — Childijn and
the kingdom of heaven in their mutual relationship :
1. Every new generation of children becoming fairer
in the kingdom of heaven ; 2. the kingdom of heaven
shines forth more beautifully in every new genera-
tion of believers. — Or, 1. The kingdom of heaven be-
longs to children ; 2. children belong to the kingdom
of heaven.
Starke: — Qucsnel: Let us entreat the blessing
of the Lord upon our children. — [Heaven is for the
humble and simple. — ] Osiander : Let parents see to
it that they do everything which may contribute to
the salvation of their children. — Bibl. Wiirt. : If the
kingdom of heaven belongs to children, then also
faith and baptism.
Gossner: — What is great before the world, is
little before Christ, and what the world despises, is
elected by Christ.
Lisco : — Children are specially susceptible of spir-
itual influences. In their case there is still — 1. con-
fidence, instead of scepticism ; 2. self-surrender, in-
stead of distrust ; 3. truth, instead of hypocrisy ; 4.
modesty and humility, instead of pride.
Heubncr: — Faith in the power and in the efficacy
of the pra3'ers of holy men: 1. On what it is based;
2. its conditions. — Let us impress it on the minds of
children, that Christ claims them as His own. — The
rebuke of the disciples an admonition to those who
object to the early religious instruction of children.
— Jesus the model of pure and holy love of chil-
dren.— Natural and Christian affection for children.
0, Propei-ty in the Church. Cn. XIX. 16-2G.
(Mark x. 1*7-27; Luke xviii. 18-27.)
16 And, behold, one came and said unto him,^ Good ^ Master, what good thing [ti aya-
17 66v\ shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said mito him, Why callest thou
me good? there is none good but one, that is, God [Why doest thou ask me about the
good? One is the Good, o dya^o's]^: but if thou wilt enter into hfe, keep the com-
18 ranndments. He saith unto him. Which? Jesus said. Thou shalt do no murder [shalt
not kill]. Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thoa shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear
19 false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and. Thou .shalt love thy neighbour
20 as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my
21 youth up * : what lack I yet [do I yet lack] ? Jesus said unto him. If thou wile be per-
fect, go and sell that [what] thou hast, and give t-o the poor, and thou slialt have trea-
22 sure in heaven : and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying,
he went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesits unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, Tliat a rich man shall
24 hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is ea.sier for a
camel to go through^ the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom
25 of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying. Who
26 then can be saved? But Jesus beheld thevi, and said unto them, With men this is im-
possible ; but with God all things are possible.
I Ver. 16. — [Or better: one came to Mm and said, efs irpoireXdctiv avrcS eiTrei', which is the correct rending for
elirev axnS. — P. S.]
- Ver. 16. — Codd. B., D., L., al., [also Cod. Sinait.], omit ayaO e {good), and read only 5i5a<TKaA6 (munfe!', teacher).
With this is conuecttd the following reading: ti ,u6 tpuiras Trepi tov ayadov ; eh effrli/ 6 c.ya9os (instead of the Be-
cepta : rl jue Kfyei^, k.t.X.). Those re.adings are decidedly better attested by B., 1)., and ancient versions, and adopted
by Griesbach, Lachraann, Tischendorf. The Jieceptu is inserted from Mark and Luke.
3 Ver. 17.- -[The true reading, as already stated by Dr. Lange in the preceding note, is: Tt fie eptor^s irepl
TOV ayadov; iJ s 4 err I v 6 o.yo.O 6s , i. e.. Why doed thou (ink me aloat the good? One is the [absolutely]
Good; Lange: Wa/tfragst dumichi'iler das Gute? Elner istder Gate. Tliis reading is sustained by Cud. Sinait., Cod.
Vatican.. D., L., and other MSS., by Origen, Euseb., Jerome, Ansustine, the Latin Vuh.'ati- (-Qiiiil me Interrogas de
bono t unufs e'<t honun, Deiis''), and other ancient versions, and adopted by Tregclles and Alford, as well as Lachniunn and
Tischendorf. See the summaries in the editions of these critics in loc. The Uct. rec: ri fie \fyeis dya.96i/ ;
ovSeU ayaOh'!, el (U?) els, o 0 6 o r , is from Mark and Luke, and is an answer to the addreim: " Good Master,'" while
Matthew gives the answer to the f/'«cv^'o?! of the young man: ''What good thing shallldof" Our Lord referred him
first from the multiplicity of good things (ra ayaOd) to the unity of the absolute personal Good (i5 ci.ya06s) or God (this is
the sense of the question in Matthew), and then He directed him (in the question of Mark and Luke) from a merely hu-
manitarian view of Christ to the true thcanthropic view, as if to say: If God alone is good, why do you call .!/<? good,
whom you re^ar.'. a mere Rabbi? lie .inswered to the thoughts of the young man and declined his' relative and humani-
tarian hoinaKf, but pointed him at the same time to the hislier and absolute conception of good, in which lie was good
according to "His divine nature and as one in essence with the Father. He does not say: "/am not good," but " none is
good;" no man is good in the proper sense of the term, but God alone. — P. S.]
* Ver. 20.— [The words: «k i/e('irT]r6s fj.ov,fiom my youth up, are omitted in the best ancient authorities, including
Cod. Sinait., and in the modern critical editions. (See the api)aratu3 in Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford.) They are in-
serted from the par-illel passages of Mark and Luke. Ur. Lange retains them in Lis German Version.— P. S.]
' Ver. 24.— Besides the reading: Z leKQelv, we have the more difficult eicr eKQe'iv^ to go into. [Cod. Sinait.
reads : eiaeXQiv.—'P. S.]
344
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Vcr. 10. And, behold, one came, eU. — From
the circumstance that the former two sections arc
connected together, we infer that Christ was still
surrounded by the Pharisees who had come tempting
Hira. Hence the expression of astonishment : " Be-
hold ! " Besides, the special designation of this
"one" as an apx^^ 'i^ the Gospel by Luke, is in
favor of the supposition that, having partly been
gained over by Jesus, he now came forward with the
inquiry of the text.
Vers. 16, 1*?. (Good) Master. — "We presuppose
that the accounts of Mark and Luke must be regard-
ed as supplementing that of Matthew. In that case,
the rejoinder of the Saviour : "JFAy callest thou Me
QoodJJl must_be,ta)ven as__an_objection, not to this
saluta^ion^itself^but to the superficial and merely out-
wardjneanmg which attached" to it iii the ramtrbf
t&is sciTEe. None is good but God : One only is
good. Everything good being in and from Him, can
only be one, and can only be regarded as good in so
far as it is connected with God.
Thus we also account for the reading : " W7ii/ aitk-
est thou Me about the good ? One is the Good." God
alone being good, is the sole source of all goodness.
Hence the duty of doing good is not one of many
others which has to be ascertained by means of in-
quiry, or by theological investigation. Tlie one good
thing is to live in God and to love God. Of this the
commencement is to keep the commandments, which
are the legal form in v/hich tliat which is good has
manifested itself. In other words, seek to fulfil the
law, or to be righteous before God. When attempt-
ing to do this, you will gradually be led onward to
repentance and faith ; or, in order to arrive at the
one good, or to come unto God, you must first be in
earnest about His commandments, or tlie manifold
forms under which the good becomes outwardly
manifest. Neander is mistaken in interpreting the
passage : " Vf hy askest thou Me about that which is
good y One is good ; address thyself to Him. He
has revealed it in His word." Still more erroneous
is the view of de Wette, who explains it as meaning :
Why propoundest thou to Me the unanswerable in-
quiry about the real and highest good ? etc. It is
certainly strange, ihat while this critic characterizes
such an inquiry as unanswerable, Meyer should style
it superfluous. The latter interpreter, however, apt-
ly remarks : " There is one who is good, and one that
is good, alterum von datur. But if you really wish
(the 5 € here in the same sense as the metabatic au-
tem) to apply to your life what I say, so as to become
thoroughly conscious of its spiritual import, etc."
The emphasis rests on the words : rifieipuras.
That which is good is not to be treated as the sub-
ject of Pharisaical ipwrau. It is not to be found in
the form of any particular commandment contained
among Jewish traditions. Hence Fritzsche correctly
explains tI ayadhv TTuiriaco by quid quod bonum sit,
what good thing. The young man imagined that he
had kept all these things ; yet he felt that he still
lacked something, although he knew not what. Thus
the transaction here recorded is closely connected
with the interview between Jesus and the scribe re-
corded in Mark xii. 28. In that case the fundamen-
tal idea was : One God ; and hence, only one com-
mandment. In the present instance : Only one good
Being ; and hence, also, only one good thing. On
both occasions, the Lord alludes to the contrast with
Jewish traditionalism and its manifold ordinances,
which so frequently impeded and obscured what was
good.
Ver. 18. Which? — noias, '^quales, which is
not equivalent to rivas, but implies that he would
hke to know its characteristic marks." Meyer.
Hence the statement shows that, like the Pharisees
generally, he made a distinction between what were
supposed to be primary and secondary command-
ments.
Thou shalt not. — This enumeration of the com-
mandments by the Lord is of some importance, with
reference to the distinction between what are com-
monly termed the first and second tables of the law.
In ver. 18 four commandments of the second
table are mentioned; and it has been asked how
this verse stands related to ver. 19. But, according
to Lev. xix. 18, the injunction, "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself," is evidently intended as a sum-
mary of the second table. Hence we infer tliat
" Honor thy father and thy mother " is to be taken
in a deeper sense, as summing up the command-
ments of the first table. In other words, 1. Keep
sacred the root of life ; or, the first table. 2. Keep
sacred the tree of which you are a branch ; or, the
second table
Ver. 20. All these things have I kept, etc. :
■what do I yet lack? ri ert vorepio; — The
latter query must not be regarded as an expression
of satisfied self-righteousness, as if it implied. In that
case I lack nothing. It is, indeed, true that the
young man was still self-righteous. He had no con-
ception of the spirituality, the depth, or the height
of the commandments of God. Talcing only the let-
ter of the law, he considered himself blameless, and
perhaps even righteous, before God. Yet liis heart
misgave him, and he felt that he still lacked some-
thing. Under this sense of want, he put the ques-
tion to the Saviour, as if he would have said : What
is it then that I yet lack? All these things have
not given me peace of mind. That such is the cor-
rect view of the passage, appears both from the
statement in Mark, " 77ien Jesus, beholding him,
loved him," and from the great struggle through
which he afterward passed.
Ver. 21. If thou wUt be perfect. — In its con-
nection with the preceding contest, the expression
can only mean: If thou wilt have the one good
thing, and thus do the one good thing, so that spirit-
ual fear and want may give place to peace and love,
etc. The Lord admits the supposition of the young
man, that he was now beyond the many command-
ments, or the way of the law. Well, then, granting
this to be the case, proceed to the one thing. .The.
young man was now to give proof that he was in
earnest about the matter. For this purpose Jesua
tries him, with the view of setting before him the
deeper import of the law, and of awakening within
him a sense of sinfulness and of spiritual bondage.
The injunction of the Lord is manifestly intended to
bring out tlie fact, that the young man had made an
idol of his riches, and hence that he utterly contra-
vened the spirit even of the first commandment.
Substantially, this demand of Christ imports the
same thing as the call addressed to all His disciples
— to deny themselves, to take up the cross, and to
follow Him. In this sense, then, the injunction ap-
plies to every Christian. All that belongs to a be-
liever is in reality not his, but the Lord's property ;
above all, it belongs Christo in pauperibus. The
Lord, however, expresses this general call of His
CHAP. XIX. 16-
345
gospel, as it were, in a legal form, for the purpose of
taking away the self-righteousncss of the young man,
and of loading liim to feel his sinfulness and need of
salvation. Obvious^ly He could not have meant, that
by literally and outwardly obeying this injunction,
the young man would obtain a claim upon tlie king-
dom of heaven. Hence those interpreters have
missed the import of the passage, who imagine that
everything would have been right if the young man
had only ibllowed the direction of the Saviour ; but
that, as he went away sorrowful, he was finally lost.
It is, indeed, true that his going away indicated a
state of great danger, and was calculated to awaken
serious concern about his future. Still the fact of
his being sorrou'ful afforded evidence of an inward
conflict, through wliich by grace he might pass to a
proper view of his state before God. This was still
lacking in his case, and not any additional attempt
at external righteousness.
Treasure in heaven. — Comp. v. 12 ; vi. 20.
Vcr. 23. Hardly, Suo-koXois. — The expression
implies that the state of the young man was one of
extreme danger. Still it does not follow that it was
hopele?s. A rich man may enter into tlie kingdom
of heaven, although not as a rich man. The difficul-
ty of the case lies in the natural unwillingness to
surrender our trust in and love of earthly possessions.
Comp. the tract of Clement of Alexandria: Ti's 6
cru(iht€vos -n-AoiVior; Quis dives salvetur?
Ver. 24. It is easier for a camel. — The hyper-
bolical figure here used has given rise to various
false interpretations. Thus, 1. it has been ren-
dered an anchor-rope, {a) after the somewhat arbi-
trary interpretation of the word icdixrjXoi {rivis in
Theophylact) ; or, {b) after the reading Ko.fj.iXov'^
(Castellio, Huetius, etc.). 2. It has been asserted
that the expression, eye of a needle, was in the East
used to designate the side-gate for foot-passengers,
close l)y the principal gate, through which camels
were wont to enter cities. 3. Most interpreters,
however, have taken the terms, ^^ camel" and "^Ae
eye of a needle," in their literal sense. Thus Grotius
remarks : totum hoc proverbium mutata cameli voce
in elephantem est apud Rabbi Jacobum in Caphtor.
Similarly de Wette reminds us that the same saying
occurs in the Talmud about an elephant; comp.
Lightfoot, Schottgen, Buxtorf's Lexic. Talmud.\
Grotius quotes a similar Latin proverb, and refers to
Jer. xiii. 23 as a somewhat analogous passage. It
seems to us that the Saviour here intended to convey
the fact, that the difliculty of entering into the king-
dom of heaven, to which ver. 23 referred, had now
become changed into an impossibiUty. Of course,
no expression could be too strong to characterize an
impossibility. Hence the import of the passage
seems to be, that while ver. 23 refers to those who
actually possessed riches, with which they might at
any moment part, ver. 24 applies to rich men in the
* [The word Katx i Aor, supposed to meau a rope or
ccbfjle, occurs in a few minuscule MS3., but in no Greek
author, .ind w.-is probably invented to escape the imairinary
difficulty of this proverbial expression. Corap. the Greek
Lexica and the app.aratus in Tischendorf s large edition ad
ver. i 1.— P. S ]
t [The Koran, Sur. vii. 3S, probably in imitation of this
paasnge, uses the same figure: '■-Non ingredieiiinr paradi-
Hwn, doneo transeat camelus foramen acus." Comp. also
Matt. x;:iii. 24, to swallow a camel. The camel was more
familiar to the hearers of the Saviour than the elephant, aud
ou account of the hump on its back, it was especially adapted
to symbolize earthly wealth as a heavy load and serious im-
pediment to entrance throu;;h the narrow gate of the king-
dom of heaven.— P. S.]
symbolical sense of the term, or to those who give
their heart and life to these things. Accordingly,
we regard the expression not merely as a proverbial
saying, but as intended to express that a thing was
absohitely impossible. The camel as a beast of bur-
den might serve as a fit emblem of a rich person ;
while the eye of a needle, which is the smallest pas-
sage through which anything visible could enter,
might be regarded as a figure of the spiritual entrance
into the kingdom, of a soul which had renounced the
world. In one respect, however, even this figure is
inadequate, if taken literally, as it might imply that
a soul could enter that kingdom while hanging to the
world, though it were only by a thread. But figures
must not be too closely pressed, and the eye of a
needle is certainly the most fitting emblem that
could be found.
Ver. 25. Who then can be saved ? — De Wette
(after Grotius) : " Since evei'y one has more or less
of the same love of the world." This explanation is
certainly more satisfactory than that of Meyer, who
regards the clause as a conclusio a majoribiis ad mi-
nores ; as if it meant, If rich persons, who have the
means of doing so much good, have such difficulty,
who then, etc. V In our view, the disciples reasoned
as follows : If riches render a man unfit for the king-
dom of heaven, there is surely some thread of pos-
sessions by which even the poorest individual may
be kept from entering the kingdom, more especially
as by nature every one loves riches. Or, perhaps,
we might take it even in a more general sense : If
riches are so great a hindrance, how much more
actual sin ! The disciples had evidently not yet fully
perceived that every sin springs from worldhness of
mind aud heart ; and their Jewish prejudices rose in
rebellion against this teaching.
Ver. 26. But Jesus looking on them. — With
kindly sympathy. He felt what a hard struggle they
had yet before them, before they could attain the
full liberty of the children of God.
With men. — The use of the plural number de-
serves notice : 1. According to the judgment of men.
So Fritzsche and Ewald. 2. According to the power
and ability of men. De Wette and Meyer. Both
these views may be combined. The common judg-
ment of men accords, in this instance, with their felt
mability; and in that sense it is impossible. But
God, in His power and grace, not only renders this
possible, but actually declares it such, in and through
Christ. The expression raen refers to the ancient
and corrupt world, lost in its worldliness ; while the
Lord is here presented to the view of the disciples
as the Creator of a new era, in which the world
would be crucified to beUevers, and they to the
world. Comp. Luke i. 37.
DOGTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. We have already stated that this section sets
before us the third aspect of the Christian family, or
of the family in the kingdom of heaven. Having
first shown what is the import of Christian marriage,
and then assigned to children their proper place in
the Christian household, the Lord now refers to the
possessions of believers. Il is of great importance
to notice the threefold offence of the disciples in regard
to the three fundamental element'^ in the Christian
family, and tlie manner in which the Lord removes
these offences. As the young man was still entirely
346
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
legalistic in his views, Christ sets before him in a
legalistic form the great principle according to which
a Chrislian man was to administer his property. But
this mode of teaching was intended to awaken the
" ruler " to a knowledge of his real state before God.
Hence it is a complete perversion of the import of
the passage, when Roman Catholic divines regard it
as a commandment applying to special individuals,
or as what they designate a consilium cvanf/elknim,
in reference to voluntary poverty. The supposed
consilium only becomes evanffcUcum, and in that
case a, princi.pium evangelicum, when we look beyond
the form in which this principle is expressed, and
learn to regard it as teaching that a Christian is to
consider all his possessions as a trust committed to
him by the Lord, which he is to employ for behoof
of the poor, or for the removal of the wants of hu-
manity.
2. In this passage, the doctrine concerning the
highest good is expressed in most clear and definite
language. God is not merely the highest good, but
also the source of all moral and physical good, and
hence the only good. Even Christ Himself only
claims the designation of Good because He is one
with the Father, not because He was the " leading
Rabbi." And just as any creature can only be called
good from its connection with God, so all the special
commandments are only an expression of moral good
in so i-xv as they are viewed in their connection with
the fundamental commandment of love to God. Fi-
nally, physical good is such only, if enjoyed or ad-
ministered in the spirit of Christian devotion ; other-
wise it becomes a snare to the soul, and an evil
instead of a blessing.
3. The Lord at once perceived that, both in re-
spect of virtue and of the things of this life, the
young man had lost sight of God as the highest and
only good ; and that when he addressed Him as
" Good Master," it had not been from the depth of a
believing heart, but only as a worldly and superficial
acknowledgment of His character. This view is
corroborated by the peculiar manner in which the
Lord dealt with him, the object of which, evidently,
was to bring him to proper knowledge — to a know-
ledge of Christ, to an understanding of the com-
mandments, to a proper view of the import of earthly
blessings, but above all to a sight and sense of his
own state and condition. Many commentators labor
under a twofold misapprehension in interpreting this
narrative. First, they confound the mental self-right:
eousness or intellectual legaUsm of the young man
with self-righteousness of the heart, entirely over-
looliing the fact, that he expresses a deep feeling of
spiritual want. It is in this sense that we understand
the statement of Mark, that Jesus, beholding him,
loved him. True, his heart was not yet broken
under a sense of spiritual poverty ; he still deceived
hunself, in his self-righteousness; but he felt that
there remained some deep want unsatisfied. Again,
the young man is generally condemned and supposeil
to have been ultimately lost, because he did not im-
mediately obey the injunction of Christ; as if the
Lord had intended to convert him into a legalist, in-
stead of arousing him to a sense of his guilt and sui-
fulness. [Similarly Alfoed : " This young man,
though self-rigliteous, was no htipocrite, no Pharisee :
he spoke earnestly, and really sti'ove to keep, as he
really beUeved he had kept, all God's command- 1
ments. Accordingly Mark adds, that Jesus looking '
upon him loved him : in spite of his error there was
a nobleness and openness about him, contrasted |
with the hypocritical bearing of the Pharisees and
scribes." — P. S.]
4. " Such an animal as a camel, laden with its
burdens, could not possibly enter the gate of a city
of dwarfs, so small as to be compared to the eye of a
needle. The case of a rich man is exactly similar.
Naturally overgrown and laden v,'ith burdens, the
rich man whose heart cleaves to his wealth appears
before the strait gate of the kingdom of heaven. No
wonder that in these circumstances he cannot even
sec, far less enter it. He still belongs to the sensual
world ; the only things which he can perceive are
outward and carnal objects. The kingdom of heaven,
with ils spiritual realities, is far too small and incon-
siderable to attract his sensuous gaze, nor can he in
that state enter into it." (From the author's Leben
Jesu, ii. 2, 2110.)
5. Our Lord here presents one great truth under
a twofold aspect: (1) It is difficult for any rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven, because it is
difficult for him to become poor. (2) It is even im-
possible for him, inasmuch as he is rich, and will re-
main such, unless by a miracle of grace he becomes
poor in spirit. Hence the disciples asked in deep
concern, Who then can be saved? They felt that
the saying of the Lord applied to the poor as well as
to the I'ich, since all aimed after wealth ; nay, that it
applied to themselves, as they also still placed too
much value on earthly things. Hence Jesus now
" beheld " them with the same look of pity and sym-
pathy as formerly the young man. True, it is im-
possible with men ; but all things are possible with
God, who can and will empty His own people, and
make them poor. Thus are we, by a miracle of
grace and through the cross, to be so directed and
influenced, that we possess as if we possessed not, and
that, as heirs of God, or of the highest good, we shall
be willing to lay on the altar of love all which we
possess.
6. " The application of this passage made by the
begging monastic orders — Francis of Assisi — is not
the right one." Heubner. [This application is
much older than the mendicant orders of the middle
ages. St. Antony of Egypt, the patriarch of Chris-
tian monks, when he heard this Scripture lesson in
the church, understood the Saviour's injunction, vcr.
21, in a hteral sense, and sold his rich possessions,
retaining only a sufficiency for the support of his sis-
tor. When shoi'tly afterward he heard the Gospel :
Take no thought of the following moo'ning, he sold
the remainder and gave it to the poor. The Roman
Cathohc commentators and morahsts base their doc-
trine of voluntary poverty as an essential element of
the higher Christian perfection mainly on this pas-
sage. Comp. Maldonatus, Cornelius a Lapide, and
Schegg in loc. But Christ commands all His dis-
ciples to be perfect, reAsioi, ch. v. 48, and so St.
Paul, 1 Cor. ii. 6 ; Phil. iii. 15 ; Col. i. 20 ; Eph. It.
13; and St. James i. 4; iii. 2. The counsel, there-
fore, must be understood in a sense in which it is
applicable to all true beUevers. — P. S.]
IIOMILETICAL AND rRACTICAL.
The good as viewed in the light of the gospel. —
Property in the Christian family. — God the highest
and sole good, and the source of every other good. —
The character of Christians : 1. They give themselves
to that which is good; 2. they do that which is
CHAP. XIX. lG-26.
347
good ; 8. they hold their possessions for that which
is good. Or, the principle — 1. of all virtue ; 2. of all
duty ; 3. of all true riches. — The inquiry of the rich
young man : " What good tiling must 1 do '? " as ex-
pressing a threefold error: 1. He seems to think that
he can be saved by his works ; 2. by deeds of special
beneficence ; 3. by some particular deed, which was
to crown and complete all his previous righteousness.
— A ruler of the sj-nagogue, and yet he has no con-
ception of the law in its spirituaUty ; or, the fearful
ignorance resulting from mere legalism. — Self-decep-
tion and self-righteousness producing each other. —
The question of the young man should have been:
How may I have eternal life in order to do good
things'? — The various forms of self-righteousness : 1.
Self-righteousness of the head and of the heart (of
doctrine and of sentiment) ; or, Pharisees in the
strictest sense; 2. self-righteousness of the heart
with orthodoxy of the head, as in the case of some
in the Church who seem to be zealous for soundness
of doctrine ; 3. self-righteousness of the head, com-
bined with a deep sense of spiritual need, although
its grounds may not be fully understood, as in the
case of this young man and of many Christian legal-
istii. — Antagonism between the self-delusion of a man
and the felt need of his heart. — "If thou wilt enter
into Ufe, keep the commandments ; "' or, we can only
be free from the law by the law : 1 . By understand-
ing its spiritual import (its appUcation to tlie heart) ;
2. by comprehending all the commandments into one
commandment (forming, as it were, the point of the
arrow of the law) ; 3. by sincere and earnest self-ex-
amination, in view of the one great commandment
of love to God (the law working death). — How the
Lord applies the law in order to train us for the gos-
pel.— The rich young man In the school of the Lord.
— On the close connection between spiritual and
temporal riches (or rather, the attempt to be i-ich) :
1. Spiritual riches leading to pride and pretensions;
2. temporal riches often serving to conceal spiritual
poverty. — The dangers of riches (avai-ice, love of
pleasure, pride, confidence m temporal wealth, false
spirituality, self-deception as to our spiritual state). —
The object of riches. — Twofold interpretation of this
declaration of the Lord: 1. The interpretation put
upon it by the disciples ; 2. the interpi-etation of the
Master. — " Who then can be saved '? " or, an admis-
sion that all men share the same guilt and love of
the world. — How a rich man may enter into the
kingdom of heaven: 1. It is always difficult in his
peculiar circumstances ; 2. it is impossible, if in
mind and heart he cleaves to his wealth (the Phari-
sees) ; 3. it becomes possible by a miracle of divine
grace (Joseph of Arimathea). — The entrance into the
kingdom of heaven: 1. Very inaccessible to the nat-
ural man : (a) it is always, and in every case, a strait
gate; (b) it becomes the eye of a needle to those
who are rich. 2. But it is widely ojjen to beUevers :
(a) leadhig the genuine disciple of Christ into the
banqueting-hall, Matt. xxv. 10 ; (b) it is a gate of
honor to faithful followers of Christ ; (c) a heavenly
gate on our return to the Father's house, John xiv.
2. — The various stages of evil, as represented by the
symbols of a "camel," "wolves," and a "generation
of vipers." — The camel with its heavy burden before
the eye of a needle, an emblem of avarice or of
worldly-mindedness standing at the gate of heaven.
Comp. Matt, xxiii. 24. — Regeneration and poverty in
spirit a miracle of grace ; resembUng in that respect
the birth of Christ, Luke i. S*?.
Siarke: — Qucsnel : If we want to know how we
may be saved, let us apply to Christ, the greatest
and truest Teacher. — Zeisius: It is a common but
most dangerous error, to seek eternal life by our own
works. — Every good gift cometh from above, James
i. 1*7. To arrogate it to ourselves, is not only to de-
file the gift by touching it with polluted hands, but
to be guilty of sacrilege, ch. vii. 22. — Osicmdcr : All
who arc ignorant of their state before God, should
be directed to the law in order to learn their guilt
and need. — Love to our neighbor the clearest evi-
dence of love to God. — How many imagine that
they have done evcrythmg required at their hand,
while in truth they cannot answer one ujjon a thou-
sand ! Job ix. 3. — Zeisius : The law is spiritual ;
hence, they who trust in their works grievously de-
ceive themselves, Rom. vii. 8, 14. — The most dan-
gerous state, is to imagine that we are righteous in
the sight of God. — Ihssani Bibl. : We are not to
take this history as if it implied that by the outward
work of almsgiving, the young man would have be-
come perfect. The opposite of this appears from 1
Cor. xiii. 3. But Christ here sets one special com-
mandment before the young man, wliose state of
mind He well perceived, in order to convince him
that he was infinitely far from perfection, and unable
to keep the law. — lie who sowcth bountifully shall
also reap bountifully, 2 Cor. ix. 6, V. — The whole
work of salvation is fiir beyond the knowledge or
power of man. — Quesnel: A sense of spiritual inabili-
ty should not lead us to despair, but result in the
triumph of the grace of Jesus Christ.
Li^co : — Marginal note of Luther : Our Lord here
puts the question. Why callest thou Me good ? in the
same sense as He says, John vii. 15, My doctrine is
not Mine, — referring more particularly to His huma-
nity, by which He would always lead us to the Fa-
ther.— To be perfect, is to keep the commandments
of God. — Hence it is evident, that this young man
had not in reality observed the conunandments, as
he fondly imagined.
Gerlach : — Jesus tries the young man by setting
before him the spiritual bearing of the law. — By
such examples, the Master gradually trained His
disciples to understand the utter inability of man for
anything that is good.
Heubner: — The "ruler" came forward in haste,
as if he could not wait or delay; still it led to ho'
lasting results. Afterward, however, he v.'cut away
slowly and sorrowfully. — " There is none good."
These words are not spoken hghtly, but have a deep
and most solemn meaning. — Comp. the excellent
work of J. Casp. ScHAnE: " Tlie most important in-
quiries: What lack I t/et ? and, What shall I do, (hat
I may have eternal I'lfcV^ 14th ed., Leipz., 1734. —
The calculation is correct, except in one little parti-
cular ; but this renders the whole accoimt false. —
Every one of us has something which he must give
up in order to enter the kingdom of Christ. — Chry-
sostom : On the f|uestion of the disciples, " Who
then can be saved V " — because they felt concern for
the salvation of their fellow-men, because they bore
deep affection to them, and because they already felt
the tenderness characteristic of all true ministers.
This saying of Christ made them tremble for the
whole world.
348
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
FOURTH SECTION.
THE FUTURE KINGLY MANIFESTATION OF THE CHURCH.
Chapter XIX. 27-XX. 10.
Contents:— (a) The glorious reward awaiting the Apostles, and all who renounce the things that are seen, for the sake
of Christ, vers. 27-80. (6) The reward of free grace ; or, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, ch. xx. 1-16.
Historical Succession. — Immediately after the transaction with the rich young man, Peter put the que&-'
tion as to the reward which awaited the disciples, who had renounced all things and followed Jesus,
The reply of the Lord is followed, and further illustrated, by the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.
A. The glorious reward awaiting the Apostles, and, in general, all who renounce the things that are seen and
temporal. Cn. XIX. 2Y-30.
(Mark x. 28-31 ; Luke xviii. 28-30).
27 Then answered Peter and said unto liim, Beliold, we have forsaken all, and follow-
28 ed tliee; wdiat shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto
you, That ye which [who] have followed me, in the regeneration [renovation, TraXiy-
yevea-ia] when the Son of man shall sit in [on] the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit
29 upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one tliat hath
forsaken liouses, or brethren [brothers], or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife,^ or chil-
dren, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold [manifold],^ and shall
30 inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall he
first.^
iAA(
1 Yor. 20.— The words v? yvvatKa, or wife, are omitted in B,
tions of Lacbmann, Tischendorf, Alford.— P. "S.]
- Vi>r. 29.— B., L., [and the critical editions] read, as in Luke xviii. 30:
kKarovraTcKaffiova, a hundred times more, as Mark has it-
= ViT. SO.— [Literally: But many first shall he last, and last first, iroAAo! Se
Kal eixxa'T'oi Trpwroi. Conip. the Meeg. Notes.— V. S.]
D., and many other authorities [and in the critical edi-
10 V a., many times more, for
VT o.L ir puT 0 L eo-XKToi,
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 27. Then answered Peter. — De Wette
remarks : The question of Peter was evidently occa-
sioned by the demand which the Lord had addressed
to the young man. Meyer expresses the same idea,
and adds, that the word 7ii^i.e2s is put forward by
way of emphasis, and in contrast to the conduct of
the rich young man. De Wette suggests, " that Pe-
ter must have expected some material equivalent;
otherwise he would not have put this question, but
have been satisfied with the inward and spiritual
comfort enjoyed by all disciples " (but comp. 1 Cor.
XV. lli). We admit that there was a slight trace of
a mercenary spirit in this inquiry. This appears
both from ver. 30, and from the parable which im-
mediately follows. Still, the admixture of selfishness
was not such as wholly to obscure the higher import
and truth of the question itself. In fact, although
the inquiry of Peter was in reference to a reward, it
was couched in the most diffident and humble lan-
guage: Ti a pa i(TTai v/xlv; What then shall ive
have ? as the Vulgate : Quid ergo erit nobi.s ? But
Paulus is mistaken in interpreting the meaning of
the clause : What then shall we have, viz., to do ?
Similarly, we cannot agree with Olshausen in para-
phrasing it: What shall be our portion? Wilt
Thou pronounce the same sentence upon us as upon
this young man ? The expression r/^eir is evidently
intended by way of antithesis to the rich man who
could not enter the kingdom of heaven ; while the
statement, " Behold, we have forsaken all," is meant
as a renewed formal renunciation of the world, com-
bined in this case with the timid ciuestion (which is
not even recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke) :
What then ? What shall we have ?
We have forsaken all. — De W'ette and Meyer
regard these words as implying that they no longer
occasionally returned to their homes and trades.
But even if this idea were not inconsistent with John
xxi. 3, it would evidently form only a very secondary
consideration. The main point lies iu the fact, that
when leaving Galilee, they had, in mind and heart,
and to the best of their understanding, made a com-
plete renunciation of the world, and were now rea,dy
to follow their Lord, on His path of suffering, to Je-
rusalem. Jesus had already predicted His own fu-
ture glory, but as yet He had preserved silence about
the future of the disciples. On this point they now
asked for further information.
Ver. 28. And Jesus said to them. — Yer. 28
CHAP. XIX. 27-30.
349
embodies the special promise to the Apostles ; ver.
20, the general statement in reference to all the fol-
lowers of Christ; while ver. 30, and the parable
ivliich follows, express the condition of both these
promises.
Ye who have followed Me. — The circum-
stance tlial twelve thrones are promised, proves that
this aJdrcss was directed to the Apostles. — In the
renovation, iruKiyyevecri a, — the complete Chris-
tian regeneration, being the restoration of this world
of ours, or the appearance of the new a;on, the great
fjvi4>dv€ia, in contradistinction to the commencement
of the regeneration — its root, and principle (the avu-
Oiv yevv7)d)]yai, John iii. 3, or the avaytwr^drivai^ 1
Pet. i. 3) — which formed the basis of the complete
restoration. In point of fact, it coincides with the
aTTOKaTaa-Ta-Tir, Acts iii. 21, although the two ideas
are different.* The expression, Komphv iraKLyyeve-
aias, in Tit. iii. 5, seems to comprehend the two
ideas of regeneration ui principle and complete reno-
vation, and also to point forv/ard from tlie one to
the other. Hilary applies the expression to the first
regeneration, and, connecting with it the words,
■ aKoKovdvaavTss ^ot, renders it: "Ye who have fol-
lowed .Me in the regeneration, or as regenerated per-
sons." Similarly, Hammond, Fischer, etc., uuder-
■ stand it as referring to the first regeneration, and
appeal in proof to Tit. iii. 5. Augustine, Theophy-
lact, and EuthJ^nius Zigab. refer it to the resurrec-
tion of the body, Fritzsche more particularly to the
final judgment. De Wette and Meyer (after Bux-
torf's Lexicon. Talmud, db^"r\ U)nn, Berthold's
Christologie) apply it "to the renovation of the
world, which had been ruined and destroyed by tlie
fall," or to " the restoi'ation of the wliole universe to
its original., state of perfection before the fVdl."
Hetice it would nearly correspond with the airo;ca-
Taaraais (de Wette, comp. Joseph. Antiq. xi. 3, 8,
a.woKaTd<TTs.(Tis ; § 9, ^ TraXiyyiViaia Tijy waTpiSos).
But while tlie latter term refers more particularly to
the restoration of the original state of things, accord-
ing to the promise of God, or to the full renewal and
recovery of our diseased, disordered, and decaying
world, the expression -KaXiyyiveffla goes beyond this,
and points to the further development and advance
of the life of man from its original State of terrestrial
perfectness to a higher state of spiritual existence
{see 1 Cor. xv.). At the same time, it is also im.por-
tant to bear in mind that the first " regeneration," in
principle, contams the second, and that it is contin-
uously carried on and developed until the final stage
shall be attained. Hence, although the Lord here
primarily referred to the final completion of tlie
kingdom of heaven, His statement also applies to
the glory awaiting the Apostles after death in the
kingdom of Christ, and to their spiritual supremacy
in Hun even while on earth, as well as to the grad-
ual increase in spiritual fellowship with their glorified
Master. (Comp. Ezer/. lioirs on cji. xvi. 28.)
When the Son of Man shall sit. — This clause
explains more fully the import of the palingenesia.
— On the throne of His glory. — The 3o'|a is the
glory of His appearing when His spiritual power
shall liccome fully manifest. Hence the expression
does not simply mean, '"the throne on which the
Master shall reveal Himself in His glory," but also,
"the tin-one which is the result as well as the mani-
festation of His glory." This throne, which He oc-
* [Coiiin. also Rev. ssi. 5: "Behold, I maka all things
<uw:'-l'. S.]
cupies as conqueror, ruler, judge, and master, con-
stitutes, so to spealv, the centre and the main attribute
of His spiritual glory, when fully unfolded. (Comp.
Matt. XXV. 31.)
Ye also shall sit upon twelve Uiroaes. —
The number of the Apostles is here suuimed up as
twelve, corresponding to that of the tribes of Israel.
Accordingly, the promise did not apply to them in-
dividually, nor does it contain any reference to the
later apostasy of Judas. On the contrary, this prom-
ise would only serve to render his apostasy all the
more inexcusahle. (Comp. Rev. xxi. 14.)
Judgijig the tw^elve tribes of Israel. — As the
Apostles appear here in their ideal rather than in
their individual capacity, so the '■'■twelve tribes of
Israel " must be taken in a symbolical sense, as ap-
plying to the whole body of believers (see Rev. xxi.
12), the term "judging" must not be hmited to
strictly judicial acts ; it rather applies to the theo-
cratic administration of the judges under the Old
Testament, all the more, that the twelve tribes are
here represented as ideally restored in the final re-
generation. Hence we agree with Grotius and Kuin-
oel in taking the expression in a more general sense,
as equivalent to ruling. Meyer, however, advocates
its literal interpretation. "Believers generally are
to share in the future glory and reign of Christ (Rom.
vui. 17 ; 2 Tim. ii. 12j, and to have part in the judg-
ment (1 Cor. vi. 2). To the disciples the special
prerogative is here accorded, of having part in judg-
ing the Jewish people." Still, this critic contradicts
himself by immediately adding, that "the outward
and apocalj'ptic form of this promise is unessential."
At the same time, he also thinks that "the disciples
could not at the time have understood it in any
other than a literal sense ; " or, in other words, that
they must necessarily have misunderstood it. But
at this period they must have been fully aware of
the fact, that the Old Testament theocracy was to be
spiritually restored in and by the Church. H^ence,
in our view, the expression appUes to the spiritual
administration and rule of the Apostles, in subordi-
nation to the will of the Master ; which implied, on
the one hand, a real judging of the Jewish people,
and on the other, the idea of de Wette, that in pro-
portion to the sacrifices which we make for the sake
of the kingdom of heaven, shall be the spiritual
power which we exercise, our influence for good, and
our usefulness and activity. But as the spiritual su-
premacy of Christ Himself combined the two ele-
ments of historical and spiritual efficacy, so the
Apostles were to represent the twelve fundamental
forms of His reign in the kingdom. (Comp. ch. x.)
According to Luke xxii. 30, the Lord repeated the
same promise at the institution of the Eucharist.
Ver. 29. And every one that hath forsalien.
— The promise is now extended so as to apply to
Christians at all times. This forsaking of all things
is for the twofold purpose of confessing and of fol-
lowing Christ. Both elements are combined in the
expression, " for My name's sake," or for the mani-
leslation of My person. The mention of the family-
relationship occurs between that of "houses" and
of "lands." Accordingly, the former refer not to
possessions, but to houses, in tiie sense of genealogi-
cal descent, of nationality, country, or ancesaal faith.
Thus we have in the text three classes of sacrifices:
the first being the most difiicult, viz., that of the
house in the widest sense of tlie term ; then that of
kindred ; and, lastly, that of possessions.
Many-fold. — The reading of Codd. B. and L.,
350
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Tro\\air\affiova, manifold, is better attested than
that of Cod. D., iKaTovTair\a<Tiova. Meyer
maintains that from the context this promise must
refer to the future kingdom of the Messiah. "The
statement seems incompatible with Marli x. SO and
Luke xviii. 30, in which abundant compensation is
promised oven in this world, or previous to the sec-
ond appearing of Christ." But the supposed mistake
lies in reality with the interpreter, who seems to sep-
arate entirely between the alwv o5to? and the uiuu
ipxoixevos. An attentive consideration of the expres-
sion Kaipb? oStoj in the passages to which Meyer
refers, might have sufficed to convince him of this.
V/ith the resurrection of Christ the alccv epxiuivos,
which had been prepared by the life of the .Saviour,
began even in the outward alcof ovtos, or in the icai-
phs oItus. This regeneration was to continue, to in-
crease, and to develop into the full manifestation of
the future ccon at the glorious appearing of Christ,
when it would be completed and made to extend over
the whole world. (See John v. 25, 28 ; 1 Cor. xv.
20, 23, 24 ; Rev. xx, xxi.) Hence we cannot adopt
any of the common interpretations of this promise, —
such as that it applies to happy Christian connections
(Jerome and others), or to Christ Himself (Makloua-
tus, comp. xii. 49), or to the restoration of all tilings
(1 Cor. iii. 21, Olshausen). In our view, the three
classes of blessings promised correspond to the three-
fold sacrifices demanded in the text. Believers are
to find a new and eternal home and country, new and
eternal relationships, and new and eternal posses-
sions, of which the blessings enjoyed by them on
earth are to be the earnest and foretaste. All these
promises are summed up in that of being made heirs
of eternal hfe (Rom. viii.).
Ver. 30. But many shall be. — Meyer and
Fritzsche suggest that, after the analogy of ch. xx.
16, the expression should be construed as follows:
"Many shall be first as the last" (eo-xaToi orres),
" and last as being first " {irpwroL uvres). But this
appears incompatible with the emphasis attaching to
the words trpuroi and eo-x^Toi, when viewed as
special designations ; while, on the other hand, the
" last " which are to be " first " have not been pre-
viously mentioned or described. Manifestly cur
Lord intended, in the first place, to refer to His dis-
ciples and f llowers, which were the irpioroi. To
them lie gave the richest and fullest promises. But
at the same time, also. He sets before them the spir-
itual conditions of their calling ; or, in other words,
the limitations and conditions of His promise. Thus
the "last" are now prominently brought forward.
This subject is more fully explained in the succeed-
ing parable. Hence in ch. xx. 16 the order is re-
versed, and the last are first, and the first last.
Theophylact and Grctius apply the antithesis be-
tween the first and the last to the Jews and the Gen-
tiles. De Wette refers it to the different views in
reference to the reward : in the one case, in the sight
of man ; in the other, in that of God. But tTiis in-
terpretation proceeds on the erroneous idea, that the
Apostle put the question from a desire for reward,
and that the answer of the Lord was virtually a re-
buke. Meyer refers the expression to the contrast
between the latter and the present ceon. But this is
evidently a mistake. The parable of the vineyard
and the laboi-ers shows that the Lord here alludes to
the difference in the time of calUnj. Hence it refers
to the fact, that earher or later calling does not im-
ply, as might seem, a higher or a lower standing and
reward in the kingdom of heaven. It is not the ex-
tensiveness, but the intcnsiveness, of our service
which is to constitute the difference, — all the more
that the reward is of free grace alone.
DOCTKIN^L AKD ETHICAL.
1. The section under consideration is closely con-
nected with that which preceded it. The warning
of Christ as to the danger of riches was intended for
the disciples as well as for the young man. They
felt this all the more, that He had just "beheld
them" with the same look of pity and sympathy
which He had cast on the rich young man. Hence,
when Peter addressed the Saviour, he "began to
say," he " answered," or made confession (Matt.
T0T6 knoKpidiis ; Mark, fip^aro AeYfij/). The state-
ment, "We have forsaken all, and followed Thee,"
seemed intended to meet the objection on the score
of being rich. Still he ventured to nnply that they
were not wholly without some claim ; nor does he
appear to have perceived any incongruity in tlris.
Luke and Mark omit the question : " What shall we
have ? " although their narratives imply that he had
proffered some claim. This diflidence, and the inde-
finite wording of the inquiry, deserve notice. The
expectation of a retribution constituted the difference
between the Christian and the Sadducee, who, from
the premise, that we ought to love virtue for its own
sake, drew the erroneous conclusion, that we should
expect no further retribution than the inward reward
which virtue afforded to him that practised it. The
answer of Christ shows that He acknowledges the
vaUdity of our hope of a future reward. At the same
time, it also indicates that the disciples had not yet
learned fully to understand the spirituality and the
bearing of these relations.
2. The promise of the Lord implies the fuU estab-
lishment of Mis spiritual kingdom, which consists not
merely in the restoration of the original state of
things in Paradise, but also in the full development
of the first into the second hfe (1 Cor. xv.). In
other words, the complete redemption of the world
will at the same time be its transformation, when re-
generated humanity shall dwell in a completely re-
generated world. The centre of this completion of
ail things shall be the manifestation of Christ in His
glory, when He shall appear in all His heavenly
brightness. Then all relationships shall partake of,
and reflect, the splendor of His manifestation. This
will also apply to the administration of His Apostles,
as the representatives of His rule over the twelve
tribes — a symboUcal term, intended to indicate the
whole variety of spiritual stages and experiences in
the Idngdom of heaven. This administration, which
at the final manifestation of Christ is to appear in its
completeness, commenced with His resurrection.
The gradual increase of their power and influence
here would correspond with the progress of Christ's
work, and the spread of holiness and salvation;
while at the same time it would be a token of their
future glory in heaven, and of their final acknowledg-
ment on earth.
3. Our Lord adds to the assurance origmaUy
given to the disci[>les, a more general promise ad-
dressed to all believei'S. In the higher sense, and in
its real spiritual bearing, every Christian is to receive
a hundred-fold for the outward sacrifices v.hich he
may have made on behalf of Christ. Similarly,
the Apostle Paul reminds us that all lldugs are
ours (1 Cor. iii. 21 ; comp. Rom. Tiii. 28). In the
CHAP. XX. 1-
351
Gospel of Mark the special retributions are enume-
rated.*
4. Having met the hope of His disciples in ref-
erence to a future reward, the Lord Jesus, in ver.
30, removes any misunderstanding by striking at the
root of anything like a mercenary spirit. He teaches
thcin that the reward is of free grace. Not that it is
arbitrary, but that it is not determined by outward
priority, cither in reference to rank, talent, or time ;
and that it corresponds to the state of mind and
heart, the fundamental characteristic and test being
complete seU'-surrender and absence of any claim or
pretension on our part. Peter required this instruc-
tion all the more, that he was certainly not entitled
to say : " We have forsaken all." If this had been
the case, they would not soon afterward have for-
saken the Master and fled. But the kingdom of hea-
ven is within, — it is not a system of merit and re-
ward, but the sway and rule of free love.
nOMILETIGAL AND TEACTICAL.
The free reward in the kingdom of love. — The in-
quiry of the disciples as to their reward : 1. What it
impUes : to forsake all things, etc. 2. How difficult
it is rightly to express this inquiry. 3. How the
Lord admits the rightness of this liope. 4, How He
reproves and instructs the disciples in this matter. —
Certainty of the great reward: 1. Corresponding to
our renunciation; 2. confirmed to us by a solemn
Amen of the Lord (ver. 28) ; 3. illustrated by the
relations existing in the natural world ; 4. presented
in its unity and depth (as inheriting eternal Ufe);
5. necessarily determined by the free love of God. —
The kingilom of heaven, as that of reward by grace,
a blessed realm : 1. It is infinitely elevated above the
pride of self-sufficient virtue ; 2. above the mercena-
ry spirit of selfishness and servihty. — Virtue which
disclaims all reward is not genuine. It wants, 1. the
light of truth ; 2. the warmth of Ufe ; 3. the faithful-
ness of love ; 4. the crown of hope. — A mercenary
spirit loosing its reward even here: 1. Its service is
merely external (a kmd of spiritual idleness) ; 2. its
worldly merit meets with a worldly, but only appa-
rent, reward. — The fact, that faith is accompanied by
peace, is itself an earnest of future blessedness. — The
great renovation of aU things forming the certain
berg) :
Compare the beautiful verse of Novalis (von Harden-
" ITo ich Ihn nur habe,
Tst mein Vaterland;
Und esfMl mirjede Gabe
Wit ein Brbtheil in die Hand.
Langat vermiaste Bruder
Find' ich nun in teinen Jingem aieder.'
prospect of Christians. 1. Its certamty — (a) from
the fact of Christ's advent from heaven (the First-
born of all creatures, the First-born from the dead) ;
(6) from the regeneration of believers ; (e) from the
birth-throes of the ancient world. 2. The prospects
it opens : (a) These are infinitely new, and yet famil-
iar to us, being the transformatiDn of things seen;
(b) they are infinitely ricli and varied, yet compre-
hended m this one tluhg — eternal life ; (c) they are
definite, yet mysterious, on account of the change of
relations : The last shall be first, etc. — Solemnity of
the saying, ilaiuj that are firxt, etc. — Rev. xxi. 5 :
"Behold, I make all things new."
Starke : — If the Saviour had bestowed on Peter
the supreme rule of the Church on the occasion men-
tioned in ch. xvi., this question would have had no
meaning. — Camtein: The man wlio, although hav-
ing Httle, gives it up for the sake of God, and asks
for nothing more than His presence, has in reality
forsaken much, Ps. Ixxiii. 25, 26. — The complete re-
ward of behevers will certainly take place, but only
at the final regeneration of all things. — The whole
world shall, as it were, be bom anew. — The faithful
disciples and followers of Jesus shall sit with Him
on His throne, Rev. iii. 21. — Zeislm: Proud self-
righteousness and a mercenary spirit ensure their
own ruin ; while humility and working out our salva-
tion with fear and trembling are the means of pre-
serving us from falling, Phil. ii. 12. — In eternity
many of our earthly positions shall be reversed.
Gerlach : — Although the apostles belonged to the
lower ranks of society, they were not strictly speak-
ing poor. Thus we i-ead in Mark i. 20, that the fa-
ther of James and John had employed hired ser-
vants.*^"— When this promise was given, Judas was
still one of the twelve, yet it profited him not. A
sad evidence this, how little good may be derived
from merely outward fcllovrship with the disciples,
if in mind and heart we are strangers to Jesus.
Heuhner : — Crregory the Great {Moralia): We
forsake all, if we retain nothing. — Peter referred not
to the reward, but to its desert — To judge means to
rule, John xvii. 13, 22. — Many a proud critic, who
has looked with contempt upon the Apostles, shall
one day behold them with terror. — If you surrender
to Christ all you have, He will bestow upon you all
He has. — The Christian is daily called upon to deny
himself for the sake of Christ. — Montaigne, jEssais, i.
27 : Christianity alone renders perfect friendship pos-
sible.
* [It is often inferred- from eh ra IfSia in John x\x. 27,
that St. John had a house of his own in Jerusalem ; although
the term probably applies in a general sense to his home,
wherever it was. — P. S.]
B. The Reward in the Spirit of Free Grace.
The Parahle of the Laborers in \
1-16.
Vineyard. Ch. "y^-
(The Gospel for Septuagesbna.)
1 For the Icingdom of lieaven is like unto a man that is a liouseholder [like to a hu-
man liouseholder, avOpw-w oiKoSeo-Tro-n^], wliich [who] went out early in the morning to
2 hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed [having agreed, crv/x<iwv^-
o-a?] with tlie labourers for a penny [denary, or shilling] * r '
he sent them into his
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
3 vincyaril. And lie went out about the third hour [at nine o'clock, a. m.], and saw others
4 standing idle in the market-pkce, And said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard;
5 and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went
6 out about the sixth [at noon] and ninth lioiu' [at three o'clock, p. ji.], and did likeAvise. And
about the eleventh hour [an hour before sunset] he Avent out, and found others standing
7 idle,^ and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him,
Because no man liath hired us. He saith unto him. Go ye also into the vineyard ; and
S whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.^ So when even [evening] was come, the
lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward [overseer], Call the labourers, and give
9 them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were
hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny [denary, shilling].
10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received [should receive,
11 A.?7<^oi'Tai] more; and they likewise received every man a penny [denary]. And when
they had received it^ they murmured against the goodman of the house [householder,
12 otKoSeo-TroTou], Saying, These last have wrought [made] hut one hour, and thou hast
made them equal unto us, Avhich [who] have borne the burden and heat of the day.
13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend,^ I do thee no wrong: didst not thou
14 agree Avith me for a penny [denary, or shilling] ? Take that thine is [what is thine,
TO 0-01', lit. : the thine], and go thy way : [but] I will give unto this last, even as unto
15 thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, be-
1 6 cause I am good ? So the last shall be first, and the first last : for many be [are] call-
ed, but few chosen.^
1 Ver. 3.— ['E it Z-qv apiov . Th'e foreign term ouglit to have been retained in English, as Matthew retained the Latin
d&nariusU) Greek. The English Version is here peculiarly unfortunate, and makes a false impression on the common
reader. A jiemiif wouhl be a poor reward indeed, but a denarius is worth more than seven English pence or fifteen
American ccnis, and w;is a libend d;iv".s w .■! _','s at. tlial time. About two thirds of a Roman denary (not a full deniiry as
generally stalod) was tlie daily pay of l.lic Kniiian smMI.,-. Comp. Tacitus, v4 "««('. 1. IT. I'olybius (ii. 15) mentions that
tlie charge for a day's eutortainuje'rit in t:;^■ iiii.s i.f «i--aliiine Gaul was only half an ass or oiie twentieth of a denarius.
Bengel intimates that the daily wages iii Ins time UKlore the middle of the last century) were not higher : Denarius erat
cHvriia merce.i, vt fere est hodierno die. Shilling woulil be a far better popular equivalent for denarius th&n penny.
See note 4 on p. 832.— P. S.]
- Ver. G.— 'Ay po v ? (idle) is wanting in Codd. B., 0., D., L.. and many others [also in Cod. Sinait.]. and is inserted
fiom \ci i ind the question luiiut li U Iv loUuwms In this place it does not stiengtlun, but ^^t iken the sense
{qht that shall ye receive, Kal b iav ij StKaiov Arn/zecrSf,
m ut 1 the > ulgite, and othei old veisions Mever, hcncvti, observes that the
CO VfXiv s]icakb t-amst the m-eition ot this <tntence fiom vei 4
,ft'l!ow), while "■fellniL,'''' as
i\ ins import Tht A ulgata
, ill f II li h \eiMons hive
I I tunes in
i Mas-
< I pell a-
\ 1 1 Lie dignified
•1 Aci 7 -The i\oids I -
a pmi m^ m Codd B 1) L
e\pression \7ji'Er0c iii t 1
* A^ei 1 —\J I 1 iliii t t<io stioiu i r tlit Gieek ^rripe yconialc itiii, nuoi
now u-ed \\(iilll I i li lnl It i I i iis( 1 s i teim < f canfir umisju 1 1 with icpi
tiinsHtes II \u II II 1 tl i ' II tl ( i i n ^ i i i s 1 i t n /( i
J, and Ih A I 1 1 1 I
Ihi NT hi ''I il wii
f 1 ^\lth il 1 I 111 \i li I
f'ohuii) >i /6iUto//;« / 1 1 1 li , I , w 1 a .y. it 1 11 /
erou..h A\ e must thi_itloii- let u\ fi n u/ m the diSLi-ce ot a pictioc cquiv dent — 1' s]
6\e, jG — The list \\ Olds rcoKfol yap e'aiv kAtitoi, 0A1701 Se 6 (c \ eK t o i , are not fimnd in B , L ,
Z., [and Cod. Sinai. t], C^ojit. Saliid. But Meyer rightly objects to the hypothesis of interpolation from Matt. xx. 14, since
there was no oocasiim for it here, the words appearing rather out of place in this connection. [Lachmann, Tischcndorf (ed.
of 1859), and Alford retain the SL-utenee, and Tischendorf says : Cur vero ex a-xii. 14 Awe transtulerint vix dixeris. The
homoeoteleuton eVxaTOI — eVAeKTOl easily explains the omission of the sentence by some transcribers. K A rj t o i
and e /c A e K T 0 1 are a paronomasia in Greek, which is lost in the E. V. In German it might be rendered by erwahlt
and ausericCUdt. — V. S.]
Loeffler, 1726; F. A. Ziilidi, 1741; J. R. Kiesling,
1740 ; J. H. Schramm, 1775, etc. Of English expo-
sitions, see especially Teench, Notes on the Parables,
9th Loud, ed., 1863, pp. 161-184, aud Alford inloc
—P. S.]
A human householder. — In contrast to God,
who is the Householder in the highest and truest
sense. As in ch. xiii. 24; xviii. 23. [It is plain
that the householder signifies God; the vineyard,
the kingdom of heaven (comp. Is. v. 1-7 ; Cant.
A'iii. 12) ; the stcvjard (ver. 8), Christ ; the twelfth hour
of the day, or the rren'mr/, the parusia of Christ; the
other hours, the different periods of calling and its
service. The difficulty lies in the symbolical meaning
of the denary and in determining the chief lesson of
the parable. See beloAv. — r. S.]
Ver. 2. For a denary (or shilling) a day. —
Both these terms are intended to express the fact,
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like.
— This parable is evidently intended as an illustra-
tion and explanation of Christ's former teaching
[especially of the last verse of the preceding chapter,
as is shov/u by the connecting ydp. Hence the divi-
sion of chapters here, as Trench justly observes, is
peculiarly unfortunate.] For a number of ancient
treatises on this parable, see Lilienthal's Bibl. Arcld-
varius, p. 91 ; for more recent discussions, the 8tu-
dien und Kriiiken (Rupprecht, 1847, p. 396 sqq. ;
Steffensen, 1848, p. 686 sqq.). On the difficuhies of
this parable [second only to those of the parable of
the Unjust Stev/ard], see Heubner, p. 800. [Latin
dissertations on the Parabola de Operariis in Vinea,
by J. L. Moshcim, 1724; A. H. Faust, 1725; F. S.
CHAP. XX. 1-1 G.
that the servants were hired iu the pi'oper sense of
the term, which is also imphed iu e/c S-nvapiuu.
A Roman denarius was the connuou pay for a day's
labor (Tob. v. 14 : a drachma). The Attic drachma
was equal to the Roman denarius, and amounted to
six oboli, or about seven and a half pence sterling, or
fifteen American cents. " That this hire was equita-
ble,* appears from the circumstance that at a time
of scarcity, the denarius would be sufficient to pur-
chase what was requisite for man's daily support;
Rev. vi. G." Starke.
[The meaning of the denary is a c7-i(z inlerpretum,
\nd reminds us of what Cbrysostora and Maldouatus
•y in loc, that we must not scrupulously press every
I trticular in a parable, but keep always in view !hc
general scope. Parables are poetic pictures talion
from real life for the illustration of the higher truths
and realities of the kingdom of heaven, and contain
with the essential figures some ornamental touches
which are necessary for the artistic finish, although
tliey may not express definitely a corresponding idea
or fact in the spiritual world. The denary here un-
doubtedly conveys the idea of reward, but in a very
general way. As soon as we particularize it, we get
into almost inextricable difficulties. Two opposite
views must be mentioned. (1) The denary means
the temporal reward only, and those who we^'e hired
first, wlule they receive their stipulated denary, lose
eternal life and are ultimately lost. The Lord says
to them at last: Take thy miserable penny, the
wages of a day-laborer on earth, and go thy way
(vTcaye), i. e., depart from Me (vcr. 14). So Luther
(in his later writings : The penny is the temporal
good, the favor of the householder, the eternal good ;
the murmuring laborers trot away with their penny,
and are damned), more recently Stier (who zealously
and elaborately defends this interpretation), W. Nast
(who fully agrees with himj, and Wordsworth. At
first sight this view offers a plausible escape from the
difficulties of the second, but it is hardly in keeping
with the dignity of the parable, and is made impos-
sible by the fact that the peimy is paid at the close
of the day, i. e., at the end of man's life or the day
of final account, when the temporal reward ceases.
Godliness is indeed profitable for all things and has
the promise of this Ufe as well as of that which is to
come; but the temporal blessings accompany the
work itself, while the eternal reward follows it after
it is finished. (2) The denary means eternal salva-
tion. So Origen, Augustme {Serm. 343 : ^^ Denarius
ille vita celerna est, quce omnibus par est"), Gregory
L, Bernard, Luther (in his Com. on Gal. iii. 2), Mal-
donatus (salus et vita ceterna), Meyer {das Matsiani-
sche Hell), Lange (with some modification : the bless-
ing of Christian communion, see his Doetrinal
Thoughts below), Alford (eternal life, or God Him-
self), and many others. To this view the following
objections may be urged : (a) Eternal life is not a re-
ward or wages for work performed, but a free gift
of grace. All right ; yet there is a reward of c/race
as well as a reward of merit, and in the former sense
eternal life is constantly represented by Christ and
the apostles as a yuicr0ds (variously rendered in the E.
V. by reward, hire, and wages), see Matt. v. 12
("great is your reward in heaven"); x. 41, 42;
Luke vi. 23, 35 ; x. 7 ; John iv. 30 ; 1 Cor. iii. 8,
* [This must bo the meaning of Oie Billiokeit dieses
Tagelohns, and not (as the connection shows in the p.assago
quoted from Starlie) small or cheap, as the Edinb. tils. )ias
it; for&denarim was liberal pay for a day's work at the
time of Christ. Comp. Note 1, p. 353.— P. S.]
23
14 ; etc. The selection of so small a price as a de-
nary for so great, a good as eternal life is to be ex-
plained from the nature of the parable and the fact
that a denary was the usual pay for a day's work. —
(6) The laborers who were first called, engaged in
the service of God in a mercenary spirit, which is in-
dicated by e K Svi/apiou, i. e., for the sake of a dena-
ry,* and their murmurmg and' dissatisfaction, as well
as the rebuke administered to them on the day of
account (vers. 11-15), seems inconsistent with the
fact of their final salvation. For envy, as Words-
worth remarks, disqualifies for heaven and is an in-
ward hell. But it should be observed, first, that the
murmuring occurs before they enter into heaven
proper; secondly, that the laborers who were call-
ed first, are placed, not outside of the kingdom of
heaven, but simply last in tiie kingdom, xix. 30 ; xx.
16 ; thirdly, that we have a full parallel in the para-
ble of the Prodigal Son, whose elder brother showed
envy and anger at the mercy extended to the Prodi-
gal, and yet the father expressly said unto him:
" Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is
thine;" Luke xv. 28-31. In both cases this mani-
festation of dissatisfaction must be explained from a
primary reference of the parable to the Jews and
their inveterate and almost insurmountable prejudice
against the Gentiles. It is introduced for the pur-
pose of rebuking their mercenary and envious dispo-
sition, and commendmg the more disinterested spirit
of the Gentile converts who went to work as soon as
they were called, without a definite agreement as to
price, but impUcitly trusting in the justice and mercy
of the householder, who would give them far more
than they could ask or deserve. But although the
laborers who were called first, were ultimately ad-
mitted into heaven with the rest, yet many of them
occupy there the last place, and enjoy a far inferior
degree of glory than many others "who were called
last. Caelum omnibus est idem, sed gloria dispar, or
as Augustine has it: s])le7idor dispar, cmlum com-
mune. Thus the denary, or final reward, although
the same objectively considered, is very different sub-
jectively, according to the different degrees of capa-
city for bliss, and moral perfection on the part of the
receivers. Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 41, and the parable of
the talents, Matt. xxv. 15-SO, and the parable of the
pounds, Luke xix. 12-26. With this explanation we
regard the second view as substantially correct, cer-
tauily preferable to the first, although it is doubtful
whether we are authorized, in the original sense and
intent of the parable, to go beyond the general idea
of reward. Comp. Lange's Doctrinal Thoughts be-
low.—P. S.]
The expression day refers to that period of time
in the narrower sense. The Jews reckoned the day
in the wider sense from sunset to sunset (comp.
Lev. xxiii. 32). Before the Babylonish captivity
the day was divided into morning, noon, evening,
and a twofold twilight. Gradually, however, the di-
vision into hours was introduced, which in the Old
Testament occur under the Chaldee designation of
nsoj . The Jews seem to have adopted the division
of the day into hours during their residence in Baby-
lon. As every natural day was divided into twelve
hours, their duration necessarily varied at different
* [Meyer in toe: "'E/c signifies not the price (which
would be expressed by the genitive, ver. 13), although the
den.lry is the price, but It represents this price as the causal
feature or motive of the agreement. Comp, Matthiaj, p.
1S34."-P. S.]
354
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
periods of the year. The longest day in Palestine
consists of fourteen hours and twelve minutes ; the
shortest, of nine hours and forty-eight minutes.
About the third hour, or at nine o'clock in the morn-
ing, the market-place would be full of people. " Vi-
tringa applies the term hours to different periods of
history. Thus he regards 'early in the morning,'
= Adam ; ' the third hour,' = Abraham ; ' the sixth
hour,' = Moses; 'the ninth hour,' = the latter
times, when the Edomites, under John Hyrcanus,
became converts to Judaism ; ' the eleventh hour,'
= the time of Christ. Similarly Origen and Hila-
ry." * Heubner. — On this point comp. the Doctrinal
TlwiigJds below.
Ver. 4. Whatever is right. — In the general
sense ; whatever is equitable. The idea of a regular
engagement for a definite hire gradually disappears.
The first laborers were hired for a day ; their enu-
meration being not only fixed, but serving as their
motive (ek). The next laborers were merely promis-
ed an equitable acknowledgment of their services ;
while in the last instance, according to the best ac-
credited reading (ver. 7), no promise at aU was
made to those who went into the vineyard.
Yer. 7. Because no man hath hired us. —
This trait is of great iroportancc in the interpretation
of the parable. Comp. Rom. xi. ; Acts xiv. 16.
Ver. 8. Unto his steward, e tt i t p o ir o s. — The
term was equally appUed to those who administered
whole provinces and single households. In this case,
the steward of a household. [Christ is the overseer
set over the house of God and entrusted with the
whole economy of salvation including the distribu-
tion of the final rewards, Heb. iii. 6 ; John v. 27 ;
Rev. ii. 7, 10, 17, 28, etc.— P. S.]— Their hire.—
Meyer: The hire which the master had previously
told huu to give. But in this case it is intended to
combine the idea of a day's hire with that of hire in
the more general sense ; in short, the fuU amoimt of
their hire.
Ver. 9. [It is a gratuitous assumption that the
last hired laborers worked as much in one hour as
the rest during several hours or the whole day, and
that for this reason they received the same reward.
God does, indeed, not measure His reward by the
length of man's life, but by the intensity of his labor
and the fidehty of his services, and the parable im-
plies a protest against the quantitative appreciation
of men's works, as distinct from the qualitative.
But this is not the main lesson of the parable, as
Maldonatusf and Kuinoel affirm, else the circum-
stance, on -which the narrative turned, would have
been mentioned in this place or afterwards. — P. S.]
Ver. 12. Have done {spent) but one hour,
e TT o I rj (T a J/ . — Not wrought, but passed one hour in
working. Evidently indicating their contempt for
the others ; which also appears from such expressions
as " these last," and from their laying stress on their
own work. This is likewise impUed in the arrange-
ment of the words : " Thou hast made them equal
* [Especially also Gregory {Homil. 19 in Evang.') who
refers the morning to the ;iee from Adam to Noah, the third
hour to the age from Noah to Abraham, the sixth hour to that
from Abraham to Moses, the ninth hour to that from Moses
to Christ, and the eleventh hour to that from Christ to the
end of the world. But the same writer applies the different
hours also to the different ages in the liie of individu.ils:
childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and the years of decre-
pitude. The latter interpretation is also held by Jerome,
Theophylact, Maldonatus.— P. S.]
il'^ Finis ergo parabolm est, mercedem vifon aterncc.
non tempori, quo quis labor avit, sed Idbori et operi, quod
fecit, respondere." — P. S.]
unto us — unto us who have borne the burden of the
day (havmg wrought for twelve hours), and its heat
(at noon)." Kavauv, lit. : the scorcher, used here
in the general sense for noon-day heat, but in the
Sept. frequently for the hot wind from the south.
Ver. 13. But he answered one of them. —
This trait must not be overlooked. The householder
does not deem it necessary to excuse his conduct be-
fore all the laborers, and only explains it to one of
them, by way of information for the rest.
Friend. — Not ironically, but as an expression
of kindness, to show that the rebuke which followed
was not the result of partiality.
Ver. 15. Is thine eye evil? — Not a doubtful
question, nor a mere suggestion, but intended to
show the impropriety of such evil seeing, when the
householder manifested so much kindness. On the
expression ocpdaKfxos Troviqpos, comp. Matt. vi.
23 ; Prov. xxviii. 22. In this instance it refers to
envy. History records the terrible consequences of
such "an evil eye" ever since the time of Cain.
Eastern and Southern nations assign a pernicious
and baneful effect to the evil eve.
Ver. 16. The last shall be first.— On the
ground to which we have before referred, the state-
ment is here reversed.
[Thig verse contains the lesson of the parable,
comp. the last verse of the preceding chapter and the
connecting ydp in the first verse of this. It illus-
trates the truth that many (not all, see xix. 80) first
shall be last, and (many) last shall be first, or that
the order in the caUing of individuals and nations
will in many cases be reversed in their final position
in heaven. This truth is an encouragement to those
who are called at a late period of their lives, but still
more a solemn warning to those who are called early,
urging them to be humble and ever mindful of their
unworthiness before God, lest they be overtaken by
others or forfeit the reward altogether. Bengel ob-
serves on tffouraL : respectu apostolorum non est prce-
dictio sed admomtio. The admonition contained in
the words : the first shall he last, was intended first
for ajjostles, especially for Peter, whose self-exalting
and somewhat mercenary question in ch. xix. 27
called forth this parable, and whose subsequent his-
tory sadly revealed the danger of self-confidence ;
then for Jewish Christians generally, who were so
prone to look down with envy upon the Gentile con-
verts, and to set up peculiar claims, as if salvation
was of merit and not of free grace ; and lastly, ibr
all Christians, who enjoy special spiritual i)rivileges
and the great blessing of an early acquamtance with
the Saviour. — This is the main lesson of the parable
as plainly set forth in the opening and concluding
sentences. What other conmientators have set forth
as the main lesson, is either not taught at all, or
taught only incidentally or by implication, as: the
equality of rewards in the kingdom of heaven (Au-
gustine, etc. ; but this must be modified by the doc-
trine of different degrees of glory) ; the kingdom of
heaven is of grace, not of debt, but God will strictly
fulfil all his covenant promise in its integrity (Rupp-
recht, Alford); God rewards not according to the
time, but according to the kind and fideUty of service
(Maldonatus), etc.— P. S.]
For many are called. — Our Lord here showg
that this reversal of the outward order was not arbi-
trary, but depended upon a higher and internal order.
Those who are chosen do not exclude them that are
merely called ; but, from their earnestness and the
absence of aU mercenary spirit, they occupy a higher
CHAP, XX. 1-16.
355
place than the latter. This characteristic is indicat-
ed in the parable by the circumstance, that these
laborers went to the vineyard without the promise
of any definite hire, and even without the assurance
of any reward at all. On the other hand, in llatt.
sxii. 14 the expression chosen applies to a real selec-
tion from among those that were called or invited, to
whom alone the blessings of justification and final
glory were awarded. In other words, the awful dif-
ference between those who are called and those who
are chosen is only indicated in otir passage, while it
is fully carried out in ch. xxii. [Trench explains :
"Many are called to work in God's vineyard, but
few retain that temper of spirit, humility, and sub-
mission to God, Avhich will allow them at last to be
partakers of His reward." Similarly Alford, who
disconnects these words from the parable. But the
connection is more readily aceotnited for if we ex-
plain the sentence somewhat differently here, from
what is its obvious meaning in the parable of the
Marriage of the King's Son (Matt. xxii. 14), where it
contains the moral of the parable. Bengel in loc.
observes: "'E/cAe.-cToi exquinii prce aim. Vide-
tur, hoc loco, ubiprimum oceurrU, 7ion omnes salvan-
dos deiwtare, sed horum ezccUeniiss-imos." So 01s-
hausen, who makes the called and the cko.ien aUke
partakers of final salvation, but with different de-
grees of standing. — P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Meaning of this parable. — It is unnecessary to
prove that the vineyard is intended to designate the
kmgdom of heaven {see Isa. v. 1 ; Matt. xxi. 28, 33).
The kingdom of heaven is compared to a vmeyard
because it produces the noblest fruits, even love,
peace, and blessedness, of which the precious fruit
of the vine is a faint emblem. Besides, the need of
careful cultivation and of seasonable weather, as also
of good soil ami sunny exposure, and of a favorable
climate, are features which make tlie vmeyard a fit
symbol of the kingdom of heaven.
But the first point to be ascertained is, whether
the vmeyard is intended as an emblem of the kmg-
dom of God generally, in its various economies, or
only of the New Testament economy of the Church.
According to Gray, Seller, and others, the first hired
were the Jews, and those who were last engaged, the
Gentiles. Heubner denies the correctness of this
view. It is certainly 'of great importance to remem-
ber that this parable was primarily, and almost ex-
clusively, intended for the disciples. Hence it must
evidently refer, in the first place, to the New Testa-
ment economy, although it is at the same time ap-
pUcable to the various economies of the kmgdom of
God ; while Matt. xxi. 33 pruuarily refers to the Old
Testament economy and its termination. By thus
restricting the import of the parable, its leading
features become more distinct and definite. Above
all, it is of the greatest importance to keep in mind
that it is intended to illustrate the statement, " Jfany
that are first shall be last," but not meant to teach
that all that are first shall be last, etc. Perhaps we
might arrive at such a conclusion from the circum-
stance, that in the parable all that are first are de-
j scribed as sharing the same mercenary spirit ; but
this is only mtended to convey the idea that, as a
body, and in reference to their general spirit, such
was the case. We shall by and by see in what sense
this was true.
To return : The vineyard is the Idngdom of hea-
ven under the New Testament, from its first com-
mencement ; the householder is God (see the pas-
sages above quoted) ; the steward is Christ, in His
capacity as the Judge of the world (Matt, xxv.) ; the
laborers are, in the first place, the regular ministers
in the kingdom of God, and secondarily, believers
in general. To this interpretation Heubiier objects,
that the people must be represented by the vineyard
itself. In answer to this, we again remind the read-
er, that symbolical expressions must not be confound-
ed with dogmatical statements. Thus, on one occasion,
our Lord Himself is compared to a vine (John xv.
1); while on another, even the weakest Christians
maybe designated as laborers in the vineyard, just as
in Matt. xxi. 31 converted pubhcans and harlots are
compared to the son who, returning to his obedience,
goes to work in the vineyard. Every Christian must
seek to advance the kingdom of God, or be a laborer
in His vineyard — by his confession, by his Christian
conduct, and, above all, by the spiritual character
which attaches to his ordinary labor and avocation,
however humble it may appear in the sight of mem
The different laborers evidently indicate not only
different stages of faith and worth, but also difference
of individuality. Their reward is given them indi-
vidually, while the explanation of the householder
is also addressed to one of them individually. Sim-
ilarly, the different hours refer not only to "different
periods in the history of the Church, but also to dif-
ferent stages in our own life and experience, although
the former idea is perhaps more prominently brought
out. Hence we may remark, that those who were
hired " early in the morning " were not merely the
Apostles, but also Jewish Christiaiis generally. Ac-
cordingly, the whole of that class are represented in
the parable as displaying a mercenary spirit — a char-
acteristic which, so far as the Apostles were concern-
ed, was only intended as a warning. This will also
assist us in explaining the statement about the de-
nary. Those who were hired in the third hour were
found standing in the market-place. This may j)rob-
ably be referred to the Jewish proselytes, who cougre-
gated along with the Jews in the most pubhc place
of the kingdom of heaven as then existing, or in the
synagogue. Those who were hired at the sixth and
the ninth hour, were the Gentile races who inhabited
the ancient Greek and Roman empires, and those
barbarous tribes who, after the migration of nations,
were brought into the Church. Lastly, they who
were converted at the eleventh hour may be the last
fruits from among the Jews and Gentiles, gathered
through the missionary labors of the latter days.
The evening is the hour of final reward for those who
labored in the vineyard. That festive evening of the
Church will take place at the second appearing of
Christ — which must not be confounded with the final
judgment ; — while, so f\ir as each individual is con-
cerned, the festive evening commences with our en-
trance into the Church triumphant, although in a
certain sense it may be said to begin whenever we
taste of the blessings connected with the invisible
Church. From the general character of this para-
ble, it is evident that its main point lies in the idea
of an hour of reward. It is not easy to ascertain
the exact meaning attaching to the liire of a de-
nary or shilling {see Heubner, p. 300). Gerhard re-
marks, in his Harmonia, that the denary refers to
Christ Himself; while, according to Augustine and
Luther (Gall. iii. 2), it means eternal life. In an-
other place, however, Luther remarks that the dena-
J56
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ry referred to temporal possessions,* while the favor
of the liouseholdor constituted the eternal reward of
the laborer^;. Heul)iier suggests that the denary re-
fers to the revi'ard generally ; H. Miiller, that it ap-
plies to all lewards of grace, both in this and in a
future life. But if the labor in the vineyard is per-
formed in the serviee of the Church, the hire must
equally refer to Christian fellowship. This bles.-ing
may be characterized as forming part of the outward
manifestation of the kingdom of Christ and of its
benefits. By the word and sacraments — by which
Christ is brought to us — we have even now " part
and lot in this matter." But the history of the Jew-
ish Christian Church shows that we may lose our en-
joyment of this portion even while possessing it.
They had agreed with the Householder e k 5 tj j/ a -
piov: for the sake of the kingdom of Messiah, and
of their part in it, they had gone into the vineyard,
or entered the Churcli. It deserves notice, that the
prospect of this kingdom was not so clearly set be-
fore those who — so to speak — were engaged at a
later hour. In their case, only a general promise
was given, and tliey were to receive whatsoever vras
right. On this assurance they went into the vine-
yard. Lastly, as we have seen, according to the
best reading (ver. 1), no mentfon of any reward vt'as
made to those wlio came at the eleventh hour. Ap-
parently, they were satisfied to be delivered from
total inactivity, and happy at the prospect of secur-
ing by tlieir labors the favor of Him who had call-
ed them. This will serve to explain how, while the
same reward was given to all, it led to such a differ-
ence of feeling among the laborers. Manifestly, any
idea of dissatisfaction or murmui-ing would be en-
tirely inadmissible, if the reward accorded to the
laborers had referred either to Christ Himself, or else
to eternal life. On the other hand, temporal posses-
sions would scarcely be characterized as a reward
for labor in the vineyard of the Lord. But a share
in the blessings of the Church, or in the manifesta-
tion of Christ, is a spiritual possession, which at the
same time may produce in diiferent persons different,
and even contrary, results. This may also serve to
throw some light on the parable of the ten virgins.
It accounts for the dissatisfaction of the first labor-
ers on receiving the same reward as the last. The
Jcvish Christians were dissatisfied because the Gen-
tiles were to obtain the same share in the blessings
of the Church, or in the kingdom of Messiah. They
expected that some distinctive privileges would ac-
crue to them, and thus lapsed into Ebiouism, and in
the end became the last (even as is the case with the
Jewish nation generally). Similarly, at the moment
when Judas obtained his share m the Church, at the
first cfelebration of the Eucharist, his murmuring and
dissatisfaction became open apostasy.
This leads us to the next inquiry, whether those
who were last rewarded were in reality lost, as their
murmuring and envy would seem to indicate, or
whether they were only reproved for their preten-
sions and claims. The fact that they received a de-
nary seems in favor of the latter view ; but, on the
other hand, they appear to have raised some objec-
tions to taking their hire, as appears from the ex-
pression, " Take what is thine." When combining
this with the circumstance that they were last re-
warded, we infer that our Lord intends to indicate
that an unmense difference of internal capabihty for
spiritual blessmgs existed between them — pointing
* [So also Stier, Nast, and Wordsworth.— P. S.l
forward to the contrast of eternal blessedness and
everlasting misery. This is also implied in the par-
able of the prodigal son, while it is fully brought out
in that of the wise and foohsh virgins. We need
scarcely add that such was really the case in the his-
tory of the Church. While the one party regarded
the denary as a scanty and even poor reward, the
other took it as a sign and seal of the infinite favor
of the Master, and of the free love of God and of
Clirist. Thus legaUsra regards, for example, the
Lord's Supper as a merely outward ordinance, imply-
ing legal absolution and reconciliation with the
Church ; while to the liumble behever it is a seal of
pardon and of final salvation. This dilTerence of
view depends on whether we regard the kingdom of
heaven in an outward and legalistic manner as con-
ferring certain privileges and lewards, or in an in-
ward and spiritual manner as the kingdom of free
love. But there are certain characters who, though
intensely conscientious and earnest, are destitute of
love. In their ease, the difference between those that
are chosen depends exclusively on a smaller capacity
for receiving the blessing. But those who are self-
ish and mere professors are not only less capable of
receiving the blessing ; they also convert the bless-
ing into a curse. Thus the shilling of reward be-
comes to them ultimately a punishment and a judg-
ment. But in this parable this point is only alluded
to ; the main object being to show that many of the
last shall be first, to the glory and praise of free
grace, and as displaymg the righteousness and glory
of God.
2. On a previous occasion, the Lord had taught
the disciples that the grace of God and the faith or
imbelief of man were capable of amiulling and bridg-
ing over every distance of space in the kingdom of
heaven (Matt. viii. 11). In the present instance, He
shows that the same holds true with reference to
time. Grace can not only equahze, but — so to speak
— reverse, the times of outward service ; and it does
so in many cases. It seems as if it restored to gen-
uine behevers the time which they had lost. Nay,
it may convert one day into a thousand years, and a
thousand years into one day.
3. We would call special attention to the spirit-
ual progress marked in the parable by the fact, that
the idea of a hire gradually recedes from view.
4. The fundamental idea of this parable is the
free reward of the kingdom of heaven, not as dictat-
ed by arbitrary motives, but as depending on the in-
ternal state of mind and heart, in opposition to the
legal and common reward in the service of works,
which is determined by only outward considerations.
The kingdom of heaven does not consist in merely out-
ward perfonnauces, to which a certain value attaches.
This idea, which was so much fostered by the legal-
istic spirit of the Pharisees, was all the more efiec-
tually refuted in this parable, that it seemed at first,
to a certain extent, to admit its accuracy. But after
having presented the kingdom of heaven under the
figure of hired servants, the parable gradually changes,
and exhibits in all its fulness the economy of sove-
reign mercy, compassion, and love. All these exhi-
bitions are indeed based on the idea of justice —
every laborer receives a shilling, none receives too lit-
tle. But in its combination with love, justice assumes
a higher form, and those who have only labored part
of the day receive the hire of full work. Hence, ac-
cording to the notions of legahsm, they received too
much. But grace manifests itself not only in giving
the shiUiug to those who were last engaged, but also
CHAP. XX. 1-16.
357
in giving it first to them, wliilc the earliest laborers
are last paid. Nor is this dispensation arbitrary, but
based on truth. Thus it appears that a mercenary
spirit brings its own judgment. It leads to dissatis-
foction with the promised reward, and to contempt
and envy of those who may have been made the sub-
jects of grace. On the other hand, the latter in re-
ality possess superior inward qualification, as appears
from the fact that they agreed to comnience labor
late in the day, and in simple trustfulness, without
any promise of definite reward. Similarly, it is now
seen that the shilling, which the one class receives
with dissatisfaction and murmuring, is hailed by the
other as a reward of free grace. Thus the paiablft
points forward to that of the prodigal, in which the
elder sou is represented as having been all along in
his father's house, and shared all his possessions with-
out ever rejoicing in his inheritance. Lastly, the
righteousness of the reward appears from this, that
while the selfishness of the earlier laborers converts
their hire into a judgment, it is received by the
others as a gift of grace, by which they become the
free servants and ffeUow-laborers of their Lord and
Master.
5. It is important to remember that this reward
is of grace, although not in the sense of any arbitrari-
ness, nor to the exclusion of the requirements of
strict justice. Everything that we possess is indeed
a gift of God, in the twofold sense of our having re-
ceived it either naturally or by grace. Accordingly,
every idea of merit in the literal or worldly sense is
entirely excluded ; yet there is a reward and return,
in the relationship subsisting between God and man
in the covenant, and in the interchange between
promise and duty. To banish every trace of a mer-
cenary spirit, it is not necessary to suppose that be-
lievers are not to receive any i-eward, but to recog-
nize that, along with the peimy which Supreme
Justice has accorded on the ground of free love, we
have by grace received the whole kingdom of heaven,
with aU that it implies — even as we are able to re-
ceive it, in humility and self-surrender, and far above
all that we could ask or desire.
HOMILETICAL AIJD PEACTICAL.
The word of the Lord : " The last shall be first,
and the first last." 1. Illustrated by the parable of
the laborers in the vineyard ; 2. explained by the
declaration, " Many are called, but few chosen." —
The laborers in the vineyard : 1. The vineyard of the
Lord, and labor in it. 2. The calling and the char-
acter of the lal^orcrs. 8. The work and the hire. 4.
The equality and the difference of the reward. — The
equality and the difference in the outward form of
the kingdom of God : 1. The equality and the differ-
ence of the laborers. All are called to be servants
in the kingdom ; but one class consists of those v.ho
are merely called, or who are external and legal la-
borers, while the others arc also chosen, their labor
being internal and free. 2. Tiie equality and the
difference of their work. Their service is one of
simple obedience ; but in the one case there was the
advantage of priority, while at the same time some
(not all of them) seem to have felt the service a bur-
den. The others were engaged for a shorter period,
but labored in confidence and joy. 3. The equality
and the difference of the reward : all received the
shilling. The external blessing attaching to service
in the kingdom of heaven remains the same. All
have part in the Church, in its fellowship and its
privileges. But to some this appears a scanty hire,
if not a kind of punishment ; while to those who re-
ceive it in faith, it is a sign of infinite grace. — Late
repentance. — Tlio festive evening-time. — The reward
which the Lord v.ill ultimately grant to His servants:
1. It is not arbitrary, but in accordance with the
strictest justice (He rewards ow^y His laborers ; He
rewards all His laborers ; He gives the same reward
to all His laborers as such). The equality of the
denary a figure of the equality of God's justice. 2. It
is not limited, but free and rich, according to the ful-
ness of His love (even those who were last called re-
ceived a denary, and may perhaps have received it
before the others). 3. It is not a mysterious and si-
lent fate, but the ways of wisdom, which justify
themselves. — How the kingdom of free love iS rear-
ed on the basis of God's justice. — The kingdom of
justice is also that of love : (a) This love is ever just ;
(b) this justice is ever love. — How a mercenary spirit
destroys the position of a laborer in the kingdom of
God : He makes merchandize of the calling of God
(instead of being a fellow-worker, he becomes an un-
faithful, hired servant) ; he converts the word of
God into mere traditions, the work of faith into a
burden, the hope of a reward into a claim, and the
blessmgs granted into a judgment. — The one shilUng,
or the blessing of legal return, may lead some to
heaven, while others convert it into a curse. — Com-
parison between the first and the last laborers : At
first merely a difference, but at last a contrast, be-
tween them. — The solemn word of the Judge : Take
what is thine.— Row self-righteousness brmgs its own
judgment. — How it refutes itself: 1. It demands the
promised reward, and j-et always expects more. 2.
It only seeks its own, and yet looks with envy upon
others. 3. It does not care for the friendship of the
Lord nor the prosperity of His vineyard, but attempts
to use Him and the vineyard as a means toward an
end ; while at the same tune he grudges to others
the favor of the Lord which they enjoy. — The evil
eye of those who are merely outward workers, as il-
lustrated by the history of the Clun-ch from the com-
mencement of the kingdom (Cain) until now. — The
dire effects of this evil eye. — How the grace of God
makes up for everytliing to the laborers who have
entered even at a late hour, — 1. for lost time; 2.
for loss of service ; 3. for a lost life ; 4. for the loss
of the fruits of fife. — Import of the shilling to various
classes of laborers: 1. It is viewed as the just re-
ward : the value of the labor (Church-fellowship in
return for confession and profession). 2. Viewed
from a legal pomt, as if the labor had been forcibly
taken ; in which case it becomes a spiritual judg-
ment. 3. Viewed as the reward of love : as the
blessing attaching to genume labor and the pledge
of eternal salvation. — What has the legal church to
do with that of love ? — What have those who . are
merely outward laborers to do with the blessedness
enjoyed by true believers ? — Import of the fact that
legalism would fiiin limit and restrain the exercise
of iTee grace (the Lord, His love. His grace, heaven,
the Church, inward life).— The signs of a sad even-
ing-time: 1. Murmuring on looking back on tl>e la-
bor and its results. 2. An evil eye with reference to
our neighbor and his success. 3. Self-contradiction,
and the merited rebuke. 4. The loss of the capa-
city of enjoying the blessing in peace and gratitude.
— How the return made us in the kingdom of God
becomes a real reward: 1. If it has been preceded
by joy in the work. 2. If it is a pledge of further
358
THE GOSPEL ACCORDIXG TO MATTHEW.
activitj'. 3. If it is a sign and seal of the favor of
the Lord. — The characteristic marlis of those who
are chosen: 1. They wait for the call of love with-
out knowing it. 2. They gladly enter the kingdom
of lovo without hesitating. 3. They do service in the
trustfulness of love, without bargaining. 4. They
regard the outward and finite reward as an emhlem
and a pledge of the infinite love of their Master,
without seeking merely the outward hire.
Starke : — Zeidus : Eternal salvation is indeed a
gift of free grace, but God wOl have no idle people :
He wants laborers in His vineyard. — To stand idle
in the market-place of the world. — We must follow
the call of God. — We should ever keep in view the
reward. Gen. xii. 1. — God stretcheth forth his hands
all day long, Rom. x. 21. — While bearing the bur-
den of the day, let us comfort ourselves with thoughts
of the evening of rest. — What God has promised He
will certainly perform. — True repentance is never too
late. — The penitent thief on the cross. — But it is a
most dangerous thing to defer the work of salvation
to the last hour. — All legaUsts are actuated by a mer-
cenary spirit. — Nova Bill. Tub. : " What advantage
then have we ? Is God unjust ? Has God cast away
His people? Rom. xi. 1, 2. Such is the murmuring
language of a mercenary spirit." — Presumption of
the hired servants : 1. They boast in their own mer-
its (ch. vii. 22 ; xix. 20) ; 2. they despise and envy
others (Luke xv. 2), nay, they presume to question
God Hunself (Job xxxi. 2). — Presume not to question
God's mode of administration. — God rewards us as
we serve Him. — God is justified when He speaketh,
Ps. li. 4. — God has power to do with His own as He
pleases.
Lkco : — The laborers : not merely the ministers
of the word, but all Christians. — Luther : These
words, " The first shall be last," are intended to re-
move all presumption, and to prevent our exalting
ourselves above any sinner ; while the clause, " The
last shall be first," is directed against despair.
Heubner : — It is grace which calls, grace which
renders us fit for service, and grace which promises
and bestows the reward. — This call is heard in all
ages of the Church, and at different periods of our
lives. — Our whole life is only one day. — There is a
difference between standing idle and going idle. —
How many idlers there are in this world ! Such are
all who only live for themselves. — In proportion as
you have formerly lost time, be earnest, diligent, and
active in employing the rest of your hfe. — There is
an eternal festive evening for the laborers in Christ's
vineyard. — Conceit and a mercenary spirit lead to
dissatisfaction with the ways of God. — There is a
great deal of murmuring against the providence of
God : 1. In point of fact — murmuring on account of
want of outward prosperity, etc. ; 2. exjiressed in
various ways — being open or concealed, etc. — The
servile spirit, which leads us to regard labor in the
vmeyard as a burden, renders it really heavy. — The
strict justice of God dispensing what is right to every
one, even to mercenary laborere. — We shall certainly
receive what our labor deserves. — Even merely ex-
ternal virtues, however worthless in a spiritual sense,
receive a certain reward ; as, for example, chastity,
temperance, etc. — The coarse envy of carnal men is
directed against the earthly happmess of others,
while the more subtle form of that sin is excited by
the gifts and distinctions which grace confers upon
others. — Many of those who were first, etc. In what
respect? 1. With reference to the various periods
of tlie Cliristian Church ; 2. with reference to age ;
3. with reference to gifts, office, etc. ; 4. with refe-
rence to their own opinion. — All who regard them-
selves as the first, etc. — A Christian should regard
everything as of free grace : the labor, the blessing,
and the reward. — This passage may well hn quoted
in opposition to the Popish doctrine of works, but
also against Protestant Antinomianism.
K. Zhnmermann: — On what principle does our
heavenly Father reward His people? 1. Not arbi-
trarily; 2. according to the law of justice; 3. accord-
ing to the law of grace ; 4. how justice and grace
are here combined — Arndt ( Gleichnisse) : — Humility
in reference to the future reward. — Hof acker : — On
the invitation of God to labor in His vineyard. —
Goldmann {Erweckunrjen, 1835): — The characteris-
tic marks of those who are chosen. — ReinKardt : — A
mercenary spirit in the practice of what is right. —
Haupt: — Haste into the vineyard: the Lord calls,
tune flies, the reward l:)cckons. — Kuinoel: — The eco-
nomy of the kingdom of grace. — Niemann: — How
does our labor become a service in the kingdom of
God. — Lisco : — He is the humblest Christian who
has received most grace. — Ahlfeld: — Evening and its
reward. — Florey : — The grace of the Lord is manifest
in the case of all the laborers in His vineyard : 1.
The call a call of grace; 2. the hour an hour of
grace ; 3. the labor a labor of grace ; 4. the reward
a reward of grace. — Uhle : — The season of grace in
our lives. — Rautenberg : — God will give to every one
according to his works. — Bomhard : — Meditation on
the eleventh hour: 1. It is an hour of grace; 2. a
solemn hour ; 3. an uncertain hour ; 4. a well-marked
hour ; 5. a difficult hour ; 6. a blessed hour.
[Trench: — The great question on the last day
will be, not "How much hast thou done?" but
"What art thou now?" (Yet that which men
have clone will greatly affect what they are, since
actions form habits and habits establish a character.)
— D. Brown: — 1. True Christianity is a life of active
service rendered to Christ. 2. God rewards us for
this service, though not of merit, but of pure grace.
3. There is a reward common to all laborers, and
special rewards for pecuUar services. 4. Unreasona-
ble and ungrateful conduct of the murmuring labor-
ers, and the rebuke administered to them on the day
of account. 5. Encouragement for those called at a
late hour. 6. Strange revelations of the judgment
day : some of the first will be last, some of the last
first, and some of the greatest note in the church be-
low, will be excluded altogether. — Comp. also Barnes,
Notes in loc, who derives nine lessons from this para-
ble too long to be quoted. — Stier: — The greatest
man of business on the market-place of the world is
a mere idle gazer (ver. 3 : standing idle). — W. Nasi :
— Whoever has not yet commenced to labor in the
kingdom of God, is an idler, no matter what else he
may do. — The labor in the kingdom of God and its
reward: 1. All are called to labor, though at differ-
ent hours (in childhood, manhood, or old age). 2.
God is just toward all laborers. 3. The reward is of
free grace. — P. S.]
CHAP. XX. 17-19. 359
PART FOURTH.
Cheist surrendering Himself to and for the Messianic Faith and Hope of His
People.
Chapter XX. 17-XXIV. 1.
Historical Succession. — A second time Christ is now induced to leave Persea by a message from Bethany,
to the effect that Lazarus was sick. We account for the delay in His departure, in consequence of
which He found His friend dead and buried, by the abundant work which lay to His hands in Persea.
Then followed the raising of Lazarus (John xi. 1-44). The definite resolution of the Sanliedrin to kill
Jesus, expressed in the formal sentence of excommunication which they now pronounced, induced Him
to retire into the city of Ephraim, which lay a few hours north of Jerusalem, near Bethel, and in the
immediate vicinity of the wilderness of Judaea. Once more that wilderness was to afford Him shelter
until the next paschal feast. Similarly, He had retired into the desert for a while after His baptism,
because He was met by the spurious Messianic expectations of His people, as by a temptation. But
now He withdrew, before fully surrendering Himself to those hopes of His people and followers which
had been evoked by His own word and teaching. From Ephraim Jesus went to Jericho, where He
joined the festive caravan of His friends, coming from Galilee and Pera?a.
The history of Chi-ist's sufferings, which now follows, may be regarded as that of His self-surrender
to the Messianic faith of His people, which He had purified and sanctified in those who were IsraeUtes
indeed. The long-expected hour had arrived. In the most general sense, or viewing it in comiectioa
with the whole evangelical history, this period may be said to continue until His death. But, for the
sake of greater distinctness, it may be arranged into the days of the Hosanna, and those of the cry :
" Crucify Him ; " or, the period of enthusiastic reception, and that of determined rejection. In tho
Gospel of Matthew, the period of suffering and the report of the last discourses of our Lord are very
distinctly marked ; while at the close of that section we have Christ's farewell to the temple, and His
final judgment upon the Pharisees and scribes. Accordingly, the part under consideration constitutes a
well-marked, although very brief, period of the highest importance. It may be designated as the period
of triumphant progress, or of the Hosanna. Its contents are arranged under the followmg sections.
FIRST SECTION.
THE FULL PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION OF THE END.
Chapter XX. 17-19.
17 And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples* apart in the way, and
18 said [and in the way said] ^ unto them. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son
of man shall [will] be betrayed [delivered] unto tho chief priests and unto the scribes,
19 and they shall [will] condemn him to death,^ And shall [will] dehver him to the Gen-
tiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him:* and the third day he shall rise [will
be raised] again.^
' Ver. 17. — Tischendorf omits ;U a 0 tj t a s after D., L., Z., al. Lacbmann retains it, and Meyer accounts for the omis-
eion from tlie parallel passages. [Tischendorf likewise retains it in his edit, soptima critica major of 1859. Dr. Lange
seems to have used the smaller critical edition of 1S49, which omits fia07)Tas.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 17.— [The Vatican and Sinait. Codd., and tho Codd. L., Z. (which generally agrco with the former), and the
critical editions of Lacbmann, Tischendorf, Trogclles, and Alford read: Kal iv ry o 5 f, instead of eV tJ} iSaJ, koi,
360
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
as the Eeceived Text has It. Dr. Lange for internal reasons prefers here the latter, which is supported by Codd. A., C, D.i
and other uncial MSS.— P. S.]
3 VtT. 18.— Cod. B. omits davdrcfj, but it is required by the connection. [Cod. Sinait. reads : eh ddvarov.—F. 8.]
>••• Ver. 19.— [Conant: " io mock, and scovrge, and crucify (omitting ' to ' t-n-ice) ; the proper expression of the Greek
€(5 T($ with the three following ivjiniii'ves. The interpolated *Jiim' is superfluous and enfeebles the expression."— P. 8.]
' Ver. 19.— The liecepla [and Lachmann, following B., C, D.] : av aarr](T erai. Tischcndorf [and Alford] :
iy€pBy](T er ai, after C*., L., Z. The former reading seems to hare arisen from the parallel passages, according to
Meyer. It may bo urged in favor of iyepd-naeTat, that it sets forth the restitution of the Messiah by the Almighty power
of God in contrast with His rejection by the people. [Cod. Sinait. reads here eyepflrjcrsTe, for -toj,— one of the many
writing errors of this ancient MS.— P. 8.]
general terms, as a betrayal into the hands of men.
But on this occasion the disciples were infonned of
the twofold betrayal which was impending — on the
part of His own friends into the hands of His ene-
mies, and again on the part of the chosen i-ace to the
Gentiles. Similarly, the prediction of His death is
now more definitely presented, with all the particu-
lars connected with it. He who was mocked or treat-
ed with scorn (or designated as an impotent enthusi-
ast), should not have been scourged ; or, again, hav-
ing been scourged (or designated as a common and
ordinary transgressor), He should not have been crw-
cified (or treated as a capital offender). But all these
apparently conflicting modes of punishment were to
be inflicted upon the Messiah, whom His people had
betrayed and rejected.
Ver. 19. And the third day. — As the sun
breaks through dark clouds, so does this promise
here again shed its blessed light, comp. xvi. 21 ; xviL
23. Still, it is not more fully explained, but left in
general outline until after the paschal feast, when the
Lord explained it more fully. The Evangelist does
not directly record the effects of this prediction of
Jesus. But the histoiy of Salome, which immediate-
ly follows, clearly shows that, so far from having
tended to cast down the disciples, it had only increas-
ed their courage. From Mark x. 32 we infer that
even before that time they had been most deeply
moved; while from Luke xviii. 34 we learn that,
even after this express statement, they were not in-
clined to take the words of the Lord in their Uteral
sense, as implying the terrible truth which they
seemed to convey {Lchen Jesu, ii. 2, 1148).
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 11. Took the twelve disciples apart. —
The expression napiXa^fp is intended as an anti-
thesis to ical npo(7\aP6ixevos avrhv 6 TlfTpos in ch.
xvi. 22, although the terms are not quite the same.
On the latter occasion Peter rebuked tlie Lord, and
in his earnestness actually took hold of Him, to ar-
rest His progress ; while Jesus took the Twelve apart
into retirement. There He entered into full explana-
tions about the decease which He was to accom-
plish ; thus giving the disciples another opportunity
of deciding whether, by an act of free and full self-
surrender, they would follow Him, or not.
Apart, K a t' is iav . — This expression has a
profound meaning in the life of Jesus. In all prob-
abihty, it does not merely refer here to a turning
aside from the multitude which had gathered around
(Euthym. Zigab. : ouk eSei ravra jxaQilv Tovs iroWovs,
Iva ixy] aKui'SaAtadiaiv), but means, that Jesus re-
tired mto the wilderness of Ephraim. Conii). John
xi. 54. Thence He afterward joined, at Jericho, the
festive caravan wliich travelled from Galilee to Jeru-
salem. In the text, the Evangehst refers to the mo-
ment when He came out of the wilderness, and was
about ("wt ike way," iv r y 6S (f) to join the fes-
tive train.
Vers. 18, 19. Behold, we go up. — The former
predictions of His impending sulferings, in ch. xvi.
21 and xvii. 22, are now followed by a more detailed
description of these events. Spiritually viewed. His
sufferings consisted of a twofold betrayal, and that
in the form both of rejection and of surrender : 1.
TrapaBodrtaerai ro7 9 a p x >■ e p e v <t iv , k.t.A. ;
2. Kal -rrapaSw ffova I. With reference to the
first betrayal, our Lord evidently indicates that He
would Himself go forth from the midst of His fol-
lowers, and that they would not prevent the impend-
ing events. But the betrayer himself is not yet
named ; the particulars being still withheld under the
use of the passive mood. But the second act of be-
trayal is distinctly mentioned as the voluntary deed
of the chief priests and scribes, or of the Sanhedrin,
— in other words, of the professing people of God, in
so far as they were represented by their supreme
tribunal. His own followers were to betray and sur-
render Him into the hands of the Sanhedrin, while
the Sanhedrin and the chosen people were to oetray
and to deliver Hun to the Gentiles. SimOarly, these
two parties were to share in His dgath. For while
the highest Jewish tribunal was to judge and to con-
idemn Him to death, the Gentiles were to determine
the accessories and the mode of His sufierings. — He
was to be mocked, scourged, and crucified. When
the apostasy and betrayal of the high priests had first
been announced to the disciples, mention had not
been made of most of these particulars. On the sec-
ond occasion on which the Saviour intimated- His
Bufferings, He spoke of being delivered, but only in
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHICAL.
We note, first of all, the contrast between the first
occasion on which Jesus had left the wilderness, at
the commencement of His public ministry, and this
time, when He again came forth at the close of His
course. Then, the spurious and worldly expectations
of His people concerning the kingdom drove HLm
into the wilderness, where He resolved to avoid and
eschew that temptation, wherever and however it
met Him. But now He is again drawn forth by the
youthful and healthy, but weak faith of His follow-
ers, who go up to the feast. He comes forth from
the wilderness, as if at the caU of the Father, as the
Messiah, to join them, and to realize their hopes.
Again, the state of mind of the disciples, as compar-
ed with that of the Master, forms another striking
contrast. They seem full of indefinite hopes and ex-
pectations ; and the announcement that He should
be crucified, only adds fresh fuel to the flame. The
mention of the twofold betrayal that awaited Him
has its deep and solemn meaning. Our Lord referred
not merely to the fact, that His people and their
rulers should deliver Him, their long expected Messi-
ah, into the hands of the Gentiles, but also to the be-
CHAP. XX. I'Z-IO.
361
trayal which awaited Him from among His own fol-
lowers, in consequence of which He should be surren^
dered to the Sanhedrin. Thus Christ was betrayed
not merely by the Old Testament community, but also
by those who formed the circle of the New Testa-
ment disciples before they were enlightened by the
Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit. If the latter had
not first delivered Him, the Jews could not so read-
ily have seized and betrayed Him into the hands of
the Gentiles.
[Wordsworth : Our Lord reveals the future by
degrees, as His Apostles were able to bear it, and in
proportion as He drew nearer to His passion. He
had first told them that the Son of Man should be
put to death, xvi. 21 (and more fully, xvii. 22, 23),
and He had said that His disciples must take up the
cross and folloio Hun, x. 38 ; xvi. 24 ; and thus He
had prepared them gradually for the revelation which
He now makes toward the close of His ministry, that
He Himself should be delivered to the Romans to be
mocked, and scourged, and crucified. How natural
is all this ! Here is one of the many silent proofs of
the truth of the gospel histoi-y, as well as of the
long-suffering, wisdom, and tenderness of Christ. —
P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PEAOTICAL.
The last and fullest prediction of the sufferings
of the Lord, a great evidence, — 1. of the prophetic
character of the Lord ; 2. of His willingness, as a
Priest, to offer Hunself a sacrifice unto the Father ;
3. of His confident expectation of victory as a King.
— How the faithfulness of the Lord toward His dis-
ciples appears in the announcement of His impending
sufferings: L It is seen in the gradual manner in
which He makes the fact known (from the first He
had intimated that His path was one of suffering ;
but, while putting an end to their spurious hopes.
He had never said anything to cast them down). 2.
But now He set it before them in all its terrors (He
dealt cancUdly with them. Return was still possible
for them, although, from their former decision. He
no longer asked them whether they would forsake
Him). 3. He placed before then* view the promise
awaiting them at the end ; thus estabUshing and en-
couraging them by this blessed prospect. — How fre-
quently the Lord takes His own people apart in His
Church (to reveal great things to them, which others
cannot yet bear or receive). — Deep and solemn uu-
portance at all times of the saying, " Behold, we go up
to Jerusalem.'''' — The journey of the Messiah to Jeru-
salem : the saddest and yet the happiest event m his-
tory.— The fact of His impending sufierings so clear-
ly present to His mind, and yet conveying so little
terror: 1. The sufferings themselves, — («) in their
spiritual aspect : a twofold betrayal and a twofold
rejection ; {b) in their outward aspect : a twofold
sentence — condemning Him as a heretic and as a
cruninal. 2. The effect on His own mind : (a) it did
not affright Him (if it did, He would not have
seen it ; but because He saw it, it did not fill Him
with fear) ; {b) it led Him to arrange His jjrogress (to
prepare both Himself and His people). — Deep mys-
tery of the fact, that Israel delivered their long-ex-
pected Messiah into the hands of the hated Gentiles :
1. A mystery connected with their former suis ; 2,
with their impending judgments; 3. with the infinite
compassion of the Lord. — The guilt of the world, the
death of Christ. — How the sin of the world appears
in the death of Jesus : {a) in the sin of the disciples
toward their Lord and Master ; (6) in the sin of the
people toward their Messiah ; (c) in tlie sin of the
Gentiles toward the Son of Man. — How the Lord
looked Ijeyond and through His sufferings to the goal
of His resurrection. — When the guilt of the world ap-
pears most fully, its reconciliation by the Messiah is
also at hand. — In opposition to men, who crucified
Christ, we have God, who raised Him up. — The Son
of Man will he delivered. Import of this sad secret :
1. As yet, it is not more fully disclosed, because it
is the saddest part of all. 2. It may not yet be dis-
closed, because it is to be the free act of the betray-
er. 3. It need not be more fully disclosed, because
the slightest hint should have proved a solemn
warning to all. — How, in meditating on the sufferings
of Christ, we are j^rone to think too little of the first
and saddest betrayal, viz., that of His disciples. — The
ecclesiastical and the historical aspect of this betray-
al.— The threefold manifestation of the sin of the dis-
ciples as springing from offence at Him : [a) It was
a betrayal ; (6) a denial ; (c) a forsaking. — " He that
dehvereth Me unto thee hath the greater sin." Im-
port of this, as referring not merely to the second be-
trayal of Jesus on the part of His enemies, but also
to the first by Judas Iscariot. — Contradictory charac-
ter of the treatment which the Saviour experienced ;
1. He was betrayed, and yet judicially condemned;
2. temporal and spiritual sentence was pronounced
upon Him ; 3. He experienced various and contra-
dictory modes of punishment : scorn, scourging, cru-
cifixion.— Why Christ saw His cross afar off: 1. It
was predetermined from the begmning, and He saw
it everywhere throughout His course ; 2. from the
first He prepared for it, and experienced its bitter-
ness in many preluninary trials ; 3. it was the har-
binger of His exaltation, and ever and again He
anticipated His coming glory. — The cross the perfect
manifestation — 1. of the guilt of the world ; 2. of the
love of Christ ; 8. of His obedience ; 4. of the grace
of God.
Starke: — Hedinger : The sufferings of Christ
our sufferings : (a) in respect of their imputation ;
(6) in respect of their consequences ; {c) in respect
of the example set to us. — Let us learn to be ever
mindfid of our death and resurrection.
Heuhncr : — The anticipation of the glory await-
ing Him, cherished by the human soul of Jesus, was
the result of His full and deep faith. This expecta-
tion, however, did not detract either from the merit
or from the intensity of His sufferings, just as a sim-
ilar hope in the people of God does not make their
contest more easy or less glorious.
302
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
SECOND SECTION.
THE PLACES AT THE RIGHT AND AT THE LEFT HAND OF HIS THRONE— AND OF
HIS CROSS.
Chapter XX. 20-28.
(Mark x. 35-45.)
20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children [of the sons of Z., tSv vmv Z.]
with her sons, worshipping Mm, and desiring [asking, atroScra, comp. ver. 22] a certain
2 1 thing [something] ^ of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou ? She saith unto
him, Grant [Command] ^ that these my t\yo sons may [shall] sit, the one on thy right
22 hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye
know not what ye ask [akeiaOe]. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of,
and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ? ^ They say uuto him,
23 We are able. And he saith mito them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be bap-
tized with the baptism that I am baptized with : ^ but to sit on my right hand, and on
my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them [but it is for those] for whom
24 it is prepared of [by] my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with
25 indignation* against the two brethren [brothers]. But Jesus called them unto him, and
said. Ye know that the princes [rulers, apxovre';] of the Gentiles [nations] exercise do-
minion [lordship, KaTaKvpuvovacvj over them, and they that are great exercise authority
26 upon tliem. But it shall not be so [But not so is it, oix ovtw^ 8e ecrrtV] ^ among you:
but whosoever will be [would become, OeXrj ycvea-dai] great among you, let him be your
27 minister [StaKovog] ; And whosoever will be chief [would be first, OiXr} etrnt Trpuros]
28 among you, let him be your servant [SoSXos] : Even as the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his hfe a ransom for [dvrt] many.*
^ Ver. 20.— [Dr. Laiige adds in small type and in parenthesis : a royal fwvor, following Maldonatus and Fritzscbe who
find in tl aliquid magni, by way of anticipation. See his Exeg. Notes.']
2 Ver. 2. — [So Conant, who correctly observes that ejire has here tho sense of authoritative direction, .as in eh. iv.
S: ''Commcmd that these stones he made iireat?," and in Luke x. 40 : '^ Bid her there fore that she help me:'' Lange :
SpricKs aus.—V. S.]
^ Vers. 22, 23. — The words: Kol rh fidirr tafia, t tyw /SaTrTi^o^ai, ^aTTTiadrivai in ver. 22, and the corresponding
addition : ko.] . . . . fiaivri a- d-fiffeaOi in ver. 23, are wanting in Codd. B., D., L., Z. [and in Cod. Sinait., which belongs to
tho same class of MSS.], and in many ancient versions [and in all critical editions]. They were in .all probability inserted
from the par.allel passages in Miirk x. 88, 39.
* Ver. 24. — [Or: were much displeased, ■i]yavaKTqaav, as the verb is rendered Mark s. 14, 41, and by Conant in
this place.— P. S.]
5 Ver. 26.— Lachmann, with B., D., L., Z., and other authorities, reads: iariv. So also Meyer: "TheiJecepto
tarm is a ch.ange with the view to conform it to vers. 26 and 27, where iarai occurs twice (instead of eo-ro.', Fritzsche),
according to Lachmann and the preponderance of authorities." [Tischendorf reads eorai in ver. 20, and afterward twice:
eo-TO). Cod. Sinait. twice : €(rT€.— P. S.]
« Ver. 28— [Codd. D., Z., <al., have a lengthy apocryphal addition to this verse, which resembles Luke xiv. 8 sqq. See
the critical apparatus in Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford; also the Com. of Meyer, p. 375.— P. S.]
His aunt. The relationship subsisting between them
might seem to lend additional support to the claims
of Salome, based as they were npon the friendship
subsisting between the Lord and John, and on the
general position occupied by the sons of Zebedee,
A twofold meaning attaches to the word tote, then.
It refers, in the first place, to the moment when, in
company with His disciples, Jesus came forth from
the wilderness of Ephraun, and joined the first cara-
van of festive pilgrims. Probably this band con-
sisted of the more intimate friends and followers of
Jesus, who had journeyed directly from Galilee to
Ephraim through Samaria, and from thence passed
with the Lord to Jericho, where they met the larger
caravan coming from Galilee, which had travelled
through Peraea. In that company was the ardent
and daring mother of the sons of Zebedee. Evident-
EXEGETICAL AND CPJTICAL.
Ver. 20. Then came to Him the mother of
the sons of Zebedee. — Salome (comp. Mark xv.
40; xvi. 1; Matt, xxvii. 56), who must accordingly
be regarded as the wife of Zebedee. Most of the
ancient traditions assume that she was the daughter
of Joseph by a previous marriage; while others sug-
gest that she had been the wife of Joseph, by whom
he was the father of two daughters ; lastly, some re-
garded her as a niece of Zachariah the priest, the
father of John the Baptist. But a correct interpre-
tation of John xix. 25 {see Wieseler, Studien und
KritiJcen, 1840, iii.) shows that she was the sister of
Mary the mother of Jesus. Accordingly, James the
Elder and John were cousms of Jesus, and Salome
CHAP. XX. 20-2S
363
ly she had not been with them in the wilderness of
Ephraim. Her sons had probably communicated
what had passed, and she now advanced the request
mentioned in the text. Meyer suggests that she may
have heard from her sons what Jesus had promised
to the Apostles in ch. xix. 28. No doubt she had
been informed of the announcement of His impend-
ing sufierings; and this circumstance enables us to
appreciate the deeper import of the word tuts. It
was immediately after that fearful declaration on the
part of Jesus, concerning His impending crucifixion,
that she came forward with the reviuest, that her
sons should occupy the most prominent positions in
His kingdom. The circumstances under which this
prayer was ui'ged, go to a certain extent to excuse its
boldness, and to deprive it of the unf\ivorable impres-
sion which it would otherwise produce, as if Salome
had wished to advance her sous at the expense of
Peter. Viewed in this light, there is even something
sublime and heroic in what she says. In the midst
of such gloomy prospects she seems to raise the stan-
dard of highest hope, while she expresses her confi-
dent anticipation that in the approaching contest her
children would be found by the side of Jesus, and
sharing in the greatest dangers. But while admit-
ting all that is noble, there is a sad want of humble
surrender to the word of the Lord.
Worshipping Him, and asking a certain
thing of Him. — While Matthew represents Salome
as interceding for her sons, Mark puts the request
into the mouth of the sons themselves. The two
accounts supplement each other. Mark lays stress
on the fact, that the request of the mother -was
prompted by her children, — a circumstance which is
implied in the indignation of the other Apostles
against the two brothers, mentioned by Matthew in
ver. 24. On the other hand, our Gospel alludes
more particularly to the form in which the request
was actually made, the noble aspirations of the mo-
ther leading her to sympathize with the desire of her
sons. The manner in which this prayer is urged is
very significant. Salome seems the first to acknow-
ledge the Lord as Messiah the King. Falling down
before Him, she worships Him. At the same time
she requests a certain thing of Him ; i. e., according
to a frequent custom in Eastern courts, she entreats
His unconditional consent to what she is aljout to
ask {wc 1 Kings ii. 20). The comment of Meyer,
that aiTui'iad ri means, as one that made a request, is
flat. But while it may be somewhat anticipating,
with Scultetus, Maldonatus, and Fritzsche to regard
Ti as implying aliquid nia[/m, it cei'tainly conveys
that she was about to urge a petition which she
would fain have accorded before actually uttering it.
But the reply of the Lord obliged her to express her
wish in distinct language.
Yer. 21. Command that, or. Say that: (l-n-e
Iva. — This form of her address tends to present it in
a more favorat)le light. She seems to imply that in
point of fact tlie matter was already decided, and
that it now only required a formal declaration on the
part of Jesus to have it legally established. What
she requested was, that her sons might occupy the
two highest places in the kingdom of the Messiah.
In the East, the highest place of honor was at the
right hand of the king; and next to it, that on the
left (Joseph. Antiq. vi. 11, 9. Thus Jonathan and
Abner are seated ' beside Saul, and the Talmud rep-
resents the Messiah and Abraham as placed beside
God). According to human views of the matter, it
needs no special apology, that even " the gentle and
meek John should have cherished such a desire"
(Meyer). If an arrangement like this had been
made, John would, personally, not have gained
much ; for, considering that James was the elder
brother, his could only have been the place at the
left hand, — a distinction which would not have been
withheld, even if the first place had been accorded to
Peter. In fact, as matters actually were, John al-
ready occupied a higher place than this. But it is
scarcely necessary to say .that the views and hopes
of John had still to be purified and cleared by the
cross, and spiritually elevated at Pentecost.
[Luther : " The flesh ever seeks to be glorified
before it is crucified ; exalted before it is abased." —
P.S.]
Ver. 22. Ye know not what ye ask. — DiflTer-
ent views are entertained of this reply. De Wette
explains it : Your request arises from an mcorrect
view of the character of My kingdom, which is spir-
itual. Meyer paraphrases: Ye know not that the
highest posts in My kingdom cannot be obtained
without sufierings such as I have to endure. We ex-
plain it (comp. Leben Jesu, ii. 3, 1150): They had
no idea what fearful honors they would have obtained
if their desire had been granted. They would have
occupied the place of the two malefactors who were
crucified with Jesus. Truly, ye know not what ye
ask ! The Lord thus repHed, in mercy and compas-
sion toward that ignorance, in consequence of which
His beloved disciples too frequently seek for them-
selves what would be dangerous, and even destruc-
tive— and, perhaps still more frequently, what is un-
becoming. The rebuke of Christ was not merely
directed against the ignor.mce which led them to
covet the place of the two malefactors, but also
against the presumptuous selfishness which made
them forget the other disciples. Still, the answer of
the Lord shows that He also had regard to that
noble feeling which prompted them to desire a share
in His impending suffermgs.
Are ye able to drink of the cup ? 013 . —
" A metaphorical designation for fate in general, and
more especially for sufferings ; Gesenius on Isa. Ii. lY ;
Knobel on Isa. p. 353." Meyer. But the term is
here purposely chosen, with an allusion, on the one
hand, to the cup on the royal table, and, on the
other, to the cup of sufferings (Matt. xxvi. 39). The
same twofold import attaches to the expression
/SaTTTio-^a in the parallel passage in the Gospel of
Mark. It may signify a festive bath, but also the
baptism of blood which awaited the Lord. Hence
the term at the same time expressed the views of the
Apostles, and those of the Lord Himself.
We are able, Swd/u-eda. — The sons of Zebe-
dee now come forward in their own names. As
from the first they had intended to express their
readiness to undergo the deepest sufferings for the
sake of the kingdom of heaven, in which they covet-
ed the first places, they now declare their assent to
the view set before them by the Lord, that the royal
cup must, in the first place, be a cup of suffering —
His kingly bath a baptism of blood. Accordmgly,
they express their willingness to sutter with Christ.
But this statement implied an over-estimate of their
own strength, or rather a want of knowledge of their
weakness and hnpotence which afterward beca.me
manifest during the night of Christ's betrayal. StiU
it cannot be questioned that they were the most
courageous among the disciples, as appears _ from
John's going into the high priest's palace without
364
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
denying His master, and from the fact that James
was the first martyr of Christ.
Ver. 23. Ye shall drink indeed of My cup.
— Our Lord does not discuss the (juestion, how far
they were capable of bearing suffering. The great
question connected with the sufferings of the cross
was not one of liuman heroism, or of the capabihty
of endurance, but of inwart], divine, and lioly prepa-
ration. As yet the two disciples were incapable of
making this distinction. Hence the Lord declined
their sharing His sufferings in the foi-mer sense;
while at the same time He pointed forward to the
period when they should have part in them, in the
higher and only true sense (the future tense is here
used by way of antithesis to the present moment).
The reply of Christ must therefore be regarded in
the light of a correction implying an admission of
their calling to suffer with Him ; the fact of their
being at present unable, in the spiritual sense, to
share in His sufferings, being graciously presented in
the form of an affirmation that the time for this
should arrive. The admission to which we refer is
all the more fully made, that the Lord has to add,
" But to sit on My right hand, and on My left,'''' etc.
This fellowship of suffering with Christ appeared
more distinctly in the case of James than in that of
any other of the Apostles. And although John died
a natural death, at a very advanced age {see the ar-
ticle in the different Encyclops. ; the Histories of the
ApostoUc Age, and the Fathers, Irenaeus, ii. 22, 5 ;
Eusebius, iii. 2.3, etc.), yet in a spiritual sense his
was the longest and deepest martyrdom among the
Apostles, — not to speak of the fact, that for the sake
of Christ he underwent many and severe outward
sufferings. Meyer correctly observes, that the apoc-
ryphal legend, to the effect that John had emptied
a cup of poison without sustaming any harm, may
probably have been derived from a mismterpretation
of this passage.
[Wordsworth: "Our Lord here describes the
two kinds of Christian martyrdom ; and all Christians
must be prepared for one or the other of them.
Every one must be a James or a John." Similarly
Pope Gregory, who distinguishes the martyrium in
mentc, and the martyrium in mente et actione, so that
we may become martyrs, and yet, like St. John, die
a natural death. — P. S.]
But to sit on My right hand, etc. — Different
views have been taken of this difficult passage: 1.
Chrysostom, Castellio, Grotius, and others, regard
the word dAAd as used instead of ft fi-n, except, —
i. e., it does not become Me to bestow it upon others
than those to whom it is granted.* To this de
Wette objects — (a) that this is incompatilDle with the
real meaning of ouk eartv ifiSv; (t) that the word
aAAa implies an antithesis. At any rate the mean-
ing would ])e unsuitable. 2. Augustine interprets :
It is not Mine, in My capacity as man. 3. Bengel
paraphrases : Before My exaltation by suffering. 4.
Fritzsche remarks: The Father has prepared the
kingdom (ch. xxv. 3-1) ; to which de Wette replies,
that Christ was certainly the Founder and Ruler of .
the kingdom. 5. De Wette attempts to combine the
views of Augustme and Bengel, and holds that Jesus
here speaks of Himself as the human individual who
* [So also Alfoi'd, who translates dA\' oTs : except to
those for whom.-Vv ord&worth explains : It is not for Me to
give, but it is for Mo to adjudge; it is not a boon to be
gained by solicit.ation, but it will bo assigned to those for
whom it is prepared, according to certain laws prescribod
by God.-P. S.]
was destined to be the Messiah, but had not yet been
perfected as such. But in that case Christ would
have expressed it : It is not yet Mine, but will be so
at a future period. 6. Meyer holds that the Messia-
nic administration of Christ was not strictly absolute,
but limited by His relationship toward the Father.
7. My own view is thus expressed in the Lclen Jesu,
iii. 2, 1151: "The statement refers not merely to
the dispensation of an earthly fai >, whic'.: cometh
from the Father, and according to which i ,o male-
factors were to bo crucified v/ith Christ, but also
especially to the eternal i)redestination of eternal
positions in the kingdom of God." In other words,
Christ here distinguishes between the economy of the
Fatlier — creation, and its ideal basis, election to dif-
ferent degrees of glory — and the economy of the
Son, or redemption, and an official call to labor in
the vineyard. The prominent positions in the king-
dom of God depend on certain relationships coimect-
ed with original creation, and are not bestowed in
consequence of ofiBce. This explanation is not in-
consistent with the fact of a correspondence between
chosen spirits and their official position in the king-
dom, far less does it imply that the Sons of Thunder
did not occupy a high place in the kingdom of Christ
But it conveyed the truth, that this position v.as not
a part of the work of redemption (which was design-
ed only to reaUze and to manifest the mystery of
ele!''l';ri) — far less that it depended on official posi-
tion i'l the kingdom of Christ. The statement of the
Lord thus serves as an introduction to what imme-
diately follows. Spiritual aristocracy must prove its
clauHS by humility, greatness by littleness, and the
highest exaltation by the deepest self-abasement.
The place which each of us is to hold in the eternal
kingdom, is the result of our eternal destination, and
intimately connected with the state of our minds and
hearts. — For whom it is prepared, oTs -hroi-
fxaaraL. — That (piestion has been decided before
the foundation of the world.
Ver. 2t. And TO-hen the ten heard it, yjya-
vaKT-ri ■! av, they became indignant, or, were
much displeased. — Not in the sense of holy indig-
nation, but as partaking of the same spirit of ambi-
tion which had prompted the request. It deserves
notice that on this occasion Peter does not seem to
have prominently come forward. Of course, we do
not mean that he formed an exception to the others.
They all shared the same jealousy and indignation,
as appears from tl^.e general tenor of the rebuke of
the Lord. [77ie ten, including St. Matthew,* who
here records his own weakness together with that of
his colleagues, as St. Peter recommends the epistles
of his brother Paul (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16), in one of
which his own inconsistency is severely censured
(Gal. ii. 11). A proof of humiUty and truthfulness.
-P. S.J
Yer. 25. The rulers of the nations. — The ex-
pression rwv iQvSiv in this passage does not refer
exclusively to the Gentiles. Luther : Secular princes.
KaraKvpiivovaiv, icare^ovaid^ovaiv. In
this mstance the two verbs have the additional
meaning of pride and violence, which KaraKvp. has
in 1 Pet. V. 3 ; Ps. v. 5, 10; although the word may
also simply mean, to bear rule. But from the addi-
tion of the a7ra| AiyojuLevov, Kar e ^ova., we infer
that it bears the meaning above indicated (similarly
m Diod. Sicul. 14, (56). — De Wette suggests that o I
S.]
[Bengal: Deckm. In his ingenuus evangelista.—V.
CHAP. XX. 20-28.
365
dpXoi'Tes refers to the kings, their substitutes
and offi(?ers (in the Gospel of Mark the expression
01 SoKovvres apx^tv is used with special allusion to
the symbolical import and the legal validity of the
secular power), and that oi /xc/dhoi applies mere-
ly to tlie oificers of state. Bengel explains the em-
ploymeut of the stronger verb in connection with ol
fieyd\oi, because the latter are : ipsh sccpe dominis
imperioslores. As the term fieydKoi primarily refers
to persons great or powerful in themselves, perhaps
the expression princes may allude to the legitimate
rulers, and the term great to illegitimate usurpers
and conquerors. Hence also the use of the stronger
verb in the second clause.
Ver. 26. Eut not so is it among you. — The
readmg ea-riv is very significant. Christ had already
prepared them for this order of things, which was so
different from that prevailmg in the world. The or-
der and succession in His kingdom was not to be
settled according to any legal determination. Jesus
had introduced a new and spiritual Ufe, in direct op-
position to secular monarchies and hierarchies.
Hence also the reading of the future tense (eo-rai), in-
stead of the imperative {tarw), is more suitable in
the sentence next following.
Yers. 26, 27. Whoever would become great.
— De Wette obseiwes that /ue'yos = uiyiaros, and
irpwTo's m the next clause. Meyer questions the cor-
rectness of tliis view, on the ground of the corre-
sponding antithesis. Evidently, Siawoj/os corresponds
to ^67as, and SovXos to TrpcoTos. Comp. Matt, xviii.
1. In this instance, then, the "minister" and the
"servant," or "slave," are intended as emblems of
the greatness which the disciples should covet, even
as formerly the Uttle child set in the midst of them.
In other words, deep humility appearing in service
of love was to be the measure of their greatness.
Ver. 23. Even as the Son of Man came not
to be ministered to. — In Matt, xviii. greatness was
spoken of in the sense of dignity. Accordingly,
Christ placed a little chikl in the midst of them, and
ultimately appealed to His own example : " The Son
of Man has come to seek that which was lost." Eut
the greatness referred to in this passage refers to rule
or dominion. Hence the Lord points His disciples
to ministers or slaves ; while He once more referred
to His o\vn work and mission, who " had come, not
to be ministered to, but to minister" The expres-
sion, " not to be ministered to," refers to all merely
outward rule, whether in the shape of monarchy or
hierarchy ; m other words, to exercise authority over
others for His own interest, for Ilis own glory, or
even by external means. Accordingly, the expres-
sion, to minister, appUes to His submission or obe-
dience. Viewing it in connection with its blessed
motive, the passage impUes : In His infinite love to-
ward men, the Saviour has come to serve them ; and
He does so in obedience to the demands of the law
and to the will of God, in order thus to redeem
them. Hence the addition, and to give His life ;
which must be regarded as a further explanation, and
Indicates the climax of the service in which He was
engaged. Comp. Pliil. ii. 6 : obedient — obedient unto
death on the cross. The term ministerinci expresses
the spirit of the life of Christ. His sufferings and
death illustrated and displayed the submission of
His whole course ; they shed the fullest light on
the object of His hfe. The Holy Servant of God sur-
rendered His hfe ; and that unto death (the ■^vxv)-
He gave His life a ransom of life, Kvt pov — nss ;
Exod. XXX. 12 ; Num. xxxv. 31 ; Prov. xiii. 8. This
price of redemption He gave a y t i , and not
merely inrtp, in the wider sense, i. e., instead of^
in exchange of, or as a substitute ; Matt. xvii. 27 ;
Heb. xii. 10. This redemption at the price of His
life was made avrl n o Wuv . The expression
many is not intended to indicate an exclusive minor-
ity, or a smaller number as compared with all, — for
the latter expression occurs in Rom. v. IS ; 1 Tim,
ii. 4. The term is intended rather by way of anti-
thesis to the 07ie whose life was the ransom of the
772a?u/. At the same time, it undoubtedly indicates
not only the objective bearing, but also the subjec-
tive efficacy of this ransom, by which many (a great
multitude) are in reaUty redeemed. Comp. Rom. v.
15 ; Matt. xxvi. 28. — The state from which these
many are redeemed may readily be inferred from the
figure employed. De Wette supphes — from death
or from the misery of sin; Meyer — from eternal
airdo\€ia. Both commentators are light ; but we
would express their meaning more definitely. The
death or the a-n-dXeia is here refeiTed to as spiritual
bondage or slavery. Comp. John viii. 34-36 ; Heb.
ii. 14.
[Similarly Alford : "Xvrpov avrl tt o K •
\w I' is a plain declaration of the sacrificial and vi-
carious nature of the death of our Lord. . . It is here
= o.vTi\vTpov inrfp irdurwy, 1 Tim. ii. 6. Xo Stress
should be laid on this word ttoWwv as not being
iravTui' here ; it is placed in opposition to the one
life which is given — the one for mam/ — and not with
any distinction from TrdvToov. UdvTwv is the ob-
jective, -KoWwu the subjective designation of those for
whom Christ died. He died for all, objectively ;
subjectively, the great multitude whom no man could
number, ttoWo'i, wiU be saved by Him in the end." —
P.S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Evangelists record three distinct instances
in which the disciples seem to have contended for
rank and position. (1) In Matt, xviii. 1, their dispute
referred to the highest dicfnity. Then our Lord placed
among them a little child, and taught them that He
Himself watched over the little ones, and was the
Shepherd of the lost. (2) In the passage under con-
sideration, the reference seems more particularly to
supreme ride. TJie Lord now directs them to the of-
fice of minister, and to the position of a slave ; He
Himself being that Holy Servant of God who had
given Himself for the service of man, and redeemed
them from the bondage of destruction, at the price
of His own Ufe. (3) Accordmg to Luke xxii. 24, an-
other sunilar discussion took place during the cele-
bration of the Eucharist. The Evangehst records,
indeed, but few traits connected whh this event.
Still, even the circumstance that our Lord washed the
feet of the disciples (John xiii.), shows that some oc-
currence of this kind must have taken place. Proper-
ly speaking, this service of love should have been
performed by the master of the house. In this case
he was not present ; nor does any of the disciples
seem to have been disposed to do it for the others.
Contrary to the common custom, they were already
seated at the table with unwashed feet, when the
Lord Himself girt the linen towel about Him. Prom
the words of Jesus, as recorded in Luke xxii. 27, we
infer that this formed the commencement of another
dispute. Cut, if the first discussion referred to pre-
SCiG
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
eminence of dignity, the second to ]ire-eminence of
office and rule, — the third and last dispute probably
referred to jyersonal pre-eminence, or a higher place
among those who were officially placed on the same
lerel. But even this pre-eminence of personal (in op-
position to official) position should give place to
voluntary and mutual subordination, prompted by
love.
2. " So long as this world shall, for its training,
require secular authority and power, the Lord will,
in His providence, raise up princes and great ones
to administer rule and government. But the Apostles
of the Lord were neither to imitate this rule, which
was only intended for a preparatory state of things,
nor to substitute their own domination in its stead,
nor to attempt supplementing it." Comp. the remarks
of James at the council in Acts xv. 21 : " Moses has of
old time in every city them that preach him ; " in
other words, the servants of Christ in the Church are
not called upon to attend to the Icgnl administration
of the law : this is the business of the servants of
Moses in the synagogue. Let us beware of confound-
ing Moses and Christ, or the secular government and
the ministry of the Chyrch.
3. The statement of Christ, "Whoever among
you would be great," etc., conveys, that the only su-
periority of authority in His kingdom is that which
springs from the service of love, and the only superi-
ority of power is that which appears in ministering
to the Church. This, however, does not imply that
there is to be no ordet- of office in His Church. But
it does convey that anything like difference of rank
or tyranny over the Church is incompatible with the
will of Christ, and that all ecclesiastical offices are to
lead to spiritual services of love. They are intended
to subserve and advance the liberty, not the bondage,
of the Church. Li other words, their tendency is to
be toward freedom. It is otherwise with the rule of
this world, whether it appear in the form of monar-
chy or of hierarchy. Every hierarchy requires, more
or less, the aid of despotism, and in fact contains the
germ of it ; while despotism always relies on the sup-
port of a hierarchy, or else itself attempts to exercise
hierarchical domination over the conscience. Hence
also these jjowers will at last become the instruments
of the kingdom of darkness {see the corresponding
passages in Dan. and Rev. ; also 1 Pet. i. 18, 19).
From all such powers of the world, Christ has re-
deemed the souls of His people. Hence it were the
grossest self-contradiction to attempt introducing the
forms of this bondage into the administration of the
kingdom of grace.
[Origen : As all carnal things are done by com-
pulsion, but spiritual things by free-will, so those
rulers who are spiritual ought to rest their power in
the love of their subjects, not in their fears. — Chry-
sosTOM : High place courts him who flies from it, and
shuns him who courts it. . . . Men liecomc masters in
this world that they may exercise domination over
their inferiors, and reduce them to slavery, and rob
them, and employ them even to death for their own
profit and glory. . . . But men become governors in the
Church that they may serve those who are under
them, and minister to them whatever they have re-
ceived of Christ, that they may postpone their own
convenience, and mind that of others, and not refuse
even to die for those beneath them. To seek there-
fore a command in the Cimrch is neither righteous
nor profitable.... How much soever you humble your-
self, you cannot descend so far as did your Lord.
(Translation taken from the Oxford edition of Thomas
Aquinas' Catena Aurea, 1841, vol. i. part. ii. pp.
6'JC, 697).— P. S.]
4. It admits of no question that the word avri in the
text implies a vicarious atonement or redemption by
a substitute. Still, viewed in its connection, the pas-
sage primarily refers to redemption in the narrower
sense, and not to the atonement itself The follow-
ing three elements may be distinguished in tlie work
of redemption: ]. The KaraWayri, which may be
called the ■prophetic element in redemption ; or, the
announcement of the grace of God, and its sealing by
the death of Christ, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. Klaiber, Stier,
and others, even in our own day, do not go beyond
this. 2. The lAatr^o's, 1 John ii. 2; iv. 10: the
atonement or projiitiation ; or, the high-priestly act
of redemption, wrought out when Christ gave Him-
self a sacrifice to the judgment of God pronounced
upon the ancient world, thereby converting that judg-
ment into salvation. Anselm has developed this idea,
although not with sufficient clearness in the distinc-
tion of terms. 3. The aTraKlnpuiais, Kom. iii. 24 ; 1
Cor. i. 30 ; Eph. i. 14 : the redemption of man from
the bondage of destruction by the \vrpov of the blood
of Christ ; or, the royal act of redemption, which
Christ accompHshed when He surrendered His life to
the powers of the world and to the power of dark-
ness, thereby redeeming Himself and His people from
the rulers of darkness, 1 Pet. i. 18, 19; Acts x. 38;
xxvi. 18. The older Fathers chiefly dwelt on the last-
mentioned element, as constituting redemption. Dur-
ing the Middle Ages exclusive stress was laid on the
priestly element (to which Athanasius and Gregory
of Naz. were the first prominently to call attention) ;
while of late, theologians have chiefly insisted on the
prophetical element ui redemption. The defect of all
these systems consists in their not distinguishing, and
at the same time combining, all the three elements
in the work of redemption. In Scripture they are
generally presented more or less combined under
one aspect (seethe author's '■'■ Positive Dogniaiik,^'' pp.
858 and 893). Still, one or other of these elements
is generally referred to in a more peculiar manner.
Thus, in the passage under consideration, there is
special reference to the royal office ot_Christ in re-
demption which He accomplished in the form of a
servant. He gave His life as a ransom to redeem
mankind from the power of darkness and to make us
His own property. Hence the off.ce of publishing
this work of redemption was not to be transformed
into a rule over His free Church, 1 Cor. vii. 23.
(" Least of all by cruel despotism and the shedding
of the blood of His members.")
6. If there were any truth in the Romish doc-
trine of the primacy of Peter, our Lord would have
given a very difierent reply to the sons of Zeb-
edee. He would have said in effect : You know that
in Ccesarea Philippi I have already accorded the first
jtlace xmto Peter. But how different was the answer
of Jesus !
IIOMILETICAL AND TKACTICAL.
Salome and her sons ; or, the difference between
the noblest aspirations of mere natural enthusiasm
and the spiritual courage of holy humility. — The pro-
jects of parents with reference to their children must
Idc tried and purified in the light of the Lord. — Sa-
lome and her sons as compared with Mary and her
sons. Matt. xii. 46. — Christ proving Himself the
heavenly King at His first public recognition in that
CHAP. XX. 20-28.
367
character: 1. By His grace; 2. by His impartiality;
3. by the exercise of His prerogative (botli in grant-
ing and in withholding) ; 4. by His holiness and jus-
tice (guarding and preserving the rights of the Fa-
ther).— How the thoughts of the Lord are infinitely
high above the thoughts even of His people. — Christ
both correcting and offei'ing up our petitions. — Ye
know not what ye ask ; or, the ignorance and the
dangers connected with many of our dearest earthly
wishes, as illustrated by the request of the sons of
Zebedee : 1. They sought the place of the two malefac-
tors ; 2. they requested, so to speak, sometliing which
had only existence in their imagination (worldly hon-
ors in the kingdom of Christ) ; 3. they sought some-
thmg which, in its higher import, had already been
given away — perhaps to themselves, perhaps to others
— viz., special degrees of election. — The threefold ad-
ministration in the economy of God. — How Christ in
His administration always shed a glorious light on
that of the Father. — The work of redemption com-
pleting that of creation. — " When the ten heard it ; "
or, how ambition* and jealousy frequently evoke each
other even in the Church of Christ. — The second dis-
pute about pre-eminence among the disciples. — Its
relation to the first and the third disputes. — " Jesus
called them unto Himself; " or, the teaching of Christ
concerning the character of hierarchy, as addressed
to the first council of His disciples. — Secular govern-
ment in its relation to ecclesiastical order : 1. It is
recognized without being approved in every partic-
ular ; 2. it cannot serve as a model for the Church
of Christ, or be adopted in the form of a hierarchy ;
3. far less may it exercise rule over the Church itself
(CcBsaropapacy). — How the government of the Church
of Christ must be a ministry in the strictest sense :
1. He that is not willing to be a minister has no place
in it ; 2. every genume minister wUl be gi-eat in pro-
portion as he serves ; 3. if we are willing to be ser-
vants or slaves in this house, i. e., to devote ourselves,
body and soul, to its interests, we shall be first. —
Only that arrangement has the approbation of the
Lord which combines order with hberty in the Church.
— The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
etc. ; or, the Church is to be formed according to the
model which Christ set before us in His life and
deatl^— How Christ's humiliation condemns the am-
bition of those who call themselves His servants. —
No tyranny over the conscience may interpose be-
tween Christ, the kingly Redeemer, and His royal
bride, the Church. — Christ has redeemed His people
with His precious blood /Vom, not to, the bondage
of this world. — ■" Ye are bought with a price ; be ye
not the servants of men." — As every other associa-
tion or body, so the Church has its appropriate or-
ganization, corresponding to its nature. Thus the
plant would die if it were subject to the conditions
of the crystal ; the animal, if it were subject to those
of the plant ; man, if he were subject to those of the
animal; and the kingdom of heaven, if subject
to those of the world. Or rather, the plant has
burst through the conditions of tlie crystal, and pass-
ed beyond it, etc. ; and the kingdom of heaven
through the conditions and forms of this world. —
They would fain have established an order in the
Church, by which the forms of an um-edeemed world
* [Not: reverence, as the Edinb. translator has it, who
thoughtlessly read: Ehrfurcht for Ehrsucht (und Ei/er-
sucht). and thus made Lange responsible for the nonsense
that a fundamental virtue begets an evil passion and vice
cer«&-P. S.]
would have been forced upon the redeemed : 1. They
would have attempted to present spiritual life under
shadows and in emblems ; 2. knowledge and spiritual
power under law and tradition; 3. redemption or
hberty under constraint ; 4. spiritual blessedness un-
der force and restraint. — How the suiferings of Christ
on the cross have given a right form and order to His
kingdom : 1. They have converted the lowest depth
mto the most glorious height (reproach into honor,
sorrow into well-being, service into dignity, apparent
weakness into power). 2. They have subjected to
His sway all tlie powers of the woi-ld (banished secu-
lar authority from the Church, and exalted Him to be
the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Rev. i. 5).
On tlw two preceding sect'wns combined. — The dif-
ference between the Lord's prospect and that of His
disciples : He sees the cross where they see thrones
of honor ; He sees the resurrection and eternal life,
where they see only night and darkness. — The human
nobiUty in the aspkation of the sons of Zebedee : the
good in it (they express an unHmited hope m the
Lord's cause, and would forever unite their destiny
with His) ; the evil in it (they over-estimate their
enthusiasm, and approach too nearly a violation of
the obedience due to the Lord, and the love due to
their fellow-disciples). — The glance at the Lord's cross
sanctifies the wish of the disciples.
Starke: — Cramer: Christian parents! seek not
too lofty things for your children. — Zeisivs : It is not
only vam, but also most foolish, to seek from Christ
temporal honor and glory. — It seems as if Christ here
(by the cup and the baptism) had referred to the two
great sacraments of the New Testament, wliich bind
us to the unitation of Christ. — Quesnel : The weak-
ness of man betrays itself even in his prayers, Rom.
viii. 28. — First the suffering, then the crown, 1 Pet.
iv. 13. — Osiander : Every Christian has his portion
of tribulation assigned : let him take it as a salutary
cup and healthy medicine. — The best men may make
great mistakes as to the extent of their ability. —
Lord Jesus ! make me worthy to drink of Thy cup,
and then place me where Thou wilt. — Cartstehi : One
offence soon draws others after it (then were the ten
displeased). — In the kingdom of Christ there are only
ministers, servants, and Ijrethren. — 0 how far is the
external Church fallen from this purity ! — Langii
Opus : This declaration throws the whole papistical
hierarchy to the ground. — Quesnel : Preachers must
serve after the example of Christ.
Gerlach : — A warning to all in the Church who
are higher than others, that they should remember
the foundation of their power ; lest it should be
mere empty form, ruinous to themselves and the
Church.
Heubner : — The sons of Adam gladly bow down
when worldly honor is to be attained. — Vain maternal
love often leads greatly astray. — To sit on Thy right
hand: how much disposed the heart is to make reli-
gion the means of furthering worldly interests. — The
Jiigher a man looks, the greater the danger. — To par-
take of tlie highest honor with Jesus is to suffer with
Him. — lie who knows nothing of the cup of Christ's
passion will have no part in the cup of joy. — Hence
we see how ambition exasperates others against us. —
Wouldcst tliou rule, learn first to serve.
[With this chapter closes Mr. Edersheim's translation in
the Edinb. edition. The remaining chapters of the Com-
mentary on St. Matthew were translated by the Rev. W. B.
PoPB (or some inferior assistants), as we learn from a note
on the back of the title-page to vol. ii.— P S.]
8G8
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
THIRD SECTION.
THE WRETCHED KEPT BACK FROM THE LORD, THE KING OF MERCY.
Chai'Ter XX. 29-34.
(Mark x. 46-52 ; Luke xviii. 35-43 ; xix. 1-10.)
29 And as tliej departed from [were going out of] ^ Jericlio, a great multitude followed
30 him. And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesu3
passed by [was passiiig by, Trapayet], cried out, saying. Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, thou
31 Son of David [Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David]. ^ And the multitude rebuked
them, because [that, iVa] they should hold their peace : but they cried the more, saying,
Have mercy on us, 0 Lord, thoio Son of David [Lord, have mercy on us, Son of Da-
32 vid].* And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said. What will ye that I shall do
33, 34 unto [for] you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Je-
sus had compassion on them, and touched [Then Jesus, moved with compassion, touched,
o-7rXayxyia-6els 8e o 'Icr. -^i/zaro] their eyes: and immediately their eyes [they] ^ received
sight, and they folloAved him.
> Ver. 29.— [The strict rendering of i ktto pevo uevwu avrwv. In Mark x. 46 the E. V. has : As he went cnit
of Jericho. Lulie says (xviii. 35) : As he was come nigh unto Jericho. On this chronological discrepancy between Mat-
thew and Luke, see the Exeg. Notes on ver. 30. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 30.— [TVcc*. ;yc.; 'EAe-naov ^M«s, icvpte, vlos AajilS. But the best authorities read: Kvpie,
i\e-q(7ov v/J-tis, vibs Aav elS , lord, Jiave mercy on us^ Son of David. Cod. Sinait. reads in ver. 80: eAfrjcrov
?j,uas (Tjcrou vie A., and in ver. 31: icvpie eAer/croj' rjuas vte A. — ^P. S.]
3 Ver. 84— Thp words: avrSjv ol o (p 0 a \ jul o i {their eyes) after a.i'e^\e\pav are wanting in Codd. B., D., L.,
Z., [and Cod. Sinait. which generally asiees with the Codd. just named], and in the Latin Vulgate. They are omitted by
Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in the large ed. of 1859, where the words are retained. Alford omits them, but in his
apparatus he neglects to notice the difference of reading. — P. S.]
it will appear only an inexactness, and by no means
a discrepancy, in the first three Evangelists to con-
duct the procession without any break from Jericho
to Jerusalem, and to insert the anomting afierward :
Matt. xxvi. 6; Mark xiv. 3. They had a definite
motive for the transposition of this supplementary
narrative of the anointing. It was their purpose to
shov/ how the idea of the betrayal ripened in the soul
of Judas through the eflPect produced by the anoints
ing ; and also to connect the history of the anointing
with the indication of the traitor at the Paschal feast
At the same time, they would bring the anointing as
near as possible to the Supper, on account of its
internal prophetical relation to that holy oi-dinance.
Ver. 29. And as they were going out of
Jericho. — Luke records the delay in Jeiicho, and
the Lord's stay in the house of Zacehajus, ch. xix.
1 ; a.s also, the parable of the ten servants and the
ten pounds, which was connected therewith. Jericho,
'in*'"!'^ . in~i';i , nni'i';i ; variously written in the
Greek also. According to the first form, it signified
" the fragrant city ; " according to the second, " the
city of the moon." The former, however, is the more
probable derivation. It lay not far from the Jordan,
(60 stadia, or two hours), and was separated from
Jerusalem by a waste and wretched wilderness.*
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
Chronology. — According to John xii, 1, Jesus
came to Bethany six days before the Passover. As
the feast fell upon the 15th of Xisan, or began on the
evening of the 14th, this note of time takes us back
to the 9 th of Xisan. The day of the crucifixion was
the loth ; * and therefore the 9th was the Sabbath
previous. The Jewish customs at the feast throw
much Ught upon all 'these events. On Friday, the
8 th of Nisan, in the year 783 from the foundation of
Rome, or in the year 30 of our common reckoning
(Wieseler, in his Chronol. Synopse, p. 176, shows
that the first day of the Passover fell on a Friday
in that year), Jesus went, with His disciples and some
friends, from Ephraim to Jericho. Here He remain-
ed in the house of Zacchseus. Thus the procession
set out too late to reach Jerusalem before sunset, that
is, before the Sabbath. He therefore tarried, for the
quiet observance of the festive day, in the customary
tents near the Mount of Olives. Whether He spent
the night in these tents, or in Bethany, cannot be
decided, — at any rate, John dates from the next day ;
for on the evemug of the next day, probably when
the Sabbath was ended, that feast was prepared for
Him in tlio house of Simon the leper, at which Mar-
tha served and Mary anointed Him, and to which
many friends from Jerusalem had come to salute
Him. On the following Sunday, early in ttie morn-
ing, the festal company set out from Bethany and
from the tents, and assumed the form of a trium-
phant procession. After considering all these points,
- [Accordins to others, the 14th of Nisan. See Intro-
duction to ch. xxvi. below.— P. S.]
* [We have here corrected the original, trhich makes evi-
dently a mistake (faithfully copied, as usual, in the Edinb.
tr.sl.), by stating the distance of Jericho from Jerusalem (in-
stead oifrom Jordat)) to be two hours. According to Wi-
NEK, Bibl. Bealworlerbuch, i. p. 543 (3d ed.), and Kobinson,
Palestine, vol. i. p. 565, Jericho was 60 stadia west from the
river Jordan, and 150 stadia east from Jerusalem: according
to other statements, 5 English miK-s from the Jordan, and
18 or 20 miles east-north-e.ist of Jerusalem. The difference
arises in part from the uncertainty of the site of ancient Jeri-
CHAP. XX. 29-34.
It was in the tribe of Benjamin, on the borders of
Ephraim. The district was a blooming oasis in the
midst of an extended sandy plain, watered and fruit-
ful, rich in palms, roses, and balsam : hence probably
the name (from nin , scent^ odor). It is true that
the poisonous serpent was not wanting in this para-
dise also. The city was built by the Canaanites, and
taken and destroyed by Joshua (Josh. ri. 26). At
a later date it was built again and fortified, and be-
came the seat of a school of the prophets. Ilcrod
the Great beautified it, and at this time it was one of
the most pleasant places in the land. The balsam
trade required that a chief publican should be there ;
and it was also inhabited by priests and Levites. In
the twelfth century scarcely a vestige of the place re-
mained ; there is now a wretched village, Richa or
Ericlia, with about 200 inhabitants. Robinson, how-
ever, locates the old Jericho in the neighborhood of
the fountain of Elisha [two miles north-west of Richa].
The palms have all vanished, and the climate is hot
and unhealthy. [Robinson: "Only a single palm-
tree now remains of the ' City of Palms.' "' — P. 8.]
Ver. 30. Two blind men sitting by the way-
side.— Here occurs one of the most marked of the
apparent discrepancies of the Gospels. According
to Matthew, Jesus healed two blind men on depart-
ing ; according to Mark, one blind man on depart-
ing ; according to Luke, one blind man on entering
the city. The older Harmonists assumed that there
were two miracles : that one bhud man was healed
at the entrance, and two at the departure, of Christ ;
and that Mark gave prominence to Bartimajus as the
better known of the two persons. Ebrard thinks that
Matthew combined the two accounts of Mark and
Luke, and placed them in the departure from the
city. (So also Wieseler.) It may simpUfy the mat-
ter, if we consider that Jesus did not enter Jericho
by the Jordan gate from Perasa, but came froqi
Ephraim ; and therefore, probably, made His exit
by the same gate through which He entered. The
blind man cried out upon Jesus, was threatened and
restrained ; he cried louder, and Jesus then regarded
and healed him. But the Lord might have kept the
blind man waiting till His return, to test him ; and
thus the Evangelists record the same event, — the
one, however, connecting it with the entrance, the
other with the exit.* Further, it is not difficult to
suppose that in the interval another blind man joined
company with the first, Bartimfeus ; and that both
encouraged each other in the louder cry.
Ver. 31. That [not: because] they should hold
their peace. — This is a feature of the narrative that
could not have l)een invented. It marks the feeling
of the great festal procession, which was disposed to
regard the cry of these wretched blind men, at such
an hour, as an impertinent interruption. It was as
if a multitude of courtiers should strive to keep
the interruption of misery from throwing a discord-
ant element into a royal feast. Hence the tone is
characteristically changed, when Jesus stood still,
chn. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is exceedingly-
difficult and danjTorons, ascending through niirrow and rocky
passes amid ravines and precipices, and'infested by robbers,
.IS in the time of the good Samaritan (Luke x. .30-:^4).— P. S.]
♦ [Similarly Wordsworth, who assumes that the blin<l
man was not healed till the next dny, and that Luke in his
account anticipated the result by a prolepsis not uncommon
in Scripture, lie adds the remark that the frequent prac-
tice of anticipation and recapitulation agrees with the di-
vine author of the Bible, to whom all time is present at
once. Babbi Jaechi, in Gen. vi., applies to the IJible what
Is said of God: "2^an est pHus, aut poaterius, in Serip-
iura.-'—P. S.]
24
and commanded the blind to be brought to Him ; it
is now : — Be of good courage, rise ; He calleth thee :
Mark x. 49.
Ver. 32. And Jesus stood still. — At the cry,
Lord, Son of David ; which was, according to Luke,
on His/fsCff^ departure from Jericho at the head of
the people. This also shows evidently that that great
crisis of the Lord's life was come to which we
have already made allusion. He suffers Himself
now to be pubhcly appealed to as the Messiah, in
the presence of all the people, which He had never
done before : compare ch. ix. 27. The time for His
acceptance of, and sympathy with, . the Messianic
hope of His people had now arrived.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Joshua proceeded from Jericho to the con-
quest of the promised land — without, however, en-
tirely elfecting it. From Jericho, the city of palms,
the Messianic procession set out ; and it ended with
His being dehvered over to the Gentiles. But in
a higher sense, the conquest of the promised in-
heritance with the sword of the Spirit was now-
decided.
2. The history of the blind man at Jericho sym-
bolical of the endeavors of the great in God's king-
dom to interpose between Christ's throne and the
wretched.
[3. John J. Owen : " This miracle of healing the
blind men has often been employed to illustrate the
spiritual blindness of men, the earnestness with which
they must apply to Christ (who, by His Spirit, is al-
ways passing by) for His healing mercies, and the
readiness of the Saviour, on any such application
made in penitence and faith, to put forth His heaUng
power. Thousands have read this simple and touch-
ing story as a truthful history of their own spiritual
blindness, and its removal through the aboundmg
grace of Jesus Christ." — P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The procession of the Lord from Jericho to Jeru-
salem the great turning-point in His life. 1. What
it signified — the Lord's acceptance of His people's
Messianic hopes ; He suffered Himself to be pubhcly
heralded as the Messiah. 2. How the Lord's friends
regai'ded it — as a coronation procession, which no
cry of misery should disturb. 3. How Christ Him-
self treated it — as a journey of redemption for be-
hevers. — The difference between a legal procession,
and the journey of Christ led by the Spirit : the one
would fanatically prevent disturbance by anything
iu the way ; the other makes every seeming interrup-
tion augment its festal character, Acts ii. 13. — The
difference between a worship which repels the wretch-
ed, and that which attracts them. — The coronation
journey of Christ is glorified by every seeming inter-
ruption.— The Holy King and His unholy courtiers.
— Christ, even through the multitude of noises, de-
tects the individual cry of the petitioner. — What will
ye that I should do unto you V Christ's kingly word
to tlie mendicant blind. — He whose eyes are opened
by Christ, lifts them first upon His regal procession.
— They who receive their eight from Christ follow
Him in the way. — The fellowship of misery: two
bUnd men, ten lepers ; and so throughout the evan-
geUcal narrative. — The Church is a fellowship both
370 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of the needy and the saved. — The gift of the eye: ' foresaw; they erred concerning the nearest issue;
1. It is the revelation of the soul to the world ; 2. but in a higher sense they were right, inasmuch as the
the revelation of the world to the soul ; .". the syra- final issue could be no other than Ilis glorious reign.
bol of the inner light of knowledge ; 4. of the illu- Starke : — They who are one in misery should
mmation from above. — The true procession of Christ | unite their prayer. — The loss of physical sight is to
a swelling stream of the grateful saved. — The wilder-
ness of Jericho changed into a figure of Christ's work
in the world : 1. Once a corner of robbers and mur-
derers, now enlivened by the cry of salvation; 2.
once the scene of Christ's temptation, now the scene
of His glorification. — How and wherefore the Lord
permitted the joyful acclamation of His people before
His sufferings. — The self-renunciation in which the
Lord, with the presentiment of His cross upon Him,
surrenders Himself to the joy of His disciples : they
did not understand the whole issue, which He clearly
man a great distress ; but he is not so much troubled
about his soul's blindness. — Zeisius : We must not be
hindered in our prayers by the devil or the world, by
flesh and blood. — Cramer : Turn not away your
eyes and ears from the cry of the wretched. — Christ
is much more willing to help than we to ask Him. —
The following of Christ is the best gratitude.
liieger : — He who easily yields his pomt to threats,
is for the most part without the strong urgency of a
true heart. — Happy he whom nothing restrains in hia
faith and believing cry.
FOURTH SECTION.
THE PROPHETIC HOSANNA OF THE PEOPLE AND THE SURPRISE OF THE CAPITAL.
Chapter XXI. 1-11.
.(Mark xi. 1-10; Luke xix. 29-44; John xii. 12-19. Matt. xxi. 1-9 the Gospel for first Advent-, and for
Palm-Sundaij.)
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the
2 mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village
over against you, and straightway ye shall [will] find an ass tied, and a colt with her :
3 loose tJiem, and bring them unto me. And if any vian say aught unto you, ye shall
say, The Lord hath need of them ; and straightway he will send them [he sends them].'
4 AlP this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting
[mounted, eTrt^e/Jr/Kws] upon an ass, and [yea upon] ^ a colt the foal of an ass [of a beast
6, 7 of burden].^ And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them. And
brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes [garments], and they set
8 him [and he sat] ^ thereon. And a very great multitude [most of the multitude] °
spread their garments in the way ; [and] others cut down branches from the trees, and
9 strewed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before [him],' and that follow-
ed, cried, saying, Hosanna ^ to the Son of David : Blessed is he that cometh in the name
10 of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come [had entered] into Je
11 rusalem, all the city [the whole city] was moved, saying. Who is this? And the mul-
titude [the multitudes] ® said, This is Jesus tlie prophet [the prophet Jesiis] ^^ of [from]
Nazareth of Galilee.
» Ver. 3.— The Iteeepta reads the future : airoo-TcAe?, which is sustained by B., D., the Vulgate, Itala, Lachmann,
Tischendorf. But Griesbach and Scholz preffer the present : airoffreWei, with Codd. C, E., G., K., al., which is
more expressive, though apparently less suitable (Meyer).
2 Ver. 4. — Lachmann and Tischendorf [in former editions, but not in that of 1S59] omit o\o v, nJI, according to Codd.
C, D., L., 7j., versions, and fathers. [Cod. Sinait. liltewise omits it. — P. S.]
5 Ver. 5.— Kal is epexegetical, and hence iiri before ttwXov is superfluous. [But Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tre-
gelles, Alford retain it according to B., L., Z., and Cod. Sinait. At all events Kai does not express addition here, but
eayplanation or epexegesis (und ewar, and that, or yea), and thus the apparent difference in the accounts of the Evan-
gelists is easily solved. See Exeg. Note on ver. 2. — P. S.]
* Ver. 5.— T Ihv inroCvyiov. " The ass {ovo',) is the animal meant by the word, but is also characterized by it."
(Conant.) Langc : Lastthier. Comp. Isa. l.Kii. 11; Z:ich. ix. 9.— P. S.]
o Ver. 7.— The reading : i-rr € k aO la € v, he sat, instead of the lect. rea. : i-n-e KaO larap, they set, is sustained by
■ Codd. B., C, Origen, etc., and adopted in the critical edition.s.
« Ver. 8.— ['O Se vAe'ia-Tos oy\o;. Lango and Ewald: das meiste Volk; Kendrick and Conant: {the) most
of the mnltiiude. Comp- &A\oi Se, ur>d others, in the next clause.— P. 8.]
' Ver. Q.—npodyovTes avr oP [instead of rrpudyovTss simply]. So Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford], following
B., C, D., al., [and Cod. Sinait.].
CHAP. XXI. 1-11.
371
8 Ver.9. — ['n a av v a (originally n formula of supplication, but conventionally ono of triumphant pratulation and joy-
ful greeting to a doliverer, hence followed by the dative) was properly retained iu the English, (iernian, and other modern
Versions, as Matthew retained it from the Hebrew (XiTliy^'^iri , aCoaov Srj, I^XX., Save vow /), comp. Mark xi. 9, 10;
John xii. 13. So we have likewise from the Hebrew the words: Jehovah, mthhath, manna, Zebaoth, amen, etc. — P. S.J
' Vcr. 11.— ["O X^o ^ IS i" ^'". i), where the K. V. correctly renders multitu(/,s.—V. S.]
'0 Ver. 11.— [The oldest reading, sustained by Cod. Siuait, and adopted by Lachraann, Tregelles, Alford, and Conant, is
6 Trpotp-firris 'Itj (T ov i , the projjhet Jefiiis, in.stead of 'IrjiroH? A xpo^fiTTis. But Dr. Lango in his version retains
the received reading with Tischendorf, and takes no notice of the difference.— T. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CP.ITICAL.
Ver. 1. Unto Jerusalem. — Jerusalem is men-
tioned as the goal, to assign the motive for the mis-
sion of the two disciples. Jerusalem, C^Vil'llli ,
'Upov(Ta\i'iu. 'leporrSKvfia: — according to Ewald,
possession or inheritance of peace ; according to Ge-
senius, the people or house of peace. At all events,
a scat of peace, the citij of peace ;* poetically, obd ^
Ps. Ixxvi. 3 ; ^Xi"iN, Isa. xxix. 1, S ; and, earlier,
D^li"! Judges xix. 10 ; now called by the Mohamme-
dans, el-Khuds [" the hohj^'' or Beit el-Makdis, " the
holy house,^^ '■'■the sanctuary''''']. In every respect
this city is the mysterious and wonderful flower of
history : f — m its situation, in its history, in its reli-
gious position, and especially in its symbolical char-
acter. The city lay high ; and the hills around came
first into vievr, over which it spread gradually into
the higher and lower city : the hill of Zion being the
centre, — Zion, Moriah, Bezetha, Akra. Then the
valleys, which made it a natural fortress : toward the
west the valley of Gihon ; toward the south-west and
south, Go-hinnom ; toward the east, the valley of
Kidron, bounded by the low hill of Gihon, the Mount
of Evil Counsel, and the Mount of Olives with its
three peaks. The city belonged to the inheritance
of Benjamin, but was for the most part inliabited by
the tribe of Judah. As it respects the history of
Jerusalem, we may distinguish the period before,
and the period after, the exile. The former is sub-
divided into the tune of the Canaanite origin of the
place ( Josephus calls its builder Melchizcdcc) ; the
time of its gradual elevation and glory ; the time of
its humiUation down to the destruction of the first
temple. The time after the exile may be divided
into the Jewish, the Christian, and the Mohammedan
periods. Wonderful have been the conquests and
epoUations which Jerusalem has undergone, without
being demolished.
[See the article Jerusalem in Winer's Realwor-
tcrhuch, and in W. Smith's D'tctionary of the B'Me
(vol. i. pp. 981-1035, by James Fergusson, very full
and elaborate with maps) ; Krafft's Topographie
Jerusalems (Bonn, 1846); Barclay's City of the
Great King ; and the well-knovi^n works on Palestine,
by Robinson, von Raumer, von Schubert, Tischen-
dorf, ScHULz, Strauss, Tobler, Wolff, Bau.sman,
etc.]
To Bethphage. — It lay, according to ver. 2,
straight before them, and was soon reached, rr^a
X5D , house of figs. The name indicates a favorable
situation on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives.
"Descending about 100 steps from the top of the
Mount of Olives, the place is seen where Bethphage
^ {Die mysteriose Wiinderhliime dfr Weltyewlt'ichU, —
one of the many untranslatable poetic compounds of Dr.
Lange. The Edinb. transl. has mysterious glory. — I'. S]
stood, though no ruin remains at this day to mark
the spot : 15 stadia farther down, or a short half hour
from Jerusalem (John xi. 18), we reach Bethany.
The village (el Aziriyeh [from el Azir, i. e., Lazarus])
is small and poor, occupied by Arabs (and Chris-
tians) ; the way to Jericho runs through it. The sup-
posed houses of Martha, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus,
Simon the leper, are shown to this day ; but especial-
ly the sepulchre of Lazarus, hewn out of stone."
Von Raumer. Winer suggests that Bethphage lay
somewhat east of Bethany ; and hence that it is named
before Bethany in Mark xi. 1 ; Luke xix. 29. But
in Mark xi. 1 the description runs backward from
the starting-point : Jerusalem, Bethphage, Bethany ;
according to which, Bethphage lay between Jerusa-
lem and Bethany. Robinson follows Winer in draw-
ing the same wrong conclusion from the text.* Po-
cocke thought that he found the ruins of Bethphage
two English miles from the city ; but Robinson as-
sures us that there are no traces of it visible. The
road, which passed from the valley of Bethany over
the hill of Bethphage to the middle hiU of the Mount
of OUves, then passing downward to the valley of
Kidron, was then -dost in rich palm plantations and
fruit and olive gardens. At the time of the Passover,
the many trains of pilgrhns, and the tents on the
sides of the Mount of Olives (in which many pilgrims
lodged), made the road look Uke a festal and excited
encampment.
Then sent Jesus two disciple.s. — They are not
furtlier indicated. The sending was occasioned by
the Messianic significance of the journey. The fes-
tive procession, which had come from Jericho to the
neighborhood of the Mount of Olives, and halted
there on account of the Sabbath, was increased on
Monday morning by the adherents of Jesus who came
out from Jerusalem to meet Him. On the evening
before, many Jews had gone to Bethany, to see Je-
sus, and Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead
(John xii. 9). Others were now added to these.
They received Him with palm branches, and went on
smging the Messianic greeting of Ps. cxviii. 26 : Ho-
sanna, blessed is He that coraeth in the name of the
Lord— the King of Israel. He would enter into the
holy city with the emblems of the King of peace, ac-
cording to Zech. ix. 9 : hence the mission of the dis-
ciples.
Ver. 2. Into the village. — Bethphage.
An ass, and a colt with her. — " The seeming
variation of the two animals from Mark xi. 2 ; Luke
xix. 30 ; John xii. 14, is not to be derived (with de
Wette and Strauss) from a misunderstanding of the
prophetic passage, in which ~yj b>1 is the epexeget-
ic parallel of l^n"'p^ • In the same way we must
understand Ka\ eV! vwXov, ver. 5. Matthew also say.s
that Jesus rode upon the colt ; but the mother ani-
* [Grresswell and Nast remove the difficulty by supposing
that Bethphage lay upon the direct line of this route, but
that Bethany did not; so that one travelling from Jericho
would come to Bethphace first, and would have to turn oil"
from the road to go to Bethany. — P. 8.]
372
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
mal was there, which circumstance tlie other Evan-
gelists pass over." Meyer. The words of the propii-
et Zechariah run : " Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of
Zion ; shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy
King Cometh unto thee : He is just, and having sal-
vation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, yea, upon a
colt the foal of an ass." Here there is a paralMis-
mim laemhrorum : the ass in the former clause is
more fully described in the second as the foal of the
ass. Strauss thinks that the EvangeUst misunder-
stood this parallelism, and accordingly made two
animals out of one. But, doubtless, the Evangelist,
who understood Hebrew poetry, thought of another
explanation of the parallel: that, namely, between
the mother ass and her foal, as it was realized in
the actual event. The Evangehsts, all of them, lay
stress on the fact, already predicted by the prophet,
that Jesus entered the city on a foal not yet
ridden. This characteristic of the animal was sym-
bolical, as the whole procession was symbohcal. A
new time ; a new Prince ; a new animal to ride upon.
But if this foal had never borne a rider, it was neces-
sary that the mother should be led by its side, in or-
der to quiet it lor such a service. — According to
Justm Martyr {Dial. c. Tryph. 63), the foal was a
figure of untamed heathenism ; while the ass, accus-
tomed to burdens, was a figure of Judaism under the
law.* But the contrast of the old theocracy and the
young iKK\7\(Tia seems more obvious. In the sym-
bohsm of the prophets the ass signifies the peaceable
animal of the Prince of peace, in opposition to the
proud war-horse of the conqueror. (Against the
frivolous witticisms of Strauss on the two animals,
compare Ebrard, p. 480.)
Loose them. — "Strauss has no ground what-
ever for making this prediction a myth, with allusion
to Gen. xhx. 11." Meyer. The disciples were to
loose the asses, which stood bound by the way, be-
fore the eyes of the standers-by ; thus, believing in
the word of Jesus, they were to perform an act
which seemed violent, but was not so, inasmuch as
the Lord knew beforehand the consent of these men,
and communicated that assurance to the disciples. —
But why did the Lord adopt such a method of en-
tering Jerusalem ? In this style of approach we see
the character of His progress throughout the world.
He is a King, at whose disposal all things stand
when He wants them, but who has not anywhere,
either for Himself or for His servants, great provision
laid up beforehand. Thus He goes on His way
through the world, as having nothing, and yet pos-
sessing all things. Doubtless, the fact of this provi-
sion may be traced to His friends at Bethany, as the
provision of the guest-chamber at Jerusalem for the
Passover was traceable to friends in the city ; but in
both cases the exact specification does not point to
any external concert, but to the superhuman know-
ledge of Christ.
Ver. 4. That it might be fulfilled.— The
words combine two passages: Isa. Ixii. 11 ("Tell ye
the daughter of Zion." Here the city of the present
seems to be addressed as the daughter of the ideal,
historical, Jerusalem), and Zech. ix. 9 (see above).
* [Cbrysostom, Jerome, and other fathers, likewise re-
gard the MS as a figure of the synagogue burdened with the
yoke of the law, and the colt as a symbol of the Gentiles
who were untamed and unclean before Christ sat upon
them aud Banctified them. See more of this patristic allot'o-
rizing in the Cateyia Aurea of Thomas Aquinas, Oxford ed.
I. ii. p. 708 sqq. Of modern commentators Wordsworth
adopts it in this as in many other cases.— P. S.]
This latter passage refers back indeed to the blessing
of Judah, Gen. xlix. 11. Judah is there exhibited as
combining the conqueror and the prince of peace
(Hhiloh) : first, he is a conquering prince, and then
the prince of peace; and in the latter capachy he
makes use of the ass. Both these characteristics of
Judah are typically separated in the contrast between
David and Solomon; and in the Messiah they are
united and fulfilled. Zechariah introduces the Mes-
siah first as a warrior, ch. ix., and then makes Him
enter Jerusalem as a Prince of peace. But the ex-
pression, "that it might be fulfilled," does not here,
any more than in ch. ii. 23 ; John xix. 28, and else-
where, signify a merely conventional and fortuitous
reaUzation of the prophecy. The occasion and need
of the moment was the oljvious motive. But to the
Spirit of God these historical occasions were arranged
coincidences with the prophetical word. Christ was
in need of the foal of the ass, inasmuch as He co\ild
not make His entrance on foot iu the midst of a festal
procession. He must not be lost in the crowd; it
was necessary that He should take a prominent posi-
tion, and appear pre-emment. But Lf He became
conspicuous, it must be in the most humble and
peaceable fashion : hence the choice of the ass. The
dignity of the procession required the ass's colt, and
this made the history all the more symbolical. But
it could not be concealed from the spirit of Christ
that here again the plain historical necessity coin-
cided with the symbolically significant fulfilment of a
prophetical word. The disciples did not perceive
this significance till afterward.
Ver. 5. And (Yea) a colt. — The k o i is epexe-
getieal, for closer description : — and that the foal of
an ass.
