LIBRARY
OF THE
University of California.
GIFT OF
Class
AN EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
S. MATTHEW
The Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
AN
EXEGETICAL COM MENTARY
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
S. MATTHEW
BY THE
Rev. ALFRED PLUMMER, M.A.. D.D.
FOKMEKI.V MASTER OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DURHAM
AND SOME TIME FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TKINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK.
LONDON: F'LLIOT STOCK.
1910
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2008 witii funding from
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PREFACE
The attempt to write this commentary has been made
under impulses given, in the one case consciously, in the
other not, by two friends. For some years. Bishop Lloyd
of Newcastle-on-Tyne, whose loss we are still deeply
lamenting, had been urging the writer to do something
of the kind ; and one of the latest letters received from
him, — a letter written shortly before his death, expressed
delight that this volume was progressing. And it was the
writer's privilege to take a very small part in the produc-
tion of the invaluable work on this Gospel by the Rev.
VV. C. Allen in the International Critical Commentary
published by Messrs. T. & T. Clark. To share in that
work was to be inspired to continue it.
This volume, therefore, has two aims over and above
the desire to do something in accordance with Bishop
Lloyd's earnest wishes. On the one hand, this sequel to
Mr. Allen's commentary has for its object to call the
attention of some who do not already know it to a book
which Leaflet 31 of the Central Society of Sacred Study
(July 1907) pronounces to be "the best English com-
mentary on the first Gospel" (p. 5), and of which reviewers
have said much the same. On the other hand, this
volume aims at supplementing the earlier one. A re-
viewer in the Guardian doubted whether Mr. Allen " was
well advised to restrict himself so rigidly to questions of
literary, as distinct from historical — not to say theological
and religious — interest." How well he would have dealt
VII
with the historical, theological, and religious sides of his
subject is shown in those places in which he somewhat
transgresses his self-imposed limits. But there can be no
doubt that his desire to do the critical and literary part of
the work (which was the part most needed) with thorough-
ness has caused him to omit a good deal that his readers
would have been glad to have from him. To supply, if
possible, some of the elements which he has passed by,
or has treated very briefly, is another of the aims of this
volume.
The works to which this commentary is indebted are
numerous. A list of some of them is given below, partly
as an expression of gratitude, partly as some help to
others who desire to labour in the same field. An asterisk
indicates that the writer's debt is large, and that others
may expect to find much to aid them. For further
information the list of works in the writer's International
Critical Commentary on St. Ltike, pp. Ixxx-lxxxviii, 577-
580, may be consulted.
Abbott, E. A. . Paradosis, London, 1904.
[ohaiinine Vocabulary, 1905.
"^Johannine Gt-ammar, 1906.
Alexander, W. M. Denio?iic Possession in the New Testament,
Edinburgh, 1902.
Allen, W. C. . . *.4 Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
Gospel according to St. Maftltezv, Edinburgh,
1907.
Briggs, C. A. . *T/ie Messiah of the Gospels, Edinburgh, 1894.
New Light on the Life of Jesus, Edinburgh,
1904.
The Ethical Teaching of Jesus, New York,
1904.
Criticism and the Dogma of the Virgin Birth
(N. Amer. Rev., June 1906).^
Bruce, A. B. . , The Synoptic Gospels (The Expositor's Greek
Testament), London, 1897.
Burkitt, F. C. . *Evangelion Da- Mepharresiie, Cambridge,
1904.
Tlie Gospel History and its Transmission,
Edinburgh, 1906.
^ This valuable essay has been published separately. Scribner, 1909.
PREFACE
Burton and Constructive Studies in the Life of Christy
Mathews Chicago.
Charles, R. H. . The Book of Enoch, Oxford, 1893.
The Apocalypse of Baruch, London, 1896.
The Assumption of Moses, London, 1897.
The Ascension of Isaioh, London, igoo.
The Book of Jubilees, London, 1902.
*The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs,
translated from the Greek, London, 1908.
*The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs, Oxford, 1908.
Dalman, G. . . *The Words of Jesus, Edinburgh, 1902.
Deissmann, G. A. * Bible Studies, Edinburgh, 1903.
The Philology of the Greek Bible, London,
1908.
New Light on the Neiv Testament, Edinburgh,
1907.
The Apocryphal and Legendary Life of Christ,
New York, 1903,
Encyclopedia Biblica, London, 1 899-1 903.
Commentaire critique et moral stcr FEvangile
scion Saint Luc, Pari?, 1903.
Lntroduction au Nouveau Testament, Neuchatel,
1897.
The Lncarnation of the Son of God (The
Bampton Lectures, 189 1), London, 1891.
* Dissertations on Subjects conjiected with the
Lncarnation, London, 1895.
The New Theology and the Old Religion,
London, 1907.
Gould, E. P. . . A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
Gospel according to St. Mark, Edinburgh,
1896.
Gregory, C. R. . Canon and Text of the N'ew Testament,
Edinburgh, 1907.
Grenfell and Sayings of our Lord from an early Greek
Hunt Papyrus, London, 1897,
Nezv Sayings of Jesus, London, 1904,
Harnack, A. . . Die Chro7iologie der altchristlichen Literatur
bis Eusebius, Leipzig, 1897.
*The Sayings of Jesus, the Second Source of
St. Mattheiv and St. Luke, London, 1908.
I-Larris, J. Rendel The Newly Recovered Gospel of St. Peter,
London, 1893.
Hastings, J. . . * Dictionary of the Bible, Edinburgh, 1898-
1902, with Extra Volume, 1904.
Donehoo, J- do
:Q.
Girodon, P. .
Godet, F. .
.
Gore, C. . .
PREFACE
Hastings, J. . .
Hawkins, Sir J. C.
Herford, R. T. .
Holtzmann, H. J.
Holtzmann, O. .
Hort, F. J. A. .
Jiilicher, A. . .
Kennedy, H. A.
A.
Klostermann, E.
Knowling, R. J.
Lang, C. G. . .
Lock and Sanday
Mackinlay, G. .
Maclaren, A.
Moulton, J. H. .
Moulton, R. G. .
Nicholson, E. B.
Oxford Society
of Historical
Theology
Plummer, A. . .
Polano, H.
Resch, A.
* Dictionary of Christ aftd the Gospels, 1906-
igoS.
*Horce Synopticce, Oxford, 1899; 2nd ed. 1909
Christianity in Talmud and Midrash, London,
1903.
Einleitung in das Neue Testament, Freiburg i.
B., 1892.
The Life of Jesus, London, 1904.
"^Judaistic Christianity, London, 1894.
'''The Christiati Ecdesia, London, 1897.
An Introduction to the New Testament,
London, 1904.
Sources of Netv Testament Greek, Edinburgh,
1895.
Hatidbuch zum Neuen Testament ; Markus,
Tiibingen, 1907.
Our Lord's Virgin Birth, London, 1907.
Thoughts on Some of the Parables of Jesus,
London, 1906.
Two Lectm-es on the Sayings of Jesus re-
cently discovered at Oxyrynchus, Oxford,
1897.
The Magi, How they recognised Chrisfs Star,
London, 1907.
*The Gospel according to St. Mattheiv,
London, 1905, 1906.
*^ Grammar of New Testament Greek,
Edinburgh, 1906.
The Alodern Reader's Bible, London, 1907.
The Gospel according to the Hebrews, London,
1879.
The Gospel according to St. Matthew, London,
1881.
The Neiv Testanmit in the Apostolic Fathers,
Oxford, 1905.
A Critical and Exegetical Comnmitary on the
Gospel according to St. Luke, Edinburgh,
1896.
The Talmud (The Chandos Classics),
London, n.d.
Das Kindheits Evangelium (Texte und
Untersuchungen, x. 5), Leipzig, 1897.
*Agrapha, Aussercanonische Schriftfragmente
(Texte und Untersuchungen, NF. xv. 3, 4),
Leipzig, 1906.
PREFACE
Robinson, J. A. .
Robinson and
James
Salmon, G. . .
Sanday, W. . .
Schiirer, E.
Smith, D. .
Steinbeck, J.
Swete, H. B.
Taylor, C.
Wellhausen
Wright, A.
Zahn, T. .
The Historical Character of Sf. John's Gospel,
London, 1908.
The Gospel according to Peter, London, 1892.
*The Human Element in the Gospels, London,
1907.
* Inspiration (The Bampton Lectures, 1893),
London, 1893.
Sacred Sites of the Gospel, Oxford, 1903.
The Criticism of the fourth Gospel, Oxford,
1905.
* Outlines of the Life of Christ, Edinburgh,
1906.
*The Life of Christ in Recent Research, Oxford,
1907.
* History of the Jewish People in the Time of
Jesus Christ, Edinburgh, 18S5-1890.
*Geschichte des Jiidischen Volkcs im Ze it alter
Jesu Christi; dritte Auflage, Leipzig, 1898.
The Gospel according to St. Mattheiv (The
Westminster New Testament), London,
1908.
*Das gottliche Selbstbeivusstsein Jesu nach dem
Zeugnis der Synoptiker, Leipzig, 1908.
The Akhmim Fragment of the Apocryphac
Gospel of St. Peter, London, 1893.
*The Gospel according to St. Mark, London,
1902.
*The Appearances of our Lord after the Passion,
London, 1907.
Sayings of the Jewish Fathers comprising
Pirqe Aboth in Hebrew a)id English,
Cambridge, 1897.
Das Evangelium Matthaei, Berlin, 1904.
* Synopsis of the Gospels in Greek, London,
1903.
Einleitung m das Neue Testament, Leipzig,
1899.
*Das Evangelium des Matthcius, Leipzig, 1903.
Introduction to the New Testament, Edin-
burgh, 1909.
*The Journal of Theological Studies, London
and Oxford, 1899-1909.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Since this commentary was printed, several works of great
importance have been published. Dr. Stanton has given us
The Synoptic Gospels, being Part II. of his very valuable dis-
cussion of The Gospels as Historical Docu?nents (Cambridge
Press). A great many of his conclusions confirm views that are
advocated in this volume. He is, however, not quite accurate
in stating (p. i8) that the Oral Theory is adopted in the com-
mentary on St. Luke in the International series : see p. xxiii in
that volume. What was doubted there, and is doubted still by
Dr. Stanton himself, is whether St. Luke can have had the Second
Gospel in as full a form as that in which we possess it. Several
of the Cambridge Biblical Essays, edited by Dr. Swete, contain
a great deal that is most instructive to students of the first three
Gospels. The same may be said in a still higher degree of the
very remarkable commentary on The Synoptic Gospels by the
Jewish scholar C. G. Montefiore (Macmillan). Some things in
it a Christian must read with dissent, if not with distress ; but
there are many generous tributes to the character and teaching
of Jesus of Nazareth, and also to the immense influence for good
which the Gospels have had upon European society for nineteen
centuries. References to all three of these works have been
inserted in the present edition.
Moreover, a second and enlarged edition of Sir John Hawkins'
invaluable Horcz Synoptica has appeared. The references to the
first edition in this commentary (pp. xxiii, 23, 89, 120, 141) may
be corrected to the second edition, as follows : p. 1 3 1 = p. 163;
PP- 174, i75=PP- 210, 211; p. 4i=p. 53; p. i32=p. 165;
p. 174 = p. 210.
Those who desire a small commentary on St. Matthew will
find the recent one by E. E. Anderson (T. & T. Clark) helpful.
The essay of Professor S. L. Tyson on The Teachifig of our
Lord as to the Indissolubility of Marriage (University Press,
Sewanee) may be read in connexion with what is urged in this
commentary, pp. 81, 82, 259-261.
XII
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
§ I. The Author ....
§2. The Sources ....
§ 3. Plan of the Gospel .
§4. The Christology of the First Gospel
§5. The Date ....
§6. "The Testaments of the Twelve Pat
riarchs" and their Relation to the
First Gospel
COMMENTARY
The Birth and Infancy of the Messiah
The Preparation for the Ministry .
The Ministry in Galilee
The Ministry in or near Galilee
The Journey through Per^ea to JerusalexM
The Last Work in the Holy City
The Passion, Death, and Resurkkction
INDEXES . . ...
I. General .....
II. Grkek .....
PAGB
vii-xlvi
Vll
XI
xviii
XXV
xxxi
1-439
I
20
45
200
258
283
352
441-451
441
449
INTRODUCTION
The Author.
In no case is the title to a book of the New Testament part
of the original document. It was in all cases added by a
copyist, and perhaps not by the first copyist. Moreover, in all
cases it varies considerably in form, the simplest forms being the
earliest. The "according to" neither affirms nor denies author-
ship ; it implies conformity to a tyj>e, and need not mean more
than " drawn up according to the teaching of." But it is certain
that the Christians of the first four centuries who gave these titles
to the Gospels meant more than this : they believed, and meant
to express, that each Gospel was written by the person whose
name it bears. They used this mode of expression, rather than/
the genitive case used of the Epistles, to intimate that the same
subject had been treated of by others \ and they often emphasized
the oneness of the subject by speaking of "the Gospel " rather
than " the Gospels." This mode of expression is accurate ;
there is only one Gospel, 'the Gospel of God' (Rom. i. i)
concerning His Son. But it has been given us in four shapes
(eiayye'Atoi' Terpd/wpcfyov, Iren. HI. xi. 8), and "according to"
indicates the shape given to it by the writer named.
Was the belief of the first Christians who adopted these
titles correct? Were the Gospels written by the persons whose
names they bear ? With the trifling exception of a few passages,
we may believe this with regard to the Second, Third, and Fourth
Gospels : but it is very difficult to believe this with regard to the
First, the authorship of wliich is a complicated problem not yet
adequately solved. But the following results may be accepted
as probable, and some of them as very probable.
Ancient testimony in favour of Matthew being the author is
very strong. It begins with I'apias and Irenaeus in the second
century, and is confirmed by Origcn in the third and Eusebius
in the fourth,^ not to mention a number of other early writers,
' Eusebius, //. £. iii. 39, v. 8, vi. 25, iii. 24, v. 10.
i i-vii
viii GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
whose evidence repeats, or is in harmony with, these four.
Papias speaks of "the oracles " or " utterances " (raAoyia) which
Matthew composed; the other three speak of his "Gospel
UvayyiXiov). Assuming that the two expressions are equivalent,
the testimony is uniform that the First Gospel was written in
JIel>rew by Matthew, the tax-collector and Apostle. In that
case the Greek Gospel which has come down to us must be a
translation from this " Hebrew " original.^ _
But the First Gospel is evidently not a translation, and it is
difficult to believe that it is the work of the Apostle. Whoever
wrote it took the Second Gospel as a frame,2 and worked into it
much material from other sources. And he took, not only the
substance of the Second Gospel, but the Greek phraseology of it,
showing clearly that he worked in Greek. It is mcredible that
' "he translated the Greek of Mark into Hebrew, and that then
some one translated Matthew's Hebrew back into Greek that is
almost the same as Clark's. The retranslation would have
resulted in very different Greek.3 And it is not likely that the
Apostle Matthew, with first-hand knowledge of his own, would
take the Gospel of another, and that other not an Apostle, as the
framework of his own Gospel. There would seem, therefore, to
be some error in the early tradition about the First Gospel.
Very possibly the Aoyta of Papias should not be interpreted
as meaning the whole of the First Gospel, but only one of its
elements, viz. a collection of facts respecting Jesus Christ, chiefly
consisting of His utterances, and the circumstances in which they
were spoken. The expression, rk Xoym, would fitly describe a
document largely made up of discourses and parables. That
such a document is one main element in both the First and
the Third Gospels, may be regarded as certain, and it may have
been written originally in Hebrew by S. Matthew.^
1 The subscriptions of certain cursives state that the Hebrew Matthew was
translated into Greek "by John," or "by James," or "by James the brother
of the Lord," or "by Bartholomew." Zahn, Etnlettung in das Nl. u.
P' 2^<^ The main common source of the Synoptic Gospels was a single written
document" (Burkitt, The Gosp. Hist, and its Transmisswii p. 34)- Mk
contains the whole of a document which Mt. and Lk. mdependently used
^'^'s^heSder will find a good illustration of this in Duggan's translation of
Tacquier's History of t lie Books of the New Testament, pp. 35 127. Jacquier
tianslated passages from English into French. Duggan translates them back
into English, and his English is suiprisingly unlike the originals. _
4 "Hebrew" in this connexion must mean the Aramaic which Christ
Himself spoke. It is scarcely credible that any one ^^-o^ld translate the words
of Christ into the Hebrew of the O.T., which was mtelligible to none but the
'^'^The collection of Utterances often spoken of as "the Logia" is now
frequently denoted by the symbol " Q."
THE AUTHOR ix
When the unknown constructor of the First Gospel took the
Second Gospel and lilted on to it the contents of this collection
of Utterances, together with other material of his own gathering,
he produced a work which was at once welcomed by the first
Christians as much more complete than the Second Gospel, and
yet not the same as the Third, // that was already in existence.
What was this Gospel to be called? It was based on Mark;
but to have called it "according to Mark" would have caused^
confusion, for that title was already appropriated. It would be '
better to name it after the other main element used in its con-
struction, a translation of S. Matthew's collection of Utterances.
In this way we get an explanation of the statement of Papias^
that " Matthew composed the Utterances in Hebrew, and each
man interpreted them as he was able," a statement which seems
to be quite accurate. We also get an explanation of the later
and less accurate statements of Irenseus, Origen, and Eusebius,
which seem to refer to our First Gospel as a whole ; viz. that
Matthew wrote it in Hebrew. It was known that Matthew had
written a Gospel of some kind in Hebrew : the First Gospel, as
known to Iren^us, was called " according to Matthew" ; and hence
the natural inference that // had been written in Hebrew. There
was a Gospd according io the Hebrews, which Jerome had trans-
lated into Greek and Latin, and from which he makes quotations.
A Jewish Christian sect called Nazarenes used this Gospel, and
said that it was by S. Matthew. It was Aramaic, written
in Hebrew characters. We do not know enough of it to be
certain ; but it also may have contained a good many of the
Utterances collected by Matthew, and for this reason may have
been attributed as a whole to him. It seems to have been very
inferior to our First Gospel, and this would lead to its being
allowed to perish. See Hastings' DB. extra vol. pp. 338 f.
Dr. C. R. Gregory {Canon and Text of the New Testament, pp. 245 ft'.)
writes thus of the Gospel according to the Hebrews. " One book that now
seems to stand very near to the Gospels, and again moves further away from
them, demands particular attention. But wc shall scarcely reach any very
definite conclusion about it. It is like an ignis fatuiis in the literature of the
Church of the first three centuries. We cannot even tell from the statements
about it precisely who, of the writers who refer to it, really saw it. Yes, we
are even not sure that it is not kaleidoscopic or plural. It may be that
several, or at least two, different books are referred to, and that even by
people who fancy that there is but one book, and that they know it. . . .
Nothing would be easier for any one or every one who saw, read, or heard of
that book to call it the Gospel to the Hebrews, the Gospel according to the
Hebrews, or the Hebrews' Gospel. . . . We shall doubtless some day receive
a copy of it in the original, or in a translation. It may have contained much
of what Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain, without that fact having been
brought to our notice in the quotations made from it. For those who ([uoted
it did so precisely in order to give that which varied from the contents of our
four Gospels, or especially of the three synoptic ones." The origin of this
X GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
perplexing document must be placed early. After Matthew and Luke became
well known a Gospel covering much the same ground would hardly have been
written. E. B. Nicholson has collected and annotated the quotations from it ;
R. Handmann, in Texte iind Untersttchtuvyen, 1888, has done the same. See
also Mgr. A. S. Barnes, /(7?/r. of Th. 5/.,' April 1905.
The collection of Utterances made by Matthew and used by
the compiler of the First Gospel, and the similar collection used
by Luke, were not such as we might have expected. The
selection was determined by the needs and hopes of the first
Christians, who wanted moral guidance for the present and
revelation as to the future. Hence the sayings of Christ pre-
served in the Synoptic Gospels are largely of either a moral or
an apocalyptic character.^ Utterances which seemed to teach
principles of conduct, and prophecies or parables respecting the
Coming and the Kingdom were specially treasured. Some of
them were misunderstood at the time, and some appear to have
been misreported, either from the first or in repeated transmis-
sion ; but the result is a body of doctrine, of marvellous unity
and adaptability, the great bulk of which must be faithfully
reported, because it is inconceivable that the Evangelists or their
informants can have invented such things. It is evident that
these informants, in the last resort, are the memories of the first
body of disciples, who, happily for us, were sometimes stronger
in memory than in understanding. They remembered what per-
plexed them, because it perplexed them ; and they reported it
faithfully. That a collection of sayings and narratives was made
during our Lord's lifetime, as Salmon {The Hui/ian Element i?i
the Gos/e/s, p. 275) and Ramsay {Expositor, 1907, p. 424)
suppose, is scarcely probable (Sanday, The Life of Christ in
Rece7it Research, p. 172).
"^ The answer, therefore, to the question. Who was the author
of the First Gospel ? is a negative one. It was not S. Matthew.
The writer was an early Jewish Christian, not sufficiently import-
ant to give his name to a Gospel, and in no way desiring to do
so. But he used a great deal of material which was probably
collected by S. Matthew, whose name thus became connected
with the First Gospel as we have it.^ That it is in no sense the
work of S. Matthew is not probable. Some more conspicuous
Apostle than the toll-collector would have been chosen, if the
title had no better basis than the desire to give a distinguished
name to a nameless document. Andrew, or James the son of
^ J. R. Ropes, The Apostolic Age, p. 222. There is good reason for
beheving that there existed a written collection of sayings which had the
definite title Kb'yoi rov Kvplov 'Itjo-ov, to which reference is made Acts xx. 35 ;
also in Clem. Rom. Cor. xiii., xlvi. ; and in Polycarp, ii. See Harnack, TAe
Sayings offesus, pp. 187-189.
* See Briggs, The Ethical Teaching offesus, pp. 2, 3, 20.
THE SOURCES xi
Zebedee, or riiilip would have been preferred. And the writer
has given us "a Catholic Gospel," written in " a truly Catholic
temper." *' Wherever his own hand shows itself, one sees that
his thought is as universalistic as it is free from the bondage of
the Law. . . . The individuality of the author makes itself so
strongly felt both in style and tendency, that it is impossible to
think of the Gospel as a mere compilation " (Jiilicher).
On the contrary, as Renan says, " the Gospel of Matthew, all
things considered, is the most important book of Christianity —
the most important book that has ever been written." Not
without reason it received the first place in the N.T. "The
compilation of the Gospels is, next to the personal action of
Jesus, the leading fact in the history of the origins of
Christianity ; — I will even add in the history of mankind "
{Les Evangi/es, p. 212 ; Eng. trans, p. 112).
The writer of this Gospel rises far above the limitations of
his own Jewish Christianity. To see in it anything directed
against the teaching of S. Paul is strangely to misunderstand it.
So far as there is anything polemical in Mt., it is directed, not
against the Apostle of the Gentiles, but against Pharisaic
Judaism. This wide outlook as to the meaning and scope of
Christianity is clear evidence that what he gives us as the
Messiah's teaching is not the writer's own, but the teaching of
Him in whom both Jew and Gentile were to find salvation. Its~\
Catholic Christianity, which is the spirit of Christ Himself, has
made this Gospel, from the first century to the twentieth, a j
favourite with Christians.
The Sources.
To some extent these have been already stated. The writer
of our First Gospel used Mk. in nearly the same form as that in
which it has come down to us,^ and also a collection of
Utterances which was probably made either wholly or in part by
S. Matthew. This second document, which quickly went out of
use owing to the superiority of the Canonical Gospels, is
commonly spoken of as " the Logia," or (more scientifically) as
" Q," a symbol which commits us to nothing. Besides these
two main sources, there were at least two others. These are (i)
the O.T., the quotations from which, however, may have come
from a collection of passages believed to be Messianic, rather
than from the writer's knowledge of the O.T. as a whole; and
(2) traditions current among the first Christians. It is also
' If ihcre were difTcrences, it is not impossible that ihc text of Mk. which
Mt. usctl was inferior to that which has come down to us : curruijlion had
already begun. Sec Sunlon, Synoptic Cos/>els, pj). 34 f.
xii GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
possible that some of the many attempts at Gospels, mentioned
by S. Luke in his Preface, may have been known to our
Evangelist and used by him. But the only one of his sources
which we can compare with his completed work is the Second
Gospel, and it is most instructive to see the way in which he
treats it. This has been worked out in great detail by the Rev.
W. C. Allen in his admirable work on St. Matthew in the
International Critical Commentary, which ought to be consulted
by all who wish to do justice to the Synoptic problem. Here it
will suffice to make a selection of instances, paying attention
chiefly to those which illustrate the freedom which the compiler
of the First Gospel allowed himself in dealing with the Second.
1. He appropriates nearly the whole of it} The chief
omissions are : Healing of a demoniac (Mk. i. 23-28) ;
Prayer before preaching in Galilee (i. 35-39); Seed grow-
ing secretly (iv. 26-29) ; Healing of a deaf stammerer (vii.
32-36); Healing of a blind man (viii. 22-26); The un-
commissioned exorcist (ix. 38-40); Widow's mites (xii. 41-
44). And there are other smaller omissions.
2. He makes considerable changes in order, chiefly so as to
group similar incidents and sayings together, and thus make the
sequence more telling. Thus we have three triplets of miracles :
leprosy, paralysis, fever (viii. 1-15); victory over natural powers,
demonic powers, power of sin (viii. 23-ix. 8); restoration of life,
sight, speech (ix. 18-34). And he omits sayings where Mark
has them, and inserts them in a different connexion, generally
earlier. Thus Mk. iv. 21 is inserted Mt. v. 15 instead of xiii. 23,
24; Mk. iv.. 22 is inserted Mt. x. 26 instead of xiii. 23, 24;
Mk. ix. 41 is inserted Mt. x. 42 instead of xviii. 5 ; Mk. ix. 50 is
inserted Mt. v. 13 instead of xviii. 9; Mk. xi. 25 is inserted Mt.
vi. 14 instead of xxi. 22.
3. Although he adds a great deal to Mark, yet he frequently
abbreviates, perhaps to gain space for additions. He often omits
what is redundant. In the following instances, the words in
brackets are found in Mark but not in the First Gospel. ' [The
time is fulfilled, and] the Kingdom of God is at hand : repent ye
[and believe in the gospel]' (Mk. i. 15). 'And at even, [when
the sun did set]' (i. 32). 'And straightway the leprosy
[departed from him, and he] was cleansed ' (i. 42). ' [And the
wind ceared] and there was a great calm ' (iv. 39). ' Save in his
own country, [and among his own kin,] and in his own house '
(vi. 4). Such things are very frequent. He also omits un-
1 Why did both he and S. Luke have so high an estimate of Mk. as to
incorporate it in their own Gospels ? Because Mk. was believed to be the
mouthpiece of S. Peter, and because his Gospel emanated (as is highly
probable) from the great centre of all kinds of interests— Rome.
THE SOURCES xiii
essential details ; e.g. ' He was with the wild beasts' (Mk. i. 13) ;
' with the hired servants ' (i. 20) ; * with James and John ' (i. 29) ;
'upon the cushion' (iv. 38); 'about 2000' (v. 13); '200
pennyworth' (vi. 37); 'so as no fuller on earth can whiten
them' (ix. 3); '300 pence' (xiv. 5); the youn;^ man who fled
naked (xiv. 51); 'the father of Alexander and Rufus' (xv. 21).