Ver. */. He sat upon them, iKddifffv iiravu
avTwv. — This is referred to ihe garments by Theo-
lAylact, Euth. Zygab., Castal., Beza, Meyer, and
others [Wordsworth]. As referred to the animals,
it is variously explained. De Wette : a want of ac-
curacy in Matthew. Strauss says that the Evangelist
makes Jesus slavishly and unreasonably carry out
the prophetic description, by riding at once upon
both animals.* Fritzsche, Fleck, and older com-
mentators, suppose that He rode on both alternately.
Other expositors, as Winer, Olshausen, Ebrard,
Lange, comp. Calvin and Grotius, [also Alford and
Nast], explain it as merely an inexact expression, as
we might say : " He sprang from the horses." We
do not, however, lay stress upon this comprehensive
expression, but upon the idea that He controlled the
pair by riding the foal. (Olshausen is mistaken in sup-
posing that He rode the ass.) If we ascribe to the
EvangeHst a symbolical consciousness, this circum-
stance assumes a Uving significance. The old theoc-
racy runs idly and instinctively by the side of the
young Church, which has become the true bearer of
the kingdom of Christ. With all the enmity that
existed, she could not separate from it. The rider
of a team does I'eally ride both the united animals,
though in a mechanical sense only one; and this
view" is not opposed, as Meyer thinks, by the fact
that in ver. 5, where riding in a narrower sense ia
spoken of, such latitude of expression cannot be as-
sumed. Glassius's explanation of an enallac/e numeri
must then fall to the ground.
* [In his new Life of Jems, 1864, p. 524, Strauss is not
ashamed to repeat this specimen of frivolous criticism, to
which it is sufficient to reply that Matthew knew as much
Hebrew and had as much common sense as any
critic of his Gospel.- P. S.]
CHAP. XXI. 1-11.
373
Ver. 8. Spread their garments [loose over-
coats, comp. ch. V. 40]. — Oriental mark of honor at
the reception of kings, on their entrance into cities :
2 Khigs ix. 13. The disciples had made their upper
garments into covermgs for the animals ; the people
follow the example, and spread theirs as a carpet on
the way.
Ter. 9. Hosanna to the Son of David. —
N;-n5-''d"in (nin"i). Help {Lord); give Thii salva-
tion! Ps. cxviii. 25. The expression seems gradu-
ally to have become a Messianic prediction of good
wish {Hail, io trmmphe, Irj Traidv). Hence its mean-
ing varied according to circumstances ; but here its
highest significance was disclosed. " The dative is
not governed by the verb in waawa, but is a dative
of relation, and Hosanna is a festal cry of good will."
Meyer. — Hosanna in the highest. — In the highest
regions (y if/ 1 o- t o i s), that is, in heaven. De Wette :
, May Hosanna be confirmed by God in heaven. Beza :
May it be given by God in heaven. Fritzsche : May
it be cried by angels in heaven. Meyer: May it
come down from heaven upon the Messiah. Salva-
tion in the heavens, viewed generally, means as well
the heavenly salvation which God gives and ensures,
as the salvation uttered and announced from the
heavens. Hence we might more precisely explain it
— May our Hosanna be in the heavens ! that is, as a
prayer, and as a prayer granted (comp. Luke ii. 14),
as an exclamation sent to heaven, and as an echo
from heaven. In short : May our Hosanna resound
in heaven ! — These Messianic acclamations seem, ac-
cording to ver. 9, to have taken the form of an anti-
phonal song between the multitudes which went be-
fore the Lord (the disciples from Jerusalem and the
Mount of Olives), and those which foUowed Ilim (the
GalUoan pilgrim-train).
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of
the Lord. — The pilgrims' greeting on their entrance
into Jerusalem at the time of the feasts (greeting and
response, Ps. cxviii. 26).
[Jesus, instead of giving way to this joyous en-
thu.siasm of the shouting multitude, weeps tears of
sympathy and compassion over imbelieving Jerusa-
lem. See Luke six. 41. Could such a trait have
been invented ? — P. S.]
Ver. 10. And -when He was come into Jeru-
salem.— The journey over the Mount of Ohves, and
the Lord's emotions at sight of the city, are passed
over. See Luke.
The whole city was moved, ia eiae-n . —
The verb denotes a violent excitement — the being
mightily moved, in the external and figurative sense.
Meyer: " The excitement was contagious." But what
follows shows that the excitement must not be re-
garded as merely sympathetic. The question uttered
shows this of itself. Jerusalem knew the person of
Jesus sufficiently to have spared the question, had it
wished.
Ver. 11. The prophet from Nazareth of Gal-
ilee.— Meyer : " The well-known prophet. The ac-
company,') n.g crowds had most distinctly termed Him
the Messiah ; but the less enthusiastic multitude in
the city required first of all to know His name, condi-
tion, and so forth. Hence the full answer, in which
the 6 iirJ) Na^oip. T. VaXiK. is certainly not without
Galilean pride." This may be so. Yet it must not
be overlooked, that the question of surprise with
which the proud city met the Galilean pilgrim-train
seems to have lowered in some decree the spirit of
their testimony. It is not "the Messiah," but,
somewhat ambiguously, " the prophet," that they
reply.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the preceding explanations.
2. On the jubilant acclamation which the disci-
ples, on the Mount of Olives, and in prospect of the
city, poured out in honor of Jesus, compare Luke
xix. 37; John xii. 17. Doubtless we have here —
where they celebrated the miracles of Christ, and es-
pecially His raising of Lazarus — the first preludes of
the speaking with new tongues on the day of Pente-
cost. The common object of both, in the first as
well as in the last, is to. ueyaAela rov @iov.
'6. According to the Vv'olfenbiittel Fragmentist,
the entrance of the Lord was the last attempt at a
Messianic political foundation of a kingdom. But
this is quite contrary to the whole of our Lord's pre-
vious conduct, as He always avoided, not only all
political suggestions and temptations, but even the
very idea of a political Messiah itself.* The readi-
ness with which He could yield to the true Messiah-
idea, implanted in the minds of His disciples, proves
that among them also the proper hope of a political
Messiah had been already overcome. That the Lord
never made a single attempt to set in motion a poUt-
ical project, docs not say enough : we find that His
disciples never did so. But that the Lord should
suffer Himself to be introduced festally as their Mes-
siah by His people, was only consistent with the
truth of His Messiahship and the theocratically-justi-
fied expectations of His people. The entry was the
purified historical fulfilment of the Messianic expec-
tations of Israel, in conformity with the promise ; but,
in the form it assumed, it was a testing accommoda-
tion to the Messianic expectation of the age. In the
wilderness, the popular spirit had tested Him ; now
His appearance tested the popular spirit. This test
was a judgment upon the unbelief of the people ; but
it was also an important purifier of the rising faith
of those who truly believed in Him. To Himself,
finally, the kingly procession was a prelude of His
sufferings ; but it was also a symbol to Him of His
glorification, of His kingly procession through the
world, and of His future great epiphany. Hence the
history of Palm Sunday is read as an Advent lesson.
Palm Sunday stands at the beginning of Passion-
week, as an anticipation of Easter ; just as, converse-
ly, the day of Crucifixion is gently reflected in the As-
cension day, — this also being the Lord's departure,
* [Comp. the remarks of Dr. "W. Nast in loc. : "The ab-
surd assertion of the antichristian critique, ' that Jesus' en-
tr3' was His last attempt to found a worldly Messianic king-
dom,' is sufficiently refuted not only by the uniform tenor
of Ilis previous conduct, rejecting .sternly all insinuations
and offers of that kind as coming from the Evil One, but
also by the form of the entry, which was well adapted to
remove every idea of earthly power and worldly frlory, even
amid the hosannas of His followers and the attending crowds,
and to set forth the spiritual nature of His kingdom. His
followers did not carry swords or spears, but branches of
palm-trees, and He Himself did not ride the war-steed of a
king, but the colt of an a.ss, the symbol of peace. That the
entry had no political character appears also from the fact
that the Iloman Government took no notice of it" — Even
Strauss, in his new Life of JemH, p. 27S, refutes the hvpo-
tliesis of Eeim,arus (the author of the WolfenbiMel Frag-
mentu), and well remarks that he who makes his entry un-
armed with unarmed followers on a peaceful animal must
either be already acknowledged as ruler, or he must aim at
dominion in such a manner as excludes all force and political
power.— r. S.]
374
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
And the consecration of His church as a church of
the croH!?.
[4. Heubneu : Chiist's entry into Jerusalem forms
in every particular a memorable contrast to the sub-
sequent passion. In the one case He stands on the
Mount of Olives, the spot of His glory, looking over
Jerusalem, which did homage to Him ; in the other
He was led to Golgotha, the place of the skull, sur-
rounded by the graves and skulls of malefactors.
Here He held His solemn entry, attended by friends
and followers and the shouting multitude ; there He
is thrust out of the city, surrounded by enemies, tied
as a criminal, and led by officers and executioners.
Here His disciples serve Him willingly, and feel them-
selves honored thereby ; there they forsake Him in
dismay and despair. Here all vie with each other in
honoring and beautifying His entry ; there they spit
in His face, and heap all kinds of ignominy on Him.
Here they spread garments in the way ; there He is
stripped of His garments, which are parted by cast-
ing lots, while He hangs naked on the cross. Here
branches are strewed in the way, and He walks on
beds of flowers ; there He is scourged and crowned
with thorns. Here He rides into the city as King ;
there He is compelled to bear His own cross. Here
the prophecy of Zechariah concerning the coming
King is fulfilled ; there the awful prophecy of Isaiah
concerning Him that is despised and rejected of men.
Here He is saluted King, amid shouts of hosannas ;
there He is rejected, condemned, and crucified as a
false prophet and blasphemer. In whose life is there
such a contrast — sucli a sudden transition from joy
and glory to humiliation and ignominy ? And amid
the high excitement of these rapidly-changing scenes,
Christ maintains a perfect equanimity, neither giving
way for a moment to the importunities of His excited
friends, nor overwhelmed by the apparent hopeless-
ness of His cause. — P. S.]
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Jesus comes as the Christ publicly to His city ; or,
the day of decision. It was, 1. prepared for with
sacred foresight ; 2. longed for with the most fervent
desire ; 3. adorned with the richest miracles of salva-
tion ; 4. like a festal revelation from heaven ; 5. and
yet it was a day of severest test and of decisive
judgment for Israel ; but, finally, 6. also a day of
the approach of redemption for the people of God. —
Jesus and Jerusalem ; or, the King of peace and the
city of peace: 1. Designed ever for each other; 2.
bringing each other the doom of death ; 3. for each
other the means of glorification. — The Mount of
Olives : 1 . He came over the Mount of Olives, — the
Christ of the Spirit; 2. He went to heaven from the
Moimt of Olives, — the Mediator of the Spirit. — The
festal entrance of Christ into the holy city, in its sig-
nificance for all times : 1 . The present — as the glory
of the life of Jesus ; 2. the past — as the glory of the
ancient covenant ; 3. the future — as the type of the
coming of Christ in glory. — The concealed friends of
Christ in the history of His kingdom. — The obedi-
ence of the two disciples, a severe test of faith. — The
palm-entry of Christ a heavenly type of the coming
kingdom of heaven itself. — The festal procession of
the Prince of peace: 1. Scriptural representations:
the blessing of Jacob, Solomon's rule, the word of
Zechariah. 2. Under what signs He appears; the
annual of peace, the palm of peace, the people of
peace (the last intensely excited, yet without any
I trace of insurrection). 3. What peace He brings :
peace of the heart with God, peace of fellowship
with brethren, peace of reconciliation with the exist-
ing order of things. In all His peace. — The lesson
taught by the great palm-entry without any trace of
insurrection : 1. Regard not (hierarchically) Christ as
separated from His people (freedom of faith) ; 2. re-
gard not (despotically) the people as separated from
their Christ (freedom of conscience). — How we should
receive the Lord at His entrance : 1. With devotion
of heart, in trust and obedience ; 2. with the praise of
lips ; 3. with festive offerings of our substance. — Lift
up your heads, 0 ye gates ! Ps. xxiv. — The Hosanna
of the festal multitudes ; or, Israel in the beauty of
spring: 1. The blossom full of promise; 2. the fading
flowers ; 3. the fruit that remained. — The Hosanna,
as echo of the angels' song, Luke ii., in the hearts of
men. — The Hosanna in its twofold issue : Crucify
Him, and the tongues at Pentecost. — Jerusalem once
more excited by the announcement of the Messiah
(compare Matt. ii.). — All the world must ask who He
is. — Loud praise and timid confession. — The day of
salvation : To-day, to-day, if ye will hear His voice,
Heb. iii. 1. — Palm Sunday, a preparatory festival, 1.
of Good Friday ; 2. of Easter ; 3. of the Ascension ;
4. of Pentecost.
Starke : — With what alacrity does the Lord make
arrangements for His end ! — A King whose best
throne is in the heart. — As all thmgs spoken concern-
ing Christ in the Scripture were fuliilled, so also must
be fulfilled all things spoken in the Scripture concern-
ing His church. — Christ's kingdom is not of this
world, but spiritual. — The works of God are not with
observation.
Gerlach : — After Jesus had so often avoided the
snares of His enemies. He now goes directly to meet
the dcatli long predicted for Him ; while His friends
expected the manifestation of His kingly dignity, and
His enemies expected His total destruction. — The
hopes of friends and foes were alike fulfilled, yet not
in the way they respectively thought : He suffered
death, that He might gloriously conquer in it ; He
received His kingdom on the cross.
Ifeubner : — Jesus orders all things with supreme
wisdom and prudence for His final work. — The last
journey of Jesus to Jerusalem. — Jesus is always
seeking access into our hearts. — The kingdom of God
a kingdom of gentleness and love. — The entry of
Christ: I. Blameless and harmless; 2. wise and dig-
nified ; 3. in accordance with duty and necessity. —
The contrast between this entrance and the Passion
history. — The glorification of Jesus at His last en-
trance into Jerusalem : L By what He Himself did ;
and 2. by what took place on Him through the in-
strumentality of others. — What excitement in aU the
world and in all times concerning Jesus ! — On the
first Sunday in Advent this Gospel nmst be viewed
in itself, on Palm Sunday in its connection with the
history of the Passion.
171^ Text as the Gospel for Advent. — Hossbach :
— Christ holding His entry anew among us. — Hey : —
Pious enthusiasm, hi its value and in its insufficiency.
— Sclmltz : — When can the Christian say of himself
that salvation is come nigh to him ? — Lisco : — The
preparation for the coming of Christ.
TJie Text as the Gospel for Palm Sunday. — iJeiw-
hard: — Jesus' deportment before and during the
swift process of His last sorrows. — Harms : — In all
our sad journeys, let us take Jesus for our guide. —
Sachmann : — Introduction to the proper celebration
of the holy week. — Ahlfeld : — A glance into the na-
CHAP. XXI. 12-14.
375
ture of the kingdom of Christ. — Dittmar : — Behold, I utter our Hosannas to the Son of David, who is go-
thy King cometh unto thee. — Ravienberg : — Dare we | ing to Calvary ?
FIFTH SECTION.
THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE, Al^D CHRIST'S ABODE IN IT AS ITS KING.
Ohaptee XXI. 12-22.
A. TJw House of Prayer and Mercy, in contrast with the Den of Tldeves. Ch. XXI. 12-14.
(Mark xi. Il-IT; Luke xix. 45, 46.)
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought
in the temple, and overthrew [overturned, Kareo-rpet/^e] the tables of the money chang-
13 ers, and the seats of them that sold [of sellers of] doves,^ And [he] ^ said unto them, It
is written, My house shall be called the [a] house of prayer (Is. Ivi. 7); but ye have
14 made [make] ^ it a den of thieves [robbers, Xrjo-rwv, Jer. vii. 11].* And the bhnd and
the lame ° came to him in the temple ; and he healed them.
> Tor. 12.— [T w ;/ iraKovvTcov ras Trepia-repd^, Lange and other German Versions: Taubenhdndler ;
Luther: Tauhenkrdmer ; Hellers of doves. Doves were ottered to the Lord by the poor as a substitute for a lamb. Ley.
T. 7; xii. S; Luke ii. 24.-P. S.]
2 Ver. 13.— [A new sentence ought to commence with ver. 13, and hence the lie inserted. So also Lange. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 13.— Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford], read: tt o i e ?t e, y« make, with Codd. B., L., [Cod. Sinait.],
and other ancient authorities, instead of e tt o 1 7; o- a t e of the Recepta (from Luke).
♦ Ver. 13.— [Comp. the Authorized Version in Jer. vii. 11, from which this passage is quoted. At) a r r) s , robber,
plunderer, is stronger than /c A e tt t tj s, thief. The Authorized Version, however, generally renders it thief (in 11 pas-
sages of the N. T.), except in John x. 1,8; xviii. 40; 2 Cor. xi. 26. The difference appears plainly in Jolin s. 8:
KKimaL elalv icai \r](rrai, thieves and robbers. But Luther's Mordergrube, which Lange retains, is too strong; al-
thoush the verse quoted from Jeremiah stands in connection with the charge of murder and the sheddii.'g of innocent
blood. Better: Rdaberhbhle, speluncu latronum. — P. S.]
* Ver. 14.— Cod. C. reverses the order: x'^^"' f«^ TvcpXoi. [In the English Version the definite article is required,
or else the addition of the word persons.— P. S.]
the antitype. The temple-visiou of Ezekiel has only
an ideal, symbolical meaning. The attempt of Juhan
to rebuild the temple only served to demonstrate the
continuance of its doom ; and the temple of the
Egyptian Jews at LeontopoUs was only a transitory
imitation. As the temple, in *he narrower sense,
had three historical periods, so the sanctuary of the
temple had three divisions — the Forecourt, the Sanc-
tuary, and the Hohcst or Holy of Holies. See Wi-
ner, art. Tempel [also the valuable article Temple,
illustrated with plates, in W. Smith's Dictionary of
the Bible, vol. iii., pp. 1450-1464]. As to the signifi-
cation of the temple, compare the various treatises
of B^KiiR, Kurtz, Sartorius, Hengstenberg, and
others, upon the Mosaic Cultas, but especiady Frie-
DERicu : SyiaboUk dcr Mosaischen StiftsJmtte, Leipz.,
1841, and Bjehu : Der Salomonische Tempel, Karls-
ruhe, 1848. The following are some of the views
taken : 1. The temple was a figure of the universe
(Fhilo, Joi'ephus) ; 2. a symbol of the dwelling-place
of God after the analogy of human dwellings (Hoflf-
mann) ; 3. a figure of the human form and nature
(intimated by Fhilo, Luther, Fricdericb) ; 4. a sym-
bol of heaven (Biihr) ; 5. tlie symbol of the kingdom
of God under the Old Covenant (Uengstenberg, Tho-
luck, Lisco, etc.). — So far as the temple of God was
a symbol, it was a figure of the theocracy — of the
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 12. And He went into the temple of
God, and cast out. — Mark's account is here the
more exact. On the evening of Palm Sunday Jesus
went into the temple, and looked round, — v,-ithout,
however, doing anything then. He thereupon re-
turned with the disciples to Bethany, which may be
regarded as the Lord's resting-place during the festi-
val. Rcturnmg next day to the temple, the fig-tree
was cursed. Then followed the cleansing of the
temple.
The temple. — nin-^ ^^^'^, tip ^^T'l
cribx rr^a . Here comes into view the history of
the temple — its construction, and form, and mean-
ing. The Jewish temple was the mysterious centre
of Israel : hence its history is the history of the peo-
ple do\vn to the destruction of Jerusalem. We may
distinguish, 1. The period of the patriarchal altar ;
2. that of the tabernacle (travelling, moveable, and
at last resting on Zion) ; 3. the temple of Solomon ;
4. the temple of Zerubbabel ; 5. the temple of Ilerod.
At the destruction of Jerusalem the tcmj)le disap-
peared, its meaning being absorbed in the Church of
Christ ; that is, the type gave place, or was lost in
376
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
kingdom of heaven which comes down to earth ; but
80 far as it was a type — that is, a figure of some-
thing to come * — it was a figure of the body of Christ
(according to Jolm ii.), and of His Church as the
real house of God. And thus, as the Holiest of all
was the most essential thing in the type, it will find
its final and consummate realization in the kingdom
of glory (comp. Ucb. ix. 24 ; Rev. xxi. 22).
And cast out. — The locaUty of this scene was
the Court of the Gentiles. The history of this court
is obscure, but it is a very important element in the
history of the temple ; it is connected with the devel-
opment of the hierarchy on the one hand, and with
the advancement of prosclytism on the other.
The changes which this court underwent, reflected
precisely the course of these relations. The taber-
nacle had only one forecourt, the court of the altar
of burnt-offering (Exod. xxvii. 1-8). The only hint
of a distmction between the place of the people and
the place of the priests, is the circumstance that the
laver of brass for the priests' washing (Exod. xxxviii.
8) stood nearer the sanctuary than the altar of burnt-
offering. In the temple of Solomon the court of the
priests (the inner court) was distinguished from the
great court (2 Chron. iv. 9). Probably, also, it was
a few steps higher ; and the altar of burnt-offering
belonged to the court of the priests. In the temple
of Zerubbabel, Alexander Jannaeus (b. c. 106) sep-
arated the court of the priests by a wooden trellis
from the external court of the temple (Joseph. An-
iiq. xiii. 8, 5). This wooden treUis gave way in the
temple of Herod to one of stone, of the height of an
ell (Joseph. Bell. Jud. vi. 6, 5) ; and in this temple
also the court of the Gentiles assumed a definite
character. The temple itself was surrounded by ter-
races, which formed the several courts in gradation.
" The outermost space (in the Talmud : mountain of
the house ; 1 Slac. xiii. 53 : mountain of the sanctzi-
ary) went round the whole temple, and had several
gates. It was laid with colored stones, and begirt
with beautiful halls. A few steps higher a stone lat-
tice, three ells high, ran all the way round, with here
and there Greek and Latin inscriptions, that forbade
all who were not Jews to proceed any farther toward
the sanctuary (on pain of death. Bell. Jud. vi. 2, 4).
Hence the space of the temple mountain as far as
this limit has been called by Christian archcsologists
the Court of the Gentiles." {See Winer, sub Ternpel,
ii. p. 581.) Through this court was reached the court
proper, which in its breadth was divided into the
courts of the men and the women (the former lower
than the latter), but in its dejAh was divided into the
court of the people and that of the priests. The
" Court of the Gentiles " grew in importance in pro-
portion as the distinction between proselytes of the
gate and of righteousness came to prevail,! and it
became customary for even devout Gentiles to bring
gifts to the temple.
* [A circumloculion of the German: Werdelild, for
which I know of no precise equivalent in English. — P. S.]
t [The Edinb. transl. here, :is often, reverses the sense
of the original, and reads: «•>■ the distinction .... icns
done away (iu German : tiervortrat). The rabbinical dis-
tinction between "iS^i'fl ^la and p'lSH i")-; or i~ly
n'^'ISri far from being done away wth, appeared just in the
later history of Judaism, and was in fall force at the time of
the apostles. In the N. T. the proselytes of the gate are
called oi aifiofxeuoi (or <f>ojtiov^ffoi rbr Oedc), Acts
X. 2; xiii. 50; xvi. 14; xvii. 4, 17; xviii. 7 (comp. Joseph.
Antiq. xiv. 7, 2;; they were more susceptible for the gospel
than the Jews and Gentiles, and generally formed the nu-
cleus of the Gentile-Christian congregations.— P. S.]
Those that sold and bought.—" In the court
of the Gentiles was the so-called temple-market,
iabernce, where sacrificial animals, incense, oil, wine,
and other things necessary for the service and sacri-
fice, were to be obtained." Lightfoot. — ^The tables
of the money-changers. — They changed, at a cer-
tain premium, the common money, which was ac-
counted profane, for the double drachmas which
served for the temple-tribute. Thus the agents who
had to collect the temple-tribute from the various
districts resorted generally to these money-changers.
According to Luudius, these collectors themselves
took charge of the exchange in the temple. It is
highly probable that many of those who came up
from the country paid at this time the tribute which
fell due in the month of Adar. " And possibly other
business connected with money-changing by degrees
had crept in." Meyer.
TJie Cleansing of the Temple. — According to
Pearce, Wetstein, Liicke, and others, this act was
identical with the cleansing mentioned in John ii. 13,
which belonged to the first visit of Jesus to the Pass-
over after His entrance on His ministry ; according
to Chrysostom and most modern commentators, the
account of the Synoptists is a repetition of that ear-
lier one. It is obvious that they omitted the earlier
action of the same kind, because they record, gen-
erally, only the last of Christ's visits to the feast.*
But for John's point of view, the former cleansing
was a decisive crisis, and was recorded by him as
such. There is no difficulty in assuming, as the dis-
tinct narratives require, that the act was performed
twice. And although it might be possible that the
two records mutually influenced each other (as Nean-
der, Leben Jesu, 388, assumes), it is plain that the
later has its own advance in meaning. According to
Mark, Jesus did not suffer that any man should carry
vessels through the temple (ch. xi. 16); and, while
in John we read, " Make not My Father's house a
house of merchandize^''^ iu the last accounts we read
of the house of prayer for all nations being turned
into a den of robbers. As to the Lord's warrant for
attacking the existing irregularities, which had be-
come regular by practice, various explanations have
been given. Selden {de Jure nat. et gent. iv. 6) and
others found upon the act of Phinehas (Num. xxv.
11) the supposition of an Israelite zealot-right ; that
is, the right of at once and violently assaulting and
abolishing any crying offence in the theocracy.
Liicke {Com. on John, ii. 15, 16) thinks that zealot-
ism as a right can not be proven, yet he gathers from
the history of the people and the writings of the
Rabbins that the reforming vocation in the Jewish
church, if it really existed, stood higher than the
external right. Of course, it is not necessary to
assume that this right was invested whh legal
sanctions. The real question is, whether there
ever was an acknowledgment of a right to inter-
fere, under divine impulse or as a prophet, with
existing abuses. And of that there can be no
doubt ; indeed, the sad prelude of this zealotism
was the violence of the brothers Skneon and
Levi (Gen. xxxiv. 25), and the last perversion of
it was the conduct of the Zealots during the siege
* [So also Alford. The omission of the first cleansing in
the Synoptists is in remarkable consistency with the fact
that their narrative is exclusively Galilean until this last
journey to Jerusalem. It is impossible that either the Sy-
noptiots or John should have made such a gross error in
chronology, as the hypothesis of the identity of the two nar-
ratives assumes.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXI. 12-14.
377
of the city. Between these extremes, however,
there are many illustrious instances of zealotism ;
and, in its pure fundamental idea, it continues per-
manently in the discipHne of the Christian church.*
That, at His first cleansing of the temple, Jesus
acted from the impulse of prophetic zeal, and ac-
cordmg to zealot-right, is plain from the considera-
tion that He had not yet pubhcly aimounced Him-
self under the name of the Messiah ; and the Evan-
gehst significantly refers to the saying, " The zeal
of Thine house hath eaten me up" (John ii. 17).
We may, therefore, thus distinguish : On the first
occasion Christ attacked the abuses of the temple
in the authority of prophetic zealotism ; on the
second occasion, in the authority of the Messiah.
But we must not overlook the fact, that the
former authority forms the true Old Testament
basis for the latter ; and that the Messiah, as a
reformer, was the consummation and glorification
of the prophetic zealotism. Much has been said
about the assent of the people. Origen and Jerome
regarded this as a specific miracle. Doubtless, the
fact is explained by the miraculous influence of
the prophetic majesty of Christ on the one hand,
and of the evil conscience of the Jews on the
other.
[The silent submission of these buyers and vend-
ers, who by their physical force might easily have
overpowered Jesus, conclusively proves the sublime
moral majesty and power with which our Saviour
performed this act, and silences the objection of
some modern skeptics, who see in it an outbreak of
violent passion, which is always a sign of weakness.
It was a judicial act of a religious reformer, vindi-
cating in just and holy zeal the honor of the Lord
of the temple, and revealed the presence of a super-
human authority and dignity, which filled even these
profane traffickers with awe, and made them yield
without a murmur. Jerome regards tins expulsion
of a multitude by one humble individual as the most
wonderful of the miracles, and supposes that a flame
and starry ray darted from the eyes of the Saviour,
and that the majesty of the Godhead was radiant in
His countenance. — P. S.]
Ver. 13. And He said unto them. — Isa. Ivi. V :
" For My house shall be called the house of prayer
for all nations." Jer. vii. 11 : "Is then this house,
which is called by My name, become a den of rob-
bers m your eyes ? " The two passages are quoted
freely, and joined together according to their Old
Testament meaning. — In what sense a den of rob-
bers ? 1. Theophylact : to yap (pt\oKep5es KricTTpi-
Kov irdBos e'o-TiV. 2. Fritzsche : Ye gather together
here money and animals, as robbers collect their
booty in their den. 3. Rauschenbusch {Leben Jesu,
809): By these abominations the Gentiles, for w ose
prayer this house was designed, are kept back from
God's service. Assuredly, the fact that the place of
prayer for the Gentiles was made a market for
beasts, was a robbery inflicted on the rights of
the Gentiles. Humanity was outraged by the false
churchliness or bigotry of the Jewish odium generis
humani.
Ver. 14. And blind and l2ime persons came
to Him. — And then He turned the desecrated tem-
ple again from a den of robbers into a house of
mercy.
* [I took the liberty of substituting this idea for the
'^Folizei des chrisUicli^n Staates" in the onu;inal, which
Implies the union of church and state, and is hardly applica-
ble to our country. — P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The prophet Malachi predicted the coming
of the Messiah with these words : " The Lord,
whom ye seek, will suddenly come to His temple,
even the messenger of the covenant whom ye desire,
saith the Lord of hosts " (Mai. iii. 1 ). These words
had their manifold fulfilment in the whole course
of Christ's first advent ; and will again be fulfilled
at His second glorious coming. Once, however,
they were fulfilled in their most literal sense : then,
namely, when Jesus, amidst the greetings of His
people, made Ilis festal entry into the temple. But
in the cleansing of the temple Christ exhibited Him-
self as the eternal Purifier and Reformer of the
theocracy, of the human heart, and of the whole
Church.
2. Only one full day did Jesus dwell and rule
personally in the temple — the Monday of the Pas-
sion-week. This theocratical residence of one day
had, however, an eternal significance. It re-estab-
lished for ever the spiritual destination of the tem-
ple, and spiritually confounded and silenced in the
temple itself all the false ministers and watchmen
of the temple. Thus was the word of Hiiggai ful-
filled, not only in its spirit, but also in its letter :
" The last glory of this house shall be greater than
the first " (ch. ii. 9). But, if we include the entrance
on the Sunday evening (the looking round, the vis-
itation), and the solemn departure from the temple
on Tuesday (its abandonment to judgment), then the
one day must be extended to three.
HOMILETICAL AND PBACTICAL.
Jesus and the temple in Jerusalem. 1. How re-
lated in the Spirit of God : The temple the type of
His body and of His Church ; Christ the reahzation
and the glory of the temple. 2. Separated through
the guilt of the world : Christ crucified through false
templ6-service ; the temple desolated through the
death of Christ, and abandoned to the fire. 3. StiU
inseparable in the spiritual sense : all pious worship
is in a Zion which the Lord will glorify. Christ
visits His temple in all the world. — The predictions
of the prophets have all been fulfilled on the temple
(Haggai, Malachi). — The sanctification of the temple
perfected by Christ: 1. Its purifying (negative sanc-
tification) ; 2. its consecration (positive — by the heal-
ing of the blind and lame). — The Lord cleanses His
temple : 1. the Church ; 2. the hearts of His peo-
ple.— The twofold change passed upon the temple :
Its change from a house of prayer for all nations
into a den of robbers — imder the semblance of
higher holiness ; the change of the desecrated den
of robbers into a house of prayer and of mercy. —
That kind of worship which outrages charity to man,
may transform the house of prayer into a den of
robbers. — Christian consecration of the church:
1. It separates the church from the market-place ;
2. it unites prayer and mercy (the hospital and the
prayer-hall, hdtel-dieu). — The great day of Christ's
abode in the temple: 1. Its being a strange occur-
rence was a sign how soon the temple might be a
spiritual desert ; 2. but it was also a proof that the
Lord will manifest Himself to His people in His tem-
ple.— The three temples on Mount Zion, and the
three consecrations (1 Kings viii. ; Ezra vi. ; and
this section). — The zeal of the holy Son for the
378
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
honor of His Father's house. — The ternple itself
became at last the witness of the miracles of Jesus.
Starke: — Hedingcr : Foul blasphemers require
severe dealing : the fear of man, flattery, and gentle-
ness, will not drive them out. — Cramer : As every-
thing has its time, so everything has also its place.
— All reform must proceed according to the rules
of Holy Writ : thus Christ is the Founder of all
scriptural reformation. — Canstein : Churches are
exclusively for divine worship. — He who would spir-
itually walk and see, must come to Christ in the
temple.
Lisco : — The cleansing of the temple had a sym-
bolical reference to the cleansing of the Church of
God.
Heuhner : — The Lord's sacred anger at the dese-
cration of God's house. — This cleansing reminds us,
1. of the holiness which the temple had in Christ's
eyes ; 2. of the guilt of all who desecrate God's
house and day ; and 3. of our duty to do all we can
to maintain their sanctity. — Lavater says, that His
being able to do this was the proof that He ought to
do it.
[Jfaiiheie Henry : — Abuses must first be purged
out and plucked up before that which is riglit can
be established. — Buyers and sellers driven out be-
fore (John ii. 14, 15), will return to the temple and
nestle there again, if there be no continual care and
oversight, and if the blow be not often repeated. —
That which is lawful and laudable (as buying and
selling and changing money) in another place and
on another day, defiles the sanctuary and profanes
the sabbath. — This cleansing of the temple was the
only act of regal authority and coercive power of
Christ in the days of His humihation ; He began
with it (John ii.), and He ended with it. — In the
reformation of the Church we must go back to the
authority of the Scripture as the supreme rule and
pattern, and not go further than we can justify by a
final: It is written (ver. 13). — The blind and the
lame were debarred from David's palace (2 Sam. v.
8), but were admitted into God's houi-e, from which
only the wicked and profane are excluded. — The
temple was profaned and abused when it was turned
into a market-place, but it was graced and honored
when it was made a hospital. — Christ's healing was
the real answer to the question : Who is this ? and
His healing in the temple was the fulfilling of the
promise, that the glory of the latter house should he
greater than the glory of the former. — W. Nasi : — By
cleansing the temple Jesus symbolically sets forth
the purity of heart which He requires of His church
in general and of each individual believer. 1 Cor.
iii. 16, 17 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16.— P. S.]
B. The Children in the Temple : the High Priests and Scribes. Ch. XXL 15-1*7.
15 And [But, 8e] when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things' that he
did, and tlie children crjdng in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David;
16 they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And
Jesus saith unto them, Yea ; have ye never read. Out of the mouth of babes and suck-
17 lings thou hast perfected [prepared, KarqpTL<T(a\^ praise (Ps. viii. 2)? And he left
them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
' Ver. lo.—[M'onderful things Khett^r iov ra davi.id(ria, miraiilia {Yv]g.), ihanwonders, v/hich Conant substitutes
here for the Authorized Version. See the Sxeg. Notes on ver. 15.— P. S.]
- Ver. IG— [KaTapTi'Ceiv is variously translated in the English Version ; to mend (Matt. iv. 21), to restore (Gal. vi. 1),
to perfect (1 Cor. ii. 10; 2 Cor. xiii. 13; Heb. xiii. 21), to fit (Koin. is. 22), to frame (Heb. xi. 3), to prepare (Ueb. x. 5).
In Ps.'viii. 2, o'hence the above passage is quoted, the English Version reads: " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
hast thou ordained (or founded, established, Sept.: KaT-nprhca for the Hebrew 'MS'^) strength (T:.') because of thine ene-
mies." The proper translation here is : Jiast prepared, as in Heb. x. 5: (TWfia Se (caTijpTic-a' not, a lody hai4 thou pre-
pared/or me, as a sacrifice to thee. The translation : perfected, is from the Latin Vulgate : perfecnti. but /yndine ana
Cranmerhave: ordained (as in Ps. viii. 2); Fritzsche: parasti tihi laudem; Luther: ^m hast zugeriehtet; de Wett^
van Ess, Lange : du hast Lob bereiiet; Ewald: ioh will Freis aufrichten. As to the difi'erence between strength in the
Hebrew (ti') anUi praise in the Sept. and here (ahos), the latter is to be regarded as an explanation of the former. Tl'
means both (Ex. xv. 2; Ps. xxix. 1; Is. xii. 2, etc.), and as it is here ordained out of the mouth, it must mean strength of
speech or praise. The strength of the weak is praise, and the praise of God and Christ gives strength and power.—
P. S.]
such youths dedicated to the temple ; but, as they
were under the immediate authority of the priests,
their jubilant cries would at once have been sup-
pressed by these priests themselves.
Ver. 16. Hearest thou what these say?— By
this question they indirectly declared that they did
not attribute to Him the Messianic dignity which
this Messianic Hosanna involved. At the same time,
they pronounced their judgment that children were
not authorized to express any religious sentiment or
opinion. It was contempt of the little ones. They
laid the stress on the doctrincd idtemnce of the little
ones ; Christ, on the other hand, on their religious
singing.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 15. The wonderful tilings, to. Bavud-
<r I a. — More comprehensive than wonders or miracles.
The expression occurs in the New Testament only
here, but in the Sept. and the Classics it is common.
The moral miracle, in a wider sense, which exhibited
the Lord as King in His temple, is combined with
the miracles proper.
And the children. — According to Sepp (Leben
Jesu, iii. 192), by these cliildren we must understand
the virgins and youths consecrated to the temple-
service. There can be no doubt that there were
CHAP, XXI. 15-17.
379
Have ye never read ? — Ps. viii. 2 [ver. 3 in
the Hebrew and German text]. The passage of the
Psalm finds the praise of God (in the original: a
might; Sept.: prahe)m the mouth of theocratical
children, and even in the lispings of sucklings. Not
that the IsracUte sucklings might be three or four
years old, and certainly not because of " the tender
sounds of lisping sucklings." The thought is, that
the Great God of heaven is glorilied by the seeming-
ly insignificant men of this lower earth, including
the very lowest of them, down to the very root of
life. In the children and sucklings of the theocratic
Church His praise begins to grow: it begins with
the very life of human nature accepted by grace.
The antitheses to be noted here, are the mouth of
the infants, as also the suekllnr/s a^udi praising. But
Christ gives this passage prominence, because in ic
the Old Testament expressly approved and praised
just that which here took place. In the application
of this Scripture, we find without doubt the follow-
ing points: — 1. The praise of the Messiah is the
praise of God. 2. The praise of children is a praise
which God Himself has prepared for Himself, the
miraculous energy of His Spirit. 3. The scribes
might fill up the rest : Thou hast prepared praise —
"on account of Thine adversaries, to brlmj to silence
the enonij and the accuser." Not only are the pas-
sages themselves, which Christ quotes from the Old
Testament, of the highest importance, but also the
connection of those passages. The eighth Psalm is
to be reckoned among the typical Messianic Psalms ;
it describes man in his higher Christological rela-
tions.
Ver. 17. And He left them. — How often does
this indicate the moment of His moral discomfiture
of His enemies, and of His free withdrawal from the
contest ! He passed the night in Bethany, which
was His stronghold. On Bethant/, see above, eh.
xxi. 1.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Christ rules in the midst of His enemies, Ps.
ex.
2. God oft prepares for Himself a praise from the
lips of infants and new-bom babes, in opposition to
the adult and aged who dishonor His name; and
from the lips of a younger generation, who have not
yet reached office and dignity, in opposition to a de-
caying generation of fathers who deny their official
calling to give the Lord His praise.
3. The same children, whom they would de-
nounce as wicked disturbers, Christ regards as a
chorus of unconscious prophets of His own advent.
4. Not only the blind and the lame, the afflicted
and the children, but the Greeks also who desired to
see Jesus, illustrated this great day. John xii. 20-3o
belongs to the same history, but probably to the day
following.
[5. Heubner: May God in mercy protect us
from such theologians and priests as are offended by
children and their harmless songs ! Children, too.
are to sing the praises of God and of Christ. Would
that our children were trained from early infancy for
such praise. — P. S.]
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The obduracy of the priests and scribes in the
presence of the Lord's miracles in tlie temple. — The
question of the Pharisees ; or, the evening clouds. —
Not for one day did the hypocrites permit the Lord
to rule undisturbed in His temple. — The jubilant
children and the murmuring scribes : Earnest pastime
and trifling earnestness in the temple ; the free play
of children a divine prophecy, and the constrained
temple-service a godless play.* — The echo of the
palm-entry in the hearts and lips of the children. —
Tlie Son of David, the beautiful dream of the youth
ia Israel. — The children's Hosanna: 1. A significant
act of childlike piety ; 2. a noble blossom of the hope
of Israel; 3. a divine testunouy to the glory of
Christ ; 4. a sad echo of the elders' dying Hosanna.
— The mouth of babes and sucklings, in its vocation
to condemn presumptuous tutorship in the Church.
— Heargst Thou what these say ? To unbelief, ia the
garb of bigotry, the most touching testimonies of
faith are but blasphemies. — Those who are always
reading, but do no more than read, must always
hear the Lord's question: Have ye never read? —
They who read wrongly, objected to the Lord that
He heard wrongly. — Christ and the Scriptures for
ever bear witness to each other, against false scribes
and false Christians. — Jesus leaves the contemners
of His name to themselves, and goes His v/ay. 1.
He leaves them i-efuted and confounded ; 2. He goes
to His friends, to His rest and His work, with His
own. — One day of the Lord is as a thousand years
(Ps. xc. 4 ; 2 Pet. iii. 8). — Christ in the temple the
Restorer of all original rights in one right: 1. Of all
rights (those of the Gentiles, of the poor, of the chil-
dren) ; 2. in one right (that of God and His Anoint-
ed).
Starke: — Quesnel: The envy, covetousness, and
ambition of corrupt clergy do more harm in the
Church than its open enemies can do. — The world
cannot bear that God and Christ should be honored.
— Zeisius : The world mocks all pious simplicity. —
Hardened and envious persecutors we must leave,
and escape from danger.
Heubner: — Quench not the Spirit, especially
among children. — Only childlike hearts can praise
Him aright. — Melanchthon (at the conference at
Torgau): AVe need not be anxious; I have seen
those who fight for us (praying mothers and chil-
dren).
[JVast : — The children in the temple, proclaiming
the honors of Christ, as emblems of the apostles and
disciples, whom Clirist calls " babes " in contrast to
the wise and prudent of the world. " I thank thee,
Father," etc., Matt. xi. 25.— P. S."]
• [In German : Das freie Einderspiel eine gottlichi
Prophetie, der unfreie Tempeldiensi ein ungbUliohea
Schauspiel geworden. — P. 8.]
380
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
The Symbolical Curs-
C. Tlie Deceptive Fig-tree, rich in Leaves, hut without Fruit on the Temple-mount.
ing. Ch. XXI. 18-22.
(Mark xi. 12-14, 20-26.)
18, 19 Now in the morning, as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he
saw a fig tree in the way [seeing one (sohtary) fig tree by the road side],^ he came to
it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and [. And he] said unto il, Let no
fruit ^ grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently [forthwith] the fig tree
20 withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying. How soon is
21 the fio- tree withered away !^ [And] Jesus answered and said unto them. Verily I say
unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not [do not doubt], ye shall not only do this which
is clone to the fig tree [not only shall ye do this with the fig tree],* but also if ye shall
say unto this mountain [of the temple]. Be thou removed [taken up, "Ap6r;Tt], and be thou
22 cast [and cast, koX (SX-^Otjtl] into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever
ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
1 Ver. 18.— ['iSw;/ ffvKrjV jxlav iirl rrjs oSov, Large, emphasizing ^uiai/ : Sr sahe -EiNT.ii {einzehien, smv-
gle) Feig'enhaum uher dem Wege. Bengel : One in that place {uinim illo loco). So also Meyer and Winer (ein verein-
zelt (h(ntehendc)' Feifjeiibaxm). Possibly it may have a symbolical reference to the singular position of the Jews as the
one tree of God's planting, standing conspicuous and alone both in favor and in guilt. Others, however, explain the fx'iav
in this case from the later usage of the Hebrew "IPX and the Aram, in .—P. S.]
2 Vcr. 19. — B., ti. read: ol) fx-qKinri. The A'ec?p<a omits oii as superfluous.
3 Ver. 20.— [Lange likewise takes the sentence as an exclamation, ttws — quam. But th^ Lat. Vulgate (Quomodo
contimio aruitf), Luther, van Ess, Meyer, Ewald, Winer, Conant take it as a question, and render ttojj irapaxpvfia
i^7]pdvdr) fi (Tvicri: How did th<^ fig-tree forthwith icitJier away f So also the editions of Stier and Theile, Laohmann,
Tischendorf, and Alford in their punctuation. The former view agrees better with the parallel passage in Mark xi. 21, and
is not inc'Uisi.stcnt with the use of airoKfidils which follows in both accounts. But wc may regard it perhaps best as an in-
terrogative- exolarnation. In any case the is of the E. V. ought to be stricken out and ioithered away substituted for is
withered away ; for i^ripdvdr), as here used, expresses the act past and gone, while ei,i}pavTai in Mark xi. 21 signifies the
result.— P. 8.]
4 Ver. 21.— [O h fi6vov rh rijs ctvktis tt o i-fjcr er e , lit. : this of the fig-tree, or : this with the fig-tree, as Lu-
ther, Ewald, and Lange have it {das mit dem Feigenhaum thun).—V. S.]
j von Schubert on the Holy Land. The Rabbins stud-
ied under the shadow of the fig-tree, as in an arbor.
It was often planted by the waysides, because the
dust of the road was an absorbing counteraction to
the strong flow of the sap, — so hindering a too great
development of leaves, and promoting its fruitfulness.
The fig itself was a common and much esteemed ar-
ticle of food. Three kinds were distinguished ; 1.
The early fig, Bicura, Boccore, which ripened after a
mild winter at the end of June, and in Jerusalem
still earlier. 2. The siimmer fig, Kermus, which
ripened in August. 3. The winter fig, or later Ker-
■mus, which came to maturity only after tlie leaves
were gone, and would hang through a mild winter
into the spring : it was larger than the summer fig,
and of a dark violet color. This last kind cannot
here be meant, since a winter fig-tree might weU
have been long ago robbed of its fruit ; and for the
spring fig this might seem a too early period of the
year. But its extraordinary show of leaves so early,
gave a promise of early figs; since in the fig-tree
the blossom and the fruit appear before the forma-
tion of the loaves.* Thus it was this profusion of
leaves which warranted the Lord in expecting to
find figs on the tree. But the fruit was wanting.
Mark explains : ov yap -fiv icaipos avKuv.] This does
* [Pliny, Hist. Nat. -wi. 49 : Ei demum serins folium
nascitnr quam pomum.]
t [On this passage of Mark there are different interpreta-
tions See Com. in loc. and a long note in Trencu (p. 441
sq ) Trench considers it very doubtful whether at that
season of the year, March or April, either fruits or leaves
ordinarily appear on the fig-tree; but this tree, by putting
forth leaves, mnde pretension to be something more than
others, to have fruit on it, which in the fig-tree appears be-
exegetical and critical.
Ver. 18. He hungered. — Mark gives us here
the stricter note of time. On the day of the proces-
sion Jesus only looked round the temple observing-
ly ; He then went out to Bethany, for it was evening.
On Monday morning, as He went back to the temple.
He was hungry ; and this gave occasion for the curs-
ing of the fig-tree. A day later, on Tuesday morn-
ing (not the evening before), the disciples, again ac-
companying the Lord to the city, found the fig-tree
dried up from the roots. Matthew combines the two
separate points of this transaction in one, m order to
make more prominent the meaning of the whole.
He would bring before the reader's mind the antitype
of the barren fig-tree, the high priests and scribes m
their unbeUeving conduct.* The Lord's hunger on
this morning shows us with what ardor He went to
take up His abode in the temple : He had not taken
time to eat His breakfast at Bethany.f
Ver. 19. One fig-tree(Atia^).— Bengel: Unam
illo loco. The fig-tree, f^Ji<^l , ficxis carica, was, like
the vine, one of the most extensive and best carcd-
for productions of Palestine: this appears in the
saying, " Under his own vine and fig-tree," — a figure
of peace (1 Kings iv. 25). Compare on it the Bibl.
Encyclops., especially Winer's, and also Robinson and
* [Similarly Trench, On the Iliracles, p. 485, who calls
those who exaggerate such small chronological differences,
" the true Pharisees of history, straining at [out] gnats and
swallowing camels.'" — P. S.]
t [Bengel observes on iireivacrf, esurivit : " rex ille
glorioB, v. 5. Miranda exinamtio."—F. S.]
CHAP. XXI. 18-22.
381
not mean, however, that at such a time of year figs
were not to be expected ; but that the tree had not
yet been stripped, if it had ever borne fruit. The
symbolical element, however, is the main thing here.
A fig-tree laden with leaves promised fruit: if all
fruit'was wanting, it >\as a deceiver ; and therefore
an apt image of tlie hypocritical Jewish priesthood.
By the road-side : e t 1 t f; ? 65 ov . — " The
tree stood over the wai/, either on an elevation in the
way, or the way was a declining one." Meyer.
But a third sui)posilion may be made, that the tree
extended its branches over the level jiath.
Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for
ever. — The same criticism which objected against
the treatment of the Gergesenes, that it was an in-
vasion of private property, objects against the curs-
ing of the fig-tree, that it was an outrage upon the
forest laws. But as the driving out of the demons
was no wild hunt, so the word of cursing was no
felling axe. It cannot be said that a miracle of pun-
ishment was alien to Christ's spirit. But this was
not properly a miracle of punishment : it was a sym-
boUcal sign of the punishment which the people had
to expect from God, but which our Lord exhibited
as a sign of His own retribution, as being already
the glorified King. And in this warnhig act —
which was to seal to the disciples the subsequent
judicial prophecies, and especially to release their
hearts from all faith in the seeming sanctity of the
temple-worship — lay the great design of the whole
transaction. Jesus made a symbolical use of the
attractive appearance of the leaves, and executed a
symbolical judgment of the deceptive tree, which
deluded and mocked the hungry traveller, m order
to teach His disciples that they also must at last
cease to seek spiritual nourishment from the leaf-
covered, but fruitless priesthood, and look forward
to the Divine judgments which would cause the with-
ering away of the thedlratic people.*
And forthwith (tt apaxpv m-o.) the fig-tree
withered away. — The tree was diseased through
the ovei'flow of its false life, which exhausted itself
in luxuriant fohage. But the word of curse was
miraculous, and the first prelude of that great
miraculous work of Christ which at His advent will
blast all the evil of this present world. But pri-
marily it was an earnest of the speedy withering of
the land, when the palms should vanish, the fig-
trees wither, the fountains be sealed up, and Canaan
become a waste. Paulus explained it as an an-
nouncement of the speedy natural death of the tree
in popular language; Strauss, as a mythical con-
struction of the parable in Luke xiii. 6 ; Origen,
Chrysostom, and the modems generally, as a pro-
phetic sjmibolical representation of the doom upon
the spiritual unfruitfulness of Israel. [The absence
fore the leaves. This tree vaunted itself to be in advance
of all the other trees, and challenged the passer-by that he
should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when
the Lord drew near, lie found it like others, without fruit,
for, as Mark says, the time of figs had not yet arrived. The
fault lay in the hypocritical pretension, the chief sin of
Israel.— P. S.]
* [Trench calls attention to the fact that the only times
that the fi^-tree appears prominently in the New Testament
it appears as a symbol of evil ; here and at Luke xiii. 6. Ac-
cording to an old tradition, it was the tree of temptation in
Paradise. It is noticeable, also, that Adam attempted to
cover his nakedness and shame with fig-leaves and to as-
sume a fal?e appearance before the Lord. But the S.iviour,
of course, in destroying the fig-tree because of its unfruitful-
ness, did not attribute to it any moral responsibility and
guilt, but simply a fitness as a sv-mbol of moral unfruitful-
ness worthy of punishment.— P. S.]
of any instruction on this symbolical meaning of the
destruction of the fig-tree, is no valid objection
against it ; for this meaning readily suggested itself
in view of the time and place of the act, and the
whole series of denunciatory discourses which follow,
are an eloquent commentary, as Meyer correctly re-
marks, on the silent symbohcal eloquence of the
withered fig-tree. — P. S.]
Ver. 21. If ye say to this mountain. — The
mountain to which the Lord pointed, was doubtless
the hill of the temple itself. It was, like the fig-
tree, a figure of the hypocritical character of the
Jewish worship, as it lay in the way of the spread
of the gospel, a future hindrance to His disciples in
their work. This mountain, the theocratic Juda-
ism, must be cast into the sea of the nations (de-
struction of Jerusalem), before the Church of Christ
could reach its consummation and free development.
Certainly this was not to be effected by judicial pun-
ishments on the part of the disciples themselves ;
but it was for them to exhibit symbohcally the judg-
ment of God, which would issue in such a transla-
tion of the temple mountain, by turning away from
the Jews, and carrying the gospel, the true Zion, to
the sea of the Gentile world. The disi^lacement of
the temple mountain had therefore two points, which,
however, here coalesce.
Ver. 22. [And all things, w^hatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, etc. — This promise is con-
fined, of course, to prayers of faith (vers. 21 and 22),
which implies agreement with the will of God, and
excludes the abuse of this promise. — In John, Christ
defines beUeving and effective prayer to be prayer in
His name, John xiv. 13 ; xv. 16 ; xvi. 24.— P. S.]
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHia^L.
[1. The cursing of the fig-tree is both a Parable
and a Prophecy in action, performed on the public
road near the city and the temple, on Monday of the
Passion-week, exhibiting Christ as the final Judge
of that people which soon afterward crucified Him.
-P. S.]
2. Jesus did not so much curse the fig-tree, as
make manifest the curse of its internal blight. It
was, as it respects a fig-tree, only dead wood, fit
only for the fire. To this destination He now gave
it up. That Jesus had in view the spiritual condi-
tion of His people as figured by this tree', is plain
from the parable, Luke xiii. 6. Yet Israel was, in
God's purpose, the early fig-tree among the nations,
Hos. ix. 10.
3. The withered fig-tree was a sign of many
judgments ; (1) A sign of the withering congregation
of the temple or the expiring of the theocracy ; (2)
of withering Canaan ; (3) of withering external church
organizations and sects ; (4) of the withering old
earth. The sudden blight was a token of the instan-
taneousness of the judgment — of the catastrophes
which had been in secret long prepared for.
[4. The Saviour performed innumerable miracles
of mercy on living and fecUng men, but only one
miracle of judgment, and that not on a human being,
which He came to save, but on an unfruitful, unfeel-
ing tree, and with a view to benefit all impenitent
sinners by timely warning them of their danger.
Thus we have even here a proof of Christ's good-
ness in His severity. Thus even the barren fig-tree
bears constant fruit in the garden of Holy Scripture
as a symbol of the fearful doom of hypocritical
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ostentation and unfruitfulness. (Comp. similar
remarks of Hilary, Grolius, Heubner, Trench, and
Wordsworth.)— P. S.]
[5. The tree was not cursed so much for being
barren, as for being false. No fruit could be ex-
pected of any nation before Christ ; for the time of
figs was not yet. The true fruit of any people before
the Incarnation would have been to own that they
had no fruit, that without Christ they could do
nothing. The Gentiles owned this ; but the Jews
boasted of their law, temple, worship, cercmouies,
prerogatives, and good works, thus resembling the
fig-tree with pretentious, deceitful leaves without
fruit. Their condemnation was, not that they were
sick, but that, being sick, they counted themselves
whole. (Condensed from Trench and Witsius.) —
P.S.]
[6. Striking simultaneous exhibition of Christ's
humanity in hungering, and of His divinity in the
destruction of the fig-tree by a word of Almighty
power which can create and can destroy. Bengel :
Maxima humanitatis et deitatis indicia uno tempore
edere solitus est. John xi. 35, 40. Wordsworth :
" He hungers as a Man, and withers the tree as God.
Whenever He gives signs of human infirm.ity, some
proof of His divine power is always near." Comp.
the poverty of His birth, and the song of angels and
the adoration of the shepherds and magi ; the cir-
cumcision, and the name of Christ ; the purification
in the temple, and the hymn of Simeon and Haima ;
His oljedience to His parents, and astonishing wis-
dom in the temple ; the baptism on Jordan, and the
voice from heaven and the Holy Spirit descending on
Him ; the announcement of His passion, and the
transfiguration on the mount ; the payment of tribute-
money to the temple, and the miracle of the fish
with the stater; the cross, and the royal inscrip-
tion, etc. — P. S.]
nOMILETICAL AND PEAUTICAL.
How Jesus, with holy self-forgetfulness, early
hastened to the scene of His great day's work. — He
spiritualized everything natural : even His o\vn hun-
ger and thirst were made awakening sermons. —
Christ everywhere, in the best sense of the phrase,
made a virtue out of necessity. — The barren fig-tree
on the mountain of the temple a perpetual exhor- |
tation to the Church : 1 . A faithful image of the
priestly community in Israel as it then appeared
(full of leaves, empty of fruit) ; 2. a warning exam-
ple in its sudden blight under the curse (revealed as
a dead tree, and as such given up to the fire). — The
withering fig-tree as a warning to self-examination
also for individual believers. — A sound fig-tree must
put forth blossom earher than leaves. — The interpre-
tation of His act by His word : 1. The fig-tree has a
close reference to tlie temple mountain ; 2. as the
fig-tree stopped Jesus in His way, so the temple
mountain stopped the disciples ; 3. as the Lord re-
moved the hindrance by His miraculous word, so the
disciples must overcome it by a miraculous faith,
which should remove the hill of Zion into the midst
of the nations (although, in doing so, the Jews were
dispersed among the peoples). — All that the Chris-
tian asks in faith is given to him : 1. In faith it is
given to him what he should ask ; 2. in faith he asks
what shall be given to hnn.
Starke : — The world often lets Christ's servants
suffer hunger and need. — When we are in want, we
suffer what Jesus suffered. — Faith lays low all ima-
ginations that exalt themselves against the knowl-
edge of God, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. — Teachers remove
mountains when they overcome in faith, and remove
out of the way, the hindrances which are thrown
in the way of their vocation. — Faith and prayer:
Faith is the source of prayer ; prayer the voice of
faith.
Liseo : — Jesus in His human necessity, ver. 18 ;
and in His divine power and dignity, ver. 19.
Ileuhner: — Warnings in nature: Life killed by
frost ; blossom cankered by worms ; fruit poisoned
from within. — There was one even among the twelve
disciples to whom this curse appUed ; and every one
who is unfaithful to Christ has such a judgment of
hardening, abandonment of God, to expect. — Jesus,
after miracles of love, perfcfrms yet one miracle,
which should demonstrate His power to punish and
to ruin, as it belongs to the Judge of all flesh ; He
did not, however, perform this on man, whom He
was not come to destroy, but on an inanimate object.
— Faith is here, and everpvhere, the firm assurance
of the heart concerning that which God wills.
llier/cr : — We are reminded of the weeping over
Jerusalem, Luke xix. ; of the parable of the two
sons. Matt. xxi. 28-31 ; of Rom. xi. 20: "Be not
high-minded, but fear."
SIXTH SECTION.
THE ASSAULTS OF THE EXTERNAL THEOCRACY UPON THE ROYAL LORD IN HIS
TEMPLE.
Chapter XXI.
-XXII. 46.
The symbohcal transaction of the fig-tree begins to unfold itself in spiritual judgments upon the Jews in all
their authorities. The second day of the stay of the Messiah in the temple is come, the Tuesday of
Passion-week ; or the third, if we include the day of the entry. It was the great day of contest after
the day of peace : a day on which Jesus endured victoriously the hostile attacks of the authorities in
the temple, m which He silences and puts to confusion their several bands, one after another ; and
CHAP. XXI. 23-XXII. 14.
then, after His great judicial discoui-se (ch. xxiii.), in view of their obduracy and in prospect of their
violence, voluntarily leaves the temple. The first assault was made by the high priests and elders : it
is disguised under the forms of official authority. Jesus confronts them, and discloses their true posi-
tion by three parables, ch. xxi. 23-xxii. 14.— The second attack was an attack of cunning, led on by
Pharisees and Herodians : they ironically assume that He has Messianic authority, in order that they
may pohtically entangle Hun (vers. 15-22). Then follow the Sadducees with their attack. They seek,
by their alternative, to involve Him in Sadducean or antinomian assertions (vers. 2o-S3). Hereupon,
the Pharisees make their last desperate assault, with a tempting and fundamentally threatening question
of the law ; and are reduced to pronounce their own discomfiture by His counter-question touching the
divine dignity of the Messiah, according to Ps. ex.— (Then follows the judicial discourse of ch. xxiu. ;
and finally the departure from the temple.)
A. The Attach of the High Priests and Elders, and the Victory of the Lord. Ch. XXI. 23-27.
(Mark xi. 27-xii. 12; Luke xx. 1-19 ; xxii. l-U.—The Oospel for the 20th Sunday after Trinity.)
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief [high] priests and the elders of
the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou
24 these things ? and who gave thee this authority ? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, I also will ask you one thing [one word, Xo'yov eVa], which if ye tell me, I in like
25 wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence
was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with [among] ^ themselves, say-
ing, If we shall say, From heaven ; he will say unto us, Why [then, ovv\ did ye not
26 then beheve him? "But if Ave shall say. Of men; we fear the people [multitude, oxAov];
27 for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell
[We do not know, ou/c otSajnev]. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what
authority I do these things.
Transition to the Offensive.— Yiv&t Parable : The Parable of the Two Sons (the hypocritical unbelief).
Vers. 28-32.
28 But what think ye ? A certain man had two sons ; and he came to the first, and
29 said. Son, go work to day in my [the] ^ vineyard. He answered and said, I will not;
30 but 'afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second [other], ^ and said
31 likewise. And he answered and said, I go [I will, eycu],* sir; and went not. Whether
of them twain [Which of the two, Ti's Ik twi/ Stj'o] did the will of his father [the father's
will, TO Bi\r]ixa tov Trarpos] ? They say unto him, The first.^ Jesus saith unto them,
Verily I say unto you. That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God
32 before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye beheved
him not ; but the publicans and the harlots believed him : and ye, when ye had seen it,
repented not* afterward, that ye might believe him.
Second Parable : The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (the murder of Christ, and the judgment).
Vers. 33-46.
33 Hear another parable : There was a certain'' householder, which [who] planted a
vineyard, and hedged it round about [put a hedge around it, cj)payfxov avrQ -n-epudrjKe],
and digged [dug] a winepress in it, and built a [watch-] tower, and let it out to hus-
34 bandnven, and went into a far [another] country : ^ And when the time of the fruit [the
fruit-season]^ drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might re-
35 ceive the fruits of it [to receive his fruits].'" And the husbandmen took his servants,
and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another [and one they beat, and another
36 they killed, and another they stoned]." Again, he sent other servants more than the
37 first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, say-
38 ing, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said
among themselves, This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on [have] "
384 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
39 his inheritance. And they caught [took, Xa/Sovres] him, and cast Mm out of the vine-
yard, and slew hini}^
40 When the lord therefore [When therefore the lord, orav oSi'] of the vineyard com-
41 eth, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably
destroy those wicked, [miserable] men [or : he will wretchedly destroy those wretches],^*
and will let out his [the] vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall [who will] ren-
42 der him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them. Did ye never read in the
Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
corner : this is the Lord's doing [from the Lord, Trapo. Kvpiov], and it is marvellous [won-
43 derful] in our eyes (Ps. cxviii. 22)? Therefore say I unto you. The kingdom of God
44 shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing fortlr the fruits thereof. And
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall [will] be broken : but on Avhomsoever it shall
fall, it will grind him to powder.'^
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived
46 that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared ^^ the
multitude [multitudes, rov? oxAovs], because they took him for a prophet [held him as a
prophet, u)S Trpo^T^riyv avTov et^ov]."
Third Parable : The Marriage of the King's Son (the judgment of the rejection of Israel and the new theo-
cracy of the kingdom of heaven). Ch. XXII. 1-14.
1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by [in, eV] parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which [who] made a marriage for
3 his son, And [he] sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding :
4 and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying. Tell them
which [that] are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner [to apiarov, early meal,
midday-meal] : my oxen and mij [the] fatlings are killed, an all things are ready : come
5 unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways [went away, dir^XBov],
6 one to his farm, another to his merchandise : And the remnant [But the rest, ot 8e AotTrot ]
took [laid hold of, Kparijo-ai/res] his servants, and entreated them spitefully [ill-treated,
7 v/3pLaav], and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth : and he sent
8 forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith
he to his servants. The wedding is ready, but they which [tliat] were bidden were not
9 worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways [thoroughfares, 8tefo'8oi;s twv oSwv],'^ and
10 as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the
highways [oSoiJs], and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good:
1 1 and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the
12 guests, he saw there a man which [who] had not on a wedding garment: And he saith
unto him, Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? And he
13 was speechless [put to silence, ec^t/Aw^?;]. Then said the king to the servants, Bind
him hand and foot, and take him away, and " cast him into outer darkness ; there shall
14 be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.
1 Ver. 25.— n a p' eaurots. Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in the ed. of 1S59] read: iv eauroiy, alter B., L.,
Z., etc. The latter reading is preferable, since the sanhedrists had to consult among themselves before giving a general
answer.
2 Ver. 28.— M o u is omitted in many MSS. [So also in Cod. Sinait. and in the critical editions of Lachmann, Tischen-
dorf, Tregelles, and Alford.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 30.— [T w erepcfi is the correct reading, sustained by the best authorities, including Cod. Sinait., instead of
the Recepia : S evr 4pw, which after Trpwrtt) appears as a gloss. Dr. Lange, however, retains SfvTepcjj with Lachmann
(who follows the Vatican Cod.), and makes no mention of the other reading.— P. S.]
* Ver. .30.— ['£70), Kvpie, is, of course, elliptical, to which vivdyco, or iropevoy.at, or awepxafiai mnst be supplied. Tho
various readings: vol, Kvpie, virdyu, Kvpie, and others, are to be traced to the desire of amending an apparently incom-
plete phrase.— P. S.]
5 Ver. 31.— Led. rec. : 6 -rrpcoTos. [So also Tischendorf and Alford.] Lachmann [and Tregelles] after B., D. :
6 varepus; still others: ea x°'''' " ^1 fovissimus. This reading is connected with the reversion of the answers in
vers. 29 and 30, but the sense remains the same. Comp. for different views Meyer. [Comp. also the note of Conant in fa-
vor of ii(7Tepos, i. e., the later., the tardie/r one, he who was behind the other in his compliance ; which is descriptive, whilo
TTpioTos merely identifies. The reversion of the order in some authorities may be easily accounted for by the error of a
transcriber who thought that the parable must refer to the successive calling of Jews and Gentiles (as Origen, Chrysostom,
and Jerome do), while it applies to two classes in the same nation. — P. S.]
« Ver. 32.— Cod. B., al., Lachmann, [and Alford] : ohSf [for o u which is retained by Tischendorf in the edition of
1S59.-P. S.]
CHAP. XXI. 23-XXII. 14.
385
' Yer. S3. — [Lit.: ^'- 77te/-6 teas a man, a householder " &p6pa>iros ^v olKoSe(7Tr6rrjs, Lange; Es war ein
JJensch, ein Gutsherr. All the criticil editions omit t i s (certain) after ivOpaiiros. — P. S.]
8 Ver. 83.— ['A ir sSt} im-nff ev means : he went abroad (Lange : er zog uber Land), without reference to distance, as
ifi implied in the/c<;- of the E. V.— P. S.]
' Ver. 34.— ['O Kaipos twv Kapiraiv, as distinct from xp''''os.— P. S.]
1" Ver. 34 — [Aa^eiv robs KopTrov^ aiirov: auTotJ, like the previous one after SouAous, referring to the
householder as the subject of the sentence, and not to the vineyard, as iu the K. V. See Meyer and Conant m /of.— P. S.]
" Ver. 87. — [So Luther, Lange, and Conant, according to the emphatic form of the original: ou uiv eSeipav, k.t.A.
—P. S.]
'^ Ver. 88.— [The critical authoritie.s, including Cod. Sinait., and editions read: ffx^f^f for KardcrxoiJ'fv, which
seems to be a gloss.- P. S.]
'3 Vor. 09.— Cod. D., al., in reverse order: thej/ sJeic him and cast him out of the rinn/ard. A correction in keeping
with a p.issionate proceeding. The order of the liecepta is better. The expulsion from the vineyard before the murder
siguifies the priestly excommunication and rejection which preceded the crucifixion.
' ■• Ver. 41 .— [ Ka»coi/s KaKwi (= 2}essimos pesshnf) airoKeaei, a classic phrase of the pui-est Greek (petita ex
purisshno ftermone Grceco, as Grotius observes). The paronomasia brings out the agreement of the deed and the punish-
ment In German : erirird die Elenden elendiglich vmhringen (Meyer); schlimm wird erdie Schlimmen imihringen
fLange); iiliel wird er die Ueblen (better : Uebelthdter) rer7iichien (V.v/aM). In Engli.sh we have no equivalent phrase.
The rendering of the Authorized Version is as good as any I have seen. Dr. Conant retains it. Dr. Geo. Campbell {The
Ji'ottr Gospels, etc.) renders : lie will put tho-ie wretches to a wretched death, w'hSeb. I have slishtly altered in the text.
The Kheims Version has: the naughty men he will bring to naught, after the Vulgate: Malos maleperdet.—P. S.]
'5 Ver. 44.— Omitted by Tischendorf without sufficient authority. [Meyer defends the words, and accounts for the
omission by an ovcr.-ight of a transcriber who passed from avrris Kai, at the close of ver. 43, at once to abrhv Kai, at the
close of ver. 44. Lachmann retains t!ie verse, but in brackets. — P. S.]
" Ver. 4G.— [Better : And theij sottght .... but they feared, koX ^r)Tovi/Tes .... e(po$rid7](Tai>, as in ch. xiv. 5,
where the E. V. renders: And when he would have put him to death, he feared the muliiiude.]
" Ver. 46.— [As in ver. 2G, or: they counted liim as a prophet, as the E. V. renders the same phrase in ch. xiv. 5.—
" Ch. xxii. ver. 9.— [Aie'|o5oy, transitus and exitu^ (Durchgang and Ausgang, Passow), a way through and out, a
crossing, fork of the roads, where many resort or pass; here a common outlet of the ways (tu>v oSiv) that lead into it, a
thoroughfare. Lange translates it : Siheideicege, and oSouy, Strassen. — P. S.]
>' Ver. 13.— [The words; Spore avrhv Kai, take him away and, are omitted by Lachmann, Tregelles, Alford,
and LanM iu his Version (who, however, translates nai), but retained by Tischendorf in the edition of 1859. See Tischen-
dorf and Alford, Crit. ap2)aratus.—P. S.]
son of Annas ; a year later, one Simon ; and after
another year, Joseph Caiaphas, a son-in-law of An-
nas. Thus Caiaphas was now the official high priest ;
but, in consistency with Jewish feelings, we may as-
sume that Annas was honored in connection with
him as the properly legitimate high priest. This es-
tunation might be further disguised by the fact of
his being at the same time the "jJD , or vicar of the
high priest (Lightfoot) ; or, if he was the N"^b: »
president of the Sanhedrin (Wieseler). Compare,
however, Winer, sub Synedriiun. That, in fact, high
respect was paid to him, is proved by the cir-
cumstance that Jesus was taken to hun first for
a private examination (John xviii. 13). And
thus he here appears to have come forward with
the rest, in his relation of colleague to the official
high priest. Moreover, the heads of the twenty-four
classes of the priests might be included under this
name. Probably the whole was the result of a very
formal and solemn ordinance of the Council, at whose
head stood the high priests.
By what authority ? — (Comp. Acts iv. 7.) The
two questions are not strictly the same. The first
demanded His own authority, or what was the pro-
phetic title which lie assumed ; the second demand-
ed the authority from which lie derived His own,
and which authenticated Him. It therefore seems
to have intimated that their authorization was denied
to Him. Doubtless their aim v,as to extort from Him
thus early that same declaration which they after-
ward (ch. xxvi.) constnicJ into a criminal charge.
Doest Thou these things 1 t adr a . — Grotius,
Bengel, and others refer the ravra to Ifis teaching ;
Meyer, on the contrary, to the cleansing the temple
and the healing, ver. 14. Better, de Wette : The
whole of the work of Jesus in the temple up to thi.s
time. As they would not acknowledge the acts of
Jesus, the definite word Tav-ra is chosen with de-
sign.
EXEGETICAL AND CKITICAL.
Ch. XXI. 23. As He was teaching.— At first
the members of the Sanhedrin, with the high priest
himself at their head, confronted the Lord with an
official and formal inquiry. Their action was pas-
sionately prepared ; for, no sooner had Jesus repair-
ed again to the temple, than they were on the spot.
Their inquiry was hostile in its design ; His opponents
would oppress Him at once by their authority ; and
therefore they interrupted Him even in the inidst of
His teaching. But the form of their inquiry was of-
ficial, and according to theocratical rule : the Jewish
rulers had the right to demand of a man who exer-
cised prophetic functions the warranty of His pro-
phetical character. But, as Jesus had already abun-
dantly authenticated Himself by various miracles,
their seemingly justifiable act was only a shameless
avowal of unbelief It was no other than the high-
est rebellion in the disguise of strict legality.
The high priests and the elders.-^That is,
the Sanhedrin in its official authority. Hence Luke
and Mark add the scribes also ; for these belonged
in a wider sense to the presbytery. The high
priests : the plural is explained by the then existing
relations of the high-priesthood. The high priest
was supposed legally to enjoy his functicn during
life {see Winer, art. Hohepricstcr) ; and before the
exile we read of only one deposition (1 Kings ii. 27).
But since the time of the Syrian domination the of-
fice had often changed hands under foreign influence ;
it was often a football of rehgious and political par-
ties, and sometimes even of the mob. This change
was especially frequent under the Roman government.
Thus Annas (Ananus) became high priest seven years
after the birth of Christ (Jira Dion.) ; seven years
later Ishmael, at the command of the Koman procu-
rator (Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 2, 2) ; afterward Eleazar,
25
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Vers. 24, 25. I also will ask you. — The coun-
ter-question is once more a testimony to the heaven-
ly supremacy of Clu'ist's wisdom as a teacher. They
had presented this inquiry under the jiretext of theo-
cratical rule ; and, in the true spirit of tliis theocrat-
ical rule. Ho put to them His counter-question : The
baptism of John, was it from heaven ? that is,
Did John act as a true prophet under divine author-
ity ? The antithesis, or of men, signifies his having
come by his own arbitrary boldness, undertaking an
enthusiastic work, supported by the party spirit of
like-minded confederates. As the opposite of divine
authority of the true jirophet, the words still more
definitely describe the character of the false prophet.
Now if the Sanhedrin declared for the latter part of
the alternative, they would not only come into colli-
sion with the faith of the people, but they would con-
demn themselves as having proved false to the theoc-
racy, as the administrators of its laws. If, on the
other hand, they acknowledged the divine mission of
John, they must also acknowledge Jesus as the Mes-
siah ; for John had declared himself to be the fore-
runner of the Messiah, and he had moreover directed
the people to Jesus as the Messiah. Indeed, the si-
lent secret is here hinted at, that he had directed
themselves — the Sanhedrin — to Jesus as the Messiah
{see ch. iv.).
Ver. 25. They deliberated among them-
selves.— Their pondering must issue in a formal an-
swer ; and, as they must give a common answer, a
common consultation and deliberate calculation was
previously necessary : hence iv t avr o7 s , among
themselves ; which also appears in the S i a A o 7 i -
CeaOai. {See ch. xvi. V.) — Why then did ye
not believe him ? — that is, his testimony concern-
ing the Messiah.
Ver. 26. We fear the multitude. — We have the
crowds {rh V 6 x^op)io dread. Meyer assumes here
an aposiopesis, which (Luke xx. 6) interprets ; All the
people vjill sione us. But the expression cp 0 13 o v-
fiiOa intimates the same in a more indefinite way.
The o'x^os- is scornful: the mob, as in John vii. 49.
[The intelligence of this official consultation, which
is related almost verbatim by the Synoptists, may
have been originally derived from Nicodemus, who
belonged to the Sanhedrin. — P. S.j
Ver. 27. We do not know. — This reminds us
of the hierarchical decision, " mandaium de supcrse-
detido^'' which is so frequent in papal history ; e. ^.,
in the conflict between Reuehlin and the Dominicans
{see Ranke : Deuisclie Geschichte im Zeitaltcr der Re-
formation, vol. i. p. 281). They were caught in a
rough alternative, and could extricate themselves only
by a step of desperation. The Sanhedrin were im-
der the necessity, in the temple and in the hearing
of all the people, to utter a confession of ignorance,
and that of hypocritical ignorance. If they were not
already enemies of Jesus to the death, this would
make them so. This declaration made them, in the
eyes of Jesus, cease to be a truly legitimate and di-
vinely authorized Sanhedvla ; after this, they were to
Him only as usurpers. Hence His reply. Neither
tell I you. [The ouSc iyw Xeyw is an answer not
to their words: ouk o'iSafj.eu, but to their inward
thoughts : oil e^Ko;j.(v Ktynv.']
Ver. 28. But what think ye ? — Now there is
a transition to the offensive. First Parable. — Jesus
had already by Ilis counter-question obliged His en-
emies to lay bare their ignorance, or their unbelief. He
now constrains them, iu the first parable, tu declare
their own guilt; and, in the second, to declare their
own punishment ; and, as they had now decided to
put Dim fo death. He describes to them, in the third
parable, the consequences of their great violation of
the covenant and ingratitude — the destruction of
their ancient priesthood, and the triumphant estab
lislunent of His new kingdom of heaven among (he
Gentiles. The first parable is found only in "Mat
thew.*
Ver. 30. I will, sir, '£70^.. — Not merely, yes, but
an elliptical expression of devoted willingness, like
the Hebrew "lirt (Grotius). De Wette: It always
refers to the previous verb : thus, vv6.y<a or ipydao-
/.lui must be supplied. But the emphasis of the an-
swer Vv-ith / is to be regarded as intimating a con
trast to the refusing son.
Ver. 31. The publicans and the harlots. —
Thus, those who were excommunicated from the
Jewish Church : the last word specializes the usual
expression, sinners. They are represented by the
first son. Their earlier relation to the requirements
of the law and the prophets was a virtual no, which
often in the expression of unbelief had become an
actual and literal no. But, since the coming of the
Baptist, they had repented. The contrast to them is
the Sanhedrin in the second son. By their doctrine
and hypocritical piety they had exhibited themselves
as the obedient ones, yet with a boastful I will, sir,
and with a contemptuous look upon the disobedient
son. But they were the disobedient in relation to
the Baptist and the Christ ; they would not be influ-
enced even by the example of the publicans' repent-
ance.
Go before you, Trpoa-dyovaLi' . — Here in-
transitive : not of a " future," but of a present enter-
ing into the kingdom of God. But the following of
the others is not intimated ; rather the reverse. [Ac-
cording to Trench, on the contrary, the words imply
that the door of hope w.as not yet shut upon the
Pharisees by an irreversible doom, and that they
might still follow, if they would. So also Alford and
Nast. Comp. John xii. 35 ; and Christ's prayer on
the cross, Luke xxiii. 34. — P. S.]
Ver. 32. In the way of lighteousness, iv 6 5<w
S t icatoavvTi s ■ — Meyer : " As a thoroughly right-
eous and upright man. It is not the preaching of
righteousness which is meant." De Wette : " For
he preached righteousness." That oSos often means
doctrine, as a standard of jnactical righteousness, is
a settled point (comp. ch. xxii. 16 ; Acts xiii. 10,
etc.). But here we must understand the way of
righteousness in reference to the words of Christ in
John xiv. 6 : / a.m. the waif. John came (e'pxf cf^"' of
teachers arising, ch. xi. 18) as the forertmner of the
Messiah, pointing to Him, the way of rigliteousness.
The Sucaioavvr) here is analogous to the aoepla, eh.
xi. 19.
Repented not. — M^Ta/neXeoi^at here expresses
the coming to a change of mind and 1 urpose, and not
merely "to meditate something I Mvr;" jet repent
is rather too strong a translation, and corresponds to
fiercn'Of'ti'. Comp. ch. xxvii. 3 ; 2 Cor. vii. 8.
Ver. 83. Hear another parable. — [As if to
* [Trench (1. c. p. 1S5) reni.wks on these three parables
that notwithstanding their severe and threatening aspect,
they are not words of defiance, but of earnest, tenderest
love, spoken with the intention of turning theui, if possible,
from their purpose, of saving them from the fearful outrago
against His person which they were about to commit, and
of winning them also for the kingdom of God. The parable
of the Two Sons is rather retrospective, while the two that
follow, are prophetic also.— F. S.]
CITAP. XXI. SS-XXII. 11.
say : " [ liave not done with you yet ; I have still an-
other word of warning and rebuke." Trench.] This
second parable does not merely predict " the future
punishment " of the enemies of tlie Messiah ; it more
deliuitely si>ecitics the nature of their guilt, in its last
and near approaching consummation, the murder of
Christ.
Planted a vineyard. — The theocracy under the
similitude of a vineyard : see Isa. v. 1-7 ; iii. 14 ;
Cant. ii. 15. Israel the vine: Jer. ii. 21. Christ the
vine: John xv. 1. [A -vineyard was regarded as the
most valuable plantation, which yielded the largest
harvest, but required also the most constant labor
and care. Cato says : Nulla possessio preliosior, nul-
la inojorem operam requirlt. — P. S.]
A Tvine-press, \^^v6s . — Properly the trough
which was buried in the ground ; the wine-press
proper stood above, and the juice flowed through a
grated opening into it. But the press and the trough
were also together called Aijuos.
[Tlie dlijiibHi, of course, can only refer properly
to the receptacle for the juice in the rock or ground
to keep it cool (Mark has for it inroKi]viou -— lacus
i'iiiarias) ; but X-rjt'os = torcular, sometimes means the
whole structure for treading the grapes and receiving
the expressed juice. Dr. Hackett {Ulustraiions of
Scriphire, p. 157, 8th ed.), as quoted by Dr. Conant
in loc, gives the following description of it : "A hol-
low place, usually a rock, is scooped out, considera-
bly deeper at one end than the other. The grapes
are put into this trough, and two or more persons,
with naked feet and legs, get into it, where they jump
up and down, crushing the fruit. . . . The juice flows
into the lower part of the excavation. . . . The place
for treading out the grapes is sometimes dug in the
ground, Uned probably with a coating of stone or
brick. The expression in Matt. xxi. 33 may allude
to such an excavation. "^P. S.]
Tower. — Watch-tower ; generally built in vine-
yards [not so much for recreation as for the watch-
men who guarded the fruits against thieves].
Let it out to husbandjtnen, e | e S o t o . — De
Wette : For a part of the fruits. Meyer : For money,
as the lord himself received the fruits, vers. 34, 41.
But in Luke xx. 10 we have airli rod Kapwov tou au-
irexii'o?, and hence de Wette must be right. If the
eic<)i5orai had been used of money (it must be distin-
guished, even then, from the /uLiadovu of the laborers,
c!i. XX. 1, 7), the lord would have required of those
husbandmen, not the fruits, but the rent. Meyer
himself favors this explanation, when he makes roh?
/ca^iTTouv a-jTuv refer, not to the fruits of the vineyard,
but to the fruits belonging to the lord.
Ver. 35. Stoned another. — Meyer: According
to ch. xxiii. 37; John viii. 5; Acts vii. 58, etc.,
" this is related to killing as its climax, as species
atrox (Bengel) of kiUing." But in the parallel of
Mark, where Ai0oi3o\T)«TacT6y is sufficiently authenti-
cated, we must understand it, that the servant was
saluted from afar with stones. The climax is there,
but of another kind : they did not let the third mes-
senger come near them, but drove him away with
stones. It must be remembered, that stoning is used
here as part of the parable, not in the sense of the
Jewish law.
[Ver. 37. But last of all he sent unto them
his son, etc. — It has been frequently observed by
ancient and modern commentators, that the only and
well-beloved Son of God is here distinctly marked out
as far above the prophets in dignity and rank, the
sending of whom is the last and crowning effort of
divine mercy, and the rejection of whom fills up the
measure of human sin and guilt. Compare here the
more expressive language of Mark xii. 6 : " Raving
yet therefore one son, Im well-helovcd, he sent him also
last unto them, saijing, they will reverence my son."
The expression of the hope, that the husbandmen will
reverence the son, implies, of course, no ignorance,
but the sincere will of God, that all should be saved ;
and the fact of man's freedom and responsibility,
which is perfectly consistent with Divine foreknowl-
edge and foreordination, although we may not be
able in this world to see the comrection and to explain
the mystery. — P. S.]
Ver. 38. Let us have his inheritance, k a I
ax^ fj- e f T Tjv kKt] p o vo jj-'ioLv . — The reading
fc OT a axfoixev {seize), and the parallel in Mark xii. 7,
contain the true explanation. That of Meyer, " And
let us hold fast, not be driven out " (as if they did
not mention the result, but their further design, what
they would do after the killing of the son), gives no
good sense. Till then, they regarded themselves
as hired laborers ; after kilhng the heir, they usurp
the possession.
Ver. 39. They cast him out of the vineyard,
and slew hini. — Mark's inversion of the order ex-
hibits the act in a more passionate and dramatic
manner ; but it loses a typical feature. For, the se-
quence in Matthew (and Luke) bears with it an un-
doubted allusion to the excommunication which pre-
ceded death. Chrysostom, Olshausen, and others re-
fer the casting out to the crucifixion outside of Jeru-
salem ; and they arc so far right, as this was the con-
sequence of the sentence and curse which rested on
Jesus, Heb. xiii. 12.
Vers. 33-39. The Meaning of the Parable of the
Wicked HusBANDMEN.-The vineyard xs, the theocratical
Idngdom of God, especially* in its Old Testament form.
The hedge is the divine order of restriction and mark
of membership : in the Old Testament, circumcision ;
in the New Testament, the power of the keys, and
baptism with confession (Chrysostom and others : the
lawf ). The wine-press is the altar in the widest sense
(Chrysostom and others : the altar ; in the New Tes-
tament also, the Lord's Supper \). The tower is the
theocratical protection ; or also the New Testament
office of watchman ideally viewed (Chrysostom : the
temple). We must hold fast the fundamental traits
of the Mosaic law; yet so as to include the New
Testament fulfilment, for the vineyard passes over in
the New Covenant to other laborers. The departure
of the proprietor. Bengel : tempus divines tacUurni-
tatis, ubi homines agunt pro arhitrio. But against
this speaks the fact, that the time of the prophets is
described, and their mission is combined in one with
the mission of Christ. It is rather the period of
the natural human development of the kingdom of
God from the date of its divine institution. Tlie
laborers, or Imsbandmcn, are the official leaders
* [Not: that i.i, as tlio Kdinh. translator (Rev. Mr. ro[)C)
has it, eviduntly luistakiii!; the German numcnUicli lor
ndinlich, and thereby confining the vineyard to the Jewish
church, when Lanste expressly means to apply it to the
Christian church also, as the connection clearly shows.
Such errors are very frequent in this translation, especially in
the lew jjrecedinfr nnd all the subsequent chapters. — P. 8.]
t [So also Trench who refers the hedsre to the law which
Paul calls " the middle wall of partition " between the Jew
and the Gentile (Eph. ii. 14), and which was a hedge both
of separation from, and di-lVnco against. Gentile abomina-
tions and hostile foreign inlliioncc lie refers it at the same
lime to the geographical isolatioa of Palt-sline. — P. S.]
t [Irenajus, Hilary, Aiiibnise, and others, take the wine-
press to be a symbol of the prophetic institution.— P. S.]
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of the theocracy, especially the priests, elders, and
scribes. The servants are the prophets sent by God.
For their maltreatment, see the tiight of Elijah, the his-
tories of Jeremiah and Zechariah (2 Chron. xxiv. 20),
the tradition concerning Isaiah. The son is the Mes-
siah. The attempt of tlie laborers to gain tlie inher-
itance for themselves, is the ambition of the Jewish
rulers. The cominr/ of the lord is the judgment of
retribution.
Ver. 40. When therefore the lord of the
vineyard cometh. — His enemies are constrained to
explain the parable for themselves. But, inasmuch
as their solution was a necessary consecjuence of their
whole position, Mark and Luke represent Jesus as
Himself drawing the conclusion. But they also put
first the question, " What will the lord of the vine-
yard do ? " Each representation is in harmony with
the connection of each Gospel ; but that of Matthew
seems the original one. Meyer supposes that the
Sanhedrin daringly gave their decision, although they
felt that the parable referred to them ; and in favor
of this is the tx':] ytvoiTo, Luke xx. 16. On this as-
sumption, their apparent sincerity was only hypoc-
risy ; and they thereby declared that the parable did
not apply to them.
Ver. 41. He will miserably destroy those
miserable men. — Meyer, well: As miserable ones
will He miserably destroy them. See his examples
of the same phraseology. It signifies the tbeocrati-
cal judgments upon Israel, appearing in the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem ; which Meyer, with his wonted
misunderstanding of the advent, denies. The Far-
ousia of Christ is consummated in His last coming,
but is not one with it. It begins in principle with
the resurrection (John xvi. 16); continues as a. power
through the New Testament period (John xiv. 3, 19) ;
and is consummated in the stricter sense in the final
advent (1 Cor. xv. 23 ; Matt. xxv. 31 ; 2 Thess. ii.
etc.).
To other husbandmen. — The passing over of
the kingdom of God to the Gentiles. The signifi-
cance of this feature of the parable was not, proba-
bly, clearly seen by the Council. Remarkable is the
praise which they finally lavisli upon the new labor-
ers. The meaning is, that the Lord will always know
how to seek and to find faithful laborers in His
work.
Ver. 42. And Jesus said unto them. — A para-
bolical word follows from the Old Testament, which
gives its edge to the preceding parable ; showing the
Sanhedrin from the ancient Scriptures that most as-
suredly the parable suited them. The passage which
the Lord brings to their remembrance is that of Ps.
cxviii. 22 [the same Psalm of triumph from which
the people had taken their Hosannas], quoted from
the Septuagint. According to Ewald, this Psalm was
sung at the first Feast of Tabernacles after the return
from captivity. This much is certain, that it prima-
rily pointed, in its historical sense, to the pious, mys-
tical kernel of the people, as exalted above all the
attempts of the heathen to destroy them. Accord-
ing to Zech. iii. 8, 9, and iv. V, Zerubbabel was prob-
ably the person ; but Zerubbabel was a type of the
Messiah ; therefore the passage was a typical pro-
phecy of Christ, as the Rabbins always acknowledged.
But as the stone is described as one rejected by the
builders, this could hardly be said of the Gentiles,
and must refer to the Jewish builders themselves, the
priests and rulers, who first despised the stone and
then rejected it. We have then here something
that passes beyond historical type, and which makes
the parable a striking prophecy of the conduct of the
Sanhedrin toward Christ. And if the corner-stone,
the stone which bears up the theocratical edifice, is
distinguished from that building, it cannot signify all
Israel, but the theocratical offspring of David, who is
the definite type of the Messiah. Since the corner-
slonc, or head of the corner {K^cpaArj yufias) binds
together the two walls, Ammonius and Cyril found im
this image the union of Jews and Gentiles in Christ.*
But the idea here prominent is this, that the despised
and rejected stone becomes the corner-stone of the
theocracy. [Compare for a similar apphcation of
this Psalm in Acts iv. 11 ; 1 Pet. ii. 1.]
Ver. 43. Therefore I say unto you De
Wette: "Therefore, because ye have rejected the
corner-stone." Better : Because the word concerning
the corner-stone shows that the parable spoken ex-
pressly suits you, the word also concerning the vine-
yard being given to others suits you also ; the king-
dom will be taken from you, etc. For this also speaks
the expression: '■'■given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof."
To a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
— The Nev/ Testament people of God, with emphasis
upon the new and heterogeneous element, the Gen-
tiles. Meyer: Ihe'lrrpaiiX kuto. Trvediaa.
Ver. 44. Whosoever shall fall upon this
stone, etc. — The jjrivative and negative punishment
of the wicked laborers is followed by their positive
punishment. Thus we have here an explanation of
the words : " He ivill miserahly destroy these miserable
men" connected with the figure of the stone, which
now approves its rocky nature, that fitted it to be
the corner-stone. Thus Christ also demonstrates that
He is the Judge. The positive and punitive judg-
ment has again its two sides. The stone falls on none
who have not first fallen on it : that is, only the un-
believers, who have rejected Christ, will be by Him
condemned and rejected. But it is a double form of
punishment which is expressed by this antithesis.
He who falls upon Christ, the corner-stone, or who
runs against and falls over it, making Him a spiritual
offence and stumbling-block, (TKav^aXov (Isa. viii. 14 ;
eomp. 1 Pet. ii. 8), will be bruised. This is death
through dismemberment of the body : spiritual death,
reprobation, and demolition of Israel, or of the indi-
vidual unbeliever. This is the judgment which falls
upon the active enemy of the passive Christ, as sub-
ject. But he will also be the passive object of the
punishment of the glorified and governing Christ.
But on whomsoever it shall fall. — He against
whom Christ comes in judgment — according to the
figure of the stone, Dan. ii. 34, 33 — will He grind to
powder, a < « ^u rj tr e i ; Vulgate f : conterat ; Lutlier :
zermalmen, to crush, to pulverize. Meyer maintains
that the Greek verb can only mean, shcdl ivinnovj
him, throw him off as chaff. But this does not suit
the effect of a falling stone. The expression is chosen
with reference to the mysterious stone in Daniel,
which grinds to pow^der the image of the monarchies ;
that is, to Christ, who unfolds His life in the kingdom
of God, and grinds tbe kingdoms of the world to pow-
* [So also Origen, Jerome, Augustine, Cbrysostom, Theo-
phvlact, and among modern commentators, Alford, Trencli,
and Wordsworth. ^See Eph. ii. 20-22.— P. S.]
t [The original substitutes the Greek Septuagint (which
ought to be connected with the preceding \LKfj.5.v) for the
Latin Vulgate, — an obvious oversight (doubtless of the prin-
ter, who may have omitted Vtilgate). which the Edinb.
trans-Uiter, as usual, faithfully aud thoughtlessly copies.—
P. S.]
CHAP. XXI. 23-XXir. U.
389
dor. This is the actual and most proper result of |
His historical judgment: perfect dissolution of or-
ganization, dissipation of its elements even to appar-
ent annihilation. The threatening here refers pri- '
marily to the Jewish hierarchy and the destruction |
of Jerusalem ; but the unbelieving individual will |
also be ground to powder at last, the glory of his life
will be dissipated, he will be reduced to Ids elements,
and driven to the verg.; of annihilation. i
Yer. 46. They sought to lay hands on Him. ;
— They had already lixed the decree to kill Him. But |
their exasperation at the condemning import of the j
parables might have urged them at once to carry out
their resolution, had not their dread of the people
prevented them.
Ch. XXII. 1. And Jesus answered. — The third
parable : the Marriage of the lunr/^s Son.* The judg-
ment upon Jerusalem and the Jews, and the new
theocracy of the kingdom of heaven. — The Lord's
further words are introduced as an answer, because
thev refer to the schemes of His enemies to seize
Him.
In parables. — Plural of the category.
Ter. 2. Made a marriage for his son. — This
parable is related, in its fundamental idea that the
kingdom of heaven is a festive meal, to that of Luke
xiv. 16-24. But there is an essential difference be-
tween them. The festive supper of a host is here ex-
panded into a w^edding supper which a king made
for his son. In Luke the whole parable is so ordered
as to depict the infinite goodness and grace of the
Lord : hence the scornful guests are at once passed
by, and the parable turns to those newly invited out
of the streets and lanes. But in Matthew the judg-
ment is the standpoint from which the whole is view-
ed. Hence not only is the judgment upon the first
neglecters of the invitation depicted, but further judg-
ment is extended to the guests who actually came.
The practical scope of these parables has been alto-
gether overlooked by those who have maintained that
the former was t'le original parable, and that evan-
gelical tradition pieced together in this one many
separate fragments. (De Wette, Strauss, Schnecken-
burger, and others.) f Evangelical parables are not
works of art in this sense. Their fundamental ideas
may be \dewed from different points of vie\v, and dif-
ferently developed accordingly. So here, when the
Lord shows what judgments will fall upon the various
kinds of contempt poured on the marriage supper of
the kingdom of (rod. The Jews had long been wont
to think of the festival of the consummated kmgdom
of heaven under the figure of a feast. The paschal
meal, doubtless, gave them the type of it ; while all
the heathen festivals and sacrificial feasts rested upon
the same oommon foundation. Comp. Exod. xxiv.
11 ; Ps. xxiii. 5 ; Isa. xxv. 6. This feast of the king-
dom of lieaven is an image of the blessedness and
fellowship of the life of faith, and assumes a three-
fold form : 1. It is a feast in the future world, Luke
xvi. 22 ; 2. it is the future feast at tlie visible advent
of the Messiah, Luke xiv. 15 ; Matt. xxv. 1 ; 3. it is
the present, spiritual feast which begins at once with
* [So it is called in the headings of the English Bible, to
distinguish it from ths p.aral)le of the Great Supper- in Luke
xiv. 16-24. Sometimes it is called less appropriately the
parable of the Weflding Garment, which after all is only an
episode in it. — P. S.]
t [Even Theophylact, Calvin, and M.ildonatiis maintain
the iilentity of the two parables; while Olhhausen, Stier,
Nast. Alloril, Trench, and Owen a^ree with Lange in keep-
i' p them distinct. Comp. the apt remarks of Trench on the
difference and against Strauss, p. 203 sqq.— P. S.]
the life of faith, Ps. xxiii. ; the parables, Luke xiv.
lY, and in this section. The Jewish rabbinical my-
thology exhibited the feast at the end of tlie world,
at the advent of the Messiah, with all sensuous char-
acteristics, and in colossal figures?. The change of
the simple feast into a marriage supper rested upon
the Old Testament representation of the covenant be-
tween Jehovah and Israel hj the figure of the mar-
riage state : Isa. liv. 5 ; Ezek. xvi. 4 ; ch. xxiii. ;
Hos. ii. 19, 20; compare the Canticles. In the New
Testament development of this figure, we must, of
course, regard the Messiah as the Bridegroom, for
whom tlie Father prepared the marriage with the
Church : Eph. v. 25 ; Kev. xxi. Calovius and many
others have interpreted the wedding as the union of
the divine and human natures in Christ.* And in-
deed, this imion forms the ideal foundation and real
root of the actual union and communion between
Christ and His Church, which was typically foresha-
dowed by the union of Jehovah with Israel. Believ-
ers are here represented as guests ; but this does not
militate against the reference to Christ's relations
with His Church, because the ideal Church in its to-
tality must be regarded as the bride, an(> the individ-
ual Christians as guests. But certainly the bond of
connection between Christ and His Church has its
root in His assumption of His humanity by the as-
sumption of His human nature. The expression
yaixoi then is not to be generahzed, and translated
feast. " Michaelis, Fischer, Kuinoel, Paulus, and
others have thought that only a feast in celebration
of the receiving of the kingdom is meant. But the
Messiah is tlie Bridegroom (ch. xxv. 1), whose be-
trothal is the estabUshment of His kingdom (comp.
on Eph. V. 27)." Meyer.f
\ er. 3. To call them that Were bidden. — An
Oriental custom. The first invitation was an invita-
tion to the feast generally ; the second, to the begin-
ning of the feast itself.
Ver. 4. Behold my dinner, tJ. aptarov
fiov . — The introductory meal, which opened the
series of wedding feasts ; an early meal toward mid-
day, not the same as the Zi'nvvov.\
* [Tlie Edinb. trsl. here ajrain reverses the sense of the
orii<in;d by adding: '■•hut we have no Scripture wai'ranty
for this, and then omitting the following sentence alto-
gether. A tr.anslator has no right to change the views of
his author, unless it be honestly stated.— P. 8.]
t [Falsely credited to Lisco in the Edinb. trsl. with the
omi.ssion of all Iflie names representing this view.— P. S.J
X [The Edinb. trsl., which usually retains the language
of tlie Authorized Version, even where Dr. Lange's version
and comments require an alteration, falsely jrives the text
in this case : My swi'PEk is keady, and theVeby contradicts
both the English Version fnd Dr. Lange" s comment. The
term : apiarov, from vpt, early, means properly an early
meal, but generally a late breakfast, luuch, praiidiwin,
taken about midday, comp. Joseph. Antdq. v. 4, 2 (while
the early breakfast, taken at sunrise, was called aicpaTia/xa),
and is uniformly rendered dinner in the E. V. (.Matt. xxii.
4; Luke xi. SS; xiv. 12): Se^irvov was the principal meal
taken early in the evening, after the work and heat of the
day, as now iu large cities, and is .alwavs rendered supper
(jMark vi. 21; Luke xiv. 12. 16, 17. 24; John xii. 2; xiii. 2,
4; xxi 20; 2 Cor. xi. 20, "the Lord's supper;" Rev. xi.v. 9,
"the marriage supper of the Lamb'"), except in three pas-
sages, where" it is rendered /rasi (Matt, xxiii. G; M.ark xii.
39; Luke xx. 46). The corresponding verbs are translated:
to dine and to tup. Some have proposed to translate apt-
ffTov, }>reakf<ist, and ^(iirvov^ dinner. But it would sound
very strange to th'' English ear accustomed to the admirable
idiom of his good Anglo-Saxon Bible to hear of "the Lord's
dinner." and " the marriage dinner of the Lnmb." In such
eases the common i-ense and traditional rovcience of English
Christendom would tolerate no alteration. In our i);issage
the SipnTTOi/ is the beginning of the marriage feasts, which
.•5U0
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Vers. 5, 6. But they made light of it . . . but
the rest. — How is this difficult clause to be con-
strued ? As the words stand, a division into two
parts is suggested, the first part being again sub-
divided into two : — 1. But they made light of it, and
went away : a. some to their fields ; b. some to their
merchandize. 2. But tlie rest, etc. — So Meyer, after
de Wettc: aixeX-hcravTes refers only to those who
went away ; for the remainder, ver. 6, acted in direct
hostility ((cparVjcra^Tss). But the contempt which is
expressed by an^Avaafre-i is the general term for the
enmity which embraced them all in one guilt ; and,
accordingly, they are all together condemned after-
ward as (jwvels. Fritzsche therefore is right in
assuming an inexactne.'^s in the phrase, which should
have been : ul Se a/xeA. and ol fj.iy airyiXdoi' ; as the
Vulgate has it : UK autem nec/lexerunt, tt abierunt,
etc. Yet the ol found wanting before a.iTri\6oi' is
contained in the following 6 /j.ii', o 5f. Thus, ol Se
due/\T|TafTes : 1. airriXdov 6 /xev, 6 Se ; 2. ol 5e Aoi-
TTol Kparr}aavTes. The a/xiXeia is the hostile unbe-
lief which is common to all. This expresses itself
in two Avaj-s : a. In the indifierent worklliness : they
think nothij^g of their king, and devote themselves
to their own private affairs, b. In fanatical spiritu-
ality, which makes the positive persecution of the
servants (prophets) an official business. This is a
striking picture of the miserable contrast of false
worldliness and spirituality in the hierarchical com-
munion.* Fuudanientally, however, the contrast is
only a reciprocal influence ; and both dwell together
in only one city of murderers, which was doomed to
burning.
Ver. 9. Out into the highways. — Not the
places where the streets of the city meet (Kypke,
Kuinoel, and others^ ; for the city is assumed to be
burned, ver. 7 ; but the outlets of country roads
(Fritzsche, Meyer). f At this point our parable goes
beyond that of Luke xiv. 1 6. Tiicre, the streets and
lanes of the city are mentioned, where the maimed
and the poor gathered together (the halt, the lame,
the blind : publicans and sinners within the theoc-
racy). Here, the commission is to go far beyond the
doomed city, out into the high roads of the world :
all, both bad and good, the heathen simply, are in-
Aited ; both those who were looking for light, and the
common people of heathenism generally.
Ver. 10. Both bad and good. — Bengel: locutio
quasi adverbialia. Meyer: They acted as if , they
would make no difference, whether the persons were
morally g<h(i or bad, provided only they accepted
the invitation; the dislinction between them must
be made by the king at a later period, and not by
them. But in this interpretation, first, the distinc-
tion between the wicked and the good in the heathen
world (Acts X. ; Rom. ii.) is improperly done away
with ; and, secondly, it is not proper to confound
the difference between the good and the bad among
the invited, with the difference between the guests
culminate in the marriaL'e svpncr cf the lamb, Rev. six. 9.
-P. S.]
* [In Gerrnan : . in, dera hierarchischpn Gemeinwesen^
which the Edinb. edition has rendered: ecclesiastical na-
ture !]
t [Alford and Trench refer li(lo^rn tn tho fity, i. e., not
the city of the murderers (.Terusalii. ' ' >\- in which
the marriage was suppo^^eil to l.>- ■ < : . • l r.ENCii, p.
2'20: "We must not permit our ];iil:!i !i /' ;' ''.//« to sui;-
gest place.sintho country as distin-uishecl ii-din the town;
the image throughout is of a city, in which the rich and
great and noble, those naturally pointed out as a king's
guests, refuse his banquet, where'upon the poor of the same
city are brought in to share it." — 1'. S.]
who had, and those who had not, tlie wedding-gar-
ment. The plan of salvation shines clearly through
the whole ; and that does not look at the previous
life, but at faith or unbelief toward the gospel. The
words : they gathered together, imply that they
accepted tlie invitati(jn with joy.
The v/edding was furnished with guests. —
With the filling of the wedding-chamber the wedding
feast was consummated. The contemners of the
feast could not do away with or invalidate it: it
came to its full cou.sumruation\
Ver. 11. To see the guests. — At the thought
of a calling of the Gentiles to the Messianic salva-
tion the Pharisaic legality revolted with horror, as
opening the gate to antinomianism and anarchy.
Christ meets this aversion of the hierarchy with the
doctrine that righteousness and judgment would
pervade, though in higher and nobler forms, even
the new economy of grace. And the idea of judg-
ment is predominant throughout the whole parable.
The higher forms oi the spiritual law : 1. The guests
are examined by the kmg ; 2. the sign of worthiness
is the wedding-garment ; 3. the punishment is a per-
sonal and rigorous exclusion.
Not having a w^edding-garment, fvSvfia
yd/xov . — Here, not merely " a garment suitable for
a wedding feast " (de Wette), but specifically a wed-
ding-garment. 1. Michaelis, Olshausen, and others
interpret : The guests of kings were in the East pre-
sented with festal garments, or caftans, according to
Harmar {Observations on the East, ii. 17) and others.
This custom is assumed in the parable ; and the
figure is appropriate, the more so as saving righteous-
ness, faith, and the Holy Spirit are likewise the gifts
of God. But Fritzsche, Meyer, and de Wette object
to this view. De Wette remarks " that such a cus-
tom cannot be sufficiently proved (Meyer : Not even
by Gen. xlv. 22 ; Judg. xiv. 12 ; 2 Kings v. 22 ;
X. 22 ; Esth. vi. 8 ; viii. 15); and that there could
be no reason why an invited g-uest should despise
the festive garment." 2. They therefore suggest
another explanation : " That the guests were bound
to come with festal clothing, was an obvious and
customary propriety that needed no enforcement.
Moral SiKaiodiii-r] was thereby symbolized, which
men, after the call to the kingdom of the Messiah,
should obtain for themselves through the ^uTai/oia."
So Meyer ; without, however, giving any more pre-
cise explanation of this moral SiKaioawT^.* De Wet-
te : " The view here obtains, that tho spirit which is
appropriate to the kingdom of God depends upon
man himself." But where could guests get these
garments in the urgency of the feast, especially as
they were men of all kinds (according to Luke's par-
able, probably many of them beggars) ?• The pas-
sages quoted by Meyer show at least that the custom
of furnishing "the guests with festive garments on
such occasions was very ancient in the East.f And
* [In the fourth edition of hi.s Commentary, Meyek adds:
'•This SiKUioTvvr) was to be obtained gratuitously by fiiith
for the sake of the death of Christ; but the knowledi;e of
this doctrine was n-servod to the later itevelojjmcnt of the
Christian faith." Similaily Alfokd: -The garment is the
imputed and inherevt |?] r>!//iieonK>it>!--!< of the Lord Jesva,
put on symbolically in BoptisTii (OmI. iii -JT), iin<l really by
a true and living faith (Gal, i:i. '.'i;i ~ uitlii.ut which none
can appe.ar bifore God in Hi- kin-.P m nf -l.ii-y ;— Hcl.. xii.
14; Phil. iii. 7, S; Kph. iv. •J4 ;(.>!. in. li/; Kom. .Niii. 14 :—
which truth could not be put forward lu-i-e, but at its subse-
quent manifestation threw its great light over tl is and other
such similitudes and expressions." — P. ti.]
t [Compare also what Trench .'idduces from modern trav-
ellers and modern customs in the East, which are likely to
CHAP. XXI. 23-XXII. 14.
391
the man might have excused himself by his poverty,
if it woi'C not assumed that every one might have
received his wedding-garment. However, we must
not lay any more stress upon the idea that the gar-
ment was presented, than upon the notion that every
one must provide it for himself Tliore is no feature
in the parable which specially points t.; the one or the
o'her of these assumptions. The suess lies upon
this, that every one must be found at the wedding in
a wedding-garment, and that he must therefore have
previously taken pains in the matter. The question,
how that trouble was to be taken, and how the gar-
ment was to be obtained, is designedly avoided,
because another point of view is here the more im-
portant. If the guest had not taken any pains about
the wedding-garment, he showed positive disrespect
to the inviting lord, and a contempt for his feast, or
Antinomianisra. The free gift of righteousness as
such cannot here be meant ; as that consists in the
invitation to the supper and the participation of the
feast. Nor is faith as such intended ; for that takes
place at the acceptance of the invitation itself
Therefore, the wedding-garment is the exhibition of
character, or appearance, corresponding to the invi-
tation and the feast : that is, discipline of sjjirit, an
earnest Christian life.* The first historical figure in
which this guest comes before us in the apostolical
history, is that of the Antinomians, who are depicted
in the Second Epistle of Peter and the Episile of
Jude, and the Isicolaitanes of the Apocalypse. If it
is still thought necessary to supply the deficient
point (which, however, tends to weaken the main
impression), we may say that the wedding-garment
was at once freely given and obtained by personal
ilrttc from very ancient times, p. 225. Horace tells of Lu-
cullus {Ji'pist. i. 6, 40) that he had not less than five thousaud
mantles in his wardrobe. Chardin says of the king of Persia
that he gave away an infinite number of dresses ( Voyage en
J\r.ie, vol. iii. p. 280). Owen, like Lange, urges the obvious
impossibility tliat the guests, especially tlie poor one.«, could
provide themselves with costly garments in so short a time,
unless they were ready in the kings palace. "It must be
remembered," he says, "that these guests were Invited and
brouirlit in from the very highways,' along which they were
passing for pleasure or business, and it is very unreasonable
to supjjose that they were, or could be, provided, at so short
a time, with appropriate dresses. Many of them were
doubtless too poor to meet the expense of such a garment,
hud time been given them to procure one. On the other hand,
we have abundant evidence, thut kings were provided with
e\ti'nsive wardrobes, from which eacli invited guest was fur-
iiislied with a suitable garment."'— P. 8.]
* [The Fathers, the Roman Catholic and some Protestant
commentators, understand the wedding-garment to mean
charity or holiness; most of the older Protestant commen-
tate rs,/in7A; John Gerhard, Olshausen, Trench, Brown, and
others, combine the two in the conception of Chritit, or
righteousnesn, both in its root of faith and its flower of chari-
ty, or "faith as the investing power, charity as the invested
robe," in putting on Christ (Gal. iii. 27). Comp. Isa. l.xi.lO:
■' I will greatly rejoice iu the Lord, my soul shall be joyful
in my C, .il ; for //e h/tth clothed me icith the garments
of K'rr ■::■.:. // ■ ''' ■ •nriti me with the rohe of Hghl-
eon-^:' i-cketh himself with ornaments,
and :i I • i ' r.-;e!f with jewels." Trench ex-
piaiii> I. ■; •■ I L ;!•■'.-.';• >.■- in its largest sense, the whole
adoniinoiit of tlie new and Sjiirituul man, including the faith
without which it is impossible to please God (Ileb. xi. 6),
and the holiness without which no man shall see Iliiii (llrij.
xii. 1-i), or like this guest, only see Ilim to perish at His
presence: it is at once the faith which is the root of all
{Traces, the mother of all virtues, and likewise those graces
and those virtues themsolves." A singular curiosity In mod-
ern exegesis is the inter|)retation of Wordsworth, who sober-
ly refers iho wedding-garment tohaptimfm the germ of
all the means of spiritual grace," and applies the rebuking
krr.'.of, friend, especially to the Quakers, or Friendn,he-
cause they rej.ct the vibible signs and means of spiritual
grace, provided for and prescribed to all by tho Great King !
The white bapti-smal garment in the ancient cliurch must
Berve as an illustration in the absence of proo£— P. S.]
effort. It was given as free grace ; yet it was to be
obtained in the ante-chamber by earnest effort and
prayer. The chief point is, that it was obtained by
diligent anxiety, springing from a right appreciation
of the dignity of the feast.
Ver. 13. Bind him hand and foot. — An appro-
priate punishment of lawlessness. It had not for its
object merely to keep him fast in his place of pimish-
meut, but also to carry him there securely ; for, as
he was a desperately bold intruder, he could not
otherwise be driven out and carried away. The
binding is the hard political restraint which follows
on lawlessness. It is the business, not of the guest3
of the church, but of the servants of the King. —
Outer darknes.5. — Comp. ch. viii. 12. It may be
worthy of notice, that the Antinomians are cast out
into the same place of punishment with the tradi-
tionalists and legalists. This points to an internal
connection between tho two extremes.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. — See above. There is no sufficient reason for
sepaTating these words from the parable, as Meyer
does, and making them explanatory words of Christ.
Ver. 14. For many are called. — If we take
these words as simply the Lord's explanation, they re-
fer not only to the punishment of the one guest, who
had not oii the vvfeduing-garraent, but to those also
who had been eaiUer invited ; and thus the anti-
thesis of the man;/ and feiu is better established and
illustrated. Comp. ch. xx. 16. Called and chosen
signify here not merely a difference, but an anti-
thesis. Both in the old and in the new economy there
is a rigorous SGi:)aration made between the worthy
and unworthy, and on that this antithesis is found-
ed. We must not, therefore, understand the word
here iu its common doctrinal meaning ; it is no more
than th3 historical call or invitation, and the called
are simply the individual members of the theocracy,
and of the Christian Church. And so, further, the
idea of election here is r;ot the usual dogmatic con-
ception of an eternal decree, but that final election
in the judgment which, however, points back to the
first election. De Wet to goes no further, in his ex-
position, than tlii; definite sentence of the Judge upon
the worthiness and unworthiness of men. Meyer
interprets it of the eternal decree by which God ap-
pointed those to enter into the kingdom of the Mes-
siah who would appropriate His righteousness, ch.
xxv. 34 (essentially the Arminian view). Perhaps it is
better to go no further here also than the historical
illustration. Many are called ; iew, as actual guests,
have escaped as elect ones the two crises of judg-
ment. Probably the expression rests upon some
proverbial saying, such as. Many guests, few elect
ones. The Scripture doctrine of election is the basis
of the sajing ; but it is an election which is here
viewed in all its developments and processes down to
the judgment-day.
Vers. 1-14. The Meaning of the Parable op
THE Makuiage of THE King's Son. It spcaks every-
where for itpclf. God is the King, and the wedding
of Ilis Son is the feast of the Messiah's kingdom.
The invited, who have a second invitation, are the
Jews. The second invitirtion came through John
the Baptist and Jesus Christ. The city burnt is
Jerusalem. The second sending of the servants is
the mission of the Apostles. The highways are the
heathen world. Good and bad are the whole body
of heathen, receiving a common and unlimited pro-
clamation of the gospel. The other traits — the gen-
eral acceptance, etc. — have been already sufiicicntly
392
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
explained. Lampe understood by the wedding-gar-
ment Clii'Ist Himself: we regard it as the moral
excellence of the Christian character. Judas has
been discerned in the man without the garment
(eraTpe, eh. xxvi. 50) ; but the connection shows that
this man is the collective Antinomianism of the New
Testament economy.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the foregoing Exegetical Notes.
2. His enemies would oppress and destroy the
Lord through the might of their theocratic hierarchi-
cal autliority. But He constrained them, by the
might of His wisdom, to pronounce before the people
in the temple the sentence of their own deposition
and degradation. By the question concerning the
origin of John's baptism He accomplished three
things : 1. He constrained them to make manifest
how much they differed from the belief of the people
in the prophetic mission of the Baptist. 2. He
brought home to their minds their own guilt, in
having rejected the Baptist's express authentication
of His claims as the Messiah. 3. He rendered it
necessary that they should pronounce their own
sentence upon themselves as utterly incompetent to
discharge the duties of their office. Thus the defen-
sive was turned already into the offensive. But the
special attack upon tliem, to which He now passes
on, unfolds tlieir guilt and its punishment in perfect
gradation ; and here again they are obliged to pro-
nounce sentence upon themselves. Despisei'S of
John, the prophet of repentance, worse than the
publicans and harlots ! this is the first sentence.
That of the second is— Unfaithful stewards of the
Lord's vineyard, murderers of the Messiah, con-
demned, deprived of their office, degraded, and forced
to make way for strangers better than themselves ! —
this is the second sentence. Being with the whole
people insane despisers of God and His salvation,
and in all their acts rebels against Him, their city is
to be burned, while they themselves are to be de-
stroyed and to give place to the Gentiles !— this is
the third sentence, which the Lord Himself utters
in an allegorical prophecy. In all these mark the
gradation of their guilt. In the first parable they
are, by their " I will, sir," condemned, as well as by
the repentance of the publicans and harlots. In the
second parable they are condemned by the favorable
terms on which the vineyard is let to them, by the
long forbearance of the Proprietor, by the bold gen-
erosity with which He at last committed to them His
Son. In the third parable, by the dignified mvita-
tion of their King to the wedding of His Son, as if
they were friends, while at the same time they are
subjects, and might be commanded ; by the repeti-
tion of the call, and the anxious, almost supplicating,
manner in which the preparations are spoken of, and
the probable embarrassment caused by their ab-
sence ; but, most of all, by the emptiness of their
excuses, and the stupid malignity of their vengeance
upon the messengers who invited them.
3. The appendix in the' second parable perfects
its application to the Council ; but at the same time
unfolds the two sides of the judgment which falls
upon the builders who rejected the corner-stone.
The corner-stone of Ps. cxviii., which the builders
rejected, thus securing their own rejection, is made
here, on the one hand, a figure of Isaiah's suffering
Messiah (the stone of stumbhng in Israel's wa£
Is. viii. 14, 15), by the contemptuous rejection of
whom the enemies of the Messiah pronounced their
own spiritual condemnation ; and, on the other hand,
it is made a figure of Daniel's glorified Messiah (the
rock which descended from the highest mountain of
the earth into the valley), who m the judgments of
history annihilated His enemies. But the second
part of the third parable is a justification of the hint,
that the kingdom of God passes over to the Gentiles.
Hence it is shown that law, justice, and judgment
are to rule in the new economy, although in another
and a higher form.
4. The marriage of the Son. — The call to the
kingdom of God is a call to the highest honor, the
highest joy, and the highest festivity. The inviting
king is God ; the bridegroom is Christ ; the bride
(not here appearing) the Church. The fact that the
invited who accept the invitation belong to the
body, which is the bride, comes not into view in the
parable. Believers individually are the guests ; be-
lievers collectively are the bride. The guests are
the subjects of the king : He might constrain them
as servants to do the work of servants, but He in-
vites them as guests and friends to partake of His
honors and joys, and invites them even with ur-
gency. The motives of honor, love, duty, here all
co-operate in their influence. And this makes the
conduct of the first invited all the more unnatural
and damnable.
5. "It does seem strange that the invited guests
ill-treat and kill the messengers, who invite them to
make their appearance ; but what if this senseless
conduct in the parable were designed to point to the
equal folly of those who are now acting in the same
senseless way with regard to God's messages ! " —
Weisse (ii. p. 113).
6. At the end of this section, the theocratical
authority of Christ has taken the place of the old
and forfeited authority. The Sanhedrin had now
only the form of authority remaining with it. Es-
sentially it was displaced by Christ.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
I. The WnoLE Section. — The spiritual and real
reckoning between Christ and the Sanhedrin points
to the future open and historical reckoning. — The
full development of the fall of Israel. 1. Their
sin : (a) Disobedience under the guise of piety ;
ib) persecution of the prophets ; (c) the murder of
Christ ; {d) contempt of God, and self-exclusion from
the gospel feast. 2. Their judgment : (a) Put to
shame by publicans and harlots and Gentiles ;
{b) degradation from their dignity and historical
vocation ; (c) loss of their land ; (d) burning of their
city ; {e) and total downfall of all their glory. — Mark
the fate of every hierarchical dominion which, hke
that of the Jews, withstands the Lord.
II. The Question of the Sanhedrin ; ChrisCs
cowiler-qtccsdoti, ch. xxi. 23-32. — Christ is the spir-
itual avenger of the Baptist's blood in the temple. —
The Lord in his House obhged to defend His rights ;
outraged by servants, and treated by them as a usurp-
er.— Christ the conqueror of all hierarchical spirits in
the temple of God. The supi-cme authority of the
Lord robs all other autliority here of its power. —
The silencing of the Council : their silence was a
sign of their desperation and of their hardening. —
Connection of false prudence and fear : 1. False
prudence begets fear ; 2. fear begets false prudence.
CHAP. XXI. 23-XXII. 14.
393
— Before the Lord in His holy temple must all the
world keep silence.
III. The Parable of the Two Unequal Sons. —
The open, and the false character. — The penitent sin-
ner held up by the Lord to put to shame the hypo-
crite.— The Lord's sermon of repentance in the
temple.
IV. The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen,
ch. xxi. 33-41. — The fearful wickedness of God's
laborers, who would turn His vineyard into a private
possession. 1. The sources of this conduct : Mis-
understanding of the Lord's external absence, of His
longsuffering and tenderness ; selfishness, worldli-
ness, ambition, evil company. 2. The form of its
manifestation : Denial of the fruits ; contempt of the
messengers ; renunciation of the Lord ; conspiracy
against the Heir. 3. The issue of this conduct:
Displacement from their vocation ; loss of the vine-
yard ; and terrible ruin. — The ruinous delusion of
the servants of Christ who turn an oflice of service
into an office of rule. — The ordinary offices in the
Church are lost, when they fail to recognize the
Lord's extraordinary messengers. — The murder of
Christ in the vineyard of His Father ; John iii. 16 :
So God loved the world, etc. — The history of the
hardening of Israel an eternal warning to the
Church. — They knew the Son and they knew Him
not (Luke xsiii. 34 ; Acts iii. 1*7) ; their blindness
was a self-inflicted obscuration of their minds. — In
Christ's end the guilt of the whole world is summed
up. — How He made His enemies pronounce their
own doom.
Y. Christ the Stone Rejected by the Builders,
WHICH BECAME THE HeAD OF THE CORNER, ch. Xxi.
42-46. — As the Old Testament foretold the degen-
eracy of His officers, so did also the New. — Christ
the rock : 1. The stone which the builders rejected,
and who was made the corner-stone (Ps. cxviii.) ;
2. the stone in the way, a stumbling-block and a
stone to rest upon (Isa. viii.) ; 3. the rock which,
hewn out, rolled down from the everlasting hills
(Dan. ii). — How unbelief turns the warning of ruin
into a new and ruinous snare. — How the fear of the
people's faith restrained the enemies of the Lord in
their assaults. — The embarrassment and impotence
of the Jewish Council : 1. Pressed within by the
spiritual words of the Lord ; 2. pressed without by
the people's temper. — The malignity of unbehef
reaches its climax in the feeling of its own impo-
tence.
VI. The Marriage or the King's Son. The
old Scripture lesson for the twentieth Sunday after
Trinity. Ch. xxii. 1-14. — The kingdom of heaven
a wedding feast, which God has prepared for His
Son — All preaching of the gospel is an invitation to
this wedding. — Two kinds of guilt in dealing with
the invitation : 1. Contempt of the invitation : dis-
honoring (a) the King, (b) the Kmg's Son, (c) the
inviting messengers. 2. Contempt of the feast it-
self : (a) dishonoring the blessedness of the feast in
gross carnality and service of the world ; (6) dishon-
oring the holiness and consecration of the feast, in
preferring the beggarly fellowships of the world. —
The guilt of remaining away, and the guilt of appear-
ing ill (without the wedding-garment). — The dif-
ference and the common glory of the Old and New
Covenants. 1. The difference : the Old Testament
is the invitation to the feast ; the New Testament is
the feast itself. 2. The common glory : grace runs
through the whole of the Old Covenant as well as
the New ; and the spirit of judgment and justice runs
through the New Covenant as well as the Old (the
guests are examined). — The best thing in our earthly
Ufe is, that in it we are invited to the feast of the
salvation of God. — The true and proper loss of life
in life is the despising the invitation to God's great
feast. — How God in His mercy condescends to repre-
sent Himself as an embarrassed host, who fears for
the dishonoring of His feast, and prays us to come. —
All God's martyrs are persecuted messengers of invi-
tation.— How it can come to pass that unbelief should
rise in rebelUon against the invitation to the free
gift of blessedness. — Indifference which undervalues
salvation in the midst of earthly cares, and fanat-
icism which persecutes the heralds of the gospel, are
fundamentally one and the same self-seeking worldli-
ness, though assuming different forms. — All God's
judgments are the cotmterparts or antitheses of
slighted feasts and invitations. — The Lord's armies,
which He sends out for retribution (Romans, etc.) ;
or, heaven and earth must contend for the honor of
the Lord and His Son. — All the endless confusion of
the course of this world must subserve the one clear
end of God. — The passing over of the kingdom of
heaven from the first invited to the new guests. —
The ingratitude of those who would not come cannot
invalidate the feast : the wedding is fully furnished
and crowded nevertheless. — In the Church of the-
gospel the law is born again. — Friend, how camest
thou in hither ? or, lawlessness (Antinomianism) in
the Church, and its judgment. — Holy discipline of
the Church of Christ, the rule of Christ in the midst
of it. — The eternal consecration of the eternal feast
of Christ. — Outei- darkness ; or, the punishment of
the servants of men's precepls, and the scorners of
the law, the same. — 3Iany are called, etc., or the
difference between the external and the internal
Church : (a) called, elect ; (6) many, few ; (c) re-
maining without, new and different guests.
Selections from other Homiletical Commentaries.
1. The Question and the Counter-Question.
— Starke : — From Zeisius : The anti-christian spirit
arrogates to itself all power in the Church, and will
lord it over all things (2 Thess. ii. 4). — Spiritual
councils, synods, and consistories, not only may err,
but have erred, and err to this day ; so that we must
not obey them further than they conform to the word
of God. — Most necessary it is to use prudence in
dealing with the enemies of the truth. — Sometimes
the cunning of the enemy can be met and unmasked
by a little counter-question.
Gerlach : — The mysterious answer which Jesus
had given them the first time (John ii.) had remahied
dark to their minds. — Christ's counter-question was
by no means a mere evidence of His prudence, or an
evasive reply ; but He opens up to His enemies the
way to acknowledge His Messiahship, for if. they
beheved in John, they must receive his testimony
concerning Jesus as the Messiah.
2. The Two Sons. — Starke : — Two sorts of men :
manifest sinners, and hypocrites. — Quesnel: What
would have been to man, in a state of innocence,
pleasure, is now hard work on account of sin. —
Cramer : To sin is human, but to continue in sin is
deviUsh. — We must never give up all hope of the
vilest sinner. — Behold, Jesus receiveth the vilest sin-
ners, pubUcans and harlots ! — Hedinger : Hypocrites
promise much and keep httle. — Obstmate persons
are hard to convert. — Good examples of penitents
should draw sinners to follow them.
394
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Hcuhner : — The first application is to tlie persons
named in ver. 31 ; the second, to the Jews and Gen-
tiles. But the parable is for all men generally. —
Those that are converted late often become more '
acceptable to God than those who are relapsing from I
early zeal. — The summoning " Go work " is for
every man. — True improvement comes from action,
not i'rora wishing and promising.
3. The Wickkd Husbandmen. — Starke: — From
Qitesnel : Ministers of the divine word must regard j
their flocks as a vineyard of the Lord. — The rulers
of the Church are often its greatest persecutors, and
most responsible for its corruptions. — The Son of
God is heir of all things : whosoever rejects Him
here has no part in the heavenly inheritance. — Those
who cast Jesus out of their hearts, cast Him also
out of the vineyard which Ke purchased with His
blood. — Zeislus: The wicked are very often made
unconsciously to bear witness against themselves. —
The time of retribution will come.
Gerlach : — The number of the prophets increased
in the later ages of tlie Israelitish people ; so also,
the longer the Church lives, th^ further the indi-
vidual advances, the more abundant are the tokens
of God's grace. — He sent Ms son (xxi. 37, comp.
Heb. i. 2). Important passage, showing how Christ
essentially distinguished Himself from all the former
messengers of God, by His own peculiar relation to
His heavenly Father. — The husbandmen know the
son : thus Christ declares that His enemies knew
who He was, or at least that they were guilty of
their own ignorance. He tells them also why they
watched for His life : because they feared He would
take from them their usurped authority. — Human
nature, in rebellion against Chiist, has a right in-
stinct, that if it could overcome Him, it would over-
come all opposition.
Heubner : — The high priests acted as the agents
or representatives of the evil spirit, the prince of
this world. If Jesus could be destroyed, all would
be won for Satan. — The Church of Christ often the
stage of most frightful cruelty. — God's judgments
become more and more severe. — The Jewish people
a monument of divine mercy and justice.
4. The Corner-Stone. — Starke: — From Can-
stcin : The corner-stone of the Church is Christ :
1 Cor. iii. 11; Eph. ii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 6-8.— The
Saviour falls on no one as a judgment, who has not
already by unbehef stumbled at Him. — So blind are
the ungodly, that they fear men, while they have no
fear of God.
Heubner .-—The Old Testament had foretold the
rejection of the Son of God ; the New Testament
foretells to us the apostasy from Christianity,* for
the warning and confirmation of believers. — Jesus
* [In German : den Abfall vom Christenthum, ^rom
OhrUtianittj, not of ChriatenOom, as the Edinb. trsl. has it,
which would require in German : den Abfall dee Ohui-
STENHEIT. — P. 8.1
honored the Scripture, and everywhere saw in it the
counsel of God indicated. ■ Ought not this to inspire
the Christian with reverence for the Old Testament ?
— What wise one of this world, what human reason,
would have conceived, under the cross, that this
man, hanging suspended between two malefactors,
and despised by all, would one day receive the wor-
ship of the whole world ? — This is the Lord's doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes. — Vain are all
attempts and devices to suppress the truth, or
thwart the counsel of God. — It is madness to rush
against the rock : it is for us only to rest and
build on. — The doom of the despisers of God's
grace.
5. The Wedding Feast, ch. xxii. 1-14. — Starke:
— The bUnd world often regards the good messen-
gers, who invite them to a heavenly feast, as their
enemies. — God is great, not only in His love, but
also in His anger. — Cramer : Joyful word : All
thmgs are ready ! Alarming word : Thou art not
ready ! — Osiander : Let all take care that they do
not slight the gospel, that God may not take away
His word ("and give it to others "). — QucKnel: In
the work of salvation there is no respect of persons.
— Cramer : In heaven there are only good, in hell
only wicked ; but in the militant Church there are
tares and wheat together (Gregor. M. Homil. 38). —
He was speechless : Job ix. 3 ; Ps. cxxx. 3. — Zeisius :
The small number of the elect should make no Chris-
tian despond, or weaken his hope of salvation ; but
only cause him to rub all sleep out of his eyes. — Not
external communion with the Church, but divine
election througli faith, saves us.
Gerlach : The wedding feast of the Son of God
with mankind, when He assumed our flesh. — The
highways, the places where men most congregate.
Heubner : — My dinner. God has made all pro-
vision for our salvation, and that in the most abun--
daut manner. — The climax : 1. Seize, hold fast and
imprison, those to whom all houses and hearts should
be opened ; 2. Scorn, despise in word and act, those
to whom men are bound to show the greatest respect
and love ; 3. Kill, those for whom the longest life
should be desired. — Christianity is offered to us
without merit. — The wisdom of God knows even how
to derive good from evil. — The Jews' contempt for
the gospel sent it over to the Gentiles. — All without
distinction are invited. — Different receptions of the
invitation to the kingdom of heaven. — The goodness
and earnestness of the call of mercy.
Hofacker : — The righteous judgment of God
upon those who obey not the gospel. — Reinhard : —
The predominant spirit of every age furnishes its
own pretexts for repelhng the appeals of the gospel.
— J. J. Rambach : — The vain hope of false Chris-
tians.
[Comp. also Matthew Henry, on the parable of
the Marriage Feast, on which he is quite full and
rich for practical purposes. — P. S.]
CHAP. XXII. 15-22.
395
B. Tlie Attack of tlie Herodians or the Politicians, and the Victory of tlie Lord. Ch. XXII, 15-22.
(Mark xii. \Z-Vl ; Luke xx. 20-26. The Goapelfor the 23i Sunday after Trinity.)
15 Then Avent the Pharisees, and took counsel how tliej might entangle [ensnare, cn-
16 trap] him in his talk [with a word, eV Adyco].^ And they sent out unto him their dis-
ciples with the Herodians, '^ saying. Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest
the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man [one, ov — oiSevds] : for thou
17 regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What tliinkest thou? Is it lawful
18 to give tribute unto Cesar, or not? But Jesus perceived [knowing, yvovs] their wick-
19 edness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money [to
20 vofjiLcrfxa tou Ki]vcrov]. And they brought unto him a penny [denary].^ And he saith
unto them, Whose is this image and superscription [the inscription, r} eVtypac^ry] ?
21 They say unto him, Cesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render* therefore unto Cesar
the things which are Cesar's [the tilings of Ca3sar to Cassar, to. Katcrapos Kato-apt] ; and
unto God the tilings that are God's [the things of God to God, to. tov @eov tc3 ©ew].
22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
1 Ver. 15.— ["O ttois ai'Tb;' ir ay tS (vct wa iv (from ■Kayls, a snare, a trap) ev Koy w , Lange : uni ihn {mit
List)zufangenineine,m Ausspruch; Ewald: ilurch eiii Wort. The word here refers to the aVtfal question in ver. 17,
to which, they thought, He must either ans\ver yes or no, and in either case fatally compromise Himself. Meyer: "ev
\6ycji, in einer Rede, d. h., in eiiietn Ausspruche, welchen er thun wurde. Dieser ist als Falle oder SchUnge
{n ayi^) gedacht." In Cod. Sinait. the words : eV Ao'/a', are omitted. — P. 8.]
2 Ver. IG.— [Dr. Lange inserts after Herodians in small type : "Politicians, adherents of the Roman party of the Hero-
dian house.'" — P. S.]
3 Ver. 19.— [ A 7j vipiov. See the Critical Notes on xviii. 28 and xx. 2.— P. S.]
** Ver. 21.— ['A 7r d 5 o t e , reddite, render as a due, not : Sore, date, as a gift. Comp. Eom. xiii. 7 : arrdSoTe ovu
■Kani r'as u<pii\ds. Render unto all their dues. Tertullian {De idol. 15): '-Reddite imaginem Ccesari quce
est, et imaginem Dei Deo qum in homine est.''' — P. S ]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Yer. 15. Then ■went the Pharisees. — The
Pharisees fox-med the main element in the deputation
of the Sanhedriu, which aimed to annihilate the Lord
by a stroke of authority. But their blow He had
made to recoil upon themselves. They stood as per-
sons who were stripped of their spiritual authority ;
while He, by the same words which stripped them,
demonstrated His own Messianic power, and remained
in the temple as its actual Lord. His authority with
the people, which it was sought to impair, was thus
strengthened anew. His enemies enter mto the fact of
their position ; yet not with repentance and obedience,
but with a hypocritical acknowledgment, that they
might again ensnare Him by cunning. This they
could compass only by bringing Him into suspicion
of the crime, of which they were themselves con-
scious, of exciting machinations against the Roman
government. They wanted a political Messiah : that
He would not become. They now sought to involve
Him in the appearance of being a political Messiah,
in order that they might hand Him over to the Ro-
man authorities as an insurrectionary. They would
suggest to Him, or impo.se upon Him, the sedition of
their own hearts, that thus they might ruin Him.
Thus they v/ent further and further into tlic most
abandoned course of lying, urged by the exasperation
which His last great warning parables had provoked
to the uttermost. How great this cxaspeiation was,
appears from the fact that it was the Pharisees of
tlie Sanhedrin, the bitterest enemies of Rome, who
made this attack, and connected themselves, for the
accomplishment of their purpose, with the Herodiau
political party. And the greatness of their obduracy
and blindness appears in this, that after all they ac-
tually brought Him to the cross under the charge of
being a poUtical Messiah, although He rebuked and
repelled every solicitation to utter a seditious word.
They hoped to succeed in their temptation, because
they were blinded by the spirit of absolutism which
regards every departure from its laws and demands
as rebellion and revolution.
And took counsel. — It is a counsel of cunning.
Their purpose is now to confront Him as private per-
sons, who have much respect for His person ; and for
this purpose they have a perilous question ready.
Hence the new assault upon our Lord assumes the
form of a series of distinct party attacks. The Phar-
isees take the lead with theirs ; and theirs was, in-
deed, the most cunningly devised. The Sadducees
then follow, in an attack more direct and outspoken,
though equally disguised as to its ultimate purpose.
And then come, lastly, the scribes of the Pharisees'
party, and try their strength on His.
Ver. 16. Their disciples v/ith the Herodians.
— It was part of the cunning of this new attack, that
the Pharisees — the most dignified members of the
Sanhedrin — who had just olHeially encountered Jesus,
did not now appear before Him in the new character
of hypocritical submission. He should by no means
know their design. Hence they sent tlieir disciples,
young and unknown persons, who were students of
the science of expounding Scripture. Cut for these
they had been able to provide an accompaniment of
political partisans, Herodians, probably also of the
younger sort. They were the liigh-born academical
youth of Jerusalem : an appropriate organ to use in
a temptation to theocratical revolution around the
temple of Zion. Meyer : " The Herodians were that
party of the Jews who were devoted to the royal
house of Herod — a party political, not hierarchical,
396
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
yet not purely Roman ; popular royalists, in opposi-
tion to the pure principle of the theocracy, but also
to the unpopular Romau dominion (against Caesar),
siding with the powerful Fliarisees from policy and
according to circumstances. For other and in part
very singular interpretations, see Wolf and Kcicher
in loc* The passage in Joseph. Ardiq. xiv. 15, 10,
refers to other circum'^tances, comp. Ewald, p. 19G.
To regard them as adherents of the Roman govern-
ment generally (and not specifically a faction devoted
to the Herodian family), is forbidden by the special
name which they bore.- It was deep cunning in the
hierarchy to unite themselves with this royalist fac-
tion ; for thus they hoped to embolden Jesus to utter
a word which might be interpreted against the cen-
sus-tribute. Their flattei'ing introduction had this
design ; and their further plan was to urge a political
complaint against Him before tlie Roman authorities.
Comp. Luke xx. 20. But, should an affirmative an-
swer upset this scheme, they would at least succeed
in placing the Herodians in antagonism to Him."
Rather, they would in this case make Him hateful to
the people, in consequence of His unconditional testi-
mony in favor of subjection to the Romau dominion.
The Herodians were, after all, anti-theocratic in their
sentiments, and could only wear the mask of a patri-
otic royaUsm, which might serve as a temptation to
the Lord. A third contingency, that Jesus might
decline giving any answer. His opponents seem
scarcely to have at all contemplated. It may have
occurred to their minds, however, that they might
possibly use Hun yet as a tool in a gigantic rebel-
lion.
Master, -we know. — A cunning hint,f that they
were ready to pay Him honor as the Messiah. In
a sincere spirit Nicodemus said the same tiling, John
iii. 2.
That Thou art true : truthful.— With all their
deceit, they actually thought this. ■ The most aban-
doned falsehood is constrained to acknowledge His
pure sincerity.
Thou teaohest the way of God ia truth.^ —
Hypocritical recognition, (1) of His doctrine, and (2)
of His manner of teaching or His orthodoxy. The
way of God, in the Jewish scholastic sense ; emphat-
ically, the practical instruction which came from God
Himself and represents His will ; the revelation of
God as the standard for human conduct. See Bret-
schneider, suh o5o'j.
Neither carest Thou for any one. — A cun-
ning temptation to lift Himself, in His proud con-
sciousness, above all respect or care for the Roman
authorities. They had indeed found that their power
had no effect to intimidate Him in the way of truth.
But they might have known that His independence
was always connected with the purest submission to
the powers that are. Their involuntary acknowledg-
ment shines through their false speech.
Regardest not the person of men. — n p 6 <t u:-
ir 0 1/ is the outward appearance : the representative
of an authority. Oh PKewets irpSa-uirov is essentially
* [The Edinb. trsl. reads here: "For some remarkable
hints, see Wolf," — mistaking probably the nehr sonderhare
Deutungen of the original tor wiincierbare Andeiitwngen.
Mistakes of this kind, whether of carelessness or ignorance
of the German language, and all sorts of arbitrary om ssions
and changes, occur on every page, yea almost in every sen-
tence of this and several preceding chapters, and make the
revision a more tedious and disagreeable task than a new
translation.— P. S.]
t [A cunning and malignant captatio lenezolentlce, as
Meyer calls lt.-P. S.]
the same as Luke's oh \afj.^du€is -rrpoa-coTrov, ver. 21,
but stronger.
Ver. 17. Is it lawful ?— To the Jew. De Wette:
" According to theocratical principles, which regard-
ed Jehovah as the only King in Israel." The theo-
cratical prerogative, however, had not interfered with
the representation of Jehovah by human kings in Is-
rael ; and the Israelites had paid tribute always to
them. In fact, they had in past times paid tribute
even to foreign potentates — the 1 abyloniaiis, Per-
sians, etc. How tlien, in the face of such precedents,
could the question be urged as it was urged on the
present occasion ? The explanation is to be found in
the fact, that the Jewish fanaticism had increased
fi'om generation to generation, and that it was now
rapidly approaching the point of culmination which
it reached at last in the Jewish war. And the hope
of the Messiah was also increasing in strength. Thus,
while the payment of tribute to a human king might
generally be lawful, it was otherwise with a heathen
king, especially Csesar, who threatened to take the
place of tlie Messiah as His dark rival in the rule of
the world : this might appear apostasy from the theoc-
racy and the hope of Messiah's kmgdom. In this
spirit Judas the Gaulonite (Joseph. Antiq. xviii. 1 ;
Acts V. 37) had refused the census of the Romans ;
regarding it as the decisive sign of servitude. And
certainly the Jews might have been justified in re-
fusing all political homage to the C33sar, if the history
of the theocracy had not established a distinction be-
tween the religious and the political element, ami in-
troduced and accustomed them to such a differ-
ence between the Church and the State. But fanati-
cism ignored this distinction as a temporary abuse,
and supposed that with the advent of the Messiah it
would disappear ; meanwhile it w^as a disorder that
must be cunningly submitted to as a necessity. Christ
opposes to their temptation the perfect and clear dis-
tinction as it was appointed by God. The question :
"Is it lawful?" of itself obscures the supposition of
duty ; and the question : " Must we, as servants of the
theocracy, refuse the tribute ? " meant, in other words :
Must we resist the dommion of the Romans, and rise
up in rebelUon ?
Or not ? — The not lawful they would fain have
put in His mouth.
Ver. 18. Hypocrites. — Bengel: '■'■Jems verum
se eis ostendit ut dixeraut, ver. 16."
Ver. 19. The tribute-money.— The coin in
which the tribute is paid. Ubicunque numisma
regis alicujus obtinet, illic incoUe regtm istuni pro
domino agnoscunt. Maimon. iri Gezelah, v. 18.
Vers. 20, 21. Whose is this image? — The
Lord's answer gains infinitely in emphasis wlien we
connect it with the action in which He clothes it.
Bearing this coin in their hands, they were obliged
to appear before Him as the subjects of Caesar, and
themselves read the decision of their own question in
the word " Ctesar." But the truth of the answer con-
sists in this, that every one has subjected himself to
the actual obligations of a State who has entered into
its rights, as symboUzed by its currency. Or, he who
acknowledges the ruler's right of coining, acknowl-
edges also his right to tribute ; he who takes the
coin from Caesar, must give it back to him again.
Thus Jesus makes the payment of tribute a duty of
virtual obligation. The com is already Caesar's. But
the word is to. Kaicr apos , the things of Ccesar ;
and it includes therefore all the obligations to the
State. But this obedience must ever be conditioned
by obedience to God, to whom all must pay the trib-
CHAP. XXII. 15-22.
397
ute of T a Tov @€ ov, the things of God. And here
we must not think merely of any particular tribute —
the temple-tribute (the usual interpretation), or re-
pentance (Ebrard) — but of all religious obligations.
Erasmus: Give to God that which has the image and
inscription of God, the soul {quod Dei habet iiiscrip-
tionem ef imnc/inem, i. e., ani/iium).
Yer. 21. And unto God the things that are
God's. — The word was not only a precept, but also a
correction ; since they denied to the Father Himself, in
the person of Jesus, the honor due to Him. And so
also the word : " Render unto Caesar the things which
are Cesar's," might have spared them the Jewish
war, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the downfall
of their nation.
[The answer of our Saviour in ver. 21 is perhaps
the wisest answer ever given to sCnj question, cer-
tainly the wisest which could possibly be made
in this case, and we need not wonder that the ene-
mies who elicited it, " marvelled and left Him." It
establishes the rights, regulates the duties, and dis-
tinguishes the jurisdiction of the spiritual and tem-
poral powers and their subjects. It contains the
fundamental priiiciple and guide for the settlement
of the vexed question of Church and State, which has
created so much trouble and persecution in the his-
tory of Christianity. If men would always strictly
adhere to this rule, there never would be a hostile
collision between the two powers, which are both of
divine origin and authority, the one for the temporal,
the other for the eternal welfare of man, and which
ought to be kept distinct and independent in their re-
spective spheres without mixture and confusion, and
yet without antagonism, but in friendly relation in
view of their common origin in God, and their com-
mon end and completion in the ^a(n\iia rrjs 5o|r)s,
where God shall be all in all. — P. S.]
DOCTPvINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The temptation of Christ to revolution, through
the students and aristocracy of Jerusalem, as the in-
struments of His enemies.
2. The Messiah Himself divides here the theoc-
racy, which was both Church and State, into Church
and State as two distinct parts : He consigns the
kingdom of this world to CaBsar, while He limits and
conditions it by the kingdom of God.
3. Render unto Cesar that which is Ccesar''s. —
Here the duty of obedience is deduced from the fact
of the existing dominion. Caesar had the coin, there-
fore it should be given to him ; Cassar had the pow-
er, therefore he should be obeyed. De Wette dis-
tinguishes in a futile way between the principles of
conscience, of right, and of power and prudence.
Prudence is also matter of conscience. To revolt
against authority, is contrary to conscience. Politi-
cal obligations have entered in, as matter of fact,
wherever people have settled themselves in the enjoy-
ment of political right.s. Hence the passages, Rom.
xiii. 1 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1 ; 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17, belong here.
On the distinction between legitimate and unright-
eous dominion, this text says nothing. But it does
say that he who has accepted the protection of an
actual government, has entered into its political con-
stitution, and acknowledged thereby its rights. The
legitimist feeling of devotion to an oppressed power
must maintain its propriety by banisliment and suffer-
ing with it. It can co-exist with the new bond of
subjection only as a wish, a sentiment, a longing for
deUverance. Enjoying the protection of the existing
power, it must submit to the obligations which thence
arise. But the antithesis, " Unto God that which is
God'.s," is self-characterized as the higher or absolute
principle, which is the condition of the former. Comp.
Acts iv. 19 [which contains the right of disobedience
to the temporal power, where it clearly contradicts
the laws of God.— P. S.].
4. Money represents the palpable earthly side of
government and civil relations. He who, in the im-
press of the coin, is acknowledged as the ruler over
the money of the land, is thereby marked out as the
ruler of the land. In a certain sense, therefore, the
money circulation is a pei-manent symbol of political
subjection and mark of allegiance.* But, over against
the external and visible dominion of Cajsar over the
civil life, there is the immediate dominion of God
over the internal and unseen life. These two domin-
ions are not indeed co-ordinate ; the latter is supreme
over the former ; but it has a pre-eminence which ad-
mits of a certain appearance of division between the
power of Caesar and the power of God. But the im-
press of God is upon the spirit ; therefore the life of
the soul must be given to God. By the requirement :
" Give unto God the things that are God's," Christ
certainly, as Gerlach remarks, pointed out to them
the way in which they might become really free again ;
yet not in any such sense as would encourage them
to hope for a return of the old theocracy. Obedience
to God will make Christendom free from the violence
of secular power, and ready for admission into the
perfect kingdom of God.
5. The right distinction between that which is
God's and that which is Cassar's, must lead to the
true unity of life ; while the confusion of these two
must lead to division, lie, and hypocrisy. The Jewish
hierarchy, in their superstition, made some scruple
whether they should pay Ca3sar his tribute ; and then
they threw their own Messiah to him, whose golden
fidelity displayed most gloriously the image of God.
6. Langii opus Bihl. : We may easily imagine
how ashamed these conceited young men must have
felt when they departed : wicked as they were they
could not but feel that they and their teachers
must have nothing but confusion to expect from their
encounters with Christ.
v. The peculiar case where the magistrate con-
founds political and spiritual subjugation, and exerts
tyranny over conscience, as Antiochus Epiphanes did
and many others, is here not taken into account, in-
asmuch as the Roman government at the time of
Christ tolerated and respected the rights of con-
science, and for some time even protected the Chris-
tians (though not Christ Himself) against the fanat-
icism of the Jews.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The temptation of our Lord to pronounce a watch-
word of rcbelUon : 1. The cunning attenijit of the ene-
mies ; 2. the instruments ; 3. the issue. — The political
temptations of Christians : 1. To refuse tribute (insur-
rection and rebellion) ; 2. to sacrifice the conscience
* [CoDip. QuESNEL m loc. : "Tlie itTia°:e of princes stamp-
pfl on their coin denotes that temporal things belong all to
their governance; and the image of God imprinted on the
soul of man teaches that whatever use he makes either of
himself or of the creatures, ought to be referred to God. . . .
Princes [Rulers] being more the images of God than other
men, ought also to render to God whatever they receive
from men, by directing it all to His glory." — P. S.]
508
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
(servility).*— ^Christ supreme victor over all the cun-
uiug and all the violence of His oiieniies. — The counsel
of the ungodly, Vs. ii. ; their snares, Prov. xxix. 5. —
("umiiiip;, the ancient fellow of violence, especially in
the g(jvernment of the hierarchy.— Christ's victory over
cunning is the victory of God's kingdom over cunning.
— The contest of the Lord with the cunning of His
foes tended to the glorification of His wisdom. 1.
They take counsel : He is thoroughly prepared. 2.
They would entangle Him : He seeks to deliver them
out of their own snare. 3. They praise Him in order
to His destruction : He rebukes them, in order to
arouse and save them. 4. They would fain involve
llim in their own wicked designs : He punishes them
in His righteousness. 5. They wish to judge Him as
guilty : lie dismisses them as Judge. — The covenant
of thehierarchs and Herodians in order to overvrhelm
Christ. — The various decisions of Christ touching
money. — The salutary distinction of Christ between
Church and State. — The decision of Christ upon the
rights of Cajsar: 1. They are rights which are deriv-
ed from God ; 2. they are co-ordinate to the spiritual
rights of the church ; o. they arc subordinate to the
rights of God. — The weight of the clause, " And to
God that which is God's." — Only he who rightly dis-
tinguishes between religious and civil duties will know
how to connect them aright. — The hypocritical blend-
ing of religion and policy: 1. By withholding the
dues to the civil government,, under pretext of sav-
ing the rights of (Jod ; 2. by sacrificing the most sa-
cred rights of God and His church to the secular
power. — The enemies of the Lord gather strength
from every new humiliation to harden themselves
afresh. — The three kinds of assault which His ene-
* [Tho precediiijr s^cntences in the Homiletical and the
concliidinj,' paragraphs of the Doctrinal sections, nearly half
a cnluinn, are omitted entire in the Edinb. trsl., and the
lloiriiietical Hints which follow are either omitted or arbi-
trarily abridged. — 1'. 8.]
mics make upon the cause of Christ: 1. With vio-
lence ; 2. with cunning ; 3. with cunning and violence
combined.
Slarle : — Canskin : Wicked hearts are only
more wicked and malicious by faithful warnings. —
The two kinds of serpents, the crooked and the
straight ( Isa. xxvii. 1 ; first cunning, then might). —
Zeisius : When Christ is to be opposed, Herod and
Pilate soon become one. — Hypocrites and liars have
honey on their lips, and gall in their hearts, Ps. Iv.
21. — Qucsnel: The praise of ungodly men is full of
snares. — Zeisms : No attack and no cunning of any
avail against the Lord. — He who has God's word and
truth on his side is sure to carry off the victory. —
Osiander : He who would put to shame God's ser-
vants will himself be put to shame. — The cunning
which would entrap wisdom is itself caught.
Liitco : — Christ shows here that it is not His pur-
pose to efreet any change in earthly political relations
(that is, in a political and earthly way).
Heubner : — The Truth, Christ, stands here in the
presence of falsehood. — It is the vocation of the pious
to have to move among those who continually per-
vert their words. — The Christian's bearing toward
the various political parties in the world. — What they
did in cunning and mahce, we should do in earnest
sincerity : ask Christ's advice in all cases of doubt
and conflict of duties. — The Christian living under a
wicked government must submit in all things that do
not molest his conscience. — The voice of the gospel
on the duties of subjects. — The Christian should re-
commend his religion by his civil and political hon-
esty.— Christ's dignity in the answer to these ques-
tions concerning the duiies of subjects and rulers.
Reinhard : — The right of subjects to judge the rule
and commands of their governors. — T. W. Wolf : —
How little the Lord is served by false praise. — Ham-
bach : — The most pious Christian is the best cit-
izen.
C. TTie Attack of the Sadducees, and the Victor >/ of the Lord. Ch. XXII. 23-33.
(Mark xii. 18-27 ; Luke xx. 27-40.)
23 The same day came to him the^ Sadducees, which [who] say that there is no resur-
24 rection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, lif a man die, having no children,
25 his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed mito his brother. Now there were
with us seven brethren [brothers] : and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased,
26 and, having no issue,^ left his wife rmto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the
27 third, unto the seventh [unto the seven, eco? twv cTrra]. And last of all the woman died
28 also. Therefore in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all
29 had her. Jesus answered and said unto tliem, Ye do err [Ye err, go astray, TrAavScr^e],
30 not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither
31 marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God^ in heaven. But as
touching [concerning] the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was
32 spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob (Ex, iii. 6)? God is not the God* of the dead, but of the living.
33 And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at this doctrine.
1 Ver. 23.— [The article is wantin? in Greek and should be omitted in the trsl.— P. S.] ■, , ^ t .
■■^ Ver. 25.— [Liter.ally : and the first, Ti^nving married, died {or: married and died), and haviriff no seed, left his
rcife to his brother, 7ct/.ojcro'-5 eVeXeiiTrjo-e " Kod fji^ '4x<^v (nrepij.a, 6.(priK€, k.t.A.—V. S.]
3 Ver. IT.— ToD @eov is omitted in B., D., etc., acoordinfr to Meyer on account of Mark xii. 26 [ws S77eAoi er toTs
ovpavols].
CHAP. XXn. 23-33.
399
* Vcr. 3-2.— The second QecU [before veicpacv] is stricken out by Lnchmann on the nuthority of B., L., and other ancient
MSS. But here, too, Meyer defends it, and explains tlie omission from the desire of copyists to conform to Marie and
Luke. [Omitted in Cod. Sinait.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 23. Sadducees. — Sre E.teg. Notes on ch.
iii. 7, p. 71, and WinerV article upon them.
Who say (teach). — The ol beibre \iyovTts must
not be given up, though wanting in B., D., and other
codices. See de Wette.
There is no resurrection. — It may be asked,
how far and in what sense we are to regard the ques-
tion of the Sadducees as a temptation ; for, doubtless,
their questicTn also, Uke that of tlie Pharisees, was
framed with a view to entangle our Lord in some
matter of accusation ; and therefore we may assume
that their malice was the counterpart of the malice
of the Phaiiseos. It was the last consequence of
Pharisaism — which no Pharisee, however, would
openly express — that no tribute was to be given to
yCassar, but that his government was to be overturned.
Now, this was the position to which they wished
Jesus to commit Himself. And so also the Saddu-
cees— though they did not come forward with an
outspoken denial of tlie resurrection — hoped that
they would make the Lord appear nothing but a
Sadducee, and thereby eftectually rob Him of all His
influence and authority with the people. Should
they not thus get the better of Him before the mul-
titude, it was prob;ible that Jesus would give some
interpretation of the passage and of the doctrine
which would bring Hun into colhsion with Moses
and the law. But they scarcely expected such a
solution as Jesus gave ; it never entered their
thoughts that He would make so clear and definite
a distinction between this Ufo and the next. They
hoped that they should constrain Him publicly to
avow their secret doctrine, even as the Pharisees
had hoped that they might make Him declare Him-
self a consummate Pharisee.
Ver. 24. Master, Moses said. — Deut. xxv. 5.
They freely quoted the Mosaic law concerning the
Levirate marriage. It was ordained, for the preser-
vation of families, that if a man died without male j
issue, his brother should marry the widow, and that |
the first-born son should be held in the registers to \
be the son of the dead brother. (Michaelis : Mosa-
ischcs Recht, ii. p. 98.) On this passage they con-
struct a startling example, which in all probability
was purely fictitious and boldly and unscrupulously
carried out : their argument takmg it for granted
that, if there were ever a resurrection, the marriage
must needs be renewed in another world. Thus,
their design was to show, out of the law itself, that
the doctrine of a resurrection was something unten-
able, and a gross absurdity.
Ver. 26. Unto the seven. — That is, unto the
seventh.
Ver. 2!?. Not knowing the Scriptures, etc. —
There is here a twofold source of knowledge : Holy
Scripture, and spiritual experience ; or, as the theo-
logian would say, a formal and a material principle.
Out of the ignorance of the one source* or the
other spring the Sadducee and the Rationalist tend-
encies to error. It is very observable that our Lord
* [The Edinb. trsl. omits the igorance of {aus dem
NiclUwisKcn der einen Quelle, etc.), and thus makes the
errors of Siddiicism and Rationalism actually spring from
the Holy bcriptures and spiritual experience! — P. S.]
i does not confront them with the rebuke, that they
did not hold tradition sacred. Pharisaism which
stuck to the traditions was no cr.re for Sadducism.
The latter could never be set free I'rom its negations,
without learning more profoundly to study and apply
its own positive principles. Scripture and the spiritual
life. In what sense, then, was it that they did not
understand Scripture ? In so far as they failed to
discern in it its own living substance, its peculiar
meaning in reference to the dcctrino of imm(U'tality.
But they understood not the power of God, inas-
much as they put no trust in the power of God over
death, in His power to raise the dead ; and therefore
had no ability to conceive of or anticipate the glori-
fication of the present body into a higher state, into
a life in which present sexual relations should no
longer subsist.
Ver. 80. In the resurrection. — Fritzsche : In
the resurrection life. Meyer, on the other hand : In
the rising. It does not, however, point merely to
the moment of the commencement of the new life ;
but to the state in which that issues, as eV t?7 7raAi7-
-yei/etria-, ch. xix. 28. — Nor given in marriage
This has reference to the custom of the Jews, that
the female members of the flimily were given in
marriage by their father. The resurrection is a
higher state of things, in which death is extinguished
in the glorification of life, and all thmgs pertaining
to marriage and the sexes done away (Luke xx. 36 ;
1 Cor. XV. 44).
As the angels in heaven. — That is, the angels
who are in heaven. Meyer : The risen are not yet
in heaven. But compare 2 Cor. v. 1 ; 1 Thess. iv.
17. Yv''ith the first resurrection begins the transition
of earthly nature into the heavenly ; and with the
general resurrection earth and heaven will have be-
come one in a glorified heavenly domain. " We find
among the Rabbins similar notions of the future
relations of the body and of the sexes {see Wetstein) ;
but also such a low sensual view as this : mulier ilia,
qua duohus nupsit in hoc mundo, priori reatiti^tur
in nnmdo faturo. Sohar." Meyer.
Ver. 31. But concerning the resurrection of
thfe dead. — Jesus demonstrates the resurrection by
the passage, Exod. iii. G. They drew their argument
frora the Thorah, from the books of Moses ; and He
finds His proof in the same.* De Wette : " From
this the erroneous conclusion was deduced, even by
the Fathers. (Tertull. de Prcesc. cap. 4.5 ; Hieron.
ad loc.), and by later divines, that the Sadducees
accepted only the five books of Moses as canonical
(an error which Olshausen seems to retain). Comp.
Winer, art. SadducderP So also Meyer ; but both
of them have rather too confidently adopted Winer's
* [The passaffo occurs in connection with tlie appearance
of .Ji-hovah to Moses in the burning bush, which was itself a
striking' symbol of the power of God to preserve what in the
course of nature must perish. Alford: -'Our Lord does
not cite the strong testimonies of the Prophets, as Is.a. xxvi.
19; Ezek. xxxvii. 1-14; Dan. xii. 2, but says, as in Luke
(x.\-. 37), ' fpe/i MoHtH hns shewn,' etc., leaving those other
witnesses to be supplied. The books of Moses were tlio
great and ultimate appeal for all doctrine : and thus the as-
sertion of the Resurrection comes from tlie very source
whence their difficulty had been constructed." Thus the bur-
den of the law, '/am the Lord thy God.' contains the seed
of immortality and the promise of the resurrection. The
law is the hani shell whicli contains and protects the pre-
cious kernel of the gospel.— P. S.]
400
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEAV.
views.* The remark of Josephus {Cotitra Apion.
i. 8), that the wliole of the twenty-two books were
esteemed divine by tlie Jews without exception, has
no particular weight ; for he is speaking only of the
Jews generally, and in mass ; and it is well known
that the !>adducees did not dare to make a public
dogma of their rejection of the post-Mosaic Scrip-
tures, and of the doctrine of the resurrection. It is
plain that the assertion of Josephus cannot be
strictly appUed to all parties, in view of the relation
of the Essenes to the law of sacrifices, and other
matters in the Old Testament. {See the Pseudo-
Clementines.) The passage, quoted by Winer, from
Josephus {Antiq. xiii. 10, 6j, declares that the Sad-
ducees taught : hilv ■/■jye'trrdat vofxijjLa ra ■yeypa.fj.iJ.iva,
that the holy writings must be honored. But these
Scriptures were previously defined to be the laws of
Jfoses (so Josephus himself says, xviii. 1, 4). At the
same time they rejected the tradition of the fathers.
Thus tliey definitely acknowledged only the Mosaic
Scriptures, and definitely rejected only tradition.
Their position, meanv.'hile, toward the remainder of
the Scripture, was olficially an ambiguous one. That
bad antithesis between Mosaic and non-Mosaic Scrip-
tures, which Josephus adduces, was attributed to
them also by the Talmud : Negarunt legem ore tra-
ditam, nee fidem habuerunt nisi ei, quod in lege (the
Thorah) Scripdum erat. They certainly did not ex-
press any positive rejection of the non-Mosaic Scrip-
tures, because they durst not ; but their bad anti-
thesis plainly enough disclosed that they did not
acknowledge them, but would be disposed to class
tliem with the traditions, which they did reject.
The ancient testimonies, among which that of Origen
is prominent, will maintain their force, therefore, in
spite of Winer's view.f
Ver. 82. I am [not : I urns'] the God of Abra-
ham.— This argumentation has been treated by
Hase, Strauss, and others, as a specimen of rab-
binical dialectics or exegesis. (Comp. contra Ebrard,
Kritik, etc., p. 606.) But a kmd of dialectics which
dealt in a merely deceptive demonstration we cannot
ascribe to the Lord. The nerve of the argumenta-
tion lies in this, that God appears in the passage
<luoted as a pei-sonal God, who bears a personal
covenant-relation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The thought here expressed is this : God is the
Living^ the God of the living (major premiss) ; He
then calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob (minor) ; consequently, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob are not simply dead, but they must continue to
live as those to whom God is a God. The idea of
personality is the root of all arguments for the im-
mortality of the soul and the resurrection of the
body. " The similar argument in Menasseh, /'. Isr.
de liesurr. i. 10, 6, appears to have been derived
from this passage. Comp. Schottgen, p. 180."
Meyer.
[It is certain that this argument of our Saviour
could not have been discovered by any amount of
Rabbinical learning and acumen ; and yet being
once presented to our mind, it strikes us, not as an
arbitrary imposition (Uke most of the Rabbinical, and
* [So has Alfop.d in loc. : "The Sadducees acknowledged
the prophets a/so, and rejected tradition only {see this abun-
dantly proved by Winer, Iteahcorterljuch, Sadducder).'"—
P. S.] '
+ [In German: Aiiffassung, which the Edinb. trsl. falsely
renders incorrect statements; thus doing injustice to the
late Dr. Winer, who is one of the most conscientious, accu-
rate, and reliable writers in all quotations and statements of
fflCts.-P. S.]
many of the patristic allegorical interpretations), but
as a real exposition of the true meaning of the pass-
age <iuoted ; throwing a flood of light over it, and
filling us with wonder at the hidden depths and com-
forts of the Scriptures. But strictly taken, the argu-
ment of Christ avails only for those who stand in
jursonal covenant relations with the God of Abra-
ham, and are thus partakers of the Divine life which
can never be destroyed, and imphes an admonition
to the Sadducees to enter into this relation. The
immortality and resurrection of the wicked, which is
as terrible a doctrine as the resurrection of the just
is comfortable, is not denied here, but must be based
on other passages of the Scripture. — P. S.]
DOCTPJNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Temptation. — See above. The Sadducees
hoped that either the Lord would pubhcly sanction
their petty and frivolous denial of the doctrine of the
resurrection, or contradict the law of Moses. To this
we may add the following consideration : — If the
Sadducees already knew of the prophecy of Jesus,
that He would rise from the dead (and probably
Judas had revealed this to them, see chap, xxvii. C3),
then their temptation would have a special signifi-
cance : it would be a hint that His hope of the
resurrection was delusive enthusiasm, that He might
well pause, and, before the determination of the
highest authorities should take effect in His death,
retreat from His pretensions and His whole work.
Caiaphas and many of the Sanhedrin were Saddu-
cees. Probably, therefore, there was here a con-
cealed threatening of death, and a temptation to
renounce and retract.
2. " They professed to be those who knew, — the
illuminated in Israel. But their knowledge was
delusion ; and a delusion which rested on a twofold
ignorance."
3. The Lord speaks, according to Luke, of an
attaining unto the resurrection. This is the more
precise representation of the resurrection of the glo-
i-ified, which, however, presupposes the basis of the
general resurrection, of which Matthev/ speaks.
4. He incidentally showed the Sadducees, who
opposed the doctrine of angels (Acts xxiii. 8), how
little He thought of their rejection of it ; for He de-
signedly referred to the angels in heaven as persons,
whose personal existence in heaven we may con-
fidently assume.
5. The Sadducees had changed the positive law
of God into an abstract law of ethics ; thus being in
a double sense hke the Stoics ; in their one-sided
morahty, and in their denial of the personal fun-
damental elements and relations of life.* The
consequence of their system was heathen panthe-
ism. Thus, the question here was not merely the
evidence for the resurrection, and that as taken
from the law of Moses ; a demonstration was to
be given which should exhibit the very roots of
the doctrine of the resurrection, that is, the doc-
trine of a personal God, and of His personal bond
with human persons, as the foundation of their eter-
* [It seems to me that the Pharisees rather correspond
to the Stoics, the Sadducees to the Sceptics and Epicureans,
the Essenes to the Platonists; the first representing the er-
ror of orthodoxism and legalism, the second that of rational-
ism and worldly indifferentisin, the third that of myslicisui.
Ko doubt many of the Greek and Eoman Sceptics and Epi-
cureans, as well as the Sadducees, maintained a respectable
show of outward morality and decency. —P. S.]
CHAP. XXII. 23-33.
401
nal personal life. And in this case also Christ
proved Himself the supreme Teacher, by the quo-
tation which He adduced in proof. The astonished
people felt the power of His argument.
6. The doctrine of Paul, 1 Cor. xv. (comp. ch.
vi. 13), is in obvious harmony with this resurrection-
doctrine of the Lord, which exhibits the second Ufe
as a state of imperishableness, sublimely elevated
above death, and birth, and procreation, and thus
above all the state of becommg.
7. We must be on our guard against the com-
mon unhistorical parallel drawn between the Saddu-
cees and systems of Epicurean, selfish, sensual, and
immoral tendency. Tney are to be regarded, how-
ever, as worldly-minded secularists in a more refined
sense, who had fallen into a heathen view and esti-
mation of this world.
[8. The Bible, viewing man in his completeness
and integrity as a being consisting of body, soul and
spirit, teaches the doctrine of immortality of the
soul in inseparable connection with the resurrec-
tion of the body, and not in the abstract, unreal and
shadowy form of naturalistic and ratiouahstic theol-
ogy which would maintain the first and deny the
second. Xast : " That the Scriptures attach more
importance to the resurrection of the body, than to
the mere self-conscious existence of the soul in its
disembodied state, arises from the fact that the dis-
embodied state of the soul is considered in the Scrip-
tm-es as something imperfect, abnormal, so much so
that even the souls of the just look forward with
intense desire to their reunion with their bodies
(Rom. viii. 11, 23). Without the body man has not
his whole fuU Ufe."— P. S.]
[9. Lavater, Stier and Alford justly regard the
Lord's answer, ver. 32 (comp. iravre^ yap aiirw (ci«nv
in Luke xx. 38), as implying a conclusive argument
against the doctrine of psychopanychia, or of the
sleep of the soul in the intermediate state between
death and the resurrection. The first theological
treatise of Calvin was directed against tlus error,
then entertained by the Anabaptists. — P. S.j
HOMILETICAL AND PE ACTIO AL.
The Sadducees and Pharisees — the unbelievers
and the legalists — leagued against Christ in the tem-
ple.— The Sadducees' attack, a perfect type of the
style of infideUty : 1. Supposing themselves free,
they further tradition ; 2. seemingly unprejudiced,
they are inwardly bitter ; 3. prating about the spirit,
they are entangled in sensual notions ; 4. pretend-
ing to be inquirers, they are only fabling misleaders,
doubly ignorant ; 5. proud and confident, with noth-
ing but stupidity in art and weapons. — Ignorance the
main source of imbeUef: 1. Want of scriptural
knowledge, or of honest perseverance in seeking it ;
2. want of spiritual experience, or at least of sincer-
ity in purpose. — Ignorance in spn-itual things the
guilt of life. — Christ the gi-eat witness of the resur-
rection.— The roots of that doctrine in the Old Tes-
tament.— The bond of believers with the hving God
a pledge of their resurrection. — The beautiful idea
of the future life : 1. Elevated above temporal tran-
sitoriness ; 2. Uke the angels of God ; 3. a life in
heaven. — God not the God of the dead, but of the
living. — The life of believers as secure as the life of
God, according to the testimony of Christ. — God the
eternal pledge of the resurrection. — Our bond with
God abolishes death as well as sin. — The absolute
and indissoluble connection between the doctrine of
hnmortahty and the doctrine of the resurrection:
1. The former requires the latter ; 2. the latter pre-
supposes the former. — Have ye not read what is
written ? Or : There is a reproving and correcting
word for every form of unbelief in the Scripture. —
Christ the conqueror of unbeUef. — Christ the glorifier
of this world and the next: 1. He illustrates to us
this world by the next, and the next world by this ;
2. He brings to perfection this world and the next. —
In the controversy between faith and unbelief, the
people usually side with faith.
Starke : — When Christ is to be persecuted in His
people, those combme together who are not agreed
in anything else. — Canstein: Satan never ceases to
lay snares for Christ and His Church. — Hedinger:
The mockers are many who deny the resurrection. —
Zeis'ms: The ground of all errors and contentions
among converted people is their ignorance of Holy
Scripture : not so much of its letter, as of the hving
and blessed apprehension of the mind of the Spirit.
— Canstein : God's word is not merely what is writ-
ten there in express letters, but also all that may be
deduced therefrom by sound reasornng. — Quesnel :
God knows how to bring good out of evil, hght out
of darkness, and the glory of truth out of false doc-
trine and mahciousness.
Heubncr: — Quoting from Lavater: "The Sad-
ducees and Pharisees are the two great parties in
misleading the human race ; they change their posi-
tion in succeeding ages, one of them ordinarily being
pre-eminent. These spirits are always to be eon-
tended against, even now : sometimes superstition
united with hypocrisy ; now unbelief united with
the semblance of wisdom and illumination. Against
both Christ protests continually; and against both
the Church teacher must protest. The former appeal
to authority, antiquity, tradition, the sanctity of the
letter ; the latter, to reason, doubt, freedom." — The
same {Lavater as quoted by Ileubner) : " The angel
who appeared in the burning bush in the name of
God, is a 'pledge of that which ye deny : he was a
symbol that God can preserve what nature seems to
destroy." — Christ shows how we must read the Scrip-
ture, and use the key for the true knowledge of
God.
26
402 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
D. The Attack of the Pharisees, and, (he Victory of the Lord. Ch. XXII. 34-46.
(Mark xii. 28-37 ; Luke xs. 41-44.— 77te Oospclfor the I8th Sunday after Trinity.)
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they
35 were gathered together [collected in the same place, (rvvrixOriaav lirX to avrd]. Then one
of them, ivhich \who\ was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,'
36 Master, whicli is the great commandment [what kind of commandment is great] in the
37 law?^ Jesus^ said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy lieart, and
38 with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Deut. vi. 5). This is the first and great [the
39 great and first]* commandment. And tlie second [But a second, Sevrepa 8e] is like unto
40 it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Lev. xix. 18). On these two command-
ments hang all the law [hangs the whole law, oAos 6 vo/aos Kpe/xarat] and [also] the
prophets.'
41, 42 While the Pharisees were gathered [collected] together, Jesus asked them. Saying,
What think ye of [concerning the, Trepl tow] Christ ? whose son is he [of whom is he
43 the son? tlvo? vl6<; ia-Ti ;]? They say unto him. The son^ of David. He saith unto
44 them, How then doth David in spirit [by the Spirit]'' call him Lord, saying. The Lord
[in Hebrew: Jehovah] said unto my Lord [Adonai], Sit thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool [till I put thine enemies under thy feet] ?^ (Ps. ex. L)
45, 46 If David then call* him Lord, how is he his son? And no man [no one] was able
to answer him a word, neither [nor] durst any man from that day forth ask him any
more questions.
^ Ver. 35.— The words : Ka\ \iyiiv (and saying), are omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf [.ilso by Treselles,
but not by Alford] on the authority of B., L., etc. Meyer: An insertion from Mark xii. 28, and contrary to the unifonn
style of Matthew (ch. .xii. 10; xvii. 10, etc.).
- Ver. 36. — [Uola ivTo\rj /xeyaAT] iv v6ixu>; literally: What kind of commandment, or: What command-
merit is great in the late t Meyer : Was fur ein Gebot ist gross im Gesetze ? ( Wie 7nuss ein Gebot heschaffen sein, urn,
ein GROSSES Gebot zu seinf). Xlola is qualitative, jMn^X w''"^* kind (comp. .-six. 12), and the article before ii^roA-h
is omitted. But the Authorized Version asrrees better with the answer, and Dr. Lance likewise tr.nnsl.ates: Welches ist
das grosse Gebot im Gesetz ? The Lat. Vulg. : Quid est mandatum magnwm in lege t See Eaeg. Motes.— V. S.]
" Ver. 37.— B., L., .il., Lachmann, Tischendorf: o Se IiJjtj.
* Ver. 38.— L., Z. : t] p-iydXri kul irpwrrj [for Trpcor-^ ical fjieyaXri]. Cod. D. likewise, yet without v. So Cod. Z.
with a second rj before irpdoTrj. The sense of the text is in favor of this reading. The transposition arose from the idea
that TrpcoTTj was the principal predicate. [Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, and Alford unanimously adopt i] fieydXri
Kal TTpdiTT}, which is now sustained also by Cod. Sinait. — P. S.]
s Ver. 40.— [The true reading of the best ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinait., recommended by Griesbach, and
adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford, is : eV Tatvrais reus Zuatv ivroKah oAos 6 yu/j.os Kpe/j.arai Kai
oi IT po<priT at, instead of the te^rt. rec: .... oAos 6 i/<5aos Kal ol TTpo<p7)Tai Kp^txavTai. Dr. Lange follows tho
former in his German Version: In diesen zxoeien Oeboten hangt das ganze Gesetz mid anch die Fropheten. It is also
preferable on internal reasons. The lawyer had asked what commandment was great in the kiw ; the Saviour answers to
this question lay naming the great law of love on wliich hangs the whole law, and the prophets besides. — P. S.]
6 Ver. 42.— [The interpolation : The son, must be omitted, if the question is translated : Of whom is he the son .?— P. S.]
' Ver. 43.— ['Ej/ irvevfiaTi is here not opposed to tV vo'i, but refers to the Holy Spirit as the inspirer of the Scrip-
tures. See Exeg. Notes— V. S.]
8 Ver. 41.— The Becepta reads : vito-ko^iov (footstool), from the Septuagint. But most MSS. and the critical editions :
inroKaTw {rail/ ttoSmv aov), under. [So .also Cod. Sinait. As to the sense, Bengel remarks : The warlike kingdom will
come to an end ; but the peaceful kingdom will have no end, comp. 1 Cor. xv. 25.— P. S.]
8 Ver. 45.— [Codd. D., K., M., al., insert iu TrvevfiaTi, by the Spirit, before KaXi'i, and Lange puts it in tho text,
but in small type. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford reject it as insufficiently supported, and superfluous.— P. b.]
the question : here, the scribe. The account of Mark
refers to the same fact, but under a different point
of view. Matthew has in his eye the tempting assault
which the sect of the Pharisees made upon Christ by
one of their agents, without regard to the person of
this agent. Mark, on the contrary, has taken paius to
describe this latter in full, showing that his spirit was
better than that of his party. There is nothing im-
probable in this ; and in Matthew's account also, the
rich young man separates himself from the mass of
Christ's enemies, as having a nobler disposition than
they. Those overpowering influences which Christ
exerted upon some individuals in the ranks of the en-
emy, detaching them from the midst of their party,
arc among His greatest triumphs, and are anticipa-
tions of the power which converted Saul on the way
to Damascus.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 34-40. Tlie Question of the Great Commaml-
ment, General Remarks. — Mark gives it in an en-
larged form ; the narrative of Luke x. 25-87 has a
kindred element. DeWette: "Probably the three
accounts are different forms of the evangelical tradi-
tion, derived from the same historical materials ; al-
though thei-e are traces in Luke of some dependence
on Matthew." Strauss: "Three free variations of
the same primitive Christian tradition." Meyer :
" The difference of time and place in Luke's account
shows that the accounts of Matthew and Mark only
may be considered as variations of the same tradi-
tion." We may add, that the occasion and the whole
transaction are different in Luke. There, Jesus puts
CHAP. XXII. 34-46.
Ver. 34. But when the Pharisees had heard.
— Wh.at was the motive of the new assault ? Strauss :
"In order to avenge the Sadducees" — aj^ainst all
probability. The Pharisees were rather rejoiced that
Jesus had reduced their enemies to silence ; and this
Matthew intimates in his 4fiawrr(v. (Luther: That
He had stopped the mouths of the Sadducees.) Eb-
rar.1 : " In order to make evident their superiority to
the Sadducees ; " which, although Meyer objects,
seems very obvious. But they must have had, be-
sides that, another and independent design. Meyer :
" They would extort from Jesus an answer to a ques-
tion of their own which would compromise Him."
But what answer ? De Wette : " We cannot see the
embarrassing nature of their question. The Rabbins
distinguished between great and small, weighty and
light, commandments (Wetstein on ch. v. 19 ; xxiii.
23) ; such a distinction is the basis of all casuistry in
morals. Probably, it was very customary at that time ;
and even if Jesus had declared Himself very freely
on the question, it would not have involved Him in
any danger." Meyer : " The temptation of the ques-
tion lay in the Rabbins' distinctions of weighty and
light commandments. If Jesus had mentioned any
particular TroioxTj? of a great commandment, His an-
swer would have been me.isured by the standard of
particular distinctions in schools of casuistry; and
somehow He would have been compromised." 01s-
hausen understands the -rr^ipdCcav of an honest desire
to search out the views of Jesus.* — Thus exegesis
leaves us in the dark here.
But the tempting element of the question is ex-
plained by the answer and the counter-question of
Jesus. The Pharisees doubtless took it for granted
that Jesus would answer them : " Thou shalt love
God above all," or : " Thou shalt have no other gods
before Me ; " certainly He would mention the sancti-
ty of monotheism. But their monotheism was alto-
gether deistical in its bias, and had in it no christo-
logical principle. They argued from the unity of God,
like Mohammed afterward (compare also the history
of Ebionitism and Socinianism), that God could have
no son. But they knew that Christ made Himself
the Son of God ; for this they had charged Him some-
what before (-John x.) with blasphemy, asserting that
He thereby made Himself equal with God. They in-
tended, therefore, to found upon His expected an-
swer, " to love God above all," a charge of blasphemy,
in making Himself equal to that supreme God by pre-
tending to be His Son. But Jesus disturbed this
tempting design by adding to the statement of the
great and first commandment, " to love God supreme-
ly," the declaration that the second was equal to it,
"to love our neighbor as ourselves." This elevated
the human nature into a higher relation to the Divin-
ity ; and He said in efifect : " As the second com-
mandment is subordinate to the first, and j'et like
imto it, so the Son of Man is subordinate to the Fa-
ther, and yet like unto Him." The Pharisees felt at
once tha t His addition of the love to man had tra-
versed their whole design. But that the argument
referred to was really prepared by them, is plain from
the question which the Redeemer based upon theirs ;
that is, the question how David could call the Messi-
ah,, his Son (therefore man), his Lord (therefore God,
or God's Son). The correctness of our exposition is
shown also by the following consideration. The two
* [So also Alford ?n ^oc, referring to the more detailed
account in M.ark xii. 2S-34. But Nast rosrards Lanpe's inter-
pretation as the only intelligible one. It is certainly very
ingenious.— P. S.]
charges under which the council placed Jesus before
Pilate's judgment-seat were these: 1. That He had
made Himself the Son of God ; 2. that He had made
Himself king of the Jews in a political sense. This
accusation was derived by them, in their embarrass-
ment and affected daring, from tliat preliminary sin-
gle but ambiguous charge, that He had made Him-
self the king of the Jews, that is, the Messiah (see the
process in John xviii. 19). The sa>ne ambiguous
word : " king of the Jews," they first construed into
a religious crime, and then, since that availed noth-
ing, they construed it into a political crime. On this
day of temptations, they strove to extract from Him
a confession of both these charges. The temptation
of making Him a political Messiah had come to
nought. They then thought that at least they would
involve Him in another, and more perilous condem-
nation, that of blasphemously impugning monothe-
ism, or undermining the fundamental idea of the
Jewish religion : this charge, though not quite so
serviceable before Pilate, would serve them better be-
fore the people. We are warranted in this supposi-
tion by the questioning before Caiaphas, ch. xxvi. 63,
and the condemnation to death which ensued upon
the answer of Jesus.
They -were collected on the same spot. —
We may ascribe to a wide diversity of motives the
excitement which caused the Pharisees to flock to the
spot in masses : delight at the humiliation of the
Sadducees ; the desire to do better than they had
done; despair that all means had failed to extort
from Jesus any ground of accusation ; among some
of them, a nobler complacency in the victory won for
the doctrine of the resurrection ; probably, also, the
wish to induce Him to give up 13is extravagant pre-
tensions to be the Messiah and the Son of God, and,
as an orthodox teacher of the people (in an Ebionite
sense), would make Himself useful to them against
the Sadducees. 'Eirl to ai/rd, as in Acts i. 15,
referring to place, not sentiment.
Ver. 35. A lawyer, vofxiicos. — A word often
used by Luke ; by Matthew only here. Paulus un-
derstands it, one who acknowledged only the Penta-
teuch and Scripture, rejecting tradition; that is, a
Sadducee (or Scripturist, Karaite ; — though tliese last
did not yet exist, they were germinally present in the
Sadducees). But this, as de Wette objects, is con-
tradicted by the 6| ahrwv, which necessarily must be
referred to the Pharisees. Meyer : " He was a Mo-
saic jurist : vo.uoSiSao-KaAoy designates the same as
teacher ; ypafip.aTevs is only an enlargement of the
idea of vouikos — one versed in Scripture, a Biblical
scholar, whose calling was the study and exposition
of Holy Writ. Comp. Gfrorer in the Tiibinger Zeit-
schrift for 1838, i. 140."
Ver. 36. Which is the great commandment ?
— Meyer lays stress* upon the tt o i o , and explains :
How must a commandment be, or what character
must it have, in order to be called great ? But the
answer of Jesus does not suit this. Yet certainly the
TToi'a indicates the quality of the commandment. The
great, /xiyaKri, says more than the greatest. The
greatest might be brought into comparison with the
less great ; but the great must, strictly viewed as a
principle, include them all.
Ver. 37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God. — The passage, Deut. vi. 5, freely after the
* [Not : LESS stress, as the Edinb. trsl. has it, in direct
opposition to the original : Meyer hetont iroia und cr-
kldrt, etc. Comp. my critical note above.— P. S.]
404
THE GOSPEL ACCORDLXG TO MATTHEW.
Sci)tuagLnt,. Fiitzscbe : " God as thy Lord." But
it would be better to invert it— the Lord as thy God :
in the original, Jehovah thj God. And this intro-
duces a new significance in relation to Christ. Jeho-
vah, God of the Revelation, the God of the incarna-
tion', was to be Israel's God, and not the God of a
deistical perversion.
With aU thy heart.— The iv S\?? t^ follows
the original Hebrew ^32, and not the Septuagint
i^. The heart is the entire inner nature of man ; the
soul is then rather the vitality of the heart aniraat-
hig the body ; the mind, its spiritual and intellectual
part {intelledus, mens). Meyer, following Beck {Bih-
lische Seelenlehre, p. 109), makes KapSia the whole
energy of the reason and the intellect ; \i/vxv, the
whole energy of sentiment and passion; and Si a -
voia, the whole energy of thought and will in its
manifestation.* _ ^
Ver. 39. But a second is like unto it, oi-io la.
— This refers to the preceding declaration of Jesus,
" The great and the first " (according to the true
reading). Hence the article may be omitted. The
commandment of the love of God is regarded in twp
lights : 1. As the great, which embraces in their uni-
ty all commandments, including that of love to our
neighbor; 2. as i\\G first, inasmuch as it is a special
commandment, which precedes the commandment
of love to man.— Is like unto it.— Compare 1 John
iv. 20, 21 ; Rom. xiii. 9. Even the love of God itself
is to manifest and actualize itself by love to man, —
more generallv by Jove to all men, more particularly
by brotherly love.f The commandment is according
to the Septuagint of Lev. xix. 18. Meyer: " kya-n-h-
cT€L^ signifies a tender regard, and conduct in har-
mony with it ; this, therefore, may be commanded,
but not (iiAfTf, which is the love of affection or senti-
ment. Compare Tittmann's Synonyms:'' _ By this
answer, Jesus not only penetrated and convicted the
wicked design of the Pharisees, but also reproved the
error which lurked in their question. He acknowl-
edged a distinction between the great commandment
and the rest, so far as the former is the principle, and
all others derived from it. But in another sense, He
acknowledged no distmction : the derived command-
ment of love to man is equal to the first in its abso-
lute value, and as representing the first.
[As thyself.—" W. Buukitt : Every man may,
yea, ought to love himself, not his smful self, but his
nat,ural self, and especially his spiritual self, the new
nature in him. This it ought to be his particular care
to increase and strengthen. Indeed there is no ex-
press command in Scripture for a man to love him-
self, because the light of nature directs, and the law
of nature binds and moves every man so to do. God
has put a principle of self-love and of self-preserva-
tion into all His creatures, but especially in man.
Man ought to love his neighbor, 1. not as he docs
* [Oi-snAUSEN : "The Lord by calling the commandment
to love God supremely the first and fireat commaiidmeut,
does evidently not desisn to represent it as one out of many,
though irreater in degre'e than others. On the contrary, the
love of God is the commandment, and the whole law, with
all its injunctions and prohibitions, is only a development of
this one commandment: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God.' By this love we have to understand the unqualitied
surrender of our wliole being to God. Of such a love man
is capable, though not by his own strength, but by Divine
grace, because be finds in God alone all his wants fully and
everlastingly satisfied."— P. S.] „,.,,, ,
t [The original reads: Christushehe (Edinb. trsl.: lot-e
of Christ; or, better: to Christ); but this is probably a
prii.ting error for Ohrutenliebe ; for we love Christ not as
our neighbor, but as the God-il'm.—^. S.]
love himself, but as he ought to love himself ; 2. not
in (he same degree, but after the same manner, i. e.,
freely and readily, sincerely and unfeignedly, tender-
ly and compassionately, constantly and persevering-
ly." — There are cases, however, where man ought to
love his neighbor more than himself, and sacrifice his
life for his fellows, his country, and the church, in
imitation of the example of Christ and the martyrs.
—P. S.]
Ver. 40. Hangs, ic p e fxar ai (according to the
true reading). — The figure is taken from the door on
its hinges, or from the nail on the wall ; and aptly
indicates dependence upon one common principle,
and development from it ; and hence it follows that
the two great commandments have a higher unity in
the one great commandment, that we love Jehovah,
the incarnate God of revelation, as our God. — And
also the prophets. — By the position of o i
■irpo(p-?)Tat after Kpe/j-arai the prophets are made
especially prominent. And the sense is this : Even
the pi-op'hets who predicted the Messiah, the Son of
God, do not contradict the great commandment of
monotheism ; they rather proceed from that law, —
that is, from the word of the God of revelation flow
the prophetical words concerning His revelation.
Vers. 41-46. The counter-question of Jesus. Its
object. — Paulus ; " Jesus aimed to lead His opponents
to the point, that the Psalm was not of David, and
not Messianic." (!) De Wette : " He thereby intimat-
ed that He was not a political Messiah." Y/eisse :
" He wished to give a hint that He did not spring
from David." (?) Meyer : " He thus convicted them
of their own ignorance and helplessness concerning |Q
the nature of the Messiah." But, connectmg the
Lord's question with the tempting question that pre-
ceded it, it appears plain that Jesus would prove by
a Messianic utterance of the Psalm, that the Messiah
might be at once the Son of David, i. e., a. Son of
Man, and at the same time the Lord of David, i. e.,
the Son of God.*
Ver. 41. While the Pharisees. — A significant
circumstance. The whole body of Pharisaism is con-
victed and confuted by an Old Testament word, show-
ing the consistency of the doctrine concerning the
Son of God v«-ith Scripture.
Ver. 43. How then doth David by the Spirit
call Him Lord ?— Here irws is not : " With what
propriety, how is it possible ? " but : " In what
sense ? "' or : " What can he mean by it ? "—Doth
call: — in the sense of formal designation, solemn
title.
Ver. 44. The Lord said unto my Lord. — Quo-
tation from Ps. ex. There are different views on its
authorship and Messianic bearing. De Wette : " The
poet (who is not David) calls the king, of whom the
Psalm speaks, his Lord. The difficulty is thus taken ;
away by the historical exposition. Jesus assumes the I
authorship of David, and its Messianic interpretation, ]
simply as being prevalent in His time. But it is not j
necessary to suppose that Jesus agreed with the com-
mon notion. If stress is laid upon the words Aa/3iS
tV -wvsvfxari, it must be remembered that we cannot
rely upon the genuineness of these words sufficiently
* rOuE^NEL: "Jesus here asks a question in Ilis turn,:
not to tempt, but to instruct His disciples; to confound the
obstinate- to point out the source of all their captious ques-
tions namel.v, their ignorance of the prophecies whicn lore-
told 'the Messiah; to furnish His church with weapons
a-ainst the Jews in all ages; and, by His last public instruc-
tion to establish the truth of His divinity, incarnation,
power and kingdom, as the foundation of all religion. —
1'. S.] '
CHAP. XXII. 34-46.
40.'
to build anything upon them. See Luke xx. 42."
But here it is not Luke, but Matthew who speaks.
Ifcyer agrees with de Wette, but while the latter as-
sumes an accommodation of Jesus to the poj)ular opin-
ion, the former supposes that Jesus shared in the
prevailing view as to the historical origin of the
Psalm. But in our opinion, the correctness of the
application of the word in the Psalm does not depend
upon the (juestion, whether David himself composed
it or not. That Psalm is manifestly a poetical repro-
duction of the historical promise of Jehovah, which
David received from the lips of the prophet Nathan,
according to 2 S.am. vii. 12, and of the last words of
David referring to it, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3 sqq. David is
introduced as speaking on that basis of what Jehovah
had promised the Messiah his oflfspring.* That the
Psalm is Messianic, and in the stricter sense pro-
phetically Messianic, is evident from the tenor of its
whole connection. Similarly, in the prophet Daniel
we must first distinguish the historical basis and the
composition, and then again identify them; since
both are combined in the eV irvev^an of Scrijiture.
Compare ch. xxiv. 15.
By the Spirit.— Luke ii. 27 ; 1 Cor. xii. 3;
Rom. viii. 15. Not indeed impulsu Spiritus ; but in
the element of the Spirit, of the Spirit of God, which
is the principle of unity in the Scripture.
Him.— The Son of David as the Messiah. The
Rabbins saw in this Psalm one of the most clear and
decisive Messianic prophecies. It was not till a later
period that they retracted this interpretation. See
Hengstenberg, Christologie, on this Psalm [vol. i. p.
140 sqq.].
Ver. 45. How is He then his Son ?— The an-
swer is Rom. i. 3, 4 ; Acts ii. 25. It was not the ig-
norance, but the unbelief, of the Pharisees which de-
clined the answer.
Yer. 46. And no one could answer Him a
word. — Decisive mandatum de supersedendo. — Nor
durst any one from that day question Him
any more. — Tlie great point of severance between
the rabbinical, deistic Judaism, and Christian and be-
lieving Judaism. Bengel : Nova dehinc quasi Scena
se pandit.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
See the preceding remarks. They will, we think,
have shown that the question about the great com-
mandment, and the Lord's counter-question concern-
ing David's Son, the Greater than David, have a much
higher significance than exegesis has hitherto dis-
cerned in them. It is the spiritual process of sever-
ance between the deistical apostasy of Judaism, and
the true Messianic faith of Judaism — that is, Chris-
tianity itself. The silence of the Pharisees, after
Christ's question, marks the crisis of their hardening.
Hence the decisive and final rebuke of Jesus, and the
departure from the temple : symbol of their desola-
tion and judgment.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The last assault of His enemies upon the Lord in
* [This sentence, so necessary to sive Lanfre's view, is en-
tirely omitted in the Edinb. trsl. For other expositions on
the Messiiinic ch.aracter of the Psalm, see ospecLiUy Ileng-
Btenberft {CliHstology of the O. 7"., and his Com. on the
Pmlm.ii\ also Stier and Nast in toe. Alford and Words-
worth do not touch the difliculty at all— P. 8,1
the temple. — The last question of the Pharisees, and
the last counter-question of the Lord. — The inquiry
about the great conmiandment meant as a temptation
of Christ : 1. He will either lay aside His own majes-
ty in presence of the mnjesty of God ; or, 2. asserting
His own majesty, He will dishonor the majesty of
God. — How the Pharisees misunderstood the great
commandment, to love (icod with all the heart : 1. In
opposition to the love of man: 2. in opposition to the
dignity of Christ. — The one great commandment in
its all-compreliensive significance: 1. It unfolds it-
self into the gospel, as a prophecy of salvation in the
doctrine that the Lord, the incarnate Jehovah, was
to be loved as God (the supreme Personality must
reveal Himself) ; 2. it unfolds itself into the law of
the Spirit, in the two commandments, the ten, and all
other subordinate ones. — To love God with all our
life: 1. With all our heart ; 2. with all our soul ; 3.
with all our mind. — The commandment of the love to
God a strong testimony for His sacred and myste-
rious personality, — a witness also of His own glorious
love. — Since God is love, love to Him must at once
be kindled by the contemplation of Him. — How can
the first commandment be the g'-eatest, and yet the
second be like unto it ? 1. The first is the greatest,
because it is the ground of the second, and embraces
it ; 2. the second is equal to it, because it is the copy
of the first, and love to God is to be demonstrated
by love to man. — The measure of the love of God :
nothing is sufficient, neither our life nor all things.*
The measure of love to man : our love to ourselv..,.
— In love to our neighbor we are to prove our love
to God. — The two commandments are inseparable : 1.
We cannot love God without loving our neighbor
(against superstition) ; we cannot love our neighbor
v/ithout the love of God (against unbelief). — Self-love
has two conditions and guarantees : tlie love of God,
and the love of man. — How far is self-love not com-
manded, and how far commanded? 1. It is not di-
rectly commanded, because it is a natural unpulse
of life ; 2. it is indirectly commanded in the whole
law and gospel ; since this natural impulse is diseas-
ed, and has become selfishness.f — But a second is
like unto it ; or, how one word of our Lord cuts
through the wicked motive and the wicked error of
the Pharisees. — How far are the commandments dif-
ferent, and how far alike ? — The empire of love is an
empire of personal life. — Love is the fulfiUing of the
law, Rom. xiii. 10. — The counter-question of the
Loixl ; or, the proof of the divinity of Christ from the
Old Testament. — As the commandment of love to
man is related to the commandment of love to God,
so Christ is related to the Father : subordinate, yet
equal. — The severance between Christianity and apos-
tate Judaism in the temple. — Tiie}j asked no more
questions : no Jew dares ask a Christian any ques-
tion, or commence an attack upon him ; the mission-
ary unpulse, to work among the Gentiles, also gradu-
ally died away among the Jews since the time of
Christ.
Starke : — Zeisius : However the wicked hate one
another, they unite against Christ, His kingdom and
members. — If you would ask, cultivate a sincere
heart. — Hypocrites inquire about the greatest com-
mandment, but they do not keep the least. — Osian-
der : As no man is able thus perfectly to love God,
no man can be justified by the law. — The question
* [BtTRKiTT in loe. : "The measure of loving God, is to
love Him without measure."— P. S.]
t [Comp. the practical remarks of Burkitt inserted in the
Sxcff. Notes on ver. 09, p. 404.— P. S.]
406
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTBEW.
concerning Christ the most important and the most
necessary. — A correct knowledge of Christ necessary
to salvation. — It is not enough to acknowledge Christ
as the Son of Man. — Christ is God and Man in one
undivided person.
Ileubner : — The Rabbins were fond of discussmg
the relative greatness of commandments. The Jews
counted 613 precepts: ;36o prohibitions, and 248
commands. — It is diingorous to make a distinction
betwee-n great and little commandments. — The nature
of the love to God which Christianity requires. —
Aristotle : There is no love to God (connection be-
tween this word and the heathen denial of the su-
preme Personality). — Consult the representations of
Fenelon and the earlier mystics concerning the stages
of the love to God. — Piety toward God should be
kind to man ; and the love of men should be reli-
gious.— All commandments centre in love. — The
whole ethical doctrine of Christianity very simple. —
What think ye of Christ ? always the question which
finds out the genuine Christian. — Christ the Lord. —
The dominion of Christ a dominion of love. — Faith
and love closely connected in Christianity.
Bachmann : — What think ye of Christ ? 1. Man-
ifold answers ; 2. how important the right one !—
Lisco : The supreme command, and the supreme ar-
ticle of faith.
[ Quesnel : — On the great and first commandment,
ver. 38 : Love is the great and first commandment :
1. In antiquity, being as old as the world and engra-
ven in our nature ; 2. in dignity, as directly respect-
ing God ; 3. in excellence, being the commandment
of the new covenant ; 4. in justice, as preferring God
above all things, and rendering to Him His due ; 5.
in sufficiency, in making of itself man holy in this
life, and blessed in that which is to come ; 6. in fruit-
fuhiess, in bemg tiie root of all other commandments ;
7. in virtue and efiicacy ; 8. in extent ; 9. in necessity ;
10. in duration, as continuing for ever in heaven. —
27ie came, on ver. 46 : — Truth at length triumphs, but
the defender of it will notwithstanding be oppressed
by men. Hence we should not judge the truth by
the sufferings of its defenders. The more triumphant
it is, the more they must expect to suffer, that they
may be made more conformable to Christ and capa-
ble of greater reward. — P. S.]
SEVENTH SECTION.
FINAL JUDGMENT OF CHRIST UPON THE PHARISEES AND SCRIBES. CHRIST OF HIS
OWN ACCORD LEAVES THE TEMPLE.
Chapter XXIII.-XXIV. 1.
(Vers. 34-39, Scripture Lesson for St. Stephen's Day.)
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude [multitudes, tois o;!(Aots], and to his disciples,
i.. The Reproof generally. Ters. 1-1. (The law, ver. 3 ; the inconsistency and falsehood, ver. 3 : " but
do not;'''' the traditional statutes, ver. 4; the hypocritical sanctimoniousness and imholy ambition,
vers. 5-7.)
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit [sat down] ' in Moses' seat [K-a^eSpa] :
3 All therefore whatsoever thej bid you observe,^ that observe and do [do and observe] ; ^
4 but do not ye after their Avorks: for they say, and do not. For [But]^ they bind heavy
burdens and grievous to be borne,^ and lay thevi on men's shoulders ; but they thevi-
selves will not move them with one of their fingers [with their finger, tw So-ktuXo) aurwv].
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of [by] men : they make broad their phylac-
teries [protectives], and enlarge the borders [fringes, to. KpaaTreSa] of their garments,'
6 And love the uppermost rooms [first place, Trpwro/cXto-tav] at feasts, and the chief seats
7 [TrpcoTOKa^eSpttts] in the synagogues, And [the, rov%\ greetings in the markets, and to be
called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.'
Its Application. Vers. 8-12.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your Master [Leader, KaOrjyrjr-i^'i ; better :
9 Teacher, SiSao-KaXo^],^ even Christ;' and all ye are brethren. And call no man your
[spiritual] father upon the earth : for one is your Father, which [who] is in heaven [the
10 one in heaven, or, the heavenly, o iv tois ovpavoli\. Neither [Nor] be ye called mas-
ters [leaders, KaOrjyijrai] : for one is your Master [Leader], even Christ [the Christ, 6
CHAP. xxm.-xxiv. ]. 407
11 XptoTos]. But he that is greatest among you [the greater of yon, 6 jxdtfav v/awv] shall
12 be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased ; and he that shall
humble himself shall be exalted.
B. The Particular lieproof: the Seven Woes. Vers. 13-XXIV. 1. (Avarice and hypocrisy, ver. 13 ; unbe-
lief and fanaticism, ver. 14; fanatical proselyting, ver. 15; casuistry, vers. 16-22; hypocritical legal-
ism, vers. 23-20 ; spiritual deadness, vers. 29-32 ; the judgment, vers. 33-36 ; Jerusalem's guilt and
doom, vers. 37-39 ; Christ's exodus from the temple, ch. xxiv. 1.)
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for [because, on, as in ver. 29]
ye sluit up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither
14 [nor] suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites ! for [because] ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long
15 prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.'" Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites ! for [because] ye compass [go about] sea and land to make one
proselyte ; and when he is made [becomes so, yeVfyrat], ye make him twofold more the
16 child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which [who] say, Who-
soever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing ; but whosoever shall swear by the gold '
17 of the temple, he is a debtor [6</>et/\et] ! Ye fools and blind! for whether [which] is
18 greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear
by the altar, it is nothing ; but whosoever sweareth [shall swear] by the gift that is
19 upon it, he is guilty [a debtor, oc^et'Aet]. Ye fools and" blind: for whether [which] is
20 greater, the gift, or the aUar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear
[He therefore that sweareth, 6 ovv o/y,oo-as] by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all
21 tuings thereon. And whoso shall swear [he that SAveareth, o o/^o'cras] by the temple,
22 sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth [did dwell] '^ therein. And he that shall
swear [sweareth, 6 o/;.o(jas] by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that
23 sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay tithe of
[the] mint and anise [the dill] and [the] cummin,'^ and have omitted the weightier
matters [things, to. fSapvTepa] of the law, judgment, [and, fcat] mercy, and faith:''*
24 [but] '^ these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind
25 guides, which [who] strain at [out]'^a [the] gnat, and swallow a [the] camel. Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for [because] ye make clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion [rapacity, a/>7rayyu.i}s] and
26 excess.'^ Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that luhich is within [the inside of, to iv
27 Tos Tov] the cup and [the] platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for [because] ye are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within [which outwardly in-
deed appear beautiful, but within are] full of dead men^s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypo-
29 crisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! because ye build
30 the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we
had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in
31 the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be [are] witnesses unto yourselves, that ye
32 are the children of them which [tliat] killed the prophets. Fill ye up'® then the mea-
33 sure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation [brood] of vipers, how can ye escape
34 the damnation [judgment, Kptcreajs] of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you pro-
phets, and wise men, and scribes : and so77ie of them ye shall [will] kill and crucify ;
and some of them shall ye [ye will] scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them
35 from city to city: That upon you may come all the rigliteous blood shed upon the earth,
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias [Zachariah] son of Bara-
36 chias [Barachiah], whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say tmto
37 you. All these things shall come upon this generation. 0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets, and stonest them which [that] are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered tliy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
38 under 7ie?- wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.'*
39 For I say unto you. Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say,. Blessed is he that
Cometh in the name of the Lord.
408 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Ch. XXIV. 1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple : and his disciples came
to Mm for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
1 Ver. i.—["E.Ka.dKTav (aorist), seated tliemsel/ves ; Coverdale: are mt down; Conant : have sat down (with the
iinplicatioti of continuance) ; Ewald : liessen etch nieder; Luther, de Wette, Lange : sitzen. The phrase does not neces-
sarily convey blame for iisuri)ation, but states a matter of fact, the act and its result : having seated themselves they sit, and
are iuvcsted with olticiul authority as teachers and judges. — P. S.]
2 Ver. ■i.—T-npi'lv is omitted by B., D., L., Z., al., [Cod. Sinait.], Lachmann, Tischendorf, etc.
3^ Ver. S.—Codd. D., L., D.: Trojr'jtrcTe Ka\ rripflre, do and observe. The reverse order [r^jpeiTe koI
iroierre] in the text. rec. is explanatory.
■• Ver. 4. — Ae is better supported than yap [which seems to be substituted as more suitable].
6 Ver. 4.— Tischendorf omits SvafidcrTaKra without sufficient cause. [Lachmann retains it, Alford omits it so also
Cod. Sinait.]
* Ver. 5.-0/ their ffarments, ruiv i/^aTicoj/ avrcov, seems an explanatory addition to the text, but necessary in the
translation. [They are wanting in the best authorities, including Cod. Sinait.]
' Ver. 7.— [Some cf the be.-t authorities, including God. Sinait., and the critical editions of Lachmann and Tregelles
read: pa/3;8t (or paBPei) ojily once ; but Tischendorf and Alford retain the text rec.—V. S.]
8 Ver. 8.— [Dr. Lange, in his Version (3Ieider\ retains with Meyer the text. rec. : Ka67]yT}Tr) i . But Lachmann,
Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, and even Wordsworth, who generally adheres to the received text, read with the best an-
cient authorities : 5 id da Ka\o s , teacher, and this is preferable also on account of ver. 11, to avoid repetition. — P. S.]
' Ver. 8. — 'O KpiaTus is an addition from ver. 10, and omitted in the critical editions.
'" Ver. 14. — [Ver. 14, from ova'i to Kpifj.a, is omitted in the oldest MSS., including Cod. Sinait., versions, and cita"
tions, and seems to be inserted from Mark xii. 40 and Luke xx. 47. See the critical summaries in Lachmann, Tischendorf'
Tregelles, and Alford. But Griesbach, Scholz, and Fritzsche, according to Codd. E., F,, G., H., etc., assume a transposi-
tion of vers. 13 and 14. So also Dr. Lange in his German Version, who regards it as very impiobable that Matthew should
have omitted such an important feature. — P. S.]
" Ver. 19.— Mwpoi icai is wanting in D., L., Z., [and in Cod. Sinait. which reads simply tlk^Aoi], omitted by Tisch-
endorf [and Alford], and enclosed in brackets by Lachmann. [The words may have been inserted from ver. 17, where
they are genuine. — P. 8.]
" Ver. 22.— Text. rec. (retained by Lachmann on the authority of Cod. B.) : k ar o i Kovyr i .^ but Tischendorf, -with
pearly all the uncial MSS., reads '■ Kar oi K-i}ffavT i . [So also Tregelles and Alford. The latter suggests that the aorist
implies that God did not then, dwell in the temple, nor had He done so since the Captivity. But in the cleansing of the
temple Christ evidently treated it as the house of God, xxi. 13.— P. S.]
la ■Y^,y_ 23.— The definite article before these petty items, as in the Greek (rb i]5voirfj.oy Kal rh avrjOov Ka\ to
Kvixtvov) and in the German Versions of Lange and others, sliould be retained, as it adds emphasis.— P. S.]
1* Ver. 23. — [Lange translates tt;j' icpiaiv Ka\ rh eAeof icai ryu TrlaTif. die (mosaiscke) Eechtspflege und das
(prophettsche) Erbarmen und die {messianischc) Glaubenstreue. See his Exeg. Note-i.—T. S.]
'* Ver. 33.— After raCra is to be inserted 5e according to Codd. B., C, etc., and the critical editions.
^' Ver. 24.— [The word at before strain was originally a printing error I'or out,, which iirst appeared in King James's
revision in 1611, and was faithfully copied ever after. All the older Englisli Versions, from Tyndale to the Bishops' Bible
(except the N. T. of Rheims, of 1563, which renders: strain a gnat, emitting out), correctly translate ol 5Lv\i(oi'Tes rou
KUKoirra : strain out, etc. Alford, however, thinks that the phrase in the Autliorized Version was no typographical blun-
der, as is generally -upposed, but a deliberate alteration, meaning "strain (out the wine) at (the occurrence of) a gnat."
But this is riitlioi- iln-fi ulicd, and Bishop Lowth is certainly right M'hen he remarks: "'The impropriety of the preposition
(at) has wholh ilis'ii-(.\ » d tlie meaninff of the phrase." The phrase refers to the use of a strainer, and is plain enough with
out. The Jews <• Dcfii'nv htrained their wine and other beverages, from fear of violating Lev. xi. 20, 23, 41, 43, as do now
the Buddhists in Ce.ylon and ilindostan.— P. S.]
" Ver. 25.— For di^paaias Griesbach and Scholz read a 5 j /c i a y , unrighteousness. But B., D., L. speak for the
former reading.
!•* Ver. .32.— n A rj p w (7 c. T 6 , implete, is the correct reading. 'ETrATjpcitraTe (D., H., al.) and ir\7jpel>craTe (B., al.)
originated in the desire to soften the sense.
" Ver. 88.- Codd. B., L., al., and Lachmann omit epTj.aos, but it must be retained as essentiah
acter of such living force and unity, that it is hardly
possible to deny its originality and genuineness." *
Heubner: "It is not an invective, or utterance of
scom, as many have called it : for instance, Ammon
(Life of Jesus, iii. 229), who thinks that on that
very account it never could have been thus deliv-
ered by Jesus." The condemnation naturally in-
cluded the Sadducees, so far as they were found
among the scribes, and belonged to the dominant
hierarchy. In themselves, and as a party, they were
of no importance ; nor were they ever recognised as
leaders of the people.
[Dr. Nast : " Although the Sadducees wei'e also
included among the scribes, yet our Lord in His ter-
rible condemnation singles out the Pharisees, who
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
The Great Denunciatory Discourse against
THE Pharisees and Scribes, addressed to the
People. — This crisis is analogous to that of ch.
XV. 10, when Jesus turned away from the Galilean
Pharisees, after an annihilating rebuke, and turned
toward the people. The provincial example must
have its wider consummation in the temple. But
the permanent significance of the present crisis is
this : Christ turns from the self hardening hierarchy,
and spealcs immediately to the people. The unity of
this discourse has been denied by Schleiermacher,
Schulz, Schneckenburger, and others, on the ground
of Luke having given some parts of it on a previous | jO'-' the last one hundred and fifty years had enjoyed
occasion in ch. xi. Ewald thinlcs that the discourse
was compounded out of a large variety of original
elements. But de Wette and Meyer for good rea-
sons are strenuous supporters of the original unity
of the whole discourse. De Wette : " It is very
appropriate that Jesus should now first utter Him-
self so fully and comprehensively against His ene-
mies." Meyer : " The whole composition has a char-
e highest respect of the people for their zeal
. d observance of the law. During His whole min-
* [Comp. Alfoed: "There can, I think, be no doubt that
this discourse was delivered, as our Evangelist here relates
it. all at one time, and in these the last days of our Lord's
ministry. ... It bears many resemblances to the Sermon
on the Mount, and may bo regarded as the solemn close, as
that was the opening, of the Lord's public teaching."— P. S.]
CHAP. XXIII.-XXIV. 1.
409
istry lie had been making pharisaic formalism the
constant object of reproof, while almost ignoring the
unbelief of the Sadducees." — It is certainly remark-
able that the severest language which Christ ever
used, was directed, not against the people, of whom
He rather spoke with pity and compassion, nor
against the Sadducees, with whom He came less in
contact, but against the orthodox, priestly, sancti-
monious, hypocritical Pharisees, the leaders of the
hierarchy, and rulers of the people. Let ministers
and dignitaries in the Church never forget this !
Nevertheless the Pharisees with all their wickedness
had more moral and religious earnestness and sub-
stance, than the Sadducees, and when once thoi'-
oughly converted, they made most serious and
devoted Christians, as the example of St. Paul
abundantly shows. Jso such convert ever proceed-
ed from the indifferent, worldly, and rationalistic
Sadducees. — M. Baumgarten in his History of Jesus
(as quoted by Dr. Nast in loc.) makes the following
striking remark on this denunciatory discourse : "As
Christ once commenced His Sermon on the Mount in
Galilee with pronouncing eight beatitudes, so He
closes His last public address with pronouncing eight
woes on Mount Moriah, declaring thereby most dis-
tinctly that all manifestation of His divine love and
meekness had been in vain, and must now give way
to stern justice. Of that awful delusion which has
done at all times so much harm in the Church —
namely, that the office sanctifies the officer, at least
before the people — there is here not the most distant
trace [not even vers. 2 and 3], but the very opposite.
The office held by the scribes and Pharisees Jesus
fully recognizes ; but the sacrcdness of the office,
instead of furnishing any apology for their corrupt
morals, increases only their guilt, and He, therefore,
exposes with the utmost severity the wickedness of
their lives. Never did any prophet deliver such a
discourse as this. We see here turned into wrath
the holy love of Jesus, which is unwilling to break
the bruised reed or to quench the smoking flax (ch.
xii. 19), which seeks and fosters what is lost, which
casts out none, but attracts all that show themselves
in the least degree susceptible." — This fearful denun-
ciation of the dignitaries and representatives of the
Jewish theocracy, which must shake every sensitive
reader to the very foundation of his moral nature,
could only proceed from one who knew Himself free
from sin and clothed with divine authority and
power. Having exhausted, in the intensity of His
love for sinners, high and low, rich and poor, every
effort to bi'ing them to repentance and a better mind,
Jesus now speaks, at the close of His earthly minis-
try and in full view of the approaching crucifixion,
with all the dignity and stern severity of a judge,
yet without any passion or personal bitterness. This
awful severity is as much a proof of His divine mis-
sion and character as the sweet tenderness of His
invitation to the sinner to come to Him for rest and
peace. — P. S.]
Yer. 2. Sit in Moses' seat. — The question
arises, whether Moses' seal means his whole vocation
and office, or only a part of it. De Wette : His seat
as judge and lawgiver. But Moses as lawgiver, or
organ of revelation, did not speak from his seat, but
from Mount Sinai ; and in this capacity he could be
succeeded* only by prophets, or conclusively by
Christ Himself. The seat of Moses is described
* [The Edinb. tr.«l. has here: relaxed, perhaps a printing
error, for released, a!/geidbt.]
Esod. xviii. 13. Moses sat in the function of judge
and administrator ; and in this ho might and did
allow others to represent himself, who were to judge
and rule according to tlie law of revelation. We
have the more formal estabhshment of the office of
ciders in Num. xi. IG. The rule of the scribes and
Pharisees was the rule of the Sanhedrin. But be-
tween the jyrophctic rule of Christ, and the political
rule of the Romans, there only remained to them the
Old Testainent ecclesiastical function of explaining
the law and administering discipline. 'EicdO nr av,
they sat down and sit. " Among the Rabbins, the
successor of a Rabbi was called the representative
of his school, ixpS-b? SOii ; Vitringa, St/n."
Meyer.
Ver. 3. All therefore. — The therefore, o 5 r , is
emphatic, as Meyer correctly urges. It alludes to
the established order and office. All whatso-
ever.— Chrysostom and others say that the cere-
monial system, and everything false and immoral,
were to be excepted ; since all this could not have
been taught dTro ttjs Uwixrew^ KaOiSpa^. De Wette
and Meyer : Jesus had in view only the contrast
between their teaching and their hfe ; and left the
perversion of the office itself, as it existed in praxi,
out of the question. But their doctrine was corrupt,
not only in accidental practice, but in essential prin-
ciple. We must limit the il-mlv , which is used
by Matthew throughout in its full significance, to the
official utterance. Thus it means : Act according to
their words in relation to the theocratic order of the
Jewish church, but not in relation to the way of sal-
vation. It was in harmony with the heavenly pru-
dence of Jesus, and with the spirit of all His teach-
ing, that He should express the fullest acknowledg-
ment of the official authority of the Pharisees and
scribes, even while He was preparing to unmask and
spiritually to annihilate them. He did not on this
account impose upon His hearers a permanent sub-
jection to the rule of the scribes and Pharisees.
They could, however, be free only in Him and
through Him : they must through the law die to
the law. He whom the law has slain and excommu-
nicated, is alone free from its claims.*
Ver. 4. But they bind.— ^S'ec Luke xi. 46. The
binding together of individual things into a mass,
has reference here rather to burdens of wood than to
burdens of grain. Thus they compact their tradi-
tionary statutes into intolerable burdens. A fourfold
rebuke: 1. they make religion a burden; 2. an intol-
erable burden ; 3. they lay it upon the shoulder of
others ; 4. they leave it untouched themselves, i. e.,
they have no idea of fulfilling these precepts in
spirit and in trutli. [Alford refers the heavy bur-
dens, (popT ia pap e a, not to human traditions, as
most interpreters do, but to the severity of the law,
which they do not oltserve (Rom. ii. 21-23) ; an-
swering to the ^apvTfpa Tov vofxov of ver. 23.- The
irksomeness and unbearableness of these rites did
not belong to the Law in itself as rightly explained,
but were created by the rigor and ritualism of these
men who followed the letter and lost the spirit.
Similarly Stier and Nast who refer for analogy to
♦[Alford: "The ovf here is very sigtiiflcant, — be-
cause thoy sit in'Md.sfts' seat,— an<l this clears the meaning,
and shows'it to bo, 'all tliinp:3 which they, as successors of
Mosi!S, out of his law, coimnand you to observe, do;' thero
being a distinction between their lawful teaching as ex-
pounders of tiie law, and tlieir frivolous traditions superad-
ded thereto, and blamed below." — 1'. 5.]
410
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
our modem moralists who preach duty, duty ! aud
nothmg elso, — P. S.]
Ver. 5. But all their -works. — Luke xi. 43. —
Their phylacteries, fv \aKn)pia, remembran-
cers and preservatives. — Literal application of the
figurative expressions of Exod. xiii. 9, 16 ; Deut. vi.
8, 9; ch. xi. 18. Thence arose the T'^Sn, contain-
ing passages of the law npon leaves of parcliment —
Exod. xiii. 1-16 ; Deut. vi. 4-9 ; xi. 13-22— which
the Jews at the time of prayer bound, one on the
left arm,' one on the forehead, to show that the law
should be in the heart and in the head. Buxtorf,
Syn. ch. ix. p. 170 ; and RosenmiiUer, Morycnland,
V. 82. The tenn phylactery was doubtless formed
from the (|)uAa(a(70e -rhv vonou^ Exod. xiii. 10. It is
not right, therefore, with de Wette and Meyer, at
once to explain them as presen'atives or amulets,
having magical power. At first, they were simply
remembrancers of the law ; the heathen notion, that
they were personal means of defence against evil
spirits, did not arise till afterward. It is probable
that the perversion was not perfect at the time of
our Lord ; otherwise lie would have done more than
condemn their enlargement of these phylacteries, i. e.,
hy])ocrisy and boastfulness in matters of religion.
It is proljably a result of this rebuke, that at the
present day the size of these phylacteries is Hmited.
— The borders or fringes, Kp da ire 5 a. — Ch. ix.
20 ; comp. Num. xv. 38. These ziziihwere fastened
with blue ribands to the garments {see BjEhr : Sym-
bolik des Mos. Cultw:^ vol. i. p. 329.) Blue was the
symbolical color of heaven, the color of God, of His
covenant, and of faithfulness to that covenant. The
tassels themselves signified flowers, or birds ; prob-
ably pomegranates, and therefore crimson, and not
blue, as the ribands were. Thus they v\'ere remem-
brancers that fidehty to the covenant should flour-
ish ; or they were tokens that the flower of hfe was
love, and tliat love must spring from faithfulness to
the covenant.
Ver. 6. The chief seat, rrji/ ■KpwroKXiaiu.v.
— " The first place at table ; that is, according to
Luke xiv. 8 (comp. also Joseph. Aniiq. xv. 2, 4), the
highest place on the divan, as among the Greeks.
The Persians and Romans held the middle place to
be the seat of honor. The word is not preserved,
except among the Synoptists and the Fathers.
Suid. : TrpojTOKALaia ri irpcoTT] KuGeSpa.''^ Meyer.
Ver. 7. Rabbi, Rabbi. — The teacher was called
by his title, not by his name. " My master, my mas-
ter,"'— the customary repetition of greeting on the
part of the scholar among the Jews. "'S'l was more
honorable than 2T , i. e., much, great, amplissimus.*
Buxt. Lexic. Talm. " blaster (k a 0 tj 7 tj t ij s) is
more than liabbi. The Rabbi was the teacher in
a synagogue. Master was the head of a whole sec-
tion, a leader who might be followed by many Rab-
bis (X"ip3 , T^^J , redoi-y princeps). The proud
spirit of the Rabbis has crept into the Christian
Church. The Refonners protested against it."
Heubner.
Ver. 8. But ye. — Vers. 8-12 contam a warning
appUcation to the disciples of what had been said.
The emphasis is on u^ely and vfxwy, placed first.
Properly : ove}- you o7ie is Master.
Ver. 9. Father.— Father, :s , the supreme title
of a teacher. — On earth. — With allusion to the
* [The title was used in three forms: Bah, master, doc-
tor; liabbi, uiy master; Habboni, my great master.— P. S.]
antithesis of the Father in heaven. The ea7-th has,
however, in the New Testament a symbolical mean-
ing also in oi)position to the sea, the fluctuating
world of the nations {see Rev. xiii. 11, comp. ver. 1 ;
John iii. 12, 31 ; Matt. xvi. 19), as being the cul-
tured world, the civil and ecclesia.stical order.
Ver. 10. Master, belter : Leader, in the spir-
itual sense, — «• aCrjY'/jTTJs, not to be confounded
with Ko.TTixvTi)'!. The third denomination has a
special importance among the three : the first points
mainly to tlie Jewish, the second to the Romish,
hierarchy. No one should seek the distinction of
being the founder of a church or sect.
[Albert Barnes, in his Notes, understands the
prohibition of titles by our Saviour literally, and
hence opposes (and personally always rejected) the
title " Doctor of Divinity,^'' the Christian equivalent
of the Jewish Rabbi, as contrary to the command of
Christ, to the simplicity of tlie gospel, and the equal-
ity of ministers, and as tending to engender pride and
a sense of superiority. But to be consistent, the ti-
tle Reverend, Mr. and Mrs., etc., should likewise be
abolished, and the universal tJiou of the Quakers and
Tunkers be introduced. And yet Paul called him-
self the (spiritual) father of the Corinthians, 1 Cor.
iv. 1 5, and Tunothy his son in the faith, 1 Tun. i. 2,
and Titus likewise. Tit. i. 4 ; Peter uses the same
term of Mark (probably the evangelist), 1 Pet. v. 13.
It is plain, therefore, that the Saviour prohibits not
so much the titles thcmseh'es, as the spirit of pride
and ambition which covets and abuses them, the
haughty spirit which would domineer over infe-
riors, and also the servile spirit which would basely
cringe to superiors. In the same way Christ does
not forbid in ver. 6 to occupy the first seats, for
some one must be uppermost (as Matthew Henry re-
marks)— but to seek and love them. Alford : " To
understand and follow such commands in the slavery
of the letter, is to fall mto the Pharisaism agahist
which our Lord is uttering the caution." — P. S.]
Vers. 9-12. — Comp. ch. xviii. 1 ; xx. 20; Luke
xiv. 11 ; xviii. 14. Meyer: "These prohibitions of
Jesus refer to the hierarchical spirit which practi-
cally attached to the titles named at that period.
Titles of teachers cannot be dispensed with, any more
than the class of teachers ; but the hierarchy, as it
was re-introduced in the Romish Church, is quite con-
trary to the spirit and wiU of Christ. Well observes
Calvin on ver. 11 : " Hoc clausula osictidit, se non
sophistice litigasse de tocibds, sed rem poiiics spec-
iasse.''^ * We must mark the distinction : Ye shall
call no man father, and shall not be called by any,
master, nor leader {Trarrjp, pa^^l, or OLodanaXos, and
KadriyrjT-ns). The worst corruption is the calling any
man father ; that is, to honor in any man an abso-
lute spiritual authority. This religious homage is a
contradiction to the absolute authority of the Father
in heaven. Grotius ; " Deus dogmaium auctor.
Jcr. xxxi. 34; Isa. liv. 13 ; John vi. 45, taovrai
iravTis SiSaKToJ Qioi) ; 1 Tliess. iv. 9, 6foS i-
SaiiToi. Sed alio se?i.m patres rede vocantur, qui
nos in Christo per Evangelium ge^iueritnt, 1 Cor. iv.
15." — The title of Rabbi referred to a constrained
honor, which took away the brotherly equaUty of the
faithful ; or, in other words, the stamping of human
* [Comp. the remark of Alfokd on ver. 11: "It may
serve t" show us how little the letter of a precept has to do
with its true observance, if we reflect that he who of all the
Heads of sects has most notably violated this whole com-
mand, and caused others to do so, calls himself 'servus ser-
varum Dei.'' " — P. S.]
CHAP. XXIII.-XXIV. 1.
411
scholastic teaching with the dignity of law. That
both these errors touched too closely the authority
of Christ, is asserted in the third exhortation : They
should not be called spiritual guides, founders, etc.,
because One only had that dignity, Christ. See
1 Cor. i. 12. It can scarcely be denied that the
designation of an ecclesiastical community by the
name of a man, is inconsistent with this express pro-
hibition, although much depends upon the origin of
the name and the spirit with which it is used.
Names of reproach have frequently become nam(^
of honor in the history of the church. The expres-
sion, 0 57)70 y, ver. 16 and eh. xv. 14, Rom. ii. 19,
20, is not quite so strong as k n 0 77 7 t? t ?') s .
[Alford, following a hint of Olshausen {Ghristus
der einiffc Meisfcr), refers the three titles to the three
persons of the Holy Trinity, viz., -rrarvp, ver. 9 to
God the Father, oiSdcTKaXos, ver. 8 (according to
the true readmg, instead of the Kae-qyriTris of the
text, rec, see my Crit. Note 8, p. 408) to the Holy
Spirit (comp. John xiv. 26 ; Jer. xxxi. 33, 84 ;
Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27), not named here, because his
promise was only given in private to the disciples,
and Kae-nyriTrii to Christ. " If this be so, we
have God, in His Trinity, here declared to us as the
only One, in aU these relations, on whom they can
rest or depend. They are all brethren, all substan-
tially equal — none by office or precedence nearer to
God than another; none standing between his
brother and God." Nast adopts this interpreta-
tion, which he thinks throws a flood of light upon
the passage. But it is rather far-fetched, and the
position of the Teacher (the Holy Spirit) between
the Father and the Leader, instead of being men-
tioned last, is decidedly against it. — P. S.]
Yer. 13. Woe unto you, scribes and Phari-
sees.— There are seven woes according to general
reckoning : the first, therefore, might seem super-
fluous ; and this recommends, again, the omission
ofj;^n\13, which is also critically contested. But,
if we compare this discourse with the seven beati-
tudes of the Sermon on the Mount, we observe that
the eighth woe is a summary of the seven in a con-
ci'ete form, just as is the case with the eighth and
ninth beatitudes. There, the concrete unity of all
the benedictions is the being persecuted for righteous-
ness' sake, for Christ's sake, as the prophets were
persecuted in old time. But here, the eighth woe
has the same force with respect to the Pharisees,
who adorned the graves of the prophets, and yet
showed that they themselves were no better than
murderers of the prophets. This, therefore, leads to
the supposition of a sustained antithesis between the
benedictions and the woes : —
1. Poverty iu spirit. — Devouring widows" houses,
and for a pretence makins
long prayers (being spirit-
ually rich).
2. The mourners. — The kingdom of heaven
slmt against others, while
they go not in themselves.
Fanaticism as opposed to
repentance.
3. The meek. — Zeal of prosely tism.
4. Hungering and thirsting —Casuistical morality, which
after righteousness. corrupts the doctrine of sin,
and raises the human above
the divine. Swearing by
the gold of the temple, by
the offering.
5. The merniful. — Tithing mint and anise;
and leaving out righteous-
ness, merei/, and faith.
6. The pure in heart. —Cleansing the outside of the
platter, the inside being full
of uncleanness and covet-
ousness.
T. The children of peace (mos- —Sepulchres, full of hypoc-
of life). risy and lawlessness.
Summary of the Seven.
rersecuted for righteousness' —Murderers of the prophets,
sake, as the prophets were
persecuted.
Persecuted for Christ's sake. — The ninth woe is wanting,
and this is very significant.
Instead of it, we hear the
lamentation of Christ over
Jerusalem. {See the Doc-
trinal Tliotights below.)
Ver. 14. Ye devour. — We put ver. 14 before
ver. 13 {sec the different readings). It is to be re-
marked that our Lord here estabhshes precisely the
same connection between the worldly care and
covetousncss of the Pharisees, and their hypocritical
formality, as in ch. vi. 1, 19 ; but in that passage the
order is inverted, as the Lord there proceeds from
the hypocrisy to its root — worldliness of mind and
covetousncss. The 0 t 1 gives the reason ; because. —
Devour widows' houses, i. e., to obtain them un-
righteously. This was damnable in itself, but much
more when it was done under the cloak of piety, or
Ka.\ Trpo(pd(Tei. The ic a I'is not " mechanically brought
from Mark." It marks an advancement in the guilt.
The irep lafforepov Kpi/xa we refer, as a pro-
longed sentence, to the lengthened hypocritical
prayers which went before. " At a very early date
this avarice in securing legacies crept into the Chris-
tian Church ; and therefore Justinian passed ordi-
nances forbidding the clergy to inherit possessions."
Heubner.
Ver. 13. Ye shut up. — The kingdom of heaven,
appearing with Christ, is represented as a palace, or,
more precisely, a wedding-hall, with open doors.
The hypocrites shut the kiugdom of heaven before
the people, efiTrpoaeef. — For ye neither go
in yourselves. — The shutting up is therefore two-
fold : 1. by their own guilt and wicked example ;
2. by the actual keeping back of those who are
entering, who not only would go in, but have their
feet already on the threshold. So was it with Israel.
The people were on the point of believing, when
their hierarchical authorities drew them back into
unbelief.
Ver. 15. Ye compass sea and land. — ^Fanat-
ical proselytism. Danz : De cura Ilebrceoram in
conquircndis proselytis in Meuschenii iV. T. ex Talm.
illust. p. 649. That the Pharisees undertook actual
missionary journeys, cannot be inferred with cer-
tainty from Joseph. Aniiq. xx. 2, 4 (not 3 and not
1) ; for this passage speaks of a Jewish merchant
who made proselytes, and the remnant of the Ten
Tribes were very abundant in Adiabene. But we
may suppose that there were such missions, and,
indeed, that a proselyting impulse generally drove
the Jews through the workL The real Pharisee did
not make proselytes from heathenism to Judaism
merely, but also from Judaism to Pharisaism. — The
child of hell. — One who is doomed to perish or at
least in great danger. — Twofold more than your-
selves.— AiirKur epov, according to Valla, must
be taken as an adjective, and not, as is customary,
adverbially. But how was the proselyte worse than
the Pharisee ? Olshausen : Because the proselytes
were without the spiritual substratum of the Mosaic
economy, which was an advantage the Pharisees still
possessed. That is, the latter were Jews and Phari-
sees, while the proselytes were only a caricature of
412
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Pharisaism. De Wette : Error and superstition are
doubled by communication. Meyer : Experience
proves that proselytes become worse and more ex-
treme than their teachers. Thus the proselyte is a
Pharisee of a higher degree. We might point to
the Idumcans as examples, who converted John llyr-
canus (not till afterward a Sadducee) by force in
their |r)pa— '' ttjc QaXaaaav koX rrjv ^rjpdi/" — Or
Petra. The house of Herod afforded a striking
illustration of the character of such proselytes, in
whom the dark elements of heathenism were blended
with the dark elements of Judaism. The proselyte
Poppoea prolaably urged Nero to the persecution of
the Christians. But that the misleader is generally
worse than the misled, is a fact which docs not here
come into view ; it is a wicked conversion or perver-
sion that is spoken of, and the intensification of Pha-
risaism with the course of time. De Wette rightly
observes, that Jesus does not here mean the endea-
vor to convert the Gentiles to Judaism generally.
Meanwhile Judaism as Judaism was not called to
the work of heathen missions except in the way of
mere preparation. The law can only make prose-
lytes ; the gospel alone can convert. See Heubner
on Proselytes and Proselytizing, p. 346. Cardinal
Dubois, under the regency in France, convertisseur en
chef. Several Jewish proselytes of modern times.*
Ver. 16. Woe unto you, ye blind guides! —
Camistry as the lax perversion of the fundamental
laws of religion and morality. The mark common
to both the examples given is this, that the divine in-
stitution, imposing holy obligation, is counted for noth-
ing ; and that, on the other hand, the human work
which requires sanctification through the divine is
placed in its stead. " The Pharisees distinguished
oaths, in respect to their vaUdity, according to exter-
nal, superficial [or rather fundamentally wrong]
notes, only in the interest of uascrupulousness."
De Wette. — By the temple. — The oath is very
frequent, hj this dwelling, ntn ","i"T2n . (Wetstein
and Lightfoot). — By the gold of the temple. — By
its golden adornments and vessels of gold ; or by the
temple-treasure. Jerome and Maldonatus are in favor
of the latter. When we distinguish between the es-
sential house of God, and the house of God as cere-
monially adorned with gold, then Pharisaism swears
only and always by the gold of the temple : it can-
not swear by the temple itself. The outer manifes-
tation is to it the reahty itself: that is, for example,
a church " with naked walls " is no church. " Mean-
while it is probable that the pharisaic and hierarchi-
cal covetousness preferred the oath by the treasure of
the temple, as that by the sacrifice." De Wette. —
It is nothing. — It has no significance, and imposes
no obligation (the lisXnm peccadiglio) : the rcscrvatlo
mentalis of Jesuitical morality. — He is a debtor. —
Bound to observe the oath.
Ver. IV. For which is greater ? — Superiority
of the originally holy, the divine, to that which is de-
rivatively holy, the human, which is made holy only
by the divine. The same relation which the gold
bears to the divine house, the human offering bears
to the divine fire which makes the altar an altar.
Ver. 18. Whoso shall swear by the altar. —
To any living view of the altar, the oftering is one
with the altar. Casuisti-y cuts asunder the living
"■ [Comp. here some excellpnt remarks quoted from an
EngUf.li periodical, the HomUist, in Nast's Commentary, p.
520, on the great difference between the genuine missionary
and the proselyting spirit, the godly zeal, and the sectarian
zeaL— P. 8.]
relations of religion, kills its life, denies its spirit,
and idolizes its bod)'.
Ver. 2\. And whoso shall sw^ear by the
temple. — We exi)ect to hear, " he sv/eareth also by
the gold of the temple." But this is self-under-
stood ; and therefore Christ returns back to the
Lord of the temple, who makes the temple what it
is, and makes heaven, the great temple, what it is.
The oath has its significance genera'ly in th; , and in
this only, that it is a confirmation by God, u J.eclara-
tioi^uttered as before God.
Ver. 2'2. And he that shall swear by hea-
ven.— Meyer : " The contrary of ver. 22 is found in
iScheruoth, f. 35, 2 : Quia prceter Deurii,cceli et terra
creatorem, datnr etiam ipsum ccelum et terra, irvdu-
bium esse debet, quod is, qui per coelvm et terrain
jurat, lion per eum juret, qui ilia crcavit, sed per
illas ipsas creafuras."
Ver. 23. For ye pay tithe. — The ordinances
concerning tithes (Lev. xxvii. 30 ; Num. xviii. 21 ;
Deut. xii. 6 ; xiv. 22-28) placed the fruits of the
field and of the trees under the obligation ; but tra-
dition applied the law to the smallest produce of the
garden, to the mint, the dill, and the cummin (Babyl.
Joma, f. 83, 2. Lightfoot, Hottinger : JJe decimis
Judceor.) — The weightier things : ^ap\n epa. —
De Wette : Those things which were harder, diffici-
liora. Meyer : The more important, graviora. " It
is very probable that Jesus referred to the analogy <
of the pjracepta gravia (CITCn) et levia (C'^bp)
among the Jewish teachers. {See Sehottgen, p.
183.) " But there is no need to distinguish things
so closely connected : the important supposes
the difficult. Pharisaism is led into legahsm and
ceremonialism by its aversion to the difficult
requirements of internal spiritual reUgion.— Judg-
ment, KpitTis, ^2'ra . — See Isa. i. IV. Thus,
not righteousness itself, but fidelity in the discharge
of duties according to the principles of righteous-
ness. The mark of this care for right is, that it is
one with mercy ; and this mercy cannot be replaced
by a hypocritical appearance, the almsgiving of the
Pharisees (Matt. vi. 1).— Faith, ti)v iriaTLv.—
Luther, " faith ; " de Wette and Meyer, " fidelity," as
in Rom. iii. 3 ; Gal. v. 22. The opposite is airiaTLa.
Scriptural language does not distinguish between the
two ideas, as ours does. Eaith and fideUty are one
in the principle of trust. But here ethical, subjec-
tive filith, or fidelity, is meant. Christ marks the
moral development of the law in three stages: 1.
The faithfulness of the Mosaic position : rigid care
of law and right (Elijah). 2. The prophetic posi-
tion : mercy to sinners, and even to the heathen, as
the internal principle of legality. 3. Messianic
fidelity as the fulfilment of the whole law. True
fidelity is identical with this fideUty. Heubner:
" Kpiais, conscientiousness : Tricrrt^, sincerity. " It
presupposes a blunted moral feeling to show much
concern about little faults, but to care nothing for
great ones. (Luther, Works, x. 1986, applies the
same passage to the papal laws.)"
These ought ye to have done, and not to
leave the other undone.— Reverse order. True
and internal adherence to law places the great mat-
ter first, without being lax in the less.
Ver. 24. Blind guides, comp. ver. 16.— The
term implies that they not only acted as hypocrites,
but also taught as hypocrites. Ver. 16 pronounces
a separate woe against all casuistry. But here the
words and what Ibllows ihem, explain the woe ot
CHAP. XXIII.-XXIV. 1.
413
Tor. -3 ratlier in its dogmatic side. The appella-
tions, " Ye fooh and bliiid" vers. 17 and 19, repre-
sent theia iis self-blinded and in voluntary delusion.
Strain out * a gnat. — Ye strain (the wine) in
order to separate off the gnats. The Uquarc vhmni
liad among the Greeks and Romans only a social
significance ; but to the Pharisees it was a religious
act. It was supposed that the swallowmg of the
gnat would dehle them ; and therefore the Jews
strained the wine, in order to avoid drinking an un-
clean animal. (Buxtorf, Lex. Tahn. Wetstein, from
ChoUin, fol. 67, cuUccs ^;i<si7/os, quos percolant.)
The actual custom is here a symbol of the highest
Levitical scrupulosity ; and the opposite, the swal-
lowiny of camels, which of course could only signify
the most enonnous impurities in the enjoyment of
life and its earthly pleasures, was the symbol of un-
bounded and unreflectingly stupid eagerness in sin.
The expression is of a proverbial type. The camel
was in the law unclean, because it had no divided
hoof, Lev. xi. 4 ; and, moreover, this hypothetical
swallowing of the camel would involve a thorough
violation of the Xoachic prohibition of eating blood
and things strangled.
/er. 25. The outside of the platter. — Figu-
rative description of the legal appearance of gratifica-
tion. Cup and lilatter : meat and drink, or the
enjoyment of hfe in ail its forms. — But within. —
Here we have the internal ami moral side of grati-
fication.— They are full of extortion and ex-
cess.— " That of which they are full, wine and food,
■was the produce of robbery and incoutiuence (h.Kpo.-
(ria, a later form of aKpareia)." Meyer. See Isa.
xsviii. 7 sqq.
Ver. 26. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first.
— The rebuking adjective bU>id points here also to
the absurdity of their practice. — Cleanse the inside.
Sanctify thy enjoyment by righteousness and tem-
perance.— That the outside may be clean. —
Fritzsehe : May be able to be cleansed. Meyer,
better : That the purity of the externals may fol-
low. " External purity is not here declared useless
(de Wette) ; but it is "declared not to be true holi-
ness, which unpUes the preceding purification of the
inner man." It is here presupposed that all their
adorning of the outside must fail to make even that
clean, so long as the inside is full of defilement :
that is, Levitical purity without moral purity is itself
defilement. (Bengel, in a gentler expression, non
est mxindities.)
Yer. 27. Whited sepulchres. — "The graves
were every year, on the 15th Adar, whitened with a
kind of chalk {«oi'ia) — a practice derived by the Eab-
bins from Ezek. xxxix. 15 ; not merely for the sake
of appearance, but also that these places, the touch
of which was defilement fXum. xix. 16), might be
more easily seen and avoided. {See the rabbinical
passages in Lightfoot, SchiJttgen, and Wetstein.)
Thus they always had a pleasant outward appear-
ance." Meyer. But thus also they were adorned.
Luke xi. 44 is a similar thought, not, however, the
same.
Full of dead men's bones. — Dead bodies were
unclean accordhig to tlie law, and the touch of them
defiled (Num. v. 2 ; vi. 6) : this was specially the case
* [Not: a^, which is in all probability origln.illy a typo-
p-aphical error for out. See the critical note above, No. IG,
p. 408. Another striking example of the ten.icity of a typo-
graphical blunder which found its way into many editions
of the English Bible, is vinegar for vine'jard in Matt x.\. 1.
Hence the term : The Vine{/ar-Bible.—P. B.]
with the bones of the dead and the odor of decay
from the grave. Impurity has a deadly etl'ect. Spir-
itual death exerts a deadly infiucnce (1 John iii. 14,
15) ; and tlius what follows, the murder of the proph-
ets, is inl roiluced.
Ver. 28. Hypocrisy is here the wicked disguise ;
and iniquity, avofiia, is not simply immorality,
but consummate theocratical lawlessness.
Ver. 29. Ye build the tombs of the prophets.
— Construction of sepuloliral graves, stones, and mon-
uments, with various designs and inscriptions on con-
secrated lim-ial ground. The antitliesis is delicate :
And garnish the sepulchres of the righteous
(canonized saints). The latter are acknowledged at
once, and receive their monuments; the prophets,
on the other hand, often lay long in unknown and
even dishonored graves. Later generations then be-
gan to become enthusiastic about them, and make
their common graves elaborate monuments. " The
custom of building monuments to ancient and cele-
brated persons, has existed among aU peoples and in
all ages. Comp. Wetstein, Lightfoot, Jahn, Arch. i.
2." De Wette. Consult Piobinson's Researches on
the remarkable sepulchres around Jerusalem, and the
so-called sepulchres of the prophets.
Ver. 30. And say.— First of all, by the fact
of adorning their sepulchres. — If we had been in
the days of our fathers. Not : ifive were (Meyer),
which here gives no sense. — Of our fathers. — Pri-
marily, by natural lineage, but also in the sense of
fellowship : Sons of the murderers, in a spiritual
sense ; which de Wette, without any reason, op-
poses.
Ver. 31. Ye be witnesses unto yourselves.
— How this ? De Wette : By virtue of the guilt
transmitted to you. Meyer : " When ye thus speak
of your fathers, ye give testimony against yourselves,
that ye belong to the kin of the murderers of the
prophets." But the meaning is rather, the opposite
of this : Since ye repute the fathers, in spite of their
murderous spirit against the prophets, as being in
the fullest sense of the word, in your traditions, your
fathers; and explain the ancient blood-guiltmess,
which has been transmitted to you, only as accidental
evils into which they fell, or as the product of a
barbarous age. Just as in these days the horrors of
the inquisition are excused on account of the barbar-
ism of the Jliddle Ages, although they had their es-
sential root in the fanaticism of the prmciple of tradi-
tion. The continued acknowledgment of those old
false principles, from which those murders sprang,
establishes the community of guilt, and the propaga-
tion of the old guilt to consummate judgment. Heub-
ner quotes : " Sit licet diviis, dummodo non viv7is."^
Ver. 32. Fill ye up then the measure. — Chry-
sostom says that this wATjpwauTe was spoken pro-
* [Dr. Crosby, Eaeplanat&ry Notes or Scho.lui in loc,
in view of the parallel passage in Lnke si. 47, where the
word for makes a connection between building the tombs
and approving their fathers' crimes, suggests the conjecture
that there wa,s a proverb among the Jews asserting compli-
city in crime, like "One kills him, and another digs his
grave." Stiep. and Alford: The burden of this hypocrisy
i-j, that they, being one with their fathers, trc.iding in their
steps, but vainly disavowing their deeds, were, by the very
act of building the sepulchres of the prophets, joined with
their fathers' wickedness. See Luke xi. 47, 4&. Instead of
the penitent confesf^ion : "We have sinned, we and onr fa-
thers," this last .and worst generation in vain protests against
their participation in their fathers' guilt, which they are
meanwhile developing to the utmost and filling up its mea-
sure.— The Pharisees called the murderers of the prophets
rightly their fathers: they are even worse than their fathers,
because they add hypocrisy to impiety. — P. S.]
414
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
phetically ; Grotius, perrnissively. De Wette and
Meyer make it an ironical imperative. De Wette:
" The irArjpcorTaTf presupposes the abiUty and willing-
ness in the mind of the Pharisees which merely needs
encouragement." (!) The difficult analogon of this
difficult passage is the word of Jesus to Judas, John
xiii. 2*7 : " What thou intcndest to do, do quickly."
The last means to scare the wicked from their
gradually ripening iniquity is the challenge: Do
what ye purpose at once ! If this is irony, it is divine
irony, as in Ps. xxi. 4.* — Fill ye up. — The ancient
crime of the prophet-murdering spirit ran on contin-
uously through the ages. {Sec Isa. vi. ; Matt. xiii.
14 ; Acts xxviii. 26.) Its consummation was the
murder of Christ. — Fill up then, even ye, — Ka\
6 /n € 7s. The emphasis, however, falls upon the ttAt)-
pcliaaTf. Ye, who condemn the murderers of the
prophets, will even fulfil the measure of their guilt.
— The measure oi guilt. The expression was, accord-
ing to Wetstein, current among the Rabbins. With
the full measure of guilt, judgment begins. The
passage, Exod. xx. 5, which de Wette quotes, de-
Bcribes the generic nature of guilt in the reduced
sphere of a single house ; and the guilt of a commu-
nity, of a church, of an order, is to be distinguished
as an enlarged measure of the more limited family
guilt.
Ver. 33. Serpents. — Comp. Luke iii. 7. Uwi
<J) u 7 7j T 6 . The Conj. delib. supposes the matter to
be inwardly decided. The judgment of hell, airh
rfjj Kpitrectfs t 7) s y^ivvris). The sentence
which condemns to hell. The expression, judicium
Gcheiinm was used liy the Rabbins (Wetstein).
Ver. 34. Wherefore I send, etc. — Fearful tele-
ology of judgment. The messengers of salvation
must hasten the process of doom for the hardened.
Sin, wliich will not be remedied, must be drawn out
into its full manifestation, that it may find its doom
and destruction in the judgment. — Behold, I send
tinto you. — This is difficult, inasmuch as Jesus
seems to bring down into the present, as His own
sending, the sending of the prophets who had ap-
peai-ed in earlier times. (1) Van Hengel: The quota-
tion of an old prediction. (2) Olshausen refers to
Luke xi. 49, Jesus speaking here as the essential
Wisdom. (3) De Wette : Jesus utters this with the
feeling of His Messianic dignity ; these prophets
and wise men are His own messengers, the Apos-
tles, etc. But here it is not merely the New Testa-
ment martyrdoms that are meant ; the whole history
of the persecutions of the prophets appears teleologi-
cally, i. c., as judgment. Hence Jesus speaks out of
tlic central consciousness of the theocratical wisdom,
and in unison with the consciousness of the Father :
comp. Matt. xi. 19. As the last who was sent of
God, He was the moving, actuating principle of aU
the divine missions : comp. John i. 26. But as the
Old Testament tunes were not excluded, so the New
Testament times are included, f The futures are pro-
phetic, as is the whole passage. Hence in the (nav-
pfiaere Jesus thotight assuredly of Himself. Meyer
refers to the crucifixion of Suneon, bishop of Jerusa-
lem and Bella : Euseb. Bht. Bed. iii. 22. — The ex-
pression Kal e| axiTwv is very strong. They will be
no better than brands for the fire of your fanaticism.
Ver. 35. That upon you may come. — The
* [Ps. xxi. contains no trace of irony, and there must be
some error here in the reference of Dr. Lange. — P. S.]
t [The Edinb. trsl. has here again just the reverse : " the
New Ttst.amenl times were not included." Lange says :
'•So iccnig die alttestamentliche Zeit ausgescTUossen iet, so
WEN'iG die neute^tamenUiche."—P. S.]
common expression for judgment, Eph. v. 6, as in-
timating its inevitableness, suddenness, power, and
grandeur. — The righteous (innocent) blood,
^p3 C~ ; that is, the punishment for it, comp. ch,
xxvii. 25, b>it such as the righteous blood has awaken-
ed. Innocent blood appears as the leader of avenging
powers : comp. Gen. iv. 10 ; Heb. xii. 24 ; Rev. vi.
10. Certainly the blood of Christ speaketh better
things than the blood of Abel ; but that blood has
also its condemning character, and indeed in the
shedding of that blood the judgment of the world was
completed. The righteous blood is here emphatic :
the consecrated, sanctified blood of the prophets.
Bengel : " a r,u a , fer hoc diciiur u7io hoc versu map-
navi." 'E K-xi'i'i^M 6 f 0 J/, in the present tense. The
blood is a continuous stream, which still flows and
will flow, being present especially in its spiritual in-
fluence. Rev. vi. 10.
Zachariah, son of Barachiah. — See 2 Chron.
xxiv. 20. Zachariah, the son of the high-priest Je-
hoiada, stoned in the court of the temple by com-
mand of the king. There are difficulties here : 1.
He was not the last of the martyrs of the Old Testa-
ment : the murder of Urijah, Jer. xx\a. 23, v/as of a
later date. But besides the order of the Hebrew
canon, there was something pre-eminently wicked in
the destruction of the former. Zachariah was the
son of a high-priest of the greatest merit ; he was
murdered between the temple and the altar, and died
crying. The Lord seeth, and will avenge it. And,
moreover, his destruction was always vividly in the
remembrance of the Jews. See Lightfoot on this
passage, and Targum Thren. ii. 20. 2. The father
of Zachariah was Jehoiada, here called Barachiah.
Different explanations : (a) Beza, Grotius, al. : his
father had two names ; (b) van Hengel, Ebrard : Bar-
achias was the father, Jehoiada the grandfather ; (c)
Kuinoel supposes that the words, " son of Barachiah,"
are a gloss ; (d) de Wette, Bleeck, Meyer [and Al-
ford] decide that an error in the name has crept in.
" Probably Jesus Hhnself did not mention the name
of the father (Luke xi. 51), and it was added from
an original tradition : the error being the result of
confoimding the person of Zachariah with the better
kno-RTi Zechariah tliC prophet, v/hose father was named
Barachiah (Zech. i. 1). This tradition was followed
by Matthew ; but in the Gospel of the Hebrews the
error was not foimd (according to Jerome, the name
there was Jehoiada)." Meyer, (c) According to
Hammond and Hug, the Zachariah meant was the
son of Baruch, who was killed in the temple after
the death of Christ (Joseph. Bell. Jud. iv. 6, 4). Hug
thinks that Jesus spoke in the future, but that the
Evangelist, after the event had taken place, put it in
the preterite. But this is an untenable notion, even
apart from the diffisrence between Baruch and Bar-
achiah. Ammon, who also refers the words to
the Zachariah of Josephus, explained them as inter-
polation. (/) Chrysostom. quoted an ancient opinion,
according to which it was the last but one of the
lesser prophets, Zechariah. {g) Origeu, Basil, and
others, thought it was Zucharias, the father of John
the Baptist — following a mere legend ; to which the
objection holds good, that if Jesus had come down
to such recent times, he wotdd doubtless have men-
tioned John the Baptist Himself. The Lord moreover
speaks not of the blood-guiltiness of the present gep-
eration, but of the guilt of former tuTies, which came
upon the present generation because they filled up
the iniquities of their fathers. (Comp. art. in ''Stxi-
dicnund Kritiken" for 1841, p. 20, and Fharmaci-
CHAP. XXUI.-XXIV. 1.
415
des, irept Zaxapiov vlov Bapax'iov. Athens, 1838.)
We prefer the soUition sub (b). But if there was an
error of name (see (d) ), we might ascribe it, with
Ammon and Eiclihorn, to tlie translator of St. Mat-
thew rather than the primitive evangelical tradition,
as de Wcttc and Meyer do. It is very difficult to
determine whether Matthew, in his famihaiity with
tlie genealogies, had a more correct account than that
of the Book of Chronicles, or whether his translator
made t!ie change. It is in favor of the second sup-
position of Jehoiada being tlie grandt\xther, that he
died at the age of 130, and that Zechariah, who is
called his son, was laid hold on by the Spirit at a
later time, and appeared as a prophet.*
Ver. o7. Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Luke siii. 34,
where it is placed earlier for pragmatic reasons). —
Language of the more mighty emotion of compassion
after the stern language of judgment. But with the
change of feehng there is also a change of subject,
and of the exhibition of the guilt. In the place of
the Pharisees and scribes, it is Jerusalem ; that is,
the centre of the hierarchy, but also of the people,
and this name combines the poor misled and the
blind misleaders, — the present, also, and the past.
In the place of the punishment of ancient blood-
guiltiness spoken of before, Jerusalem's own per-
sonal guilt is denounced now as justifj-ing this
condemnation. — Thou that killest. — The ex-
pressions airoKTiifovcra and \l6o 0 0 \ova a
are emphatic in two ways : first, through the parti-
cipial form, and, secondly, through the present tense,
— the habitual murderess of the prophets, the stoner
of the messengers of God. — Ho-w often -would I
have gathered ! — The Lord still speaks out of the
theocratic and prophetical consciousness which em-
braces in one the Old and New Testaments ; yet the
" how often " presupposes a frequent operation of
the Lord's grace in Jerusalem, and ^-isits which the
Evangelist was acquainted with, but which did not
fall within his plan. Comp. here the Gospel of John.
— ^Thy children.— That is, thy inhabitants. But,
in a wider sense, all Israelites were children of Jeru-
salem.— As a hen. — Allusion to the destruction
which impended over Jerusalem, in a figure which
signifies that He would have taken Jerusalem under
the protection of His Messianic glory, if it had turned
to Him m tune. The figure of the hen was often
used by the Rabbins concernmg the Shechinah, as
gathering the proselytes under the shadow of its
wings.-^But ye would not. — The one guilt of Je-
rusalem was unfolded in the guilt of her individual
children. Jesus knew that with the obduracy of the
authorities the obduracy of the city and its inhabi-
tants was decided. Hence He used the preterite, not
the present tense. Jerusalem's children had made
their choice. The crucifixion of Jesus and the fall
of the city were decided. It is quite an independent
question, how many of the individual inhabitants of
Jerusalem were saved by apostohcal preaching. His-
"• [Wordsworth in an elaborate note assigns a mystic rea-
son for the use of the patronymic, viz., it refers 'to Christ
Himself as the true Zachariah =; Remembrancer of God
(from ~2T , recordatus ftiit, and n^ , Jehova'i), and the
true Son of Barachiah, /. e., the Son of the Blessed (from
^"l3, beneflixii, and H"^ ), who had been typified by all the
martyrs of the Old Testament from Abel to Zachariah, the
sou of Jehoiada. And he sees in euKoyrjutiros — icvpiov,
ver. 39, an allusion to the name Bapax'aJ in ver. 35. But
be omits the circumstance that Z( chariah the prophet was
the son of Barachiah, Zech. i. 1. — I'. S.]
torical notices on the later deplorable condition of
Jerusalem, see in Heubner's Com. p. 349.*
Ver. 38. Behold, your house. — No longer,
" My Father's house." According to Grotius, Meyer,
etc., the cUtj ; accordmg to de Wette and others, tem-
ple and city. But the only true interpretation is that
of Theophylact, Calvin, Ewald, the temple. For the
word marks the moment at which Jesus leaves th".
temple, and leaves it for a sign that it was abandoned
by the Spirit of the theocracy. Indeed, the leaving
of the temple mtimatcd that not merely the city, but
also the land, was forsaken of the Spirit ; for the
temple is referred to in its symboheal meanmg. We
retain the addition " desolate," i. c., a spiritual ruin.
It was omitted in some copies, probably because it
was thought that the word would open up some pros-
pect of a restoration of the temple. But the pros-
pect of the restoration of Israel involves only the
spiritual rebuilding of Israel's temple in the Sphit of
Christ.
Ver. 39. For I say unto you.— Most solemn
declaration. — Ye shaU not see Me henceforth : —
In My Messianic work and operation. From that,
as among the Jews, He now entirely withdrew. See
John xii. 37 sq. After the resurrection. He showed
Himself only to His own people. — Till ye shall
say. — Neither at the destruction of Jerusalem (Wet-
stein), nor at the advent of Christ (Meyer), but in the
future general conversion of Israel (Rom. xi. ; Zcch.
xii. 10 ; Isa. Ixvi. 20, etc.).— Blessed be He that
cometh, Ps. cxviii. — See the notes on the entry into
Jerusalem, Matt. xxi. 9, 10. Jerusalem itself had
not met the Redeemer with these words of greeting,
but had asked. Who is this (xxi. 10)? Thus it is an
intimation of a future conversion. Not tragic and
judicial, as Meyer explains it.
XXIV. Ver. 1. And Jesus went out. — It is not
merely a local and temporary departure from the
temple that is meant. It is true that He had over-
come all the assaults of His enemies in the temple ;
but still they had declined to give Him their faith,
and at length had declined it by tUeir absolute silence.
And as the Lord of the temple, the temple had re-
jected Him, in the person of those who had legal
authority in it. That was the fall of the temple;
and it was then decided that it was no more now
than a den of robbers, in which all — the Messiah, and
the Spirit, and the hope of the Gentiles, and the
blessing of Israel — v/as as it were murdered. He
takes farewell of the temple ; and from that time
forward it became no better than a hall of desolation,
a dreary and forsaken ruin. According to a Jewish
legend in Joseph. Bdl. Jud. vi. 5, 3, the guardian
angels of the temple deserted it at a much later pe-
riod. "At the Pentecost, when the priests for the
night went into the temple to perform the divine sei>
vice, they heard a great and rushing sound, and then
the cry, ij.eTa0alvwiJ.ev evrevdev. — Tacitus, Hist. v.
13: Exprcssoi rcpcnie dcliibri fores el audita major
humana vox. Excedere dcos ; simul ingeiis motus
excedentium. In the fortieth year before the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem, the lamp in the temple was extin-
guished of itself, according to Jewish accounts {see
* [The words : ovic rjO eXrjrr ar e, ye would vot, are
important for the doctrine of the freedom and responsibility
of man which must not be sacrificed to, but combined with,
the opposite, though by no moans contradictory doctrino of
the absolute sovereignty and eternal decrees of God. Al-
FOBD in toe: '-The tears of our Lord over tho perversenesa
of Jerusalem arc witnesses of the freedom of man's wUl to
resist the grace of God."— P. S.]
410
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Liglitfoot, Hor. Ileb. ad Matt. xxvi. 3). The syna-
gogue is still a place void of God, because it knows
not Christ." Ueubner. Indeed, this departure of
Christ was not absolutely the last ; for, after the res-
urrection, lie solicited His enemies there, in the per-
son of His Apostles. For the last time He left it
when Paul was condemned in it (Acts xxi. 33 ; xxii.
22), and James the son of Alphaeus was slain (Joseph.
Antiq. XX. 9, 1).
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the preceding Exegetical Notes.
2. The seven benedictions of the Sermon on the
Mount were summed up in an eighth : Blessed are
all who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And
this benediction has here its counterpart in a com-
prehensive woe, the eighth, upon the murderers of
the prophets. But the ninth benediction, " Blessed
are ye, if ye be scorned and persecuted for My sake,"
has no countei-part among the woes, but the cry of
distress over Jerusalem. True, that the Jews them-
selves afterward cried : " His blood be on us and on
our children " (ch. xxvii. 25) ; but Jesus Himself
knew that His "blood would speak better things
than the blood of Abel." Hence the change of the
ninth woe into the lament over Jerusalem.
3. The guilt of the scribes and Pharisees became
now, to the Lord's view, the guilt of Jerusalem, and
then the guilt of the nation itself. For Jerusalem
was the representative of the spirit of the Pharisees
and of the national genius. But Jerusalem represents
also * the life and the honor, the fathers and the
glory, the youth and the hope of the nation. Jeru-
salem represents the children of the nation, so often
threatened by tempests of ruin, and now threatened
by the saddest of all. Therefore the Lord mourns
and laments over His own ruined Jerusalem. All
the missions and messages of God which had been
sent to Jerusalem, and which formed the ground of
Israel's judgment, to Him appeared now rather as so
many efforts and impulses of God to save them. His
own compassionate desire to save them had been ac-
tive throughout all those ages of divine mission ;
but especially had it been active during the time of
His own labors and miuistry. His whole pilgrimage
on earth was troubled by distress for Jerusalem, like
the hen who sees the eagle threatening in the sky,
and anxiously seeks to gather her chickens together
under her wings. With such distress, Jesus saw the
Roman eagles approach for judgment upon the chil-
dren of Jerusalem, and sought with the strongest so-
hcitations of love to save them. But in vain ! They
were like dead children to the voice of maternal
love!
4. Stier, ii. 527 : "Jehovah represented Eis deal-
ing with His people, first, as that of an eagle, hover-
ing over her young and bearing them on her v/ings
(Deut. xxxii. 11) ; but at last, as that of a hen which
strives to extend her wings over her imperilled chick-
ens." Antithesis between the fidelity of ruling power,
and the fidelity of suffering mercy.
5. Behold, your house. — Words which were sealed
even by the vain attempt of Julian to build the tem-
ple again, as well as by its whole subsequent fate.
Comp. Rauschenbusch (sen.) : Leben Jcsu, p. 327.
* [The Edinb. Version ro.ads: "Jerusalem was the sole
representative;" mistalcing the German allein {= uber,
hut) before (not after) Jerusalem (Allein Jerusalem reprii-
I G. Till ye shall say, Blessed. — Sepp, Life of Christ,
iii. 31 : The Jewish rulers failed in this greeting in the
I day of the Palm-entry, and the people owe it to Christ
I to this day. This word contains, however, a definite
promise of the national restoration of Israel, as it 13
set forth in Rom. xi., and in many passages of the
prophets. See Alfred Meyer : der Jude, Frankfort,
1856; where, however, there is too much intermin-
gling of Jewish Christian expectations.
7. Jesus, aftep departing from the temple, still
remained quietly in the court of the women, and
blessed the widow's gift : thereby blessing true and
simple piety, in the midst of debased and degraded
ceremonialism. Comp. Mark xii. 41 ; Luke xxi. 1 ;
and the author's Leben Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1249.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
1. TJie Preface (vers. 1-3) and the Discourse as a
whole. — The preaching of the truth must, according
to the repeated example of the Lord, turn from priests
and teachers who persistently scorn it, to the com-
mon people. — The great condemnation pronounced
by Jesus in the temple upon the Pharisees and the
scribes. — The Lord vindicates and protects appointed
ordmances, even while vehemently condemning those
who administered them. — High esteem for the office
never excludes free condemnation of the abuses of
those who hold it. — Hypocrites condemn their own
works by their ov^n words.
2. The General Rebuke (vers. 4-7). — Dead tradi-
tionalism: 1. Its hardness; 2. its falsehood ; 3. its
selfishness. — Despotism in holy apparel and in the
domain of the conscience : 1. Doubly fearful ; 2.
doubly ruinous ; 3. doubly impotent. — The Lord holds
up to His disciples the image of spiritual ambition
and pride for an ever/asting warning. — The power of
faith disposes of the pretensions of spiritual ambition :
faith in the only Teacher : faith in God as the only
Father ; faith in Christ as the only Lord and Guide.
(Thus the Apostle's Creed, rightly understood, is
threefold Protestant.) — Out of the humiUty of fidelity
springs the courage of freedom.
3. Specific Rebuke : the seven woes (vers. 13-37).
— The seven benedictions and the seven woes. — The
eighth woe as the summary of the seven : hke the
eighth benediction. — The ninth v.-oe is changed into
a lamentation over Jerusalem. — First woe : Spiritual
avarice and greediness for securing legacies ; petition-
ers changed into beggars. — The long prayers of the
hypocrites, and the long sentence of judgment. — Sec-
ond woe : Those who shut the kingdom of heaven to
others, and exclude themselves. Third woe : Prose-
lytism ; soul-wiimers and soul-ruiners.* — Fourth woe:
The work of man up, the work of God down : the in-
ward nothing, the outward everything. — The true
oath always by the living and true God. — The blind-
est ignorance connected with a conceit of keenest
insight into the laws of the kingdom of God. — Fifth
woe : LegaUty in little things ; lawlessness in great.
Straining out gnats ; swallowing camels. — Sixth woe:
The outside and the inside of the cup and the plat-
ter ; or, the feast of the rehgious and moral hypo-
crite: 1. In the outward form, consecrated or adorn-
ed; 2. in the inner character, abominable and
sentirt aucJi), and thus destroying the necessary antithesis
to the preceding sentence. — I'. S.]
* [In German: Sulenwerber und Seelenverdai'ier,—
P. S.I
CHAP, xxiii.-xxrv. 1.
417
reprobate. — Seventh woe : The whited sepulclires : 1.
Like pleasant abodes outwardly ; 2. caves of bones,
diffusing death, within. — Spiritual death, in the guise
of spiritual bloom: 1. Captivating; 2. desti-uctive. —
The eighth looe : The murderers of the prophets. —
How the garnishing the sepulchres of the prophets
may be suspicious : 1. When it bears witness to a dis-
eased hanging on to antiquity [folse and morbid
mediaevalism. — P. S.] ; 2. when it robs the prophets
of the present of their i-ights. — To persecute Christ
in His saints is to persecute Christ Himself — He who
would free himself from the blood-guiltiuoss of olden
times, must free himself from tlie principles wldch
created it then. — Ancient guilt finds its sure consum-
mation in terrible judgment, however long delayed.
— The sinner's inherited guilt becomes his own only
through his omi personal guilt. — Jerusalem, Jerusa-
lem ! — How often.
4. The Departure from the Temple. — The temple
desecrated by obduracy : 1. A house of men, forsaken
of God ; 2. a house of desolation, forsaken of the
Spirit ; 3. a house of misery and death, forsaken of
Christ. — The golden sunset after the evening storm ;
or, the prospect of the restoration of Israel. — The
departure of Christ from the temple of the Jews : 1 .
The close of a mournful past ; 2. the sign of a miser-
able present ; 3. the token of a sad futurity. — The
last word of the Lord to His people, the announce-
ment of His first royal advent to punish His people
(in the destruction of Jerusalem).
Starke : — All hypocrites are severe toward others,
but very indulgent toward themselves. — Canstein :
A lailhful teacher uses severity toward himself, but
he rules those who are under him with gentleness. —
By thy words wilt thou be condemned. — They would
fain have men beUeve that there was a special sancti-
ty in the habit of their order. — Canstein : Pharisaic
folly ; elegant Bibles and books of prayer, and no de-
votion in the heart. — One is our Master, Christ. —
Quesnel : God's word and truth is an inheritance
common to all the brethren. He who would glory
in being its lord, and keep his brethren from the use
of it, is a robber of the Chui'ch's inheritance. — The
Church of Christ is a family, of which God alone is
the Father. — [Quesnel on ver. 1 : Let us always look
with respect on Christ and His autliority, even in t'ne
most imperfect of His ministers. The truth loses
nothing of its value by the bad lives of its muiisters.
The faith is not built upon the lives of pastors, but
upon the visible authority of the Church (? rather
upon Christ and His word). — P. S.] — Iledinger : Let
no man vaunt himself of his position and office. — The
•gifts by whicli we are useful to others are from Christ,
and they are the gifts of grace. — Humility is the true
way to abidmg dignity. — Hypocrites would convert
others, while they are themselves unconverted ; hence
their converts generally go from worse to worse. —
It is not God, but gold, not the altar, but what is on
it, that they are concerned witli. — Swearing by the
name of the great God, is, indeed, a matter of tre-
mendous importance. — Sins reproduce one another ;
when one has wasted what he has robbed, he robs
again that he may waste. — The unconverted man is
like a sepulchre, in which man lies in his corruption.
— Quesnel: Many are Christians in name and appear-
ance ; few iu spirit and in truth. — Cansicin : At last
the whited mask drops off, and the hypocrite is naked
and discovered. — Garnishing the graves of the old
martyrs, and making new martyrs. — When men in
their wickedness receive no more exhortation, but
make a mock of God and His servants, the measure
of wrath is very near being filled up. — \Vhcrefo7-e J
send unto you. Rom. ii. 4 : The goodness and long
forbearance of God. — God remembers all the blood-
guiltiness of the history of mankind : woe to them
who become partakers of the guilt ! — Verily I say
unto you. God's threatenings are not in sport. — Je-
rusalem, Jerusalem : the fatherly heart of (Jod is
earnest in calling men to salvation. — The cause of
ruin is the evil will of man. — Osiander : Contempt
of God's word is followed by the downfall of all
rule, authority, and good institutions, Dan. ix. 6, 11,
12. — Canstein: There is a time of grace; there is
also a day of judgment.
Gerlach: — Ver. 6. Notwithstanding these sol-
emn prohibitions, how much of these sins have been
found in all churches and sects, from the highest to
the least ! — Ver. 16 sq. These rules of the Pharisees
about swearing were doubtless designed, first, to re-
lax the strict obligation of certain oaths of common
life ; and then to enrich the temple-treasure, by at-
tributing a greater sanctity and more rigid obligation
to the gold which was ordained for the temple, and
the sacrifices which were ordained for the altar, and
which were partly the perquisite of the priests.
Comp. ch. XV. 5 ; Mark vii. 11. — Ver. 36. Every sin-
ner who, in spite of the divine warnings, walks in
the footsteps of his fathers, draws down upon his
own head the punishment which was in their times
mercifully deferred and suspended.
Lisco : — The condemnation of Jesus affects all
who are contented with appearing that which they
should be. — The woe is upon their deceiving of souls ;
their hypocritical covetousness ; their hypocritical
proselyting ; their hypocritical trafficking with oaths ;
their hypocritical pedantry ; their hypocritical right-
eousness ; their hypocritical respect for the saints
of God.
Heuhner : — The dignity of the ministry is to be
honored for its own sake. — The ordinances of men
always a burden; the commandments of God and
of Christ are always a gentle yoke. — Spiritual pride
and ambition always one of the chief temptations and
dangers of ministers. — Christ does not forbid the
title, but the ambition for it. Application to the
Romish Church, and the name Papa universalis.
fater. — Not ruhng, but serving, makes greatness. —
Great difference between zeal for conversion and am-
bition for conversion [or missionary spirit and selfish
proselyting. — P. S.]. — Hypocrisy in vows, reservatio
menta'Us. — Ask wbtther anything impure clings to
your enjoyment : the tears and sighs of the poor. —
It is a base reverence for the great of olden time,
which will not seek to imitate them. — Every genera-
tion should be unproved by the preceding ; if not, it
is made worse. — T;ie great design of Jesus is to gath-
er in poor, wandering, and scattered children of men
into one family of God. — Desolate. Every Christian
temple, in which Christ is not preached, is empty ;
so is every heart in which He does not live.
27
418 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
PART FIFTH.
Final and Fullest Manifestation of Christ as the Prophet ; or, Discourses of the
Lord concerning the "Last Things" (Eschatological Discourses).
(Matt. xxiv. 2-xxv. 31 ; Mark xiii. ; Luke xxi. 5-38. Comp. the Apocalypse of John.)
According to the Gospel of Mark, eh. xiii. 1 sq., it is to be assumed that Jesus, after His departure from
the temple on the evening of His contest with the Pharisees, that is, on the evening of Tuesday in the
Passion-week, went out to Bethany. Further, that He paused on the brow of the Mount of Olives,
looked back upon the city and the temple, and explained to the three confidential disciples, Peter,
James, and John — Andrew being on this occasion added to them — the full significance of His solemn
departure from the temple ; revealing to them the signs of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem
and of the end of the world, as also the signs of His own glorious coming. In harmony with apocalyp-
tical style. He exhibited the judgments of His coming in a series of cycles, each of which depicts the
whole futurity, but in such a manner that with every new cycle the scene seems to approximate to, and
more closely resemble, the final catastrophe. Thus, the first cycle delineates the whole course of the
world down to the end, in its general characteristics (vers. 4-14). The second gives the signs of
the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, and paints this destruction itself as a sign and a commence-
ment of the judgment of the world, which from that day onward proceeds in silent and suppressed days
of judgment down to the last (vers. 15-28). The third describes the sudden end of the world, and the
judgment which ensues (vers. 29-44). Then follows a series of parables and shnilitudes, in which the
Lord paints the judgment itself, which unfolds itself in an organic succession of several acts. In the
last act Christ reveals his universal judicial majesty. Ch. xxiv. 45-51 exhibits the judgment upon the
servants of Christ, or the clergy. Ch. xxv. 1-13 (the wise and foolish virgins) exhibits the judgment
upon the Church, or the people. Then follows the judgment upon individual members of the Church
(vers. 14-30). Finally, vers. 31-46 introduce the universal judgment of the world. The relation of all
these sections to each other will be shown m the Exegetical Notes. All these eschatological discourses
must have been delivered at all events as early as Tuesday evening, and upon the Mount of Olives.
Ch. xxvi. 2, " Ye know that after two days will be the Passover," might seem to imply that this word
also was spoken on the Tuesday, and consequently all the parables and discourses of ch. xxiv. and
xxv. ; although " after two days " might have been said on Wednesday, since the part of the current
day was commonly included ; and, on the whole, it is more probable that on the day after His with-
drawal from the temple and the people, on Wednesday {see Luke xxi. 37, 38 ; John xii. 3*7-50), He
completed these parables on the last things.
FIRST SECTION.
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT; OR, THE END OF JERUSALEM AND THE END OF THE
WORLD.
Chapter XXIV. 2-44.
(Pericopes: 1. Ch. xxiv. 15-28, on the \Uh Sunday after Trinity; 2. Ch. xxiv. 37-51, on the 'i.lth Sunday
after 7Vm%.— Parallels : Mark xiii. 1-37 ; Luke xxi. 5-36.)
Occasion of the Discourses. Vers. 1-3.
1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple : and his disciples came to him
2 for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus [he answering] ^ said unto
CHAP. XXIV. 2-44. 419
them, See ye not "^ all these things ? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here
3 one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon [on]
the mount of Olives, tlie disciples came unto him privately [/car lUav\ saying, Tell us,
when shall these things be ? and what shall he the sign of thy coming, and of the end
of the world [the present order of things, aiwvos, not : koV/xov] ?
Signs, and the Manifestation of the End of the World in general. Vers. 4-14.
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man [lest any one,
5 /x7;tis] deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am [the, 6] Christ ;
6 and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars : see that ye
be not troubled [beware, be not troubled] :^ for all* these things must come to pass, but
7 the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom :
8 and there shall be famines, and pestilences,^ and earthquakes, in divers places. All
9 these [But all these, Travra hi raSra] are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they
deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you : and ye shall be hated of [by, viro] all
10 nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
1 1 another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall de-
12 ceive many. And because iniquity [wickedness, lawlessness, dvo/xta] shall abound, the
13 love of many [the many, the great mass, TaJv ttoAAwv] shall wax [become] cold. But
he that shall endure [ondureth, 6 Se v7ro|a€a'as] unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the [inhabited] Avorld \oIkov-
/AeVr;] for a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come.
Signs of the End of the World in particular. — (a) The Destruction of Jerusalem. Vers. 15-22.
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation [to /SSiXvyjjia ttJs iprjfjLU)-
o-ews],® spoken of by Daniel the prophet (ix. 27), stand [standing, eo-ro's] ' in the holy
16 place, (whoso readeth, let him understand,) [let the reader think of it!]® Then let
17 them which be [that ai'e] in Judea flee into [to] the mountains [Peraea] : Let him which
1 8 [that] is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house : ' Neither
19 let him which [that] is in the field return back to take his clothes [garment].^" And
[But, Se] woe unto them that are wath child, and to them that give suck in those days !
20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the Avinter [in winter, xety^wvos], neither [nor] on
2 1 the sabbath day [on a sabbath, iv o-a/^^aro)] : For then shall be great tribulation, such
as was not [has not been] since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever"
22 shall be. And except [unless] those days should be [were] shortened, there should no
flesh be [no flesh would be] saved: but for the elect's sake^'^ those days shall be short-
ened.
[b) Interval of Partial and Suppressed Judgment. Vers. 23-28.
23 Then [*. «., in the time intervening between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world]
if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is [the, 6] Christ, or there ; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall [so as, if possible, to] '^ deceive
25 the very elect [even the elect, koI tows eVAeKTows]. Behold, I have told you before.
26 "Wherefore if they shall say unto you. Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: be-
27 hold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of
the east [forth from the east, iiepxeraL airo avaroXwv], and shinetli even unto the west ;
28 so shall also [so shall be]'* the coming of the Sou of man be. For^^ wheresoever
[w'herever] the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
77ie Actual End of the World. Vers. 29-31.
29 [But, Se] Immediately after the tribulation of those days [the judgments of the New Tes-
tament period of salvation] shall the sun [the sun shall] be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
30 shall be shaken : And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven : and
420 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn [celebrate the great funeral of the world], and they
shall [and shall] see the Son of man coming in [on, ctti] tlie clouds of heaven with
31 power and great glory. And he shall [will] send his angels with a great sound ^* of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.
Suddenness of the Catastrophe. Vers. 32-44.
32 Now learn a parable [the parable, tt/v TvapafSoXrjv, i. e., of the sudden appearance of the end
of the world] of [from] the fig tree; When his [its] branch is yet [is already become,
r]8-i] — yeVryrai] tender, and putteth forth leaves," ye know that summer is nigh [near, eyyv's,
33 as in ver. 33] : So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near,
34 even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass [away], till all
35 these things be fulfilled [are done, yeVy^rat]. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
36 words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man [one], no, not
37 the angels of heaven [nor the Son],^^ but my [the]'^ Father only. But as the days of
38 Noe [Noah] luere, so shall also [so shall be] ^^ the coming of the Son of man be. For
as in the days that were before the flood [as in the days before the flood] they were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe [Noah]
39 entered into the ark. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away ; so
40 shall also [shall be] ^^ the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two [men] be in
41 the field; the one [one, els] shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be
42 grinding at the mill ; the one [one, fxia] shall be taken, and the other left. "Watch
43 therefore; for ye know not what hour [day] ^^ your Lord doth come. But know this,
that if the goodman [master] of the house [6 otKoSeo-TroTr/s] had known in what watch
the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house
44 to be broken up [through]."^ Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye
think not tiie Sou of man cometh.
' Ver. 2.— [The best ancient authorities, including Cod. Sinait., omit 'Irjo-oCj, and read : 6 5e air ok pid els el-
KiV.—V. S.]
* Ver. 2. — The omission of o ii in Co<ld. D., E., is an emendation.
= Ver. 6.— ['Opar e, ix7j 6po elcrde, Meyer: Setiet euch cor, erschrecket nicitt; L.inge: Schauet auf, dock er-
(ichrecket nicht, i. e., Look up, but bo not frightened; Conant: Take heed, be not troiMed. Mr] is not to be connected
with opure, since in this case it would require 6f,oria6e instead of Bpoe'iodf. Hence there must be a comma after opure,
a-s in tlie best editions. See Conant in loc. and Winer, §56, 1st footnote.— P. S.]
< Ver. 6.— Lachmann, after Codd B., D., L., etc., omits vrayra.
5 Ver. 7.— Kai \0L/xoi is omitted in Codd. B., D., E., by Lachmann, Tiscliendorf [al.so by Tregelles and Alford]. The
omission may be explained from the similitude of the preceding \t/j.oi, but the connection requires Aot/xoi. [Cod. Sinait.
reads: aeia/xoi ko.l Ai/xoi, reversing the order and omitting Aoi,uoi. Famines and pestilences are usual companions,
henoe the proverb: /xeTO, \l|.^hv \oi/j.6s. The etymological signification of these cognate terms is a pining or wasting
away.— P. S.]
" Ver. 15.— [Lutlier and Lange : Grduel der Verwustmtg ; Ewald: Grduel des Erdurrens; Meyer: das Schevsnl
der VerwuMiirni ; Vulg. : ahomvaatio desolationits, whence our English Version, of which Conant says : "No substitute
can be given for this pregnant form of expression. The Hebraism is as natural and intelligible in English as in the Greek;
and any solution of it is comparatively weak and tame in expression." See Lange's Exegetical Notes in loc. — P. S.]
' Ver. 15.— [Fritz.sche, Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles read : tar 6s, with a number of the best uncial MSS.,
but Meyer and Alford defend the text.rec: karais, and reg.ud kifvos as a grammatical correction in ignorance that
icrrivs is neuter. See Matthiie, p. 446, and Meyer in loc. — P. S.]
8 Ver. 15.— ['O avayivwoKoiv yofiroi, a parenthetic remark of the Evangelist (hence avayivdiarKUV instead of
diiovuv), and by Lange printed in small type: DerLesermeikeuuf; Conant: let him that readeth mark; Campbell •
reader, attend.— V. S.]
'■' Ver. 17.— [The criUcal editions, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, read: r a tK ttjs olidas, the things out
of the home, instead o^ t i {anything). But Lange, in his Version, prefers the tevt. rec. (etwas), which is supported by-
Cod. D., Ircnseus, and many authorities, and preferable as to sense. Cod. Sinait. reads rd.— P. S.]
1" Ver. 18.— The singular: rb l/xdriuy, is supported by Lachmann, [Tregelles, and Alford, but not by Tischen-
dorf], according to many ancient authorities, [also Cod. Sinait.], and is more appropriate than the plural, to. If-LaTia.
He who is already dressed for the field needs only his cloak for the journey. . , . , . j
'■ Ver. 21.— [A't'cr is an empha-sizing insertion of King James's revisers, and should be omitted as in the Authorized
Ver.sion of the parallel passage, Mark xiii. 19, where the Greek Te..-jtament reads as here: oh ^7) 7t^7JTa^— P. S.]
12 Ver. 22.— [Or : yor tte .vff/fce ((/ tte c7to.s«?i (5io Toiis eKhfKTovs). All the earlier English Versions, from Wrfdif's
to that of the Bishops, have chosen for elect, and Conant defends it as preferable. The revisers of King James .are incon-
sistent, rendering the word iK\eKroi: chosen in Matt. xx. 16; xxii. 14; Luko xxiii. i35; Kom. xvi. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 4, 9;
licv. xvii. 14, but in all otlier passages: elect. If elect be retained, it should be changed: /or the sake of the elect, which
is smoother i'aa.nfor the elect's sake, before those. — P. S.]
1' Ver. 24.— ["ilo-Tf TrAai/fjcroi, ei dvvaTov. See Con.ant in loc, who also changes the authorized rendering of
vKayTjffat, to deceive, into ; to lead astray, in this whole chapter.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 2-14.
421
<* Ver. 27.— Kai, after fmai, is omitted in [Cod. Sinait.], B., 1)., al., Laclimann, Ti.scheiulorf, [Trcgollos, Alfoid].
'6 Ver. 28.— Codd. B., D., L., [Sinait.], Lachmann, Tiscliendorf, [Alford], omit yap, /or.
'* Ver. 81. — ^ttJi/^s is wantina: in L., A., nl. Other authorities have it before craAm^yur, or after it with Kai.
[Lan^e : mil einer I'osaune von lautem SohaU ; Ewald : mit taiUem Posainienachal/.]
'' Ver. 32.— 'E /£ (p i> r; . ['O icKaSos is the subject, as in the E. V.] Fritzsche, Lriolimann, al., write iK^vT/ (et folia
edilafuerint).
18 Ver. 36.— Codd. B., !>., al., add: ouSe <i uios. Probably an insertion from Mark xiii. 32. Contra Oiigen,
Athana.sius, Jerome. [Cod. Sinait. has likewise the addition oi/5e 6 v I (5 ? after oi''paya)i', and Lachmann adopts it in
the text. Its omis-Mon may be more easily explained from doctrinal prejudice than its insertion from the parallel passage
In Mark. Jerome, however, says that some Latin MSS. read neqvefiliii^, but "in Grrecis, ct maxime AdanumUi et Pierii
exempUirib'iis hoc non habetu'r adscripium" and according to Athanasius it was alleged at the Council of Niwea, A. D.
3-25, that these words were in .Mark only.— P. S.j
•9 Ver. 36. — [The critical sources of Lachmann and Tregellcs omit i^ou after o irarrip. It is missing in Cod. Sinait.
tA well as in Cod. Valicanus. But Tischendorf and Alford retain it. — P. S ]
2" Ver. 37. — [OuTCUs tarai, without Kai, which is thrown out in all critical editions, and probably inserted from
the parallel passage in Luke xvii. 2C. — P. S.]
"1 Ver. 39. — [O D' t ce s « tr t a < , as in ver. 37, without the icai of the tenet, rec. See the critical editions. Dr. Lange,
however, retains it in both cases.— P. S.]
22 Ver. 42.— Codd. B., D., [Sinait.], etc., Lachmann, Tischendorf, lUnk, Meyer, [Tregelles, Alford], read: ly^if'pa.
The received reading: wp a, is probably taken from ver. 44 as a more exact term.
■^3 Ver. 43.— [A 1 o p K 7 rj V a I , lit. : dug through ; but ^Lopvaaav "was applied to any mode of forcing an entrance
into a dwelling or ^torehuuse for plundi!r." (Conant.) — P. 8.]
EXEGETICAL AND CKITICAL.
Literature on the General Subject. — Dorner : Dc
Oratione C'hrisH Ewhatolof/ica, Stuttgart, 1844. R.
Hoffmann : The Second Coming, and the Sign of the
Son of Man in. the Heavens, Leipz. 1850. W. Hoff-
mann : The Last Things of Man, 2d ed., Berlin,
1850. C.J.Meyer*: The Eschaiolofiical Discourses
in Matt. xziv. and xxv., Frankf. a. d. 0. 1857. Cra-
mer : The Eschatol. Disc, of Christ, Matt. xxiv. and
xj;i'., Stuttg. IStJO.
Luke has introduced many of these subjects at an
earlier point, ch. xii. and xvii. Following in Luther's
track, Schleiermacher, Hase, and Neandcr made
Luke's the original account ; but de Wetto and Mey-
er, and especially also C. J. Meyer in the monograph
quoted, have successfully contended against this
view. Matthew is undoubtedly the leading authority
in all the discourses which have direct reference to
theocratic relations ; and any one must perceive the
exceeding care which he has spent on all the Lord's
words upon this subject. Tiie order which we have
given above in the division of the text, is substantial-
ly the same as is given in the Latin dissertation of
Ebrard on the eschatological passages of the N. T.
{Disscrtatio advcrsus erroneam nonnullorum opinio-
nem, qua Christus Christique apostoli existimastie
perhibentur, fore ut universuin judicium ipsormn
atate s^ipicrvenirct. Erlangen, 1842), and in his
Kritik der Evangel. Geschichte, p. 497. On the law
of cyclical representation, consult my Leben Jesu, ii.
o, p. 1558. According to Dorner, vers. 4-14 exhibit
the development of the gospel ; v/hile what follows,
from ver. 15, exhibits the historical process of the
Christian religion. Meyer regards the section to ver.
5 as a preparatory warning against false Messiahs ;
then a continuous exhibition of the future down to
the destruction of the temple. De Wette also has
failed to discern the organic construction of the dis-
course. Stier distinguishes a second coming of
Christ, Matt. xxv. "51, from the first coming, ch. xxiv.
29, but without support from the rest of Scripture ;
although it is equally baseless to regard the coming
of Christ to the first resurrection as altogether spirit-
ual. C. J. Meyer understands Matt. xxiv. 29-31 of
* [N It the Commentator with whom the Edinb. trsl.
confounds him, and whose Christian name is Ueinrich August
>Vilhelm.-P. S.]
the judgment upon Jerusalem ; a view which has no
foundation in the text, and which overturns the cy-
clical organization of the whole prophecy. Accord-
ing to this view, it is in ver. 35 that tlie end of the
world begins to be referred to.
First Cycle.
General Sketch of the Last Things down to the End
of the World. Vers. 1-14.
Ver. 1. To shew Kim the buildings of the
temple. — Not merely tlie temple proper, va6<:, but
the collective 'upov, and not only the structure, but the
various structures composing the temple. The He-
rodian consummation of the temple of Zerubbabel
(Joseph. Antiq. xv. 11 ; Bell. Jud. v. 5) Avas begun
in the eighteenth year of Herod's rule (about 20 b.
c). The temple itself was finished (by the priests and
Levites) in one year and a half; the outer courta in
eight years. " But the successors of Kerod went on,
at intervals, with the outbuildings, down to the be-
gimiing of the • Jewish war ; and Josephus tells us
{Antlq. XX. 9, 7) tliat the temple was not finished
imtil the time of the last procurator but one, Albinus :
comp. John ii. 20." Winer. Josephus described
with admiration the magnificence of the buildings.
Bell. Jud. V. 5, 6 [and Antiq. xv. 14].* — And with
this wonderful house of the theocracy Jesus would
have nothing to do, because the house, forsaken of
the Spirit, had become a spiritual ruin. The new-
temple seemed to promise a new spring of the Jew-
ish theocracy : Jesus spoke of the end of the temple,
and city, and all the old economy of things. They
pointed His attention to the temple, which they, sons
of (lalilee, had so often contemplated with amaze-
ment as the grandest or the only sanctuary upon
earth ; referring probably to the declaration of Je-
sus in ch. xxiii. aS (Chrysostom, Wolf, Meyer; con-
tra, de Vv'ette) with deep emotion, almost doubting,
or at least interceding for the temple, that Christ
might prevent it from falling into ruins.
Ver. 2. See ye not sill these things ? — Casau-
* [The m.arble, he tells us, was so white that the building
appeared at a distance like a mountain of snow, and the
gilding as dazzling as thi- r.iys of the sun. Some of the
stones were forty-five cubits long, five liigh, and six broad.
Even Tacitus speaks of the extraordinary magnificence of
the Herodian tcmplt^ —P. S.]
422
TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
bon, and many others, startled by this sentence, have
proposed to omit the ou* Paulus : Do not look too
much at these things ; but this would require ix-i) in-
stead of 01). De Wctte, following Chryso.stom : Do
ye not marvel at all this magnificence ? Meyer's in-
terpretation is still more unfounded and untenable :
Do i/e not see all this ? namely, the vision . of Jesus
concerning the destruction of the ttnijile, as some-
thing present before His eyes.f But the expression
is rhetorical, and introduces what follows: Do ye
not really see all these things yet ? Soon shall ye
see them no more. The judgment will come : — the
destruction of the city ; the burning of the temple ;
Hadrian's statue of Jupiter upon the site; Julian's
vain attempt to rebuild it ; the mosque of Omar.
[Verily I say unto you, etc. — A most remarls;-
able prophecy, uttered in a time of profound peace,
when nobody dreamed of the possibility of the de-
struction of such a magnificent work of art and sanc-
tuary of rehgion as the temple at Jerusalem ; a pro-
phecy literally fulfilled forty years ai'ter its utterance,
fulfilled by Jewish fanatics and Roman soldiers in
express violation uf the orders of Titus, one of the
most humane of the Roman emperors (called delicice
humani generis), who wished to save it. And Jose-
phus, the greatest Jewish scholar of his age, had to
furnish from his personal experience the best com-
mentary on our Saviour's prophecy, and a powerful
argument for His divine mission! — P. S.]
Ver. 8. Upon the Mount of OZives. — On the
prospect from the Mount of Ohves over the city, see
the description of travellers. ;]:
The disciples came unto Kim privately. —
Asking Him coufideutially. The /car' (Si ay refers
to no disthiction between the Twelve and other men.
It indicates indefinitely that distinction among the
disciples themselves, which Mark notes more distinct-
ly in ch. xiii. 3. The confidential disciples, to whom
He disclosed these things, were Peter, James the El-
der, and John ; to whom Andrew was added, who
had a sort of seniority among the disciples.
When shall these things be ? and what shall
be the sign ?— Two distinct questions. The first
refers to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem ;
the other, to the signs of the advent of Christ and
the end of the world. They were sure that the
coming of Christ would bring in the end of the world ;
but they did not apprehend that the des,truetion of
Jerusalem would itself be a sign of the coming of
Christ. This distinction is important for the inter-
pretation of the whole chapter. The Rabbins spoke
of the dolores Messice, according to Hos. xiii. 13, and
other places (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. '700) as the pre-
monitory signs of the advent of the Messiah. §
* [A similar case of the interrogative use of oh is John
vi. 70: ovK if ill v/xas tovs SciSeKa 6|tAe|a^rj!', K.r.K.
t [The Edinb. trsl., overlooking the sc. (scilicet, namely),
the 7ioch haltloaer, and the viehnehr of the original, makes
Lange here defend the interpretation of Merer, which he ex-
pressly rejects.— V. S.]
X [The siege of Jerus.alem began at the Mount of Olives
(lit. : the Olives, t wv i\aiSiv\ and at the passover, the
place and time of this urophecy. Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 2. 3;
vi. 9, -S.— p. 8.] - r J , ,
§ [The late Judge Joel Jo.ves. of Philadelphia {Kates on
iScrzpture, p. 311, as quoted by Dr. Nast) and Dr. W. Nast
(Com. in lac.) refer the inquiry of the apoi^tles to one and
the same event, concerning which they wished to know the
time and the sign, and understand the -napovaia of the per-
sonal coming of Christ which would bring about the end of
the present world and the establishnieni of His kingdom.
In the view of the iliseiples ;it that time these two events
coincided, and one and the same sign they imagined would
Thy coming. — The irapovaia, 1 Cor. xv. 23 ;
1 John ii. 28 ; Matt, x.xiv. 37, 39 ; 2 Thess. ii. 1, 8,
etc. Before, this had been regarded as in antithesis
to the time of Old Testament expectation — in which
the first and second coming of Christ coincided ; but
here it is specifically viewed as the period of His last
coming in glory. The irupouu'ia is the (Tvi<p6.viia of
2 Thess. ii. 8 ; 1 Tim. vi. 14, etc., in antithesis to the
times of the hidden influence and government of
Christ. The irapouria refers to time ; the inKpaveia
to space. The question of the disciples shows that
they no longer entertained the notion of the palm-
entry being the advent. After the great event of the
resurrection, they did indeed venture to hope that
that advent was already beginning. Acts i. 6 ; but af-
ter the ascension they expected His coming from
heaven, according to the heavenly intimation in Acts
i. 11; iii. 20.
And of the end of the •world. — Meyer:
" There is in the gospels no trace whatever of a mil-
lennarian apocalyptical view of the last things." But
Meyer overlooks that the o-fj/TeAeia is the germ itself
of the expectation of the millennarian kingdom which
afterward was fully developed (Rev. xx.). From the
fact that the awreXfia should come suddenly, it does
not at once follow that it should come and end at
once. It embraces a period, the stages of which are
clearly intimated, not only in 1 Cor. xv. and the
Apocalypse, but also in Matt. xxv. and John v. —
To D aiw V 0 s . — " The aiuv ovtus, which ends with
the advent, as the alccv fj.4x\oov then begins. The
advent, resurrection, and judgment, fall upon the
fcrxctTTj i]M.(pa, with which the Kaiphs tax^-'^"^ (1 Pct-
i. 5), the iax^-'^a-i- vi^^pat (Acts ii. 17 ; 2 Tim. iii. 1),
that is, the stormy and wicked end of the ai(i>v ovroi
(see Gal. i. 4), are not to be confounded." Meyer.
[It should be kept in mind that when the " end of
the world " is spoken of in the N. T., the term alwv,
the present dispensation or order of things, is used,
and not Koa/xoi, the planetary system, the created
universe. — P. S.]
Ver. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you.
— The practical issue of all discussion of the last
things.
Ver. 5. For many shall come, etc. — De Wette :
" It cannot be shown that there were any false
Christs before the destruction of Jerusalem. Bar-
Cochba (Euseb. iv. (i) appeared after that event (the
deceiver Jonathan in Oyrene, Joseph. Bell. Jud. vii.
11, is not described as a false Messiah). The deceiv-
ers of whom the Acts of the Apostles and Josephus
speak (Acts v. 36 ; comp. Joseph. Antiq. xx. 5, 1 ;
!S, 9 ; 21, 38 ; Bell. Jud. ii. 13, 5), did not play the
part of Christs. Church history generally knows of
none who gave himself out as the Christian Messiah."
Here are almost as many errors as words. 1. We
have not to do here with the specific signs of the de-
struction of Jerusalem, but with the general signs
of the end of the world. 2. All those are essentially
false Messiahs who would assume the place which
belongs to Christ in the kingdom of God. It includes,
therefore, the enthusiasts who before the destruction
of Jerusalem appeared as seducers of the people ;
e. g., Theudas, Dositheus, Simon Magus, etc. 3.
Every one who gave himself out as the Messiah, gave
himself out as the Christian Messiah ; for Messiah
means Christ. That no pseudo-Messiah could an-
nounce himself as Jesus of Nazareth, is obvious of
serve for both. Otherwise Nast falls in with Lange's inter-
pretation of this whole chapter. — P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 2-14.
423
itself. Moreover, every man was a false Christ who
pretended to assume the place of Christ ; e. g., Ma-
nes, ilohammed. For modern false Messiahs among
the Jews, sec the Serial Dibre Eineth, or Words of
Trv.ih. Breslau, 1853-4.
In My name. — Properly, on Mij name : on the
ground of My name.
Ver. 6. Ye shall hear. — As it respect'? the se-
ductive side of these false Messiahs, they were to be
on their guard ; but as it respects this fearful side,
they were not to be afraid.
Of wars, and rumors of wars. — Meyer :
" Wars in tiio neighborhood, where we hear the up-
roar and confusion ourselves ; and wars in the dis-
tance, the rumors of which only are heard."* De
Wette : " Rumors of wars, i. c, future wars in pros-
pect. . . . Even wars and calamities they were not
to take as signs of His coming. Such wars we can-
not find before the destruction of Jerusalem." Mey-
er likewise denies the reference to facts preceding
the destruction. But this springs from misunder-
standing of the construction of the discourse. Here
all wars are meant down to the end of the world ;
and certainly there are enough of them to be found.
Wetsteiu, taking it for granted that wars before the
destruction of Jerusalem must be meant, refers us to
tlie wars of the Jews, under Asinaeus and AUnteus,
with the Parthians in Mesopotamia (Joseph. Aniiq.
xviii. '.I, 1), the wars of the Parthians with the Ro-
mans, etc.f
* [Alf iril refers the o/coai TToKejxaiv to the three threats
of toar against the Jews by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero,
Joseph. Antiq. xi.x. 1, 2. We doubt very much whether
j)r()phecy is ever so specific. — P. S.]
t [I b^'f: leave to quote a passage from my diary during
the famous Southern Invasion of Pennsylvania under Gen-
eral E. E. Lee in June and July, 1S63, which may throw some
light on this passage, in its wider application to different pe-
riods of repeated fulfilment:
"MERCEKSBtrnr,, Pa., June 13, 1SC3. It seems to me that
I now understand better than ever before some passages in
the proplietic discourses of our Saviour, especially the dif-
fereuce between '■loars'' and 'rumors of wai-s,'' and the
force of the command '■to flee to the mountains'' (ver. IG),
which I hear again and again in these days from the mouth
of the poor cegroes and other fugitives. Humors of wars, as
distinct from wars, are not, as usually understood, reports of
wars in foreign or distant countries— for these may be road
or heard with perfect composure and unconcern— but the
cDntlicting, confused, exaggerated, and frightful rumors
which precede the approach of war to our own homes and
firesides, especially the advance of an invading army, and
the consequent panic and commotion of tho people, the
suspension of business, the confusion of families, the appre-
hensions of women and children, the preparations for flight,
the fear of plunder, capture, and the worst outrages which
the unbridled p.assions of brute soldiers are thought capable
of committing upon an unarmed community. Such rumors
of wars .are actually often worse than war itself, and hence
they are mentioned after the wars by way of climav. Tho
present state of things in thi^^ community is certainly much
worse than the rebel raid of Gen. Stuart's cavalry'in Oct.
last, when they suddenly appeared at Morcersburg at noon-
day. Seized a largo number of horses, shoes, and storegoods,
and twelve innocent citizens as candidates for Libby prison,
but did no further harm, and left after a few hours for Cham-
bersburg. But now the whole veteran army of Lee, the
military strength and flower of the Soutliern rebellion, is
8ai<l to be crossing the Potomac .and marching into Pennsyl-
vania; we are cut off from all m dl communication and de-
pendent on tho flying and contradictory rumors of passen-
gei-s, straggling soldiers, run-away negroes, and spies. All
the schools anil stores are closed; goods are being hid or re-
moved to the country, valuables buried in cellars .and gar-
dens and other places of concealment; the poor negroes—
the innocent cause of the war — are trembling like leaves
and flying with tl.air little bundles 'to tho mountains,'
especially the numerous run-aw.ay slaves from Virginia, from
le.ar of being recaptured as "contrabands' and sold to the
far South; political pas.5ions run high; confidence is de-
etroyed; innjccnt persons are seized as spies; the neighbor
looks upon his neighbor with suspicion, and even sensible
The end is not yet.— The end of the world,
as in vers, 13 and 14. So Chrysostom, Ebrard, de
Wette. Meyer, on tl\e contrary : the end of tlie trib-
ulations here spoken of. But this falls with his erro-
neous construction of the whole discourse.
Ver. 7. Nation shaU rise against nation,
kingdom against kingdom. — Meyer : Wais of
races, and wars of kingdoms. But wars were spoken
of in the preceding verse. Here, the subject is great
poUtical revolutions in the world of nations : migra-
tions of nations, risings, judgments, blendings, and
new formations of peoples.
There shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes.— De Wette and Meyer : These can-
not be pointed out definitely. But they proceed on
the fundamental error, that they must be pointed out
before the destruction of Jerusalem. With regard
to the famines, reference has been made to the dearth
under Claudius, Acts xi. 28 ;* with reference to the
earthquakes, to that in Asia Minor (Tacit. Annal.
xiv. 26). f Certainly these are not enough of them-
selves ; and Kara, tottovs points to diverse places
throughout the world. The passage combines in one
view the whole of the various social, physical, and cli-
matic crises of development in the whole New Testa-
ment dispensation. Wetsteiu and Bertholdt give speci-
mens of Jewish expectation in regard to the dolores
Messim.
Ver. 8. These are the beginning of sorrows.
— The external, lesser, physical woes, as the basis of
the greater moral woes to follow. The w 5 Ires,
birth-pangs, n-tlZT] "h-^n. Buxtorf, Lex. Talm.
700. The new world is a'birth, as the end of the old
world is a death.
Ver. 9. Then shaU they deliver you up. —
Meyer : Then, when what is here spoken of shall
have taken place. A wrong division. It does not
mean fir e it a in the external sense ; although the
internal procedure from worse to worse is intimated.
ladies have their imagination excited with pictures of hor-
rors far worse than death. This is an intolerable state of
things, and it would be a positive relief of the most painful
suspense if the rebel army would march into town."
Shortly after the above was written various detachments
of Lee's army tofii : nd kept possession of Mercersburg till
the terrilde battles of Gettysburs on the first three days of
Jul}', and although public anii priv.'ito houses were ransack-
ed, horses, cows, sheep, ami jirovision stolen day by day
without mercy, negroes captured and carried back into sla-
very (even such as I know to have been born and r.aised on
free soil), and many other outrages committed by the lawless
guerilhi bands of Neil, Imboden, Mosby, etc., yet the .actual
reign of terror, b.ad .as it was, did not after all come up to the
previous aiijirehensions creat-d by the "rumors nf v>'ar," and
the community became more calm and composed, iirave and
ui;min<lfid of danger. After tlu' b.'ittle ■■ of Gettv.-liurg. about
a thousand wounded and mulilir. .1 •, '. : ••'::.:■?{<, .■,ii<i siddiers
were captured on their retreat : ■ ' ;:i;ic, and left jq
the Theological Seminary at .Mr : ■ i iic cared for by
the very I'eopic v,ho had be<-n yvrx'..., i, r>.l,!;ed and plun-
dered li;, i::. ,; r,,iuia.|es. Thii.s tlic pr.avful .scenes of good
will ai, I II Iblluwi'd tlie liorrors of war. and tho
bittciM . _:.M! way to tlic kin I'y sympathies and
geniTo : - I . : (i;,!iaii nature and of Cliristian chanty. Un-
fortiinalfiy a \< av alU'i'War.l (Julv, 18(i4), a band of rebels in-
v.aded Soutli.'in I'cmiim I vania again, and, unmindful of these
acts of kindiiib,-^, )dnn<kTL-d .Mercerslnni.', and burned the de-
fenceless flourishing town of (Jhambersburg to ashes, — ono
of the most cruel acts in this cruel civil war. — P. S.]
* [Also to tho assiduce steriliiatcs of which Suetonius
{Claud. IS) speaks, and the fames which Tacitus {Annal.
xii. 43) mentions about tho same time. There was also a
pestilence at Eome about O."). which in a sinale autumn car-
ried off 30,000 persons. (Sueton. yero 39, Tacit. Annal. xvi.
18.) See Greswell. and Alford.— P. S.]
+ [Alfoed in loc, and others who refer the prophecy
one-sidedly to the destruction of Jerusalem, mention here
the great earthquake in Crele about 4G nnd 4T, another at
Rome in 51, a third and fourth in Phrygia in 53 and GO, a
fifth in Campania (Tacit. Annal. xv. 22).— P. 8.]
424
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
In that time of external convulsions, will the greater
internal woes be experienced. Hence there is no
contradiction to Luke xxi. 12.
And shall kill you. — Not merely persecute to
death " some " of jou. Decius, Diocletian, the Inqui-
sition, religious wars of modern times. Certamly it
is not exclusively the persecution under Nero. — Kill
you. — The Apostles are here the representatives of
all Christians.
Ver. 10. And then shall many be offended.
— Then marks again the advancement of the suffer-
ing.— And shall hetray one another. — Meyer :
" The apostate shall betray the faithful man." But
this does not bring out the whole strength of the
aAA.TjAoi/r, or the progression of the jthought.
This betraying one another includes the idea of de-
livering up to an unauthorized tribunal, i. c, to the
heathen magistrate or to the political power, which
has no control over conscience ; and the word, there-
fore, is appropriate to all political persecutions, which
not only apostates have inflicted upon true Christians,
but Christians upon Christians, Arians upon Catho-
lics, and Catholics upon Arians, etc. (See this in all
Church history, especially the history of all Protest-
ant persecutions.) — And shall hate one another.
— The perfect opposite to the vocation of all Chris-
tians, to love one another^ John xv. 17.
Ver. 11. Many false prophets. — Not merely
• extreme antinomian tendencies " in the stricter
sense. The false prophet may be legalistic ; * and
that is another and higher form of Antinomianism.
Ver. 20. Because iniquity or lawlessness
shall abound. — 'A v o fxlaVj, not merely immoraliii/.
Apostasy from the internal spiritual laws of Christian-
ity, or mental lawlessness, is iniquity itself. The dying
out of true religion must be followed by the dying
out of love among the many, — that is, the great ma-
jority of Christians. This dying out will be in its
very nature gradual — a grov«'ing cold. Meyer, in op-
position to Dorner, endeavors in vam to explain this
of the apostolical age.
Ver. 13. But he that shall endiure unto the
end — Endure in what, needs no explanation. It is
the antithesis to apostasy from the faith — from
the Ught of faith and the law of faith — and from
love.
Unto the end. — (1) Krebs, KosenmuUer : Until
the destruction of Jerusalem {a- o> drja era i , flight
to Pella, temporal deUverance). (2) Eisner, Kuinoel :
Unto death. (3) Meyer : To the end of the tribula-
tions.— It is obviously the end simply, the last day
of the world ; which comes preparatorily to every
one in the day of his death, the last day of the indi-
vidual Christian. The same holds good of the ad-
vent of Christ. Even as there is an mternal advent
in connection with the external and universal advent
of Christ, so also there is an internal end of all
things, earnest and rehearsal of the judgment, —
the filial testing and confirmation of the Christian's
faith.f
* [Nohiiafi.-^c/i, is not: Uffal eiough, as tbe Edinb. trsl.
h£tf is, which gives no sense in this conncftion, but lerjalis-
tie in .a bad sense as opposed to evangelical or truly Chris-
tian. Alford refers here to the plentiful crop of heretical
teachers vrhich sprung up every where in the apostolic age
with the good seed of the g.ispel Acts xx. 30; Gal. i. 7-9:
Col. ii. ; 1 Tim. i. 6, T, 20; 2 Tim. ii. 18; ill. 6-8; 1 John ii. ;
2 Pet. ii. ; Jude, etc.— P. 6.]
t [Alford refers the t4\os in its primary meaning to
the destruction of Jerusalem, but in its ulterior meanings
to the day of death or martyrdom for the individual, and to
the end of all things for the Church at large.— P. S.]
Ver. 14. This gospel [good news] of the
kingdom. — The one great joyful sign of the ap-
proaching end of the world, which contrasts- with
and outweighs all the preliminary sorrowful signs.
In all the world. — 'E y oAt? tt) oiKov^i-evri
must not be limited to the Roman Empire, as what
follows plainly shows.
For a w^itnes.i unto all nations. — Ancient ex
positors interpreted this of the conviction of the na-
tions, and condemnation of the heathen. Grotius : In
order to make known to them the stiflfheckedness of
the Jews {perfinadajudaoruin). Domer: Ita uteri-
sin aid vitce aut mortis adducat. Right, doubtless. The
gospel is not merely to be preached to the nations,
but to be preached eis fxapr v piov . Testified to
them faithfull}', even unto martyrdom, it will be a
witness unto them ; and then it will be a witness
concerning them and against them.*
And then shall the end come. — The end of
the world proper. Meyer again : " The end of the
tribulations preceding the Messiah."
Second Cycle.
The Specific Eschatology. Premonitory Signs of the
End of the World, (a) Tlie Destruction of Jeru-
salem ; {b) the Nevj Testa)nent Period of Restrained
Judgment. Vers. 15-22 ; 23-28.
Ver. 15. When therefore ye see. — De Wette
and Meyer : The ovv signifies — in consequence of
the entering in of this re Aos. Ebrard : Jesus reverts
to the first question, the answer of the second ques-
tion being premised. Wieseler : Resumption of the
thread broken oif by the warning of vers. 3-14. Dor-
ner : Transition from the eschatological principles of
vers. 4-14 to the historical and prophetical appUcor
tiou. The oZp certainly signifies a transition to the
announcement of the approaching destruction of Je-
rusalem— introduced now for practical application.
But it looks back again to vers. 7-9, where the disci-
ples are taken up into tlie figure, just as they after-
ward retire, and we hear no longer vixeh.
The abomination of desolation ((8 5 e A u 7 /u o
eprjM'^o-ea) J.— Dan. ix. 27, niDCTD Q-'lSillSir ;
comp. Dan. xi. 31 ; xii. 11. On the difficult place
in Daniel, compare Hengstenberg, Hiivernick, and
Stier [Discourses of Jesus, on this passage). Heng-
stenberg [Christologie des A. IVs, vol. iii. p. 494)
* [Dr. Nast, and others, regard ver. 14 as the cheering
key-note echoing through and above all the doleful sounds
of this prophecy. " Though ever so many dazzling pseudo-
Mes^iahs arise, though bloody wars and wild tumult fill the
world, though the existing order of things be overturned by
the storm of revolutions or by ttie migrations of whole na-
tions, though the earth be visited by devastating pesti-
lence, or bo shaiien in its very foundations -notwithstand-
ing all this, the gos[iel of the kingdom, of that glorious king-
dom of God and His Anointed, sh;ill be published to all
n.ations, so that all may have an opportunity to accept it,
and that it may be a witness against them if they reject it."
Judge Jones: '-The universal promulgation of the gospel is
the true ti.sn of the end, both in the [narrow and restricted]
sense in which the disciples put the question and in the
[wider and universal] sense, which in the Saviour's mind it
really involved." The preaching of the gospel throughout
the Homan world preceded the end of the Jewish State ;
the promulgation of the gospel throughout the whole world
will bo the sign of the end of the al(i:v ovroi. "The gigan-
tic missionary operations of our days," says 0. ton Gkb-
LACU, "have brought us considerably nearer to the fulfil-
meiii .if this word of our Loid." Alford : "The apostasy
of the latter days, and the universal dispersion of missions^
are the two great signs of the eud drawing near."— P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 15-28.
425
translates, " and over the top of abomination comes
the destroyer." The top of abomination is then the
summit of the temple desecrated by abomination ;
and upon this summit comes the desolater. But the
desolater would then form an antithesis to the abom-
ination. We venture to translate : " And even to the
summit (double sense : to the uttermost, and to the
top of the sanctuary, mentioned before) come the
abominations, the ravagers (the singular instead of
the plural, comp. Prov. xxvii. 9), and until destruc-
tion, which is firmly decreed, is poured out upon the
wasters." See many other interpretations in Meyer's
Com. [4th ed. p. 443]. The Sept. is in sense cor-
rect : KCti 67ri TO liphv PSi\vyixa roiiv epT]/j.(irreo)i'.
Comp. 1 Mace. i. 55 ; 2 Mace. vi. 2. This abomi-
nation of desolation has been variously interpreted.
(1) The Fathers : The statue of Titus [or Hadrian]
supposed to have been erected on the site of the
desolated temple, — which is questionable. (2) Je-
rome : The imperial statue, which Pilate caused to
be set up (Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii. 9, 2). (3) Eisner,
Hug : The raging of the zealots.* (4) Meyer : The
vile and loathsome abominations practised by the
conquering Romans on the place where the temple
stood. (5) Grotius, Bengel, de Wette, and others :
The Roman eagles, as military ensigns, so hateful to
the Jews. This explanation we adhere to, as most
consistent with ^5 4\vy/j.a. The Roman eagles,
rising over the site of the temple, were the sign that
the holy place had fallen under the dominion of the
idolaters. (Comp. Wieseler in the Guttingen Quar-
terly for 1846, p. 183 sq.)
Spoken of by Daniel. — Wieseler ; " Which is
an expression of the prophet Daniel." As Daniel
describes it.
In the holy place. — Mark xiii. 14, otrov ov 5e7.
Meyer insists that it was the temple ground ; Bengel,
de Wette, and Baumgarten-Crusius, Palestine gen-
erally, but especially the territory round Jerusalem,
" because, after the capture of the temple, it would
be too late to flee." This extends the meaning too
far, while Meyer confounds the present passage with
the text of Daniel. It was to be to the disciples a
sign, when the abomination of desolation touched
the holy place ; and they were not to wait until it
reached the temple. This, therefore, signified the
beleaguering of the holy city. Jesus gives the
longest term for delay ; but does not forbid an
earlier flight.
Let him that readeth understand. — This is
not a word of Jesus, as Chrj'sor-tom and, after him,
many have thought ; which would in that case point
to the reading of Daniel.f It is a word of the Evan-
gelist (de Wette, Meyer), which seems to intimate
the near approach of these signs, i. e., the beginning
of the Jewish war. The passage is inijjortant in its
* [So also Stier, Alford, Wordsworth, and Nast, who
refer the words to the intern;il desecration of tbe temple by
the Jewish zealots under pretence of defending it. See
Joseph. Bill. Jad. iv. 6, Z. But Wordsworth in a long
note, which "Introduces much mystical and irrelevant ni.at-
ter," gives the prophecy of Daniel a wider aitplication: (1)
to the idol statue of Jupiter set up in the temple by Anti-
"chus Epiphanes (comp. 1 Mace. i. 54, where that idol is ex-
pressly called: ^54\uyiJ,a fpT/ua'o-eas ewl rh duaiatrrr}-
piou) : (2) to the desecration of the zealots in the Jewish
war; (8) to the sotting up of the bishop of Rome on the
altar of God, and the abominations of the papacy, "the man
of sin .'fitting in the temple of God" (2 Thess. ii. 4).— I'. S.]
+ [I'robably with reference to the words of tlio angel to
Daniil (ix. 25): "Know therefore and understand." So
Btier, Nast, Wordsworth.— P. 8.]
bearing upon the origin of this Gospel and the time
of its composition.*
Ver. 16. Flee into the mountains. — This was
fulfilled in the flight of tlie Christians to Pella:
Euseb. iii. 5. Several Christians received, before
the war, according to Eusebius, a divine direction for
tlie congregation, that it should forsake the city and
betake itself to Pclla, in Peraa.
Ver. 17. Let him not come down. — This and
the following are concrete descriptions of the most
extreme haste in escape, in which they must not be
hindered by any motives of selfishness or conve-
nience. The allusion is to the flight of Lot from
Sodom, and Lot's wife, Luke xvii. 32. — Not come
down. — Some think this was a hint that they sliould
flee over the flat roofs (Winer, sub v. Dach) ; ac-
cording to Bengel, " ne per scalas hiteriorcs, scd ex-
teriores desccndat." The manner of escape, how-
ever, was not described beforehand, here or else-
where. It was said only, that no one must go down
into the house again, to carry away with him all
kinds of encumbrances.
Ver. 20. Nor on the Sabbath.— On the Sab-
bath the Jew might go a distance of only two thou-
sand ells or cubits [about an English mile]. Acts i.
12 ; Jos. Antiq. xiii. 8, 4. This ordinance was
based upon Exod. xvi. 29. (Lightfoot on Luke xxiv.
50.) According to Wetstein, however, the Rabbins
made many casuistical exceptions. De Wette asks :
" How does this scrupulous anxiety agree with the
Saviour's liberal view on the Sabbath ? " Meyer
explains, that many scrupulous Jewish Christians f
would hardly be able to rise aljove the legal prescrip-
tion concerning the Sabbath-journey. But both
these forget that the Jewish custom with regard to
travelling on the Sabbath [the shutting of the gates
of cities, etc.] would make the Christians' journey-
ing on that day infinitely more ditficult, even al-
though they themselves might be perfectly free from
any scruple. They would, in addition to other em-
barrassments, expose themselves to the severest per-
secutions of Jewish fanaticism, and be denounced as
apostates and traitors to the religion of their fathers.
Ver. 21. For then shall be great tribula-
tion.— A sketch of the history of the destruction of
Jerusalem. Comp. Luke xxi. 20 sqq., and Joseph,
Bell. Jud. Heubner: "According to Josephus, not
less than eleven hundred thousand Jews perished in
this war. The siege took place at the time of the
crowded festival. Since the rejection of Christ, the
Jewish people has been in a state of slavery, and dis-
persed over the earth. Immediately after the war,
ninety thousand were carried away." By the great-
ness of the terror, which the Lord only hints at cir-
cuitously, they were to measure the" swiftness of their
flight.
Ver. 22. And except those days should be
shortened, iKoKofiwd-naav . — What days '? and
how shortened ? According to our view [Leben
Jem, ii. 3, 1269), the destruction of Jerusalem sig-
nified and was the actual beginning of the end of the
world, inasmuch as it was the judgment upon the
* [Alford regards the words as an ecclesiastical note, like
the doxology to the Lord's Prayer, vi. 13, for liturgical use.
It must be admitted that in tne flrst three Gospels there
occurs no similar case of a subjective insertion calling atten-
tion to any event or discourse, liut Alford's hypothesis is
thrown out of the question by the unanimous testimony of
the critical authorities in favor of the passage. — P. 8.]
See
t [Not : Jews and ClirUtians, as the Edinb. tish has it.
J Meyer, p. 445.— P. S.]
42G
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Jewish people, which forms the counterpart of the
world's judgment upon Christ, and because the
heathen world was involved in the guilt and in the
punishment of the Jewish world. Then those days
are the days of the destruction of Jerusalem, as the
days of the great preliminary judgment. Those days
are, as days of judgment, represented as shortened.
Lightfoot (with allusion to rabbinical notions about
shortened days, in opposition to Josh. x. 13) and
Fritzsche understand the word of the shortened
le7iffth of the days. Meyer, on the other hand (fol-
lowing de Wette), refers the expression to the dimin-
ishing of the number of the days ; and deduces from
the saying generally the earlier occurrence of the
end of the world itself (ver. 29).* But how should
men be saved through their passing all the swifter
out of the burning of Jerusalem into the burning of
the entire world itself '? The verb ko\o06u means to
mutilate, to cut oS'. Thus, then, the days of the
New Testament dispensation are, under the judicial
point of view, or with reference to the judgment as
already begim, modified days of judgment — a season
of grace. To this points the conclusion, "no man
would be saved." Shortened — that is, in the divine
counsel.
The elect (Gen. xviii. 23) are not merely those
who at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem were
believers in Christ, but all who, according to the
divine decree, should become behevers down to the
end of the world. Ebrard : There follows an aitas
paido saltern felicior, which Meyer denies, with-
out sufficient reason, because he tliinks that the
hastening f of the end of the world will be the
means of salvation for many. This is inconsistent
with 2 Pet. iii. 9.
Ver. 23. Then if any man shall say unto
you. — Meyer : Tore, then, when the desolation of
the temple and the flight shall take place. But this
is inconsistent with what follows. The rare points
to the New Testament interval between the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem and the end of the world.
Ver. 24. False Christs. — The >//6y5dxp'0'Tor
must needs be an avr ixp^a-ros, and conversely {see
my Positive JDogmatik, p. 126*7.) — False prophets
must be understood only of false Christian teachers.
Meyer thinks of false prophets among the Jews,
according to Joseph. Bell. Jud. ii. 13, 4 ; Kuinoel,
of such as should give themselves out to be prophets
raised up from the dead, — Ehas, or others ; Grotius,
* [Similarly Greswell ami Alford, who refer to the va-
rious causes which combined to shorten the siege of Jerus.i-
lem : (1) Herod Agrippa had begun to fortify the walls of
Jerusalem against any attack, but was stopped by orders
from Claudius about 42 or i.3. (2) The Jews being divided
into factions, had totally neglected any preparations against
the siege. (3) The msigazines of corn and provision were
just burned before the arrival of Titus (ttAtjc 6\iyov iruvTa
rhv alrof, says Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 1, 5). (4) Titus ar-
rived suddenly, and the Jews viduntarily abandoned parts
of the fortification, (o) Titus himself confessed that he
owed his victory to God, who took the fortifications of the
Jews {Bell. Jial. vi. 9, 1). "Some such providential short-
ening of the great days of tribulation, and hastening of God's
glorious kingdom, is here promised for the latter times.'' —
P. S.]
+ I In German: Besddeunigung, and not delay as the
Edlnb. trsl. has it, thus perverting the originul into the very
opposite. Meyer (see his Com. on Matt. p. 335 sq. 3d ed., to
wliich Lange refers, or p. 446 of the 4th ed. which I mostly
use) conlinos the elect to the Christian believers at the time
of the destruction of Jerusalem, and hence thinks that the
hastening of the end will facilitate their salvation by short-
ening the period of trial and probation and diminishing the
danger of apostasy. But Lange differs from this view, as
appears from the ohne Grund, and the reference to 2 Pet.
iii. 9, both of which are omitted in the Edinb. trsl.— P. S.]
of apostles of the false Messiahs. But compare, in
opposition to all these, 2 Thess. ii. and Rev. xvi. 13.
A Christian prophet is the announcer of a new devel-
opment, or reform, or formation in the doctrine and
life of the Church. A false prophet is an ecclesias-
tical revolutionist ; Avhich, howevei', he may be in a
despotic or absolutistic sense, as well as in a demo-
cratic or radical. In the domain of doctrine, both
characters may combine in one.
Great signs and -wonders. — That is, such in
appearance. Awaovai is not merely promise ;
nor is it in the real sense give ; but somewhat as in
a scenic representation, — promised with ostentation,
and accomplished in appearance.
Ver. 26. In the desert ; in the secret cham-
bers.— In both cases. Behold ! A'ot merely " apo-
calyptic painting," as Meyer says. Beliold indicates
sensation and excitement. The general idea is, that
Christ is not identified with a particular party or
sectional interest. Christ " in the desert," according
to the analogy of John the Baptist in the wilderness,
signifies the supposition that Christ would be found
certainly in the ascetic and monastic form of life.
In opposition to this view stands the declaration that
he is eV Tots Ta/j.eioti. The Ta/j-iioi' means especially
the chamber of treasure and provision ; and Christ
in the secret chambers points to the secular forms
of millennarianism, that Christ is to be found in an
external Church, with all its temporalities and glory.
(Mormonism and Communism.)
Ver. 27. For as the lightning. — The light-
ning has indeed a place where it appears first ; but
it is universal in its shining, visible from the eastern
to the western horizon. So will Christ at His appear-
ing manifest Himself by an uhmistakeable brightness,
irradiating the whole earth. It is not here, then,
the mere suddenness that is meant, but rather the
Oiiaiiprcsenf, unmistakeable, and fearful visibility.
The majestic glory of the lightning, and its effect
in purifying the air, are here silent concomitants.
Ver. 28. Where the carcass is. — A universal
law of nature, which reflects the higher law of the
moral, and especially of the Christian, world. The
eagles here are carrion vultures which were num-
bered by the ancients with the race of eagles.
Comp. Job xxxix. 30 ; Hos. viii. 1 ; Hab. i. 8.
[Plin. Hist. Nat. vs.. 3.] The figure gives a profound
and strong expression of the necessity, inevitable-
ness, and universality of judgment. As the carcass
everywhere attracts the carrion-eaters, so do moral
corruption and ripened guilt everywhere demand the
judgment. The bearing of this proverbial word in
the text is somewhat more difficult. The following
are some interpretations : (1) Christ is the food (the
carcass 1), believers the eagles : Theophylaet, Calvin,
Calovius. (Jerome even went so far as to find in
the -nruiixa a reference to the death of Christ.) *
* [So also Chrysostom (the congregated eagles are the
assembly of saints and martyrs) and Euthymius Zigabenus.
Among modern interpreters Dr. Wordsworth soberly de-
fends this untenable patristic interpretation : " As keen as id
the sense of the eagle for the Trrw/xa, so sharp-sighted will
be true Christians to discern, and flock to, the body of
Christ." The reason, he thinks (with Jerome), why Christ
calls Himself here irTw^a is, because He saven us by Hia
death. He, too, quotes Ps. ciii. 5 and Isa. xl. 31 (as Jerome
did before), to prove that saints may be compared to eagles
who renew their youth and ily up with wings to Christ and
will be caught up with Him in the clouds. But a reference
of TTTWixa to the s.acred body of the Saviour, which never
saw corri;ption, violates every principle of good taste and
propriety. — P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 29-14.
427
(2) The carcass means those who die to themselves ;
the eagles, the gifts of the Holy Spirit : Grotius.
(3) Jerusalem and the Jews are the carcass ; attract-
ing the Roman legions with their eagles : Lightfoot,
Wolf, de Wette \the last doubtful). (4) Meyer :
" The carcass is a figure of the spiritually dead ; and
(Tvfaxdvo'ovTai (that is, at the advent) oi aerul repre-
sents the same as is described in eh. xiii. 41, that is,
the angels sent out by Christ." Doubtless the
figure of the eagles will express the necessity and
inevitableness of tlie advent, as the figure of the
lightning expresses the uimiistakeableness and awful
grandeur of its signs. But then the carcass must
represent the moral corruption and decay of the
world itself; and the eagles the judgment, not only
in its personal, but also in its physical, elements and
forces.* The only question is, whether the word
merely looks back to ver. 27, or also to ver. 26.
KiiuS'er thmks the latter exclusively : " Believe them
not who say that Christ is here or there ; they are
prcedatores avidi." If we take the saying in ver. 28
as a conclusive glance back upon the whole section
from 15 downward, the choice of the figure is at
once explained. In the destruction of Jerusalem,
the judgment will begin by the appearance of the great
carrion eagles (there is included a manifest allusion to
the Roman eagles). From that time it will go on
through the whole new period ; and find its expres-
sion in continuous local judgments throughout the
gracious period of the shortened days of judgment :
hence cnou iav. At last the judgment will extend to
the whole morally corrupt and spiritually dead world.
Ver. 28 then comprehends and sums up the whole
series of judgments from ver. 15-27.
Third Cycle.
The Specific Eschatology. The Appearance of the
End of the World i/se//.— Vkrs. 29-44.
Ver. 29. After the tribulation of those days.
— Here begins the representation of the end of the
world, or rather the hcciinning of the end, the irapov-
aia, the advent of Christ. The Qxl^is tuv i)fj.ipSiv
f Keivaiv is not the same as the OKl^t^ niydxri (ver.
21), which betokens the destruction of Jerusalem.
It is rather a new e\7ipis, in which the restrained
days of judgment under the Christian dispensation
issue (ver. 22), and which are especially character-
ized by the stronger temptations of pseudo-raessianic
powers. Thus, when this d\'iif/ts of temptations has
reached its climax (comp. 2 Thess. ii. 8 ; Rev. xiii. ;
ch. xiv.), then immediately {euOfcos) the great
catastrophe will come. Meyer, follov/ing de Wette
and others [A. Clarke, Robinson, OweuJ, refers the
immediateli/ to what is said of the destruction of
Jerusalem, and calls the dissenting explanations of
Bengel, Ebrard, Diisterdieck, etc., dogmatic. But
there is also a dogmatism of the abstract modern
exegesis. The grounds of our distinctions in these
crises are plain enough in the record : (1) The
cyclical nature of the representation, after the
analogy of the apocalyptic style ; (2) the distinc-
tion between the destruction of Jerusalem and the
New Testament period of mitigated and restrained
woes. The favorite modern hypothesis most un-
* [Similarly Alford : The Trrol/xa is the whole world,
the aerui the angels of vengoance. See Deut. xxviii. 49,
which is probably here referred to; also llosea viii. 1; IJab.
L S.-F. S.]
reasonably places all the temptations described in
vers. 24-26 in the time of the destruction of Jerusa-
lem. But tlie evOdais describes the nature of tho
final catastrophe, that it will be at once swift, sur-
prisingly sudden, and following ui)on a development
seemingly slow and gradual. Thus, throughout the
whole course of history, the swift epochs follow the
slow process of the periods. We need not, however,
translate t v 6 4oi s by suddenly, i. e., unexpectedly,
with Hammond and Schott; "but still less assume
that the destruction of Jerusalem is here again intro-
duced (Kuinoel).*
The sun shall be darkened. — Domer, figura-
tively : " Sun, moon, and stars signify the Nature-
worship of the heathen ; the whole passage, there-
fore, must mean the fall of heathenism after the fall
of Judaism." But it is manifest that the beginning
of the cosmical end of all is the subject here ; as in
2 Pet. iii. 12 ; Rev. xx. and xxi. ; comp. Joel iii.
3 sqq. ; Isa. xxxiv. 4 ; xxiv. 21 ; Dan. vii. 13. f
The stars shall fall from heaven. — Isa. xxxiv.
4. 1. The stars shall lose their light: Bengel, Pau-
lus, Olshausen. 2. AUegorically : the downfall of
tho Jewish commonwealth : Wetstein, etc. 3. Dor-
ner : " The fall of the heathen star-worship." 4.
Augustine : Obscuration of the Church. :f 5. Calvin :
Phenomenal appearances of falhng stars {nccundam
hominum sensum). 6. Meteors and shooting stars,
popularly mistaken for real stars : Fritzsche, Kuin-
oel, de Wette [Owen]. V. Meyer thinks that the
words are to be understood literally ; the stars in
general being spoken of according to the notion
that they were fixed in the heaven. (Comp. Kno-
bel on Isa. p. 245.) This would ascribe an astro-
nomical error to Christ, or make Him acquiesce in
a popular error. 8. They may be limited to the stars
which belong to the planetary family, of which this
earth is one, and the falhng of the stars may be un-
derstood of the dissolution of their planetary connec-
tion with the sun : that is, the idea is here poetically
* [Alford think.s that all the difficulties connected with
tvOdoos have arisen from confounding the partial fulfilment
of the prophecy with its ultimate one. Wordsworth
quotes from Glassius, Philol. Sacra, p. 447, the following
remark on iiidioos'. '■'■ Non ad nostrum computum, sed
difinum, in quo dies mille sunt unus dies." Ps. xc. 4; 2
Pet. iii. 8. Hence the whole interval between the first and
the second coming of Christ is called the last time, or the
Zrt.yi hour, iax'^'rv u>pa, 1 John ii. IS; 1 Cor. x. 11; 1 Pet.
iv. 7; Ileb. i. 2, etc. In the Apostles' Creed, too, we imme-
diately add to the article on the ascen.sion and the sitting at
the right hand of God, the words : '• from thence He shall
come again to judge the quick and the dead." Dr. Nast, to
avoid the difficulties which beset the ante-millennarian inter-
pretation of ei/deoos (Stier, Ebrard, Auberlen, Alford), as
well as that which refers vers. 29 sqq. to the destruction of
Jerusalem (A. Clarke, and others), proposes a figurative in-
terpretation of vers. 29-36, and sees here a picture of a "ju-
dicial visitation of nominal Christendom by Christ, in order
to destroy all ungodly institutions and principles in Church
and State, of which visitation the overthrow of the Jewish
jiolitv was but a type, and which itself is, in turn, the full
typo'of the final and total overthrow of all powers of dark-
ness on the great day of judgment." Consequently the
Lord's coming, as described in vers, 29-:36, would be merely
a providential coming, which precedes His 1\na.\, personal
comins. See below. — P. S.]
t[dwen: A total eclipse of the sun. Whedon under-
stands here visible phenomena of the heavens at tho visible
appearance of Christ. See Nast.— P. S.]
if [So also "Wordsworth, who gives these words a double
sense, a physical and spiritual: -'The sun shall be darkened,
— i. e., the solar liL'ht of Christ's truth shall be dimnjod, tho
lunar orb of the Church shall be obscured by heresy and un-
belief, and some who once shone brightly as stars in tho
firmament of the Church shall full from their place." Simi-
larly Alford.— P. S.]
428
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
depicted, that the phinetary solar system will be
changed into a heavenly constitution, in which the
planets will be independent of the sun, and them-
selves become self-enlightened stars (comp. Rev. xxi.
23). It is to be observed that the heaven (daTe'^ej-
a-nh rod o v p a v o v) and the heavens {v.1 Swd/xeLs t ai i/
oil pavuiv) are distinguished.
And the powers of the heavens (plural). — 1.
The common acceptation is, the host of stars. (Isa.
xxxiv. 4 ; Ps. xsxiii. 0 ; 2 Kings xvii. 16.) 2. The
angel-world : Olshausen, after the Fathers. 3. Rev-
olution in cosmical relations and laws. (Lange's
Leben Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1275.) *
Ver. 30. And then shall appeal-. — A cosmical
transformation, which also affects the earth as in a
transition state (Pollok's Course of Time), prepares
the way for the sign of Christ ; this announces His
immediate coming.
The sign of the Ron of Man. — 1. Chrysos-
tom [Hilary, Jerome, Wordsworth], etc. : The sign
of a cross in the heaven. 2. Olshausen : The star
of the Messiah (Num. xxiv. 17). 3. Fritzsche,
Ewald: The Messiah Himself. [So also Bengel :
Ipse erit signuni sui. Luc. ii. 12.] 4. Schott : No
Other than what is described in ver. 29. 5. Rud.
Hoffmann : " An appearance resembling a man,
which was seen in the Holiest during the siege
of Jerusalem." But this is, as Meyer objects, a
mere fable related by Ben Gorion. 6. Meyer : " A
luminous appearance, the forerunner of the 5o'|a of
the Messiah ; " de Wette, " a kind of Shechinah." f
7. But why not the Shechinah or the 5ti|a of Christ
itself ? It is the shining glory of the manifestation
in general as distinct from the personal manifestation
itself; comp. ch. xii. 38 ; xvi. 1 ; xvii. 2.
And then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, etc. — The expressions k6^/o vt o. i^ o^ov-
r a t, have a striking alliteration, which cannot be
imitated in the translation.:]: The former, KOTrrerreai,
does not mean merely a mourning in the common
sense of the word, but a ritual, solemn lamentation,
as in the penitent beating the breast, and especially
the deep mourning over the dead ; and v-a-TfadaL
means a significant and spiritually exalted, though
real, beholding. Thus we must interpret the two
words here. But it is to be especially noted that
the tribes of the earth in both cases are so over-
powered by the events, that they are involuntarily
constrained to form, in the unity of their expressions
of feeling, one chorus. Meyer: ^^ Mourn: for, what
total change in the state of things, what rending and
revolution of all the relations of life, what de-
cisive catastrophes will declare themselves to be at
hand in the judgment and changing of the aiwres ! "
The lamentation of penitence (Dorner) is not exclud-
ed. Ewald : " Then will the lamentation over the
crucifixion of Christ so long delayed be taken up,"
— rather, consummated ; for Christendom § has con-
■•■ [Alford : "Smi/. t. ovpai/wv, Bot the stars jasi
mentidiied; nor the angels, spoken of ver. 31; but most
probably the greater heavenly bodies, distinguished from the
aaripis (Gen. i. 16), typically: the influences which rule
human society and m.ake the political weather fair or foul."
t [Similarly Alford, who refers to the star of Ihe Wise
Men for illustration, but at the same time inclines to the
patristic view that this sign by which all shall know the ap-
proach of Christ, will probably b« a cross— P. 8.]
$ [Lange endeavors to render it in his German Version
by : uteheii weinen (im Traverchor) imd sehen erscheinen
(im Schauerchor)—Tiiihev artificial. The Edinb. trsl. omits
the allusion altogether.— P. S ]
§ [In German: Die ChriatenJieit, i. e., the whole body of
tiuued that lamentation from the beginning. — All
the tribes of the earth. — The races and peoples :
intunating that social and political relations are now
dissolved, and that the original national types of
nature are now distinctly prominent.
Ver. 31. And He shall send His angels. —
Meyer : " Out of the clouds of heaven, 1 Thess. iv.
16, 17 ; comp. afterward ver. 33 " (?). But the pas-
sage 1 Thess. iv. 16 shows only ti it the iiiithful,
who at the end of the world will he changed, or
have part in the first resurrection, will joyfully go to
meet the Lord at His coming in the form of spirit-
life. But that the end of the world does not close in
one moment, is taught by Paul also in 1 Cor. xv. 23,
24 : " Christ is the first-fruits. Afterward they that
are Christ's, when- He shall come. Afterward the
end." Between the first and the second crisis there
intervenes a period ; so also probably between the
second and the third. This period is intimated in
John V. 25 ; comp. v. 28. But in this present
section a series of judicial acts are clearly distin-
guished. First, the judgment upon the clerical
office, ver. 45 ; then upon the collective Church, ch.
XXV. 1 ; then upon its individual members, ver. 14 ;
finally, upon all nations, ver. 31. This series of
judgments points to a period of the royal admin-
istration of Christ upon earth, which in the fuller
eschatological development of Rev. xx. is repre-
sented in the symbolical form of a thousand years'
kingdom. Thus, as the great crisis of the destruc-
tion of Jerusalem unfolds itself into a period which
closes only with the appearance of Christ, so again
the crisis of the appearance of Christ is the gei-m of
a period which is consummated m the general judg-
ment and the end of the world. But the millennial
kingdom is, in its totality, the great last day of
separation and cosmical revolution, out of which the
present world will issue in heavenly glorification. —
The sending of Christ thus collects together the
faithful around the Lord upon earth ; although the
greeting and reception is to be regarded as conducted
in the clouds, that is, at the point of transition be-
tween the old and the new spiritual kingdom.
With a great sound of a trumpet.— De Wet-
te : " It is to be construed, either : with a trumpet
of loud sound, or, better: with a great sound of a
trumpet." Compare pjn -i£Vr bip , Ex. xix. 16.
Trumpets occur in the Old Testament in connection
witli the theophany, and in the New Testament in
connection with the Christophany (1 Thess. iv. 16 ;
1 Cor. XV. 52; and in Rev.); probably, because the_v
had a sacred use among the Israelites (Num. x.
1-10). Olshausen would fain understand the angel
and the trumpet allegorically of the proclamation
of the gospel by the Apostles. We prefer to place
the emphasis here upon the trumpet. The Apoca^
lypse distinguishes various trumpets, which follow
each other, becoming more and more important, and
therefore giving a stronger sound as they proceed.
It speaks of seven trumpets (ch. viii. 6; xi. 16)
And from this section it appears that by these
eschatological trumpets are meant cosmical revolu-
tions, as the theocratical trumpets signified social
Christians, but not: Ohristiavity {GeTvnm: Chn&imthnm)
as the Edinb. edition falsely translates here and elsewhere
(comp. p. 394, note). So in the preceding sentence, this trsl.
has repeated for taken up, mistaking the German vach-
holen (to fetch up. to make up for past neglect) for wieder-
holen. In the following sentence we read the "original
iiaiural types of nature," for national types (7miinnule
Naturtypen),—no doubt a meie printing error.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 29-44.
429
revolutions among nations, and typical victories of
Goil's people over the heathen. Meyer correctly
ob.-erves that the individual angels are not here
represented as blowing trumpets, but that the trum-
pet precedes the voice of the angel, as its preparatory
cry, 1 Thess. iv. 16 ; that is, the cosmical signs pre-
cede t!ie spiritual nianifestatious.
Ver. 31. And they shall gather together His
elect. — Here the re.surrccliou of the elect (the first
resurrection, primarily) is declared. Properly, gather
together into one place, tmawa^ovai. Meyer : " That
is, to Him where He is just about to make His ap-
pearance on earth." — His elect. — That is, with the
appearance of the Lord, His Cliurch also, hitherto
scattered and concealed among the nations, will be
fully uiiited and appear in fcstable array. The bride
of Rev. xxi. 9. Meyer refutes many spiritualizing
and enfeebhng interpretations ; such as " the preach-
ing of the gospel " (Lightfoot), — " the preservation of
Christians at the destruction of Jerusalem " (Kuiuoel).
Ver. 32. Now from the fig-tree learn the
parable, airh Sc rfj^ a v k^] s /.laOere t t] v
irapa^uKi^v. — They v/ere to take from the fig-
tree a parable (not merely a similitude), namely, the
particular parable which illustrates the sudden ap-
pearance of the end of the world. The peculiarity of
the fig-tree is this, that the blossom comes before the
leaf — the fruit leads on the leaves. Thus, when the
leaves are unfolded, the summer or the harvest (Bepos)
is nigh. The leaves here are the cosmical revolutions
already mentioned ; but the summer harvest is the
advent of Christ itself. When the great signs appear,
the.Lord will soon come.
Ver. 33. So likewise ye : — who should make a
special application of what is a natural observation of
aU. When ye shall see all these things :— not
the signs from ver. 15 to ver. 29 (Meyer), but the
cosmical signs of ver. 30, for which the others are
preparatory.
That it is near, even at the doors. — (1) Olshau-
sen : The kingdom of God. (2) Ebrard : The judg-
ment. (3) Grotius, de Wette, Meyer : The Messiah.
(4) The end, r, irapovaia Koi ri avvriXna rod aiaifos.
For that was what the disciples were asking about,
ver. 3 ; comp. ver. 14. Especially the former.
Ver. 34. Verily I say unto you, This genera-
tion shall not pass away. — 1. Jerome : The hu-
man race.* 2. Calovius : The Jewish nation. f 3.
Maldonatus : The creation. 4. De Wette, Meyer :
That present generation. Lutiujr : " All will beffin
to take place now in this time, while ye l|ve : " tliat is,
ye will survive tfi'e bsfitn?ii7i^~oryaese events. So
Starke, Lisco, Gerlach. " ButCEnsf'liere^spcaks of
the end of the world. 5. The body of My disciples,
the generation of believers. So Origen, Chrysostom,
and others, also Paulus. Meyer raises here his
usual protest against doctrinal prejudice involved ;
but what doctrinal interest could Paulus, the rational-
ist, have in this interpretation? This generation
means the generation of those who know and discern
these signs. Since the words of ver. 33, " So like-
wise 2/e," etc., could not have their literal fulfilment
in the disciples themselves, the Lord extends the
vnili of ver. 33 by the t) yfvsa aur-r], ver. 34. But
that He would have the word so understood, is
* [Jeromo is undecided: ^'Aut omne genua hm)
significat^ aut specialiter Judceorum. — P. S.]
t [So Dorner, Stier, Nast, Alford, and Wordsworth. The
latter, however, assigns to ytvio. a double sense, applying
it first to the literal Israel, and then to the spiritual Israel,
thus combining interpretation 2. with that sub 5. — P. 8.]
proved by the declaration of ver. 35, " My words
shall not pass away." The words referred to
are here the living word-j concerning these last things ;
aud they do not pass away, only when and because
they find in every 76i'ea of believers those who con-
tinuously carry on those words. — Not pass away.
— This cannot mean, "not remain unfulfilled" (de
Wette). That is self-understood, especially as " hea-
ven and earth " had just been spoken of. The Lord
here expresses His assurance that His words will re-
main eternal words in a perpetual Church — in a
Church, also, disposed to look for and hasten unto
the fulfilment of His words concerning the "last
things."