And he frequently omits notes about the crowds which impeded
Christ (Mk. i. 33, 45, ii. 2, 4, iii. 9, 10, 20, vi. 31).
4. On the other hand he frequently expands. Compare
Mk. i. 7, 8 with Mt. iii. 7-12; Mk. iii. 22-26 with Mt. xii.
24-45; ^'^- ^v- ^^'^'"' ^^^- ^"'- J ^^^- ^'- ^-^^ ^^'th Mt. x. 5-42;
Mk. xii. 3S-40 with Mt. xxiii. ; Mk. xiii. with Mt. xxiv.-xxv.
5. Among the many cJian^es in lani:;i/ai:;e whicli he makes the
following are conspicuous ; and in considering the numbers we
must remember the different length of the two Gospels. Mark
has 'again' {ttoXlv) about 26 times, Matthew about 16, of which
4 are from Mark. Mark has 'straightway' (eu^i's) about 41
times, Matthew about 7, all from Mark. Mark has the historic
present about 150 times, Matthew about 93, of which 21 are
from Mark. And the compiler seems to have disliked the
imperfect tense. He frequently turns Mark's imperfects into
aorists, or avoids them by a change of expression. Comp.
Mk. vi. 7, 20, 41, 56 with Mt. x. i, xiv. 5, 19, 36; and Mk. x.
48, 52 with Mt. XX. 31, 34. Such alterations are very frequent.
6. But the compiler, besides making changes of order and
language, and sometimes abbreviating and sometimes expanding
Mark's narrative, occasionally makes alterations in the substiUice
of Mark's statements. Some of these seem to aim at greater
accuracy; as the substitution of 'tetrarch' (Mt. xiv. i) for
'king' (Mk. vi. 14), the omissions of 'when Abiathar was
high priest' (Mk. ii. 26), 'coming from (work in the) field'
(xv. 21), 'having bought a linen cloth' (xv. 46), and perhaps the
change from 'after three days' (viii. 31, ix. 31, x. 34) to 'on
the third day' (Mt. xvi. 21, xvii. 23, xx. 19). I3ut other
changes involve more substantial difference ; e.g. ' Levi the son
of AlphKus' (ii. 14) becomes 'a man called Matthew' (Mt. ix.
9); 'Gerasenes* (v. i) becomes 'Gadarenes' (Mt, viii. 28);
'Dalmanutha' (viii. 10) becomes 'Magadan' (Mt. xv. 39).
Where Mark has one demoniac (v. 2) and one blind man
(x. 46), the compiler gives two (Mt. viii. 28, xx. 30).
7. Sometimes he alters the narrative of Mark in order to
make the incident a more clear case of the fulfilment of
prophecy. Mark has, ' Ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no
man ever yet sat ; loose him and bring him ' (xi. 2). For this
he has, ' Ye shall find an ass tied and a colt with her ; loose
and bring to Me ' (Mt. xxi. 2), and then he goes on to quote the
XIV GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
prophecy, ' riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass.' Mark says, ' They promised to give him money' (xiv. ii) ;
for which the compiler substitutes, ' They weighed to him thirty
pieces of silver' (xxvi. 15), which comes from Zech. xi. 12, and a
litde later he quotes Zech. xi. 13, which he erroneously attributes
to Jeremiah (xxvii. 9). Mark has, 'They offered Him wine
mingled with myrrh' (xv. 23). In Mt. xxvii. 34 the 'myrrh'
is^ changed to 'gall,' perhaps to suggest a reference to Ps.
Ixix. 21. In a similar way Justin Martyr {Apol. i. 32) says that
the foal of the ass was "tied to a vine," in order to make
the incident a fulfilment of 'binding his foal unto the vine'
(Gen. xhx. 11).
8. The compiler tones down or otnits what seems to be un-
favourable to the disciples. The rebuke, 'Know ye not this
parable? and how shall ye know all the parables?' (Mk. iv. 13)
becomes a blessing in Mt. xiii. i6ff. 'For they understood not
concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened' (vi. 52) is
omitted. At Mk. viii. 29 the compiler inserts ' Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona,' etc. (xvi. 17-19). He omits (xvii. 4) that Peter
' wist not what to answer ' (Mk. viii. 6) ; also that they
'questioned among themselves what the rising from the dead
should mean' (ix. 10). For ' they understood not the saying,
and were afraid to ask Him' (Mk. ix. 32) he substitutes, 'they
were exceeding sorry ' (xvii. 23). For ' they disputed one with
another, who was the greatest' (Mk. ix. 34) and were rebuked
for so doing, he substitutes, 'the disciples came unto Jesus,
saying, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'
(xviii. i). The ambitious petition of the sons of Zebedee
(Mk. X. 35) is assigned to their mother (Mt. xx. 20). 'They
wist not what to answer Him' (Mk. xiv. 40) is omitted
(Mt. xxvi. 43).
9. Still more instructive and interesting are the cases in which
the compiler tones down or omits what might encourage a low
conception of the character of Christ. Reverential feeling seems
to have made him shrink from the freedom with which the
earlier record attributes human emotions and human limitations
to our Lord. ' And when He had looked round on them with
anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart' (Mk. iii. 5)
is omitted Mt. xii. 13. 'He marvelled because of their unbelief,'
and ' He could there do no mighty work ' (vi. 5, 6) is changed
to 'He did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief '_ (Mt. xiii. 58). 'He sighed deeply in His Spirit'
(viii. 12) is omitted Mt. xvi. 4. ' He was moved with indignation '
(x. 14) is omitted Mt. xix. 14. 'Looking upon him loved him'
(x. 21) is omitted Mt. xix. 21. 'Began to be greatly amazed '
(xiv. 2>Z) is changed to 'began to be sorrowful' (Mt. xxvi. 37).
THE SOURCES XT
The compiler also omits questions which seem to imply
ignorance on the part of Christ. 'What is thy name?' (v. 9).
'"who touched My garments?' (v. 30). 'How many loaves
have ye?' (vi. 38). 'Why doth this generation seek a sign?'
(viii. 12). 'Seest thou aught?' (viii. 23). 'What question ye
with them?' (ix. 16). 'How longtime is it since this hath come
unto him?' (ix. 21). 'What were ye reasoning in the way?'
(ix. ^^). 'Where is My guest-chamber?' (xiv. 14). 'J'iie
compiler also omits what might imply that Christ was unable to
accomplish what He willed. 'Jesus could no more openly enter
into a city ' (i. 45). ' He said unto him, Come forth thou
unclean spirit ' (v. 8) when the demon had not yet come forth.
' He would have passed by them ' (vi. 48). ' Would have no
man know it ; and He could not be hid ' (vii. 24). ' If haply
He might find anything thereon ... for it was not the season
of figs' (xi. 13); as if Christ did not know till He came and
looked, and as if He had expected what could not be. Perhaps
the change from 'drivcth Him forih' (Mk. i. 12) to 'was led up'
(Mt. iv. I ) is of a similar character.
To the same feeling we may attribute the remarkable change
of 'Why callest thou Me good? None is good save one, even
God' (x. 18), into 'Why askest thou Me concerning that which is
good? One there is who is good' (Mt. xix. 17); and the
probable omission (the reading is doubtful) of ' neither the Son '
Txiii. 32) in Mt. xxiv. 36. The change of 'the carpenter'
(vi. 3) into ' the carpenter's son ' (Mt. xiii. 55) is of a similar
kind ; and perhaps the change of ' Master, carest Thou not
that we perish?' (iv, 38) into 'Save, Lord, we perish' (Mt.
viii. 25). But perhaps this last change was made to shield the
disciples.
Side by side with this toning down of what might lessen the
majesty of Christ's person is a readiness to heighten what
illustrates it. When Mark says that ' they brought to Him all
that were sick and them that were possessed,' and that ' He
healed many and cast out many demons' (i. 32, 34), the
compiler says that ' they brought to Him many possessed,' and
that 'He cast out the spirits 'ivith a word, and healed alT
(.\It. viii. 16). He thrice, by inserting 'from that hour,' insists
that the healing word took effect immediately (ix. 22, xv. 28,
xvii. 18). He makes the fig-tree wither immediately, and states
that the disciples were amazed at the sudden withering, whereas
Mark indicates that they did not notice the withering till next
day. He omits the two miracles in which Christ used spittle as
a means of healing (Mk. vii. 31, viii. 22), and he omits the
convulsioys of the demoniac boy, which might imply that Christ
had difficulty in healing him (Mt. ix. 20). He also represents
xvi GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
Jairus' daughter as being raised by merely taking her hand : no
word is recorded (ix. 25).!
These nine classes of changes, which by no means exhaust
the subject, strongly confirm the generally accepted view that
the Gospel according to S. Mark is the earlier. We can see
in the majority of cases why the change from Mark to Matthew
has been made. Assume that Matthew is primary, and the
changes to what Mark gives us would be unintelligible. More-
over there is the fact that some of the changes made m Matthew
are found in Luke also. That again points to Mark being the
CtirliGst.
The consideration of the material which is common to both
Matthew and Luke, but is not found in Mark, does not lead to
such sure results; and a variety of hypotheses are possible,
(i) Both the compiler of Matthew and 'the beloved physician
may have used the same collection of Utterances, translated from
the Hebrew of S. Matthew the Apostle. (2) S. Luke may have
used a collection similar to the one used by the compiler, but
varying somewhat from it. (3) Each may have used several
such collections, having a good deal of common material ; and
S Luke knew of the existence of many such documents. (4)
Each may have drawn from oral traditions, which to • a large
extent had become stereotyped. (5) S. Luke may have seen
the Gospel according to Matthew. With our present knowledge,
certainty is impossible. That S. Luke and the compiler of
Matthew used Mark, pretty nearly as we have it, is certain ; that
they had other and similar materials, is certain ; and that each
used materials which the other did not use, and perhaps did not
know, is also certain. Beyond that, all is more or less reasonable
conjecture. That each of them used Mark as we have it, is a
reasonable conjecture; and Burkitt agrees with Wellhausen that
" Mark was known to both the other Synoptists in the same form
and with the same contents as we have it now " {The Gospel History
and its Transmission, p. 64). But perhaps it would be more
accurate to say that our Mark is derived from one copy of the
autograph, and that the other two Synoptists made use ot
another ; and we must remember that in those days scribes were
not mere copyists whose one aim was to copy accurately ; they
thought that it was their duty to edit and improve what they had
before them. Again, it is a reasonable conjecture that the
material used by the Synoptists existed originally in Aramaic,
1 Perhaps the two demoniacs and the two bUnd men (viii. 28, xx. 30),
where Mark mentions only one, may be placed under this head
2 See an excellent article on "Ihe Larly Church and the bynopUc
Gospels ■' in the Journal of Theological Studies, April 1904, PP* 330-342 ,
also January 1909, pp. 16S, 172.
THE SOURCES Xvii
and that most of it had been translated into drc'ck before tiny
used it.
If copyists sometimes edited what they copied, much more"
did Evangelists edit the materials which they used. We see
this in their grouping, in their wording, and in their insertion
of editorial notes. Such notes were indispensable. A writerj
who has to unite in consecutive narrative anecdotes and utter-
ances of which the historical connexion has been lost, must insert
editorial links to form a sequence. He may or may not have
indc{)endent authority for the link, but a link of some kind he
must have, whether there be authority for it or not. And in
some cases the discourses or narratives which he has to piece
together may be said to be the authority for what is inserted, for
something of the kind must have taken place, or what is recorded
could not have happened. Thus, the record of a long discourse
on a mount implies that the Lord went up the mount, that He
had an audience, and that, when all was over. He came down
again. These details, therefore, are inserted (v. i, viii. i). After
charging the Apostles, He must have gone elsewhere to teach
(xi. i). The same thing would happen at the end of other
discourses (xiii. 53, xix. i, xxvi. i). Where there was nothing
known to the contrary, it might be assumed that the Twelve
understood Him (xvii. 13), even when at first they had not done
so (xvi. 12). If the Evangelist felt quite certain of the meaning
of our Lord's words, he might give the supposed meaning as
having been actually spoken by Him (xii. 40). If a prophecy,
which the Messiah must have known, seemed to be very
appropriate. He might be supposed to have quoted it (ix. 13,
xii. 7, xiii. 14, 15, xxiv. 30). If, at the Supper, the Twelve
said to Him, one by one, ' Is it I?' then Judas must have said
so, and the Lord would answer him (xxvi. 25). If the women
on Easter morning found the stone already removed from the
tomb, the removal must have had a cause ; and if there was an
earthquake, this must have had a cause. It was reported that
an Angel had been seen : then, doubtless, he was the cause
(xxviii. 2-4). There are other places where we may reasonably
conjecture that we are reading editorial comment rather than
the reproduction of historical tradition; e.i^. xiii. 36^, xvi. 11/^,
xxii. 34 ; and there may be even more than these.
Editorial additions of this kind do not look like the work of
an Apostle and an eye-witness. If the First Gospel, as we have
it, were the production of S. Matthew, we should, as in the
Fourth Gospel, have much more important additions to what
is told us by S. Mark. In the feeding of the 5000, contrast the
vivid details which Jn. alone gives with the trifling inferences
which are peculiar to Mt. In the story of the Passion and of
xviu GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
the Resurrection, the same kind of contrast will be felt. These
editorial notes, therefore, are a strong confirmation of the view
that only to a very limited extent can our First Gospel be
regarded as the composition of the Apostle.
The existence of these notes does not interfere with the
substantial trustworthiness of the Gospels. Even when we
have set aside all the verses which seem to be editorial, the
number of them is not large, and is almost infinitesimal in
comparison with the remainder. And it must be remembered
that we may be mistaken about some of them, and also that
some, although editorial, may be quite true. At any rate they
represent what writers in a.d. 60-100 regarded as sufficiently
probable to be affirmed.
Plan of the Gospel.
As already intimated, the framework is that of Mk.
Omitting the first two chapters respecting the Birth and Infancy
of the Messiah, which have no parallel in Mk., we may exhibit
the correspondence, or want of correspondence, between the
two Gospels section by section. If both Gospels are analysed
into five main divisions, the relations of the divisions to one
another will stand thus : —
Mark.
Matthew.
i. 1-13
i. 14-vi. 13
vi. 14-ix. 50
X. 1-52
xi. i-xvi. 8
Introduction to the Gospel
Ministry in Galilee
Ministry in the Neighbourhood
Journey through Persea to Jerusalem
Last Week in Jerusalem
iii. i-iv. II
iv. i2-xiii. 58
xiv. i-xviii. 35
xix. I -XX. 34
xxi, i-xxviii. 8
It is in the first two divisions that Mt. makes most changes
in the order of the shorter sections of which they are composed.
But from xiv. i, and still more decidedly from xv. 21, he follows
the order of Mk. very closely, although he both abbreviates and
expands. And it should be noted that where Mt. deviates from
the order of Mk., Lk. commonly follows it. Mk. is nearly always
supported by either Mt. or Lk. or both : his is the original order.
When we subtract from Mt. what has been derived from
Mk., we have a remainder very different from that which is
produced by subtracting from Lk. what has been derived from
Mk. In the latter case we have not only various discourses,
especially parables, which have not been recorded elsewhere,
but also a large proportion of narratives, which Lk. alone has
preserved. But in the case of Mt., that which remains after
Mk. has been subtracted consists almost wholly of discourses,
for which the compiler evidently had a great liking. The amount
PLAN OF TIIK GOSPEL xix
of narrative which he alone has preserved for us is not very
great ; nor, with the exception of the contents of the first twi)
chapters, is it, as a rule, of first-rate importance. It consists of
such stories as Peter's walking on the sea, the demand for the
Temple-tax, the suicide of Judas, the message of I'ilate's wife
and his washing his hands, the earthtiuake and the resurrection
of the saints, the setting of a watch at the sepulchre and the
subsequent bribing of the guards. What the Evangelist chiefly
has at heart is to add to Mk.'s narratives of the doiti^s;s of the
Messiah a representative summary of the teaching of the Messiah.
'From that time began Jesus to preach' (iv. 17). 'He opened
His mouth and taught them' (v. 2). 'He departed thence to
teach and preach ' (xi. i). ' He taught them in their synagogue '
(xiii. 54). 'And Jesus went about all the cities and the
villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel
of the Kingdom' (ix. 35). Statements such as these show
clearly the writer's deep interest in all that the Messiah said;
and the number of sayings which he has collected shows this
still more.
In this presentation of the words of Christ in this Gospel the
Evangelist is fond of gathering into one discourse a number of
shorter sayings, as may be seen from comparison with S. Luke,
who has these same sayings scattered about, in various con-
nexions, in his Gospel. The chief example of this is the
Sermon on the Mount (Mt. v,-vii.). But there are other
instances of what seems to be a similar process, making at least
seven in all. There is the address to the Apostles (x. 5-42); the
collection of parables (xiii.); the discourse on the little child and
the sayings which follow it (xviii.); the three parables uf warning to
the hierarchy (xxi. 28-xxii. 14); the Woes against the Pharisees
(xxiii.); and the discourse on the Last Things (xxiv., xxv.). To
these we may perhaps add the discourse about John the Baptist,
which is grouped with other sayings (xi. 4-19; 20-30). Eive of
these seven or eight discourses are clearly marked off, as we
shall see, by the Evangelist himself.
It is often pointed out that in this Gospel incidents and
sayings are frequently arranged in numerical groups of three,
five, or seven. Triplets are very common. The opening
genealogy is artificially compressed into three divisions, each
having two sevens in it. There are three events of the
Childhood, the visit of the Magi, the flight into Egy[)t, and
the return (ii. 1-23); three temptations (iv. i-ii); three
examples of righteousness, alms, prayer, and fasting (vi. 1-18);
three prohibitions, Hoard not, Judge not. Give not what is holy
to the dogs (vi. 19-vii. 6); under ' Hoard not ' there are three
aims, the heavenly treasure, the single eye, and the banishment
XX GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
of anxiety (vi. 19-34); threefold 'Be not anxious' (vi. 25;
3 r ; 34) ; three commands, Ask, Enter by the narrow gate,
Beware of false prophets (vii. 7-20); three pairs of contrasts,
the broad and narrow way, the good and bad trees, and the
wise and foolish builders (vii. 13 ; 17 ; 24-27) ; threefold 'in Thy
Name' (vii. 22); three miracles of healing, leprosy, palsy, fever
(viii. 1-15); three miracles of power, storm, demoniacs, sin
(viii. 23-ix. 8); three miracles of restoration, health, Ufe, sight
(ix. 8-34); threefold 'Fear not' (x. 26; 28; 31); threefold 'is
not worthy of Me' (x. 37, 38); three cavils of the Pharisees
(xii. 2 ; 14 ; 24) ; three signs to the Pharisees, Jonah, Ninevites,
and Queen of the South (xii. 38-42); 'empty, swept, and
garnished ' (xii. 44) ; three parables from vegetation. Sower,
Tares, and Mustard-seed (xiii. 1-32); three parables of warning
(xxi. 28-xxii. 14); three questioners, Pharisees, Sadducees, and
lawyer (xxii. 15 ; 23 ; 35) ; three powers with which God is to be
loved, heart, soul, and mind (xxii. 37). In ch. xxiii. we have
numerous triplets : ' Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites {passim) ;
feasts, synagogues, and market-places (6) ; teacher, father, and
master (8-10), Temple and gold, altar and gift, heaven and
throne (16-22); tithing of mint, dill, and cummin contrasted
with judgment, mercy and faith (23); tithing of trifles, straining
out gnats, cleansing of cup and platter (23-26); prophets, wise
men, and scribes (34). In the remaining chapters we have other
examples ; three parables against negligence, the Faithful and
the Unfaithful Slaves, the Ten Virgins, and the Talents (xxiv. 45-
XXV. 30); three addresses to the Three in Gethsemane (xxvi. 38 ;
40, 41 j 45, 46) ; three prayers in Gethsemane (xxvi. 39 ; 42 ; 44) ;
three utterances at the Arrest, to Judas, Peter, and the multitudes
(xxvi. 50; 52-54); three shedders of innocent blood, Judas,
Pilate, and the people (xxvii. 4; 24; 25); three signs to attest
the Messiahship of the Crucified, the rending of the veil, the
earthquake, the resurrection of saints (xxvii. 51-53); three
groups of witnesses to the Resurrection, the women, the soldiers,
and the disciples (xxviii. i-io; 11-15 ; 16-20); the last words to
the Church, a claim, a charge, and a promise (xxviii. 18-20) ; of
which three the second was threefold, to make disciples, to
baptize, and to teach (19, 20); of which three the second again
has a triple character : ' into the Name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost' (19).
Many of these thirty-eight instances have no parallel passage
in Mk. or Lk. In many of the others it will be found that the
parallel passage omits one or more member of the triplet or adds
one to it ; e.g. Lk. (vi. 43-49) has the good and bad trees, and
the wise and foolish builders, but not the broad and narrow way.
Elsewhere (xiii. 24) he has the narrow door, but no broad or
PLAN OK TlIK I'.OSl'EL XXl
wide door. For 'judgment, mercy, and fuilh' Lk. (xi. 42) has
'judgment and the love of God.' He lias (xi. 39, 42) the
cleansing of cup and dish, and the tithing of small herlis, hut he
omits the straining out of the gnat. For the threefold ' He not
anxious,' he has (xii. 22, 29, 32) 'Be not anxious,' 'Seek not,'
' Fear not.' On the other hand, for heart, soul, and mind he
has (x. 27) heart, soul, strength, and mind.
There can be no doubt that some of these triplets were in the
sources which both Mt. and Lk. used, for both Gospels have
them. In a few cases it is just possible that Lk. derived them
from Mt. ; but it is much more reasonable to assiLi,n their origin
to the sources ; e.s^. the three temptations i)robably come from
some unknown source ; the three addresses to the Three in
Gethsemane are in Mk., though not in Lk., and may be assigned
to Mk. ; and there are other tri])lets, not included in the above
list, which are in both Mt. and Lk. and may be attributed to the
sources which they used; e.g. 'ask,' 'seek,' 'knock' (vii. 7;
Lk. xi. 9) ; reed, man in soft clothing, prophet (xi. 7-9 ; Lk. vii.
24-26) ; Chorazin, Bethsaidn, Capernaum (xi. 20-23 ; Lk. x.
13-15). But, when all deductions are made, there remains a
considerable number of triplets which Mt. has constructed either
by grouping or by modifications in wording.
Groups oT five are less common. Mt. has marked off for us
five great discourses, each of which is closed by him with the
same formula, 'It came to pass when Jesus finished' {iyeitro ore
eriXeaev 6 'hj(To\<;), vii. 28, xi. I, xiii. 53, xix. i, xxvi. i. These
five discourses are : the Sermon on the Mount ; the address to
the Apostles ; the collection of parables ; the discourse on the
little child with the sayings which follow it; and the great
apocalyptic discourse. The Sermon on the Mount contains
five corrections of inadequate conceptions about the Law, each
of them introduced by the words, 'But I say unto you' (v. 22,
28, 34, 39, 44) ; and in the apocalyi^tic discourse there are two
par.ibles in which the number five is prominent, the five wise
and the five foolish virgins, and the five talents which gained
other five. In chapters xxi. and xxii. there are five ciuestions ;
about authority, tribute, resurrection, groat commandments, and
the Son of David. Of the five great discourses, the address to
the Twelve (x. 5-15 ; 16-23 > 24-33 ; 34-39 > 40-42) and the great
eschatological discourse (xxiv. 5-14; 15-51 ; xxv. 1-13 ; 14-30 ;
31-46) can be divided into five paragraphs; but the latter can
also be conveniently divided into seven (xxiv. 5-14; 15-28;
29-31; 32-51; xxv. 1-13; 14-30; 3i-4^>)- The discourses in
ch. xi. (7-19 ; 20-24 ; 25-30) and in ch. xviii. (3-14 ; 15-20; 2 1-35)
fall readily into three divisions ; but by further subdivision they
can be made into five. The Sermon on the Mount can also be
XXU GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
divided into five parts (v. 3-16; T7-48; vi. 1-18; 19-vii. 6,
7-27), and some of these parts can be readily subdivided into
five or three paragraphs.
We have seen that this Gospel can be placed side by side
with Mk. and analysed into five main divisions. This means
omitting the first two chapters, which have no parallel in Mk.
If we add these two chapters as an Introduction, and break the
last great division into two (xxi. i-xxv. 46 ; xxvi. i-xxviii. 20),
thus separating the last days of work from the Passion,
Death, and Resurrection, we have a Gospel in seven main
divisions.
But the clearest examples of grouping by seven are the seven
parables in ch. xiii. and the seven woes in ch. xxiii. Some find
seven Beatitudes at the opening of the Sermon, and seven
petitions in the Lord's Prayer. It is also possible to find a
group of seven in vi. 25-34 (see notes there); and there are
some who think that the separate instructions to the Twelve
have been gathered up by Mt. "into a single sevenfold com-
mission." It has been already pointed out that a fivefold
division seems to fit this discourse well ; but, if we are to find a
seven in the Mission of the Twelve, we shall find it more
securely in the seven centres of work which resulted from it, —
our Lord, and six pairs of Apostles.
It is plain from what has just been stated that groups of five
and groups of seven are far less frequent in this Gospel than
groups of three. Even if we were to count all the possible
instances of five and of seven, they would hardly amount to half
the number of triplets. The five great discourses, the seven
parables, and the seven woes are evidently intentional groupings.
Many of the others which have been suggested may be intended
also ; but we cannot be certain.
There is nothing fanciful or mystical in these numerical
rarangements. Groups of three and of seven are frequent in the
O.T., and were in use before its earliest books were written.
Three is the smallest number which has beginning, middle, and
end, and it is composed of the first odd number added to the
first even number. The days of the week, corresponding to
phases of the moon, made seven to be typical of plurality and
completeness. Although seven is a sacred number often in the
O.T. and sometimes in the N.T., e.g. in the Apocalypse, yet there
is no clear instance of this use in the Gospels. All that the
Evangelist need be supposed to imply by these numerical
groupings is orderly arrangement. Everything in the Gospel
history took place and was spoken €ro-xr?/AoVws /cat Kara rafiv
(i Cor. xiv. 40); and everything must be narrated 'decently
and in order.'
PLAN OF TIIF, COSPKI. xxiii
It is possible that tliLsc groupings into threes, or fives, or
sevens, or tens would aid the memory of both teacliers and
learners, and would in this way be usiful to catechists. It is
also possible that the I'.vangelist had this end in view in making
these numerical groups. Sir John Hawkins {I font Synoftiac,
p. 131) favours such a theory. "This seems to have been
done in Jewish fashion, and i)erhaps especially for the use of
Jewish Christian catechists and catechumens. . . . When wcj
think of the five books of the Pentateuch, the five books of/
Psalms, the five Megilloth, the five divisions which Dr.
Edersheim and others trace in Ecclesiasticus, the five parts
which Mr. Charles as well as previous scholars see in the Book
of Enoch ({)p. 25-32; Hastings' DB. art. 'Enoch'), and tlie
five Pereqs which make up the Pirqe Aloth, it is hard to believe
that it is by accident that we find in S. Matthew the five timc«
repeated formula about Jesus 'ending' His sayings (vii. 2S,
xi. I, xiii. 53, xix. i, xxvi. i). Are we not reminded of the
colophon which still closes the second book of Psalms, 'The
prayers of David the son of Jesse arc ended' (I's. Ixxii. 20)?'"