[I add the note of Alford : " As this is one of the
points on which the rationalizing interpreters (de
Wette, etc.) lay most stress to shew that the prophe-
cy has failed, it may be well to shew that y^v^a. has"
in Hellenistic Greek the meaning of a race or family
of people. See Jer. viii. 3 in LXX. ; compare eh.
xxiii. 36 with ver. 35, i(\)ou€v(Tare . . . but this gen-
eration did not slay Zacharias — so that the whole
people are addressed : see also ch. xii. 45, in which the^
meaning absolutely requires this sense {see note there) :
see also Luke xvii. 25 ; Matt. xvii. 17 ; Luke xvi. 8,
where y^vio. is predicated both of the viol rpD alwpos
TovTov, and the viol toD (pwTos, Acts ii. 40; Phil. ii.
15. In all these places, yeved is = yivo's, or nearly
so ; having it is true a more pregnant meaning, im-
plying that the character of one generation stamps
itself upon the race, as here in this verse also. — This
meaning of y^v^d is fully conceded by Dorner ; ' om-
nes reor conceasuros, vocem y. si earn vertas cetas,
multas casque plane insuperabiles ciere difiicultates,
contextum vero et orationis progressum flagitare sig-
nificationem gentis, nempe Judajorum.' (Stier, ii. 502.)
Tiie continued use of Trap epx «,""', '^ verses 34, 35, t
should have saved the commentators from the blun- \
der of imagining that the then living gener/ation was '
meant, seeing that the prophecy is by the next verse ■■
carried on to the end of all things ; and that, as mat- i
ter of fact, the Apostles and ancient Christians did ]
continue to expect the Lord's coming, after that genera- j
tion had passed awag. But, as Stier well remarks,
' there are men foolish enough now to say, heaven and
earth will never pass away, but the words of Christ
pass away in course of time ;— of this, however, we
wait the proof.' ii. 505." — P. S.]
Vers. 34 and 35. Till all these things bo ful-
filled.— Schott, erroneously : " The destruction of
Jerusalem." Fritzsche : " The signs of the coming."
Better : Both the signs and the coming itself. The
Scripture knows nothing, however, of an actual pass-
ing away of heaven and earth ; only of a dissolution
of the old condition of things in the transmutation
of heaven and earth, 2 Pet. iii. V, 8.
Ver. 36. But of that day. — Surely there is no
contradiction here to ver. 34, but only to Meyer's
and de Wette's exegesis of ver. 34, in which the
Evangefist is asserted to have erroneously predicted
that the then present generation would survive the
end of the world. Meyer, indeed, thinks this the
meaning, that, while all would take place during the
time of that generation, the more exact statement i
of the day and hour was not to be given. But we
have here rather that distinction between the reUgious
measure of time and the chronological measure of
time, which runs through the whole of the apocalyj)-
tic part of the New Testament (1 Thess. ; 2 Thess. ; 2
Pet. iii. ; Apoc). The key is to be found in 2 Pet.
iii. 8.
430
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Knovreth no one, but the Father only. —
Meyer : " This excludes the Son, also." Mark xiii.
32; whose not knowing ' Lange wrongly changes
into a holy unwillingness to know, or a self-limitation
of knowledge.' " * But Sartorius has rightly under-
stood and adopted my interpretation. The Son
would not prematurely reflect upon that point as a
chronological point of time, and the Church in that
should imitate Ilim.f
Ver. 38. For as . . . they •were. — For, ex-
planatory. The chronological end of the world is
concealed by its seeming prosperity in the last days,
as in the days of the flood. They ate, etc., emphat-
ically : in the original all are participles, r p wyov-
r ^s, etc. [which can be better rendered in English :
they were eatiiirj and drinkinr/, etc., than in the Ger-
man.— P. S.]. They lived as those who were only
eating, etc.
Ver. 39. And knew not until. — They knew
nothing of what was coming ; nothing even then
when Noah went into the ark before their eyes.
Ver. 40. The one shall be taken. — According
to ver. 31, to be explained of the being gathered to-
gether by the angels. The view of Wetstein and
others, that the one is taken captive and the other
allowed to flee, is contrary to the connection, and
has a false reference to the destruction of Jerusa-
lem.
Ver. 41. Two w^omen shall be grinding,
a\ri6 ov (Tai . — The employment of female slaves,
Exod. xi. 5 : Isa. xlvii. 2, etc. " As now in the East,
* [Po I translate the German : ein heiliges Siehtwias&n-
woUe7i,, instead of the unintelligible Edinb. trsl. : a sacred
willing not to know. Meyer objects to Lange's interpreta-
tion as previously given in his Life of Jesus., which he hero
reasserts.— P. S.]
t [Some fathers in the Arian controversy, and so "Words-
worth among recent ci'mnientators, explain that Clirist
knew personally, but did not know officially, i. e., did not
make known, the hour of judgment;— bnt this is excluded
by the plain meaning of oJSei/, as well as by ouSeis and ol
ayyf\oi, where such a distincti(m between personal and
official knowledge is inadmissible. The older orthodox
commentators generally took the ground that Christ knew
the hour as God, but did not know it .is man ; but this rests
on an abstract and almost dualistic separation between the
divine and human nati'.re in Christ. Alford honestly admits
the difficulty, and .issuiiies real ignorance for the time of
Christ's humiliation. '-The very important addition," he
gays, " to this verse in Mark : ouSe o v to s, is indeed in-
cluded in 61 IJ.V 0 trarrip ;ii(^j/of, but could hardly have been
inferred from it, had it not been expressly stated, see ch. xx.
23. All attempts to soften or explain away this weighty truth
must be resisted; it will not do to say with some commen-
tators, '■nescitea nobis,'' which is a mere evasion : — in tlie
course of humili.ation undertaken by the Son in which lie
increased in wisdom (Ljike ii. 52), learned obedience (Heb.
V. 8), uttered desires in^^rayer (Luke vi. 12, etc.), — this mat-
ter teas hidden from /Tim: and this is carefully to be borne
in mind in explaining the prophecy before us." /But this is
not satisfactory. It seems to me, we must as^me here a
voluntary self-limitation of RTOVledge, which is a part of
the Kdi'oxTis, and which may be illustrated by the passage,
1 Cor. ii. 2, viz. the determination of St. I'aul not to know-
any thing among the Corinthians {ov yb.p iicpiva ruv eiof-
I'tti T( fV viJ.1v), except Jesus Christ and Ilira crucified.
Christ could, of course, not lay aside, in the incarnation, the
metajihysical attributes of His Divine nature, sucli as eterni-
ty, but He could, by an act of His will, limit His attributes
of power and His knowledge and refrain from their use .as
far as it was necessary for His humiliation, i His voluntarily
not knowing or "sacred unwillingness to know," the day of
judgment during the daj's of His flesh, is a warning against
chronological curiosity and mathematical calculation in the
exposition of Scripture prophecy. It ii not likely that any
theologian, however learned, should know more, or ought to
know more, on this point before the end than Christ Himself,
who will judce the quick and the dead, chose to know in
the state of His humiliation.— P. S.]
women, one or two together, turn the handmills "
(Rosenmiiller : Morcjenland ; Robinson: Palestine).
These slaves sit or kneel, having the upper millstone
in their hands, and turning it round on the nether
one, which is fixed.
Ver. 43. But know this. — How momentous the
not knowing the hour is, the instance of the house-
holder shows. As he does not know the hour of the
breaking in, he must always provide for the safety
of his household. Bnt if he knew the time and the
hour, the necessity of constant watchfulness would
not exist. The similitude of the thief is further ex-
tended, 1 Thess. V. 2, 4 ; 2 Pet. iii. 10 ; Rev. iii. 3 ;
xvi. 15. The tertium comparaiionis is the perfect
surprise ; and the figure has its application, not only
to the end of the world, but also to the hour of
death, and to those tragical catastrophes which occur
in the history of nations as well as in the lives of in-
dividuals. All these critical periods arc connected
with the final judgment, and form with it one
whole.
Ver. 44. Therefore be ye also ready. — Be-
cause it is the fundamental law of watchfulness to be
alwat/s watching ; and because the Son of Man will
be generally unexpected when He comes, — therein
like a thief in the night, that is, at a time when the
world will be buried in profound sleep. When they
first open their eyes, the great robbery will have been
effected ; all their old and worldly state, in which
they had found a false life, will have been wrested
from them forever.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. See the preceding remarks. On the peculiar
difficulties which exegesis finds in this eschatological
discourse, compare de Wette and Meyer. In various
ways it has been attempted to settle the meaning of
the text, by a spiritual interpretation of many indi-
vidual traits (Dorner), or by referring the whole to
the destruction of Jerusalem (Michaehs). According
to Credner, we would have here prophecies ex eventu ;
while Meyer maintains that they were not fulfilled at
all in the manner here predicted, because the disci-
ples confounded what Christ said of His ideal coming
with what He said of His real or actual coming.*
The school of Baur refer the signs preceding the
coming, and the composition of St. Matthew's Gos-
pel, to the time of Hadrian, — a supposition which
was meant to serve the well-knov.-n Ebionite h}'pothe-
sis \i. e., that the Christianity of the original Apos-
tles, as distinct from that of Paul, was essentially
Judaizing, and did not rise far above the later heresy
of Ebionism. — P. S.]. But, as it regards the uncer-
tainty of exposition in this passage, it can be obviat-
ed only by making ourselves familiar with the cyclical
method of apocalyptical representation. This is not
to be confounded with what Bengel called the per-
spective view of the prophets, although it has some
afTmity with it (com p. my Lehen Jeau, ii. p. 1259).
According to the perupcctive view of the future, the
successive critical events that lie behind each other,
are brought near, S(j that the great epochs rise into
light like the tops of mountains, while their times of
unfolding, the periods, are concealed behind them, or
* [The Edinb. trsl. misunderstands tins whole passiige,
and confounds the views of Credner and Meyer: "Accord-
in? to Credner and Meyer." It also omits several impor-
tant p.assages in this whole section.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 29-44.
431
are manifest only in less prominent signs. The cy-
clical contemplation proceeds according to the pro-
cess of these epochs ; but in such a way that the
whole is in each case regarded under its characteristic
aspect, and each new starting-point is treated as an
object brought forward into the present. The start-
ing-point f)f the first epoch in this chapter is that
Fseiido-Messiamsm which began even in the apostol-
ic age (Simon Magus). The second is the Jewish war.
The'third is the first commencement of the cosmical
phenomena and chanrjes. The view therefore goes
on from the signs in the ecclesiastical world to the
signs in the political world, and then on to the cos-
mical signs. They are the same stages by which
Christianity glorifies the world.
2. Distinguishing between the historical and the
spiritual coming of Christ, we find the principle of a
twofold eschatological -Kapovaia. in the evangelical
history. Every victory of Christ in the world is a
sign of His actual coming, and a symptom of His fu-
ture advent. The personal resurrection of Jesus re-
curs, and is imfolded in the first and second resurrec-
tions. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit recurs, and
is unfolded in the judgment and the glorification of
the world. But these coincide in their historical in-
fluence; the manifestation of Christ in its spread
goes on from the individual to the people, from the
people to mankind, from the Church to the State,
from the State to the universe, and so from death to
the intermediate state, from this to the resurrection.
But the consummate appearance of Christ is, in op-
position to the first coming, the judg-ment ; for, as
the development of the seed is the harvest, so the
development and consummation of redemption is
separation and doom.
3. Stier {Reden Jesu, ii. 539) makes the ingenious
remark, that St. John was directed to record, in har-
mony with his esoteric design, the last gracious pro-
mises of our Lord's coming again to comfort ; while
the Synoptists recorded His prophecies concerning
the return for judgment. We have only to add, that
St. John's eschatology was to be unfolded into a dis-
tinctive apocalypse.
4. The Progress of the Last Events. — The whole
representation combines in one view the history of the
nations and the history of the Church of Christ ; the
history of the earth with the history of mankind.
From the personal history and glorification of Christ
the world moves on in its development toward the
end of the world, which will be at the same time the
transformation of the world. Each cycle of it lays
stress upon one particular stage of the development.
Each stage has a Christian and a secular side. The
first stage presents a picture of the whole develop-
ment of the world under the Christological point of
view, and in this the movement is more gentle. But
more vehement is its progress from the beginning of
the judgment, the destruction of Jerusalem, in the
second stage. Finally, in the third stage, its swift-
ness is like the Ughtning from heaven.
5. The Destruction of Jerusalem.— Gerlach : " This
period was rendered more terrible to the Jews than
we can imagine, by the fact that \vith Jerusalem and
the temple the ground of all their perverted faith and
hope was taken away. The greater and the holier
the truth is to which error has attached itself, the
more heart-rending is the sorrow when those who are
involved in that eiror at last open their eyes."
6. T7te Doctrine of Antichristianity as the Shadovj
of Christianity. — (1) The kingdom of evil among men
goes on side by side with the kingdom of God, and
takes the form of an anticipation and distortion of
the fundamental principles of that kingdom. (2) As
a false and carnal anticipation it is always one step
ahead, as the monkey precedes man. (3) The king-
dom of God develops itself in opposition to the king-
dom of daikness, and vice versd, and the one becomes
mature in conflict with the other. (4) Pseudo-Chris-
tianity and Antichristianity are one in their principle
and aim. (5) The last apparent triumph of Anti-
christianity brings on the last and full manifestation
of the victory of Christ, even His parusia.
Y. The assertion that the Apostles erred in the
expectation of the near advent of Christ, rests on a
confusion of the religious hope with an ordinary
mathematical calculation, and of the majestic coming
of Christ which is going on constantly in the process
of history, with the last individual appearance.
8. Chi'istians, waiting in a heavenly frame of
mind for their Lord, will find that He is their Friend,
their legitimate Lord, their Royal Bridegroom. If
they think of His coming with an earthly mind. He
appears to them as a thief, who will strangely and
imrighteously break in upon their earthly relations
and possessions.
nOMILETICAL AND rEAGTICAL.
Christ the great Prophet, as the prophesier of
His advent and of the end of the world: 1. The
great prediction accredits the great Prophet ; 2. the
great Prophet accredits the great prediction. — The
fulfilled predictions of Christ are a pledge of the ful-
filment of the remainder. — The solemn thoughr,;how
we are rushing on toward the final consummation. —
The patience and the wrath of God, as seen in Christ's
delineation of the last times : First, one day of time
appears to stretch to a thousand years (the slow pe-
riod) ; then a thousand years are as one day (the
swift epoch, 2 Pet. iii. 4 ; comp. Ps. xc. 4). — The in-
tercession of the disciples for the earthly temple, and
the Lord's declaration. — The opposite points of view
from which the Lord and the disciples regarded the
building of Herod's temple : 1. To them it appeared
just risen up in renewed magnificence ; 2. to Him it
.already appeared fallen a spiritual ruin into the
flames. — The Lord's look back from the Mount of
Olives upon the city and the sanctuary of His people ;
or, the sacred night-discourse to the disciples con-
cerning the end of the world. — The Lord corrects the
question of His disciples about the last things : They
ask first about the when, He answers with the how ;
they ask about the last signs, He points them to the
collective preparatory signs ; they ask what will
come before the end of the world. He shows them
what immediately impends over themselves. — The
wisdom of prophecy a concealment and disclosure of
tlie future. — We must, like the disciples, be assured
that the Lord cometh for manifestation and decision :
1. That He cometh ; 2. that before Him His sign
cometh ; 3. that with Him and after Him the end
cometh. — Christ's three great pictures of the end of
the world: L Their similarity ; 2. their diilcrence.
First Cycle (vers. 3-14). — The Lord's first word
concerning the end : Take heed that no man deceive
you. — His three words concerning the right prepara-
tion for the end : 1. Take heed (ver. 4) ; 2. see that
ye (courageous and wakeful) be not troubled (ver. 6) ;
3. endure unto the end (in love, vers. 12, 13). — The
signs of the coming of Christ and the result : 1. Ec-
clesiastical woes (false Christs, millennarian deceivers
432
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
of all kinds) ; 2. political woes (near and distant
wars) ; 3. national woes (downfall and destruction of
peoples and empires) ; 4. woes of nature (crises in
the air and on the land ; famines ; pestilences ; dis-
tress of human hfe ; earthquakes) ; 5. woes of the
abj'ss (peisecution and apostasy) ; 6. all these woes
pangs of birtli (all must subserve the preaching of
the gospel, and the spread of the kingdom of God
among ihe nations. Apoc. vi. : The black horses
behind the rider upon the white horse, his equipage
and attendants). — The prophecy of the false Messiahs
in its comprehensive and solemn meaning: 1. It re-
fers not only to those who present themselves with
the title of Christ (Jewish adventurers, Barcochba,
etc.), but also to all who assume His place in relation
to souls (self-constituted representatives of Christ,
lords over conscience, leaders of sects, etc.) ; 2. it has
been fulfilled in the literal and spiritual meaning, and
in a fearful manner, for our warning. — See that ye be
not troubled ; or, he who knows how to read the
Bible aright, will riglitly read the newspapers as a
Christian. — The true and Christian observation of
the signs of the times. — All convulsions of the earth
must glorify the everlasting word of heaven in its ev-
erlasting estabUshmeut (ver. 7) : 1. They must con-
firm its prophetic truth ; 2. they must subserve its
victory ; 3. they must announce and bring about the
coming of Christ. — Tlie natural signs of the coming
of the Lord ; or, how we must distinguish between
the signs of superstition (comets, meteors, etc.) and
the signs of faith (famines, etc.) : 1. The former signs
are, rightly understood, only signs of the order of
things ; 2. the latter, on the contrary, are signs of
the revolution and derangement of things. They are
internally connected, as the birth-pangs of nature
(Rom. viii. 19), with the birth-pangs of the Church.
— Yer. 9 : The end of the old world is, that they hate
one another ; that is, that tliey are in despair as to
all personal life. — Hatred in Christendom, the sign
of a world in Christendom fallen under condemna-
tion: 1. Hatred of Christianity ; 2. hatred of confes-
sions ; 3. party hatred ; 4. hatred in opinion. — To
the wasted condition of the Church is opposed the
prosperous error of the world, under the guise of re-
form,— that is, 1. erring announcers of the new ; 2.
new announcers of error. — The fanaticism of false
ecclesiastical systems cojijures tlie phantom of Anli-
christiauity into the broad light of day. — Lawlessness
is not the most elevated life, but is the consummate
death of love. — False prophets proclaim love, and
mean unbridled caprice, the death of love. — The con-
solation of Christ, and the kindness with which He
interprets to His disciples famines and pestilences. —
The convulsions of the earth signs of its preparation
for the last events. — Earthly troubles collectively
only the beginning of real woes. — Woes of martyr-
dom, religious wars, and apostasy, the heaviest woes.
— The religious wars of later times in the light of
Christ's prediction. — Every purer development of
Christianity must excite the same hatred in the world
witliin Christendom, which Christianity at first excit-
ed in the world at large.— The preaching of the gos-
pel, or missionary efforts, the most comforting signs
of the coming of Christ. — The preaching of the gospel,
in its gradual extension over the earth, a confirmation
of the gospel itself — The gospel always opening up
new worlds for its work of salvation : 1. Tiie Graeco-
Roman (ancient Church) ; the German and Sclavonic
(Middle Ages) ; the new world and all lands (evan-
gelical period). — The preaching of the gospel through-
out the world throws a consolatory light on the suf-
ferings of the world. — The end of the world will be
also the end of all ends. — The great death of the
world, in which all the deaths of mortal humanity
have their consummation and end. — The word end,
in its endlessly rich significance : 1. How instructive ;
2. how fearful ; 3. how encouraging ; 4. how full of
promise.
Second Cycle (vers. 15-28). — The abomination
of desolation, the signal for Christians to fly to the
mountains : 1. At the destruction of Jerusalem ; 2.
in the midst of Church history ; 3. at the end of the
world. — True separation from a state of things which
is exposed to judgment: 1. Not premature, but in
haste ;* 2. not partial, but complete ; 3. not stem,
but gentle ; 4. not with self-confidence, but with
prayer. — The first congregation of Christ took coun-
sel and warning by Christ's word, and were saved,
for a type to us. — The destruction of Jerusalem in its
everlasting significance: 1. A testimony to the truth
of Christ ; 2. a proof of His sympathy (vers. 19-21 ;
comp. Luke xis. 41 ; xxiii. 28) ; 3. a demonstration
of the severity of God toward His covenant-people,
under the New Covenant as well as under the Old. —
The great tribulation, such as never had been, and
never will be again: 1. The centre of aU judgments
upon the old world ; 2. the beginning and the sign
of all final judgments. — In what sense the judgment
upon Jerusalem was the end of the world : 1. It was
the end of the manifestation of the kingdom of God
in this state ; 2. the death-struggle between the Jew-
ish and the Gentile world ; 3. the sign of that point
of transition at which the judgment of the world
upon Chiist was changed mto a judgment of Christ
the King upon the vi'orld. — The New Testament day
of grace in the light of burning Jerusalem : 1. A sea-
son of judgment cut short ; 2. a fruitful tone of
grace (in which the vine flourishes beside the stream
of lava over the volcano) ; 3. a time of temptation to
apostasy from Christ to false prophets ; 4. a time of
the most forbearing patience and waiting for the final
manifestation. — The Antichristianity of the last days,
2 Thess. ii. — Lying Christianity and Antichristianity
one and the same under different aspects : 1. Lying
Christianity is antichristian in assuming Christ's place ;
2. Antichristianity exerts its influence through Chris-
tian means, which it perverts. — Go not forth to ex-
pect the appearing of Christ, but always rather re-
tire within : 1. Not out into the waste wilderness ; 2.
within, into yourselves, communion with Christ. — Be
not moved, not to say seduced, by false prophets and
their lying wonders. — No human pomp shall herald
Christ, but the lightning of God, which shineth from
the rising of the sun to the going down thereof —
Where the carcass is, the eagles are gathered : a law
of life, — 1. prctypified in nature ; 2. fulfilled, and be-
ing fulfilled, in the course of history ; 3. waiting for
its last reahzation at the end of the world. — This
last saying holds good of individuals, as well as of
whole nations and conditions.
Third CrcLE (yers. 29-44).— The end of the
v/orld: 1. In its nature and appearance (vers. 29-
31) ; 2. in its time (vers. 32-36) ; 3. in its relations
to the world (vers. 37-39); 4. in its judicial effect
(vers. 40, 41) ; 5. as a great exhortation (vers. 42-44).
Or, ihe end of ihe world the consummation, — 1. of all
the signs of heaven ; 2. of all the funeral lamenta-
tions ; 3. of all prophetical visions ; 4. of all the reve-
lations and glorifications of Christ ; 5. of all the glad
announcements of the gospel and assembUes of the
* [In German: nicht voreilig, aher eiUg.—P. S.]
CHAP. XXIV. 29^4.
saints ; 6. of all tbe surprises of the world at ease ;
7. of all judgmeuts and exhortations to watchfulness.
Or, 1. As the end and consummation of the ancient
judgments ; 2. as the beginning and the germ of a
new revelation. Or, 1. Viewed comprehensively in
its cause, the appearance of the person of Christ ;
2. extended in its influence over heaven and earth. —
With the maturity of the Church all is mature:
1. Humanity; 2. the earth; 3. the world of stars;
4. the constitution of heaven. — ^The great testimony
to the glory of the Son of Man at the end of the
world: 1. Tlie stars of heaven; 2. the families of
earth ; 3. the angels of God ; 4. the elect of Christ. —
The sign of the Son of Man ; or, the manifestation of
Christ in the glory of God (the Shechiuah, Titus ii.
13). — The great funeral lamentation of the peoples at
the death of the old world. — The beginning of sight,
brought in by the appearance of Christ : 1. When all
men will become seers ; 2. and all viiions will ap-
prove themselves to be tremendous realities. — The
meaning of the trumpet in the history of the liing-
dom of God, Rev. viii. ; ix. — Angels ministers of Christ
in judgment as well as in salvation. — The end of the
world the great and final redemption (Luke xxi. 28).
— Judgment a result of redemption; separation of
shell and kernel, corn and chaif, good and evil. — The
leaf of the fig-tree a sign of all turning-points (catas-
trophes) in the history of the world. — How over-
whelming in their surprise the great times of decision
are ! — The generation of Christians, as a generation
of those wjio wait for Christ, never passes away. — The
people of the Lord eternal like His word : 1. Through
His word ; 2. for His word. — How solemnly has the
Lord scaled the secrecy of the last day ! — How all
days of judgment, from the time of Noah, have been
preceded by the feast-days of carnal security. — Two
in the fiell : the fellowship of the new world abol-
ishes all the fellowships of the old. — The sudden
eflfect of judgment: 1. Infinitely amazing and sudden
(in the fieM, and at the mill) ; 2. rigorous in its sepa-
ration (all kinds of companions and comrades) ;
3. embracing aU (men, women, owners, slaves) ;
4. stately and tranquil (not to be received to the
feast, means to be rejected). — Watch, the last word
concerning the end of the world. The first v.-as an
exhortation to prudence, the last an exhortation to
watchfulness and readiness. — The figure of the thief
in the night ; or, tlie fearful solemnity of the thought,
that the Judge of the world may come at any moment :
1. At any moment for the world, seeing He is already
on the way ; 2. at any moment for thee, as thou know-
est least ik}/ last hour. — Readiness for Christ's advent
diffuses somewhat of the brightness of His future
glorification over life. — The anxious anticipation of
the great feast of epiphany: 1. A joy with fear and
trembling ; 2. anxiety and" trembling in the blessed
joy and hope.
On Vers. 37-51 (Scripture Lesson for the 28th
Sunday after Trinity). — Watchfulness is above all the
duty of those who bear the office of watchmen. — The
greater the insecurity and danger, the more needful
the watchfulness. — Watchfulness the distinguishing
characteristic of the true servants of Christ: 1. It is
a tribute to the treasure, which is to be guarded ;
2. it points to conflict with an enemy ; 3. to the dan-
ger of the time of night ; 4. to fidelity in waiting for
the Lord. — The security of the world should arouse
and keep effectually awake the servants of Christ.
{See for more, below.)
Introductio.v. — Starke : — Quesncl: Many are very
curious to know the time of the end of the world ;
28
but few are busy in preparing themselves for the end
of their life.
Hcubner : — Desolate, without the Divinity, lifeless
and unblessed, is the temple which Christ has for-
saken.—-What value has the building of stone, if the
Spirit of God builds up no spiritual edifice ? — The ex-
ternal embellishments of the Old Testament Church
pass away ; the temple which the Spirit builds, abides.
— Only the weak are blinded by vain, external grand-
eur.— Times of pregntnt fate 'excite all minds, and
make them intent upon extraordinary help (eveii
Savonarola an example). The desolation of holy
places, churches in war, are solemn and humbling re-
membrances of God,— -judgments upon those who
have not valued holy things.
First Cycle. — Starke: — Quesnel : The world is
full of seducers : every one need be on his guard that
he be not seduced, 2 John 7. — 0 dander : Dreadful
judgment, to be adherents of a false Christ, of false
prophets ; and thus to depend upon them for salva-
tion, 2 Thess. ii. 11. — Quesnel : iSad sign it is, not to
know a good shepherd. God often takes sush an
one away in righteous judgment, suffering a hireling
to come in his stead. — The judgments of God begin
at His own house. Acts ix. 16 ; 1 Pet. iv. 14. — Osian-
der : To suffer for the sake of the truth is a benefit,
1 Pet. ii. 19, iO.— Cratner: the Church of Christ
caimot exist without offence, 1 Cor. xi. 19. — Quesnel :
The mingling of good and bad dangerous, but neces-
sary.— Zeisius: Many who in prosperous times are
held good Christians, fall away in the time of perse-
cution, Luke viii. IS. — Xothing can stay the spread
of the gospel.
Zisco: — The great prosperity of the missionary
cause in our days a sign of the times (ver. 14). — Ger-
lach : Instead of gratifying curiosity, Christ warns
and exhorts. — All the predictions of Scripture are
warnings and encouragements, exhortations, proceed-
ing from one great central truth, but never mere fore-
announcements of future events. — All these are the
beginnings of v.-oes. — The regeneration of the world
Jesus likens to natural birth. — Henbncr : Calmness
of Christians amidst the convulsions of the world. —
External revolutions pave the Lord's way : the hand
of the Lord is in them all. — The time of persecution
is a time of test and sifting. — No cross, no crown.
Second Ctcle (vers. 15-28, the Gospel for the
25th Sunday after Trinity). — Starke: — Hedinger:
When God's angry judgments are begun, there is no
more room fjr watchfulness or hope. — Pleasant
places, and strong defences, are of no use when God's
rebukes are sent : they must be forsaken. — Zcis'ms r
The angry judgments of Heaven, once begun, cannot
be hindered but abated. — Out of six troubles He will
save thee. Job v. 19. — Shall not God deliver His own
elect? Luke xviii. 7, 8. — Cramer: Christ is nowhere
to be found but in the word and sacrament. — He who
binds Christ and His kingdom to certain persons,
places, times, and hours, is certainly by that token
of the guild of the false prophets. — Zcisius : As a
physical abomination was a certain sign of the deso-
lation of Israel, so the spiritual abomination of Anti-
christ within the Church will be a certain sign of the
advent of Christ, and of the end of the world, 2 Thess.
ii. 3. — Canstein: The devil apes our Lord Christ. — «
Osi.a7ider : God keeps a strict and careful eye on Hia
elect. — It is dangerous to trust men in things which
pertain to salvation.
Gerlach : — The putrifying corpse of the world's
and of the Church's organization, and finally of all
humanity ( ! ) upon earth. — Heubner : The tender and
434
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
compassionate heart of Jesus thinks of all the scenes
of tribulation at the destruction of Jerusalem ; espe-
cially of the pangs of maternity, of the anguish and
helplessness of those with child, and those that give
Buck: comp. John xvi. 21. This should draw to
Christ all hearts of mothers. — Christ's directions, and
Christians' duty, in all times of general distress.
Western i.€ i er : — How we must prepare our.^clvcs
beforehand for the day of judgment. — Drcisekfi : The
days will be shortened to the elect. — Rambacli: The
goodness of God in the midst of His judgments. —
Reinhard : That Christians must be confident wlicn
nothing, fearful when everything, depends upon them.
— Bachmann : The deportment of true Christians in
the advancing corruption of the times.
Third Cycle (vers. 37-51, the Gospel for the 28th
Sunday after Trinity). — Siarke : — Candein: As often
as we look up to the clouds, we should remember the
Lord and His coming ; and thus keep His fear before
our ej'es. — Osiander : The pious, driven about in this
world, will all be gathered together in the kingdom
of heaven ; not one of them will be left behind. — The
day of death and of judgment concealed. — The more
secure, the nearer the Judge. — Cramer: The more
daring the blasphemers are in their riot and debauch-
ery, the nearer the Lord. — A wise householder makes
his house sure every night. — The uncertain day of hia
death is to every one his last day. — Fidelity is the
most beautiful trait of the servants of God. — Fidelity
and prudence go together. — Because hypocrites are
of double heait, the decree in their punishment is
that they shall be cut asunder.
Lhco : — The coming of the Son of Man will be aa
sudden and unexpected as the flood was. (Both pre-
dicted ; both finding an unbelieving, careless genera-
tion, sunk in carnal security.) — Blessed results of
watchfulness. — The necessity of perpetual readiness,
exhibited in the fate of the unfaithful steward.
Heuhner : — The earthly-minded fear the last day
and the Lord's coming, as the miser fears the thief;
to liim the Lord is only a thief, robbing him of all
that he has. — The duties and the recompense of the
faithful servant. — The guilt and the punishment of
the unfaithful servant.
Hossbrich : — The true watchfulness and prepara-
tion of Christians for the coming of the Lord. —
Rarnbach: On the obligation to prepare for death
and judgment. — W. Hoffmann {Maranatha, 1857):
The signs of the coming of Christ: 1. The hour of
temptation; 2. the sufferings of the Church of Christ;
3. the power of the lie ; 4. carnal security ; 5. uni-
versal preaching of the gospel.
SECOND SECTION.
JUDGMENT ON THE RULERS OF THE CHURCH.
CnAPTEE XXIV. 45-51.
(Luke xii. 35^6. — The Gospel for the 27</i Sunday after Trinity, vers. 37-51.)
45 Who then is a [the, 6] faithful and wise servant, whom his^ lord hath made ruler
[the lord set, Kareo-Tr^o-ei'] ^ over his household,'' to give them meat [food, t^v rpo^-qv] in
46 due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
47 doing. Verily I say unto yon, That he shall make him ruler [set him] over all his
48 goods. But and if [But if, kav hi] that evil servant shall say in his heart. My lord de-
49 layeth his coming; And shall begin to smite [beat] his fellow servants, and to eat and
50 drink [and shall eat and drink]* with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall [will]
come in a day when he looketh not for him \it\ and in an hour that he is not aware of
51 [when he is not aware, ^ ov ytvwo-Kei], And shall [will] cut him asunder, and appoint
him his portion with the hypocrites : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
1 Ver. 45.— A UT 0 v is missing in B., D , L., al., [Cod. Sinait.], and thrown ont by Lachmann and TIschendorf.
« Ver. 45.— [Cod. Sinait. reads here : /coTaaTTjo-ei, shall set, for KaTe(TTiri(Tei>. Anticipated from vev. 47.— P. 8.]
3 Ver. 45,— Laehmann and Tischendoif : o t k f t € i a , following B., L., al. It likewise means twnsehold, the hody of
aervants. But for internal reasons the text. reo. : Oepairiia, which has sufficient witnesses, is preferable. [Cod.
Binait. reads : oiiciaf.— P. S.]
* Ver. 49.— Codd. B., C, D., [and the critical editions], road: iaOiri Se Ka\ ttIvt) [instead of the inflnitivea
fcOUiv Kol niueiv, depending on ap|r;TO(.— P. 8.]
in office in the Church. He shows the contrast be-
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL. tween the faithful and the unfaithful servant, but
dwelling finally upon the latter. The rU is not in-
Ver. 45. Who then is?— That is, in conformity stead of ft ns. According to Bengel and de Wette,
with the previous instructions. The Lord shows in it is encouraging: May eveiy one be such a servant.
a parable that the judgment will begin upon those According to Meyer, there is a change of construe-
CHAP. XXIV. 45-61.
435
tion : the characteristics of the servant ought to fol- day of Christ's coming. " Even the Rabbins send
low; but in tlie vivacity of the discourse the com- the hypocrites to (Jehenna." The wicked servant is
mendation and the characteristics go together. But a liypocrite, not only because he thinks to present
the description of the servant whicli has gone before himself at last under the guise of fidelity, and must
— faithful and wise — is in favor of de Wette. have showed false colors from the beginning (Meyer),
Whom the lord hath made ruler. — This being but especially because, in his ill-treatment of the
appointed of the Lord has stress laid upon it in the fellow-servauts, he assumes the semblance of official
case of the faithful servant. In the case of Knich? zeal.
SoiiAos iKelfos it is omitted, and the (ti'ii/SovKih are
made prominent. — Over his household. — We read
eff^aTreia, wliich makes it more definite that tlie office
of rulership has for its end only to provide nourish-
ment for the house. The office is tlie office of ruler,
only so far as it actually imparts spiritual food in the
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1 . The parable of the good and wicked servants
applies specially to the disciples, and with them to
office of teacher. Watchmg is here indicated in its [ spiritual officers in the Church, althou-h not with-
concrete form, as fidelity to the caUing. It is con- I out application to Christians generally." It is to be
nected with faith, as not watching is connected with observed, that, according to Luke, Peter gave the
unbeUef. _ ! Lord occasion to utter it. Yet the whole context
\er. 4(. Venly I say unto you, . . . ruler i shows that it belongs to the general eschatological
over ail.— The description ot the perfect ic\ri,wo/La. | instruction which we find in Matthew ; that is, it nat-
Comp. Rom. viu. l?- ! urally connects itself with tlie discourse concerning
Ver. 48. But and if that evU servant shall I the last things, and opens the series of parables and
say.— The e^eTrus is not only S^iKTucwT, but also j declarations which introduce the jmlgment of the end
prophetically significant. The faithful servant was j of the world, the day that winds 'up the present age.
hypothetically mentioned m the form of exhortation ; This connection makes the contrast between the good
the wicked servant is exhibited as a very definite form and wicked servant more than a mere exhortation ; it
in the future, anci brought near to present view. The | assumes a prophetic aspect, as indeed is seen in the
evil conduct of the wicked servant springs from un- < definite expressions which pervade it.
beUef, which, however, in his official position, he can ) 2. In regard to the rulership of the two servants,
utter only in his heart. But his unbelief is specific- i it is obsei-va'ble that he who humbly serves his fellow-
ally unbehef in regard to the coming of the Lord and ] servants, faithfully giving them their food (the word
His award.— My lord delayeth.— The expression ! and spiritual nourishment generally), is represented
marks an internal mocking frivolity. But his bad , as being set over the household by liis lord, and that
conduct is evidently exhibited in two aspects : first, it is promised that he should be set over all his lord's
i a despotic and proud bearing to his fellow-servants,
whom he abuses instead of giving them nourishment ;
and secondly, as laxiti/ of conduct toward the wicked
members of the household and the uninvited guests,
with whom he commits all kinds of riot and debauch-
ery. Meyer : First, we have his conduct toward his
fellow-servants, and then his conduct outside * the
oiKerela ; and, under the rule of such a steward, the
household generally is to some extent given over to
wickedness. Such a dissolute hospitality, also, is
signified, as makes all drunkards from without wel-
come. The fellow-servants here must be under-
stood of such as are faithful servants of their absent
master. — The great historical contrast between the
Incfuisition and Indulgences will easily occur to the
reader.
joods. But the wiclvcd servant, who despotically set
himself over the household and house, is not repre-
sented as having been appointed ; in his supposed
official correction of his subordinates, he appears to
be a reckless injurer of his equal fellow-servants.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Ver. 51. And cut him asunder: 5
(re I. — The expression is so significant that Meyer
properly holds fast the literal rendering, " to cut into
two parts," and rejects all generalizing interpretations,
such as scourging (Paulus, de Wette, etc.), mutila-
tion (Michaefis), exclusion from service (Beza), and
extreme punishment (Chrysostom). It is emphatic-
ally the punishment of the theocracy, cutting in two,
.sawing asunder, — 1 Sam. xv. 33 ; 2 Sam. xii. 31
(Heb. xi. 37), — which here figuratively expresses a
The faithful servant and the wicked servant in the
Church: 1. Their opposite spirit: the one waits (or
the coming of the Lord, the other puts no faith in
that coming. 2. Their acts : the one takes care of
the household's nourishment, the other makes him-
j self a despotic lord, who abuses the faithful, and
iXoTouv- wastes the goods of the house in riotous living.
3. Their recompense : blessed and miserable surprise
at the advent of the Lord. The one is elevated to
the highest dignity, the other is condemned and de-
stroyed on the spot. — The faithful servant waits for
his Lord, while he waits upon the Church with the
Lord's word. — The contradiction in the life of the
wicked servant: 1. In his spirit: mocking unbelief
of the self-deception, which supposes that in his lord's
lone: absence he mast take the whole goverament, in-
sudden and annihilating destruction, and possibly not j stead of the mere provision of food. 2. In his de-
without reference to the double-mindedness of the
condemned, or even to the duplicity of the Anti-
Christianity which will finally bring spiritual despot-
ism to its doom {/see Rev. xiii. 1 and 11).
With the hypocrites. — The further doom of
the wicked servant after the judgment of the great
* [The Edinb. trsl. lias just tho reverse: within. The
Bervants constitute the household, the guests are the out-
Bider3.-P. S.]
portment : fearful aevcrUi/ against the better of the
household ; perfect laxUi/ toward the wicked, and
fellowship with their wickedness. — That servant who
assumes the iiighest place in hypocrisy will encounter
the sharpest doom. — The divided heart will be pun-
ished by a perfect dividing asunder of the life. — The
great schi.sm of the Greek and Latin Church, an earn
est sign of judgment. — The great schisms in the Occj
dental, and in the Protestant Churcli, and their bear-
ing upon the end of ecclesiasticism on earth. — Tho
436 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
twofold judgment over perfected unfaithfulness : 1. A | puuLshment of unfaithfulness in oflBce the punishment
sudden surprise ; 2. an endless punishment. — The | of the hypocrite.
THIRD SECTION.
THE JUDGMENT UPON THE CHURCH ITSELF. SECOND PICTURE OF JUDGMENT.
Chapter XXV. 1-13.
{Tlie Gospel for the 2'Jth Sunday after Trinity.)
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which [who] took
2 their [own] ' lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.^ And five of them were
3 wise [foolish], and five we^'e foolish [wise].* They that luere foohsh* took their lamps,
4 and took no oil with them : But the wise took oil in their [the] ° vessels with their
5 lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered [nodded, ivvara^av] and
6 slept [fell asleep, e/ca^evSov]. And at midnight there was a cry [a cry was] made, Be-
7 hold, the bridegroom cometh;^ go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose,
8 and trimmed [adorned, iKoafirjaav] their [own, iavrCyv] lamps. And the foolish said
unto the wise. Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out [going out, cr^eVvwrat].'
9 But the wise answered, saying. Not so [Not so, /a^ttotc • ] ; ^ lest there be not [there will
not be, ov fx-^y enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for
10 yourselves. And while they went to buy, tlie bridegroom came ; and they that were ready
1 1 went in with him to the marriage : and the door was shut. Afterward came also the
other virgins [the rest of the virgins, al Xonral Trap^eVot], saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12, 13 But he answered and said. Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch there-
fore ; for ye know neither [not, ovk] the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man
Cometh.'"
' Ver. l.-— [The best ancient authorities and the critical editions read: e avT uv, for the lei't. rec: avr cSi/, in vers.
1 and 7. Dr. Lange also adopts it in his German Version ; while Dr. Conant overlooks this difference of reading.— P. S.]
* Ver. 1. — The addition: Kal rris vv/xtprii (ei tipontia), is poorly attested and disturbs the sense. [Trench,
Notes on the Pa/riblert, p. 237. thinks othor\visi>, and npjiroves, as to sense, the reading: and went forth to meet the bri'/e-
{7roy«i AND THE BKiDE. Maldonatus likewise I'.ivdis it propter veteres interpretes. It was the custom among the Jewa
and Greeks that the bridegrnoni. acciinipuiKcd by liis fiicnds, went to the house of the bride, to lead her to his own homo,
and was joined hy the virgins, the tVieiids i.f tlie brhle, not on his going to fetch the l.vido, hut o,i his returning, with her,
to his own house. A similar custom seems to prevail in Sicily even to this day. (.'(iin[.. lli' iiin. Trareln in Sicily, \o\.
ii. p. 20 (quoted by Trench): "We went to view the noclurn.al procession which nlum, ;i> : iMpanies the bridegroom in
escorting his betrothed spouse from the paternal roof to that of her future husband, i i.i., (•.M,•i^lc•d of nearly one hundred
of the first persons in Jonnnina, with a great crowd of torch-bearers, and a band of mnsn;. Ajinr ha ci»(/ receircd the lady
they returned, but were joined by an equal number of ladies, who paid this compliment to the bride." These ladies.
Trench thinks, corresponll to tlie virgins here, and join the procession on the return of the bridegroom, with the bride, to
his own and her new home. Other commentators, however, anjons; them Lange, assume here a modification of the usual
custom, and a procession of the virgins to meet the bridegroom on liis way to the house of the bride. 8ea the Exeg. Xote.i.
-P. S.]
3 Ver. 2.— Codd. B., C, D., L., Z., Lachmann, Tischendoff, put /noopai first. [So does Cod. Sinait., and Alford
Oonant ignores this difference in the position of /xcopal .and (ppnyiuoi. — P. S.]
* Ver. 3.— The readings: al yap [text. rec. : a'/frij/es], — al Se, al ovv appear to be interpretations." [Tischendorf, de
Wette, and Meyer reg.ard al yap as an emendation of a'iTiv^s. But Codd. B., 0., L., and Sinait. sustain al yap, and it is
more natural to suppose, with Alford, that Se, oiiv, Kui, dirives were substituted because 700 was not understood. —
^ Ver. 4.— [The text. rec. inserts aiVwy, or auruv, after ayyeiois, but it is w.anting in Codd. Sinait., B., D., L., and
omitted by Lachmann and Alford, while Tischendorf reads ourcir. Lange retains it, but in parenthesis and in small type.
-P. 8.]
^ Ver. 6. — The word: epxf""' (co?ft«/A), is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf, accordirg to decisive authori-
ties. [See also Tr>-gelles and Alford. Conant, bimply : Behold, the bridegroom .'—P. S„]
■• Ver. 7. — [Alford emphasizes the pre.sent tense, and tiiids in it the important truth, that the lamps of the foolish vir-
gins were not extinguished altogether. — P. S.]
* Ver. 9.— [AW bo is italicised in the English Version as an interpolation, because it follows the text. rec. : nvtroTf
oliK apKecri, and makes b.pniari depend upon firiTrore. But the correct reading, according to the best critical au-
thorities, is: fii)Tr(iTe' ou p.)) a p/f 6 (rr;, and lUTjrroTe is to be taken as an independent exclamation : .By 7(0 meaws.'
Not 80 ! There will not be enough, etc. Meyer: Nimmermehr ; eswird gewisslich nicht hinreichen ! Lange: Mii
mehten ! En wiirde sicher nicht ausreichen.—P. S.]
' Ver. 9.— Read 011 /ut) [for ovk without ^ut)] according to B., C, D., Lachmann. Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford].
'" Ver. 18. — The words : wherein the Soti of Man cometh, are wanting iu Codd. A., B.. C, D., [Cod. Sinait.], in Lach-
mann and Tischendorf; [also in the text of Tregelles and Alford, and tho revised translation of Matthew by Conant and
tlio K. T. of the Am. Bible Union.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXV. 1-13.
437
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. Then shall be likened. — Fritzsclic
rightly notes a hint of seiuenco in t!ie tots. After
the judgiBent upon the servants and the office, fol-
lows the judgment upon the people generally.* The
figure introduces females, in conformity with the idua
of the Church.
Ten virgins. — Ten, the number of developed
secular life; and thus the number of the completed
eecular development of the Church. It was termed
by the Rabbins the "all-comprehending number."
What goes beyond ten returns to units again, llence
the ten commandments, tlie harp witli its ten striugs,|
the ten Scphirothof the Cabbalists, ctc.| (Comp.
NoRK : Eti/inolojiRch-s^inibolisch-mythologlsclics Ileal-
worterbuch, sub Zehn.) Five, the number of free-
dom as half-consummalion, and of the course of the
world in motion : hence also the number of punisli-
mcnt or compensation, Exod. xsii. 1 (five senses, five
fingers, etc.); compare Luke xis. 19. The virgais
are not merely companions of the bride, but repre-
sentatives of the bride, the Church. § 8oe the pro-
phetical type in 2 Cor. xi. 2 ; Rev. xiv. 4. Virginity
signifies Ciiristianity as separation from the world, as
restraint from all worldly contamination. See Ezek.
xxiii; Hos. i. ; Rev. xvii. ; comp. eh. xiv. 4.|| Con-
* [Millennarian Intcrpyetcrs refer tlu> then, and the whole
section from ch. xxiv. to xxv. SO to Christ's eomins: before
the millennium, or the judsment which pieiu'iles His per-
.sonal reign on earth, as distinct from His final coming.—
+ [The Edinb. trsl. not knowing the difference between
Saiteii (fltring) and Seiten {side, page), rimders Langt^'s
"Psalter [/. e., ^aKr-ripiov, the stringed instrument, or
i\ia\T'i]p, which also means sometimes the instrument,
though more frequei;tly the performer, the harper] mit 10
Sailen : " " the Psalter with its ten leu res ! " According to
Joseph. Antiq. vii. 13, 3, the Jewish harp, "^"23, like the
Greek Kiv':pa, the Latin cltharu (hence guitar), had ten
strings. To this the original no doubt refers. — P. S.]
t [Ten formed ii company with the Jews, also a family to
oat the p:is^^over; ten Jews ii\ in;: in one place formed a con-
ereg.ation and should be provided with a synago'jue; ten
lanips ov torches were the usual number in niarri.ige pro-
ce.s.sions. See Wetsteijt in, loc. Vithinua : <te Si/ntigoija,
p. 2^32 .sq . and on the biblical symbolism of numbers the rj-
jnarks in this volume, p. 183 sq. — Tertullian (Dc anima. c.
IS) ascribes to some of the Gnostics a curious mystic inter-
pretaii'in of the ten virgins: the five foolish virgins .signify
tlie five senses which are easily deceived and often misled,
the five wise virgins are the rea.soM:ible powers which are
able to comprehend ideas. Jerome. Augustine, Gregory,
and Beda. on the contrary, refer the nuMit>er ten to the live
senses under two aspects, viz. : in their right use and in
their abu.se. On this Maldnnitus makes the remark; "/"^o-
habilia haea sunt [V: • , . /-/ ■ ■'. ■nnpferea clenario
niimero pariihohi!! < i' (nnninm homi-
niim mnUituflo at i :i<:i:lur, quca per
litinr, numerum r/, ,■.'/,,.'. ( -r, . ,'. 1'. ::.j
§ [Aecordintr to the miliennaiiati llifory the bride is the
restored Jewish Church and tlie ten virgin-, represent the
Gentile cunsrejtatious accoinpauyiui,' her. Alford is inclined
to lake a similar vie-.v: '-In both the weddina p.arables («<?6
ch. .x.\ii.) the t'li-le does not fippear, for she, being the
church, is in fact the a;r::reg!ite of the guests in the one c.ise,
and of t!u- com[)ii:;()ns i:i the other (.so Lanse, ««« above],
W.' ;i) 1 . ' : I! i; ' ' -he is here, in the strict interpre-
t;vtii':i ' ' • '/ and these ten viigins Gentile
con_- - : ■ : -,: :-,-|]er.''-l'. S.]
''■' ii :■■-'. 111. I ;. :i iv;:iot, Euthymius Zig., and Grego-
ry, also Au';\istine in oiiu place (but differently in another),
are certainly wron^ in taking rirgins in the literal sense,
and every other trat of the "p.arable in a figurative sense.
This contracted view (as even Maldon.atus atlmits it to be) is
closely cormected with the ascetic overestimate of colibai-y.
Uilary, on the other hand, expands the meaning of rirgiiis
fo .13 to comprehend oinnes homines, fideles et infiilelei.
Orisen, Jerome, and Maldon.atus justly limit the title to all
believers.— P. S.]
ceming the relation of the virgins to the bride, we
must bear in mind the analogy of the marriage supper
of the king's son and his guests. The Church, in her
aggregate and ideal unity, is the bride ; the members
of the Church, as individually called, are guests ; in
their separation from the world, and expectation of
the Lord's coming, they are Ilis virgins. Virginity,
waiting for the Lord, and festal joy, they share with
the bride. Beugel, in his Discourses on the Revela-
tion (p. 1039), distingui.shes between such Christians
as belong to the bride and such as belong only to the
number of guests. This is so fiir true, as the perfect
experience of Christianity finds its proper centre only
in the elect. But we are not authorized to make
a full separation between the two, but must assume
a gradual rising.
Their own lamps. — A feature of the custom
which is significant. Propriety, individuaUty, prepa-
ration, independence of others. Vocation to a pecu-
liar and personal spiritual life. There was a kind of
torch amongst the ancients, which consisted of a long,
thick wooden staff, in the upper end of v^hich a ves-
sel was inserted, having a wick sustained by oil : thus
they were at once lamps and torches. [Alford on
the contrary : These were not torches or wicks fas-
tened on staves, but properly lamps, and the oil ves-
sels (v/hich is most important to the parable) were
separate from the lamps ; the lamps being the hearts
lit with the flame of heavenly love and patience, sup-
plied with the oil of the Spirit. — P. S.]
And went forth. — " Here the customs of a sol-
emn bridal procession in the night are presupposed.
1 Mace. ix. 37 gives us an example of such a proces-
sion in daylight. Anaong the Greeks and Romans,
the bride was brought home by night: hence the
torches of which so much is said. Comp. R. Salo-
mo, ad Chelim, ii. 8 {see Wetstein and Lightfoot)
witnesses the same practice in Palestine. OrtTinarily,
the bride was fetched by the briJegroom and his
friends {doiiniin ducere) ; but here it is the office of
the virgins (comp. Ps. xiv. 1.5, Grotius) to fetch the
bridegroom, and the wedding seems to take place in
the house of the bride, as in Judg. xiv. 10." De Wette.
Similarly Meyer. The figure generally is modified by
the circumstance, that the bridegroom comes from
afar, as in Judg. xiv. This brings in the festal going
forth to meet him, in which the virgins represent the
bride ; it also indicates the long tarrying of the bride-
groom ; and finally, though loss markedly, that the
marriage takes place in the house of the bride. Com-
pare the art. Hochzeii in Winer's Bibl. Mealwoi'ier-
buck [and the art. Marriage in Smith's Diciio?iari/
of the Bible, vol. ii. p. 240 sqq.]
Ver. 3. They that were foolish took their
lamps. — We must carefully note the contrast : In
the case of the foolish virgin.s, the taking of the lamps
is everything (Aa/SoCoai rar Aa,u n-aSas €OU-
T £0 »/) ; but in the case of the wise, it is the taking of
oil in their vessels. The foolish are thus represented
as being vain and thoughtless, looking only at ap-
pearances, and only in haste going forth through ex-
cited feeling.
Ver. 5. While the bridegroom tarried. —
Meyer supposes that tne virgins had set forth from
t!ie" house of the bride, and had gone into another
house by the v/ay. This strange notion is needless,
when it is considered that the virgins secretly provide
their own lamps, and then betake themselves to the
bride's house. The e^?i\diiv of ver. 1 does not mean
that they had already gone forth some distance on
the way : it is a i-reliminary description of the great
438
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
event of the parable. — They all nodded and fell
asleep. — An intimation of weakness indeed, yet ex-
pressing the great delay of the bridegroom rather
than censure.* Certainly tlie slumbering was peril-
ous, since it took away the possibility of repairing,
in haste, the lack of oil. [Nast : The expression de-
notes the gradual approach of sleep to such as occu[)y
a sitting posture, and strive at first to withstand the
disposition to slumber. These virgins made efforts to
keep awake, but liually yielded to the influence of
sleep. Alford : Being weak by nature, they gave
way to drowsiness ; as indeed the wakefulness of the
holiest Christian, compared with what it should be,
is a sort of slumber. D. Brown : Two stages of
spiritual declension — first, that half-involuntary leth-
argy or drowsiness which is apt to steal over one who
falls into inactivity ; and then a conscious yielding to
it after a little vain resistance. — P. S.]
Ver. 6. At midnight. — Significant. The most
unfit time to obtain what they had omitted. — A cry
was made. — The greater the apparent delay, the
more intense the surprise at the cry of the heralds
sent forward.
Ver. '7. Adorned their own leimps. — The
trimming I had probably taken place before. The
adornment of the lamp was the kindled festal flame,
in the light of which it shone. Hence, afterward,
extinction is spoken of at once, a^ivvvvrai: they
burn dimly, and will go out.:]:
Ver. 9. Not so! — Since ou /xri is the correct
reading in the following clause, /nrjTrore is not de-
pendent on a p K e or 7) , but has the force of a strongly
repelling negative : JSy no means !
Ver. 10. They that were ready went in
with him. — It is presupposed that they first went
out to meet him with their festal lamps. It is not
needful to explain, with Bornemann, " into the house
of the bridegroom ; " noi-, with Meyer, to suppose
that they had gone back from the imaginary midway
house to that of the bride.
Ver. 12. I know you not. — See en. vii. 23,
p. 145. [Here =-- Non agnosco^ I do not acknowledge
you as mine. This as well as the iKki'iaB-q i] Bvpa,
bears rather strongly against the view of Olshausen,
iUford, and others, who suppose that the foolish vir-
gins were only excluded from the millennium, but not
from the ultimate kingdom of glory in heaven. (See
below. Doctrinal Thouc/hts, No. 5.) Alford tries to
evade the difficulty by making an essential distinc-
tion, which is hardly justified, between ovk o'lSa
6 (U a 5 in this passage, audoiiStTroTe eyvwv h fxus
in ch. vii. 23.— P. S.]
* [Lange : Andeuiung (Jer Sehicachheit freilich, nonst
aher ineHr die grosxe Vf.rspdtung den Bruutigams als
einen bestimmtereM Tadel uumprechend. Tlie Edinb. I'di-
tion misunderstands this passage entirely in translating :
" hut also declaring their more expreni fault to have been
the retarding of the bridegroom." — P. S.]
+ [Not: "the pergonal festal array" as the Kdinb. trsl.
renders : Das Aufpiitzen. Dr. Lange no doubt refers to the
pre|)arati()n of the lamps by pouring on fresh oil, and remov-
ing the fungi about the wick, which was done by a sharp-
pointed wire attached to the lamp (as still seen in ancient
bronze lamps in sepulchres). He translates inna >xi\<y av
(which the English Version renders trimmed) literally :
sie sohmuckten. — P. S.]
% [Alford emphasizes the present tense: they are going
out. See the Crit. Note above. The English Version cer-
tainly conveys a false sense, and it is surprifing that such a
scholar as Dr. Wordsworth .should base an interpretation on
a false translation, when he remarks to (T^evvvvTai:
"i. e., they had died in a cari-l..-ss unp'ofitable condition, and
these lamps were gone out. and now it was too late to ask
for oil."'— The foolish virgins slill had t.;e outward appear-
Vers. 1-12. The Meaning of the Parable. —
The leading idea is the readiness of the Church for
the coming of the Lord : but that rather viewed in-
ternally than externally ; not in its extension, but in
its intensilij.* The Lord had made it very clear that
the question was not of a mechanical millennarian
preparation ; for He represented all the virgins as
asleep, the wise in common with the foolisli. Inter-
nal preparation is before all things dependent on the
possession of the oil. The oil signifies the anointing
of the Holy Spirit, which do Wette denies in vain.
This explanation is founded upon the constant typi-
cal meaning of the oil in the Old and New Testaments.
See Ileb. i. 9 ; com p. Ps. xlv. V, 8 ; Acts x. 38. The
name of the Messiah shows that the oil of unction
was a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
But the oil which fed the lamps could have no other
meanhig ; for even the olive-tree partook of the same
significance. See Zech. iv. 2, 3 ; Rev. xi. 4. Now,
if the oil signifies the true inward fife of faith, the
spiritual life, the interpretation of the lamps is not
far off: they denote iheform of faith.f Hence it is
significant that the foolish virgins were very careful
to secure their lamps, but neglected the oil; while
the wise virgins took oil in their vessels with their
lamps. They did not negfect the lamps, but their
chief concern was about the oil. Olshausen gives the
right interpretation of the oil; but he improperly
makes the lamp mean the heart ; % observing that in
the foolish virgins faith had its root only in the feel-
ing. Chrysostom gives an arbitrary explanation :
with him the oil is alms ; and so on with the rest of
the particulars. Luther inversely mali:es the lamps
good woiks, and the oil-vessels faith. Meyer is
against all interpretation of the details, and appeals
to Calvin : " Multum se torqueni quidam in lucernis,
in vasis, in oleo. Atqui simplex et gcnuina summa
est, non sufficere alacre exigui temporis studium, nisi
infatigabilis constantia simul accedat." But in this
constancy, externally regarded, the foolish virgins are
not by any means wanting. They pray, they even
ance and profession of Christianity, but in its last stage of
con.suniption.— P. S.]
* [Calvin and AltWrd put the lesson of the parable in the
blessedness ofen(lur<nice unto the end. But Lange is right,
as appears from ver. 13 which contains the lesson of the par-
able, as MaUlonutiis correctly observed. — P. S.]
+ [Here lies the principal difference between the Koman
Catholic and the Protestant Evangelic:il inter[iretation of the
parable of the Ten Virgins,— a difference which is similar to
that concerning the Wedding Garment, ch. xxii. 11. Origen,
Hilary, Jerome, Maldonatus, and many Catholic interpre-
ters (including Quesnel, the Jansenist), make the oil the
symbol of good works or charity, without which faith is dead
and hence cnnnot burn (James ii. 26), and the lumps the
symbol of faith . which w.os common to all virgins. It ia
only a modification of this exposition if Chrysostom, Am-
brose, and otlier fithers refer the oil more particularly to
eh-omoxyna et misericordin. The reformers and most of
the Protestant c.)mmentators, on the contrary, more natural-
ly understand the oil to signify the principle of a living faith,
or the unction of the Holy Spirt, or more generally: in-
ward spiritual life, the grace of God in the heart, and the
lamps, the outward Chri-tian appearance and profession
(Luther, less aptly: good works). The fathers, however,
can hardly bo quoted as a whole in favor of the Roman in-
terpretation, since they differ very widely in tht-ir exposition
and explication. Thus the lamps mean, according to Hila-
ry, the human bodies, in which the divine light burns; ac-
cording to Jerome, the senses of the body. Augustine, who
varies in his interpretations of this parable, in one jilace ap-
proaches the Protestant view, when he makes the oil to
mean bonam intentionem mentis, and tlie lamps bona opera
(A/). 0x1. 33; Serm,. cxllx. 11). If wo arc authorized to press
every feature in this parable, and to m ike it, as it were, {sit
venia verbo .') to walk on all fours, the exposition of Dr.
Lange is the most ingenious and plausible. — P. H.]
j [So also Quesnel and Alford.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXV. 1-13.
439
run in the very midnight to the sellers. It would be
out of the question to suppose tliat even, after all,
they obtained a supply, and came with their oil after
the rest. This is not in the parable ; and the simple
point remains, that they troubled themselves about
the oil too late. The division of the virgins into two
classes must therefore have this meaning, that one
part of the Church is living, while the other lives
only in appearance, because it lives only fo appear-
ance. Hence the distribution into two halves must
not be literally pressed. Mldnifjht is a late and dark
season, a season of sleep and the danger of surprise.
" The ancient Church took the word literally ; and
hence the origin of the vigilUe.'''' Heubner. The cry
at midnight cannot refer to the ecclesiastical watch-
ers exclusively; but, in connection with them, to
the cosmical signs of the paroiisi.a which have been
already mentioned. The sdhrs have been interpreted
of the Holy Scripture and its writers.* The means
of grace generally, or prayer, will obviously be
thought off but this is a trait in the parable which
scarcely endures interpretation. The deeping of the
virgins was very inappropriately referred by Chrysos-
tom to their bodily death ; f and by Calvin to " occu-
pationum hujus mundi distradio." But it seems
best to understand it of an involuntary entanglement
in the world and its spirit of carnal security,:]: to
which even believing Christians are liable. Heubner :
"The sleepiness is not the relaxation or decline of
Christianity,§ but the remission of a definite CKpecta-
tion ot the near approach of Christ's coming. We
can easily understand how this expectation has de-
creased with increasing ages ; it is not found now
among all faithful Christians, of whom very few can
bring themselves to think that ive may hvc to see the
last day. But this sleepiness does not exclude the
general preparation of Christians in other respects,
that is, their faith and love."
DOCTPwIN.VL AND ETHICAL.
1. The Judgment on the Church. — The ten vir-
gins signify not merely a part of the Church, as
Olshausen contends for, but the whole of it. This is
evident, first, from the number ten, which points to
the perfect secular development of the Church. Fur-
ther, the circumstance that individual traits are not
at all exhibited ; the five virgms on the one side, and
* [So Olshansen. Somewhat diflferently Alford : oi iru-
KoTvres are tlie ordinary dispensers of the means of grace
(which he thinks supplies no mean argument for a set and
appointed, anil moreover a jjiiid ministry; for if thoy se//,
they receive for ihe thing sold). Better witli Lanffe; the
means of grace themselves (including the Scriptures and the
ministry). This is certainly a far more sensible interpreta-
tion than that of Chrysostoni, Hilary, and other fathers, who
take the sellers of ofl to si/nify tha.poor, who receive the
a/m»Mtlie oil) of the faithful, and sell the oil in return for
the relii-f afforded to their wants!— 1'. S]
t [do also IJasil, Hilar)', and Augnstine, as we'I as Words-
worth and other modern commentators. Tiiis exposition
would imply that at the time of th- Lord's coming none of
the faithful would be living on earth. Trench, on the other
hand, regards the fallinff 'asleep merely as a circumstance
required by the convenience of the parabolic narration, and
Nast is inclined to the same view. But the exposition of
Lange {nee above, comp. also Stler and Heubner) is the most
plau>ible — 1'. S.]
X [In German: Sicherheit, necurity, not severity, as the
Kdiiil). tran.-l. reads.]
§ [In German: Das Sclildfrigwerden. ist nicht Kmcldiif-
fen (relaxation, abatement) des Christentliums ; in the
V.dinli. trsl.: ihe profound sleep of Christendom (which
wi.uld require in German: dcr tiefe Schlaf der Christen-
k6tt).-V. S.]
the five virgins on the other, being altogether alike
respectively. And, lastly, tlie position of this para-
ble between that of the two servants and that which
follows concerning the entrusted talents ; that is, be-
tween the judgment upon the ministerial office, and
the judgment upon individual ('hristians.
2. The Siyiiijieance of the Lidtvidaal Traita of ihe
Parahle. — The three most essential points are : 1. The
ten virgins ; 2. the delay of the bridegroom, and the
midnight ; 3. the oil in the vessels in relation to the
lamps. Of the first we have spoken already. As it
regards the second, the two great things — the delay
of" the bridegroom, and midnight — coalesce in one,
the second being the consequence of the first. The
midnights in the history of the kingdom of God, are
each the last late season of a slowly-expiring age.
Hence, the time of the last kings of Israel, before the
Lord's coming in the Babylonian captivity, or in the
Messianic prophecies ; still more, the time of the cru-
cifixion of Christ ; the end of the Middle Ages ; and
especia'.ly the final period before the end of tlie world.
It is midnight for the Church of Christ, v/hen the!
worldly sjiirit is so far in the ascendency as to make; .
it seem that the history of the Church will fall into i '
the common course of the world and of nature, that '
the kingdom of heaven is not to be consummated in
the judgment and renewal of the world, and that
Christ is not to come or to return. In such a season
the faithful are more than ever tempted to give up
the feeling, that they live in the midst of the great
preparation for the marriage supper, and the Chris-
tian glorification of the world ; and gradually to sur-
render their firm hold on their vocation, which is to
represent the solemn festive character* of the work
of Christ. But more than once has arisen, in the
midnights of Christian history, the cry, the Bride'
groom comcth ! The cry without doubt must signify,
in such cases, the prophetic warnings of faithful watch-
men, in connection with the solemn signs of the times,
which likewise preach. Heavy judgments and great
awakenings testify the nearness of the Lord, until He
really come. In such times the Church is sifted.
3. And the decisive test is not the lamp, but the
oil-vessel, — the Spirit, the spiritual life.
4. But, as the wicked and the faithful servants
are sundered, and the wicked are cut in two, so will
the Church through that sifting be divided into a dy- ,
ing and a living portion. " This distinction is always
present. But as time runs on it becomes more mani-
fest ; and at the end it will be seen in all its tearful-
ness, as the ground of the judgment which the Church
must undergo. They all "have the lamps : the forma
of faith, ecclesiastical confession and position. But
then the question comes as to wliether the form is
filled with the eternal substance of tlie Spirit of Christ.
The foolish virgins lack the Spirit of Christ ; they have
no lights, no evidences of love, no hymns of praise to
welcome the Lord in His coming." (From the
author's Lebcn Jcsu.)
5. According to Olshausen, this judgment is only
preparatory, only an exclusion from the marriage of
the Lamb (Rev. xix. 7).t But what else is the mai^
* [In German: die FeMlehl-eit (a favorite term with
Yir I.aii<'c), •.vhieli the Kdiiib. trsl. mistook for FesUykeit,
and rendered: Uahlliti/ !-\\ S.]
t [Simlhuly ,\i.Foi;i); " We are not told that they could
not buy— that the shops were shut— but simply that it was
too hitit— /"'• that time. For it is not the final coming of the
L<Md to judgment, when the day of grace will be past, that
is spokeii of —except in so far as it is hinted at in the back^
ground."— I'oiret (as quote.l by Trench, p. 2S7), Fr. voii
Meyer, and millennarian commentators, take the Bame view,
410
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
riage of the Lamb, but the festival, or at least the
fore-festival, of eternal blessedness ? Olshausen
thinks that the foolish virgins had faith (Kvpit, Kvpte,
ver. 11), and that they lacked only sanctification.
But they arc without the Spirit, and therefore with-
out the reality of faith. The saying : " Lord, Lord,"
saves not in the judgment. Only this much may be
admitted, that this parable, like the preceding and
the following, primarily delineates a historical judg-
ment which introduces the fmal one, but is not the
final and conclusive one itself These three prelimi-
nary judgments, liowever, are introductory to the final
judgment ; and they are themselves so far final and
decisive, as the want of the Spirit (oil), consummated
unfaithfulness in office, and the squandering of tlie
gifts of grace, fit the soul for condemnation. Only
with reference to the possibility of individual conver-
sions must a distinction be allowed between the pre-
liminary judgments and the last end.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The judgment of the Church. — 1. The impending
coming of the Bridegroom to the marriage ; 2. the
five foolish and the five wise virgins ; 3. the delay of
the Bridegroom, and the midnight ; 4. the cry at raid-
night ; 5. the want of oil, and the lam.ps going out ;
e. the feast of the wise, and the exclusion of the fool-
ish virgins. — What is the great essential for the
Church, waiting for the Lord? 1. The vessel of oil
wiik the lamps : the spiritual life and the form of
faith. 2. The oil before the lamps : the spiritual Ufe
above the form of iaith. 3. The oil in the vessel:
the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the confession. —
The Church always divided into foolish and wise mem-
bers.— The characteristics of the foolish virgins :
1. Hasty external equipment for the feast, which
takes care of the appearance (the lamps), but forgets
the essence (the oil). 2. Relaxation and drowsiness
after the first excitement, aflecting even the wise also.
3. False and anxious efibrts at last, to repair the irre-
parable loss of spiritual life. — The characteristics of
the wise virgins: 1. Divine preparation for eternity:
the oil and the lamps. 2. Human infirmity in the
course of life (slumbering). 3. Christian conduct in
every hour of decision : burning lamps ; refusal of
ruinous fellowship with the unprovided. — Comparison
of the wise and foolish virgins: 1. The prevailing
Bimilarity in externals ; 2. the unapparent and yet
decisive difference in secret. — The judgments of the
Lord, especially the last, make a severance between
tlie dead and the living members of the Church. —
The severe test which the Church sustains, through
the increase of worldliness and the apparent delay of
the Lord. — The midnight in the history of the Church.
— The cry at midnight : The Bridegroom cometh ! —
Joyful expectation of the advent, the burning festal
lamp with which the Christian goes to meet the Lord.
— The right j)reparation for His coming. — The hour
of judgment makes the internal difference between
nnd srenerally assume thai tlio five foolish virgins will be ex-
chuied only from the blessedne.ss of tlie first resurrection
and the thousand years' reign of Christ on e.irth, but not
from final ealvation and tlie irlory of heaven. It may be
urged in favor of this view that the virsrins are not divided
into {/nod and had, but into «;?.?« a,n(\ fooluh virgins, and
that the latter arc not represented as unbelievers. But com-
pare against this interpretation the remarks of Dr. Lange
above, and also Dr. Nast on ver. 12, and the passage from
Bengel quoted there.— P. S.]
living Christians and hypocrites apparent. 1. The
former find themselves prepared with the great essen-
tial, which the others lack, — the Spirit, and spiritual
fellowship with the Lord. 2. The former lift up their
heads, because their redemption draws nigh ; the
others are overwhelmed and abandoned. 3. The for-
mer advance toward their Lord with the festal light
of joy and praise ; the others seek their help apart
from Him. — The seemingly severe word of the wise
virgins, a word of truth and gentleness. For, 1. The
spiritual Ufe, which makes Christians what they are,
cannot be externally transmitted, but must be inter-
nally experienced ; 2. it cannot be divided and dimin-
ished without perishing ; 3. every attempt of the wise
to have fellowship with the foolish in the hour of
judgment, must be destructive to both parties alike ;
4. if salvation wore yet possible, it would be only in
the ordinary way of repentance and conversion. —
Ruinous delay for the Lord's feast. — What should be
the effect of the Lord's sacred delay : not a hurtful
delay in caring for what is needful, but a saving dili-
gence.— The highest internal life is the most extreme
watchfulness.
Starke : — Zcishes : The visible Church of Christ
upon earth consists of true and false, dead and living,
members, — of wise and foolish Christians. — The
Church is divided into tv/o halves : the true and the
hypocritical. — The externals of Christianity are noth-
ing before God, where the heart is not truly sanctified
through the Holy Spirit. — The slumbering must be
explained with a difference. With the ungodly, it is
a godless security : with the faithful, it is a spiritual
lethargy ; which, however, is consistent with true love
to Christ. — Canstein : The tarrying of the Bridegroom
is not delay ; but a pausing, in merciful desire to save.
— Christ will come at a time when the Church is se-
cure and asleep. — Quesnel: The pious are reputed
fools and miserable ; but the time will come when
men will wish to be sharers of their goods and bless-
edness.— Every man must live by his own faith. — The
sacred oil of joy may be bought without money, but
it must be in time. — Cramer: Let him who would re-
pent, take it in good season. — The Lord knoweth his
own, 2 Tun. ii. 19. — Spiritual watchfulness is most
needful.
Gossner : — The same judgment will come upon
all Christians, who hold only to the form of rehgion
(the lamps) without caring for the spirit (the oil in
the lamps).
Gerlach : — Every soul is accepted for himself, and
cannot represent others in judgment.* — Jesus knows
those only for His own who have lived and persevered
in living fellowship with Hun.
Heitbner : — To be a virgin, is the destination of a
Christian : he is called to purity, sanctification, absti-
nence from spiritual whoredom, idolatry. — He is con-
secrated to the Lord. — Not all who have externally
left Babylon, or the world, are true virgins. — Christ
does not speak of unbelievers, but of those who once
had faith. — Perfect unbelievers, who are without any
expectation of the Lord, belong to neither class f of
virgins. — Expectation of the Lord's advent a neces-
sary m.ark of the Christian. — The lamp is the exter-
nafform, the vessel for inward Christianity. — Without
the lamp the oil is wasted, but without the oil the
* [Comp. tberem.ark of Jerome on ver. 9: "■Units quia-
que jn-o operihus suis mercedemrecipief^iifque ponsnnt
in d ie jucdcii aliorum vii-Putes aiiorum vilia suhleeare.''
-P. S.']
t [In German: zv, kdner Elasse ; in the Edinb. trsl. :
to one clans, which must be a mere printing eiTor.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXV. 14-30.
441
lamp will not burn. — Take care not to despise exter-
nal Christianity (baptism, confession, church-going,
partaking of the holy communion) ; but take care also
not to be satislied with it, and to rest upon it. — The
two olive-trees, Rev. xi. 1-6. — True Christians unite
both external and internal Christianity. — The extinc-
tion of the lamps, the painful feeling of emptiness in
the spirit. — Hence the anguish and despondency of
so many dying people. — How many send for the
minister, and frantically desire spiritual good, when
too late !
Fri/sck: The constant preparation for death. —
Schenkcl : The false security of the converted. —
lAsco : The parable an exhortation to true prepara-
tion for the end.
[QuESXEL (in addition to those extracts given by
Starke above) : — Man's life is one continual prepara-
tion for the marriage-supper of eternity. His heart
is his lamp. [So aiso Olshausen and Alford, but not
Lange, see above.] By the motions and desires of
his soul, he goes forth to meet the bridegroom, and
hastens toward heaven by the virgin purity of his
life. — The Church, bef':)re the marriage-supper of
eternity, is always divided and mixed. — True wisdom
consists in being always ready, and in constant re-
membrance of the bridegroom's coming. — A heart
without charity [faith] is a lamp without oil. — The
holiness of others will not avail us at the hour of
death. — The door is shut! Dreadful and fatal words!
No hope remams. Nothing but death shuts this door ;
but death may surprise us in our sins, and then de-
spair is our portion. — To watch is to employ ourselves
chiefly about the business of our salvation. But,
alas, how many who slumber ! How many asleep !
How many seized with lethargy ! How many quite
dead ! — Burkitt: — Some Christians, like foohsh vir-
gins, content themselves with a blazing lamp of an
outward profession, without securing an inward jjiin-
ciple of grace and love, which should maintain that
profession, as tlie oil maintains the lamp. Hence the
true wisdom consists in taking care that the vessel
of his heart may be furnished with the graces of the
Holy Spirit, as a prevailing and abiding principle. —
The Bridegroom will certainly come, though at His
own time: 1. Reason says: He may come (God is
just and will reward, etc.) ; 2. faith says : He will
come ; 3. happy are those who go forth to meet Him.
— The lamp of profession will certainly go out, which
has not a stock of grace to feed it. — Those who would
have grace, must have timely recourse to t/iern that
sell, i. e., to the ordinances and means of grace. — The
door is shut against them : the door of repentance ;
the door of hope ; the door of salvation ; shut for
ever ; shut by Him that shuileth and none can open. —
Nast: — Three great evils fell upon the unwise vir-
gins: 1. Their labor was lost, all the preparations
they had made, the lamps which they had purchased,
the amount of oil consumed, the cold, dark hours of
watching ; 2. the opportunity of redress ; 3. their
hope was lost for ever. — P. S.]
FOURTH SECTION.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT AS RETRIBUTION ON INDIVIDUALS. THIRD PICTURE OF THE
JUDGMENT. [THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.]
Chapter XXV. 14-30,
14 For the kingdom of heaven is [he is] ^ as a man travelling into a far country [going
abroad, avOp. a.iTohr)iJLihv\ who [. HeJ called his own servants, and delivered unto them
15 his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to
every man according to his several ability [his own ability, Kara ttjv ISiav Swu/xtv] ; and
16 straightway took his journey [he went abroad, aTreSr^/ATjcrev]. Then he that had receiv-
ed the five talents went and traded with the same [with them, eV avro'is:], and made them
17 [gained] ^ other five talents. And likewise [Likewise also, 'i2orai;Tws Kat] he that had
18 received two [the two, 6 to. 8vo],^ he also gained other two. But he that had received
19 one [talent]* went and digged [dug] in the earth, and hid^ his lord's money. After a
20 long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that
had received [the] five talents came and brought other five talent?, saying. Lord, thou
deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them° five talents more
21 [other five talents beside them, aXXa TreVre raA.. iKepSrjo-a Itt aurois]. His lord said
imto him, Well done, ^/ioii' good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a
few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:* enter thou mto the joy of thy
22 lord. [And] He also that had received [the] two talents came and said. Lord, thou de-
liveredst unto me two talents : behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said imto him. Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful
over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things : ^ enter thou into the joy
24 of thy lord. Then he which [who] had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I
442
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
knew thee that thou art a liard man, reaping wliere thou hast not sown, and gathering
25 where tliou hast not strewed : '" And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the
26 earth: lo, there thou hast tliat is thine [thou hast thine own, l^ft? "^o f^^A- [And] His
lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that
27 I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed: [?] " Thou oughtest
therefore to have put [thrown, ftaXfiv] '^ my money to the exchangers, and then at my
28 coming I should have received mine own with usury [interest]." Take therefore the
29 talent from him, and give it unto him which [tliat] hath [the] ten talents. For unto
every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that
30 hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable
servant into [the, to\ outer darkness : there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,
1 Ver. 14. — [The interpolation of the Authorized Version is unwarranted and unnecessary, and not found in the earlier
English Versions. Lange inserts he is (viz., the S'mofMan,\eT. 13); others: itia; Ewald and Conant omit nil inser-
tions, and translate siiiii)ly: I'or as u man going ahroad (Ewald: Venn sowie ein Verreisencler, etc.). See Lange's
Exeg. JX'otes. Meyer in loc. takes Hiairep as anantapodoton, as Mark .\iii. 34; comp. Rom. v. 12. It was intended to
connect the whole parable with uiaTrep, and then to add a oi/'toj with an apodosis such us: oureas ical 6 vlhs tuv au.
Ofx^TTou TToiTjmt, or o'utws (<TTai Kal 7) -Kapnvaia rov vlou t. ki/Qp., which was given up on account of the length of
the protasis. Alford thinks, the ellipsis is rightly supplied in the Authoiized English Version.— P. S ]
'- Ver. 1 6.— [Codd. A.**, B., C, D., L., Lachmann, and Tregelles, read : e k e p 5 r; rr e i/ , /ie gained. Alford thinks, it
was inserted from vers. IT and 22. The reading of the text. rec. : iir oitj a ( v , is sustained by Cod. Sinait., and retained
by Ti.ichendorf and Alford. But the meaning is the same : 7i.e made, i. e., he produced, he gained, and was so rendered
by the English Versions preceding that of the Bishops. See Conaiit in toe— P. S.]
3 Ver. 17.— [Comp. 6 to. irevre, thejire,vei: 16. The Aa^wv is necessarily implied in the second clause, and
hence the interpolation had received (or rather in the imperf : received) is justified. The verb can he easily spared in
Greek. Ewald imitates the Greek brevity in his version : Ebenso gewa7in auch der die zwei anderezwei. But this is
too harsh, and would not do at all in English. Some MSS. add after olio: ra.Kavr a \a&wv, which is thrown out by
the teat, rec, Tischendorf, Alford, etc. Lachmann and Tregelles omit also the words: k a\ ain 6s , he also, in which
they are sustained by Codd. B., C, and also by Cod. Sinaiticus.— P. S.]
* Ver. 18.— Lachmann adds raAavTou after A. and ancient versions.
5 Ver. IS.— Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford], read: iKpv^e, for the led. rec: aTre'/cpui^g, according to
most witnesses. [Cod. Sinait. likewise reads: ticpv^i — P. S.]
« Ver. 20. — The words : € ir' a w t o 7 $ , leside them [the enabling cause of his gain], here and in ver. 22 are omitted in
Codd. B., D., L., al., [al.so in Cod. Sinait.], and stricken by Lachmann and Tischendoif. They may have been added to in-
crease the modesty of the expression.
' Ver. 21. — [Thou is an unnecessary interpolation, and should be omitted, as in ver. 23. — P. S.]
* Ver. 21. — [Lit: thou wast {hast heen) faithful over little, Iwill set thee overmuch, 4tvI dxiya ?i s Triffrhs,
f-n-'i iroWSit' IT ^ K C.T a cr TV a- 00 . So the German Versions of Luther, de Wette, Ewald, Lange; also the English
Versions of Coverdale. Kendrick, Conant— P. S.]
" Ver. 2.3.— [Comp. note 8. ver. 21.—]
1" Ver. 24 — [The British Bibles here and in ver. 26 read strawed, the rarer form for strew, sireuen. I followed here,
as elsewhere, the spellins of the Am. Bible — P. S.]
1' Ver. 26. — [A question of surprise and displeasure, and hence with an interrogation mark, as in the Lat. Vulg., Cover-
dale. Campbell, Conant. and nearly all the German Versions. De Wette and Lange, however, regard it as an ironical con-
cession, in wh'ch case the punctuation of the Am. Bible Society's edition (colon) is correct. The British Bibles have a
period.— P. S.]
1- Ver. 27.— [Lange: himcerfen. The verb ^aXt'iv expresses not the worthlessness of the money which was a good
gift of God. but the perfect e.ase with which it might have been mride to produce interest in the hands of brokers and bank-
ers, who then as now received money on deposit at interest and lent it to others at higher rates. — P. S.]
'3 Ver. 27.— [Suf tokk, from tokos (tlktcc, TfToica), birth; child; gain, interest, in the LSX for "irp . The
passage imjilies the lawfulness of taking interest. There was a saying in the ancient Church, ■yiuenOe ^okiixol Tpa-rre^iTat
(Origen. on Matt, xxii.), which was attributed to Christ, and may possibly have been derived from this verse, as express-
ing the moral lesson of this and the kindred parable in Luke xi.v. See Suicer's Thesaurus, sub TfjuTrt^"'.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
77ie Slgmfication of the Parable of the Talents. —
In this parable the idea of retribution, as affecting
individual Christians, comes prominently forward ; as
the first referred that retribution to officebearers in
the Church, and the second lo the Church itself as a
whole. As there the former parable laid the stress
upon the watchfulness, internal religion, here we have
the requirement of watchfulness in pcrsevcrincc, un-
wearied fidelity and activity through the Spirit.
[Compare the remarks of Trench : While the virgins
were represented as waitinp for the Lord, we have
here the servants working for Him. There the in-
ward spiritual rest of the Christian was described —
here his external activity. There, by the end of
the foolish virgins, we are warned against de-
clensions and decays in the inward spiritual life —
here against sluggishness and sloth in our outward
vocation and work. That parable enforced the need
of keeping the heart with all diligence — this the need
of giving all diligence also to the outward work, if
we would be found of Christ in peace at the day of
His appearing. Alford likewise refers this parable
to the active side of the Christian life, while the pre-
ceding parable sets forth tlte contemplative side.
" There, the foolish virgins failed /roni thbiking their
part too easy — here the wicked servant fails from
thinking his too hard. The parable is still concerned
with Christians (tovs loiovs 5ov\uvs), and not the
world at large. We must remember the relation of
master and slave, in order to understand his deliver-
ing to them his property, and punishing them for not
fructifying with it." But this may be understood as
well from the stand-point of free labor. — P. S.]
As it respects the relation of the parable of the
Talents, to the parable of the Founds {Mince) in Luke
CHAP. XXV. 14-30.
443
xix. 2"-27, it is somewhat analogous to the relation
of the parable of the marriage of the King's Son, ch.
xxii. 2, to the parable of tlie Supper, Luke xiv. 16.
We must not be misled by the appearance of likeness
into a denial of the fact, that we liave to do here with
an altogether new and difterent parable. Meyer
says : " The analogous parable in Luke xix. is to be
regarded as a modilieation, which arose, in evangelical
tradition, of our present original and simpler parable.
In its form in Luke, probably an original and indepen-
dent parable (concerning the rebellious subjects) had
become blended with that of the talents (comp. Strauss,
i. 636 sq. ; Ewald, p. 339 sq.)." Such a perfect con-
fusion of parable with fiction would be discarded at
once by a careful estimate of the practical doctrinal
scope of the former. That would altogether set aside
the following alternative (of Meyer) : " If we enter-
tain the thought that the parables in Luke and those
in Matthew were delivered by Christ at different
times, we must either admit the unnatural supposi-
tion that the simpler form in Matthew was the later
(as Kern maintains), or contradict the narrative by
assuming that Jesus deUvered the parables in Mat-
thew earlier than those in Luke (Schleiermacher,
Neander)." The idea of " simpler " has nothing to
do here, where, as even de Wette acknowledges, the
parables are internally different in their scope. The
differences are plain: 1. As to their respective mo-
tives. In Luke, Jesus designs to repel the supposi-
tion that the advent would soon, or ininif.diatelii, in a
chronological sense, make its appearance ; in Mat-
thew, He intends to quicken the expectation that, in
a religious sense, it would soon come. 2. In the for-
mer, the Lord is a high-born noble, who was to receive
a kingdom ; here. He is simply a landowner. There,
the Lord's absence is distance in space ; here, it
13 length of time (there : iirojjivOri eit x<^P"-v M^-
Kpdv; here: ^ero xp^"'"' '"'oXhv (pxerai). There, the
servants are ten, the number of the world's age {see
the ten virgins) ; here, they are three, the number of
the Spirit. In the former, all the servants receive
one pound — doubtless the one equal office of testi-
mony ; here, the first servant receives five talents,
the second two, the third one — thus noting individu-
ally different endowment, diverse degrees of the gift
of the Spirit and grace. There, the gain is not in re-
lation to the pounds — there are ten pounds from the
the one, five pounds from the one — because the re-
sult of official blessing may be past all reckoning ;
here, the gain is proportioned to the gift — five pounds
from five, two from two — because the gift of the
Spirit as such can have an objective blessing only
according to its subjective degree. There, the last
servant lays up the one pound, wliich makes him
equal to the rest, in a napkin, unused, signifying his
idleness ; here, he buries it ia the earth, signifying
the prostitution of spiritual gifts to the service of the
world and the flesh. There, the recompense of fidel-
ity is the extension of the charge and vocation, the
being placed over ten and over five cities ; here, it is
an entrance into the joy of their Lord : — the former
in harmony with official relation, and the latter in
harmony with the personal spiritual life. There, the
idle servant was punished by the pound being taken
from him (removal from office) ; here, he is cast into
the outer darkness, condemned to eternal woe. In
Luke, the parable closes with the nobleman being
changed into a king, who punishes his rebellious
servants ; in Matthew, it closes with the just admin-
istration of the landowner — although the king comes
into all the more glorious prominence in the last par-
able, ver. 31 seq. The resemblance in the tone of
the wicked servant's words, and the Lord's rejoinder,
can have no eil'ect in disturbing our conviction of tlio
distinctness of the two parables. And upon this
point, it is to be caicfully noted that the servant in
Luke, in accordance with tlie official relation, wraps
liis pound in a napkin ; while the servant in Matthew,
in accordance with the spiritual relation, hides it in
the earth ; further, that the former ought to have
put his gold into the bank (the oHice is given back
to tlie Clmrch) ; while the latter should have taken
it to the exchangers (spiritual gifts are quickened by
contact witli earnest leaders and members of the
Church). Thus the former parable sets before us
simply the external, social, official side of the Chris-
tian calling ; the latter, the internal and the individ-
ual. This explains the difference between the gain
of fidelity in the one case and in the other ; and, fur-
tlier, that the slothful servant in office and the sloth-
ful servant in the service of the Spirit for the most
part coincide, although in individual traits they dif-
fer. Official vocation produces its outward results
broadly through the world ; and an apostle might
gain half the population of the earth, or bring the
whole generation under his own influence. On the
other hand, the spiritual gift works inwardly in the
spiritual domam. In this it gains just so much fife
as corresponds with its related capacity of the Spirit.
Externally, this gain may seem less ; but in the esti-
mate of the kingdom of grace it is otherwise. It is
a higher reward to enter into the joy of our Lord,
than to be set over the cities in the other world. In
harmony with this distinction, the one slothful ser-
vant did not work at all ; the other hid his spiritual
gift in the earth. This Trov^pos, too, has a specific pre-
dicate attached to him, oKfripos ; and his requital ia
not merely discharge from office, but spiritual tvoe.
Ver. 14. For he is as a man. — Here it is cus-
tomary to explain the construction as an abrupt trans-
ition and an incomplete clause (an anantapodoton), as
in Rom. v. 12. But the previous verse is latently
carried on in the sense : ifou know neither the day
nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh ; for
He is, etc.
Delivered unto them his goods.— The spirit-
ual blessing of His life and salvation. Christ entrusts
to Christians in this world the treasure of His spirit-
ual life.
Ver. 15. To every man according to his
own ability, Kara ty) v iS iav 5uco;ui V. — Spir-
itual gifts are regulated by the kind and degree of
personal susceptibility and capacity. Compare the
doctrine of the x^-p'^'^f^O''^'', 1 Cor. .xii. [" There is no
Pelagianism in this ; for each man's powers are them-
selves the gift of God." Alford. But the words
iKaaTw KO.T iSiav hvvafxiv imply that every man has
a natural endowment, a sacred trust and mission to
fulfil in this world.— P. S.]
And straightway he went abroad. — The
nearest possible approximation of the parable to the
fact, that the ascension and Pentecost are closely
connected ; although the order is inverted.* There
* [Conip. tlie remarks of TRE!fcn : " In the things p;irtlily
the hi)nseliol'ic'i-"s (iistributio!) of the irifts n:itiirally and of
ncci'.s-ity I)iv(;l'(U\s liis (Icpartuiv ; in Wv hoiivrnly it is not
aliou'iitluT so; th(> Asceiihioii, or (ie|):irliirc, ^'oes bctbi-e I'cn-
ti'cost. or thi- distribution of <:itts; yet llie ulritiglitway f,t\\l
reiniiins in full force; the intrrvsil between them w:is tlid
.sm-illest, one following hard upon the othisr, however the or-
der W.1S reversed. The four verses which follow (10-19) em-
brace the whole period intervening between tlie first anJ
second coming of Christ." -P. S.]
444
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
had been, however, a preparatory bcstowmcnt of the
Spirit before tlie ascension. See the farewell dis-
courses in Jolin, and ch. xx. Meyer : " Straightway,
without precise orders for the application of the
money." But some general orders are presupposed
by the subsequent judgment ; while the particular
employment of the personal endowment is entrusted
to the individual. Every one must know his peculiar
vocation.
Ver. 18. Hid his lord's money Contrary to
duty and to dignity. The money m the earth is the
spirit in the flesh.
Ver. 20. Gained beside them, e ir' a n to 7s. —
In addition to what was entrusted, and by means
thereof. [Comp. the plainer statement in Luke xix.
IG : " Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds," and
John XV. 5 : " Without Me, ye can do nothing."
Every gift of God may be doubled and even increased
tenfold by faithful and conscientious use, while it may
be lost by neglect. This is true of spiritual and tem-
poral gifts of all kinds.— P. S.]
Ver. 21. The Vulgate and Cod. A.* read f Sye ,
which may stand absolutely, as in Luke xix. 17 ; the
€ i5 , on the other hand, as Meyer observes, nmst be
connected with the verb. [Alford, however, thinks
that 6 V , according to later Greek usage, need not be
connected with eVl oA.i7a 7]? ttkjtos, but may bear the
sense of dye : well done! as in the English Vers. —
P. S.]
[I will set thee over much, — This implies
new spheres of activity and usefulness in the king-
dom of glory in heaven ; or — according to Stier, Al-
ford, and all who refer this and the preceding para-
ble to iha pre-millemdal advent — in the millennium
on earth. — P. S.]
Into the joy of thy Lord, — De Wette : " Kuin-
oel and others interpret after Esth. ix. 1*7 (Sept.),
where x"-P"- = •^P]''^"^ i enteriainmeni ; better, prob-
ably, from the feast of joy which the lord would
celebrate on his return ; Fritzsche, after Cln-ysostom,
of the Messianic blessedness, — the parable passing
over into the reality." Doubtless, the Lord's joyful
festival is meant ; but this signifies the inheritance
of Christ. [Alford refers the x " P « °ot to a feast,
but to the joy arising from the completion of the
work and labor of love, of which the first sabbatical
rest of the creation was typical. Gen. i. 31 ; ii. 2;
Heb. iv. 3-11 ; xii. 2 ; Rev. iii. 21.— P. S.]
Ver. 24. That thou reapest where thou hast
not sown. — The picture of a hard, and withal self-
ish man. The saying shows : 1. That the servant,
as a self-seeker, separated his own interest from his
lord's, and therefore reckoned his lord to be a self-
seeker also ; 2. that he promised himself no person-
al spiritual joy in trading with the entrusted pound ;
3. that he would tacitly reproach his lord with hav-
ing given him too Uttle : 4. that he would not only
sslf-righteously excuse his own slothfulness of spirit,
but also overrule and censure his lord ; 5. that, with
all this, he really held his master to be not an over-
hard man, but an over-gentle man, against whom he
could dare to use such language with impunity. —
Where thou hast not strewed. — Meyer under-
stands here again, as in ch. xxi. 43, a winnowing,
against Erasmus, Beza, and others, who interpret tlie
SiatTKopTT 1^611/ of sowing ; thinking that other-
wise there would be a tautological parallel. But the
new idea introduced is that of intensification : sow-
inc/ and reaping, abundanthj scattering and bringing
irUo the barn. In winnowing, it is the straw that is
j scattered, and not the wheat. [Alford directs atten-
tion to the connection of thought between the last
i parable of our Lord with His first on the Sower (ch,
xiii. 3-0). He looks for fruit where He has sown,
i but not beyond the power of the soil. He expects
not so much success, as faithfulness which does not
depend on the absolute amount, but is measured by
the degree of ability and opportunity. Hence He
says : good and faithful (not : successful) servant. —
P. S.]
Ver. 25. And I was afraid.— De Wette and
Meyer : He might have lost the talent in trading.
But that would have been in some sense praisewor-
thy. His fear was more abject : he would not take
trouble for the benefit of a selfish lord.*
Ver. 26. Thou knewest that I reaped. — Kuin-
oel and de Wette : Concessively and ironically spo-
ken ; but according to Meyer, a question of surprise.
Doubtless de Wette is right. The servant has con-
demned himself as a liar. If he really regarded his
lord as a hard man, and yet would risk nothing in
trade, he might have adopted a safe method of gain
for his master, and placed the money into the hands
of the changers. Thus at least the interest would
have been secured.
Ver. 2*7. Thrown my money to the bankers.
— Meyer: Throw it on the money-table; ,BaAe7v
exhibits the sloth of his manner. The changers held
a public bank among the ancients, at which they re-
ceived and lent money. [Olshausen and Trench apply
the T^aireCiTai to those stronger characters who may
lead the more timid to the useful employment of gifts
which they have not energy to use. Alford objects
to this interpretation, and refers to the machinery of
religious and charitable societies in our day as very
much in the place of the rpawe^tTat." — P. S.]
I might have received mine own. — If thou
didst thus separate thy interest from mine, thou wast
bound to give the money to the changers, that I
might have received tnine with interest. A striking
rebuke ex concessis !
Ver. 28. Take from him therefore. — The neg-
ative punishment, entering into the judgment of the
servant himself : separation. — And give it to him
that hath the ten talents. — Thus even his judg-
ment passes over into the praise of God.
Ver. 29. For unto every one that hath. — See
ch. xiii. 12, p. 240.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. On the meaning of the parable, see the Excgei-
ical Notes. All its individual traits are regulated by
the different relation of the talents ; as in Luke xix.
they signify offices, and here the individual gifts of
grace. Thus, the concluding circumstance, that the
one pound is given to him who had ten pounds, has
in the two cases a diverse significance. In Luke, the
sense of the parable is this, that the neglected office
devolved or passed over to the highest fidelity ; in
Matthew, the truth is set forth, that the unfaithful-
ness of the slothful servant increases the spiritual life
of the faithful, as affording him matter of constant
warning and spiritual meditation, and the means of
enlarging his knowledge of the divine government of
souls.
* [There is .an inponfistcnej between tliat pretended fear
and ttiis insolent ^!peecll, wiiicii betrays the falsehood of the
TTovripos SovAoi. — P. S.]
CHAP. XXV. 14-80.
445
2. If we refer this parable to the doctrine of elec-
tion, we find in it the iinUiniicd differences which the
Scriptufe teaches, as opposed to the unlimited con-
trast of desiinii which the Augustinian doctrine of
predestination maintains. Each has his special re-
ligious talent or capital (the iS/a SiVa.uiy, ver. 15) in
his original nature, and this becomes to hun in the
Church a charisma or gift {iZwmv eKcto-rw). The
destination to salvation is thus universal : the capa-
biUty and the call to fidelity in all the same, the mea-
sure of the gift is different, as are the degrees of
glory. But if the least endowed iu regard to ful-
ness of life (for iu reference to truth and fidelity no
one is less endowed than another) scorns and neg-
lects his pound, that was not his destiny, but is his
fault. The less richly lie was provided in himself,
the more anxious should he have been to enrich him-
self by connection with the more eminent members
of the Church. (Comp. the author's Posilive Dog-
tnatik, p. 956 sqq.)
IIOMILETICAL AND PltACTICAL.
The judgment of the Lord upon all the individual
members of the Church : 1. Its rightful ground : the
appointment and the obligation of the servants. 2.
Its test : the true application of gifts. 3. Its univer-
sality : the most richly and the least endowed are
brought to account. 4. Its requital : on the one
hand, the praise and the joy of the Lord ; on the other
hand, the despoiling and casting out into the fellow-
ship of the lost. — Thy gifts are entrusted to the day
of reckoning. — Manifold gifts, but one duty and ojie
spirit. — The endowment of a Christian is a call to
work for the Lord. — Every one receives the pound
of the heavenly spiritual life according to the mea-
sure of his capacity. — The double obligation which
the absence of the Lord imposes upon Christians : 1.
They are bound to fidehty, because the Lord is so
far (and has committed to them all His interests in
this world) ; 2. they are bound to fidelity, because
He is so near (invisibly present hi His gifts, and may
come at any moment to reckon). — The grand and
stimulating thought, that Christ has committed to
His servants in this world all His goods. — The confi-
dence of the Lord the source of His servants' fidehty.
— Trading with the riches of*Christ the highest and
noblest gain. — Christ's business prospers only through
fidelity. — The Church is a place of trade, the noblest
and the richest. — The principles of commerce with
spiritual gifts: 1. As regards God : giving up all, to
gain all. 2. As it respects our neighbor : to give is
more blessed than to receive. 3. As it respects our-
selves : to gain the one thing needful in exchange
for many things.* 4. As it respects the world : to
give up the visible for the invisible. — Trading with
spiritual gifts the most perilous and yet the safest
commerce. — The praise and the reward of the faith-
ful servants of Christ in the hour of reckoning: 1.
The praise, of having been faithful over a httle ; 2.
the reward, of being set over much, and of entering
into the joy of the Lord. — The end of our spiritual
work a divine rest forever, a Sabbath of God. — The
wicked servant ; or, lot no man undervalue the gift
which God has entrusted to hun. — How far a grudge
* [In German : ^^ Das Eine erkaufen um clan Viele" (no
doubt an allusion to Luke x. 82), which the Edinb. transla-
tor has upsKt thus: to sell one thing, to gain much! lie
probably mistook erkaufen for verkaufen.—V. S.]
against Christ underlies all unfaithfulness in the use
of spiritual gifts. — Man becomes wicked evermore
through thinking evil of God. — The Christian be-
comes ^^icked evermore through thinking evil of
Christ. — The self-seeker ascribes his own self-seeking
to God also, to excuse himself. — The unfaithful are
obliged to eondenn: themselves at Last by their own
excuses. — The frightful pit of earth in which the hea-
venly gifts of the Christians are buried. — The infinite
spiritual woes which must be entailed by the prosti-
tution of spiritual light to the service of the flesh. —
The nameless work without which the slothful will
have to do when the faithful rest.
Starke : — We men in the world arc stewards of
the manifold gifts of God, 1 Cor. iv. 1-4 ; Luke xvi.
2. — Hedinger : God distributes His gifts strangely,
but holily : let no man think that he has received
too little, Rom. xii. 6. — In the gifts of God no one
must be vain, or envious ; but every one must use
his own portion to the glory of God and the good of
his fellows. — God bestows his gifts and goods on men,
not that they may be buried, wasted, appropriated to
self, or imagined their own, but that they may faith-
fully trade with them, 1 Cor. xii, 7. — Of a steward
nothing more is expected, and nothing less, than fidel-
ity, 1 Cor. iv. 2. — Canstein: Few gifts may be turned
to much account. — Truth does not shun the hght, but
comes to it, John iii. 21. — He buries his Lord's goods
who seeks only his own. — He who neglects nothing
in his Christianity, will have confidence in the day
of judgment, 1 John iii. 21. — In the future reckon-
ing no man will be forgotten or overlooked, 2 Cor. v.
10. — To be called a good and faithful servant of God,
is a title more honorable than any that this world
can give, Ps. cxvi. 16. — The wicked servant does not
know Jesus as a merciful Master, but as another
Moses who requires more than man has strength for.
— When we do not see the gracious countenance of
God in Christ, God appears to us hard and fearful. —
Slothfulness and baseness tlie two characteristics of
the unfaithful servant. — Luther : His knavery con-
sisted in this, that he condemns his Lord for hard-
ness, and scorns the way of grace (self-denial). — How
many, who now receive an unhmited number of hon-
orable names, will one day be called. Thou fool ! —
Hedinger : He who makes a good use of the first be-
ginnings of grace, will go on well and soon grow rich ;
he who lets his giace decline within him, will soon be
without it altogether.
Braune : — There is no standing still, either pro-
gress and gain, or retrogress and loss. [Forward
and finally all, or backward and finally nothing.]
Lisco : — The humility of tlie faithful servants,
who attribute all blessing and increase not to them-
selves, but to the entrusted pounds. — It docs not de-
pend upon whether one has effected much or little
according to the measure of his power and his sphere,
but whether he has been faithful and dihgent or not :
the spirit is the main thing. — This servant represents
such as excuse their neglect in various ways : by
pleading the little which has been entrusted to them,
or the fear they had of encountering the dangerous
influences of the world, or the consequent necessity
which they felt of retreatmg into solitude and quiet
piety.
Gerlach : — Unbelieving despondency is always
connected with slothfulness, when unbelief becomes
a permanent condition.
Heubncr : — Fidehty in little things is a pearl of
great price. — There, thou hast thine own: perfect
breach with God ; he throws up his service altogeth-
446
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
er. — Wicked (irovv^f) he is called, because his heart
was false, attributing falsely to (Jod this unloving
hardness. His conscience smote him in secret, and
testified to him that God was not as he painted Him.
— Wlieu God lays much upon us. He offers us abun-
dance of strength to do and to bear.
[Bup.KiTT (condensed) : — 1. Christ the Lord of
the universe, and owner of all His servants' goods.
2. Talents : riches, honors ; gifts of mind, wisdom,
learning ; gifts of grace. 3. Freedom of distribution
to all, but in different measure. 4. Every talent is
given to improve for our Master's use. 5. Every
one is accountable for every talent. G. All faithful
servants will be rewarded with the joy of their Lord.
T. No excuses shall serve the slothlul or unfaithful
Bcrvant at the bar of Christ. 8. The unf lithful ser-
vant will be punished (a) negatively, by the loss of
his talent, (b) positively, by suffering the misery of
hell with gnashing of teeth, i. e., rage and indigna-
tion against God, the saints, and against himself. —
(Similar practical remarks with a more minute anal-
ysis, see in Matthew Henry.) — D. Brown (con-
densed):— 1. Christ exhorts us in this parable, not
" Wait for your Lord," but " Occupy till I come."
Blessed is he whom the Lord shall lind worhing (aa
v.-ell as watching, according to the preceding parable).
2. Christians are all servants of Christ, but differ in
natural capacity, acquirements, providential position,
influence, means, and opportunities. 3. FideUty will
be rewarded, not the amount or nature of tlie work.
4. Idleness and unprofitableness in the Lord's service
is sufficient to condemn.—W. Nast :— 1. The talents of
all men are free gifts of God, so that there is no room
either for self-boasting, or for self-reproach ; 2. thej
are given in trust, the Giver still retaining a claim
upon them ; 3. they are given to be employed and
turned to the best account for the glory of the Giver.
-P. S.]
FIFTH SECTION.
THE FINAL JUDGMENT IN ITS LAST AND MOST UNIVERSAL FORM UPON AI.L NA-
TIONS: AND AS SEPARATION.
Ohaptee XXV. 31-46.
{The Gospel for the 2&th Sunday after Trinity.)
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy* angels with him,
32 then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : And before him shall be gathered all
[the] nations [-n-avTa ra Wvrj] : and he shall separate [divide, d^optei] them one from
another, as a [the, 6] shepherd divideth [dc^opi'^et] his [the] sheep [ra irpofiaTa] from
33 the goats: And he shall sec the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them [those] on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my
35 Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : For I
was a hungered [hungry, cTreiVacra], and ye gave me meat [to eat, ^ayetv] : ^ I was
36 thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye
clothed me : I v/as sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying. Lord, when saw we thee a hungered
38 [hungering, TruvwvTa], and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? [And, 8e] When
39 saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw
40 we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say
unto tliem. Verily 1 say unto you, Inasmuch as ye liave done it unto one of the least
41 of these my brethren,^ ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them
[those] on the left hand. Depart* from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
42 tiie devil and his angels : For I was a hungered [hvtngry], and ye gave me no meat
[did not give me to eat, cm eSw^are /xot. ^uyeiv] : 1 was thirsty, and ye gave me no
43 drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not : ^ sick,
44 and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying. Lord,
when saw we thee a hungered [hungering], or athirst [thirsting], or a stranger, or
45 naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee ? Then shall he answer
tiiem, saying. Verily 1 say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one .of the least of
46 these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment [eter-
nal punishment, KoXaaLv alwiop] : but the righteous into life eternal [eternal life, or
everlasting life, ^wr/v alwvLov].^
CHAP. XXV. 81-46.
447
' Vor. 31.— The nrtjective aytoi of the tert. rec. is wantinfr in Codfl. B., D., L., [also in Odd. Siiuiit.], many versions
[including the Villi.'., wliicli roads simply: omnes aiigeli], and fatlu-rs, and seems to be a later iiiteipdlatioii.
- Ver. 35 — [Comp. tbo translation of the English Version in ch. xiv. IG, where the same phiasc is rendered : ffive y»
them U) eat.—V. S.]
3 Vi-r. 40.— T wj' aSeA^cSf juou, although omitted by Cod. 15., is well established by the majority of witnesses.
* Vor. 41.— [Cod. Sinait. roads virdyfre for Trope verrOe .—P. S.]
' Vor. 43. —[Cod. Sinait. omits the words : yvurhs Kal ou 7repi6/8a\€T6'jU.6. But thoy are well supported
by the best autliorilies and retained in all the critical edjtions.— P. 8.]
• Vor. 46.— [As the Crock uses alwviov before ^(ai)v as well as KnKaaiv, it should be renden d by the same word
(i'\W\('v etevnal ov ev6rlii!iting)\nho\\\ cXs.n'ii^s. Comp. the Lat Vulg. : in suppUciutn ccternum . . . inritom atternam;
uU the Gerin in Versions {eici(/); Wiclif: everUisti/nge turmente . . . ecerlastynge Uif; the Kheims Version: puiusli^
ment everlasting, Ufa cverLiiHting. Tyndale introduced the change: everlfiMivge pai/ne . . . lyfe HerniU, which was
retained in the subsequent Protestant Versions except the word prtin, which King James" revisers gave up for 7JK»mA-
ment. I Avould prefer, however, iii both cases eternal to everlasting, and translate: into eternal punishment . . . into
eternal I'fi. For everlasting refers to ea-tenfiire infinitude or endless duration ; eternal e.xpresses the intensive infinitude,
and this dynamic conception, which im|)lies much more than mere duration or e.xistence in time, is the prevailii g idea
liere, without, however, excluding the other. But in any case the passage is one of the very strongest against Universal-
ism, and the c.iroKO.Td.<TTa<JiS roiv -KavTwv. Comp. also Dr. Lango's Exeg. Notes.— 1^. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
The final Judgment. General Remarks. — The
new salient points of the last judgment are: 1. The
Son of Man as Judge unfolds His perfect kingly and
judicial glory. 2. He exercises judgment now upon
all the nations of the earth, and upon all the genera-
tions of men. 3. He judges individuals according to
their personal conduct, with as much strictness and
reality as He judges the collective whole. 4. He
finds in all the consummate character of their inner
life and nature so expressly stamped upon them, that
He can divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep
from the goats. 5. He judges, therefore, according
to the perfected consummation of the spiritual life iu
the works, and according to the fundamental idea of
all good works — love and mercy. 6. He judges ac-
cording to the standard of the universal life of Christ
among men of all times, as well as of the historical
Christ. 7. His sentence introduces a separation
which must bring the earth itself, in its ancient form,
to an end ; for, the good are received into the king-
dom of the Father, and the wicked are cast into hell.
— Thus viewed iu all its extension, it presupposes the
general resurrection, and forms the conclusion of the
Lord's coming and parousia in this present state of
things, of the one last day of a thousand years in a
symbolical sense, that is, of a full and perfect judicial
reon. Thus, as the first parable (ch. xxiv. 45) must
be placed at the beginning of these thousand years,
and the second and third exhibit the further develop-
ment of the kingly, judicial administration of Christ,
this last judgment forms the great conclusion, as it is
exhibited in 1 Cor. xv. 24 and Rev. xx. 9.
This decides the question as to whether it is
merely a judgment upon Christians, or upon other
than Christians, or upon all, both Christians and not
Christians. The first was maintained by Lactantius,
Euthymius, Grotius, and others ; the second, by such
as Keil, Olshausen, Crusius ; * the third, by Kuinoel,
Paulus, Fritzsche. In favor of the first view — that
Christians alone are here judged — it is alleged that
the doctrine of the divine election comes in, ver. 34,
of the righteous, ver. 37, etc. But, on the other hand,
Buch also are spoken of as never had the conscious-
ness of being in pert-onal relation with Christ. It is
supposed to decide in favor of the second hypothesis
* [So also Stier and Alford, who understand vivTa ra
tdtiy) to mean all the nations of the world as distinguished
from the (K\(Kroiy wiio were already gathered to Christ at
the first resurrection and beginning of His niillonnial king-
dom, and who will take part in the final judgment (1 Cor.
vi. 2).-P. S.J
— those not Christians being the objects of the judg-
ment— that the judgment proceeds not according to
the law of faith, but according to the law of worka
and of love to man. But that Christians also will be
judged at last by works, the fruits of faith, as being
faith developed, is proved by Matt. vii. 21 ; Rom. ii.
6 ; 2 Cor. v. 10; Gal. vi. 8, and the whole tenor and
spirit of Christianity ; and that, on the oi;her hand,
all the works of men will be judged, not according to
their outward appearance, but according to their
spirit and motive, or according to their real, though
unconscious, faith in Christ, and love or drawing to-
ward Him, is proved by an equal number of passages;
c.ff., Matt. X. 40; Acts x. 35; Rom. v. 18, and the
universally valid word : " The Lord seeth the heart."
De Wette urges, in favor of the third supposition,
that in Matt. xiii. 37-43, 49, we find the plain idea
of a final judgment upon Christians and those who
are not Christians. De Wette here confounds good
and bad with Christians and not Christians.
Our section certainly presupposes the tmiversal
nominal Christianization of the world, which must
take place before the end of the world : the Christi-
anization of mankind in this world (ch. xxiv. 14;
Rom. xi. 32), and of the whole of mankind in the
other (Phil. ii. 10 ; 1 Pet. iv. 6). Such a Christiani-
zation would necessarily follow from the advent of
Christ in itself; so far as it must constrain the nations
to submission, and continue throughout an entire
period of judgment, Rev. xx. The common notion,
which terms every supposition of a more extended
final period Chiliasm or Millennarianism, does not
merit notice. It is beyond all things necessary that
we should distinguish between a concrete and a fan-
tastic doctrine about the last things. The differences
are: 1. The former regards the thousand years as a
symbolical number, as the mark of an ajon, or the
period of transition for the earth and mankind from
the earthly to the heavenly condition (Ircnrous ; see
Dorner's Hhtory of Ch-risioloy;/, I. p. 245). But
millennarianism interprets the thousand years chrono-
logically, and seeks to define their beginning. 2. Con-
crete cschatology regards the last period as the mani-
festation of a judgment, already internally ripe, on
the ground of the perfect redemption accomi>lished
through Christ. But millennarianism is not satisfied
with the first redeeming appearance of Christ ; it
looks forward to the second as of greater importance.
3. Concrete cschatology expects with the advent the
beginning of a spiritual transformation of the present
state of things ; millennarianism expects a perfect
glorification of things here as they are. 4. The for-
mer sees in the first resurrection only a revelation of
the full life of the elect, dcstmed to be helpers of
448
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Christ in the glorification of all humanity ; but mil-
lennarianism regards that period as the time of the
realization of Jewish, Jewish-Christian, pielistic, secta-
I'ian prerogatives and spiritual pretensions.*
[We add here the remarks of Dr. Nast on the dif-
ferent views as to the subjects of the final judgment :
" According to the premillennarian view, advocated by
Olshauicn, Stier, and Alford, the judgment here de-
scribed docfs not include those that constitute the
Church triumphant ; that is, those who, at Christ's
personal coming to introduce the millennium, are
either raised from the dead, or, if still hving, are glo-
rified and caught up together into the air, to meet
the Lord (1 Thess. iv. 1(5, 17; 1 Cor. xv. 23, 24, 51,
52)— to reign with Christ, and with him to judge the
world (1 Cor. vi. 2). The term 'all nations,' {ndi'Ta
ra. IQu-q,) it is said, is used in the same sense as the
Hebrew ' the nations, or Gentiles,' as distinguished
from God's chosen people, and stands here in anti-
thesis to the ' brethren ' of verse 40, who had already
received their reward as wise virgins and faithful
servants. In support of this view the following argu-
ments are advanced: 1. 'Those only are said to be
judged who have done it or not done it to my breth-
ren; but of the brethren themselves being judged
there is no mention.' In this argument we can see
no point. The love of the brethren is the mark by
which, our Saviour says, all men shall know that ye
are my disciples. 2. ' The verdict turns upon works,
and not upon faith.' Surely this will be the case
with every believer or Christian, when he is brought
before the judgment-seat of Clirist, whether at the
begimiing or close of the millennium, in so far as
works are the fruit of faith, or true saving faith is
only that which worketh by love (Matt. vii. 21 ; Rom.
ii. 6 ; 2 Cor. v. 10; Gal. vi. 8), and in so far as our
good works spring from sincerity of heart, to which
the Lord looketh (Acts x. 35). Moreover, unless the
plan of salvation is entirely changed in the millennial
state — v,'hich, if we mistake not, the premillennarians
deny — the nations hving during the millennium will
be judged according to their works, no more and no
less than those that hved before the millennium.
3. Anotlier objection to the common view is stated
by Alford thus : ' The answer of the righteous ap-
pears to rae to show plainly that they are not to be
understood as being the covenanted servants of Christ.
Such an answer it would be impossible for them to
make, who had done all distinctly loith reference to
Christ, and for His sake, and with His declaration of
ch. X. 49-42, before them. Such a supposition would
remove all reality, as, indeed, it has generally done,
from our Lord's description. See the remarkable
difference in the answer of the faithful servant (vs.
XX. 22).' The reply that the language in question is
that of humihty is said not to be satisfactory ; but we
know not why. Besides, the diiiiculty appears to us to
be the same with regard to the people that have hved
during the millennium. If they are to be saved, they
also nmst have done their works for Christ's sake,
and, if so, they must have been conscious of it. We
have given the grounds on which the premillennarian
interpretation is based. In objection to it, it may
further be urged that it is against common Scripture
language to call any other than believers, the mem-
bers of Christ's mystical body, 'sheep,' or 'right-
eous,' or ' the blessed of the Father, for whom the
kingdom was prepared from the foundation of the
* [In German: geUtUehe Anviassu/ngen. The Edinb.
trsl. has dignities .'—P. S.]
world.' With regard to the difficult question of our
Lord's second advent, Alford makes, at the close of
hit! comments on the twenty-fifth chapter, a declara-
tion breathing the docile spirit of the true Christian
and of the thorough scholar. He says, (p. 238 :)
'I think it proper to state, in this third edition, that
having now entered upon the deeper study of the
prophetic portions of the New Testament, I do not
feel by any means that full confidence which I once
did in the exegesis, quoad prophetical interpretation
here given of the tln-ee portions of this chapter xxv.
But 1 have no other system to substitute, and some
of the points liere dwelt on seem to me as weighty as
ever. I very much question whether the thorough
study of Scripture prophecy will not make me more
and more distrustful of all human systematizing, and
less willing to hazard strong assertion on any portion
of the subject. July, 1855.'" — In the fourth edition
Alford adds: "Endorsed, Oct. 1858."— P. S.]
The representation of this judgment is not a par-
able or simile, as Olshausen thinks. It contains some
of the elements of a parable ; but really sets the judg-
ment before us in its concrete form.
[Ver. 31. Jerome remarks on the time of this dis-
course : " He who was within two days to celebrate
tlie passover and to be crucified, fitly now sets forth
the glory of His triumph." This contrast deepens
our view of the divine foresight and majesty of our
Lord, and the sublimity of this description. — And all
the [holy] angels with Him. — As witnesses and
executive agents who take tlie deepest interest in
man's destiny and final salvation, comp. Heb. i. 14 ;
Matt. xiii. 40 ; xxiv. 31 ; Luke xii. 8. Bengel : Omnes
cmgeli : orn.ncH oiationes : quanta celehritan ! " The
first-born of God, the morning stars of creation — be-
ings that excel in strength, whose intelhgence is im-
mense, whose love for God and His universe glows
with a quenchless ardor, and whose speed is as the
hghtning. Who can count their numbers? They
are the bright stars that crowd in innumerable con-
stellations every firmament that spans every globe
and system throughout immensity." — P. S.]
Then shall he sit.— Expression of finished victory.
Ver. 32. And before Him shall be gathered.
— Intimating a perfect voluntary or involuntary ac-
knowledgment and submission ; comp. Phil. ii. 10.
And He shall divide them. — I'his is not merely
the beginning, but the fundamental outline of all that
follows. — As the shepherd divideth. — He was
Himself the Shepherd, also, of the goats, — the Shep-
herd of all mankind. Hence He knows how to distin-
guish them perfectly, as they are perfected in good or
evil. — The sheep from the goats. — Properly : the
lambs from the he-goats, ipitpoi. Goats and sheep
are represented as pasturing together (comp. Gen.
XXX. 33). They were classed together under the
name of small cattle. The wicked are here exhibit-
ed under the figure of goats. Why 'i Grotius : " on
account of their wantonness and stench." De Wette
says (referring to Ezek. xxxiv. 17, where, however, it
is otherwise) : " The goats (he-goats) are of less
value to the shepherd ; they are wilder, and less
easily led." Meyer : " Because the value of these
animals was held to be less (Luke xv. 29) ; hence
also, in ver. 33, the disparaging duninutive ra ifjifia."*
* [So also Ililarv ami Chrysostom : " Slieep are profitable
bv their wool, their milk, their otf^prins;. Kot so goats:
they represent vnfrvit/uliie.sii of life." Wordsworth adopts
this view and adds with Euthymius and Grotius the Svaoi-
Si'a, in opposition to the sweet and fragi'ant sacrifice of holy
and charitable deeds."— P. S.J
CHAP. XXV. 31^6.
440
But the main point of distinction is the gentleness and
tractableness of the sheep, which points to a nobler
nature ; and the wild stubbornness of the goats, ex-
hibiting an inferior, egotistical nature.*
Ver. S3. On his right hand.— Thd" side of
preference and success. — On the left. — The oppo-
site. On the omens of the right and left, see Schott-
gen and Wetsteiu ; comp. Virg. ^'En. vi. 542 sqq.
Vei'. 34. The King. — Not parabolical, as 01s-
hauseu thinks ; but Christ in Ilis advent comas for-
ward with all His real kingly dignity.
Ye blessed of My Father. — They are the
really blessed, as the regenerate, penetrated and re-
newed with the Spirit, liie, and blessing of the Father,
Eph. i. 3.
Inherit the kingdom. — See Rom. viil. — Pre-
pared from the foundation of the ■world. — De
Wette tinds here the idea of predestination, Rom.
viii. 28. But what is here spoken of is the eternal
foundation of the kingdom for the subjects of the
King. There is no contradiction to John xiv. 2. For
here the calling and foundation is referred to ; there,
the actual building up of the heavenly community.!
Ver. 35. Ye took Me in, ffvvr)ya.ysri /xe. —
Meyer : As members of My household. Deut. xxii.
2 : (Tvva^eis ahrov iv^op els f^v olKiav. Oriental
hospitality was an essential form of love to our neigh-
bor. See, in ^yetstein and Schottgen, the rabbinical
saymgs concerning the promise of paradise to the
hospitable.
[Vers. 35, 36. Heubner; "The acts of love here
named are not such as require merely an outlay of
money, but such as involve also the sacrifice of time,
strength, rest, comfort," etc. On the other hand,
Webster and Wilkinson justly observe on ver. 36,
that the assistance to the sick and prisoners here is
not healmg and release, which only few could render,
but visitation, sympathy, attention, which all can be-
stow. But whatever good they did, was done in
faith and in humility, and consequently tlie product
of divine grace. For charity is the daughter of faith,
and faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who unites us
to Christ.— P. S.]
A^er. 37. Lord, when saw we Thee? — De
Wette : " The language of modesty." Olshausen :
"The language of unconscious humility." Meyer:
" Actual declining of what was imputed, since they
had never done to Christ Himself these services of
love. The explanation is given in ver. 40." Cer-
tainly, they have not yet any clear notion of the
ideal Christ of the whole world. But this is con-
nected with their humility ; and it must not be lost
sight of, smce the opposite characteristic among the
reprobate is exhibited as self-righteousness. [Ori-
gen: "It is from humility that they declare them-
selves unworthy of any praise for their good deeds,
not that they are forgetful of what they have done."]
Ver. 40. To one of the least of these My
brethren. — Not the apostles alone, but Christians
generally, and pre-eminently the least of them. They
* [Similarly Origen, Theophylact, and Maldonatus, who
explains : Boni ovu-i appellantxir quia mites sunt, mnli
autem hirci quia asperi et per prcerupta ascendentes, id
eat, non acta et plana incidentes via. Nnst combines un-
cleanness and stubbornness as the two points of comparison
of the bad with the goats, but mentions only meekness on
the part of the sheep.— P. S.]
t [Bengcl derives from the word vfJ-^v, prepared /or
yow, an argument against the scholastic notion that men
were created or elected to fill up the number of fallen an-
gels: Ergo homines eleeti non sunt suffecti in Joctfm an-
gelorum, qui peccamnt.—F. 8.]
OQ
are the least, the poorest, the last, in v/hom the di-
vme life, which the Lord here recognises as brotherly
love, is awakened.
[Stier, confining this judgment to the heathen, in-
fers from this description that " a dogmatically de-
veloped faltli in the Lord is not required of all men,"
and condemns " all narrow dogmatism that would set
limits to God's infiuite love." Alford, taking a simi-
lar view of this section, remarks : " The sublimity of
this description surpasses all imagination — Christ, as
the Son of Man, the Shepherd, the King, the Judge —
as the centre and end of all human love, bringing out
and rewarding His latent grace in those who have
lived in love — everlastingly punishing those who have
quenched it in an unloving and selfish Ufe — and in the
accomplishment of His mediatorial ofiice, causing
even from out of the iniquities of a rebellious world His
sovereign mercy to rejoice against judgment." But
we must not weaken the fundamental principle : out
of Christ there is no pardon and no salvation. Every
consideration of God's justice and mercy, and every
impulse of Christian charity leads us to the hope that
those will be ultimately saved, who without knowmg
Christ in this life have unconsciously longed after
Him as the desire of all nations and of every human
soul, but it can only be through an act of faith in
Christ, whenever He shall be revealed to them, thougii
it be only on the judgment day. We cannot admit
diflerent terms of saivation. — P. S.]
Ver. 41. Ye cursed. — Through their own fault
penetrated by the curse of God. The appended "of
My Father " is not now found here as in ver. 34.
And so also, "from the beginning of the world" is
not added to " preparaV here. Nor is it said, " pre-
pared/o;- you," but, "for the devil." * The great
judg-ment of nre is prepared for the ilevil, as a pun-
ishment for devilish guilt. Thus, these are here
represented as having plunged themselves into the
abyss of demoniac reprobation. The Rabbins dis-
puted whetlier Geheima was prepared before or after
the first day of creation. According to the gospel, it
will not be finished and made effective tiU the final
judgment of the world {see Rev. xx. 10). The scho-
lastic theology of the middle ages,f instead of making
it a final period, as in the gospel, gradually dated it
back to the begmning, as the Rabbins.
[Vers. 42, 43. Only sins of omission are men-
tioned here; showing that the absence of good
works, the destitution of love, or the dominion of
selfishness, disqualifies man for blessedness, and is
* [Similar observations are mado by .\Iford and Words-
worth : " In verse 84,'' says the latter, " Christ describes the
joys of heaven as a KXripovofxia prepared for men by God
even from the beginning. But the pains of hell are not de-
scribed as prepared for men, but for the devil and his an-
gels. God designs eternal happiness for men; they incur
eternal misery by their own acts." — The significance of th»
omissions and change in the two cases was early observed
e\en by Origen and Chrysostom, and is urged also by Mal-
donatns, Olshausen, Stier, Kast, and otheis.— -Origen : " He
says not now : Ye cursed of My Father, because of all bless-
ing the Father is the author, but each man is the origin of
his own curse when he does the things that deserve the
curse."— Maldonatus : -'Aon dixit: 'Maledicti Fatinn
«i(i/,' sicrit jmtia dixerat: 'Venite, benedicti Patris
MEi,' quia Deus non maledictionis, sed benediciionis, non
pmnat, sed praimii auctorfuit; non quod non etiam poe-
ncB auctor fuerit, sed quod prwrnia Ubenter et ex animi
propensiohe, poenam invitus quodammodo, ut JMstiiiae
sum satisjaceret, prcepararerit.^' — P. S.]
t [So also Dante in the famous inscription on the gate of
hell; see Inferno, Canto iii. Stier observes, that even tor
the devil, who was created an angel, hell waa no more fore-
ordained than his sin, although it was prep.ared for him as
soon as he became a devil. — P. S.]
450
THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
Bufficient, even without positive crimes, to exclude
him from heaven. — P. S.]
Yer. 44. And did not minister unto Thee ?
— As if they would always have been ready to serve
Him. But there is nothinf^ of the spirit of love in
their assumed readiness ; only m the spirit of servi-
tude they would have waited on Him had they seen
Him. The ignorance of the blessed was connected
witli their humility, as a holy impossibility of know-
ing ; the ignorance of the cursed was of another kind,
and closely connected with self-righteousness.*
Ver. 46. Into everlasting punishment. —
Comp. Dan. xii. 2 {eh C'^vv aldviov . . . ei? aiax^i'V''
altivtof). Meyer finds the absolute idea of eternity in
endlessness, and thinks even that (wn aidyios de-
scribes an endless Messianic life. But in this last
idea the inteTisive boundlessness of life is expressed
(an abstract endless life might be also merely an end-
less existence in torment) ; and, therefore, the pre-
dominant notion of the opposite is an intensive one,
too. We say only, the "predominant" one. For
here also, as in the doctrine of the parousia of Christ,
we must distinguish between religious and chronolo-
gical notions and calculations.!
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The section is a paraboUcal discourse:]: con-
cerning the general judgment of the human race.
Hence the essential ideas and the symbolical features
are to be distinguished.
The following are the prominent ihgmatic points :
— (1) Christ is the Judge of the world ; compare Acts
X. 42 ; xvii. 31 ; the Syrnh. Apost. (2) The judg-
ment shall be exercised by Him upon all mankind :
all nations shall appear before the throne — not merely
those existing at the end of the world, but all genera-
tions. Therefore the general resurrection is included,
so that all nations may be assembled. (3) The stand-
* [The Edinb. trsl. renders /Sefts<(7e/•€cA<^■o'/fcea (= r) e/xr],
or 7; ISia 5iKawcrwTj, or biKaiotrvvri tov v6/j.ov, ck v6-
f.wv, Sac. e| ipywv) here and above ad ver. 37 by self-justi-
fication, confounding the word with Selhstrechfj'ertigwig
(= 5i/fo;ico(7i5)._p. g.]
t[ALKORD: "Observe, the same epithet is used for
KoKaais and C<^i] — which are here contraries — for the ^wrj
here spoken of is not bare existence, which would have ««-
?;(^ita</o» for its opposite ; but blessedness and reward, to
wliich jjunishment and misery are antagonist terms." —
Wordsworth in loe. : " The word alcJov corresponds to the
Hebrew CbiS which appears to be derived from the un-
used root cbs J to coticeal; so that the radical idea in
aliiy, as used in Holy Scripture, is tJidefinite time; and
thus the word comes to be iitly applied to iJiis world, of
which we do not know the duration; and also to the world
to come, of which no end is visible, because that world is
eternal. This consideration may perhaps check speculations
concerning the duration of future punibhments. (?)" But
this etymology of cbi^ is fomewhat doubtful, and alui/
has nothing to do with hiding and concealing, but comes
probably from au.; &7]p.i, to hreathe, to blow; hence life,
generation, ago (like the Latin ce»!/?n); then indefinitely for
endless duration, eternity. — P. S.]
$ [Not a i)arable proper. Comp. M. Henry : "AVc have
here a description of the process of the last judgment in the
great day. There are some passai'-'-s in it that are paraboli-
cal ; as the separating between the thet- p and the goats, and
the dialogues between the judge and tho persons ji'dged;
but there is no thread of similitude r. k-.l through "tlie'dis-
course, and, therefore, it is rather to be called a dr ;ught or
delineation of the final judgment than aparHble: it is, as it
were, the explanation of the former paraH •- ■'— ". S.]
ard of judgment will be the question, how they reputed
and dealt with Christ in the world ; how Ihey regu-
lated their conduct toward Him in His own person,
and in His unseen life in humanity as the Logos ;
how, therefore, they honored or dishonored the Divine
in themselves and in their fellow-men; how they
showed cliristological piety in christological humani-
ty ; or how, in short, they behaved toward Christ in
the widest sense of the word. (4) The demand of
the judgment will be the fruit of faith in Christian
love of men, or human love ef Christ. Thus not
merely, (a) doctrinal faith ; or (b) external works
without a root of faith — of actual trust in Christ, or
love for the divine in humanity (done it unto Me, done
it not unto Me) ; (c) nor merely individual evidences
of good ; but decided goodness in its maturity and
consistency, as it acknowledged Christ or felt after
Him, in all His conceahnents, with longing anticipa-
tions. (5) The specific form of the requirement will
be the requirement of the fruit of mercy and compas-
sion ; for the foundation of redemption is grace, and
faith in redeeming grace must ripen into the fruits of
compassion : see this in the Lord's Prayer. Sancti-
fied mercy, however, is only a concrete expression for
perfected holiness generally, or the sanctification of
Christ in the life; see Rev. xxi. 8 ; xxii. 15, 6.
(6) The finished fruit of faith and disposition is iden-
tical with the man himself, ripe for judgment. C?) The
judgment appears to be already internally decided by
the relation which men have assumed toward Christ,
or the character which they have borne ; but it is
published openly by the separation of those who are
unlike, and the gathering together of all who are like ;
it is continued in the sentence which illustrates the
judgment by words, and confirms it by the extorted
confession of conscience ; it is consummated by the
fact of the one company inheriting the kingdom, and
the other departing to the everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. (8) This perfected sep-
aration implies also the total change of the earth : on
the one side, the view opens upon the finished king-
dom of God ; on the other, the view opens upon hell,
now unsealed for the lost. (9) The time of the judg-
ment is the final and critical period in which all
preparatory judgments are consummated: (a) the
judgments of human history in this world ; (6) the
judgments in Hades in the other world {see Luke xvi.
19); (c) the great judgments which will begin at the
manifestation of Christ {sea chs. xxiv. and xxv. ; Rev.
XX. 1 sqq.). The more precise description of the form
of this crisis is found in Rev. xx. V-l 5.
As symbolical features of the scene, we may notice
prominently: — (1) The enthrouization of the Son of
Man upon the judgment-seat : a figure of His perfected
victorious glory (1 Cor. xv. 25). (2) The administra-
tion of Christ in the form of the separating shepherd :
for He is still a shepherd ; and one great reason of
the judgment is the perfecting of the redemption of
the good, the revelation of the kinudora (Rev. xxi.).
(3) The sheep and the goats, with their separation,
expressing the nature of their respective characters,
as now perfectly stamped upon them in the resurrec-
tion. (4) The placing on the right hand and on the
left ; all the ideal characteristics of the judged being
exhibited as personal relationship to Christ, and the
whole sequel of the judgment being thus presented
in one anticipatory act of decisive division. (5) The
colloquy of the Judge and the judged : a disclosure
of humility, on which the piety of the pious rests ;
and of pride, on which the reprobation of the wicked
rests ; and, at the same time, a clear exhibition of the
CHAP. XXV. 31-46.
451
oft-repeated truth, that men will judge themselves by
their own words.
2. The historical judgment of Christ will be the
simple, though solemn revelation" of that spiritual
judgment which, as to its beginning, is already de-
cided in difference of character. It is the last quiet
perfecting of a state already ripe and over-ripe. The
blessed of the Father are already filled with blessing ;
and the kingdom, the foundation of which was laid
before the foundation of the world, is already in full
glory, fmding now in the glorification of tlie world,
of the heaven and the earth, its new form. The ac-
cursed are also, on their part, penetrated by the
curse ; and the hell to which they go is the kingdom
of darkness in its consummation, separated from the
kingdom of light and consigned to its proper place.
" From the fall of Satan downward the eternal fire
began to work on him and his ; and, in connection
with this development, there is going on in humanity
also a great spiritual torment, a great fellowship in
his destruction."
3. " The coming of Christ would not be histori-
cally that which it was to be, if it were not at the
same time spiritual ; it would not be spiritually that
which it was to be, if it were not historical also."
4. Concerning the succession of the aeons or
epochs of which Rev. xiv. 11 ; ch. xix. 3 ; xxi. ; xxii. ;
and 1 Cor. xv. 26-28, speak, nothing more is here
said. But in tlie ^tcy alJcvins unlimited in(e)mU/ is
the first point, unliriiited extrusion the second (for an
endless existence is also imaginable as endlessly tor-
mentei), and hence the opposite conception also must
be imdevstood in the religious and dynamic sense.
5. Otto von Geklach : " The circumstance that
the righteous also stand before the Judge, while the
contrary seems to be stated in John v. 24 ; 1 (^or.
\i. 2, is no serious difSculty. For, every one must
appear before the judgment-seat of Christ (2 Cor. v.
10; comp. John iii. 15); although the Christian
knows full well that he will be no more hurt by the
last judgment than he was by those earlier judgments
which fell upon him in common with the wicked."
We must carefully distinguish therefore between
judgment to condemnation and judgment generally.
The manifestation of the good will be the concrete
judgment of the ungodly.
(5. Prepared for you. — Gerlach : " From the
foup.dation of the world : this shows that the reward
iu the future life will be a reward oi grace. The /or
which follows states the ground of vocation to bles-
sedness only so far as the works which the Lord
mentions bear whness to the existence of faith." It
should be said rather, " bear witness to His life in
believers ; " for the final judgment will be not mere-
ly the confirmation of justification, but its perfected
development in life.
1. " Christ manifestly assumes the personal ex-
istence of the devil, when he says that wicked men
will suffer the same doom with him." Heubner.
[8. " The great facts of tlie divine retribution, .says
MoRisoN, the eternal bhss of the righteous, the eternal
woe of the wicked, are indisputable, and the images
of uplifting or appalling grandeur in which they are
enveloped cannot act too powerfully on the heart of
man. But the particulars, the blissful or terrible de-
tails, are wisely wllliheld from our mind, which in its
present state of knowledge could not comprehend
* [Not : t?ie grand and awful revelation (Edinb. trsI.V
In German: die einfache, wenn auch feierlivhe Ettthiil-
lung.]
them, and would only be confounded or misled by
any description of them in human language." — P. S.J
[9. There is an eternal election to Ufe, but no
eternal foreoi-dination to perdition (except as a sec-
ondary or covdUional and prospective decree); there
is a book of Hfe, but no book of death. But " they
who will serve the devil must share with him in the
end."— P. S.]
HOMILETIOAL AND PRACTICAL.
The great judgment in its comprehensive impor-
tance: 1. A judgment upon the whole world ; 2. a
whole world of judgment (all judgments summed up
in one). Or: 1. The Judge of the world (the Son
of Man, whom the world judged, now in His glory);
2. the judged ; ."i. the separation, and the twofold
sentence; 4. the end and issue of all. — The judg-
ment of the world as the last great revelation : 1. Of
the great Judge ; 2. of the great judgment ; 3. of
the great redemption. — The last judgment, the great
epiphany, Titus ii. 13 ; and the end of the world. —
Christ at tliat day will seal and finish His Pastoral
office. — The Son of Man one with the Judge of the
world : 1. T!ie Son of Man is Judge of all ; or, the
divinity of the destiny of man.* 2. The Judge of
all is the Son of Man ; or, the humanity of the di-
vine judgment. — Christ is all iu all in the judgment :
1. He is the Judge; 2. He is the Law, according to
which judgment is pronounced (whether He was or
was not regarded in His brethren) ; 3. He is Himself
the Retribution : — (a) the recompense of the good ;
{b) the loss of the wicked. — Individuality reigns
throughout tlie judgment : 1. All the fundamental
laws of holy life appear in the person of Christ; 2.
the spirit and work of men are manifest in pei'sonal
characteristics ; 3. blessedness and perdition are seen
in the fellowship of persons. — Christ, once crucified,
will speak as the King in the judgment. — The dis-
tinctions in the divine decrees of salvation and perdi-
tion : 1. Blessedness was prepared for men from the
foundation of the world ; 2. condemnation (the por-
tion of the wicked with the devil and liis .angels) not
till the end of the world. — Christ will at that day
judge the divinity of our faith by its ChristUke hu-
manity, its sacred mercy — according to its fruits. —
Men's good or evil treatment of the suffering Christ
in suftering humanity: 1. As the Christ in need: (a)
hungry, and fed or not fed ; {h) thirsty, and given to
drink or not ; {c) a stranger, and taken in or not. 2. As
the Christ in suffering : (a) naked (poor), and clothed
or not ; (6) sickf (wretched), and visited or not ; (c)
in prison (banished, persecuted, condemned), and re-
ceiving fellowship or not. — Have ye taken in Christ,
though in strange garments? In the strange gar-
ments : 1. Of nationality ; 2. of religion ; 3. of confes-
sion (or denomination) ; 4. of scholastic terminology. J
*[Not: i^^iK«s (Christ'n) human decrees" as the
Edinb. tn^l.4flfe^^J '"(//e Gottliclikeit der (not: Seiner)
menfirhlichen BeSimtjiun'q" (/. «., destiny, end). — P. 8.]
t [For which tW EdJiibXtrsI. reads ricA,— evidently a ty-
pographical error.] tv^ ,
t [Der 7-eligibnen Sc?Cfmpruche, the languajre of different
theological schools, but nai^'^ denominational language"
(as the Edinb. trsl. hns it); tbi^this would be identical with
the preceding eonfewion, whiemthe Germans use in the same
sense in which we use denommvitimi. Dr. Laiige refers to
theoretical theological differences as distinct from practical
reli.£rious differences. Many disputes in the Christian Church
are inere logom.ichies. and disappear, if they are divested of
their learning, and the parties are broujrht face to face and
heart to heart in prayer or good works ii.s Christian brethrea.
—P. 8.]
452
THE GOSPEL ACCOEDING TO MATTHEW.
— The marks of good works which Christ will recog-
niae : 1. The works oi faith, which have, consciously
or unconsciously, regarded Ilim in the brethren ; 2.
true works of faith, which have beheld Christ in
men, and treated them accordingly, in actions (and
not in dogmas only) ; 3. works resting on the ground
of a true humility, which, wrought by the Spirit,
knows not what good it has wrought. — Christ, as the
Judge, will bring to light the most hidden roots of
life, and principles of judgment : the humility of the
godly, and the self-righteousness of the ungodly. —
The great redemption and the great judgment are the
consummation and complement of each other. — The
great contrast in the issue of men's ways and pur-
poses : the kingdom of the Father, and the fire of
Satan. — And these shall go away : let us never for-
get the terrible end.
Starke: — Mark, ye scoffers, Christ will surely
come to judgment; 2 Pet. iii. 4. — Quesnel : The sin-
ner may do his best now to fly from the presence of
God ; but he must finally make his appearance be-
fore His judgment-seat, Rom. xiv. 10. — Canstein:
That the faithful will themselves stand before the
tribunal, is by no means a contradiction to their high
prerogative of judging the world as spu-itual kings,
and of being as it were assessors of the Judge, 1
Cor. vi, 2. — O'rc'j. Nazianz.: Nulla re inter onmes
ita colitur Drus id mlsericordid. — Hedinger : Good
works shall be compensated, as if they had been done
to Christ. — Canstein : Believers remain humble, even
in their glorification. — The best good works are those
which are done in hearty simplicity, and almost un-
thought of — The blessed lose none of their honor
through their humility ; God glories in thom all the
more. — How great the love of Jesus, thus to call the
faithful His own brethren! — If he must go into
eternal fire to whom Christ says, " I was naked, etc.,"
what place shall receive him to whom He will have
to say, " I was clothed, and ye strijjped Me ? " Au-
gusline. — Neglect of doing good is a grievous sin,
Jas. iv. 17. — Luther : That the ungodly will not con-
fess to their neglect of doing good, only reveals the
darkness and wretchedness of their minds, which
made them refuse to know, in the time of grace,
either Christ or His members ; the thought they had
concerning Christ in their hfetime will be most
strongly declared in the judgment. — No excuse will
stand in the day of judgment. — Camtein : The eter-
nal rebelUon of the lost against God's holy will, will
be great part of their eternal woe. — Wretched prince
of darkness ! who cannot defend himself and his ser-
vants from the pains of hell.
Gerlach : — Two things must be specially mark-
ed in the proceedings of the judgment : the division
of all men into two parts or fellowships, and that for
eternity ; and then the tokens which will be found
on those whom the Lord will accept — self-forgetting,
humble, brotherly love. — Faith alone justifies and
saves (Rom. iii. 22, 24, 28 ; Eph. il. 8, 9); but that
only is true faith which works by love (Gal. v. 6 ;
Jas. ii. 14 ; 1 Cor. xiii.). Yet we must avoid the old
confusion which identifies righteousness and salva-
tion.— The Christian, in his course, looks not back
upon the past (what he has done), but forward to the
goal, Phil. iii. 13, 14. — Ye cursed, \vho wilfully re-
mained under the curse of the law from which I re-
deemed you. Dent, sxvii. 20 ; Gal. iii. 13. [The
curse, however, at the end of the world, does not
merely signify condemnableness, but consummate
ripeness for condemnation.] — Not " Ye cursed of My
Father : " their own acts, and not the Father, brought
their curse upon them. — The everlasting fire which
was prepared (not /or you, but) /or the devil. — Chry-
sostom : I prepared for you the kingdom, the fire for
the devil and his angels ; ye have plunged into this
fire, and it is now yours. — Indeed, the fire was not
from eternity prepared for tlic devil ; Vjut the differ-
ence is, that men were redeemed. — The second
death.
lAsco : — The insei)arable connection between love
to Christ and love to the brethren. — Departure from
Jesus, the doom of the unloving. — Their mind was
hke the devil's ; hence they share his doom.
Heubner : — Remember always the hymn: Dies
irce, dies ilia.* — ^Ask often of thy soul, where will
the Lord finally place thee. — The kingdom is the
kingdom of glory, into which the kingdom of grace
has changed. — Prepared : the blessedness of the
good, the end of creation. — Leo Magn. : The pas-
sion of Christ if continued to the end of the world. —
Luther: It is a lie to say that thou wouldst have
done much good to Christ, if thou art not doing it
to these, the wretched. — Unchristian, evil tendencies
invariably end in communion with Satan.
^'herendn : — Of blessedness and condemnation.
— Niemann : — The glory of Christ in the judgment :
He will be glorious : 1. In His power ; 2. in His onmi-
science ; 3. in His righteousness ; 4. in His grace. —
Knievjel:^ How firm faith in the coming of Christ
to judgment sanctifies and glorifies earthly fife. It
produces in us : 1. A lioly fear of God ; 2. genuine
love; 3. sound hope. — Draseke: — The great day of
the kingdom a glorious day, an all-decisive day, an
inevitable day, and a day profoundly mysterious. —
llic same : — The threefold judgment — in the heart,
iu the history of the world, in the great day. — Rein-
hard : — That we may not fear the day of judgment,
we must have our hearts filled with the spirit of true
Christian love to man. — Baclmiann : — The last judg-
ment in its glory. — Natorp : — God will reward every
one according to his works.
[W. BuKKiTT (condensed): The general judg-
ment: 1. The Person judging, the Son of Man ; 2.
the persons judged, good and bad; the one called
sheep, for their innocency and meekness ; the other
goats, for their unruliness and uncleanness ; 3. the
manner of His coming to judgment, most august and
glorious in His person and attendance ; 4. the work
of the Judge : («) He wiU gather all nations, persons
of all nations, sects, classes, and conditions of man ;
(b) He will divide them, as a shepherd his sheep, —
a final separation of the godly and the wicked ; (c)
He will pronounce the sentence, of absolution of tlie
righteous, and condemnation of the wicked ; 5. the
final issue. — Christ personal is not the object of our
'■ [This awfully sublime hymn ol an humble medieval
monk, Thomas a Celano (about 1250), is the most perfect
specimen of Latin church poetry, and sounds like the trum-
pet of the final judgment which will rouse the dead from
their sleep of centuries. Each word contains a distinct
sound and sentiment; the ear and the heart are carried on
step by step with irresistible force, and skeptical reason it-
self must bow before the general judgment as an awful, im-
pondinn reality which will confront at last every individual.
The Dies irw is introduced with great efi'ect in Goethe's
Faust. There are over 70 German, and many English trans-
lations (by Walter Scott, Trench, Davidson, Coles, who
alone furnished 13, etc.) of this giant hj-mn, .as it is called,
but none comes up fully to the majestic force and overpow-
erirg music of the origin?]. It has given rise also to some
of the best judgment hymns in modern languages, and to fa-
mous musical compositions of Palestrjna, Pergolese, Haydn,
Cherubini, Weber, and Mozart. —P. S.]
+ [A preacher in Danzig, not to be confounded (as ia
done in the Edinb. trsl.) witli Kuinoel, the commentator.—
P. S.l
CHAPS. XXVI., XXVII.
453
pity and charity, but Christ mystical is exposed to
waiat and necessity. — Christ keeps a faithful record
of all our acts of pious charity, wlien we Lave for-
gotten them. — Christ calls His poorest members : My
brethren. — God is the author and procurer of man's
happiness (" ye blessed of My Father . . . the king-
dom prepared for you from the. foundation of the
world" ver. 34) ; but man only is the author of his
own misery (" ye cursed, . . . for the denl" etc.,
ver. '11). — Sins of omission are damning as well as
sms of commission (vers. 42-45). — The one sin of
unmercifulness is enough to damn a person, because
it deprives him of the grace of the gospel. — If the
uncharitable shall be damned, where shall the cruel
appear ? — Mattuew Henry (condensed) : — The gen-
eral judgment : 1. The appearance of the Judge in
the bright cloud of glory and with the myriads of
angels as His attendants and ministers ; 2. the ap-
pearing of all the children of men before Him ; 3.
the separation ; 4. the process of judgment : (a) tlie
glory conferred upon the righteous : they are called
blessed and admitted into the kingdom, on account
of their works of charity done in faith and hmniUty,
the grace of God enabUng them thereto ; (6) the con-
demnation of the wicked : Depart from Me., ye cursed,
etc. — every word has terror in it, like that of the
trumpet on Mount Sinai, waxing louder and louder.
every accent more and more doleful. The reason of
this sentence : omission of works of charity. 5. Exe-
cution of the sentence. Tlius life and death, good
and evil, the blessing and tlje curse, are set before us,
that we may choose our way. — (Di-. Thomas Scott in
loc. makes excellent practical remarks, but not in the
form of hints or short lieads.) — D. Bkown : Heaven
and hell are suspended upon the treatment of Christ
and of those mysterious ministrations to the Lord of
glory as disguised in the person of His followers. —
True love of Chiist goes in search of Him, hastening
to embrace and to cherish Him, as He wanders
through this bleak and cheerless world in His perse-
cuted cause and needy •people. — To do nothing for
Christ is a sufficient cause for condemnation. — (I have
examined also the Fathers on this section and read
through tlie Catena Aurea of Thomas Aquinas, but
find them far less rich than I expected, and consid-
erably inferior to the practical comments of Protest-
ant expounders above quoted. Some of their views
are inserted in the Fzecf. Notes. Augustine dwells at
length on ver. 46 to refute Origen's view of a final
salvation of all, even the devil and his angels, and
tries to solve the difficulty that the wicked can be
capable of suffering bodily and spiritual pain, and
yet be incapable of death. Comp. De civit. Dei, xxi,
3.)-P.S.]
PART SIXTH
Jesus in the Consummation of His High-Priesthood ; or, the History of the
Passion.
ChAPTEES XXVI. AND XXVII.
(Mark xiv. and xv. ; Luke xxii. and xxiii. ; John xii.-xix.)
The prophetic office of Jesus was historically finished in His eschatological discourses : in the history of
His sufferings. His high-priestly office, as to its historical aspect, was completed. It was necessary, in
the very nature of the case, that the idea of the high-priestly sufferings should be prominent in all the
Evangelist? ; but we find it made specially prominent in the account of Matthew. Thus he lays stress
upon the fact, that the fallen priesthood in Israel determined to put Him tcf death (ch. xxvi. 3, etc.);
and he most sharply of all delineates the traitor who dehvered Him up. Matthew alone mentions the
thirty pieces of silver, as the price of Hun who was sold. In Matthew's account of the Supper, and in
his alone, it is said that the sacrifice of Jesus availed for His people, eh S.(be(nv afiapnuii/ (ver. 28),
The strur"-le in Gethsemane is described with particular minuteness ; and the threefold repetition of the
same praver is expressly recorded. The reproof of Sunon Peter when he drew his sword, the declara-
tion that the twelve legions of angels might be summoned to help — that is, the exhibition of our Lord's
voluntary submission at that time — occur in Matthew, and scarcely in any other. (Comp. John xviii.
11.) The suicide of Judas, and the history of the field of blood, are peculiar to Matthew (ch. xxvii.
3-10): as also, Pilate's wife's dream (ver. 19), Pilate's washing of his hands, the people's invocation of
the curse on themselves (vers. 24, 25), and specially the blasphemy against Christ on the cross (ver. 43).
The rendin"' of the vail of the temple is recorded chiefly by Mark also ; but the specific meaning of thia
454 THE GOSPEL ACCORDINCx TO MATTHEW.
event is unfolded only by Matthew (vers. 51-53). So also is the very important circumstance of the
sealing and watch set by the Sanhedrin on the sepulchre. Thus in his Gospel Christ appears from tlie
beginning as sacrificed, and in purpose destroyed by the corrupt high-priesthood ; and the signs of pro-
pitiation in His death are made sharply prominent. On the other hand, many dramatic traits of the
synoptical Gospels are given very briefly by Matthew. Like Mark and Luke, he omits the washing of
the feet (John xiii. 1 sqq.), and records instead the mstitution of the Supper. He passes over the con-
tention of the disciples, Luke xxii. 24 ; and the further expansion of the warning to Peter, John xiii.
83 ; Luke xx.ii. 31. Like them also, he omits the farewell discourses in John. (Mark alone gives the
account of the young man who fled, ch. xiv. 51.) Matthew, with the other Synoptists, says nothing of
the examination before Annas, John xviii. 13, or of the details of the examination before Pilate, John
xviii. 29. He omits also the sending to Herod, which Luke records, ch. xxiii. 7 ; the scourging, John
xix. 1 • the transaction between Pilate and the Council concerning the title, " King of the Jews," John
xix. 19 ; the Saviour's words to the weeping women, Luke xxiii. 27 ; His last saying to His mother,
John xix. 25 ; and the circumctances of John xix. 31, etc.
Of all the words from the cross, Matthew records only the exclamation, " My God, My God ! " and
he alone makes the observation, that Jesus departed with a loud cry. In these, as in similar traits,
Mark approaches him most nearly ; but it is very plain that in Matthew the thought of the high-priestly
Buffering is most strongly impressed upon the whole narrative.
As it respects the chronology, the departure of Jesus from the temple, on Tuesday evening, after His
great condemning discourse, had introduced the final crisis. We have seen how much more probable
it is that Jesus aimounced on Wednesday to His disciples, that after two days He should be crucified,
than that He announced it late on Tuesday evening. This refers.the session of the Council, Matt. xxvi.
3 to Wednesday (not to Tuesday night, Leben Jem, ii. 3, p. 1307). From this fixed date the narrative
goes back to the anointing in Bethany, which took place some days before — that is, on the evening of
the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Then follows the preparation of the Passover on the first day of
unleavened bread — that is, on the 14th Nisan, the morning of Thursday, ch. xxvi. 17. On the evening
of the 14th Nisan, the beginning of the 15th, comes the Passover itself.
The question here arises, whether there is any difference between the Synoptists and John in the ac.
count of the Paxsover* As the Synoptists agree in the statement that Jesus ate the Passover at the
legal time with His disciples, it is John who gives rise to a seeming difierence ; and the discussion of
the question might therefore ))e deferred. It is better, however, to attempt a brief settlement at once.
On the first day of unleavened bread, — that is, on the 14th Nisan, — the paschal feast was, according
to Matthew made ready. On that day the leavened bread was to be removed. On the evening of that
* Comp. on this intricate question Winek : Reahcorterbuch, sub PascTia ; de "Wette, and Metee : on John, xii. 1 ;
xiii. 1; xviii. 28. and tlie other disputed passages; Bleek: Beitragezur EvangeUen-KriUk,\i.l(i1\ Wieselek: Clurono-
logische Synapse, \<. 339; Ebkaed: Eritik der Erang. GeschleUte; "Weizel: Die chriMiche Panc.hafeier der ersten
Jdhrhunderte ; Lange: Zehen Jem, i. p. 187; ii. p. Ilfi6, and Geschichte des Apontol. ZeUalters, i. p. 71.— [Also Gust.
Skypfarth: Chronologia Sucra. Untermchungen uher das Gehurtsjahr des Ilerrn, Leipz. 1846, pp, 119-148; and
among English works, E. Greswell : Dissertations upon the Piineiples and Arrangement of an Harmony of the
Gospels, id ed. Oxf. 1837, 4 vols.; vol. iii. p. 133 sqq.; Alfokd: Com. on ^/««. xxvi. 17-19 (p. 248 sqq.); Robinson:
ITarmony. etc. ; Sam. I. Andrews: The Life ofoair Lord upon the Earth, New York, 1S03, pp. 425-4G0. Of English wri-
ters Andrews, Robinson, and "Wordsworth agree with Dr. Laiigo's view that Christ ate the regular Jewish Passover on
Thursday evening, at the close oi' the 14th of Nisan, and was crucified on Friday the 15th, the first day of the feast; while
Greswell, Alford. Ellicott, and others, side with tbe opposite view according to which Christ instituted the holy commu-
nion (either in connection with the real, or a merely anticipatory passover, or a Tracxa fivrjfjLovtvTiKov, as distinct from
the trda-xa duffL/xov, or an ordinary meal— for their views differ in these details) on the 13th of Nisan (Thursday evening),
and died on the 14th (Friday afternoon) when the paschal lamb, of which He was the type, was slain and the Jewish Pass-
over proper began. Seyffarth agrees with the latter as to the date of tbe month, but differs from both parties and from the
entire tradition of the Christian Church as to the day of the week, by putting the crucifixion on a Thursday instead of
Friday, and by extending the Saviour's rest in the grave to the full extent of three days and three nights till Sunday
morning. {See below, p. 457.) The chronological difliculty concerning the true date of Christ's death and the true char-
acter of His last Supper divides the Greek and Latin Church, but was not made an article of faith in either. The Greek
writers generally hold that Christ, as the true Paschal Lamb, was slain at the hour appofnted for the sacrifice of the Pa.-.s-
over (the 14th of Nisan), and hence the Greek Church uses leavened bread in the Eucharist. The Latin Church, using
unleavened bread in the Eucharist, assumes that Christ Himself used it at the institution of this ordinance, and that He
ate therefore the true Paschal Supper on the first day of unleavened bread, i. e., the 14th of Nisan, and died on the day
following. In this whole controversy it should be constantly kept in mind that the Jewish day commenced six hours
before the Julian day, and run from sunset to sunset, or from six o'clock in the evening till six o'clock in the evening, and
that the day when Christ instituted tin- licdy communion, embraces the whole history of the pas.«ion, crucifixion, and
burial.— P. S.]
CHAPS. XXVI., XXVII. 455
day, beibre six o'clock, and thus at the point of transition from the 14th Nisan to the 15th, the legal
Fassover was introduced by the feet-washing. This explains the repreaeutation of John. (1) John xiii.
1-4: ^^ Before the feast of the Fassover, . . . Jesus riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments"
(that is, to perform the washing). The feast itself began about six o'clock ; and it would be very
strange if the expression, " befois the feast," must be made to mean " a day before." It would be
much nearer to sa_Y, " some minut( i before ; "* but the real meaning is, " an indefinite time previous."
(2) John xiii. '27 : Jesus said to Judas, " What thou doest, do quickly ; " and some present thought that
he was commanded to go at once, before the opening of the feast, and buy what provisions were neces-
sary for it. But they could not possibly have entertained such a thought, if the whole of the next day
had been open to them for the purpose ; although it was a very natural one, if the time allowed for se-
cular purposes was fast drawing to a close.f (3) John, ch. xviii. 28, narrate? that the Jews, on the
morning of the crucifixion, might not enter with Jesus into the Praetorium, " lest they should be defiled,
but that they miffht eat the Passover" (aAA' 'Iva (pdywa-i to -irdax"-)- Since the defilement occasioned by
entering a Gentile house lasted only one day, they might very well have gone into the Proetorium, and
yet eat the Passover after six o'clock ; for the defilement would cease at six o'clock in the evening.^
But, if they had eaten the Passover the evening before, tuey could not have entered the hall on the
morning of the 1 5th Nisan, lest they should desecrate the paschal feast. John uses here the com-
mon and ordinary expression, in the biief form, (payelv^ rh -rrdaxa. Wieseler thinks Traaxa an unusual
and peculiar form, and understands it of the Chagigah [feast-offering] on the 15th Nisan; others refer
it to the whole paschal feasts, Dcut. xvi. 2; 2 Chron. xxx. 22: "they did eat the paschal feast seven
days, offering peace offerings ; " but the peculiarity, we think, lies in the (payeTv, meaning the continu-
ance of the paschal feast. Examples of such concise expressions are frequent enough, e. g., to eat fi^<ih
for to fast ; to celebrate Christmas {Weihnac/U) for Christmas-day (Christtag), etc.| (4) John xix. 31 :
The Jews urged on the burial of the crucified, that the bodies might not hang upon the crosses on tlie
Sabbath, the day of prejmration. Wieseler : The day of preparation, irapaa-Kevfi, does not signify the
preparation before the Passover, but before the first sabbath of the Passover. To the Jews, the Friday
was the eve of the Sabbath, or day of preparation ; and, if the Passover chanced to begin on a Friday,
the next Saturday or Sabbath became a high day, the great day of the feast. "That Sabbath was a
liigh day." From this permanent irapaaicevi) for the Sabbath, John distmguishes a day of preparation
for the feast generally, Jolm xiii. 1 and ver. 29."^ — Other reasons alleged in favor of the supposed dif-
* [This is the interpretation of W. Baumlein, the latest coiiimer.tator on the fourth Gospel. He explains the
irph TTJj eupTTJs rod -naaxo^ vninittelbar vor dein Paschufeate^i. e., immediately before the Passover. Compare such
expressions as -n-pb dtlnvov, irph 7j^epaj. EwalJ, however {Commentm; p. 348), explains: ''am Tage vok dem Pascha-
feste, i. e., a day before the Passover (the 14th of Nisan).— P. S.]
t [Couip. the same argument more fully stated by Andrews : Life of our Lord. p. 446— P. S.]
X [LiGHTFOOT, ad John xviii. 28, makes the same remark. — P. S.]
§ [The German original reads here and afterward ipdyeiy for (payuj/ (infln. from tpa-yov, used as aor. ii. of iffOica);
but the Edinb. trsl. ought not to have copied such an obvious typographical en-or.— P. 8.]
1 [Conip. the remarks of Andrews I. c. p. 447 sqq., who urges that John in six out of the nine times in which he uses
the word Tracrxct, applies it to the feast generally ; that he, writing hist of all the Evangelists, speaks of Jewish rites inde-
finitely as of things now superseded ; that therefore the term, to eat the PuKSorer, might very well he used by him in a more
general sense with reference to the sacrifices which followed the paschal supper on the 14th of Nisan. The most recent
commentary on John's Gospel, by W. Biiumleln, Stuttgart, 1863, p. 166, arrives at the same conclusion with Wieseler, that
irdffxa here means the HS'^jn or feast offering, i. e., the voluntary sacrifices of sheep or bullock which the Jews offered
on the festivals. — P. S.]
^ [The term: irapaffKevri, preparation, occurs six times in tlie Gospels (Matt, xxvii. 62; Mark xv. 42; Luke xxiiL
54; John xix. 14, 31, 42), and in all these cases it means irpoffdliPaToy, ''the d.ay before the Sabbath," as Mark xv. 42 ex-
I)res,sly explains it. So the Germans call Saturday Sannahend, the Sunday-eve. Hence it is equivalent to Friday, and so
rendered in Syriac. The Jews observed Friday afternoon from 3 o'clock aa the time for preparation for the Sabbath which
commenced at sunset (Joseph. Antiq. xvi. 6, 2). The only difliculty is with John xix. 14: '■'it was the pirepjuration of
the Passover" which Dr Lango should have mentioned before John xix. 31, as an argument urged by the friends of the
opposite view, inasmuch as it seems to place the trial and crucifixion before the beginning of the Passover. But we have
no clear proof that there was a special preparation day for a feast (a Passover eve) as well as for the weekly sabbath ;
BocuAET, /Ti'eroj. p. 56T: Sacri scripiores aliam I'ai'a.<icevem sen Pra!,parationem non norunt, quam Sabbuti. And,
then, if irapaiTKivit became the usual term for Frid.ay, the phrase must mean the Friday of the Passover, i. e., the paschal
week, according to the wider usage of Trdax^i in John. Campbell translates: "Now it was the preparation of the paselial
Sabbath;" Norton: "The preparation day of the paschal week." As the 14th of Nisan was universally regarded as the
beginning of the Passover, it is very unlikely that John should have gone out of his way to give it the name of the prcpa-
456 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
ference of days are these : (1) Improbability of an execution on a feast day. Against this we have Rabbi
Akiba : Great transgressors were taken to Jerusalem, in order that they might be put to death at the
feast, before the eyes of the people (according to Deut. xvii. 12, 13). Executions had a religious char-
acter. They were symbols of judgment, for warning and edification. Sad analogies are the Spanish
auto dafes as popular rehgious festivals.* (2) The women prepared their spices on the day of Jesus'
death. But we answer that on the mere feast days (not Sabbaths) spices might be prepared, and other
things might be done : labor only was excluded (Lev. xxiii. 7, 8). (3) The Synoptists as well as John
describe the day of Christ's death as irapaa-Kivri and -rrpoad^Parov. We answer that the second of these
terttis simply proves the day to have been Friday. — Thus all the evidences brought forward to support
the theory of a difference in the days may be used on the opposite side.
In addition to this we must urge the following positive reasons in favor of our view : 1. It cannot be
conceived that Jesus, led always by the Father through the path of legal ordinance, would celebrate the
paschal feast a day before the time, and thereby voluntarily hasten His own death. 2. Pilate releases a
prisoner to the Jews eV rdp irao-xa, John xviii. 39. 3. John, according to the testimony of the Quarto-
decimans of the Easter controversy, kept the feast on the evening of the 14th Nisan, and therefore at
the same time with the Jews. 4. The argument used by the Fathers, Clemens and Hippolytus, against
the Quar/odecimans, that Jesus died on the legal day of the Passover, because He was the real Passover,
may be made to support the claim for the 15th Nisan (although there is an evident confusion among
these fathers in tlie counting of the days, and too much stress laid on the fact that the paschal lamb
was slain on the 14th Nisan ).f If Jesus died on the 1 5th Nisan, He died on the day of the legal Pass-
over ; • for that day began at six o'clock of the 14th Nisan. If, on the other hand, it was at three o'clock
in the afternoon of 14th Nisan that He died, it would have been one day before the legal paschal day,
which did not begin till six o'clock. Neglect of the difference between the Jewish and the Roman
(and our own) reckoning from midnight has tended much to confuse this question.
The chronological difference in the account of the Evangelists has been maintained by Bretschneider,
Usteri, Theilc, de Wette, Meyer, Liicke, Bleek, Ebrard, and many others, who decide the question, some
in favor of the Synoptists, some in favor of Jolm. On the other hand, the agreement of John with the
other three has been estabhshed by Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Wieseler, and, temporarily, by Ebrard.;!^
Others, again, have striven to explain the Synoptists according to the supposed meaning of John ; among
the more recent writers Movers, Kralit, and Maier [of Freiburg, in his Commentar iiber das Evangelium
des Johannes, p. 280 sqq. — not to be confounded with the Protestant Meyer so often quoted in this
work]. The latter urges that, according to John, the meal of which the Lord partook fell upon the
evening of the 13th Nisan. The term iv irpunri -ruv a^v^uv, in the Synoptists, is then explained by the
custom of the Galileans ; according to which the whole preparation day of the feast, the 14th Nisan,
ration for the Passover in the sense of Passover eve. Tholuck and Wieseler quote from Ignatius ad Phil. c. 13. the ex-
pression: ad^^arov tov -rraffxa, and from Socrates, Mst Eccl. v. 22: aa^^cTov rf/s eopTijr. Biiumlein in lac. : " M
int der Pusttag der Paschazeit ; dennwie wir gesehen haben, rh Traffxa hezeichnet liei Johannes die game Pascha-
festzeit. Johannes wollte hervorheben^ an welchem Wochentage der Paschazeit Jesus gekreuzigt ward, wie naehher
hervorgehohen wird, dass die Auferstehung avfden ersten Tag der Woche, also den dritten Tagnaeh der Kreiizigtmg
fieV To this we may add the higher reason that John wished to expose the awful inconsistency and crime of the Jews
in putting the Saviour to death on the very day when they should have prepared themselves for the service of God in His
temple on the coming sabbath doubly sacred by its connection with the great Passover.— P, S.]
* [It may be added that the Jews attempted several times to seize Jesus on sabbaths or festival days, Luke iv. 26, 29
(on a sabbath); John vii. 30, 32 (in the midst of the feast of tabernacles, ttJs eoprfjy ixeffovaTjs, ver. 1-1); vii. 87, 44, 45 (on
the last day cf the feast) ; x. 22. S9 (at the feast of the dedication).— P. S.]
t [The church fiithers have the tradition that Christ died on the viii. C'al. Apriles, i. e., on the 25th of March, three
days after the vernal equinox. The most definite testimony is that of TertuUian, which may be turned, however, against
the view of Dr. Lango : " Qua> passio facta est sub Tiberio Caesare, Consulibus PubelHo Gemino et Fusio Gemino,
mense Martio, iemporibus Paschm, die viii. Calend. Apr ilium, die prima asumorum. [this seems to be the X-Uh of Ni-
san, as in Matt. vxvi. 17 and parallels], quo agn-wm ut occiderent ad vesperam, a Moyse fuerat pr(Bceptum.'''' Adv.
Jud. 8. De Bapt. c. 19.— P. S.]
X [Ebrard held originally the other view, that Christ died on the 14th of Nisan, and was rather suddenly converted to
the opposite side by Wieseler {Chronol. Sijnopse, Hamburg, 1843, pp. 333-390), but then he again returned to his first view
in consequence of the clear, calm, and thorough investigation of Bleek {Beitrage zur Evangelien-Kritik, Berlin, 1846, pp.
107-156). Comp. Ebraed : Das Evangeliwn Johannis, p. 42 sqq., where he defends Wieseler's view, and his Wissen
schafUiche Kritik der Ecang. Geschichte, 2d ed. 1850, p. 506 sqq., where he retur.^s to his first view with the honest con-
fession : "The plausible and acute arguments of Wieseler have since been so thoroughly refuted by Bleek that no false
pride of consistency can prevent me from returning openly to my original opinion as expressed in the first edition of this
work."— P. S.]
CHAPS. XXVI., XXVII. 457
had been already kept. " According to their custom, this day fell into the Passover season, and might,
as including the last part of the 13th Nisan, when the leaven was removed, be described as irpcoTij riv
a^v/iaiv." Thus he explains Matthew as meaning that the meal, no proper Passover, took place on the
evening of the 13th Nisan. But this is untenable. Foi-, 1. Maier himself acknowledges that Mark and
Luke expressly describe the Lord's meal as a Passover celebrated at the legal time ; and it is highly
improbable that Matthew would here place himself on the side of John, in opposition to Mark and Luke.
2. The circumstance, that the Galileans removed the leaven earlier than the Jews — so soon as the morn-
ing of the 14th Nisan, even the evening before — may be accounted for by the obligations of then- journey.
They came as travellers and guests to Jerusalem, and were therefore obliged to fix an earUer time for
the beginning of the preparation. But it was not possible that they should begin the feast of unleavened
bread a day earlier, because this would have been opposed to all Jewish ordinance, and because they
must in that case, during that whole day, have avoided all social intercourse with the Jews. 3. Jesus
is said to have anticipated the day, because He foresaw His own death. But Jesus also foresaw that
the betrayal of Judas would be connected with the Passover. 4. It is plain that 5Iatthew speaks of a
legal Passover which could not be anticipated ; for the disciples remind the Lord that the time of the
Passover was at hand. Matthew does not say that the first day of the feast of unleavened bread was
approaching, but that it was come. — On other artificial attempts at reconciliation, see Winer, Reallexi-
con, art. Pascha.
All the Evangelists plainly agree in recordmg that Christ rose again on a' Sunday^ that He lay dur-
ing the preceding Sabbath in the sepulchre, and that He died on the Friday before this Sabbath. Ac-
cording to Wieseler (p. 386 sqq.), Jesus was crucified on the 15th of Nisan of the year 30 a. d., or '783
from the foundation of Rome ; and that day was a Friday.
[I call attention here to a different view on the day of Christ's death, not hitherto noticed by com-
mentators, but worthy of a respectful examination. Dr. Gustav Setffarth, formerly professor extraor-
dinary in the university of Leipzig, now residing in New York, the author of a number of learned works
on Egyptiology, Astronomy, and Chronology, and the propounder of a new theory of the Egyptian hie-
roglyphics {see his Grammatica uEgyptiaca ; Theologische Schriften der alien yEgypter, etc.), deviates
from the traditional view, and holds that Christ died on Thursday, the 14th (not the 15th) of Nisan (the
19th of March), and lay full three days and three nights in the grave till Sunday morning. Bee his
Chronologia Sacra, Leipzig, p. viii. sq. and p. 120 sqq. He thus solves the difficulty concerning the
three days and three nights which the Saviour was to lay in the grave according to repeated statements,
Matt. xii. 40 {rpeh ^^epaj koI Tpets vvKTas); xxvii. 63 (.uera rpels -n/J-epas) ; John ii. 19 (eV rpiaiv t)^4-
pais) ; Apoc. xi. 9 {■tjij.epas rpeis). Dr. Seyffarth supports this view also by astronomical calculations of
the ecUpse of the sun at the death of our Saviour, into the details of which I cannot here follow him.