Comp. also, 'The words of Job are ended' (Job xxxi. 40). Of
course the fact that Mt. consciously made five great discourses
does not prove that he did so in order to assist the memory of
catechists and catechumens, but some of his numerical groups
may have had this aim.
Other instances of the occurrences of these and other
numbers in this Gospel might be cited ; but they are of less
jmportance. Some of them are probably to be understood
quite literally. It so happened that there were three, or five, or
seven ; as in Peter's proposal for three tabernacles, or the five
loaves and the five thousand, or the seven loaves and the seven
l)askets. In other cases it is a round number, as in Peter's
(|ucstion, 'Until seven times?' But the examjjles given above
fully justify the statement that these numerical arrangements are
a characteristic of the First Oospel.
It is this intense desire for what is orderly that has caused
the Evangelist to gather together detached sayings of the Messiah y»
and group them into continuous discourses. The large pro'^
portion of di.scourses in this Oospel has often been pointed out,
and it is one of the reasons which quickly made the (Jos| rl so
much more popular than the earlier (Jospel of Mark. In Mk.
about half consists of discourses, in Lk. about two thirds, in Mt.
about three-fourths. The main portion of Mt., the ministry in
Galilee and the neighbourhood (iv. 12 xviii. 35), is expanded
from Mk. chiefly by the in.sertion of tliscourscs, and it seems to
be arranged on a fairly symmetrical plan.
I. Opening activities, giou(Kd round a prophecy of Isaiah
(
XXIV GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
(Mt. iv. 15, 16), and ending with the Sermon on the Mount
(iv. i2-vii. 29).
2. Ten acts of Messianic Sovereignty, grouped round a
prophecy of Isaiah (Mt. viii. 17), and ending with the Charge to
the Apostles (viii. i-x. 42).
3. Many utterances of Messianic Wisdom, grouped round a
prophecy of Isaiah (Mt. xii. 18-21), and ending in seven
illustrations of teaching by parables, which are grouped round
Ps. Ixxviii. 2 (xi. i-xiii. 58).
4. Continued activities in and near Galilee, grouped round a
prophecy of Isaiah (Mt. xv. 8, 9), and ending in the discourses
on offences and forgiveness (xiv. i-xviii. 35). Thus, chapters
v.-vii., X., xiii., and xviii. seem to be intended as conclusions to
definite sections of the Gospel, and they consist almost entirely
of discourses.
The compiler's preference for discourses is shown, not only
by his insertion of them, but by his abbreviation of mere
narrative. He frequently, as we have seen, omits details. He
cares little about local colour or chronological order. His aim
is to produce a definite impression — the Messianic dignity of Jesus.
This aim is clear from the outset. ' Book of the generation of
Jesus, Messiah, Son of David, Son of Abraham' (i. i). The
descent from David is emphasized (xii. 23, xxi. 9, 15, xxii. 42)
as indicating that He is the Messianic King (ii. 2, xxi. 5, xxvii.
II, 29, 37, 42). The book is at once Jewish and anti-Jewish.
It is manifestly written by a Jew for Jews. Its Jewish tone is
conspicuous throughout. Palestine is 'the Land of Israel'
(ii. 20, 21); its people are 'Israel' (viii. 10) or 'the lost sheep
of the house of Israel ' (x. 6, xv. 24) ; its towns are ' the cities of
Israel' (x. 23); and God is 'the God of Israel' (xv. 31).
Jerusalem is ' the holy city' (iv. 5, xxvii. 53), an expression found
in Is. xlviii. 2, lii. i ; Dan. ix. 24 ; Tob. xiii. 9 ; but in the N.T.
peculiar to this Gospel and the equally Jewish book of
Revelation (xi. 2, xxi. 2, 10, xxii. 19). References to the
fulfilment of Jewish prophecies abound (i. 22, ii. 6, 15, 17, 23,
iii. 3, iv. 14, viii. 17, xii. 17, xiii. 14, 35, xxi. 4, xxiv. 15, xxvi. 31,
54, 56, xxvii. 9). It is evidently the aim of the Evangelist to let
his fellow-Christians of the house of Israel know the certainty of
that in which they had been instructed, viz. that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Messiah foretold in prophecy. And the book
is antijezvish in showing that, although the Messiah was of them,
and came to them first (x. 5, 6), yet by their rejection of Him
they had lost their birthright of priority. The old exclusive
barriers had been broken down, and the Kingdom of Israel had
become a Kingdom of the Heavens, open to all nations. In
order to enjoy the Messianic glory, the Jew must cease to be a
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE FIRST GOSPEL xxv
Jew, must become a Clirisliaii, with Jesus as his Messiah, and
be a subject in a Kingdom that was no longer Jewish. 'I'luis
this Gospel represents a moment of transition, a passage from
the peculiar people to the whole race of mankind. On the one
hand, the Messiah is come, 'not to destroy but to fulfil' (v. 17,
iS), and,' as regards His work on earth, is sent only to Israel
(xv. 24). But, on the other hand, the Law and the Prophets
find their limit in the Baptist (xi. 12, 13); the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath (xii. S) ; there is no moral pollution in food
(xv. II, 19); the Kingdom is about to be transferred toothers
(xxi. 43, comp. viii. 11, 12); and the Gospel of the Kingdom is
to be preached in all the world to all peoples (xxi v. 14). And
thus the book, which opens within the narrow limits of Jewish
thought, with the origin of the Messiah as ' Son of David ' and
'Son of Abraham' (i. i), ends with the great commission of the
Messiah to the ' little flock ' of Jews that had not shared in the
national rejection of Him, ' Go ye and make disciples of all the
nations' (xxviii. 19).
The Christology of the First Gospel.
We have just seen that the impression which this Evangelist
desires to enforce is that of the rights of sovereignty which Jesus
possessed, in the first place over the ancient people of Israel,
and, after their rejection of Him as the Messianic King, over all
the nations of the earth. The King of Israel by right of descent
becomes, as Messiah, the King of the world. For He is not
only the Son of Abraham and the Son of David, but also the
Son of Man and the Son of God.
The Son 0/ ^fan. It is specially in the First Gospel that our
Lord is set before us as the Son of Man. The ex[)ression occurs
fretjuently in all four Gospels ; about 80 times in all, of which
40 or more times are distinct occasions. And the expression is
invariably used by Christ, and of Himself. No Evangelist
speaks of Him as the Son of Man, or represents any one as
addressing Him as the Son of Man, or as mentioning Him by
this designation. Our Lord, like many Jews of Palestine in His
day, spoke both Aramaic and Greek, but He, no doubt,
commonly s[)oke Aramaic. From this fact, and from the
assumption that, so far as we know, the difference between ' son
of man' in the sense of 'human being' (vlo? avOpi^irov^b
avOpwTTos) and ' the Son of Man ' (o v(os mv ayOinLnov) could not
be expressed in Aramaic,' it has been argued that our Lord
* This is assumption, and not fact. It is more rcasonahlc to nssumr, from
the use in Danii-1 and the Book of Enoch, th.-it it must have been possible to
express this dilTcrcncc in Aramaic (sec Allen, .SV. Matthevj, p. Ixxiii).
XXVI GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
never called Himself ' the Son of Man.' In passing, it may be
urged that Christ sometimes spoke Greek, and that it is possible
that He may have used the very words 6 vtos rov arOpwTrov of
Himself. But, in any case, the conclusion drawn from the
linguistic peculiarities of Aramaic is far short of demonstration,
and it is incredible. It is contradicted by the whole of the
evidence that bears directly on the subject. It assumes that,
although He never used the title, all four Evangelists have
insisted upon giving it to Him repeatedly : and yet in the
Gospels we find that /Aej> never use it of Him, but report that
Ife frequently used it. On any theory of authorship, the
Gospels represent the memories of people who must have known
whether Christ used this remarkable expression of Himself or
not. And we may be sure that, the further we get away from
the memories of the first generation of disciples, the less
likelihood there would be of any such title being invented and
put into Christ's mouth. Something expressing His Divinity
rather than His humanity would have been chosen. We may
regard the unanimous testimony of the four Gospels as decisive
respecting His use of the term; and His use of it explains
that of Stephen (Acts vii. 56), who would know the Gospel
tradition.
The compiler of Matthew found the expression used 14
times in Mark; and he has kept all these.^ Besides these
cases, he uses it 19 times. That means that he found it in l>of/i
his two main sources, Mark and the Logia or collection of
Utterances (Q) ; for most of the additional 19 must have come
from this second source. That again is strong evidence that the
phrase was used by Christ; and also that our Evangelist
welcomed the phrase as significant and appropriate; for his
treatment of Mark shows that he did not scruple to omit, or
even to alter, what he did not approve.
The passage in Daniel, ' One like a son of man came with
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days,' and
received a dominion which is universal and eternal (vii. 13, 14),^
" Doubts have been thrown, on linguistic grounds, upon the use by our
Lord of the title Son of Man with reference to Himself. Those doubts have
receded ; and I do not think that they will ever be urged with so much
insistence again. . . . Here is an expression which can only go back to our
Lord Himself, and it bears speaking testimony to the fidelity with which His
words ha^e been preserved " (Sanday, T/ie Ltfe of Christ in Kecent Research,
pp. 123-125 ; see also pp. 65-69, 100, 159, 190).
^ There is an apparent exception in xvi. 21, which is no real exception,
for the term is used by anticipation in xvi. 13. In 8 cases the phrase is
common to Mt., Mk., and Lk. In 8 it is common to Mt. and Lk. In 9 it
is found in Mt. alone. In 8 it is found in Lk. alone. Jn. has it 12 times.
The total for the four Gospels is 81 times.
* Dan. vii. 18 seems to show that this ' Son of Man,' like the ' beasts,' is
TllK CIIKISTOLOGY OK TllK KIKST (JOSIKL xxvii
and several passages in Enocli (xlvi., li. 4, liii. 6, cv. 2), which
possibly are, but probably are not, post-Christian, show that the
phrase had come to be used of a Divine Messiah. But there is
nothing specially Christian in this supernatural Messiah. He is
the Son of God, but He is not the Word, not (iod. That He is
to live on earth, or has lived on earth, and died, and risen again,
is not hinted. It is a Jewish, pre-Christian Messiah that is
indicated by ' the Son of Man.' But it may be securely asserted
that the term was not commonly recognized among the Jews as a
name for the Messiah. In that case, our Lord, who carefully
abstained from calling Himself the Messiah, would never, until
He had revealed Himself as the Messiah, have used the
expression of Himself. It is clear that that revelation was made
very gradually. Up to the question at Crcsarea Philippi
(Mt. xvi. 13-16 = Mk. viii. 2 7-29 = Lk. ix. 18-20) He had not so
revealed Himself: and even then He forbade that this partial
revelation should be made public (Mt. xvi. 20 = Mk. viii. 30 =
Lk. ix. 2 1 ; Mt. xvii. 9 = Mk. ix. 9 ; comp. Lk. ix. 36). Yet there
are passages in which ' the Son of Man ' is used by our Lord
of Himself before the incident at Coesarea Philii)pi. There are
nine such in Matthew. As our Evangelist so often groups things
independently of chronology, we may believe that some of these
nine cases, though placed before Caesarea Philippi, really took
place afterwards. But that can hardly be the case with Mt. ix.
6 = Mk. ii. io = Lk. V. 24, or Mt. xii. 8 = Mk. ii. 28 = Lk. vi. 5,
or Mt. xii. 32 = Lk. xii. 10. We may be confident, therefore,
that as Jesus used this term of Himself so early in the Ministry,
it cannot have been one which was generally known as a name
for the Messiah. Our Lord seems to have chosen the expression
because it had mysterious associations which were not generally
known, and because it was capable of receiving additional
associations of still greater importance. It was like His parables,
able to conceal Divine truth from the unworthy, while it revealed
more and more to those whose hearts were being prepared to
receive it. It insisted upon the reality of His humanity and His
unicjue position as a member of the human race. It hinted at
supernatural birth. It harmonized with Messianic claims, if it
did not at once suggest them. And, when it became connected
with the future glories of the Second Advent, it revealed what it
had previously veiled respecting the present office and eternal
preexistence of Him in whom human nature found its highest
and most complete expression. Thus it came to indicate the
to be understood collectively. They are tyrannical dynasties ; he is the
'saints of the Most High.' but in the I'salms of Solomon (xvii, xviii) and in
ihc Apoc. of Baruch (Ixxii. 2, 3), as in luK>th, we clearly have an individual,
who is both King and Judge.
xxviii GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
meeting-point between what was hunaanly perfect with what was
perfectly Divine.^
The Son of God. Apart from the Fourth Gospel (v. 25, ix. 35
[?], X. 36, xi. 4), we could not be certain that our Lord used this
expression of Himself; and even with regard to those passages
we must allow for the possibility that S. John is giving what he
believed to be Christ's meaning rather than the words actually
used. In Mt. xvi. 16, for 'the Christ, the Son of the living God,'
Mk. has only 'the Christ,' and Lk. 'the Christ of God.' In Mt.
xxvi. 63 we are on surer ground ; there ' the Christ, the Son of
God,' is supported by Mk.'s 'the Christ, the Son of the Blessed,'
and by Lk.'s 'the Son of God.' And we have it in the voice from
heaven at the Baptism (iii. 17 = Mk. i. 11 = Lk. iii. 22) and at the
Transfiguration (xvii. 5 = Mk. ix. 7 = Lk. ix. 35); in the devil's
challenge (iv. 2)^ 6 = Lk. iv. 3, 9) ; in the cries of the demoniacs
(viii. 29 = Mk. v. 7 = Lk. viii. 28; comp. Mk. iii. 11); and in the
centurion's exclamation (xxvii. 54 = Mk. xv. 39). But, allowing
for all critical uncertainties, we may regard it as securely
established that expressions of this kind were used both by our
Lord and of Him durijig His life on earth. Dispassionate study
of the Gospels, even without the large support which they receive
in this particular from the Epistles, will convince us that Jesus
knew that He possessed, and was recognized by some of those
who knew Him as possessing, a relation of Sonship to God such
as was given to no other member of the human race. A merely
moral relationship, in which Jesus reached a higher grade than
other holy persons, is quite inadequate to explain the definite
statements and general tone of the Gospels. To take a single
instance ; the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen indicates
clearly His own view of His relationship to God who sent Him.
There had been many sent, but all the others were servants.
He is the only ' son,' the sole ' heir,' the one whose rejection and
murder at once produces a crisis fatal to the wrong-doers. As
Dalman says, Jesus " made it indubitably clear that He was not
only a but the Son of God." ^ The sovereignty of which He was
the heir was the sovereignty over the world and over all its tenants.
It is evident that the editor of this Gospel is fully convinced
of the appropriateness of this far-reaching expression. If 'the
Son of the living God ' has been added by him to Peter's con-
fession (xvi. 16), it is because he felt that the addition was
^ See Hastings' DB. ii. pp. 622 ff. and iv. pp. 579 ff. ; also Sanday,
Outlines of the Life of Christ, pp. 92 ff. ; Calmes, Evatigile selon S. fea>i,
pp. 159 ff.; Zahn on Mt. viii. 18; Drummond in journal of Theological.
Studies, April and July 1901.
- The Words of Jesus, p. 2S0. See also Hastings' DB. ii. pp. 850 f., and
iv. pp. 570 ff. ; Sanday, The Life of Christ in Rdent Research, pp. 130-133;
Gore, The New Theology and the Old Religion, pp. 87-95.
THE CHRISTOLOGV OF THE FIRST GOSFEL xxix
necessary in order to express the full meaning of what the Apostle
said. >Iore often than any other Evangelist he records that the
designation 'Son of God ' was applied to Him (ii. 15, iii. 17,
iv. 3, 6, viii. 29, xiv. 2^, xyi. 16, xvii. 5, xx-\'i. 63, xxvii. 40, 43,
54). He records the crucial passage in which He speaks of His
relation to God as one of Sonship in a unicjue sense (xi. 25-27),
and also the two occasions on which God acknowledged Him as
His Son, His Beloved (iii. 17, xvii. 5). And for this he prepares
his readers by telling of His supernatural birth of a virgin, by
conception of the Spirit of God, so that by prophetic sanction
He may be called ' God-with-us ' (i. 20-23). And the Evangelist
finds that this pro(ihetic sanction extends throughout the career
of the Son of God ; in the chief events of His infancy (ii. 5, 15,
17, 23), in the chief scene of His Ministrj' (iv. 14), and in the
chief details of it. He finds it in John's proclamation of His
coming (iii. 3), in His healings (viii. 17), His retirement from
public notice (xii. 17), the hardness of His hearers' hearts
(xiii. 14), His consequent use of parables (xiii. 35), His riding
into JerusaUm (xxi. 4), the flight of His disciples (xxvi. 31), His
capture by His enemies (xxvi. 54, 56), and even in the way in
which the money paid for His blood was spent (xxvii. 9). He
is ministered to by Angels (iv. 11), who are at His disposal
(xiii. 41, xxiv. 31), to use or not as He wills (xxvi. 53), and who
will attend Him in His future glory (xvi. 27, xxv. 31). But the
final purpose of the Son's mission was not simply to minister to
the needs of men in body and soul, but ' to give His life a
ransom for many ' (xx. 28) by shedding His blood for them
(xxvi. 28). In the latter passage he adds to Mark's report that
the blood is shed ' unto remission of sins.' ^
' "Jesus felt that He stood in sutr/i closeness of communion with God Ike
Father as belonged to none before or after Him. He was conscious of speaking
ihe last and decisive word : He felt that what lie did was final, and that no
one would come after Him. The certainty and simple force of His work, the
sunshine, clearness and freshness of His whole attitude rest upon this founda-
tion. We cannot eliminate from His personality, without aestroying it, the
trait of superprophetic consciousness of the accotiiplisher to whose person the
flight of the ages and the whole destiny of His followers is linked . . , Let us
contemplate this sovereign sense of leadership by which Jesus was possessed,
and the inimitable surencss with which it unfolded itself in every direction.
He knew how to value the authorities of the past, but //e placed Himself
above them. He was more of account than kings and prophets, than David,
Solomon, and the Temple. The tradition of the elders He met with His
' But I say unto you," and even Moses was not an authority to whom He gave
unqualified submission."
As Sanday points out, these are extraordinary admissions to be made by a
writer (Boussct) who contends that the life of our Lord did not overstep the
limits of the purely human. The facts, as Housset himself states them, flatly
contradict his own theory ( The Life of Christ in Recent Research^ pp.
189-191).
XXX GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
The writer of this Gospel shows us very plainly what Jesus
Huiiself thought of His own relations to God and to man. He
sets Himself above the Law (v. 22-44, xii. 8) and the Temple
(xn 6), and above all the Prophets from Moses to the Baptist,
for John is greater than the Prophets (xi. 9, 11), and He is
greater than John (iii. 14, 15, xi. 4-6). The revelation which
He brings surpasses all that has been revealed before (xi. 27),
and this revelation is to be made known, not merely to the
Chosen People (x. 6, xv. 24), but to all the nations (viii. 11,
xxiv. 14, xxviii. 19). He is the Source of truth and of peace
(XI. 28-30) ; and although He Himself is man, He can speak
of all other men as sinners (vii. 1 1, xxvi. 45). When the
Baptist shrinks from admitting Him to his baptism. He does
not say that He too has need of cleansing, but He quiets
John's scruples by quite other means (iii. 15). He prays
(xiv. 23), and prays for Himself (xxvi. 39, 42, 44), but He
never prays to be forgiven. He bids others to pray for forgive-
ness, and for deliverance from temptation (vi. 12, 13, xxvi. 41)
but He never asks them to pray for Him. Without proof, and
withont reserve, He makes enormous claims upon the devotion
of His followers (viii. 22, x. 37, 38, xvi. 24), and He says that
the way to save one's life is to lose it for His sake (x. 39, xvi. 25).
He confers on Peter (xvi. 19) and on all the Apostles (xviii. 19)
authority to prohibit and to allow in the Church which He is
about to found ; and in the Kingdom which He has announced
as at hand(iv. 17) He promises to His Apostles thrones (xix. 28).
The Church is His Church (xvi. 18), the elect in it are His
elect (xxiv. 31), the Kingdom is His Kingdom (xvi. 28), and the
Angels in it are His Angels (xiii. 41, xxiv. 31). Even during
His life on earth He has authority to forgive sins (ix. 6), and by
His death He will reconcile the sinful race of mankind to God
(xxvi. 28). And all this is httle more than the beginning. On
the third day after His death He will rise again (xvi. 21, xvii. 23,
XX. 19), and then He will possess God's authority in heaven and
in earth, and also His power of omnipresence (xxviii, 18, 20).
At a later period He will come in glory to judge the whole
world, to reward righteousness and to punish unrepented sin
(xvi. 27, xxiv. 30, 31, 47, 51); and the character of His
judgments will depend upon the way in which men have behaved
towards those who are their brethren, but in His eyes are His
brethren ?nd even as Himself (xxv. 31-46).!
In most of these passages Mt. is supported by Mk. (ii. 10, 28,
111. II, 12, viii. 29-31, 34-38, ix. 9, 31, 37, X. 34, 45, xii. 6,
xiii. 26, 27, xiv. 35-39, 62, xv. 34, xvi. 6), to say nothing
of the still stronger support to be found in the Fourth Gospel.
1 See Briggs, The Ethical Teaching of Jesus, pp. 199-206, 222.
THE DATE xxxi
We cannot suppose that utterances sucli as these, so numerous,
so various, ami yet so harmonious, arc the invention of this or
that Evangehst. Tliey are beyond the invention of any
Evangehst, and few of them are anticipated in the O.T. In
particular, there is no hint in the O.T. of a second coming of the
Messiah ; it cannot, therefore, be maintained that either Jesus
or the Evangehsts derived the idea of His coming again from
type or prophecy. And what makes the hypolliesis of invention
all the more incredible is the combination in Jesus of this
consciousness of Divine powers with a character of deep
humility, reticence, and restn^int. While uttering these amazing
claims with a serenity which implies that they are indisputable.
He is still meek and lowly of heart (xi. 29), always charging
those who in some measure know who He is that they shall not
make Him known (xii. 16, xvi. 20, xvii. 9), bidding those whom
He has healed not to spread abroad His fame (viii. 4, ix. 2)0, xii. 16),
declaring that He came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister (xx. 28), and in His ministering quite ready to be
stigmatized as the friend of tax-collectors and sinners (ix. 11,
xi. 19).
If, then, criticism accepts the record of His claims and of His
actions as substantially true, how are we to explain them ?
Was He an ecstatic dreamer, a fanatic under the influence of a
gigantic delusion? This question may be answered by another.
Is it credible that the limitless benefits which have blessed, and
are daily blessing, those who believe that Jesus is what He
claimed to be, are the outcome of a gigantic delusion ? The
Incarnation explains all that is so perplexing and mysterious in
the records of Christ's words and works, and in the subsequent
history of the society which He founded. But nothing less than
Divinity will explain the developments in the life of Jesus and of
His Church. If, therefore, the Incarnation is a fiction, if it is
not true that God became flesh and dwelt among us, then we
must assume that flesh became God, and that hyp )thesis is,
intellectually, a far greater difficulty than God's becoming man.
To men of this generation the Incarnation may seem to be
impossible, but with God all things are possible.^
The Date.
The time at which the unknown Evangelist compiled this
Gospel can be fixed, within narrow limits, with a high degree of
probability. All the evidence that we have falls into {)lace, if
'Sec the notes on v. 21, 22, 48, vii. 23, 24-29, viii. 21, 22, ix. 12,
X. 16-18, 32, 39, xi. 23, 24, xii. 41, XX. 28, xxii. 34, xxviii. 18; Gore, Tht
New Theology and the Old Keligion, pp. 103-108.
xxxii GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
we suppose that be completed his work shortly before or (more
probably) shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70.
He used Mark and a translation of the Logia which had been
collected in ' Hebrew ' by Matthew. These materials cannot
well have been in existence much, if at all, before a.d. 65. The
parenthesis in Mk. xiii. 14, 'let him that readeth understand,' is
probably not to be taken as our Lord's words, directing attention
to the saying in Daniel, for in Mark Daniel is not mentioned ;
the parenthetical words are those of the Evangelist, warning the
reader of his Gospel that, although the time to which the sign
refers has not yet come, yet it must be near. This seems to
give us the time of the first march of the Romans on Jerusalem
(a.d. 66) as about the date for S. Mark's Gospel.^ In xxiv. 15
our Evangelist retains the parenthesis. But we cannot use the
same argument as to his date. He does mention ' Daniel the
Prophet,' and may understand the parenthesis as directing
attention to the prophecy ; or he may have retained Mark's
warning, although the reason for it had ceased to exist. Never-
theless, it is possible that both Gospels were completed before
A.D. 70.
( ' But our Evangelist seems to have believed that the Second
Advent would take place very soon, and would be closely con-
nected with the tribulation caused by the destruction of Jerusalem
(xvi. 28, xxiv. 29, 34). A belief which caused our Lord's words
to be so arranged as to produce this impression, would not have
long survived the events of a.d. 70, When a year or two had
passed, and the Second Advent had not taken place, the belief
would be found to be erroneous. Therefore, while we can hardly
place this Gospel as early as a.d. 65, we can hardly place it as
late as a.d. 75. And, on the whole, a little after 70 is rather
more probable than a little before. The later date gives more
time for the publication of Mark and of the Logia in Greek.
Moreover, 'the king was wroth, and he sent his arniies, and
destroyed those murderers, and burned their city ' (xxii. 7) may
be a direct reference to the destruction of Jerusalem regarded
as a judgment on the murderers of the Messiah.
■ And there is nothing in the Gospel which requires us to
place it later than a.d. 75. The famous utterance, ' on this rock
I will build My church' (xvi. 18), must not be judged by the
ideas which have gathered round it. ' On this rock I will build
My Israel ' — the new Israel, that is to grow out of thp old one, —
is the meaning, a meaning quite in accordance with thoughts
1 The statement that Eusebius in his Chronicle places the composition
of the First Gospel a.d. 41= Abraham 2057, is untrue. The date of no
Gospel is given in the Chronicle. For other statements see the Tournal of
Theological Studies, Jan. 1905, p. 203.
THK DATE xxxiii
that were current in the first generation of Christians. Still less
does ' tell it unto the Church : and if he refuse to hear the Church
also' (xviii. 17) point to a late date. The local community,
either of Jews or of Jewish Christians, such as existed in Palestine
from the time of Christ onwards, is what is meant.
This early date is of importance in weighing the historical
value of the Gospel. At the time when the compiler was at
work on it many who had known the Lord were still living.
Most of His Apostles may have been still alive. Oral traditions
about Him were still current. Documents embodying still
earlier traditions were in existence, and some of them were used
by our Evangelist. It is possible— indeed, it is highly probable
—that the sayings of Christ, which the Evangelist got from the
translation of S. ^Matthew's Logia, and which form such a large
portion of the Gospel, are the very earliest information which we
possess respecting our Lord's teaching. In them we get back
nearest to Him, of whom those sent to arrest Him testified :
' Never man thus spake,' Oi-ScVotc cXoXt^o-cv outws avOpuiirQ<i
(Jn. vii. 46).