In fact, he bases ancient chronology largely on astronomy. As to the year of Christ's death. Dr. Seyf-
farth, considering the iEra Dionysiaca correct ia the date of the year and the day of Christ's birth, puts
it the year 33 post Christum rtatum, or 787 A7ino Urhis. Other dates of Christ's death assigned by va-
rious writers are: A. TJ. 783 (Wieseler, FriedUeb, Tischendorf, Greswell, EUicott, Lange, Andrews) ;
781 (Jarvis); 782 (Browne, Sepp, Clmton); 786 (Ebrard, Ewald).— P. S.]
The Meaning of the Sufferings and Death of Jesus. — Here is the sacred centre of history, the his-
tory of histories, the end and the summing up of all past time, the beginning and the summing up of
all the new ages, the perfected judgment, and the perfected redemption. Therefore, also, it is a per-
fected revelation : it is the supreme revelation of Jesus and of the depths of His heart ; of the deep
things of the Godhead ; of the divine wisdom, righteousness, and grace ; of the depths of humanity, the
most manifold characteristics of which are here laid bare in the contrast between the holy Son of Man
and the sinful children of men ; the depths of nature, Uving and suffering in fellowship with humanity ;
the deep things of the spiritual world, and the depths of Satan. As it is said in Isa. liii., concerning the
Redeemer: "Who shall declare His length of hfe?" so it may here be said: "Who shall declare the
depths of His death ? "
We can only hint here at the riches of the contrasts — revealing the fulness of the revelation of judg-
ment and redemption — which the history of our Lord's passion includes. 1. The contrast of the suffer-
ings of Christ with His last eschatological predictions concerning His own future judicial majesty.
Chrysostom : " At the fitting time He speaks now of His suffermgs, when His future kmgdom, with its
rewards and punishments, was so present to Ilis thoughts." 2. The contrast of His passion with His
jiast official work ui life : suffering as the counterpart of action, passive obedience of active. Lisco :
" Tlie history of the Redeemer's passion is related at large, and with peculiar preference, by the Evan-
gelists. In His sufferings (as in His actions) the God-man reveals Himself in His dignity and glory.
458 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
But while the active virtues exhibit themselves in His whole life, the no less great virtues of patience,
gentleness, longsuffering, and supreme submission to God, prominently express themselves in His suf-
ferings. These were not so mueli the consequence of the cunning, malice, and power of His enemies,
as His own free-will ottering for the redemption of a sinful v/orld : in this He manifested Himself as the
innocent and patient Lamb of (iod, bearmg and putting away the sins of the world in obedience to His
heavenly Father. The suffering, dying, and victoriously rising Redeemer, amidst all the diversified
concomitants of His passion, gives us a perfect image of the great conflict between the kingdoms of
hght and of iiarkness. Far from all passionless indifference, the Redeemer exhibited in His sufferings
the tender emotions of sorrow and grief, and even of anguish and fear — thus becoming to us also a sym-
bol of that endurance of suffering which is well-pleasing to God." 3. The contrast of the perfected pas-
sion to the suffering course of His whole life. 4. The contrast between the great fulfilment, and the
types and the predictions concerning the suficring Messiah (Ps. xxii. ; Isa. liii.). 5. The contrast with
the ancient martyrs from the blood of Abel downward. 6. The contrast between the woes of Christ
and the sorrows and pleasures of the old world. 7. The contrast of His passion with His original divine
glory, and his final human glorification. — A new series of such antitheses is then opened in the contrast
of the sufferings of the personal Christ with the sufferings of His people, with the contrast of death and
resurrection, to the end of the world. And, on the other side, there are the contrasts of reconciliation :
the reconciUation of God and man, of heaven and earth, of this world and the next, of hfe and death,
of the crown and tlie cross, of judgment and mercy. Heubner : " The history of the passion is the
highest and holiest history ; it is the turning-point in the history of the world, both in itself, and its de-
sign and effect."
In the hotyiiletical treatment of this event care should ever be taken not to forget the central-point,
the Lord Himself, while contemplating the prominent figures surrounding Him. The suffering Re-
deemer Himself is always the essential object in every section : — the point of view from which to regard
all the other persons, Judas, Peter, Pilate, and the rest, who must be seen in the light which He sheds
upon them. Then, also, we should remember to regard these guilty and failing characters not witia
feehngs of human excitement, and the rage of judicial revenge against Pilate and Judas (as in the Ash-
Wednesday services of medieval Catholicism), but in the spirit of conciliation which the atoning sacri-
fice before us suggests. And, lastly, the redeeming power of the victorious love of Christ should be
supreme in our thoughts ; from it we should derive our arguments and pleas.
LiTEUATURE OH tlie History of Christ's Tassion.*— &<; full lists of works in Lilientual : Mill AroMvarius, 1745, p.
118 sqq.; Danz: Worterb uo/i der theol. Literatur^ p. T-i% and Supxilement, p. 80; Winee: Handhuch der theol. Literu-
tur, ii. p. 155, Supplement, p. 25S; Heubner, p. 370.— We mention the following: Hugo Grotius: Christus Patiens, a
Latin drama, 1610; Klopstook : Mesxias {heroxc. poem); Lavater : Pontius PUattis; Eambach: Meditations on the
Whole Jlintory of OhriuVs Passion (German), Berlin, 1742; Eieger: Sermons on the Passion (German), Stuttgart, 1751 ;
Oallisen : The Last Days of our Lord (German), Niirnberg, 1823 ; F. W. Krummacher : The Suffering Saviour, Biele-
feld, 1851 [English translation, Boston, 1857] ; J. Wichklhaus : A complete Commentary on the History of Christ's Pas-
sion (Gerniaii), Halle, 1S55. [I. II. Friedlieb: Archceology of the llihtory of the Passion, Bonn, 1843; W. Steotjd:
Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, London, 1847; the relevant sections in the Lives of Christ by Hase, Meander
yKi"i>, Lange, Licutenstein, Ebrakd, Ewald, EiGGENBAcn, Baujigauten, van Oosterzee, Kitto, Ellioott, Andeews.
On i\w doctrinal aspect of the History of the Passion, comp.ire also W. Magee (archbishop of Dublin, tl831) : Discowrses
and DifKertutions on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice, 1801 and often ( Wor-ks, London, 1842, vol.
1st).— P. S.]
On the development of the Catholic celebration of the Passion of Christ during Lent and the Holy Week to Good Fri-
day, we refer to the arcbseolcgical works of Auousti and Eheinwald [Binguam. Binterim] ; also to Fe. Strauss : The
Evangelical Church- Year (German), p. 177, and Lisoo : The Christian Church- Year (German), p. 19, etc.
* [All omitted in the Edinb. trsl.— P. 8.]
FIRST SECTION.
THE CERTITUDE OF CHRIST, AND THE INCERTITUDE OF HIS ENEMIES. THE DIVINE
COUNSEL: AT THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER.
Chapter XXVI. 1-5.
(Mark xiv. 1, 2 ; Luke xxii. 1, 2.)
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his dis-
2 ciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover [comes the passover, to
3 Ttaa-x'^ ytVerat], and the Son of man is betrayed [delivered up] ' to be crucified. Then
CHAP. XXVI. 1-5.
459
assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes,^ and the elders of the people, unto
4 the palace [in the court, avXi)] ^ of the high priest, who was called Caiapbas, And con-
sulted [together, a-wejSovXevaavTo] that they might take Jesus by subtilty [craft,
5 SdAo)], and kill hwi [put him to death]. But they said, Not on the feast day [at the
feast, ei/ T^ €opT^],* lest there be an uproar [tumult, ^opu/5os] among tiie people.
1 Ver. 2.— [So Lange renders irapaSiSorat here. Comp. ch. v. 25; xv. 5; xviii. 34; xxvii. 18, 26; Mark xv. 1 ;
Luke XX. 20 ; Rom. viii. 32. But Trapa^SiSSvai is iised sometimes, like irpoSiSovat and the Lat. prodere, witli the collat-
eral notion oi treacheri/, as in ch. x. 4.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 3.— K ai ol 7 p a ;ii ,u a t 6 T s (and the scHles) must be omitted according to Codd. A., B., D., L., etc. Prob-
ably inserted from Mark xiv. 1 ; Luke xxii. 2. [The words are also wanting in Cod. Sinait. and in the critical editions.]
3 Ver. 3.— [Dr. Lani;e: I/<ii:<>. AuA?) means usually, and so here, not the jxilaee, but the atrium, the inner court,
or enclosed square arouud which the house was built, and which was used also for business. This is evident from ver. 61* :
neVpos iKaOiiTo e|co e»' rP] au\^, >i,it without in the caurt {i\ot: without in the //alace, vrhioh. involves a contradiction
in terms), and from Luke xxii. 55, where it is said that they kindled a firo eV ^eVou rf/s oi/Af/j, in midst of the court.
Comp. Meyer and Conant in loc, and Lange's Exeg. Notes. — P. S.]
* Ver. 5.— [The yiord feast here means the whole period of seven days during which the passover lasted. Meyer: iSie
meinen die ganze siehentdgige Ft&tzeit. — P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITICAL.
Ver. 1. Had ended all these sayings. — With
these sayings [ch. xxiv. and xxv.] the Lord complet-
ed His historical prophetic cilice. He now forean-
nounces the fulfilmefft of His priestly oiEce. He has
marked out the figure of His future, the Son of Man
in His majesty and glory. This assurance is the
basis on which He stands at the commencement of
His sufferings and deepest humiliation, and the basis
on which He seeks to place His disciples.
Ver. 2. After two days. — {Bay after to-mor-
row, on Thursday.] See the introductory remarks
on the chronology of the history of the Passion.
The Passover. — nOS , Aram. NHOS ; accord-
ing to Ex. xii. 13, from nOQ , to pass over^ to spare,
with allusion to the sparing of the first-born of Isra-
el when the first-born of Egypt were slain by the
destroying angel : thus, the passing over (of the de-
stroymg angel).* This passing over has a threefold
meaning : 1. The deliverance of the people out of
Egypt through the judgment upon the Egyjjtians —
the typical redemption; 2. the spiritual offering up
of the IsraeUte first-born with the Egyptian, expressed
by the blood of the lamb sprinkled on the door-
posts— the typical death of Christ; 3. the actual
sparing of the Israelite first-born in connection with
that sacrifice — the raising up of the new life of Christ
out of the sacrificial death. Accordmgly, the Pass-
over is a feast of thank-offering, a peace-offering, a
sacrifice of salvation, which rests upon the basis of a
sacrifice devoted to curse (the death of the Egyptian
first-born), and of a propitiatory sacrifice (the sacri-
* [The word Traax°- (.onginaWy traiisitus, uirfp^aais,
nOQ ) is used in a threefold sunse in the N. T. (1) Agnus
paschalis, the paschal lamb ; hence the phrase to kill, the,
pussorer, Mark xiv. 12 ; Luke xxii. 7. (2) The sacrificial
lamb and the supper. Matt. xxvi. 17; Mark xiv. 14; Luke
xxii. 11. (3) The ?c/ioi« /(.'«*)! of unleavened bread, ?; ioprrj
Tuv a.(uficiii', or to ii^vaa, which lasted seven days. Matt.
xxvi. 2; Luke xxii. 1, and so generally in John ii. 13 ; vi. 4;
xi. 15; xii. 1 ; xiii. 1, etc. Some of the Greek and Latin fa-
thers connected the pafisover with the Greek verb tt o ct x "i
to suffer, and with the death of Christ which was typified by
the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. Dr. Wordsworth finds a deep
mystic meaning in this,— a mistake, which evidently arose
from the ignorance of Hebrew, a l.iiiguage known to very
few of the fathers and schoolmen down to the puriod of tlie
lieformation. lie also sees a providential paronomasia in Luke
xxii. 15 between tovto rb Tracrxa (payflv and irph tov
U€ iradfly.—P. 8.]
fice of the Israelite first-bom in the blood of the
lamb). The feast of deliverance is the seal and sac-
rament of salvation, the festival of new life and re-
demption, won out of the judgment of death. The
type has thus its threefold relation to Christ. As
Christ in His fife was the true burnt-offering, so in
His death He was : 1. The sacrifice of curse cherem
(Gal. iii. 13), through the blindness of the world and
the judgment of God, in order to the awakening and
spiritual judgment of the world ; 2. the sin-offering,
chatlah (2 Cor. v. 21), for the reconciliation of tlie
world ; 3. the thank-offering in the new life, in the
infinite fulness of life which He obtained in death.
lu all these senses He was the true and real Passover
(1 Cor. V. 1) ; and Easter, but especially the holy
Supper, is the New Testament paschal" feast, the
feast of salvation, grounded upon propitiation through
the condemnation of sin. And, inasmuch as with the
deUverance from Egj'pt was connected separation
: from the leaven of Egyptian idolatry, and disciplinary
j wandering through the desert, the Passover is at the
j same time the feast of unleavened bread (niu^rt 5n).
I This view of the feast has two main points : 1. Sep-
j aration from the leaven, the spiritual fellowship of
i Egypt (Matt. xvi. 0 ; 1 Cor. v. 1) ; 2. wandering
j through all the tests and discipUne of privation in the
I wilderness (Deut. xvi. 3). With this twofold religious
' significance of the feast, there was, in process of time,
connected the festival of spring-time and the begin-
ning of harvest, or the first-fruits. (Some modem
archaeologists have without cause reversed the order,
and made the natural feast the basis of the churchly
or spiritual. Compare Winer, sub PascJia.) The
Passover was the first of the three great feasts of
Israel, and was celebrated in the first month of
the year, Abib or Nisan, about the time of full
moon — ^from the 14th to the 21st of Nisan — and
in the central sanctuary. Concerning its rites, see
below.
And the Son of Man is delivered up to be
crucified. — The predictions of the crucifixion gen-
erally are here taken for granted : the prophecy here
specifically hes in the definition of the date.
Ver. 3. Then assembled together. — To the
clear prospect and certitude of the Lord concerning
the period of Ilis death, is characteristically opposed
the perfect uncertainty of the Sanhedrin concerning
it, and tlie decree, which circumstances soon render-
ed vain, " not on the feast-day.''''
In the court [m der Halle']. — Not the palace of
the high-priest itself, but the atrium, or court ea-
4G0
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
closed by its buildings. The common place of meet-
ing for the Sanhedrin was called Gazith, and joined,
according to the Talmud, the south side of the tem-
ple. Lightfoot, p. 459.*
Who was called Caiaphas. — " Probably equiv-
alent to NS";3 , depres.sioy This was a standing sur-
name, which passed into a proper name. He was
originally called Joseph (Joseph. Antlq. xviii. 2, 2).
[Some ancient fathers confounded him with Jose-
phus the Jewish historian, and supposed that be was
secretly converted to Christianity. — P. S.] Caiaphas
was one of those high-priests who mai-ked the dese-
cration of the institution by party spirit and the in-
fluence of foreign power. The Procui-ator Valerius
Gratus had given him the office, and he lost its tlig-
nity through Vitellius (Joseph. Aniiq. xviii. 2, 2 ; 4,
3). He was the son-in-law of Annas. The evangeli-
cal history paints his character in his deeds.
Ver. 4. By craft, 5 o A 6d . — The impression which
the spiritual victories gained over them in the temple
by Jesus had made upon the people, and also upon
themselves, is here very plainly marked.
Not at the feast. — The people were, in their
congregation at the feast (often to the amount of two
millions), generally inclined to insurrection (Joseph.
Aniiq. xvii. 9, 3 ; xx. 5, 3) ; and a tumult on behalf
of Jesus was all the more to be provided against, be-
cause He had so many dependents, among the peo-
ple, especially among the bold and quarrelsome
mountahieers from Galilee. The decree was pi'esent-
ly invalidated — not through the first offer of Judas
(Meyer), which had already been made, and had led
them to settle the form of betrayal and His sudden
surprise — but through the later appearance of the
traitor, when he came from the supper in the night,
and announced to them the favorable opportunity of
seizing Christ in the garden. Bengel : Sic comilium
divinum successit Their counsel was fulfilled only
so far as the taking the Lord by craft. It was a vain
imagination that such a person as Jesus was, could
be surreptitiously and without noise removed out of
the way.
[Comp. WoKDSwORTii : " Observe Christ's power
over His enemies in His death. Oftentimes when
they endeavored to take Him, He escaped from them
(John X. 89). But at the time wlien they had desired
not to take Him, viz., at the Passover (comp. Luke
sxii. 6), then He willed to be taken, and they, though
unwillmg, took Hun ; and so they fulfilled the prophe-
cies in kilhng Him who is the true Passover, and in
proving Him to be the Christ. (Comp. Leo, Serni.
Iviii. ; Theophylact in Marc. xiv. 2.) " Dr. Lange,
Meyer, Wordsworth, and others, assume that the
priests intended to crucify the Lord after the feast
of the Passover, when the crowds of strangers, some-
times amounting to two millions, should have left,
but were frustrated in their design by the favorable
opportunity soon oifered. Ewald, on the contrary
{Gesckichie Christus\ p. 410), supposes that they
intended to crucify Him before the feast, and actually
did so, viz., on the 14th of Nisan. There is no doubt
that the words jj.)) if rfj eoprrj, not at the feast !
admit of both views. But in the latter case we would
involve the Synoptists in self-contradiction ; and then
the time was already so far advanced, that the peo-
ple, whose tumult they feared, must have already
been at Jerusalem when the Sanhedrm resolved to
crucify Christ. In any case their words in ver. 5 im-
ply that they had no religious scruples against a pub-
* [Comp. Crit, Note, No. 3, above, p. 459.— P. S.]
I lie execution on the feast, but were restrained only
by motives of policy and expediency. Probably such
executions did take place sometimes on high festi-
vals— as religious acts, and as a warning to the peo-
ple. The lav/ nowhere expressly prohibits them.
Hegesippus relates in Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ii. 23, that
James the Just, the brother of the Lord, was stoned
and killed on the day of the Passover. See above,
p. 456. Consequently this verse cannot be pressed
as an argument against the view th;.t Chriti. died on
the 15th of Nisan, as is done by Bicek and others
who advocate the 14th as the day of the crucifixion.
—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Jesus in divine assurance ready for death,
familiar with the time of His death ; while His mur-
derers themselves know not whither they are pro-
ceeding.
2. Jesus the real Passover, or Paschal Lamb.
See above.
3. The Sanhedrin, in its decree: "iVoi on the
feast,^^ is the type of the policy of a sinful world,
which is violently moved by the, powers of hell, and
urged whither they will more impetuously than itself
desires.
4. In the v/ay of obedience, Jesus came to the
feast of the Passover. He Avas separated from the
temple, but not from His people and His religious
obligations and customs. As an Israehte, He must
keep the feast in Jerusalem ; although this feast
should result in His own death. And this very fact
makes it an untenable notion, that Jesus kept the
Passover a day earlier than was the custom. He
would then have arbitrarily altered and belied at the
end the legal propriety of Ilis whole life. His sub-
mission to the law brought Him to His death. Con-
cerning the high-priestly office of Christ, compare
dogrmatical treatises.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Christ, in the fvdl anticipation of His judicial gloi-y,
is prepared for His death : 1. He is notwithstanding
ready for death ; 2. He is on that account ready for
death. — The divine assurance of the Lord, in contrast
with the perfect and helpless uncertainty of His ene-
mies : 1. The fact itself: («) He as the sacrifice knows
the day of His death, which the murderers them-
selves do not yet know ; {l) He marks out a definite
day, which they by their decree in council reject. 2.
The explanation of the fact : (a) Christ is perfectly
familiar with the spirit of Scripture (the meantog of
the ancient Passover) — with the government of His
Father (He knows the machinations of the powers of
evil to which His enemies are given over) ; (6) His
enemies suppose in their despotic counsels that they
are above events, while they have become the help-
less instruments of hell ; (c) hell itself knows not all
things, and knows wrongly all that it knows ; it is
decreed by God that it shall be now condemned. —
What is it that the Lord lays most stress upon when
He aimounces His passion V 1. Not that He should
be nailed to the cross ; but, 2. that He should be be-
trayed.— Perfect truth mourning over perfect false-
hood in the deepest grief — The sufferings of Christ
the consummation of ail Joseph's sufferings : to be
betrayed and sold by His brethren. — The uncounselled
CHAP. XXVI. 1-6.
461
confusion of the High Council. — The mixing up of
politics with the Church must ruiA both. — The last
sittings of the Jewish ruling Council in the Church,
aeconiing to Matthew : 1. A council without counsel*
devoted to subtilty (eh. xxvi. 5) ; 2. a shameless
council, devoted to lying and calumniation (ch. xxvii.
1) ; 3. a profligate council, devoted to h)-pocrisy (ver.
'7) ; 4. a blind council, devoted to bribery (ch. xxviii.
12). — The greatest of all insurrections "(against the
Lord's Anointed) must always be in dread of the
phantom of insurrection: 1. They lift themselves up
against the Lord ; and, 2. brand the possible upris-
ing for His defence as rebellion. — The shallow farce
of hierarchical pride condemned : 1. They think they
can triumphantly trifle, — (a) with circumstances ; (6)
with men ; (c) with sm. 2. They become a spectacle
of judgment, — (a) through unforeseen accident ; (6)
through the spirits of hell (workmg in the soul of
Judas) ; (c) through the sacred supervision of God.
— The counsel of the wicked set at nought : 1. It
half succeeds (they take the Lord with subtilty);
2. it seemed to have succeeded beyond expectation
(the people made an insurrection in their favor at
the feast) ; 3. but it was absolutely put to shame
(the crucifixion of Christ at this feast was the end of
all their feasts). — The warning thought, that the ob-
duracy of the Jews reached its cUmax precisely at the
feasts, when Jesus came to them — The question,
whether Christ should die at the feast? The ene-
raies say: "Not at the feast;" the Lord says: "On
the feast-day, and no other." \ The corruption of
the Jewish feasts, out of which the great Christian
feasts have sprung : Good Friday, Easter, Ascension
Day, and Whitsuntide. — The counsel of God, that
Christ should die at the feast of the Passover. 1.
The appointment: (a) in the hohest place of the
earth ; (6) at the highest feast ; (f) m the naidst of
an assembly which represented the whole of man-
kind ; {d) thus with perfect pubUcity. 2. The reason :
(a) for the reaUzation of all the symbols, especially
the Passover ; {li) to establish that the feast of the
typical dehverance was changed into the feast of the
real redemption ; (c) for a manifestation of the judg-
ment of the world, and of the reconciUation of the
world, in the greatest assembly of Jews and Gentiles.
— God can make sacrifices of His own, but He does
not give them up to secret murder. — They might cru-
cify Him openly before all the world ; but secretly
do away with Him they could not. — The blood of the
saints does not sink silently into the ground ; it pub-
licly flows, and preaches aloud.
Starke : — Christ's words inseparable from His
* {Ein rathloser Jtath^—ein seham/oser Rath — ein ruch-
loser Ruth — ein minloser Rath. — ]
t [This theme, of course, implies the chronolodcal view
held Dy Lange, Tholuck, Wieseler, and llengstenberg, who
flx upon the 15th Nisan as the day of crucifixion; but it is
of no avail if Christ died on the 14th Nisan or before the
regular Jewish Passover, according to Seyffarth, £brard,
Bleek, and others.— P. S.]
suficrings. — Happy he who, when his death comes,
can speak and hear about it with satisfaction. —
Christ would suffer and die at the Passover : 1. Be-
cause tlie paschal lamb was a type of Himself, 1 Cor.
V. 1 ; 2. that His sufferings and death might the
sooner be everywhere known. — Zeidus : — In' the first
Passover, the Israelites were brouglit out of the lit-
eral slavery of Egypt ; in the last Passover, Christ
has delivered us by His death from spiritual slavery,
Titus ii. 14, 15. — Christ delighted to speak of His
sufferings ; let us delight in hearing of them, especial-
ly during Lent. — The great mass of the High Council
are spoken of (Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and
some others, were excepted) : happy those who do
not make themselves partakers of the sins committed
in the fraternity of their colleagues. — Bibl. Wiori. : —
The worst wickedness is practised at the most holy
times : men never play and debauch themselves, and
rage more in iniquity, than on the feast-days ; but
what on other days is smiple sin, on such days is ten
fold. — Canstcin : — The visible Church of Christ may
reach such a point, that its most eminent and great
est ijiembers may not only not tolerate Christ and
His truth, but even seek to destroy them. — Quesnel :
— The human schemes, Gen. 1. 20. — Cansiein: — The
ancient hypocritical serpent-subtilty (ver. 4, by sub-
tilty). Gen. iii. 15. — Zeisius: — The world can bear
with Jews, Gentiles, Turks, Epicureans, but not with
the honest witnesses of truth. — The Messiah was to
suffer and die in the midst of a great multitude of
people. — Cramer : — The counsel of the ungodly pass-
es away, but the decree of God shall stand. — Un-
priestly priests,* who, instead of attending to devo-
tion, are dealing in political and ofttunes diabolical
schemes.
Heuhncr : — All these sayings (ver. 1). He had
told His people and His disciples all that was needful
for salvation, and had confirmed all by works and
miracles : nothing now was left but to die. — He spoke
of His sufferings, that His disciples might see how
little chance had to do with them, but that all was
after the will of His heavenly Father. — A pattern to
us, that we should accustom ourselves to think and
speak without fear of our final sufferings. — They
thought not that He well knew all that was passing
in their council. — The higher a man rises in influence
and authority, the greater is his tem.ptation to ambi-
tion, pride, love of power, and envy. — Those who are
mighty in tliis world, its great men and rulers, are
mostly indisposed to any new and better ordinance.
— Fear of the people : vigor and openness are pecu-
liar to the righteous cause. — " Not at the feast :" the
feast was the wrong time, not because of any fear of
God, but because of their fear of man. The decree
must have cost them after all some pangs of con-
science.
* [This conies nearer the original: Geistlose Geistliche,
than the Edinb. trsl: VnspiHtuui clerics. — P. 8.]
462
?IIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
SECOND SECTION.
THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY.
Chaptee XXVI. 6-16.
(Mark xiv. 3-11 ; Luke xxii. 3-6 ; Johu xii. 1-8.)
6 Now -when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper [four days previous,
7 on Saturday], There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious
ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat [reclined at table, dvaKei/xivovj.
8 But when his [the] ' disciples saw it, they had indignation [were indignant, or displeas-
9 ed, rjyavaKTrjadv], saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment' might
10 have been sold for much, and given to the poor. When Jesus understood it, he [And
Jesus knowing it, yvous 8e 6 'Ii?cr.] said unto them, "Why trouble ye the woman? for she
1 1 hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor [the poor ye have, tovs
12 TTTwxov's e'xfre] always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath
poured [in pouring, fSaXovaa] thi^ ointment on my body, she did it for my burial
13 [for my embalmment, or to prepare for my bm-ial, Trpos to IvTa^taaai /ac]. Verily I
say unto you, "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there
shall also this, that this woman hath done [this also that she hath done, /cai 6 iTrotrjcrev
14 avTT]], be told for a memorial of her. Then one of tlie twelve, called Judas Iscariot,
15 went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, "What will ye give me, and I will de-
liver him unto you ? And they covenanted with him for [promised him] ^ thirty pieces
16 [shekels] of silver.* And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
! Ver. 8. — T7ie for His; avruv beinc; omitted liere and ver. 4.5 by the best authorities.
■■' Ver. 9.— A., B., D., L., and other MSS , omit rh fjLVpoi', ointment. [So also Cod. Sinait. which reads simply tovtu.]
5 Ver. 15.— [Dr. Lange transLites eaTTtaav ahrw: .y/s «eirfea tA>« rt!/«, i. c, tliey appointed or fixed upon that
price for him, they secured or promised him. So Vulgata, .Jerome {in loc), Thcopliylact, Luther, E. V., Grotius, Eisner,
Fritzsche, Alford, etc. The other translation is : they weighed out to him: So Etithyin., Beza, Wahl {appendo, zmcdgen.
(larwdgen. Matt. xxvl. 15), Bretschneider, Kuinoel, de WeCte, Ewald, Meyer (nee quotation in the Exe.g. jfotex), Kobinson,
T. J. Conant, Wordsworth, etc. Comp. the Lexica, sub 'i (t r t] /J. t ; Wetstein in loc; Winer, 5. ^. TF. i?., sub Geld;
and Valtken<er ad Eurip. Fragm. p. 288 : " Qiu lancets cequato suMnebat e^am.ine, cujmaunque rei pohdun ad lilrain
antimatums, diccbaiur eximie larav etiam vetei'ibus, f/erodoto ii. p. 1.35, 89, Platoni De Republ. x. p. 602. D. . . In-
tcrpres Jobi xxxvi. 6, icrTO, fj,e ev C^JV 5 < if o i ff> ." Corapar<}, however. Dr. Lange"s objection to Meyer's explan.i-
tiou in the Exe^. ^^oten. To this may be added that the avvidevro of Luke and the emryyeiXaTo of Mark are rather in
faror of the first translation. — P. S.]
•• Ver. 15. — [Dr. Lange inserts here BhekelJS ofsilrer. The rptaKOvTa Inpyvfyia. were probably sacred shekels, which
were heavier than the common shekels, and hence paiil by weight. — P. 8.]
• Of Simon the leper. — Probably Jesus had heal-
ed this Simon of his leprosy. He dwelt iu Bethany.
It is natural to suppose that he had made Jesus a
feast in gratitude. According to a tradition in Nice-
phor. Hist. Eccl. i. 27, he vras the father of Lazarus ;
accordmg to others?, he was the husband of Martha,
or Martha his widow. All this is very uncertain;
but it is not an arbitrary supposition, that he was iu
some way related to the family of Lazarus.
Ver. 7. There came to Him a woman. — '' This
anomting, which Mark also (ch. xiv. 3) relates, is not
that recorded in Luke vii. 36 sqq. ; it is so essential-
ly distinguished from the latter in time, place, circum-
stances, person, as also in its whole historical and
ethical connections and bearings, that we are not
warranted even by the peculiarity of the event to as-
sume different aspects of one transaction (agahist
Chrysostom, Grothis, Schleiermacher, Strauss, Weisse,
Ewald). See Calov. Bibl. llluntr. But it is not dif-
ferent from that which is recorded in John xii. 1
(against Origen, Chrvsostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Osian-
der, Lightfoot, Wolf, etc.)." Meyer. Similarly de
Wette ; who, however, gives some supposed devia-
tions in the two accounts. 1. According to John,
the anointing took place six days before the Pass-
EXEGETICAL AIvD CRITICAL.
Ver. 6. Now, when Jesus w^as in Bethany,
or Ut. : And Jesus being in B. — On the Saturday
before [six days before the Passover, ftee John xii. 1],
Meyer, indeed, thinks that to remove this abode of
Jesus at Bethany before the note of time, ver. 2, is
a device of the Harmonists, from which the t d t e of
ver. 14 should have deterred them. Certainly that
would be true if this Tore were found in ver. 6.
But the T d T e in ver. 14 manifestly refers to the pre-
vious anointing. A similar retrogression to an earher
event may be found in Matt. xiv. 3 ; as an anticipa-
tion in ch. xxvii. 7, where Meyer himself is obliged
to give up the external succession.*
* [Wordsworth : " A.ii\aeXa,nce oirecapUtclMion. This
incident took place Ijcfore our Lord's betrayal, but St. Mist-
thew introduces it here to mark the contract between Jfari/
and Judas Iscariot. .Judas murmured airainst her (.John
xii. 4), because, she had bestowed on our Lord the olfering
of this precious oiniment which might have been sold for
300 pence (Majk xiv. 5), and he sells his M.ister for thirty
pieces of silver or 60 pence." But in this case Matthew
would have expressly mentioned Judas instead of the dis-
ciples generally in ver. 8.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 6-16.
463
over; according to Matthew, two day?. This has
been set aside. '2. According to Matthew and Mark,
the meal wa5 in the house of Simon ; according to
John, in the house of Lazarus. But the expression,
" thev made Him a feast," is not necessarily to be
referred to the family of Lazarus ; certainly not to be
limited to them. It is possible that all the believers
in Bethany gave Him this feast ; and the fact that
Lazarus was" among the guests to the Lord's honor,
that Martha waited upon Him, and Mary anointed
liim, conclude nothing against the place being Simon's
liouse ; especially as we know nothmg of the near
connection between the family of Lazarus and Simon.
[Both families may have occupied the same house,
especially if they were relate<l, according to the an-
cient tradition ; or, Simon may have been the owner,
Lazarus the tenant, of the house. — P. S.] 3. Accord-
ing to Matthew and Mark, Jesus was anointed on the
head ; according to John, on the feet. But according
to Matt. xxvi. 12, the body of Jesus generally was
anointed. The connection shows why John makes
prominent the anointing of the feet. 4. In the Sy-
noptists, the disciples express their displeasure ; in
John, Judas Iseariot. But Matthew, ver. 14, inti-
mates that Judas was the instigator of the murmm-
ing, and carried the mass of the disciples with him.
And for John, the glance at the traitor was the main
point. According to Augustine and others, Judas
might have made the remark, and the rest harmless-
ly consented. Meyer supposes that the original ac-
count, as given by John, had been disturbed in the
Synoptists through blending it with that of Luke vii. ;
and that hence the name of Simon, the host, was ob-
tained. An arbitrary assumption ; since the name
of Simon was very common, and the related feat'ores
might have been repeated very naturally through
their inner significance.
A womaiL — John calls her Mary, the well-
known, whose noble -character he had drawn before
in ch. xi. ; see also Luke x. 39.
Having an alabaster - box. — More precise
statement in John xii. 3. Anointing with oil was a
primitive custom of consecration. Gen. xxviiL 13. It
was then used for the ritual consecration of priests,
Lev. viii. 12 ; of kings, 1 Sam. x. 1 ; ch. xvi 13 ; oc-
casionally also of prophets, 1 Kings xix. 16. By an-
omtlng was the Old Testament David marked out as
the 3/ashiach, as also his sons ; and especially the
ideal David, the Saviour, Ps. iL 2. But the anoint-
ing was interpreted of the fulness of the Spirit, Isa.
zi 2 ; IxL ; Heb. i. 9, after Ps. xlv. 7, 8. The an-
ointing of the head was also a distinction which was
conferred upon the guest of honor, Luke vlL 46, —
not only among the Jews, but generally in the East
and among the ancients : Plato, Be Republ. iiL See
Grotius in Matt. p. 501. In connection with the an-
ointing of the head, was the washing of the feet with
water. Thus it was an elevation of the custom to the
highest point of honor, when the head and the feet
were alike anointed with oil. Thus the anointing of
the feet in Luke vii. was not simply dictated by the
woman's prostration and humility : Jesus was on His
journey, and the anointing of the feet was therefore
primarily mentioned. And in John's account also,
the fact that Jesus came as a traveller to Bethany
will account for his giving special prominence to the
anointing of the feet. But Matthew leaves this cir-
cumstance unnoticed. De Wette : " A whole pound
of ointment (she had so much, according to John),
poured out at once upon the head, would have been
improper; probably it was easier for Mary to ap-
proach His feet than His head." Friedlieb supposes
that the Utra (pound) heremeuiioued, was the ancient
and genuine htra of the Sicilian-Greek system, about
^"o of a Cologne pound. We learn from Mark, ver.
3, that she broke the alabaster-fiask at the top, m
order to pour out the ointment, '" The ointment of
nard was highly esteemed in anti luity as a precious
aromatic, and a costly luxury, Plin-us, xii. 26. It was
brought c'uietiy from Asia Minor in little alabaster-
flasks ; and the best were to be had in Tarsus. Yet
the plant grew in Southern India.'' See Winer, sub
Xarde. the best was very high in price.
Ver. 8. They became indignant. — According
to John, Judas expressed this dispkisure ; according
to Mark, some of them were indignant within them-
selves ; according to Matthew, the body of the dis-
ciples. Matthew is wont to generalize; but his
j words here mean only, that the disciples collectively
I were led astray by the hypocritical word of Judas :
' symptoms of murmuring appeared in many.
; To what purpose is this waste ? — 'A x « -
Acta, wasting. The active meaning must be held
fast. It marks the supposed useless squandering of
a costly possession. Meyer, however, takes the sense
passively: loss.
Ter." 9. Sold for much- — Pliny says that a
' pound of this ointment cost more than four hundred
I denarii. [A denary, or " penny "' in the English Yer-
I sion, is about 15 American cents. See note, p. 352.]
Mark mentions that three hundred was the amotmt
specified by the murmuring disciples : about equal
to 63j- Prussian dollars [about -$45].
And given to the poor. — The money realized
from the sale of the ointment. John gives the ex-
planation, that Judas had the bag (as manager of the
common exchequer), and was a thief in the manage-
ment of it. The money, he takes for granted, should
have gone into his bag. Under the present circum-
stances, with a mind darkened by desperation as to
the cause of Christ, which he had begim now to re-
nounce, he might perhaps have " deserted with the
bag."
Ver. 10. But when Jesus saw it. — That is,
the secret imgracious murmuring ; for none durst
speak aloud save Judas.
Why trouble ye the woman, r i kottovs
ir a p e'x e T 6 T y yvvaiKi ; — inflict not upon her any
burden or disquietude by confusing her conscience, by
disturbing her love, or by disparaging her noble act
of sacrifice.
For she hath wrought a good work. — ^Lit-
erally, a beautiful work, marking its moral propriety
and grace. Meyer : '• The disciples turned away
from the moral quality to the expediency of the ques-
tion." Rather, they measured moral quahty by prac-
tical utility, Judas doing so as a mere hypocrite. But
Jesus estimated moral quality according to the prin-
ciple of beheving and acuve love from which the act
I sprang.
I Ver. 1 1 . Me ye have not alwa3^. — Xot simply
i a " sorrc'iN'ful lifote-*" to signify His speedy departure
I through death ; but also intended to impress the un-
exampled significance of the occasion. Only once in
I the whole course of history could this particular act
of reverence occur, which, humanly speaking, cheered
! and animated the Lord before His passion. This
j hour was a fleeting, heavenly opportunity which could
never return ; while the care of the poor .. ould be a
I daily duty to humanity down to the end of time.
; But, at the same time, there is a general reference to
! the contrast between festal ofi'erings and every-day
464
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
offerings. Only on certain special occasions may
Christ be anointed ; but we may always do good to
the poor.
Ver. 12. She hath poured out this ointment.
— She poured it all out, as desirous to offer the last
drop. And she thereby expressed an unconscious
presentiment which the Lord now interprets.
She did it for My burial [lit. : to prepare Me
for burial, to ernhalm Ale.'] — She hath anointed
and embalmed for solemn burial My body, as if it
were already a corpse. The Lord gives this signifi-i
cance to the occasion, on account of the prophecy of
his death contained in the traitor's temper: He would
intimate all to Judas, and at the same time humble
the disciples. The woman was not, in her act, con-
scious of all this inducement ; but she had some pre-
sentiment which made her act as if she thought, We
have come to the end ; hereafter there will be no need
of anointing.
Ver. 1 3. This gospel. — The tidings of salvation,
with special reference to the death of Jesus.
Shall be told for a memorial of her. — Prom-
ise of a permanent justification and distinction for
this eminent woman, which has been in the most
glowing manner fulfilled. [Even now, while we
write or read these lines, we fulfil the Saviour's pro-
phecy. Alford well observes on this, the only case
in which our Lord has made such a promise : " We
cannot but be struck with the majesty of this pro-
phetic announcement: introduced with the peculiar
and weighty d^-);c xiyu v [xlv , — conveying, by im-
plication, the whole mystery of the ihayy^Kiou which
should go forth from His death as its source, — lookmg
forward to the end of time, when it shall have been
preached in the whole world, — and specifying the fact
that this deed should be recorded wherever it is
preached." He sees in this announcement a distinct
prophetic recognition of the existence of written gos-
pel records by means of whicli alone the deed related
could be universally proclaimed. — P. S.]
Ver. 14. Then one of the twelve TO-ent. —
Now did the secret of the murmuring of the disciples
disclose itself, as if an old sore in the sacred circle
had broken open. The woman with her ointment has
hastened the heaUng crisis. .As the hardening of the
Jews was developed at the great feasts when Jesus
visited them, so the hardening of Judas was com-
pleted at the feasts where Jesus was the centre. —
Tore. Meyer, unsatisfactorily, says : " After this meal ;
but not because he was aggrieved by Jesus' saying,
which, in its tenderness of sorrow, was not calculated
to wound hun." The answer of the Lord approved
the act of the woman, punished the complaint of Ju-
das, sealed and confirmed the prospect of His death :
all this was enough for the exasperated confusion of
Judas' mind. He now began to dally with the thought
of treachery (compare Schiller's Wallenstein), when
he went over the Mount of Olives (probably the same
evening) to Jerusalem, and asked a question of the
enemies of Jesus which should clear up matters.
But after the paschal supper the thought began to
dally with him ; for Satan entered into his soul (John
xiii. 2*7). Meyer, de Wette, and Strauss, are unable
to see this progress in the development of evU, and
hence find here contradictions. Meyer thinks that
Luke xxii. 3 more particularly is in conflict with John
upon this point ; thougli John vi. '70, compared with
John xiii., has more the semblance of contradiction.
But it must be remembered that the expression
" Satan entered into him," may be used in a larger
and in a more limited sense.
Ver. 1 5. But they promised [or : secured] to
him. — Meyer : " They weic/hed out to hitn, after the
old custom. There had been in the land a coined
shekel since tlie time of Simeon (143 d. c.) ; but
loeigldng seems to have stiU been customary in the
temple treasury. At any rate, we are not authorized
to make ecrr-qirav signify simply : tltey paid . . . The
explanation of others, ' they made secure to him, or
promised^ (Theophylact, Grotius, al.), is contradicted
by Matt, xxvii. 3, where ra apyvpia points to the
shekels as received already, as also by the prophecy
of this fact in Zech. xi. 12." But Meyer overlooks
the fact, that Judas, after the Passover, went again
to the high priests, and that then, according to John,
the matter was finally decided. They hardly gave
him the money before that.
Thirty pieces of silver. — Silver shekels. The
shekel, ^irjli-i, aUxos, one of the Hebrew weights
from early times, and one that was most in use
("like our pound"). By the weight of the silver
shekel all prices were regulated in commerce and
barter, down to the time of coinage in Israel after the
exile. Hence the silver shekel was the current me-
dium in all transactions of the sanctuary. The shekel
of the sanctuary and the royal shekel were probably
somewhat heavier than the common shekel. The
half-shekel was the personal tribute to the temple,
two Attic drachmas {see ch. xvii. 24). The value of
the shekel has been estimated at about 25 Silbcr-
c/roschen'* [a little over two English shillings, or 50
American cents]. Consequently SO shekels amount
to 25 [Prussian] dollars [between three and four
pounds sterling, or about fifteen American dollars].
Gerlach counts 20, Lisco only 15 [Prussian] dollars.
De Wette: About 42 florins. — Meyer: "Matthew
alone specifies the thirty pieces of silver ; and the
triviality of this gPvin, as measured by the avarice of
Judas, makes it probable that the unknown recom-
pense of treason was fixed by evaugehcal tradition,
according to Zech. xi. 12." Here Meyer follows
de Wette, who often follows in the track of Strauss.
As if Satanic avarice and treason had any reasonable
tax, or as if any sum of money could more easily ex-
plain and justify the betrayal of the person of Jesus !
The most improbable sum is here the most probable.
Thirty pieces of silver were, according to Exod. xxi.
32, the price of a slave.f Hence, in Zech. xi. 12, the
price at which the Shepherd of nations is valued, was
thirty pieces of silver. The literal fulfilment of this
word should not make the round sum suspicious.
We should rather assume that the Sanhedrin design-
edly, and with cunning irony, chose the price of the
slave in Exod. xxi. If Judas demanded more from
them, they would answer that they needed not bis
help, and that at most they would give him the an-
cient price of a slave.
* [Not: cJoUars, as the Edinb. transl. Las it. which omits
the other estimate : for it takes thirty Silbergroschm to
equal one Prussian dollar. — P. S.]
t [.Joseph was sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of
silver, Gen. xsxvii. 28. Jerome on Matt. sxvi. 15 sayt^:
''Joseph mm, tit muUi pntavt. jua-ia iSepiuaffinta. inter-
jwetes, vlginti aureis venditus est, seel :)uxta Behraicam
veritatem viginti argenteis; neqii.e enim pretioHor pote-
rat esse servus, quam Dominus." But Jerome did not see,
nor any of the fothers, that thirty piecos of silver was the
regular price for the life of a slave, which explains this sum
in our case as a deliberate insult of the Sanhedrin to our
Lord who died the death of a slave and a malefactor, that
He might redeem us from the slavery and eternal misery of
sin. Origen compares the 30 pieces of silver with the 30
(rather 33) years of the Saviour's life. Augustine allegorizes
in another way about the number.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 6-16.
465
Ver. 16. And from that time he sought op-
portunity.— Thus docs not exclude a later and final
decision. He was now the wretched and vascillathig
watcher of events, making his last act dependent, on
casual opportunity'. Fritzsche: Iff. eitm tradere possEr.
To betray him. — General Remarks on the Be-
trayal of Judas. — For the dualistlc exaggeration of
the moral importance of the man, see Daub : Judas
Ischarioth. For the under-valuation of his significance,
see Paulus, Goldhorn, AViner, Theile, Hase, etc. Ac-
cording to the latter view, it was his design to excite
an insurrection of the people at the feast, and to
constrain the tardy Messiah to base Ilis kingdom
upon popular power. In that case, the conduct of
Judas would, judged by its motive, be rather that of
a blinded enthusiast than of a supremely wicked
man. Ewald rightly assumes that he had been mis-
taken in his Master ; but the aims and motives which
he further attributes to Judas as a consequence (that
he felt it his duty to deliver Him to the Sanhedrin, —
and that he wished to try the experiment and see
what would follow next), are not very consistent with
each other. The repentance of Judas and his suicide
must be taken in connection vfith his betrayal ; and
then his state of mind will be determined to have
been an ambition, excited by Satan, which sought its
ends in the carnal kingdom to be set up by the Mes-
siah, and which, therefore, when Clirist's determina-
tion and that of His enemies concurred to point to His
death, was changed into a deep despondency and ex-
asperation against his Master. In this frame of
mind, the scene at Bethany presented to him only a
wasteful company, in which all things were going to
dissolution ; and he felt himself personally aggrieved
by the Lord's rebuke, marking him out as an alien
to His circle of disciples. Then he viewed the rulers
of the people as invested with power : they had the
government of the temple, and guarded its treasure
— they had this world with them. It seemed to him
worth his trouble to see what was to be gained on
their side ; thus there was the evening journey, an
audience, a question — only at first, he might think, a
question. In the high priest's palace, the favor of
the gi'cat perfectly intoxicated him ; so that even the
tliirty pieces of silver, which the avarice of the priests
offered to his avarice, was a tempting bait. At this
point he may have thought that Jesus would in the
hour of need save Himself by a miracle, and go
through the midst of his enemies, as He had done
more than once before (Luke iv. SO; John x. 39);
or that he would resort to a political kingdom in the
sense of the tempter. Matt. iv. 0. On the other hand,
he may have flattered himself with the prospect of
the greatest favors and gains from the Sanliedrin.
Under his last exasperation at the paschal supper,
the thought of treason became a passionate decision.
He saw himself detected and unmasked : the man of
hypocrisy was then lost ; the treachery was accom-
plished. But, when Jesus did not save Himself, and
the Council no longer cared for the traitor, the thirty
pieces of silver lost all their magical glitter for him.
On the one hand, the scorn of the world weighed on
him as a burden ; and, on the other hand, the dark
mystery of the death of Jesus, the possible reahzation
of His dread predictions, and the woe of tlie Master
still ringing in his ears. His rancorous dejection was
now turned into burning despair. How he still sought
to save himself, the narrative of his exit tells us. In
our view of his history, such an important character
among the Apostles was certainly no weak, contracted,
and unawakened man. He was a man of enthusiasm,
30
but led away by appearances ; therefore, when the
first manifestation of Christ paled, he lost his fiiith,
despaired of Clirist, and perished. How he could
ever have entered the company of the Apostles, see
Com. on Matt. x. The main motive of his gloomy
course we may regard as a combination of covetous-
ness and ambition carried to the verge of madness,
and lost in the labyrinths of hypocrisy.*
DOCTKINAL AND ETHICAL.
1 . In the midst of the company of disciples at Beth-
any, we see, represented in a living type, the contrast
between Christianity and Anticuristiauity — an exhibi-
tion of the manner in which the one wrestles with the
other, and the one 'm brought by the other to its ripe
perfection. The lurking treachery of Judas, and the
death threatening the Lord, were the dark spirit
which raised the soul of the woman to a sublime,
solemn, and joyous feeling of self-sacrificing love.
And this noble disposition, with the anointing, the
odor of which filled the whole house, became the bit-
terest and most decisive offence to the soul of the
traitor. The fundamental characteristics of this re-
ciprocal influence are drawn in 2 Thess. ii.
2. For the last time, Judas by his hypocrisy drew
a large part of the disciples into the snare of his evil
spirit. This circumstance, and the fact that he had
the bag, throw some light upon his relations to the
disciples generally. He was a man of fleeting enthu-
siasm, of deceitful appearances, of alluring promises,
among the Apostles; his power of demoniacal elo-
quence misled most of the company, and ensnared
them into s}-mpathy. For the sake of the greater
number of the Apostles, the Lord was consti-ained to
tolerate this adversary, until he sundered himself by
a spiritual judgment and an act of self-reprobation.
Hence the moment of his departure was to the Lord
one of the highest significance. {8ee John xiii. 31 ;
Lehen Jesu, ii. 3. p. 1328.)
3. "^he justification of festal offerings of love, in
opposition to sacrifices for the proper necessities of
the poor, is strictly connected with the contrast al-
ready pointed out. Judas knew nothing of Christ in
the poor, when he took offence at the anointing of
Christ. To his glance the world appeared (for the
sentiment was hypocritical) to be sinking into infinite
necessity and pauperism, because the ideal of worldly
abundance and pleasure had demoniacally enkindled
his avarice. Mary, on the contrary, poured out lav-
ishly her store, because in her pure self-denial she let
the world go, and found her peace and her blessed-
ness in the kmgdom of love and of the Spirit.
4. John looked deeper into the heart of Judas
than tlie other disciples. Similarly, the woman went
to a significant extent in advance of the disciples in
the way of the New Covenant. She is a symbol of
the quicker development of the female spiritual life.
(Eve, the Virgin Mary.) Its perfect (1, velopment and
consinnmation, on the other hand, l^olongs to the
man. The bclicvmg woman is here justified by the
mouth of the Lord.
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The house of Bethany a type of the Church:
* [Comp. Alford's estimate of the ch.aracter and motives
of Judas, in Com. on Matt. xxvi. 14-1 C (p. 247, 4th ed.),
which agrees with that of Neander {Lehen Jesu, p. CSS);
al3'> Ewald, Meyer, Olshnusen, and Lbrard. — P. S.]
466
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
1. The Church of the Spirit darkened by the Church
of hypocrisy ; 2. the Church of hypocrisy condemned
by the Church of the Spirit. — The self-sacrificing
woman and the covetous apostle in the company ol
the disciples. — The self-seeking heart in the Church
turns balsam into poison: 1. It turns a joyous feast
into an hour of temptation ; 2. the purest offering of
love into an offence; 3. the sacred justification of
fidelity into a motive for exasperation ; 4. the most
gracious warnings against destruction into a doom of
death. — Even among the Lord's own company, the
heart that is truly devoted to the Saviour must be
prepared for the bitterest trials.— Judas the type of a
fiendish spirit, which has in all times sent traitors
abroad in the Church. — How he with a double mind
looked always a.skance : 1. At the goods of this world ;
2. at the favor of the great ; 3. at the fellowship of
the priestly order ; 4. at the reward of treachery. —
The little treasury of the disciples in its significant
relation to the future. — Covetousness in the garment
of hypocrisy. — Covetousness and ambition develop
and perfect each other. — Christ and His poor. — The
attempt to relieve poverty at the expense of Christ
is to increase it. — The spirit of love to Christ can
alone regulate the use and expenditure of earthly
goods. — The pious presentiment of a loving heart
thinks beyond and above its own clear consciousness.
The unperishable remembrance of beUevers bound up
with the eternal praise of the Lord. — The gospel
makes all its children in two senses immortal. —
" Then went one. of the twelve^'' (ver. 14) ; or the fear-
ful fall: 1. An image of the sinner's Ufe ; and, 2. a
warning for every Christian. — " What will ye give meP'
(ver. 15.) The commercial spirit in its light and its
dark side : 1. Abraham's intercession for Sodom ; his
purchase of a sepulchre ; the pearl of great price, etc.
2. The treachery of Judas ; Simony in the Church,
etc. — Christ could be sold only for the price of a
slave, thirty pieces of silver: for 1. the highest price
would in relation to Him be a mere mockery ; 2. the
lowest price for which He is surrendered up is enough
for perfect treachery. — Many of His disciples are look-
ing only for a good opportunity of betraying Him. —
The beginning of the passion : Christ, like Joseph,
sold by His brethren. — The apostate Christian a
seducer of the enemies of Christ. — The dark mixture
of sense, of calculation, and insanity in the death-
path of the backslider. — The house of Bethany and
the palace of the high-priest.— Christ the everlasting
Defender of true Christendom against all the assaults
of hypocrisy.
Starke: — God often employs weak instruments
for the accomplishment of His hidden purposes, who
surpass the men in Christ. — Canstein : He who heart-
ily loves Christ, will gladly give up all to His service.
— Quesnel: Riches are of no value, unless they are
helpful to Christ and His people. — Canstein: Many
perform acts out of love to Christ on which the world
puts an evil construction. — He that touches one who
loves Jesus, touches the apple of His eye, Zeeh. ii. 8.
— What is given to Christ is well laid out. — An act
must be estimated according to its source in the
heart. — That there shall always be poor, is God's
ordinance ; but that there should always be beggars,
might be prevented by good human ordinances. —
Qv,esnel: In the actions of God's children there are
often secrets which they themselves do not under-
stand.— The memory of the just is blessed for ever,
Ps. cxii. 3, 6. — Their name is as ointment poured out,
Eecl. vii. 1. — Fellow-Christian, be not disquieted when
your own companions, relatives, and dependants, to
whom you have done nothing but good, give you an
evil return ; console yourself with Christ. — Hedinger :
0 cursed avarice, which still sells Christ, religion,
fidelity, and faith ! — How evil are often the uses of
gold ! — Luther : There is no greater enemy to man,
after the devil, than a niggard, Prov. xv. 27. — He
who sets out in sin will easily go on ; for the oppor-
tunity to perfection is never wanting.
Oerlach: — Love to Christ urged this woman. —
Her whole heart was thrown into this act. — He who
loves Jesus does not love a mere man, or creature,
but the true God, and eternal life. — Whoso thus in-
wardly loves Jesus, seeing Him present, must love
Him always, when no longer seen, in His brethren,
the poor. — No man among you. He says, would blame
it, iJf so much were spent upon My burial and em-
bahning ; why do you blame her now, since I shall
really die in a few days ?
Heubner : — The last token of honor which Christ
received before His death. — The sufferings of His last
hour were softened to Him by these proofs of love.
And so God often orders it with ourselves. — The in-
wardness and tenderness of which woman is suscepti-
ble in her love. — It was love to the Saviour of her
soul. — It was reverential love, set upon the Son of
God. — Sacrifice is the nature and nourishment of
love. — In the service and love of Christ all things are
dignified and made holy. — This anointing had a sym-
bolical meaning. It was the figure of that full stream
of love which poured from her heart on Jesus ; the
type of the inexhaustible streams of love which will
proceed from the redeemed upon Jesus throughout
eternity. — Application of the anointing to the mis-
sionary cause. — Jesus was manifestly moved deeply
in His heart by her act. Of Himself, and the dis-
honor done to Him, He says nothing. It grieves Him
that the woman was so badly treated. To grieve a
noble soul in the performance of a glorious act, is a
heavy offence. — In hurting Christlike souls, we injure
Christ Himself. We should always hasten to mani-
fest all love and sympathy toward the living. It is
vain to wish them back when they are gone. — The
final and highest honor done to goodness. — Christ
assures her of everlasting remembrance in requital of
this brief dishonor, and thereby gives her a pledge
of her eternal honor in His heavenly kingdom. —
What Christ determines to keep in lasting credit will
be truly immortalized. — The command of John xi. 57
might have occasioned in Judas the thought which
he expressed. — Pitiable are Satan's wages.
Braune : — Here a table is spread for Him in the
presence of His enemies, an^ His head is anointed
with oil, Ps. xxiii. 6.
CHAP. XXVI. n-so. 467
THIRD SECTION.
CHRIST THE PASCHAL LAMB, AND THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Chapter XXVI. 17-80.
(Mark xiv. 12-26 ; Luke xxii. 7-39 ; John xiii. 1-xviii. 1.)
17 Now the first day of i\\Q feast o/ unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, say-
18 ing unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? And he
said, Go into the city to such a man [to a certain man, Trpos toj/ Seua], and say unto him,
The Master saith, My time is at hand ; I will keep the passover at thy house with my
19 disciples. And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed [directed, (rwerafei/] them;
20 and they made [and made] ready the passover. Now wlien the even [evening] was
21 come, he sat down [reclined at table]' with the twelve [disciples].'' And as tliey did
eat [were eating, lcr6t6vT<Mv airdv, comp. ver. 26], he said, Verily I say unto you, that one
22 of you shall [will] betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every
23 one of them [each one]^ to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said,
24 He that di[ipeth his [the, t?;i/] hand with me in the dish, the same shall [will] betray
me. The Son of man goeth [departeth, virdya] as it is written of him : but woe unto
that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had been [it were] good for that
25 man if he had not been born.* Then Judas, which [who] betrayed him, answered and
said. Master [Rabbi, pa/3/3t], is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said [it].
26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread,^ and blessed® if,'' and brake it, and gave
27 it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the [a] cup,^ and
28 gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying. Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of
the [new] ^ testament [my blood, the blood of the new covenant, to aifj.<x fxov, to t^s
KtttvTjs Sta^rjKrys],'" which is shed for many for the remission [for remission, ets a^ecrtj/]
29 of sins. But [And] I say unto you, I will not [in no wise]" drink henceforth of this
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
30 And when they had sung a hymn [the hymn of praise, *. e., the great Hallel, Ps. cxv.-cxviii.],
they went out into the mount of Olives.
> Ver. 20.— ['Are /cejTO. Dr. Lange renders avdicei/xai and avaicXlvoixa: uniformly and correctly: sich en Tische
lagern, to fecline at table, i. e., accordintr to the oriental fashion of eating, upon a couch or triuli.niiira, which was usually
higher than the low table itself. Honcc John could lean at the last supper on Jesus' boaoin, John xiii. 23. See (.Jrit, Note
4 on p. 150, and the Coranicntators on Luke vii. 36. — P. S.]
"^ Ver. 20.— Lachmann adds fj.adrjTcii' according to A., L., M., etc. [Also Cod. Sin.ait.]
3 Ver. 22.— [Thi! text. reo. reads : 'iicaaros aurtiou. But Dr. Lanse, with Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Al-
ford, and the majority of witnesses prefers: fis e kuo-t os, each one, without auTOui/.—P. S.]
•• Ver. 24. — [Ka\lii' ?iv avrai, el oIik iyevvriOri n avOfwiror iKfTfns. Lanc'e: I'ur ihn ware es Vesser, wenn er
nicht gehoren -iciire, fCu jbnen Menschen; it tcere better for- him, if that man had not been born. The English Ver-
sions, except Wiclif 's, take the liberty of transposing the pronoun anil the noun.— P. S.]
s Ver. 26.— The art. rov before &pTov is omittod by Lachmann [and Tregelles] on the authority of B., C, D., L., eta
Meyer favors the article, [so also Tischendorf and AlfordJ, and explains the omission from liturgical usage. [Cod. Sinait.
omits the article both before aprov and before iroT-ripiov, ver. 27. It is not found in the par.illel tests: Mark xiv. 22;
Luke xxii. 19.-P. S.]
« Ver. 26.— For ev\oy4\T as: B., D., Z., and a number of later MSS., Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford]. For
fvxapi(TTr)tras: Scholz with A., E., F., II., etc., consequently a larger number of witnesses. Mark has the former
reading, Luke and also Paul, 1 Cor. xi. %\, the latter, and it is supposed that the liturgical expression of tlie Church in.
flaenced our text. [Cod. Sinait. reads i-jKoyr\aas, like B., D., L., Z., the Syriac, and Vulgate Versions (benediHt). Comp.
Mark xiv. 22.— P. S.j
' Ver. 26.— [Dr. Lange translates: sprach den Segan, i. e., pronounced the blessing, or gave thanJcn, b/esiied, without
it, which is omitted in the Greek, !is in the following clauses and in the next verse. — P. S.]
" Ver. 2T.— The article before cup is omitted by the best critical auMiorities. Lachra:inn has it according to A., D.,
and Rpcepta. Meyer thinks that it was inserted from liturgical language. [Cod. Sinait. and the editions of Tischendorf
and Alford, omit t d . The genius both of the English and German languages, however, requires here the article, defi-
nite or in<ieftnitc, while it niay be omitted in both before bread. — P. S.]
• Ver. 28.— K a ( f ^ y is omitted by B., L., Z., etc., [Cod. Sinait.], and given uj) by Tischendorf and Meyer (who re-
gard it as an insertion from the ancient liturgies); while A., D., etc.. Irena-us, and Cyprian favor it, and Lachmann re-
tains it. [So also Alford. but in brackets.] The adjectivn is omitteil also in Mark, Codd. B., C, D. The Paulina tradition,
which h.ad it, prevailed, the more so as it corre.-^ponds with the nature of the case.
'" Ver. 28. — [Dr. Lantre translates S laOri kv Bund, covenant. So also Castalio, Beza, Doddridge, Campbell, Norton,
de Wette, Ewald {inein Bandeshliit), Meyer, Cro.sby, <'oiiant. Tiie new covenant refers by contrast to the old covenant,
that of Moses, which was consecrated by the blood of calves and goats. See the Exeg. Notes. The English Version renders
SiaB-nKT] by testament in thirteen pas-^agcs, and by covenant in nineteen pa.ssages of the N. T.— P. 8.]
" Ver. 29.— [In Greek : ixi fj.v, which Dr. Lunge translates more emphatically : mit nichten, by iio means, in no
ioise; Meyer: getcisslich nicht. The Bisliops' Bible translates the double negation here: in nowise; in ver. 85 still
•tronger: by no manner of means. Other Engl, and Germ. Verss. (also Lange in ver. 35) overlook th« emphasis.— P. S.]
4G8
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JIATTIIEW.
F.XEGETICAL AND CllITICAL.
Ver. 17. The first day of unleavened bread.
— On the 14th of Ni.^an the leaven was removed, and
the unleavened loaves (nilSiin) took their place. It
was the first day of unleavened bread, foi-ming the
foundation of the Passover, ■which did not begin till
the 15th of Nisan. The feast of faith rested upon a
feast of renunciation. Hence the feast was reckoned
to last eight days by Josephus {Antiq. ii. 15, 1).
These words are express against the ancient notion,
that Jesus celebrated the Passover a day^ earlier.
Comp Meyer, p. 488.
[The words t^ 5e -n-pdrri raov a^vnaiv are
equivalent to the first day of the Passover, and im-
portant for the settlement of the chronological diffi-
culty. All are agreed that this was Thursday, since
Christ died on Friday (except Dr. Scj'ffarth, who
makes it Wednesday, since he puts the crucifixion on
Thursday). Bat the question is as to the day of the
month, viz., whether it was the 14th of Nisan, at the
close of whicii tlie paschal lamt) was slain, as Dr.
Lange, Wieseler, Hengstenberg, Baumlein, Andrews,
and most modern commentators of this passage as-
sert, or the 13th of Nisan, according to the view
of the Greek Gliurch and of those commentators who,
from a different point of view, try to harmonize the
Synoptists with John. Had we no otlier guide in
this matter than the Synoptists, every commentator
would probably adopt the former view, for the follow-
ing reasons : 1. It is the obvious meaning of the term
used by all the Synoptists : " the first day of un-
leavened hread^'' especially if we compare ilark,
who characterizes the day more fully by adding :
" When they killed the Passover (i. e., here the pas-
chal lamb), and Luke, who says in equally clear terms :
" When the Passover must be killed." It was toward
the close of the 14th of Nisan (probably from three
o'clock till dark), that the paschal lamb was slain,
and all preparations made for the feast which began
with the paschal supper at evening, i. c, at the close
of the 14th of Nisan and the beginning of the 15th
of Nisan (which day was, strictly spealdng, the first
day of the feast, although, in popular language, the
Hth was called the first day of Passover or of un-
leavened bread). See Ex. xii. 18: "In the first
mouth (Nisan), on the 14th day of the month at even,
ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and tweu-
tietli day of the month at even.". Comp. Lev. xsiii.
5 ; Num. xxviii. 16. Dr. Robinson says {Harm. p.
214) : " Their language (of the Synoptists) is full,
cxpHcit, and decided, to the effect that our Lord's
last meal with His disciples was the regular and or-
dinary paschal supper of the Jews, introducing the
festival of unleavened bread on the evening after the
14th day of Nisan." Comp. Meyer in loc. : " £s ist
der 14. Nisan {nach den Synoptikerii, Donnerstag)
gemeint, mit dessen Abend das Passah begann, welcher
aber schon gam unter den Festlagen mitgezdhlt ist,
nach der popular ungenauen Weise, in welcher auch
Josephus, Antiq. ii. 1 5, 1 , acht Festtage zahlf'' 2. It is
very improbable that Christ, who came not to destroy
but to fulfil, should have violated the legal time of the
Passover, and if He did so, we would have some inti-
mation of the fact in the Gospels. 3. An anticipatory
sacrifice of the paschal lamb in the court of the tem-
ple, on the 13th of Nisan, a day before the legal
tune, would not have been permitted by the priests.
Greswell quotes from Philo to the efieet, that each
miin was then liis own priest, and co'dd slay the Iamb
in his own dwelling. But the weight of authority
goes to show that the lamb must be slain in the tem-
ple and the blood be sprinkled on the altar (Deut, xvi.
5, 6 ; Ezra vi. 20; 2 Chron. xxxv. 11). Hence the
\ Jews, afcer the destruction of the temple, have only a
Memorial Passover, confined to the use of unleaven-
ed bi'ead and bitter herbs with the usual psalms and
prayers. The difliculty then arises not from the
I)la!n statements of the Synoptists, but from certain
I passages in John which seem to contradict the for-
i mer, and from the apparent probabihty that Christ
should have been tried, condemned, and crucified on
the 15th of Nisan, which v,as the most solemn day
I of the Passover. But it has been shown in the intro-
j duction to this chapter that these difficulties are not
i insurmountable, and in fact not so great as those prs-
j sented on the other side. It is certain that John and
the Synoptists can be harmonized on the chronologi-
cal question concerning so i-iiportant a part of
piimitive tradition as the date of the Saviour's death.
-P.S.]
To prepaxe the Passover. — To this appertain-
ed the slaying of the paschal lamb, which usually the
Jewish householder attended to, and which took
place in the outer court of the temple ; the prepara-
tion of the unleavened loaves ; the provision of the
' other requisites of the feast ; with the preparation
j of the chamber. "The iroD shows that this last is
here intended." Probably all had been done on tlie
present occasion by the unknown friend of the Lord,
1 to whom ver. 18 points, without the disciples know-
! ing anything about it beforehand. The male young
j lamb or goat must be one year old, and without blem-
, ish (Ex. xii. 2, S sqq.). It was slain " between the
i evenings ; " that is, doubtless, between the decline
I of 14th Nisan, or the first evening, which extended
to sundown, and the second evening, commencing at
six o'clock. This is the chronological explanation of
Josephus and the Rabbins ; the more rigorous expla-
nation of the Karaites and the Samaritans was, " be-
tween sundown and twilight." The blood of the
lamb was now no longer sprinkled on the door-posts,
but was taken up by a priest, and then poured or
sprinkled on the altar. Starke, after Lundius {JiXd.
Alterthiimer): A crowd of IsraeUtes was received
into the court, the gates were shut, the ti'umpets
sounded. The householders slew their lambs. The
I priests formed a row which extended to the altar,
I received the blood in silver basins, which they passed
i on from one to another ; and those who stood nearest
I the altar poured it out at its feet, whence it flowed
j subterraneously into the brook Kedron. The house-
holder lifted the slain lamb to a hook on a pillar, took
j off its skm, and removed the fat. This last the priest
! burned on the altar. The householder uttered a
prayer, and carried the lamb to his house, bound in
its skin. The head of the house where the feast was
held received the skin. When the first crowd de-
parted, another followed, and so forth.
Ver. 18. Go into the city. — The abode of
Jesus at that time v.-as in Bethany. According to
Luke, the intimation was given to Peter and John.
To a certain man; -npbs -rhv Zf'iva. — The Evange-
list had his reasons for not mentioning the name of the
man intended by Jesus. According to Calvin, Jesus
did not give his name, and the disciples found it out
by a miracle. According to Theophylact and others.
He would not mention the name in the presence of
Judas, that he might not execute his purpose of be-
trayal at the meal. Mark and Luke give expressly
the manner in which He pointed out the man: —
CHAP. XXVI. 11-
at tlieir entrance into the city a man should meet
them with a pitcher of water, whom they were to
follow to the house wliither he went And tliey have
the watchwords given to them which tlicy were to
speak, just as they were given to those who sliould
fetch the two asses for the entrance into the city.
Here, therefore, as there, it is to be presupposed : 1.
That the man marked out was in both oases a be-
liever ; 2. that there was some kind of understanding
between the Lord and the man ; 3. that the uuder-
.standing, especially in the present case, contemplated
caution. 4. The Lord's assurance, as it regards this
man, reveals the certain knowledge of the Master,
and the marvellous influence of Ilis authority. And,
in the present case, this cautious action would hin-
der the premature accomplishment of Judas' pur-
pose.
My time is at hand. — 1. Kumoel and others :
The time of My Passover. 2. Ewald : The tune of
Jly Messianic manifestation from heaven. 3. De
Wette, Meyer : The time of My death. The text
gives only the meaning : the certain period of the de-
cisive crisis. De Wette : According to the view of
the Synoptists (rather, of all the Evangelists), the
Passover and the passion of Christ were inseparably
comiected. This expression proves also the unsound-
ness of the old hypothesis, that Jesus ate the Pass-
over a day earlier than the proper time.
Ver. 20. He reclined at table. — According to
the ancient custom of reclining at the table, with
the left hand resting upon the couch. It is remark-
able that the Jews themselves ventured to modify
the legal prescription, which required them to eat the
Passover standing, with staff in hand, Exod. xii. 11.
The rabbinical explanation is this : 3Ios servorum est,
ut cdant s/anfe.t, at nunc comedunt reacmbeiites, ut
dignoscatur, ezmse eos a servitute in lihertatem. [Dr.
Wordsworth malces a liberal remark here, which is
doubly to be appreciated as coming from a strict
Episcopalian : " Uod had commanded the attitude of
standing in the reception of the paschal meal ; the
Jewish cJiurch having come to the land of promise,
and being there at rest, reclined at the festival, and
our Lord conformed to that practice, — a proof that
positive commands of a ceremonial, kind, even of
Divine origin, are not immutable if they are not in
order to a permanent end." — P. S.]
Ver. 21. And as they were eating. — The Cel-
ebration of the Passover. — The company at table
might not be less than ten persons (Joseph. Bdl. Jul.
vi. 9, 3). It generally included from ten to twenty,
according to the family, or as enlarged by strangers.
The image of a complete Church in the house. The
rites of the feast were regulated by the succession of
the cups, filled with red wine, commonly mixed with
water. 1. Announvenient of the FeoM. — The liead of
the house uttered the thanksgiving or benediction
over the wine and the feast, drinking the first cup.
Then followed the remainder of the household. The
washing of hands, after praise. 2. They then ate the
bitter herbs, dipped in vinegar or salt water, in re-
membrance of the sorrows which their fathers under-
v/eut in Egypt. Meanwhile the paschal dishes were
brought iu — the well-seasoned broth (called charo-
eeth), the unleavened loaves, the festal offerings, and
the lamb. All these things were then explained.
They sang the first part of the ilallel, or song of
praise, Ps. cxiii., cxiv., and the second cup was drunk.
3. Then began the feast proper (at which they re-
clined) : the householder took two loaves, broke one
in two, laid it upoii the whole loaf, blessed it, wrap-
ped it with bitter herbs, dipped it, ate of it, and
handed it round with the words : " This is the bread
of atHiction, which our fachers ate in Egypt." He
then blessed the paschal lamb, and ate of it ; the fes-
tal offerings were eaten with the bread, dipped in the
broth ; and finally the lamb. The thanksgiving for
the meal followed the blessing and drinking of the
tliird cup. 4. The remainder of the Hallel was sung,
Ps. cxv.-cxviii., and the fourth cup drunk. Occa-
sionally a fifth cup followed, wlule Ps. cxx.-cxxvii.
were pronounced, but no more. The first cup was
thus devoted to the announcement of the feast ; and
Luke tells us th;it with this cup Christ announced to
the di.sciples that this was the last feast which He
would celebrate with them in this world ; and that
He would celebrate with them a new feast in His Fa-
ther's kingdom. The second cup was devoted to the
interpretation of the festal act : with it the Apostle
Paul connects the exhortation : " As oft as ye eat
of this bread," etc., " ye show forth the Lord's death."
Tlie third cup followed the breaking of the loaves,
whicli celebrated the unleavened bread, and was the
cup of t'nanksgiving : this the Lord consecrated as
the cup of the New Covenant, as He had consecrated
the breaking of bread as the remembrance of His
broken body, the bread of life. Thus, as in baptism
He loosed from the Old Testament circumcision the
sacred washing which accompanied it, and made it
tlie New Testament sacrament of the covenant en-
tered into, so also now He severed the breaking of
bread and the cup of thanksgiving from the Old Tes-
tament Passover, and made it a sacrament of the
New Testament redemption.
Two <iuestions concerning the several modifica-
tions of the original Passover-rites, may here be briefly
discussed (comp. also my Lehen Jem, ii. 3, p. 1422) :
1. As it respects the relation of this account to the
Gospel of John : he relates the waslung of the feet,
which introduced the Passover, with its interpreta-
tion ; and he presupposes the institution of the Lord's
Supper itself as well known. We find it hinted at in
the fVToA.7) KOAuh, John xui. 34. The contention as
to which was the greatest, Luke xxii. 24, probably
preceded the feetwasliing, and was its immediate
occasion. 2. As to the participation of Judas in. the
Lord's Supper, we learn from John (xui. 3()) that the
traitor v/cnt away immediately after he had received
the sop dipped hi the vessel of the charoseth. As the
sop can hardly be supposed to mean only the bitter
herbs, the distribution of the bread must have pre-
ceded, if the rites had gone on as usual, but not the
distribu'ion of the third cup. Thus it might seem
that Judas departed between the breaking of the
bread and the cup of thanksgiving. The account of
Luke, indeed, and it alone, appears to pre-suppose
the participation of Judas in the full supper of both
bread and wine. But his chronological sequence is
not exact ; for it is his purpose to mark strongly the
contradiction between the spirit and feelings of the
disciples, and the sacred meaning of the feast. Hence
the contention follows at the close, ver. 24, although
it had doubtless taken place before the washing of
the feet. But Luke Ukewise assures us that Christ
blessed the cup /j-era to Secrj/^ffa/, so that the later
declaration : " The hand of him that betrayeth Me
is with Me on the table," must be referred to an ear-
Uer moment. After the third cup nothing more waa
eaten. But if we mark Matthew's account more
carefully, we may conclude that the breaking of the
broad was deferred a little beyond the exact ritual
time. It took place after the traitor was indicated
470
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
as such, and after he had doubtless departed. Hence,
then, the glorification of the Son of Man, according to
John, in the symbolical act of the Supper, might pro-
ceed, John xiii. 31. Most of the Fathers and schoohnen
were in favor of Judas' participation: Cyprian, Jer-
ome, Augustine,* Thomas Aquinas, Calvin, f Beza, etc.
Against it were Tatian, Ammonius, Hilary,:^ etc., and
many Reformed theologians [also Nast, p. 572].
The discussion of the point cannot, without forcing,
be made theologically important in the confessional
controversies between Romanists and Protestants,
Lutherans and Reformed. Comp. Wichelhaus, 1. c,
p. 2.57.
[Ver. 21. One of you will betray Me. —
Wordsworth : " Observe how tenderly He deals with
the traitor. Before supper He washed his feet ; and
He did not say : he will betray Me, but ' one of you,''
— in order to give him an opportunity for repentance ;
and He terrifies them all, in order that He may save
one. And when He produced no effect on his insen-
sibihty by this indefinite intimation, yet, still desirous
of touching his heart. He draws the mask off from the
traitor, and endeavors to rescue him by denuncia-
tions."— Similar remarks are made by the Fathers,
Chrysostom, Jerome, and Leo M. See Catena Aurea.
—P. S.]
Ver. 22. Lord, is it I ? — See the particulars of
this scene in Com. on St. John.
Ver. '23. Into the dish. — According to John, an
allusion to Ps. xli. 10. Meyer, following de Wette:
" Yet no such plain intimation as that which, in
John xiii. 26, Jesus gave to John. For it is not
probable that the dipping took place after the ex-
pression of Jesus in ver. 21, and after the sensation
of ver. 22, but rather before, when certainly several
of the disciples had had their hand in the dish." The
last is quite doubtful. Comp. my remarks on Mark
xiv. 20. — Meyer : " What is meant here was the sop
of charoseih (noiin), which was prepared of dates,
figs, etc., and which was of a brick color (in remem-
brance of the Egyptian bricks ; Maimonides, ad Pe-
sach, 7, 11)."
Ver. 24. The Son of Man departeth.— That
is, to death.
As it is written of Him.— De Wette : " This
indicates the necessity of death or fate, after the Jew-
ish view." It rather indicates the Father's counsel
according to the knowledge of Christ.
But woe ! — De Wette calls this an imprecation,
as in eh. xviii. 6 ; confoundhig the Christian and the
heathenish spirit, as before. The expression was a
proverbial one, and very common, as Wetstein shows
by many rabbinical passages. Here, it is to be re-
membered, the man as that particular man in Ms act
is meant ; not the man in himself, as that would
tJirow an imputation upon his original creation.
[Stier : This woe is the most affecting and melting
* [.A-ugustine : "Peter and -Judiis received of the same
bread, but Peter to life, Judas to death." — P. 8.]
t [Calvin is not positive on this point. Compare his re-
marks on Luke xxii. 21 (in Tholuck's edition of Calvin's
Com. on the Harmony of the Gospels, i. p. 807) : " Idea
apwl Luoam poseitur adversaria particula, veruntamen
ecf.e manus prodenUs me mecuni ext in inensa. Msi au-
(em, peracta demum caena hoc Christi dictum Lucas subii-
cit, NO.N POTEST tamen inde certa coUigi temporis series,
quam scimu.i SjEpb ab Evangelistia negligi. Puobabile
TAME^f ESSE NON NEGo, JuDAM AFPUissE, qiium Corporis et
sanguinis siii si/mhola Chrixtus suis diatrihueret." — P. S.]
X [Hilury: "Tlie passover was concluded . . . without
Judas, for he was unvvorthy of the communion of eternal
sacraments."— P. S.]
lamentation of love, which feels the woe as much as
holiness requires or will admit. — P. S.]
Ver. 25. Thou hast said it. — Formula of affirm-
ation common among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans.
De Wette and Meyer consider this passage contra-
dictory to John xiii. 26. But it is no other than one
of those cases in which John supplements the rest.
Without doubt, Judas only at the last moment asked,
"7s it I ?" and the answer of Jesus, spoken proba-
bly with softened voice, retreated behind the excla-
mation, " What thou doesf, do quicldy ! "
Ver. 26. As they were eating, Jesus took
bread. — Not after the finished paschal feast, as Wet-
stein, Kuinoel, and Scholz suppose. Rather, as we
have seen, the breaking of the bread, and the cup of
thanksgiving, were taken from two elements in the
Passover-rite. But the act of the breaking of the
bread is brought down somewhat later; unless we
assume that it had already taken place in a prepara-
tory way, and thus was in some sense repeated.
[The Fathers refer here to the consecration of bread
and wine by Melchisedek, the priest-king, as a type
of the Eucharist (Gen. xiv. 18 sqq. ; Ps. ex. 4 ; Heb,
vii. 1-15). Bengel observes on the order eiiXn-yljaas,
iKkaji (comp. Luke xxii. 19 and 1 Cor. xi. 24, sh-
XoplTTvaas, ^KAaae) : " FREGIT post BENEDICTIONEM ;
contra transubstantiationem. Accidens enim, quale
post benedictionem panem esse ajunt, non potest
frangiP From the giving of thanks (ivxa.()\.aTi\ua-i)
and blessing (euXoyriaas) the offering, the holy com-
munion is called fuxa-pioTici. Seethe patristic
passages in Suicer's iliesaurus, sub verba. — P. S.]
Take, eat; this is My body. — This, in the
neuter (t o 0 t o). Therefore not directly 6 apros.
So, in what follows, this is not the cup, but what was
presented. Starke : " The expression : ' The bread
is the body of Christ, the wine Christ's blood,' is not
properly scriptural, but a propositio ecclesiastica ;
although it is not incorrect, rightly understood."
Against the doctrine of transubstantiation.* So, in
1 Cor. xi. it is not, " This cup is My blood." Meyer
(a Lutheran by profession) thus explains the words
of institution : " Since the whole Passover was a sym-
bolical festival of remembrance ; since, further, the
body of Jesus was still unbroken, and His blood still
unshed : none of those present at the table could
have supposed that they were doing what was impos-
sible,— that is, that they were in any sense actually
eating and drinking the body and blood of the Lord.
Again, the words spoken, according to Luke and
Paul, in connection with the cup {^) Kaiyi] SiadriK-q),
absolutely exclude the sense that the wine in the cup
was actually itself the New Covenant. For all these
reasons, eo-ri can be no other than the copula of sym-
bolical relation. 'This broken bread here which you
are to take and to eat is symbolically Mi/ body, or
the symbol of My body which is about to be offered
up. ' " So far Meyer. He then contends against the
reference of the awina to the mystical body of Christ,
the Church (a view held by fficolampadius, Schult-
hess, and Weisse). We distinguish, in conformity
with the tenor of all the ritual usages of the Old Cove-
nant, between the allegorical, the symbolical, and the
typical meamng, as they all concur in the sacrament-
al. 1. The allegorical (commonly called symbolical) :
* [Similarly Alford : "The form of expression is impor-
tant, not being oStos 6 apros, or oStos 6 ohos, but toO.
TO, in both cases, or touto -rh irorvpiov, not the bread or
wine it.self, but the thing itself in p.ach case; precluding all
idea of a substantial change." — P. 8.]
CHAT. XXVI. l'7-30.
471
The paschal lamb was an appropriate didactic figure
of the ideally sacrificed firstrbom and their deliver-
ance, a figure which at the same time signified the
deliverance of Israel : — the breaking of the bread
and the cup signify the broken body and the shed
blood of Christ. 2. The .si/mbolica! : The paschal
lamb was the symbol and assurinff sij;:i or jiledge of
the propitiatory offering up of the spiritual first-born,
the priests of Israel set apart for the people : — the
bread and the cup are the sealing signs of the re-
deeming propitiation which was accomplished by
Christ in Eis perfect high-priestly sacrifice, which
was changed from a sin-offering of death into a
thank-offering of life. 3. The typical : The feast of
the Passover was a prophecy in act ; that is, the me-
dium and the sign of the future of the suffering and
triumphing Christ : — the bread and the cup are the
type ; they are the media of the spiritual transforma-
tion of believers through fellowship mth the glorified
Chiist. Thus, didactic spiritual enlightenment, a
sealed covenant redemption, and real participation
in the glorified Christ, are the three elements which
make the Supper a mysterious seal or sacrament of
finished salvation. According to Meyer, the Luther-
ans and the Roman Catholics agree in the excgetical
interpretation of e o- t i , since both take the word as
the copula of actual being. He thinks they only
difier in their dogmatic definition of the manner of
the being. Similarly there is an exegetical agree-
ment and a dogmatic disagreement between Zwingli
and Calvin, who both take the e o-ti as a symbolical
copula. But doctrine goes back to exegesis. The
e (T T 1 of the Romanists means in fact : " it has become
in a hidden manner ; " that of the Lutherans : " it is
in a certain sense and partially ; " that of Zwingli :
" it is in an exclusively spiritual sense ; " that of Cal-
vin : " it is in a concrete, spiritual-real manner." On
the allegorical and symbolical occurrence of e o- t i
(which, however, was not spoken in Aramaic), see
Exod. xii. 11 ; John xv. 1 ; Luke vii. 1 ; Gal. iv. 24 ;
Heb. X. 20.
[De Wctte, Meyer, Alford, and others agree with
Lange that the verb is was not spoken in the origi-
nal Aramaic (^5D'r!!3 Nfl or ''lUJS). Alford, whose
lengthy explanation of the words of institution does
not seem to me very clear, infers from this probable
omission that the much controverted i<T ri should
not be urged at all. "In the original tongue in
which the Lord spoke, it viould not be expressed ; and
as it now stands, it is merely the logical copula be-
tween the subject this and the predicate My body."
But the verb is in the Greek text, and has to be dis-
posed of in some way. De Wette thinks that f rrn'
may be real (Luther), or symbolical = significat
(Zwingli) ; but that here the latter alone is admissible
in view of the symbolical character of the whole dis-
course and action, and in view of the impossibility
of Christ's real living body being then offered to the
disciples as food. He refers to Luke xii. 1 ; Heb. x.
20; Gal. iv. 24; John xiv. 6; xv. 1, .5, etc., as in-
stances of this s}Tnbolical meaning cf inrl. A very
large number of other passages have been quoted
over and over again in the various stages of the sac-
ramental controversy, by Ratramnus, Bcrengarius,
Zwingli, Schulz, and others, in favor of the figura-
tive interpretation. It is an acknowledged law of
thought and language that the copula never really
identifies two things essentially diSerent, but brings
simply the subject and predicate into a relation, the
exact nature of which depends upon the nature of
the subject and predicate. This relation may be real
or symbolical, may be full or partial identity, or mere
resemblance. But it is perhaps more correct to say,
that the figure in these cases does not lie, as is usual-
ly assumed, in the auxiliary verb {((rrl), but, as CEco-
lampadius suggested, and as Maldonatus maintains in
his lengtliy exposition of Matt. xxvi. 26 (though ho
denies the figure in this case), either in the subject,
or more usually in the ])rcdleate. If I say of a pic-
ture : " This is Martin Luther," I mean to say : This is
(really and truly) a picture of Martin Luther, or the
man which this picture represents is M. L. If I say :
" The dove is the Holy Spirit," I mean to identify the
dove with the Holy Spirit only in a symbolical or
figurative sense. In both these cases the figure
lies in the subject. But if I say : " Peter, thou art
rock," or "Christ is the rock, the lamb, the door,
the bread, the vine," etc., etc., the figure Ues in the
predicate, and I mean to convey the idea that Christ
is really all this, not in a literal and physical, but in
a higher spiritual sense, the rock of ages, the lamb
of God, the bread of eternal life. As to the words
of institution, already TertuUian explained them by
circumscribing : hoc est figura corporis mei, but he
also uses the term reprcesentat for est {Adv. Marc. i.
14; iii. 19; iv. 40). That there is some^/m;^ figura-
tive in the words of the Saviour, is conclusively evi-
dent from the text according to St. Luke and St.
Paul : Tof'To jh TT 0 r 71 p t o p (not : ovroi 6 oIa'os) ri
Kaivri StadnK-q iaTlf iv tqJ (fxcc al/uart, where the cup
is used for the wine, — a clear ease of a synecdoche
confinentis pro contento, — and the covenant for the
blood. Maldonatus, the Jesuit commentator, to get
rid of this difficulty, boldly declares that Christ never
spoke these words (" Nego Christum hcec verba dix-
isse," etc.) ; but this does not help the case, since
the inspired Luke and Paul must certainly be regard-
ed as authentic expounders of the Saviour's meaning,
and Paul moreover expressly declares that he derived
his account of the institution of tlie holy supper di-
rectly from the Lord. We sec then that even the
Romish interpretation, which otherwise is the most
consistently literal, cannot be carried out exegetically,
much less philosophically, and in order to maintain
the thesis, that the bread is no bread at all as to
substance, but the real body of Christ and nothing
else, it must contradict the laws of reason, the testi-
mony of the senses (the eyes, the smell, the taste),
the declaration of Paul, who calls the eucharistic bread
still bread, even after the consecration (1 Cor. x. 16 ;
xi. 26, 2Y, 28), and must overthrow the true nature
of the sacrament by destroying the natural elements.
But the figurative exposition of the words of institu-
tion does by no means force us to stop with that
sober, jejune, common-sense view of the Lord's Sup-
per, which regards it as a purely commemorative or-
dinance; it is perfectly consistent with the deeper
view that it is at the same time tlie feast of a vital
union of the soul with the whole person of the Sa-
viour, and a renewed appfieation of all the benefits of
Ills atoning sacrifice, so significantly exhibited and
offered in tliis holy ordinance. Sec the further Exeg.
JVotes, and the Doctrinal Thoughts below. — P. S.]
Eat. — Meyer : Eating and drinking are the sym-
bol of the spiritual appropriation of the saving virtue
of the sacrifice of Christ in His crucifixion and blood-
shedding (comp. Paul : to vnip v,uwv), in living and
saving faith (comp. John vi. 51 sqq.); so that this
symbolical participation of the elements represents a
spiritual, living, and vivifying icdivu.'via with the body
and blood (1 Cor. x. 16). De Wette (after Olshau-
sen) : " We must not suppose that Jesus Himself ate
472
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
of this bread ; He imparted simply, but did not re-
ceive." This is contrary to tlie profound meaning
of communion (symbolized by the shew-bread), which
is also communion with the Lord. Just because the
dying Saviour Himself partook of the bread and wine,
He imparted to these elements their unique signifi-
cance. It is true, however, that at the words and
during the act of distribution the disciples alone re-
ceived the bread and the wine. Starke : " Some of
the Fathers (Jerome, Augustine) held the opinion
that Jesus ate and drank; hence they said that He
was sui ipsius ho.ipes. But, if we yield this at all,
we must quaUfy it by saying that it was not a comes-
iio sacramcntalis, but a p7-a;ffusla(io and prwhibiUo
eomec7-atoriay De Wette : " With au/xa there is
wanting the necessary rl inrep v/xojf OLSi'inevov of
Luke, or the K\(aaevov of Paul (which, perhaps, is
still bitter supported), in order that not a substance,
but a fact, might be indicated." We say rather a
.substance in action. The words of Luke : " Do this
in remembrance of Me," were derived from the nature
of the institution, and remained in the remembrance
of the Cliurch ; among the Jewish Christians, for
whom Matthew wrote, the words might have been
omitted the more easily, because they still celebrated
the Passover.
Ver. 27. And He took the cup.— The article
is doubtful. But it is defined, not only by Luke and
Paul, but also by Matthew, as the well-known cup in
connection with or after the meal, which could only
be the third, — as is proved also by the mention of
the communion cup as the cup of thanksgiving in 1
Cor. X. 16, which corresponds with the name of the
third cup in the Jewish Passover. Meyer, on the
contrary, asks : "Where would then have been the
fourth cup, over which the second part of the Hallel
was sung ? " And he thinks it improbable that Je-
sus, after the cr.p of symbolical significance, would
have added another cup without any such signifi-
cance, also that ver. 29 excludes any additional cup.
But the fourth cup marked the conclusion of the
whole feast, and as such needed no particular men-
tion. Moreover, it had no special reference to the
paschal lamb, as Maimonides testifies (Lightfoot) :
Deinde miscei poculum quarium, et super illud per-
Jicit Hallel, addiique insuper benedictionem Caniici,
quod est: '■'■ Laudent te, domine, omnia opera iua,'"
etc., et dicit: '^ Benedicfzts sit, qui creavit frudum
viiis" — ctposfea non qnidquamgustat ilia node.
[Drink all ye of it. — The tt a r/ t e ?, which
stands in connection with the drinking of the cup,
but not with the eating of the bread, supplies a strong
argument against the withdrawal of the cup from the
laity ; for the disciples represent here the mauj!, ver.
28, or the whole church of the redeemed, and not the
ministry alone. The same may be said of the words
of the Saviour: dadKn eac -nivriTe, according to the
report of St. Paul. Bengel : " Si una spjccies svffi-
ceret, bibendum esset potins. Etiaml Cor.xv. 25 to
QUOTiES in poeuli meniione ponitnr. Lncuta sic est
Scriptura, pr^videns {Gal. Hi. 8) quid Roma esset
factura." Still stronger, Calvin : " Cur de jmne
simpliciter dixit ui ederent, de calico, ut omnes bibt-
rent ? Ac si Satance calliditati ex destinato occurrere
voluisset." Maldonatus, who dwells with undue length
on this section to prove the Romish dogma of traii-
eubstantiation, notices the objection of Calvin, but dis-
poses of it in a lame and sophistical manner. — P. S.]
Ver. 28. This is My blood.— That is, the wine.
Meyer : " The sj-mbol does not lie, as Wetstein and
others think, m the (red) color, but in the being
poured out." But also, we add, in the nature of
wine, the noble blood of the grape (see John xv. 1 ;
Gen. xlix. 11, 12). — The blood of the covenant.
Body and blood are something like counterpart
terras, but they are not precisely parallels : else we
would read : " This is My flesh ; — tliis is My blood "
(John vi. 53). It is usual to pay regard to the par-
allel terms as such ; but to forget the sequence oi the
two expressions. The body signifies the whole, as
the broken and dying outer life ; the blood then sig-
nifies the whole as the inner life (the principle of the
soul) poured out in sacrifice to God, by Him given
back to the Redeemer for the world. The idea that
the blood was to be drunk, is intelligible only when
it is regarded as the new life received by God and
given back to the offerers, that is, as the wine of the
New Covenant. The Jews were not allowed to eat
the flesh of a bunit-offering : the priests alone ate
of the sin-ofTeiing ; the laity of the thank-offerings.
But the sacrifiml blood, which belonged to God, it
was permitted to none to drink. So far was this car-
ried, that the eating of blood in any form was abso-
lutely forbidden. And now Christ gives to His peo-
ple His blood to drink. That cannot mean as the
blood yet to be offered to God ; but as the blood of
the new risen life, which, having been poured out for
many for the forgiveness of sins, was accepted of
God and given back to the New Covenant High Priest
and to His Church. In the distribution of the body,
the act of death is ideally presupposed, as the fulfilled
and perfected expiation; and so, in the distribution
of the blood, the act of reconciliation. But the con-
summate and sealed reconciliation is connected rather
with the resurrection of Christ and its influence.
And this is the predominant element in the sacrametit
of the Lord's Supper. Baptism represents fellowship
with the wliole Christ, fellowship with both His
death and His resurrection; yet with special em-
phasis upon the death. The Lord's Supper, again,
signifies fellowship v;ith the whole Christ ; yet with
special emphasis upon the resurrection. Hence the
cup is the chiff thing in the Eucharist ; and a com-
munion in bread alone (as in the Roman Church)
bears too much resemblance to a new baptism.
The blood of the (new) cov8nant.-ri-2n Cr,
Exod. xxiv. 8. Meyer : " My blood, serving for the
establishment of a covenant with God." Rather,
"My blood which ratifies and seals the covenant al-
ready established." For the covenant is in Exod.
xxiv. supposed to have been entered into when the
lamb was slain ; and hence the offering of bumt-
ofierings and thank-offerings. The blood of the
thank-offering is now in part, poured out upon the
altar, and in part sprinkled upon the people. Here
first enters in the idea of a sacrificial blood which
Jehovah gives back to the offering people — the es-
sential germ of the sacramental participation of the
blood in the Lord's Supper. This blood serves also
unto purification, according to Heb. ix. 14. But this
purification is no longer the negative expiation, which
abohshes the sin of the old hfe ; it is the sanctifica-
tion which completes positively the new life. The
ordinary symbol of purification was water, though not
without the addition of blood (Lev. xiv. 6). The
higher purification was the sprinkling with blood
(the idea of the baptism of blood was the consummar
tion of life in the ancient Church). This cleansing
is not merely the removal of the impure, but also the
positive communication of a new life, which cannot
be lost. Hence, in the Old Testament, the sprink-
ling of blood was followed by eating and drinking on
CHAP. XXVI. 17-30.
473
the part of Moses and the priests and the elders upon
the Mount of God : Esod. xxiv. 11, — a very manifest
type of the Xcw Testament.
Which is shed (or : being shed) for many
(to X e pi TTo \ \ uv i Kxw 6 fxevo v). — Present
tense. [Compare the addition to o-oJua in Lulce :
rh vrrep vu&f SioSaevoi', which it beinr/ ffiven.'] The
sacrifice is already virtually accomplished, and the
future act reaUzed in the Lord's first Supper. Hence,
this eternal ideal presence of the atoning death is
continued throughout all ages in the sacrament, be-
cause the ofFering was presented in the Eternal Spirit ;
but the Romish repetition of the sacrifice reduces the
great atonement to a mere act of the past, a tempo-
rary event, however significant in its bearings and
effects. Matthew writes ir e p / , Luke vvep. While
these prepositions are often interchanged, vtt ep is
the more definite expression. Matthew, however,
adds the explanation, e t j acp^ff iv\ and therefore,
in accordance with bibHcal typology, only an expia-
tory offering can be meant, yet at the same time an
expiatory offering wliich is transformed by the grace
of the reconciled God into a thank-offering. For the
blood of the sin-offering as such belonged to God
alone. The objective sprinkling of the blood, and
the subjective act of faith, are both supposed.
Ver. 20. I will not drink henceforth. — Meyer
refers this to the four;h cup as the eucharistic
cup ; * but it seems rather to intimate that this
fourth cup was drunlc, as usual, in addition (after the
eucharistic iTnTv.pLov ttj? euAoyi'as), at the close of
the feast, as the thanksgiving for the blessing of the
wine. Hence the expression, "_/>(«< q/'^Ae t^jwe." At
the same time, Christ marks this moment as His per-
fected renunciation of all things : His enjoyment
of all things in this world had come to its end.
It was the last cup of this world. Hence He con-
secrates this sad moment as the anticipatory fes-
tival of a common enjoyment in the world of glory.
Bengel : Novitatem dicit plane singularem. Kuin-
oel : The expression is figurative, signifying the
highest happiness. The new wine of the glorified
world, or of the kingdom of heaven, is a symbol
of the future festal blessedness of the heavenly world,
even as that earthly cup (especially the fourth one)
was a srabol of the festal enjoyment of the spiritual
Ufe in this divinely created world.
[Tliis verse implies that the Lord's Supper has
not only a commemorative and retrospective, but
also a prophetic and prospective meaning. It not
only carries us back to the time of the crucifixion,
strengthening our vital union with the Redeem-
er, and conveying to us anew, by the power of the
Holy Spirit, through faith, all the blessings of His
atoning sacrifice ; but it is also a foretaste and antici-
pation of the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb
which He has prepared for his Church at His last ad-
vent, when all eucharistic controversies will cease
forever, and give place to perfect vision and fruition
in harmony and peace. — P. S.]
Ver. 30. And when they had sung the
hymn of praise, vavvravris . — The second part
of the Hallel, Ps. cxv.-cxviii.
* [The Edinb. trsl. reads: '•Meyer thinks this excludes
the fourth oiip;" and thus attributes to lira the very oppo-
Bite ();hiion. Comp. note ou ver. 'J7, ami .Meyer's Com. on
Matt. p. .^Ui) (4th ed.): "oxi ov /x?) ttiV', dabs ich ce-
•WlSSLICn .SICUT TKINKEX WEKDE. Die.'<8 sstzt . . . vordux,
dims ei der letzte [the fourth], nicht der rorletzie [the
third] Becker des Mahles war, xoelchen er V. 27 / gegeben
hatte. . . . Kh war der %cBX,vs%becher, bei desxen Geriuss
d«r ziceite Tlieil des IlnUel genungen wurde."—^. S.]
To the Mount of Olives : that is, to Geth-
scmane, ver. 3(5. Meyer : The tradition, that people
were obliged to spend this night in Jerusalem (Light-
foot), seems not to have had a universal application.
But ancient Jerusalem extended as far as the eastern
decHvity of the mount. And it is at least remarka-
ble, in relation to this tradition, that Jesus did not
go to Bethany.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The relations between the typical and the real
salvation by judgment, between the typical and the
real redemption, the typical and the real Passover,
the typical and real covenant institution, the typical
and real feast of the covenant (Exod. xxiv. 3-11).
On the significance of the Passover, compare also the
typological writings of Biihr, Kurtz, Sartorius, [Fair-
bairn], etc.
2. The Woe Pronounced on Judas. — It were bet-
ter for him that he had never been bom. This is
held, and rightly so, to prove the perdition of the
traitor. But when his endless perdition is estabUshed
by this text, and the words are taken literally, ortho-
doxy must take care lest the consequence be deduced,
that it would have been better for all the condemned
generally never to have been l)orn, and evil inferences
be drawn as to their creation. But our Lord's ex-
pression cuts off such abstract discussions ; it says
only that it were better that he, o ai'dpanro^ iKuvos,
had never been born. This may be said of every
sinner generally, inasmuch as his sin is the beginning
of eternal death ; but it held good especially, and in
an immeasurably heightened sense, in the case of the
traitor. We should feel and reahze the full force of
this most fearful word ; yet witliout overstraining it,
remembering that it is no Jinal judicial sentence, but
a burning expression ratlier of infinite pity.
3. That the first holy communion was at the same
time an institution of the ordinance for His perpetual
commemoration, is n:anifest from the express declar-
ation of the Lord in Luke, from the account given by
all the Evangelists, and from the testimony of the
Church.
4. And it appears, further, from the particulars
of the first supper, that it could not have been cele-
brated according to the Catholic, the Lutheran, or
the Reformed doctrine; but that it was celebrated
rather as an annunciation of the saving death of Jesus.
It was the reconciliation of the disciples with the
death of reconcihation ; and, as Dietlein says (1857),
a confession in the form of action, and not of doc-
trinal teaching. The development of the doctrine of
the sacrament, however, became an ecclesiastical ne-
cessity, although by no means the confusion of Chris-
tian disputants about the doctrine. On the dogmatic
question we must refer to the doctrinal histories gen-
erally, and to the monographs of Eljrard on the Re-
formed side (1845), of Kahnis on the Lutheran (1851),
and also of Dieckhoff (1854).*
Meyer, p. 443, f sums up the views of Ebrard and
Kahnis witli the remark : " It would be easy on the
* [Comp. also the able work of Dr. L W. Nevin: The
MtjHtical Presence, Philadelphia, 184G (a defence of tlie Oal-
vinistii! theory with some luodifleation), together with Dr.
Ch. Hodge's review of it in the Princeton Review for 18-18
(from the Zwinglian stand-point), and Dr. Nevin's defence
in the Mercersburg lieview for 1849. — P. 8.]
.t [In the third edition of his Commentary, to which Dr.
Lange ;dways refers. In the fourth edition of 185S it is p.
499.— P. S.]
474
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
way which is supposed to lead to the Lutheran theory,
to arrive at the dogma of transubstantiation, because
both theories rest on doctrinal premises to whicli tlic
exegetical operation is made to conform." The dif-
ferent interpretations of the various evangelical con-
fessions are not iKrissarily contradictory and exclu-
sive, but may, with certain modifications, be reconciled
under a higlicr theory. Comp. my Positive Dogmatik,
p. 1144. The Piti'ormed divines will always insist on
the allegorical and symbolical interpretation of the
words of institution as a proper starting point (comp.
Martensen, ^ 262) ; while the Lutherans, on the other
hand, will maintain that the holy communion is not
only the sign and seal of the negative abohtion of the
guilt of sin by the death of Christ, but also a posi-
tive celebration and communication of the new hfe
of Christ, as also the symbolical anticipation and
typical foundation of the final glorification of the
spiritual Hfe of behevers.*
[Dr. Lange refers here, without naming it, to
Martexsen's ChrhstUche Bogmatik (German transla-
lation from the Danish, 2d ed. Kiel, 1853, § 262,
p. 491), where this distinguished Lutheran divine of
Denmark concedes the relative truth of ZwinglVs
symbohcal interpretation, but combines with it the
Lutheran, at least as to its substance, concerning the
actual fruition of Christ. As this interesting work is
not accessible to the EngUsh reader, as far as I
know, I will translate the passage in full : " The
Romish doctrme of fansubstantiation resolves the
natural elements into an empty show, and violates
the order of nature in order to glorify the order of
grace. Against this the xohole Evangehcal Church
protests, and maintains the natural identity of the
sensual signs. 'Bread is bread, and wine is wine,'
both are symbols only (nur Sinnhild) of the body and
blood of Christ. In this sense, as a rejection of
transubstantiation, the entire Evangelical Church
owns and adopts Zwingli's interpretation : ' this sig-
nifies ' [dies bedeutet). And in this church-historical
connection Zwingli's sober common-sense view ac-
quires a greater importance than Lutheran divines
are generally disposed to accord to it. Zwingli him-
self almost stopped with this negative protest ; while
Luther held fast to the real presence of the Lcrd
(comp. Conf. Aug. art. x.), but a presence which is
veiled and hid under the natural signs, and communi-
cates the heavenly gifts of grace in, with, and under
the same. Calvin sought out a medium path between
Zwingli and Luther, but his theory of the real pres-
ence represents a one-sidedness the very opposite to
that of the doctrine of transubstantiation [?], by
separating dualistically what Romanism mixes and
confounds." — P. S.]
[In this connection it may be proper to refer to a
recent controversy, as far as it bears on the exegeti-
cal aspect of the eucharistic question, among Luther-
an divines. Dr. C. Fe. Aug. Kahxis, who is quoted
above by Meyer and Lange as the chief modern cham-
pion of the Lutheran doctrine of the eucharist,f as
Ebrard is of the Calvinistic,| has recently changed
his view on the exposition of the words of institution,
and thus superseded the lengthy note of Meyer ( Com.
* [The Edinb. trsl. omits the greater part of the original,
sub N,.. 4.-P. S.]
+ [See his Lehi'e vom Aiendmahle, Leipzig, 1851, p. 472.
—P. S.]
t [In an elaborate History of the Dogma of the Lord's
Supper, in 2 vols., Frank!'. 1845-"46, also in his Dogmatics,
and in a re\iew of Dr. Nkvin's Mystical Presence in Uil-
mann"8 atuditn und Kritiken, but I do not remember for
which year, probably 1S50.— P. S.]
on Matthew, p. 498 sq. 4th ed.) above quoted in part by
Dr. Lunge. In his recent work on didactic theology,*
he gives up the literal interpretation of the eari, to
which Luther always resorted as the strongest bul-
wark for liis theory of the real corporeal presence of
Christ in the sacramental elements {in, cum et sub
pane et vino). I will translate the exegetical results
(without the arguments) at which Kahnis arrives in
the first volume of his Dogmeiiics: " Where such diffi-
culties are to be overcome, it is well to proceed from
principles which command assent. 1. It is beyond a
doubt that the sentence : ' The bread is the body,
the wine is the blood of Jesus,' taken hterally, is logi-
cally an impossibiUty. . . . Bread and body are hetero-
geneous conceptions which can no more be identified
as subject and predicate than : Hegel is Napoleon, or,
this wood is iron. ... 2. It is beyond controversy
that the sentence : ' This is my body,' may be figura-
tive (metaphorical). The Scriptures contain innumer-
able figurative sentences. . . . S. The words of insti-
tution say plainly that the body of Christ is here
spoken of as the one which was lo )>e ofiered up in
death. ... If bread and v.-iae are the subject, then
the literal interpretation must be given up, and to this
we are forced even by the sentence : ' This cup is the
new covenant in my blood,' which . . . must mean :
This cup is a sign of the new covenant. . . ." Dr.
Kahnis then goes on to prove that the Lord's Supper
is not a mere memorial, but also a feast of the Ufa
union of behevers with the whole Christ, etc., but
adds expressly, that Christ can only be received in a
spiritual manner (not by oral munducation), i. e., by
faith. In his self-defence against Dr. Hengstenberg
(Zevgniss von den G rundwo.hr heiten des Protestantis-
mus, etc., Leipzig, 18G2, p. 26 sqq.) he discusses
the question again, and arrives at the conclusion
(p. 28) that "the Lutheran interpretation of the
words of imtiiution must be given up," but that this
matter aifects only the Lutheran theology, not the
Lutheran /a<7/i, which he thinks is substantially right,
though resting on an untenable exegetical basis. He
also expresses his conviction (p. 29) that there is a
possibihty of a higher union and reconciliation of the
Lutheran and Reformed doctrine on the eucharist.
Dr. Francis Delitzsch, of Erlangen, another promi-
nent divine and Biblical scholar of the strict Lutheran
type, in his pamphlet : FiXr und wider Kahnis, Leip-
zig, 1863, p. 28, thus speaks of his friend's recent
change on this particular point : " In the doctrine of
the Lord's Supper, Kahnis has no intention of giving
up the Lutheran dogma, he only thinks it necessary
to drop the Lutheran exposition of the words of in-
stitution. He admits, indeed, that in themselves con-
sidered, they may be understood synecdoehically, as it
may be said of the dove which descended at the bap-
tism of John : ' This dove is the Holy Spirit ; ' but
he regards this synecdochical relation inappUcable in
this case on account of the words of Luke and Paul:
toCto Th TTOTvp^ov rj KaiuT] iiaOvKt}. We think, on the
contrary, that these words confirm the Lutheran exe-
gesis ; for they present evidently a synecdoche coriti-
nerdis pro cordento : the cup is the New Testament in
Jesus' blood, because it contains and exhibits this
very blood of the Testament which is the ground,
bond, and seal of the New Covenant. As Kahnis does
not mean to discredit, but rather to save the Luther-
an dogma, we may hope that he may find out at last
that the words of institution which have become un-
' [Lutherische Dogmatik, vol. i. Leipzig, ISCl, p. CIC i
-P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 17-30.
475
certain and unsettled to his mind, still stand fast, and
that his new doctrine of the Lord's Supper is only a
shadow, not the substance, of the Lutheran dogma."
Dr. Ebrard, on the other hand, a distinguished cham-
pion of the Rfformed Confession, in the second edi-
tion of his Christlkhe Dogmallk, Konigsberg, 1863,
vol. ii. p. 638, expresses his satisfaction that Kahnis
has come over, as he thinks, to his own view on the
Lord's Supper, which he formerly opposed, but cen-
sures him rather severely for not giving him credit
for indebtedness to his (Ebrard's) argument. Dr.
Kahnis will take care of his originality. But we
firmly believe that the Lutheran and Reformed views
can be essentially reconciled, if subordinate differ-
ences and scholastic subtleties are yielded, and that
the chief elements of reconciliation are already at
hand in the Melanchthouian-Calvinistic theory. The
Lord's Supper is : 1. A commemorative ordinance, a
memorial of Christ's atoning death. (This is the
truth of the ZwingUan view which no one can deny in
the face of the words of the Saviour : Bo this in re-
membrance of Me'). 2. A feast of living union of be-
lievers with the Saviour, whereby we truly, though
spiritually, receive Christ w^ith all His benefits and are
nourished by His life unto life eternal. (This was
the substance for which Luther contended against
Zwingli, and which Calvin retained, though in a dif-
ferent scientific form, and in a sense confined to be-
lievers.) 3. A communion of believers with one
another as members of the same mystical body of
Christ. 8ee below. No. 9.— P. S.]
5. The Lord's Supper is not a saerifive., but a fes-
tal thank-offering. Hence the name Eucharist., which
connects itself with the cup of thanksgiving. Gregory
the Great was the first w!io changed the idea of the
New Testament thank-offering into that of a sin-
offering; and those evangelical theologians who are
anxious to establish in the Supper a continued propi-
tiation, have already passed the Rubicon between the
Evangelical Confession and Romanism.
6. Meat and drink ; bread and wine : type of the
whole nourishment and invigoration of life, the spir-
itual life being also presented under this twofold aspect
in Scripture (Ps. xxiii., green pastures or meadows,
and fresh waters). The Lord's Supper embraces both
in one : it is the sacrament of the glorification of the
new Ufe derived from the bloody fountain of the aton-
ing death of Jesus.
T. The materia terrestria and ccelestis in t'ne
Eucharist. Its reUgious and moral influence. Either
salvation or condemnation.
8. For the history of tlie rites of the Lord's Sup-
per, see the works on church history and archaeology.
The Church passed over from the use of unleavened
to the use of leavened bread. Contentions arose, in
consequence, between tlie Eastern and the Western
Churches. Other differences concerning the kind of
bread, the use and withdrawal of the wine, the pos-
ture (kneeling, standing, sitting) of the communicants,
etc.
[9. It is a sad reflection, that the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper, this feast of the unto rnystica and corn-
munio sanctorum, whieli should bind all pious hearts
to Christ and each other, and fill them with the holi-
est and tenderest aflections, has been the innocent
occasion of the bitterest and most violent passions,
and the most uncharitable abuse. The eucharistic
controversies, before and after the Reformation, are
among the most unrefreshing and apparently fruit-
less in church history. Theologians will have much
to answer at the judgment-day, for having perverted
the sacred feast of Divine love into an apple of dis-
cord. No wonder that Melanchthon's last wish and
prayer was, to be di-livered from the 7-abies thenlogorum.
Fortunately, the blessing of the holy Communion does
not depend upon the scientific interpretation and un-
derstanding of the words of institution — however de-
sirable this may be — but upon the promise of the
Lord, and upon cliildlike faith which receives it,
thougli it may not fully understand the mystery of the
ordinance. Christians celebrated it with most devo-
tion and profit before they contended about the true
meaning of tliose words, and obscured their vision by
all sorts of scholastic theories and speculations. For-
tunately, even now Christians of different denomina-
tions, and holding difl'erent opinions, can unite around
the table of their common Lord and Saviour, and feel
one with Him and in Him who died for tliem all, and
feeds them with His lite once sacrificed on the cross,
but now hving for ever. Let them hold fast to what
they agree in, and charitably judge of their differ-
ences; looking hopefully forward to the marriage-
supper of the Lamb in the kingdom of glory, when
we shall understand and adore, in perfect harmony,
tlie infinite mystery of the love of God in His Son
our Saviour. — P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The Passover and the Lord's Supper. — Both in
their relation to circumcision and baptism. — The
question of the disciples, li'^ere loilt Thou, etc. (ver.
17)? an expression of their feeUngs and state: 1. Of
their legal anxiety ; 2. of their painful embarrassment
and sad presentiments ; 3. of their want of decision.
— The disciples htlped forward the doom of their
Master: 1. unconsciously, and yet 2. inevitably. —
(a) as instruments of the Lord, and {b) as representa-
tives of mankind. — The Lord's silent guests. — The
secret friends of God in all times concealed in Jeru-
salem, ready at the critical moment to do the Lord
service (the friend at Bcthphage, the friend in Jeru-
salem, Joseph of Arimalhea, and Nicodemus). — When
it was evening (ver. 20) : the supper in the Egyptian
night of fear, and in that of Mount Zion. — The feel-
ings with which the Lord celebrates the institution
of the Supper, in presence of the traitor: 1. The
moral horror which shook His whole being ; 2. the
stern solemnity which amazed all the disciples ; 3. the
compassion which revealed itself in the severest self-
denial : 4. a boldness of love wKich established the
feast of heaven in spite of all the murmurs of hell. —
The traitor amidst the preparations of the Passover ;
or, how hardness of heart ripens under the midday
sun of tender love. — The deportment of the Lord
toward the traitor, an everlasting type of all true
ecclesiastical discipline : a holy frame of mind, a
penetrating eye, a general, all-comprehensive judg-
ment.— One of you {VQT. 21). — The important ques-
tion. Is it I? a question of preparation for the sacra-
ment.— The decisive conflict at the table of grace, or
the most quiet and the greatest victory of the Lord
{see my Lebenjesu, ii. 3, p. 1327). — Judas, master of
hypocritical dissimulation, unmasked by the Master
of divine simplicity. 1. The points of development
in his hypocrisy : — («) his receiving the bag, and de-
ceiving the disciples ; (6) the pretence of care for the
poor ; (c) the question. Is it I? (d) the kiss. 2. His
detection m its corresponding points of interest. —
The institution of the Supper an expression of tlm
Lord's supreme certainty of victory before His final
476
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
conflict. — How the Lord transfused the Old Testa-
ment into the New: 1. In all its parts generally;
2. in the institution of the Eucharist especially. —
Christ present at the first supper, and present at all
others: I. Always present, because present the first
time. He alone can distribute, interpret, and make
it cifeetual. 2. Always present, as present the first
time. Distinguished from the sacranient ; presenting
Himself in it, — The bread and the wine in their in-
separable unity: 1. With each other: the broken
body, the expiating blood ; 2. one after the other :
the assurance of reconciliation, the new life. — The
Eucharist, the great feast of the Church : 1 . A true
feast (for the nourishment of the spiritual hfe) ; 2. a
eacred feast (separating from all sinful enjoyment) ;
8. a covenant feast (sealing redemption) ; 4. a love
feast (uniting the redeemed) ; 5. a supper feast (fore-
festival of death, of the end of the world, of the com-
ing of Christ). — The Lord's Supper a glance of light
into the new world of glory in the shadows of the
present world : L A sure pledge that the old world
is perishing as Christ's body was broken ; 2. a sure
pledge that the new world will appear penetrated by
the eternal resurrection life of Christ. — And when
they had sung a hymn (ver. 30). — The Christian en-
ters upon his final conflict strengthened by the Sap-
per: 1. Upon the deciding conflict of youth (over the
brook Kedron); 2. upon the repeated conflicts of
adult life (Gcthseniane) ; 3. upon the final conflict of
death (imprisoinnent .and Calvary). — Judas the infi-
nitely dark riddle of Christianity ; Christ its eternally
bright mystery. — The Lord's household company the
figure and the gei-m of the Church.
Slarke :—Nov. Bibl. Tub. : Out of the depths of
the humiliation of Jesus stream forth the brightest
rays of His Divine omniscience, and power over the
human heart. — Happy he into whose heart Jesus
comes ! 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. — Hcdinger : Is it marvellous
that there should have been a wicked one, and a
hypocrite, among the disciples ? — We may publicly
speak of prevaiUng sins, but should not mention the
sinner by name. — Cramer: Many have enemies and
traitors frequenting their tables. — Osiander : Fore-
knowledge and prediction do not make sinners sin,
1 Cor. xi. 27. — Quesnel: The communion of the body
and blood of Christ a pledge of the fellowship of
Heaven. — In the worthy participation our hope of
perfect enjoyment of the transcendent blessings of the
kingdom of glory is strengthened. — The Lord's Sup-
per is a sacrament which must abide in the Church
until the Lord comes.
Lisco : — In the glorified world a glorified feast.
Heubner: — Jesus was subject to the law, ob-
served all the feasts as a peifeet Israelite ; thus ap-
proving Himself a true lover of His Church and His
countr}'. — To Him must all hearts and all doors fly
open. — Love deals forbearingly with the greatest sin-
ners.— The anxiety of the disciples a joy to Jesu.«. —
The saints are always troubled lest sin should be lying
hidden in their hearts. — The fact that all questioned,
shows that they did not suspect Judas ; they were
deceived in him. — It was not with Judas as Terence
says, eriibuit, salvus ext. — Where shame is, there is
not yet full perdition. — The earthly supper a type and
pledge of the heavenly. — Heaven an eternal feast of
love and friendship. — Christ sang with his disciples ;
thus He sanctified Church psalmody.
i^. W. Krummacher ( 2'hc Suffering Saviour) : —
The institution of the Lord's Supper. — The doctrine
of the Lord's Supper. — Judas Iscariot the New Tes-
tament Achitophel. — Ahlfcld : Tho Lord's Supper
the means of grace, through which J.sus nmLes His
abode in Hij Church and in us. Mauuday Thursday.
— Harless: The true guests at the Lord's table. —
Kern : The holy Supper a Supper of the New Cove-
nant— A. Kna,pp: The Lord's Supper the holy of
hohes in the new dispensation.
[Quesnel: — (on ver. 17.) See here the extreme
poverty of Christ, who had no house of His own on
earth ! He v.'ho would fain settle himself here, as in
his native country, is not His disciple.— (Ver. 20.)
The Son of God, in this last assembly, which contains
an abridgment, as it were, of the whole church, shows
us the mixture of the good, the weak, and the wick-
ed, who are all united in the participation of the
same sacraments [? this depends upon the unsettled
question of the presence of Judas at the institution of
the Lord's Supper].^Ver. 21.) Prudence and charity
require that we should use the greatest sinners ten-
derly to the last ; admonishing without discovering
them. — When a lieart is once hardened, it has no
longer any ears to hearken to admonitions. It is the
property of hardness df heart to make us, like Judas,
deaf, obdurate, and insensible, without perceiving that
we are so. — (Ver. 26.) Holy and adorable words!
which contain the establishment of the Christian wor-
ship, the institution of the new law, the contract of
the true covenant, the testament of a dying lather, a
commandment of the greatest importance, the foun-
dation ol' a true religion, the substitution of reality in
the room of shadows, and the end of all types and
figures. — (Ver. 30.) A communion-day is a day en-
tirely set apart for thanksgiving, adoration, and
hymns of joy, which are to be the beginning of the
hymns and anthems of eternity. — JBdrkitt : — On
Judas : 1. His character : a professor of religion, a
preacher, an apostle, one of the twelve ; 2. his crime:
he betrayed Jesus, a man, his master, his maker;
3. the cause and occasion : covetousness, the root sin,
[add 4. his sad repentance (the worldly sorrow lead-
ing to death, contrasted with the godly sorrow of
Peter unto life) ; 5. his terrible end].— (Ver. 23.)
Eternal misery is much worse than non-entity. Better
to have no being, than not to have a being in Christ.
— The Lord's Supper: 1. The author: Jesus took
bread ; 2. the time of the institution : the night be-
fore He was betrayed ; 3. the sacramental elements :
bread and wine ; 4. the ministerial action : the break-
ing of the bread and the blessing of the cup ; 5. the
object : Do this in remembrance of Me, etc. ; 6. thanks-
giving after communion. — Comp. similar reflections
and suggestions in Matthew Henry, Thomas Scott,
Ph. Doddridge, and other practical commentators, —
P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 31-16. 477
FOURTH SECTION.
PROMISES TO THE DISCIPLES; AND CHRIST IN GETHSEMANE.
Chapter XXVI. 31-46.
(Mark xiv. 27-42 ; Luke xxii. 31-46 ; John xiii. 36-xviii. 1.)
31 Then [in going out to the Mount of Olives] saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall [will] be
offended because of me [at me] this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd,
32 and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad (Zech, xiii, V). But after I am
33 risen again, I Avill go before you into Galilee. Peter answered and said unto him,
Though all men shall be offended because of thee [at thee],' yet will I never be offended.
34 Jesus said unto him. Verily I say unto thee. That this night, before the [a] cock crow
35 [crows], thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with
thee, yet will I not [in no wise, ov //.tJ] deny thee.^ [But] ^ Likewise also said all the
disciples.
36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith imto the
37 disciples. Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and vety heavy [full of, or,
38 overwhelmed with, sorrow and anguish, XvTVitdOaL koX dSTyz-toveiv].^ Then saith he
unto them. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and watch
39 with me. And he went a little farther,' and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as
40 thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto
41 Peter, What,® could ye not [then, ouVw?] watch with me one hour? Watch and pray,
that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
42 He went away again the second time,, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if this cup''
43 may not pass away from me,* except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and
44 [again] found them asleep again : ' for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and
45 went away again, and prayed the third time,'" saying the same words. Then cometh
he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest : behold, the
46 hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Else, let us
be going : behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.
1 Ver. 33.— Ei {KaX) iravTis ffKavSaXia-driaovTai eV ffoi. Kai is omitted in A., B., C, D., etc., Lachmann and
Tiscbendorf.
2 Ver. 35.— Codd. A., E., G-., al, read the somewhat milder subj. aTrapvrjauj fiat [for airapi-ijir o /iiai]. rrobably a
gloss.
' Ver. 35.— Several uncial Codd. add 3 f . Probably from Mark xiv. .'SI. [But implies here an extenuation of the guilt
of Peter, as much as to say, Peter made these professions, but we all did the same, and have nothing to boast of. '^But
Lachmann, Tischendori; and Alford omit it. — P. S]
* Ver. 37.— [Lan£;e: zu tp.attern (schaudeni) u.xd zu bangen (hebm). Doddridge complains that "the words which
our translators use here, are very flat, and fall short of the emphasis of those terms in which the Evangelists describe this
a-wful scene." The verb aSruxov^lv is derived by some from Srjuot, people, and the alpha privativum, hence, to feel lone-
ly, solitarv; expression of a sorrow that makes man unfit for company and shiinnins it, and pressins like a weii'ht of lead
upon the soul. Y. H. Scrivener (A Sup2)lement to the Authorized EiiglUh Version of the N. 7!, London, 1S45, vol. i. p.
304) thinks that no single Greek word can be more expressive of deep dejection than kZ t] il o v il v , and renders it: '■■to
he ovenchelmed leith anguinh." Tyndale and Coverdale: grievouslrj troidiled. Conant less forcibly: trouhled. Mever
seems to agree with Suidas' definition of aSr/u. = \iav KwelcrBai, and adds : "S< bezoichnet dif. rmheimUche Beuriru-
higung der Angst imd VerJegenlieit." I regret, that the scholarly work of Scrivener, ju.st alluded to, has not sooner come
to hand. It wonld have been of considerable assistance to me in the Critical Notes on the English Version.— P. S.]
= Ver. 39.— The reading irpo a i\Qdv [for TrpoeACoii/] is probably a writing error. [Cod. Sinait. likewise reads irpoff-
» Ver. ■iO.—lWhat! is an interpolation and, as Conant remarks, "violates the tone of feeling and manner of the Sa-
viour." The our COS can best be rendered by tAe?!. Lange: iSo a^«o. — P. 8.]
' Ver. 42.— Many Codd., A., B., C, etc., [also Cod. Sinait.], read here only tovto without vornptoi; which .seems
to be supplemented from ver. 39, and is omitted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, [and Alford].
8 Ver. 42.— Codd. B., D., etc., [also Cod. Sinait.], omit the words: an' 4 fx. o v , from me. [Lange puts them in brack
ets.]
5 Ver. 43.— Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford], read with the best authorities, [including Cod. Binait.]
ira\iv eupey {again found) aurovs [instead of evpicTKfi avrovs ir a.Kiv ,Jinda them again:].
10 Ver. 44.— A., D., K., omit fK rpirov. Lachmann puts it in brackets, Ti.schondorf omits it. [In the large ed.
of 1S59 Tischendorf retains the words in the text, but Alford omits them. Cod. Sinait. has them, but between rhy alnoy
and \6yoVy instead of before toi/ outJ;'.— P. 8.]
478
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
KXEGETIC-VL AND CRITICAL.
Vcr. 31. Then saith Jesus unto them, tot 6.
— For a time Jesus remained in the room of tlie Pass-
over, as is evident from John xiv. 31. At this point
comes tlie departure from the house. Tlie prediction
of the flight of the disciples and of Peter's denial
took place, according to John xiii. 37, in the Pass-
over-room itself Hereupon followed the farewell
discourses, John xiii. to xvii., spoken partly within
the room, and partly on the way to Gethsemane.
Will be offended at Me, a KavSa^iadv-
cf(T6e if (1X0 1. — That is, My sufferings ye will
make an offence and snare to yourselves.
For it is written. — What the Lord knew by im-
mediate previ.-ion, He nevertheless connects with a
prophetic word: partly for the sake of the disciples,
partly on account of His relation to the law ; and fur-
ther to prove that the course of His suffering was not
contrary to Old Testament predictions, but that the
carnal notions of the Jews as to a Messiah exempt
from suffering were in direct contradiction to the Old
Testament. The passage, Zech. xiii. 7: "-4iioZ:f, O
sword, against My sheplierd, and against the man that
is My fellow [My eqital], saith the Lord of hosts :
smite the Shepherd, ami the sheep shall be scattered ;
and I will turn Mine hand upon the little ones," — is
indeed quoted freely,* yet not incon.sistently with the
connection of the text. In the original, Jehovah
commands the sword to smite His Shepherd ; but
here He appears to lift up the sword Himself. The
Messianic import of the passage is without reason re-
solved by Meyer (after Hitzig) into a merely typical
significance. For the passage is closely connected
with Zechariah's previous reference to a future time,
when prophecy should be silenced, and when he who
should arise as a prophet would be exposed to the
most bitter sufferings. That prediction stretched
forward beyond the prophetless period after Malachi
to the period of the new prophets, John the Baptist
and Christ. Hut if we recognize the prophetical
spirit in this passage at all, we cannot refer it to John
the Baptist. It foretold, however, the universal dis-
persion of the people in consequence of their rejec-
tion of Christ. "The Shepherd indicated by the
prophet is the same who, in ch. xi. 4, feeds the miser-
able sheep, the Jewish people ; His death is the sign
for the scattering of the flock, yet the Lord immedi-
ately stretches out His hand to save the httle ones,
the faithful, His disciples. Hence the profound
meaning of the passage is this: When the Jewish
people had rejected their last Deliverer and Saviour,
they underwent the punishment of dispersion. This
was preparatorily typified in the actual scattering of
the disciples on the death of Jesus ; just as their eter-
nal salvation in their bodily deliverance when Jesus
was taken" (John sviii. 9). Gerlach.f
Ver. 32. Go before you into Galilee. — Meyer
denies the genuineness of this declaration, for tlie
groundless reason, that Jesus could not so definitely
predict His own resurrection. The announcement of
* [The quotation is verbatim after tbe Alexandrian MS.
of the LXX., except that the imperative TraTa^ov, strike,
is changed into the future iraralco, I will ntrike, God who
commands the striking into God who utrikea Ilimself. —
P. S.]
t [Comp. here Stier, Ueden Jesu, vi. 176 sqq., who goes
at length into the meaning of this prophecy, and especially
the word •^P'^lljJ , "Tny/eMow," "my equal," i. e., the
Messiah. Also Nast ad foe— P. S.]
a particular meeting in Galilee, does not exclude the
previous appearances of Jesus to the disciples in Je-
rusalem. He says this to those who had come with
Him from Galilee to the feast : " Before ye shall have
returned to your homes, I will rise again." In Galilee
He collected together again all the scattered disci-
ples: ch. xxviii. 16; John xxi. ; 1 Cor. xv. 6. Ger-
lach. [The Lord seems to allude in this comforting
prediction to the remaining words of the prophecy of
Zech. xiii. 7 : ^^ And I will turn Mine hand upon, the
little ones." To go before, irpoayav, is a verburn pas-
torale, as Bengel remarks, comp. John. x. 4. — P. S.]
Ver. 34. Before a cock crows. — De Wette :
"If Jesus said these words, He meant merely (de
Wette's mere assertion) the division of the night
called a\(KTupo<poovla, *13i«fl rx*^"!? ; but the Evan-
gelists referred it to a real cock-crowing." Gerlach :
" Before the cock-crowing between midnight and morn-
ing. But it came to pass literally, like so many other
predictions." It must be regarded as fixed, that the
definite specification of that time of the night was
the main point ; but since, where cocks were found,
their cry would not be wanting, we must hold fast the
circumstance, that the cock-crowing was appointed
to be the warning sound for Peter. Meyer seems to
suppose that the first cock-crowing took place at mid-
night, and the second about three in the morning.
It is not estabhshed that the oA^KTopocpoivia marked
always the time from midnight till three ; since the
Talmudists reckoned only three divisions of the day,
and regarded the fourth, irpu'i, as the mornmg of the
day following. Comp. Winer, sub NachtwacheJ*
Deny Me thrice. — De Wette : Deny knowing
Me ( ! ). Better Meyer : Deny that thou belongest to
Me. But the denial of faith in Christ, the Son of
God, is contained in it ; and not merely the denial of
a personal relation.
■ Ver. 36. Gethsemane.— Most probably NW':3 ra ,
oil-press. The most approved form is TfeaTquaufi:
see de Wette. A piece of land at the foot of the
Mount of Olives, which was provided with a press,
and perhaps also with a dwelMng-house, or at least
the usual garden-tower. See Winer and Robinson.
Through the Stephen Gate or the Gate of Mary (ac-
cording to Schulz, identical with the ancient Fish
Gate), there is a descent to the valley of Kedron, by
which the traveller went over the bridge of the same
name into the garden of Gethsemane. Kedron means
Black brook ; it flowed with perturbed waters, which
were still more darkened by the blood of the temple-
sacrifices, down through the valley toward the Dead
Sea. Gethsemane lay on the right of the path to the
Mount of Olives. It scarcely deserves now the name
of a garden, as the place is covered with stones, and
there are only eight old olive trees remaining. The
place is in possession of the Franciscans, who in
1847 erected a new wall around it, in length two
hundred paces, and m breadth one hundred and fifty.
* [The difficulty derived from the Mishna, that the inhab-
itants of Jerusalem, and the i>riests eveiywhere, were for-
bidden to keep fowls, because they scratched up unclean
worms, is easily removed, rlist, in \ iew of the inconsistency
of the Talmud on this point (v<?e Lifihtfoot), and secondly, by
the consideration that such a prohibition could in no case
aft'ect the Koman residents, over whom the Jews had no
power. The scarcity of cocks in Jerusalem i.s. liowever, in-
timated by the absence of the definite article before aKiK-rap
in all the four Gospels. Hence it should be omitted in the
Knalish Version, vers. 34, T4, 75; Mark si v. 30, C8, 72; Luke
xxii. 84,60,01: John xiii. 88; xviii. 27. At any rate the
whole history of Peter's denial is evidenily drawn from real
life, and presents one of the strongest evidences for the origi-
nality and truthfulness of the Gospel records.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 31-46.
479
There is no ground for doubting the identity of the
present and the ancient Gethsemane ; yet it must be
confessed that there is no reason why the place on
the left of the road may not be preferred (Wolff).
C. von Raumer : " The olives are not of the time of
our Lord ; for Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem,
had all the trees of the district cut down ; and, more-
over, the tenth legion were encamped on the western
declivity of the mountain. The great age of the eight
trees is inferred from the fact, that each of them pays
a particular tribute which goes up to the time of the
capture of Jerusalem by the Saracens (a. d. 036).*
And He saith to the disciples. — There were
eight of them ; the three selected ones, and Judas,
being excluded. Only those three, who had seen
His transfiguration on the Mount, might be witnesses
• of the conflict of His soul. But this appointment
of Christ formed also a kind of watch against prema-
ture surprise on the part of the traitor. In the fore-
ground of the garden sat the eight disciples ; beyond
them are the three confidential ones ; into the Holiest
of His Passion He goes alone. These stations are
not without symbolical significance. f
Ver. 37. He began to be overwhelmed
with sorrow and anguish {to mourn and to
tremble) \ Xv-jre'icrOai i<ai aS tj fx o v e7y . — Suidas
explains a^Tjuoz/eli/ to be \ia.i' Ainreiir^ai, atropiiv.
But the latter expression is probably not an in-
tensification of the former ; it is a kind of contrast
to it. \v7Ti1(TQai is the passive: being troubled
or afflicted. Thus it signifies, absolutely taken, the
experience of an infinitely afHicting influence. All
the woe of the world falls upon Him, and oppresses
His heart. Mark has the stronger expression : f «-
eatxBfiTOxi. The contradictory impressions | which
Christ experienced extended to horror and amaze-
ment. 'AS^uoreri', On the other hand, related to
cLTTopfr^ — according to Buttmann from aorjuos —
expresses in the absolute sense the being forsaken
of all the world and bereft of every consolation, the
uttermost anxiety and experience of woe.
Ver. 38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, or
girt round with sorrow, ir f p i \ u tt o r. — Compare
John xii. 27. The soul is the intermediate in man be-
tween body and spirit. The spirit expresses the rela-
tion to God ; the body, the relation to earth ; the soul,
the relation to the world at large, especially the world
of spirits. Hence the soul is the specific organ of
ppiritual experiences and emotions of pleasure and
sorrow (Beck, Bibl. Sedenlehre, 10). — Even unto
death. — The extremest degree. Even unto death,
80 that sorrow might bring Me to death, Jon. iv. 0.
" Anguish even unto death, the woes of one strug-
gling with death, I now experience. The words of
* [Dr. Wordsworth, following the ancient fathers and the
older Protestant commentators, sees a providential and
prophetical adaptation of the names of Scripture localities
generally, and of Gethsemane, in particular, to the events
which occurred there. In this oil press, in which the olives
were crushed and bruised, Christ was bruised for our sins,
that oil misht flow from Ilis wounds to heal our souls.
Comn. Matthew Henry: "There lie trod the wine-press of
His Fathers wrath, and trod it alo e." In like manner
Wordsworth allet'orizes on Bethlehem, the honse of bread,
wher.- the bread of life was born ; Nazareth, where He jrew
op as a branch ; Bethsaida, the house of flshins, where He
called the apostles: Caperruium. the house of consolation,
where He dwelt : Bethany, the place of palm-dates, which
speaks of the palms and hosannahs of His triumphal entry
Into .Jerusalem ; Bethphaqe, the house of figs, which is a me-
mento of the withHrini; of ihe barren fls-tree; the Mount of
Olives, whence ('hrist ascended to heaven, to hold forth the
olive branch of pe.ace between God and man. — P. 8.]
t [The Kdinb. transl. has in^ifjnifii-mice. — P. 8.1
X [Not: passions, as in the Edinb. transl.— P. S.J
Ps. xxii. 16 ; xl. 13, seem to have been present to
His thoughts." Gerlach.
Tarry ye here, and watch with Me. — Inti-
mation of the deepest agony. Bengel : In magnis
tcntationihus juvat soliiudo, sod taiocn ut in propinquo
sint at aid.
Ver. 39. And He went a little farther.—
M 1 «• p 0 f belongs to irpo^kediv, a little distance.
Luke gives here the vivid and dramatic statements
of the spiritual excitement of the Lord, — of the bloody
or blood-like sweat which poured from Him, — of
His being strengthened by an angel. See Com. on
Luke xxii. 41-44.
If it be possible. — Not as opposing the notion
of an unbt.nding decree ; but in Uviug harmony with
the Father's government and perfect submission.
Luke : ei 0ov\et. The Travra SuvaTo. aoi in Mark is
no contradiction.
This cup. — The suffering is a cup filled with a
bitter potion. See above, ch. xx. 22. Meyer (after
de Wette) : " This sufiFering and dying now before
Me." The signification of the cup is the same as the
signification of the suffering of His souL But the
modern interpretation, of an anguish in the presence
of death which extorted a prayer for its removal, is
in opposition to all the earUer declarations of Christ,
and especially to the institution of the Supper, and
the high-priestly prayer, John xvii. On this farther
on.
But as Thou. — As Thou wilt, let it be. See
Mai'k. Not My will, but Thine be done. " The feel-
ing of profound emotion speaks in broken lan-
guage." Meyer. [This passage figures very promi-
nently in the Monothelite controversy as one of the
principal proofs that Christ had two wills, a human
and a divine, as He had two natures. It should not
be overlooked, however, that the contrast is not as
between His human and His divine will, but as be-
tween His will (as the God-Man in the state of humil-
iation and intense agony) and the will of His heaven-
ly Father.— P. S.]
Ver. 40. And findeth the-n sleeping. — " The
sleeping of the disciplc,<i, and of these three favorite
disciples, under these circumstances, and with so un-
conquerable a drowsiness, is psychologically mysteri-
ous, even after Luke's explanation, a-irh ttj? \inrT]^
(ch. xxii. 45) ; but the certainly genuine words of
Jesus, vers. 40 and 45, constrain us to regard the
circumstance as historically true." Meyer. We
must connect with this the equally mysterious sleep-
ing of the same three men during the transfiguration ;
an^ this will confirm the supposition, that higher
spiritual influences and transactions almost overpow-
ered the feeble flesh. Yet the Lord expressly declares
that the disciples were morally responsible for being
in such a condition. An analogous influence we see
under preaching. Sermons stimulate some, and send
others to sleep, according to their several dispositions
and preparation. The simple law, that extraordinary
tension raises the highly developed spiritual life, while
it stupefies the less developed, finds here its strongest
illustration in the most absolute contrast of spiritual
watchfulness and sleep.
He saith unto Peter. — He had promised most ;
was in the greatest danger; and probably he was in
psychical respects the strongest. — So then, o'li-
T w s , — with displeasure : with allusion to his great
promises. — Not one hour. — Incidental intimation
of the duration of our Lord's tii'st conflict.
Ver. 41. That ye enter not into temptation;
€ I 0- e \ fl 7} T € . — That the situation in which they
480
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
would soon be pLiced, might not be a cause of offence
to thcin, through lack of their own preparation. The
simple test, wliich comes from God alone, becomes
ir ( I p uT u6s , an assault dangerous to the soul,
partly through the accession of tempting influences
from without (" the devil, the woi-ld "), and partly
throTigh a hlameable internal bias (" our own flesh
and blood "). The Lord's words were fully explain-
ed ^s'iieu the band soon afterward came upon them.
The spirit indeed is willing. — A general de-
claration ; but, like the passage, Rom. vii. 22, 25,
qualified and particularized by its relation to the dis-
ciples, and the progress of the Christian life. In the
unconverted the willingness of the tr ved fiais not
yet uuljound ; in mature Christians the it a p ^ is puri-
fied and governed by the spiritual principle. But,
even in the first case, the willingness of the spirit is
faintly expressed in indefinite desires ; and in the last
case, the opposition of the flesh is not absolutely
suppressed and abolished until the consummation.
The proper conflict between the irv^v^a, the higher
principle of life, and the old ungodly nature, falls
into the domain of the Christian discipleship, the life
that is being matured. The tt y e C /u a is here the
human spiritual life, awakened by the Holy Spirit.
It is not only wiUing, but vp 6Q v ixov ^ ready and
willing. Tlie aap^ which opposes is not simply the
sensual nature, but the sensuous nature disorder-
ed by the ^vxh- The Scripture presents the o-a'p^j —
that is, the natural life in its inclinations and im-
pulses,— in tlu-ee stages : 1. As innocent capl (Gen.
ii.) ; 2. as sinful cra.p^ (Gen. vi.) ; 3. as sanctified crap^
(John vi.). But the sinful cdp^ is even in the regen-
erate excited to a diseased contradiction ; it is not
merely weak, but ao-O f r^ s , as the TTved/xa is npo-
du,uou. Hence, above all things, watchfulness is
needed. Calovius : adp^ is here the homo animalis ;
TTVii'na, the homo spii-itualis. This is too dogmati-
cal. [Slier, Alford, and Xast take Jlesh here in its
original sense as a constituent part of human nature,
which in itself is not sinful, but has an inherent weak-
ness, which the soul, standing between the spirit and
the Jlesh, must overcome by deriving strength from
the spirit through watching and prayer. They also
maintain that Christ Himself is included in this de-
claration, with the difference that He gave as high
and pre-eminent an example of its truth, as the disci-
ples afforded a low and ignoble one : He, in the wil-
lingness of the spirit, yielding Himself to the Father's
will to suffer and die, but weighed down by the weak-
ness of the flesh ; they, having professed, and really
iiaving, a wilhng spirit to suffer with Him, but, even
in t'ne one hour's watching, ovei'come by the burden
of drowsmess. Observe, it is here irvivixa, the higher
spiritual being, and not ^vxh, the human soul, the
seat of the afi'ections and passions, as in ver. 38 and
John xii. 2Y.— P. S.]
Ver. 42. Again the second time. — No pleon-
asm. The tK 5evT 4 p o u defines the aTreAOtiv,
the TT a A. 4 J/ defines the Ttpoa-Tju^aro in a. signifi-
cant manner. In the second supplication, the resig-
nation and self-sacrifice comes more prominently for-
ward.
Ver. 44. The third time. — Apart from the tex-
tual uncertainty, this presents no difSculty. It is in
harmony with life, and especially spiritual life, that
intense and decisive conflicts develop themselves in
a succession of acts, with intermissions of pause.
The rhythm here assumes a threefold rise and fall, ac-
cording to the nature of the spirit and of spiritual
conflict, as in the conflict of the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor.
xii. 8. Luke does not record this tlireefold repeti-
tion hterally ; but he describes it in the growmg in-
tensity of the struggle, the bloody sweat, and the
word of the strengthening angel.
Ver. 45. Sleep on now, and take your rest. —
1. Chrysostom, Grotius, Winer, and others : "Jesus
needed no longer the co-operation of His disciples, and
gives them rest." But, on the other hand, we read :
"The hour is come." 2. H. Stephanus, Heumanu, [also
Greswell and Robinson], and others, make it a ques-
tion : Sleep ye still ? but this is opposed by to Aoi-
nov. 3. Gruhch (on the L-ony of Christ, p. '74) :
Sleep and take your rest for the time to come, that
is, in future, when ye shall have more security. But
this would not be rh KonTov. 4. Euthymius Zigab.,
[Calvin], and Beza, call it " rebuking irony." [Also
Chrysostom.] Meyer : " The common objection
against the ironical view, that it is not in harmony
with the present feeling of Jesus, is psychologically
arbitrary. The profoundest grief of soul, especiaUy
when associated with such clearness of spirit, has its
own irony. And what an apathy had Jesus here to
encounter ! " But if the essential principle of irony
is security and perfect composure of spirit, we recog-
nize here the sacred irony which does not speak in
contempt of weakness, but in the triumphant con-
sciousness that the fight was already won. Another
token is, that it passes over at once into the most
solemn language. See the divine irony in Ps. ii.
Meanwhile, we must be careful not to overlook the
symbohcal element in the saying. The disciples had
slept in the body, because they slept in the spirit.
And, because they had not watched, there was a ne-
cessity now that they should outwardly watch while
they slept on in spirit, untU they were awakened by
the cock-crowhig, the Redeemer's death, and the re-
surrection morning.
The hour is at hand. — The great hour of deci-
sion. Comp. Luke xxii. 53.
Shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
— Grotius : The Romans. Meyer : The Sanhedrin.
De Wette, better : The Romans and the Jews. For
that the betrayal was twofold, Jesus had before de-
clared.
Ver. 46. Arise, "let us go hence. — "Remark
the haste which is expressed miyeipiaOf, ay oi-
uev, ISov." Meyer.
The Relation of the Three Evangelists to
John. — The silence of John upon the conflict in
Gethsemane has been explained in various ways.
According to Olshausen and others, he took for
granted an acquaintance with the synoptical naiTa-
tives. I have explamed the omission of this event,
as well as of the institution of the Lord's Supper,
from the pecuhar composition and aim of the fourth
Gospel, with reference to the three already existing.*
So also Meyer. John has something analogous to
the agony of Gethsemane in the spiritual conflict of
Jesus in the temple, John xii. 27, though the two
arc of course not to be identified.
* [The Edinb. edition altogether misunderstands this pas-
sage, and translates: " The issue (as if Auxfali was the same
with A'usgang .') of this eve
in his oicn way." John do
1 illustrtited hy John
all, but jjasses them by in complete silence. But Lange il-
lustrates this silence in his Lehen Jesu, to which ho here al-
ludes.-P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. S1-4G.
481
DOClTvINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The perfect fidelity of Jesus to the law is seen
in His not going over the Mount of Olives to Beth-
any. It was necessary for every one to spend that
night in Jerusalem. His calmness is seen in the fact
of His going to His accustomed place of prayer (Luke
xxii. 39), although knowing that Judas was acquaint-
ed with the place. The time for hiding Himself was
past ; for throughout the whole land there was no
longer freedom for His steps. But no more did Jesus
go prematurely to meet danger, which He would have
done had He celebrated the Passover a day earlier
than usual. "Just at the commencement of Ilis
public teaching (ch. iv.), lie retired, before His ex-
tremest agony, into silence ; that there He might in
prayer await and overcome in His inmost spirit the
fiercest assaidts of Satan (John xiv. 30), before He
entered upon His external mortal passion." Ger-
lach.
2. The Agony of the Saviour in Geth-^emane. —
The final form of an anxious presentiment which
had pervaded His whole public life, and which con-
stantly came out more and more distinctly into utter-
ance: Luke xii. 50; Mark viii. 12 ; John xii. There
is nothing improbable, though something mysterious
and wonderful, in the record that Christ's agony fol-
lowed the high festival of His soul hi the sacerdotal
prayer (John xvii.). A similar transition in feeling
often appears: 1. From joy to sorrow in the entry
with jjalm-branches in Luke, in the temple, John xii.,
in Githsemane; 2. from sorrow to joy at the depar-
ture from Gahlee, at the dismissal of Judas from the
company of disciples, John xiii., after the cry, " My
God, My God," on the cross. All this shows the
elasticity and absolute depth and vigor of His inner
life. We distinguish three great conflicts and triumphs
in the passion : 1. The victory over the temptation
of the Idngdom of darkness in His Spirit, at the in-
stitution of the holy Supper (John xiii. 31) ; 2. the
victor}' over temptation in His soul, in Gethsemane ;
3. the ■victory over temptation in His bodily life, on
the cross. These three great crises, indeed, are not
to be separated abstractly, as if in the one case His
spirit only was tried, in the other, His soul, etc. But
the assault made the life of the spirit the medium of
trial in the one case, in the other, the Ufe of the soul ;
and the victory which preceded became an advantage
in the conflict which followed. And tliis serves to
show the real import of the specific sufiering of the
soul of our Lord. It is in its nature one of the deep-
est mysteries of the evangelic history ; but it receives
some light from the position of the soul-conflict be-
tween the spirit-conflict and the conflict of bodily dis-
tress, from its relation to the temptation in the wil-
derness, and by definite declarations of Christ Him-
self. Interpretations : — 1. Origen, Be martyrio, c.
29 : Christ de§ired a yet deeper .sufiering ; an asceti-
cally strained view.* Contra C'elsum : He would
have averted the destruction of Jerusalem. So Am-
brose, Basil, Jerome. 2. He suffered the wrath of
God in our stead and our behalf. Melanchthon : Jacuit
filius Dei prostratus coram ceterno Patrc, sentiens
iram adversus tua et mea peccata. So llambach,
" the cup of wrath." 3. Assaults of hell. Knapp :
* [Oriirea pxpl.iins the words : " J/y soul is gcrrrmoful
unto death.. Sorrow is begun in me, but not to endure for-
ever, but only till the hour of death; when I shall die for
sin, I shall die also for all sorrow, whose beginnings only are
in me."— P. S.]
31
" Tiic last and most terrible attacks of the kingdom
of darkness, iu which the prince of death sought to
wrest from Him the victory." -i. Ebrard : " His
trembling in Gethsemane was not dread of His suf-
ferings, but was part of His passion itself; it was not
a transcendental and external assumption of a for-
eign guilt, but a concrete experience of the full and
concentrated power of the world's sin." 5. Olshau-
scn : Actual a):)andomnent on the part of (Jod ; the
human \f>vxri of Jesus alone was in conflict here,
while the fulness of the divine life had withdrawn.
G. Rationalists hke Tliiess and Paulus refer it to phy-
sical illness and exhaustion,* to which Scliuster adds
the distress of abandonment by friends, f 7. De
Wctte : Fear of death (" a moral weakness ! ").
8. Tileyer : Horror and shudder in confronting the ter-
ror of such cruel sufterings and death. So most
modern interpreters. Neander proves against Strauss
that a change of feeling in the life of the Saviour is
by no means improbable. But we caimot admit a
change of thought, least of all a change of the funda-
mental thoughts of His fife. A supplication for the
turning away of the suffering of death, even as a con-
ditional and resigned reijuest, is not to be imagined
after so many foreannouncements of His passion, af-
ter the institution of the Supper, and His continuance
in the scene of danger at Gethsemane. This would
be to make Jesus directly contradict Himself. The
agony in Gethsemane was not dread of the agony on
Calvary, but it was a specific agony of itself ; there-
fore He prays, according to Mark, that, if it were
possible, the hour of this suffering might pass, — sim-
ilarly as in John.
It was the hour of nameless woe, of an excite-
ment and commotion of soul,+ in which He would
not appear before His disciples, in wliich He could
not appear before His enemies. ] . It was then first
a specific conflict of sov.l (" My soul is surrounded by
sorrow," tt e p i Auttos) : He was assaulted by the sever-
est experience of woe and distressmg anxiety. And
this disposes of the opinions of those who make the
sufiering either predominantly pneumatic, or predom-
inantly corporeal. 2. It was a counterpart to the
temptation in the wilderness. &eLuke iv. 13. Christ
was tempted in the wilderness by the pseudo-messi-
anic and carnal hopes and desires of His people, in
connection with the vanities of the world. But in
Gethsemane He was tempted by the pseudo-messianic,
carnal grief and disappointment of His people, and
the whole misery of the world, which culminated in
the fearful treachery of Judas, and revealed itself m
a milder form in the sleeping of the disciples for sor-
* [In German: kbrperliche Ahupannnng, which Is just
the reverse of "corporeal intensity nf feeling" as tl;e Edinb.
edition renders it.— P. t>.]
t [Eenan, in his Life of Je^u\ ch. xxiiL, adds the sad
memory of "the clear fountains of Galilee, where lie might
have refreshed Himself; the vineyard and fig-tree, under
which He miirht have been seated; and (hoar, hear!) the
young maidens who might perhaps have consented to love
Himi" Only a French novel-writer wouIJ profane this sa-
cred .scene by such erotic sentimentalism. Eenan places
tbe agony in Gethsemane several days before the night of
the Passion, contrary to the unanimous testimony of the Sy-
noptists as wuU as the iniierent probability of the case. Biit
his opinions on such subjects are worth nothing at all. — P.
S.]
J [In German: GemiitJbserschuttf.rir.ig. GemiUh is here,
like the Greek duaos (from 6vct>, to rw/t. on,, to etorm; to
bwn in xncrifice), the Inmost soul, as the principle of life,
feeling, and thought, esnecially as the seat of strong feeling
and passion. The Edinb. edition obliterates the meaning of
the original by turning it into; unrest and amazement,
which is no transl.ation at all. The next sentences are still
more diluted and mutilated, or entirely omitted. — P. S.]
482
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
row. The whole tempting power of the desperation
of humanity pressed hard upon Jesus : that was His
\vTTe7a Q at. And in His ovm internal defence He
stood alone, invigorated by no sympathy and help of
mortals : that was His aZtiaoviZv. — Comp. Isa. Ixiii.
3. In this temptation through the despair of hu-
manity lay indeed the strength of the fiercest assault
of hellish powers upon His lonely soul. It was also
the judgment of God upon humanity which Jesus
experienced in His sonl ; not God's judgment upon
Himself, but a judgment upon humanity, which He
received into His own soul, in order to change it into
redemption. Of the former — the despair of the world
— Judas' treachery was the concentrated and terrific
expression : it was the demoniac fruit of his demoniac
grief, an act of mad contempt of salvation and of
self. Hence the Lord again alludes here to the trai-
tor (ver. 46). The great double-betrayal of His peo-
ple and of the whole world committed against His
life, was the extreme suflering of the Saviour, the
fulfilment of Joseph's type, sold with fearful anguish
on his part by his brothers (Gen. xhi. 21). Thus
the agony of Jesus' soul in the garden was related to
the despairing sorrow of the world, as the victory in
the wilderness was related to the enticing and dis-
guised pleasures of this world.
3. Not as I will, but as Thou wilt. — Opposed to
the Monothelite heresy. This preserves the truth
and truly human character of His conflict, without
disparaging His constant accordance in all things
with the will of the Father. Contrast and suspense
do not amount to contradiction. Difference is not
discord. See the decrees of the Council of Constan-
tmople, A. D. 680.
4. Christ, in His threefold supplication in Geth-
semane, perfected the doctrine of prayer, and sanc-
tified the prayers of sinners. His petition rises from
the full expression of His woe to the full expression
of submission to the Father's will. And His being
heard consisted in this, that in the Father's strength
He drank the cup, and enjoyed the perfect security
of victory before the sharpest conflict took place.
5. It was not the treachery of Judas in its exter-
nal aspect, but that treachery as the expression of
the disciples' and the world's sorrow and disappoint-
ment and of their despair of Christ's honor and vic-
tory, that constituted the temptation which the Sav-
iour here suffered. But He had overcome this temp-
tation already, when the external and actual betrayal
came upon Him.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
I. The Two Sections. — The passage from the
Supper to Gethsemane ; or, spiritual invigoration ex-
perienced in the way of duty : a. The appointment
of spiritual strengthening ; b. how it is experienced
by Christ and by His disciples. — The warning voice
of their Master scarcely heard amidst the expressions
of the disciples' self-confidence. — Divine and human
care in provision against assaults at hand : 1. Christ
is careful, and therefore free from care ; 2. His dis-
ciples were careless, and therefore burdened with
care and anxiety. — Christ in His work of redemption
overcame the unfaithfulness of His disciples : 1. Their
unbeUefin its presumption ; 2. their unbelief in its de-
spondency.— The sudden and decisive turning-point :
1 . Of destiny ; 2. of feeUng ; 3. of t lie issue.-Thc watch-
man and the sleepers : 1. God and men ; 2. Christ
and the disciples ; 3. the spirit and thj earthly cares.
II. TriE Wat to the Mou.nt of Olives. — The fore-
announcement of the Lord, and the unbelief of the
disciples. — The spirit of Christ and tlie spirit of
Scripture of one accord in their judgment upon the
weakness of believers. — The promise of seeing them
again in (JaUlee, bound up with the prediction of
their coming fall : 1. A testimony of His supreme
hope above His sorrows ; 2. of His continued faith-
fulness to the disciples in their wavering. — The a-s-
surances of Peter. — His self-coir.placent boasts the
token of his deep fall. — Mark his presumptuous and
boasted superiority: 1. To his enemies: 2. to the
other disciples ; 3. to the warning word of his Mas-
ter.— Strong professions, miserable apostacy.* — The
last unholy contention of the disciples. — The mea-
sure of our false self-estimation the measure of our
humihation in life. — Niglit and the offence. — The
strength of fidehty which can look beyond and over-
look the offence of weakness, and turn it to salva-
tion.— The offence of weakness (Peter), and the of-
fence of wickedness (Judas).
III. Gethsemane. — The Mount of Ohves and the
Oil-Press (Gethsemane), symbols of the i)roduction
and maturity of the Christian life: I. The mount is
a figure of the Church, in which the spiritual life
grov/s ; 2. the oil-press is a figure of suffering, through
which the spiritual life is purged or set free. — The
three great things of eternal significance connected
with the Mount of Olives: 1. The palm-entry into
Jerusalem ; 2. Gethsemane ; 3. the ascension. — Geth-
semane the turning-point between the old and the
new Paradise. — The reserve and the famiharity of
Jesus in His agony. — The concealment of the agony :
1. It is altogether hidden from the world ; 2. the
greater number of His disciples see only the signs of
this suffering; 3. the confidential ones only see it in
ayiazement and trembling ; 4. only God views Him
stretched out, as a worm in the dust. — The soul of
Jesus oppressed by the distress of all, and bereft of
the help of all. — Or, the soul of the agonized treader
of the wine-press (Isa. Ixiii. 3) ; alone in His suffer-
ing, over whom all the billows roll (Ps. xxii. 21 ; Isa.
liv. 11); resigned entirely to God, and hidden in
Him (Ps. xxvii. 5). — How Christ in the garden over-
came the sorrow of all the world : 1. Human sorrow, in
its vain imaginations and despair ; 2. devilish sorrow,
in its betrayal and mockery. — The conflict in the wil-
derness, and the conflict in the garden. — The three
great conflicts of Jesus: at the Supper, in Gethse-
mane, and on Calvary. — Gethsemane and Calvary. —
The horror of Jesus in prospect of the kiss of Judas.
— The Judas-kiss evermore the bitterest cup of the
Lord and of His Church. — The world gave Him toil ;
Ilis disciples gave Him trouble. — The suffering of
Christ the suffering of priestly sympathy with the
misery of the world: 1. He feels its perfect woe;
hence His suffering. 2. He experiences the whole
power of sm in this woe ; hence the dread assault
and conflict. 3. He begins to expiate its whole guilt
in this woe : hence His persevering prayer. — Even in
the agony of His soul He is the Christ : 1. The pro-
phetic Revealer of all the depths of man's misery ;
2. the high-priestly Expiator of them ; 3. the kingly
DeUverer from them. — The severest suffering is but
a cup: 1. Rigorously measured ; 2. surrounded and
adorned by the cup ; 3. prepared, presented and
blessed by "the Father. — Christ in the apparent anni-
* [In German: Diestai'ken Zu^agen und diekWglichen
Ahsageii,—& paronomasia which I cannot imitate in Eng-
lish.-P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 31-46.
483
hilation of tlie work of His life : the seeming iuvali-
dation of His mission ; the seeming dissolution of His
company ; the seeming succumbing of His disciples
under grief, desjiondency, and self-reprobation ; the
seeming contempt of His love. — His faithful heart the
dove with the olive-branch liigli above the floods. —
Christ in His great conflict of jirayer : teaches us to
pray ; makes our prayer acceptable ; and becomes
its Mediator. — Prayer is most acceptable in its abso-
lute submission to the will of God. — The disciples as
the outposts and watchmen of the Church. — The
sleep of the disciples; or, the dcath-hke collapse
which follows over-strained self-confidence. — The two
divisions of the disciples : a watch-company toward
the world, and a watch-company around the Lord. —
The Lord's request to His disciples a token of infinite
humility. — The three words of tlie Lord to the disci-
ples : l'. Watch with Me ; 2. watch for yourselves ;
3. sleep on now (whether waking or sleeping, ye will
sleep till the awakening of My resurrection). — Watch
andprai/, because of: L Temptation; 2. weakness.
— The three witnesses of His transfiguration and His
humiliation (of the glorious beams and the bloody
sweat). — The divine majesty with which the Lord
comes out of His human sorrow. — The strength and
solidity which the soul acquires from communion
with Christ in all the conflicts of life and death.
Selections from other Homildical Commentators.
L The "Way to the Mount of Olives. — Starke : —
From Cramer: He is a true friend who warns of dan-
ger ; but flesh and blood is too secure, and will not
take warning, 1 Thess. v. 3. — How easily may even
the best men lapse into sin ! James iii. 2. — Osiander :
The cross and triljulation a great offence to the weak.
— Professions : not to promise good is unbelief ; to
promise without earnest will is hypocrisy ; to prom-
ise in reliance upon our own strength is presumption.
— Hedinger : Good-will must guard carefully against
arrogance. — Trust none less than thine own heart,
Jer. xvii. 9. — Canstein: Nothing is so hidden from
us as our own hearts. — We never come to know
thoroughly our own weakness and unsteadiness. —
The imagination which we have formed concerning
ourselves prevents our seeing what we are and what
we are not. — Hard work it is to wean a man away
from his false imaginations about himself. — To con-
tradict the voice of truth is the sum of shame.
Ll'ico: — The Searcher of hearts. — Peter trusts
more the strength of his feehng than the word of
Jesus.
Gerlach: — The Lord (luotes the language of
Scripture oftener in His sufferings than in any other
circumstances. So in the temptation in the wilder-
ness, ch. iv. 1-11.
Ileuhncr : — This prediction of the Lord shows
His supreme peace and victory over self — The suf-
fering Messiah was a riddle to them. — Christ is the
only bond of His people : take llim away, and all is
dissolved. — He would give them all a proof of His
unlimited knowledge of men's hearts : that was of
importance for their whole life. — The over-hasty, the
presumptuous, and the self confident, are those whom
God suSers to fall. — There is a great difference be-
tween arrogance of flesh and alacrity of spirit. — The
honest humility with whicli the disciples relate their
own faults. — Warning to us all not to take offence
at the Lord in anything.
n. Gethsemane: — Starke: — The transfiguration
upon the high mountain ; the humiliation in the deep
valley. — It is not wise for every one to reveal every-
where and indiscriminately his heart and all its im-
pulses, Gen. xxii. 5 ; for there are weak people, who
cannot bear the strong. — Osiander: Wc can dis-
burden ourselves most confidently in the ears of our
God when we have no one, or but few, near us. —
Canstein : Christ enters upon His passion with pray-
er ; He carries it on and ends it with prayer ; and so
teaches us that our own suiferings cannot be over-
come and made to subserve our salvation without
much prayer. — The three Apostles called in Gal. ii.
9 pillars: Peter, the first who opened to Jews and
Gentiles the door of the kingdom of heaven ; James,
the first martyr ; John, the longest liver, to whom the
most glorious revelations were vouchsafed. — The
trials of Abraham, Paul, Luther (great saints, great
trials). — Canstein : The faithful God ministers trials
according to the measure of the ability of those who
are to bear them (1 Cor. x. 13). — When it is time to
fight and to pray, we ought no£ to sleep. — God lets
His weak children for a long time see others in the
conflict, before they themselves are exposed to the
contest. — The cup of Christ's sufl'ering has conse-
crated the cup of our cross. — Trust not to men, Ps.
cxviii. v. — Our best security against temptation is to
watch and pray. — The daily contest of the spirit with
the flesh absolutely necessary. Gal. v. 17. — Thy will
be done. — We may pray for mitigation. — When Je-
sus is suffering in His members, our eyes are, alas !
commonly full of sleep. — Perseverance in prayer
without fainting, 'Luke xviii. 1. — A faithful father
warns his children of danger. — lie who feels safe in
the time of danger may easily be ruined ; he who
is caujious and self-distrustful will escape. — When
one hour of trial is passed, we must pi-epare for an-
other.— When we in God's strength have overcome
the first assaults and terrors of death, all is more and
more tolerable, until the cross itself is gloriously tri-
umphed over. — Jesus our Forerunner. — Christ went
freely and joyfully to meet His passion, for an exam-
ple to us, Phil. ii. 5.
lAsco : — Heb. v. 7. The threefold prayer reminds
us of the threefold victory over Satan, when he
tempted Jesus, ch. iv. 1 .
Gerlach : — From Luther : " We men, born and
bound in sin, have an impure, hard, and leprous skin,
which does not soon feel. But, because Christ's
body, His flesh and blood, is fresh, and pure, and
sound, without sin, while ours are full of sin, we feel
the terror of death in a far less degree from what He
felt it." The disciples should watch vnth Iliin, and
the;/ should pray ; but with Him they could not pray ;
in His mediatorial conflict no man could stand by
and help Him. — He desired the fellowship of these as
the first-fruits of the men who were to be redeemed
by Him. — In this severe agony of the passion, the di-
vine will ever more and more penetrates and exalts
the human.
Heubner : — It was a garden, as in Gen. 'm. — Xot
all the disciples were fitted to be witnesses of this
profound and mysterious humiliation of our Lord. —
Ramhach : It is not expedient that the child of God
should reveal to every one the depths of his heart. —
It is the highest grace to be companion of the most
secret sorrows of Jesus. — Jesus is the source of con-
solation and encouragement for all burdened and
heavy-laden souls. — The greater the anguish, the
greater the joy. — Rieger : And He went to a little
distance. So the high-priest went into the Holiest.
—The Son of God bows down to the uttermost before
484 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
His Father, to make us acceptable. — 0 that we bet-
ter learned the lesson to bow down before God ! —
Jacob's wrestling in the night, Hos. xii. 4, 5. — Sleep-
iness and inconsiderateness among Christians, moni-
tors oi" fall. — Christ awakens out of slcci"). — The sec-
ond petition takes for granted an answer of God,
that His will was fixed on this (as indeed did tlie
first) ; hence the more direct expression of resigna-
tion.— In prayer we do not depend upon many and
beautifully arranged words; the heart is the great
thing (as in the prayers of Moses, David, Daniel, and
Christ). — The Holy One falls absolutely into the pow-
er of the unholy. — Is at hand : the betrayal, now
brought to its consummation, troubled the soul of
Jesus afresh. — There is a dilfcrence between the mere
expectation, albeit certain, and the fulfilled reality. —
Kapff: Jesus suffering in Gethsemane : 1. Its depth;
2. its cause ; 3. its fruit.
FIFTH SECTION.
JESUS ON THE NIGHT OF HIS BETRAYAL: JESUS AND THE TRAITOR; JESUS AlfD
THE DEFENDER; JESUS AND THE MULTITUDE; JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES GEN-
ERALLY; OR THE GLORY OF JESUS IN THE NIGHTLY ASSAULT AND THE CON-
FUSION OF THE IMPRISONMENT.*
Chaptee XXVI. 47-56.
(Mark xiv. 43-52 ; Luke xxii. 47-53 ; John xviii. 1-11.)
47 And while he yet spake [was yet speaking, tn avrov XaXowros], lo, Judas, one of
the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and stav^es [clubs, fwAwv]/
48 from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them
a sign, saying, Whomsoever [Whom, ov] I shall kiss, that same is he ; hold him fast.
49' And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail [x^ipe], Master [Rabbi] ;^ and kissed
50 him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wlierefore art thou come? \_do that for which
thou art here !]^ Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him [held him
51 fast, as in ver. 48]. And, behold, one of them which [that] were with Jesus stretched out
Ms hand, and drew his sword, and struck a [the] servant* of the high priest, and smote
52 off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place : for all
53 they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.^ [Or, i;] Thinkest thou that I
cannot now pray to my Father, and he shah presently "^ give me [place beside me, Trapa-
54 o-TT^o-ei /Aot]^ more than twelve legions of angels? But how then [How then, ttojs ovvY
shall [can] the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ? [fulfilled ? For thus it must
55 be.] In that same hour [in that hour, Iv iKuvri rrj wpa] said Jesus to the multitudes. Are
ye come out as against a thief [robber, XyaT-qvy with swords and staves [clubs] for^" to
take me ? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
56 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all
the disciples [the disciples all] " forsook him, and fled.
* All these significant headings are omitted in the Edinb. ti-sl.— P. S.]
1 Yer. 47.— [The Vulsnte translates uira /jLO-xaipiov koI ^vXaiv: cum glacUis et fufiWbus ; Lange: mit ScJiwertern
nnd mit Keulen; other' Germ.in Versions: Stangen, ov Knitteln, or Frugeln ; stmws was introduced by Tyndale, and
retained in the subsequent English Version, except that of Eheims, which renders |uAa : clubs. Staff is the proper trans-
lation for pdlSSovs in eh. x. 10; Mark yi. 8; but the Authorized Version renders |t''Aa and pa^Ouvs alike. Comp. ver.
5.") ; Lnke xxii. 52. .John mentions also laniervs and torc7ie% lo search perhaps in the secret parts of the garden and the
dark caverns of the valley of the Kedrou. — P. S.]
- Ver. 49.— [The colder .and more formal liahii ought be retained here .and in ver. '2b in the translation, as Matthew re-
tained it from the Hebrew for oiSarrKaAf , and as the English Ver.sion itself did in ch. xxiii. 7, S.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 50.— [The words ■ (^' h Trdpei, are generally understood as a question and sii punctuated in most editions!
but Pritzsche takes them as an exclam.ation : For what (dreadful deed) art thou here ! Meyer, Ewald, Lange, as an ellip-
tical command, as to say : Away with your hypocritical kiss; do rather that /or ichlch thou art here I See the Eireg. Notes.
But the ellipsis might also be supplied by a" o 1 5 a : I know for what thou art here.—V. S.]
« Ver. 51.-[T hv Sov\ov, the well known servant, viz., Malchus, John xvi!i. 10, Comp. Mark xiv. 47, Tvhere the
English Version likewise substitutes the indefinite article.— P. S.]
^ Ver. 53.— Some uncial Codd. read a-KoQavovvrai [for dTroAovi'Tad-
6 Ver. m.— [Presently should be omitted, as it arose from confounding two i-oadinrfs in the text, some authorities plac-
ing SpTi, now, after irapaa-Tna-^i, otliers after Svvanai, but none repeating it. Cranmer"s Bible first put 7lo^l} {eDeii
CHAP. XXVI. 47-50.
485
«o«0 iiftpv boih verbs, while Tyndnle, the Genev.'in Bible, and the Bishops' Bible have it only after cannot, and the
Klieims N. T. (following the Vulgate) after give me. King James" revisers substituted jin^xeni/!/ for the second now.—
7 Ver. 53.— [Or: cause to stand 6y, as the Bishops' Bible literally renders -nafaarxn^i, and .Scrivener comineuds.
Conaut prefers ''«C7irf" with Ooverdale. Campbell : "send to my relief:"— V. S.]
8 Ver i}-i.—\^But u an iusertioii to make the connection plainer, or it was supposed to be iinidied in ovv. But the mean-
ing is: Considering then that God could place such a mishty force ut My disposal, how is it possible, etc.— P. B.]
3 Ver. 55.— [Nor : ((Actt7;s, which is expressly distinguished from Xrimri'i in John x. 1, 8. Comp. Matt. .x.xi. l-S, and
note. Scrivener: " All these i)rocautious would be futile against a petty thief, though very proper asaiust a'bandit such
as r.arnabas for example."— P. 8.] ■ . ^ 5
'" Ver. 55. — [For before the infinitive is obsolete and should be omitted in a revised translation. P. S.]
" Ver. 5(5.— [This is the emphatic form of the Greek : oi fiadnral Travrej, aud so rendered by Conant and others.—
P. g.]
11 false prophet, and therefore worthy of stoning, —
the appointod punishment of that crime. That ques-
tion they had already settled iu the affirmative some
time before, having determined to put Jesus to death
(John xi. 4*7) ; although they found themselves want-
ing in grounds of action, which therefore they endeav-
ored by cunuuig to obtain from Himself, but failed.
The right of putting offenders to death had been
taken from thera by the Roman government (John
xviii. 31); hence the Roman crucifixion was after-
ward subsiituted for the Jewish stoning. Thus their
undertaking was, on the whole, a daring experiment
of wickedness. They were as yet without false wit-
nesses and without grounds of accusation ; they had
not the thorough consent of Pilate ; and they must
silence and win over, by some sudden stimulant, the
common people. On this account they aimed to give
the capture, in which the Roman soldiers were at
tlieir disposal, a spurious character of importance ;
their excessive preparation would have the effect of
creating the presumption that Jesus must be a very
great criminal.
Ver. 48. Gave them a sign. — Meyer; "The
tSoL'Kev is commonly, but improperly, regarded as
having a pluperfect sense. The Vulgate has it right,
dedif. As he came he gave them a sign." [So also
Alford].— V/hom I shall kiss.— The kiss was among
the ancients a sign of affectionate and cordial inti-
macy, and particularly a token of fidelity, Gen. xxix.