And it was the presence of this element which made the
First Gospel such a favourite, and gave it so wide a circulation.
It quite eclipsed S. Mark, and in almost all collections of the
Gospels took the first place. For many early Christians it was
probably the only Gospel that they knew, and it sufficed ; it told
them so much of what the Lord said. With it in their hands
they could obey the injunction which came direct from God to
man : ' This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ;
hear ye Him' (xvii. 5).
There are critics, such as M. Loisy, who would put the date
of this Gospel some thirty years later, because they are uinvilling
to admit the historical value of its contents. They have a con-
viction, which is a prejudgment, that certain things catinot have
hai)i)ened, and therefore the evidence of those who say that they
did happen, must be untrustworthy. It must come from witnesses
who cannot be contemporary, but who stated what they con-
sidered to be edifying, or felt to be in harmony with their own
beliefs, rather than what they knew to be true. In some cases
they did not mean their narratives to be accepted as literally
true; they meant them to be understood as symbolical. In
other cases they invented stories about Jesus, to show that He
was what they believed Him to be, viz. the promised Messiah
and the Son of God. Such theories are not sound criticism.
The true critic is not fond of 'cannot' or 'must.' To decide
a priori that Deity cannot become incarnate, ur that incarnate
Deity must exhibit such and such characteristics, is neither true
philosophy nor scientific criticism. A Person such as His con-
xxxiv GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
temporaries and their immediate followers believed Jesus to be
is required to explain the facts of Christianity and Christendom
• — Christian doctrine and the Christian Church. If their beliefs
about Him were erroneous, what is the explanation ?
" The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs " and
THEIR Relation to the First Gospel.
In the notes will be found frequent quotations from the
Testaments, of passages which either in substance or wording
or both are similar to passages in this Gospel. Some of these
may be mere coincidences ; but the number of parallels is so
large, and in some cases the resemblance is so close, that mere
coincidence cannot be the explanation of all the similarities. A
considerable number may be the result of independent use of
current ideas and phrases : yet even these two hypotheses will
not account for all the resemblances. The two writings, in the
forms in which they have come down to us, can hardly be
independent. Either the Gospel has been influenced by
the Testaments, or the latter has been influenced by the
Gospel. Dr. Charles, in his invaluable edition of the Testaments,
argues for the former hypothesis : a paper in the Expositor for
Dec. 1908 gives reasons for preferring the latter; and in the
Expositor for Feb. 1909 Dr. Charles repeats his own view.
The Testaments has long been a literary puzzle. We possess
the book in Greek, and in subsidiary translations into Armenian,
Latin, and Slavonic ; the Latin translation having been made in
the thirteenth century, from a Greek MS. of the tenth century,
by Bishop Grosseteste of Lincoln, who thus made the book
known to Western Christendom. He believed it to be a genuine
product of Jewish prophecy, with marvellous anticipations of the
Messiah ; and this view continued until the Revival of Learning.
The criticism of that age condemned it as a forgery by a Jewish
Christian, and for a long time it was neglected as worthless. A
better criticism has shown that the text is composite, and that
it consists of a Jewish document which has received Christian
interpolations and alterations. Neither the Latin nor the
Slavonic is of much value for critical purposes : in determining
the text of the Testaments we have to rely chiefly upon the Greek
MSS. and the MSS. of the Armenian version, and it is from a
study of these that a -more correct estimate of the Testaments
can be obtained.
Thanks to the labours of modern scholars, among whom it
will suffice to mention Bousset, Charles, Conybeare, Harnack,
Schiirer, and Sinker, some important questions have been settled
beyond reasonable dispute, (i) The original work was not
I
THE TESTAMENTS 01" TIIH T\VE1,VE rATRTARniS xxw
Greek, but Hebrew, (j) The author of it was not a Christian,
but a Jew. (3) Numerous Christian features in the 'I'estaments
have been introduced by changes of wording and by interpola-
tions, which are the work of Christian scribes. These three
points are certain ; but the details of the process by which the
book reached its extant forms, and the exact amount of the
alterations made by Christian hands, are not easy to determine.
Dr. Charles holds that there were two Hebrew recensions,
from each of which a Greek translation was made, one of which
is represented by three of the existing Greek MSS. {c, //, and /),
and the other by two Greek MSS. {p and ,j^) ; while four Greek
MSS. (</, e,f, and d) appear to be derived from both the original
translations.^ The Christian insertions and alterations are prob-
ably the result of a repeated process and not the work of any
one hand. They are more numerous in the Greek than in the
Armenian text, and at first one is inclined to regard absence from
the Armenian version as a test. Expressions which are in the
Greek but not in the Armenian might be assumed to have been
added to the Greek after the Armenian translation was made.
The proposed test, however, is of uncertain value, for the
Armenian translator was an audacious abbreviator. " On almost
every page," says Dr. Charles, "he is guilty of unjustifiable
omissions." Therefore absence from the Armenian version is
no sure evidence of an interpolation.
But what concerns us is the large number of passages in the
Testaments which resemble passages in the N.T. so closely that
they cannot all be explained as either mere accidents of wording
or the result of the same influences of thought and language
telling upon diderent writers. There is a residuum, of uncertain
amount, which cannot reasonably be explained by either of these
hypotheses. In these cases, either the N.T. has influenced the
text of the Testaments, or the text of the Testaments has in-
fluenced that of the N.T.
Dr. Charles is persuaded that in nearly all the cases the
N.T. has been influenced by the Testaments. He has drawn
up lists of parallels between the Testaments on the one hand,
and the Gospels, Acts, Pauline Epistles, Catholic Epistles, and
the Apocalypse, on the other: and some of these exhibit
resemblances which are very striking. Moreover, he has not
tabulated by any means all the resemblances which exist.
It is remarkable that the parallels with the Gospels are chiefly
with the First Gospel, those with Mt. being about twice as
numerous as those with all the other three put together. It is
' From this view Professor Burkitt dissents (Journal of Theol. S/., Oct,
190S) ; also from the view ihal S. Paul quotes the Testaments. It is more
probable that a Christian copyist has put S. Paul's words into the Testaments.
xxxvi GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
also remarkable that the passages in Mt. which show marked
resemblance with the Testaments "are almost exclusively those
which give the sayings and discourses of our Lord " (Charles,
p. Ixxviii). "Almost exclusively" may be too strong; but the
proportion is large. Dr. Charles explains this remarkable fact
by the hypothesis that our Lord knew the Testaments and
adopted some of the thoughts and language which can be found
there. There would be nothing startling in our Lord's making
such use of the Testaments, for the moral teaching in the Testa-
ments is sometimes of a lofty character. Some of His sayings
may have been suggested by Ecclesiasticus. The two cases,
however, are not quite parallel. We are quite sure that Ecolesi-
asticus was written long before the Nativity, and therefore
Christ may have read it ; but we are not sure that the Testa-
ments had been written when He was born.
Dr. Charles argues strongly for a year between B.C. 137 and
105 as the date of the original Hebrew of the Testaments, and
we may rest assured that the book cannot have been written
earlier than that. Harnack {Chron. d. altchrist. Litt. 1897,
p. 567) thinks that it cannot well be placed earlier than the
beginning of the Christian era. The problem of date would be
easier if the Book of Jubilees could be dated, for the connexion
between the Testaments and Jubilees is so close that they cannot
be independent of one another; and Schiirer {Gesch. d. Jiid.
Volkes, 3rd ed., iii. p. 259) thinks that it is the author of the Testa-
ments that has used the Book of Jubilees. There is, however,
at least one passage in the Testaments which seems to point to
a time subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem and of the
Temple.
" There the sanctuary (6 vao's), which the Lord shall choose,
shall be desolate (eprjfxo?) through your uncleanness, and ye
shall be captives unto all the nations. And ye shall be an
abomination to them, and shall receive reproach and eternal
shame from the righteous judgment of God" {Levi xv. i, 2).
Dr. Charles says, " I take these verses as a io;ia fide predic-
tion," and adds, "The sanctuary was so laid waste under
Antiochus Epiphanes : i Mac. i. 39." But "ye shall be captives
unto all the nations " (alx/J.d\u>TOL 'dcreaOe €is Travra tol Wvr]) can
hardly refer to the persecution under Antiochus. What follows
these two verses seems to point to something much more com-
prehensive and permanent. " And all who hate you shall rejoice
at your destruction. And if ye were not to receive mercy
through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers, not one of our
seed should be left upon the earth." Comp. jDan v. 1 3. The
passage looks Hke a fictitious prophecy made after the capture
of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 ; but it is possible that it is an interpola-
Till-: TK>TAMKNTS OK TIIK TWELVE rATRIARCIlS xxxvii
lion inserted after tliat event, and not [lart of the original work.
We must be content to leave the dale of the Hebrew original
an open question, as also the date of the earliest translation into
Greek. And there is also the question whether the dreek
translator was a Jew or a Christian. If the latter, then the
Chrisliani/ing of the Testaments may have begun at once ; but
in any case, whether it began with the translator or with subse-
quent copyists, it does not seem to have taken place all at one
time.
It is now admitted by every one that there has been consider-
able manipulation of the Greek texts of the Testaments in order
to give them a Christian tone. There have been changes ot
wording, and there have been insertions. May not many of the
cases in which the Testaments resemble the N.T. have come
about in the same manner? May we not suppose that Chris-
tians have assimilated the wording of the Testaments to the
wording of the Gospels and l-^pistles? This possibility is all
the more probable when the change or the insertion seems to
have been made somewhat late, because it is found in the later,
but not in the earlier authorities for the Greek text of the Testa-
ments ; and this Dr. Charles himself points out (see note on
Judah XXV. 4). Why may it not have taken place as soon as
the Testaments began to be Christianized? If Christians would
put their own words into the Testaments in order to make them
testify of Christ, much more would they be likely to put the
words of the N.T. into them.
This hypothesis, that it is the N.T. which has inlluenced the
Testaments rather than the Testaments which has influenced
the N.T. has considerable advantages. It solves one difficulty
which the other hypothesis fails to solve, and it avoids another
difficulty into which the other hypothesis leads us.
I. Why do the parallels with Mt. so greatly exceed in number
the parallels with the other Gospels? In particular, why do the
large majority of the passages in the Testaments which recall
our Lord's teaching recall that teaching as recorded in Mt.?
If Christ knew the Testaments, and adopted much of its moral
instruction and language, why does this influence show itself so
frequently in His sayings as reported in the First Gospel, and
so seldom in His sayings as reported in the other three? If the
Testaments did influence the form of Christ's teaching, this
influence would be evident, if not in all Gospels alike, at any
rate in Lk. almost as often as in Mt. Hut if it was the (Jospcls
which influenced the Testaments, then at once we see why it
was Mt. which exercised the most influence. The Gosik;!
according to Matthew, as soon as it was published, became
most popular. It caused the Gospel according to Mark, which
xxxvni GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
was in the field before it, to be almost neglected; and the
Third Gospel never attained to equal popularity. In the
Christian literature of the first centuries, quotations from Mt.
and allusions to Mt. zxq far more frequent than references to
the other Gospels ; perhaps twice as frequent as references to
Lk. or Jn., and six or seven times as frequent as references to
Mk. This fact goes a long way towards showing that it is the
Gospels that have influenced the Testaments. If they did so,
then the influence of Mt. would be sure to be greater than that
of the other three ; which is exactly what we find.
2. If the influence of the Testaments on the Gospels, on
the Pauline Epistles, and on the Catholic Epistles was so great
as to produce scores of similarities in thought and wording, this
influence would not be likely to cease quite suddenly as soon
as the N.T. was complete; it would probably have continued
to work and to manifest itself in early Christian writings. But,
as Dr. Charles himself points out, "the Testaments have not
left much trace on Patristic literature " (p. Ixxv). He has col-
lected seven apparent parallels between the Shepherd of Hernias
and the Testaments, and he thinks that these suffice to show
that Hermas knew and used the Testaments. The conclusion
may be correct, but the evidence is not convincing. Three
of the parallels may be mere coincidences ; and in two cases
the agreement with passages in Scripture is closer than the
agreement with the Testaments, so that we may be sure that
Hermas is recalling the Bible and not the Testaments. Thus,
" Do not partake of God's creature, in selfish festivity, but give
a share to those who are in want" may come from Job xxxi. i6,
Prov. xxii. 9, Ep. of Jer. 28, or Lk. iii. 11 ; and "Speak against
no one" certainly comes from Prov. xii. 13 or Jas. iv. 11 rather
than from Issachar iii. 4. Of the two remaining parallels one
is striking: "There are two angels with man, one of righteous-
ness and one of wickedness" {Mand. vi. ii. i): "Two spirits
wait upon man, the spirit of truth and the spirit of error" {/udah
XX. i). But the former may come from Barnabas xviii. i, and
perhaps Origen thought so, for he quotes first Hermas and then
Barnabas {De Prin. iii. ii. 4) ; and both in Barnabas and in
Hermas we have ayyeXoi and not TrvevfxaTa. "The spirit of
truth and the spirit of error " is verbattjn the same as i Jn. iv. 6,
and this rather than Hermas may be the source of Judah's
words. If the parallels between Hermas and the Testaments
suffice to make dependence probable, it is possible that Hermas
is the original. The Shepherd was written about a.d. 150 and
quickly became very popular. Before a.d. 200 it was better
known than 2 and 3 Jn., Jude, or 2 Peter, and was often regarded
as Scripture. It is not impossible that in some of the parallels
THE TKSTAMliNTS OF TllK TWKLVli rATKI ARCilS xxxix
it is the Shepherd that has influenced the text of the Testaments.
In any case, it remains somewhat uncertain whether Hermas
knew the Testaments.
There is a fragment (No. xvii.) attributed (l)ut perhaps
wrongly, as Harnack thinks) to Irena;us, whicli is thought to
refer to the Testaments : " But from Levi and Judah according
to the flesh He was born as king and priest." This doctrine
about the Messiah is found in Sif/icon vii. i, 2. But, as neither
the authorship of the fragment nor the reference of the passage
is certain, this is somewhat slender evidence for the hypothesis,
which in itself is quite credible, that the Testaments were known
to Irenxus.
Not until we reach Origcn, and the later years of his life, do
we get an indisputable reference to the Testaments. In his
Homilies on Joshua (xv. 6), which were written about a.d. 245-
50, he mentions the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs by
name, as a book which, whatever its meiits, was not included in
the Canon. He calls it "a certain book," as if he did not much
expect his readers to know it. The fact that he nowhere else
quotes it need not mean that he himself did not know it well,
but only that he did not like it. Its muddling Christology, the
result of Christianizing a Jewish book by frequent re-touching,
would not attract him.
A single passage in Origen, therefore, written in the middle
of the third century, is the earliest certain evidence of a Christian
writer being acquainted with a book which is supposed to have
influenced, and in some cases to have influenced very strongly
indeed, nearly every writer in the N.T. Let us leave Hermas
and IrenKus on one side, or even admit that they knew it.
How is it that we do not find clear traces of this most influential
document in either Clement of Rome, or Ignatius, or Polycarp,
or Barnabas, or the Letter to Diognetus, or the Didache, or
Aristides, or Justin Martyr, or Athenagoras, or Tertullian, or
Clement of Alexandria? The total absence of traces of
influence between a.u. 95 and 150, and the very scanty signs
of possible influence between 150 and 250 render it somewhat
improbable that our I^rd and St. Paul, to mention no others,
frefjuently adopted the thoughts and words of this apocryphal
Jewish writing. What can explain the sudden and almost total
cessation of influence upon Christian literature about a.d. 100?
If, however, it was the writings of the N.T. which influenced the
early Christians who adapted the Testaments to Christian
sentiment by frequent alterations, we have an intelligible
explanation of the literary facts. These adajjlalions are known
to have taken place, and seem to have begun early, for it was
probably a Christianized edition that was known to Origen ;
d
xl GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
Otherwise he would hardly have raised the question about its
being included in the Canon or not.
How could the Testaments exercise such enormous influence on
the N.T. as Dr. Charles supposes, and yet, with the possible excep-
tions of Hermas and Irenjeus, leave no trace of being known to
any writer earlier than Origen? or to writers later than Origen?
Dr. Charles answers this question by asking several others.
" How is it that the Gospel of Mark exercised such a pre-
ponderating influence on the First and Third Gospels and yet
has left no certain trace in Barnabas, the Didache, i Clement,
Ignatius, Polycarp, 2 Clement? Or, again, how is it that the
Similitudes of Enoch exercised such a great influence on the
Fourth Gospel and certain passages of the Synoptics, and yet
are not quoted by a single Apostolic Father? Or how is it that
I Thessalonians, the earliest Pauline Epistle, has left no trace on
Barnabas, the Didache, i Clement, Polycarp, 2 Clement? 1
need not further press this argument" {Expositor, Feb. 1909,
pp. 117, 118).
None of the three instances given by Dr. Charles is a true
parallel; for two reasons. No one asserts that Mark or
I Thessalonians has had such an influence upon nearly all
the writers of the N.T. as Dr. Charles attributes to the Testa-
ments; and perhaps he himself would not attribute as much
influence to the Similitudes of Enoch as he attributes to the
Testaments. Secondly, it could not be said that these three
writings have left no trace of influence upon any Christian writer
between S. John and Origen, with the possible exception of
Hermas and Irenaeus. Mark was probably known to Hermas,
Justin Martyr, and some of the early Gnostics ; certainly to
"irenseus, Clement of Alexandria, TertuUian, and other writers
in abundance, i Thessalonians was perhaps known to Ignatius,
Hermas, and the author of the Didache ; certainly to Marcion,
Irenjeus, Clement, TertuUian, and later writers. And Dr.
Charles has shown that Enoch by no means passed into oblivion
between a.d. too and 250, or even later. Therefore the literary
history of these three writings does not explain what is supposed
to have taken place respecting the Testaments.
Dr. Charles supposes that some one has asked " how it is
that the Testaments have so largely influenced S. Matthew and
S. Luke, and have hardly, if at all, influenced S. Mark." That
question is easily answered, but it is not the question which has
been raised. The question is. How is it that the Testaments
(according to the view of Dr. Charles) have influenced S. Matthew
about twice as much as they have influenced the other three
Gospels put together? That is a question which deserves an
answer. Let us look at some of the facts.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWEIAE rATRIARClIS xli
Matthew.
ii. 2. Where is He ihat is bom
King of the Jews, for we saw His
star in its rising (rby iaripa. iv rri
(b-oroXj?).
iii. 14. I have need to be baptized
of Thee, and comcst Thou to me ?
16. Lo, the heavens were opened
unto Him (^t-ft^Jx^'/"'^*'' "' ovpayol),
and He saw the Spirit of God de-
scending as a dove, and coming upon
Him ; and lo, a voice out of the
heavens, saying. This is My beloved
Son, in whom 1 am well pleased.
iv. II. Then the devil Icaveth
Him ; and behold Angels came and
ministered unto Him.
iv. 16. The people which sat in
darkness saw a great light, and to
them which sat in the region and
shadow of death, to them did light
spring up.
V. 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
4. Blessed are they that mourn, for
thev shall be comforted.
o. Blessed are they that hunger
{ol Ttivwvret), for they shall be filled
(XopreurtfijiroKTeu ).
10. Blessed are they that have been
persecuted for righteousness' sake.
19. NS'hoever shall do and teach
them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.
21. Ye have heard that it was said
to them of old time. Thou shalt not
kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall
be in danger of the judgment :
23. but I say unto you, that every
one who is angry with his brother
shall l>e in danger of the judgment.
TnK Tkstaments.
Levi xviii. 3. His star shall arise
in heaven as of a king (di-artXet
itTTpoi' avTou f» oipayt^ u-s /^a(T<X«'w5).
Num. xxiv. 17. dyartXfi Aarpov.
Judah xxiv. i. And no sin shall he
found in him.
2. And the heavens shall be ojiencd
unto him {dvoiy^^aoyrai fV aiV^J ol
ovpavoi), to j>our out the spirit, the
blessing uf the Holy Father.
Levi xviii. 6. The heavens shall be
opened, and from the temple of glory
shall come upon him sanctihcation,
with the Father's voice as from
Abraham to Isaac.
7. And the glory of the Most High
shall be spoken over him, and the
spirit of understanding and sancti-
fication shall rest on him in the
water.
13. And the Lord shall rejoice in
His children, and be well pleased in
his beloved ones for ever.
Naphtali viii. 4. The devil shall
flee from you. . . . And the Angels
shall cleave to you.
Levi iii. 5. The hosts of the Angels
are ministering.
xviii. 4. He shall shine forth as the
sun in the earth, and shall take away
all darkness from under heaven.
Judah XXV. 4. They who were poor
for the Lord's sake shall bo made
rich.
And they who have died in grief
shall arise in joy.
And they who have been in want
(^y TTclyrj) shall be filled (xo/)To<r-
O-qaoyrat).
Dan iv. 6. If ye suflTer loss volun-
tarily or involuntarily, be not vexed.
Levi xiii. 9. Whoever leai hes noble
things and does them shall be en-
lhrt)ncd with kings.
Gad iv. 6. Haired would slay the
living, and those that have sinned in
a small thing it would not suffer to
live.
v. I. Haired therefore is evil, for it
makcth small things to \>c great.
5. Fearing to ollend the Ix)rd, he
will do no wrong to any man, even in
thought.
xlii
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
28. Every one that looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath com-
mitted adultery with her already in
his heart.
42. Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of
thee turn not thou away.
44. Love your enemies, and pray
for them that persecute you ; that ye
may be sons of your Father which is
in heaven.
vi. 10. Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so on earth.
vi. 14. If ye forgive men their tres-
passes, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you.
16. [The hypocrites] disfigure their
faces {d(pavi^ov(n to, Trpoauiwa avTiJov).
19. Lay not up for yourselves
treasure upon the earth ; but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven.
22, 23. If thine eye be single {lav 6
6<f>da\/x6s ffov airXovs ^) . . . But if
thine eye be evil (edc 5^ 6 6(f>9a\fjL6s
ffov irov-qpos y), thy whole body shall
be full of darkness {aK0Teii>6v).
24. No man can be a slave (dov-
"Kejueiv) to two masters. . . . Ye
cannot serve God and mammon.
vii. 2. With what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured unto you.
viii. 17. Himself took our infirmi-
ties, and bare our diseases.
24-27. 7'Ae Storvt on the Lake.
ix. 8. WHien the multitudes saw it,
they were afraid and glorified (ido^a-
aap) God.
X. I. He gave them authority over
unclean spirits.
16. Become therefore wise {yiveade
otf (ppduinoi) as serpents.
39. He that loseth his life for My
sake shall find it.
Benjamin viii. 2. He that hath a
pure mind in love looketh not on a
woman with thought of fornication.
Zebulon vii. 2. Show compassion
and mercy without partiality to all,
and grant to every man with a good
heart.
Joseph xviii. 2. If any one willeth
to do evil to you, do you in doing
him good pray for him, and ye shall
be redeemed of the Lord from all
evil.
Naphtali iii. 2. Sun moon and
stars change not their order ; so do
ye also change not the law of God in
the disorderliness of your doings.
Zebulon viii. i. Have compassion
towards every man in mercy, that the
Lord also may have compassion and
mercy on you.
6. [The spirit of revenge] dis-
figureth the face (rd irpScrunrov d(pav-
'!-«). .
Levi xiii. 5. Do righteousness upon
the earth, that ye may find it in
heaven.
Issachar iii. 4. Walking in single-
ness of eye (eu d<p9a\jj.wv d7r\6r»;Ti).
iv. 6. He walketh in singleness of
soul, shunning eyes that are evil
[6(pda\/xovs irovTjpovs).
Benjamin iv. 2. An eye full of
darkness {aKoreivov).
Judah xviii. 6. For he is a slave
{dovXevei) to two opposite passions,
and cannot obey God.
Zebulon v. 3. Have mercy in your
hearts, because whatever a man doeth
to his neighbour, so the Lord will deal
with him.
Joseph xvii. 7. All their suffering
was my suffering, and all their sick-
ness was my infirmity.
Naphtali vi. 4-9. T/ie Storm on the
Sea.
Judah XXV. 5. All the peoples shall
glorify (SofdcoLKTi) the Lord for ever.
Benjamin v. 2. The unclean spirits
will fly from j'ou.
Naphtali viii. 10. Become therefore
wise in God and prudent (yiveaOe ovv
aotpoL iv Gey ^a' ((ipovlj-lol).
Judah XXV. 4. They wlio are put to
dealli for the Lord's sake shall awake
to life.
Tlir TESTAMENTS OF TllK TWELVE TATRIARCHS xliii
xi. 19. Tho Son of Man came eat-
ing and drinking.
27. I Ic io whom the Son willctli to
reveal Ilim.
29. For I am meek and lowly
(rpqos Kal TaTeifSs) of heart.
xii. 13. Withered Hand restored.
35. The evil man out of his evil
treasure bringcth forth evil things.
45. Then goelh he and taketh with
himself seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter
in and dwell there.
xiii. 40. In the end of the world
XV. 14. If the blind Ic.ul the Wind
both shall fall into a pit (ets ^dOvfOf).
xvi. 27. He shall render unto
every man according to his deeds.
27. The Son of Man shall come in
the glory of His Father with His
Angels.
x'viii. 15. If thy brother sin against
thee, go siiow him his fault between
him and thee alone. Comp. Lk.
xvii. 3.
35. So shall also My heavenly
Father do unto you, if ye forgive not
every one his brother from your
hcartii.
xix. 28. In the r<^eneralion . . .
yc also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29. And every one that hath left
houses, or brethren, or sisters . . .
for .My Name's sake shall receive
manifold (ToWairXafflova).
xxii. 15. They took counsel how
they might ensnare (va-yioiiauffii')
Him in Ilis talk.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart.
39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself.
xxiii. 34. Persecution /oreto/d.
38. iVhnId ynur house is lift unto
you [dewil.Ttc].
Ablier vii. 3. The Most High .shall
vibit ll)e earth, coming Himself as
man, with men eating and drinking.
Levi xviii. 2. The Lord shall raise
up a new priest, to whom all the
words of the Lord shall be revealed.
Dan. vi. 9. For he is true and
lont^-suffering, meek and lowly
(irpaoi Kal TttTrfivos).
Simeon ii. 13. IVithered Haud
restcrai.
Asher i. 9. Seeing that treasure of
the inclination hath been filled with
an evil spirit.
Reuben ii. 2. Seven spirits there-
fore were given ag.ainst man.
Naphtali viii. 6. And the devil
dwellclh in him as his own vessel.
Levi X. 2. At the end of the world
(rg avvr€Kd(i. twv otuii'wi').
Reuben ii. 9. Desire leadeth the
youth as a blind man to a pit {iirl
jiiOpov).
Levi xviii. 2. He shall execute a
righteous judgment upon the earth for
a multitude of days.
5. The Angels of the glory of the
presence of the Lord shall be glad in
him.
Gad vi. 3. If any one sin against
thee, speak peace to him, and in thy
soul hold not guile, and if he repent
and confess forgive him.
7, But if he is shameless and per-
sists in his wickedness, even so for-
give him from the heart and give to
God the taking vengeance.
Judah xxv. i. Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob shall arise unto life, and I
and my brethren shall be chiefs of the
tribes of Israel.
Zebulon vi. 6. For he who gives
a share to his neighbour, receives
manifold {iroWavXaaiova) from the
Lord.
Joseph vii. I. She looked about
how to ensnare {ira7i3fP<rai) me.
life.
1 )an v. 3. Love the Lord in all your
d one another in a true heart.
Judah xxi. 9. Persecution foretold.
I^cvi XV. I, Therefore the Temple,
which lh<- Lord shall choose, .shall
Ik: ilcsolalL- tiiroui;li your iinLliMii-
ness.
xliv
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
xxiv. II, 24. False Fropktts fore-
told.
xxiv. 29. The sun shall be
darkened. Comp. xxvii. 45.
31. They shall gather together
(eiri<Tvvd.^ovffiv) His elect from the four
winds.
XXV. 33. He shall set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on the
left.
35. I was an hungered, and ye gave
Me meat ; I was a stranger, and ye
took Me in ; 36. I was sick, and ye
visited Me ; I was in prison, and ye
came unto Me.
xxvi. 70. I know not what thou
sayest.
xxvii. 6. It is not lawful to put
them into the treasury, since it is the
price of blood (rt/t?; ai/xaros).
24. I am innocent (d6(^6s ei'/xi) of
the blood of this righteous man.
28. They stripped Him and put on
Him a scarlet robe.
31. They took off from Him the
robe, and put on Him His own
garments, and led Him away to
crucify Him.
26. When he had scourged Jesus.
30, 31. They smote {^TvirTov) Him
on the head. And when they had
mocked Him.
46. Why hast Thou forsaken Me ?
(IvaTL fie iyKariXiwes ;).
51, The veil of the Temple was rent
{t6 Karair^Taff/M rod vaoD iax^odv)-
51. The rocks were rent (al Trirpai
45. There was darkness all over
the land.
51. The earth was shaken [t] yrj
^aeiffdr]).
xxviii. 2. There was a great earth-
quake (a-eiafjios iy^vero /x^yas).
viii. 24. There was a great earth-
quake in the sea ((reiay-bs iyevero iv r^
6a\a.<r(F-Q).
Tudah xxi. 9. False Prophets f ore-
toll.
Levi iv. i . The sun being darkened
(h. A). Other texts, 'quenched.'
Naphtali viii. 3. Shall gather
together (^Trio-wdfet) the righteous
from among the Gentiles.
Benjamin x. 6. Then shall ye see
Enoch, Noah, and Shem, and
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
rising on the right hand in glad-
ness.
Joseph i. 5. I was kept in starva-
tion, and the Lord Himself nourished
me ; 6. I was alone, and God com-
forted me ; I was sick, and the Lord
visited me ; I was in prison, and my
God showed favour unto me.
xiii. 2. I know not what thou
sayest.
Zebulon iii. 3. We will not eat it,
because it is the price of our brother's
blood (T-tyU.?; aijitaTos).
Levi X. 2. I am innocent {adC^6^
dill) of your ungodliness and trans-
gression.
Zebulon iv. 10. They stripped off
from Joseph his coat , , . and put
upon him the garment of a slave.
Benjamin ii. 3. When they had
stripped me of my coat, they gave
me to the Ishmaelites ; and they
gave me a loin-cloth, and scourged
me and bade me run.
Joseph ii. 3. I was smitten (^ri7(^6?;!'),
I was scoffed at. Comp. Lk. xxiii.
35-
4. The Lord doth not forsake
(oi)k ^yKaraXeliiei} those that fear
Him.
6. For a little space He departeth,
to try the inclination of the soul.
Levi x. 3. The veil of the Temple
shall be rent (ffxto-^^crerai to Karairi-
raafia roO vaov).
iv, I. When the rocks are being
rent (TrerpQv o'xtfo/A^i'Wj') and the sun
darkened. Other texts, 'quenched.'
iii. 9. The earth and the abysses
are shaken (i] yrj /cai at d^vaaoi
aaXeijovrat),
TlIK TKSTAMENTS OK TIIK TWKIA'H I'ATKI ARCIIS xlv
These tables give us more than sixty instances of resemblances
between the Testaments and the First Gospel, of which nearly
forty are concerned with the words of our Lord. More than
twenty come from passages which have no corresponding
passage in either Mk. or Lk. And in about ten of those which
are in both Mt. and Lk. the possible parallel in the Testaments
is closer to Mt. than to Lk. The preponderating similarity
between the Testaments and Mt. is therefore strong, and it can
be readily explained, if it was the Gospels which inlluenced the
Testaments. U'hat is the explanation, if the Testaments
inlluenced the Gospels?
In several instances the Armenian version omits the words
which produce the resemblance ; and that fact creates a certain
amount of probability that the resemblance is due to changes
which are later than that version. Again, in some of the
passages where these resemblances are found there are differ-
ences of reading, and the resemblance is confined to one of the
variants. Zelulon viii. 6 (i8) is instructive. We have three
readings : Kai to irpoa-wTroi' d^ait'^ei (c h l) : T^]v virap$iv a(f>avi^€i
(a e f^ A, S^) : 6 yap ftyrjaLKUKO^ <nr\ay)(va eXe'ous ovk «;(« (/'^).
The first of these recalls Mt. vi. i6; the last recalls Lk. i. 78.
Are we to suppose that Mt. knew the one reading, and Lk. the
other? Or did one scribe of the Testaments remember Mt., and
the other Lk. ? In Le7't' x. 3 (59) Dr. Charles himself suggests
that instead of cr^icrdi^creTaL to KaraTrt-acrfia to? raoG we ought
perhaps to read (r\i(r6j'i(r€Tai to ivSv/ia, for h'Bvfia is found in
most texts : and certainly " so as not to cover your shame " is a
more fitting consequence of rending garments than of rending
the Temple veil. We may therefore suppose that the reading to
KaTa-tVarr/xa Tou vaov comes from Mt. xxvii. 5i = Mk. XV. 38 =
Lk. xxiii. 45, rather than that the phrase in the Gospels comes from
the Testaments. In BinJaminVxW. 2 (13) we have three different
readings, differing in the amount of resemblance to Mt. v. 28, one
having very little resemblance. In Issachar viii. 4 and iv. 6 (20)
the words which produce the resemblance are wanting in im-
portant witnesses. In Asher vii. 3 (28) Dr. Charles marks "as
man, with men eating and drinking" as an interpolation; and
he does the same in Dan vi. 9 (30) with " for he is true and
long-sufiering, meek and lowly." May we not suspect that some
of the other resemblances are due to a similar cause ? And it
should be noticed that most of the resemblances are in Levi and
Judah, just the two Testaments which would be most likely to
be Christianized ; while very few arc to be found in Simeon,
Issachar, or Asher.
To sum up. A few of these similarities between the Testa-
ments and the N.T. may be accidental coincidences. A great
xlvi GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW
many may be due to independent employment of current ideas
and phrases. The remainder may be the production of
Christian translators or copyists, who consciously or un-
consciously assimilated the wording of the Testaments to the
words of the N.T., and especially to the words of the First
Gospel.
Conybeare regards it as proved that the Greek text of the
Testaments is "a paraphrase of an old Aramaic midrash, in-
terpolated by generations of Christians" {Jezv. EncycL xii. p.
113): SQe JoHr?ial of Theological Studies, April 1909, p. 423.
In paraphrasing, there is almost boundless opportunity for
assimilating the language of the original to language which, to
the paraphraser, may be either more familiar, or may seem to
be either more pleasing or more edifying. Paraphrasing and
interpolating will account for a large number of the resemblances
between the Testaments and the New Testament. See J. Arm.
Robinson, Hastings' DB. ii. p, 501*.
TIIR GOSPRL ACCORDING TO
S. MATTIIHW
I. II. THE BIRTH AND INFANCY OF THE MESSIAH.
I. 1-17. His Genealogy.
'The Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ.' This title is
probably meant to cover more than the mere pedigree, but
perhaps not the whole Gospel. We may regard it as a heading^
to the first two chapters, the Gospel of the Infancy. In Gen.
V. I, 'the book of the generations of Adam ' covers not only the
genealog)' from Adam to Japhet mixed with a certain amount of
narrative, but also the narrative of ' the wickedness of man ' in
the time of Noah (v. i-vi. 8).^ The Evangelist no doubt had
the Sepluagint of Genesis in his mind when he penned this title ;
and it was probably from the Septuagint that he compiled the
pedigree : but he may have found it already compiled in some
Jewish archives. Jews are tenacious of their pedigrees ; and,
even if the statement of Julius Africanus (Eus. //. E. i. 7) be
correct, that Herod the Great ordered the genealogies of old
Jewish families to be destroyed, in order to hide the defects of
his own pedigree, the statement causes no difficulty. Such an
order would be evaded, and in any case there were the Scrip-
tures, in which the descent could be traced. Josephus was able
to give his pedigree, as he found it "described in the ////'//V
records" {Vitet, i). The evidence of Africanus is valuable, in
that he claims to have got information from the family, who
gloried in their noble extraction, and in his referring Iwth
genealogies (that in Lk. as well as that in Mt.), as a matter of
course, to Joseph. The theory that the one in Lk. is Mary's is not
* At Gen. vi. 9 we have a second litli- : 'These arc the ^eneralions of
Noah.' In Mt. there is no secotul title, wliich is in favour of ihc view that
the title in ver. I is meant to cover the whole Gospel.
O
2 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [l. 1-17
worthy of consideration.^ Neither Jevv nor Gentile would derive
the birthright of Jesus from His mother. In the eye of the law,
Jesus was the heir of Joseph, and therefore it is Joseph's pedigree
that is given. As the heir of Joseph, Jesus was the heir of David ;
and hence there is no inconsistency in the fact that precisely the
two Gospels which record the Virgin-birth are the two which give
the pedigree of Joseph. That Jesus was the 'son of David'
seems to have been generally admitted (xii. 23, xv. 22, xx. 30, 31,
xxi. 9, 15), and we do not read that His ISIessiahship was ever
questioned on the ground that He was not descended from
David. On the other hand, our Lord Himself does not seem
to have based any claim upon this descent, which might have
looked hke a claim to an earthly kingdom. Indeed^ the difficult
passage, xxii. 43-45, shows that He was willing that the Davidic
descent of the Messiah should be questioned, rather than that
it should be supposed that the JNIessiah was a mere political
deliverer. Whether or no the details in the two pedigrees are in
all cases correct, there need be no doubt that the main facts
which they illustrate are historical, viz. that Joseph was of
Davidic origin, and therefore descended from the father of the
Jewish race and from the father of mankind : and it is quite
possible that Mary also was descended from David.^
The fondness of our Evangelist for numerical groups, and
especially for triplets, has been pointed out (p. xix). Hence the
threefold division of the pedigree. The choice of fourteen may
be explained as either twice seven, or as the numerical value of
the three letters in the Hebrew name of David; 4 + 6 + 4= 14.^
In our present text the third di\ision has only thirteen names,
and elsewhere there is compression in order to get the right
number: 'begat' does not in all cases mean 'was the actual
father of.' But the precise points of division are significant. In
David (ver. 6) the family became royal ; at the Captivity the
royalty was lost (ver. 11) ; in 'Jesus, who is called Christ' (ver.
16), the royalty is recovered.
/ The names of women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of
Uriah, inserted in the pedigree are remarkable. Ruth was a
]Moabitess and not a Jewess, and the other three had been guilty
of gross sins. They are evidently mentioned of deliberate
purpose. But what purpose ? It is difficult to believe that the
^ The theor}' is earlier than Annius of Viterbo {c. A.D. 1490). See on
Rev. iv. 7 in the commentary attributed to Victorinus (Migne, P. L.
V. 324)-
- In the second centur}' it was commonly believed that ^Marj^ was of the
family of Da\-id ; Justin M., Try. 43, 45, 100 ; Irenneus, III. xxi. 5 ; Tert.
Adv. /ltd. 9 ; Ascension of Isaiah, s. 2 ; Gosp. of the Nativity of Mary,
i. I.
^ Interpreter, January 1906, p. 199.
I. 18-25] THE MESSIAH'S BIRTH AND INFAN'CY 3
Evangelist is suggesting a parallel between them and the Virgin
mother; and it is not easy to see how their inclusion in the
genealogy is any answer to the slander which circulated among
the Jews in the second century, and possibly in the first, that
Jesus was born out of wedlock and was the son of a paramour.
It is more likely that this parade of names that might be
supposed to be unfit for insertion in the pedigree of the Messiah
is intended to teach that He who 'came not to call the righteous,'!
but sinners' (ix. 13), and who so commended the faith of those
who were not of Israel (viii. 10, xv. 28; comp. Lk. xvii. 18,
xix. 5), was Himself descended from flagrant sinners and from aj
stranger.
The difficulties connected with the details of the two
pedigrees have been abundantly discussed in commentaries
and in Dictionaries of the Bible, as well as in separate treatises,
and to these the reader is referred. It is sufficient to say here
that, aUhough the difficulties are not such as to convict the
pedigrees of bcini,^ fictitious, it cannot be said that the proposed
solutions of the difficulties are in most cases satisfactory. That
there are errors in both lists of names is neither unlikely nor very
important. Errors respecting matters of far greater moment can
be shown to exist in the Bible, and there is nothing that need
perplex us if errors are found here.
The reading in ver. 16 is uncertain, and it is possible that no Greek MS.
has preserved the original text. If in expressing the legal relationship
between Jesus and Joseph the Evangelist used words which might he under-
stood as expressing actual paternity, such words would be likely to be
changed, and perhaps altered in more ways than one. Whatever the reading,
it is quite certain from what follows what the writer means. See Sanday,
Outlines of the Life of Christ, pp. 197-200 ; Burkitt, Evattgclion da-
Mepharreshe, ii. p. 262 ; Nestle, Textual Criticism of the N. T. pp. 24S,
249; Kenyon, Textual Criticism of tlu N.T. pp. 112, 115, 131, 132;
2^hn, Einleituu^, ii. pp. 292, 293.
I. 18-25. 7'he Messiah's Supernatural Birth.
It is evident that the Virgin-birth did not belong to the main
stream of Apostolic tradition. The two narratives of it come
from private sources, Matthew's from Joseph, Luke's from Mary.
Here we have the husband's impressions, his dismay and
perplexity, his humane decision, and his submission to the Divine
revelation. There we have the mother's impressions, her trouble
and amazement, and her submission to the Divine decree. The
two narratives are wholly independent, as their great differences
show. These differences do not amount to contradictions,
though we do not know how to harmoni/e them ; and they
4 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [l. 18-25
are confined to details.^ They confirm the general trustworthi
ness of each narrative, for neither can have been based on the
other. The two accounts agree, not only as to the main fact of
the Virgin-birth, but also as to the manner of it, — that it took
place through the agency of the Holy Spirit. And this agree-
ment cannot be due to the influence of the Old Testament upon
both writers. There is no such operation of the Holy Spirit on
a virgin in the Old Testament, in which the very expression
' Holy Spirit ' is rare. And elsewhere in the New Testament the
Incarnation is indicated in a totally different way (Jn. i. 14).
And the two narratives agree with regard to four other points,
besides the two central facts just mentioned. They both say
that, at the time when the Divine will was made known to Mary
and to Joseph, the two were espoused to one another, that the
Child was to be called ' Jesus,' that He was born at Bethlehem
in Judcea, and that the parents brought Him up at Nazareth.
The account in Matthew is further confirmed by its accuracy
with regard to Jewish feeling and Law. Joseph's attitude is
indicated with great naturalness and delicacy, and the necessity
for divorce, although the marriage had not yet taken place, is
clearly shown. With the Jews, espousal was much more serious
than an ' engagement ' is with us, and could be severed only by
divorce.2
f~ The delicacy and sobriety of both narratives are further signs
^ of historic reality. It is true that more or less analogous stories
are to be found both in pagan and in Jewish literature. But
Gentile readers would feel the unspeakable difference between
Luke's narrative and the impure legends about intercourse between
mortals and deities in heathen mythology ; and Jewish readers,
if they compared this chapter with the coarse imaginations of
their own people in the Book of Enoch (vi., xv., Ixix., Ixxxvi., cvi.),
would feel a similar contrast. And Christian legends exhibit the
like instructive contrast. The Apocryphal Gospels, when they
make additions to the Canonical Gospels, show that, even with
these to copy from, the early Christians could produce nothing
similar. Their inventions are distressing in their unseemli-
ness. If the two Evangelists had sought material in legends
of pagan or Jewish or Christian origin, we should have had
something very different from the narratives which have been
the joy and the inspiration of Christendom through countless
generations.
■I "Between these two accounts of Mt. and Lk. no contradiction exists"
(O. Holtzmann, Life of Jesus, p. 85). As to the witness of S. Mark, see
'WmcQXit'^V^^ia'a, Journal of Theological Studies, April 1 907, p. 448.
^ Apparently Joseph had made up his mind that divorce was the only
thing possible ; i^ovXrjdr) aTroXvaai, not ijiovXero : ifOv/jL-qdej^ros, not
ivdvfiioviJ.ivov (19, 20).
I. 18-25] THE MESSIAH'S BIRTH AND INFANCY 5
And each Evangelist gives his account of the marvel as
historical. He believes it himself, and is confident that it will
carry conviction. And it is not easy to see how either narrative
could have originated without an historical foundation. Nothing
in early Christian literature warrants us in believing that a writer
of the first or second century could have imagined such things
and described them thus. As the other two Gospels show, the
story of tb.e Virgin-birth is not required to explain the history of
the Ministry, Passion, and Resurrection.^ This history, although
it is greatly illuminated when the Virgin birth is added, is quite
intelligible without it, and probably many of the first Christians
passed away without ever receiving this illuminating addition to
their faith. Moreover, both narratives are intensely Jewish in tone ;
and it is not likely that Judaism, with its very high estimate of
the blessings of marriage, would have invented either of them.
Of the two accounts, that by S. Luke is probal)ly nearer to
the original source. There is nothing improbable in the hypo-
thesis that he received it, possibly in writing, from Mary herself.
She perhaps kept it to herself (Lk. ii. 52) till late in life ; and, if
there was any one between her and the Evangelist, it is not likely
that the narrative passed through many hands before it reached
him. With Joseph's account of the matter it may have been
otherwise. He seems to have died long before his wife, and
what he had to tell may have passed through many hands before
it was written down as we have it here. One may conjecture
that James, the Lord's brother, was one of those who handed it
on to the Evangelist.
It has been urged that the double revelation indicates fiction ;
if a Divine announcement had been really made to either Mary
or Joseph, a repetition of it to the other would have been need-
less. TRis is not sound criticism. The annunciation to ^Lary
was necessary, in order to save her from cruel perplexity as to
her subsequent condition. An annunciation to Joseph was
equally necessary : he could not have believed so amazing a
story, if he had had only >Lary's word for it.
Again, it has been urged that both narratives are to be
distrusted, because here Joseph receives the Divine announce-
ments in dreams, while in Lk. ^L^ry receives them in her
waking moments. Certainly it is possible that the supernaturaTl
agency is in each case due to the imagination of the writer : he
knew that a revelation was made, and he conjectured the way in
which the Divine message was communicated. But it is also .
' Both S. Mark and S. John confirm ihc Virgin -hirth, though they do
not mention it. Mark calls Jesus the ' Son of Mary ' (vi. 3) and the ' Son of
God ' (i. 1), but he nowhere calls Ilim the Son of Joseph. John sometimes
corrects the earlier Gospels, but he does not correct the Virgin-birih (i. 14).
6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [l. 18-25
possible that the mode of communication was in each case
suited to the character of the person who received it. Alt.
does not ahvays give us dreams or object to Angels (iv. ii,
xxviii. 5-7) ; nor does S. Luke do the opposite (Acts xvi. 9,
xviii. 9, 10). The important question is, whether God did com-
municate this gracious myster}', first to Mary and then to
Joseph. The precise mode of communication is of litttle
importance. And it is worth noting that, when heathens are
warned in dreams, no Angel appears to them (ii. 12, xxvii. 19).
Very possibly the information about all six dreams, the five in
these two chapters and that of Pilate's wife, comes from the same
source.
In marked contrast to the similar promises to Abraham and
to Zacharias (Gen. xvii. 19, 21; Lk. i. 13), the Angel here (21)
does not say ' shall bear f/iee a son ' : there is no crot after reierai,
although 'to thee' in ver. 21 and 'to him ' in ver. 25 are found
in Syriac Versions (Burkitt, Evan^elion da-Mepharreshe, ii. pp.
199, 200). Both Syr-Sin. and Syr-Cur. have ' to thee' in ver. 21,
and Syr-Sin. has 'to him' in ver. 25. But even if the o-ot were
in the Greek Text, in which it probably never had a place
(p. 262), it would not be of doctrinal importance, for the meaning
of the Evangelist is clear. " The points which Mt. wishes to
impress on his readers are the physical reality of the birth of
Christ from a virgin and the legality of the descent from David.
The physical reality of the descent from David was a matter of
no moment so long as the legal conditions were satisfied." The
o-ot, if Mt. had written it, would simply have meant. She
shall bear thee a " legitimate Heir of the Divine promises made
to David " (p. 260). That is the meaning of iyewrjcrev in the
genealogy : e.g. ' Joram begat Uzziah ' means that Uzziah was
the legitimate heir of Joram, not that he was actually Joram's
son. The insertion of the names of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth,
and the wife of Uriah indicates that the heir had sometimes
been born irregularly, " as if to prepare us for greater irregu-
larity at the last stage," and perhaps also to prepare us for the
welcome which the Messiah will give to aliens and sinners : see
above.
It would be rash to say that, without the Virgin-birth, the
Incarnation and Redemption would have been impossible. It
is enough for us that, with it, both are more intelligible. In so
mysterious a subject, dogmatism is out of place, and speculation
iis more likely to become irreverent than profitable. But the
question has been much discussed, and this much may be
suggested. If Christ had had no human parent, He would not
have taken our flesh, and would not have been of the same race
as those whom He came to save. It is not easy to see how a
1.18-26] Till-: MKSSIAH'S lURTlI AND INIAXCY 7
newly created being coiikl have helix'd the human raee by death
and resurrection. If Clirist had had two human parents, it is
not easy to see how the hereditary contamination of tlie race
could have been excluded. It miglit be urged that this difficulty
remains even with only one human parent ; we must either admit
the hereditary taint, or allow no connexion with the human race.
But there is no such alternative. There are three possibilities:
human parentage, a fresh creation, and the substitution of Divine
operation for the human father. In the last case, the Divine
element would exclude all possibility of taint from the human
mother, for it is inconceivable that the Divine element should
receive pollution. But it is safer to accept with reverent thank-
fulness what has been told us in the Gospels than to raise need-
less, and perhaps fruitless, questions about what has not been
told.i
The Messiah was born /// the flesh, not of the flesh. He was
born in the flesh ; and therefore was able to vanquish sin and
death in the region in which they had won their victories. He
was not born of the flesh, but of the Spirit; and therefore He
did not share in the innate proncness towards evil which all other
human beings exhibit. It was possible for Him to pass the
whole of His life without sin. In human society, it is man who
represents individual initiative, while woman represents the con-
tinuity of the species. The ^^essiah was not the child of this or
that father, but of the race. He was not a ?on of any individual,
but He wos 'the Son of Man.'
It was possible for Him to be sinless, and lie was sinless.
Yet it cannot be argued that the Virgin-birth was imagined in
order to account for His sinlessness, for nowhere in the N.T. is
the one given as the explanation of the other. But all the
evidence that we have goes to show that no one ever convicted
Him of sin. Some charged Him with it, but they never brought
it home to His conscience so that He Himself was aware of it.
He called upon others to repent; He said that they were by
nature (iis-up;^oiT«s) evil (Lk. xi. 13), that ihey must be born
anew, that He came to save sinners and had authority to forgive
sins, that He would give His own life as a ransom for sinners,
and, beyond all this. He said that He would hereafter appear as
the Judge of a'l. It is not credible that one who could thus
speaic of Himself and of others, should Himself have been
conscious of sin. That would involve a psychological contradic-
tion. All experience teaches that, the holier men become, the
' Sec Hastings' DCG.. arlt. ' Annunci.alion,' 'Birth of Christ,' ' \'irgin
Birth,' and the Htcraturc there quoted.
On the ditTercnt readings of i. 1 8 see Nestle, Textual Criticism of tht
Ck. Ttit. p. 249; Scrivener (Miller), ii. pp. 321, 323.
8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. ^lATTHEW [l. 18-25
more convinced they are of their own sinfulness.^ This would
have been the case with Jesus, if He had been only the holiest
man that ever lived : and, had He been constantly advancing in
consciousness of His own frailty and faultiness, some evidence
of this would have found its way into the Gospels. The Gospels
are not in every matter of detail historically exact ; but what they
give us, with overwhelming truthfulness of testimony, is the moral
impression which Jesus of Nazareth produced upon those who
knew Him or were influenced by those who knew Him ; and
that was, that He was one ' who did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth' (i Pet. ii. 22; 2 Cor. v. 21).
The quotation of Is. vii. 14 (23) is given according to the
Septuagint, with the necessary change from ' thou shalt call ' to
' they shall call.' The original text, so familiar from its Christmas
associations, " is in some ways one of the most difficult verses
in the whole Bible " (W. E. Barnes, ad loc). The Hebrew for
' virgin ' is almah, one who is not yet a wife, not bethulah, one
from whom all idea of marriage is excluded. The promised
sign is in the name to be given to the child, not in the strange-
ness of its birth. The prophecy, as ver. 16 shows, is connected
with the Prophet's own time, and it promises deliverance within
a short period. But " there are signs that the view that Isaiah
was using current mythological terms, and intended the sense
of supernatural birth, is rightly gaining ground. In any case the
LXX translators already interpreted the passage in this sense ;
and the fact that the later Greek translators substituted veSi't? for
Trap^evos, and that there are no traces of the supernatural birth
in the later Jewish literature, is due to anti-Christian polemic "
(Allen, ad loc). Justin Martyr {Try. 43 and 67) calls attention
to this change from 7rap6evo<i to veSvts. Nevertheless, it may be
true that anti-Christian polemic, by suggesting that ]\Iary was an
unfaithful spouse, really points to the Virgin-birth. See Herford,
Christianity in Talmud and Mid rash, pp. 35 ff. See also Briggs,
" Criticism and Dogma of the Virgin-birth," in N. Amer. Rev.,
June 1906.
In vv. 22, 23 we have the Evangelist's own reflexion on the
Angelic message to Joseph : it was the fulfilment, in its contents,
of a remarkable Messianic prophecy. But Mt. seems to give this
reflexion as if it was part of what the Angel said in the dream.
Irenseus (iv. xxiii. i) expressly takes it so, and Zahn {ad loc.
p. 77) contends that he is right. In xxvi. 56 there is similar
doubt whether a similar reflexion is given as part of Christ's
1 This has been pointed out, in connexion with the sinlessness of Jesus,
not only by Godet {Introduction an N.T. p. 277), but by Strauss {Lcben
Jesti, p. 195). See also DCG., art. 'Immanuel'; Moulton, Modern
Reader's Bible, p. 1568.