11. More commonly, the teachers kissed their pu-
pils ; but examples of the converse are not wanting.
Lightfool, Hone, p. 484. It is doubtful whether the
kiss of reverent submission (Ps. ii. 12) was impressed
on the lips : probably on tlie hands o? the feet.
Hold Him fast, seize Him. — We take the
Kpar n (TUT e aurov as emphatic. Possibly there
was a touch of irony in the language of the arch-
traitor, who expected that Jesus might in a magical
manner elude them after all. For the darkened mind
of Judas had now come to regard Him as a magi-
cian.
Ver. 49. And forthwith he came. — Excited,
but also dissembling. He pretended tliat he did not
belong to the procession of enemies, that he would
I)recede them, point out the danger, and separate
from his Master witli sorrow. — Kissed Him. — The
KaTicpiAriafv must be understood in all its empha-
sis, to km very tenderly, to caress. Comp. Xenoph.
Mem. ii. 0, 33 ; Luke vii. 38, 4.5 ; Acts xx. 37.
Meyer : " The sign was the simple kissing ; but the
performance was more empliatic, a caressing, corre-
spondii'g with the purpose of Judas to make sure,
and with the excitement of his feelings." The kiss
of Joal), 2 Sam. xx. 9 (comp. 2 Sam. iii. 27). " The
early Christians, who kissed each other at the Lord's
Supper, did it as appropriate to the time when the
sufl'erings of Christ were remembered ; they did not
thereby intend to express their abhorrence of Judas'
kiss." Heubncr.
EXEGETICAL AND CKITIOAU
Ver. 47. Then came Judas. — He knew the spot,
as being the place where Jesus often met His disciples,
John xviii. 2. Drn'ing the completion of the meal, the
final discourses of Jesus, and His agony in Gethsemaue,
Judas went out into the night, and consummated the
work of his villany. His impetuosity induced the
Sanhedriu to rescind their resolution of not taking
Jesus at the feast. This it was first necessary that
they should decide upon, and then summon the tem-
ple-guard ; after which the permission of the Roman
governor was to be obtained, and the requisite mili-
tary protection. Judas had reckoned upon all this
delay, aud had calculated that time enough would he
allowed for Jesus to have reached Gethsemaue. But
that the preparation which the higli priests in league
v.-ith Judas appointed, was exaggerated and excessive,
all the Evangelists agree. According to John, Judas
brought the Roman cohort ((TireTpa). Even if we do
not understand this litei-ally — as the one Roman
cohort which was stationed in the Castle Autouia
c;)usisted of 500 men — yet we may assume thtit tlie
disposable portion of that force, representing the
cohort, was there. To these must be added, accord-
ing to Luke, the temple-watch. Such a watch be-
longed to the temple, and vfas commanded by a
a-T/)anj7>T?, Acts iv. 1. The plm-al (TTparnyoi (Luke
xxii.'52), refers to the presence of other and subordi-
nate officers. The torches also betray the excess of
the preparation ; although even the paschal full moon
would not render these needle.ss, when searching
among the shady caverns of the gloomy valley of the
Kedron.
One of the twelve. — The significance of this
ercpression here rests upon this, that Judas no longer
vnmes in the train of the disciples as a follov/er of
Jesus, but at the head of the hostile multitude.
V/ith him a great multitude. — The swords *
indicate that the Roman cohort (John xviii. 3) was
the centre of this multitude : while the clubs, and so
forth, indicate that the Jewish temple-watch, and
other miscellaneous fanatics, were there also. Ac-
cording to Luke xxii. 52, there were also fanatical
priests and ciders who mingled in the procession, — a
circumstance.which Meyer refers to a later and incor-
rect enlargement of the tradition. But Luke appears
to regard representatives of the Sanhedrin as requi-
site for such a religious capture as this was {see Acts
iv. 1); and Meyer undcr-estimate.-i the fanatical im-
pulses of Jewish fanaticism.
With swords and clubs, from the high
priests. — Here we see the mingled religious and
political relations. The Sanhedrin had the decision
in all matters of spiritual jurisdiction. Thus it was
for thera to settle the question whether any one was
* [Not: these words, as the Edinb. edition reads.— P, S.]
486
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTUEW,
Ver. 50. Friend, tralpe. — Comp. ch. xx. 13 [and
Crit Note No. 4, y>. 852.]
[Why (lid the Lord call Judas friend — a term of
civility, thougli not necessarily of friendship — and not
a villain, or a traitoi; and why did He not turn away,
in holy indignation, from this Judas-kiss, the vilest,
the most abominable piece of hypocrisy known in
history, which the infernal inspirer of treason alone
could invent ? To give us an example of the utmost
meekness and gentleness under the greatest provoca-
tion, surpassing even the standard which He holds up
for His disciples. Matt. v. 39. If the face of the Sa-
viour was not disgraced by the traitor's kiss, no
amount of injury and insult heaped upon His follow-
ers by the enemies of religion can really dishonor the
former, but falls back with double effect upon the
latter. At the same time the words e<p' o irapei,
whether they be taken as a question, or as an ex-
clamation, or as an elliptical assertion or command —
together with the question recorded by Luke : " Be-
trayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss ? " conveyed
a most stinging rebuke to Judas, whose force was
doubled by the use of the word friend, and the deep
emotion and holy sadness with which they v/ere ut-
tered. The effect appears from the subsequent de-
spair of Judas. — P. S.]
Do that for -which thou art here ! * [Author-
ized Version : Wherefore art thou come ? — Meyer :
"Since the relative 05 (e,^' '6 Trapei) is never used in
direct question, but only in indirect, the common ac-
ceptation of this as a question is not correct ; and it
is quite groundless (Winer, 192) to assume a corrup-
tion in the declining Greek in relation to os. Fritzsche
explains it as an appeal ad qualem rem perpetramlara
ades! But the Greek would require this also to take
the form of a question. The words are broken off
with an aposiopesis : Friend, that for which thou art
here come — do ! Jesus thereby denounces the trai-
torous kiss." — Ewald : " I need not thy kiss ; I know
that thou meanest it in hypocrisy ; do rather that
which is thy business." Similarly Euthym. Zigab.
This would certainly accord with the declining of the
kiss in Luke : Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a
kiss ? But, in tliis case, it is better to assume that it
is a concise form only : tov-tu irpam, i<^ & tra.pzi.
Or: irapiarai, ip" t) irapsi. By the Lord's going oat
to meet the watch, the hypocritical play of Judas was
interrupted. John alone relates the falling to the
ground on the part of the multitude. But Jesus
hastened to meet the multitude, in order to protect,
,.not only the three, but also the other disciples on the
outside of the garden.
Ver. 51. And, behold, one cf them. — When
the evangeUcal tradition hrst assumed shape and
form, prudence required that the name of Peter
should not be publicly mentioned. Hence the indefi-
nite expression in the SynoptLsts. But this necessity
did not exist when John wrote his Gospel : therefore
he gives the name. The same remark apphes to the
omission of the raising of Lazarus in Bethany, which
the Synoptists may have had good reasons for ignor-
ing, but not John who wrote so much later.
Drew his sword. — When he saw that they laid
hands on the Lord. According to Luke, the question
was first asked from among the disciples, Lord, shall
we smite with the sword ? (On the two swords, com-
pare-Luke.) Immediately thereupon followed the
* [So Lansie : " Freund .' {n
Similarly Kwald : '^Freund, d~
Luther, de Wette. and (Hlur Germ
the English in taking tlic- phra^ie us t
das)
wozu du da hist !
du da bint! But
a Versi'iiiK, agree with
question.— PrS.]
blow of Peter's sword ; and it struck the servant of
the high priest, called Malchus, according to John.
He had cut off his right ear : Matthew and Mark,
rh wTiov; but Luke, rh oSt, the ear itself, and not
merely the lobe. It seemed that he would have split
his head. The separation of the ear must have been
not quite perfect ; and Jesus healed the servant, ac-
cording to the narrative of Luke the physician. Meyer,
following Strauss, attributes this healing to a later
tradition. The other Evangehsts, however, appear to
have regarded this heahng as self-understood; as,
otherwise, Peter would have remained a criminal, and
the mutilation of Malchus would have furnished good
ground of an accusation, which, however, was not
preferred.
Ver. 52. Put up again thy sword into its
place. — The sheath, John xviii. 11. Peter, there-
fore, still stood there with his drawn and brandished
sword in his hand. — For all they that take the
sword. — This is a judicial sentence, but also a
threatening warning. In the former light, it rests
upon an absolutely universal princij)le. The sword
is visited by the sword in war ; the sword of retribu-
tion opposes the arbitrary sword of rebellious sedi-
tion ; and the sword taken up unspiiitually in a spir-
itual cause, is avenged by the certain, though perhaps
long-delayed, sword of historical vengeance. Peter
was, in all these three aspects, in a bad position, and
the representative of wrong. The warrior exposed
himself to the superior force of the legions of Rome,
the rebel to the order of the magistrate, and the abuse
of the sword in the service of reUgion provoked, and
seemed to justify, the same abuse on tne part of the
world. Peter had really forfeited his life to the
sword ; but the Lord rectified his wounded position
by the correcting word which He spoke, by the mirac-
ulous healing of the ear, and by the voluntary surren-
der of Himself to the authorities. But Peter had not
only with wilful folly entered on the domain of this
world, he had also brought his Master's cause into
suspicion. Indeed, he sought to bring his fellow-
disciples, and his Lord Himself, into this wrong posi-
tion, and to make his own Christ a Mohammed.
Therefore the Lord so solemnly denounced his act,
pronounced an ideal sentence of death upon his head,
which, however, was graciously repealed. The Lord's
word from that hour became a maxim of Christianity
(comp. Rev. xiii. 10) ; and it was probably spoken to
Peter with a typical significance. Even the Church
of Rome says: ccclcsia 7ion sitit sanguinen\, but only
to have recourse to the stake and faggot, of which
certainly the letter of this passage says nothing.
[Shall perish. — Alford: ^^ iy fjLaxo-'pV airoKoiivrai
is a command ; not merely a future, but an impera-
tive future ; a repetition by the Lord in this solemn
moment of Gen. ix. 6. 8ce the parallel in Rev. xiii.
10: Sel o.\'Tov iv uax- o.TroKTai'dyvai. This should be
thought of by those well-meaning but shallow per-
sons, who seek to abolish the punishment of death in
Christian states." Comp. also Rom. xiii. 4. Thus
the passage justifies capital punishment as a measure
of just retribution for murder in the hands of the civil
magistrate, but condenms at the same time the resort
to all carnal and violent measures on the part of the
Church, which is a spiritual body, and should only
use spiritual weapons. Comp. 2 Cor. x. 3, 4. Rome
agrees in theory {Ecclesia non sitit sanguinem), but
violates it in practice by handing the heretics, wher-
ever she has the power, to the state for execution,
and thus using the civil magistrate as an instrument.
Quod quisper aliumfacit, id ipsefecisse dicitur. — P.S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 47-5G.
487
Ver. 53. Or thinkest thou?— If Christ had re-
fused to take the way of the passion, He might have
adopted quite another way than that of wilful and
violent opposition to the world : the way, namely, of
coming to judgment ui)on it. Thinkest thou not that,
if I did not desire to be a loug-suffen;i ; Redejiner, I
might at once appear to the whole w -rid as its su-
preme Judge, rather than enter upon thy hypocritical
way of half-spirituality and half-woililhuess, half-pa-
tienee and half-violence, of civihzation with a sword
in its hand ? For, the twelve legions of angels which
He might have prayed for, doubtless signified that
multitude of augels which will actually attend Him
when He returns to judgment (ch. xxv. 31). If the
Church of the Middle Ages had not the courage to
achieve the evangelization of the woi-ld in the way
of Christ's passion, she should have had foith to sup-
plicate for the last day to come ; but she did wrong
to make Christ another Mohammed, and to continue
His work by a hypocritical mixture of rehgious
preaching and carnal violence. Meyer: "The num-
ber twelve corresponds to the number of the Apos-
tles, because it was one of those who had just endeav-
ored to defend Him." But it is also and always the
number of the developed perfection of life. The le-
gion is the symbol of a great fighting host. Schaaf,
AlUrthumskunde : " By legio {a legendo) was origin-
ally understood the aggregate of the Roman mihtary
collected for war. When that force increased, it be-
came a great division of the host, which contained,
at various times, from 2400 to beyond 6000 infantry,
and from 300 to 400 horsemen. Since the tune of
Marius, the legion had reached more than 6000."
— It is well worthy of notice that Christ here num-
bers the angels by legions, as the counterpart of the
Roman power, now leagued against Him with His
enemies.
Ver. .54. How then shall the Scriptures be
fulfilled? for, etc. — Meyer: "We must not sup-
ply \4yova-ai before on (Beza, Maldonatus, and
others) ; but there must be a question after ypacpai,
and on is for. For thus (in no other Avay) mu^t it
(that which now befalls Me) be." Thus there are two
reasons: 1. The fulfilment of the Scripture concern-
ing the suffering Messiah : Ps. xxii. ; Isa. liii. ; Dan.
ix. 26 ; Zech. xiii. 7. 2. The counsel of God Him-
self for the salvation of a sinful world, which is the
foundation of all the prophetical Scriptures.
Ver. 55. In that hour said Jesus to the mul-
titudes.— According to Luke, especially to the rulers
and the guard of the temple, which Meyer vainly
seeks to set aside. — Starke : "' Jesus did not say this
before he had been seized and bound. He would
give no indication that He was not willing to be
taken ; and therefore not till after they had done their
will did He rebuke their injustice." — In the temple ;
— that is, in the forecourt of the temple. In this
space the Rabbins placed a sjmagogue (comp. Luke
ii. 46). Here also was ip be sought Solomon's porch
(John x. 23 ; Acts in. 11), with other halls — the re-
gion of teaching and preaching. — And ye laid no
hold on Me. — Certainly, because they durst not ;
but that exhibits their surprise by night as the work
of evil conscience and malignity.
Ver. 56. But all this is done that the Scrip-
tures of the prophets might be fulfilled. — Luke :
♦' But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."
The one supplements the other. Of this hour of
darkness, and of the seeming trium])h of evil, all the
prophets prophesied : Isa. hii. ; Dan. ix. 26, etc.
The supposition of Erasmus, de Wette, and others,
that this last word in Matthew was a remark of the
Evangelist, takes off the point of our Lord's address,
as Meyer rightly observes. It was this last word
which indicated His settled purpose to take the path
of death. Hence it also gave occasion for the flight
of the disciples. Their courage now failed them, and
they fled. The flight, however, was not absolute, as
appears from the narrative of the young man in Mark
xiv. 51, and the conduct of Peter and John, accord-
ing to John xviii. 15. They followed Him, but afar
otf. In reahty, the scattering and flight was com-
plete. [But while the eleven forsook the Lord, other
disciples, as Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea,
took a more decided stand for Him. The Church can
never fail ; new Christians always take the place of
the old ones. Comp. Lange's notes on Mark xiv.
51, 52.— P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. The A1.SS of Judas. — Its dark history in the
world and the Church. This combination, the be-
trayal and t'le kiss of respect in one, could have
been invented by no man, least of all by the soul of
an Evangelist. He only who executed it could have
devised it ; or, rather, hell alone.
2. This wild combination of enemies — soldiers,
temple-servants, and priests — for the accomplishment
of an act of hypocritical violence against Christ, is
also a typical world-historical scene.* Not less so
is the surprise and capture of the Holy One in His
Holiest of All, under the pretext of serving the sanc-
tuary.
8. Peter showed by his first stroke that he was
no soldier ; happily he had missed his blow. That it
was the car of Malcyius which he struck, is very sig-
nificant. It has always been the ear, the spiritual
hearing, and willing susceptibility, which carnal de-
fenders of Christ's cause have taken away from their
opponents, when they have had recourse to the sword
of violence.
4. The)/ who take fJie Sword shall perish bij the
Sword. — That this was said to Peter, had its typical
historical meaning. "The early Christians, amidst
all the slanders heaped upon them, were never charged
with having risen in insurrection against their Gentile
oppressors. Comp. Tertull. Apol. cap. 37. Luther
(in the peasant insurrection) quoted this passage
against the peasants. Duels also are by this sentence
absolutely forbidden. Tiie punishment of death for
certain ofi'ences is clearly enjoined. Sec Rothe's*
Ethik, iii. 877." Heubner. How far a Christian state
may be justified in giving this punishment another
form, may be matter of reasonable question. In its
essential significance the death penalty is an inalien-
able legal ordinance, but the form of social death and
its execution has been in many ways subject to modi-
fication.
5. Thinkest thou that I cannot. — Christ rejects
once for all that unholy and disturbing misture of
judgment and salvation into which carnal zeal is so
much disposed io turn His cause. What He here
says applies to every moment in the history of Christ-
ianity. If it were God's will that at any time (before
the end) the economy of grace, effectual through the
sacred cross, should be suspended, at that moment
* [Not: symbolical, as the Kdinb. tr.sl. reads. In Ger-
man: ein Ujpisohes weltiuaiorixches Slid, i. e., an event of
tvpicnl sisniflcance which is frequently repeatad and fulflU-
ed in history.— P. S.]
488
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the infinite preponderance of heavenly forces over the
violence of the eucniy of earth would at once be ex-
hibited. But then the work of salvation would be
broken off before its consummation. This no man
should ever think of. Whenever men act on this
principle, they tempt God, and summon such powers
against the cause of evil as prove themselves to be,
not angels of light, but disguised powers of darkness ;
and the emiiity which these exhibit against the cause
of evil is only apparent. Of such carnal violence
iLgainst conscience we must distinguish educational
legal discipline within the Church, as we must distin-
guish also between theocracy and hierarchy.
6. The assurance of Christ to those who came
against Him with weapons in the night, — that He had
been ready to give them an account in broad day, —
has also a symbolical meaning for all ages. The per-
secutions of the faithful are always stamped with the
mark of calumny.
7. The last word of Christ is the expression
of His consummate preparation for His passion.
Therefore it is the crisis when the disciples, not yet
mature in faith, forsook Him. Old Testament mar-
tyrdom had in it some affinity with the self-sacrifice
of a hero in battle : they hoped for the speedy tri-
umph of the theocracy. The N'ew Testament martyr
must, in the patience of the saints (Rev. xiii. 10 ;
xiv. 12), tarry for the manifestation of victory until
the last day. For this the disciples were not ripe :
they had not the joyful testknony of victory within
their own spirits. This New Testament martyrdom
could flourish only after the blood of Christ was
shed.
IIOMILETICAL AND PEACTIOAL.
The betrayal. — The first betrayal as tjie germ of
the second. — Jesus and His company in the hour of
betrayal. — An old and always new event, and yet an
event standing alone. — Xo place upon earth is a per-
fectly secure refuge for the Church: God alone is
that. (Luther sung : " A tower of strength our God
is still," but many sing : " A tower of strength our
Church is still.")* — Gethsemaue: 1. Consecrated by
Christ's prayer ; 2. desecrated by the betrayal ; 3. for
ever consecrated by the voluntary resignation of Je-
sus.— The temple dishonored in the name of tlie tem-
ple.— Judas, having left the company of the Twelve,
now at the head of Christ's enemies : a fearful image
of a deep apostasy. — The sign of treachery, the self-
condemnation of tlie traitor: 1. As the hypocritical
sign of his acciuaiutance, of his discipleship, of his
apcstofical vocation; 2. as the token of his apostasy,
of his ingratitude, of his reprobation. — The kiss of
Judas, the most cunning and the maddest imagination
of hell. — The serpent's bite in its historical consum-
mation and spiritual meaning : 1. Consummated in
the connection of hellish betrayal with the sign of
heavenly honor (Ps. ii 12) ; 2. the sign of all treason
against aU faith and fidelity, taken from the sign of
love and confidence. — Supreme cunning, one with
Bupreme infatuation (stupidity). — Friend, wherefore
art thou here ; or, the counter-greeting of Christ to
* [Dr. Lange alludes, of course, to the famous hymn of
Luther : Eiti feste Miirg int unser Golt (based upon Ps.
xlvi. and composed 15291, which may be called the spiritual
war-sonft of tbe Reformation, and which has been very often
translated into English, by Thomas Carlyle, Mills, Cath.
Winkworth, Bunting, and othtrs. It is omitted in the
Edinb. edition, tosetlier with a number of homiletical hints
in this section. — F. S.]
the traitor : 1. Infinitely gentle (although "/ricwtZ"
in Greek was no more than " compaiiion ") : * a mild
allusion to his ingratitude. 2. Infinitely earnest and
severe : Take the mask away ! Stand forth as thou
art ! 3. Infinitely effectual : the subsequent despair
of Judas. — How different, although related, the kiss
of Judas and the sword-stroke of Peter ! — The unholy
use of the sword, and all the acts of sijiritual violence
do but dull the spiritual ear in their false zeal. —
Christ between His friends and His enemies : oppress-
ed by both, righteous to both. — The decree of the
Lord, "All who take the sword," etc. : 1. A decisive
action (the perfect action of perfect suffering) ; 2. a
sacred principle ; 3. a prediction scarcely half-fulfilled.
— The connection between Peter's smiting with the
sword and his denial : 1. Presumption, despondency ;
2. wounded conscience, anxiety (John xviii. 26, Mal-
chus' relation) ; 3. his misinterpretation of the word :
" He that taketh the sword shall perish by the
sword ; " as if it were to be at once Uterally fulfilled. —
Christ enters upon the path of His passion in the full
consciousness of His heavenly glory {Thinkest ilimi
that I could not?) — Not weakness restrains the judg-
ment upon the wicked, but only the divine compas-
•sion. — One of the deadliest evils to Christ's cause is
the intermixture of gospel and judgment in carnal
zeal for the advantage of the Church : it makes both
the gospel mercy and the judicial severity matter of
contempt and scorn. — The protest of the Lord against
the cunning violence of the assault, an eternal protest
of the spirit of truth. — The cunning violence of the
enemies of the truth condemns itself: 1. The violence
and force condemns the cuiming ; 2. the cunning con-
demns the force. — Swords and staves mixed, and both
lost : the honor of the sword, of the State ; the dig-
nity of the staff, of the Church. — The Scriptures of
the prophets concerning Ciirist taken and bound. —
Clirist's peace in the great word that the dark hour
of uttermost darkness was perfectly in accordance
wltli the word and will of God. — The flight of the
disciples at the end of their human enthusiasm was
their guilt, and yet mercifully they were delivered
from its consequences by their Lord's protection. —
Christ the great Martyr, the Founder of New Testa-
ment martyrdom.
Starke : — Wickedness is often stupid and shame-
less. The wicked* are bold. Matt. vii. 22. — Zebsius:
The Lord abhors the bloody and deceitful man, Ps.
V. 6. — Ps. ii. 12, the kiss of genuine homage and
love. — Qaesnel: The world is full of deceitful courte-
sies and flatteries. — Everywhere we should be able to
answer the question : Wherefore art thou come? —
0 slander : When Christians are bound and put in
prison without any guilt of their own, they should
reckon it no disgrace, but rather the highest honor. —
Even among the saints is much lust of revenge, Rom.
xii. 19. — Provocation to anger and vengeance the
most deadly temptations of Satan in the time of ex-
ternal tribulation. — Young and rash preachers are too
apt to brandish Peter's sword, before they have
learned to use the sword of the Spirit. — But when
our carnal zeal smites wrongly, the injury is done to
the ear, which should hear the word of God. — Can-
stein : God rules the sins and infirmities of His peo-
ple in such a way, that they cannot do more evil than
He has decreed to permit, Rom. xiii. 4. — Luther:
They take the sword who use it without orderly
authority. They have fallen under the judgment of
* [Gomp. note 4 on p. .352.— P. S.]
t [The Edinb. edition has godly,— no doubt a typograph-
ical error for godlesd.—}'. 8.]
CHAP. XXVI. 51-
489
the sword, although repentance may prevent the exe-
cution of the decree. Thus Christ approves a right
use of the sword. — Ramhach: Peter says (1 Ep. iv.
15) : " Let no man suifer as a murderer or as an evil-
doer," probably with allusion to this very event. If
he had cut off the servant's head, he would have
fallen under the condonniation of the law as a mur-
derer, and then could never have died as a martyr. —
1 Pet. ii. 13 : No man must opi)Ose lawful authority.
— Hcdingcr : Christ's kingdom needs no sword ; suf-
fering and praying are the best weapons. — Crpmer:
The seditious go never unpunished, 2 Kings ix. SI ;
2 Sam. xviii. 1-t. — The angels of Dan. vii. 10; Heb.
i. 14. — That all the angels of God serve the Saviour,
a great consolation for God's children. — Canstebi:
When God suffers His people to be overcome in ex-
ternal trouble, that is no sign of His weakness, but
that these sulierings are decreed for His own glory
and His people's good. — Nova Bibl. Tub. : The wea-
pons of the false Church are swords and staves, ex-
ternal violence. — True Christians never shun the
light: their words and deeds are manifest. — The
heart, Jer. xvii. 9, 10, with reference to Peter.
Braune: — Jesus' suffering His greatest deed. —
Gerlach : The sword out of its sheath is not in its
place, except when it is subserving the wrath of
God.
Lisco : — The sad fall of Judas should be a warn-
ing to every one not to indulge a vain reliance in the
mere external fellowship of Christ.
Hcuhner : — The frightful transformation of Judas.
— Judas at their head. — A studied dishonor to the
Lord, — that they should come with so great a multi-
tude.— Jesus, taken and suffering in the night, atones
for the sins which are done in the night. ^ — There is
always a Judas-kiss among us (insmcerity of profes-
sion, in office, in sacramental pledges, in the holy
communion). — Jesus endures still the kiss of many
false members of His Church. — Jesus, according to
Luke xxii. 48, names his name : Judali ! Thou art
named confessor, and art become a traitor. — This
Bound One is the Captain of God's host, the Leader
of all mankind. — Jesus is free even in His bonds. —
Peter not yet free from revenge and ambition. — How
often must the Lord repair what the rashness and
folly of His disciples have done amiss ! — He who has
full faith in God, his Father, sees himself without
amazement surrounded by enemies ; invisible defend-
ers are around him, and the Almighty is his help. —
Look on all sufferings as the Lord's good pleasure;
so will all their bitterness be gone. — Wrong for ever
shuns the light. — Goodness can always appeal to its
open, frank, and known behavior before the world. —
The forsaken Jesus is the atonement of our unfaith-
fulness.— He knows what the forsaken feel.
Kapff: — What we may learn from Jesus when
taken captive: 1. Courage and strength; 2. hu-
miUty and submission to the will of God ; 3. meek-
ness and love for our enemies. — Brandt: Because
Adam would not be bound by God's commandment
and his own obedience, Christ must be bound by
human bonds. — Graminlich: Christ's fettered hands
tear away tlia bonds of our death.
[Burkitt: — None sin with so much impudence
and obstinacy, as apostates. — There is so much hypo-
crisy in many, and so much corruption in all, that we
must not be too confident. Peter's heart was sincere,
but his head rasii in drawing the sword. — God's in-
tentions are no warrant for irregular actions. — Christ
will thank no man to fight for Him without a Avarrant
and commission from Him. — Christ was more con-
cerned for our salvation than for His own temporal
preservation. — Had He been rescued by the power of
angels, we would have fallen into the paw of devils.
Matthew Henry : — Many betray Christ with a tiss,
and Hail, Master, who, under pretence of doing Him
honor, betray and imdermine the interests of His
kingdom. — Mel in ore, fel in corde — Honey in the
mouth, gall in the heart. — KaracpiXelv uvk ian^iXelv
— To embrace is one thing, to love another. — Jacob's
kiss and Judas's kiss were much alike. — Religio cogi
non potest, et defendenda non oecidendo, sed moriendo.
[From Lactantius : Imtilutioncs div. Similar re-
marks might be quoted from Tertuliian's Apologeti-
cus, and other ante-Nicene writers, who opposed
religious persecution and claimed toleration as an in-
alienable right of conscience. — P. S.] Men hasten
and increase their own troul)les by blustering, bloody
methods of self-defence. — Persecutors are paid in
their own coin. Rev. xiii. 10. — God has no need of
us, of our services, much less of our sins, to iDring
about His purposes ; and it argues our distrust and
disbelief of the power of Christ, when we go out of
the way of our duty to serve His interests. — There is
an innumerable company of angels, Heb. xii. 22.
(Twelve legions = above seventy-two thousand, and
yet a mere detachment which would not be missed in
heaven.) — Let God's word be fulfilled and His will be
done, whatever may become of us. — The Scriptures
are fulfilling every day.— What folly, to flee, for fear
of death, from Him who is the fountain of life !
Lord, what is man ! — Christ, as the Saviour of souls,
stood alone ; as He needed not, so He had not the
assistance of any other. He trod the wine-press alone,
and when there was none to uphold, then His own
arm wrought salvation, Isa. Ixiii. 3, 5. — P. S.]
SIXTH SECTION.
CHRIST BEFORE CAIAPHAS.
Chaptee XXVI. 57-68.
(Mark xiv. 53-66; Luke xxii. 64-71 ; John xviii. 12-24.)
57 And tliey that liad laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest,
58 where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off
unto the high priest's palace [the court of the high priest]/ and went in, and sat witli
490 TEE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
59 the servants, to s^ee the end. Now the chief priests and [the] elders,'' and all the coun-
cil, sought false witness against Jesus, to [that they might, oVws] put him to death ;
GO But [And, Kat] found none : yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they
61 none.* At the last [But at last, vcrT(.pov Sc] came two false witnesses. And said, This
fellow [man]^ said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in [within]
62 three days. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing?
64 whether thou be [art] the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast
said [it] : nevertheless [besides, ttXt/v] I say unto you. Hereafter shall ye see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in [on] the clouds of heaven.
65 (Dan. vii. 13.) Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphe-
my ; what further need have we of witnesses ? behold, now ye have [ye have now]
66 heard his blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said. He is guilty
67 [worthy, eVo^os] '' of death. Then did they spit [they spit] in his face, and buffeted
68 him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,® Saying, Prophesy unto us,
thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
I Ver. 58.— [Comp. Crit. Note 3 on ch. xxvi. 3, p. 459, on the true meaning of aliK-h.—V. S.]
- Ver. 59.— B., D., L., al., [also Cod. Sinait], omit Ka\ ol Trpeff^v-repoi. Probably an unnecessary insertion
from ver. 57. [Lachmann and Alford omit it, but Tischcndorf retains, and Meyer defends it.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 60. — The second ovx ^i poy is omitted in B., C, and Origen. Comp. Meyer on the probability of an inser-
tion and the manner of its origin. [The text, rec, which is supported by the majority of MSS., reads : Kal iroWiev
\pevS o uapT vpoov it po ct eXdovT wv, ovx (vpov, but Griesbach and the critical editors omit Kai before
TToW'l'y, and o ii x ev pov , or nt lea.?t the last two words, on the authority of three Alexandrine uncials (B., C, L.), to
which must now be added also Cod. Sir.ait., and the Vulgate (cum mutti faUi testes accessissent) and later versions. Dr.
Conant, following this reading, renders: t/iovgh many fahe icitnesses came. Lachmann, however, while he omits
Kai, retains oi'X ^upov in brackets. So Lange in his German Version. The case is hardly clear and important enough
to justify us to disturb the Authorized English Version.— P. S.]
•* Ver. 61.— [In the original simply outo s , which the English Version generally renders: this; In some eases: tkU
■man. Felloic is too disrespectful in modern English, especially if applied to Christ, and .should bis omitted here, ver. 71,
and xii. 24.— P. S.] . "
° Ver. G3.— [Lange, and all the German Versions: Schweff stiUe. This is all the Greek (t io>na expresses, while
to hold (me's peace seems to imply the suppression of feeling or emotion. Silence is often better than speech, and in this
case was the best answer.— P. S.]
« Ver. 63.— B., C, and other MSS., and some traiiBlatiom (Yulgaia) omit the a-jroKptde'is, probably on account of tho
difficulty of its meaning in its connection with tho previous silence.
' Ver. 66. — [Or: '-worth!/ to die" Tyndale, Cranmer, Cheke, Genevan, Bishops'; or: "//« deset'ves to die" Campbell;
or: ''he is deserving of death,'' SnWencr. The rendering of evox^-i 6a.v6.rov in the Authorized Version is borrowed
from Wiclif, Coverdale, and the Ehemish N. T., and retained by Conant and the revised Version of the Am. Bible Union,
but it is hardly justifiable no\v after the old Saxon sense of guilt (— debt) has become obsolete. In the same antiquated
sense guilty is used Mark xiv. 64; 1 Cor. xi. 27. — P. S.]
8 Ver. 67. [The words : with the palms of their hands, should be omitted as not necessarily implied in
4ppd-!riTap, which means to strike with a stick a-s well as with the hand. Hesychius derives pairi^dv from pd&Sos.
The marsin of the Authorized Version reads: Or, rods, following the Genevan Version and Beza ('■ le frappiiit de lewr
rergesy' So also Bengel, Meyer, Ewald, and Lange. This is preferable here, since oi Se, a7id ethers, introduces a new
kind of abuse differing from hufeiiiig, and since Mark (xiv. 65) ascribes the pairiCnv to the servants. But the word is
better left indefinite. Older English Versions add: on the face. So Lange: schlugen ihm ins Angesicht. See Exeg.
A'otes.—P. S.]
I nought and buffeting after His third examination ;
the scarlet robe. — Matthew and the other two Evan-
gehsts pass over the examination of the Lord by An-
Chronologkal Order of Events.— \. The prepara- I nas. It is, however, related with all its particulars
tory examination bv Annas, John xviii. 13; 2. the j by John; and, indeed, was quite in accordance with
examination during" the ni^ht before Caiaphas ; 3. the i the views of the Jews. Though Annas had been de-
formal and final examination before Caiaphas and i posed, the Jews seem still to have considered him aa
the Sanhedrin on Friday morning (Matt., Mark, Luke). ! their real high-priest ; while, at the same time, they
This threefold examination by the ecclesiastical tri- were obhged in an official capacity to acknowledge
bunal was followed by another threefold examination \ Caiaphas, whom the Romans had appointed " that
on the part of the secular authorities,— first, by Pi- i same year." As Caiaphas was the son-in-law of An-
late ; then by Herod (Luke) ; and, lastly, a second ; nas, they would, m all probability, order their domes-
time by Pilate. Between these examinations the fol- ! tic arrangements so as to meet the views of theJews
lowing events intervened:—!. The mocking and buf- i without giving offence to the Romans. Accordingly,
feting on the part of the servants of the temple, be- \ wc would suggest that both lived m one and the same
tween the second and the third examination by the I palace ; which would also account for the fact, that
ecclesiastical authorities. 2. The being set at nought while the exammation was successively carried on m
after the second exammation bv the secular rulers, j two different places, the guard seems to have reinain-
or before Herod ; the white robe. 3. The settmg at i ed in the same inner court of the palace. This is ev-
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
CHAP. XXVI. 57-68.
491
ident from a comparison of the narrative of Peter's
denial as given by John, in its rehition to that of the
same event as recorded by tlie other Evangelists.
Similarly, this would also explain the fact, tluvt in
the three first Gospels wc only read of Christ being
led before Caiaphas. From the peculiar practical
view taken by Matthew, we can readily understand
why he should have only recorded the official exam-
ination. In general, we infer that the examination
by Annas was mainly an attempt on the part of the
old priest (whom Klopstock, without adequate
grounds, represents in a milder light) to ensnare the
Lord in His words, and thus to elicit some tenable
grounds of accusation. The examuiation by Caia-
phas was merely a formal matter. The only impor-
tance attachmg to it is, that the testimony of Christ,
to the effect that He was the Christ, the Son of God,
was there declared to be blasphemy, and deserving
of death. The circumstances as now detailed will
enable us to understand how Matthew and Mark re-
late first the examination by the high-priest, and then
the denial by Peter, while this order is reversed in
the Gospel by Luke. Evidently the threefold denial
on the part of Peter extende 1 from the first to the
second examination of the Master.
Ver. 57. Where the scribes and the elders
were assembled. — In accordance with our former
remarks, we conclude that this was a preluninary
meeting of the Sanhedrin, quite distinct from the
regular and formal meeting which took place early
on the following morning. It is quite characteristic
of the Evangelists, that John details the first exam-
ination, Luke the third, while Matthew and Mark re-
cord the second. John evidently apprehended the
rejection of Christ by the Jews as originating in the
hatred of Annas and the priests, which decided the
rest of the procedure ; Luke viewed it in the light of
its political bearing ; the other two Evangehsts de-
scribed it in its relation to the central idea of the
hierarchy as this unfolded itself to their intui-
tions.
Ver. 58. Afar oflf. — As it were, not with the cor-
dial closeness of a disciple, but like a mere spectator
or observer.
Unto the court or hall. — Not the palace,
as in Luther [and in our authorized version]. The
expression av \-n was appUed, among the Greeks,
both to the hall or court in front of the house, ami
to the dwelling itself. In Eastern and Jewish houses
it was the inner court surrounded by side halls.*
Here the hall of the palace, the court-yard. Accord-
ing to the account given by John, He had obtained
immediate access into the inner hall, and then pro-
cured admission for Peter. Tradition asserts that
John had become acquainted with the family of the
high-priest while still engaged in his original calling
as fisherman. " As in all eastern houses, so in this
palace, the wmdows of the room or the openings of
the hall in which Jesus was examined, would open
into the inner court, which, according to Mark xiv.
tj6, must have been somewhat lower than the rest of
the house. There Peter, and perhaps John also,
heard part of the examination that went on. Ac-
cordingly, the accounts in the three first Gospels
bear evident marks of having been derived from eye-
witnesses, who, however, had not heard all that had
passed. But the account given by John was mani-
* [The entrance to this enclosed area, or court-yard, was
thronsh the porcli, ttuXwv, ver. 71, or TrpoavKtof, Mark
xiv. 63. Comp. Crit Note on ver. 8, p. 459.— P. 8.]
festly supplemented from more full and satisfactory
reports." Gerlach.
Ver. 59. And all the coimcil.— So Matthew
adds from his ideal tiieocratic point of view. The
expression must evidently be taken in a general
sense. In their official capacity as a council, the
whole assemblage were animated by the same spirit
of hatred and murder. Individual exceptions, such
as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, are left out
of view by the historian. Besides, they may not
have been present at this meeting. It will be re-
membered, that when, on a much earlier occasion,
Nieodenius attempted to speak in favor of Jesus, he
was threatened with excommunication, Jolm vii. 50,
etc. Again, according to John ix. 22, the council
had formerly passed a resolution to excommunicate
any person who should own Jesus as the Christ.
Hence it seems probable that ^'icodemus had taken
no further part in the dcHberations of the council
agamst Jesus. Similarly, we conceive that Joseph
of Arimathea had also, on an earlier occasion, spo-
ken in the same spirit as Nicodemus, Luke xxiii. 51.
Other members of the Sanhedrin may have been
frightened and kept away in hke manner by the
threat of excommunication. From Luke xxii. 70 we
infer that these members of the council were not
present even at the formal and official examination
wliich took place in the morning. Finally, it de-
serves notice that the procedure of the Sanhedrin
against Jesus may be said to have extended, from
first to last, throughout the whole of His official
career. This appears most clearly from the account
furnished in the Gospel of John. Ch. ii. 18 : first
attendance at the Passover in the year 781 ; comp.
ch. iv. 1 ; v. 16: festival of Purim, 782. Commence-
ment of the persecutions in Gahlee. — Ch. vii. 1 ; ix.
14 : feast of Tabernacles, in the year 782. Excom-
munication pronoimced upon the adherents of Jesus,
ch. ix. 22. Open and full persecutions in Galilee. —
John X. 22 : feast of the Dedication of the Temple,
in the wmter of the year 782. Ch. x. 31 : attempt
to stone Jesus. Ch. xi. 57 : pronouncmg of the ban
or injunction, that any one who knew where Jesus
was, should immediately indicate the same to the
council. — Ch. xii. 10: the decisive meeting of the
council on the evening before Christ's entry into Je-
rusalem, when the resolution was also taken to kill
Lazarus. Then followed the three examinations
during the night of the betrayal, when it was no
longer a matter of question whether Jesus should
be put to death, — the main object only being to ob-
serve some kind of legal form, and to fix upon a suf-
ficient ground of accusation. Of course, Nicodemus
and Joseph of Arknathea could not be present on
tliese occasions.
Sought false witness against Jesus
Meyer : " ^eudoixaprvplav, i. e., as viewed by the
historian." But it ought to be kept in mind that
the priests acted not merely under tlie impulse of
fanaticism, but with a' fixed determination to find
l)r()of against Christ, whether it were rightly or
wrongly obtained. The remark of de Wttte, that
they would have preferred to have found true wit-
ness, and did not purposely seek for false, seems
somewhat superfluous, as this would of course b_e the
case. It is sufficient, that they were fully conscious
that true witness could not be obtained.
Ver. 60. But foiind none. — According to Mark
xiv. 56, "their witness agreed not together." By
the law of Jloses, at least two witnesses were required
to agree if the accusation was to be sustained (Niun.
492
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
XXXV. 30; Deut. xvii. 6; xix. 15). Hence ia the
following clause the emphasis ijjsts on the word
two. At last the smallest requisite number was
found !
VcT. 61. This man said. — A perversion of the
statement of Jesus in John ii. 19 (Atytrars), which
had referred to His body. " Misunderstood and al-
tered," observes Meyer ; " but whether intentionally
or not, cannot be decided." But a witness is fully
responsible, if not for his understanding of the words
which he reports, yet for the accuracy of his quota-
tion. A witness from hearsay, who professes to have
himself heard a certain statement, or an accuser who
has not accurately heard what he reports, must also
be regarded as a false witness.
Within three days^ 5 1 a , not after three
days. — From this passage, as well as from The
treatment of Stephen (Acts vi. 13), we learn that
statements derogatory to the temple were treated as
blasphemy. Nor is it difficult to infer the reason of
this — the temple being regarded as the symbol of
the Jewish religion. Jesus held his peace, " in lofty
self-consciousness,"' not merely because the witness
was false, but also because, even if true, it was really
no evidence of hostility to the temple, since, along
with the statement of its destruction, it had held out
the promise of its restoration ; and because the whole
of this preliminary questioning pointed forward to
His avowal of His Messianic character, to which, af-
ter all, the inquiry must ultimately come.
Ver. 62. And the high-priest arose.— "The
chief-priest loses his self-possession, and rises up."
Perhaps more accurately it may be characterized as
a piece of theatrical affectation, the high- priest pre-
tending to be filled with holy indignation. — Answer-
est Thou nothing ? — Meyer : The arrangement of
the following clause into two distinct queries is ex-
ceedingly characteristic of passionate hatred, and
quite warranted by the phraseology, as o tt o k p i -
ve (T Oat r L may mean to answer something^ and t i
may be equivalent to o , t i .
Ver. 63. And the high-priest answered He
understood the meaning of Christ's silence, and hence
answered His silent speech. Meyer rightly observes ;
" He replied to the continuous silence of Jesus by
formally proposing to Him to answer on oath the
question, whether He was the Messiah. On this
everything depended, in order to secure that the
sentence of death pronounced against Him should be
confirmed by the Roman authorities." Comp. John
xviii. 19.
I adjure Thee. — Gen. xxiv. 3 ; 2 Chron. xxxvi.
13. When such a formula of adjuration was em-
ployed, a simple affirmation or negation was re-
garded in law as sufficient to constitute a reg-
ular oath. See Michaelis, Laws of Moses, § 302.
Grotius : i^opKL^ew, Hebraice 3'"':irn, modo est jure-
ji'.rando adigerc, interdum vero obsecrare. Solebant
jvdices talem 6pK.ifffj.6v adhibere, ut aid test/thus
iesi'imonium auf reis confessionem exprimerent. An-
other fonnula of the same kind is mentioned in John
ix. 24. " The judge adjured the witness, who, by a
simple Yea and Amen, made the oath his own."
By the living God.— Not in the sense of
"pointing Thee" to Him, but in that of putting
the oath as in His presence, and in view of Him
as the judge and avenger. The Uving God Him-
self was invoked as the witness and the judge of
any untruth, Heb. vi. 13 ; x. 31.— Thou hast said,
e 1 77 a 9 . — An affirmation (ver. 25), and consequent-
ly an oath. The conduct of Christ is not inconsis-
tent with ch. v. 34, since in the i)resent instance the
Lord was placed before tlie constituted authorities of
the land, and acted as bound in law. " Rationalists
have understood the words of Jesus as unplying:
Thou sayest it, not II" " He tells them now thai
He is the Christ." Braunc.
The Son of God. — More fully reported in Luke
xxii. 67, and ver. 70. From that passage it appears
that the expression, Son of God, v.-;s not m -.ely in-
tended as a further addition to the lerm C/./Wi!(de
Wette), but meant to express the Christian idea at-
taching to the latter designation. .
Ver. 64. Besides, tt a ij r . — A particle of transi-
tion, intended to introduce a new statement, Luke
xix. 27. " Not ^ro/ecto (Olshausen), nor 5?«w(Kuin-
oel), [nor nevertheless, as in the authorized Engl,
version], but, besides, or over, beyond My affirmation
of this adjuration." Meyer.* Besides this, I shall
henceforth manifest Myself as the Messiah over you ;
My Messianic glory shall appear before your eyes.
Thus, of His own accord did Jesus now add His royal
testimony to the confession which He had been
forced to make. — From hence shall ye see. —
The expression must not be limited to tlie final ap-
pearing of Christ, but refers to His whole state of
exaltation, — to that personal exaltation which reveals
itself in the almighty power and universal influence
exercised by Him throughout the course of history.
— Sitting on the right hand cf power. — T tj s
Svvaij.eccs =: nnsi^^H (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm., p.
3855). Power, one of the main attributes of the
Deity, here the abstract for the concrete, to indicate
how, under this influence, His apparent impotence
would at once be transformed into omnipotence.
According to Ps. ex. 1, " sitting at the right hand "
refers to the exaltation of the Messiah, and to the
manifestation of His 5o'|a ; more especially to His
share in the government of the world, in the form
of festive rest and absolute supremacy. — And com-
ing ia the clouds of heaven. — The expression
does not merely refer to His final advent (de Wette),
but to the whole judicial administration of Clirist,
which commenced immediately after His resurrec-
tion, but especially at the time of the destruction of
Jerusalem, and shaU be completed in the end of the
world.
Ver. 65. Then the high- priest rent his
clothes. — "He rent his Simla, or upper garment
(not his high-priestly robe, which he only wore in the
temple; comp. Ileland, Antiq. ii. c. 1, §11). A
mark of indignation, Acts xiv. 14 ; on other occa-
sions, of mourning (2 Sam. i. 11) ; and in this sense
interdicted to the high-priest "(Lev. x. 6 ; xxi. 10),
but only on ordinary occasions. This prohibition,
however, does not seem to have appUed to extraordi-
nary occurrences: 1 Mace. ii. 14 ; Joseph.. Bell. Jud.
ii. 15, iv." De Wette. The practice of rending the
clothes on occasions of supposed blasphemy was
based on 2 Kings xviii. 37. Buxt. Lex., p. 2146.
Originally it was simply a natural outburst of most
intense pain, such as grief or indignation, or of both
these emotions. Hence it would be voluntary, and
not subject to a special ordinance. But at a later
period, when many of these outbursts were more
theatrical than real, their exercise was regulated by
special rules, according to Maimonides, quoted by
Buxtorf, just as similar manifestations were made
the subject of regulation in the medieval Church.
* [So also Alfovri : "TliHrr' shall be a sign of tbe truth of
what I say, over and above this confession of mine." — P. S.]
CHAP. XXVI. 51
493
The rent made in the garment was from the neck
downward, and about a span (palmus) in length.
The body dress and the outer garment were left un-
touched : " ill reliqu'is vestibus corporl accornmodalis
omnibus Jit, etiamsi deceinfuerinty Hence to. I ud-
ria. — Saurin : Here was an infalli))le high-priest;
was it duty implicitly to trust and to follow him ?
An argument against the Romish conception of faith
as a blhul submission to the absolute authority of
the Cliurch and the pope.*
He hath spoken blasphemy. — An explana-
tion oi" his symbolical action, and at the same time
the pronouncing of sentence, which, according . to
the law, would in such a case be that of death.
On the supposition of their unbehef, and of their
view that tlie statement of Christ was false, His dec-
laration that He was the Messiah, as well as of the
manner in which He sustained that office, would be
peculiarly repugnant to them. But then, even on
the high-priest's o^\ai showing, it was he, and not
Christ, who was guilty of blasphemy, since he had,
in his autlioritative capacity, obliged Jesus to take
this oath. Thus the conduct of the judges them-
selves led to what they regarded as the crime, which
in turn they condemned, thus condemning themselves.
But viewed in its true light and spirit, the presump-
tuous high-priest alone and his compeers were the
blasphemers.
What further need have we of witnesses ?
— An involuntary admission that they were at a
loss for witnesses. At the same time, it also im-
plies that they wished to found the charge against
Jesus solely upon His own declaration that He
was the Me.^siah. In point of fact, a confession
of guilt would render a further examination of wit-
nesses unnecessary. Caiaphas, however, presupposes
that the members of the Sauhedrin shared his own
unbelief. In his hot haste he takes tliis for granted :
Behold, ye have now heard His blasphemy.
Ver. G(3. He is worthy of death. — As they im-
agined, according to the law, Lev. xxiv. 16 ; comp.
Deut. xviii. 20. A full statement of the sentence,
which Caiaphas had already implied when he declared
Jesus guilty of blasphemy. According to de Wette
and Meyer, this was merely a preliminary expression
of opinion on the part of the Sanhedrin, while the
formal resolution was only arrived at next morning,
oh. xxvii. 1. In our view, this sentence was already
full and final, although in point of form it may not
have been quite complete. For, (1) the Sanhedrin
had probably to be convoked in a formal manner ;
(2) that tribunal was, according to Jewisli law, pro-
hibited from investigating any capital crime during
the night. Besides, all haste in pronouncing cou-
denmation was interdicted ; nor could a sentence of
death be pronounced on the same day on which the
investigation had taken place. Probably the San-
hedrin may have wished to elude tliis provision by
entering on the examination during the night. But |
this object was not in reality secured, since the Jew- i
ish day commenced in the evening. See Friedlieb, ,
ArchcBol. of the History of the Passion, p. 95. Ou
other violations of the proper legal procedure in this
case, see p. 87. (3) According to Roman law, a sen-
tence pronounced before the dawn was not regarded as
valid (Sepp. Leben Jcsu, iii. 484). (4) What was
most important, the Jews were required to couch
* [The EJiiib. ed. omits the l.ibt sontoncc, and turns
Saurin, tlie well-known French Kefuriiu'd pulpit orator I
who died at the lla^ue in 17:J(>, into Haitriims, as if he were
eome^d Latin divine.— P. S,]
their sentence of condemnation in the form of a
charge which they might hope Pilate would sustain;
for the Roman governor was required to confirm the
Jewish verdict of death (Joseph. Arch. xx. 0, 1).
The ill-treatment of the Lord inunediatcly afterward
shows that the Sanhedrin regarded even this first sen-
tence as final. " It is sad that many modern Jews
are srill found attempting to defend the sentence of
death pronounced upon Jesus. Thus the Liber Niz-
zacho7i, cd. by Wagenseil, 1681, p. 50 ; and Salva-
dor, Histoire des Listilutioi^ de Moise et du Peuple
Hebr., Paris, 1828, ii. 85. They maintain that Jesus
was rightly condemned, because, 1. He arrogated to
Himself Divine dignity (Deut. xiii. 1), and because,
2. His work and mission tended toward the over-
throw of Judaism, the undermining of the authority
of the highest tribimal, and consequently the ruin of
the people. Compare, on the other hand, von Am-
Mox, Fortbild d. Christenth., vol. iv." IIe\ibner.
Ver. 67. Then they spit in His face. — With
reference to the ill-treatment to which tlie Lord was
subjected before the Sanhedrin, we must call to mind
that, even in the house of Annas, He w;!,s struck by
one of the officers (John xviii. 22). De Wette and
Meyer are mistaken in supposing that this ill-treat-
ment is recorded in another connection in Luke xxii.
63. Manifestly the latter Evangelist there refers to
what had taken place at a period intermediate be-
tween the first examination before Caiaphas and the
final examination on the following morning, related
in ver. 60, which describes this final meeting, in
terms similar to the narrative of the first examina-
tion given by Matthew. That the two meetings must
have resembled each other, is evident from the cir-
cumstance that the second was in part merely a re-
petition of the first, certain formalities being now
observed. There are, however, certain pecuharities
about each of them. In reference to the account of
the ill-treatment itself, we notice that the narratives
of the various Evangelists supplement, but do not
contrailict, each other. In all probability, the spit-
ting in His face occurred immediately after His con-
demnation. It may be regarded as a consequence
of the sentence, spitting being considered among the
Jews as the expression of the greatest contempt
(Deut. XXV. 9 ; Num. xii. 14). " This insult was
punished with a fine of four hundred drachmas [the
drachma being equal to about 15 American cents].
Even to spit before another was regarded as an of-
fence, and treated as such, by heathen also. Thus
Seneca records that it was inflicted at Athens upon
Aristidcs the Just, adding, at the same time, that
with considerable difficulty one individual was at last
found willing to do it." Braune. But as those who
were excommunicated were regarded as beyond the
pale of the law, this expression of contempt was spe-
cially applied to them (comp. Isa. 1. 6). According-
ly, the members of the Sanhedrin may have consid-
ered themselves warranted to take part in this man-
ifestation of sanctimonious zeal. Their conduct
served as the signal for bodily maltreatment on the
part of the officers by striking Hun with fists (de-
scribed by the term KoKacpi ^eiv). The other
particulars added by Matthew took place on a later
occasion. From the narratives of Mark and Luke
{see my Life of Jesus, ii. 3, p. 1477) we gather that,
after the sentence pronounced by Caiaphas, Jesus
was led througli the hall, where the servants were
v.-arming themselves, into another prison, and that
at the very moment when Peter denied Him for the
third time. There the guard which was to watch
494
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the person of Jesus till the final examination on the
following morning, commenced to maltreat Him, as
fully detailed in the Gospel by Luke. This guard
was, therefore, different from the officers who had
formerly insulted Him. The expression ip ^dir ic av
is generally referred to smiting with the hand [so
also in the E. V. : they smote Him with the palms
of their hands] ; but Beza, Ewald, Meyer, and others,
apply it to smiting with rods.* Both renderings are
equally, warranted by the text. From Luke and
Mark we infer that the scoffing which now took place
was accompanied and followed by smiting with rods.
Ver. 68. Prophesy unto us, Thou Christ. —
The scoffing was directed against His prophetic dig-
nity, or, as they supposed, against the prophetic title
which He claimed. According to Luke xxii. 64,
they blmdfolded and then struck Hun on the face,
asking Him to prophesy which of them had inflicted
the indignity. Fntzsche interprets it as meaning :
Predict to us rcho shall smite Thee ; but in that case
it would have been needless to have covered His face.
As a prophet, He was to tell them what He could not
see. The devilish fanaticism of the superiors had
communicated itself to the lowest officials, and spread
in the way of sympathy from the Jewish temple
guard even to the Roman soldiers. The officers
became a band of murderers around Hun {see Ps.
xxii. ; the bulls of Bashan).
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAK
1. Jesus, silent before His accusers, a living ex-
pression of the truth, in its concrete form, as confi-
dently relying on its eternal victory. Before His
bright consciousness of truth all false testimonies
melted away, as shadows and mist are chased by the
rays of the sun. The last false testimon}-, for which
the requisite number of witnesses had been procured
(although the expressions in Matthew and Mark dif-
fer in reference to it), could scarcely weigh against
Ilim, since, along with the miraculous destruction of
the temple, it spoke of its miraculous restoration.
After all, it only implied that He asserted His
abiUty to perform the works of the Messiah. Thus
His enemies were ultimately obliged to try Him sun-
[>ly, upon the issue whether He was the Messiah.
This alone, of all the charges, now remained. In
other words, they dared to set their own miserable
authority against aU the glorious evidences by which
lie was accredited as the Messiah and the Son of
(Tod.
2. Properly speakmg, the saying of Christ, " De-
stroy this temple," etc., which two years previously
He had uttered at the time of the Passover, properly
meant — You seek to kiU Me ; kill Me then : I shall
rise again. It was the curse of their fanatical dul-
ness and misunderstanding, and of their false hear-
ing, that they converted this very saying into a
charge on which they condemned Him to death.
S. The ancient Church allegorically interpreted
Christ's silence before the secular and the ecclesias-
tical tribunals, as unplying that He answered not a
word because, as poor, guilty sinners, we must and
would have been silent at the judgment-seat of God.
But the tribunals of Caiaphas and Pilate could only
in point of form and appearance serve as an emblem
of the judgment-seat of God. In reality, they exliib-
ited the fact, that the secular and rehgious authori-
* [Comp. the Crit. Note No. 8, p. 490.— P. S.]
ties of the ancient world were wholly devoted to the -
service of darkness, and hence given up by the Lord
to the judgment of self-condemnation. On" the other
hand, however, this judgment of self-condemnation,
which sinful humanity executed upon itself in con-
demning the Christ of God, is the sentence which
Christ by His silence took upon Himself as the woe
of humanity, in order to transform, by His sympathy
and self-surrender, the punishment of the world into
an expiatory atonement.
4. Christy the Son of God. — " The former title
was probably mentioned first, because, as it did
not embody the real ground of accusation, the high-
priest may have expected that Jesus would more
readily assent to the query when couched in that
fbiTu. For, even in the eyes of such a tribunal, the
mere claim to Messiahship could not by any possibil-
ity be regarded as a crime deserving of death, so
long as no attempt whatever had been made to prove
the falseness of the assertion. All this appears still
more plainly from the narrative as given by Luke, in
which the question, ' Art Thou then the Son of God ?'
is put separately from the other, seemingly called
forth by the announcement that they would see Him
sitting on the right hand of the power of God. — ,
Many, in fact most Jews at that time, understood that ^
title (Son of God) as only referring to the Messianic /|
kmgship of Jesus, without connecting with it the/
idea of eternal and essential Sonship. But Caiaphas
evidently intended this expression to imply some-
tliing more than the former designation of Christ.
He and the Sanhedrin wittingly attached to it the
pecuhar meaning which, on previous occasions, had
been such an offence to them (John v. 18; x. 33);
and Jesus, fully understanding their object, gave a
most emphatic affirmation to their inquiry. Of all
the testimonies in favor of the divinity of Christ, this
is the most clear and definite." Gerlach. v
5. The testimony and the oath of Christ. — Calmly >
did He utter the reply which insured His death.
The Faithful Witness (Rev. i.) did not falter or fail.
And at the very moment when He surrendered Hun-
self to an unrighteous judgment unto death, did the
full consciousness of His kingly glory burst upon
Him.
6. By the sentence of the Sanhedrin, the people
of Israel rejected their Messiah, apparently with all
due observance of legal fonns (altliough in contra-
vention of several legal ordinances), but in utter vio-
lation of the spirit and import of the law. Thereby
the nation rejected itself, and destroyed the theocrat-
ical and political import of its temple. See Eph. ii.
16. It was in reahty the Sanhedrin itself which, by
condemning Jesus, condemned the temple, the city,
the theocracy, and the whole ancient world. From
this sentence of death upon the Lord, the world can
only recover in and through the new life in Christ.
7. Besides, I sai/ unto you, etc. — On the right
hand of power — of the majesty of God, Ps. ex. —
" Jesus' here announces to His judges the judgment
of His future advent. He intimates that henceforth
they were to be continually visited by dreadful visions
of His sovereignty. They would ever see Him.
Wherever omnipotence would manifest itself, there
would He also appear along with it, since aU its op-
erations should be connected with His kinguom.
Above all the clouds which were to darken the sky,
would He ever and again appear as the hght of new
eras, as the morning star, and the sun of a brighter
and better future, — and that from this time onward,
until the final revelation of His glory over the last
CHAP. XXVI. 57-
495
clouds which would ascend from a burning world "
(Leben Jesu). " These words of our Lord show that
His coining in the clouds of heaven referred not only
to His final and visible advent at the last day, but
also to the events heralding and typifying His re-
fiirn." Gerlach.
8. With this grand utterance the Lord Jesus di-
rectly met His enemies on the very ground of Scrip-
ture to which, in their hypocrisy, they had appealed.
The reference here is to the prediction of Daniel, in
ch. vii. 13, concerning the glory of the Son of Man ;
hence also the final apphcation of this prophecy to
the Son of Man, who from the first had referred it to
Himself.
9. We might reasonably have expected that, af-
ter Christ had been condemned by an ecclesiastical
tribunal on the charge of blasphemy, such accusa-
tions would not again have been laid by or before
any who professed to be His disciples, but that all
such questions would have been left to be settled by
the Lord Himself But the Inquisition has pursued
the path first trodden by Caiaphas. The Church of
Christ must commit the judgment upon such sins to
God Himself, while the State may enact such laws
agamst blasphemy and crimes of sacrilege as it may
deem necessary for the well-being of the land.
10. The last coimcil of traditionahsm in its full
and final blindness, an antitype of similar councils in
the Christian Church.
11. The spitting upon Jesus, as predicted in Isa.
liii. Gerlach: " Condemned as a blasphemer, He
was treated as an outlaw, and exposed to every indig-
nity and attack."
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The Son of God surrendered into the hands of
sinners. — The holy Judge before the iniquitous judg-
ment of the world. — The judgment of the world upon
the Judge of the world: 1. The false witnesses over
against the Faithful Witness of God ; 2. the criminal
occupying the seat of the high-priest, and the High-
Priest standing in the place of the criminal ; 3. blas-
phemy in the garb of zeal for God, and the loftiest
praise of God designated as blasphemy ; 4. the sui-
cide of the world in the sentence pronounced upon
the Prince of Ufe, and the life of the world in the read-
iness of Christ to submit unto death ; 5. the picture
of bell and the picture of heaven in the insults heap-
ed upon the Lord. — The judgment of man on the Sa-
viour (a judgment of God): 1. The world given up
to complete and full blindness and guilt unto death ;
2. the Son of God given up to complete and full suf-
fering, and to love of redemption. — In the judgment
of man, that of God is ever present. It appears
either : 1. By means of the judgment of man ; or else,
2. beyond and above the sentence of man. — How fre-
quently have spiritual tribunals pronounced their own
sentence ! — False witness as gradually developing and
appearing in the course of history. — The misappre-
hensions of fanaticism the source of its mistakes. —
The holy silence of the Lord, a most solemn divine
utterance: 1. Concerning the guilt of the world, and
His own innocence ; 2. concerning its implacableness
and His gracious compassion. — The holy utterance
of the Lord after His holy silence. — His oath; in
taking it, Jesus, the Eternal One, swore by Himself
(Isa. xlv. 23). — The oath of Jesus the seal of truth. —
The Faithful Witness who seals and confirms all that
God has said, 2 Cor. i. 20 ; Rev. iii. 14.— The as-
sumed appearance of zeal, and genuine holy indigna-
tion.— " What further need have we of witnesses ? "
or, how malice always betrays itself. — " Hereafter
(or, henceforth) ye shall see ; " or the roll of thun-
der in the distance. — Christ's abiding consciousness
of His royal rank as appearing in, and standing the
test of, the hour of its severest trial. — The appeal of
Christ to His own judgment-seat a.^ unto the tribunal
of God. — The insults otfered unto the Lord, or the
bitter mocking of Satan in the fury of man. — How
hell seeks to scoff at the King of heaven. — The dark
shadows which ever follow hypocritical rehgiosity :
1. It is always connected with coarseness and rude-
ness ; 2. it spems to take pleasure in satanic malice
and love of mischief — How ingenious fanaticism has
ever proved in calling for the torments of hell, while
boasting that it alone possessed the keys of the king-
dom of heaven. — Infectious character of the evil ex-
ample set by spiritual leaders. — The peace of Christ
during that dreadful night, like the moon above
dark lowering clouds. — The long and anxious hours.
— Daniel in the Hon's den ; Christ among tigers
and serpents. — The spiritual prison-house. — When
led before the secular authorities. He was set free
from the authority of the spiritual rulers. — The sor-
row and pain which the enemies of the Lord pre-
pared for themselves, when inflicting paui upon Hun.
— The moral desolation which, from the beginning to
the end, ever accompanies a spurious zeal for reli-
gion : 1. It falsifies and perverts testimony ; 2. it
apphes the law against truth and righteousness ; 3.
turns judgment into mockery of judgment; 4. it
transforms the ministers of justice and the people
into lawless murderers ; 5. it involves even the secu-
lar power in its guilt and ruin. — Moral rudeness also
in the service of the evil one. — Moral rudeness, the
delight and the instrument of hypocritical cunning. —
The sufferings and the gentleness of Jesus amidst the
coarse rudeness of the world. — The sufferings of the
members of Christ (His martyrs) amidst the coarse
gibes of the world. — The covering of the face of Je-
sus a sign that, even while setting Him at nought,
they dared not encounter the hght of His eyes. — The
spitting in His face a scoffing of the highest person-
ality and individuality, implying at the same time
self-rejection of their own human individuality. — An
emblem also of all sin, as it tends to efface per-
sonality.— The impotence of human and satanic mal-
ice against the triumphant self-consciousness of the
Divine Saviour. — The heavenly pattern of perfect
patience and endurance. — The sins which He there
bore, He bore for all, and for us among the num-
ber.
Starke: — Canstein: Even the true Church and
its whole solemn assembly may err and fail, if they
set aside the word of God, Ex. xxxii. Y-10. — We
may "follow" Jesus, yet not in the right spirit or
manner. — Danger of fellowship with men of the
world (Peter warming himself by the fire of coals).
— If we arc weak, we must avoid fellowship with
those whose intercourse might have a tendency to
render us still more weak. — Solemn ordinances of
God against false witnesses, Ex. xxiii. 1 ; Deut. xix.
18. But these wicked judges not only admitted, but
even suborned false witnesses. — While seekmg to
entangle Jesus, they entangled themselves. — Can-
stein : Even the most sacred ordinances of God are
capable of being desecrated by men. — Zclsius : The
enemies of Christ at one and the same time ac-
cusers, witnesses, and judges : thus frequently even
in our own day. — Quesnel : A most vivid picture of
496
THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
what envy still does every day against the people
of God. — Hedinger : Attend, 0 my soul ; thy Saviour
suffers for the false witness of thy tongue", for thy
hypocrisy, etc. — When wicked rulers and judges oc-
cupy the high places, vile persons will always be
found ready to lend themselves as their tools. — Zei-
sius : If the words of Christ, who was eternal Wis-
dom and Truth, were perverted, why should we won-
der that His servants and children suifer from simi-
lar misrepresentations '?^ — The testimony of Christ af-
ter His silence ; similarly, may we not remain silent
when the glory of God or His truth are in question.
— Zeisius : The confession that Christ is the Son of
God, to this day the rock of offence (to Jews, Turks,
heathens, and unbelieving professors of Christianity).
— Judicial blindness of the servants of Satan in de-
claring truth to be blasphemy, and blasphemy truth.
— Canstein : by this Christ expiated the sins which
are committed in judicial procedures. — Zeisius : The
spitting upon Jesus, etc., the expiation of our sins,
that our faces might not be ashamed before God, but
that we might obtain eternal honor and glory. —
Quesnel : You who ailorn and paint your faces, be-
hold the indignity offered to the face of Jesus, for
your sakes ! — The members of Christ should willing-
ly and readily submit to every kind of scorn and in-
sult.— Men dare to insult the Almighty as if He
could be " blindfolded."
Gerlach : — While Peter denied Jesus, He con-
fessed before Caiaphas that good confession by which
our souls are saved. — Here we behold Jesus taking
a solemn and judicial oath, to the effect that He was
the Son of God ; which He still further confirmed by
adding that they would see Him again in the glory
of His exaltation, as Judge of the world, and as their
Judge. — The vast contrast between Jesus, who enter-
ed watching and praying into the temptation, which
He had overcome within before He encountered it
without, and Peter, who in self-confidence rushed
into danger, without any preparation. — The insults
heaped upon Jesus were not only the expression of
the personal hatred of Ilis enemies, but intended, if
possible, completely to destroy His influence and po-
sition in popular estimation.
Htuhner : — For our sakes, Christ had to go many
a road of sorrow, surrounded by the band of the
wicked. Let us count : 1. The road from Gethse-
mane to Annas ; 2. that from Annas to Caiaphas ; 3.
from Caiaphas to Pilate ; 4. from Pilate to Herod ; 5.
from Heiod to Pilate ; 6. from Pilate to the hall of
judgment (although Pilate lived in the Pneiorhim,
the soldiers occupied another part ; hence it was not
" from Pilate to the judgpjent-hall," but from the hall
of judgment to where the soldiers were) ; 1. from
thence to Golgotha. These sorrowful roads Jesus
would not have been obliged to tread, had not our
feet declined from the ways of God. — Christ led be-
fore Caiaphas : the true High-Priest before the spu-
rious, the Just before the unjust, the Innocent One
before His bitter enemies, who had long before re-
solved upon His death, John xi. 50. — A night trial.
The prince of darkness himself presided unseen over
this meeting. — The members of the Sanhedrin deceiv-
ed themselves and each other by the tacit assump-
tion of possessing divine authority. — (Rambach.) Let
us not be deceived by the semblance of outward dig-
nity and position, but seek grace to have our eyes
opened so as to penetrate through the mist, and the
pretensions of those who at heart are the enemies of
Christ. — Christ was arraigned before two tribimals :
the ecclesiastical, which took cognizance of the first,
and the secular tribunal, which took cognizance of
the second, table of the law. We have transgressed
both tables of the law. — J7iei/ sought false witness :
the sentence had been beforehand resolved upon,
— Falsehood must enter into the service of mur-
der.— Though many false witnesses came: society
abounds in venal instruments of iniquity. — Every
false witness is in opposition to the holy God of
truth; hence such v/ill not only be put to shame,
but even their false testimony must ultimately sub-
serve the truth. — Calumny omits or adds (or per-
verts), as it may serve its purpose, so as to give false-
hood the semblance of truth. — It is the peculiar arti-
fice of the. evil one to mix some clement of truth in
every lie. — Tims have the enemies of revelation fre-
quently perverted the Bible. — The silence of Jesus :
1. Wise; 2. dignified; 3. putting His enemies to
shame and condemning them ; 4. conciUatory ; 5. a
holy example to His followers. (The biograjihies of
Franke, Rengeltaube, Boos, Zinzendorf, and others.)
— The great and grievous damage often resulting from
controversies is solely caused by our own premature
and hasty conduct. — The solemn confession of Jesus :
1. Wise and necessary: 2. holy and sacred; 3. hero-
ic, or unshrinking, 1 Tim. vi. 13 ; 4. unhesitatmg
and decided ; 5. an example to His martyi-s. — The
different bearing and relationship in reference to the
truth (on the part of Jesus, of Pilate, of the high-
priests, of the false witnesses, of Judas). — Neverthe-
less (but, besides), I saij unto you. A most solemn
thunder-call to His enemies. Its confirmation ap-
peared immediately on His death (the darkness, the
earthquake, etc.). — They who will not believe in the
divine character of Jesus must soon experience it to
their terror and confusion. — It is terrible to His en-
emies, but most comforting to His friends. — The
faithfulness of the Lord met by the mere semblance
of the fear of God. — A painful and sleepless night to
the Lord. Under the Old Testament, tiie high-priest
was wont to spend the night before the day of atone-
ment waking ; so the true High-Priest also. A con-
solation this to sufferers during their sleepless nights.
— Subordinates imitate their superiors and the high-
er classes, 1 Cor. ii. 8. — The fiice of man the char-
acteristic and special index of his individuality ; to
spit upon the face, is to set at nought the peculiar
individuality of the man. In the present instance it
was Jesus. His face was the face of God, John xiv. 9.
His holy face, which angels adore, veiling their coun-
tenances, was here insulted. A setting at nought of
His person, and at the same time of His prophetical
office. — Beware of a scoffing spirit, and of fellowship
with scorners, Ps. i. 1. — Alas ! how frequently is
Christ still set at nought among us, wittingly and un-
wittingly, by neglect and contempt of His word, or
by jokes and witticisms in connection with it ! For
the present He bears with it, but the tune shall come
when judgnnent will be passed upon those daring
scoffers. — Let the reproach of Christ be our choicest
adorning.
/. W. Konig : — What a change ! In the night (of
the nativity), when heaven descended upon earth,
etc., the seraphim opened their song of joy and praise,
etc. In this, the last night of His life, the Lord of
heaven is set at nought. — Rieger : — This question,
whether Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, still
proves the testing-point of unbelief and worldly-
raindedness. He that believeth that Jesus is the Son
of God overcometh the world. — Braune : — No crim-
inal has ever endured what Jesus had to sufi'er ; at
least in no other case have cruelty and mahce been
CHAP. XXYI. 69-75. 497
so grievously at work. — As on that occasion, in the Christ is made in the darkness of the world of this
obscurity of night, so still, many an attempt against | life.
SEVENTH SECTION.
CHRIST AND PETER.
Chapter XXVI. 69-75.
(Mark xiv. 66-72; Luke xxii. 56-62; John xviii. 15-27.)
69 Now Peter sat [was sitting] without in the palace [court, avXyj]^: and a damsel
70 came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee [the Galilean].- But he
71 denied before theyn^ all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone
out into [going toward] the porch, another maid [olAAt;] saw him, and said mito them*
that were there, This fellow [man, oSros] was also with Jesus of Nazareth [the Naza-
72, 73 rene].* And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after
a while came tmto Mm they that stood by [they that stood by came], and said to Peter,
Surely thou also art one of them ; for thy speech bewrayeth [betrayeth, or discovereth^
74 BrjXov ere Trotet] thee. Then began he to curse® and to swear, saying,'' I know not [I
do not know, ovk oT8a, as in ver. 72] the man. And immediately the [a] ^ cock crew.
75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him [when he said],^ Before
the [a] cock crow, thou shalt [wilt] deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bit-
terly.
1 Ver. 69.— [The e | « , without, plainly Bhows that avKri cannot mean here the palace itself, but the interior, qua-
drangular and open hall, or court-yard, to which there was a passage (sometimes arched) from the front part of the house,
called TTvXdv or Trpo ai;Aio j/, ver. 71; Mark xiv. CS. &e Crit. Note on ver. 3, p. 459. The place where the Saviour
stood before Caiaphas was probably an audience-room on the ground-floor, in the rear or on the sidu of the court-yard. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 69. — [Literally after the Greek : r ov V aXiKaiov , which, in the mouth of the enemies of Christ in Judffa,
had a contemptuous meaning. So Julian the Apostate used to call Christ, and he is reported (.ilthough on insufficient au-
thority) to have died with the exclamation: "Galilean, thou hast conquered!" — P. S ]
3 Ver. 70. — The avT wv is doubtful, as many authorities are against it. Still the fact that it is more difficult, speaks
in its favor, inasmuch as the ainoi are not mentioned. [The English Version italicizes it ; it may as well be omitted,
being superfluous.]
< Ver. 71.— AuTots eKeT [for toTs e/fsT] is best supported.
' Ver. 71.— [T ov N o ^aip a i o u has a similar contemptuous meaning as tov TaKiKa'iov, ver. 69, and Kazaraans, as
■well as Galikeans became nicknames of the Christians. — P. S.]
« Ver. 7-1. — [To curse is somewhat ambiguous for KaTava6eiJ.aTi^eiv. The meaning is: he invoked curses on
himself in confirmation of the truth of his assertion. Lange: Dajtng er an mit Bannfluch (Verwunschung) und Eid
aieh eii ^erschwbren.—'P. S.]
' Ver. 74.— [This interpolation should be omitted, since it "destroys the proper connection, and gives a false sense to
the preceding words." (Conant.) — P. S.]
8 Ver. 7-1. — [All the four Evangelists omit the definite article before aXenruip for the reason stated in the note on vec
34, p. 478.— P. SJ
» Ver. 7.3.— ['I ij (7 0 1/ elpijKoTos, quod dixerat, in the Vulgate and Syriac Version. To refer it to pri/iaros
as in the English Version, would require toO tipr]K6ros. The best authorities omit ainw, but Lange retains it—
P. S.] . . =.
EXE6ETICAL AND CRITICAL.
On the manner and circumstances under which
Peter gained access to the palace of the high-priest,
see the Gospel of John.
Yer. 69. Now Peter was sitting without. —
"The expression e|co must be taken relatively to
the interior of the house in which Jesu3 underwent
examination. In ver. 58 the term eo-o) was used,
because Peter is represented as going from the street
into the court." Meyer.
Ver. CO. A damsel, — i. e., a female slave, as con-
tradistinguished from the other mentioned in ver. 71.
The former (who, according to John xviii. 17, "kept
the door ") said : " Thou also wast with Jesus
32
the Galilean ; " the latter : " with Jesus the Na-
zarene." Both maids had gathered their informa-
tion by hearsay; but, although ignoiunt, they were
malevolently disposed. Probably the statement was
made in both cases in malicious banver, or Hght ridi-
cule, as the chaige evidently led to no further con-
sequences.
Yer. 70. He denied before them all. — Before
the servants of the liigh-pricot and the officials. — I
know not ■what thou sayest. — A mode of expres-
sion which might be taken as denying the denial : I
do not even understand what thou meanest. Of
course this, however, implied a denial of the charge
itself, although Meyer lays undue emphasis upon it
when interpreting it : So far from havmg been with
Him, I do not even know, etc.
y?
498
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Vers. 11 and 72. And when he was going
out into (toward) the porch. — After his first and
indireet denial, I'eter began to feel the painfulness of
his situaticin, and wished to go away, or at auj' rate
to be nearer the door, so as to secure a retreat. But
in order to conceal his intention of leaving, he con-
tinued still for a short time in the porch. Accord-
ingly, he went from the court or a u A 77 , which en-
closed the house, toward the porch. In our opinion,
the 6 TTvAdov refers to the same as the npoavXiov
in Mark xiv. 68 (which Meyer denies). It was then
that, according to Mark, Peter denied Jesus a second
time, after having risen from warming himself at the
fire. " Another maid saio him (when going away),
and (following him) said unto them that were there
(probably the guard at the gate) : This one was also
with Jesus the Nazarene^ Then the second distinct
denial ensued, confirmed by an oath, and by the con-
temptuous expression: '■'• I do not know the manP
The circumstance that Peter made use of an oath is
recorded by Matthew alone. The particle mi prob-
ably refers to the confirmation by the oath.
Ver. 73. And after a while, they that stood
by came and said to Peter. — Primarily referring
to those who had been at the gate. But the lan-
guage of the text does not prevent our understanding
it to mean, that in the interval a number of persons
had come from the court and joined the group. In
fact, according to Luke, a considerable interval had
elapsed, before general attention had been called
forth and fixed on Peter. — Surely thou also art
one of them. — An oath against the oath of Peter. —
For thy speech also betrayeth thee. — " Beside
other circumstances, by which the maid recognized
thee. The pronunciation, the dialect, tj AaXia of
the Galilceans was defective in the utterance of the
gutturals, so that no distinction was perceptible be-
tween N, jJ, n. Besides, the Galila3ans also pro-
nounced the li) like n." De Wette. The proliun-
ciation of the people of Galilee was uncouth and in-
distinct ; hence they were not allowed to read aloud
in the Jewish synagogues. ' The Talmudists relate a
number of amusing anecdotes about the curious
misunderstandings occasioned by the indistinctness
of pronunciation in Galilee. See Friedlieb, p. 84.
Ver. 74. Then began he.— He meets and out-
does the asseveration '■'■Surely,'''' used by the servants,
by beginning to invoke curses on himself and to
swear.
Ver. 74. And immediately a cock crew. — De
Wette : " The statement in Mishna, Baha Kama vii.
7, that fowls were not allowed to be kept in Jerusa-
lem, is probably incorrect. It is contrary to what is
related in Hieros. Eruhin, fol. 26, cp. 1 ; comp.
Lightfoot ad v. 84." — It was indeed contrary to the
Levitical law of purity to keep fowls in Jerusalem,
because these animals pick their food in dirt and
mud, and might thus occasion the defilement of sa-
crifices and other dedicated ofierings. But is it like-
ly that the Eoman soldiers in the castle of Antonia
would care for such Jewish ordinances ? And even
with reference ta the Jews, we read that the Sanhe-
drin had on one occasion ordered a cock to be stoned,
because it had picked out the eyes of a little child,
and thereby caused its death. (Sepp, Leben Jcsu, iii.
475.) — Plinius observes that the second crowing of
the cock (galliciniiim) took place during the fourth
watch of the night. Friedheb, p. SI.
Ver. 75. Thou wilt thrice deny Me.— Bengel
has, in his Qnomon^ given the following fatisfactory
explanation of the fact, that the Gospels speak only
of a threefold denial on the part of Peter : " Abnega-
tio ad plures plurimn interrogationes, facta tmo paro-
.rysmo, 'pro una numeralur" By dint of that pres-
sure of the letter at the expense of the import and
spirit of luFtory, which is so common with a certain
school of critics {Lcben Jesu, ii. 3, 1490), Strauss
and I^aulus have maintamed that the Gospels record
more than three denials on the part of Peter (Paulus
speaks of eight distinct denials). But a closer in-
quiry shows that .the three occasions are specially
and separately enumerated in the Gospels : —
First denial. — Immediately on entering the palace,
John xviii. 17, and on the charge of the maid who
kept the door. According to Matthew (ver. 69), in
the court ; according to John and Mark, at the fire, r
where the servants warmed themselves; according
to Luke, by the light of the fire.
Second denial. — According to John's narrative,
Peter was still standing by the fire and warming
himself, probably with the design of covering a
speedy retreat by assuming the appearance of un-
concern. According to Matthew, he was now about
to leave, when another maid attacked him, and peo-
ple gathered around him in the porch. Luke reports
one of these bystanders as already expressing the
general feeling in the words: "Thou art also of
them."
Tliird denial. — ^Again Peter had tarried for some
time in the porch. The false oath which he had
taken had allayed the rising indignation of the peo-
ple, when another fancied that he recognized him by
his speech. Soon the servants declared that his
fipeech betrayed him. Such a recognition would in-
volve imminent peril of life. For, according to John,
a relative of MaJchus maintained that he had seen
him in the garden with Jesus. Then Peter began to
curse and swear, and immediately the cock crew (a
second time), reminding and warning him. It ap-
pears that he had scarcely given any heed to the
first crowing of the cock (Mark).
[On the different accounts of the threefold denial
of Peter compare also the tables in the Greek and
English Harmonies, Andrews' Life of our Lord, p.
49 1 sqq., and the remarks of Alford on Matt. xxvi.
69-75, 4th ed. (p. 268 sqq.). These minor variations
with essential coincidences prove the independence
of the Evangelists and confirm the truth of their
narrative. " Whether we can arrange them or not,
being thoroughly persuaded of the holy truthfulness
of the Evangelists, and of the divine guidance under
which they wrote, our faith is in no way shaken by
such discrepancies. We value them rather, as testi-
monies to independence: and are sure, that if for
one moment we could be put in complete p)ossession
of all the details as they happened, each account
would find its justification, and the reasons of all the
variations would disappear. And this I firmly be-
lieve will one day be the case." Alford (p. 269, in
the 4th edition, where he corrects the errors of the
corresponding note in the former edition). — P, S.]
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. This picture of the denial of the Lord, as ex-
hibited by the fall of that disciple who had been the
first to confess Christ, has its peculiar and eternal
import in the history of the Church. Hence we
should study it : 1. In the source and antecedents of
this denial ; 2. in its various phases and stages ; 3.
CHAP. XXVI. 69-Y5
499
in the repentance which followed, and which led to
the only true and lasting spiritual confession.
2. The fall of Peter a significant type of the Rom-
ish Church.
8. The look of the Lord, recorded in the Gospel
of Luke, in its historical and iu its eternal, ideal im-
port for the Church.
4. The deep sorrow and suffering of the Lord
caused by the denial of Peter, in its lasting import
for the Church.
5. Peter went out into the black night, but not
as Judas into the darkness of despair. Weeping
bitterly, he awaited the dawn of another and a better
morning. The angel of mercy accompanied him on
that heavy road to spiritual self-condemnation which
issued in the death of his old man, more especially
of his former pride and self-confidence. And thus it
came that he really accompanied Christ unto death,
thougli in a very different and much better sense
than he had intended. His repentance had to be
completed, — he had to obtain peace and reconcilia-
tion from the mouth of Christ Himself, before he
could offer the requisite satisfaction for his guilt to-
ward man by makmg such a grand confession as
would efface and obliterate the offence of his gi-and
denial. It deserves special notice, that this progress
of repentance and conversion in the case of Peter
may serve as the prototype of the economy of gen-
uine grace ; while this procedure was reversed in the
case of Judas, who wished first to offer human satis-
faction before those enemies whose guilt he had shar-
ed, but who failed, in that manner, to come to Christ.
[6. Wordsworth : " Even soon after he had re-
ceived the Holy Communion Peter denied his Master.
But he repented and was pardoned. Hence tlien we
may confute the Novatians, who refuse to restore
those who fall into grievous sin after Baptism and
the Holy Communion. And St. Peter's sin, and the
sins of other saints, are written in Holy Scripture
that we may not be high-minded, but fear ; and that
when we fall into sin we may repent. The grace
given in the Holy Communion was improved by St.
Peter into the means of godly repentance ; but it was
perverted by Judas to his own destruction. It was
used as medicine by the one ; and was abused into
poison by the other." But the presence of Judas at
the institution of the Lord's Supper is a matter of
critical uncertainty (comp. John versus Luke) and of
inherent improbability. The weight of patristic au-
thority is in favor of his presence ; but some of the
best modem harmonists and commentators, as Meyer,
Tischendorf, Robinson, Lichtenstein, Lange, Wiese-
ler, Ellicott, and Andrews, deny it, and assume that
the traitor left the paschal supper before the institu-
tion of the eucharist, for which in John's narrative
we can find no place for insertion prior to the depar-
ture of Judas.— P. S.]
HOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
Internal connection between the denial of Peter
and the condemnation and injuries which Christ suf-
fered at the hands of His enemies. — The denial of a
disciple the most poignant sorrow to the Lord in the
midst of His confession. — The Faithful Witness and
the unfaithful disciple.— The denial of Peter interve-
ning between his foi-mer and his later confession, or
different kinds of confession. — The causes of tlie de-
nial of Peter: 1. Self-exaltation on accoimt of his
former confession ; 2. a morbid desire after confes-
sion beyond the measure of tlie strength of his faith ;
3. want of sufficient maturity for the confession in
life and in deed. — The giddiness and the stumbhng
of Peter, before his actual fall : 1. He underrated and
neglected the warnings of Jesus ; 2. he exalted him-
self above his fellow- disciples ; 3. he neglected the
proper preparation by watching and prayer ; 4. he
voluntarily and presumptuously rushed into danger.
— How it deserves special notice, in the fall of Peter,
that he had attempted to come forward as a witness
for Christ with a conscience that was not void of
blame and offence. — The sad after-history of the
sword assault upon Malchus; or, hoy frequently
times of fanatical defence of the faith are followed
by seasons of open denial. — Hov/ it could come to
pass that a poor maid, standing at the gate, could
terrify into a denial him to whom the keys of the
kingdom of heaven had been promised. — The triumph
of the lear of man over that of God the source of de-
nial.— He who tempts the Lord is on the way to de-
ny Him. — The fatal boldness which rushes into the
battle-field without having been sent : 1 . Its portrai-
ture as here presented : it wants a proper call, pro-
per weapons, and proper spiritual courage. 2. Its
fate: despondency, defeat, and the most imminent
peril of soul. — How those who confess Jesus have to
endure the most varied temptations to deny Him. —
How the children of the world and the ministers of
darkness combine, in the spirit of the evil one, to
change our confession into a denial of Christ. — The
unfailmg mark of the disciples in their language and
tone, also the indication of their fate: 1. It is to
their highest spiritual benefit, if they are faithful ; 2.
or, again, to their shame and confusion, when they
turn aside from the Lord. — The gradation of guilt in
the denial of Peter: 1. Ambiguous evasion (a sup-
posed unimportant falsehood) ; 2, distinct denial with
a false oath : " I know not the man " (contemptuous-
ly); 3. awful abjuration, with solemn imprecations
upon himself. — Every ban pronounced upon genuine
Christians, an imprecation, in confirmation of the de-
nial of Christ. — Peter did not wish to forsake the
Lord, but he would fain have attempted to save both
Jesus and himself by crafty policy. — In his view,
everything formed part of this jjolicij : the evasion, ^
the false oath, and even the imprecations, were in- JQ
tended to carry out this plan. — How, as " the Faith-
ful Witness," the Lord has expiated even the denials
of His honest disciples, into which they have fallen
through weakness. — How the faithfuhiess of Christ
alone restores the unfaithful servant from imminent
judgment: 1. Only His faithfulness: {a) in His gra-
cious warning; (6) in His look of compassion and
love ; (c) in giving that warning and rousing sign (the
crowing of the cock) ; (d) in His readiness to restore
again the fallen disciple. 2. Blessed effects of that
faithfulness on the part of Jesus: "He went out,
and wept bitterly." — The warning tokens in nature,
as accompanying the warning and rousing voice of
the Spirit. — The repentance of Peter a constant call
to repentance in the Church. — The marks of genuine
repentance: 1. All the pride of self-righteousuess
ceases and is given up ; 2. it is connected with a
going out from the world ; 3. it is characterized by a
going forth with tears through night to light. — Biiler
weeping, or a broken and contrite heart, the evidence
of reconciling grace. — How the humiliation of the
heart and the grace of our God always meet as eye
to eye: 1. True humiliation and humility find no
other resting-place than the loftiest height, even the
grace of God ; 2. the grace of God descends and rejci
500
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
only in the lowest depth, even the ftroken and con-
trite heart. — Divine grace transforming the fall of
Peter, as formerly that of David, into the introduc-
tion to a genuine and thorough conversion. — Will
the so-called Komish Peter ever go forth from the
palace of the high-priest, where he has denied Jesus,
to weep bitterly ?
Starke: — Hedlnger : Self-confidence and pre-
sumption bring sorrow. — 3farginal Note by Luther :
Peter may have thought that his untruth could not
injure any person, while it might profit him and in-
sure his safety, and hence that it was lawful, or at
least a matter of small moment; but he soon ex-
perienced what consequences the commencement of
sin entailed. — Ounntein : The fear of death. — Zeisius :
Observe how sin grows and increases when it is not
resisted. Therefore, be very careful to resist it in its
commencement. — To stumble is human, to rise again
Christian, to persevere in sin is devihsh.
Lisco : — TAc denial of Peter. — 1. Its source, (a)
Its more remote occasion : {aa) transgression of the
injunction of Jesus, John xiii. 36 ; [bh) neglect of
the admonition, Matt. xxvi. 41. (6) Its deeper
ground : [aa) unbelief in the word of the Lord, vcr.
36 ; {bb) confidence in the strength of his love to Je-
sus and in his own firmness of will ; (cr) proud pre-
sumption in the midst of danger. 2. The denial it-
self. («) Manifestation of his fear of man, thought-
less haste, and impotence. (6) Starting-point : a Ue.
(c) Gradual and increasing development: at first
merely a denial, then a false oath, and at last impre-
cations upon himself. 3. The conversion. («) The
crowing <ji a cock and the look of Jesus awaken him
to a sense of the real state of matters, {b) He per-
ceives the truthfulness and faithfulness of Jesus, and
his own weakness, (c) Godly sorrow and repentance.
— Thus we also learn from this history, hov/ a man
may be restored after having sadly dechned and
fallen into grievous sin.
Heubner : — Peter was here in the midst of a mul-
titude of the ungodly. — The disciples of Christ can-
not be long hid when among the men of this world.
— Isa. xix. 18 : the language of Canaan. — The more
poignant our repentance, the more sweet and precious
afterward the enjoyment of grace. — Wherein consist-
ed the denial of Peter? 1. It was not a determined
denial of the heart, nor a final or thorough renuncia-
tion of Jesus ; 2. it was a concealment of his faith
and allegiance, a denial of his discipleship. — Survey
of the conduct of Peter: 1. It involved deep guilt;
2. grade of that guilt — [a) not a sin of malicious in-
tent, {b) but of weakness. — In the sin of Peter, Jesus
had to bear our human weaknesses. — ^Application : 1.
The fall of Peter reminds us of the weakness of our
own hearts, against which we must always be on our
guard, despite our better feelings and aspirations ; 2.
a call to self-examination ; 3. we must learn to place
our whole confidence in the grace and intercession
of Jesus. Hold fast your faith.
Braune: — Evendown to the maid who guarded
the gate, the servants of the high-priest were involved
in the sin and injury committed against the Saviour.
— Peter wished to do lietter than the other disciples,
who all forsook Jesus and fled, but fell lower than
they. — The world knows well how to remind us of
such sword-cut, or how to avenge supposed or real
injury. — These Jewish servants seem to have been
proud of their pure pronunciation of the language ;
similarly, most of us try to shine and to outshine
others. — After that, Peter also strengthened his bre-
thren, as the Lord commanded him.— Godly sorrow
worketh, etc. — From the Lord Jesus comes forgive-
ness of sin.
H. Muller: — Peter warms his hands and feet,
while in the meantime, however, the heart freezes so
far as the love of Jesus is concerned. — If a man for-
sakes the way in which the Lord calls him to walk,
and seems to slink mto corners, etc., he is outside of
God's protection, and the devil has power over him.
— If thy foot ofiend thee, etc. — He v«ho warms him-
self by the fire of the ungodly, will deny Christ along
with the ungodly. — Ahlfcld: — He that walks in his
own strength, will assuredly meet with a speedy fall.
— Kapff: — Why did Peter recover from his fall, and
not Judas? 1. Because their sins differed; 2. be-
cause their repeutance differed.
[QuESNEL : — Every one carries in him the possi-
liility of renouncing Christ. — There is nothing on
which we can depend but the grace of God. — One
temptation unresisted seldom fails of bringing on an-
other and a third. — Peter joins perjury to infidelity.
Let the example of an apostle make us tremble. — A
small matter (a mean servant) makes us fall when
God does not support us ; a small matter (the crow-
ing of a cock) raises us again, when His grace makes
use of it.— P. S.]
[Bdrkitt : — The denial of Peter : 1. The sin : (a)
a he; {b) an oath (perjury); (c) an anathema and
curse. 2. The occasion of it: (a) Peter followed
Christ aj^ar oJ}\ from fear and frailty; (6) he kept
bad company with the enemies of Christ ; (c) pre-
sumptuous confidence in his own strength and stand-
ing. 3. The repetition of the ■ sin. If we yield to
one temptation, Satan will assault us with more, and
stronger : progress from bare denial to perjury and
thus to imprecation. 4. The aggravating circum-
stances : («) the person thus falling, a disciple, an
apostle, the chief apostle, a special favorite of Christ ;
{b) the person denied, his Master, his Saviour and
Redeemer, who just before had washed his feet and
given him the sacrament ; (c) the company of high-
priests, and scribes, and elders, and their servants
before whom Peter denied his Master ; {d) the time
of the denial, but a few hours after the communion ;
(<=) the smallness of the temptation : a mere question
of a servant girl, a door-keeper. Ah, Peter, how
unlike thyself art thou at this time, not a rock, but a
reed, a pillar blown down by a woman's breath. 0
frail humanity, whose strength is weakness ! — In
most of the saints' falls recorded in Scripture, either
the first inciters or the accidental occasions were wo-
men. Adam, Lot, Sampson, David, Solomon, Peter.
A wealv creature may be a strong tempter. — The re-
covery and repentance of Peter: 1. Its suddenness.
His sin was hasty and sudden under a violent pas-
sion of fear, contrary to his settled purpose, and
hence much sooner repented of. 2. The means of
his repentance: («) the crowing of a cock; (6)
Christ's looking upon Peter with an eye of mercy
and pity which melted his heart and dissolved it into
tears ; (f) Peter's remembrance of Christ's prediction
v/ith a close application of it to his conscience. The
manner of his repentance : (a) it was secret, he went
out (vere dolet qui sine teste dolet ; sohtariness is most
agreeable to an afflicted spirit) ; (6) sincere, he loept
bitterly ; (c) lasting and abidmg, showing its efiect
on the whole subsequent life of Peter. "History
(tradition) reports, that ever after, when St. Peter
heard the crowing of a cock, he fell upon his knees
and mourned ; others say, that he was wont to rise
at midnight and spend the time in penitent devotion
between cock-crowing aivl day-light. And the Pa-
ciLvr. XXVII. 1-10.
501
pists, who love to turn everything into superstition,
began that practiee of setting a cock upon the top
of towers, and steeples, and chimneys, to put the peo-
ple in mind of this sin of Peter and his repentance
by that signal." (</) The repentance of Peter was
attended with an extraordinary zeal for the service
of Christ to the end of his life.— P. S.]
[Similar retieetions and improvements in Mat-
THKW Henry, Gill, Dodhriuge, A. Clarke, Th.
Scott, and other practical English commentators.
We add the last of the " Practical Observations " of
Thomas Scott : " If any have fallen even in the most
dreadful manner, let them think of Peter's recovery
and not despair ; and let them recollect the words
of Christ, as well as their own sins ; that their tears,
confessions, and humiliations may be mingled with
hope. And let us all frequently remember om- past
follies, and manifold instances of ingratitude; that
we may learn watchfulness, himulity, caution, and
compassion for the tempted and fallen, by the expe-
rience of our own immerous mistakes, sins, and re-
coveries."— P. S.]
EIGHTH SECTION.
JESUS AND HIS BETRAYER.— JUDAS AND THE HIGH-PRIESTS.
Chapter XXVII. 1-10.
(Mark xv. 1 ; Luke xxii. 66-xxiii. 1 ; John xviii. 28.)
1 When [Bat, Si] the morning was come, all the chief priests and [the, ot] elders of
2 the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death : And when they had bound
3 him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.^ Then
Judas, which [who] had betrayed '^ him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented
himself [regretting, /Aera/AeAr^^et's],^ and brought again [brought back] the thirty pieces
4 of silver to the chief priests and [the] elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have be-
trayed the innocent^ blood [I sinned, or erred, in betraying innocent blood, ^[xaprov
TrapaSoi)? aXfxa a.6S>ov].^ And they said, What is that [it] to us? see thou to that [it].
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed [withdrew, or isolat-
6 ed himself, avex'^PV^^]>'^ ^^'^^ went [away hence] and hanged himself. And the chief
priests took the silver pieces, and said. It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury,
7 because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the
8 potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called. The field of blood,
9 unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy [Jeremiah] ' the
projDhet, saying. And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was
valued [priced],^ whom they of the children of Israel did value [priced, Gen. xxxvii.
10 28; Zech. xi. 12, 13; Jer. xvin. 1; xix. 12; xxxii. 6 ff.] ; And gave them for the
potter's field, as the Lord appointed me [to me].^
1 Yer. 2. — [TtS rjyffjiovt, here = err irpoiro s, j)rocurator, which was the proper official character and title of
Pilate; but 7}yefLci>v is a more general term which applies to proconsuls, legates, or procurators. Ilenco governor
may be retained. Valerate and Beza translate : prmsidi (but this title belonged to the President of Syria (Luke ii. 2), Pi-
late's superior); Castalio: proetori (in the wider acceptation of early Eonian history); Tyndale, Coverdale, Cranmer,
Genevan, Bishops': deputy (but this is used for av 6 utt ar o^ , proconml, in Acts xiii. T, 8, 12; xviii. 12; xix. 88);
Campbell: ;;roc(f?'ator (correct, but not so generally Intelligible as !70i'c/'no/'); Lutlier: Landpfleger ; Ewald and Lange:
Statthattev.—V. S.]
"^ Yer. .3.— n a p a 5 o t< r according tft B., L., cursive MSS., Lachmann, [and Tregelles. Tisciiendorf and Alford retain
the usual readins : irapa 5 ( Soiis.J
3 Yer. 3. — [It is worth while to mark in the translation the difference between /Lt6Ta,ufAo/xai, to cJiange one's care,
and ufravoica, to change one's mind or pnrpose, and thus between the repentance of Peter, who abhorred the canae^
his sill, and the r<-morse of Judas, who shrnuk back from the effect; or the godly sorrow which leads to life, and the world-
ly regret wh'ch leads to death. — P. S.]
* Yer. 4 —In place of aduoov (innocent) some manuscripts ami translations read o'lKaiop {righteous), which h.is
too little authority.
5 Ver. 4.— [So in accordance with the concise earnestness of the Greek, and the state of Jud.as. "The fewer words the
better." Similarly Ew.ild: Jeh HiiwUgte ubergelend [better: verrathend] unnchnkHgeH Blvt, and Conant: I sinned,
etc. ButLanse: Ich hahe gefehlt, eio., I erred ; Luther: Jch hahe iibel gethuii, Idid crj7, which draws a nice distinc-
tion between blundering and sinning, and is perh-ips better suited to the case (f .Judas, wlio, like Cain and Saul, had no
real sense of sin itself in its horrible guilt and enormity, and hence no true repentance, but shrunk back in dismay from
the consequences of sin. The Greek rnxaprov, however, admits of both traii.slations. Comp. Lange's Exeg. Note.".
Coverdale correctly omits the article before innocent, but the other older English Versions unmeaningly prefix it— P. S.]
502
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
5.— [Lange lays stress on a.vfX'^f'V'^f, and translates: eog nich zuruck {tinsiedlerisch in die Oede). See bis
• Ver.
^6(7. Notes.-
' Ver. %.— Jeremiah is left out by several cnrsiye MSS. and in the Syriac and Persian translations. Cod. 22, and others,
rtad Zaxa-piov. [Cod. 22 is an inferior MS. of the eleventh century, and can therefore hardly claim any authority
On the dilficulty of the true reading, see the Exeg. Kotes.—V. 8.]
* Ver. 9.— [So Conaut, who substitutes priced for valued, to retain the verbal correspondence between price and
7))-«c«c? as In the Greek tV ti/xtjv toC r er tMr) fX€vov . Comp. Ewald, who translates: den Schatzdes Geschats-
ten, tcelchen schdtzten, etc.— P. S.]
° Ver. 10.— [2uy€Taf « fxoi, either appointed to me, as Scrivener and Conant propose, or commanded me, as
Coverdale has it. The appointed me of the Authorized Version is susceptible of another meaning. Thus correct eh.
xxviii. 16.— P. 8.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. When the morning vjzs come. — The
formal meeting of the council must have taken place
after six o'clock in the morning. The night of His
betrayal hito the hands of the high-priests was past,
and the morning of His betrayal to the Gentiles had
dawned. The deed, commenced in the night, was
sufficiently developed and matured to be finished in
clear day-light. — All the chief priests and the
elders of the people took counsel. — This meet-
ing of the Sanhedrin, which Luke describes in his
Gospel, was intended at the same time to meet all
the forms of law, and definitely to express the grounds
of the charge against Jesus. But, as we have al-
ready seen, in point of fact, it only served to cover
those violations of the law into which thek reckless
fanaticism had hurried them. One of the main oId-
jects of the Sanhedrin now was, to present the
charge in such a light as to oblige Pilate to pro-
novmce sentence of death. Accordingly, they agreed
on the following course of procedure: 1. They de-
manded the absolute confirmation of their own sen-
tence, without further inquiry into their proceedings
(John xviii. 30). 2. Failing to obtain this, they ac-
cused Jesus as King of the Jews, /. e., as Messiah, in
the ambiguous, semi-religious and semi-political sense
of that title. 3. When (according to John) Jesus re-
pudiated the political character of His kingdom, they
preferred against Him the charge of making the re-
ligious claim that He was the Son of God. But as
the effect of this accusation proved the very opposite
from what they had expected, they returned to the
political charge, now threatening Pilate with laying
before the Emperor the fact that Jesus had made
Himself a king. No doubt the general outline of
this procedure was planned and sketched in the meet-
ing of the Sanhedrin. Of course, they could not have
foreseen that Pilate himself w^ould offer them the
means to overcome his opposition, by setting Jesus
and Barabbas before them on the same level. — All
the priests, elders, and scribes [Matthew men-
tions only the first two of these three classes, but
Luke, ch. xxii. 60, adds also the scribes. — P. S.] " Be-
sides their common hatred, each of these three estates
had their own special motive for hostility to the Lord.
The priests were indignant that He should lay greater
stress on obedience than on sacrifice ; the elders were
offended that He judged traditionalism by the stand-
ard of revelation ; the scribes, that He contended
against the service of the letter by the spirit of the
word. In a thousand difierent ways had they felt
their prejudices shocked, and their ambition and
pride humbled. At last the hour of revenge had
come. Thus they led Him before their supreme
council. The language used by Luke (xxii. 66)
seems to imply that they led Jesus, in formal proces-
sion, from the palace 'of the high-priest mto the
council-chamber, on the area of the temple. It is
scarcely probable that they would have conducted
Him, with such formalities, from the prison-chamber
to the upper hall of the high-priest's palace. Ac-
cording to the Talmud, sentence of death could only
be pronounced in the Cfazilh (the council-hall on the
temple-mountain). See Friedlieb, p. 97 (who, how-
ever, question.? the correctness of this statement).
At any rate, it would appear indispensable that a
formal meeting of the Sanhedrin should assemble
on the temple-mountahi " (Zeben Jcsu, ii. 3, p. 1786).
On Sabbaths and feast-days the Sanhedrin met in an
uncovered space, which was enclosed by a wall, in
the vicinity of the court of the women, and not in the
Gazith. In ordinary circumstances, judicial matters
were not carried on upon the Sabbath-day. " Hence,
not-n-ithstanding the studied semblance of legality, the
whole procedure was characterized by iiTcgularity and
violence." Wichelhaus, p. 211.
To put Him to death. — The resolution had
been finally taken during the night, and their pres-
ent object was to put that sentence and the charge
against Jesus into proper form, as a means toward
the end in view.
Ver. 2. And when they had bound Him,
they led Him away. — They bound Him, even
when they first seized Him (xxvi. 50 ; John xviii. 12).
These fetters He also stUl bore when led from Annas
to Caiaphas (John xviii. 24). They seem to have
been removed during His examination before Caia-
phas. After that they appear to have been again put
upon the Lord. Now they proceed in a body (Luke)
to hand over to the Roman procurator Him whom
I they had condemned. They calculated upon produc-
[ ing, by their formal procession in a body, so early in
the morning, and that on the first day of the feast,
'. the impression that Jesus had committed some fear-
ful and unheard-of crime. For this purpose they
I now put Him again in fetters. Besides, this early
and pompous procession would tend to terrify the
j friends of Jesus among the people, and to anticipate
! any possible movement in His favor. If Pilate had
! once sentenced Jesus, there would be less cause for
I apiDrehension on the score of a popular tumult. " The
[ procession of the Sanhedrin passed from the councU-
chamber across the temple-mountain, in a northerly
I direction, toward the palace of the governor, which
[ lay at the northern base of the tcmple-moimtain. As
\ the house of the high-priest was situated on the
'■ northern slope of the Upper City, or of Mount Zion,
: and a lofty archway led across the vaUey of the Tyro-
[ paeon, coimecting the temple-mountain with Mount
1 ZioD, it seems probable that Jesus may, before that,
j have been brought in formal procession across this
high archway into the council-chamber on the tem-
I pie-mount. As we may assume that Herod, the ruler
1 of Galilee, resided, during his stay at Jerusalem, in
the palace of Herod, which also stood on the northern
slope of Mount Zion, Jesus must afterward have again
been led from the hall of judgment, on the temple-
I mount, across that archway and back — a spectacle
CHAP. XXVII. 1-10.
503
of ignominy and woe." (From the author's Leben
Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1502.)
And delivered Him. — The original irapeSw-
Kav contains an allusion to the second great betray-
al of the Saviour. "^\i"tcr Judea became a Eoman
provmce (upon the deposition of King Archelaus),
the Sanhedrin no longer possessed the ju^ gladii.
Comp. John xviii. 31." lleyer.
Pontiiis Pilate. — Tlie sixtli Roman procurator
of Judsa, and successor of Valerius Gratus. He held
this office for ten years during the reign of the Em-
peror Tiberius (Joseph. Aitiiq. xviii. 4, 2). Ilis arbi-
trary conduct, however, led to repeated risings of the
Jews, which he suppressed by bloody measures (Jo-
seph. Antiq. xviii. 3, 1 ; Z>e Bdlo Jud. ii. 9, 2). lie
was accused before Vitellius, the Prasses of Syria,
who deposed and sent Mm to Rome, to answer before
the Emperor for his administration. He was proba-
bly deposed from his office the same year as Caiaphas
from the priesthood — in 36 p. C. (asr. Dion.). Ac-
cording to Eusebius, Hist. Ecclcs. ii. 7, and the Chronic.
of the first year of Cajus, he committed suicide dur-
ing the reign of Cajus Cahgula. The opinion enter-
tained of him by the Jews was affected by their fanat-
icism on the one hand, and on the other by his proud
contempt of the Jewish nation. He affords one of
the earliest mstances of that antagonism between the
Roman and heathen spirit of the world and Jewish
fanaticism which, under the administration of his
successors, attained such immense proportions, and
at last burst forth in open war for independence.
The Litter and derisive contemptuousuess which he
ever and again displayed, led to frequent conflicts
with the leaders of the Jews, in which the obstmate
determination and cunning of tlie latter generally se-
cured the victory. This aversion to the Jews made
it easier for him to take a favorable view of the cause
of Jesus. To this must be added, the moral impres-
sion produced by the person of Jesus, the religious
awe which the mysterious religious character of the
Messiah evoked, and the warning of his wife. Under
the influence of such feelings, he made unmistakable
efforts to withdraw Jesus from the vengeance of His
enemies, whose minds and motives he easily read, or
at least sought to avoid having any part in His con-
demnation. Hence he sent Jesus to Herod, placed
Hun side by side with Barabbas, solemnly washed
his hands, presented Hun to the people after He had
been scourged, etc. But he was too weak and un-
righteous to pronounce what he must have felt a
righteous sentence, and boldly to adhere to it as a
matter of duty, instead of resorting to these niuuer-
ous paltry devices. Hence also his carnal and devil-
ish wisdom was overmatched by the superior cunning
and skill of the Jewish priesthood. Pilate may serve
as a type of the complete unbehef, worldly-minded-
ness, and morally impotent civilization of the ancient
Greek and Roman world. According to the word of
the Lord Himself, PUate was guilty, but his sin w-as
less than that of the priesthood which had delivered
the Christ into his hands (John xix. 11). Ordinarily,
Pilate appears not to have been so yielding. Philo,
legatio ad Coj. : " His disposition was unyielding, nor
was he moved to leniency toward daring malefactors."
For the literature and Mstory of Pilate, comp. Dauz,
Univ. Worterbuch, sub Pontius Pilate. On the de-
fence set up by some writers for Pilate, see lloub-
ner, Com. p. 434, note, ties also especially, Lavater,
'■'■ Poniins Pilate, or Human Character in all Us
Piloses." Winer, art. Pilate [and other Bibl. En-
cyclop.]. The apocryphal tales connected with Pi-
late are recorded m the "■Ada Pilati." They are
of a twofold character : 1. Such as were invented by
Christians ; 2. such as were of heathen origin, del\im-
atory in their nature, circulated in the schools by
order of Maximinus about the year 311. See Ileub-
ner, p. 427. The introduction of "Pontius Pilate"
in the Creed shows that in the mind of the Church
he was regarded as representing the ancient world,
and in general the si>irit of the world.
The governor, 7,y iix6vi, — the more general
term. The more special designation of the office
was e'lrtTpoTTos, procurator. Winer: "The offi-
cial title of procurator or cparch was given to the
chiefs of admiuistration — commonly Roman knights
— who were appointed along with the governors both
of imperial and senatorial provinces, and whose duty
it was to attend to the revenues of the imperial treas-
ury, and to decide on all legal questions connected
with this department. Occasionally they occupied
the place of governor in smaller provinces, or in dis-
tricts wliijli had been conjoined with larger prov-
inces, but were separately administered, when they
had the command of the troops stationed, m their
district and administered the law even in criminal
cases ; the president of the province retaining, how-
ever, the superintendence of such administration, and
being empowered to receive and hear accusations
against the procurator. Comp. Joseph. Antio. xviii.
5, 2 ; XX. 6, 2 ; Pell. Jud. ii. 14, 3."— After the ban-
ishment of Archelaus (sLi years after Christ), when
Judasa and Samaria were conjoined with the prov-
ince of Syria, the government of Palestine was ad-
ministered by a procurator. This governor of Pales-
tine generally resided at Cssarea, by the sea ; but
during the Passover he was in Jeiusalem, whither
the male population of the whole country flocked,
and where it was his duty not only to preserve order,
but also the prestige of the Roman power. If the
presidents of Syria were in Palestine, they, of com'se,
exercised sovereignty in the country. In regard to
succession of the procurators, which was interrupted
by the reign of Herod Agrippa from 41—44, see Wi-
ner, art. Procurator, ar.d K. von Raumer's Palestine,
p. 338 et seq.
Ver. 3. Then Judas . . . 'vsrhen he saw. — He
might readily learn that Jesus had been condemned.
But he also saw it, from the procession in wliich the
Pharisees conducted Jesus to Pilate, which could
have no other object than to secure His condemna-
tion.— Repented himself (regretted, felt sor-
row, remorse).* — This repentance was not genu-
ine, as occasioned by the consequences of his deed,
but false, as caused by these consequences, and these
alone. It seems, then, that he had not anticipated
such an issue. This circumstance has frequently
been adduced in support of the idea, that the object
of Judas in betraying the Lord had been to induce
Him to display His majesty and glory as the Messiah.
But in that case we would have expected that his re-
pentance would lead him now to cling to Jesus. Yet
he seems to have expected tliat, as on former occa-
sions, so now, Jesus would miraculously deUver Him-
self from the power of His enemies ; and that in any
case he would have his own honor promoted by the
turn things would take {see above). Moreover, by
the very fact, that after His betrayal Jesus surren-
dered Himself unto death, Judas was filled with ter-
ror and anguish, seeing in this the fulfilment of
Christ's prediction, and an indication that all His
♦ [Comp. Crit Note on ver. 3, p. 501.— P. S.]
504
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
other sayings, notably that concerning His betrayer,
would also be fulfilled. Reckoning in his own mean
way, Judas expected an ordinary result ; and the fact
that all his anticipations proved so utterly false, and
the issue proved so entirely extraordinary, filled his
inind with awe.
And brought back the thirty pieces of sil-
ver.— The way of spurious penitence in contradis-
tinction to the genuine repentance of Peter. His first
disposition is to attempt some outward rectification
t f his deed in the sight of men, without previous hu-
raihation before God, and scelcing of refuge with
Him. In connection with this, it is also a question
whether lie did not also entertain the hope of a still
higher reward for his betrayal. The second stage
and feature is expressed in the word d^ex'iJp'jce,
the force of which is too little understood [and not
adequately rendered in our authorized version by
"he departed^J. It conveys to us the idea that "he
retired or withdrew" into solitude — desolation, a
desert place — " and went away thence and hanged
himself." — The third stage was that of absolute de-
spair. The precise time when Judas brought back
the thirty pieces of silver is not mentioned. But
from the circumstance that Matthew connects it with
the leading away of Jesus unto Pilate, we infer that
he approached the priests and elders during the time
of their appeal to the Roman governor, and the trans-
actions connected with it. We can readily conceive
that many opportunities for this may have offered,
when they were not otherwise engaged, as, for exam-
ple, during the examination before Herod.
Ver. 4. I (have) erred.* — Luther translates
iHj-apTov here: I have done (did) evil; de AVette
[as the authorized Engl. Version] : I liave sinned.
The word bears either construction. Accordingly,
we prefer rendering it, I (have) erred, which seems to
express the mind and the views of Judas more fully.
The desire to make his guilt appear as small as pos-
sible is also evident from the explanation which he
offers of his conduct. — In that I betrayed inno-
cent blood, i. e., that by my betrayal I have caused
the bloody death of one who is innocent. This ad-
mission may be taken as a grand testimony in favor
of the innocence of Jesus, which rmist be added to
that of Pilate, and to the indirect testimony of the
Sanhedrin itself, which could prefer no other accusa-
tion against Jesus than that He had designated Him-
self the Messiah and the Son of God. If Judas could
have recalled any circumstance, however trifling, which
might have cast a shadow upon the Lord, we may
readily believe he would gladly have appeased his
conscience in that manner. Still this declaration about
innocent blood cannot in any way be construed into
the testimony of a penitent disciple. It seems to us
that, in his remorse and anguish, Judas, with his
carnal millennarian views, would now view Jesus in
the light of an innocent enthusiast. The balance of
evidence is sti'ongly against the reading aXiia Si-
KO-LOV .
What is it to us ? see thou to it ! — Bengel :
Impii in facto consortes post factum deserunt.
Ver. 5. In the temple — Meyer rightly calls at-
tention to the distinct and definite meaning of the
expression. "It is neither beside the temple (Kypke),
nor in the council-chamber, Gazith (Grotius), nor is
it equivalent to iv tw lepy (Fritzsche and others) -,
but — as the term va6s always imphes, and in the
* [So Dr. Lange translates in his Version: Ich hale ge-
fehlt. See the Critical Note on ver. 4, p. 501.— P. S.]
sense which every reader must attach to the preposi-
tion iv — in the temple-building, i. e., in the holy place
where the priests were. Thither Judas now cast the
pieces of silver. In his despair, he had penetrated
where priests alone were allowed to enter." If, as
seems probable, this took place on the morning of
Christ's death, we can readily understand how he
found the temple empty, and thus was able to cast
down the money in the sanctuary, as a testimony
against the hierarchy. " There lay that blood-money,
the price of the betrayal of innocent blood, from
which the field was called, Hie field of blood — a tes-
timony against Israel." Hengstenberg, Christologie,
iii. 2, p. 464.
And he withdrew himself (anchorite-like into
solitude), and went away hence. — AVe have here
not one movement of Judas, but two : the verb ave-
Xwpriae ia separated and distinguished by Kal from
air^KOwv, and the latter indicates the going away
from the deed, which had been designated by avex^-
p7]ae. From tlie locality where his suicide took place,
we may infer that he had first attempted to retire
from the world, and to lead a life of penitence as an
anchorite in the valley of Gehinnom. But his despair
allowed him no rest, and he committed that awful
deed which the religion and the history of his people
(Saul, Ahithophel) alike condemned.
And hanged or strangled himself. — Meyer
(following de Wette) observes : " We must not bs
led by tlie statement in Acts i. 18 to attach any other
than its primary meaning to the word airdyxo/~iai
(such as, he was consumed by anguish of conscience,
Grotius, Hammond, Heinsius, etc.), as the only one
which accords with the simple historical narrative.
To reconcile the difference, it is generally assumed,
that after having hanged himself, Judas fell down.
headlong. In that case, Matthew would simply have
recorded one part, and Luke the other, of his sad
end (thus Kuinoel, Fritzsche, Olshausen, etc.). This
cutting in pieces of the narrative, is, however, not
only arbitrary, but unsupported by Acts i. 18, which
does not even explicitly record the fact of a suicide,"
etc. Accordingly, Meyer supposes that there were
two different traditions about the end of the betrayer,
the relative historical value of which cannot be ex-
actly determined, bearing to the end that " Judas had
met with a violent and fearful death, in a manner
which tradition variously represented as suicide by
hanging (Matthew), or as falling headlong and burst-
ing asunder ui the midst (Acts i. 18), or finally, as a
swelling of the body, and crushing by carts and wag-
ons (Pajjias according to fficum.)." In considering
this question, we must, in the first place, avoid being
confused by the apocryphal legend. {See the passage
in Winer, art. Judas, Note 4.) Next, we must bear
in mind the different point from which Matthew here,
and Peter in Acts i. view the same event. Matthew
simply records the successive stages of Judas's de-
spair, terminatuig in suicide by hanging himself. Pe-
ter, on the other hand, views the death of Judas as
the condign reward of a wicked part, in opposition to
the part of the aposlleship which he was to have ob-
tained. Viewed in this hght, Judas had first volun-
tarily gotten the reward of iniquity, and ultimately
(involuntarily) a field, upon which he fell dying, all
his bowels gushing out. That tlie words of Peter do
not mean that Judas had jrarchased a field with the
thirty pieces of silver, appears from the rhetorical
character of his address, in which he assumes a know-
ledge of the facts of the case, and by the explanatory
clause, added to the words : he purchased — and fall-
CHAP. XXVII. 1-10.
505
ing headloncf, etc. The expression, " purchaxed" or
gained for himself, is ironical, with special reference
to the circumstance that he hanged himself in the
field which was afterward purchased for the thirty-
pieces of silver. Accordingly, we adopt the view so
vividly sketched by Casaubomis. That writer sug-
gests that Judas (according to Matthew) hanged him-
self over a precipice in the valley of Gehiunom. The
branch broke, or the rope was torn, and Judas (ac-
cording to the report of Peter) fell down headlong
and burst asunder. Winer, indeed, carpingly objects,
that the effects described by Peter could in that case
only have resulted if the body had fallen on jagged
pieces of rock. But we may safely leave a criticism
which is driven into difficulties in search of rocks,
among the rocky valleys around Jerusalem.
Ver. G. It is not lavrful. — Wetstein: Argu-
mento ducto ex Deut. xiii. 18. Sanhedr. fol. 112. —
Thus unconsciously condemning their own hypocrisy
who had paid this same price of blood.
Ver. 7. And they took counsel; — i. e., re-
solved in council. No doubt this took place after the
crucifixion, although soon afterward. — And bought
the potter's field. — Evidently a well-known place.
A field used for potteries would, of course, be a waste
and comparatively valueless spot. — To bury stran-
gers in. — The expression does not refer to Jews from
other countries (as Meyer supposes), who in a reli-
gious point of view were not strangers, nor to pro-
fessing heathens, who were left to themselves, but to
Gentile proselytes (of the gate), to whom a certain
regard was due, while priestly exclusiveness would
not allow them to repose in properly consecrated
graves. Thus, even in this act of cheap charity and
pious provision on the part of a Sanhedrin which
slew the Lord of glory, Pharisaism remained true to
itself. The price of blood and the field of blood are
declared quite suited for " strangers." The field of
blood, or Aceldama (Acts i. 19), is on the steep face of
the southern hill, opposite Mount Zion, which bounds
the valley of Ben Ilinnom. Tradition points out the
spot. " In a corner where some graves or natural
caves, in a semi-dilapidated condition, are found, is
the Aceldama or field of blood of tradition. In sup-
port of tlie accuracy of this view, I may state, that
above it there is a considerable stratum of white clay,
where I repeatedly observed people working. Euse-
bius and Jerome are the first who mention the tradi-
tion in the Onomasticon. This place of sepulture,
which till the fourteenth century belonged to the
Latins, became afterward the property of the Arme-
nians. Probably it ceased to be used for interments
since the last century, although it is impossible exact-
ly to determine the date. A large vaulted sepulchre in
a rock, or rather a cave, served to indicate the local-
ity of the field of blood." KrafFt, Topogr. of Jerus.,
p. 193.— The field of blood adjoins "the Hill of Evil
Counsel," where Caiaphas, according to tradition,
possessed a country house, in which the death of
Jesus had been resolved upon (Matt. xxvi. 3). Braune
confounds tliis with the Ilill of Offence, on the south-
ern top of the Mount of Olives. In the Middle Ages
it was believed that the soil of the Aceldama had the
power of consuming bodies in one, or at least in a
few days. Accordingly, shiploads of it were, during
the thirteenth century, transported to the Campo
Santo at Pisa.
Ver. 9. That which was spoken by Jere-
miah the prophet. — De Wette observes : " Neither
this nor any similar passage is found in Jeremiah.
Accordmgly, some Codd. and Versions omit these
words. But a shnilar passage occurs in Zcch. xi. 12.
Hence Cod. 22, Syr. p. in m. read Zaxapiou. But
even Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, and Augustine found
tlie common reading, which, in fairness, cannot be
disputed. Origen, Homil. 35, supposes that the pas-
sage is found in an apocryphal book of Jeremiah.
Jerome found the passage in an apocryphal writing
of Jeremiah, whicli a Nazarene showed him, but he
thought it was borrowed from Zcchariah. To us it
seems probable tliat the Evangelist has been misled
by the statement in Jer. xviii. 2, to name that pro-
phet instead of Zcchariah. The quotation from
Zechariah is freely made, the phraseology being dif-
ferent both from the Hebrew text and from the
Sept." The following are various attempts at re-
moving the difficulty : 1. It was a mistake of memory
(Augustine) * ; 2. the reading " Jeremiah " is spuri-
ous (Rupert von Deutz, etc.) ; 3. it occurred in a work
of Jeremiah which has been lost (Origen, etc.) ;
4. it was an oral statement of that prophet (Calovius,
etc.) ; 5. the Jews have expunged the passage from
the book of Jeremiah (Eusebius). " If the passage
has been found in an Arabic book, or in a Sahidic or
Coptic lectionary, these must be regarded as inter-
polations from our passage." Meyer. •(• — In reference
to the above, we remark, — 1. That it is very improb-
able our Evangelist should have confounded the pro-
phecies of Zechariah — with which he evidently was
quite famifiar, quoting without naming them, as in
xxi. 5 ; xxvi. 31 — with those of Jeremiah. 2. It
seems impossible to identify the passage before us
with Jer. xvui. 2, since it contains no reference to a
purchase on the part of the prophet. 3. On the
other hand, however, we find a coimection between
the quotation of Matthew and Jer. xxxii. 8, especially
ver. 14: "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of
Israel, Take these evidences [letters], this evidence
of the purchase which is sealed, and this evidence
which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel,
that they may continue many days. For thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Rouses, and
fields, and vineyards, shall be possessed [in German,
purchased] again m this land." These words must
be taken along with ver. 8, where the Lord com-
manded the prophet to act in this manner. These
words are now paraphrased by the Evangelist, in
connection with materials furnished by Zcchariah and
bg Jewish history, so as to exhibit the irAripu'crt? of
what the prophet intended to convey, viz., that the
boldest purchase should yet be made, by which the
price set upon the Messiah would be given for a pot-
ter's field to be a burying-place for pious pilgrims.
The meaning of the quotation is as follows : At the
command of the Lord, Jeremiah bought a field at
Anathoth, at a time when Jerusalem seemed to be in
the hands of the king of Babylon, in order thereby
symbolically to express the idea that Jerusalem was
* [Adopted by Alford : "The citation is prob.ably quoted
from memory and inaccurately." Ho refers to similar mis-
takes in ttie apology of Stephen, Acts vii. 4, 16, and iu Mark
ii. 26. Wordsworth cuts the Gordian knot in a manner di-
rectly opposite, though equally unsatisfactory, viz. : by the
bold do<,'matic assert'on that the name of Jeremi.ah is here
purposely substituted for that of Zcchariah to teuch r.s that
all prophecies proceed from one Spirit, and that the prophets
are merely channels, not sources, of the Divine truth. But
this object could have been reached much better by substi-
tuting the J/ol>/ Spirit or the Scripture for the name of the
writer —P. S.]
t [Dr. Lange might have added a sixth attempt to solve
the difficulty, viz. : that the book of Jeremiah, being actually
arranged by the Jews as the first of all tho prophets (Bava
Bathra), gave its name to the whole body of their Writings.
So Lightfoot and Scrivener.— P. S.]
506
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Btill a place of hope, and that it had a blessed future
in store. Thus unconsciously had the Sanhedrin, by
its purchase of the ])ottcr's field as a burying-place
for strangers, symbolically and prophetically express-
ed the idea that Jerusalem was yet destined to be the
place of pilgrimage of countless worshippers. Thus
they unconsciously prophesied, as Caiaphas did, ac-
cording to Jolm xi. 50 ; and thus had they fulfilled
the prediction of Jeremiah (vers. 15, 43, 44). 4. The
EvangeUst sums up in a brief sentence the grand
thought of Jeremiah (as he had done in ii. 23), re-
ferring in it to Zeeh. xi. 12, wiihovt, lioivever, quoting
that passage. There the typical Shepherd of the peo-
ple of God (who is the same as Jehovah himself) has
His price fixed by His sheep. They give it as thirty
pieces of silver, the well-known price of a slave.
Jehovah says: "Cast it to the potter, nsi'sn-^N :
a goodly price that I was prized at by them." (On
the meaning of these obscure words, comp. the au-
thor's '■'■ Lehen Jesu,''^ ii. 3, p. 1494.) The Sept. adds,
by way of explanation, " to the melting-pot." (An
anomalous explanation by Hitzig, mentioned by
Meyer, who thinks he finds in it a rectification of the
Sept. and the punctuation of the text.) This is to
imply that the money was impure, and required to
be melted over again. 5. Matthew also distinctly
alludes to Gen. xxxvii. 28 — the purchase-money of
Joseph when sold by his brethren. 6. Accordingly,
the passage in question combines four different quo-
tations : («) " And they took the thirty pieces of sil-
ver," which is derived from tlie narrative, with a
special reference to Zechariah ; {b) " the price of Him
that was valued " — also after Zechariah ; (e) " whom
they bought of the children of Israel" [as m the
margin of the authorized version] — after Gen. xxxvii ;
{d) " and gave them for the potter's field " — the nar-
rative of the text, with a special reference to Zechariah ;
(e) " as the Lord appointed to me " — the key of the whole
passage, quoted from Jer. xxxii. G, 8. They gave the
whole price for which they bought and sold the Sa-
viour for a potter's field, to serve as a place of burial
for beheving Gentile pilgrims. Thus, while seahng
their own doom, they have unconsciously made Je-
rusalem a city of the future — but of a future which
shall bring advantage to believing Gentile pilgrims —
they have purchased for them a resting-place in
death.
Ver. 9. Of Him that was valued or priced,
Tov T er I firi fxe j/o V. — Meyer thinks that "the
expression is intended to give the Hebrew "ip'^n
ipretii). But the EvangeUst evidently read "ip^^T]
{cari, cestimati), and applies it to Jesus as the valued
One kot' e^oxw', Euthym. Zigabenus : rod TravTlfiov
Xpio-ToD, comp. Theophylact, and of late Ewald : the
invaluably valuable One, who nevertheless was val-
ued at so low a price." This view impHes not only
that Matthew had intended closely to follow Zechariah,
but that he had at the same time misunderstood and
misrepresented him. It attaches to the verb Ti/jido a
twofold and a contradictory sense. The meaning of
the words really is : " of Him that was valued " — the I
sense favored by most critics, mcluding de Wette '
and Hofmann. Nor is there any tautology about it, I
as the words ov ir i jxi] a avr o air 6 mean : whom !
by valuing they purchased, or, whom they bought. |
Thus the expression, "of Him that was valued," |
would seem specially to refer to the passage in Zech- |
ariah — the priests bemg the subject of the verb in- j
fj-TtaavTo. — Whom they bought of the children
of Israel (= Jacob). — This does not mean that I
Christ had been valued by the whole people (Hof-
mann) ; nor, at the instigation of the children of Is-
rael (Meyer) ; nor, from among the children of Israel,
i. (?., for a man of Israel (Baumgarten-Crusius) ; but,
bought from the children of Israel (Castelho, Luther,
and others). Judas is here the representative of the
whole treacherous nation ; and the passage alludes
to the sons of Jacob, who sold Joseph. — For the
potter's field, f Is to y, — for the purchase there-
of The aUusion here to Zech. xi. 1 3 is very sUght.
The passage in the prophet, "Cast it "i:ji''n~bN "
(and that, as appears from the sequel, in the temple),
is rendered by the Sept. its rh x'^vivrr^pwv, to the
melting furnace. Hitzig proposes to read ~::i'i ,
the treasure, hence. Cast it into the temple-treasury.
But, irrespective of the fact, that this is merely an
arbitrary conjecture, it would give a wrong meaning,
as the small price was to be treated with contempt,
not with honor and distinction. Hcngstenberg ex-
plains it : Cast it to the potter = the executioner.
But these two tei-ms are certainly not identical. The
potter forms the vessels for the temple, and puts the
old into new fonns. Accordingly, we conjecture that
in the court of the temple, where the various vessels
were arranged, there was a place bearing the inscrip-
tion " To the potter,'''' which was equivalent to " the
melting furnace.'''' Into this receptacle, designated
by its inscription, Jehovah directs the thirty pieces
of silver to be cast. — Thus " to the old u-on " cast
the price, according to which they have valued Him
as equal with " old iron." Gerlach regards the thirty
pieces of silver as the hire of a shepherd for a year.
But it is well known to have been the price for a
slave. — As the Lord appointed to me. — Referring
not to the passage in Zechariah, but to the narrative
of Jeremiah refei'red to, that the Lord had command-
ed him, by way of symbol, to purchase the field at
Anathoth.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. On the Chaeacter of Judas, see our previous
remarks. For more detailed treatises about his call
to the apostolate, comp. Heubner, Comment, p. 418.
On the defence set up for Judas hj a section of the
Gnostics and of the Menonites, and by some modem
writers, see Heubner, p. 420.
2. The Repentance op Judas. — Temble and
mysterious as is the guilt, so awful and sad is the re-
pentance of the traitor, as it ultimately terminates
m the blackness of despair. The ancients were wont
to place it side by side with the penitence of Cain, as
the counterpart of true repentance. Thus much is
evident, that from first to last his penitence was im-
healthy and godless. Tor its source and origin was
not his guilt, but the consequences resulting from it
(" when Judas saw that^'' etc.). Secondly, in its course
and progress it did not appear as repentance toward
God, in the economy of salvation. We see him seek-
ing first to offer human satisfaction before the priests ;
next, retiring as a penitent into solitude ; and lastly,
casting himself, in his suicide, headlong into the
abyss of despah-. We note the opposite of all this
in Peter. Here we have first bitter weejiing, re-
pentance toward God, and return to Christ ; and then
human satisfaction, offered in the strength of the par-
doned soul and in newness of life. Lastly, there is
the sad termination in the case of Judas, — his repen-
tance being the sorrow of the world, which worketh
death (2 Cor. vii. 10). At the outset, he wants the
CHAP. XXVII. 1-10.
507
genuineness and sincerity in dealing with an offended
God wliich constitutes the grand characteristic of
true repentance ; during the course of it, that faith
which flies for refuge to the sovereign mercy of God,
who is able and willing to pardon ; and hence, in the
end, the victory of hope and love over despair.
Heubncr remarks : " When the conscience of a sin-
ner awakens and fills him with terror he is hopelessly
lost if he lose faith — faith in the grace of God, who
is able and willing to pardon, and faith in an atoning
and all-sufficient Saviour. Hence it is absolutely ne-
cessary to keep firm hold of failli." However, in-
genuousness and truth are the condition of abihty to
believe. He that doetli the truth cometh to the
light. The same writer remarks : " Satan has two
arts by which he seduces men. Before we sin he
cries out : Spera ! and after we have sinned : De-
eper a ! " {See the quotation from Luther, Works,
vol. six. 1498.)
3. Suicide : Saul, AnixHOPnEL, Judas. — " Suicide,
if not freely and voluntarily committed, but arising
from physical disturbance, may expect pardon from
God." In his " Tal)le-talk" Luther expressly says
(Walch's edition, ch. xlviii. § 13, p. 1039), "that all
cases of suicide are not condemned." (Which may
be added to Stiiudlin's Hisiorj/ of the opinions on
Suicide, p. 116.) Heubner: "When suicide is com-
mitted freely, and with full consciousness and reflec-
tion, it is always the result of sinful estrangement
and alienation from the Creator, and of despair in
everlasting love. True, it is very generally also the
consequence of gross sins which torment the soul, and
of violent passions. These alone, however, do not
lead men to their eternal downfall ; it is unbeUef
alone. Hence it is that suicides are now so much
more common." — ^^Vhat makes suicide at once detest-
able and horrifying is, in the first place, the false and
wicked combination of the most extreme contradic-
tions,— self-love and self-abandomnent, deliverance
and destruction, healing and murder, rebellion against
God and forth-stepping to His judgment-bar ; in the
second place, the fact that the self-murderer perverts
to his own destruction that moment which God had
appointed to be the crisis of his perfected salvation
{see Acts xvi. 27) ; in the third place, the circum-
stance that the self-murderer, regardless of conse-
quences, anticipates and neutralizes, in a cowardly
and wicked manner, the act of free surrender of the
soul to God in death, which is its highest spiritual
form {see the author's Positive Dogmatik, p. 1243).
Suicide is, so to speak, the theatrical exhibition and
full development of sm's self-destructive nature, and
is the natural type of eternal self-condemnation.
Truth accordingly must never in its testimony cease
to war against suicide, regarded in itself; she cannot
compromise with it, but must ever condemn it as
the evidence of despairing unbelief. But as suicide
is often the result of boddy and mental weakness,
the twin child of madness, we should deal with
actual cases in a forbearing, mild, and cautious
spirit. We should act similarly in those cases where
remorse in after-life leads to suicide, though that act
appears to be merely the natural consequence of the
preceding heinous crime committed by the miserable
persons. The spiritual suicide of Judas was con-
summated in the moment of his treachery against his
Lord and Master. Heubner's statement : " We may
fall ever so low, if we only hold fast the faith," is as
liable to misconception as many similar remarks of
Luther. Faith is ethical in its very nature, and can-
not be separated from moral laws. Upon other
points connected with suicide, consult the Systems
of Ethics. We should not return to the confessional,
because the reserve of ungodly men and their brood-
ing lead them to self-destruction ; but we should,
throughout the Evangelical Church, recommend the
practice of a free confession of heart.
4. APPIIOPRIATION OF THE BlOOD-MoNEY. " Hj-
pocritical conscientiousness. Their scruples arose
from Dent, xxiii. 18: — 'Thou shalt not bring the
hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the
house of the Lord thy God for any vow ; for even
both these are an abomination unto the Lord thy
God.' The instruments of the wicked are a source
of disgust and dread to them, especially those to
whom the stain of blood attaches as a memorial of
their guilt. They are agents to awaken conscience,
and threaten punishment. These wretches suffered
blood to stain their hands and lie upon their con-
sciences, but they would not allow the temple treas-
ury to be defiled. The money -chest they valued
above their conscience. They would not transgress
by receiving defiled money, for they feared to render
their treasury valueless : this was their reverence for
God (Matt, xxiii. 24). There is a proper solicitude,
however, which we should all have, to keep our
property undefiled." — " They appropriated the money
to a charitable purpose ; but it is hnpossible to re-
move the guilt and disgrace of former days by acts
of mercy." Heubner. Similar institutions were
common in the Middle Ages. The cloister of Konigs-
felden in Switzerland was the fruit of Queen Agnes'
bloody vengeance.
5. The Field of Blood. — Even in the acts of
charity performed by the Sanhedrin, the character-
istic traits of its members come to view ; the most
complete hypocrisy, making the money-chest of God's
house more sacred than God Himself and God's acre.*
They purchase for a paltry sum, and that the price
of blood, a field of blood, to inter pious pilgrmis from
heathen nations, who were not reckoned to be fully
Jewish proselytes. So the charity of the Middle Ages
sought out beggars upon whom to expend its kind
offices, and these it furnished with beggars' broth.
Unconsciously, these hypocrites were compelled to
perpetuate the memory of their sinful acts ; and in
thi^ act, besides, was given unconsciously a plastic
type of the Sanliedrin. Without wilUng it, they had
to fulfil Jeremiah's prophecy. The purchase of the
potter's field to be a restmg-place for foreign pil-
grims becomes prophetical of this, that Jerusalem,
Palestine, and Israel's entire inheritance, was des-
tined to be a resting-place for the beUeving Gentile
world.
6. Here for the first time Christian grave-yards
took the place of isolated sepulchres, as was the cus-
tom among the Jews. And who was probably the
first interred in that field ? This history preaches
mildness and tenderness.
nOMILETICAL AND rKACTICAL.
The counsel and the treachery on the morning
of the feast. 1. The counsel and treachery: (a) An
act of treachery from a resolution of council ; (6)
a counsel which was perfected by an act of treachery.
2. On the morning of the feast : {a) The morning
thought ; (6) the festival thought, of the rulers of
* [^Gottesacker, also Friedlwf, is the Gorman name for
grave-yard.— V. 8.]
508
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Israel. — The abominable display of the high-priest
and the chief council on the festal morning. — Christ's
murder disguised under an imposing act of worship
rendered to God. — The great display of fanaticism,
in its historic import to the world. — Blessed arc they
who can resist the currents of the time. — The mad
pomp with which the Jews abandon their long-look-
ed-for King to the Gentiles. — Judaism in the act of
involving the Gentile world in the guilt of Christ's
murder : the opposite of the promise : " In thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," Isa.
liii. — The effects of magnificent display: 1. Its
power ; 2. its weakness. — Jesus abandoned by His
own nation to the Gentiles. — The second betrayal the
sentence of death pronounced upon the first betrayal
{Novj ivJien. Judas saw). — The repentance of Judas
the completion of his guilt, as seen : 1. In its begin-
ning; 2. its means; 3. its end. — The repentance of
Judas compared with Peter's, 2 Cor. vii. 10. — To
render due satisfaction, we must begin at God's
throne. — (Against Thee only have I sinned.) Ezek.
xxxiii. 15, 16. — That innocent blood, which he had
betrayed, would have saved hhri, had he known its
full value. — Judas's testimony to the innocence of
Jesus a significant fruit of his discipleship : 1. The
spoiled fruit of a reprobate or deserter ; 2. the im-
portant testimony of a deserter. — The unwilling tes-
timony of the unbelieving and despairing to the glory
Jesus. — Behold how heartlessly the wicked abandon
the instruments of their guilt ! " See thou to thai."
— The confession of a bleeding conscience is unheard
by the hierarchical superintendents of the confession-
al.— How soon is the friendship of the wicked at an
end ! — They hurl one another mutually into destruc-
tion.— Tlie fruitless attempts of Judas to silence his
conscience. — The end of Judas ; or, suicide the sign
of finished unbelief. — The conscientious scruples of
the unscrupulous : " It is not lawful." — The charita-
ble institutions of a hardness of heart which cloaks
itself under the garb of piety: 1. Their occasion, —
the committal of a crime ; 2. their spring, — supersti-
tion and selfishness ; 3. tlieir form, — monuments of
a proud, unloving spirit. — The price at which the
world valued Christ sufficed to purchase an old, ex-
hausted clay-pit (" loam-pit or sandhole "). — The ful-
filment of the prophet's word ; or, the burying-ground
of pious pilgrims — i. <?., of believers — bought with
the purchase money of Jesus. — The field of blood of
despairing Judaism converted into a burial-field (a
afield of peace) for the believing Gentile world. — They
who delivered Christ over to the Gentiles have had
to yield their land likewise to the Gentiles.
Starke : — We should be up early, not to injure
our neighbor, but to praise God, Ps. cviii. 2, 3, and
to attend honestly to our calling, Ps. civ. 23. — Zci-
sius : Christ has been bound that He might free us
from the bonds of sin, death, the devil, and hell. —
He also thereby sanctified and blessed the bonds of
our aiflictions, especially those endured for the gos-
pel.— Ganstein: Satan bUnds the eyes to precipitate
man into sin ; and then he opens them again, that
despair may seize the sinner. — Do not be such a fool
as to commit a sin to gain the world's favor ; for it
will draw its head out of the noose, and leave thee to
be hanged. — Quesnel : There is a kind of hirelings
and false shepherds, to whom it is of no consequence
whether their sheep stray and are lost or not. — Zei-
sms : Do but see how far greed will lead a man. —
Caiutein : The anguish of an evil conscience deprives
a man of his judgment, so that he is no more his
own master ; for when he thinks by self-murder to
free hunself from torment, he only plunges himself
into eternal torment. — Thou canst find many a com-
panion in sin; but when thy poor conscience will
have comfort, thou art forsaken by them all. — Hast
thou sinned deeply, despair not ; arise, and repent
truly. — Nova Btbl. Tub. : Christ has given the grave-
money for our burial, and has purchased for us, poor
pilgrims who have nothing of our own, a resting-
place. — C'anstcin : The wicked themselves i oust as-
sist in establishing divine truth.
Gossner : — " See thou to that : " such is their
absolution.
Gerlach : — It was a remarkable circumstance in
the passion history of Christ, that He must be deUv-
ered up to the Gentiles. Not the Jews only were to
reject and crucify the Son of God, but the Gentiles
also ; and His blood crieth for mercy on behalf of
Jews as well as Gentiles.
Heuhner: — The witness of Judas. He was the
spy whom Satan had been permitted to place among
the confidential friends ; he was Satan's appointed
fault-finder, who should pay attention to discover any
fault that might be committed. But he had to con-
fess he had betrayed innocent blood. — That Ju-
das might have gained pardon, if he had believed, is
acknowledged by, e. g., Chrysostom, m Sermon 1 on
Repentance, and by Leo the Great, in the 11th Ser-
mon on the Passion. — Even the most glorious oppor-
tunities of virtue and religion, even the companion-
ship and conversation of the most holy and most
lovable of men, are perverted to its own ruin by a
corrupted spirit. — An evil germ, small at first, but
nourished and tended, produces fruits ever more and
more poisonous. — They care for the bodies of dead
foreigners, but let the souls of the living perish. —
The perpetuation of sinful acts through memorials,
names, etc., against the will and expectation of evil-
doers.— How are the children of God, yea, Christ
Himself, valued in this world ! To how many are
philosophers, artists, heroes, or millionnaires far more
precious !
Braune : — Common minds become small crimi-
nals, great characters great crhninals, as men judge :
the former are base, the latter more wicked. (Still
the deed of Judas was the very depth of baseness.)
— He seeks to clear himself only before his own con-
science and his accomplices, not before God, and that
he would do without Jesus. He wanted faith, and
hence he prayed not and sought not. — Themselves
they have stained, God's treasury they would not de-
file.—Schidz : The end of Judas : 1. His despair ; 2,
his ruin.
[BuRKiTT : — Behold ! a disciple, an apostle, first
a traitor, then a self-murderer. Behold ! all ye cov-
etous worldlings, to what the love of that accursed
idol has brought this wretched apostle. Behold!
Judas, once shining in the robes of a glorious pro-
fession, now shining in the flames of God's eternal
wrath and vengeance. Lord ! how earnest ought we
to be for thy preserving grace, when neither the
presence, the miracles, the sermons, the sacraments
of Christ, could preserve and secure a professor, a
disciple and apostle from ruinous apostasy. Let him
that standeth take heed lest he fall. — Doddridge : — The
irresistible force of conscience in the worst of men. —
The testimony of the traitor to the innocence of Je-
sus.— The wrath of man shall praise the Lord. — D.
Brown : — The true character of repentance is deter-
mined neither by its smcerity nor by its bitterness,
but by the views under which it is wrought. Judas,
under the sense of his guilt, had nothing to faU back
CHAP. XXVII. 11-31. 509
upon ; Peter turned toward Jesus, who was able and
willing to forgive. In the one case we have natural
principles working themselves out to deadly eflect ;
in the other, we see grace working repentance unto
salvation. — Wordsworth : — Judas, a typo of the
Jews, m his sin and end ('?). — P. S.]
XINTH SECTION.
SUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS, BEFORE PILATE'S BAR; OR, CHRIST EXAMINED BY
THE CIVIL AUTHORITY; INSULTINGLY PUT BESIDE BARABBAS; STILL MORE IN-
SULTINGLY REJECTED, AND, IN SPITE OF THE MOST DECISIVE PROOFS OF HIS
INNOCENCE, CONDEMNED, DELIVERED TO BE CRUCIFIED, MOCKED.
ClIAPTEK XXVII. 11-31.
(Mark xv. 2-20 ; Luke xxiii. 2-25 ; John xviii. 28-xix. 16.)
11 And Jesus stood [was placed]^ before the governor: and the governor asked [ques-
tioned] ^ him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou
12 sayest [it].^ And when he was accused of [by] the chief priests and [the] elders, he
13 answered nothing. Then said Pilate mato him, Hearest thou not how many things
14 [what things, TTocra] * they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a
word [and lie answered him not a word] ; * insomuch [so] that the governor marvelled
15 [wondered] greatly. Now at that [the] feast® the governor was wont to release unto
16 the people a prisoner, Avhom they would. And they had then a notable [notorious,
17 €7n'cn?/xov] ^ prisoner, called Barabbas.^ Therefore when they were gathered together,
Pilate said unto them. Whom will ye that I release unto you ? Barabbas,^ or Jesus
18 which [who] is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying. Have
thou nothing to do with that just man : for I have suffered many things [much] this
day in a dream because of him.
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask [for]
21 Barabbas, and [should] destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them,
Whether of the twain [Which of the two] will ye that I release unto you? They
22 said, Barabbas. Pilate said imto them. What shall I do then with Jesus which [who]
23 is called Christ? They sX\ say unto him,'' Let him be crucified. And the governor
said, Why, what evil hath he done ? But they cried out the more, saying. Let him be
crucified.
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail [avail] nothing, '° but that rather a tumult
was [is] made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am
25 innocent of the blood of this just person : " see ye to it. Then answered all the people,
26 and said, His blood he on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas mito
them : and when he had scourged Jesus, he [but Jesus he scourged and, tov Se 'l-qaovv
27 e^payeXXdjcras] delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took
Jesus into the common hall [Pra^torium],^^ and gathered unto him the whole band of
28, 29 soldiers}^ And they stripped him,'* and put on him a scarlet robe. And when
they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in liis right
hand : '^ and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Plail, King of
30 the Jews ! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
3 1 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from liim, and put his own
raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
1 Ver. 11.— Lachmann and Tischendorf read iffradi) [for effTT/], according to B., C, L., [also Cod. Sinait., which
generally agrees with Cod. Vaticanus. Meyer and Alford regard icrrdOr] as a correction to suit the sense better.— P. S.]
2 Ver. 11. — ['E TrepcoTTjffei' is "a part of the formal judicial inquisition ; " hence, questioneiJ. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 11.— [So Coverdale and Conant, who insert it. Others insert right or tndtj. 'S.v \fyfis, like rru eliras
In ch. xxvi. 25, is a form of affirmative answer, common in IJ.ibbinic writers («oi««7^^s ajfirmantium apud Judu:os for-
mula, as Scholtgen says); the object of the verb being implied. — P. S.]
510
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Ver. 13.— [So Dr. Lange : tcelche Binge. Also Dr.TConant, who refers the word ir6(xa, quantus, how great, not so
much to the number of the offences charged upon Him, as to their magnitude: and in this sense the reader naturally
■ n.-P. 8.] '
:a: not one word; Conant: not even to one word; Lange :
einziges Wort, i. e., not even to one inquisitorial question.—
understands the word what in this connection.-
6 Ver. 14. —[Coverdale renders irpbs ovSe ev ^r/)
nicM atif irgend ein Wort; Meyer: auf nichl einmal eii
P. 8.]
« Ver. \b.—[At tJie feast, at every passover. See Exeg. J^ote^.—P. B.]
' Ver. 16. — [The word iiriarrjfjios is here used in a had sense, as in Joseph. Antiq. v. 7, 1, and Euripides, Orent. 289;
hence, notorious (Eheinish Version, Symonds, Norton), or famous (Wiclif, Campbell, Scrivener), or noted (Conant); in
German: herUchtigt (de Wette, Lange, etc.). The term notable, which dates from Tyndale, and was retained by Cran-
mer, the Genevan, and the Authorized Version, is now generally employed in a good sense. The Latin Vulgate, however,
translates: msiVi**, and Ewald : heruhmt. — ^^P. S.]
8 Vers. 16 and 17.— Fritzsche and Tischendorf read ^l-qcrovv Bafia^^av, following some cursive Codd, the Syr-
iao and other versions, and Origen. Meyer thinks the sacred name was left out through reverence. De Wette supports
this reading. [In his large critical edition of 1859 Tischendorf omits 'liqcrovi', and defends the usual reading: see his
critical note. So also Alford, who thinks that some ignorant scribe, unwilling to ascribe to Barabbas the epithet iiricrifj.os,
wrote in the margin 'IrjffoOy. This is doubtful. The insertion cannot be satisfactorily explained, and I am disposed
to agi'ee with Meyer, that 'ItjcoCs is genuine. It makes the contrast still more striking. — P. 8.]
9 Ver. 22.— The avrq) of the Recepta, according to the best testimonies, is to be omitted.
'0 Ver. 24.— [The older English Versions and Campbell take ot i ovSev w(pe\e7 personally. So also Alford, the
Latin Vulgate, the German Versions, Lange {doss er nichts ausrichte), and Meyer (dass er nichts nutze). But Beza,
Ewald, Norton, and Conant translate it impersonally = oii^lv dxpiKelr ai, dass es nichts nutze, that it avails noth-
ing.—F. S.] ^ ^
11 Ver. 2-1. — The words rod StKalov [before toi;tou] are wanting in B., D. But Cod. A reads : rovrov tov
5 i K a 1 o u , Lachmann puts them in brackets, Tischendorf omits them [so also Alford]. The omission is more diflScult
to account for than the insertion. [Cod. Sinait. differs here from the Vatican Cod. and sustains the text, rec: rod Si-
fcaiov T OVTOV . — P. S.]
1= Ver. 27.— [The scourging took place outside of the irpaiTwpiov, which is the oflBclal palace of the Roman Procura-
tor, or the governor's house, as the margin of the Authorized Version explains. Comp. Mark xv. 16: effta rrjs avXijs.
-P. S.]
13 Ver. 27.— [The interpolation: of soldiers, is a useless repetition. By '6\i)v t7]v a-Ktlpav is meant the whole cohort
(the tenth part of a legion) then on duty at the palace.— P. S.]
n Ver. 2S.— Several C^odd., B., D., etc., read e y 5u(Taj/Tf y [having clothed Eim, for e/cSuaacres avriv]. Lach-
mann adopts it, but regards this reading as an old writing error. [Lachmaun's object, it should be remembered, is not to
establish tlje most correct, but the most ancient text attainable, as it stood in the fourth century. Tischendorf and Alford
retain iKSvcrapTfi. See the Exeg. Notes.— P. 8.]
1* Ver. 29.— The best supported reading: ev t^ Se^ici [for the led. rec. : ettI tv,v Se^iay] represents the conduct
of Christ more passive, and is more suitable. [Cod. Sinait. reads fv t?) Se|ia,and eTri Tf)? K.i<pa\rts for iirl
rrjv Kecpa\T}i/. — P. 8.]
; tion, see John xviii. ver. 29 ff. From the same pas-
sage, vers. 34-37, we learn that Jesus, before reply-
ing m the affirmative, asked whether Pilate used the
expression, Kinff of the Jews, in a Eoman or a Jew-
ish sense. The chief point for Matthew was, that
Jesus, even before Pilate, the civU ruler, declared
Himself expUcitly to be the Messiah. Theophylact
has, without reason, interpreted av \eye is as an
evasive answer.
Ver. 12. He answered nothing. — After He
had, according to John xviii. 37, declared that He
was the Messiah, and in what sense. He made no an-
swer to the most diverse accusations and questions,
and spake not till Pilate cast in His teeth the taunt,
" Knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify
Thee, and have power to release Thee ? " John xix.
10. The accusations were by His silence stamped
as groundless, and this majesty of silence filled Pi-
late with wonder and amazement.
Ver. 15. Now at the feast. — Annually, at the
Passover. The Passover was the Jewish feast /cot'
f^oxvv, and the connection shows that to this festi-
val reference is here made. The antiquity of this
custom is unknown. The Talmud makes no allusion
to it ; but that is in all Ukelihood an intentional over-
sight. Grotius says, this custom was introduced by
the Romans for the purpose of flattering the Jews.
Braune : " The Roman and Greek custom of releas-
ing prisoners upon the birthdays and festive seasons
" the emperors, and upon days of public rejoicing,
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
General View. — Matthew describes the sufferings
of Christ chiefly from the theocratic point of view.
Hence, under the general head of a theocratic refer-
ence, we would group the silence of Jesus before Pi-
late, after He had declared that He was the Messiah ;
His being put upon an equahty with Barabbas ; the
testimony of the wife of Pilate, and the testimony of
Pilate hunself (following that of Judas) ; the cry of
the Jews : " His blood," etc. ; and the detailed narra-
tion of the mocking Christ in His kingly nature, on
the part of the soldiers. The events, according to
the Evangehsts, occurred in the following order : —
At first Pilate wished to hand Jesus over to the Jew-
ish court, that is, to receive a simple ecclesiastical
censure. Then he sent Jesus to Herod, to get rid of
the difficulty. Thereupon occurred the presentation
of Christ along with Barabbas, and, after the faUure
of that device, the significant hand-washing. Then,
the presentation of Jesus to the people, after He had
been scourged : £cce homo. Piually, the scornful
treatment of the Jews by Pilate, designed to veil his
own disgrace.*
Ver. 11. Art Thou the King of the Jews ?—
For the circumstances leading Pilate to put this ques-
* [In German: '■'• Schliesslich eine hohnische Behand-
lung der Jxulen, die seine (viz., Pilate"s) Schrnach verUul-
len sollte." Dr. Lange refers evidently to the mockery of
the Jews by Pilate related in John sis. 14, 15, 20, 22. The
Edinb. edition entirely misunderstands this sentence in
translating: "The conclusion of all being the ironical con-
duct of the Jews, as if they wished to throw a cloak over
Jlis indignities.'" Here the word Behandlung was probably
mistaken for Handlung, and the subject changed.— P. S.]
of
had been undoubtedly introduced among the Jews
before the time of Pilate, to soften the Roman yoke."
Meyer : " We must not overlook a reference to the
significance of the Passover." Hence our thoughts
are carried back to the free escape of the Israehtish
CHAP. XXVn. 11-81.
511
first-born. Looked at in this light, the release of
the prisoners at the Passover reminds us of the
Good Friday dramas of southern Roman Catholic
countries. The custom, as a Jewish custom, was
improper, aud was opposed to the law, especially in
such a case as the present, Exod. xxi. 12. Barab-
bas had bean arrested for sedition and murder, Luke
xxiii. 19. ^
Ver. 16. They had then a notorious prison-
er.— The wardens of the jails, m which were con-
fined those who had committed offences against the
Roman laws.
Called Barabbas. — Several cursive MSS., ver-
sions, scholiasts, and also Origen, read Jesus Barab-
bas. See note appended to the text. Barabbas, =
N3X ~i3 , which appears frequently, according to
Lightfoot, in the Talmud, means " the father's son."
Ewald says : "He was the son of a rabbi." Theo-
phylact saw in it an allusion to Antichrist, " the «on
of the devil." On the contrary, Olsliausen makes it
refer to the Son of God, and finds in it a play of di-
vine providence, according to the proverb : Ludit in
humanis divina pofenfia rebus. DeWette terms this
a very improper play of pious wit ; and yet he must
acknowledge it to be possible that Barabbas, being a
mover of sedition (Luke xxiii. 19), might have play-
ed the part of a false prophet, or a messiah. The
objection, that he would not have committed a mur-
der had he been representing himself as a messiah, is
of no weight. Let us now conceive to ourselves the
whole state of matters : a Jesus Barabbas, the son
of the father, a pseudo-messiah, is presented to the
Jews along with Jesus Christ. Surely in all this
may easily be seen a striking sport of so-called
"chance." And why should the supposition that
providence controlled the similarity and difierence
between the two names, be so senseless ? It is con-
ceivable, however, that the Christian tradition re-
moved the name Jesus, out of reverence.
Ver. 17. When they ■were gathered togeth-
er.— Pilate had by this time discovered how matters
stood. In his crooked pohcy, accordingly, he calcu-
lated upon certain success, when he should place the
notorious or distinguished criminal side by side with
Jesus, for the Jews to choose which of the two should
be released. Besides, he appears to have waited cun-
ningly till the people had reassembled in very large
numbers before his palace on the Antonia, after hav-
ing gone and returned with the train which conduct-
ed Jesus to Herod. Because, according to Luke, this
train had gone off before the events here recorded
occurred. Pilate knew by this time how envious the
members of the Sanhedrm were of Jesus, and must
from this conclude that he stood high in the favor
of the people.
Ver. 18. For envy. — The Evangelist mentions
here, in a historical connection, envy as the cause of
all the hostility manifested against Jesus, as if it
, were something well tmderstood.
Ver. 19. When he was set down on the
judgment-seat. — The people had a moment for con-
sideration, and Pilate regards the issue as one of
such certainty, that he ascends the seat of judgment
to receive the decision of the people, and to pro-
nounce judgment accordingly. The judge was re-
quired to pronounce judgment from a lofty seat of
authority, from his chair of office. This stood usu-
ally upon a stone pavement {Lithostroton, in Hebrew,
Gabbatha, John xix. 13).*
♦[The Kdinb. translation reads: "This stood, uvfortu-
His wife sent to him.— This fitct is found in
Matthew only. As formerly, according to Matthew,
the spirit of truth had in visions of the night borne
witness for the new-born Jesus, and as the testunony
of the heathen magi had in the day-season confirmed
this witness, so on this occasion is the solemn, polit-
ical testimony of Pilate on behalf of the suffering Je-
sus strengthened by a witness speaking out of the
dream-life of his wife. Thus it is that each Evange-
Ust selects out of the store of facts those which accord
best with his views and purpose. From the time of
Augustus, it became usual for the Roman governors
to take their wives along with them into the prov-
mces, though the custom was attacked down till the
age of Tiberius : Tacit. Annal. iii. 33. Pilate's wife,
according to a tradition, given in Niceph. Eist. Eccles.
i. 30, was called Claudia Procida or Procla, and
was, according to the Gospel by Nicodemus, eeoue-
;8i7$, i. e., a proselyte of the gate, and perhaps one
who revered Jesus. The Greek Church has canon-
ized her.
Have nothing to do with that just man. —
She designates Jesus the Just, and hints that Pilate,
by injuring Him, may subject himself to the divine
punishment.— For I have suffered Eiuch.- An
ordinary dream would not be spoken of in this way,
as a dream of bitter agony. Xor would such a dream
have led a Roman wife to send a dissuasive message
to her husband when seated upon the judgment-seat.
Some apparition, something supernatural, awful, must
be here understood. Hence many have attributed
this dream to a direct interposition of God, especially*
Origen, Chrysostom, Augustin ; others — namely, Ig-
natius {Epist. ad Phil. cap. 4), Beda, Bernard, also
the old Saxon Gospel-Harmony, Heliand — ascribe
the dream in a naive way to the devil, who wished in
this way to prevent the redeeming death of Jesus.
Of course the dream may have arisen quite naturally,
as de Wette and Meyer hold. The governor's wife
knew something of the mission of Jesus ; and the
night before, the Sanhedrin Jiad in all probability
alarmed the procurator's household, coming to de-
mand a guard. But this view does not mihtate
against di\-ine interposition, although the Evangelist
makes no allusion to such intervention. The dream
was a morning dream, hence (rri fxe pov , — according
to the Roman time-division, from twelve at midnight.
Klopstock makes Socrates appear in the dream to
the wife of Pilate (in the seventh Song of the 3fes-
sias).
[It is a remarkable fact that a woman, and she a
heathen, should be the only human being who had
the courage to plead the cause of our Saviour during
these dreadful hours when His own disciples forsook
Him, and when the fanatical multitude cried out:
Crucify Him, crucify Him ! It is equally remark-
able that she should call Him ZiKaios i k^ ivos,
that just man, and thus remind one of the most
memorable unconscious prophecy of heathenism,
viz., Plato's description of the perfect SiKaior, who.
tiately, upon a stone foundation." It is as difficult to see
the connection of the German uhlicher Weise (usually)
with uvfortunaitly, as the connection of misfortune with a
stone foundation, linless some one happens to fall on it. It
is hardlv conceivable that the translator should have deriv-
ed 80 plain a word as uhlich^ customary, usual, from Uebel,
evil, instead of uben, to practine.—P. S.]
* [Not : natnely, as the Edinb. translation reads, which
uniformly confounds namentlich (enpecially) with ndmlich
(nar/je/y), althoujrh in this case the preceding wany (i-ieZd
in Gerinan, for which the Edinb. trsl. substitutes some)
should have jireventcd the mistake.— P. S.]
512
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
" without doing any wrong, may assume the appear-
ance of the grossest injustice {ixri^ei' yap aSiKwi/ So^av
c'XfTa' TVS /xeyiarris &.SiKias) ; " yea, who " shall be
scourged, tortured, fettered, deprived of his eyes, and,
after having endured all possible sufferings, fastened
to a post, must restore again the beginning and pro-
totype of righteousness " (.see Plato, Politicly vol. iv.
p. 74 sqq. ; ed. Ast, p. 360 sq., ed. Bip., and my
History of the Apostolic Church, p. 433 sq.). Aris-
totle, too, says of the perfectly just man, " that he
stands so far above the political order and constitu-
tion as it exists, that he must break it, wherever he
appears." The prophecies of Greek wisdom and the
majesty of the Roman law here unite in a Roman
lady, I he wife of the imperial representative in Jeru-
salem, to testify to the innocence and mission of
Christ. It is very likely that the wife of Pilate was
one of those God-fearing heathen women, who, with-
out embracing the Jewish religion, were longing and
groping in the dark after the " unknown God." —
P. S.]
Ver. 20. But the cliief priests and the elders
persuaded. — The members of the Sanhedrin availed
themselves of the delay during which Pilate was oc-
cupied in receiving this message, to canvass the peo-
ple and obtam their support. The two warnings
which came, the one from the thoughtful presenti-
ment of a pious spirit to Pilate, the other from the
tortured conscience of Judas to the priests — proved
fruitless ; indeed, the first occasioned only a delay
which the enemies of Jesus turned to their account.
Nevertheless the testimony of his wife was not wholly
lost on Pilate, for it reacted upon his own later sol-
emn testimony.
Ver. 21. But he ansiwered, aTrojcpieeJs Se.
— Meyer properly explains. He replies to these prep-
arations on the part of the Sanhedrin, which he
overhears from his chair, by asking the people again,
and more definitely : Which of the two, etc., and
so puts a stop to this canvassing of the priests.
Ver. 22. Let Him be crucified, ar av puOv-
T a> . — They might have asked simply that he would
confirm the condemnation for blasphemy, and sen-
tence Jesus to the Jewish mode of execution by ston-
ing ; but they go further, and demand his active co-
operation in the judgment. They wished Jesus to be
executed as an insurrectionist, and hence to be cru-
cified according to the Roman custom. They sought
by this extreme penalty and this deepest disgrace to
annihilate the memory of Jesus, and to stake the
Roman might against faith in Him. Thus, in their
senseless, self-destructive fanaticism, they consigned
to the Roman cross their ov/n Messianic idea ; for
the accusation, that Jesus was a mover of sedition,
was only an inference which they deduced from the
Messianic dignity claimed by Jesus.
Ver. 23. What evil then hath He done?
Ti yap kukov i tt o It] a e v ; — then, yap, implies
that they must be able to give positive reasons for
His death. The Evangelist passes by, however, the
further special points, and represents only the efiect
of the uproar, which threatened to become an insur-
rection.
Ver. 24. Washed his hands. — A symbolical
act of Jewish custom (consult Deut. xxi. 6 ; Sota, 8,
6), by which one frees oneself solemnly from guilt.
Pilate adopted a Jewish custom, to make himself
from their own stand-point fully understood, and
probably also to make a final attempt to dissuade
them from the course they were pursuing. " The
heathen practice of cleansing the hands to clear them
from the guilt of murder after it had been commit-
ted, might, from its analogy, have led to the adop-
tion of the Jewish custom." Meyer. The matter,
however, was important enough to call for a peculiar
symbolic expression. [Pilate washed his hands, but
not his heart, and in delivering up Christ, whom he
pronounced innocent, he condemned himself. Sense
of guilt made him a coward.]
Ver. 25. His blood be on us. — That is, the
punishment for His death, if He be guiltless. That
Matthew is the only one who records this act of self-
cursing on the part of the people, cannot throw any
doubt upon the truthfulness of the same, when we re-
member that he wrote for Jewish Christians, and
brought, in this declaration, the saddest truth before
his nation. The early Christians had reason to see
in the speedily following downfall of the Jewish state
a fulfilment of this imprecation. [The history of the
Jews for these eighteen hundred years is a continued
fulfilment of this daring and impious imprecation, this
fearful legacy bequeathed by the murderers of Jesus
to their posterity. Yet for repenting and believing
Jews, this curse is turned into a blessing ; the blood of
Jesus which cleanseth from all sin, and speaketh bet-
ter things than that of Abel, comes upon them as a
cleansing and healing stream, and may yet come upon
this whole race, after the fulness of the Gentiles has
been saved, Rom. xi. 25, 26. — P. S.]
Ver. 26. But Jesus he (caused to be) scourg-
ed.*— The Roman scourging, of which mention is
here made, was much more severe than the Jewish.
According to the latter, only the upper part of the
body was bared ; according to the former, the entire
body. The Jews numbered the lashes (2 Cor. xi. 24) ;
the Romans laid them on without number or mercy.
Besides, the Roman scourge was more excruciating.
None but slaves were subjected to this flogging, Acts
xxii. 25. Little value was attached to a slave's life,
mucli less his feeUngs. It is a matter of controversy
whether bones, iron teeth, or leaden balls, were in-
serted among the thongs of the lash {see Heubner, p.
435). " That such lashes ai-e mentioned, is not to
be doubted ; one of such a description was called
fidcTTt^ aarpayaXoiTv, a knout with bones woven to
the end of the thongs, from aaTpdyaXoi, a joint of
the back-bone, then dice, talus." The Romans
scourged in two different ways. Those who were
condemned to be crucified were flogged after one
fashion.. This scourging was so cruel, that the crim-
inals died frequently while undergoing the punish-
ment. Another kind of scourging was inflicted upon
dehnquents who were not condemned to capital pun-
ishment, for the pm-poso either of extorting a con-
fession from them, or to punish them for a crime.
This was the kind of scourging to which Pilate sub-
jected Jesus. It was no less cruel than the other,
inasmuch as it lay entirely in the hands of the judge
to declare how far the punishment was to be carried.
— See FriedUeb, p. 114. — De Wette : " Matthew and
Mark represent Jesus as sufiering the scourging which
the Romans inflicted upon those condemned to the
* [The verb cppayeWoai, which occurs twice in the
N. T., here and Mark sv. 15, and the noun <ppay fXKiov,
which occurs once, John ii. 15, are Latin terms {flagtUo,
flagelluvi), introduced into the later Greek for the moi'e
usual fjLacT T i^oo or /xarr t lyoai, and jj-dcrr i^ or i /i a r
(a ichip, a scoiM-ge). Luke (xxiii. 10) uses in this connec-
tion the more general term tt aiSe v a as avT 6vy having
chastised Ilim, John (si.x. 1), the more usual word 4fJ.aa-
TiyaxreVy scourged Uim.—V. S.]
CHAP. XXYII. 11-31.
513
cross. (Liv. xxxii. S6 ; Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 11, 1 ;
Hieron. ad Matt, xxvii.*) According to Luke, Pilate
merely proposes to punish, that is, to scourge, Jesus,
and then release Ilim ; but from his account (xxiii.
16) it would appear that there had been no actual
infliction of scourging. From John xLs. 1, it seems
that Pilate caused Jesus to be really scourged, hoping
thus to satisfy the Jews, and to awaken their sympa-
thy. Paulus holds John's accoimt to be the decisive
one, and hence falsely explains our passage : after
having already previously caused Him to be scourged.\
Strauss (ii. 625) considers that the Synoptists give
the more correct and earlier account." It is manifest
that John's narrative is the most exact. The scour;:in;,'
which Pilate inflicted was employed, it would seer.!, as
a punishment of Him whom he considered innocent, in
order to satisfy the accusers, and to move them to
compassion. It was a police correction, and the
right of inflicting it rested upon the right to employ
torture. In this sense it was that Pilate had long
ere this, according to Luke, proposed to scourge Je-
sus, hoping by this act to work upon the feelings of
the people, and to influence them in their choice be-
tween Barabbas and Christ. Hence Luke considers
it superfluous to record the later, actual chastisement.
Matthew presents the scourgmg in its significance
as an actual fact, which, in his eyes, was the transi-
tion from trial to crucifixion, the first act in the cru-
cifixion agonies. He might all the more properly
view the scourging in this light, inasmuch as Pilate
sought to effect, in his hesitation, a twofold object.
At one moment it seemed as though he would him-
self take the initiative in the crucifixion ; again, as
though he would craftily ovennaster the Jews. — " It
was usually lictors that scourged ; but Pilate, being
only sub-governor, had no command over lictors,
and" so handed Jesus over to the soldiers. Hence it
is probable that Jesus was not beaten with rods, but
scourged with twisted thongs of leather." Fricdlieb,
p. 115. Those who were flogged were tied to a pil-
lar; generally they were bound in a stooping posture
to a low block, and so the skin of the naked back
was stretched tight, and fully exposed to the fearful
lashes. The whips were either rods or thongs, to the
ends of which lead or bones were attached, to in-
crease the tension of the lash, and render the blow
the more fearful. The backs of the prisoners were
completely flayed by tliis process. They "frequently
fainted, and sometuues died. The soldiers would not
inflict the punishment mildiy, for they were the cruel
ones who m-jcked Him aftei- ward. It was, moreover,
♦[Jerome says on Matt, sxvii. 2G: ^'■Sciendum est Ro-
mania eum {PiUitum) legibua ministraifse, quibus sanci-
titm est, ut qui crucifigitui', prius flageUis verberttur.
Trnditus eiit itaque Jesus militibus verberandus, et illud
sacratiaxiriium corpus pectusque Dei capax,flugeUa see-
nerunt"' etc. He then says this was (lone "that by His
stripes we niizlit bo healed" (Isa. liii. 5). — P. S.]
t [This sentence, as well as the whole quotation, and the
following passage, is entirely mistranslated in the Edinb.
edition; "a>i4 so he rejects the atatement Jiere contained
as/alse." He Wctte (on Matt sxvii. 20) as here quoted by
Lausje (an;! correctly quoted), ascribes to Paulus of Ilciik-l-
berg no dinial of the fact of scourging asserted by Matthew,
but a false interpretation of (ppayeWtoaas as expret^sing an
action which occurred at a previous stage according to John
xix. 1. Ile6<iys: "Paulus halt den Bericbt des Johannes
fur maassgebend und erkliirt daher unsere Stelle (i. <>., Matt.
xxvii. 26)~falsch: nachdem er ihn vorher schon fuitte geis-
seln lasxeii." The words in italics are quoted from Paulus.