I. 18 25] THK MESSIAH'S lUKTII AND IN'KANCY 9
uitornnce or as the Evangelist's own. Possibly in both casi-s
Mt. was so convinced of the correctness of the view as to the
fulfilment of prophecy that he did not hesitate to give it the
highest sanction.' In the one case the Angel, in the other the
Messiah, must have known of the fulfilment of prophecy. In
much the same way Mt. gives his own interpretation of Jonah
as a sign to the Ninevites as if it were part of what our Lord
said to the Pharisees (xii. 40). Here the AV. places rv. 22,
23 in brackets, as a parenthetical remark, which is their
true character ; but the RV. omits the brackets, because the
Kvangelist does not seem to make any parenthesis. He
remains in the background, while the Angel makes the re-
flexion.
In 'he knew her not ' (ovk iyiyoxrKcv avn^v), the imperfect tense
is important. It is against the tradition of the perpetual virginity
of Mary. This has been questioned ; but it hardly needs argu^^
mcnt that, in such a context, 'he used not to' or 'he was not in
the habit of means more than 'he did not.' It is quite true
that the aorist, ' he knew her not until,' would have implied that
she subsc(juently had children by him. But the inii)crfect implies
this still more strongly. "The meaning of ver. 25 seems clear
if only we could approach the subject without prepossessions"
(Wright, Sv/to/sis, p. 259). As Zahn points out, Mt. wrote in
Palestine for Jews and Jewish Christians, and he would know
whether ' the brethren ' of the Lord were the sons of Mary or
not. Seeing how anxious he is to glorify the Messiah, and how
jealously he avoids whatever might seem to detract from His
glor)-, it cannot have been a matter of indifference to him whclher
the Messiah was Mary's only child or not. If he knew that she
had no other child, he would have made this clear with eager
reverence. Instead of making it clear that the Messiah was the
only being who could call her His Mother, he uses an expression
which inevitably suggests and naturally imi)lies that she had
children by Joseph. It is as if he knew that 'the brethren'
were her children, and yet could not bring himself in so many
words to say so. That he would liave welcomed the theory that
they were Josejih's children by a former wife is by no means
certain, for in that case it could hardly be maintained that Jesus
was the heir of David through Josei)h. But Mt. would perhaps
have regarded the wonderful circumstances of His Birth and the
fulfilment of prophecies as sufi'icient evidence that He was
appointed by God to be the Heir. Mt., however, gives no
' In bolh cases, as also in xxi. 4, where it is certainly Mt. who makes
the reflexion, the piifict in toCto 6i [fiXof] -f/'ioirtf ni.ny mean that the
narrator is near to the event (Lighlfoot, On a Irah A'eviiion, p. too); or
it may mean that the result remains as an abiding fact.
10 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [l. 18-25
indication that he knew of any former wife. The one fact
about which he leaves us in no doubt is that Mary was a virgin
when she gave birth to the Messiah. Hence this Gospel begins
with an emphatic contradiction of a well-known Jewish calumny,
and ends with an equally emphatic contradiction of another.
The Jews said that Jesus of Nazareth was the son of some man
who had seduced Mary. They also said that His disciples had
stolen His Body from the tomb in order to pretend that He had
risen from the dead. Thus this ' Gospel of the kingdom,' written
by a Jewish Christian for Jews and Jewish Christians, begins by
repelling a Jewish attack on the Virgin-birth, and ends by re-
pelling a Jewish attack on the Resurrection. See J. B. Mayor,
Ep. of S. Ja??ies, pp. v-xxxvi ; Smith's DB., 2nd ed., artt.
' Brother,' ' James,' ' Judas, the Lord's Brother ' ; Hastings' DB.
and DCG., artt. 'Brethren of the Lord,' 'Mary the Virgin';
J. B. Mayor, Expositor, July and August 1908.
In dealing with his fellow-countrymen, whom he wished to
bring over to allegiance to the Messiah, the writer of the First
Gospel points out that in three conspicuous instances those who
were nearest to the Messiah, after having at first found an
occasion of falling in Him, became convinced that in Him and
in His word the Divine Wisdom was justified (xi. 19). At His
Birth, in the middle of His Ministry, and at His Death, precisely
those who had the best means of judging about the matter were
first of all offended, and then were divinely helped to a better
appreciation of His character as the promised Messiah and
Saviour. At the outset, even before He was born, Joseph, the
son of David, doubted whether she who was the Mother of the
Messiah was not a faithless spouse (i. 19). When the Messiah's
work had so increased that He appointed twelve of His best
disciples to assist Him in it, John, the greatest of the Prophets,
sent to Him to ask whether one who was so slow to assert
Himself was to be regarded as the promised Messiah (xi. 2, 3).
When the Messiah's work was closed, and to human eyes seemed
to be a failure, and He was already under sentence of death, the
first of the Apostles, one of the chosen Three, publicly declared
and swore that he did not know the Man (xxvi. 70-75). It was
not to be wondered at, if other Jews, who had never seen Jesus
of Nazareth, should have misgivings about Him ; but, with these
three examples before them, they might take courage and accept
Him as their Messiah.
The date of Christ's birth cannot be determined with certainty.
Sir William Ramsay has argued in favour of B.C. 6. Colonel
Mackinlay has shown that B.C. 8 is more probable {The Magi,
how they recognised Christ's Star, pp. 135 ff.); and this Ramsay
admits. He says : " Though the evidence is still inconclusive,
IL 1-lfiJ THE MKSSlAirs lUKTII AND INKANCY II
it seems more probable tlml liis date 8 n.c. is ri^lit. It is clearly
demonstrated that there was a system of periodic enrolment in
the Province of Syria according; to a fourteen-ycars cycle, and the
first enrolment was made in the year 8-7 n.c. {Christ Jiorn in
licthle/um, p. 170). Such was the rule, but in carrying out of
such an extensive and novel operation in the Roman world
delays sometimes occurred ; and an example of such delay for
about two years (as revealed by a recent discovery) is quoted in
my article 'Corroboration' in the Expositor, Nov. 1901, pp.
321 f. Accordingly I concluded that the enrolment in Herod's
kingdom was probably delayed until autumn 6 n.c. ^^'hile such
delay is possible, it has against it the distinct testimony of
TertuUian that the enrolment in Syria at which Christ was born
was made by Satuminus, who governed the Province 9-7 B.C.
The evidence which determined me to flxvour the date 6 n.c. is
distinctly slighter in character than that which supports the date
8 B.C." (Preface to Mackinlay's The ^^l^.i;i, ho7v they reeo^nised
Christ's Star, pp. ix, x). As to the time of year, Mackinlay
gives reasons for preferring the Feast of Tabernacles, and
probably the first day of it, to any other season (p. i 76). If this
is correct, then, although 25th December must be quite \\Tong
for the day of the Nativity, yet 28th December may be fairly exact
for the murders at Bethlehem, which took place about three
months after the Nativity (p. 199).
When we consider how very little of ch. i. affords any scope
for the wTiter to give any evidence of characteristics or peculi-
arities of style, the number of expressions which are found
broadcast over the rest of the Gospel is large. Even in the first
seventeen verses, which are occupied with the pedigree of the
Messiah, there are two or three characteristic expressions :
vio? Aave(3 (l), Acyo/icros (16), and rov XpiOTOv (17), which
anticipates xi. 2. In the narrative portion we have l8ov (20),
tftaivetrOai (20), rios Aavct'8 (20), 'la TrXrjpwOfj (22). The following
are peculiar to Mt. : kut ovap (20), priOiv (22); peculiar to this
chapter: /xcrotKfo-ia (11, 12, 17).
IL 1-12. The Visit of the Afa^' to the Ne-ivborn Messiah.
There can be no doubt that the Evangelist regards this
narrative, like that of the Virgin-birth, as historical. He has it
on what he believes to be good authority, and he would have his
readers accept it as completely as he do(.s himself. And there is
no sufficient reason why they should refuse to do so ; for the
story is not in any way incredible in itself, and it is difficult to
find any satisfactory explanation of its origin, excepting that in
12 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [II. 1-12
the main it is true.^ The attempts to explain it by legendary
analogies are very unsuccessful. The examples cited are more
remarkable for their differences than for their resemblances ;
and, even if the resemblances were great, it would be a monstrous
principle to lay down, that what resembles fiction must itself be
fiction. The only element in the story which resembles legend
is the statement that the star 'went before them, till it came
and stood over where the young child was,' a statement of
"great poetical beauty," which may be intended to mean no
more than that what they had seen in the heavens led to their
finding the newborn Messiah. But the mode of statement may
be due, not to a poetic vein in the Evangelist, who does not
elsewhere seem to have any such vein, but to his informants, or
to the Magi themselves. The expression may be Oriental
rhetoric, or it may state what appeared to them to be the case.
Even if we pronounce this detail to be deliberate embellishment,
that does not show that the whole story is a fiction.^
There is abundant evidence of a wide-spread desire and
expectation of a coming Deliverer or universal King some time
before the Birth of Christ. Eastern astrologers would search the
heavens for signs of this great event. Whether it was planetary
conjunctions which are known to have taken place in B.C. 7-4,
or transitory phenomena which cannot now be calculated, that
attracted the attention of the Magi, cannot be determined. The
character of the phenomena, or a knowledge of Jewish anticipa-
tions, may have directed them to Palestine. The remainder of
the narrative needs no explanation ; but, if we like to omit the
Magi's dream, and substitute for it a feeling of distrust for Herod,
we shall have an account which reads like sober history, wholly
in harmony with the known circumstances of the time and wdth
the cruel character of Herod. The Old Testament is not the
source of the star or of the gifts ; for the Evangelist, in spite of
his great fondness for fulfilments of prophecy, does not quote
^ The objection hi^.re to it by Celsus, that ISIagi have been confused with
Chaldeans, is very weak (Orig. Con. Cels. i. 58), and does not seem to have
been taken up by Jewish opponents of Christianity.
- It is not often that we find anything of real poetical beauty in the
apocryphal additions to the Gospels ; but, as to the star, we are told that it
fell into the well at Bethlehem, and there sometimes it is still seen by those
who are pure in heart (Donehoo, Apocryphal and Legendary Life of Christ,
PP- 73, 74)-
Bethlehem is specified as 'of Jud?ea,' not to distinguish it from Bethle-
hem of Galilee (Josh. xix. 15), but, either in accordance with O.T. usage,
or (more probably) to indicate that the King of the Jews was born in the
territory of the tribe of Judah. Jerome says that ' in the actual Hebrew '
(/« ipso Hebraico), by which he prol)ably means the Gospel according to the
Hebrews, the reading was ' of Judah,' not 'of Judaea,' which he regards as a
mistake of the copyists.
II. 1-12] THE MKSSIAll'S lURTlI AND INFANCY 1 3
cither Num. xxiv. 17 for the one, or Ps. Ixxii. 10, 15, Cant. iii. 6,
Is. Ix. 6 for the other. The gifts mentioned are intrinsically
probable, independently of any prophecy or previous narrative.
We may believe that the Evangelist knew that the Star in
Balaam's prophecy indicated the Messiah Himself, as even the
Targums interpreted it. It was Christians who, under the influ-
ence of this narrative, misinterpreted Balaam's Star as meaning
the star which guided the Magi ; and it was Christians who,
under the influence of Ts. Ixxii., turned the Magi into kings.
The expression ' King of the Jews ' (2) shows that the Magi
were heathen. ' In the east ' (tV ry uiutoXt}) should probably be
•at its rising': the appearance in the heavens, not in a particular
quarter of the heavens, suggested the birth of a king.^ The
Evangelist purposely speaks of Herod as ' Herod the king ' to
explain why he was troubled : his throne was in danger. ' All
Jerusalem' (irada 'ifpoa-uXvfia: the feminine singular is unusual)
is common hyperbole : it was to their interest not to have a
disputed dynasty. The expression 'chief priests and scribes <y
Mv' people' indicates representatives of the Sanhedrin. Comp.
xxi. 23 and xx-vi. 3, where we have 'elders of the people.' In
xvi. 2 1 all three of the component elements are mentioned.
Here begins, by implication, the Evangelist's attitude of
condemnation towards the official instructors of the Jewish
nation. A message is brought, under highly exceptional and
remarkable conditions, that the King of the Jews has been born ;
and these national leaders take no kind of pains to find out
whether or no it is true ; they hope that it is not, for they do not
want to have to decide between rival claims. The only person
who takes any trouble in the matter is Herod, and his aim
respecting the newborn King of the Jews is to compass His
destruction. Pagans, who had nothing to guide them but
smatterings of science mingled with much superstition, neverthe-
less are so kindled with enthusiasm by the signs which God, by
means of these imperfect instruments, had granted to them, that
they take a long journey and make careful investigations, in
' ' \Vc saw ' (RV.) is bcucr than ' We have seen ' (-W.) ; J. II. Moullon,
Grammar of NT. Greek, i. p. 138.
In the Testaments of tlic XII. Patriarchs there are many points of
contact with the N.T., csixrciaUy with Mt. In tlie Messianic hymn near the
end of the Test, of Levi we have this prediction : "Then shall the I^rd
raise up a new priest ; To him all the words of the Lord shall Ik- revealed ;
And he shall do judgment of truth on the earth. And his star shall arise in
heaven as of a kini;, li^jhting up the light of knowledge as the sun in the
daytime" {Ixzi xviii. 2, 3). See Ik-Iow on iii. 17,
For the " vcrnacul.ir genitive" in ilhotuv 7d/) ocVou rh» iaripa see Ahlxitt,
Johantiine Grammar, 2782 ; the effect is to cn)pha.si/.e Seen ' and 'star,' csp.
the latter. For ihc use oi wpocK\i»v.¥ in the N.T. xc fohaitnine l'oiatula>y,
1643.
14 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ll. 1-12
order to pay due reverence to the new Ruler who has been sent
into the world. But the Jewish hierarchy, with the Pentateuch
and Prophets in their hands, are so far from being elated at this
report of the fulfilment of types and prophecies, that they do not
care so much as to verify it. They are content to be ruled by
the Herods rather than be roused out of their accustomed modes
of life.
The cause of the varying translations of the term apxiepevs in Latin texts
is a problem which has yet to be solved : we have princeps sacerdotian,
stiviimis sacerdos, poniifex, princeps, sacey-dos, the last being rare ior dpx'-ep€v'S,
but the regular translation everywhere of lepevs. In Mt. princeps sacerdotiim
prevails, and in Lk. also, in Mk. suininiis sacerdos; in Jn. pontifex, with
princeps sacerdotum frequent in Old Latin texts. Miilta pati a sacerdolibiis
(Mt. xvi. 2i)is found in Irenoeus (in. xviii. 4); and _/Wai- sacerdotibics et
senioribiis dixit (Mt. xxvii. 3) is found in Cyprian {Test. ii. 14). See
Burkitt,/(j«n of Th. St. for Jan. 1908, pp. 290 ff.
Field gives an interesting parallel to ii. 4 from Dionysius Hal. ^nt. Rom,
iv. 59 : cuYKaXeiTas he (Tarquinius) rous iwix^^piovs tiavreis, eirvvddveTo -na-p
avrCiv, tL ^ovXerai a-i],uaiveiv to re pas ; {Otiiun Norvic. iii. p. i). In both
cases the imperfect is effective : ' he kept on asking,' ' he repeatedly asked.'
On the hypothesis that the Magi connected the appearance of a new star
(like that which appeared in Perseus in Feb. 1901) with X^ae. fravashi or
representative spirit of a new king, see J. H. Moulton in i^ye/otir. of Th. St.,
July 1902, p. 524. They may have heard of Jewish hopes of a Messiah.
The quotation from Mic. v. 2 which is put into the mouths
of the hierarchy varies greatly from the Septuagint and looks like
a free translation from the Hebrew. It is rernaricable that Mt.
does not quote any prophecy as pointing to the visit of the Magi.
We might have expected to have Is. xlix. 12 or Ix. 3 cited as an
anticipation of this reverence paid by those who ' came from far,'
and of this early instance of 'nations coming to the light' of the
Messiah.^ But at any rate we have in this visit of the Magi,
to do homage to one whom the rulers of the Jews despise and
persecute, an early instance of that truth which is again and
again alluded to through this Gospel, that the Jews, who trusted
in their descent from Abraham and rejected the revelation which
God made through His Son, are expelled from their inheritance,
while the Gentiles, who welcome that revelation, are admitted
into the Kingdom (iii. 9, viii. 11, 12, xii. 18-21, xv. 28, xxi. 43,
xxii. 5-10, xxiv. 14, xxviii. 19).
The fact that the Magi found Mary and the Child in ' the
house' tells us nothing as to the place of birth. Mt. may have
believed that the Messiah was born in a house rather than in a
^ The fact that INIt. does not cite either these prophecies, or Num. xxiv.
17, or Deut. xviii. 15, is strong evidence that he has not himself invented
the story as a fulfilment of O.T. predictions. Comp. also 2 Sam. v. 2. On
what is here quoted from Micah, Swete remarks "The Evangelist has put
into the mouth of the Scribes an interpretation rather than a version of the
prophecy " [Int. to the 0. T, in Greek, p. 396).
n. 1-12] THE MESSIAH'S BIRTH AND INFANXY 1 5
stable or a cave, but all that he cares to emphasize is that lift
^•as born at Bethlehem, not at Nazareth. Again, he may have
believed that the star moved at first and then stood still over
Bethlehem ; but all that is required for his narrative is that the
Magi, as they journeyed from iheir home to Jerusalem and
Bethlehem, had the star in front of them. The gifts which they
bring tell us nothing respecting the home of the Magi.^ They
were offerings such as were often made to princes, and they
could be obtained everywhere. The mystical interpretation of
them, as pointing to royally, divinity, and mortality, is as old
as Origen. Gold and frankincense occur together in Is. Ix. 6.
The three gifts led to the legend of three kings, each offering
one.
There is not one word in the narrative to indicate that the
Magi did wrong in drawing inferences from what they saw in
the heavens, or that their knowledge of the birth of the Messiah
was obtained from evil spirits or by the practice of any black
art. Yet Christian writers, while insisting that magic was over-
thrown by the Advent of Christ, often connect this overthrow
with the visit of the Magi, whose adoration of the Holy Child
is taken as an admission of their defeat (Ign. Eph. 19; Just.
M. Trypho, 7S; Orig. Con. Ccls. i. 60; Tert. Dc Idol. 9, etc.).
Augustine's epigram is attractive, but it is not in harmony with
the facts : Quid erit iribunal judicanlis, mm superbos re<:^is cunx
terrebant {/{fanlis ? The Magi were not proud kings, and it was
not terror which moved them to come.
Attention may here be called to two words which are of vcrj' frequent
occurrence in Mt., one of which occurs in this section for the fust time.
•Then' (rArt) is a favourite way of beginning a narrative: ii. 7, 16, 17,
iii. 5, 13, 15, iv. I, 5, 10, II, viii. 26, ix. 6, 14, 29, 37, xi. 20, xii. 13, 22,
3S, 44, 45, etc. etc. Somewhat similar in use is 'Lo' or 'Ik-hold' (liov) :
i. 20, ii. I, 13, 19, ix. 18, 32, X. 16, xi. 8, etc. ; and /caJ lioi; ii. 9, iii. 16,
17, iv. II, vii. 4, viii. 2, 24, 29, 32, 34, ix. 2, 7., 10, etc. Comp. also a(p65pa,
which occurs once each in Mk., Lk., Acts, and Kcv., but in Mt. seven times :
ii. 10, xvii. 6, 23, xviii. 31, xix 25, xxvi. 22, xxvii. 54; .-ind note the re-
currence of TpoffKVffif, a very favourite word with Mt., but rare in .Mk. and
Lk. : ii. 2, 8, II, iv. 9, viii. 2, ix. 18, xiv. 33, xv. 25, xviii. 26, xx. 20,
xxviii. 9, 17. We might add ToptveaOai to these, as a word which is very
freuucnt in Mt. and occurs first in this panigraph : ii. 8, 9, 20, viii. 9, ix. 13,
X. o, 7, xi. 4, 7, xii. I, 45, xvii, 27, xviii. 12, xix. 15, etc. ; but it is very
fre({ueiit in Lk. also, and in Acts. Sec small print at the end of this
chapter.
Both iSou and trat ISou arc frequently used to introduce some wonderful
thing, as in these (wo chapters ; but this is not always the case, as (he above
references show. Nevertheless, Bcngel's f^articula si^no fxhilfnJo apiiisiina
holds good.
' Arabia is nn early gue&s (Justin, Tertullian), but it is not a good one ;
for Arabia is south rather than east of lud.ea. Ihc (Juecn of Sliulvi 1^ ' (in. ,1,
of the South ' (xii. 42).
l6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ll. 13-23
II. 13-23. T/ze Flight into Egypt, the Massacre of the
Innocejits, and the Return to Palestine.
Here again we may, if we like, regard the dreams as the
Evangelist's own interpretation of what took place. He knew
that all that was done came to pass under Divine guidance ; and
this guidance could be most easily understood as operating
through dreams. The Divine ordering of the events is all that
is essential; the manner in which God's will took effect is of
small moment. The Magi would tell Joseph and Mary of the
excitement which had been produced in Jerusalem by their
visit, and Joseph would naturally think it prudent to withdraw
the Child from Palestine. They could not tell of Herod's evil
designs, for they did not know them ; but Joseph would know
enough of Herod's character to surmise that his great interest
in the birth of a King of the Jews boded no good. He had
recently (b.c. 7) put his own sons by Mariamne, Alexander and
Aristobulus, to death, believing that they were a danger to his
throne ; which made Augustus (under whose eye they had been
educated at Rome) remark, that it was better to be Herod's pig
than his son. If Joseph decided that they must leave the
dominions of such a ruler, Egypt was an obvious place of refuge.
It was close at hand, and there were many Jews there. The
return to Palestine would be equally natural after Herod was
dead.
This paragraph (13-18) is in emphatic contrast to the pre-
ceding one, and the contrast is at once marked by the Angel's
warning in the opening verse : ' For Herod is about to seek
the young Child to destroy Him' is in simple but emphatic
antithesis to the Magi, who sought Him out 'to worship Him.'
Other instances of dramatic juxtaposition of incidents will be
found in this Gospel, especially in the concluding chapters.
There may be some reference to this in Rev. xii. 1-6.
Just as in the preceding case the Evangelist's chief point is
that the Messiah was born at Bethlehem and was found there
by the Magi, while he tells nothing about their home or the
details of their journey, so here his main point is that the Messiah
took refuge in Egypt. About the route by which He was taken
or brought back, or the length of time that He remained in
Egypt, nothing is said. He had two reasons for insisting upon
the flight into Egypt, one of which is conspicuous in his
narrative, the other not. He wished to show that here again
we have a fulfilment of prophecy, and also to show that the
King of the Jews, like the Jewish nation itself, left Palestine
and took refuge in Egypt, and then returned to Palestine again.
It is possible also that Mt. had the story of the flight of Moses
n. 13-23] THE MESSIAH'S niRTH AND INEANCV 1 7
from Egypt, and his return to it, in his mind ; comp. Ex.
iv. 19.
With regard to the prophecy in ver. 15, Mt. docs not, any
more than in ver. 6, quote the Septuagint, which would not have
suited his purpose in cither case : he gives an independent
translation of the Hebrew, which he may or may not have made
for himselt'.* In Hos, xi. i the Septuagint gives, 'Out of Egypt
I called his children ' {li AiyiVrou ^<T€K<i\c(ra tu rtKia auror).
In any case, however, the verse is not a prophecy, but the
statement of an historical fact, — the call of Israel out of Egypt
into the land of Canaan, to make known there the true religion.
But the history of the nation is often regarded as a typical
anticipation of the life of the Messiah.
We know neither how old the Child was wlun He was taken
into Egypt nor how long He remained there. Herod died n.c. 4,
five days after he had put his son Anlijiater to death, and a little
before the Passover. The flight into Egypt probably took place
two or three years before that; the stay in Eg)pt must have
lasted some years.
There was a Jewish tradition respecting the stay in Egypt,
which, although false, is of great value. Origen gives it as
having been brought forward by Celsus, who asserted that Jesus,
"having been brought up as an illegitimate child, and having
ser\ed for hire in I'-gypt, and then coming to the knowledge
of certain miraculous powers, returned thence to His own
countr)', and by means of those powers proclaimed Himself a
God" i^Con. Cels. i. 38).- Another form of the tradition is
that Jesus wrought miracles by means of charms, which He
brought, conctaled in His flesh, from Egypt. This tradition
confirms two things, that Jesus went into Egypt, and that He
afterwards wrought mighty works. The Jews regarded Egypt
as the home of magical arts. The Talmud says: "Ten
measures of sorcx-ry descended into the world ; I'-gypt received
nine, the rest of the world one" (Herford, Christianity in Talmud
and Midrash, p. 55). It is possible that this Jewish tradition
that Jesus learnt magic in Egypt, or brought charms out of
•Oiilv ill .1 f w rn.,, .,; • i!..- f,,:,,i.ui ■ ', in Mt. t.ikcn from the I.X.V.
"Tt.' w, some of these exhibiting
ciiriii II of the Hclircw icxt." And
pcrh-i; . ; i.ithtTthai).i MS. of the O.T.
(nurkitt, J he iiof^i tinlory and iii J ranitiiiaioti, pp. 1 25, 1 26). See also
Allen, pp. Ixi, Ixii.
»r. ■■.'. (■ ; /Vr ;,; i ,.).,,,. n.: •, , .1 ,, ,1 ,. i, ,. . ..r 1.;. ^,vn
day, ' s,
«pc:.'^
Ihal 11^ ,.■ .,..<....- , J ,.■; , ,..,,,.,1, 04
He that should come."
1 8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [11.13-23
Egypt, is quite independent of the narrative of Mt., and goes
back to the first century. When Celsus criticizes Mt.'s story,
he does so in a very different manner, and does not mention
this tradition (yCon. Cels. i. 66). The simplicity of the narrative
in Mt. is a considerable mark of truth. It should be contrasted
with the elaborate details in the Apocryphal Gospels ; see Pseudo-
Matthew xvii.-xxv. ; Arabic Gospel of the Infancy ix.-xxvi. ;
Gospel of Thomas, Latin form, i.-iii. The second of these
makes the stay in Egypt last three years ; but it is unlikely that
this rests on independent tradition. The time is made long in
order to have room for many miracles.
The change of formula in introducing the prophecy in ver. 1 7
is probably intentional. Instead of 'in order that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet'
(i. 22, ii, 15), we have, 'Then was fulfilled that which was
spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.' ^ The change is three-
fold. Nothing is said about Divine purpose ; nor about Divine
utterance ; and the name of the Prophet is given. Perhaps Mt.
was unwilling to attribute the massacre at Bethlehem to God as
designed by Him in order that His own word might be fulfilled.
Possibly Jeremiah is named because he was the Prophet of doom
and death, and in his mouth this tragic prediction was natural.
Similar motives may have influenced the formula in xxvii. 9.