Some commenfcitors assume that Jesus was scourged twice;
but this is improbable and unnecessary, as the chronological
diiHculty can be satisfactorily accounted for in the manner
proposed by Dr. Lange in the text. — P. S.]
33
I the policy of Pilate that Jesus should be perfectly
disfigured.
Ver. 26. He delivered Him to be crucified.
— The actual decision succeeded the presentation of
Jesus, after His being scourged and crowned with
thorns. The history which Matthew gives of these
circumstances is quite systematic. The matter was
now as good as settled. The form of the sentence
was not prescribed, but must be short and vaUd. It
was commonly : Ibis ad crucem. By the time these
transactions were over, it was already, as John in-
forms us, the sixth hour, toward mid-day.
[By delivering Jesus to the Sanhedrin, Pilate sac-
rificed his lofty and independent position as a secular
judge and representative of the Roman law, to the
religious fanaticism of the Jemsh hierarchy. The
state became a tool in the hands of an apostate and
blood-thirsty church. How often has this fact been
repeated in the history of religious persecution ! By
this act Pilate condemned hhnself, and gave addi-
tional force to his previous testimony of the inno-
cence of Christ, showing that this was dictated nei-
ther by fear nor favor, but was the involuntary ex-
pression of his remainuig sense of justice from the
judgment-seat. — P. S.]
Ver. 27. Into the praetoriiun or governor's
house. — Luther translates tt pan dip lov by Fdch-
thaiis {common hall). Its original meaning is the
tent of the general in the Roman camp : then it came
to sigTiify the residence of the provincial ruler {pra-
ior, proprcetor), where the court of justice likewise
was held. The prcetorlutn is consequently the resi-
dence of a military, or a civil and military magistrate ;
and hence it is connected with the main guard-house,
and equally with the state-prison (Acts xxiii. 35).
" ^Vlready existing palaces were employed as jirce-
toria in the provincial towns ; and we see from Jo-
seph. Bell. Jud. ii. 14, 8, that the procurators of Ju-
dsea, when they were in Jerusalem, converted the
palace of Herod into a prcEtorium." V/iner. Is it
certain, however, that the palace of Herod was al-
ways so used '/ According to tradition, the governor
lived in the lower city, and, as some more definitely
assert, in the fortress Aatonia. Winer is of opin-
ion, that Pilate would find the empty, waste-standing
palace of Herod the most convenient residence. But
where, in that case, would Herod Antipas, who had
come up to the feast, dwell ? There is nothing cer-
tain to be made out. The following fact, however,
speaks in support of tlic fortress Antonia. The
scourging had taken place in front of the prceforium.
Then Christ was handed over to the soldiers ; and
they, instead of leading Jesus away immediately,
commenced to mock and make a sport of Him. To
can-y this mockery on undisturbed, they conducted
Jesus into the court of the pratorium. In this con-
duct, the soldiers followed the excitement of the cap-
ital in its hate against Jesus, continuing the godless
sport, which Herod had begun when he invested the
Lord in a white robe, the token of candidateship,
a,nd so make a mock of His claim to the throne. Pi-
late had, however, the double design, cither to mol-
lify the Jews by the sight of the derided Jesus, or to
mock them through Him, should his cunning plan
fail.
And gathered unto him the whole band. —
This is conclusive for the place being the fortress
Antonia : o- tt e Tp a , the tenth of a legion, from 400
to 600 men.*
* [The Edinb. translation magnifies the company to 4,600
514
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Ver. 28. And they stripped Him.-Meycr adopts
the reading 4v^v a avr es, they dothed Him, and ex-
plains that His clothes had been torn of}' to scourge
Him, and were now again put on. But the clothing is
silently implied — mention being made here of a new
maltreatment. Perhaps they may have first put on
again the white dress in which Herod had caused
Him to lie clothed, to mark Him out as a candidate
for royal honors, and then taken it off in order to
invest Him with the scarlet robe, the sign of His
having attained to kingly dignity. The drama would
thus be complete. They, accordingly, again strip-
ped off His outer garment, and, instead of it, put on
a scarlet military cloak, sagum, which was intended
to represent the imperial purple ; " for even kings
and emperors wore the sarjum (only longer and finer)."
Meyer. The mantle was a pallium dyed with cochi-
neal. The epithets, purple, purple robe, used by
Mark and John, are explained by the fact, that they
had before them the ironical import of the cloak.
Ver. 29. A crown of thorns. — It is impossible
to settle accurately what particular kind of thorns was
employed to crown Jesus. Paulus assumes, without
good reason, that the crown was made of blooming
branches of the hedge-thorn (Michaelis, of bear's
wort). Meyer : " A wreath of young, supple thorn-
twigs, with which they would caricature the bay
crown, as they did the sceptre by the reed. Their
object is not to occasion pain, but to mock." Why
thorns then ? Consult Winer, art. Born, as to the
plentiful supply of thorns in Palestine. Hug con-
siders it was the buckthorn. Braune : Perhaps the
crown was made from the supple twigs of the Syrian
acacia, which had thorns as long as a finger.
And a reed in His right hand. — John omits
this point, from which we might suppose that the
reed had not remained in His hand. Probably a so-
called Cyprian (we say now Spanish) reed. Sepp,
iii. 516. De Wette says, a-neeT^Kav does not agree
with KaAafMop. His iOjiKuf does not agree, liowever,
with the idea of a hand, which did not need to close
on receiving the reed.
And they bowed the knee. — "After they
clothed Ilim, they began their feigned homage, bow-
ing the knee, and greeting, according to the usual
form : Hail, King of the Jews ! "
[On the symbolical meaning of this mock-adora-
tion, Wordsworth obsei-ves : "All these things, done
in mockery, were so ordered by God as to have a
divine meaning. He (Christ) is clothed in scarlet
and puiple, for He is a military (?) conqueror and
King ; He is crowned with thorns, for He has a dia-
dem won by suffering, the diadem of the world ; He
has a reed in His hand, for He wields a royal scep-
tre, earned by the weakness of humanity {see Phil. ii.
8-11). The cross is laid on His shoulder, for this
is the sign of the Son of Man, the trophy of His vic-
tory, by which He takes away sin and conquers Sa-
tan; His titles are inscribed upon the cross : 'King
of the Jews,' for He is the sovereign Lord of Abra-
ham and all his seed. In all these circumstances, as
men.' The original has "4-600 J/c/wm;" the dash being
always employed in Buch cases for bis, to. The number of
men constituting a Roman legion varied at different liaies
and according to circumstances from 3,100 to 6,000 or more.
Consequently a (nre7pa («^m/), or <«Aor*, which was the
tenth part of a legion, embraced from 300 to 600 men or more.
In Joseph. Bell. Jud. iii. 4, 2, of eiglitffu nitelpai five are
said to contain each 1,0»J0 men, and tlic uthers COO. But in
Polybins i) (T7re7pa is only the third part of a coliort, a ma-
niple, manipulufi. See Classical Dictiona -rcs. — 1'. S.]
St. Hilary says. He is worshipped while He is mock-
er!. The purple is the dress of royal honor; His
crown of victory is woven with thorns. As St. Am-
brose says (in Luke xxiii. 11): '■ illudentes, ado-
rant: "-^P. S.]
Ver. 30. And they spit upon Him. — Their
cruelty, and the intoxication of wickedness, keep
them irom carrying out to the close the caricature
exactly. The Satanic mockery clianges into bratal
maltreatment.
Ver. 81. And after they had mocked Him.
— And after the presentation to the people, John xix.
5, had taken place, — Pilate's last attempt to deliver
Him. After the final decision, they clothed Jesus in
His own garments, to lead Him away.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Jesus, the longed-for Messiah of the Jews,
abandoned by His people to the detested Gentiles.
Christ, the desire of the old world, driven out by that
old world, as if He were the old arch-enemy. Or,
the condemnation of the world converted through
His victorious patience into the world's redemption.
2. Christ before the judgment-scat of Pontius Pi-
late.— When He stood before the judgment-seat of
Caiaphas, He pronounced in spirit judgment upon
the hierarchy of the old world ; but in that He Him-
self bore this condemnation. He atoned for us. So
here, standing before Pilate, He represents the judg-
ment of God upon the old world, its civilization and
arts ; but, on the other had. He takes upon Himself
this judgment, and makes an atonement for that
world. Here, too. He stood the real judge Himself:
here, too, did He suffer Himself to be judged.
3. The hierarchy, the people's uproar (revolu-
tion), the secular government, and the soldiery of the
okl world, are all involved in the common guilt of
the maltreatment and execution of Christ, though the
degree of their guilt differs.
4. Christ's threefold silence, before Caiaphas, be-
fore Herod, and before Pilate, not a silence of con-
trition because of well-grounded accusations, but an
atoning silence of majesty, bcc^ause of the worthless-
ness of those courts, which had sunk into the very
depths of guilt. In this light, the contrast between
the moments of silence and of reply is most signifi-
cant.
5. On one side, the testunony of Pilate's wife to
the Lord stands most closely connected with Pilate's
own ; but, on the other, is strongly opposed. The pious
spirit ; the poUtical time-server. " It is by no means
unusual to see noble, pious women go along side by
side with vain, worldly men, like anxious guardian
angels, and in moments most fraught with danger,
step in their way, and dissuade them fiom sin."
(From the author's Lehen Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1517.)
6. Persuaded the people (ver. 2(i).— The members
of the Sanhedrin stirred up undoubtedly the fanati-
cism of the people. They would say, Jesus had been
condemned by the orthodox court. Barabbas was,
on the contrary, a champion of freedom ; that Pilate
wished to overthrow their right of choice, their civil
rights, their spiritual authority, to persecute the friend
of the people, etc. And so Barabbas would be grad-
ually made to appear to the people by the statements
of these demons of seduction as a Messiah, and the
Messiah a Barabbas.
7. Crucify Him. — The State was here dethroned,
and made subservient to the Church. Later, again,
CHAP. XXYII. 11-31.
515
it became the slave of the heathen, Roman hierarchy,
which hated and persecuted Christianity, till the days
of Constantine. Again, the hierarchy of the Middle
Ages ruled the State in the persecution of heretics.
(Even the Emperor Frederic II. * pronounced sen-
tence of outlawry upon all who were excommunicat-
ed from the Church, unless they speedily made their
peace with her.) Finally, the relorm-detesting hie-
rarchy is seen again and again, in the histories of
Roman Catholic states, overriding the civil power.
Even at the present day, France, though revolution-
ized three times, will not suffer a person who has re-
tired from the priesthood to marry. In Austria, a
monk can obtain from the civil authorities no defence
against a persecution by his superiors, as bitter as
the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (at least, it was so
till very recently). — The old wound will take long to
heal.
8. The crowd of those who cried Jlosanna, are
driven into the background by the crowd crying :
Cruel/;/ Hun. Hence contradiction. And yet agree-
ment. The same people. The weakest and most
cowardly, who ever swim with the stream, allowed
themselves to be borne along with both streams.
9. The self-cursing of the Jewish people, a Satan-
ic prediction of the people of the prophets, which
was the last evidence and extinction of their pro-
phetic gift. The final prediction of Judaism was a
cursing of themselves.
10. Pilate's total want of character over against
the perfect character (Heb. i. 3, xap"fTiip).
IIOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
The apparent reconciliation of the Jews and the
Gentiles: 1. In its deformity: (a) the priests sedu-
cers of the worldlings, the Jews seducers of the Gen-
tiles, who hate them ; {h) the Roman State made to
be the executioner of the decrees of that Judaism
which it despises and humbles ; (c) both combined
against the king of humanity. 2. The awful results
of this reconcihation : («) the rejection of Christ ; (b)
the new separation, which appears even before the
crucifixion, and culminates in the Jewish war ; (c) the
downfall of Judaism ; {d) the heavy guilt and deep
uneasiness of the Gentile world. 3. The significant
signs in this apparent reconciliation : («) a caricature ;
but also, (h) a presage, though not pattern, of the
true reconcihation, which Christ instituted by His
death, between Jews and Gentiles, Eph. ii. 14. — The
judge of the v,'orld before the bar of the old world.
— The courageous confession and witness of Christ
before Pilate (1 Tim. vi. 13; Rev. i. 5).— The cahn
consciousness of Christ in His last victorious mo-
ments (cahn before Caiaphas, Herod, Pilate). — The
threefold silence of Christ, a majestic testimony: 1.
To the etoi-ual discourse of His Hfe ; 2. to the empti-
ness of His enemies' replies ; 3. to His certainty of a
different judgment from God. — What were the mo-
tives leading Christ one time to speak, again to keep
silence, before the judge? 1. He speaks first to
preserve His self-consciousness by confession ; sec-
*[Not: "Charles the Fifth,'" as the Edinb. translation
reads; for he belonsrs no more to the middle agi-s, but to
the modern ajje, being a conti-mporary of the lielbrniation.
Dr. Lange means Frederic II.. German emperor of the fa-
mous honse of llohenstaiifen in "Wurtcmberg, who conquer-
ed Jerusalem, but quarrelled with Pope Orec;ory IX.. was
twice excommunicated by him, and deposed by the council
of Lyons, and wa.< supposed to be an unbeliever, although
he died reconciled to the Church; a. d. 1250.— P. S.J
[ ond, to save His enemies by a great, solemn warn-
ing. 2. Jle makes no reply to the futile, the ambig-
uous, the confused, which must overthrow itself, con-
fute itself, and reveal its own falsity ; above all, He
is silent before the unworthy and mean, especially
before Herod. — Christ, at the bar of the world, ac-
quitted and yet condemned. — Christ was put to death,
not so much in consequence of the condemnation of
the civil authority, as in consecjueuce of the hierarch-
ical revolution. — And this revolution was the most
disgraceful of all. — Yet was this first year of this
disgrace of man made by God's rule to be the first
year of man's salvation. — Christ and His surround-
ing company at His trial: 1. The accusers; 2. His
partner in trial, Barabbas ; 3. the witnesses (Pilate
and his wife) ; 4. the judge. — Notwithstanding the
greatest promise of His release, nothing in the world
could save Him, because the world was to be saved
through His death. — The three arch-enemies of Christ
upon His trial, and His impotent friends : 1. Against
Him : (a) the envy of the priests ; (b) the ingratitude
of the people ; (c) the unbehef of Pilate. 2. For
Him : (a) a witty comparison (with Earabbas) ; (6) a
pious dream ; (c) an ineffective ceremony (washing
of the hands). — The full powers of hell, and God's
full power to decide and save, were at work in the
death of Christ ; and yet human freedom was in no
respect affected. — The world's judgment of rejection,
as concerns Christ, and Christ's judgment of salva-
tion, as concerns the world. — Christ and His accu-
sers, and Barabbas, and Pilate's wife, and Pilate, and
the people, and the men of war. — Pilate, the judge
of Christ, fallen under judgment. 1. His picture :
with full understanding of the circumstances, con-
scious, warned, anxious, and yet succumbing. 2. The
lessons taught by the picture. So fell the ecclesiastical
judges of Jesus before him ; so will all fall after him
who presume to judge the Lord. — Pilate knew that for
envy, etc. — Envy, which stirred Cain up against pious
Abel, reaches its maturity in Christ's crucifixion. —
The Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 24 : " Through envy
of the devil came death into the world." — The Spirit's
voice in the night-visions a witness from the Lord :
1. At the birth of Christ ; 2. at his death.— The sig-
nificance of the courtesies of hierarchical pride : 1.
A sign that it seeks associates to carry out its en-
mity against Christ. 2. A mask. It ajypears friend-
hi to government, and says : Christ stirs up the peo-
ple ; friendly to the people, and says : The govern-
ment encroaches on the freedom of election, upon
your rights ; friendly to the world, and says : It is
possible to live with Barabbas, but not with Christ.
— Barabbas ; or the people's misguided selection. —
The Jlosanna and the Crucify Him: 1. The con-
trast : («) the contrast of the two days ; (6) the con-
trast of opinions ; (c) the contrast of the criers. 2.
The bond of unity : («) Palm Sunday must lead to
Good Friday ; (6) enthusiasm for the Lord must ex-
cite hell's opposition ; (c) not the same persons, but
the same people ; and wc may suppose some indi-
viduals had taken part iu both. — Fickleness in the
opinions of a people. — Revolution as an instrument
used by cunning tyrants, and the powers of darkness.
— The instigators of the people iu hypocritical attire. —
Pilate, frightened by the threat of an insurrection, be-
comes the murderer of Christ : a lesson to the world
for all time. — Pilate washing his hands: 1. A testi-
mony to the Lord ; 2. a testimony against himself,
against Rome, and against the old world. — His blood
be on us ! or, the impenitent make the blood of atone-
ment their own condemnation. — The marks of the
516
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Jew ever more and more manifrst in the Israelite, as
he is putting his Christ to death. — The old curse and
the eternal ator.cnieut. — The policy which would pro-
tect the Lord by evil means, only prepares for Him
torinent and shame without redress. — What means
should Jesus, the world's Saviour, employ, according
to the world's wisdom, to presei"ve His life? 1. An
evil custom (the release of a criminal at the Pass-
over) ; 2. a false title (as one whom the people had
begged off and released) ; 3. an improper joke and
comparison (being put side by side with Barabbas) ;
4. a futile ceremony on the part of the judge (to
wash the hands, and, where needed, to lift them). —
Pilate, the impotent saviour and dehverer : 1. In spite
of his perception of what is justice, of the legions, of
power, of policy, of haughty authority ; 2. and ex-
actly because he employed all these to wrest justice.
— Then released he Barabbas, but Jesus he caused
to be scourged : an old, ))ut ever fresh, picture of the
world. — Jesus scourged: 1. Who? The glorious
body, the pure roul, th.e divine spirit. 2. By whom?
By barbarism (barbarous, uamcloss soldiers); by
worldly culture and civil power ; by the sin of the
world and all sinners. — The torture ami its midnight
history in the world and the Church. — The scourge
(knout) is no standard of justice. — The twofold sig-
nification of the Lord's scourging : 1. It v/as to have
saved Him ; 2. it was the introduction of Kis death,
not only in a literal, but also spiritual sense. — Jesus
given over to the wantonness of the soldiery. — The re-
peated mutilation of the image of Christ in war, and by
Soldiers. — Tlie mocking of the Lord in His Messianic
royal character. — The brightness of heaven with
which Christ emerges from all this world's scorn. —
The irony of the Spirit and of Divine Provide3ice at
the miserable mockery of this world, Ps. ii. — The
view of Christ clothed in shame ; the cure for all the
vanity and pride of the world. — Christ, the true King
in the realm of suffering. — So perfected as the King
of glory. — Therefore hath God exalted Him, etc.
At His name every knee shall how, Phil. ii. 9, 10. —
The patience of Christ triumphantly sustained: 1.
Imperturbable, yet disturbing all ; 2. palmg all the
world's glory in its own glory ; 3. supremely edify-
ing, and yet awing.
Starke : — When we stand before godless judges,
we must nevertheless answer them and honor them,
Rom, xiii. 1. — He answered nothing. To atone for
our loquacity, which led to the first sin.— The Pa-
tient One committed all to God, 1 Pet. ii. 23. — Hed-
hiffer : Blind judges in matters of faith are not worth
answering, Matt. vii. 6. — Christ, even in His silence,
worthy of admiration, Isa. liii. 1. — Osiander : It is
an ill-timed gi'aco, when wicked persons are spared,
iu such a way that honest and quiet people are
brought into danger. — Lather'' s margin : They would
sooner have asked the release of the devil, than they
would have allowed God's Son to have escaped.
This is the case even now, and will ever be. — There
are degrees in sinfulness as in holiness, John xix. 11,
— Canstein : Straightforwardness is best. When we
seek to make the truth bend, it usually breaks. —
Quesnel : More truth is at times found among civil
magistrates, than among those persons from whom
we had a right to expect more. — A pious heathen is
often more compassionate toward a poor sufterer than
depraved Christians and priests, Luke x. 32, 33. —
Christ was reckoned with the greatest transgressors,
and we seek always to be reckoned among the best
and most pious, Isa. liii. 12. — Pilate did not act hke
a wise diplomatist, who might have easily known
how far envy will lead a man. — Canstein : The most
implacable foe is envy, and especially among tlic
members of the so-called " spiritual " profession, Ec-
cles. iv. 4. — Quesnel: Many console themselves with
the thought, that they appear to the world wholly de-
voted to the service of justice and truth ; but if Ave
watch them closely, we see they are slaves of injus-
tice and envy. — Wives have nothing to do in official
concerns, but they may and should warn their hus-
bands.— God warns man before he falls. — -Canstein :
In a corrupted Church, the ministers are ever the
most corrupted; and corruption issues forth from
them, polluting others, Jcr. xxiii. 15. — Quesnel :
Faithless teachers seduce the people from Christ,
and teach them to prefer Barabbas. — Cramer : Is
that not the Antichrist, whicli can willingly endure
])rothels and usurers, etc., but which would expel
the gospel, and purge their land from it by fire and
sword ? — Hedinger : The world has ever robbed
Christ ; it likes Him not. — Murderers, fornicators,
adulterers, drimkards, can be tolerated ; Christian
teaching and living never, John xv. 19. — Canstein :
Carnal wisdom may lead a man, when he despises
conscience, departs from the right path, and betakes
himself to by-paths, into such snares as he would
have gladly shunned. — Ungrateful man wheels like a
weathercock. — Conscience often struggles long, ere
a man sins against his better knowledge ; but the
guilt is so much the greater. — The stubbornness of
tlie wiclicd is more constant than an intention to act
right (arising from worldly reasons). — Pilate's testi-
mony, the most glorious testimony to the innocence
of Jesus : 1. Not from favor ; 2. a judge's testimony ;
3. a testimony of Pilate against himself. His blood
he 071 us. They act as if they had a good conscience ;
but it was mere false, assumed ease (impudence). —
The Romans soon made them realize this curse : they
still feel it. Yet it will one day cease. — lMther''s
margin : Believers convert this curse into a blessing.
— Z'eisius : Accursed parents, who rashly precipitate
their children with themselves into ruin ! — The just
for the unjust, 1 Pet. iii. 18. — Gaze on, 0 sinner,
ecce homo 1 — Zeisius and others against extravagance
in dress.* — Christ has borne all manner of shame
and contempt, that we may attain to the highest
honor.
Gossner : -j- — Yes, they probably said, Barabbas
is a villain, but he is no heretic. He destroyed only
bodies, but Jesus of Nazareth destroys souls. — The
devil may be sure of this, that the people will bUnd
themselves by a fair show. — Whoso sitteth in an of-
ficial chair must not regulate his conduct by the cries
of the multitude.
Lisco : — Pilate, a natural man of the world : 1 .
Not insensible to divine influences ; 2. but sunk down
into the then existing scepticism of the world ; 3.
bound by worldly considerations of all sorts ; 4. mak-
ing Ms conscience a sacrifice to circumstances, which
are his gods.
Gerlach .-—Mocking, they made him king ; but
it was really by virtue of His humiliation that Jesus
received His kingdom.
Heubner : — Christ retained His dignity even in
the deepest humiUation, where His claims appeared
as madness or fanaticism. — The custom of releasing
* [In the original: '^ wider die Kleiderpraclit," vrhich
the EUinb. edition turns into: "upon the clothing of Jesus."
t [Gossner was originally a Roman Catholic pripst, and
suffered much persecution for his evangelical opinions.—
CnAP. XXVII. 11-31.
517
one: injustice trying to support itself by iBJusticc. —
A Christian wife sliould be the guardian angel of her
husband. — Dreams, too, often deserve attention. —
How easily can the people he'.nisled !* — The placing
of Jesus side by side with Barabbas is one of the
mysteries of His humiliation. So is it often in the
world : there, truth and falsehood, innocence and
guilt, houor and dishonesty, worth and worthle?sness,
righteous leaders and seducers, the Prince of Peace
and the great rebel, the fountain of life and the mur-
derer, are often set side by side. The future will re-
solve all this confusion. — Innocence is dumb, guilt
cries out. — The consequmre^ of the choice: The Ba-
rabbas spirit, the devilish, the intoxicating passion for
licentious freedom, entered like an evil spirit into the
people, inflamed their hati-cd still more and more
against the Koniaiis, swept them with resistless sway
beyond aU prudence, and precipitated them at last
into the pit of destruction. Thir? spirit has entered
into their posterity, leading them still to reject Jesus,
and give heed to many false messiahs. — Jesus is our
consolation, whenever in this world of imperfection
the worthy and unworthy are classed together, yea,
the fonner subordinated to the latter. — Such a choice
as that of Barabbas is by no means uncommon : 1.
In respect of faith ; unbelief instead of belief in Je-
sus, etc. 2. In regard to our lives and acts ; rather
an unbridled, unfettered life, than a stern, moral
regulation and life. 3. As regards civil government ;
rather obey demagogues than the soft words of Jesus.
— What shall I do, etc. ? Many know not what to do
with Jesus. — Was the adage true here : vox populi,
vo£ Dei? — In one sense do the people demand the
crucifixion: God had decreed it in another. — The
name of Pilate is preserved among the Christians,
but as a name of disgrace : here, and in the Apostles'
Creed, it is the name of a cowai-d, who wished to re-
lease Jesus, and yet surrendered Him,— who knew
Him in some degree, and yet feared to confess Him.
— His blood. Already we see the fruit of their choice
of Barabbas ; bli;id presumption, blasphemy, mock-
ery of God's justice. — If the Jews were not so blind-
ed, they must see clearly that their fathers had com-
mitted a greater sin than had been ever perpetrat-
ed, when they had been punished Ijefore with a cap-
tivity of 70 years, and are now enduring one of 1 SOO.
— God ha.s preserved them as a witness to the truth
of the gospel. — As Christ's liigh-priestly (prophetic)
dignity had been mocked before the ecclesiastical
tribunal, so was ilis kingly before the civil.
Rarnbach. : — Thou must, my Redeemer, atone for
the shame of my nakedness, and regain for me the
robe of innocence which I had lost. — Consolation for
dei ided saints. — Christ fled from a v-orldly crown ;
He took the thorny crown, to indicate that His king-
dom was not of this world. — It is no true love, which
* [In German : " Wie ixt das Volk so verfxih/rbar ! "
The Kdinb. edition turns this again into the opposite mean-
ing: •' How m/*tertrfi«5r lire the masses." It probably con-
founded v.erfahvhar with verfiihreriach. But the connec-
tion plainly shows th.it th.' Jewish hierarchy are here meant
a-s the instigators and seducers who Jed the people astray.
The masses never load, but are pe :iTally under the control
of a few, .is the body is ruled by the hesd. Hence the roa;
(topuU is not always the vox Dei, but, when influenced by
political demagogue* or apostate priests, it is the vox DiuJjoU,
Witness the Vi-ueify Him of the Jews, the popular outcry
of the Athenians against Socrates, the mad fury of the
French during the reign of terror, etc. Then the people i;ro
turned into a lawless mob with which it would lie vain to
rea-son, although it can be intimidated by brute force. Yet
even in such cases the voice of the people is overruled for
cood by an all-wi-e Providence. So the crucifixion of Jesus
became the s.ilvation of the world. — P. S.]
is not willing to endure fliotn.--. — The thorns of love
are: hostile opposition, ingratitude, derision, insult.
— The crown of tliorns which we have plaited for
I our.=!elves : lusts, earthly cares, pangs of conscience.
Christ has made atonement for this. — The rod with
which Christ will feed His sheep (the rod of gentle-
ness, the rod of affliction). — The court of justice, the
liberty-hall of innocence, converted into a place of
injustice. — This robing of Christ was full of shame
and disgrace.
Braune : — The third hour was the hour at which
the Roman judge took his seat in the place of judg-
ment: on this occasion Pilate is forced to begin
three hours earlier, in consequence of the wrath of
the priests, and their feigned piety. — Barabbas : that
is a horrilying deception, fearful, surpassing all
others. — Pil.ito's wife : no woman was found among
Jesus' enemies. The maid v/ho forced Peter on to
his denial stands alone there, in her forward charac-
ter.— Peter's sermon on this text. Acts iii. 13-21.
Gramnilich : — Daily is blessing or curse (Christ
or Barabbas) set before thee, my soul !
j F. W. Krummacher : — The crown of thorns calls
I for repentance, gratitude, submission.
! [BuHKiTT : — Vers. 11-14. The silence of Chri.st
I is to be imitated when our reputation is concerned ;
; the confession of Christ, when the glory of God and
the interests of truth are at stake. — Ife knew that /or
envy they had delivered Hini (ver. 18). As covctous-
ness sold Christ, so envy delivered Him. Envy is a
killing and murdering passion. Envy slayeth the silly
one. Job v. 2. — Ver. 19. Several kinds of dreams,
natural, moral, diabolical, and divine. That of the
wife of Pilate was from God. When aU Christ's dis-
ciples were fled from Hun, when none of His friends
dur.st speak a word for Him, God raises up a woman,
a stranger, a pagan, to give evidence of His innocen-
cy. At our Saviour's trial, Pilate and his wife,
though Gentiles, are the only ones who plead for
Christ and pi'onounce HLm righteous, whilst His own
countrymen, the Jews, thirst after His innocent
blood. — Hypocrites within the visible Church may
be guilty of acts of wickedness which the conscience
I of pagiius and infidels protests against. — Ver. 25.
! What the Jews with a viicked mind put up as a dire-
j ful imprecation, we may with a pious mind olFer up
to God as an humble petition : Lord, let Thy Son's
blood, not in the gudt and punishment, but in the
efficacy and merit of it, be upon us and upon our
posterity after us, for evermore. — Thomas Scott : — If
I Christ were now to appear on earth in dixgnise, He
I would meet with no better treatment. — There are
j still enough of hypocritical Pharisees and high-
I priests, ungodly Pilates, unstable multitudes, and
' hardened sco.Ters, to persecute, mock, and crucify
the Lord of glory. — Barabbas is preferred to Jesus
whenever tlie offer of salvation is rejected. — We are
all chargeable with the guilt of crucifixion, as " He
was woimdcd for our transgressions." — All who de-
light in anathemas and imprecations will find tliat
they rebound upon themselves. — All which has been
admired in the suffering and death of heroes and phi-
I lojophers is no more comparable to the conduct of
Christ, than the glimmering taper is to the clear
j light of day. — We are called to do ffood, and to mf-
' fer evil, in this present world, after the pattern of
Christ. — All our sufferings are light and trivial com-
pared with His. — Pn. Doddridhe : — How wisely was
it ordamed by divine Providence that Pilate should be
obliged thus to aojult Christ, even while he condcmn-
i ed Him ; and to pronounce Him a righteous person
518 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
in the same breath with which he doomed Him to
the death of a malefactor! And how lamentably
does the power of worldly interest over conscience
appear, when, after all the convictions of his own
mind, as well as the admonitions of his wife, he yet
gave Him up to popular fury ! 0 Pilate, how inglo-
riously hast thou fallen in the defence of the Son of
God ! and how justly did God afterward leave thee
to perish by the resentment of that i)eople whom thou
wast now so studious to oblige ! — P. S.]
TENTH SECTION.
GOLGOTHA: THE CRUCIFIXION. (GOOD FRIDAY.)
Ohaptee XXVII. 32-56.
(Mark xv, 21-41 ; Luke xxiii. 26-56 ; John xix. 1*7-30 ; Isa. liii. — Pericopes : Matt, xxvii. 83-38 ; 39-44 ;
45-56.)
.32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon byname: him they
33 compelled [impressed, rjyydpevaavY to bear his cross. And when they were come unto
34 a place called Golgotha,^ that is to say, a [the] place of a skull,^ They gave him vine-
gar [wine ?] * to drink mingled with gall : and when he had tasted thereof, he would not
35 drink. And they crucified him, and parted [divided, Ste/^-epto-aj/ro] his garments, cast-
ing lots: [that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Ps. xxii. 15),
They parted [divided] my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast
36,37 lots.]^ And sitting down they watched him there; And [they] set up over his
head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there [are] two thieves [robbers, Arjo-rat] crucified with him ; one on
39 the right hand, and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging
40 [shaking]* their heads. And saying. Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in
41 three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Like-
42 wise also the chief priests mocking Mm, with the scribes and elders, said. He saved
others ; himself he cannot save. If he be [he is] the King of Israel, ' let him now come
43 down from the cross, and we will believe him [we believe on hira].^ He trusted in
God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves [robbers] also, which [who] were crucified with him, cast the same in his
teeth [reproached him in like manner, or with the same thing, to avTo . . . wvet'St-
t,ov avTov].^
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried [cried out, avefSo-qcrev] with a loud voice, saying,
Eh, Eh, lama sabachthani? (Ps. xxii. 1) that is to say. My God, my God, why hast
47 thou forsaken me?^" Some of them that stood there, when they heard that [hearing it],
48 said, This man calleth for Elias [Elijah]. And straightway one of them ran, and took
49 a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. [But]
The rest said, Let be [Come, Wait, a^es]," let us see whether Elias [Elijah] will come
to save him.^^
50 [AiT^fi] Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost [his
51 spirit]. ^^ And, behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bot-
tom : and the earth did quake [quaked], and the rocks rent [were rent, icrx^o-Orja-av] ;
52 And the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which [who] slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and ap-
peared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the
earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this
55 was the [a] Son of God [&eov rids]. And many women were there beholding afar off,
56 which [who] folloAved Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him : Among which [whom]
was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of
Zebedee's children [the sons of Zebedee].
CHAP. XXVII. 82-56.
519
Ver. o2.— [This is the proper translation of the Greek verb ayyapevnv, wliich, like the noun ^770^05,
" ' n origin, and is a technical term for pressing horses or men into public service by authority.
. lis. The escort was under the couimaiul of a iioniau olVicer who had olMcial autliority
law. The Authorized Version makes the act falsely appear as an arbitrary assumption of
(Jomp. Crit. Kote on ch. v.
for this act according to lii
power.— P. S.]
^ Ver. 83. — F o\yo da is the prevailing reading. [Other readings are yoWyodd, yoKyaQda, yoKyoOw, yoXyaQuv.
In Luke sxiii. 83 tho English Version, following the Vulgate, translated the Greek Kpaviov, cratmim-, a hare ukuU, into
the Latin calvary (c.alparia). The popular expression " Afount Oalvary " is not warranted by any statement of the Evan-
gefcts concerning tho place of crucifixion, ^^ hich was probably a small round and barren elevation of the shape of a skull.
5 Ver. 83.— Lachmann: 0 ecmv Kpaviov TcJjros Key n nevos . Tho reading 0 is better supported than
OS, and few MS3. omit Ae7(i,uei'os. Great variety in tho readings. [In English Kpariuv tottos should be rendered
cither with the definite article: the place of a sktill, as the Authorized Version does in the parallel passages, Mark xv. 22
and John xix. 17, or without any article: Place of a shull. — P. S.]
< Ver. 31. — Lachmann reads otvov, following 15., B., K., L., etc. : this is opposed by A. and others, reading o|oj.
Meyer holds the first reading to have been introduced from Mark xv. 23. [Coil. Siuait. reads likewise oh'ov, wine, us in
Mark xv. 23. But the five unci d (Siiiait., B., I)., K., L.) and the ten cursive MSS., which support this reading, are
nearly all Alexandrine. On their side are the Egyptian and the old Latin Versions (the Vulgate: viniiin, and hence the
Roman Catholic Versions: wine}. It is possible that oji'ov was a wilful alteration to harmonize Matthew with Mark.
Tischendorf and Alford adhere to the received reading: o|os, vinegar. The difference, of course, is only apparent. It
was probably sour wine with myrrh, given to criminals to stupefy them. — P. 8.]
» Ver. 35.— All the uncial Codd. [including Cod. Sinait.] omit the reiuling of the Ii'i'cepta, from "that it might" to the
end of the verse, A alone excepted. It is supposed to have been interpolated li-om John xix. 20. [Mill and Wetstein, and
all the modern critical editors omit the words in question from 'lua to kATj^ov. Dr. I^ange puts them in brackets. Comp.
his JSiceff. JS^vtes.—V. S.] ^
* Ver. 39.— [So Cheko, Campbell, and Scrivener render »f ifo i" c- e ?. Lange: schuttelten. Norton: nodding.
Conant, however, defends wagging as better expressing the contemptuous, scornful motion intended by the Evangelist.—
P. S.]
' Ver. 42. — BaaiAei'? 'Iixpa/fA iariv. Fritzsche and Tischendorf adopt this reading, omitting the preceding €<',
according to B., D., L., etc. The irony is thus stronger. Ei is probably an exegetical addition from ver. 40.
"* Ver. 42. — The reading: Triarevofiff avr^, according to Lachmann and his authorities, is stronger [than the text. rec. :
TTKTTfoff-o^e;' ai'Tiy]. The reading: ctt' auroS, also, is well supported ai;d significant. [Cod. Sinait. reads : ett* avT6v.
—P. S.l
' Ver. 44. — [Or: u/)brai<led or were upl raiding, "Wiclif, Cheke, Doddridge, Campbell, Scrivener; ovreproached, Ehem-
ish Ver.vion, Cunant, and N. T. of the Am. B. U. ; or reviled Mm, Norton. The rendering: cant in, his teeth, dates from
TyndaU". and was retained in the foOowing revisions, but would h.ardly be defended now.— P. S.]
'» ViT. 46.— The difference in the mode of writing the Hebrew words is unimportant. See Lachmann and Tisphen-
dorf. [The best authorities are in fiivor of lema instead of lama.—V. S.]
11 Ver. 4!).— [This is, in modern English, the corresponding woid for at^fs, whicli must be connected with the follow-
ing "iBuii-Lfv without comma. It is the hortatory come or wait now, and not, as is usually supposed, a rebuke: let him
alone, as if they intended to stop the man who offered the vinegar. Comp. M.irk xv. 36, where that person himself utters
tho words &(^*s ISwuti', in common with the rest. Lange ; Lass nur, wir wollen sehen; Luther: ILtll, lass sehen; van
Ess: Wart ! lass sehen ; Ew.ald omits it altogether and translates simply : lass uns sehen. Conant and the Revised N. T.
of the Am. Bible Union: Let alone, which invites the same popular misunderstanding as if it meant: Let him alone. —
P. S.]
'2 Ver. 49.— The addition: o\Aoy Se \a^!jiv ASyxV, k.t.K., though supported by B., C, L., is here quite out of
place, and is an interpolation from John xix. 34. [The same addition, from dWos to al/xa, is found in Cod. Sinait., which
usually agrees with the Vatican MS. — P. 8.]
'3 Ver. 50.— [So Middleton, Campbell, Scrivener, Crosby, Conant. Better than etrpired, as Norton translates. The
article in rh irvev ixa. is employed as a possessive pronoun. To gice up the ghosi, is now used in a low sense.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Survey. — The same brevity and sublimity with
which Matthew described Christ's suiferings during
His trial, characterize his account of the crucifixion.
Even Mark, in several parts, is more minute. Mat-
thew, however, gives the fullest account of the blas-
phemy against Christ's Messianic dignity ; and he
alone relates the effect produced upon the realm of
the dead by the death of Jesus. The chief points
are, Simon of Cyrene ; Golgotha ; the bitter wine ;
the parting of the garments ; the watch (this last is
recorded by our Evangehst alone) ; the two robbers
crucified with Jesus; the blasphemies of the foes;
the mocking by the robbers ; the darkening of the
sua ; Jesus' exclamation, My God, and the varying
interpretations and the real meaning of the same ;
the giving up of His spirit ; the rending of the tcm-
plc-vail ; the excitement in the world of the dead ;
the centurion's testimony ; the women beholding.
The fulfilment of the Old Testament symbols of the
ilessiah's sufferings is the point of view from which
all is a^scribed.
V^f. 82. As they came out. — The executions
took place outside of the camp, and, accordingly,
also outside of the holy city : Num. xv. 35 ; 1 Kings
xxi. 13 ; Acts vii. 56 ; see Lightfoot, p. 499. In-
stead of being led forth by lictors, the command of
whom Pilate, as sub-governor, did not enjoy, Jesus
is conducted to the cross by the soldiery. A centu-
rion on horseback, called by Tacitus exactor mortis,
by Seneca, crntur/o mtppVido propositus, headed the
company. A 'herald, .ii;oiiig in front of the condemn-
ed, proclaimed liis sentence. Braune states : "There
is a Jewish tradition to the effect that a lierald went
through the city, crying for forty days, Jesus was to
be stoned : if any one could witness against Him, let
him appear; but no one came forward." We know
from Matt, xxviii. 11, that tlie Jews began very early
to throw discredit upon the statements of the Evan-
gelists. These falsifications were, at a later date, at-
tempted especially in relation to tlie history of Jesus'
birth and death, and rcg:irding the Messianic predic-
tions of the Old Testament. The statement, more-
over, of the Talmud, that there were two vails before
the Most Holy, is evidently a concoction to remove
the significance of the fact attested by the Evangel-
ists.
They found a man of Cyrene. — Simon was
520
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
from Cyrene, in African Libya, where many Jews
were living. Ptolemseus Lagi, wlicn he obtained su-
preme power in Palestine, transported 100,000 He-
brews to Pentapolis, in that district. They had a
synagogue of their own in Jerusalem. It is note-
worthy, that we find in Acts xiii. 1, a Simon Niger
associated with Ijucius of Cyrene. Mark (xv. 21)
designates Sunon " the father of Alexander and Ru-
fus" two men who must have been well known to
the Christian churches of that day, probably as
brethren in the faith. Perhaps Simon was present
as a pilgrim at the Passover (Acts ii. 10) ; at all
events, he was but lately come to Jerusalem, as his
appellation, Kvp-qumo^., indicates. It is not likely
that he was at that time more intimately related to
Jesus. lie had been out in the field, while Jesus
was undergoing His trials l^efore the various tribu-
nals. Grotius and others, however, assume that he
was a follower of Jesus. Rambach : " He manifest-
ed, it would appear, some sympathy with Jesus, and
was therefore compelled to carry His cross." Per-
haps, during his bearing the cross, he became more
intimately acquainted with Jesus ; at all events, this
fact has preserved his name in everlasting remem-
brance.* Simon Peter was not now, as he had prom-
ised, in his place : another Simon from a distant land
must serve in his place. The very circumstance of
Simon's arriving, a stranger and alone, at this time,
drew the attention of the company ; and they forced
him, that is, they required of him, according to mili-
tary custom, this service. For the verb ayya-
piveiv, .lee above. Matt. v. 41. L^pon such requi-
sitions, see Tholuck, Credibility of the Gospel His-
tory (German), p. 365. Simon may have been thus
violently impressed by excited soldiers without being
a Christian (Grotius), or a slave (Meyer's supposi-
tion). Tradition reports that Christ had sunk to the
gi'ound beneath tlie load. It is possible that the
cnptain of the band, who at a later period declared
his conversion to the faith, was even now touched
l)y a feeling of pity. The remainder of the way, it
would appear, vras s'nort ; and this is Ukely the rea-
son why John omits the circumstance. According
to custom, criminals were obliged to carry their own
cross to the place of execution. [Comp. Plutarch,
De sera numinis vindicta, c. 9: 'iiiaaros rwv KaKovp-
yuv fKfpepet tou avrov aravpi'iv. That our Saviour
bore His own cross (probably the greater part of the
way), is expressly stated by John six. 17. — P. S.]
Yer. 33. Golgotha. — Chald. NP^J^a , Heb.
rbabs . that is, Skull. Hieronymus and others say
this place of execution was so termed from the skulls
of criminals, f On the contrary, it is maintained by
* [Meyer: "Tbnt Simon hecame a Christian in codsh-
qiience of his carrying the cross and his presence at the cru-
cifixion, may be inferred from Mark sv. 21." So also Alford
OrOD EST
' 'iilrnria
>ji' Uaticm
"I'Ut. . . .
pojndi, nee
and others.— P. S.]
t [Hieron. in Mstf. y^-. i; S:
Calvaei^ Looire. .!-'./
toewm in quo s&pt'H''
esse, quia ibi antiqiil „..„./,,,
Fuvorabilis inter prHidio rt m
tamen vera. Extra urhem enim etforas poriatn locnsunt
in qmhus truncantur capita damnatorum, ei Calvaries,
i. e., decoUntorum swmsere nomen." — The ancient Jewish-
Christian tradition that Adam was buried where the second
Adam died a'd rose aaain, is also mentioned by Origen,
Tertiillian, Athanasius, and Augustine, and turned to practi-
cal account. Augustine: ''■ Quia if>i erectus sit ■medicus,
uH jacehat agrotus.'" Dr. Wordsworth allegorizes on Gol-
gotha (from ?by , volvit, hence a rolling, and a skiM from
its roundness), and brings it in connection with the hill Git-
gal, Josh. V. y, where Joshua had his camp and rolled away
Cyril, Calovius, de "Wette, and others, that the name
arose from the conical shape of the hill.* Certainly,
for the second supposition, two reasons present them-
selves,— 1. That Golgotha means skull, and that the
place is not called Kpaviap rowo?, place of skulls,
but Kpaviov, skull, — Luke uses Kpaviov ; 2. that the
skulls were not allowed to lie upon the place of exe-
cution unburied, but were covered up. The tradition
of the Fathers, that Adam was buried there, gives us
no assistance in explaining the name. Against the
second supposition, the late origin of the name, which
is not found in the Old Testament, comes in. If now
we think of the Jewish mode of execution, stoning,
in which the head was the first part injured, we gain
something to support the first explanation, f It
would appear that Golgotha had not been selected as
a place of execution till a late date ; and that then
the valley of Gehinnom ceased to be employed in
that way. It is not unlikely that, up tiU this time,
tlie place liad been nameless, and now received this
designation, and, it is possible, by way of reference to
its shape.
The Christian tradition has made the position of
Golgotha, which was certainly no hill, but merely an
elevated place, to be that of " Mount " Calvary, the
site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This
church lies within the walls of the present city, and
in the north-western quarter. In opposition to this
view, it is alleged that, without making any mention
of the line of the city walls, which may belong to a
later date, the city would have been in this part
exceedingly small, if we suppose the present dis-
trict of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to have
lain outside the walls. But, in reply, it is asserted,
that a city may easily be smaU in some quarters, and
extend in others. The fact is, Jerusalem then ran
out more toward the south side. Against this iden-
tity the following have spoken decidedly: — Robin-
son {Biblical Researches, Bost. ed. 1856, vol. i. p.
407-418 ; vol. iii. 254-263 ; and Neue Untersuchun-
gen, Halle, 1847); Titcs Toblkr: Golgotha, St.
Gallen, 1851, p. 224 fF.:j: For the identity are—
("Tliiy) the reproach of Egypt. So by our Jesus at Golgo-
tha the shame and guilt of sin was rolled away from the
Israel of God; and there was His cam/>, for He conquered
by the cross. Kather far fetched.— P. S.]
* [So also Keland, Palest, p. 860, Beugel, Winer, Ewald,
Meyer, A. Alexander. The objection of Alford and Words-
worth, that no such hill or rock is known to have existed
(comp. Stanley, I'alentine, p. 454), is hardly valid in view
of the hilly and rocky (Aaracter of Jerusalem and its vicini-
ty. Ewald identifies it with "the hill Gareb," Jer. xxxi.
39 ; Krafft and Lange with Goath, which was without the
city. Williams (ffohj City, ii. 240) supposes that the rock
of Calvary was part of a little swell of the ground forming a
somewhat abrupt brow on the west and south sides, which
would allbrd a convenient spot for public execution, as it
v.as sufliciently elevated to raise the suff'erers .above the
gazing crowd — P. S.]
t [This is hardly of suflScient account. The explanation
of Jerome appears to me very doubtful for three reasons:
1. The name would then be not the place of a skull (tSttos
KOs.i'iou), still less a skull simply, as in the Hebrew and in
the Greek of St. Luke {KpaAov), but the place of sJcidls
(tottos Kpaviosv); 2. there is no record that the Jews had a
speci.al place for public execution ; 3. it i.s extremely unlike-
ly that a rich man, like Joseph of Arimathea, should havo
liept a garden in such a place (for the sepulchre of Christ
w:is near the place of crucifixion, John xix. 41). — P. S.]
X [.\l80 John Wilson, Barclay, Bonae, Stewaet, Ar-
nold, Meter, Ewald, Sam. J. Andrews: Tlie Life of our
Lord upon the Earth, New York, 1863, p. 560 sqq., and Ar-
nold, art. in Herzog's Eacyklopddie, vol. v. .SOI tf., where
the reader will find a summary of the principal arguments
on I'otli Mdes of the question with special reference to Robin-
son and Williams, as the chief champions of the opposite
CHAP. XXVII. 82-6
521
Karl von Raumer : Falcistina, p. 355 ; Scholz : de
Golgathce dtu, compare Friedheb : 1. c. p. 137 ;
Schubert [Jidse in das Morgenland, vol. ii. p. 503
ff.] ; ScHOLTz: Jerusalem, p. 96; Krafft: die Topo-
graphic Jerusalems, Bonn, 1$46, p. 230.* Wolff:
Reise in das gdobte Lccrul., Stuttgart, 1849, p. 83, pro-
nounces in favor of the probability of the identity
(more undecidedly in his work " JermaJein,''^ Leipzig,
1857.) Berggren is decided for the identity, in the
tract. Flavins Josephus, dor Fdhrer und Irrfuhrer
der Pilger im Allen und Keucn Jerttsalerii, Leipzig,
1854 : — " It may be quite indifferent to a Christian
where the place of execution, Golgotha, and Christ's
grave, were, inasnnieh as the truth of the Gospel his-
tory is not dependent upon the traditions regarding
the external and local circumstances in the life and
death of Jesus. But, overlooking the fact that tra-
dition is often worthy of attention, there are all pos-
sible positive reasons to bring forward, why we
should seek Golgotha at once, and only there, where
the tradition represents. Neither the old world nor
the new has any ground for doubting the common
opinion regarding the Holy Sepulchre."
The following remark appears important : — Jere-
views. Korte, a German bookseller, who visited Jernsalem,
A. D. 1738, at the same time with the learned Pococke, was
the first who took a stand against the supposed identity of
the spot of thti Holy Hepalclire with the place of the cruci-
fixion and sepulchre of our Lord. The late Dr. Eobinson, of
Union Thecl. Seminary, New York, strongly opposes the
old tradition, and lays down the general principle "that all
ecclesiastical tradition respecting the ancient places in and
around Jerusalem and throughout Palestine is of no value ;
except as fer as it is supported by circumstances known
from the Scriptures or f lom other cotemporary testimony"
{Bibl. Researches in Palestine, etc., vol. i. p. 253 and iii. p.
2G3 of the last Boston edition. Comp. also James Fergu-
son, arc. Jerusalem, in W. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible,
vol. i. p. 102S sqq. Ritter, Winer, Babtlett, Stanley,
and Ellicott, leave the matter doubtful.— P. S.]
* [Comp. also on t!;e same side Chateaubriand, who
led the way in this century in a plausible defence of the old
tradition, reasoning mainly a priori that the Christians
must have known from the beginnins and could never for-
get the places of Christ's death and burial (Itiniraire de
Paris d Jerii^salem, Paris, 1811) ; Tischendoep {Reise in
den Ortg/i^, Leipzisr, 1846, vol. ii, 17 ff.); Geo. Finley {On
the Site of the Holy Sepulchre, London, 1847); Olin;
Prime: Lewin {Jerusalem, London, ISOl); G. Williams
(The Holy City, London, 1845; 2d ed. 1849, 2 vols.). Dr.
Alford on Matt, sxvii. 33 does not enter into the merits of
the question, but gives it as his opinion that Williams "h.is
made a very strong case for the commonly received site of
Calvary and the Sepulchre." The question is of little prac-
tical importance. The main argument in favor of the
identity is derived from the unbroken Christian tradition.
But while we .are reluctant to break with a tr.adition of
such extent, it is repugnant to sound Christian feeling to be-
lieve that a spot so often profaned and disgraced by the
most unworthy superstitions, impostures, and quarrels of
Christian sects, should be actually the sacred spot where
the Saviour died for the sins of the race. At all events the
testimony of tradition in such a case is not .so important as
maintained by Williams when he aflirms that "the credit
of the whole Church for fifteen huniired years is in some
measure Involved in its veracity." The Christian Church
never claimed geographical and topographical infallibility,
and leaves the question of the holy places open to fair criti-
cism. The Apostles and Evangelists barely allude to the
places of Chri.sfs birth, death, .and resurrection. They fixed
their eyes upon the great facts themselves and worshipped
the exalted Saviour in heaven, where He lives for ever. It
was only since the age of Constantiue, in the fourth century,
that those localities were abused in the service of an almost
idolatrous superstition, yet not without continued protest
from many of the wisest and best men of the Church. From
the Gospels so much only appears with certainty as to the
place of the crucifixion, that it was out of the city, Matt.
.Yxviii. 11 ; John xix. 17; comp. Heb. xiii. 12; yet near the
city, John xix. 20; apparently near a thoroughfare, as may
be inferred from Mark x v. 29; and that the sepulchre was
near the place of the crucifixion, John xix. 41, in a garden
and hewn in a rock. Matt, xxvii. 60 and the parallel pas-
Kiges.-P. S.]
miah predicts (xxxi. 38-40) that the city should in
future times extend beyond the north wall (the sec-
ond wall), and enclose Gibeat Gareb, or the leper's
hill, and (iibeat (ioath,* or the hill of death (of roar-
ing, groaning). The position of Gareb can corre-
spond only with Under Bezetha, and the position of
(Joath only Upper Bezetha, where Golgotha rose.
Both of these elevations were enclosed by Agrippa,
as parts of the new city, and lay inside the third wall.
From the context we learn that Gareb and Goath
were unclean places, but, bemg measured in with the
holy city, became sanctified. That the Goath-hill of
Jeremiah is identical with the Golgotha of the Evan-
gelists, is more than probable. The wall of Agrippa
was built around Bezetha by Herod Agrippa, the
grandson of Herod the Great.
In conducting this controversy, the foUowmg
points should be kept in mind: 1. That those who
oppose the identity have never pointed out any other
site for Golgotha. 2. The history of the city of Je-
rusalem. It has been proved that the city, at a later
period, extended considerably from south northward
and north-westward, and that the third wall, or wall
of Agrippa, enclosed on this side a piece of ground
which had hitherto lain outside the city. 3. The
history of the holy places themselves. It has never
been disproved, that, according to the testimonies of
Eusebius and Hieronymus, a marble statue of Venus
desecrated Golgotha from the days of Hadrian to
those of Constantino, to prevent Christians from re-
sorting to the holy place ; and that this and similar
desecratory monuments form the connecting link be-
tween the apostolic tradition and the time of Con-
stantino (Krafft, p. 172). 4. A distinction must be
drawn between the statements of tradition regarding
the holy places in general, and the description of
special points; and it is an erroneous conclusion,
when we entertain doubts regarding the former, be-
cause doubts attach themselves to the latter (Krafft,
p. 234). Schultz represents Golgotha as a rocky
height, which rose straight up over against the city,
having a precipitous face toward north and east, and
was in this way a kind of stage, exposed to the eyes
of all the city's inhabitants.
As regards the Via dolorosa, or Via crucis, or the
Lord's road from the prastorium to Golgotha, men-
tion was first made of it in the fourteenth century
(Krafft, p. 168). The real way trod by our Lord
must have lain somewhat more to the south.f
Braune's statement, that the way was about an
hour's walking, is incorrect : it was very much
shorter.
On the discovery of the holy cross by Saint
Helena, the Basilika erected on Golgotha by her,
and the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre, con-
sult the Church Histories, and works of travel to the
holy land. The central-point in the history of the
Holy Sepulchre is the Crusades ; but the fact, that
the Mohammedans still possess the spot, is less sad- '
dcning than that Christian sects contend and fight
over the holy places, that this contention gave occa-
* [Or accurately Goah, nj'S ^ the th being added to con-
nect the Hebrew particle of motion,— 6roa£Aa/i. Gesenius
derives it from HI'S , to low, or moo, as a cow. Hence
.also the translation of the Targum the heifer's pool. The
Syriac, on the other hai\d, has leromto, to the eminence,
perh.aps re.ading nXJ. — P. S.]
+ [" If the trial of the Lord was at the palace of Herod on
Mount Sion, He couUl not have passed along the Via dolo-
rosa." Andre w.s, 1. c. p. 634.— P. S.]
522
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
sion lately to a bloody war, and that the supersti-
tious deception of the holy Easter-fire forms the chief
attraction of the feast of (iolf^otha !
Ver. 34. Gave Him to drink. — It became a
custom in later times, among the Jews, to give to
those who were led away to execution a stupefying
draught (Synedr. C ; Wetstein on Mark xv. 23 ;
Friedlieb, 141). Tlie Rabbins considered this a cus-
tom of holy mildness, and would ground it upon
Prov. xxxi. 6 [^^ I'rodeunii ad sujjplicium capitis po-
turn dederunt, {/runmnque i]j,uris in poculo vini, ut
turbaretur ijitellectus ejus, sicut diciiur : dale siceram,
etc."]. In the days of the Christian martyrs, it
sometimes happened that similar drinks were admin-
istered to the condemned on their way to execution
by friends and brethren in the faith who accompa-
nied them (Neander, Leben Jesu, p. '757). It can-
not be shown to have been a Roman custom. Nev-
ertheless the Roman soldier ca*Tied with him a wine,
which, though weak in itsi^f, was strengthened by
being mixed with various roots. This common wine
was called vinegar-wine (Mark), also vinegar (Mat-
thew). Mark says myrrh was mixed with the wine.*
The Jewish Sanliedrin appointed for this purpose a
grain of intense to be mixed with a cup of wine.
The physician Dioskorides says myrrh was also used ;
Matthew, however, adds, " mingled with gall." By
X o Arj the LXX. translate nj^.b , viormwood, quassia.
The EvangeUst may have chosen the expression with
reference to Ps. Ixix. 22 ; but he has not marked the
fulfilment specially. There is no trace of a later
mythical tradition. The most common drink was
vinegar-wine; the strongest and most stupefactive
mixture, wormwood. Jesus refused this intoxicat-
ing draught decidedly, and that, too, knowing its
nature : " when He had tasted, He would not
drink." The Romans named such a drink, signifi-
cantly, sopor. Jesus did not thus afterward refuse
the unmixed vinegar-wine when He thirsted, and had
finished His work.
Ver. 35. And having crucified Him, cttuv-
fiuc afT e s Se avTov, k.t.A.
1. The Cross, ffravpo^ : primarily a pale or beam,
crux, two beams fastened together in the shape of a
T ; of these, the longer, called staticulum, projected
often upward the shorter, or cross-beam, called an-
tcima.\ In the middle of the larger beam there was
a peg or a piece of wood, on which the sufferer rest-
* [There is no necessary contradiction, as asserted by
Meyer and Alford, between the "vinegar mingled with
gall "(if Matthew and the "wine mingled with myrrh" of
Mark, since the common wine of the soldiers was little bet-
ter than vinegar, and since X"^Vi gtiU-, is used in thfi Sep-
tuagint for various kinds of bitter substances. See Winer,
sub Essig, vol. i. p. 349 t—V. 8.]
+ [There were three forms of the cross: 1. Crux immissa
or capitata, a transverse beam crossing a perpendicular one
at some distance from the top, = ~'\~. -i\ccording to tradi-
tion this was the form of tiie Saviours cross, vvhii-h is thus
commonly re|iresented on ancient coins and in modern pic-
tures of the crucifixion. Tliere is no proof of thi.s, but it .ap-
pears probable from the fact that the "title" was |)laced
over tht>, heacl. The so-called Greek cross is a foi-m of the
cnixo immiisa, where the two beams cross each other in the
middle, and the four arms are of equal length. 2. Crux
commissd, a transverse beam placed on the toji of a perpen-
dicular one, resembling the letter "p. 'i- Crux decussata,
or St. Andrew's cross, like the letter X- The cross which
appeared to Constantine. was of this form, with the Greek
letter It in it, so as to represent the first two letters of the
word Christos =^J^ See pictures of coins of Constantine in
Baronius' Annates ad atm. p. 312; in Miinter's SinnUlder
ed ; and this fonmed one of the most excruciating
agonies of the cross.* The height of the cross was
not great, and the feet of the criminal were not more
than two feet from tha-ground.
2. The Crucifixim. The most extreme capital
punishment among several arftcient nations ; it was
practised even by the Persians, Ezra vi. 11; Esther
vii. 9 ; still, the Persiauinstrument of execution was
something between theKbman cross and the Germanic
gallows. The cross of the Romans was the severest
punishmeftt for the worst criminals, and so disgrace-
ful, that it dare not be inflicted on Roman citizens
{crudelissiniuni icierrirnumque supplicium, Cicero,
I'^err. 5, 64) ; only slaves, highway robbers, rebels,
and outlawed prisoners of war, were made to suffer it
(Joseph. Bell. v. Jud. 11, 1, etc.).f Those condemned
to the cross must first be scourged ; then bear their
own cross, also a tablet upon the breast stating
their crime, as far as the place of execution, which
lay outside the city, upon a thronged highway, or
upon some exposed spot, that tlie crucified criminals
might be mocked and at the same time in.^pire ter-
ror. When they had reached tins place of execution,
they were stripped, and, after the stupefying draught
was administered, they were raised up and nailed to
the cross, which had been previously erected, and
above which was placed an mscription. There was,
no doubt, another mode, according to wldch the
criminals were fastened to the cross while it yet lay
on the ground. But it would appear that the former
was the more usual method (FriedUeb, p. 1. c. 142).
The arms were first extended and fastened to the
cross-beam. The body rested upon a peg in the cen-
tre in a riding manner, whieli inevcnted tlie hands
from being torn through, and ullywiim' the person to
fall. The feet, too, were fastened. 'I'hen began the
nailing. Tlie old traditional view of the Church, that
the feet of the Lord were nailed as well as His hands,
was contradicted since 1792 by Dr. Paulus, who
maintained that the feet of Jesus were only bound.
But this assertion has been disproved by Uengsten-
berg. Hug, and Bahr (consult Tholuck, Jjie Glaub-
wiirdigkeit der evangelkchen Geschichie ; Hug, Gut-
achten, ii. 174; Friedlieb, 1. c. p. 144). The first
proof that feet and hands were both fastened by
nails, is supplied by Luke xxiv. 39, where Jesus,
after His resurrection, shows the disciples His hands
and feet (with the marks in them). Again, we have
the testimonies of the oldest Church Fathers, who
wrote at a time when this punishment was still prac-
tised, upon this subject, namely, Justin Martyr, Dial,
c. Try ph. 97; Tertullian, Advers. Marc.m. 19. Fur-
ther, heathen writers testify that the feet as weU as
ttie hands were nailed : Plautus, MoWllaria, Act ii.
der alien Christeii, p. 36 sqq., and the second volume of my
Church HUtory, p. 11 sq.— F. S.]
* [This needs explanation. The projection on the mid-
dle of the larger beam, on which the suflerer sat, a wooden
pin called sediU {i(j)' & iiruxoifrai ol ffravpovfxivoi,
.Justin Mart. Dial. c. Tryph. p. 81S). was rather a relief, and
prevented the weight of the whole body from falling upon
the arms, which otherwise would soon have been torn from
the nails. But in protracting the sufferings, it may be said
to have been a chief source of pain. — V. S.]
t [Crucifi.xion was abolished as a punishment by Con-
stantine, the first Christian emperor, no doubt under the in-
fluence of the humane spirit of Christianity, which in this
and many other features improved the Itoman legislation,
firc^t indirectly and then directly, from the time of Trajan
and Marcus Aurelius (although these emperors were heathen
and persecutors) to Justinian. Comj). the writer's Church
History, vol. ii. (now in course of publication) § 18, p. lOT fS.
—P. S.]
CHAP. XXVIl. 32-56.
523
Scene 1.* There is no reference made here by the
Evangelist to Fs. xxii. 1G.| Tliis is a matter not to
be overlooked. Moreover, the explanation of the
words "'"INS [which the English Version renders:
they pierced^ is acknowledged to be very difficult and
doubtful (comi)are Ilengstenberg, Ewald, Hitzig [also
Hupfeld, Delitzscli, and J. A. Alexander] on the pas-
sage). The tiiplcal Messianic reference of Ps. xxii. to
the sufferings of Christ does not, however, depend on
verse 16th, although the similarity is very striking.
See Meyer also on this passage. The spirit of tor-
ture of the old world must naturally manifest its in-
ventive powers in the augmentation of the pains of
this puuislimeut. So arose the habit of crucifying
with the head downward (Peter's death), and such
like (see Friedlieb, 1. c. p. 146). Hence, too, arose
the crux decusmta, in an oblique form, in the shape
of the letter X > upon which Andrew is said to have
bled to death. The lloman punishment of crucifixion
was introduced into Palestine after that country had
become a province of the Roman empire. Meeting
with a similar punishment, of a Jewish character, a
modification ensued. Among the Jews, those who
had been stoned to death were hanged upon a tree
to excite terror, on the condition that the corpse was
not to remain on the tree, but should be buried the
same day ; for one who is hanged is cursed of God
(Gal. iii. 13), and the land was not to be polluted by
such an one (Deut. xxi. 22, 23). Hence the Jews
employ, of crucifixion, the more usual n^n , io hang,
and Christ is designated in Jewish polemical works,
the hanged. According to the Roman custom, the
crucified were not taken down : they were allowed to
die slowly ; and in the case of young and strong men,
this continued sometimes three days. Their flesh
was given to the birds, or other wild animals. At
times their sufferings v,-ere shortened, by kindling a
fire beneath, or allowing lions and bears to tear them
to pieces. But the Jewish custom did not permit
that, partly from a sense of humanity, partly from
regard to symbolic purity. The bodies must, ac-
cording to the law just quoted, be taken down and
buried. Hence arose the Roman Crucifragium , the
breaking of the legs (otherwise a punishment in it-
self); and with this a "mercy-stroke" was at times
associated, which ended the pain of the sufferer.
Were they already dead, the Cnicifragium was su-
perfluous; but to make sure of death, the easier
mercy-stroke was given, that is, the body was pierced
* [The passage of Plautiis alluded to above, reads thus:
" Ego daho ei talentuni. primun qui in crucem excucur-
rerit, sed ea lege, ut offigantub bis pedes, bis beachia."
Here the only thing extraordinary is the repetition (ft's),
while tlie nailing of the feet itself is" supposed to be tlie usual
method. Each foot was probably nailed to the cross sepa-
rately, and not both by one nail. In e.arlier pictures of the
crucitixion, Christ was attached to the cro>8 by three or four
nails indifferently. Early tradition speaks of four nails.
After the thirteenth century the practice prevailed of repre-
sentins the feet as lying one over the other and both pene-
tratedby only one nail. It is pos>ible that the crown of
thorns remained upon His head as represented by painters,
since Matthew and Mark mention the removal of the purple
robe by the soldiers, but not of the crown. See Friedlieb,
Arclueol. p. 14.5, and Andrews, Life of Christ, p. 5.SS.— P. S.]
+ [Not : ver. 17. as in the Edinb. edition, which follows
the German quotations of Psalms here and e'sewhere, not
knowinj: that tlie German, like the Hebrew Bible, treats the
inscriptions of the P^alms as part of the text and numbers
them as ver. 1, while the Authorized English Version sep-
arates them from the text in smaller type. Hence all the
German references lo Psalms, which have an inscription,
must be changed to suit the English Bible. The important
•words referred to above are : they pierced my hands and
my feet. — P. S.]
by a lance. We see in the Jewish custom two things,
wltich were combined into one in tlie Roman : 1. The
torturing execution ; 2. the public exposure to insult
and mockery ; 3. the kindling of a tire beneath la
the third point, and indicates an annihilating burial.
Nero, probably, in his persecutions of the Christians,
carried the thing further ; later it became common ;
and the Inquisition, in the Middle Ages, employed
this legacy of the Romans, and cherished it lovingly.
3. The Agonies of the Cross. Crucifixion was the
most extreme punishment, shame, and torture, which
could be devised by the old world, as represented by
the severe Roman court of criminal justice. Only
the Inquisition, with its fiendish inventions, has been
able to surpass this torturing death. There are two
sides, agony and disgrace. Each side presents three
acts. The agony includes scourging, bearing the
cross, suffering on the cross. The torture of the
cross begins with the pain of the unnatural method
of sitting on a peg, the impossibility of holding up
the weary head, the burning of the nail-pierced hands
and feet. Besides this, there is the swelling of arms
and legs, feverish thirst and anguish, the gradual ex-
tinction of life through gangrened wounds or exhaus-
tion. The disgrace and mental suffering also presents
a ehmax : The Scourged One appears as the detested ;
the expelled Cross-bearer, as the rejected of God and
men ; the Cross-suspended, as an object of horror,
and of cursing (1 Cor. iv. 13 ; John iii. 14). — The
unique character of Christ's sufferings lies, however,
first, in the contrast between His heavenly healthi-
ness and sensibility, and this helhsh torture ; second-
ly, in the contrast between His hoUness, innocence,
philanthropy, and divine dignity, and this experienc-
ing of human contempt, rejection, and of apparent
abandonment by God ; above all, thirdly, in His
sympathy with humanity, which changes this judg-
ment, to which the world was surrendered, into His
own, and so transforms it into a vicarious suffering.
Upon the bodily sufferings of Christ, during the cru-
cifixion, the physician Chr. (iottl. Riehter has written
four treatises (iVYo).*
They divided His garments. — " Perfectly na-
* [Dr. Christian Friedeich G. Eichtek, born 16T6, died
1711, was a pious physician of the Orphan House in Halle,
and the author of thirty-three excellent German hjonns full
of unction, several of which have passed into common use
in public worship (e. g., Frenet euch, erloste BrUder; O
TAebe, die den Ilimmel hat eerrissen; Es kostet viel, ein
Christ sM sein; Es ist nicht schicer, ein CJirist bu sein;
Mein Salomo, deinfreundliches Regieren; Es gldmet der
Christen inwendiges Leben ; 0 icie selUj sind die Seelen).
He thus describes the physical sufferings of the cruciflxion:
1. On account of the unnatural and immovable position of
the body and the violent extens'on of the arms, the least
motion produced the most painful sensation .ill over the
body, but especially on the lacerated back and the pierced
meiiibers. 2. The nails caused constantly increasing f)aln on
the most sensitive purts of tlie hands and feel. 3. Inflamma-
tion set in at the ]>iir(;i d nu'Tiibfrs and wherever the circu-
liition of the blood v,as (itistructeil by the violent tension of
the body, and inrr-ascd tlie agony and an intolerable thirst.
4. The blood rushed to the head and produced the most vio-
lent hi'adache. 5. The blood in tiie lungs accumulated,
premising the heart, swelling all the veins, And cau.sed name-
less anguish. Lo.ss of blooil through the open wounds would
have shortened the pain, but the bUxxl clotted and ceased
flowing. Death gcner.ally set in slowly, the muscles, veins,
and nerves gradually growing stilt", and the vital powera
sinking from exhaustion. — IJut'all the ordinary sufferings of
cruciflxion give us but a faint idea of the sufferings of the
sinless Oodman and Kedeemer of the world, which stand
out solitary and alone, — the unexhausted and inexhaustible
theme for meditation, gratitude, and worship to all ages and
generations of the redeemed. .S'e<? the excellent remarks of
Dr. Lange in the text. Even the infldel Kous.seiiu exclaim-
ed : If Socrates lived and died like a sage, Jesus of Nazare'.U
lived and died like a God.— P. S.]
524
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
kcd did the a-icciarii hang upon the cross (Artcmid.
2, 68 ; Lips. Be cruce 2, V), and the executioners re-
ceived their clothes (Wetsteiu upon tliis passage).
There is no ancient testimony to show that there was
a cloth even round the loins. See Thilo, Ad. Ev.
Nicod. 10, p. 582." Meyer. There is, however, also
a " retrospective " prophetic view ; and the Jewish
custom is to be remembered, the sympathy of the
heathen captain, Christ's mother beneath the cross,
etc. The garments became the property of the sol-
diers, after Roman usage. The outer garment was
divided probably into four, by ripping up the seams.
Four soldiers were counted ofi' as a guard, by the
Roman code. The under garment could not be ili-
vided, being woven ; and this led the soldiers to the
dice-throwing. Matthew presents the different points
as a whole.
Casting lots. — For the more explicit account,
see John xix. 23.— That it might be fulfilled.—
According to the textual criticism {see above), we are
led to think these words introduced from John, " al-
though it is worthy of attention, that 'p-(\Q'kv kiro
Tov -rrpocj). belongs only to Matthew." De Wette.
One is induced, certainly, to side with the minority
of witnesses iu this case. The addition is supported
not merely by the mode of speech used by Matthew,
but also especially hj the fact, that he has put the
crucifixion into the Aorist participle, as though he
would emphasize particularly the fact brought for-
ward by the finite verb. And this caimot be the
division of the garments in itself, but its import.
Accordingly the case stands thus : either the major-
ity of the scribes have taken objection to the expres-
sion, uTTo TOV TTpo<pi]Tov, ov tlic othcrs have expanded
the words, " they divided His garments, casting lots,"
according to Matthew's meaning. The construction
shows, however, that this explanation was intended.
The prophecy in the psahn is of a typical nature.
Upon the misconception of the passage, Ps. xxii. 19,
which Strauss charges home upon the Evangelist,
see the author's Leben Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1602 (German
edition).
Ver. 36. And sitting down, they watched
Him there. — The watch was set to prevent those
who had been crucified from being taken down. In
this case, they had a peaceful bivouac which assumed
a significant meaning. ""^
Ver. 3*7. — And they set up over His head,
etc. — The circumstance that the crvciarius, accord-
ing to Dio Cass. 54, 8, was compelled to carry a
"title" stating his guilt, suspended from his neck
and resting upon his breast, while being led to the
place of execution, justifies the conclusion that it
w;is the custom to set up this title also above the
criminal's head, when fastened to the cross. We
learn the same from the transactions regarding this
title recorded by John, who lays peculiar stress upon
the double meaning and significance of the super-
scription, chap. xix. 20. This title, according to
Matthew, was attached after the division of the
clothes. The very soldiers seem to feel that the
statement of the crime was not in this case the chief
matter. The small, white tablet, upon which the
accusation or sentence of death stood inscribed, was
called ikuhis, a avis, or also \etncco/j.a, air ia.
— This is Jesus, The King of the Jews. — No
other crmae but this. The Jews have crucified their
Messiah. He has His title of honor ; they have their
shame.
Ver. 38. Then are two robbers crucified
with Him, (XTavpovvTat . — At this moment, and
not till then, are (present). " By another band of
soldiers ; " for those who crucified the Lord have
seated themselves beneath the c.iss. This arrange-
ment was a combination devised by Pilate. First,
the crucified Jesus is decked with the title. King of
the Jews ; then two robbers, as the symbol of His
Jewish kingdom, are crucified. This was the gov-
cinor's revenge, that the Jews had overcome him,
and humbled Him in his own ec'hnation. — Two
robbers, x-parai . — The usual puni ^hmen; . r such
an offence was crucifixion. They were in ali likeli-
hood no common robbers, but fanatical insurrection-
ists, chiliastic enthusiasts, such as are frequently met
with in later Jewish history. Comp. Mark xv. Y.
Ver. 39. But they that passed by. — Not la-
borers going to their work (Fritzsche, de Wette), but
the people who, on the afternoon of the feast-day,
were walking about outside the gate, and gomg to-
ward this populous quarter, where a new town was
rising. As we previously remarked, Golgotha was a
rocky height, turned toward the city, forming thus a
natural stage for the public exposure of the crucified.
And there the citizens of Jerusalem came forth this
day purposely, to walk about with pleasure. — Shak-
ing their heads. — " Not as a sign of disapprobation,
but, as we may see from Ps. xxii. 8 — as a gesture of
passionate and malignant joy : compare Job xyi. 4 ;
Ps. cix. 25 ; Isa. xxxvii. 22 ; Buxtorf, Xexic. Talm.
p. 2039." Meyer. Query, was not disapprobation
hidden under this malignant joy?
Ver. 40. Thou that destroyest the temple.
Following the participial form, more accurately, the
destroyer of the tempjle {o Kara?,fiMv rhu vaAv). The
popular accusation brought against Him by the citi-
zens of Jerusalem, proud of their temple, though the
false witnesses upon the trial had contradicted one
another. Still, they understood that there lay iu
the rebuilding within three dai/s an amiouncement of
a delivering power, and also a claim laid to Messianic
dignity : hence the summons. Save Thyself, and the
parallel sentence, explanatory of the first : If Thou
be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
— The witty mockers do not dream that He will
really within three days rebuild the temple which
they had destroyed. The parallelism, putting the
words into poetic form, makes of the utterances a
song of derision, which they improvise in their Sa-
tanic enthusiasm, as is still often observed in the
East upon similar occasions.
Vers. 41-43. The chief priests . . . with the
scribes. — The burghers blaspheme, for they were at
first stung with feelings of disapprobation ; the mem-
bers of the Sanhedrin mock, for they think they have
achieved a perfect victory. But their mockery is no
less blasphemy : and here, too, appears that poetic
parallelism which makes a derisive song out of their
mocking. But the mockery rises in this case to
fvenzy: — He saved others (forced recognition),
Himself He cannot save (blasphemous conclu-
sion). Then, He is King of Israel : ironical no
doubt, and again a wicked conclusion. Finally, He
trusted in God (with blasphemous reference to Ps.
xxii. 9) ; and the godless conclusion, in which blas-
phemy against Christ passes unconsciously over into
blasphemy against God, for whose honor they pre-
tend to be zealous. Besides this, they unconsciously
adopt the language of the enemies of God's servant,
Ps. xxii. Thus are the statements, and even the
prayers, of finished fanaticism usually filled with
blasphemies. If He will have him, ei eixei
aurov : — if He has pleasure in him, after the Hebrew
CHAP. XXVn. 32-56.
525
■ia I'Sn . It is worthy of note, that the mockmg
speech of the Sanlicdriu consists of three members,
while that of the other mockers presents but two.
Vcr. 41. The robbers also, etc. — Apparent
contradiction of Luke xxiii. 30. 1. Meyer fmd oth-
ors: It is an actual contradiction. 2. Ebrard and
others : It is only a general expression, indefinitely
put. 3. The older harmonists, Chrysostom, and
others : At first, both mocked ; afterward, only one.
4. At first, both mocked, wvfiSi^oi^, in so far as
they demanded that He as Messias should descend
from the cross. But this the one did, as a nobler
chiliast (millennarian), and with a heart filled by en-
thusiastic hopes ; the other, in a despairing spirit.
Afterward, the former resigned all earthly hopes, and
in his death turned to the dying Christ ; the other in
his despair blaspliemed the dying Lamb {4PKaa(f>ri/jiei,
Luke). See the author's Leben Jemi, ii. 3, p. 1505.
Ver. 43. Now, from the sixth hour there
was a darkness, etc. — Since the third hour, or nine
o'clock in the morning, Jesus had been hanging on
the cross ; from the sixth hour, — accordingly at mid-
day, when the sun stood highest and the day was
brightest, which also was the middle-point in His
crucifixion-torments, — the darkness began. This
statement regarding tlie time, appears to be opposed
to thftt in John xix. 14, where we read that it was
the six'Ji, hour {&pa i\v ais e/cTjj), when Pilate pro-
nounced sentence. If we adopt Tholuck's view, that
John follows the reckoning of time usual in the Ro-
man forum, we obtain too early an hour. The peri-
ods of the day being reckoned especially according to
the hours of prayer, 3, 6, 9, we may understand the
passage thus : the third hour (nine o'clock in the
morning) was already past, and it was going, was
hastening on, to the sixth hour. The sixth hour was
held peculiarly sacred by the Jews, especiaDy upon
the Sabbaths and the festivals. Mark's statement
is analogous, ch. xv. 25 : it was the third hour when
they crucified Jesus. Mark, like Matthew, contem-
plates the scourging as a part of the crucifixion ;
and that occurred between the third and sixtli hour.
This cannot have been an ordinary eclipse of the sun,
because the Passover was celebrated at the time of
full moon. Moreover, Luke mentions the darkening
of the sun after the darkening of the earth ; and
hence it is manifest, that he ascribes the darkness
which spread over the earth to no mere ecUpse ; but
he ascribes, on the contrary, the darkness of the sun
to a mysterious thickening of the atmosphere. The
Christian Fathers of the first century appeal to a
statement which is found in the works of Phlegon, a
chronicler under the Emperor Hadrian (Neander, p.
756). Eusebius quotes the very words, under the
date of the 4th year of the 202d Olympiad : " There
occurred the greatest darkening of the sun which had
ever been known; it became night at mid-day, so
that the stars shone in the heavens. A great earth-
quake in Bithynia, which destroyed a part of Nica2a."*
* [I add the original of the rcmarlcablo p.ossage of Phle-
ooN, who was a freedman of the heathen emperor Hadrian,
and wrote a Sylloge Olympionicanmi et Chronicorum :
T(p A erei tiis 2 B oXu/XTTtdSos eyeVero fK\fi\pL^ 17A.10U
fxeyiffTT) Tuv i-yvuia txivwv Trpurepou, Kal vi'<| Sipa fKTT]
T^y Tj/.ifpas iytiiTO, uian koX aaripas iy oiipavw
(pavrivai. 2,fiffix6s re fxiya^ Kara BtOui'iav yevofiivoi
TO. TToXKa fitKaias KaTiaTpixpaTo. The same pass.iire is
quoted by Julius Africanus, a. d. 222, in Synccllus' Chron.
257, Yen. 322, Par.: ^\iy(uv ta-ropii tVi Tt&epiov Kai-
(Tapos eV TtavaiK-qvo^ (in the middle of the month) e/cAei-
Hug and Wiescler {Chronol. Synopsc, p. 388) reject
this reference, inasmuch as Phlegon speaks of an act-
ual eclipse. But when we see that Phlegon unites
that eclipse with an eartluiuake, we may reasonably
conclude he refers to some extraordinary natural
phenomenon. Still, as it is alleged that the reckon-
ings do not agree accurately with the year of Christ's
death (either two or one year earlier, see Wiescler,
p. 388; Brinkmeyer, Chronolorjie, p. 208), we let
this reference rest upon its own merits. Paulus and
others make the darkness to be such as precedes an
ordinary earthquake. Meyer, on the contrary, asserts
that it was an extraordinary, miractdous darkness.
Without doubt, the phenomenon was associated with
the death of Jesus in the most intimate and mysteri-
ous manner. But the life of the eartii has somethmg
more than its mere ordinary round ; it has a geologi-
cal development which shall go on till the end of the
world. This development is conditioned by the de-
velopment of God's kingdom, forms a parallel to the
same, and agrees in all the principal points with the
decisive epochs in the kingdom of God (see the au-
thor's Leben Jcsu., ii. 1, p. 312 ; and rosiiive Doffmon
(ik, p. 1227). Accordingly, the death of Jesus is
accompanied by an extraordinary occurrence in the
physical world. But that these occurrences, as natu-
ral phenomena, were produced by natural causes,
cannot be denied. For, improper as it is to represent
the wonder in nature as a simple, accidental occur-
rence in nature, it is equally improper to set nature
outside of nature herself, or to deny the natural side
of the wonder in nature. This darkening of the sun
is then to be connected with a miraculous earth-
quake, which again stood connected with the occur-
rence in the life of the divine Redeemer, which we
are how considering. The moment when Christ, the
creative Prince, the principle of life to humanity and
the Vi^orld, expires, convulses the whole physical
world. In a similar moment of death, is nature to
go to meet her glorification. When Christ was born,
night became bright by the' shining of the miraculous
star, as though it would pass into a heavenly day ;
when He died, the day darkened at the hour when
\piv i)\iov yeyovivai TfXdav airh aipas skttjs /ue'xpis
eVyaTrjs. Anuther heathen historian, Thallcs. as quoted
by Julius Africauus, mentions the same eclipse of the sun:
TOVTO ro (TKOTus 'iK\iL^LV Tov TjKiov QdWos dTIOKaXil
iv -rp'nr) toij/ laropioiv. Eusebius mentions a third au-
thority without naming it. To these testimonies must be
added those of Tertullian, Origen, Paifinus, who boldly ap-
peal to the Roman archives for the proof of the eclipse of
the sun at the time of the Saviour's death. See on this
whole subject the learned astronomical investigation of Dr.
Setffarth, Chronologia Sacra, Leipzig, lS-16, p. 130 ff. and
p. 281 ff. Seyfliirth, who dcf-rids the crra Dionysiaca as
correct, both as to the year and day of Christ's birth, puts
this eclipse on the 19th of March, a. d. S3, and regards it
both as a natural and as a supernatural phenomenoD. He
infers this even from Phlegou's testimony, who says that
this eclipse surpassed all others ever seen {neyicrrtj rai/
iyfoxTfiifcDU TTpdrepoy), and yet there can be no greater
natural eclipse of the sun than a tot.al eclipse, such as is
not unfrequently witnessed in every generation. But the
majority of orthodox commentators regard it as a purely
supernatural event on account of the time of the pas.sovcr in
the full moon, when the sun cannot be obscured by the
moon. So also Meyer, Stier, Alford, Wordsworth, who calls
i it a (TicoTus 6(OTroir]Tov, Andrews, and Kast. At all events,
I the unanimous testimony of nil the syn0ptic.1l Gospels roust
silence all qiiestion as to the universal belief of this d-irkness
I as a fact. The omission of it in John's Gospel is of no more
weight than the numerous other in.stances of such omission.
The darkness was desigm-d to exhibit the anuazement of
nature and of the God of nature at the wickedness of the
1 crucifixion of Uim who Is the light of the world and the sun
of righteousness.— P. S.]
526
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the sun shone in fullest glory, as though it would
sink into the awful night of Shcol. Heubner, refer-
ring to the eclipse mentioned by Phlegou, says,
Suidas relates that Dionysius the Areopagite (then a
heathen), saw the eclipse in Egypt, and exclaimed :
" Either God is suffering, and the world sympathizes
with Hun, or else the world is hurrying to destruc-
tion." Sec also, p. 457, the well-known statement
of Plutarch {De oraeidorum defeetu). Ships which
were sailing toward Italy, passed by the island Paxe.
The Egyptian helmsman, Thamus, heard a voice bid-
ding him say to the paludes, when he arrived, that
the great Pan was dead. The announcement of this
deatii called forth many outcries and a sound of bit-
ter lamentation. Many interpretations of this mys-
terious legend.
Over all the land. — Theophylact : KorrfxiKhv Se
ijv rh aKOTos, oh f^€piK6v. Meyer agrees with this in-
terpretation and thinks that, in accordance with the
miraculous character of the whole event, M -waffav
TTjv yriu must mean here over the v<hole earth , and not
over the whole land (as Erasmus, Maldonatus, Kuinoel,
Olshausen, Ebrard, and others take it) ; yet he ad-
mits that the term must not be measured by the laws
of physical geography, and exjiresses simply the faith
of popular observation.* But the legitimacy of " the
popular hyperbole" lies in this, that the Israelites
used the " whole land " for the whole earth. There
is a reference certainly to the whole world, though
the natural phenomena may have been fully seen
only in the holy land, Syria, and Asia Minor. — To
the ninth hour. — Highly significant continuance of
the darkness. Mere shadows of this gloom were the
darknesses which accompanied the decease of Romu-
lus and that of Caesar. Virg. Georg. i. 164.
Ver. 46. About the ninth hour Jesus cried
out, etc. — This is the only one of the " seven words "
which is reported by Matthew and Mark : it is given
accordingly in a pointed manner, and presented in
its striking signification. Most exactly given by Mark
in the vernacular Syro-Chaldaic dialect",^ Elci, Eloi,
etc.f With this single exception the above-named
Evangelists mention merely the loud cry of the Sa-
viour without giving its contents. He cried out,
aue^orjaef ; Or, He shrieked with a loud and strong
voice. The exclamation itself is given in its original
form, as the "Talitha Cumi" and the "Abba" in
Mark (ch. v. 41, xiv. 36). laPaxOavi, Chald.
•'rnpn^ = Heb. ■'inn:?^ . " The citation of this
exclamation in the original tongue is fully and natu-
rally explained by the mockery of ver. 47, which
rests upon the similarity of sound. The Greek trans-
lator of Matthew's Gospel was accordingly forced to
retain the Hebrew words, though he adds the trans-
lation." Meyer. — JEzphnation of this cvy : 1. Vica-
rious experience of the divine wrath (Melanchthon and
the older orthodox school). 2. Testimony that His
political plans had failed (Wolfenbiittel Fragments).
3. Mythical, founded on Ps. xxii., the programme
of His sufferings (Strauss). 4. Lamentation, ex-
pressed in a scriptural statement, showing He had
the whole psalm, with its sublime conclusion, before
* [This p.ossage is entirely mistranslated in the Efllnb.
edition, so as to give the very opposite sense. I compared
^feyer's fourth edition, and save his view more ful'y tliaii
Dr. Lanue who quotes from the third edition. Alford con-
tines the expression to that part of tlie glote over which it
was day, but sees no strong objection to any limitation, pro-
vided the fact itself, as happening at Jerusalem, is distinctly
recoenized. — P. S.]
t [Wor<;sworth infers from this an argument for the use
of ternacular Scriptures.— P. S.]
His mind (Paulus, Schleiermacher). 5. Objective or
actual momentary abandonment by God (Olshausen).
G. Subjective momentary abandonment or feeling of
being forsaken by God. De Wette, Meyer. The lat-
ter says that Christ was "for a moment overpower-
ed (! ) by the deepest pain ; " that " the agony of
soul arising from His rejection by men, united with
the torture of the body, which now surpassed en-
durance ; " that " His consciotisness of union with
God was for the moment Overcome by the agony."
7. Amid the faintness, or the confusion of mind at
the presentiment of approaching death. He felt His
abandonment by God; and yet His spirii rested
firmly on, and His will was fuUy subject to, God,
while He was thus tasting death for every man
through God's grace (Lange's Leben Jesu, ii. 3, p.
1573). Or the voice of conflict with death, a voice
at the same time of victory over this temporal death
to which humanity is subject. [We have in this ex-
clamation an intensified renewal of the agony of
Gethsemane, the culmination of His vicarious suffer-
ings where they turned into victory. It was a divine-
human experience of sin and death in their inner
connection and universal significance for the race by
one who was peifectly pure and holy, a mysterious
and indescribable anguish of the bodj/ and the soul'm
immediate prospect of, and in actual wrestling with,
death as the wages of sin and the culmination of all
misery of man, of which the Saviour was free, but
which He voluntarily assumed from infinite love in
behalf of the race. -But His spirit serenely sailed
above the clouds and still held fast to God as Bi^
God, and His will was as obedient to Him as in the
garden when He said: Mot My will but Thine be
done. While God apparently forsook Him, the suf-
fering,Head of humanity, in tasting death as the ap-
pointed curse of sin and separation from His commu-
nion, Christ did not forsake God, and thus restored
for man the bond of union with God which man had
broken. The exclamation : My God^ My God, etc.,
implies therefore a stiuggle with death which was at
the same time a defeat of the king of terror, and
transformed death into life by taking away its sting,
and completing the atonement. Hence the trium-
phant conclusion of the agony in the words : '■'■ It is
fnished ! ''' Com.p. the Bocirinal llioughts below.
There is great consolation in this dying word. Even
if God hides His face from us, we need not despair ;
the sun of grace is still behind the clouds of judg-
ment, and Avill shine through the veU with double
effect— P. S.]
Ver. 47. This (man) calleth for Elijah.— Ex-
planation: 1. Misunderstanding on the part, a. of
the Roman soldiers (Euthym. Zigabenus), b. of the
common Jews (Theophylact), c. of the Hellenists
(Grotius). 2. lleyer, following de Wette : " A blas-
phemous Jewish joke, by an awkward and godless
pun upon EU." * If we conceive to ourselves the
state of matters, we may easily assume that joking
and mockery were now past (see Luke xxiii. 48). It
may be supposed that this loud cry, Ell, Eli, waken-
ed up the consciences of the cn-looking Jews, and
filled them with the thought. Perhaps the turning-
point may now actually have come, and Elijah may
appear to biing in the day of judgment and ven-
geance (Olshausen) ; and, occupied thus, they may
not have heard the remaining words. It is by no
* [So Alford : •' intended mockery, as o 6 t o s clearly in-
dicates." Also Alexander, Ellicott, Andrews, Owen, Cros-
by, Stier. Nast, etc.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXVn. 82-56.
527
means far-fetched to imagine that the Jewish super-
stition, after the long-continued daikness, took the
form of an expectation of a Messianic appearance.
At least, we may say that they sought to hide their
terror under an ambiguous pun upon the words.
Vers. 48, 49. One of them ran and took a
sponge. — The word of Jesus: I thirst, had immedi-
ately preceded this act, as we learn from John ; and,
Bucceedhig tlie cry : Uli, marks that Christ was now
conscious of having triumphed. Under the impulse
of sjnnpathj", one ran and dipped a sponge in a ves-
sel of wine which stood there (the ordinary miUtary
wine, poKca) ; and then fastening the sponge upon a
hyssop-reed, which when fully gi-own is firm as wood,
gave it to the Lord to drink. {Sec Winer, art. Hys-
sop.) According to John, several were engaged in
this act. According to Matthew, the rest cry out to
the man who was offering the drink, Wait (come),
let us see whether Elijah will come to save
Him. According to Mark, the man himself cries.
Wait, etc. — an accurate picture of the excitement
caused by the loud cry of Jesus. The one party seem
to sec in this act a disturbajice of tlie expectation ; the
others see in it the fulfilment of the request, and a
refreshment to support life till the expectation should
be fulfilled. De Wette thiuks the offer was ironical ;
but he confounds the second with the first draught.
His view, too, is opposed by Christ's reception of the
second drink. Christ drank this draught, 1. because
the wine was unmixed ; 2. because now the moment
of rest had come.
Ver. 50. Jesus cried again, Kpafay. — The
last words, — not those recorded in John xix. 30,
but those in Luke xxiii. 46 : " Father, into Thy
hands," etc. Meyer is disposed, without ground,
however, to find in these words a later tradition, aris-
ing from Ps. xxxi. 5.* Paulus' assumption of a
merely apparent death needs no refutation.
[As to the order of the seven words from the
cross, the harmonists are not entirely agreed. The
most probable order is that adopted by Stier, Gres-
well, Andrews, and others : Before the darkness : 1.
The prayer of Christ for His enemies. 2. The pro-
mise to the penitent robber. 3. The charge to Jlary
and John. During the darkness : 4. The cry of dis-
tress to His God. After the darkness : 5. The ex-
clamation: "I thirst." 6. " It is finished." V. The
final commendation of His spirit to God. Ebrard
puts (3) before (2), Krafft (4) before (3).— P. S.]
Ver. 51. And, behold, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain. — Full development of an earth-
quake, which was mysteriously related to the death of
Jesus, and yet was quite natural in its progress. The
rending asunder of the veil was a result of the convul-
sion, although the earthquake is mentioned afterward.
Such is ever the case in an earthquake : its approach
* [Not: ver. 6, as the Edinb. edition has it, slavishly fol-
lowing the German here and in similar quotations, without
referring to the pass.ige, and ignorant of the ditferenco of
the German and English Bibles in numbering the verses of
Psalms, wliich arises from a different view of the inscrip-
tion in its relation to the Psalm. The passage here meant
Is: '■'■Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou liaxt re-
deemed me, b Lord God of truth.'" These were the dying
words of Luther and of other great men. The t er f\ia-
r ai ot John was said before the words recorded by Luke;
Farther, into Thy Stands J commend My spirit, and the
latter are implied in the irapeS o} Keu rb Trj/eC/ua
with which John relates the death of the Saviour imme-
diately after the exclamation: It is Jinished ! The connec-
tion mast be plain to every one, and there is no excuse for
Meyer's arbitrarj' assumption of the unhistorical character
(if the dying e.rcllimation in Luke.— P. H.]
is marked by such fixed signs as the shaking of
houses, etc. Meyer holds that neitlier the earthquake
nor the darkness were natural. But nature and spi-
rit do not in the Scriptures pursue different roads ;
here nature is conditioned by spirit. An eartluiuake,
which is not natural, is a contradiction. Moreover,
the veil which was rent was that l)efore the Holy of
Holies (rDTDn , Ex. xxvi. 31 sq. ; Lev. xvi. 2, 12),
and not before the Holy Place. See Heubner, p. 459,
for the refutation of this assumption of Michaelis.*
Tills rending was a result of the convulsion, and at
the same time a sign of the removal of the typical
atonement through the completion of the real atone-
ment, which ensures us a free access to God, Heb.
vi. 19; i.x. 6; x. 19. For the mythical embelUsh-
ment of this fact, in the Evan-g. sec. Hebr., see Meyer.
[It is simply the exaggerating statement quoted by
St. Jerome in he. : " Li Eoangelio, c^ijus saepe faci-
vius mentionem (he means the Gospel of the Hebrews),
SCJPERLIMINARE Templi infinitae magnitudmis frac-
turn esse atque divisum legitaus.'''' This exaggeration,
which substitutes a thick beam of the temple for the
veil, presupposes the simple truth as recorded by
Matthew. Meyer fully admits tliis event as histori-
cal (against Schleiermacher, de Wette, and Strauss),
and assigns to it the same symbolical significance as
Lange and all the orthodox commentators. Comp.
Heb. ix. 11, 12; x. 19-23. There is neither a pro-
phecy of the Old Testament, nor a Jewish popular
belief, which could explain a myth in this case. The
objection of Schleiermacher, that the event could not
be known except to hostile priests, has no force,
since the rumor of such an event, especially as it oc-
curred toward the time of the evening sacrifice,
would irresistibly spread, and since " a great com-
pany of the priests " were converted afterward. Acts
vi. v.— P. S.]
Vers. 51, 52. And the rocks were rent. —
Progress of the miraculous earthquake : the firm
foundation of the holy city begins to split.
The graves were opened. — Awful, significant
phenomenon, introducing the following ghostly phe-
nomenon. The wliole forms a type and symbol of
the general resurrection and the world's end, which
is seen in its principle in Jesus' death, and hence is
manifested by natural signs. The opening of certam
particular graves in the neighborhood of Jerusalem
was a special representation of the coming resurrec-
tion, particularly of the faithful. But it Avas typical
as well as symbolic, as is evident from the spiritual
apparitions which succeeded. [Travellers still point
us to extraordinary rents and fissures in the rocks
near the supposed or real spot of the crucifixion, as
the effects of this earthquake. The Jewish sepul-
chres, unlike our own, were natural or artificial exca-
vations in rocks, the entrance being closed by a door
or a large stone. Hence it may be supposed that,
besides the rending of rocks, the stone doors of the
graves were removed by the force of the earthc(uakc.
—P. S.]
Ter. 52. And many bodies of the saints who
slept, arose. — There is no ground for the opinion
held by Stroth (in Eichhorn's liepert. ix. 1, p. 123)
and by the elder Bauer {Bibl. Tkeol. des Neuen
Test. \. 366), that both verses are interpolated.
De Wette : " This surprising statement does not
seem to belong to the common evangelical tradition.
* [Origen likewise referred it to the outer veil, and
thought that the inner veil would not bo taken away till
that which is perfect is come, 1 Cor. xiii. 10.— P. S.]
528
THE GOSPEL ACCORDmG TO MATTHEW,
As even a legendary (mythical) representation, it
does not harmonize well with the Messianic belief
of that time (it may, to some degree, with the expec-
tation of tlie first resurrection, Eev. xx. 4); and
again, we cannot satisfactorily deduce the thing
from the fact that a few graves v.'ere opened. {See
Hase, § 148.) The legend is more fully developed in
Evang. Nicodemi, cap. 17, 18." Meyer's view is,
that the symbolical fact of the graves having opened,
was transformed into the traditional history that cer-
tain persons actually arose ; and hence he holds the
passage to be an '' apocryphal and mythical supple-
ment." With the one fact, that the graves opened,
agrees the other, that after Jesus' resurrection many
believers saw persons who had risen from the grave,
who had been delivered from Hades. These two
facts became one living unity in the Apostle's belief
regarding the efficacy of Christ's resurrection. Our
text is thus tlie first germ of the teaching of the
Church upon the Descensus Christi ad inferos, the
development of which we have even in 1 Pet. iii. 19
and iv. 6. The appearance of the bodies may hence
be regarded as symbolical ; they were the i-epresenta-
tious of redeemed souls. The death of Christ is
accordingly proved at once to be the life* of the
world; as an atoning death and a triumphant en-
trance into Hades, it acted upon the spirit-world,
quickening especially Old Testament saints ; and
these quickened saints reacted by manifold annunci-
ations upon the spiritual condition of hving saints.
Accordingly, it is not miracles of a final resurrection
which are here spoken of ; but, on the other hand,
neither is it a miraculous raising from death, as was
that of Lazarus, to live a second life in the present
world. In this respect, the order laid down m 1 Cor.
XV. 20 continues, according to which Christ is the
krcapxh- " According to Epiphanius, Ambrose, Calo-
vius, etc., these dead arose with a glorified body, and
ascended with Christ.f In Aciis Pilati (Thilo, p.
810) Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs,
Xoah, are especially named. A different account is
found in Evaug. Nic." Meyer. A distinction is made
in our text between the eifect of the death of Jesus
and His resurrection. By His death, the saints are
freed from the bonds of Sheol (" their bodies arose ") ;
by His resurrection, their action on this world is re-
stored ("went into the holy city," etc.).
[There are six resurrections mentioned in the
Scriptures as preceding that of Christ, but all of
them are only restorations to the present earthly
life, viz. : (1) The son of the -widow of Sareptaj
1 Kings xvii. (2) The Shunamite's son, 2 Kings iv.
(3) The resurrection caused by the bones of Efisha,
2 Kings xiii. (4) The daughter of Jairus, Matt. ix.
(5) The son of the widow at Nam, Luke vii. (6) Laz-
arus, John xi. The translations of Enoch and Elijah
from earth to heaven, not being preceded by death,
do not belong here. The resurrection mentioned in
our passage, if real, was a rehearsal, a sign and seal
of the final resurrection to life everlasting, but did
not take place tiU after the resurrection of Christ,
H-erk r)}v ijipffiv avrov, which must be refeiTcd to
the preceding T)yepQr}a-av as well as i^e\e6vTes. The
rising was the result, not the immediate accompani-
* [The Edinb. edition has just the reverse: "the death
of the world."— P. S.]
t [The fathers, however, correctly assumed that the
dead did not actually ari.«ie till after the resurrection of
Christ. Jekome in, loc: '■^ ITon antea ristin-exerunt,
quam Dominus resurgeret, ut esset prirnoi/tnitus resur-
rectionis ex moHuis." — P. S.]
ment of the opening of the graves, and is mentioned
here by Matthew in anticipation, but with the quali-
fying insertion: after Ills resurrection, to prevent
misunderstanding. Christ's death opened their tombs.
His resurrection raised them to life again, that He
might be the first-horn from the dead (ttpojtotokoj
Tuv veKpwv, Col. i. 18), and the first-fruits of them
that slept {aTrapxv toii/ KeKOifJ.r]/u.€va>i/, 1 Cor. XV. 20,
23). Augustine, Tlieophylact, and others, supposed
that these saints died again, while Origen, Jerome,
Alford, Owen, Nast, and others, assume that they
ascended with Christ to glory. There is also a differ-
ence of opinion among commentators, as to the ques-
tion v-^hether they were patriarchs and other saints of
the olden times to whom Jerusalem was indeed a Jioly
city, or saints who lately died and were personally
known to some of the living. Owen favors the latter
opinion with a doubtful " doubtless,''^ and specifies
Simeon, Hannah, and Zachariah. Dr. Nast adds
John the Baptist and Joseph. But in the absence
of all Scripture information, it is perfectly useless to
speculate on the age and number of these mysterious
visitors from the spirit world. So much only appears
certain to us, that it was a supernatural and symbolic
event which proclaimed the truth that the death and
resurrection of Christ was a victory over death and
Hades, and opened the door to everlasting life. — P. S.]
Ver. 54. No-w when the centurion. — The cen-
turion who had presided over the execution. See
above. — And they that were with him. — The
soldiers on guard, who at the beginning had been
thoughtlessly gambling. Mark mentions, as the sin-
gle witness of Christ's majesty in dying, this captain,
who, along with the captain in Capernaum (Matt,
viii.), and the captain Cornelius at CtBsarea (Acts x.),
forms a triumvirate of believing Gentile soldiers, in
the evangehc and apostolic histories. But Matthew
associates with the centurion, his band ; and Luke
informs us, the consternation was general, ver. 48.
The special testimony belongs, nevertheless, to the
centurion. — Saw the earthquake, and what was
done. — Not only the destructive effects of the earth-
quake upon the rocky region of (folgotha, but also
the way in which Christ gave up His spirit (Mark
and Luke). — Truly this was God's Son [0 e o D
V 16 s ]. — Luke says, a just man. The word of a
heathen must not always be taken in a heathen mean-
ing (so Meyer, Jleros, demi-god) ; least of all, here.
Heathen became Christians, and their conversion was
announced by their Christian confession. Yea, the
centurion may easily have been acquainted with Jew-
ish opinions ; and so the accusation, Jesus had made
Himself Messiah and God's Son, was understood
by the captain rather in a Christian sense, of a di-
vine-human holy being, than in a heathen sense of a
demi-god. The heathen coloring is exceedingly nat-
ural ; but the germ is evidently not a superstitious
conceit, but a confession of faith. [Alford likewise
maintains agamst Meyer that the centurion used the
words in the Jewish sense, and with some idea of
what they implied. But the absence of the article
before vl6s and the parallel passage in Luke should
not be overlooked. — P. S.]
Vers. 55, 56. And many women were there.
— Luke gives us an accurate account of these female
disciples, ch. viii. 2. They followed the Lord upon
His last departure from Galilee, served Him, and sup-
ported Him out of their property. Matthew names,
1. Mary Magdalene. She was, judging from her
name, a native of MagJala, on the Sea of Gennesa-
reth ; and hence she is supposed to have been the
CHAP. XXVII. 32-56.
529
sinner who turned unto the Lord hi that district, and
anointed Ilis feet, Luke vii. 37. Out of the Magda-
lene, according to Marli, seven devils had been driven
by Jesus ; that is, He had wrought a miraculous de-
liverance of an ethical, not of a physical character
(see the author's Lehcri Jesu^ ii. 2, 730 fif.) ; and this
exactly agrees with the pardon of the great sinner.
She is of course to be clearly distinguished from
Mary of Bethany (John xii. 1). . Meyer says :
" S3iblj"a is mentioucd by the Rabbins (Eisenmen-
ger, Eiitchcktcs Judenthum, i. p. 277) ; but this must
Dot be confounded with xbn.1'2 , a female hair-
dresser, with whom the Talmud identifies the motlicr
of Jesus (Lightfoot, p. 498)." 2. Mary the
mother of Jamas and Joses, that is, the wife of
Alpheus (John xix. 25), sister-in-law of Joseph, and
of the mother of Jesus. [?] 3. The mother of
Zebedee's children, i. c, Salome : sec ch. xx. 20.
She it is, undoubtedly, who is meant by the sister of
Chrkfs mother, John xix. 25. The Evangelist
chooses to name just these without excluding the
mother of Jesus, and the other ministering women.
" Hence we must reject the unnatural assumption of
Chrysostom and Theophylact, which Fritzsche re-
peated, although Euthym. Zigabenus refuted it, that
the mother of Jesus is the same with Mary the mother
of James and Joses, ch. xiii. 55." Meyer.
[Matthew and Mark (xv. 40) omit Mary the
mother of the Lord, while John (xix. 25) expressly
mentions her first among the women who stood by
the cross, but omits Salome, his own mother, unless
we assume with Wieseler and Lange that she is in-
tended by " His mother's (Mary's) sister," so that
John and James the Elder would be cousins of Jesus.
Luke mentions no names, but speaks generally (xxiii.
49) : " And all His acquaintance, and the viomea that
followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding
these things." To account for the omission of Mary
by Matthew and Mark, we must suppose either that
she had at that time left the cross with John who
took her to his home in obedience to the dying re-
quest of the Saviour (John xix. 26), or that there
were different groups, the one nientioued by Matthew
and Mark consisting only of those who ministered to
the wants of our Lord of their substance (piaicovovaa:
auTw, ver. 55). There must have been another group
of disciples, including John and others, to whom He
afterward showed the print of the nails as a proof
of His identity. Comp. Luke's all His acquaintance.
The previous flight of the disciples, mentioned Matt,
xxvi. 56, does not exclude their return to witness the
mighty scenes " afar off." John certainly was there,
according to his own statement. These pious wo-
men, who, with the courage of heroes, witnessed the
dying moments of their Lord and Master, and sat
over against the lonely sepulchre (Matt. xxvi. 61),
are the shining examples of female constancy and de-
votion to Christ which we now can witness every day
in all the churches, and which will never cease. Wo-
man's love truly is faithful unto death. Women and
chOdren form the majority of the Church militant on
earth, and, we may infer, also of the Church trium-
phant in heaven. — P. S.]
DOCTBINAL AND ETUICAL.
1. See the preceding remarks.
2. The prevailing point of view from which the
34
Evangelist represents the crucifixion and its agonies,
is the falfi.bncnt of the Old Testament types. Hence
it is that he twice nuikes the chief fad merely intro-
ductory, wliicli is marked by the "use of the particip-
ial form, and brings out into prominence some spe-
cial circumstance as the chief thought by the use of
the finite verb. 1. Kal iKOovns els TdTTOf To\y.,
eduiKav avTw Trifiu, k.t.A., vers. 33, 34. 2. ^Tavp<i-
cravTfs 5e aiirhy, Stf/uepia-ai'To, k.t.K, ver. 35.
3. The four chief points in the history of the
passion, before us, are : (1) Jesus in the power of the
Gentiles : (a) they press a Jew into the service of
the cross ; (6) they offer their stupefying drink to
the Lord while dying ; (c) they divide among them-
selves, and gamble for. His clothes, and guard His
corpse ; (d) they make the King of the Jews a rob-
ber-chief. (2) Jesus in the power of the Jews : (a)
the derisive song of the people ; [it) Christ blas-
phemed by the chief of the Jews and the teachers ;
(c) insulted even by their own dying criminals — He can
give us no help. (3) Jesus sinks into apparent hope-
lessness, and with Him the Jewish and Gentile world,
though then it is that He is really victorious : (a) the
funeral pall of the world, or the darkening of the
noon-day sun; (6) Jesus' exclamation, or the judg-
ment of death ; {c} the last disappointed chiliastic ex-
pectation of help from Elijah here ; (d) the last cry
of Jesus, or the dark mystery of redemption. (4)
77ie destruction of the world's old form, and the signs
of redemption arul of the new world : (a) the temple
service, or the slaveiy of conscience in this world,
removed, — the access to the throne of grace in the
Holy of HoHes free ; (6) the prison of Sheol, or the
slavery of the spirits in the other world, removed, — the
way of resurrection open ; (c) the power of the Gen-
tile tyrannical rule removed, — the Gentile centurion
compelled, in his terror of soul, to make a confession
of faith ; {d) the slavery of women (and of the op-
pressed classes) removed, — the believing women, in
their heroic spirit of faith, free.
4. Simon of Gyrene, an illustration of the fate
which befel the Jews after Christ's crucifixion under
Gentile masters. An omen of the maltreatment and
shame which were awaiting the Jews at the hands of
the Gentile world, but hkewise of their end; the
Jews are to be excited and conipelled by the Gentile
world to take up the cross of Christ (Rom. xi.). Re-
markable issue ! Even up to that moment, the Jews
still were imagining that tliey had subjected the Gen-
tiles to themselves in the crucifixion of Christ, while
the subjection of the Jew to the Gentile was now re-
ally becoming visible.
5. Golgotha, the old world's accursed place of
execution, transformed by Christ into the place of
pilgrimage for the new world, and into the new city
of Jerusalem.
6. The intoxicating drink, the old world's remedy
in sufieriog, anguish, and torture, proved by Christ,
and rejected by Ilim with full and clear conscious-
ness. The sympatliy of the world v, ilh the sufiering
Christ, the complaint of Christ regarding the world's
consolations ; and lie, conscious of a truer comfort,
does away with all tlieso unavailing consolations of
the old world.
7. The gamblers beneath Christ's cross changed
into confessors of His glory. The heirs of His coat
are at the end witnesses of His spuit. The military
guard changed beneath His cross into a camp of
peace.
8. Christ, the King of the Jews, between the
thieves, distinguished as a robber-chief, become the
530
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
royal Saviour and Judge of the world. The same
title wliich honored the Lord, was the shame of the
Jews.
9. The feast celebration of the unbelievers : (1)
The people walk up and down before the cross, and
blaspheme ; (2) the hierarchical powers m.ock ; (3) the
transgressors and despairing are angry, and revile.
God, however, coudenms : (1) The first in their ignor-
ance, speaking as they do merely from lying hearsay ;
(2) the second in their raving wit, in that they con-
demned themselves by openly blaspheming against
God, while they imagine that they mock Christ (the
bulls of the Romish Church, consigning Christians to
perdition) ; (3) the third in their thoughtlessness, who
dream not that redemption is so near ; (4) generally,
the millennarian expectations, according to which the
old world is to be glorified, destitute of salvation
though it be. But God, condemning this old world,
founds a new world of redemption and salvation.
10. The darkness over the earth. — The indication
of that development which this terrestrial cosmos is to
pass through, according to the teaching of Scripture.
The sign that the earth, and not the sinner only, suf-
fers from the curse (Gen. iii. ; Deut. xxviii.) ; that
the earth sympathizes with Christ (Zech. si.); the
presage of the earth's final (eschatological) death and
victory (Matt. xxiv.).
11. Eli, Eli. — The darkness which spread over
the heavens was a visible representation of the state
of Christ's soul during this period of silent suffering
upon the cross. The bodily effects of the crucifixion
began at this time to cease. The inflammation aris-
ing from the wounds in His hands and feet, the lace-
rated brow and back stretched on the cross, and the
inner fire of the fever, consumed His strength. The
great interruption in the flow of blood, which former-
ly circulated so peacefully, weighed down His head,
oppressed His heart, and took from Him the joyous
feeling of life ; and, sufiering these agonies, the Lord
hung during the long weary hours beneath the hea-
ven's mourning blackness. At last the dizziness ex-
perienced before fainting must begin to make itself
felt, — that condition in which consciousness com-
mences to dream, to reel, to be lost, and then return-
ing, to behold the awful apparitions presented by the
imagination. This is a state in which we see how
near deatli is related to madness. Jesus was experi-
encing the approach of death. He was ." tasting "
death, — tasting death as only that holy and pure Life
could taste death. But in this His death, He felt the
death of mankind ; and in this death of mankind,
their condemnation to death. This experience He
adopted as His own, i-eceiving it into His own con-
sciousness, and then sanctified it by His loud cry to
God : " My God, My God, ivhy hast Thou forsaken
Me ? " In that cry. His deep, full feeling of that
great, full death, was changed into a prayer to God ;
and so His contest with and victory over death, be-
came the glorification of death by the destruction of
its sting : the completion of the atonement. His ex-
perience of being forsaken by God is expressed in
the words : forsaken Me ; His soul's firm hold on
f.od, in the words: My God, My God ! The ques-
tion : Why, is not the murmuring objection of one in
despair, but the question of God's child and servant ;
and almost immediately afterward, in the hour that
He became conscious of victrry, aud cried aloud : It
is finished, He received the answer through the eter-
nal Spirit. From the beginning of His Hfe He knew
this, but in this moment it became a fact of experi-
ence, that He gave His life for the life of the world ;
and this enabled Him to declare soon afterward that
all was now completed. We should not, according-
ly, look upon this exclamation of Jesus as an excep-
tional singularity in Christ's sufferings, but as the real
cUmax, with which judgment changed into victory,
and death, the result of the curse, becomes the glo-
rious redemption. This cry of Jesus, which is in one
sense the darkest enigma of His hfe, becomes, when
thus considered, the most distinct and most transpa-
rent declaration of the atonement. The doctrine of
the personal union of the divine and human natures
is as little disturbed by this passage as by the soul-
sufferings of Jesus in Gethsemane ; for the Evange-
list refers to no unholy fear and trembling of His hu-
man nature, but to a holy one. But if divinity was
really and fully united m Him with humanity, then
His divine nature, even in the deepest depths of His
human suffering, must be united with His hiunan.
And this was manifested here. No alteration was
produced in God, however ; but the deepest human
pain, in other cases called despair, th» full feeling of
death becomes glorified as the fullest atoning submis-
sion.
12. 77*6 22d Psalm. — The numerous points of
agreement between this psalm and the history of
Christ's passion, led Tertullian to say that the psalm
contained totam Christi passionem. We may regard
all the psalms as Messianic in the widest sense, and
arrange them into: (1) Such as contain isolated
Messianic references ; (2) such as are typical of the
life, sufferings, and victory of Christ ; (3) such as
are acknowledged prophecies of the ideal Messiah,
and of the Messiah's kingdom. The 22d psaJm be-
longs to the second class. For manifestly in it a ser-
vant of God under the old economy describes his own
unbounded theocratic Messianic sufferings. The rep-
resentation becomes, without the writer's knowledge,
but truly with the Spirit's knowledge, typical of the
bitter agonies of Christ (comp. the author's Positive
Bogmatik, p. 673).
13. The curtain in the temple, before the Holy
of Holies {see the descriptions of the temple in Winer,
etc.). — This curtain was not merely torn in one spot:
it was rent into two pieces, from top to bottom. This
circumstance signifies that the real atonement was
perfected ; accordingly, that typical offerings and
priestly mediation were done away ; that the access
to the throne for every believing soul, in the name
of the Father, and of the Spirit of Christ, is now
quite free. This view we might support from many
a Scripture passage (Rom. iii. 25 ; v. 2 ; the entire
Epistle to the Hebrews). And hence, the excitement
which takes place in the realm of death, which hith-
erto was under bondage, is the result, not of Jesus'
mere entrance into the realm of death, but of His en-
trance into the same in the might of His atoning
death. Thus, too, is the idea of spiritual apparitions
here realized ; but these apparitions are to be entire-
ly distinguished from the appearance of ghosts. See
the article Gespenst {Spectre or Ghost) m Herzog's
Real-Encyklopddie.
14. the effects of the atoning death of Jesus : (1)
Upon the realm of the dead (beginning of the resur-
rection) ; (2) upon the Gentile world (beghming of
confessions) ; (3) upon the world of the oppressed
classes, namely, of women : free communion with
Christ, in spirit, suffering, and victory.
15. At the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the Jews
salhed forth from the city in bands to free themselves,
and were nailed by the Romans by hundreds to the
cross. The cross of redemption cast upon the Jews
CHAP. XXVII. 32-66.
531
numberless shadows of itself, as crosses of condem-
nation.
16. The cross, which to the old world was the
symbol of deepest abhorrence, sliame, infamy, and
perdition, has now become for the new world the
symbol of honor, bles.^ing, and redemption. Even
the superstition and ''anity of the world have adopt-
ed this sign. It has risen to be the object of venera-
tion. It is the original form of most of our orders
of honor. But the glorification of the cross is the
symbol and type of the transformation of death from
a curse into salvation.
HOMILETICAL AND PKACTICAL.
On the Whole Section. — See the preceding
christological reflections. — Christ treated as the slave
of mankind: 1. By the Jews, estimated at a slave's
price ; 2. by the Gentiles, executed like a slave. —
A contemplation of Christ's cross : 1. The sufferings
of the cross, — {a) on the side of the Gentiles, vers.
32-38 ; (6) on the side of the Jews, vers. 89-14. 2.
The contest on the cross, vers. 45-50 : («) its reflec-
tion in the natural contest between light and dark-
ness ; (b) its culmination, — the contest between hfe
and death in the heart of Christ {Ml f) ; (c) the false
explanttion (Elijah): (f/) the decision (the drink of
refreshment, the cry of triumph *). 3. The fruits
of the cross, vers. 51-56 : (a) symbol of the "atone-
ment ; (6) of the resurrection ; (c) of tlie conversion
of the Gentiles ; [d) of the companionship with Christ
in suffering and victory. — The cross as the truest ex-
emplification of, and testimony to: 1. Christ's pa-
tience ; 2. man's guilt : 3. God's grace.f — Christ on
Golgotha. — The Lord's silence and utterances in His
death-hour : 1. His unbroken silence as regards the
impotent hostility of tiie world. 2. His holy utter-
ances : (a) His cry of su0"ering and of victory ad-
dressed to God ; (6) His cry of awakening and of
victory, addressed to men. — The mysteriousness of
the atonement : 1. The deep darkness in which its
central point is hidden : (a) the conceit of the Gen-
tiles, who imagined that they crucified a transgres-
sor ; (6) the mockery and blasphemies of the Jews ;
(c) the darkemng of the sun ; (d) the silence of God ;
(e) the mysterious utterance of Christ Himself; (/)
the misinterpretation of His words on the part of
men, and the disappointed expectation. 2. The dear
light : {a) the clear and kingly consciousness, which
would not submit to be stupefied, and which would
suffer sensibly, free from opiates ; (6) tlie distinct
testimony to truth, which shines forth in spite of all
the perversions of enemies (the King of the Jews,
God's Son, who saved others, who trusted in God,
from whom the dying, no more than the living, can
free themselves) ; (o) the instinct of nature, which
testifies by its mourning to Jesus' glory ; (d) the free-
dom and obedience witli which Jesus adopts death as
His 0WT3, and thus conquers ; (c) the glorious results
of the death of Jesus. — The Lord's death: 1. The
result of the world's most deadly hate ; an unparal-
leled murder and death. 2. The result of Christ's
unconquerable love ; the all-comprehensive death, in
that all died in the One. 3. The result of God's
* [The Edinb. translation substitutes fi)r eulmination,
the doubtful issue, for decision {Entscheidung), dissolu-
tion, and for cry of triumph (der Sieyesschrei, viz. : It is
^finished /), the death-cry .'—P. S.]
t [In German an untranslatable rhyme : Oiristi Geduld,
der Munschen Schukl, Gottes Ilald.—'P. S.]
grace ; it was the world's redemption (its atonement,
dehverance, illumination, sanctification). — The sub-
limity of the atoning death of Jesus, as it appears :
1. Towering above the most fearful and terrific guilt
(blasphemy) ; 2. overconung the most terrible temp-
tation (the struggle against abandonment by God) ;
3. bursting through the most formidable barriers (the
fechng of death) ; 4. displaying boundless and eter-
nal efficacy (extending as far as the highest height
of heaven, the depths of Sheol, the depths of the Gen-
tile world, the depths of tlie human heart).
The Particular Portions. — Christ led to the
cross : 1. The way to the cross, the falling cross-
bearer; the greatest burden and oppression. 2. The
place of the cross, or Golgotha, the place of a skull,
the heaviest ban and curse. 3. The endurance of
the cross the severest agony and shame. 4. Christ's
companions in crucifixion, the bitterest mockery and
derision. — Simon of Cyrene ; or, the man, coming
from the country, who unconsciously became involv-
ed in the history of the cross. — Let us go forth with
Ilim without the camp, bearing His reproach, Heb.
xiii. 13. — Golgotha, the place of blackest curse,
changed into the place of greatest blessing. — Golgo-
tha and its counterparts : I. The counterparts of
its curse : (a) the wilderness ; {b) the grave ; (c) the
battle-field ; {d) Sheol ; (e) Gehenna. 2. The coun-
terparts of its blessing : (a) Paradise and Golgotha
— Paradise lost and regained, Golgotha present and
disappeared ; (6) Sinai and Golgotha — the law and
the gospel ; (c) Moriah * and Golgotha — the shadow
and the substance-; {d) Gethsemane and Golgotha —
the sufferings of the soul, and the sufferings of the
cross ; (e) Olivet and Golgotha — triumph, and suffer-
ing changed into the most glorious triumph, — The
honors which the blinded people of Israel prepared
for their King: 1. The procession of honor (beneath
the weight of the cross ) ; 2. the wine of honor (vin-
egar mingled with gall); 3. the guard of honor (gam-
bling over the booty. His clothes) ; 4. the seat of
honor (the cross) ; 5. the title of honor (King of rob-
bers).— The intoxicating bowl and its false salvation
rejected for the true salvation, which Christ with full
consciousness has obtained for us.— The despairing
world, and its means of strength. — Christ assures
Himself of the clearness of His consciousness, and so
of victory. — Soberness the necessary condition of all
deliverance, 2 Tim. ii. 26. — Moral and physical intox-
ication, the beginning of destruction ; moral (spiritual)
and physical soberness the beginning of salvation.
— Christ must taste our death, Heb. ii. 9 ; He pre-
served a pure taste for that duty. — The visible inher-
itance left by Jesus, and the inheritance left to His
spiritual heirs ; 1. The visible inheritance : a booty
of Gentile soldiers, an inheritance for which they
gamble, cast lots, and squander their time. 2. The
spiritual itdieritance : His righteousness. His peace,
His word and sacrament. — And sitting down, they
watched Him. See how the duty of the miUtary
guard changes beneath the cross into a camp of rest,
through the spirit of peace, which proceeds from
Christ. — The fulfilment of the Old Testament in
Christ's sufferings ; or, Christ presented with gall to
drink, robbed, the King of the Jews. — Christ between
the robbers; or, the beginning of His kingdom: 1.
In His power to save ; 2. in Uis power to condemn.
* [The Kdinb. edition has here: Mary, mistaking tho
Oerman Moria for .Maria, and this in spito of the conn'-c-
tion, which makes it sutllc.ii ntly plain tliut Mount Moriah U
intended, a-s Uie seat of the temple, which represents tha
types and shadows of the Jewish worship.— P. b.J
632
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
— The blasphemy agamst, and the mockery of, tlie
Crucified One ; or, the sins of unbelief and obduracy.
— Even the mocking and blaspheming foes of Christ
must, against their will, praise Him. — The enthusi-
asm of derision and its result, the song of scorn : the
most matured fruit of death. — The reviUng robbers ;
or, dissatisfaction of the crucified transgressors with
the crucified Saviour may issue in two different re-
sults : 1. It may lead to an unconditional surrender ;
2. or to despair.
The darkening of the earth and the sun, the hea-
vens' testimony to the dying Jesus. A testimony :
1. That creation is dependent upon Christ's conscious-
ness ; 2. that nature is entirely dependent upon
spirit ; 3. that the fate of the earth is entirely de-
pendent upon the fiite of the kingdom of God. — The
last hiding of the holy God from the Crucified One,
becomes, through the enduring trust of Christ, a pre-
sage of His full revelation. — Eli, Eli ; or, the last
struggle, and victory in one battle-cry. — Christ's sus-
pense upon Golgotha, the return and the culmination
of His suspense in Gethsemane ; 1. The full reaUza-
tion of abandonment ; 2. the perfect harmony be-
tween His will and that of God. — Christ has altered
condemnation to mean deliverance, and has thus
given it its true meaning: 1. He changed the death,
which sprang from the curse, into salvation ; 2. He
changed tlic mourning, wliich nature in her anger as-
sumed because of Him, into compassion. — The cruci-
fied Jesus our trust and peace in the severest trial.
— " He calls for Ehas ;" or, Christ crucified even in
His utterances. — The last destruction of worldly ex-
pectations of deliverance, the beginning of the true
deliverance. — Christ's thirst slaked by His foes : a
sign of His repose after the fight. 1. In the wilder-
ness. He hungered after He had fought and fully
vanquished, and angels ministered unto Him ; 2. here
he thirsted after the victorious struggle, and His en-
emies are compelled to minister unto Him. — Jesus
receives His last refresliing draught out of the hands
of His enemies in token of peace, — in token that His
love has vanquished the world's hate. — Christ's last
cry, though wordless, was doubtless a cry of triumph.
— Death was overcome in Christ's death, and the sun
returned. — And lo, the veil rent. — The glorious and
saving efiicacies of the death of Jesus : 1. Atone-
ment ; 2. the dead redeemed, and the right of resur-
rection given to them ; 3. the world's conversion ;
4. the perfection of the heart. — The new order of
things instituted by the death of Jesus : 1. Believing
supphants have become priests (the rent veil) ; 2. the
dead arise ; 3. Gentile soldiers fear God and confess
Christ; 4. women stand beneath the cross, and be-
side the grave, God's heroines. — The spiritual ap-
paritions at Jerusalem, a spring flower of the resur-
rection.— The earthquake at Christ's death a sign
of the world's fate under the working of Christ ; a
sign : 1. Of the end of the old world ; 2. of the be-
ginning of the new, Hag. ii. 6.
Selectiojis from Other Homiletical Commentators,
Starke : — Simon of Cyrene, the picture of all be-
lievers ; for they must bear the cross after Christ, 1
Pet. iv. 13 ; Luke ix. 23 ; Gal. v. 24.— If we lovmgly
help others to bear their cross, we do a good work.
— Luther's margin: Golgotha, the gallows, and the
block. — He would not receive the draught, because
He would suffer with full understanding, and had still
various utteraao" i to pronounce. — JS'ova Bihl. Tub. :
See how the Life-fountain pants with thirst, to atone
for golden wine-goblets, excess, and drunkenness. —
We should carefully guard our senses and our reason.
— Luther's margin : The garments of righteousness
do not require to be divided, every one employs them
whole and altogetlier. — Hedinger : Christ's poverty
our wealth. His nakedness our covering. — Christ in
the midst of the thieves : this figure gives us to see
Jesus surrounded by the two bands of soldiers. — He
was reckoned with the transgressors. — Suffering is
with some a suffering of martyrdom ; with others,
penance ; with others, a self-inflicted punishment, 1
Pet. iv. 15, 16. — Zeisiux : Christ's cruel mocking, the
best remedy against the world's envenomed^ocking
and derision. — Thou who destroyest the temple !
Tlie world has learned in a masterly way to pervert
the words of the pious. — What worfdlings do not un-
derstand of the mysteries of Christ, is to them only
matter of contempt, scorn, and ridicule. — The da^-k-
ness signifies : 1. The pov/er of darkness, of sin, and
of death over Him, who is the Sun of Eighteousness ;
2. the horror of this murden-, from which the sun im-
mediately hid his face ; 3. that the Sun of Eighteous-
ness was darkened to the Jews, and the light of grace
v/ithdrawn, John xii. 46. — Quesnel : Whosoever will
not follow Christ, the light of the world, shall remain
in darkness, and shall end by being precipitated into
eternal darkness. — That Christ does not here Kiy:^/^/
Father, but My God, must have its special reason.
— All is dark before His eyes ; he cannot know when
the end and deliverance should come (?). — We had
forsaken God ; hence must Christ, again, be forsaken
for our sake. — Learn from this example, that both
may be true, — united with God, forsaken of God, —
when the heart has had no experience of the pow-
er of the Spirit, of the divine life, of the sweetness of
God's love, of the hope of eternal glory. — The last
cry : He roars when He snatches, as the Lion of the
ti'ibe of Judah, the prey from hell. — Luther'' s* mar-
gin : The veil rends : here is the crisis, and an entire-
ly new existence begins, as when the prophet says :
" His rest shall be glory," Isa. xi. 10. — Such a rent
reveals : 1. That every shadow would be now, through
Christ, distinctly illuminated ; 2. that He, by His
Spirit, would remove every covering and darkness
from the law ; 3. that the atonement was complete,
so that it was not annually to be repeated ; 4. that
all had now a ready access to the Father ; 5. that
all ceremonies had ceased. — Bibl. Wurt. : Heaven,
which had been closed, is now once more opened,
Heb. ix. 11, 12. — The most firm and hard bodies in
natui-e spring asunder : how is it then that man's
heart is so hard ? — Christ has deprived death of hia
power, 2 Tkn. i. 10. — The centurion : those who ac-
knowledge God's mighty works, and fear in conse-
quence, are near conversion. — The women : the grate-
ful forsake not their benefactors in tune of need. —
Friends and relations should remain united even in
suffering.
Gerlach : — In their blindness, the members of
the Sanhedrin mocked Ilim, employing, without will
ing it, the words of the enemies of the Messiah, from
Ps. xxii. 9, which passed dimly before their mind ;
and in this manner, the prophecies of this Psalm re-
ceive a literal fulfilment. A circumstance which has
been often repeated. When Farel stood before the
ecclesiastical court in Geneva, and denounced the
mass, the president asked the bench : " He has blas-
phemed God, what further need have we of witness?
What thinlc ye ? '" They all repUed : " He is guilty
of death." — Jesus upon the cross Hved the 22d Psalm
CHAP. XXVII. 32-56.
533
through, in His body and in His soul. His word :
It h finished! points to its conchision, vcr. 24. — The
veil, the type of earthly, sinful, mortal human nature,
rent, — earth, the theatre of sin, was shattered, — the
heathen soldiers (chiefly of the (German race, for the
Romans had at that time a German legion in Pales-
tine), were deeply impressed by the majesty of
Jesus.
Lmo : — Every man mocks in his own way, and
in the terms that come most readily ; and so here the
scribes revile in the language of Scripture.
Heubiier : — He was obedient to the death of the
cross. — If Jesus had not trod this path, we had been
led to the execution-place of hell. — He was cast out
of the city of God, that we might obtain an entrance
into the heavenly Jerusalem. — He had carried His
cross from youth onwards upon His heart, now He
beareth on His shoulders the tree of shame. — If
we would have consolation from the cross of Christ,
we must determine to enter into the companionship
of the cross, by crucifying lusts within, and hearing
the cross of shame cast upon us from without. — The
highest honor is to bear Christ's cross. — Golgotha :
here the Prince of Life overcame death upon his own
territory. — This place was part of the Moriah chain,
upon which Isaac was to have been offered up. — The
drink : the Christian never betakes himself, when
suffering and oppressed with care, to worldly pleas-
ures, sensual enjoyments, intoxication, 1 Tim. v. 23
(the Stoics intoxicated themselves, to deaden their
pains). — The world always gives gall to God's chil-
dren ; Christ has tasted all this bitterness for us. —
Why was this mode of death chosen by Christ? 1.
It was the most painful and shameful death ; (a) the
most pauiful : the body was stretched out, Ps. xxii.
18, gaping wounds, thirst, exposure to the wind and
changing weather ; (6) the most shameful : quite
naked, the Roman mode of punishing slaves, accursed
of the Jews, Deut. xxi. 23. 2. The most appropriate
for revealing Christ's glory to coutemporai-ies and to
posterity, a Ungering and visible dying. 3. He hangs,
lifted up on the cross. He draws to Himself the
looks of all the world. 4. He hangs there as the
atoning Mediator, typified by the paschal lamb and
the brazen serpent : (a) upon a tree. The serpent
was to be overcome upon a tree, having overcome
the first man upon a tree, (b) Suspended between
heaven and earth as Mediator, (c) Set in the pil-
lory in the place of men. He took all up with Him-
self.— Lavater : Jesus Christ upon the cross, Satan's
greatest triumph, Satan's greatest defeat : 1. The
cross, expressive symbol of self-denial, of self-sacri-
ficing love ; 2. the greatest of God's wonders, the
mystery of all mysteries, the holy symbol (the cross
in the heavens of the Southern Hemisphere). — Naked
and poor did Jesus hang upon the cross, indicating
that He renounced all possessions of earth, all honor,
all rule, stripped Himself entirely, and hung there an
offering consecrated to God, which had all its value
in itself alone. — The superscription of the cross is :
1. In the meaning of Pilate, an apparent justification
of the Jews ; 2. according to God's intention, a pun-
ishment of their vain and selfish Messianic expecta-
tions ; 3. to all time, a declaration of the true, hea-
venly, kingly dignity of Jesus. — The blasphemy : a
High Priest who wishes to destroy God's temple, a
Saviour who does not save Himself, a Son of God
who appeared to be forsaken by God on the cross,
seems to us self-contradictory ; but a High-Priest
who removes the shadow to bring in the religion of
the Spirit, a Saviour who offers Himself up, a Son of
God who is obedient to His Father even unto death,
is to the spiritual eye an object worthy of adoration.
— They did not know what to reproach Him with, ex-
cept His piety. His benevolence. His trust in God. —
The one incomparable dcatli. His death-hour was
the worid's most sacred hour. — The Roman guard :
at last the hour of redemption strikes for many a
hardened heart, when it acknowledges the Crucified
One. — The soldier, despite his rough exterior, has an
open, blunt manner, which keeps him, when moved,
from concealing the truth or hardening his heart.
Braune : — The darkness ceased not till Jesus
died.— Jesus, the light of the worid, which shined in
darkness, came to keep souls from darkness : He has
finished His work ; and the token of this completion /
we have in the expressive sign of the departing dark- U
ness, just as the bow of peace stretched a sign of
peace 'over the falling waters of the deluge. — The
dead and crucified Redeemer makes light. — We must
renounce ^\ith Him the darkness of sin and error. —
The following is found in Ariqelus Silesim : Though
Christ were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, and
not in thee, thou remainest, nevertheless, eternally
lost. — If the cross of Golgotha is not erected in thy
heart, it cannot deliver thee from the Evil One. — -
Mark, that it is to thee of no avail that Christ has
risen, if thou continuest lying in sin and the bonds
of death.
Good Friday. — See Fr. Strauss : Bati ev. Kir-
cherijahr, p. 211 ; Bobertag : Das ev. Kirchenjahr,
p. 150; Brandt : Homilet, Hulfsbuch, 3 Bd., 298;
Archmological. The Quadragesima, or the forty days
of the passion-week, and of Lent, concludes with the
Great Week, e/85o^os fjny aXi^ , hebdomas mag-
na, Septimana major. During this season, there was
divine worship daily, morning and evening, much se-
cret meditation, a strict fast was observed, and acts
of beneficence performed. It began upon Palm Sun-
day {kv p I uKTi s.TiiJ.epa T iiv ^a'tocv), dominica
palmarum. Among the holy days of this week, the
fifth was specially celebrated, r/^e^dATj -n iij.tr ■
r rijferia quinta paschce, as the commemoration of
the last Passover, and the institution of the Lord's
Supper {dies cainm Doruiui). All took part in the
holy communion, which in some places was held at
night, though this was an unusual time. And then,
too, occurred the rite of Washing the Feet, introduced
by the lesson from John xiii. 1-15. The origin of
the later designation of Green Thursday [Maundy
TJmrsday'], dies vlridiam, is very obscure. Some
deduce it from the custom of eating on that day fresh
spring vegetables (probably with reference to the
bitter herbs of the Israelitish Passover) ; others from
the passage, Ps. xxiii. 2, the green pasture,* probably
a symbol of the Holy Supper. The sixth day suc^
ceeded, va p aa ice vii, i] ixf pa toO (t t a V p 0 ii, dies
dominiccB passionis, as a day of humiliation and fast-
ing. The meaning of the German names, Chancoclie,
Charfreitag {Good Week, Good Friday), iii ulso un-
certain ; from carnx, or x°P"> or tlie old (Jerman
form of kfireu, to efioose, or karo, garo, to prepare,
to equip ; hence = preparation-week, rrapaoKtvl).
"The Constit. Apostolica;,v. 188, forbid any festivals
ovx eoprrii, aK\a. -nivdovi, and enjoin the strictest
fast, because this was the day of the Lord's .suffering
and death." The texts were in the rule taken from
* [The Edinb. edition has instead : the green ear I How
the German: grune Aitf, could be thus mistaken, especially
in connection with the quotation of !'«. xxiii. 2, I am unable
to explain. Is it postiblu that the traaslator uiietook .4it«
fovAehrer-V.S.]
534
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTBEW,
the last section of the Passion-lesson (from the four
Gospels), often from John xviii. and xix. ; sometimes
Isa. lii. 13-liii. Many preachers had no particular
text.
Selections from Sermons.
Prochcs : — ^As the whole state mourns when the
king dies, so to-day the whole creation puts aside its
joyous brightness. — 0 mystery ! Christ to the Jews
a stumbling-block, to the Greeks folly, but to us the
power of God, etc. — Sclmeizer : — Simon of Cyrene :
Am I still a servant through custom, and through
compulsion, or am I filled with the freedom and joy
of God's children? — A hi f eld : — Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews : 1. A king upon the cross ; 2.
upon the cross a king. — Schultz : — The redemption
which Jesus by His death hath purchased for us. —
Gentzken : — ^What is the cross ? LA mirror : there
thou beholdest thy guilt. 2. A seal of God's grace
ajid mercy. 3. A temple of virtue. — Theremin: — It
is finished : 1. God's counsel ; 2. the work of Jesus'
loTe ; 3. the good works of His people, finished in
Him. — Hosshach : — With what consciousness the
dying Saviour looked back upon His finished life. —
Mazeroll: — Christ's death, the completion of His
work. — Schuderoff: — Jesus' exyjtation in His deep-
est humiliation. — Hagenhach : — llow Jesus manifest-
ed Himself even in His sufferings as the Son of God.
— 27ie same : — To this very hour does the quiet con-
gregation of the Lord gather together around His
cross, amid all the timiult and bustle of this world
(the same feelings, duties, consolation). — Harms : —
The death of Christ, the chief lesson of faith, and the
chief command to duty. — Mtzsch : — Christ's crucifix-
ion viewed in connection with other acts of the world,
and of worldly wisdom. — Palmer : — Jesus in the
midst of robbers: in this we have shown: 1. The
Lord's gentleness and love ; 2. the Lord's glory and
judicial authority. — Nilzsch : — The contemplation of
the dymg Lord makes us of a difi'erent mind. It
changes : 1. Our secure self-righteousness into re-
pentance; 2. our wicked and despairing thoughts
into confidence ; 3. our repining into a willing endur-
ance of trial, rich in hope. — Drascke : — Christ's strug-
gles, and our struggles. — Bole : — Behold the Lamb
of God! — Floreij : — Christ upon the cross: 1. His
shtime is thy honor ; 2. His weakness thy strength ;
3. His lamentations thy peace ; 4. His death thy life,
1 John i. 6, 9; 1 Cor. i. 30; 2 Tim. ii. 11.—^.
Knapp : — The great sermon for the world which has
gone forth from the cross of ChrLst: L What God
preached ; 2. what the heavens ; 3. the earth ; 4. the
pious ; 5. sinners ; G. the dying Jesus. — Hof acker :
— The world-atoning death of Christ in its power and
effects. — Gaiipp: — What testimony the cross gives
imto Jesus. — Kapff: — Consider how our atonement
is completed through the death of Jesus.
The Seven Last Words. — The consideration of
these words comes in more appropriately in the com-
mentary on Luke and John. See Rajibach : Be-
trachtungen iiber die sicben letzen Worte Jesu^ 1726 ;
Arndt : Die siehen Worte Christi am Kreuz, 1840;
BiiATJNE : Das Evaugelium von Jesus Chrisius, p. 425 ;
Brandt : Homilei. Hulfsbuch, vol. iii. p. 326 ; Fr.
Krcmmacher : The Suffering Saviour, 1857 ; Lange :
Auswahl von Gast- mul Gelegenhcitspreidigten, 2
Ausg. Die sieben letz«n Worte, p. 208 sqq.
[This section is so rich and exhaustive that it
would be mere repetition to add the practical reflec-
tions of the Fathers and the English commentators,
whom we are in the habit of consulting and making
contributors to the American edition of this work. —
P. S.]
ELEVENTH SECTION.
THE BURIAL. THE SEPULCHRE SEALED.
Chapter XXVII. 5T-66.
(Mark xv. 42-47 ; Luke xxiii. 50-56.)
57 When the even [evening] was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named
Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple [who had become a disciple of Jesus]:'
58 He went to Pilate, and begged [asked for] the body of Jesus. Then Pilate command-
59 ed the body'^ to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he^ wrapped it
60 in a clean hnen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the
rock : and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre [tomb],^ and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene,* and the* other Mary, sitting over against the sepul-
chre.
62 Now the next day [But on the morrow, tt^ 8e eTrarptov], that followed the day of
the preparation [-Trapao-Keur;, Friday],'' the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto
63 Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After
64 three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until
the third day, lest his disciples come by night,^ and steal him away, and say unto the
people, He is risen from tlie dead : so the last error [deceit] shall [will] be worse than
65 the first. Pilate said ^ unto them, Ye have [Ye shall have] a watch : go your way,
CHAP. XXVII. 57-
535
66 make it as sure [secure] as yo can [know how, ws orSare].'" So they went, and made
the sepulchre sure [secure], sealing the stone, and setting a watch [together with tlie
watch, /u,eTa r^s KouorajStas].^'
> Ver. 57.— [Dr. Lniige reads with Lac'imann t!ie passive form e naOrjr evOr], which is sustained by Coild. C, T).,
and Cod. Sinait., instead of the led. rec. : fuaevrevffe {to be one's disciple), which has the majority of uncial MS3.,
including the Alexandrian and the Valic;;n, in its favor. Lange regards the former a.s more si^rnificant and emphatic: Jo-
seph was overpowered. Tischendorf and Alford adhere to the received text. As to the nsi>, Tischendorf remarks in his
large edition: Cirimque vatis exemjiht in promptu sunt, nisi quod prim (the active form) npud antiquos nt Plutar-
chmninveuitiir, posterius (the piissive) apiid reocntiores iantum. See Stephan. Thesiwr. Meyer and Alford regard
ifjLtx67)T(vdTi as a correction after ua^iireufleiy, ch. xiii. 52. — P. S.]
3 Ver. 5S.— Codd. B., L., and Fritzsche omit rh acu/.La. [So also Cod. Pinait., but the sreat body of authorities are
in favor of it. Do "SVette and Alford explain tho omi.ssion from regard to elegance, since to a Hi jxa occurs thrice in ver.s.
5S. and 59. Conant renders: tliat the hody should be given up. Lange inserts in parenthesis ihin,to Mm: dass der
Leichnam (ihm) ausgeliefert wUrde. — P. S.]
2 Ver. 59.— [Or in the precise order of the Greek : And taking the hody, Jooeph wrapped it, etc., ical Aa/Sdij' rh
(Twixa. 6 'Iw.r. eVeruAflev, /c.T.A..— P. S.]
■•Ver. 60— [Tho same word should be used in this verse, cither sepulchre or tomb, for tho Greek ixvr] fxilov ,
especially as the second with the article refers to the first.— P. 8.]
* Ver. 61.— [Better with Conant and others: Arid Mai'y M. was there, to bring out more plainly the demonjjtralive
eKf 7.— P. S.]
« Ver. 61.— The article V is omitted in Codd. A. and D., but sustained by most witnesses.
' Ver. G2. — [napacricevv, in the Jewish sense, is the day of making ready for the sabbath, or sabbath evf, i. e., Friday,
Matt. X.; M.ark xv. 42; Luke xxiii. 54; John xis. 14, 31, 42; Joseph. Antiq. xvi. 6, 2 (cV ird^fiaaw ij rrj -rrph TavTijs
TtapadKeuy), also called Trpoad^ffaToi', Mark xv. 42. Compare the German Sonnatend for Saturday. The day of the
Snglish Version should bo put in italics, as in John xix. 42, or omitted altogether. Here Tyndale and Cheke render the
word: Good Friday, which is true enough, but goes beyond the term which is general. The Genev.an Version adds:
Preparation of the sabbath. The Khemish N. T. retains the Greek afror the Vulgate: Parasceve, which is unintelligible
to the English reader. The best is to put Friday on the margin. — P. S.]
" Ver. 64.— The addition vvktos is poorly sustiined. [It is cancelled by the critical editors, and may have been
inserted from xxviii. 1.3, where it is genuine. Lange puts it in small type in parenthesis.— P. S.]
' Ver. 65.— Codd. A., C, D. read 5t' after i(p-q; it is probably an addition, and weakens the significant decision of
Pilate.
■» Ver. 65.— [So Syriac, Vulgate, Beza, Castalio, Scrivener, Con.ant, etc. Alford : "As ye know how, in the best man-
neryecan." Oi:5aT6 is not quite equivalent to ^vvacrD i ., as ye can,or are able. The English Version in ch. vii. U
literally renders oXhan, know how. Lange renders: ^cie ihr's versteht. See his Eveg. N'ote in- loc.—P. S.]
■' Ver. 66.— [The watch procured from Pilate .aided them in securing the tomb and setting the stone. So Wetstein,
Meyer, Scrivener, Conant, Lange. The preposition p.iTd. signiflos tho means whereby thcv secured the tomb, as in
Luke xvii. 15; Acts v. 26; xiii. 17, and in Thucydides viii. 73.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CEITICAL.
Synopsis. — John introduces this account by a
statement of the motives that led to it. The Jew3
coine, in the first place, to Pilate, requesting him to
have the bodies removed, and thereupon Joseph of
ArLmathea entreats the governor to allow him to take
the body of Jesus. Nicodemus is, according to John,
associated with Joseph, and provides the spices for
embalming. Mark and Luke characterize Joseph
of Arimathea more exactly than Matthew. Special
prominence is given by our EvaugeUst to the two
Maries, — Mary Magdelcnc, and " the other" (the mo-
ther of Joses, according to Mark) : they are repre-
sented here as seated opposite to the grave. The
sealing of the sepulchre (vers. 62-66) is related by
Matthew only.
Ver. 57. When the evening was come. — The
first or early evening, the day'.s decline ; because the
bodies must have been removed before the evening ar-
rived, Deut. xxi. 23 ; Josephus, Do Bell. Jud. iv. 5, 2.
There came a rich man.— 1. De Wette: He
came into the pnetorium. 2. Meyer : He came first
to the place of execution to go thence to th.e pncto-
rium. 3. He came to the httle company of female
disciples upon Golgotha, and advanced" into their
midst, proclaiming hunself as a disciple. " A disci-
ple, but secretly for fear of the Jews," says John.
Luke : "A counsellor, a good man and a just. The
pame had not consented to the counsel and deed of
them ; . . . who also waited for the kingdom of God."
Mark : " An honorable counsellor, who also waited
for the kingdom of (jod." Matthew gives the prom-
inence to his wealth : " A rich man," referring un-
doubtedly to I'^a. liii. 9, according to the Septuagint
translation, Kai Sa.ro) ruhs T.i.vripovs ai/Ti T^|<s Tacprji
auTov, Kai Tot's Tr\ov<yiovs acrl too Baudrov aii-
Tov. The following translation is indeed free, but is
agreeable to the context : They hsid appointed Him
a grave with the despised ; and among the honored
("i"''.l">', did He obtain it) in His death.— The first
occasion of this step of Joseph was probably his fear
that the Jews might remove the body in some dis-
graceful manner; for the circumstances related John
xix. 31-37 had preceded. Faith, however, shot a ray
of hope, in all probability, through Joseph's mind,
and operated along with this feeling of veneration,
and his desire openly to confess the name of Christ.
Of Arimathea. — " CommcDtulors are divided
between Rama in Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 25) and
R.ama (Ramathaiin) in Ephrami (1 Sam. i. 19, Sam-
uel's birthplace). For the latter, indeed, the form
speaks decisively; but the addition of Luke, Ti-dAtwj
Twy 'louSaiwi', according to 1 Mace. xi. 34, does not
harmonize." De Wette. See '' Jiamah" in Wmer
[and other Bibl. Encyclop.].
Named Joseph. — One Joseph is appointed to
take care of Jesus in His infancy, another to provide
for His burial. Quite analogous, there was an Old
Testament Joseph, who had the task of providing for
tlie Jewish people in its infancy in Egypt ; and to
him corresponds the Josephus who has prepared the
historic resting-place for the expired IsraeUtLsh nation
536
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
in his books {Aniiq., Be Bello Jvd., etc.). The name
Joseph (CiCi"') means, according to Gen. xxx. 24:
"he adds" (Increaser); for another explanation, see
Gesenius. He was fiovktvri]^, a member of the San-
liedrin, Luke xxiii. 50 ; not (as Michaelis supposed)
a councillor of the little country-town Ramathaim,
nor (according to Grotius) a town councillor of Jeru-
salem. Lightfoot makes him to have been a priestly
temple-councillor ; but that is probably the same as
a Sanhedrist. According to the ecclesiastical tradi-
tion, he is represented to have belonged to the
seventy disciples, and to have been the first who
preached the Gospel in England (the rich man, the
guardian-saint of a rich people ; just as the Magda-
lene, the repentant sinner, is the patron-saint of
France). For other traditions, see Evangelium Nico-
dcmi, p. 12, and Acta Sanct. Mart. ii. 507. He was
evidently, hke Nicodemus, one of the secret disciples
of Jesus, who came forth and pubUcly confessed their
faith after the death of the Lord, yiadyjnve iv
Tivt, to be the disciple of some one. He was a fol-
lower of Jesus, and hence he had not consented to
the murderous counsel of the Sanhedrin ; and this
holds good, of course, regarding Nicodemus.
Ver. 58. He went to Pilate. — He ran the risk,
says Mark.* He was exposed to more danger from
the Jews than from Pilate, because this act was a
confession of his faith. " It was the Roman custom
to allow the bodies to hang upon the cross till they
wasted away, or were consumed by the birds of prev.
Plaut. 3fil. fflor. ii. 4, 9; Herat. JSpist. i. 16, IS^f
But should friends request the bodies to be taken for
interment, the request could not be refused, Ulpian
48, 24, 1 ; Hug, De cadav. punit. in the Freiburc/er
Zeitschrift 5, p. 174." Meyer.— That the body be
delivered (to him). Meyer is in favor of retaining
the second rh aiifxa, the repetition having a certain
solemnity.
Ver. 59. He wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth. — Bengel : Jam initia honoris. Not a shroud,
nor a garment (Kuinoel) ; but winding sheets, linen
clothes, John xix. 40, in wliich the body was wrap-
ped (Meyer). It was probably an entire piece at first,
and was afterward divided for the purpose of rolling.
This idea occurs to us from the object to be attained :
the pieces of linen must be wrapped around the limbs
in such a way as to enclose the spices, which had
been powdei'ed to be employed for embalming. The
first, temporary anointing, and the intention of a sec-
ond and more formal embalming, are both uimoticed
by Matthew. But that the body was anointed, is
self-evident ; and the second formal anointing, which
Mark and Luke declare to have been proposed by
the women after the Sabbath, is not excluded by the
merely temporary act. By the first anointing, they
sought simply to preserve the body ; by the second,
they wished to fulfil the ceremonial requirements,
for which no time remained upon Friday evening.
Therefore, upon the first occasion, they made a pro-
fuse, but simple use of costly substances (myrrh and
* [Not: Luke, as the Edinb. edition falsely reads. The
English Version renders Mark xv. 43: "Joseph of Arima-
tbeawent in boliUi/ unto Tilate" (Vulgate: audacter in-
troivH); but the Greek is more expressive: roAfJ-ricras
elarjAde, Luther and Lange: er wagte es, etc. — P. S.]
t [" J^on pasces in cruoe corvos." The Jewish custom,
on the contrary, was to take down the bodies of the crucified
before sunset and to bury them, avaaravpaipLtvovs -Kpo
Suj/Toj 7]\iov KaQ(\{lv KoX Qanreiv^ Joseph. De Bello
Jiul. iv. 5, 2. This shows the superior humanity of the
Jewish compared with the boasted Graico-Eoman civiliza-
tion.-P. S.]
aloes); and the women would find no difficulty in
buying before and after the Sabbath, upon the Friday
evening before, and the Saturday evening after, from
six o'clock, such quantities of these spices as appear-
ed necessary to their womanly desires for the great
burial : sec Luke and Mark.
Ver. 60. In his own new tomb.—" It was a
great disgrace among the Jews if any one had not a
burying-place of his own ; and so it came to be con-
sidered an act of charity to bury neglected dead bod-
ies. Josephus mentions as among the abominable
deeds of the Zclots and Idumeans, that they left their
dead unburied." Bee Friedheb, p. 169. The state-
ment of John, that the tomb was in a garden near the
place of the crucifixion, and was chosen on account
of the necessary haste, is not contradictory of the
statement that the grave was the property of Jo-
seph.* It must have been exactly the location of his
newly-formed family-tomb that led him to propose
his grave, and yield it up as an offering.
In the rock. — With the article. In that par-
ticular rocky district of Golgotha. The Jews placed
their graves outside their towns. It was only
kings and prophets (and priests, indeed, no less) who
might be interred inside the walls. Commonly, these
graves were excavations, or grottoes in gardens, o^
in spots planted with trees ; somethnes natural caves ;
often, as in this case, expressly hewn out (a costly
method), and sometimes built up. These tombs were
sometimes very roomy, and provided with passages.
The sepulchres were either made with steps down-
ward, or placed horizontally; while the particular
graves inside were hollowed out, either lengthwise
or crosswise, in the walls of the tomb. For more
particular accounts, consult Winer (art. Grdber —
Graves), and Schultz, Jerusalem, p. 97. f. The new
rock-tomb of Joseph, and the hundred pounds of
myrrh and aloes (myrrh, a resin from the myrrh-tree
of Arabia and Ethiopia ; aloes, a precious, fragrant
wood ; the pound, the Attic litra, five and a half
ounces less than our pound), which Nicodemus pre-
sented, are expressions of that sacrificing renuncia-
tion with which now these two disciples advanced
into view, after that the death of Jesus had awaken-
ed them to life. Holy rivalry !
He rolled a great stone. — A natural method
of closino; the mouth of the tomb. " In the Talmud,
* [It is not likely that the body of a crucified person
could be laid in a new tomb, eV ^ ovSfTro) ovSfh (Tedrj,
without the previous consent of the owner. Matthew alone
relates that it was Joseph's property, but all the Evangelists
mention that it was a new tomb. Jerome in loc. says that
the tomb was new to prevent the enemies from saying that
some other person had arisen : " In novo ponitur monumen-
to, ne post resurrectionem, cateris corporibue remanerM-
bus, re&urrexisse alius fingeretur.''' But not satisfied with
this, he adds : " Potest autem et notum sepulchrum, Marim
■cirginalem, uterum demonstrare." Other fathers likewise
draw a parallel between the new tomb from which Christ
arose to everlasting life, and the Virgin's womb from which
lie was born to earthly life. Similarily Wordsworth, fol-
lowing the doubtful patristic and scholastic notions of the
miraculous birth through the closed womb : " Christ rose
from the new tomb, without moving away the stone. He,
who, as a man entered life through the closed gate of tho
Virgin's womb, rose to immortality from the sealed sepul-
chre."—P. B.]
t [From the Gospel narratives concerning the sepnlchra
of Christ, we may infer with Alford a- d others: (It that it
was entirely new; (2) that it was near the spot of the cruci-
fixion; (3) that it was not a natural cave, but an artificial
excavation in the rock; (4) that it was not cut downward,
after the manner of our graves, but horizontally, or nearly
so, into the face of the rock. The last sei-'ma lo he implied,
I though not necessarily, in -KpociivXiaas Mdov /xfyay rij
: b up a Tou /j.fr]p.iiov,—P. B.]
CHAP. XXVII. 57-66.
537
such a piece of rock, employed to shut up a sepul-
chre, is called bbiil , roller."
Ver. 61. The other Mary. — She was mention-
ed in ver. 56, and is the mother of James and Joses,
the wife of Alphicus ; and Mark (xv. 47) accordingly
says, Mai'v [(he niotherJi of Joses, as the best and
most codd. read. Codex A. reads there r] 'Iwo-rjt^.
Wieseler infers from this reading, without sufhcient
warrant, that she was the wife or daughter of Joseph
of Arimathea. — Were there sitting. — It is only
Matthew who states this glorious fact ; according to
Mark, " they beheld where He was laid."
Yer. 62. That followed the preparation. —
The TT apaffKivT] is the day of preparation for
the Sabbath, Friday, on this occasion the first day
of the feast ; and hence the day which followed was
the Sabbath, or Saturday, the second day of the Pass-
over. Wieseler holds the expression was chosen, be-
cause the first day might have been called also ad.^-
^aTov. Meyer says: "The name is explained by
the fact, that TtajiaiTKevf) was the solemn designation
in use among the Christians to distinguish the Friday
of the crucifixion." It is extremely noteworthy, that
the Jews hold a council and hurry to Pilate upon the
Sabbath morning, and that too the great Sabbath
of the feast. Kuinoel: "ira momica interdixerat
operam manuariam, v( et judicii exercitiuni, non vero
ire ad niagistratum, ab eoque petere aliquid, "procser-
tim cum periculum in mora esset."
Ver. 63. After three days.— De Wette : " Je-
sus had never declared that openly and before stran-
gers." Still He had told it to the disciples, and not
as secret teaching, but to be published. [John ii.
19 ; Matt. xii. 40.] Probably Judas had given them
the more exact statements.
Ver. 65. Ye have a watch!— That is: Ye
shall have a watch ! Your petition is granted. Offi-
cial, and perhaps discontented laconism. But it can-
not mean, Ye have youi-selves a watch (Grotius), of
whom ye may make use, the temple-guards ; for that
view is opposed to ch. xxviii. 14.
As ye understand. — Xot, " as sure as you can ;"
or, " as appears to you best ;" or, " if that is possi-
ble ;" but, " as ye understand that," according to
your meaning of securing. He places the guard at
their disposal ; the employment of the men, the
guarrlianship or guarantee for Christ's continuance in
death, which they wished him also to undertake,
that he will leave to themselves ; and they are to
employ this force to attain the end they had in view,
especially the insuring of the tomb as long as it may
be necessary. In this instance, again, Pilate kept
not his conscience pure, and preserved not his civil
power unimpaired, — giving a guard because of a re-
ligious question.
Ver. 66. Sealing the stone. — A string was
stretched across the stone, and sealed to the rock at
both ends with wax [upon which was stamped the
oflQcial seal of Pilate].
The assertion of Meyer, that this sealing of the
grave, which Matthew records, belongs to the unhis-
torical traditions, does not need here a lengthened
refutation.* But the following points furnish mate-
rials for an answer : — 1. Jesus had certainly declared
previously, that He would rise upon the third day.
* [I regret to see that Meyer adheres to this view in the
fifth edition of his Commentary on Matthew which has just
appeared and reached me (Aug. 29, 1864). Otherwise the
vaUuibie commeutaries of this accurate, honest, .ind con-
scientious scholar, which occupy now the first rank among
philological or strictly grammatico-bistorical commentaries,
2. The grave might be sealed, without the women
coming to know it upon the Sabbath. S. The San-
hedrists could not have taken the body of Jesus into
custody, because Joseph had previously obtained it.
Besides, it was their interest to afifect carelessness re-
garding it. 4. The seduction of the guard to gire a
ialse testimony, and the silencing of the procurator,
correspond in every point to the character of the
world ; besides, it is not said that the soldiers brought
their ftilse report to Pilate, rather the opposite.
5. It is quite natural that Matthew, according to the
character of his Gospel, should be the writer to report
this historic transaction, as he did the corresponding
history of the resurrection, ch. xxviii. 11-15.* It is
still less worth while to deal with the assumption of
Stroth, that this is an mtcrpolation. This statement
simply proves, that the critic could not grasp the
meaning of the passage. For the remainder, see ch.
xxviii. 11.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Regarding the early occurrence of death in
our Lord's case, consult the author's Leben Jesu, ii.
3, p. 1619. One of the reasons why death appeared
at so early a date, was that the dying body hurried
forward to its transformation. To this, tjie phenom-
enon, John xix. 34, had already pointed ; for the
resurrection of Jesus was at once resurrection and
glorification. In the death of Jesus, the great mys-
tery of death is glorified.
[Different opinions on the death of Christ: 1. It
was His own voluntary act, by which He separated
in the full vigor of hfe His spirit from His body,
and placed it, as a deposit, in His Father's keeping.
2. It was the act of God the Father, in answer to
the prayer of the Saviour. 3. It was the natural
consequence of His physical sufferings, and occurred
so early (after six hours, instead of the usual twelve
or more of sufferings on the cross), either on account
of the extraordinary intensity of His agony of body
and mind durmg the trial m Gethsemane and on Cal-
vary, or by a sudden rupture of the heart. These
views may be combined, by supposing that the Sa-
viour hasteyied His death by a voluntary self-surren-
der which the Father accepted. The passage, John
X. 17, 18 should be carefully considered in this con-
nection. The resurrection, too, is represented on
ihe one hand, as Christ's own act, to whom the
Father has given to have hfe in Himself (John ii. 19 ;
V. 26 ; X. 17, 18 ; Acts i. 3 ; Rom. i. 4), and, on the
other hand, as the act of His Father (Acts ii. 24, 32 ;
Rom. iv. 24 ; vi. 4, etc.). Consult on this subject,
W. Stroud : The Physical Cause of Chrisfs Death,
Loud. 1847 ; Samuel J. Andretts : 2'he Life of our
Lord upon the Earth, New York, 1863, p'. 550 ff. ;
present a steady progress of improvement in every succes-
sive edition since they were first begun thirty years ago.
The first volume, which appeared in IS-'SJ, contained the first
three Gospels in one moderate volume and was considered
almost rationalistic, the fifth edition of .Matthew alone, pub-
lished in 1S64, forms a respectable volume of 62.3 pages, and
is not only much more thorough in a scientific point of view,
but also "far more decidedly Christian in tone and spirit
(compare the touching preface), and much nearer the stand-
point of evangelical orthodoxy. — V. A.}
* " Againsl the ojiponents of this history, see particularly
the work of the late, little-known Counsellor Braves In
Karlsruhe: '■ I'auleiiiolon Vhroneicon, oder Gedanken ei-
ne» SUdidndem uher europdinche Religiomchriften, Auf-
HdrungiiKuhriften, etc., Christlaustadt (i. «., Frankfurt am
Main, 17'J7);"'IIoubner.
538
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the various Commentators on the Gospels, and Lunge's,
profound sugcjestions in the Doctrinal and Ethical
Thoughts to Chap, xxviii. 1-10, nos. 7 and 8. — P. S.]
2. Along with the death of Jesus, the courage of
the New Testament confessors begins to manifest it-
self. To this confessing band belong the sorrowing
women who (according to Luke) follow the cross-
laden Lord, the centurion beneath the cross, also the
two hitherto-secret disciples, Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus. Under this head, also, must we
notice the fact, that the two Maries continue sitting
alone over against the Lord's tomb, in that awing
and affrighting spot.
3. One of the striking ironies of God's judgment
may be observed in the circumstance, that the mem-
bers of the Sanhedrin are forced to go upon the morn-
ing of the paschal Sabbath to the sepulchre of Jesus,
for the purpose of sealing the stone, because the dead
Christ allowed them no rest. In that anxiety we may
see the effect of the words of Judas, and of tlae Lord's
prediction of His resurrection. Upon this morning
of the feast, it was no formal meeting of council they
held : the most decided enemies of Jesus consulted
among themselves, and then dropped in singly, as if
by accident, to make their request to Pilate: and
thus there came to be a kind of priestly council in
the governor's palace, to which the Evangelist here
alludes. It was alleged by these priests, that the dis-
ciples mighf come and steal away the corpse ; and
this lying assertion reveals to us, how well prepared
they were for any emergency, even the worst. But,
beneath all this disguise, they were the prey of fear,
and the real motive was terror. Influenced by a
monstrous, superstitious belief in the power of the
seal of Jewish authority, and of a Roman guard, they
imagined themselves able to shut up in the grave the
possibihty of a resurrection by Jesus, the divine retri-
bution, a result of that resurrection, and, above all,
their owa. wicked fears. And so they desecrate the
great Passover Sabbath by their restless occupation,
seeking to secui'e the grave of Him whom they had
accused and condemned for His miracles of love
wrought on ordinary Sabbaths. The disembodied
spirit of the Jewish law must wander around the
grave of Jesus upon the most sacred Sabbath of the
year. In that act we have the last expression of their
abandonment to the Gentiles of salvation through a
Messiah ; and also the strongest expression of the
folly they manifested in their unbelief By means
of a priestly seal, and a borrowed military guard,
they desire to secure in a permanent tomb the spirit
and life of Christ, the spirit of His past, present, and
future, as if all were a mere deception.
4. But in the meantime* the spirit of Christ's
life is laboring in the depths of the grave and the
under world or Hades. The germ of humanity and
salvation was bursting into new life in the earth, and
also in the heart of the disciples ; in the former, saved
from death, in the latter, from apparent despair.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The quiet Sabbath ; or, the death-rest of Jesus in
its twofold efficacy: 1. It institutes the sabbath of
redemption in the disciples' hearts ; 2. it institutes
the godless labor of wicked fear in the enemies'
camp. — How friends and foes are busied about the
* [Not; in spite of all, as the Eilinb. edition mistrans-
lates unt&rd6ssen.—¥. S.]
dead Christ: 1. The friends; 2. the foes.— The re-
vival of the disciples, a presage of His resurrection.
— How through Christ's death His secret disciples
obtain the power to confess Him openly: 1. Now
they feel their full guilt ; 2. now they see the world's
full condcnmation ; 8. the perfect vanity and wretch-
edness of the fear of man ; 4. tlie perfect glory of the
sacrificial death of Christ. — Joseph of Arimathea;
or, the wonder how, in spite of all, the rich enter the
kingdom of heaven. — The sacrifice of Joseph. — The
offerings of the male and female disciples. — The
Church at the holy sepulchre. — How Christ's love
changed the women into heroines, beside the grave.
— How tlie younger disciples meet the older always
at Christ's grave. — The Lord's convulsing death, by
which lambs become lions like Himself, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah. — The import which that evening-
seat over against Jesus' grave has for us. — The quiet
Sabbath, and the quiet grave. — The burial of be-
lievers a sermon. — The grave of Christ amidst all the
world's graves : a ti'ansfiguration of the same. — The
Jewish method of burial in its difference from the
heathen sepulchre, a prophecy which has been fulfil-
led in the grave of Jesus. — The interment of man-
kind, a picture of their religion, — 1. Among the
heathen ; 2. the Jews ; 8. the Christians. — Christ's
grave has changed the impure Jewish grave into a
consecrated Christian grave. — The isolated graves of
Judaism, and the Christian churchyard ; or, the
sleeping are gathered together Ijy Christ. — Gethse-
mane, and the holy sepulchre ; or, the garden of
struggle converted into the garden of rest. — Paradise
and the accursed earth, Golgotha and the garden of
the grave and the resurrection ; or, the old and the
new world. — Priests and Pharisees in their ever-
abiding dread of Christ, whom they imagined they
have killed. — The means by which the slaves of the
letter thuili; to imprison in the grave the spirit and
life of Christ : 1. Cunning pretences; 2. antiquated
seals of authority ; 3. borrowed guards. — The illusion
which the foes of Jesus make of the truth of His Ufe
and efiicacy : 1. The illusion : {a) they make Christ a
lie ; [h) a destructive he ; (c) a double deception.
2. The result of this illusion : {a) they become decep-
tive opponents of His life ; (6) of His redemption ;
(c) of His resurrection. — How the old Sabbath fanat-
ics desecrate the second, the great Sabbath of God.
— They went and secured the grave with guards, and
sealed the stone. — The old yet ever-new history:
legahsm becomes the servant of the kingdom of
darkness. — The self-annihilation of the authority of
the old world, making itself the minister of the Wick-
ed One: 1. The self-annihilation of the power of the
church-seal (the bull) ; 2. the self-annihilation of the
power of the soldiery (in conflict with the Spirit of
Christ). — The sacred corn-field upon Golgotha, be-
tween Good Friday and Easter. — Christ is dead to
live for ever, — 1. In the heart of God; 2. in the
depths of His life; 8. in the bosom of humanity;
4. in the centre of our hearts.
Starke: — As God watched over His Son, and re-
vealed His care visibly, so will He guard and take care
ofChrist's members (in death). — C'ansfem .• Riches and
a high position are undoubtedly accompanied with dan-
gers ; 1 Cor. i. 26 ; yet God has his own among the
noble and wealthy, 1 Kings xviii. 12, 13. — He who
employs his wealth to God's glory (upon Christ's
body. His Church, servants, members), has made a
good investment. — Bibl. Wirt.: In the most bitter
persecutions, and greatest apostasy, there are many
steadfast disciples who confess Christ and serve Him.
CHAP. XXVII. 67-66.
539
— Xova Bibl. Tub. : Faitb grows in trial ; and he
who acknowledged Christ but secretly during His
Uf'e, dared to solicit Him boldly after His death. —
Osiander: Those often become cowardly and de-
spairing, who were at first bold and fearless ; and
vice versa. — Cramer: Cod's Spirit is mighty and won-
derful, and can quickly make a heart where there is
none. — God often draws out the hearts of the high
to glorify Himself, and rejoice his people. — Osian-
der : We should bury our dead honorably, and tes-
tify in this way openly, that we believe in the resur-
rection of the deacf. — Zeisius : The burial of Christ,
the rest of our bodies. — The guard, and the sealing
of the grave, must become testimonies to the resur-
rection.— Wilt thou do good to Christ, do it to His
people. — We may still show love to Christ in the
persons of His poor members. — True love loves still,
after death. — True faith never lets Christ escape ; if
faith sees Him not with the eyes, still she keeps him,
His cross and death, in her heart. — Quesnel : Death
cannot extinguish a friendship which God's Spirit has
instituted, and Christ's blood has cemented. — The
mil's extreme wickedness has united to itself extreme
blindness of perception (in so far as they sought by
a foolish proposal to remove the truth of the resur-
rection, -while they only served to confirm it). — The
wicked are hke the restless sea, their evil conscience
gives them no rest, Isa. Ivii. 20, 21. — Zeisius: No
human power, prudence, or cumiing, can hinder
God's work, Ps. xxv. 3. — The issue was a condemna-
tion of themselves, and a glorification of Clirist.
Heubner : — By Joseph's example we are taught to
honor the dead, especially when we had known them.
— Tlie body, too, is to bo honored : it is the garment
of tlie soul. — Many hands were employed in burying
Christ, and with what tenderness and love ! — Christ's
rest in the grave, the type of the soul's spiritual sab-
bath.— Tarry lovingly by the graves of your loved
ones. — Whosoever loves Jesus, is lost in the contem-
plation of His death. — Teach thyself to bury thy life
in Jesus. — They wish to prevent His resurrection,
and they must estabhsh unwillingly its certainty ; at
the outset they proclaim the secret of the resurrec-
tion, and, permitting their knowledge of tho true
meaning of tlie "destruction of tlio temple" to ap-
pear, they punish tlieniselvcs tlms for a false accusa-
tion.— As often as a man strives against God, against
tlie truth, he strives against himself, and prepares
shame and difficulties for himself.— The more men
seek to bury the memory of the truth, the more it
appears. — In their slanders, men give the key to
their discovery and detection.