The difficulty about the prophecy quoted in ver. 23 is one
which our present knowledge does not enable us to solve. It is
not certain that there is any original connexion between Na^wpaios
and Na^apa, and nothing in the O.T. seems to connect Na^wpato?
with the Messiah. Na^wpatos occurs xxvi. 71 ; Lk. xviii. 37 ; Jn.
xviii. 5, 7, xix. 19, and often in Acts. The form NaCapyyvo's is
found in Lk. and uniformly in Mk., but nowhere in Mt., Jn.,
or Acts. The adjectives sometimes have a tinge of contempt,
whereas 6 airo Na^apeV (xxi. 11 ; Mk. i. 9 ; Jn. i. 46; Acts x. 38)
is a mere statement of fact. No connexion with ' Nazirite ' can
be intended ; our Lord was not a Nazirite. It is possible that
the Evangelist is playing upon Aramaic or Hebrew words which
resemble 'Nazarene' and mean 'Branch'; and this solution is
approved in Hastings' DCG., art. 'Nazarene,' but it is not
satisfactory. Zahn points out that there is no ' saying ' {X^yovTm)
after ' Prophets,' a word which Mt. commonly inserts when he
quotes a prophetical utterance (i. 22, ii. 15, 17, iii. 3, iv. 14,
viii. 17, xii. 17, xiii. 35, xxi. 4, xxvii. 9; comp. xiii. 14, xv. 7,
xxii. 31). The inference is that ' He shall be called a Nazarene'
^ Possibly 'fulfilled' implies more than is meant ; 'then was exemplified,'
'then there was an instance of,' is perhaps all that is intended. 'Because
they are not 'is vague; 'because they are no more' is the English phrase.
* Lamentation and ' {BpTjvoi Kal) is omitted in i< B Z 22, Latt. Sah. Boh. Arm.
n. 13-23] Till- Mi;SSIAll'S lUKllI AM) INFANXY IQ
is not meant to be a quotation, but is llio Kvangclist's justifica-
tion of what precedes, on meaning not ' that,' but ' because ' or
•for': 'for He shall be called a Nazarenc.' This harmonizes
with Jerome's suggestion that the reference is to passages in the
Prophets which predict that the Messiah shall be despised.
Mt. can hardly have known that Nazareth was the home of
Joseph and Mary before the ]5irth at IJethlehem, for he treats
the settlement of the Holy Family at Nazareth as remarkable
and providential, — not at all as a matter of course. The return
from Egypt is as divinely ordered as the flight into Egypt ; but,
at first, all that is commanded is a return to Pii/esiine, which, in
true Jewish phraseology, is called ' the land of Israel.' Then,
when Joseph is afraid to enter Juda:a, a second command directs
him to Galike. That Joseph should fear to enter the territory
of Archelaus was as natural as it was providential. Archelaus
was the worst of Herod's sons, and Josephus (/>'./. ii. vi. 2) tells
us that, in order to show that he was a true son of that tyrant,
he inaugurated his reign with a massacre of 3000 people. So
Joseph is directed to Galilee, and there he himself selected
Nazareth ; ' that what was spoken by the Prophets might be
fulfilled.'
As to the general credibility of this second chapter, and the
way in which it reflects the condition of Palestine at the time,
see W. C. Allen, ad loc. pp. i^, 21, 22; G. H. Pox, in the
Interpreter, Jan. 1906, and Hastings' DCG., artt. 'Egypt,'
' Magi.' ' Innocents,' ' Rachel.' To what is said there may be
added the fact that, respecting this period of the Messiah's
childhood, the Third (jospel gives us what we might have ex-
pected to find in the First, while the First gives us what we might
have expected to find in the Third. Antecedently, we shouKl
have looked for the account of the obedience to the Law paid
by Mother and Child, and the visit of the Holy Family to the
Temple, in the Jewish Gospel ; while the visit of the Gentile
Magi to the Saviour of the world would have fitted admirably
mto the universal Gospel of the Gentile Evangelist. Put in this
matter each writer gets beyond his own special sympathies and
point of view ; and this is a valuable confirmation of the trust-
worthiness of what he has written. Neither of them can be
justly suspected of having imagined and given as history just
what suited his own peculiar standpoint.'
In this second chapter wc seem to have a group of three
events which are closely connected with one another : the visit
of the Magi (1-12), the flight into Egypt (13-18), and the return
' That the fliKhl into Kgj'pt was providentially dcsi^jncd to form a decided
break Ijclwccn the wundcrs at Bcililfhcm and the ordiii.uy life at N.-uarcth 15
maintained by W. G. Elmslie, Expositor, 1st series, vL 403.
20 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 1-12
to Palestine (19-23). In what follows we have another group of
three connected events: the preaching of John (iii. 1-12), the
Baptism of the Messiah (13-17), and the Temptation (iv. i-ii).
This chapter contains a considerable number of the expressions which are
either peculiar to Mt. or are characteristic of his style : see above on ver. 12.
Several of them are found in ch. i. also, and they go a long way towards
proving that these first two chapters have the same author as the rest of
the Gospel. The tables drawn up by Sir J. Hawkins (Hone Synioptica^
pp. 3-9) bring this result out very clearly. " If the Nativity Story be not an
integral part of the First Gospel, it must be counted one of the cleverest of
literary adaptations, a verdict not likely to be passed on it by a sane criti-
cism" (Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mephai-reslie, ii. p. 259).
Characteristic : ihov (i, 19), TrpoaKwelv (2, 8, II), (rvvdyeiv (4), rj-ye/iwi' (6),
t6t€ (7, 11), (paivfuOat (7, 19), iropeueaOcK. (8, 9) /cat idov (9), a<p6opa (lo),
npo<j<pipeLv (11), Orjcravpos (ll), dvax'-'^pe'tv (l2, 13, 14, 23), opia (16), Xeyo/.i.ei'os
(23), 'iva Tr\T]pw9ri (15), dVws TrXrjpLcdr} (23), rare eirXiipwOr) (17). Peculiar:
Kar cvap (12, 13, 19, 23), p-qdev (15, 17, 23) ; peculiar to this chapter : ovoa-
/xws (6), aKpijSovv (7, 16), TeXevTTj (14), 0v/nova9ai (16), SterTjs (16).
Mt. has three ways of pointing out the fulfilment of prophecy, and all
three of them are found in these two chapters : it is in connexion with them
that TO p7]0ev is commonly used. An event took place, either tva TrX-ijpwOri
(i. 22, ii. 15, iv. 14, xxi. 4, xxvi. 56= Mk. xiv. 49), or ottws TrXijpdjdrj
(ii. 23, viii. 17, xii. 17, xiii. 35) ; or it took place, and TOTe iir'Xrjpudri (ii. 17,
xxvii. 9) — what the Prophet had said.
III. 1-IV. 11. THE PREPARATION FOR THE MINISTRY.
III. 1-12. T/ie Herald of the Messiah.
The Evangelist has shown us how the Magi from the East
have done homage to the newborn Messiah, and how the
usurper-king tried to kill Him and failed. The true King,
exiled for a time, outlived the usurper and returned to His own
country, but not as yet to reign. At last the time draws near,
and He has His herald in John the Baptist.^
The appearance of the son of Zachariah as a Prophet on the
banks of the Jordan, preaching repentance-baptism for the re-
mission of sins, and proclaiming the near approach of the
Kingdom of God, produced an excitement throughout the nation
which it is not easy for us to estimate. After having had a long
^This preparatory ministry of John is in all four Gospels. It is part of
the earhest Christian tradition. Each Gospel has details which are not in
the others, but all agree as to the chief elements. The revolutionary rite of
repentance-baptism for Jews is in all four. The proclamation of the coming
Messiah is distinct ; and the coming has two results, — redemption for those
who are ready, and judgment for those who are not. See Briggs, The
Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 63 ff.
It is possible that, in the quotation, 'in the wilderness' should be taken
with ' make ye ready the way of the Lord,' as in the RV. of Is. xl. 3, and
not with ' The voice of one crying.'
m. 1-13] I'KI r.\K.\ 1 lo.N IDR THK MINISTRY 21
succession of Trophcts, ihrougli whom close cuiuniunion with
Jehovah was always possible, there had been, since Malachi
(<-. 460-4 j^o D.c.\ four weary ceiilurirs, during which (lod
seemed 10 have ceased to lake interest in His people : 'There
was no voice, nor any that answered.' This oppressive silence
had at last been broken, and once more (Jod had a me-^sage fi)r
the nation, sjwken by the living voici- of a herald sent by Ilim.
and not merely recorded in the prophetic scrolls. I3ut the
message of this new Prophet was not altogether acceptable. It
was a great joy that a Prophet had apjKared. It was indeed
good tidings that the Kingdom of God was at hand. IJut it was
not such welcome news that not every child of Abraham would
have the right to enter into the Kingdom ; that many of them
had no better right than Gontiks had to enter into it ; and that
even those who were not children of Abraham could win the
right to enter. It had been the conviction of the Jews for many
generations that salvation was for all of them, but for them only
and the few proselytes who formally joined them. For some
time they had come to believe that the Advent of the Messiah
would be both a time of joy and a time of judgment ; but the
joys of the Kingdom were to be for themselves, while God's
judgments were to fall upon the Gentiles. It shows the great
originality of John as a Prophet that he entirely broke with these
ideas. God had no such plan as that of a kingdom reserved for
Abraham's children and peopled entirely by them. Out of the
most unpromising material He could make subjects who in the
Kingdom would be e<]ual to the children of .Abraham. And the
axe of God's judgments was not for the wild olives only. Every
tree that is not bringing forth good fruit is in peril. What is
needed to secure entrance into the Kingdom is repentance,
a change of heart (/tcruioia), a fundamental revolution in
moral purpose ; and, as a sign and seal of this fundamental
change, he required all who came to him confessing their sins to
10 the rite of ba[)tibm. In this he conformed to the ideas
iiion. In the East, nothing of importance takes jjlac e in
r^l;^; ;i without some external act which appeals to the senses
and the imagination ; and hence John's baptism. It was this
surprising requirement that won for him tl.e title by which he
became known, 'the Haptist' or 'the Baptizer' (Mk. i. 4, vi.
14, 24). And it was this which made the emissaries of the
h'- ' ' :'!enge his right to make J< v, ' . . . , .1 : ■^^^,
b. In. i. 25). It might almost liad
e\' .'.-d the whole nation, and w . to
communion, unless they professed, not merely sorrow Jor their
sins, but resolution to break off from them and start afresh. As
a token of this solemn change of life, lie plunged them under the
22 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 1-12
water, to bury the polluted past, and then made them rise again
to newness of life. Analogies for this symbolical washing have
been sought in the levitical purifications of the Jews and the
frequent bathings of the Essenes. But there was this marked dif-
ference. These purifications and bathings were repeated daily,
or hourly, if technical pollution was suspected ; whereas John's
baptism was administered only once. It represented a decisive
crisis, which, it was assumed, could never be experienced again.
It has been discussed whether ' baptism imto (ets) remission
of sins' means that forgiveness was the immediate effect of the
baptism, or that it was an ultimate result towards which the rite
was preparatory. Was it a symbol that the baptized person was
then and there forgiven, or a pledge that he would be forgiven ?
The latter seems to be correct (see Swete on Mk. i. 4).^ Cyril
of Jerusalem, in comparing John's baptism with the Christian
rite, says that the former " bestowed only the remission of sins "
{Catech. xs.. 6; comp. iii. 7). But there is nothing in Scripture
to show that it did as much as that. Tertullian points out that
' baptism /tir the remission of sins' refers to di future remissiqn,
which was to follow in Christ {De Bapt. x.). The expression of
Ambrose, that one is the ' baptism of repentance,' the other the
' baptism of grace,' leaves the question of forgiveness open. But,
if John had professed to forgive sins, would not that have been
challenged, as it was in our Lord's case (ix. 3 ; Mk. ii. 7 ;
Lk. v. 21, vii. 49)? And, if it had been generally understood
that John's baptism was a washing away of sins, would our Lord
have submitted to it ? Its main aspect was a preparation for the
Kingdom, and as such it fitted well into the opening of the
Messiah's ministry. To every one else this preparation was an act
of repentance. The Messiah, who needed no repentance, could
yet accept the preparation. John's rite consecrated the people
to receive salvation ; it consecrated the Messiah to bestow it.
Of the two notes in John's trumpet-call it was the second
which characterized him as the herald of the Messiah. The old
Prophets had cried, 'Repent ye': he alone was commissioned
to proclaim that ' the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.' It is a
new reason for repentance that the long-looked-for Kingdom
would come soon.
John's baptism should be compared, not so much with
levitical purifications or Essene bathings, which a person could
administer to himself and could repeat, as with the baptism of
proselytes, which was administered by another and could not be
repeated. It did not merely restore the cleansed person to his
normal condition ; it admitted to a new condition. The practice
1 Salmon thinks otherwise; but his reasons are not convincing (77i£
Hiwian Eleineiit in the Gospels, p. 46).
in. 1-12] rKKrAKATION FOR TMK MINISTRY 23
of admitting proselytes by baptism was in cxisti nee before John's
day, and it no doubt influenced him. The peculiarity of John's
baptism was that it was administered to Jews. 15y it the Jewish
nation was forcibly instructed in the monKntous truth, that,
although they were Abraham's seed, they could not enter the
Messianic Kingdom, which was now so near, without a thoroui;h
moral purification. It was John's function to reach men's
consciences; and no earlier Prophet had been more successful
in doing so. Those who came to him not merely confessed
their sins ; by submitting to baptism they made a public resolu-
tion to renounce them.
There are questions of chronology and geography which
cannot be determined with certainty ; but they are not of great
importance, as is shown by the small amount of attention
bestowed on them by the Evangelists. We do not at all know
how long John was in the wilderness before he came forward as
a Prophet and as the herald of the Messiah. And it is not easy
to make out exactly when and where he and the Messiah came
in contact with one another, or when the Ministry of the Messiah
begins. On the former question see Sanday, Sacred Sites of the
Gospel^ p. 23, and articles on ' Bethabara' : on the latter question
see Briggs, A^av Light on the Life ofjesus^ pp. 1-16.
This opening paragraph of the account of the Preparation
for the Ministry of the Messiah is in two sections : the Appear-
ance of the Baptist (1-6), and the Preaching of the Baptist
(7-12). It is in the first section that both Mt. and Lk. begin
to make use of Mk., and here what is called " the trijile tradition "
begins. That expression is convenient, but it must not be
understood as meaning that in such places we have three
independent accounts of the same facts. All three accounts
are based on one and the same source, viz. that which lies at the
back of Mk. In the second section Mt. and Lk. both make
use of another source, either unknown to Mk. or very little used
by him (Q). They insert the contents of vv. 7-10 before
ver. II, and of ver. 12 after ver. 11. But in the first section
Mt. and Lk. agree with one another against Mk. in two remark-
able particulars. Mk. quotes the projjhecy from Is. xl. 3 first
and then mentions the appearance of the I'.aptist, while Mt. and
Lk. place the appearance of John before the cjuotation. Again,
Mk. quotes Mai. iii. 1 along with Is. xl. 3 as one utterance.
Both Mt. and Lk, omit Mai. iii. i here and give it elsewhere
(xi. 10; Lk. vii. 27), viz. in Christ's praise of John after his
messengers had departed.^
' On the problem presented by these agreements of Mt. .ind Ik. n(;ninst
Mk. sec Hawkins, Ilora Synoptidt, pp. 174, 175; liurkilt, The (Josf'tt
Uiitory and its Transmisiion, pp, 40-58.
24 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 1-12
It is obvious that the ministry of the Baptist was a large
portion of the preparation for that of the Messiah. There were
three great occasions on which the Forerunner preceded the
Messiah : at his birth, at the beginning of his ministry, and at
his death. With regard to the last, Christ Himself called atten-
tion to the precedence and the resemblance : ' Even so shall the
Son of man also suffer of them' (xvii. 12).
Mk. begins his narrative at this point. Both Mt. and Lk.
give some account of the childhood of the Messiah before
joining the narrative of Mk., but they make the transition to
Mk. in very different ways. Mt. starts with the vague expression,
' Now in those days ' ('Ev 8e rats -fjixipats eKctVats), which is not
in Mk., but which reminds us of the O.T. Comp. Ex. ii.
II, 23; Judg. xviii. I, xxi. 25; Is. xxxviii. i. This is in marked
contrast to the care with which the historian Luke endeavours
to date the beginning of the ministry of the Baptist (Lk. iii. i, 2),
and it seems to show that, as in the first two chapters, Mt. does
not take much interest in chronology. Without any intimation
of the amount of interval, he leaps over some thirty years to those
days in which the ministry of the Herald of the Messiah began.
The description of the Baptist given by Josephus (A/if.
xviii. v. 2) should be compared with that in the Gospels. He
says that he was " a good man, and exhorted the Jews to exercise
virtue by practising righteousness towards one another and piety
towards God, and thus to come to baptism. For in this way
their baptism also would be acceptable to Him, if they practised
it not for the cancelling {ivapaLTrja-^i) of certain sins, but for the
purification of the body, provided that the soul had been
thoroughly cleansed beforehand by righteousness." John's hard
mode of life was not mere asceticism. His object was not to
make men ascetics, but to rescue them from the wrath to come.
It was imminent, and in order to escape it they must abandon
their pleasant sins. To help them towards this he lived a life
of self-denial, wearing the coarse garment of a Prophet (2 Kings
i. 8 ; Zee. xiii. 4), and living on such coarse food as could be
found in the wilderness.^ Lk. omits this account of John's mode
of life, and Mk. places it after the statement respecting the
success of his ministry, which attracted multitudes from long
distances.
' The Kingdom of Heaven,' or, more literally, ' The Kingdom
of the Heavens,' is an expression which occurs 32 times in
^ It is doubtful whether the garment was a camel's skin with the hair on,
or cloth made of camel's hair ; whether the ' locusts ' were the insects or
carob-beans ; and whether the honey was that made by wild bees or the gum
of a tree. See artt. ' Camel,' ' Locust,' ' Husk,' ' Honey ' in DCG. and Eiic.
Bibl. Did John adopt his dress in order to intimate to the people that he
was a Prophet? Comp. xi. 14, xvii. 10-13 ; Lk. i. 17.
in. 1-12] rUKPAUATION FOR THE MINISTRY 25
Mt., while Mk. has 'The Kingdom of God' 14 times, and Lk.
has it 32 times. With the possible exception of xi.x. 24 =•
Mk. X. 25, Mt. either omits or paraphrases Mk.'s expression,
or changes it to 'The Kingdom of the Heavens.' W'c may
conjeetiire that in the Aramaic Logia of S. Matthew, and in
the Greek translation used by our Evangelist, the phrase was
' Kingdom of the Heavens,' and that Mk. and Lk., writing for
Gentiles, preferred a less Jewish phrase. I^ut in xii. 28 and
xxi. 31, 43, -Mt. has 'The Kingiloni of God,' perhaps to mark
some diflerence of meaning which he thought was rccjuired.
For him, 'The Kingdom of the Heavens' is the Messianic
Kingdom, which is det lared to be near at hand ; and in these
three passages he may have thought that this meaning was not
quite suitable. But the probability is, that there is no real
difference of meaning between the two phrases, that our Lord
used both, and that He often spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven,
in accordance with Jewish usage. The Jews had many devices
for avoiding the use of the sacred Name, and one of these was
to speak of Heaven, when they meant God, as in the Parable
of the Lost Son (Lk. xv. 18, 21). So also of the llaptism of
John (Mt. xxi. 25). This reverence had degenerated into super-
stition, but our Lord would be likely to respect usage which had
orii;inated in reverence. Nevertheless, by frequently speaking
of God, He gave no countenance to superstition. Mk. and Lk.
may sometimes have changed * Heaven ' into ' God,' because the
latter was more intelligible to Gentiles; but Mt. has certainly
made changes in order to avoid using the word 'God.' In his
Gospel Christ speaks of God as ' Father ' more than 40 times ;
in Lk. this occurs less than 20 times, in Mk. only 4 or 5 times.
His bias, therefore, is manifest.^
This Kingdom is the rule of God, whether in the human
heart, or in society. It exists now, but it has its full realization
in eternity.' Some have to seek and gain it. Those who have
gained it have to labour to retain it, and this retaining may be
regarded as winning it.
It is to be noted that Christ Himself never gave any
definition of the Kingdom, and perhaps it is not wise for us
to attempt to do so. Any definition which we could frame would
be almost certain to exclude important elements of truth. He
seems to have used more than one phrase to express it, and He
places each phra.se in a variety of contexts which do not always
seem to be cjuiic harmonious. The idea of the Kingdom is
P.4S1.
Life of Jfiut, pp. Iftoff.
h'eti^nuin Dfi, HiMiifton I^tturts 1901, pp. 75-77;
IcnJ, S.in<by in \.\\c Jcuntat of Th. 6/., July igo").
26 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 1-12
planted in the minds of His hearers as a sort of nucleus round
which different truths may gather. The Kingdom is sometimes
the Way, sometimes the Truth, sometimes the Life. Perhaps
most of all it is the Life. It is something living, organic, and
inspiring, in which the will of God, through the free and loyal
action of those who receive it, prevails. It works inwardly, both
in individuals and communities, but it manifests itself outwardly.
It wins adherents, and inspires and controls them. And it
possesses powers, not merely of growth and improvement, but
of recovery and reformation. While it prevails against the
opposition and persecution of enemies, it triumphs also in the
long-run over the errors and slackness and corruption of its own
supporters. We possess it, and yet we have to seek it and win
it. It is within us, and yet we have to strive to enter it. The
truth about it is so vast that we need to have it stated in all
kinds of ways in order to appropriate some of it.
In this world there is so much that cannot be regarded as part
of the Kingdom, or even brought into harmony with it, that the
tendency to connect the idea of it almost entirely with the
future is very natural ; and that is what we find in the First
Gospel. To the Evangelist the Kingdom of Heaven is that
Kingdom which the jNIessiah will found or bring with Him, when
He returns in glory on the clouds of Heaven (xxiv. 30, xxvi. 64) ;
it is still in the future. The parables in which the judgment,
w'ith bliss for the righteous and woe for the wicked, is indicated,
represent this judgment, and the consequent bliss or woe, as
future. This is evident in the Tares (xiii. 37 ff.), the Virgins
(xxv. I ff.), and the Talents (xxv. 14 ff.). Still more clearly in
the discourse about the Sheep and the Goats (xxv. 31 ff.).
And this return of the Messiah to begin the Kingdom was
believed to be imminent. It would follow closely on the
tribulation which must result from the destruction of Jerusalem
(xxiv. 16, 29), and some of the generation then living would live
to see it (xxiv. 34; comp. xvi. 28). Cheerful trust and con-
fidence was to be the attitude of those who looked forward to its
coming. The faithful were to pray for its coming (vi. 10). It
was well worth wliile to part with one's dearest possessions and
even with life itself, in order to secure admission into it (xiii. 44-
46, xvi. 25, 26).
'The Kingdom of the Heavens' is not the Church. The
Churcn is visible, the Kingdom not. The Kingdom is the end,
complete, perfect, and final; the Church is the means to the
end, working towards perfection and striving to realize its ideal.
So far as it expresses the will and character of -the Messiah, the
Church may be called the Kingdom of Christ, but it is not what
is set before us in this Gospel as ' the Kingdom of the Heavens.'
III. 1-12] rUFPAUATION TOK TlIK MINISTKY 27
In this verse the leading idea is that of warning : 'repent, for tlic
judgment of impenitent sinners is at hand.'
The quotation from Is. xl. 3 is in all four Gospels, and it
is clear from Jn. i. 23 that the IJaptist applied the words lo
himself. He was a Voice making known the NN'ord, and mean-
ingless without the Word. The quotation is mainly from the
Septuagint. The words from Malachi are given xi. 10.
John consciously took Elijah as his model (2 Kings i. 8).
There is the same rough garb and ascetic life, the same isolation
from society and fearlessness towards it, the same readiness to
rebuke either kings or multitudes. Herod and Herodias are to
him as Ahab and Jezebel to his predecessor. The lives of both
Prophets are a protest against the corruptions of contemporary
society. But far less than Elijah is John a despairing pessimist :
his message is full of hope. And in this Gospel, as in Mk. and
Jn., he comes on the scene with the same startling suddenness
with which Elijah enters (i Kings xvii. i). "John leaps, as it
were, into the arena full grown and full armed " (A. Madaren ;
comp. ri-re D'ldon, /cs us Christ, pp. 191, 196). But his asceti-
cism was not mere acting ; it was the expression of his character
and the instrument of his work. To the self-indulgent, self-
denial is impressive.
In the summary of the Baptist's preaching (7-12), which
perha[)s both Mt. and Lk. take from memoirs of the Baptist
(either written or in a stereotyped tradition), the dominant idea
Is that of judgment. In Lk. (iii. 7) this stern warning is addressed
to the people ; but it is probable that it was addressed to the
Pharisees and Sadducees, to whom it is much more appropriate.*
As addressed to them it shows how, from the very first, the
leading sections of the nation were told that their rejection of the
Messiah would be fatal. John welcomed the multitudes, but he
suspected, or by spiritual intuition discerned, the insincerity of
these professional religious guides. The formal piety of the
Pharisees and the self-indulgent scepticism of the Sadducees
would be equally hateful to him, and he meets them with
indignant surimse. Why had they come? Curiosity about this
revolutionary [jreadier, possibly a wish to get a handle against
him, or to learn how he gained such a hold ujion the multitutle,
may have influenced them ; or the pressure of the peoj)le may
have been too great for them to resist — they must come and see
for themselves. All that is clear about them is that John does
' When Mt. .nnd Lk. differ in those sections which arc common to both
but arc absent from Mk., it is j;encr:illy Mt. th;it seems lo l>c nearer to the
original source. Twice elsewlicre in Mt. (xii. ^4, xxiii. 33) the I'harisccs
arc addressed as 'vipers' 1)io<kJ,' \*a\\ times by our Lord. There is no
Crallcl to cither passage in Lk. Here the ihouyht may be of siukci flyiitj;
fore a pra'ric-firc.
28 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [in. 1-12
not regard them as true penitents. They claim to be Abraham's
children, but they have a very different parentage. Their
serpent-like natures are among the crooked things that must be
made straight, before they can be fit for a baptism of repentance.
If they are in earnest, let them give some proof of it, and never
suppose that mere birth from Abraham can save them^ (Rom.
ii. 17-29). See Montefiore, Synoptic Gospels, p. 463.
This is the first marked instance of the feeling of abhorrence
for the Pharisees which runs through the First Gospel, and which
continues down to xxvii. 62, where see note. Neither in Mk.
nor in Lk. is there any indication that the Pharisees were
denounced by the Baptist. And Jn., though he says that the
Pharisees sent to inquire about the Baptist (i. 19, 24), gives no
denunciation of them.
Yet the Baptist seems to think them not quite hopeless. He
exhorts them to bring forth good fruit before it is too late (8-10).
He warns them that even now, although they do not at all
expect it, judgment is at the door, and procrastination will be
disastrous. Every one w'ho does not repent will be destroyed
(vii. 19) like a fruitless tree.^
Here the address to the Pharisees and Sadducees, which
Mt. and Lk, have in common, ends. What follows (11, 12) is
common to all four, but by the others is placed somewhat
differently (Mk. i. 7, 8 ; Lk. iii. 16, 17 ; Jn. i. 26, 27). Mt. adds
it to the address to the Pharisees, with which it does not agree.
John was not baptizing them unto repentance ; nor would he
have promised that the Messiah would baptize them with the
Holy Spirit. But the ruling idea of this second address (il^v. ii,
1 2) is still one of judgment.