Braunc:—\Nho had believed that anyone would
have come now to the cross ? But, behold, two rich
men come, members of that Sanhedrin which had re-
jected Christ ! — Their hearts forced them ; they act-
ed uuder the impulse of a new spirit.— The fear of
man is overcome. — The new grave, in which no man
had been laid ; as He rode into Jerusalem upon an
unused colt. And shall His Spirit make His abode
in an old heart?— The friends who acknowledged
the Lord when covered' with shame, are the Christian
types of those who believe in virtue when all the
world ridicules it. — The guards have one object in
common with the friends of Jesus, that the bodies
be not changed, and that so the resurrection be all
the more certain.— The disciples forget the words of
Jesus regarding the resurrection. His enemies re-
member them (Reason : the sorrow of the one, the
fear of the others). — They would prevent a decep-
tion, and they themselves practise a deception. —
These hars and murderers fear the disciples are liars.
— What is done in God's strength and spoken in His
Spirit, appears to view and stands fast.
Gerok : — The sacred evening — stillness upon Gol-
gotha: 1. The quiet rest of the perfected Endurer.
2. The quiet repentance of the convulsed world.
3. The quiet labor of the loving friends. 4. The
quiet peace of the holy grave. — Kunize : — The burial
of Jesus mamfests to us, — 1. The believer's courage;
2. love's power; 3. truth's seal; 4. the mourner's
consolation. — Wolf: — Looks of comfort toward the
grave of Christ. — Brandt : — The burial of Jesus
Christ, — a work of, 1. Grateful acknowledgment;
2. holy love ; 3. praiseworthy courage ; 4. a work
causing the deepest shame to many.
540 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
PART SEVENTH.
Christ in the Perfection of His Kingly Glory.
Chapter XXVIII.
UPON MATTHEW'S ACCOUNT OF THE RESURRECTION.
The relation of this Gospel of the Resurrection to the whole evangelical tradition is to be see7i only after a
brief sketch of the latter,
I. The Appearances in Jdd^a, in Jerusalem, at Emmaus, belong to the Period of the Israelitish
Passover.
1. The first Easter* morning. — Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, proceed to the
grave, Mark xvi. 1. They are to be followed {see Luke) by the other women, who are bringing the
spices and ointments. The three who thus went in advance, behold the stone rolled away, and are
affected in quite different ways by this sight. The narrative now divides into two portions.
Excitement and ecstasy seize upon Mary Magdalene. — She hurries into the city {and toward the male
disciples), reports the facts to Peter and John ; hurries back again, sees two angels in the grave, and
afterward the Lord. She brings then the message to the disciples. Meanwhile Peter and John have
arrived at the grave, and found it empty.
Ifary, the mother of James, and Salome, at the sight of the removed stone, collect themselves, ad-
vance more closely, and see one angel sitting upon the stone. The Easter message of the angel. They
hurry back in great fear and joy {and toward the female disciples), long undecided whether they will an-
nounce what they had seen or not. And, in this state, they meet the other women, who are bringing
the ointments. All together now visit the empty tomb of Jesus, where they now {see Luke) behold two
angels, as the Magdalene had done before {see the author's Comnuntary on Mark). After they had
started back to the city, they were met by the Lord.
Besides, in the course of the day, Peter also had a manifestation. Hence three messages from the
risen Saviour — three messages from the empty grave.
2. Tlie first Easter evening. — Christ appears to the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke), walks with them,
goes into the house, and then disappears. Next He appears in Jerusalem in their evening meeting, on
which occasion Thomas is absent.
3. The second Sunday {eight days after the first Easter morning). — Appearance in the evening among the
disciples. Revelation of the Lord specially for Thomas {see John). The feast of the Passover contin-
ued till the preceding Friday. The disciples would not, of course, set out upon Saturday, or Sabbath.
They remained also the second Sunday, f which shows that it had become to them already a second (a
Christian) sabbath, and that they waited on that holy day for the full assurance of the fact of the resur-
rection to the doubting disciple (Thomas). Probably Monday following was the day of their departure.
II. The Appearances in Galilee, during the Return of the Galileans, between Easter and Pentecost.
1. The appearance at the Sea of Galilee unto the seven disciples (John xxi.). Peter's restoration. The
declaration of the future fate of Peter and John in their import for the Church.
* [In German : Ostermorgen, and below, sub 2., Osteradend. The Edinb. edition substitutes for these terms morn-
ing after the Sahhath, and evening after the Sabbath, and studiously avoids throughout the whole section the mention of
Easter (the Christian resurrection-feast) altogether or substitutes for it the Jewish passovei; which had now lost its mean-
ing for the Christians; the shadow having disappeared in the substance.— P. S.]
t [Not: Sabbath, as the Edinb. translation here and elsewhere translates Sonntag, even where Lange uses Sabbath in
the Jewish sense as in the sentence immediately preceding. By substituting Sabbath in this pjissage the Edinb. edition
simply repeats the preceding sentence, and by omitting the sentences which follow altogether, it withholds from the
reader an argument for the apostolic origin of the observance of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath.— P. 8.]
CHAP. XXYIII.
541
2. The great revelation of Jesus in the circle of His disciples upon the mountain in Galilee (Matt, xxviii.
16 ff. ; Mark xvi. 15-18 ; Luke xxiv. 45-i9 ; 1 Cor. xt. 6).
3. The special appearance to James. Probably it was not (as the tradition says) to James the Less, but to
the Elder : and the object, probably, was to direct the disciples tlirough James to go up to Jerusalem
earlier than usual.
ni. The Appearances in Jerusalem and on Mount Olitet, about the Time of Pentecost.
The history of the Ascension (Mark, Luke, the Acts). We reckon, accordingly, five manifestations upon
the first day of Easter,* the sixth upon the following Sunday. The two great and decisive appearances
in GaUlee, forming the centre, are the seventh and eighth. Then the appearance to James, also with-
out doubt in GaUlee. And fmally the tenth, which closed with the Ascension.
We must notice this distinction, that in the first five instances Jesus appeared unexpectedly and
suddenly, and as quickly vanished. But, for the second grand revelation upon the mountain in Galilee,
He issued a formal invitation, and in all probability tarried some time in their midst ; and this holds
true, apparently, of the last interview, when He walked along so confidingly among His Apostles, from
Jerusalem to Bethany, that they might have thought He would now remam with them always.
[The order of the events after the resurrection given by Dr. Lange is very mgenious and plausible.
For other arrangements of Lightfoot, Lardner, West, Townson, Newcome, Da Costa, Greswell, Ebrard,
Robinson, see the convenient tables in Andrews : Life of Christ, pp. 587-592. Also Nast : Commen-
tary on Matthew and Mark, pp. 629-632. If anywhere in the history of our Saviour, we must look for
differences of statement in this most wonderful and mysterious period of the forty days, which deals
with facts that transcend all ordinary Christian experience. Our inability to harmonize the narratives
satisfactorily in every particular, arises naturally from our want of knowledge of all the details and cir-
cumstances in the precise order of their occurrence, and proves nothing agamst the facts themselves.
On the contrary, minor diiferences with substantial agreement, tend strongly to confirm those facts, far
more than a literal agreement, which might suggest the suspicion of a previous understanding and mu-
tual dependence of the witnesses. — P. S.]
* [Here again the Edinb. edition translates am ersten Ostertage : the first day after the Sahlath, wliich must mean
the Jewish sabbatb, and yet in the same sentence immediately afterward it uses Salbaih (for Sonntag) in the Christian
sense, without a word of explanation to prevent the inevitable confusion.— P. S.]
Of the rich treasury of these evangelical tradi-
tions, Matthew has given us merely the first angelic
appearance, seen at the grave by the women, Christ's
revelation to these females, and the appearance of
the Lord among His disciples upon the mountain in
Galilee. But he has, besides this, introduced into
his narrative the account of the bribery of the se-
pulchral guards (vers. 11-15). This last record, and.
also Christ's majestic revelation, are peculiar to him.
— ^It is manifestly his chief design to depict Christ's
royal majesty, as revealed by a few decisive transac-
tions. In addition to this, it is his chief mterest to
make the contrast between the Lord's kingly glory
and the Messianic expectations on the part of the
Jews, appear now most distinctly (as this wish may
have been his reason for continually designating the
New Testament kingdom of God, the kingdom of
heaven). Hence he places the scene of the most un-
portant events in the resurrection-history in Galilee.
Galilee was the place to which the disciples were
pointed by the angels (ver. 7). In GaUlee the Lord
Himself bade His brethren assemble. Accordingly,
it is in GaUlee that the chief revelation occurs, dur-
ing which Christ proclamis His share in the world's
government, institutes holy baptism, and promises
His ever-abiding presence in the Church till the end
of the world.
AU these points are no doubt to be found in the
general evangeUcal history ; but it is Matthew who
brings them out most strongly, and contrasts them
with the ehiliastic views of the Jews, who refused to
dissever the glory of the Messiah from the external
Zion and the external temple. For the same reason,
Matthew directs attention to the contrast between
the deep misery of unbeUeving Judaism, as presented
in the narrative of the bribed guards, and the glorious
certainty of beUeving Judaism, in beholding the rev-
elation of the Lord upon the mountain, when He pre-
sented Himself in the brightness of His omnipotence,
and of the holy Trinity, and instituted as victor His
victorious Church. The first section is an expressive
ijpc. of the Talmud and its supporters, of Judaism
sunken in deceit, employed m futile endeavors, and
making common cause with heathendom ; while the
second is a type of the Gospel and the world-con-
quering Church.
From the brevity and elevated conception that
characterize the account given by Matthew, we must
expect, however, several inaccuracies. Hence it is
that the two i-ei)orts brought by the women are woven
into one ; and the second vision of angels, seen by
Mary Magdalene, is united with the first, which the
other women had beheld. The same is the case re-
garding the two distinct appearances of Christ to the
women. Matthew agrees with John in not stating
that the design of the women was to anoint the Lord.
This omission was probably intentional. Undoubt-
edly, the ostensible object of the women was to anoint
Christ's body ; but, at the same tune, a higher mo-
tive, of which they were themselves but darkly con-
542
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Bcious, drove them to the grave, — the germ of hope,
that Jesus will arise, which His promises necessarily
produced. This supposition gains some ground from
the free, general account, found in Matthew and John,
omitting as they do all mention of the anointing.
When dealing with the self-manifestation of Jesus
upon the mountain, where there were more than five
hundred believers witnessing His glory, Matthew
mentions only the Eleven, because it was his inten-
tion to conclude his Gospel with the apostolic com-
mission which the heavenly King issued to the world,
putting it first into the hands of His Apostles, and
sealing it unto them with His promise.
The imaginary and real differences between the
various accounts of the circumstances of Christ's
resurrection found in the four Gospels, have been
pointed out by the Wolfenbiittel Fraginentist [Rei-
marus], and exaggerated beyond all the limits of
historical justice by Strauss, as if they were as many
irreconcilable contradictions. As opposed to his
views, consult, in addition to the older harmonists,
Tholuck upon John; Hug, Gntachten, ii. p. 210;
W. Hoffmann, p. 408 ff. ; Neandek, Life of Christ,
p. V'Zl ; Ebrard, Criticism of the Gospel History, p.
712 fF. A short resume of the most strikmg differ-
ences will be found in de Wette's Commentary on
Matthew, p. 244 £f.
One of the most important differences Strauss
finds in this, that Jesus commands the disciples, ac-
cordmg to Matthew and Mark, to go into Galilee to
see Him ; wliile Luke represents Hun as issuing the
command not to depart from Jerusalem till they
should be gifted with power from on high. But this
is merely an apparent contradiction. Strauss has
overlooked the real state of matters, and has quite
forgotten the relations in which Galilean visitors
stood to the Jewish feasts of the Passover and of
Pentecost. When Jesus had risen, the Passover
was almost at an end. Jesus revealed Himself, it is
true, at that time and place to the Eleven ; but He
delayed His appearance to the Church until He ar-
rived in Galilee, partly because He wished not to ex-
pose them to the persecution of the hierarchy' m
Jerusalem in their young faith in the resurrectioi!,*
partly because He wished to remove from the disci-
ples every idea of His manifestation being necessari-
ly connected with the old temple. But it may be
easily conceived that the disciples would not lightly
leave the scene where Jesus had first revealed Him-
self, namely, Jerusalem ; and that this supposition is
true, is proved by the fact, that they tarried .still
two days after the close of the Passover (which last-
ed a whole week) for the sake of Thomas, who still
doubted, and many others of the larger circle of dis-
ciples, who probably doubted with him [comp. ch.
xxviii. 17]. On this account, the command of the
Lord comes, enjoining them to prepare for their de-
parture. Besides, some of the disciples required
some time to prepare themselves for the joy of see-
ing Him, — especially the mother of Jesus. Accord-
ingly, after that they became convinced of the cer-
tainty of His resurrection, they returned homeward,
according to their old festive habits. At the time of
* [Literally : Easter-fiiith, Osterglaule, wbich the
Edinb. edition, in its unreasonable opposition to the term
Easier, renders: Passuver-Jaiih, -ivbicli is bad Englisb and
conveys a false nreaninfr by obliterating tbe distinction be-
tween the typii'i;! f-hadow of tbe Jewish passover and tbe
bubstanc.' of tl].- (.hri.stian resurrection-festable. So further
below tbe ).;iinb. iiliii.,n bas Pasiover-oceurren^es, I'as.i-
ocer-traiisiic/ioti.'i, J'a.,.yi:n-er-7iistory, and similar heavy
compounds to avoid Easter.— 1^. S.]
the Ascension, however, or toward the end of the
forty days, the period for gomg up to the feast of
Pentecost was at hand ; and on this occasion they
were induced, it would appear, to depart at an un-
usually early date. There is probably a connection
between this earlier departure and Christ's appear-
ance to James. (See the author's Leben Jesu, ii. 3,
1761.)
The differences, however, between the accounts
of the first announcement of the resurrection, found
in the four Gospels, are an important testimony,
when exactly weighed, to the truth of the history of
the resurrection. It is no doubt remarkable, that
literal, or external, protocol-like certainty, should be
wanting, exactly in the place where the Christian
faith seeks and does actually find the beginning of
the confirmation of all its certainties. Faith, even
here, is not to be supported upon the letter, but upon
the substance, — upon the real essence of the facts.
Tliis essence, this spirit, comes out here most dis-
tinctly, and is manifested exactly through the differ-
ences themselves, because these are tlie indications
of the extraordinary effect produced by the resurrec-
tion upon the band of the disciples. The evangelical
records give no narration of facts, simply for the sake
of the facts,- and apart from their efi'ects ; but they
present us with a history, which has individuahzed
itself to the view of the Evangehst. And hence the
Easter occurrences are retained and rehearsed as
reminiscences never to be forgotten ; and differ ac-
cordingly, as tlie stand-points of the disciples vary,
and yet preserve a great degree of haimony. In tiiis
way it is that we are to explain the remarkable in-
dividualities and variations to be found in the ac-
counts of the resurrection and manifestations of the
risen Saviour; and in these accounts is contained
for all tune the joyous fright of the Church, caused
by the great tidings of the resurrection. Just as, in
a festive motetlo, the voices are apparently singing in
confusion, seemingly separate, and contradict ano-
ther, while in reaUty they are bringing out one theme
in a higher and holier harmony ; so is it here. The
one Easter history, with its grand unity, meets, when
all the different accounts are combined, the eye in all
its clearness and distinctness. The answer to each
of the seeming contradictions is to be found in the
organic construction which has been attempted
above.
Literature. — See Winer : Handhuch der theolog.
lAteratur, i. p. 291 ; Danz: Universal- Worierbuch,
p. 91 ; Supplemente, p. 11 ; Goschel : Von den JBe-
weisen fiir die l/nsterblichkeit der menschlichen Seele
im Lichte der spcculaiiven Philosophie, 1835 (see the
Preface) ; Doedes : Dc Jesu in vitam reditu. Utr.
1841; Reich: Die Aifcrstehung Jesu Christi als
Heilsthatsache, 1846; Hasse: JDas Leben des ver-
Marten Erlosers im Himmelnachdeneignen Aussprii-
chen des Herrn, ein Bcitrag zur biblischen Theologie,
Leipzig, 1854; W. F. Besser: Die Leidens- und
Herrlichkeitsgeschichte nach den 4 LJvangelisten in
Bibelstiinden fiir die Gemcinde ausgelegt. Second
Part : Die Herrlichkei^rgescMchte, 4th ed., Halle,
1857; Schkader: Der Verkehr des Auferstandenen
mit den Semen, funf Bctrachtungeru, Kiel, 1857.
The article, Auferstehung, by Klikg, in Herzog's
lical-Encyklopddie [vol. i. p. 592 ff. Among Eng-
lish works we refer to Roeinson: Harmony, and
Andrews: Life of our Lord, p. 570 ff.— P. S.j.
Easter (German, Ostern). — The name. " The
month of April is called, up to this day, Easter-
month {Ostermonaf) ; and as early as Eginhart we
CHAP, XXVm. 1-10.
543
find Odermanoth. The holy festablo of the Chris-
tians, which is celebrated generally in April, or to-
ward the close of March, bears, in the oldest remains
of the old High German dialect, the name ustanl ;
generally the plural form is found, because two
Easter-days were observed. This ostard must, like
the Anglo-Saxon EiUtre, iiave been the name for
some superior being among the heathen, whose wor-
ship had struck its roots so deep, that the name was
retained and applied to one of the chief festivals of
the Christian year. All our neighboring nations
have retained the name Pascha ; even Ulfilas has
paska, not ausiro, although he must have been fa-
miliar with the term, exactly as the northern languages
introduce pdskis (Swedish), pasl; and the Danish
paaske. The old High German adverb ustar indi-
cates the east ; so the old Norse austr^ probably the
Anglo-Saxon edsfor, Gothic auslr. In the Latin
tongue, the quite identical aicstcr indicates the south.
In the Ed la, a male being, a spirit of light, bears
the name Austri ; while the High German and
Saxon stem have formed but one Ostara. — Ostara,
Eastre, may accordingly have been the god of the
beaming morning, of the rising light, a joj'ful, bless-
ing-bringing appearance, whose conception could
easily be employed to designate the resurrection-fes-
tival of the Christian's God. Joyous bonfires were
kindled at Easter ; and, according to the myth long
believed by the people, the sun made, early upon the
morning of the first Easter-day, three springs for
joy, — a festive dance of gladness." Jacob Grimm,
Deutsche Mythologie, p. 247. So also Beda Yen.,
De temporum ratione: "^ dea illorum [veteriim An-
glorum) quce Eostre vocabaiur.^^ The other explana-
tion, held to by many, that the name comes from the
Germanic urstan, — to rise, must yield to this histo-
rical etymology. The similarity of auster goes no
further than the mere sound; but, on the other
hand, the Greek name for the morning-red, and for
the east, rjciS?, Doric auis, ^olic auwr, is to be
connected. The transference of the heathen name
is explained by the fact, that a popular festival was
united with the day of the god of light among the
heathen, as with the celebration of the resurrection
among the Christians. The people's festival, not that j
of the god, was transferred. It became a christian- \
ized national festival, retaining the old name ; and ;
this occurred all the more easily, because the name
signified rather a religious personification than a
chief divinity of heathenism, and the celebration of
the name symbolized fully the Christian holy day.
Just as the festival of the returning (unconquered)
sun, as a festival of joy, became united in symbolic
import with the Christian festival o( Christmas, so
the festival of the spring sun, and of the life-fraught
morning glow, coming forth in spring out from the
winter storms, became a symbolic celebration of the
spiritual Easter Sun, which rose out of the night of
the grave.
The day of preparation for the Easter festival
in the ancient Church was the great or sacred Sab-
bath (Sabbafum magnum), and was observed as a
general fast. The afternoon of that day was a period
for a general administration of baptism. In the
evening there was an illumination in the towns ; and
the congregation assembled for the Easter vigils
(it o r y u X ' 5 6 ?), and these lasted till Easter morning.
Upon Easter Sunday (t^ iraaxa, KvptaKT] futyi-
K 7)), the Christians greeted one another with mutual
blessings ; and the day was signalized by works of
benevolence and charity. Easter Monday was the
second celebration, as the festival of their unhesitat-
ing belief in the resurrection ; but the Easter holy-
days, in the wider sense, did not conclude till the
next Sunday {^Dominica in albis), which derived its
name from the custom of leading those who had
been baptized into the church in their white bap-
tismal garments. A new part of the entire quinqua-
gesimal festival began with Ascension Sunday, and
closed with the feast of Pentecost, which resembled
the Easter festival. — Upon the Easter festival ( Osier-
fest), compare Fr. Strauss : * Das evang. KircJien-
ja/w, p. 218; Bobertag: Das evang. Kirchenjahr,
ii. p. 155. Strauss: "The Easter festival is the
chief Christian festival. It is not simply chief feast,
but the feast, coming round in its full glory but once
in the year, but yet appearing in some form in all
the other holy days, and constituting their sacred-
ness. Every holyday, yea, even every Sunday, was
called for this reason dies paschalis. Easter is the
original festival in the most comprehensive sense.
Xo one can tell when the festival arose; it arose
with the Church, and the Church with it."
* [Court preacher and professor of practical tlieolo^ in
the university of Berlin, died 1S62, a man of altogether ditfer-
ent spirit from his namesake of Lebeii Jesti notoriety. —
P. S.]
FIRST SECTION.
THE ANGEL FROM HEAVEN AND THE FAITHFUL WOMEN". THE RISEN SAVIOUR AND
THE FAITHFUL WOMEN. THE WATCHWORD: "INTO GALILEE!"
Chaptee XXVIII. 1-10.
(Mark xvi. 1-11 ; Luke xxiv. 1-22; John xx. 1-18.)
1 In the end of the [Jewish] sabbath [Now after the sabbath, 6\\jl tCiv o-a/J/Jarwi/],* as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the [festal] week [ets fiiav o-afSj^dTwv, i. e., the
Christian Sunday],^ came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the [an] angel of the Lord' descended
544
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
3 from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,'* and sat upon it. His
4 countenance was Hke lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him
5 the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said
unto the women, Fear not ye : for I know that ye seek Jesus, which [who] was crucified.
6 He is not here : for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead ; and, behold, he
8 goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they
departed^ quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run [and ran] to
9 bring his disciples word.' And as they went to tell his disciples,'' behold, Jesus met
them, saying. All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped
10 him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell my brethren that they go
into Gahlee, and there shall they see me.
1 Ver. 1. — [The usual translation of 6i|/€ {aero) (xaPPaTocv is: toward the end of the satibaih, or late in the sablatA,
meaning the closing period near the end, but still during the sabbath; comp. o\f/e t^s 7jfj.epa?, late in the day, o^J/e t^s
^Ai/ci'os, late in life. Vulgate: vespere salbati; Beza: extremo sabbato; Tyndale: the sabbath day at even; Cover-
dale : upon the evening of the sabbath holy day ; Cranmer, Genevan, and Bishops' Versions: In the latter end of the
sabbath day ; Lange : win die Endezcit des Subbathx; Meyer, Alford, Coiiant, etc. But in this case we must assume
with Meyer, Lange, and Alford, tliat Matthew here follows the natural division of the day from sunrise to sunrise, which
seems to be favored by the following definition of time, but which is contrary to the Jewish habit and the Jewish-Chris-
tian character and destination of the first Gospel. '0\pe, with the genitive, may also mean after or long after, like 6\j/i
Twv ^acrtXeciis xpoVoii' (Plutarch. Num. 1), or oi|/e ixvoTopii^v, when the mysteries were over (Philostrat. Vit. Apoll.
iv. 18). Hence 01shau.sen, de Wette, Ewald, Bleek, Campbell, Norton, Eobinson (sub oi|/e, No. 2), Crosby translate : nach
Verfiuss des Sabbaths, Sabbath being over, or being ended, after the sabbath (also the French Version : apres le sab-
bat). Euthym. Zigabenus, Grotius, Stier, and Wieseler translate : at the end of the wee/c ; also Greswell, who translates :
A^ow late in the week, at the hour of dawn, against the first day of the week; for the plural ad^^ara, like the Hebrew
ninaia , means a week as well as a sabbathor sabbaths, comp. Mark xvi. 2; Luke x.xiv. 1; John xx. 1, 19, and Matt,
xxviii. 1. It is certain and agreed on all hands that Matthew means the time after the close of the Jewish sabbath, the
time before day-break on the first day of the week or the Christian Sunday. This is plain from the following rfj iirKpu-
ffKovari ih jJLiav aa^li6.T0}v, and confirmed by the parallel passages; comp. Siaytvofi^vou rod aa^^drov, Mark xvi. 1;
Tij jiiS. Twv (Ta^fidrccu opOpov ^adsos, Luke xxiv. 1 ; and rj? fMiS tSjv aa^pdrcap Trpiu'i, (TKOTias tri ovarjs,
John x's. 1.— P. S.]
'■^ Ver. 1.— [Lit. : at the dawning, or as it was dawning into the first day of the week (Conant), or : in the dawn of
the first day (Norton), i. e., toward sunrise of Sunday. In connection with rj? iirKpaxTKovcrij siipply we'p?- or topa.
The term fiia aa^^draiv agrees with the Rabbinical signification of the days of the week: riDTUa nUKi Sunday; 13^
nSiiJS) Monday; tl^^J^ '^DI^'O, Tuesday, etc. See Lightfoot, y. 500. As adB^ara in the second clause certainly
means week and not the sabbath day, it seems natural to understand it the same way in the first clause, as Grotius, Wiese-
ler, and Stier, who renders : Als aber die Woche um war und der erste Wbchentag anbrechen wollte. — P. S.]
s Ver. 2. — [The definite article before angel is not justified by the Greek: cLyy^Kos Kvpiov, and suggests a false inter-
pretation as if a particular angel, the angel of the covenant, was meant. In ch. ii. 19 all English Versions correctly render:
«?i angel, but in ch. i. 20, 24; ii. 13, and here, they follow Tyndale in prefixing the article.— P. S.]
* Ver. 2. — The words: airh rfj? Ovpas, are wanting in B., D., and rejected by other authorities; probably, an ex-
cgetical addition. [They are also omitted in Cod. Sinait, ancient versions, and fathers, and thrown out by Lachmann,
Tischendorf, Meyer, and Alford.— P. S.]
= Ver. 8.— B., C.,L., etc., and. Tischendorf, read, instead of €|eA0oC<rai, aireXOovaai; and, judging from internal
grounds, this is the more probable reading. [Cod. Sinait. sustains air e\6ovffai, which is also adopted by Alford, while
Lachmann retains i^eXdovaai. The latter: they went out, would imply that the women had entered into the sepul-
chre, to "the place where the Lord lay."— P. S.]
« Ver. 8.— [In Greek: a'7ra77€rAai. This verb is translated in three different ways in the English Version in
this section : to bring iKord, ver. 8 ; to tell, vers. 9, 10 ; and to shew, in ver. 11. Such frequent change is hardly justifiable,
certainly unnecessary, since tell would answer as well in all these cases. — P. S.]
^ Ver. 9. — The words : as they went to tell his disciples, are omitted in B., D., and many other MSS. and versions.
Griesbach and Scholz would insert, Lachmann and Tischendorf omit. Meyer considers the words an explanatory gloss.
[Cod. Sinait., Origen, Chrysostom, etc., and of critical editors, Mill, Bengel, Alford, and Tregelles, likewise favor the omis-
sion. Scrivener is wrong when he asserts that "Lachmann alone dares to expunge them." Meyer and Alford correctly
observe that 01 s i-TropevovTO is foreign to the usage of Matthew. It is certain that the words can be easily spared; yet
on the other hand, they are solemn, and their omission can be re£.dily explained from homoeotel., the recurrence of avrov.
-P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 1. But about the end. — 'Oi|/e Si aa^-
Pdrwu . The peculiar expression is explained by
the context. It was the time of tlie dawn, or of
breaking day {ri/j.epa to be supplied in connection with
iTncpaiaKuuffri), on the first day of the week, Sunday.
Similar are the statements of Luke and John ; while
Mark says : about sunrise. But there are various
explanations attached to this expression of Matthew.*
[Comp. the translator's Critical Note No
iibove.-P.
1. De Wette and others explain: After the Sabbath
had elided ; 2. Grotius and others : After the week
had dosed ; 3. Meyer : Late upon the Sabbath. So
that it is not the accurate Jewish division of time,
according to which the Sabbath ended at six on Sat-
urday evening, but the ordinary reckoning of the
day, which extends from sunrise to sunrise, and
adds the night to the preceding day. Meyer's asser-
tion, that 01^6, with the genitive of the time, always
points to a still continuing period as a late season,
would support this view, if it were true, but it is
doubtful.* Pape translates the u^i tuv Tpai'iKcov
* [Meyer, in the fourth and fifth editions of his Commen-
CHAP. XXVIII. 1-10.
545
Ibuud iu Philostr. : " long after the Trojan war,
But the tact, that Matthew makes the first day of the
week begin here with sunrise, is decisive in Meyer's
favor. — M'la (Ta^^druiv = T\Z'd'2 inx, Snn-
day. According to Matthew's method of expression,
which is always so full of meaning, we find a doctrin-
al emphasis in the words, late hi the evening of the
(old) Sabbath season, as it beffan to dawn toioard the
carhi moniinff of the (new) Simdat/ season.
Came Mary Magdalene, and the other
Mary. — John names only Mary Magdalene; Mark
adds Salome ; Luke (xxiv. 10), several others, name-
ly, Johanna, the wife of Ghusa, as we learn from Luke
viii. 3. These differences of the narrations arise IVohi
the intention of emphasizing diiferent circumstancjs.
We must begin with Mark. Three women go tiist
to the grave — Magdalene, the other Mary, and Sa-
lome. Matthew omits Salome, because he intends to
continue his account of the two women, Magdalene
and Mary (xxvii. 01). John keeps only Magdalene
before his eye, because she is seized with excitement
on finding the stone rolled away, and, hurrying away
alone to the city, calls the two disciples ; and because
he wishes to relate this circumstance and Magdalene's
succeeding history. Luke's attention was occupied
chiefly with the women who were bringing the spices
and ointments, aud accordingly writes of the second
body of females, who followed the first three. Meyer
mauatains that it is impossible to harmonize the dif-
ferent accounts. A judicious critic will, however,
only opi^ose a forced harmony.
To see the sepulchre. — Luke and Mark : to
anoint the corpse. We have already seen that the
women v.'eat in two parties to the grave ; and those
who brought the ointments came second ; the first
came for information. This hurrying on before the
others is explained by fear, unconscious hopes of a
resurrection, longing aud impatient desire.
A^er. 2. And, behold, there v/^as (eyeVero) a
great earthquake. — Meyer : " It is quite arbitrary
to take the aorist in tlie sense of the pluperfect (Cas-
talio, Kuinoel, Kern, Ebrard, etc.), or to make ijKOi
signify an unfinished action (de Wette)." Eut arbi-
trary, also, is the hyj^othcsis, that the women must
have seen all. The earthquake was felt by them as
well as by all the disciples ; the angel was beheld by
Maiy and Salome, sitting upon the stone rolled away,
and perhaps also by the affrighted guard ; but that
which occurred between, the rolling away of the
stone, etc., could have been suppUed by the Apostle's
prophetic intuition. The resurrection of the Lord it-
self was not a matter of actual bodily vision. " The
old and general view {see especially the Fathers, as
quoted by Calovius) is, that Jesus rose while the grave
was still closed, and that the tomb was opened mere-
ly to prove the resurrection." * Meyer. But this is
tary, admits that o^i, sei'o, wit'n genitive (which occurs no-
where else in the N. T.), means aUo: lange nach, long af-
ter, and quotes Plut. Num. 1; but the length of time is not
necessarily implied, comp. bihe ixv(TTt)piuii/, after the mys-
teries, in Philostratus, Vita Apoll. iv. 18.— P. S.]
* [So Ambrose, Chrysostom, Jerome, and .\u5ustine.
The lathers compare the resurrection from the closed tomb
to the birth of Christ from the closed womb of the Virgin,
ut ex clause Virginis utero natus, sic ex clauHO sepulchro
renurrexit in quo nemo conditua fuerat, et poatquatn re-
eurreanaset se per clauma fores in compectwn apontolorum
induxit (Greg. M.). See the quotation from Jerome in the
translator's note on ch. xxvii. Ct», p. 5yt). The orthodo.^ Prot-
estant commentators likewise assume (generally that the
resurrection took place before the stone was rolled away. —
P. S.l
35
rather an arbitrary and supernatural separation of the
occurrences.*
Ver. 5. Fear not ye, um« '? -—Opposed to
the terror of the guard, whose fe.ar might have
caused them to be filled with wonder. Meyer gives
these words their correct explanation, pointing out
the fiilse interpretation which had been made of
Vfi.€~lS.\
[Ver. 6.— Hilary : " Through woman death was
first introduced into the world ; to woman the first an-
nouncement was made of the resurrection. Chrysos-
tom : Observe how our Lord elevates the weaker sex,
which had fallen into dishonor through the transgres-
sion of Eve; and how lie inspires it with hope, and
iieals its sorrows, and makes women the messengers
of glad tidings to His disciples.]
For I know. — The reason why they need not
fear.
Ver. 7. Tell His disciples The Galilean be-
lievers, who formed the great body of the disciples,
are intended by this term. Though the Lord re-
vealed Himself to a few women, to the disciples of
Emmaus, and to the twelve in Judea, His grand self-
manifestation took place in GaUlce (ver. 16). Ben-
gel : Verba discipuUs dicenda se porvicjunt usque ad:
videbetis. — Lo, I have told you, Eino v, which
marks the formal and important announcement.
Corroborative : dixi. — Unnecessary subtilties in the
explanation of these words are referred to by Meyer.
Ver. 8. With fear and great joy. — Mingled feel-
ings. The transition from the dread felt by the women
to the blessedness of belief in the resurrection, which
they now began to experience, is expressed by this
statement ; also the final passage from the Old to
the New Testament, from the horror of Shcol to
the vie ft' of the openmg heavens. ''Corresponding
cases of the union of fear and joy are mentioned by
Wetstein (Virg. ^neid, 1, 544; 11, 807, etc.)."
Meyer.
Ver. 9. Held Him by the feet.— This is not
merely an expression of consternation, although the
words UT) Cf)o ^el a d i, ver. 10, point to such a feel-
mg of dread, but it describes rather the highest joy
and their adoration. It is tiie climax of the feeling
alluded to in ver. 8. Bengal : '* Jesuin ante passio-
nem alii potius alienores adoraruut, qnam discipidi."
Tlie special experience of Mary Magdalene is incor-
porated with the vision of the two other women.
* [The Edin'o. edition translates »upernaiuralixti^che by
■unnatural, liut every tyro in divinity ought to know the
essential difference between .iiipeniatural or nuperraiion-
al, i. e., what is above nature .md above reason (as is every
miracle and spcciflc doctrine of (Christianity), and unnatural
or irrational, i. e , what is contrary to nature and to rea-
son. Lange docs not mean to characterize the view of the
fathers as unnatural, but as unnecessarily adding another
miracle — the passing through a stone — to the resurrection it-
self. Jiurkitt and .M. Henry assume, that while Christ could
have rolled back the stone by His own power, >le chose to
have it done by an angel, to signify that Jle dlil not break
prison, but had a fair and Icaal discharge trom heaven. In
the case of Lazarus the stone was remove<l from the grave
before ho wiis raised by Chrst to a new natiiial life. But the
stone could hardly be a hindrance to Him who raised Him-
self by His own po'ver to an eternal heavenly life and who
.afterward appeared to the discip es through closed doorn
(John xx. 19, 2G). The stone may have been rolled away
merely for the sake of t'le woin.:n and the disciples, that
they might go into the em[>ty totnb aud see the evidence of
the resurreciiou. This at all events is the more usual ortho-
dox interpretation. — P. S.]
t [Similarly Wordsworth : " r,ue7s] emphatic : Lot the
Roman soldiers fear (ver. 4j — not ye,— weak women though
ye be." Meyer (in the fll'ih editi .n) maintains against de
Wetto and others that the peisotial pronoun Is alxca'js em-
phatic iu the N. T., even -Mark .\iii. 0; Acta viii, 24— P. 3.!
546
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
This account reminds us of the state of raind evi-
denced by Thomas, John xx.
Ver. 10. Be not afraid; go tell. — Asi/ndeton
of lively conversation. A sign that the Lord shares
in their joy. — My brethren. — A new designation
of the disciples, whicli declares to them His consoling
sympathy ; makes known to them that lie, as the
Risen One, had not been alienated from them by their
flight and treachery, but that rather they are sum-
moned by Him to become partners in His resun-ec-
tion. The command was, ia the first instance, issued
to raise the women from the ground, whom His di-
vine majesty had prostrated. — Tell my brethren that
they go. — This proclamation of the resurrection by
the women is to lead the disciples, whom the fact
of the Lord's being buried in Jerusalem detained in
that city, to make their preparations for an instant
departure to their homes.
And there they shall see Me. — As before, in
ver. V, the disciples as a body are meant, who, ac-
cording to Matthew, had followed Him from Galilee.
And therefore, when the eleven disciples are (ver.
] 6) specially mentioned, it can only be as the leaders,
as the guides of the entire company. Meyer repre-
sents that a threefold tradition regarding the resur-
rection grew up among the disciples: 1. The purely
Galilcean, which is found in Matthew's account ; 2.
the purely Judoean, which is given by Luke and John,
excluding the appendix, ch. xsi. ; o. the mixed, which
narrated both the Gahlean and Juda;an manifestations,
and is found in John, when the appendix is added.
Meyer is now willing to admit the historical sequence,
that the appearances in Judaea preceded those in Gal-
lilee ; but he holds still, that the account given by
Matthew manifests an ignorance of what occurred in
Galilee.* From this he deduces the conclusion, that
this portion of our Gospel must be the addition of a
non-apostoUc hand, because such ignorance on the
part of Matthew is inconceivable. But against this
critic's assumption we may educe the following: —
1. If this assumption be correct, we should expect
even from Mark in his Gospel,f which was written
earlier, and fixed the middle point of the evangelical
tradition, only GaUlasan appearances, whereas he re-
lates only manifestations in Judaea. 2. Matthew
himself relates the Lord's appearance in Judaea to
the women, vers. 9, 10. 3. A post^apostolic writer
would most certainly have resorted to the general tra-
dition, and have related both the appearances which
took place in Judasa and those which occurred ia Gal-
* [So also in the fifth edition, p. 613, although he express-
ly .idmits the historical character of the appearances of
Uhrist both in Judsea and in Galilee. " Dass Jeans sowoiiL
in Jerusalem iLs auch in Galilda den Jungern emchie-
tien set, ist schon aus dam JBestehen der JtiddiscJien und
der GiiUldischeii Ueherlieferung neben einander als ge-
schichtliches Ergehniss zu achlieisen, wird aler zweifel-
Los durch Johannes, wenn, loie unzuneJmien, Kap. 21 das
Werk des Apostels ist. So kommt man allerdings zu deni
(xESCHiCHTSBESTANDE, doss die JtwUlischen Eracheinwngen
den tfalildischenroi-angegangensind; aber dabeiist 7iicht
sit uberseken, dass der Bericht des Matt/uitis nichts von
den Juddischen ErseJi^inungen weiss, well im Zusammen-
hang seiner Erzdhlung nirgends ein Platz fur sie ist."
Meyer regards this supposeil. ignorance of the first Gospel as
one of the arguments for his hypothesis that in its present
Greek form it is not the work of the Apostle Matthew. This
conclusion is too rash. It is sufficient in the case to aav,
with the late L)r. lileek, one of the most careful and con-
scientious critics, that Matthew's nccoiint is a brief conden-
sation. But see Dr. Lange's forciuie remarks above, which
Meyer ought to have noticed in the fifth edition.— P. 6.]
+ [The Edinb. edition omits the nan..' of jiark, and refers
this sentence to the earlij writUn OopH of MnUkew,to
which it does not apply at all, since Matthew rulates the
manifestation of the risen Saviour in Gahk" P. g.]
ilee. 4. The assumption of Meyer rests altogether
upo.i the antiquated hypothesise, that every Evangelist
intended to narrate all the facts he knew. On the
contrary, we must repeat tliat the Evangelists are
not to be regarded as poor mechanical chroniclers,
but as narrators of the facts of evangelical history, as
they assumed in their own minds the form of an or-
ganic whole, as one continuous gospel sermon. And
here we have an indication that Matthew keeps up
throughout the plan of his gospel narrative as distinct
from that of Luke. While Luke, the Evangelist of!
the Gentiles, brings out fully the true prerogatives of \
Judaism, and describes, therefore, the whole of
Christ's life of activity as a grand procession to Jeru-
salem, Matthew, the Evangelist of the Jews, endea-
vors in every instance to disprove the/a?se preroga-
tives of Judaism, and tarries accordingly mostly in
Galilee, describing the Lord's activity in that district.
Hence it is that Luke gives, in the introduction to his
Gospel, the adoration rendered to the new-born Sa-
viour by Jewish Christians, and closes his history
with an account of the Lord's appearance in Judaea ;
while Matthew contrasts, in his opening chapters, the
adoration on the part of the G-eutiles with the perse-
cution of the Jews, and concludes by laying the scene
of the grandest manifestation of the Lord in Galilee,
in opposition to the city Jerusalem. From this to
conclude that Matthew knew nothing more of the res-
urrection, is a conceit which falls far below* a lively
appreciation of the free Christian spirit of the Gos-
pels. Meyer himself acknowledges that it is evident,
from 1 Cor. xv. 5 ff., that even if all the accounts in
the Gospels be combined, we have not a full record
of all Christ's appearances after His resurrection.
Meyer, however, is right in opposing the mythical
view which Strauss takes of the history of the resur-
rection, as well as the conversion of the facts connect-
ed with resurrection, by Weisse, into magical effects
of the departed spirit of Jesus. The actual existence
of the Church, as well as the assurance of faith and
joy at death's approach evidenced by the Apostles,
cannot be the effect of a myth or a mere ghostly ap-
parition. (See below.)
[The denial of the historical character of the res-
urrection and the subsequent manifestations of Christ
to the disciples, has assumed different forms : 1. The
Wolfenbiittel Fragmentist (Reimarus), hke the lying
Jewish Sanhedrin (ch. xxviii. 13), resolved them into
downright impostures of the Apostles : this is a moral
impossibihty and monstrosity unworthy of consider-
ation. 2. Paulus, of Heidelberg, the exegetical repre-
sentative of the older common-sense rationalism,
sees in the resurrection merely a reviving from an
apparent death or trance. This is a phyxlcal impos-
sibility in view of the preceding crucifixion and loss
of blood. 3. Strauss : Subjective visions, or more
fully ia his own words {see his new work on the Life
of Jesus, pubhshed 1864, p. 304) : " Purely internal
occurrences, which may have pres'jnted themselves
to the disciples as external visible phenomena, but
which we can only understand as facts of an ecstatic
condition of mind, or visions." Skailarly the late Dr.
Baur of Tiibingen (the teacher of Strauss, and found-
er of the Tiibingen school of destructive criticism).
This visionary hypothesis is a psychological impossi-
bility, in view of the many appearances, and the large
number of persons who saw Christ ; as the eleven dis-
* [Not: unioorthy of one icho, etc., as the Edinb. ed. mis-
translates Lange, who opposes opinions only, and never in-
dulges in personalities which would mar the dignity of a
commentary.— P. S.]
CHAP. XXVIII. 1-10.
547
ciples, and even five hundred brethren at once (1
Cor. XV. 15). 4. Weisse : Effects of the ever-Hvinfj;
spirit of Christ upon tlie disciples. 5. Ewald : Spirit-
ual visions in the ecstasies of desire and prayer (yd-
utige Schauungen in dcr Enhi'ickung dvr SchnsucJd imd
des Gebetn). These two views are only modifications
of the above theory of Strauss, and equally untenable.
Ewald, however, is not clear, and makes an approach
to the orthodox view when he remarks : " Christ was
seen again by His disciples : nothing is more Jiistori-
cal." {Die drei ersten Mvangelien, ubersetzt und crk-
lo,rt ; p. 362 : " Christus ward wiedergeschen von den
Seinigen : nichts ist gescJiichtUcher ah dies") Renan,
iu his Life of Jesus, passes over this stumbling-block
with characteristic French levity, promising to ex-
amine " the legends of the resurrection" hereafter in
the histoi'y of the Apostles. All he says upon it at
the close of ch. xxvi. amounts to a confession of de-
spair at a satisfactory solution. It is this : " The life
of Jesus, to the historian, ends with his last sigh.
But so deep was the trace which he had left in the
hearts of his disciples and of a few devoted women,
that, lor weeks to come, he was to them living and
condoling. Had his body been taken away, or did
enthusiasm, always credulous, afterward generate the
mass of accounts by which faith in the resurrection
was sought to be established V T/ds, for want of
peremptori/ evidence, we shall never know. We may
say, however, that the strong imagination of Mary
Magdalene here enacted the principal part ! " All
these fal-^e views resolve the history of Christianity
into an inexplicable riddle, and make it a stream
without a fountain, an effect without a cause. Dr.
Baur (Christenthum der drei ersten Jahrhunderte, p.
•10), indeed, thinks that the/aM in the resurrection
more than the fact of the resurrection was the mo-
tive power of the Apostles in their future activity.
(So also Strauss, I. c. p. 289.) But it was the fact
which gave to their faith a power that conquered the
world and the devil. Faith in mere visions or phan-
toms may produce phantoms, but not such a phe-
nomenon as the Christian Church, the greatest fact
and the mightiest institution in the history of the
world. Compare also on this subject the remarks of
Meyer, Com. on Matiheiv, 5th ed., 1860, p. 614 (who
is quite orthodox as regards the general fact of the
resurrection) ; Guder : Die Thatsachlichke^i der Auf
erstehung Christ!, 1862; an art. of Prof. Beyschlag
(against Baur) in the Studien und Kritiken, 1864, p.
197 sqq., and several able articles of Prof. Fisher,
of Yale College, against Strauss and Baur, in the
New Englander for 1864.— P. S.]
DOCTlilNAL AND ETHICAL.
1. In the end of the (Jewish) Sabbath. —The
Evangelist, without doubt, intended by the selection
of this peculiar and significant expression to bring
forward the fact, that the Christian Sunday had now
caused the Jewish Sabbath to cease (and Christianity
had now taken the place of Judaism). Sunday is
the fulfilment of the Sabbath ; but it is not tlicreby
made to be the negation, the destruction of the Sab-
bath, but its realization in the form of spirit, life, and
freedom. Sunday is a new creation, the institution
of the Church's holy day ; marked out as such not
only by the resurrection, but also by the Lord's ap-
pearances upon that day. But if the extemal law
of the Jewish Sabbath is abrogated for the Church,
the Christian State is bound, by its duty to Christ, to
see that the law of the day of holy rest is observed,
as indeed all the laws of the decalogue, in the spirit
of New Testament order and freedom. We soe from
Acts XX. 7 : 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2 ; Kev. i. 10, that Sunday
was observed in the days of the Apostles.
2. Who shall roll us away the stone from the door
of the sepulchre ? — Tliis utterance of the" three anxious
women has become the great symbol of all the sighs
of humanity, in its longing for the revelation of the
resurrection.
3. The earthquake. — A presage of the resurrec-
tion according to that parallel course of development
through which the earth is passing along with the
kingdom of God. See ch. xxiv.
4. The visions of angels. — As the earth, on the
one hand, in its grand moment of development, is
shaken, and seems rushing to ruin ; so, on the other,
the heavens unfold. Therefore angels are ever pres-
ent as ministering spirits at the critical periods in
God's kingdom. But although these angelic appear-
ances are objective, real, and visil)le, the jjerception
by the on-looking mortals of these heavenly spirits
depends upon a state of soul resembling the angelic
spirituality ; and this disposition of soul depends,
again, upon the position occupied in relation to hea-
ven and earth. The more the earth is concealed and
buried, like a midnight grave, to the beholders, so
much the more clearly do they view the opening hea-
vens. And hence it is that the female disciples were
tlie first to see the angels ; and they beheld first one,
then two.
5. Fear and great joy. — Transition from the
old into the new world, from the old to the new cov-
enant.
6. Into Galilee. — See the Critical Notes.
7. The death and resurrection of Christ consid-
ered in and for itself (ontologically). — In the Lord's
death and resurrection a separation took place be-
tween the first aeon of the natural human world, and
the second oson of the eternal spirit- world of human-
ity (1 Cor. XV. 45). Christ's death is the fulfilment and
the completion of death, and therefore also its end,
as was already determined in regard to Adam's death.
Where death began, there should it cease, i. e., there
should be no death. Physical death is restricted to
one zone. This district of death lies between the
world of inorganic bodies on the one side, and the
spirit-world on the other. The mineral, on the one
side, is non-vital ; the spirit is non-mortal. Death
appears now to extend, between these limits, only
over the vegetaljle, anunal, and liuman worlds. But
the death of the plant is well-nigh but allegorical, an
appearance of dying : it lives still in the root, the
branch, the seed. The dying of the animal, again, is
no complete death : there is no full, individual life to
resign ; it Uvcs only in the general life of nature, and
hence it cannot die fully and with consciousness.
Actual death begins with conscious man, in order
likewise to cease with him, and to be transfoi-med
into a new conscious life. Adam was formed, not to
die, that is, was not to sec corruption ; he was to
pass only through a death-like process of transforma-
tion, and to undergo a metamorphosis from the nat-
ural state of man into the spiritual (the tree of life :
Enoch; Elijah; 2 Cor. v. 4 ; 1 Cor. xv. 51). But
this transformation became subject to the effects and
the punishment of moral death, of sin, as Cod's con-
demnation; and thus this tran.<iforinalion passed over
into corruption. The " being clothed upon " (sjTnbol-
ized by the metamorphosis of the buttcrfiy-chrysalis)
became "the unclothing" (symbolized by the wheat-
548
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
grain in the earth). Since then was death in the
world ; tlie consciousness and the experience of de-
served sickness, dissolution, corruption, and impris-
onment in the waste death-realm, Sheol. The entire
weight of death pressed upon mankind, to their pain
and anguish ; and yet they were not fully conscious
of it (Heb. ii. 14, 15). Christ became our partner in
tliis common subjection to death. He tasted this
death (Heb. ii. 9) ; received it with full conscious-
ness into His life. Hence death y,- as fulfilled m His
life, it was ended, and must again be transformed into
the transformation, unto v.'hich men were originally
destined. Cluist's dying was a death which passed
over at once into metamorphosis. Christ's condition
in deatii was a collision with corruption, in which cor-
ruption was overcome ; v/as an entrance into the realm
of the dead, wliich unbound the fetters of that realm.
His resurrection was at once resurrection and com-
];lete transformation. When the question is asked,
SV'as Christ glorified between His death and resurrec-
tion, or during the iovij days, or during the ascen-
sion ? the conceptions of transformation and glorifi-
cation are confused. The transformation, as the
passage from the first into the second life, was decid-
ed at the resurrection. Glorification, as His entrance
into the heavenly world, could appear in Him even
before His deatii, in tlie transfiguration upon the
mountain, and be viewed by others ; and yet after
tile resurrection, in His first presentation to Mary
Magdalene, she mistook Him for the gardener. His
actual glorification, decided at His resurrection, be-
came a complete fact upon His ascension; and hence
Christ, as the Risen One, is life-principle as well for
the resurrection as for the transfonnation(l Cor. xv.
21 ; 1 Thess. iv. 11).
If we would obtain a closer view and more accu-
rate conception of the resurrection, the death of
Christ must bo contemplated as the ideal, dynamic,
and essential end of the old world and humanity.
The world continues to move chronologically accord-
ing to its old existence, and is still expanding in its
memlaers (its periphery) ; but in its centre, the end
Sias been reached in the death and resurrection of
Christ. And this being the case, there is of neces-
sity connected with this end the ideal, dynamic, and
essential beginning of the new spiritual world, as the
resurrection followed the death of Christ. And this
event is, in accordance with its nature, at once an
t'Doluiion of life (Christ rose), and at the same time
an act of God's righteousness (the Father raised Him).
Christ rose from the grave, because He was holy,
possessing the Spirit of glory, susceptible of resurrec-
tion, and must accordingly cause this very death to
become subservient unto life, must overcome this
death and transform it. God raised Him, because
He, in and for Himself, had endured this death con-
trary to right ; and yet, likewise, agreeably to right,
inasmuch as He had surrendered Himself on behalf
of man. Thereby this death of Christ has been made
by God the world's atonement. But when these two
points are united, the death of Christ and His resur-
rection stand forth to our view as the grandest act
of the omnipotence of God, and the greatest fact in
the glorious revelation of the Trinity (Eph. i. 19).
8. The death and resurrection of Christ consid-
ered soieriolofficalh/. — The soteriological effect is here,
as always, threefold ; He accomplished : (a) recon-
eihation as Prophet ; (b) expiation as High-Priest ;
(c) deliverance, rcdeiuption, as King {see the author's
Dogmaiik, p. 793). Christ, as Prop'net, in His recon-
ciliatory working, has overcome the world's hate by
His love, and sealed the grace of God by the blood
of His martyr-death; as High-Priest, in His expia-
tory working. He has taken upon Him the world's
judgment, and changed it into deliverance; as King,
in His redemptive working. He has made death itsetf
tlie emblem of victory over death, or of deliverance
from the power of darkness, which sinners were sub-
ject unto through death.
In tliis threefold cliaracter and working. He en-
tered Sheol. As Prophet, He has lighted up Sheol,
and made it appear as the translation-state from the
first to the second and higher life. As High-Priest,
He has likewise changed the punishment of the realm
of death by taking the penalty of sins freely upon
Himself. As King, He has led captivity captive, and
opened the prison-house of Sheol (Eph. iv. 8).
God has made all this sure by setting His seal to
it in His resurrection. God Himself recognizes that
courageous love and greeting of peace by which He
carries His gospel back into that world which had
crucified Him. God Himself sends Him back out of
the Most Holy as a living sign of, and witness to,
the perfect atonement. As the Redeemer, He comes
forth in the glory of that triumph, which He shares
with own : " 0 Death, where is thy sting ! 0 Grave,
where is thy victory ! "
The unity of these results lies in this, that in
Christ mankind have been virtually consecrated to
their God, have died, been buried, descended into
Sheol, risen again, ascended to heaven, and set down
at the right hand of God.
Hence it is that the man who resists with demo-
niac unbelief this working of Christ, is cut oflf from
humanity, and is handed over to the devil and his
angels (Matt. xxv.).
But to receive the redeeming efficacy of Christ,
is to enter into the coiDmunion of His life by the
communion of His Spirit. This entrance is a pro-
phetic faith, in that we recognize what Christ has be-
come to us ; a priestly faith, in that we yield us up
to His atoning righteousness ; a kingly faith, in that
we make, in sanctification. His life our own. The
unity of all this lies in the fact, that we die, are bur-
ied, rise, and ascend in Christ. As regards his spirit,
the Cliristian belongs to Clirist, and in so far all is
finished and completed in his salvation ; but as re-
gards his nature, he belongs to the world, and in so
far he awaits the general end of that world, and a
general resurrection wilh that world.
9. " The intercourse and companionship of the
Lord, after His resurrection, witlr His disciples, dur-
ing the forty days of joy, bore manifestly a different
character from what they did before His death.
Tlirough His death and resurrection, the glorification
of His body had begun (the transformation of His
body was completed) ; — for, although His resurrec-
tion-body bore the marks of the wounds, showing it
to be the same body, it was no more subject to the
bounds and laws of the bodily existence, as before."
Lisco. For the historic certainty of the resurrection
of Jesus, see 1 Cor. zv. ; Ullmann : What does the
institution of the Christian Church through one who
had been crucified presupjwse ? {Studien and Kriti-
ken, 1832) ; Lange's Leben Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1738. Ac-
cording to one explanation of the negative criticism
of modern unbchef, Jesus was only a2:)parently dead
(Paulus); according to the other, the resurrection
was an illusion (Strauss). When the two are com-
bined, they are self-destructive.
CHAP. XXVIII. 1-10.
549
HOMILKTICAL AND TRACTICAL.
Upon the entire Ciiaptkr. — The risen Saviour
as the eternal King, thefinidanicntal thought of this
whole Easter history. We see from it : 1. llow the
storms of earth and the angels of heaven serve Him ;
2. liow neither Jewish seals nor Roman arms are any
liindranee in His way; 3. how He annihilates the
spite* of His foes, and the anguish of His friends,
by His resurrcetion ; 4. how He moves along, elevat-
ed above the slanderous reports of foes, and the de-
sponding apprehension of the disciples ; 5. how un-
bounded is His power in heaven and earth ; 6. how
He is able to despatch, in the glory of the Trinity,
His servants into all the v/orld, with the message of
salvation ; 7. how sure, even at the beginning, He is
of the homage of all the world ; 8. how He is able,
notwithstanding His approaching departure, to assure
His own of His protecting, ever-abiding presence, as
their consolation and their peace.
Upon this fauticulap. Section. — The morning
of the resurrection-day. 1. The morning-dawn ; or,
the victory of light over darkness : the earthquake
and the angels ; the petrified guards and the open
grave; the search for the Crucified — the message
concerning the risen Lord ; the fear and the great
joy. 2. The sunrise : Christ's manifestation ; the
greeting ; the adoration ; the commission. — The judg-
ment of God, as revealed by the grave of Christ, com-
pared with the world's judgment : 1. The Sabl^ath of
the law is passed ; the Sunday of spiritual freedom
breaks. 2. The earth shudders ; heaven, with its
angels, is manifested. 3. The stone, with the seal
of authority broken, is rolled away ; the herald of the
risen Saviour sits triumphant upon the stone. 4. The
armed guards he powerless ; women become heroines,
and the messengers of the risen Redeemer. 5. Ju-
dtea is deposed of its dignity ; Christ selects Galilee
as the scene where He will unfold His glory. 6. The
compact of darkness is destroyed ; Christ, the Risen,
salutes His o^vn. — The gradual unfolding, to be per-
ceived in the message of tlie resurrection, is a type
of its glory. — The ghost-like stillness in which Christ's
resurrection is revealed, is prophetic and characteris-
tic of the Christian life, and the Christian world. —
The greatest miracle of omuipotencCj in its gentle,
heavenly manifestation. — The resurrection-morning
the end of the old Sabbath : 1. The creation becomes
spiritual, a spiritual world ; 2. the rest l:)eeomes a
festival ; 3. the law becomes life. — Easter, the great
Sunday, ever returning in the Ciiristian Sabbath, the
eternal Easter. — The way to the grave of Jesus : 1.
The road thither : the visible grief (to anoint the
Lord) ; the secret hope (to see the grave) ; the great
experience — the stone, the angel, etc. 2. The return :
fear and great joy ; the salutation of Jesus ; the
commission. — The llary of Christmas, and the two
Marys of Easter ; or, woman's share in the great
works of God. — First to Mary Magdalene ; or, Christ
risen for the pardoned sinner. — The grave of Clirist
transforms our graves. — The fact of the resurrection,
an invisible mystery, rendered glorious by visible
signs : 1. The invisible working V)f omnipotence, and
its visible action ; 2. the invisible entrance into ex-
istence of the new Hfe of Christ, and the visible earth-
quake (the birth-pangs of eartli) ; 3. the invisible
entrance of the heavenly King into His spiritual kmg-
*[Not: consolation, as the Edinb. edition re.ad.«,
itly mistaking the Germau Trolz for Troet. — P. S.]
dently mistaking
dom, and the unseen spirit-messenger ; 4. the invisi-
ble overthrow of the kinguum of darkness, and the
' visible guards (the servants of that kingdom) as dead
men ; 5. the invisible, new, victorious kingdom of
Jesus, and the beginning of its revelation. — The angel
from heaven ; or, from lieaven the decision comes :
1. Help in need; 2. the unsolving of the difficulty ;
3. the turning-point of history ; 4. the change of the
old ; 5. the glorious issue of a remarkable guidance.
— The angel sitting upon the stone, a representation
of Christ's victory : 1. In its full extent, — over the
(i entile world and the Jewish world (soldiers and the
official seal) ;— over the kingdom of darkness. 2. In
its fullest completion, — seated in the shining gar-
ments of triumph. — The angel's raiment, the Sunday
ornament and attire m whieli the Easter festival is
celebrated. — Tlie twofold efi'cct of Christ's resurrec-
tion : 1. The old heroes tremble and are impotent,
the desponding become heroic ; 2. the living become
as dead, and those wlio had been as dead become
alive. — Fear not ye! And why not? 1. Because
they seek Jesus ; 2. because He is not in the grave,
but is risen ; 3. because the view of Himself awaits
you. — Jesus the crucified, is the risen Saviour's title
of honor in heaven and on earth. — He is risen, as He
said; or. Love is stronger than death ; or. This great
fulfilment is a pledge for all Christ's promises. — And
ye, too, shall rise, as He has said. — Come, see the
place. The disciples' view of the empty grave of
Jesus: 1. The beginning of the certainty of the res-
urrection ; 2. the beginning of the Christian's bless-
edness ; 8. the beginning of the world's end. — The
empty grave, and the empty graves. — Go quickly; .
or, whosoever has discovered the resurrection of
Christ, must go and make it known. — All Christians
are evangelists. — The union of fear and great joy :
1. That fear, which must burst into joy ; 2. that joy,
which must be rooted in fear. — They ran. Tlie res-
urrection ends the old race, and begins a new race. —
The appearance of the risen Lord : \. Wliat it presup-
poses : And as they went. 2. How it proceeds :* a meet-
ing, a greeting : AH hail ! 3. What it effects : And they
came, etc. (ver. 9). 4. What it enjoins : Go, tell, etc.
(ver. 10). — The relation of the Risen One to His peo-
ple : 1. The old: they search and find one another,
in faith and love. 2. A new : they worship Him ;
He calls them His brethren. — Joseph's history is in
this case fulfilled : he was sold by the sons of Israel,
and yet revealed himself in his princely majesty to
his brethren. — The repeated command to depart to
Galilee, — its import (see above). — The resurrection of
Jesus is tlie mo.st cert phi fact of history : 1. It proves
itself; 2. hence it is proven by the strongest proofs ;
3. hence the proof is for our faith (our love and hope).
— The resurrection, the fulfilling of the life of Jesus :
1. The wonder of wonders ; 2. the salvation of salva-
tion ; 3. the life of life ; 4. the heaven of the kingdom
of heaven.
^ Htarke : — From Zeisius : An earthquake occurs
when Christ dies upon the cross, an earthquake oc-
curs when He rises again, to testify unto the majestic
power both of His victoirious death and resurrection.
— Christ's glorified body, tlie great stone could not
restrain. — Oh, cunning Reason ! how silly art thou
in spiritual and divine things ! — Canstein : If we find
no help on earth to overcome hindrances in the path
of duty, help will bc^sent us from heaven. — We shall
live with Him. Where the Head is, there are the
* [In German : HVe sU tor nich gehi, which the Edinb.
edition renders: Ihnc it anticipates it^e'f! — P. 8.]
550
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
members.— 2 Thess. i. 10 ; 1 Thess. it. 1 S.—JVova Blbl.
Tvh. : Behold, how glorious, etc. So glorious shall
be our resurrection. — As glorious and consoling as
Christ's resurrection is to the godly, so fearful is it to
the godless. — Quesnel: God knows how at once to
console Ilis own, and to terrify the wicked, Ex. xiv.
24. — Luther's margin : Fear not ye, fear not ye : be
joyful and consoled. — Zeisius : Fearful as the holy
angels are unto the unholy, just so comforting are
they unto the godly, as companions, in the approach-
ing glory. — Canstein : The servants of the word
should exercise the office of comforting angels, or
God's messengers of consolation, imto the anguished.
— Bihl. Wirt. : As the woman was the first to sin,
so have women been the first to realize Christ's pur-
chased righteousness. — I^ova Bill. Tub. : The joyful
message of the resurrection, and its fruits, are not
for coarse, worldly hearts, but for longing disciples.
— Those who have really experienced the joy pro-
duced by the resurrection, are anxious to impart that
joy to others. — Jesus comes to meet us when we seek
Him. — My brethren. A designation dating from the
resurrection, Heb. ii. 12. For the disciples, it indi-
cates something great and most consolatory. — Joseph
a type of this. Gen. xlv. 4. — The world boasts always
of its high titles ; but we, who are Christ's, have the
highest, we arc called His brethren. — We are heart-
ily to forgive those who have not deserved well of
us.
Gossner : — It gleams and flashes once more. Be-
fore, all was dark and sad ; but now again the rays
of crucified truth appear, and they illuminate ever
more and more gloriously.
Lisco : — The women hear first that Jesus is risen.
Then they see the empty grave, ver. 6. Finally, they
see, feel, and speak to Jesus, ver. 9. — The certainty
of Christ's resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 1-8. Its impor-
tance, 1 Cor. XV. 12 : 1. Proof that Jesus is the
Christ ; 2. that His death is an offermg for us ; 3.
the ground for our hope of a resurrection. By His
death, all the preceding testimonies borne unto Him
seem to be proved false ; by His resurrection, it is
proved that nothing has been disproved. His resur-
rection is the seal of our redemption, the beginning
of His glorification and exaltation. — The Easter fes-
tival is a call to a spiritual resurrection.
Gerlach : — The Lord's body now a difi'erent body,
and yet the same: 1. Free from all the bonds of
weakness, of Offering, of mortafity. 2. The stigma-
ta; * He ate and drank (though He needed not food).
— The Lord's appearanc&s, and all the accompanying
circumstances, are in the highest degree full of mean-
ing and importance. The women see the angels ; the
disciples do not. Jesus appears to the Magdalene, to
Peter, to disciples on their way to Enimaus, to the Elev-
en ; in each case, with the most tender and exact
regard for the state of each. — All the external a rev-
elation of the internal. So shaU it one day be in our
resurrection.
Heubner : — The awe of the resurrection-morning.
— Christ's resurrection the type of our own. — Every
* [In German : die WundenmaaU, the technical term
for the marks or traces of the five wounds of the Saviour,
the prints of the nails in the hands, etc., which Thomas
wished to handle, before submitting to the belief in the fact
of the resurrection (John xx. 25, 27). They are here referred
to as a proof of the identity of the body of our Lord. The
Edinb. edition makes here another ridiculous and incredible
blunder by translating this familiar German expression
(composed of Wuiic/eh, i. e , wounds, and Maale, i. «.,
moles): jneuls of icunOer, as if the text spoke of Wwider-
mahUeiten '. — P. S.l
morning should remind us of the coming resurrection.
— Came Mary: The last witnesses by the grave are
the first. We should seek God early. — \_Rieger .•] —
They considered themselves bound to anoint Christ ;
but Clirist must and will anoint them with the Holy
Spirit and with power. — The earthcjuake a type of
the awful convulsion of the earth at the last day
and the general resun-ection. — The angel a type of
the appearance of the angels at the la.?t day. — The
form of the angel's appearance. Servants as they
are of the kingdom of light, their office is to intro-
duce men into this kingdom. — The experiences of the
guards, presages of what the unbelieving and sinners
will experience at the last day. — Fear not ye ! The
higher spirit-world is the Christian's home. — To seek
Jesus is the way to life. — Nothing to be feared on
that way. — The Lord is risen. The angel-world cries
to the world of men, and all believers should cry to
one another : " The Lord is risen." — " Death, where
is thy sting? Ht/ll, where thy victory?" (1 Cor.
XV.). — Come and see: a summons to self -persuasion.
— We should impart, spread abroad, the belief in the
resurrection. — Our beUef in the future life should
thoroughly permeate our earthly life, and glorify it.
— Christ's resurrection reunites the scattered disci-
ples.— Love plans for eternity. — In the case of the
women, faith went first, then came sight. — The per-
fect brotherhood of Christ, a fruit of God's adoption.
— Three classes of topics for Easter: 1. Such in
which the fact itself is considered ; truth, certainty,
power of the resurrection. 2. Such in which Christ's
resurrection is made to introduce a discourse upon
our own ; e. g., the resurrection, the festival of our
immortality. 3. Such in which faith on Christ in
general is handled ; e. g., faith upon a livmg Christ.
— Braune : The essence* of Christianity is bound up
with the cross, but its form and manifestation with
the resurrection. — The Church has been founded by
the preaching of the resurrection of Christ. — The
Apostles designate themselves, with peculiar pleasure,
the witnesses of the resurrection. — As the beginning
of every life is hidden, so is the begiiming of the life
of the risen Lord hidden in mysterious darkness.
Acts ii. 21. — Jesus has not simply taught the resur-
rection; He is the resurrection. — What caused the
guards dismay, freed the women of anxiety. — With
every advancing step, the path of eternal truth bright-
ens.— The fear of the women quite different from
that of the guards. — To My brethren : first He named
them disciples^ then friends, then little children ; now,
brethren.
From Sermons.
Reinhard: — The Christian feast of Easter is a
festival of perfect tranquillization : 1. Because it dis-
sipates all the uneasmess and sorrow which disturb
our peace ; 2. because it wakens in us all those hopes
which must confirm our peace. — Christ's resurrection
was the impartation of fife unto God's holy Church
on earth, which owes to His resurrection: 1. Its ex-
istence ; 2. its moral fife ; 3. its unceasing continu-
ance.— Thiess: — The cross illuminated by the Easter
sun. — Ranke: — A clear light is poured over the
whole fife of Christ by His resurrection. — Gaupji :—
I The Easter history is also the history of the believing
* {Das Wesen, which the Edinb. edition mistranslates:
i the ej:istence (das iSein, Dasein, die Enistenz). The exist-
ence of Christianity and the founding of the Church de-
I pends rather on the resurrection, as is expressly stated in
; the sentence immediately following " ^' "■
IS expr
-P. S.]
CHAP. XXVIII. 11-15.
551
soul. — Ahlfdd: — Jesus lives, ami I with Ilim. —
Oiho : Easter comfort and Easter pleasure: 1. The
sanctity of our graves ; 2. the glory of the resurrec-
tion ; o. all our sins forgotten. — Petri : Christ's life,
our life. Let that be to-day: 1. Our Easter ))clief;
2. our Easter rejoicing. — Stcinhofcr : Life from the
dead: 1. In the Saviour; 2. in His pL;)ple. — Ilauten-
berg : The Christian by his Redeemer's open grave :
1. lie lays his care in tliat grave ; 2. he becomes at
that spot sure of his salvation ; 3. his heart is filled
with rapture. — Bramlt : Jesus Christ the victorious
prince. We may consider : 1. The foes He has
subdued ; 2. the obstacles He has overcome ; 3. the
means used to secure this victory ; 4. its results. —
Jesus, the risen Saviour, an object for holy contem-
plation : 1. See the counsel of hell brought to nought
by Him ; 2. see the method of the divine govermuent
glorified by Him ; 3. the tears of true love dried ; 4.
the misery of this earthly life transformed ; 5. the
work of salvation finished ; 6. the human heart filled
with the powers of God. — Geibel : The Lord's resur-
rection, considered : 1. Historically ; 2. in its neces-
sity ; o. import ; -1. and immediate results. — Ficken-
scher : What should the grave be to us Christians,
now that Jesus is risen ? 1. A place of rest ; 2. of
peace ; 3. of hope ; 4. of transfiguration. — Ramhach :
The glorious victory of the risen Saviour: 1. Glori-
ous considered in itself: — (a) the most miraculous ;
{b) the most honoring ; (c) the most glorious victory.
2. Glorious in its effects : — (a) a victory of light over
darkn;»ss ; (6) of grace over sin ; (c) of life over
death. — Drdseke: How Easter followed Good Friday :
1. As God's Amen ; 2. as men's Hallelujah. — Sachse :
— The stone rolled away. It seems to us : 1. The
boundary-stone of blasphemy against God ; 2. as the
monumental stone of the most glorious victory ; 3. as
the foundation-stone of the building of Christ's
Church. — Fr. Strauss : A long, sacred history is to-
day presented to us, the history of the Easter festi-
val: 1. The long-continued preparation; 2. the glo-
rious manifestation: 3. the continual development;
4. the future consummation in heaven.— ^l/< .• The
new fife to which Easter summons. — Liebim- : How
we should cuter the companionship, and follow the
example, of the early witnesses unto the resurrection.
— Shullz : Tlie verities of our faith, unto which the
resurrection of our Lord bears a certain and irresist-
ible tendency : 1. That Jesus is the Son of the living
God ; 2. that a perfect atonement has been presented
to God for us, in tlie Lord's death ; 3. that our soul
is immortal ; 4. that our bodies also will rise. — All
the difliculties in Christ's life are resolved by His res-
urrection. — Heidenrckh : What a friendly dawn
broke upon redeemed and blessed humanity on the
morning of the resurrection ! — Schlekrmacher : How
the consciousness of the imperishable overcomes the
pain caused by the loss of the perishable The. life
of the resurrection of our Lord a glorious type of our
new hfe. — Canstein : The joy of the Easter morning
in the future world : 1. What shall it be? 2. who
shall enjoy it ?— i^. A. Wolf: The true Christian,
upon the festival of the resurrection, looks back as
gratefully unto the past, as he gazes joyfully into the
future. — Three stages in the spiritual life are to be
observed in the history of those to whom the risen
Redeemer became the closest friend : 1. A sadness,
which seeks Jesus ; 2. a hope, which springs up at
the first intimation of His presence; 3. the joyful
certainty, to have found and recognized the Redeem-
er.— Tzschirner : The sufferings of time in the light
of eternal glory. — Death, the new birth into a new
life. — Genzken : The path of faith in the risen Sa-
viour.— Markeineke : The resurrection of Jesus is the
main pillar of our salvation. — Theremin: Christ's
resurrection should awaken us to repentance. — Nie-
mann : The belief in the new world of immortal-
ity which opened unto us in the Lord's resurrec-
tion.
SECOND SECTION.
JUDAISM, AND ITS TALE; OR, THE IMPOTENT END OF THE OLD WORLD.
Chapter XXVIII. 11-15.
1 1 Now when [as] they
the women] were going, behold, some of the watch came into
12 the city, and shewed unto [told]' the chief priests all the things that were done. And
when they [the high-priests were assembled witli the elders, and had taken counsel,*
13 they gave large [niuch]^ money unto the soldiers, Saying. Say ye, His disciples came
14 by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor's ears,^
we will persuade him, and secure you [make you secure, free of care or danger, v/xa?
15 d/x£ptyu,i/ous TToiTyo-o/xev].^ So they took the money, and did as they were taught : and
this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day \i. e., the time of the com-
position of this Gospel].®
J Ver. 11.— [Comp. Critical Note No. 6 on ch. xxviii. a Others prefer reported to.— P. 9.]
^2 Ver. 12.— [Or more literally: having fisnembted . . . and taken counsel, a-vvax^ (vt e s Kal Ka^Svns.
So Conant and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union.— P. S.]
3 Ver. 12.— [Wiclif, Scrivener, Conant. etc., render apyvpta Uava, much moneij, instead of large money, which dates
from Tyndale, Coverdale, Craniner, etc. The Kheniish N. T. has: a large sum of money. De Wctie, Lange, and Kwald:
reichlich Geld; Luther: Geld's genug ; van Ess and other German Versions: viel Geld.—V. S.]
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
* Ver. 14.— [Or : he borne witness of before the governor; an official orjudicial hearing is intended; comp. for a similar
use of eVt Acts sxiv. 19, 20; xxv.-9, 12, 26; xxvi. 2; 1 Cor. vi. 1; 1 Tim. v. 19; vi. 18. But compare the remarks of Dr.
Lange in the Exeg. Notes. Lachmann and Tregelles read : Vav aicovady tovto virh (m.stead of 6 7ri) rov 7iye,u6t'os,
if this shall he heard by the governor, following the Vatican Codex (B.), Codex Beza (D.), and the oldest Versions {Itala
and Vulgata: si hoc audftum fuerit a jyrceside). But Meyer and Lange regard this as a mistaken explanation of iirl,
which is sustained by the majority of authorities. Conant, in his Version, adopts the reading vtto , hut the N. T. of the
Am. Bible Union, which otherwise follows his Version closely, has here: ^'before the governor." Scrivener takes no no-
tice of this verse.— P. S.]
* Ver. 14.— [Lange: sorgenfrei, free of care; Meyer: sorgenfrei Im objectiven Sinne, i. e., fr&i von Oefahr vmd,
Plackereien ; Tyndale 1.: make you safe; Coverdale: ye shall he safe; Tyndale 2., Cranmer, Genevan Bible, Scrive-
ner : save you harmless; Bishops' B., very improperly : make you careless; Conant and others : make you secure. — P. B.]
^ Ver. 15. — Lachmann and Tischendorf [not in his edition of 1859] add r]fj,fpas (day) after tijs ari^iipov
which is supported by Codd. B., D., L., al. [Tischendorf, in the edition of 1859, says : "t] fj.4 pa ubi a paucis tantiiin
IcMbus prcebetur, potius illaium guam. verum esse statuendum at" but the fact that Matthew in two other passages
(xi. 23; xxvii. 8) uses (TT^ixepov without T]/J.4pa. makes the insertion iu this case less probable than the omission. Meyer
and Alford likewise defend it here.— P. S.]
EXEGETICAL AND CPvITlCAL.
Ver. 11. As they were going. — The Evangel-
ist does not seek to show that the soldiers arrived in
the city before the women, but only that, contempo-
raneously, a second account reached the city, — that
one message was borne to the friends, and another to
the enemies.
Ver. 12. And had taken counsel. — This is the
last session of the Sanhedrin, so exacting of rever-
ence, which is recorded by Matthew, and its last de-
cision. It is a very significant transaction, which
gives us a perfect revelation, prospectively, of the
post-Christian, unbelieving Judaism. Some have
considered this very disgraceful decision of the coun-
cil to be unprobable. Hut, standing as they did upon
the brink of moral destruction and condemnation,
this improbabihty becomes the most awful reality.
Still, we are not compelled by our text to believe that
they held the meeting for the express purpose of
bribing the guards : that was merely a result of their
council, and of their deliberations. Probably the
matter was handed over to a commission, to be ex-
amined into and disposed of; that is, the council left
the matter in the hands of the high-priests, agreeing
secretly with their designs.
Much money. — Increased bribes, as compared
with the former bribery, that of Judas : 1. The bribe-
ry in this case was in consequence of a resolution of
the Sanhedrin. 2. The bribery by means of large
sums of money, contrasts strongly with the thirty
pieces which Judas received. 3. The bribery of poor
GentOes, and these Roman soldiers, who were seduced
into a breach of discipline and into lies, which might
have cost their lives ; and with this were connected
self-humiliation and self-abandonment on the part of
the Sanhedrin before these very Gentiles. 4. The
formal resolution, which was aimed, though indirect-
ly, at the corruption of the soldiers, was the cul-
mination of that guilt to which they had subjected
themselves in accepting the willing and volunteered
treachery of Judas. The whole account expresses
distinctly the extreme and painful embarrassment of
the chief council. They imagined that by means of
thirty pieces of silver they had freed themselves of
Judas ; but now they begin first to experience the
far greater danger to which the crucified and buried
Saviour exposed them.
Ver. 13. Stole Him away while we slept. —
In addition to all the judgments of impotency, embar-
rassment, and rejection, they are now subjected to
the judgment of stupidity. The soldiers are to have
been asleep, and yet to have seen thieves, and known
that they were disciples ! Grotius : rh avTOKaraKpi-
rov. [This Satanic lie carries its condemnation on
the face. If the soldiers were asleep, they could
not discover the thieves, nor would they have pro-
claimed their mihtary crime ; if they, or even a few
of them, were awake, they ought to have prevented
the theft ; it is very improbable that all the soldiers
should have been asleep at once ; it is equally im-
probable that a few timid disciples should attempt to
steal their Master's body from a grave closed by a
stone, oflicially sealed and guarded by soldiers, nor
could they do it without awakening the guard, if
asleep. But all these improbabilities are by no means
an argument against the truthfulness of the narrative :
for, if men obstinately refuse to believe the truth,
" God sends them strong delusion that they should
believe a he," 2 Thess. ii. 11. With this agrees the
old heathen adage : " V>^hom the gods wish to destroy
they first make mad," — which is constantly exempli-
fied in history. Infatuation is a divine judgment,
and the consequence of desertion by God. Among
the Jews this lie finds credence to this day, as it did
at the time of the composition of the Gospel of Mat-
thew, and in the second and third centuries, accord-
ing to the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertul-
Man.— P. S.]
Ver. 14. And if this come to the governor's
ears. — Coram procuratore. Meyer, following Eras-
mus, interprets this in a judicial sense : When an ex-
amination shall be held before Pilate.* But in that
case, the mediation would come too late, because
Pilate, according to military disciphne, must have in-
flicted the penalty, if such a criminal violation of duty
had been openly acknowledged. Accordingly, most
commentators interpret. When this rumor shall reach
the governor, be repeated unto him. Then the
danger became imminent ; but, according to this as-
surance, it would have been already removed. — This
was undoubtedly an excuse highly dangerous for the
soldiers {see Acts xii. 19), and the high-priests could
by no means be sure of the result, although they
might be ready to give to the avaricious and corrupt
Pilate a large bribe. The hierarchical spirit, which
here reaches its climax, uses the Roman soldiers
merely as tools to efi'ect its own ends, as it had pre-
viously employed Judas ; and was again fully pre-
pared to let the despised instruments perish, when
the work was finished. — We will persuade him,
TreicTo/jLev. An iromcal euphemism, indicating the
means of persuasion. This was the manner in which
they will keep the soldiers free of care and dan-
ffer.
Ver. 15. This saying, (5 A 070$ 0 St os. — This
•■ [Erasmus : Si res apud ilium yudicem agatur. So
also Alford. Comp. my Critical Note No. 4 above.— P. 8.]
CHAP. XXVIII. 11-15.
553
does not refer to the entire account (Grotius, Paulus),
but to the lying statement (vcr. lo), voluntarily adopt-
ed by these soldiers, that the body of Jc^us^ had been
stolen by His disciples (de Wetie, Meyer). Upon
the doubts regarding the narrative itself, which Stroth
maintained to be an interpolation, consult de Wette
and Meyer. Among tlie opponents of th.e truth of
the passage, are Paulus, Strauss, Weisse, Sleyer ;
among the supporters. Hug, Kuinoel, Hofliiiann,
Krabbe, Ebrard, etc. Olshausen adopts a modified
view, that the Sanhedrin did not act in a formal man-
ner, but that Caiaphas arranged tlie matter privately.
The most plausible arguments which de Wette brings
forward against the credibiUty of the narrative, were
already disposed of in the Exegetkal Notes on eh.
xsvii. G6 (p. 537). The objection that the Sanhedrin,
in which '' sat men Hke Gamaliel," could not have so
lost its sense of duty and dignity as to adopt so un-
worthy a resolution, rests entirely upon a subjective
view of the worthiness of the council.* We have al-
ready learned from the history of the crucifixion, that
it was a Jewish custom to employ bad means to effect
the ends of the hierarchy, and to deal with the de-
spised Gentiles as mere tools, who were to be used
and then treated with contempt. The existence of
this saying among the Jews is acknowledged. See
the quotations which Grotius gives out of Justin,
from which we learn that the Pharisees spread the
report among the people by appointed messengers ;
and also out of Tertullian. The Talmudic tract,
Toledoth Jeschu.^ That the Evangelist has here
communicated to us the prototype of the Talmud,
and the Christ-hating Judaism, is a proof of his deep
insight into the significance of the facts, and a testi-
mony unto the consistent character of his Gospel.
DOCTEINAL AND ETHICAL.
1. Some of tlie watch. — The other guards appear
to have been so overcome, so prostrated by the phe-
nomena of the resurrection, as to have recognized the
matter as settled, the attempt of the chief council as
futile, and, without further delay, to have returned to
their military station. Only a part so far overcomes
the influence as to go and give a report, probably in
hopes of having a reward promised to them, and
ready to be bribed. Those mercenary soldiers are a
type of all " trencher-soldiers," who must supply the
hierarchy with power to compensate for their want
of spiritual might. The nobler soldier, like the in-
dependent state, will not allow it even to be supposed
that he will yield himself up as a tool to the hierarchy.
2. The intensified heathenism of the disbelieving
Judaism begms with disbeUef regarding the resurrec-
tion of Jesus, and adopts at once a characteristic
trait of heathenism, by forming a dark tradition.
But the myth of the chief council is worse than the
myths of heathenism. The latter, according to their
bright side, point to Christ ; but the lie of the San-
hedrin fonns the dark contrast to the facts of light
recorded in the Gospels. The myths of the heathen
* [Comp. the sharp reply of Ebrard to this objection of
Strauss: "What pious and conscientious men the Sanhe-
drists all at once become under the magic hands of Mr. Dr.
Strauss! All the scattered Christians, these humble and
qniet men. must, without any cause whatever, have devised
and believed a palpable lie ; but the murderers of Jesns
were altogether too good to devise for the Itoman soldiers a
falsehood that ha«l become for them a necessity ! "—P. S.]
+ [This book gives an expansion of this lie of the Jews —
P. S.t
world are the seed of its culture ; * the lying myth of
unbelieving Judaism is the fruit of its obduracy.
3. Matthew, with prophetic spirit, has preserved
this fact, tlie unmistakable germ from wliich sprang
tlie Talmud, along with which Judaism, that held iu
tlie Old Testament fust by the path of faith and re-
pelled all the myths of the heathen world, now mani-
fests itself in its unbelief as the most intensified
heathenism; resoitmg to the most debased of all
myths, and endeavoring to destroy the evangelical
history by a false exegesis of the Old Testament, by
false traditions concerning facts of Gospel history,
and by a perversion of the Old Testament into a sys-
tem of absolute legahsm and formalism. Hence it is,
that in the following section this type of the Taknud
is succeeded by the type of the New Testament.
4. It is indubitable that our narrative is the his-
tory of the most extreme self-abasement of the chief
council, but is not the less worthy of belief This is
the perfection of the judgment of self-abandonment,
under which the coimcil had flung itself Upon the
special points of this self-rejection, see the Exkgeti-
CAL Notes.
5. The hierarchical falsification of the history of
the resurrection is the beginning of the hierarchical
and antievangelical falsifications of history. The
Ebionitic Apocrypha, the donatio Constayitini, the
pseudo-Isidorian Decretals, etc.
6. Christ's resurrection, according to God's coun-
sel, qfflcially announced to the civil authorities, and
to the hierarchy ; and hence the evangelical faith, as
belief in the resurrection, is independent and free.
nOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.
Heathen guards, the messengers whom God had
ordamed to announce the resurrection unto the chief
council. — Despairing sinners (Judas, the guards), the
usual preachers of repentance, sent uato the hypo-
critical, hierarchical powers.-^The unbelief of the
chief council is bold enough to impart its own obdu-
racy to affrighted Gentile hearts. — Money and bribe-
ry, the A and Ci. (the beginning and the end) of the
salvation which remained with the council. — Bribery
of every kind is the principal lever of all antichristian
systems : 1. Bribery by money, 2. by honors. — The
utter incertitude of the Sanhedrin is clearly manifest-
ed by their last decision. — The perfect overthrow
which moral self-destruction caused to follow the
supposed triumph of their faith. — The imagination
of blinded spirits, as though they could debase the
grandest facts of lieaven into the meanest stories
[scandala) of earth. — The fruitless lies, which are
unagined capable of converting the most glorious
facts into a deceptive myth. — The criticism passed iu
the dark Jewish lane, upon the facts of Gospel his-
tory which took place upon the broad, open highway
of the world. — This is the course which all the ene-
mies of Christian truth must pursue, because of the
concealed self-contradictions: 1. They imagine the
most absurd fables, to destroy the most glorious
miracle ; 2. they imagine the most senseless absurd-
ity, to destroy what is full of raeanmg and clear to
the soul ; 3. they imagine wluit is mean, wicked, dia-
bolical, to destroy what is sacred. — The latest ciiti-
cism in the Jewish Talmud, and the Talmud in the
* [In Gonnan : Der Same Hirer Kultur, which tbo
Edinb. edition turns into "«Ae germ of its viorskip,"' aa it
Lango had written : iUres Kultxts.—?. S.]
554
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
latest works of criticism. — How the hierarchy has
corrupted even the soldier's honor. — Slander sneaks
along in its impotent path, in pursuit of the Gospel
rushing along its winged course : 1. Slander of Christ ;
2. of the disciples ; 3. of early Christendom ; 4. of the
Reformation, and so forth. — How Judaism and heath-
enism unite to opj)Ose Christianity. — How the hierar-
chy leagues with the dissolute to battle against the
faith. — The inhabitants of hell try to make themselves
beUeve that heaven has been built up by the devices
of hell. — God allowed the work of shame to run its
wretched course, because the message of the resur-
rection was not intended to be extended in the form
of worldly, but of heavenly certainty, by heavenly
agencies. — Powerless as are such attempts, as con-
cerns the Lord, they succeed in destroying many
souls. — Thus has the Talmud, the production of the
legahstic spirit of Judaism, placed itself between the
poor Jew and his Christ, as a ruinous phantom. So
too does the spirit of legalism endeavor to build up a
wall of separation between the poor Christian and his
Christ. — It is only the preaching of the Gospel which
can overcome the eimiity to the Gospel. — The more
boldly the opposition advances, let the word ring out
the clearer.
The Present Section considered in connection
with the following evangelical narrative.
The twofold development of the Old Testament:
I. The false continuation of the Talmud. 2. The
true continuation in the New Testament. — The great
revolution in the life of Christ : 1. The apparent tri-
umph of His foes becomes their most disgraceful de-
feat. 2. The apparent defeat of the Lord becomes
His most glorious triumph. — The gTand development
of Christianity and its dark counter-picture : 1. The
fleeing soldiers, the heroic women. 2. The great
council, and its decision ; Christ upon the mountain,
and His sermon. 3. The empty expectations of
Judaism, and the actual testimony aflbrded by the
Church of Christ. — The perfect impotence of the op-
ponents, and the omnipotence of Christ in heaven and
upon earth.
Starke: — Nova Bihl. Tub. : As divine wisdom
has decreed, unto even the bitterest foes and perse-
cutors of Jesus must the truth be told by their own
beloved confidantes. — The world takes money, and
acts as she is taught, against her better knowledge
and her conscience, 1 Tim. vi. 10; 2 Pet. ii. 13, 15.
— No compacts prevail against the Lord. — The devil
seeks, where not by force and with boldness, still
with lies and blasphemy, to oppose the kingdom and
the life of Christ. — Money has great power, but thou
and thy money shall perish together, Acts viii. 20. —
Manifest lies require no refutation ; they refute them-
selves.— Quc.viel: What a misfortune, that a man
will turn to lies to cover his sin, rather than unto re-
pentance for forgiveness ! — Zeisius : The lie, no mat-
ter how absurd, is beUeved rather than the truth,
especially by the low and godless masses. — Murder
and lies, the devil's weapons, John viii. 44.
Lisco : — Hate and wickedness incite Christ's ene-
mies to bribe the soldiers ; low avarice makes them
ready to free themselves from the crime of a neglect
of duty by availing themselves of a convenient lie.
Ileubncr : — Contrast between this account and
the preceding : 1. There truth ; here lies. 2. There
the glorified Hero in His perfect purity ; here the
terrified priesthood, aifrighted because of its crime.
3. There, among the disciples, overmastering joy ;
here anguishing terror. 4. There willing, unpaid
servants of truth ; here bribed servants of falsehood.
— Injustice brings a man to humihation, shame, be-
fore the instruments of his sin : he resigns himself to
them, must fear them, and they laugh him to scorn. —
Such people have never a clean mouth. The state
of things might have been learned by the Apostles
from secret friends and adherents among the priests,
from several persons, perchance from converted sol-
diers.
Braune : — As the friends heard from their own,
so the foes from their own, the news of the resurrec-
tion.— What revelation will be made on the day of
judgment* of what money can effect ! — Lies find ad-
mission, but they flee before the truth. Let no one,
accordingly, be aSrighted for what men can do ; the
Lord's counsel stands fast. — But let no one imagine
that he must take in hand to destroy the attempts
of another ; leave that to the Lord.
* [The Edinb. edition mistranslates " every day we see,"
etc.; mistaking the German: ^Vjifr Tag (remember: Dies
ira, dies ilia) for jed&r 7'ag.—P.^.]
THIRD SECTION.
i'HE OMNIPOTENT RULE, AND THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST, IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH.
Chapter XXVIII. 16-20.
(Mark xvi. 15-18; Luke xxiv. 44-49.)
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a [the, to] mountain where
17 Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him:^ but
18 some doubted.* And Jesus came [drew near, TrpocreX^wv] and spake unto them, saying,
19 All power is given unto me in [iv] heaven and in [on, cTrt] earth. Go ye therefore,*
and teach [make disciples of, or disciple, christianize, fxaOrjTivaaTeY all [the, ra] nations,
baptizing^ them in the name [into the name, cts to ovo/^a]® of the Father, and of the
20 Son, and of the Holy Ghost : Teaching [S(,8acrKovT€s] them to observe all things whatso-
CHAP. XXVIII. 16-20.
555
ever I have comni
Ameil.^
iUKlcd you : and, lo, I am with you ahvay [all the days,
, even unto the end [ews i-i}? crurTeAetu?] of the world [7
every day.
» Ver. IT.— Codd. B., D., [also Cod. Sinait.], Vulgate, Clirysostom, and Augustine omit a u t y , and so Lnohmann and
Tischendorf [not in the large edition of 1859, where he retains It with a majority of uncial MSS.]. Some cursive MSS. read
avrov.
2 Ver. 17.— [Grotius, Doddridge, Newcome, Fritzsche, Scrivener translate iSl(rr affav : had drnthted, taking the
Greek aorist as a Latin pluperfect. So also the French translations of Martin and Osterwald: c{vaieTU douti. 'But this is
unnecessary, and grammatic.illy impossible after iToo(TiKvpi)cTav. Matthew docs not say iravrts TrponiKivtiiTav,
and the doubt may be referred (with <ie Wette and Lanfre) to the act of worship, and not to tl'.o fact of the resurrection
>. . h'xeg. yotes. But even if all disciples fell down before the risen Lord, some (not of the cleveii, after tlio two appear-
:ini'es in Jerusalem, John sx., but of the severity or of the Ave thousand to whom Christ appeared, 1 Cor. xv. 6) may have
done so with the honest scepticism of Thomiis, being very anxious, but hardly able as yet to realize such a stupendous
miracle. Hence there is no necessity, as there is no critical authority, for Boza's conjecture, substituting 0 u 5 e for o 1 5 e.
3 Ver. 19.— The particle ovv (i/i«re/ore) is wanting in all uncial MSS. [This is not quite correct. The Vatican Codex
(B.). botli in the edition of Angelo Mai and of Buttmann, has it, as well as some ancient patristic quotations, and hence
Lachmann retains it, although in brackets. Some quote Jilso Cod. Ephr.iemi Syri (C.) in its favor, but this Coiiox as pub-
lished by Tischendorf breaks off in this chapter witli ver. 14 But eleven uncial MSS. (Codd. Sinait., A., E., F., II., K., M.,
S.) and numerous cursive copies omit it, and so do the editions of Griesbach, Scholz, Tischendorf, and Alford. But although
it is difficult to defend it critically, it certainly accords with the sense. For the glorification of tho Son by the Father and
His elevation to the right hand of Almighty power is the foundation of tho Church and of the authority of the apostolic
ministry.— P. S.]
* Ver. 19. — [Tho verb ixaOn)T evi iv (properly an intransitive verb : to be a pupil to one, rivi, ch. xxvii. 57 and
among the classics, but in the N. T. used also transitively : to make a disciple of, riyd, so here. Matt. xiii. 52 ; Acts xiv.
21, = fj.advTas irotf'ii', John iv. 1). is more comprehensive than SiBdffKeip, ver. 20, and should therefore be dififerent-
ly rendered in this connection. It signifies the end, the p.irticiples the means. The nations are to be made disciples of
Christ or converted to Him by two means chiefly, viz., by haptism (fiairTi^ovTfs) and by religious instruction (5 ( -
ScfTKoi'Tss). The margin of the Authorized Version proposes: make disciples, or Christians of all nations; Dod-
dridge: _p/'o«e/yfe (which is objectionable on account of the double meaning) ; Campbell: convert; Norton: make disci-
ples from all nations (Jrotn implies a false restriction); Scrivener: vnake disciples of; Conant and the N. T. of the Am.
Bible Union: disciple (in the sense: to convert, to cause to become a follower). This is certainly shorter than the cir-
cumlocution: to make disciples of, hnt perhaps not sufficiently pojjular. Lange has: Machet zu Jiiiigern, aoi adds in
small type: bekehret ; de Wette 'and Ewald: hekehret. The teach at the Authorized and all the older English Versions
(as well as the lekrel of Luther) comes from the inaccurate rendering of the Vulgata: docete . . . bapiizantes . . . do-
cente-s.—V. S.]
* Ver. 19.— The reading : ^anr ier avr e ^ (havinr/ hajjtized) of CodtL B., D., instead of j8 a ir t i ^o i* t € y , is wor-
thy of notice. [Comp. the translators foot-note on p. 557. — P. S.]
* Ver. 19.— [The preposition sij with the accusative, as distinct from iv dv6fj.a.Ti, strictly conveys the idea: into
the covenant — union and fellowship of the triime God, with a\l tho privileges and duties involved in it. The common
version in the English and German Bibles and baptismal offices arises from the inaccurate rendering of Cyprian (Epist. Ixxiii.
5) and of the Vulgata: w nomine Patris, etc., instead of mi nome7i, as Tertullian has it (De Bapt c. 13). It may be gram-
matically defended, however, by ch. xviii. 20: gathered together in my name, € i s ti) ovo/xa, and x. 41: in the name of
a prophet, eis oi'Ofj.a TrpofriTov, SiKaiov, fj.adriTov,— the meaning ot eh being here: in reference to. Lange inge-
niously combines the two meanings : in the OMthority of, and into the communion with, the holy Trinity. See his Exeg.
U'ote.s and my additions ; also Lange 's Doctrinal Thoughts, No. 6.-1*. S.]
' Ver. 20.— [Lit. : till the consimnnation of the (present) mon (as di.^tinct from the future ason after the Advent or tho
never-ending world to come); Lange: bisandes Weltlauf's Vollendung. But the common rendering of cruyTeAefa rot;
alwuos by end of the world, is upon the whole the best, certainly the most popular, and hence we left it undistui-bed in
the text. It dates from Wiclif, and was retained by all the older versions (except that of Rheims, which has: to the con-
summation of the icorld, after the Vulgata: ad conswnmati&nem sceculi), and among recent revisers also by Conant and
the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union (with the omission of the interpolated &ven, which dates fi-om Tyndale). Coverdale and
J.ames' Revisers have: unto, but the Versions of Tyndale, Cranmer, Geneva, and the Bishops have: until. The old ver-
sion is greatly preferable to that of Campbell: to the conclusion of this state, and to that of Norton: to the end of present
things.— v. S.]
" Ver. 20.— [The word afxii i> of the text. reo. and younger MSS. is omitted in Codd. Sinait., B., D., etc., Vulgata, etc.
It is cancelled by Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendoi-f, Tregelles, Alford; it is also wanting in the first edition of Erasmus,
1516, and hence in Luther's German Version, and in all the English Versions previous to that of King James' Revisers.
The word was probably added by the scribes who prepared the copies for liturgical use.— P. S.]
lem. We agree with Ebrard and others, that Christ's
meeting with the seven (John xxi.) jji-eceded and in-
troduced this manifestation. That there is a refer-
ence to an actual mountain in Galilee, may be seen
from the connection between this ))assage and the
injunctions to proceed into (ialilee, vers. 7, 10; also
from tlie consideration, that in Galilee only could a
place be found for so hirge an assemblage of disci-
])les as is mentioned in 1 C!or. xv. 6. An apocryphal
tradition, dating .*'rom the tliirteenth century, named
the northern peak of the Mount of Olives as the
scene, and gave it the name of Galilita. This theory
has undoubtedly originated early, in an improper and
interested attempt at harmonizing, the first traces of
which we find in the apocryphal Act'is rilat'i. It is
upon this statement that Rudolf Ilofmann supports
his views in his work, Ucber den Bery Galiliia, Ein
Beitray zur Harmonie der evangelischen Berichic.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.
Ver. 16. Then the eleven disciples. — They
come forward here as the representatives of the en-
tire band of disciples, and not as the select apostolic
college of the Twelve, which makes its first reappear-
ance a,fter the selection of Matthias. This distinction
is to be found in the remark that some doubled, which
cannot apply to tlic Eleven : reference is made to
many witnesses in 1 Cor. xv. 6.
Upon the mountsiin. — The Eviingelist himself
informs us that Jesus had appomted the jjlace of
meeting, but does not tell us when and where. Ina.s-
much as the disciples were bidden at first merely to
go into Gahlee, the more special direction must have
been given at a later date. Grotius thinks that the
command was issued while they were stiU in Jerusa-
55G
THE GOSPEL ACCORDIXG TO MATTHEW.
Leipzig, 1856.* We saw above that Mount Tabor
could not have been the scene of the transfiguration.
But should we conclude from this, that that tradition
is wholly untenable ? How easily could that which
hafl been said of the second transfiguration of Jesus
before the eyes of His Church, be confounded with
the account of the former transfiguration ! How well
adapted, besides, was Mount Tabor for the acconnno-
dation of the disciples, who assembled for the pur-
pose of celebrating the first great Easter festival !
That the mount was then peopled, goes against the
theory which makes it the scene of such an event as
the first transfiguration, but not against the view
which selects it as the centre to which the GaUlean
Christians were gathered. For the dwellers upon
this mountain (if the mountain were not then, to some
degree, waste and occupied only by ruins ; see Schulz,
Reisebeschrdbung) could be but few in number, and
would be, besides, friendly disposed to the Galilean
believers, so that the assemblage upon this high peak
of Galilee would not be in the least disturbed {see
the author's Lcben Jesu, ii. 3, 1730). Grotius, too,
writing upon this passage, is in favor of Tabor.
" Southward from the Mount of Beatitudes, six miles
distant from Nazareth, in an easterly direction (south-
east), the Mount of Tabor rises, "linPl, i. e. peak, na-
vel, Greek 'iTc^vpiov (Hos. v. 1 ; Sept.), called by the
natives Tschebel Tor. It is a great, well-nigh isolated
ball of chalkstone, flattened on the top. Jerome says
of it : Mira roiwitdiiate sublbnis. In omni jmrte fiid-
tuT iequaliter. Upon the southern side, it extends far
down into the plain of Jezreel : f northward it over-
looks all the confronting mountains of the highlands
of Galilee. The sides of Tabor are covered with a
forest of oaks and wild pistachio-trees, which shelter
wild swine. The whole mountain is rich in flowers,
and abounds with trees. The flat top is about a mile
and a half in circumference ; upon it are the remains
of a large fortress, and two churches may still be rec-
ognized." (K. von Eaumer, Paldstina, p. 62.) See
Jer. xlvi. 18; Ps. Ixxxix. 12, ["Tabor and Hei-mon
shall rejoice in thy name"]. Upon the prospect
from Tabor, consult works of travel, Schubert, Rob-
inson; also Schulz (Miihlheim an der Ruhr, 1852, p.
260). Gerlach supposes the mountain to have lain
in a lonely neighborhood, in Lebanon, in the north
of Gafilee, but states no reasons.
Ver. 17. And ■when they savr Him. — In the
case of the Eleven, this was " neither the first occa-
sion upon which they saw Him since the resurrection,
nor yet the first impression." Judging from the im-
port of what follows, we beUeve that Matthew groups
the eleven Apostles together v/ith the assembled pil-
grim throng of Galilean believers. To this congre-
gated body does the prostration refer, and also the
doubting of some. We consider, however, that the
statement: some doubted, is not appUed to the
reaUty of the Risen One, but is used in regard to the
* [Hofmann endeavors to harmonize the differences in
the history of the forty days by means of this apocryphal
tradition; but y FaXtAaia means nowhere in the N. T. a
mountain, but always the well-known province, nor do the
fathers use it In any other sense. Comp. Meyer in the ftith
edition, p. 613, note.— P. S.]
t [The Edinb. edition reads: it sinAs deep into the Val-
ley of Israel. I do not know what the " Valley of Israel"
is; but Dr. Lange undoubtedly means the great plateau or
elevated plain of Jezreel, bxSTTi p?:S , which extends
from Carmel to the Jordan where it leaves the Lake Gene-
zareth, and was celebrated for its beauty and fertility,
Josh. xvii. 16; Judg. vi. 33; vii. 1; 1 Sam. xxix. 1, etc.— P.
immediately preceding irpuae Kvi'-rjo-ai'. These
"some" were not in doubt whether the person be-
fore them was really Jesus who had risen. That
would have been a total inversion of the order of
things, if they had come to the mountain believing,
and had been plunged back into doubt upon the sight
of the Lord. Why, it was the very vision of the
Lord which made the women and the Eleven believ-
ing. So that they doubted whether it was ivoper to
oft'er unto the Lord such an unbotr.ded v.orship as
was expressed in the supplications and prostration
of the disciples. This view is held also by de Wette.
The following declaration of Jesus refers to this hesi-
tation. Hence we find in this a prophetic allusion
by the Evangelist to that germ of Ebionism which
developed itself at a later period among the Jewish
Christians, just 'as he had before pointed out the
germ of the antichristian Judaism. These " some "
— o I S e without a preceding oi ^iv — constitute a par-
ticular section of that assembled mass, formerly men-
tioned as a body, to which special attention would be
directed.* The words, ol 5 f e 5 i cr t a c a j/ , have
received various explanations. 1. The reading itself,
ou5e : Bomemanu [Beza]. 2. The meaning, Some
prostrated themselves, the others separated in dis-
may: Schleussner. 3. The occasion: («) They
doubted, because Jesus' body was already glorified :
Olshausen and others; {b) dread of a phantom:
Hase ; (c) on account of a change in the body of Je-
sus, which was now in the intermediate state, between
its former condition, and glorification, which was
completed at the ascension : Meyer, f 4. The sub-
ject : (a) The Eleven were they who doubted : Meyer ;
{b) certain of the .Seventy : Kuinoel ; (c) certain of
the five hundred brethren, 1 Cor. xv. 6 : Calovius
and others [also Olshausen, Ebrard, Stier, who sup-
pose, from the previous announcement of this meet-
ing, and the repetition of that announcement by the
angel, and by Christ, that it included, probably, all
the disciples who could be brought together; — in
which case we must take the eVSewo in ver. 16 in an
emphatic, not in an exclusive sense, the Eleven being
the natural leaders of the rest. — P. S.] This last ex-
planation is undoubtedly the correct one. {See above.)
Ver. 18. And Jesus drawing near, spake
unto them. — Tliis drawing near was manifestly a
special approach unto those who were doubting;
and unto them likewise were the following words in
the first instance addressed, though not exclusively.
All power is given unto Me. — Expression of
His glorification and victory. " It is an unwarrant-
ed rationalizing explanation, when this expression is
made to mean simply, either poiestas animvi honii-
num per doctrinani imperandi (Kuinoel), or full
power to make all the preparations necessary for the
Messianic theocracy (Paulus). It is the munus re-
gium Christi, without Umilation." Meyer. Accord-
ing to the doubts of the later Ebionites, Christ must
share the power given Him by God, in heaven with
the angels, on earth with Moses. [With the resur-
rection and ascension Christ took full possession, as
* [The omission of oi fxiv implies that those who doubt-
ed were a small minority, a mere exception. If Matthew
had written: oi fJ-ef TipoaiKvvr\(Tav, oi Se i^i(naao.ii,
he would have divided the disciples into two co-ordinate and
almost equal parts. Comp. Meyer iu- loc.—P. S.]
t [Lansce means the late Jobann Friedrich von Meyer,
the reviser of Luther's German Bible, not to be confounded
with Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, the commentator
still living. As the latter is mentioned immediately after-
ward, their Christian names should have been given here. —
P. S.]
CHAP. XXVIII. 16-20.
557
the Godtnan, of that 5o'|a Mhich, as \6yoi icrapicos,
or according to His eternal Divine nature, He had
before the foundation of the world, John xvii. 5 ;
Luke xxiv. 20; Phil. ii. 9-11; Eph. i. 20-23.—
\er. 19. Go ye (therefore). — Oiv is a gloss,
but a correct one ; for the majesty of Christ is the
ground both for His sending, and for their allowing
themselves to be sent. [Alford, a dignitary of the
Church of England, says of these words of the great
commission, that they were " not spoken to the apos-
tles o«(y, but to all the brethren." He also remarks
on the connection between e'louo-iaand /naSrjTeiWare :
" All power is given Me — go therefore and — subdue ?
Not so : the purpose of the Lord is to bring men to
the knowledge of the truth — to work on and in their
hearts, and lift them up to be partakers of the Divine
nature I And therefore it is not ' subdue^' but ' make
disciples of.'' " — P. S.]
Make disciples of, nad-r)T e urr ar e. — Lu-
ther's translation: Ichret, is incorrect.* So also is
the Baptist exegesis : In every case, first complete
religious instruction, then baptism. To make disci-
ples of, involves in general, it is true, the preaching
of the Gospel ; but it maiks pre-eminently the mo-
ment when the non-Christian is brought to a full
wilUngniess to become a Christian, that is, has be-
come, through repentance and faith, a catechumen.
This willingness, in the case of the children of Chris-
tian parents, is presupposed and implied in the wil-
lingness of the parents ; for it is unnatural and uu-
spiritual to treat children as if they were adults,
and Christianity as if it were a mere school question,
when the parents do not decide unhesitatingly in
favor of Christianity as the religion of their chihiren,
and do not determine to educate them accordingly.
Hence the children of Christian parents are born
catechumens, or subjects of Christian instruction.
The Holy Scriptures everywhere place the spiritual
unity of the household in the believing father or be-
lieving mother, representing this as the normal rela-
tion.
All nations. — Removal of the limitations laid
down in ch. x. 5, according to the statements con-
tained in ch. XXV. 32 ; xxiv. 14. By this, the univer-
sality of the apostolic commission is estabUshed.
The question, how the Gentiles are to be received
into the Church, is not yet answered, though the un-
conditioned reception of behevers is found in the ap-
pointment, that nations, as nations, are to be chris-
tianized, without being first made Jews ; that they
are to be marked out as Christians by baptism, with-
out any reference to circumcision. The development
of this germ is left by the Lord to the work of the
Spirit. The revelation recorded Acts x., is the Spir-
it's exegesis of the already perfect commission, and
not a continuation or expansion of that commission,
which was completed with the work of Christ. We
cannot, therefore, assume that the Apostles, up to that
time, held circumcision to be a necessary condition
of baptism, or reception into the Church ; they were
merely in the dark regarding this question, until the
Holy Spirit explained the word of Christ unto
them.
Baptizing them. — Or, more correctly accord-
ing to the reading ^aTrriaavres : having baptized
them.\ But t^aO-nrevetv is not completed in baptism.
* [So is the ieacJi, of the English Version, and the docete
of the Latin Vulgate. Cotnp. the Critical Note No. 4, p. 555.
-P. S.]
+ [The re.iiling ySaiTTi (Toi't e s has the authority of
Rather are there two acts, a missionary and an eccle-
siastical,— the antecedent baptism, the subsequent
instruction. [Meyer: " /SaTrn'^'oi'Tfy, etc., by which
the i.i.aOr]Tiv(iv is to be brought about, not what is to
take place after the no.Q-i)T(v(ra.7e, which would re-
quire ;uu67;T6iVai/Tev-;8a7rTi'(,'eTf." Alford: "The ixaQi\-
reveif consists of two parts — the initinio7y, admissory
rite, and the subsequent teaching. It is much to be
regretted that the rendering of /xad., ^ teach,'' has in
our Bibles clouded the meaning of these important
words. It will be observed that in our Lord's words,
as in the Church, the process of ordinary discipleship
is from baptism to instruction — /. e., is admission in
infancy to the covenant, and growing up into rrjpetv
navTct, K. T. A." But this applies only to Christian
churches already established. As the Jewish relidon
commenced with the promise of God, and the faith
and circumcision of adult Abraham, who received
circumcision as a sign and seal of the covenant al-
ready established (Rom. iv. 11) for himself and for
his seed, so the Christian Church was founded in tl*
beginning, and is now propagated in all heathen
countries by the preaching of the Gospel to, and by
the baptism of, adults. Infant baptism always pre-
supposes the existence of a responsible parent church
and the guaranty of Christian nurture which must
develop and make available the blessings of the bap-
tismal covenant. Hence the preponderance of adult
over infant baptism in the first centuries of Chrii'tian-
ity, and in all missionary stations to thif? day. But
even in the case of adult converts, a full instruction
in the Christian religion and develoi)ment of Christian
life, does not, as a rule, precede, but succeed baptism,
which is an initiatory, not a consummatory rite, the
sacramental sign and seal of regeneration, i. e., of the
beginning of the new life, not of sanctification or
growth and perfection in holiness. — P. S.]
In [or rather witk reference to, or into] the
name of.* — That is, in the might of, and for, the
name, as the badge and the sjonbol of the new Church.
El's t6. "Xote," says Meyer, "that the liturgical
formida, In 7iomine, In the name, rests entirely upon
the incorrect translation of the Vulgate." Yet, not
so entirely, because the expression iv t2 ovonan is
found in Acts x. 48 (compare Matt. iii. 11). De Wette
and Meyer explain els to, viith reference to the
name. But eis to, in other passages, means either
the element into which one is baptized (Mark i. 9,
€1? rhv 'lopScti'Tji' ; Rom. vi. 3, tls rou Oavarov); or
the object, iU ixiravoiav. Matt. iii. 11 ; Acts ii. 38,
Ei's &ipeaiv ; or the authority of the community, under
which and for which one is baptized (eis rhv MaiUo-fj;',
1 Cor. X. 2). The last meaning is probably the
j)rominent one in this passage : a baptism under the
authority of, and unto the authority of the triune
God, as opposed to the baptism in and for the author-
ity of Moses. But, as the context shows, we have
expressed likewise the idea of being plunged into
tlie name of the Three-one God, as the element, and
only two, thoufch very important uncial MSS., the Vatican
(B.) and the Ciinibridge Codex (.Code.x liezre or D.), and looks
Very much like an ecclesiasticul correction. The Pinaitic
Code.v, which otherwise so often agrees with Cod. B., sus-
tains here the text, rec, and all the modem critical editions,
Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, etc., rt-ad the present parti-
ciple /SaTTTi fo j'Tf s. Meyer, otherwise so careful in
grammatical and critical matters, does not even notice the
difference of reading in this case.— P. 8.]
* [Lange, as also do Wette, Stier, and Ew.tld, translate
ejs Th ovona: uuf den. Nainen, while Luther, follow-
ing the Latin Vulgate, translates in dent Namen, like oui
English Version. Hee tlie Criticol Note No. 6, p. 555.—
P. S.]
558
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
the dedication of the baptized unto this name.* The
expression, eVl tij; 6i>6iJ.art, Acts ii. 38, brings out
most fully the idea of the authority, in virtue of
which, or the foundation upon which, baptism is ad-
ministered. In so far, now, as baptism has the Triune
name as (/round, means, and object, the combined sig-
nification of ets may be partially explained by loith
reference to ; more distinctly, however, in the name
of: that is, upon the ground of this name, in the
might of this name, as dedicated unto this name, or
for this name. Meyer: "The name of the Father,
etc., is to be the object of faith, and the subject of
confession." This expresses only the third concep-
tion, and that but half. Upon the import of the
name, see Commentary on Matt. vi. 9 [p. 125]. f The
name refers to each of the Persons of the Godhead.
The plural form, -ra. dvofxara, would have pointed to
Tritheism ; while the singular, in its distributive ap-
pUcation to Father, Son, and Spirit, brings out in the
one name the equahty as well as the personahty, of the
three Divine Names in one name.:]^ In an emphatic
sense, may it also be said, that -rh irvevfxa ayiov is
a "distinctively Chinstian charactcristieum of the
Spirit" (John vii. 39).
* [So ."ilso two distingnisheil modern English commenta-
tors. Alfobd /?(. /oc. / "It is unfortunate again here that
our Endish Bibles ;lo not give us the forr-e of this etr.
It should have been into (as in Gal. iii. 27) both here and in
1 Cor. X. 2, and wherever the expression is used. It imports
not only a subjective recognition hereafter by the child of
the truth Implied in to ui/o/xa, k.t.X., but an objective ad-
viissioninto the covenant of redemption— a putting on of
Ohrint. Baptism is the contract of espousal (Eph. v. 2(i)
between Christ and Ilis Church, bur word ';»' being re-
tained both here and In our formula of Baptism, it should al-
ways be remembered that the sacramental declaration is
contained in this word; that it answers (as Stier has well
observed, Reden Jesu, vi. 902) to the toCto earriv in the
other sacrament." Similarly AVordsworth, who otherwise
adheres very closely to ancient usage: "Not «'«., but into;
and not names (plural), but into the One name; i. «., admit
them by the sacrament of Baptism into the privileges and
duties of faith in, and obedience to, the name of the one God,
in three persons . . . .and into participation of, and commun-
ion with, the divine nature." Conant, on the other hand,
retains and defends the Authorized Version in the name
(though not in the sense : by the authority of, but in refe-
rence to), and denies th.at into the name gives the sense, an.l
is admi.ssible in English. But the Authorized Version ren-
ders lirToi i^aiTr[aQr]!Xiv eh XptaTov 'It^ffooy, Rom. vi.
3: "so m.any of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ," the
^aTTTiCfj-a ils 66.1'arov, ver. 4: "baptism into death," and
eir Xpunhv i^aTrriadriTe, Gal. iii.^27: "baptized into
Christ." Why not say then with ('qual propriety: to bap-
tize into the name of Christ, i. <?., into communion and fel-
lowship with Him and the holy Trinity as revealed in the
work of creation, redemption, and regeneration?— P. a]
t [The name signifies the meaning and essence of the
subject as revealed, the copy or expression of the being. In
this case the name implies all that belongs to the manifesta-
tion of the triune God in the gospel. His titles, attributes and
works of creation, redemption, and sanctification. It is prob-
able that Christ had reference also to llis own baptism in
Jordan, where all three persons of the Godhead revealed
them.5elves.— P. S.]
t [Meyer (p. CI 9, 5th ed. of 1SC4) thinks that, doctrinally,
the singul.ir to ovona can be used neither in favor of the
orthodox doctrine of the Trinity (as is done bj Basil, Jerome,
Theophylact, and others), nor in favor of the Sabhellian
view of a mere nominal Trinity, since the singular signifies
the definite name of each one of tlie three, so that fls rh
uvop.a must be supplied before rov v'lou and before too
ayi'jv TTvi-ufxaTos, cornp. Apoc. xiv. 1 : rh ovofxa avrnv
KM rh itvoo-a. to!) TTaTphs avrov. But be admits that the
New Testament doctrine of the holy Trinity as the suiri and
substance of the whole Christian faiih and confession is pre-
supposed and implied in the passage.— The old practice of a
threefold immersion, which is first mentioned by Tertullian,
is a venerable usage, but cannot be traced to the apostolic
.aire, nor is it at all required by the trinitarian formula. —
P. S.]
We must dissent from Meyer, when he maintains
that the passage is " improperly termed the baptis-
mal formula," assigning as reason that "Jesus does
not, assuredly, dictate the words whicli are to be em-
ployed in the administration of baptism. (No trace
is to be found of the employment of these words by
the Apostohc Church : compare rather the simple
form (h XpiaT6v, Rom. vi. 3 ; Gal. iii. 2*7 ; ^aiTTiQiiv
eh rh uvoixa. X., Acts viii. IG ; and eVl rtS ovo.uaTi X.,
Acts ii. 38.) It is the telic import [or intention] of
the baptismal act that is given in this expression.
Consult Reiche, De BafAism. oric/., etc., (iottingen,
1816, p. 141. It was only at a later period that the
baptismal formula was drawn up according to these
words {sec Justin. Apol. i. 61), just as was the bap-
tismal confession of the three articles." But it is
exactly this gradual development of the apostolical
confession of faith which conducts us back to the
germ, v/hicli we find here depo.sitcd in the New Tes-
tament. A bai)tism in the name of Christ is con-
ceivable only when that confession was accompanied
by the acknowledgment of the Father and the Holy
Spirit;, and this so-called "telic import" points us
back to the homogeneous foundation upon which
that import rests. It is true, indeed, that the apos-
tolic age was not bound to formulas, as stiif and dead
formulas. Otherwise, Meyer is right in defending,
against the objections of de Wette, Strauss, and
others, the historical truth of this direction of Christ.
This is not the only instance in which we have pre-
sented a more specially defined statement of the fun-
damental doctrines of Christianity, and of the essen-
tial points of the Christian confession (see 2 Cor. xiii.
13 ; 1 Tim. iii. IG ; Tit. ii. 11, 13, etc.). [Comp. the
Doctrinal Tlioughts, below, sub No. 6.]
Ver. 20. Teaching them. — These words mark,
on the one 'hand, the continuation of the apostolic
activity, after that ^a^TjTeueii/ and fiami(^eiv had pre-
ceded ; upon the other, the course of the Christian,
which should run on parallel to this activity. The
statement concerning the new eVroATJ, John xiii. 34,
which refers undoubtedly to the institution of the
Holy Supper, shows us, that all things commanded
by Christ concentrate in the truth, and the spiritual
observance of that Supper as necessarily following
baptism and the estabhshment of the visible church.
See the autlior's Lebcn Jcsu, iL 3, p. 1330.
[We shoidd not overlook that there is no k a i be-
fore SiSdcTicoyTfi, so that baptizing and teaching
are not strictly coordinate, as two successive acts
and means of Christianizing the nations ; but the
teachitig is a continuous process, which partly pre-
cedes baptism, as a general exhibition of the gospel
with the view to bring the adults to the critical turn-
ing point of decision for Christ, and submission to
His authority, and partly follows baptism, both in the
case of adults and infants, as a thorough indoctrina-
tion in the Cliristian truth, and the building up of the
whole man unto the full manhood of Christ, the au-
thor and finisher of our fiuth. Since the eleven apos-
tles and other personal disciples of our Lord could
neither baptize nor teach all nations, it is evident
that He instituted here the office of a continuous and
unbroken preacherhood (not piriesthood in the Jewish
or Romish sense) and teacherhood, with all its duties
and functions, its privileges and responsibilities ; and
to this office He pledged His perpetual presence to
the end of time, without the intermission of a single
day or hour. — P. S.]
[All things, whatsoever I have commanded
you. — The doctrines and precepts of Christ, nothing
CHAP. XXVIII. 16-20.
559
less and nothing more, are the proper subjects of
Ckristiau faith and practice, and constitute the gemir-
ine Christian tradition to be handed down from age
to age, as distinct from those pseudo-Christian tradi-
tions of men which were added to the gospel, as the
pseudo-Jewisli traditions of the Pliarisees and ciders
were added to the Old Testament, and " made the
word of (iod of none effect," Matt. xv. 6. — P. S.]
And, lo. — Excitation and encouragement to ful-
fil the apostolic commission, and the duties of the
Christian Hie, which are here enjoined.*
I am -with you. — Not merely through the
agency of the power which has been given Me, but
still more in the other person of the Holy Spirit, or
the Paracletes (John xiv. 16, 20, etc.), and in My
own personal agency, through My word (John xiv.
23) and sacrament (Matt. xxvi. 28). There is refer-
ence also to their vital union to, and communion
with, Him, in the might of His Spirit (John xiv. 20 ;
xvi. 22), and of His life (John xv. 6). [Alford : '" /,'
in the fullest sense : not the Divine Presence as dis-
tinguished from the Humanity of Christ. His Hu-
manity is with us Ukewise. The vine Uves in the
branches. . . . The presence of Christ is part of the
i^oQt) above — the effect of the well-pleasing of the
'^. Father. So that the mystery of His name, eV/iwouTJA,
^ is fulfilled— Go*/ with «s."— P. S.]
[With you. — Wordsworth, like the Romish in-
terpreters, erroneously confims fxed' v/xoJv to the
apostles and their successors in ofliice. Let us
quote Alford, also a dignitary of the Episcopal
Church, against him: "To understand ^ e 0' vixuv
only of the apostles and their ( ? ) successors, is to
destroy tlie whole force of these most weighty words.
Descending even into Hteral exactness, we may see
that SiSaaKovTiS avTuvs TTjpilv TrdvTa orra eVereiAauTji'
v^l'if, makes avrovi into vix(7s, as soon as they are
fj.fuadr]Tevtxivoi. The command is to the Universal
Church — to be performed, in the nature of things,
by her ministers and teachers, the maimer of appoint-
ing which is not here prescribed, but to be learnt in
the imfoldings of Providence recorded in the Acts
of the Apostles, who by His special ordinance were
the founders and first builders of that Church — but
whose office, on that very account, precluded the idea
of succession or renewal.^^ In a general sense, how-
ever, the apostolic office — the only one which Christ
founded, but which was the fruitful genu of all other
ministerial offices (the presbyterate and dcaconate)
— is truly and really continued, with all its necessary
functions for the preservation and propagation of the
church, in the ministerial or pastoral office. In this
passage the apostles and other disciples (there were,
probably, more than five hundred in all, comp. 1 Cor.
XV. 6) appear as the representatives of the whole
ministry of the gospel, and in a wider sense of the
whole church over against the unchristian world,
which is to be christianized by them. As the Saviour
prayed not for the apostles alone, " but for them also
that shall beUeve on Him through their word, that
they all may be one" (John xvii. 20, 21), so the
promise of His abiding presence is to all ministers
of the gospel and to the whole Church they repre-
sent. Christ has abundantly proved, and daily
proves, His blessed presence in non-episcopal, as
well as episcopal churches, even where only two or
* [So also Meyer. Alford gives the words; Ka] Idov,
a different ineanin": which is rather far fetched, by referring
them to the ancetision, the uiauner of which is not related
by Matthew.— P. 8.]
three humble disciples are assembled in His name
(Matt, xviii. 20), and it is our duty and privilege, in
the spirit of true evangelical catholicity, to acknowl-
edge and revere the footprints of our Saviour in all
ages and sections of Christendom, whether Greek, or
Latin, or Anghcan, or Protestant. — P. S.]
Alway.* — The words: Trarrof to? i) at pas, every
day, mark not only every year wliich will elapse till
the world's end, as years of redemption, but also
every day, even the darkest, as days of redemption.
[Alkokd : " All the appointed days — for they are
numbered by the Father, though by none but Him."
Wordsworth : "I shall never be absent from you a
single day; I shall never be abseiu in any of the
days of the greatest trial and affliction of tlie Church ;
but I shall remain with her till the Inst day, when you
will see Me again in l)0'lily piesence." — F. S.]
Unto the end of the world. — Tliat is, until
the completion or consummation of tlic secular son,
or the period of time which comes to an end with the
parousia, and involves the end of the present world
itself. Hence this fact Ls also included, that Christ ac-
companies His own, when they go to the most remote
boundaries of the world to preach the Gospel. [The
word unto (eois) does not set a term to Christ's pres-
ence, but to His iiivisible and temporal presence,
which will be exchanged for His visible and eternal
presence at Ilis last coming. Now Christ is with us,
then when He shall appear in glory, we shall be with
Jlira where He is (John xvii. 24), and shall see Him
as He is (1 John iii. 2). Comp. Beugel, who remaiks to
eoir: " Turn enim nos erimus cum Domino.'''' — P. S.]
On account of this all-encompassing, this heaven-
and-earth-includmg presence of Christ, the fact of
tiie personal ascension is omitted hy our Evangelist,
which is done also by John, as a point which is self-
evidently comprehended in this omnipresence. [The
fact itself of the ascension is clearly implied, not
only in this verse, but also in other passages of this
Gospel, as ch. xxii. 44 ; xxiv. 30 ; xxv. 14, 31 ; xxvi.
64.— P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETUIOAL.
1. The mountain in Galilee. — The aj)pearance of
the risen Lord upon this mountain recalls in its every
part the transfiguration upon the mountain in Pera;a,
and also Peter's confession, which preceded that
transfiguration. Hetice it is, it seems to us, that tra-
dition has connected the second event with the first,
in regard to the locality, and has named Mount Ta-
bor as the scene of the transfiguration. Upon this
occasion we have a repetition of both the solemn
confession and the transfiguration. The two scenes
a.gree in kind, but this present one surpasses in de-
gree. There, Peter confessed : " Thou art Christ, the
Son of the hving God ; " here, a disciple-band of
more than five hundred believers fall in adoration at
the feet of the risen Lord. There, Christ confirmed
Peter's confession, as a revelation from the Fatlicr ;
here. He declares : " All power is given unto Me in
heaven and on earth." There, He proclaimed the
institution of His Church {iKKXrinia) upon the foun-
dation of this confession ; here, He appoints His dis-
ciples apostles unto all nations, while these nations
were to take the place of the disciples {iiaO-rirtwaTf),
He mstitutes holy baptism, and recalls the more
* [Lnnae: (die T(ige,all the rf«y.i, whicli is the literal
translation.— P. S.]
560
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
special institution of the ministerial {teaching) office
(John XX. 21), and of the Holy Supper [see above,
JUxeg. iVoif.s).— And as He made manifest, upon the
Mount of Transfiguration, His connection with the
heavenly world of spirits, and with the entire past
of God's kingdom (Moses aud Elijah), so lie certifies
here His connection with the entire future of God's
kingdom. His eternal presence in the Church in this
world, by means of these words : " Lo, I am with
you every day till the completion of the aeon, of the
world's course and time."
2. When Matthew mentions in this passage only
the Eleven, he will merely mark them out as the
leaders of the Gahlean disciple-procession, but in no
sense as those to whom the institutions of the glorified
Lord were exclusively entrusted. Gerlach is of the
opinion, that the principal, the predominating thouglit
witli Matthew, was the office of public teacher ; " and
hence it is thai all the appearances of our Lord,
which were enjoyed by different parties, are omitted."
But Matthew reports even an appearance of Jesus
unto the women. If Matthew here records (as Ger-
lach himself admits) the same meeting of Jesus with
the disciples which is mentioned by Paul, 1 Cor. xv.
6, it follows that the Lord himself here committed His
formal institutions and commissions to the whole as-
sembled Church, with the A])ostIe3 at her head, just
as He at a later date poured out His Spirit upon the
whole assembled Church. And from this, then, we
argue, that, according to the law of Christ, the apos-
tolic office and the Church are not two divided sec-
tions. In the commission to teach and to baptize,
the apostolical community is one, a united apostolate,
involving the Church, or, a united Church, including
the Apostles. In this unity we may unquestionably
mark the distinction between the leader and the led,
w^hich comes out in a more positive way in the en-
trustment to the Apostles of the official keys (Matt.
xvi. 19; xviii. 18; John xx. 21). But that is an
organic contrast, arising from, and conditioned by,
the unity of the apostolic communion (1 Cor. v. 4).
3. The declaration of Christ : " AU power," etc.,
and His command to baptize into the name of tlie
Father, and of the Son, etc., as also the fact that He
received the adoring homage of His disciples, show
clearly that He presented Himself, not; only in the
majesty of His exalted humanity, but also in the
brightness of His divinity. In the words : " is given
unto Me," there is, undoubtedly, emphasis laid upon
His mediatorial relationship, which is frequently illus-
trated by the Apostle (1 Cor. xv. 28 ; Eph. i. 20 ;
Phil. ii. 9 ff.) ; but, at the same time, with equal dis-
tinctness is the homoousia (or co-equality) of Christ
with the Father and the Holy Spirit expressed in the
second name of the baptismal formula. Under the
old economy, the predominant reference in all the
divine government was to the glorification of the
Father ; under the new economy, to that of the Son ;
while, in the final completion, the Father shall be
glorified with the Son m the glorification of the Holy
Spirit.
4. It is manifest that the kingdom which Christ
here describes is not only a rcgnum gratice, but also
a kingdom of power, and a kingdom of glory ; but it
does not manifest itself as three distinct kingdoms,
but the power v/hich He manifests is subservient to
the interests of the kingdom of grace, and the king-
dom of grace finds its end and completion in the
kingdom of glory (see the author's Podtive Dogma-
iik).
5. That the Anabaptists appeal for their views
without sufficient reason to ver. 19, has been often
enough pointed out {see the JExcg. Notes). But, upon
the other hand, it is clearly presupposed in /j-aO-nreiJ-
(rare, that persons are to be induced to be baptized
by the use of gospel means, not by forcible conver-
sion,— are not to be made catechumens by compul-
sion ; and also, that baptism can be administered to
children really only upon the ground of a truly Chris-
tian family, or at least of a god-parentship (sponsor-
ship) which represents spiritually such a family. On
the baptism of children, consult W. Hoffmann :
Gesprdchc uher Taufe und Wiedertaufe ; Culmann :
Welche Bewandtniss hat e.s mit der Taufe? Strass-
burg, 184*7; the writings of Martensen, Rudelbach,
etc. [Comp. also, on the j5cec7o-Baptist side of the
question: P. Schaff: History of the Apostolic Church,
New York ed., 1853, § 142, 143, pp. 5G9-581 ;
P. ScHAFF : History of the Christian Church of the
First Three Centuries, New York, 1859, p. 122 £P. ;
W. Wall (Episcopalian): The IFistory of Infant
Baptism, 2d ed., Oxford, 1844, 4 vols. ; Samuel
Miller (Presbyterian): Infant Baptism Scriptural
and Reasonable, etc., Philad., 1840 ; W. Nast (Meth-
odist) : A Dissertation on Christian Baptism, Cincin-
nati, 18G4 (at the close of his Com. on Matthew,
p. 641-652). On the Baptist side of the question,
both in regard to infant baptism and immersion,
compare the learned and able works of Alexander
Caksox : Baptism in its Mode and Subjects, 5th Am.
ed., 1850, and, as regards the mode of baptism,
Dr. T. J. CoNANT : The Meaning and Use of Bap-
tizein Philologically and Historically Investigated,
being an Appendix to his revised Version of the
Gospel of Mi^tthew, New York, 1860, and also
separately printed by the Am. Bible Union, New
York, 1861.— P. S.]
6. In {into) the name. — As we saw before, the
name is not the essence itself, but the expression, the
manifestation of the essence, among those of God's
intelligent creatures who name the name. So then.
In (into) the name (e-'s to ii/o/xa) of the Triune, signi-
fies: 1. IhQ groxind ; (a) objectively: according to
His revelation, under His authority, by reason of His
command, and agreeably to His institution ; (6) sub-
jectively : upon the confession of this name. 2. The
means ; {a) objectively : into the revelation of His
name as the spiritual element; (&) subjectively: for
the revelation of His name in the actual confession.
3. The object ; (a) objectively : for the glorification
of the Triune name in the subject baptized ; {b) sub-
jectively: for the happiness* of the baptized in the
Triune name. All the significations are combined in,
and expressed by els tc) uvo/ia. Gerlach says : " To
do something in the name of God, means, not only :
itpon His commission, but to do it in such a manner
that the power and being of God Himself shall ap-
pear as working in the transaction. Thus : to bless
in the name of the Lord (2 Sam. vi. 18 ; Ps. exxix.
8) ; to adjure one in the name of the Lord (1 Kings
xxii. 16); to curse one (2 Kings ii. 24); above all,
to pray in Jesus' name (John xvi. 23)." The person
baptized is, accordingly, " fully committed uuto the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — consecrated,
* [In German: zxir Beselioimg, which the Edinb. edition
misrenders: to seal, as if Mtse/uymirj v.ore the same with
Verf:iegelnnrf ! The ohjeotive cii.l of bniitism (and of man)
is the glory of God, the subj-ctive end the happiness and
salvation oif the persons bajiti/ed by iiitioducing: theui into
the communion with God. The Westminster Catechism
combines the two in the first question: "What is the chief
end of man ? To dorify God and to enjoy Him forever."—
P. S.]
CHAP. XXVm. 16-20.
501
made over to experience the blessing, tlic redeeming
and sanctifying influences, of eacli of the three Per-
sons ; hence, also, he is even named by tlic name of
the Lord (Isa. xliii. 1 ; Ixiii. 19 ; Jcr. xv. IG)."
Baptism is, after the analogy of the circumcision,
a covenant transaction, more particularly the dedica-
tory covenant transaction, the sacrament of regene-
ration, to which the Lord's Supper corresponds, as
the completed covenant act, as the sacrament of sanc-
tification. Baptism represents tlie birth, the Supper
the festive manifestation of Christianity. Considered
in this light, however, we must bring out prominent-
ly these three points: (1) God in this covenant is its
author, who invites, reconciles, lays down conditions,
and tliat all the vows and performances of men are to
rest upon God's promises. (2) The promises of God
arc promises and assurances of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, in which the personal Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, specializing and individual-
izing the Gospel, makes Hunself over, with all His
own peculiar gifts, to each individual subject of bap-
tism ; the Father, with tlie blessing of creation and
regeneration ; the Son, with the blessing of history,
i. e., of salvation ; the Holy Spirit, with the blessing
of His Ufe and of the (entire) Church. Tliis promise
contains the assurance of the paternal guardianship
and blessing of God, of the grace and merit of Christ,
of the consolation, illumination, and direction of the
Holy Spirit. But all this under the condition of the
subject's own personal appropriation and application.
(3) And in accordance with this, vv'e must direct at-
tention to the vows presented to the Father, the Son,
and the Spirit. In the case of children, these vows
are made by parents or god-parents (sponsors) ; and
where these guarantees are entirely wanting, there is
the limit of Christian infant baptism.
1. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. — " This passage is the chief proof
of the doctrine of the Trinity. (1) These three must
be subjects distinct from one another, and true per-
sons, especially because rh ovufxa is never in the en-
tire Bible used of absiractis, of qualities, but only of
true persons. (2) They must be equal, consequently
divine persons, because they are placed upon an
equality, and because hke reverence is claimed for
each. Even Julian the Apostate acknowledged the
force of this passage, and accused the Christians of
being polytheists." So Heubner. This taunt is to
be avoided by our showing no favor to the vulgar
conception of three distinct Divine beings and indi-
viduals, and by holding fast to three personal dis-
tinctions in the one divine being. For more exact
details, see the works upon systematic theology. We
would only add, that tlie doctrine of the Trinity is to
be regarded as the fundamental, theological doctrine
of Christianity, to which the soteriological doctrines
of election, of the atonement, and the Church corre-
spond.
[It should be added, that the doctrine of the Trin-
ity does not rest, by any means, merely on the few
dicta probantia which teach it directly and expressly,
as the baptismal formula, the apostolic benediction,
2 Cor. xiii. 13, and the doubtful passage on the three
witnesses in heaven, 1 John v. 7 (comp. besides Matt,
iii. 16, 17 ; 1 Pet. i. 2 ; Rev. i. 4, 5), but still more
on facts, on the whole Scripture revelation of God as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the three great works
of creation, redemption, and sanctificalion. Froni
this Trinity of revelation (ceconomical Trinity) we
justly infer the Trinity of essence (ontological Trin-
ity), smce God reveals Himself as He actually is, and
since there can be no contradiction between His char-
acter and His works. Moreover, every one of the
many passages wliich separately teach either the divin-
ity of our Saviour, or the divinity of the Holy Spirit,
viewed in connection with the fundamental Scripture
doctrine of the unity of the Godhead, proves, indi-
rectly, also the doctrine of the holy Trinity. Hence
you cannot deny this fundamental doctrine without
either runnmg into Tritheism, or into Deism, M'ithout
destroying either the divine unity, or the divinity of
Christ and the Holy Sjurit, and thereby undennin-
ing the whole work of redemption and sanctifica-
tion.— P. S.]
8. Institution of the Church. — With this apos-
tolic commission, and with the institution of bap-
tism, which had been precedcil by that of the Sup-
per and of the ministerial ofhce, and by the presen-
tation of the " keys," the institution of the Church
is finished, as regards her elements. This can be
doubted only, when we ignore that the essence of
the Christian Church consists m the communion of
the word and the sacraments of Christ, that the word
calls the Church into being, that baptism is the
foundation, and the communion in a more special
sense is the manifestation, of the Church. The doubt
whether Christ Himself fomided the Church, originatr
ed with those who sought the nature of the Church
in her policy, or external social organization and
constitution ; as, e. g., J. H. Bohmer, G. J. Plank
(Geschichte der christlichen Gesellschaftsverfassung,
i. p. 17. We may notice in passing, that the germs
of Baur's " Ubinioten Ifypothese" are to be found
p. 9. in this book). The evangelical history teaches
us that the institution of the Church arose first grad-
ually, that the institution was announced and pre-
pared for in the word eKKArjo-ia, Matt. xvi. 18 ; was
decided by the foct of Christ's death and resurrec-
tion ; and completed, when the Spirit was poured
out at Pentecost. Then it was that the organism of
the Church, which the Lord had gradually formed,
received the quickening Spirit.
9. The resurrection as the Lord's exaltation. —
Because Matthew and John do not record the ascen-
sion, some have drawn conclusions from this silence
adverse to the reality of the ascension. These de-
ductions rest upon two essential errors. The first
error concerns the character of the evangelical writ-
ings : the Evangelists are held to have been chron-
iclers, who relate all they know of Jesus. But we
have already shown how far they surpassed these de-
mands ; that each Evangelist viewed his materials,
and arranged them, influenced by a conception of the
Lord's glory pecuUar to himself, and according to
one plastic, fundamental thought. But far below a
proper appreciation of the (Jospels as this eiTor hes,
equally far below a proper appreciation of the resur-
rection of Christ, in its full, eternal significance, does
the second error lie. Some, in accordance with the
low belief of the Middle Age8,have conceived the resur-
rection to have been a Icind of awaking, on the Lord's
part, unto a Ufe in this world similar lo that of Laza-
rus, so that possibly He might have died again, 'i'hcn
the ascension came in, as tiic second, entirely new,
and in fact much greater miracle, and decided the
matter then, and only then. This may be the view
of monks of the Middle Ages, but it is not tlie view
of tlie Apostolic Church. Accordmg to the true con-
ception, the ascension is e.-'sentially implied in the
resurrection. Both events are comltiued in the one
fact of Christ's exaltation. The resurrection is the
root and the beginning of the ascension ; the ascen-
5G2
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW,
sion ia the blossom and crovra of the resurrection.
Hence the Apostolic writings take the ascension al-
ways for granted (Acts ii. 31, 33 ; v. 31 ; vii. 55 ;
Eph. i. 20 ; ii. 6 ; iv. 8 ; Phil. ii. 6-10 ; 1 Tim. iii.
16; 1 Pet. iii. 32). The ascension is as really pre-
supposed by John (vi. 62 ; * xx. lY) and by Matthew
(xxri. 64) as it is distinctly related by Mark and
Luke. The Lord did not return again after His res-
urrection into this present life ; and yet quite as lit-
tle did He, as a simple, spiritual existence, enter into
the unseen world. He has become through the res-
urrection, which was at the same time transforma-
tion, the first-fruits of the new spiritual human life
of glorified humanity ; hence is He the Prince of the
visible and the invisible worlds, which find here the
point of union (Eph. i. 21). But this life, as regards
its essence, is the heavenly life ; and, as regards its
character, the entrance into that estate was accord-
ingly the beginning of the ascension. We cannot
indeed say (with Kinkel), that the early Church iden-
tified the resurrection and the ascension ; or, that the
latter occurred upon the first day of the resurrection ;
or, that there was a succession of ascensions. The
resurrection marks the entrance into the lieavenly
stale ; the ascension, into the heavenly sphere. With
the first, the manner of His former intercourse with
the disciples ceased, and was replaced by His mirac-
ulous appearances ; with the last. His visible inter-
course with the disciples generally ceased, to give
place to the sending of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.
This is the reason why the ascension presents a sad
side as well as a joyful, being the departure of Jesus
from the earth. It is both Good Friday and Easter.
By it the Church of Christ is marked out as both a
Church of the cross and a Church of the crown, and
enters upon a course of conflict which lasts from
Pentecost to the second Advent. Christ's ascension
is accordingly His proper glorification, as the resur-
rection His transformation. Nevertheless, the unity
of the exaltation of Christ predominates to such a
degree hi the apostolic view, that the final ascension
is taken for gi-anted by the Apostles. John sees the
image of the ascension in tliis, that Christ will con-
tinue to live in the Petrine and Johannean type of
the Church ; Matthew in this, that He will be with
His OAvn till the completion of the world, hence omni-
present with His people in His majesty, as regards
both time and space. Such a spiritual dynamic om-
nipresence of Christ is conceivable only upon the pre-
condition of the ascension. That "the feast of the
Ascension did not make its appearance until a late
period " (Gerlach), is to be explained by the fact,
that originally the forty days of the glorification of
Christ made up one continuous festival. Then the
ascension I'ose just in proportion as the festival of
the Forty Days sank. Upon the corporeality of the
risen Saviour, see Lange's Lehen Jesu, ii. 3, p. 1Y50.
In that work, we have considered connectedly the
conceptions of transformation and glorification, as is
usually done ; and this is so far justifiable, a^ trans-
formation is the basis of glorification. But the lat-
ter, which is the fully developed bloom of trans-
formation, does not fully manifest itself till Christ's
appearance upon the mountain in Galilee, and tiU the
ascension.
10. Matthew's three sacred mountams : (1) The
Mount of the Seven BeatituJes ; (2) the Mount of
* [Ver. 22 is a printing error of the original faitl.l'uHy re-
produced in tlie Edinlj. edition, whicli adds other errors, as
Matt. sxvi. 24, instead of 64, etc.— P. S.]
Transfiguration ; (3) the Mount of the great Resur-
rection-festival. (De Wette : The self-inauguration
of Jesus, — Transfiguration, — Farewell.)
IIOMILETICAL AND PEACTICAL.
The revelation of our risen Lord in the great con-
gregation of the disciples upontlie mountain: 1. The
festival which succeeded the Palm-entry, after they
had been scattered. 2. The festival which preceded
the feast of Pentecost, when they became perfectly
united. 3. The festival of Easter in its complete
form. — How great the gain when we believiugly re-
pair to the place where the Lord has commanded us
to go : 1. In the Lord's house ; 2. at the Lord's table ;
3. before the Lord's throne. — The believing Church
is constituted by its appearance before the Lord : 1.
It is only the appearance before the Lord which
makes a true Church ; the appearance before men
can form only a picture of a Church, or a party. 2.
The appearance before the Lord truly unites the
everlasting Church. — The Easter Church, kneeling
before her Lord, receives His Easter blessing: 1.
The kneeling Church. 2. The Easter blessing : (a)
the most blessed assurance that His royal glory is
her shield and salvation ; (6) the most extensive com-
mission unto all the world with His salvation ; (c)
the solemn assurance of His presence and His con-
duct to the end of the world. — How Christ replies to
doubters in His Church: 1. By a reference to His
unbounded power ; 2. by the institution of His un-
bounded Churcji ; 3. by the assurance of His ever-
abiding presence. — The believing Church participates
in the glory of her glorified Lord : 1. She shares His
might, in the guardianship and blessing which she
experiences ; 2. she shares His fulness of grace, in
the office she discharges ; 3. she shares His victory,
in the assurance received by her. — The risen Saviour
in His majesty: 1. In His royal glory; 2. in His di-
vine glory ; 3. in the glory of His victory. — All pow-
er in heaven and upon earth united in the Lord for
His people. — Jesus' omnipotence, an omnipotence of
grace, and an omnipotence of judgment. — The
Church's mstitution and commission is one : 1. The
institution, a commission ; 2. the commission, an in-
stitution.— Holy baptism, as the foundation of Christ's
Church : 1. The pre-condition, catechumens who
have been won by the gospel ; 2. its meaning, the
covenant grace of the Triune God ; 3. its object, the
holy communion and its blessing. — Baptism in the
name of the Triune God, the celebration of a personal
covenant : 1. The promises of God, Father, Son, and
Spirit, unto the baptized ; 2. the vows of the bap-
tized, in which he yields and binds himself unto the
Father, Son, and Spirit. — Baptism, the gospel in its
special application to the subject of baptism. — The
right of psedo-baptism : 1. The Lord's title to the
children of Christians ; 2. the Christian children's title
to the Lord. — The sanctification of pasdo-baptism. —
The doctrine of the holy Trinity in its practical sig-
nificance : 1. A threefold gospel ; 2. a threefold Chris-
tian calling ; 3. a threefold creation and summons
unto a spiritual life. — The religion of the Trinity and
the religion of the Spirit are one. — Christ's servants
should teach others what Christ has commanded,
not command others what Christ has taught. — The
blessing of the risen Lord unto His people: 1. Near
all and with all ; 2. every day, upon every way ; 3.
till the world's end ; 4. and till the world is per-
fected.
CHAP. XXVIII.
-20.
563
Starke: — Man must contribute his part; then
will God meet hhn with His promises. — But some
doubted. Because they were so tardy in believintr,
we may receive their testimony as so much more
trustworthy. — Is fflven Me : This is a divine, eternal
power, — tlie foundation of the gospel, the ministerial
office, — the ground of our respousibiUty to obey His
commandiueutt^, of the baptismal covenant, and of
His gracious presence in the Cluirch. — This is the
greatest loss, both at the appearance and the liegin-
ning of piety, in very many souls, that they will "not
deny their own strength, and cast themselves down at
Christ's feet. — The boundless power and exaltation
of Jesus Christ, the ground of faith and all consola-
tion, from which we must obtain the victory over
sin, death, the devil, hell, and the world. — Hitherto
ye have been my disciples and scholars ; but now ye
are to become masters and teachers, and are to make
disciples of others. — The preaching of the gospel,
along with these attestations, is a precious and in-
comparable fruit of the death and resurrection of
Christ. — To preach and administer the sacraments,
are the chief duties of the New Testament minister.
Acts iv. 6. — Teaching them to observe, Heb. vi. 1, 2 ;
2 Tim. iii. 15, 16. — to these duties belongs also the
observance of the Lord's Supper. — Zeisius : It is not
enough to l)e baptized, but there is likewise demand-
ed a holy zeal, to live after the baptismal covenant,
and to walk blameless, 1 Pet. iii. 21. — Quesnel: A
preacher's true fidelity consists in this, that he
preaches nothing but what he has learned from Je-
sus Christ. — BeUevest thou His promise, then canst
thou in Him and through Him easily overcome all
tilings. — [Quesnel adds this concluding prayer to his
practical Com. on Matthew : Be Thou therefore with
us always, 0 Lord, to be our Ught, our strength, and
our consolation. Be with Thy Church, to be her
steadfastness, her protection, and her holiness. Amen.
—P. S.]
lAsco : — Christ even in His human natui'e is the
administrator of the divine laws over men, yea, over
iill creatures. — I have been baptized ; the pledge of
God's grace unto me. — Baptism is an incorporation
into the body of Christ, which is governed by His
Spirit.
Gerlach : — 77«ey worshipped Him. That belief
in the divinity of Christ, which was partly slumber-
ing during His state of humiliation, is awakened in
all, as with one blow, through this miraculously im-
posing view of the risen Saviour. — Acknowledgment
of repentance and of faith, even when it was not yet
associated with a clear knowledge concerning the
Lord's person and teaching, was deemed sufScient by
the Apostles to justify baptism. Acts ii. 41 ; viii. 12,
37; ix. 19; x. 47, 48; xvi. 33; xix. b.— Unto the
end of the world; i. e., till the new world appears,
in which God's kingdom is manifested in its glory.
Their administration of baptism and their teaching
were accordingly to be accompanied and blessed
l>y His omnipresent, everywhere mighty, efficient
power.
Hcubner : — The authority of the Father contin-
ues, but He performs everything through t!ie Son
(and for the Son). — Thereupon rests also the obliga-
tion to worship Christ. — The Lord sends to His sub-
jects.— Christ declares here distinctly the imiversal-
ity of His Church.* It was Ilis own clear will to be
* [The universality or catbolicity of the Church, wliich
nnfolds itself srarlually in the rnissionarv work, is implied in
the words: ''Make disciples of all nations."' The IMiiih.
edition renders Allgemeinheit Miner Kirche by " eqaalUy
a uiiiversal Saviour. — By the ordinance of Christ,
baptism has the divine sanction for all times and
peoples. — Teach tliem all things. Nothing is to be
made obsolete. Nothing is contained in Christ's law
which was merely a toleration of an error of the
times. — I <im with you: The most glorious word of
consolation at parting. The most sublime conclusion
of the gospel: 1. For all Christians unto all time.
2. The import of this promise. With His Spirit, and
His actual manifestation of power. — Christ shall be
preached to all in their own time, even in the other
world. — The revelation of the glory of Jesus on
parting from His Apostles and His Church.
Branne: — Previously, Christ had appeared sud-
denly, unexpectedly ; now He makes a special ap-
pointment with them. — In Galilee, the despised prov-
ince, He had the most friends. — Christ is the Lord
of the visible and invisible Church, of the Church
mihtant and triumphant. — [Ricger ;] Some doubted :
wonder not that in thy case, too, faith is a constant
subjugation of unbelief. — In flaming hearts, the light
of conviction must kindle. — Is given Me. With joy-
ous assurance He awaited His departure. He had
won so few, and His task embraced all peoples, all
times, Eph. i. 20, 23. — If He is busy and efficient at
creation, much more is He at regeneration. — The
first disciples. Christians, became missionaries, mes-
sengers of salvation, as soon as the Church was found-
ed at Pentecost. Upon that first feast of Pentecost,
there were three thousand Christians ; at the end of
the first century, five hundred thousand ; under the
first Christian ruler, Constantine the Great, about
ten millions ; in the eiglith century, some thirty mil-
lions ; at the era of the Reformation, nearly one lum-
dred millions ; and now, well nigh two hundred mil-
lions.* — Missionaries from England and Ireland
brought the gospel to Germany, f — The missionary
work is the duty for the Church. There are still
eight hundred millions who have not the gospel ; one
hundred and sixty millions Jlohammedans, ten mil-
lions Jews, six hundred and thirty millions heathen. J
— Missions are now beginning to receive from the
Church that attention they demand. Oh, if it were
only held fast: Go ye, preach the gospel! Many
act as if the Redeemer said, the Confession. — [72te-
ger ;] The preaching of the gospel is an address
made in Christ's name unto the whole world : it has
not to do with an emendation of the Jewish religion,
nor with an elevation of heathen morality, nor with
the establi.shraent of civil rights ; but it is a gospel
of the kingdom, a proclamation that Jesus is the
of Ilis Church," which gives no sense .it all in this connec-
tiOD.-P. S.]
* Accordins to the calculation of Dr. Dieterici in Ber-
lin, made in 1:?.V.), the number of Christians amounts to
335,000.000.— P. S.]
+ [Germanj/ U snbstltnted for the original to «« (f. e.,
Germanx), which the Edinb. edition thoughtlessly retained.
Germany cave to Kngland, in the fifth century, ito Anslo-
Saxiin population, which was subsequently chri'-tianized by
missionaries from Kome (Augustine and his thirty compan-
ions sent out bv Gregory I., a. d. 596); KngUind sent a few
centuries later the gospel to the Continent, mainly throngh
Winfried or Boniface, "the apostle of Oennany;'" and Ger-
many discharged the debt by giving to Knglmd, indirectly at
least, the Protestant Ileformalion, in the si.xtoenth century.
In America both nationalities meet ii! the nineteenth cen-
tury to coalesce into one on the ground of their cominon
Protestant Christianity.— P. S.]
X [According to Uieterlci's calculation the religious sta-
tistics of the world in 1S59 stood as follows :
Heathens 800.000,000
Mohammedans 100,000.000
Jews 5.000.UOO
Christians 8:», 000.000— P. S.]
564
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Lord ; a gospel of glory, tliat the Son of God bath
appeared and taken away the power from death, and
from the subjection unto vanity, beneath which the
whole creation groaneth, etc. — Baptism. Immersion^
which signifies the death and burial of sinful human-
ity, became an aspersion to signify the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit for the soul's renewal, or a sprink-
ling to indicate purification and dedication, sanctifi-
cation of heart and life; the external mode may
change (but still the idea must obtain the same depth,
Rom. vi. 4, viz., to be baptized into the death of
Christ to a new life). — Baptism is the sacrament
through which one becomes a Christian. — io, / am
with you: He is not coming. He is here: 1. He is
with weak and strong ; 2. in battle as in victory ; 3.
in life and in death ; 4. in time and eternity. — Here
Jesus is with us in His word, there we shall be with
Him in His glory. — Uhle : What the exalted Son of
man in His exaltation is unto men: 1. What do His
friends possess in Him ? He is, (a) their royal Bro-
ther ; (b) their eternal High-Priest ; (c) their almighty
Protector ; {d) the unfailing Accomplisher of their
perfection. 2. What do His enemies possess in Him ?
He is, (a) their almighty King; (6) an omniscient
Witness; (c) a patient Forbearer; (d) a righteous
Judge. — Ahlfeld : The last will of our Lord Jesus
Christ : 1. Believe on the Risen One ; 2. extend the
Church ; 3. coasole thyself with the Lord's gracious
assistance. — Heubner : The everlasting endurance of
the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
[Matthew Henry : — Alway, i. e., all days, every
day. I wiU be with you, on Sabbath days, on week
days, fair days and foul days, winter days and sum-
mer days. There is no day, no hour of the day, in
which our Lord Jesus is not present with His
churches and His ministers ; if there were, that day,
that hour, they were undone. The God of Israel, the
Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth Himself (laa.
xl. 15), but never a God that absenteth Himself ;
sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance. — With
you : 1. With you and your writings : the divine
power of the Scriptures continues to the end of time ;
2. with you and your successors : all the ministers of
the Apostles, all to whom the commission extends to
baptize and to teach ; [3. with you and all true dis-
ciples, comp. Matt, xviii. 20]. — Chrtsostom : — Lo, I
am with you alway, etc. As much as to say : Tell
Me not of the difiiculty of all these things, seeing I
am with you, who can make all things easy. A like
promise He often made to the prophets of the 0. T.,
to Jeremiah, who pleaded his youth ; to Moses and
to Ezekiel, when they would have shunned the ofiice
imposed upon them. The promise is not to the Apos-
tles only, who were not to continue till the end of the
v.'orld, but with them to all who shall beUeve after
them. He says this to the faithful as one body. — P.
ScHAFF : — The unbroken succession of Christ's life
through all ages of Christendom (or, the true doctrine
of the apostolic succession): 1. A glorious fact; 2.
an irresistible evidence of Christianity ; 3. an unfailing
source of strengtji and encouragement to the believer.
— Christ's presence with His people : 1. In the Holy
Spirit, who reveals Christ to us and unites us to Him ;
2. in the Church which is His body, the fulness of
Him that filleth all in all ; 3. in His word ; 4. in His
sacraments, especially the Lord's Supper, where He
offers Himself to the beUever as his spiritual food ;
5. in the hearts of believers, who live in Him as He
in them, the hope of glory. — Christ's omnipresence
in the Church : 1 . Its nature : (a) spiritual real ; (b)
divine-human ; (c) mediatorial and saving ; 2. its
warning ; 3. its comfort in life and in death. —
Christ's presence with His members on earth till His
coming ; their presence with Him in heaven, where
they shall see Him as He is, to glorify and enjoy Hun
forever. — ^P. S.]
ADDENDA.
BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR,
The Sinaitic Manuscript of the Bible, which Professor Tischendorf rescued from the obscurity of the
Conyent of St. Catharine on Mount Sinai, and carefully edited in two editions m 1862 and 1863,* two years
after the issue of the third edition of Dr. Lange's Commentary on Matthew, has been carefully com-
pared in preparing the American edition of this work from Chapter VIII. to the close of the Gospel of
Matthew. I thought I was the first to do so, but just before I finished the last pages of this volume,
I found that Baumlcin, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John,f and Meyer, in the fifth edition
of his Commentary on Matthew, both of which appeared in 1864, had preceded me, at least in print.
No critical scholar can ignore this manuscript hereafter. For it is the only complete, and perhaps the oldest
of all the imcial codices of the Bible, or at least of the same age and authority as the celebrated Vatican
Codex (which is traced by some to the middle of the fourth century), and far better edited by the German
Protestant Professor, Tischendorf, than the latter was by the Itahan Cardinal, Angelo Mai. In the absence
of a simpler mark agreed upon by critics (the proposed designation by the Hebrew j^ has not yet been
adopted, and is justly objected to by Tregelles and others on the ground of typographical inconvenience), I
introduce it always as Cod. Sin., and I find that Dr. Meyer in the fifth edition does the same. As I could
not procure a copy of the printed edition of this Codex till I had finished the first seven chapters, I now
complete the critical part of the work by adding its more important readings in the first seven chapters
where they differ from the texius receptus, on which the authorized Enghsh, as well as all the older Protestant
Versions of the Greek Testament are substantially based.
* Novum TESTAMEXTUii Sinaiticum, sive Novum Testamentam cum Epistola Barnabfe et Fragmentis Pastoris
(Hermae). Es Codice Sinaitico auspiclis Alexandri II., omnium Eussiarum imperatoris, ex tcnebris protracto orbique
litterarum tradito accurate dcscripsit ^notheus Feideeicus Constantinus Tisciienboef, thcol. ct phil. Dr., etc. etc.
Lipsiif, 1SG:3. The text is anauged in four columns and covers 14S folios; the \e&rue(i Prolegmnena of the editor Ixxxl
folios. There is besides a magnificent photo-lithographed fac-simile edition of the whole Sinaitic Bible, published at the ex-
pense of the Emperor of Russia, in 4 volumes (3 for the Old and 1 for the New Testament, the latter in 143 folios), under
the title: Biblioeum Codex Slnaiticijs Peteopolitanus. Auspiclis augustissimis imperatoris Alexandri II. ed. Const.
Tischendorf. Petrojioli, 18G'2. A copy of this rare edition I have also consulted occasiDiially, in the Aster Library of New
York. For fuller inform.ition on this important Codex (in the words of Tischendorf: " omnium codicmn uncialium solus
integer omniumque antiquinKimus'''), vre must refer the re:>der to the ample Prolegomena of TiscnENDonp, also to an
article of IIilgenfeld in his Zeitsehrift/ilr wissensdiafUiche TJieologie, vol. vii. (1S64), p. 74 ff. (who is disposed to assign
it to a somewhat later age), and to Sceiveser's treatise, which I have not seen.
t Hengstenberg, in his Commentary on John, concluded in 1860, pays no attention whatever to this Codes, aud is very
defective in a critical point of view.
'>66
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
Cu. I. 6. — Cod. Sin. omits the second 6 jSacn-
A € u s , the king, after David. See
Commentary, Crit. Nole 1 on p. 48.
V. 18. — Cod. Sin. sustains yeVfcrir, h'lrtli,
natlvUy (B., C, P., S., Z., etc., Lach-
mann, Tischendorf, Alford) for the led.
rec. yewTjcT IS, which may easily
have arisen from iyevvntre and fjeu-
vhQ-q, and as appearing to suit the con-
nection better {partus modus), comp.
Meyer, in the fifth ed., p. 43. But
Christ's origin was not properly a he-
getting, engendering, yewTjcris (from
yevudoo) ; and hence yeveff i s is pref-
erable both for internal and external
reasons. Comp. Luke i. 14 : eVl tJ
yeueaei avTov, which is better sup-
ported there than yiwhaei.
V, 19. — Cod. Sin.: ^^ ly fxar iff ai for the
lect. rec. tr ap aSeiy/j-aTtaat; the Trapa
in Cod. Sin. being '■'■punctis notatum
rursus delciis,''^ as Tischendorf remarks,
Proleg. p. xlii, which I found to be
correct on inspection of the mc-simile
edition in the Astor Library. The
sense, however, is not altered, since
both Zii.yiJ.a.ri^ca (only once. Col. ii.
15) and ■KapaSeiyixaTi^u (twice. Matt,
i. 19 and Heb. vi. 6) mean to make a
show or cxampile of one, to put to shame.
Lachmann, Tischendorf (ed. septima
critica major, 1859), Alford (4th ed.
of 1859), and Meyer (5th ed., but omit-
ting to notice the original reading of
Cod. Sin.) read SeiyfiaTia at on the
authority of B., Z., and scholia of
Origen and Eusebius.
V. 25. — Cod. Sin. reads simply : ereKev viov,
instead of the leei. rec. : ereKe rhv
vlhv aurri s rhy tv p air or o kov ,
and here sustains the testunony of
Codd. B., Z., etc., and the modem crit-
ical editions. The omission of T?pur6-
TOKov is much easier accounted for, on
doctrinal grounds, than its insertion,
and cannot affect the controversy con-
cerning the question of the brothers
of Christ, since irpanoTOKos is genuine
in Luke ii. 1, where there is no varia-
tion of reading. On the other hand,
the term does not necessarily prove that
Mary had children after Jesus. Comp.
Crit. Note 2, on p. 52, and the remark
of Jerome, quoted in Tischendorf 's crit.
apparatus (ed. 7. p. 4).
Cn. II 11,— Cod. Sin. reads: jSov {^Uov), they
saiv (as in the Eng. Ver.), for fZpov,
they found (Vulg. : invencruni).
v. 18. — Cod. Sin. omits Qprjvos Kai, lamen-
tation and, before /cAaufljurfs, weep-
ing. So all the critical editors. The
text. rec. seems to be enlarged from the
Septuagint.
Ch. III. 3. — 5 1 a Tiaatov, through Isaiah, instead of
virh 'Hffa'iov, by Isaiah. The reading
8ia is sustamed also by Codd. B., C. ,
D., Syr., Sahid., iEth., Vulg., Griesb.,
Lachm., Tischend., Alf., and is more
correct ; for the word was spoken by
the Lord through Isaiah {a Domino
per, as Irenscus has it). Hence insert
in text on p. GT after by: [through,
V. 6. — Cod. Sin. : i o pS a v rj -k or aixu (also
in Codd. B., C, M., A., etc.) for
'lopSoi/T? utt' avTOv. But ir 0 -
raixo), river, may have been inserted
from Mark i. 5.
Cii. IV. 5. — Cod. Sin. : iarvffiv, text. rec. :
t 0- T Tj <r I J/ (E. V. : setteth). Lachmann
and Alford adopt iar-qaiv with B., C,
D., Z., while Tischendorf (7 ed., 1859)
and Meyer retain Vo-TTjffir. The aorist
interrupts the flow of the prcesens
historicHm in this verse {irapaXaii^dvn
. . . Ae'yci), comp. vers. 8 and 10, and
may have been a correction from
Luke iv. 9.
V. 10. — o-Kiaoi fxov, behind me, is wanting
in Cod. Sin., as in other important
witnesses, and in Elzevir's ed. {see the
apparatus in the crit. editions), and is
probably an old insertion from Matt.
xvi. 23, where Peter is addressed.
Comp. Lange's Exeg. Note on ch. iv.
10, p. 85.
Cu. V. 11. — Cod. Sin. sustains the lect. rec. ^ev-
56iJ.€vui (E. V. falsely), which was
suspected by Griesbach, and thro-wTi
out of the text by Fritzsche, Lachinann,
Tischendorf, and Meyer, who says
(fifth ed. p. 1 35) rather too dogmatic-
ally : " Das entbehrliche %md den Nerv
der Rede nur schimchende Ii or< ist ein
frommer, ungefvgiger, v.nd dnher aueh
verschieden gestellter Zusatz. Ccmp.
Crit. Note 2 on p. 98.
V. 30. — Cod. Sin. sustains the Vatican Codex,
Vulgata {eat), etc., Lachmann, Tischen-
dorf, TregcUes, and Alford, in reading
il s y e e V V ap aTreASjj, should de-
part into hell, instead of the lect. rec. :
ADDENDA.
567
^XnOri e'J y^fvaf, should be
cast into hell, which seems to be a
' correction to suit the preceding verse.
y_ 44._Cod. Sin. reads simply: aya-irare
rovs eX^P""^ vixuv icat Trpocr.
euX««^^* uirep ruv Biwkov-
ruu, love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, and omits
after vfj.uv the words from eliXoyure
to ixiffodcriv vfXM {bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you),
and after inrep twj' the words: ewTj-
piaCSvruv 6/xas Kal {who de-
spitefully use you and). It agrees in
this omission with Cod. B., Copt.,
Iren., Orig., Euseb., and other fathers.
Lach'matm, Tischendorf, TregeUes, and
Alford, expunge the words referred to,
as an interpolation from Luke vi. 28 ;
but de Wette and Meyer object, since
the order of the clauses in Luke is
different, and since the homoeoteleuta
could easily cause omissions. The
words iiTVP^'^CovTcov vfias Kai,
however, are very suspicious, and in
aU probability mserted from Luke vi.
28. Hence Meyer, also, gives them
up.
y^ 4Y._Cod. Sin. sustains iOviKoi, heathen,
with B., D., Z., verss. and fathers
against reXSivai, publicans, which
seems to have been inserted from ver.
46, as already remarked on p. 112,
Crit. Note 6.
Q^ YX. i._Cod. Sin. agrees here again with the
Vatican MS. (also D., Syr., Hieros.,
Itala, Vulgata, several fathers, Lachm.,
Tischend., Treg., Alf), in reading 5i-
Kaioavv-qv, righteousness, instead
of iAfVf^offifV {text, rec. Mat-
thai, Scholz), which is "a mistaken
gloss, the general nature of this open-
Tng caution not being perceived."
V. 12.— C^d. Sin. (alsoB., Z.): k<pi)Kafu^v
{have forgiven) against the lect. rec. :
TS77!"rt'',"a'nd the reading of D., E.,
L., etc. : a 4) I o M « " , which may have
been taken from Luke xi. 4. Lachm.,
Tischend., Alford, and Meyer, favor
13.— Cod. Sin. omits the doxology and the
amen in the Lord's Prayer, with other
ancient witnesses and all the modem
critical editors, German and English,
except Matthaei, whose exclusive ad-
herence to his own Moscow manu-
/^ffr.
scripts gives his edition the character
of partiality. It is generally regarded
as an insertion from the ecclesiastical
liturgies in the fourth century. On
the other hand, it is strongly defended
as genuine, not only by Stier, as men-
tioned on p. 122, but also by Scrivener
{A Supplement to tJie authorized Jin-
glish Version of the N. T., vol. i.
1845, p. 155 ff.). Alford's testimony
against it, as quoted on p. 122, is cer-
tainly too strong. The importance of
the case will justify us in adding here
the principal arguments on both sides
of the question. It must be admitted
that the loeight (though by no means
tlve number) of critical testimony is
rather against the doxology. Four of
the most ancient uncial MSS., Cod. Sin.
(4th cent.), Vaticanus (B., 4th cent.),
Cantabrigiensis, or Codex Bezse (D.,
5th or 6th cent.), Dublinensis rescrip-
tus (Z., of the 6th cent., containing, of
the N. T., the Gospel of Matthew with
many lacuna;), and five cursive MSS.
(1, 17, 118, 130, 209, of much later
date), moreover the ancient Latin ver-
sions, and most of the early fathers,
especially the Latin ones, including
Origan, TertuUian, and Cyprian, who
wrote practical commentaries on the
Lord's Prayer, omit the doxology.
The other imcial MSS. are here defect-
ive, and cannot be quoted for or
against. Cod. Alexandrmus (A., 5th
cent.) is mutilated from Matt. i. to
XXV. 6 (its first leaf commencmg:
6 vvix<pios), and Cod. Ephraemi Syri
(C, 5th cent.) omits Matt. v. 16 to
vii.' 4 (according to Tischendorf's edi-
tion, which is, however, unfortunately
not 'in fac-simile). Its omission from
the text is, moreover, much more diffi-
cult to account for than its insertion
from the ancient liturgies. But on the
other hand, the doxology is already
found in the venerable Peschito (of the
second century), and the two younger
Syriac Versions (Philoxeniaua and
Ilierosolymitana), in the Sahidic or
Tlicbaic Egyptian Version (which
ranks next to the Peschito on the
score of antiquity), the ^thiopic,
Armenian, Gothic and Gregorian Ver-
sions, in the Apostolical Constitutions,
Chrysostom, as well as in nearly all
the five hundred or more cursive man-
568
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.
uscripts in which the sixth chapter of
Matthew is preserved. As to internal
reasons, it can hardly be urged that
the doxology interrupts the context or
the logical connection between vers.
12 and 14 (Scholz, Meyer, Alford) ;
for this argument would require us to
cancel the whole of ver. 13 (Scrivener).
No one can doubt the eminent pro-
I)riety of this solemn conclusion which
we are accustomed to regard from in-
fancy as an integral part of the prayer
of prayers, and which we would now
never think of saci'ificing to critical
considerations in our popular Bibles
and public and private devotions.
Probably it was the prevailing custom
of the Christians in the East from the
beginning to pray the Lord's Prayer
with the doxology, comp. 2 Tim. iv.
18. Chrysostom comments on it with-
out the least consciousness that its
authenticity is doubtful.
In the seventh chapter Cod. Sin. offers no im-
portant deviations from the received text.
Cn. VII. 2. — Cod. Sin. sustains with the best an-
cient authorities /xer pTidrja-erat,
shall be measured, which is now adopt-
ed by the editors of the Greek text
(even Stier and Theile, and Words-
worth, who adhere closely to the El-
zevir text), against the lect. rcc. avr t-
/xeTprid-n<TeTat, shall he measured again,
or in turn (from Luke vi. 38).
COD. SIN. TEXT. REO.
V. 4. — Kijis (Keyeis) e'pety.
v. 13. — etireAOaTe eUeAdere.
V. 14. OTl ffTfVI}*
" — TrAaria TrAaTeTa 57 TruAr; (so B.).
V. 21. — TO 6e\7ifxara rh ^eATj/xa (so also B.).
V. 24. — ofxoiuQrjaiTai bixoidiaoo ahrdv.
V. 27. — rikQav fiKdov.
V. 28. — freXecTiv (TweTeXeaev
V. 29. — ypafj-fiaTe IS avroiv ypaixixarels.
* But it is not certain whether on or ri was the original
reading. Tischendorf remarks, Proleg. xliii. ad membra-
nam iv. exteriorem : " on : 0 litterae punctum impositum :
nescio an ante C». jam B imposuerit; obelam vero solus Ca-
addidit." "On ar evi), for strait, is the reading of the
text. rec. and retained by Tischendorf and Alford, but it
may easily have arisen from on TrKaTela, ver. 13. Lach-
mann, Meyer, and Scrivener prefer ri cm ff] , Jiow ati^ait
(Vulgata: quam ccnffusta), which has the balance of exter-
nal evidence in its favor.
DATE DUE
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