It is his ofiiice to bind them to a new life, symbolized by
immersion in water. But One far mightier, whose bondservant
he is unworthy to be,^ is coming to immerse them in an element
far more potent — the Holy Spirit and fire. Mt. alone has ' unto
repentance' (11); comp. xxvi. 28.
The meaning of ' baptizing with fire ' (which is not in Mk.
or Jn.) is difficult. Apparently the same persons ('you') are
baptized with the Spirit and with fire. In that case, the ' fire '
would mean the illuminating, kindling, purifying character of the
Messiah's baptism (Mai. iii. 2, 3) to all those who prepare them-
^ On the variation between /xt? i6i,r{Te (Mt.) and /xrj ap^yjade (Lk.) see
J. H. Moulton, Grammar of A^.T. Greeli, i. p. 15.
^ In the statement that God can raise up children to Abraham out of the
most unlikely material, we have another intimation that Gentiles may come
in to enjoy that which Jews neglect or abuse.
^ The aorist jSaa-rdtraL may mean ' not worthy to carry His sandals even
once.' So also in Mk. i. 7, Xvaai r. i/xavra. The baptizing in Jordan may
^ave suggested the carrying of sandals at the bath.
in. 1-12] rKKPAUATION FOR THE MINISTRY 2Q
selves to receive it. But the ' you ' may omlirace tlie two clnsscs
of penitent and ini|K'nilent ; and in llie next verse two classes arc
clearly distinguished. On this hypothesis it is commonly sup-
posed that the graces of the Spirit are for the one, and penal fire
for the other. There is yet a third possibility : that both classes
are baptized in the Spirit and in fire. The result of su«h
baptism will be, that those who have prepared themselves for
the Messiah will be enabled to attain to that righteousne'-s to
which repentance-baptism leads; they will be purified, warmed,
and enlightened ; while those who have refused to prepare tluni-
selves will be consumed, as chaff, with unquenchable fire.^ 'J'he
same influences to the one class are salvation, to the other
destruction. But, in any case, we must beware of drawing
unwarranted conclusions from metaphorical language. Just as
'fire' tells us nothing about the mantwr in which (]od's
judgments are executed upon the unrepentant, so * unquenchable '
tells us nothing about the duration of the punishment. 'Un-
quenchable ' (tto-yScoTos) does not necessarily mean that the fire
will burn for ever ; still less that it will burn, but never consume,
what is in it; but rather that it is so fierce that it cannot be
extinguished. Here it is expressly slated that the worthless
material will be consumed. But inferences drawn from meta-
phors are \cxy insecure (see on v. 26).
In ver. 12 Mt. returns to the source which he uses in common
with Lk. So far as there is difference of wording, Mt. seems
again to be more original. The repetition of 'His' (aiToi) in
both cases is remarkable. It is 'His fan,' and 'His threshing-
floor,' and ' His wheat.' In some texts it is also ' His garner,' as
in Lk. But it is not His chaff or His fire. This Mightier than
John is not, like John himself, a mere instrument: He is King
in the Kingdom which John has come to announce. It is also
remarkable that neither here nor in the message which he sends
to Jesus (xi. 3) does John speak of Him as the Christ. The
reason may possibly be that the popular ideas respecting the
Messiah were so grossly erroneous.
In the summaries of the Ba[)tist's preaching, two verses
(i I, 12) are in all four Gospels ; four (7-10) are common to .Mt.
and Lk., while the remainder are peculiar to Lk. (iii. 10-14).
"It is natural to believe that those verses are oldest which are
most frequently produced, and those the latest which are in one
'The Sinaitic Syri.ic places the 'fire' before the 'Holy Spirit'; and
some authorities omit 'and in fire.' Itri(;(;s thinks that in the original
Ar.imaic there w.is no mention of the Spirit, ami that the hnc ran : 'He will
Innti/c you with fire' (The Mfuiah of llu (ia/eh, p. 67). The idea of
("utlpment was pro)<al)ly uppermost in John's mind, when he siioke of
tapiizing in fire. Or 'fire' m.iy refer to the pci&ccuiion win, h il ,■ \^,,.i,,,,\
must expect.
30 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 13-17
Gospel only" (Wright, Synopsis, p. 6). The inference is not
quite secure.
III. 13-17. The Messiah baptized by the Herald and proclaimed
by God to be His Son.
Painters have made us familiar with the idea that the Christ
and the Baptist were playmates during their childhood ; but we do
not know that they ever met, until Jesus came to be baptized by
John. The absence of evidence mal<es a previous meeting im-
probable. And just as we do not know how long John was in
the wilderness before he came forward as a Prophet, so we do
not know how long he had been working as a Prophet and as
'the Baptist' when the Messiah came to him. Mt. gives us no
more than his characteristic ' Then,' i.e. during the time when
John was preaching and baptizing. And the Messiah came
expressly to be baptized. It was not because John recognized
Him as the Messiah that he was at first unwilUng to baptize Him.
John had not yet received the sign by which he was to know the
Messiah, and until this special revelation was granted to him he
was as ignorant as others that Jesus was the Christ (Jn. i. 33).
But he baptized no one without a preliminary interview, which in
all other cases was a confession of sins as a guarantee of repent-
ance. The preliminary interview with his kinsman from Nazareth
convinced John that he was in the presence of One who had no
sins to confess, and who therefore, in an unspeakable degree, was
morally his superior. It would be far more fitting that he should
confess his sins to Jesus and be baptized by Him, the only
Sinless One. And Jesus, by His reply, ' Suffer it to be so 7ioiv,^
seems to admit that John's plea for an interchange of positions
is not a false one. He knows, far better than John himself, His
own superiority ; but He also knows that what both of them
have to do is to fulfil what God has willed. It was God's
will that all Israel should be baptized and enter the Kingdom,
and God's own Son, who claimed no exemption from paying
tribute to the Temple (xvii. 25, 26), claims no exemption here.
At the end of His ministry, He was to be baptized in suffer-
ing (Lk. xii. 50 ; Mk. x. 38), and to bear the sins of others, as a
sinless Victim, on the tree (i Pet. ii. 24). Must He not, at the
beginning of His ministry, express His sympathy with those who
were burdened by sin, although He had none of His own, by
submitting to be baptized by John? He, like others, could bury
His past beneath the waters of Jordan, and rise again to a life in
accordance with God's will. The change with them was from a
life of sin, displeasing to God, to a life of righteousness, accept-
able to Him. The change with Him was from the home-life of
III. 13-17] rRKTAKATION TOR TIIK MINISTRY 31
iiUclltclunl and spiritual ilcvclopiiiciU (Lk. ii. 52) lo tlie litr of
public ministry as the Messiah; but both wore eiuially pleasing
to God. The thirty years of peaceful i>reparation are buriid ;
and the Messiah comes out of Jordan for the storm and stress of
the work that His Father has given Him to do.
We need not infer from the words ' Jesus cometh from
Galilee' (Mk. 'came from Nazareth of (lalilce') that our Lord
was the first who came to John from that district. More
probably the expression merely calls attention to the fact that
the Messiah now leaves His home and is seen in public. The
attempt of John to prevent Him from being baptized by him,
and Christ's reply to him, are recorded by Mt. alone ; and the
reply is the first utterance attributed to the Messiah in this
Gospel. But we need not suppose that they are invented by the
Evangelist to get rid of the difficulty of a sinless Messiali at (V[)t-
ing repentance-baptism. Could Mt. have invented the Messiah 's
reply? What the imagination of Jewish Christians of the first
ages could do in dealing with this difficulty is seen from a
fragment of the Gospel according to the Hebrews which is
preserved by Jerome {Adv. Pflng. iii. 2). " Behold the M(jther
of the Lord and His brethren said to Him, John the Baptist
baptizeth for the remission of sins ; let us go and be bapii/cd by
him. But He said to them, What sin have I committed, that I
should go and he baptized by him? Except perchance this very
thing that I have said is ignorance." A similar narrative was
contained in a writing called the Preaching of Paul, as is seen
from the Traclalus de Rebaptismate^ 17 (Hartel, ii. p. 90), where
it is said that in the Pradica/io Pauli, "in opposition to all the
Scriptures, you will find Christ, the only person who was
absolutely free from fault, both making confession resjn eting
His own sin, and that almost against His will He was compelled
by His Mother Mary to receive the baptism of John ; and also
that, when He was being baptized, fire was seen upon the water,
which is not written in any (jospel." But, as Klostermann
remarks, the ditTiculty felt about the baptism of Jesus is strong
evidence to its being an historical fact.
It is here that we come on the first of the points of contact between Mt.
and the Kpisilcs of Ignatius. That Ignatius knew .Mt. cannot rcasunahly he
(1<Mih(c(l ; and in him we have a marked iUuslration of what is so common a
feature in early Christian literature, that parallels with Mt. are more fre<|uent
and closer than |);ir:illcls with Mk. or \.V. This is the case in Ilermasand
2 Clement, jx-rhap^ .il-o in I Clement and Polycarp. As soon its this Cospcl
was published, it seems to have Income the favourite ; and even now it is
protxibly more read ihan the <jthers. Ignatius (Smym. i)s[>cakH of our
Lord xs " truly born of a virgin, and l>apti/ed by John that all righteousneu
might l>c fulfilled by Ilim" (Tfo rXiypwOiJ -waaa. bmo^iocivri), b reason for Mis
liaptism which is given by Mt. alone. Comp. Ign. /W. I, rdi^-at ftdaraj;*,
wt Kai at i Kvpun . . . wdrruif rdf rd<roit (idffTa{t, with Mt. viii. 17 ; /W. 2,
32 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 13-17
^pSvifios ylvov u)s 6 o</)ts iv tracriv, Koi aKipaiOS wj i] irepicTTepi, with Mt. x. l6 ;
Epk. 5j f' yo.p ivbs Kal devrepov irpocrevxv TocravT7)v laxvv exf'> with Mt. xviii.
19, 20 ; Eph. 6, 0VT03S Set ^/xSj avrbv 8^x^(r0ai, (L'S avrbv tov TrefiipavTa, with
Mt. X. 40; Trail. 11 [Philad. 3), oProt yap oi^K- eiVtz' (j)VTeia irarpos, with
Mt. XV. 13; and Smyrn. 6, 6 x'^P^^ X'^/'^'^Oj witli Mt. xix. 12. See
Lightfoot's notes in each place. There are other passages, less clear than
these, where Ignatius seems to recall Mt.
]\Ik. tells us that Jesus, ' straightway coming up out of the water, saw
the heavens being rent asunder' {tlBev cx'-^ofxivovs tovs ovpavovs), a graphic
expression, which is the more remarkable because there seems to be no other
example of this verb (which all three have of tlie rending of the veil of the
Temple) being used of rending the heavens. Here both Mt. and Lk. have
the O.T. verb, which was evidently in common use for the opening of the
heavens {dv€u)x^V<^^^ aiiT<^ 01 ovpavol) ; comp. Jn. i. 51 ; Acts x. 11 ; Rev.
iv. I. So also in the Septuagint : Is. Ixiv. i, Ezek. i. i, which is perhaps
the earliest example of the idea of the heavens being opened. In Gen. vii. 1 1
the windows of heaven are opened for the rain, and in Ps. Ixxviii. 23 the
doors of heaven for the manna, but that is not the same idea ; nevertheless
there also the same verb is used. The Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs
exhibit the same constant usage : Levi ii. 6, v. i, xviii. 6 ; Judah xxiv. 2.
The last two passages are Messianic, and are strikingly parallel to the Gospel
narrative. "The heavens shall be opened, and from the temple of glorj- shall
come upon him sanctification, with the Father's voice as from Abraham to
Isaac. And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered over him, and the
spirit of understanding and sanctification shall rest upon him [in the water]."
The last three words are probably a Christian interpolation of early date.
Near the end of the passage we read that "the Lord shall rejoice in Plis
children, and be well pleased in His beloved ones for ever"; koI ev5oKr}(reL
iwl Tois dyairriTois avTov ews alQvos (xviii. 13). The similar passage in the
Testament of Judah runs thus : " And no sin shall be found in him. And
the heavens shall be opened unto him, to pour out the spirit, the blessing
of the Holy Father." For the combination of opened heavens with a voice
from heaven, comp. the Apocalypse of Earuch xxii. i: "The heavens
were opened, and I saw, and power was given to me, and a voice was
heard from on high."i For the opening of the heavens without a voice
comp. Cic. De Divin. i. 43 ; Livy, xxii. I. Other references in Klostermann
on Mk.
]Mt. follows Mk. in stating that Jesus saw the Spirit
descending; Jn. says that the Baptist saw it] Lk. that the
descent took place as Jesus was pra3'ing. We need not suppose
that others saw it, or even that others were present. Possibly
our Lord waited till He could be alone with John. With the
symbolical vision of the dove we may compare the symbolical
visions of Jehovah granted to ISIoses and other Prophets ; and
we have no right to say that such visions are impossible, and
that those who say that they have had them are victims of a
delusion. Every messenger of God must be endowed with the
Spirit of God in order to fulfil his mission ; and there is nothing
incredible in the statement that in the case of the Messiah, as in
the case of the Apostles, this endowment was made known by a
^ Zahn compares the combination, 'opened His mouth and taught' (v. 2) ;
comp. Acts viii. 35, x. 34, xviii. 14.
III. 13-17] rkKPAKATlON FOR TllK MINISTKV 33
perceptible sign.^ In the case of Old 'IVstaniciU rroplitts, there
was sometimes a violent cflect on boily and mind, when the
Spirit of the Lord came upon them. lUit here, as at I'entcc osl,
all is peaceful, and peaceful symbols are seen. The sinless Son
of Man is the place where this Dove can find a rest for its fool
(Gen. viii. 9) and abide upon Him (Is. xlii. i). Again, in the
case of the repentant people, the baptism in water was by John,
the baptism in the Spirit was to be looked for from the Messiah.
In the Messiah's case, the two baptisms are simultaneous. He
who is to bestow the Spirit Himself received it, and He receives
it under the form of a dove.
The contrast between this anointing of the Messiah, this
coronation of the promised King, and the Herald's proclamation
of the coming of the Kingdom is remarkable. John had foreseen
that the coming of the Messiah would be accompanied by an
outpouring of the Spirit ; but his mind is full of the thought that
God's vineyard has become a wilderness, and that vast changes
are necessary in order to make Israel in any degree ready for the
coming of the Messiah. Many, perhaps most, will be found still
unprepared, and 'the Coming' will be chiefly a coming of
judgment. To him, therefore, the outpouring of the Spirit is a
baptizing in fire. Fire to him is the most fitting symbol. But
when the Messiah Himself comes to him, John sees the Spirit
descending in the form of a dove (see Driver on Gen. i. 2 and
Deut. x.xxii. 11). Meekness and gentleness are the qualities
commonly associated with the dove. The metaphor of fire is
true ; the Spirit of necessity searches and consumes ; but the
attributes of the Dove are equally true. The Messiah is 'meek
and lowly in heart' (xi. 29, xxi. 5); it is by meekness that His
ministers prevail (x. 16), and it is the meek who inherit the earth
(V. 5).
Hut we are not to understand that He who was conceived
by the Spirit was devoid of the Spirit until the Baptism;* nor
that the gift of the Spirit then made any change in His nature.
' It is of no importance whether the eye .saw and the ear heard ; whether,
if others h.id been present, they would have seen and heanl. What is of
iin|X)rtancc is, th.-it there was a real nianifesiation, a communication from
God to man, and no mere delusion of a disor<lercd brain. What w.os |x:r-
ceivcd as a dove was the Spirit of God, and what was perceived as a voice
was the w.-rd .f r,rx\.
'I- in order to avoid this idea th.it Mt. (16), followed hy
Lk., ' . airrSy of Mk. into «"»■' ai"T6»' : ' info Mini ' nnf»ht seem t>»
imply- y there had l*ecn a void. In the Kliionilc Gi>s|y| (iu<iic<l
by l".pi|)lia;.ii:^ Jl.r. x%x. 13) the titn'e is dcscril>cd as entering; mto lliin :
«W«r rh -mtvfia tA ayior i* tl8ti rtptartpas KartXOovarii tal il<Tf\Ooi-<jy)i tit
aiVir. There alv> we have "a gnat light " accomjianying the voice,
Comp. Justin M. Try. 88 ; also the Diatessaron (Butkitt, Evangtlicn da-
Mefkarreshe, ii. p. 1 1 5).
34 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ill. 13-17
Some Gnostics imagined that the descent of the Spirit then was
the moment of the Incarnation, and that, until the Baptism, He
was a mere man, the son of Joseph and Mary. That is not the
teaching of Scripture ; nor is it easier to believe than what is told
us in Scripture. But the new gift of the Spirit may have illumin-
ated even Him, and made Him more fully aware of His relations
to God and to man (Lk. ii. 52). For Him it marked the
beginning of His public career as the Messiah, like the anointing
of a king. For John it was the promised revelation, and he now
had Divine authority for declaring that the Coming One had
come. This was the last of his three functions. He had
previously to predict the coming of the Messiah, and to prepare
the people for His coming. When he has pointed out the
Messiah, his work will be nearly complete.
The voice from heaven here, and at the Transfiguration^ and
before the Passion (Jn. xii. 28), follows upon our Lord's prayer,
and may be regarded as the answer to it. He who on the Cross
cried, ' Why hast Thou forsaken Me ? ' may have been, on each
of these occasions, capable of receiving help from such testimony
as this from the Father.^ Both Mk. and Lk. have ' Thou art
My Son,' which some authorities have in Mt. also ; and this form
implies that the voice had a special meaning for the Messiah,
and was not meant for John alone. And, as addressed to John,
it tells him of the Messiahship, rather than of the Divinity of
Jesus. Even John was hardly ready for a revelation of the
unique relation in which the Messiah stood to the Godhead ;
and we can hardly suppose that the Divinity of Christ, which was
only gradually revealed towards the close of the Ministry, was at
the outset made known to John at the beginning of it (Briggs,
The Messiah of the Gospels, p. 77).
There are three ways of taking the sentence : (i) This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; (2) This is My Son,
the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased ; (3) This is My Son, the
Beloved in whom I am well pleased.^ The chief point is whether
' the Beloved ' is a separate title, indicating the Messiah. In any
case there seems to be a reference to the Son of God promised
in Ps. ii. 7, where the Messiah quotes Jehovah as constituting
His Son and giving Him the nations as His inheritance.
^ In the Messianic hymn in the Testament of Levi, of which the opening
wordr were quoted on Mt. ii. 2, there is this prophecy : " The heavens shall
be opened, And from the temple of glory shall come on him sanctification,
With the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac. And the glory of the
Highest shall be uttered over him, And a spirit of understanding and
sanctification shall rest upon him " [Levi xviii. 6, 7).
"J. Armitage Robinson, Ephesians, p. 229, and Hastings' DB. ii. p.
501, DCG., art. ' Voice' ; Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 204; Wright, .S/wo/wj,
p. 9 ; Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, p. 3.
rv. 1 11] TKi-rAUATioN VOW Tin: ministry 35
•This is' is doublless ihc true rc.ulinc; here; tint the olil I :iiin n, with
the Curetonian and Sinaitic Sytiac and Ircnxiis, supixirts 1) in reading
* Thou arl * for 'This is.' All llirce Synoplists have 'This is' of ihe vi)ice
at the Tninsfipiration (xvii. 5). I-or olher variations and additions here see
Resell, Agr,i,^/ia, 2nd cd. pp. 36, 222.
On the introductory words to ch. iii., 'Ei* 5t* raU rjft^pan ^Kttnaii, sec
Droosten in the /i>Mr. 0/ Th. Si., Oct. 1904, p. 9<) ; and comp. xi. 25, xii. i,
xiii. I, xiv. I, xxii. 23. In ver. 3 read 5((i (^« 15 C D 33 157 700, Uut.), not
^6, before '\\<saXov ; and in ver. S read Kaftxhv &i\.ov (K 15 C V. etc. 565 700,
Latt. Sah. Boh., Orig. ), not *a/>Toi'i d^i'oit. 'I"he in.scrtion of irdcra before
'\tpoch\vtia. in ver. 5 (Lal-Vet. .\elh.) is intercsiinj: : comp. the 7rd<To in ii. 3.
.^monjj the expressions wliich are characteristic of Mt. arc Ivdi/xa (4),
'SaSSovKaiM (7), whom Mt. mentions far more often than any olher Kvangclisl
(once each in Mk. and Lk. and never in Jn.), 7f»'i'»J,ua7-a ex^^"^" (7)i ffwc^t***
(12), Tirt (13), nal iSov (16, 17). Here for the first time we have the plir.-ise
which more than any other distinguishes this Oospel, r) jiaijiXda tQv oif}ayuii>
(2) ; sec Dalman, 7"/4<f Words 0/ Jesus, pp. 91 IT. Neither 5iaKa0apl%uv (12)
nor 5ja/cw\if(»' (14) occur elsewhere in the N.T.
rv. 1-11. T/u Temptation of the Messiah.
It is the common experience of mankind that times of special
spiritual endowment or exaltation arc followed by occasions of
special temptation. The Messiah is no exception. No sooner
is He anointed with the Spirit for the work of the Ministry- than
He has to undergo a fierce conflict with the great personal jwwer
of evil. We have no right to assert that there had been no
previous attacks ; and we know that there were subsequent attacks
(xvi. 23 ; Lk. xxii. 28, 42-44). But this attack is of a special
kind ; it is an attempt to overthrow the Messiah at the very
opening of His public career as the Saviour of the world, just
as the Agony in the garden was caused by an attempt to over-
throw Him when that career was near its awful close. And it
is encountered under the guidance of the Spirit, as all three
Evangelists [Kjint out Jesus, who certainly from His I5ai)tism
onwards is fully conscious of His Messiahship, knows what
awaits Him in the wilderness. He goes thither to meditate
upon the work which His Father has given Him to do, and
which must be carried out in accordance with the lather's will.
That work was 'to destroy the works of the devil': conflict with
the evil one was of its very essence from beginning to end. And
conflict involved the inexpre.ssible torture of contac t. Conta( t
with moral evil is intense suffering to a pure soul. What must
this have been in the case of Jesus? Yet He shares this most
acute agony with His saints.^
The temi)tation in which the Son of Man conquered is the
counteq)art of the temptation in which man first fell. As the
descendant and representative of a fallen race, it is His mission
' Pirc Didon,y<'jMj Christ, p. 214. Ad ho< frnptat Imptraior, ut itiscamt
mUit*s (Augustine).
36 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 1-11
to vanquish in the sphere in which they have been vanquished ;
and there is no postponement of the struggle. All three accounts
make the conflict with Satan the first act of the Messiah after
His consecration for His work. ' Theti was Jesus led up by the
Spirit' (Mt.). 'And straightway the Spirit urgeth Him forth'
(Mk.). 'And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the
Jordan, and was led in the Spirit' (Lk.). Mk. and Lk. imply
that the temptations lasted throughout the forty days. Mt.
places the temptations towards the close of the time, when, after
the long ecstatic fast, natural cravings were felt and Satan had
a special opportunity. Lk. agrees in placing these particular
temptations at the close. As in the case of the Baptist's teaching
(iii. 7-i2 = Lk. iii. 7-17), Mt. and Lk. may here also have had
similar, but independent sources of information, either oral or
written.^
The ultimate source of information must have been our Lord
Himself, as the most rigorous criticism admits. His disciples
would not have been likely to think that He could be tempted
to evil ; and, if they had supposed that He could, they would
have imagined quite different temptations for Him, as various
legends of the saints show.^ The form, therefore, in which the
temptations are described, is probably our Lord's, chosen by
Him as the best means of conveying the essential facts to the
minds of His followers. =^ It does not follow, because the tempta-
tions are described separately, that they took place separately,
one ceasing before the next began. Temptations may be simul-
taneous or interlaced; and, in describing these three, Mt. and
Lk. are not agreed about the order. Nor does it follow, because
the sphere of the temptation changes, that the locality in which
Christ was at the moment was changed. We need not suppose
that the devil had control over our Lord's person and took Him
through the air from place to place : he directs His thoughts
^Alk. speaks of 'Satan,' where both Mt. and Lk. have 'the devil.' In
Job i. 6 and Zech. iii. i the Septuagint has 6 Sid[io\os where the Hebrew has
Satan.
- "At the time when the story of the Temptation was first told and first
written, no one possessed that degree of insight into the nature of our Lord's
mission and ministry which would have enabled him to invent it " (Sanday).
^ " In this our Lord goes to what may seem to be great lengths in the use
that He makes of the traditional machinery of Judaism. . . . The Power of
Evil is represented in a personal bodily form, and the machinery or setting
of the story is full of the marvellous — locomotion through the air to impossible
positions and with impossible accompaniments, such as the literal view of all
the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. . . . Realism could hardly go
further. And yet the meaning and essence of the Temptation is wholly spiritual ;
it is the problem what is to be done with supernatural powers : shall the
possessor of them use them for his own sustenance, or for his own aggrandise-
ment?" (Sanday, T/ie Life of Christ in Recent Research, pp. 27, 28, 109,
1 10).
rV. 1-11] rUFrAKATION FOR Tlir. MINISTRY 37
to this or that. The change of scene is mental. From no
high mountain coiiUl more llian a small fraction of the world
be seen ; but the glory of all the kin^iloius of tlie world eouUl
be suggested to the mind. Nor again do the words, ' the tempter
came and said to Him,' imply that anything was seen by the
eye or heard by the ear: any one of us might describe his own
temptations in a similar way.* What these words do imply is
that the temptations came to Him from the outside; they were
not the result, as many of our temptations are, of previous sin.
In short, in making known His experiences in the wildernes.s,
the Messiah acted somewhat as the Forerunner did in preparing
the way for Him. He coupled his moral teaching with a
picturesque symbolical act, such as Orientals love, in order to
impress ujxin his hearers the necessity for a complete break
with the past and a new start. The Messiah describes His
temptations in a way which impressed upon the disciples the
absolute antagonism between Himself and moral evil, the violence
of the attacks, and the completeness of the victory. A dialogue
between Himself and the prince of the world would be the
simplest mode of producing this impression and rendering it
permanent ; and dialogue, like symbolical rites, was a favourite
way with Orientals of conveying moral and s[)iritual instruction.
There is no need to suppose that anything was audibly said on
one side or the other.
But it is rash to assert that 'Satan* is only a generic name
for impersonal evil impulses.^ Science has no objections to
urge against the existence of personal powers of evil ; indeed
some psychological phenomena are held to be in favour of such
an hyi)olhesis. And the teaching of our Lord and the Apostles
is quite clear on the subject. It is incredible, as Keim has
pointed out, that all the passages in which He speaks of the evil
one and of evil spirits are interpolations. "Jesus plainly desig-
nated His contention with the empire of Satan as a personal
one" {/fsus of Nazara, Fng. tr., ii. pp. 315, 325). Only three
hypotheses are possible. Either (i) He accommodated His lan-
guage to a gross superstition, knowing it to be such ; or (2) He
shared this superstition, not knowing it to be such ; or (3) the
doctrine is not a superstition, but a truth which it concerns
us to know. Even those who regard Him as merely the most
' Ml. is very fond of xpoaipxtaOtu, and this is liis first use of the vcrl>,
which occurs more often in this Cjospcl than in the rest of the N.T. : iv. 3,
II, V. I, viii. 2, 5, 19, 25, ix. 14, 20, 28, xiii. 10, 27, 36, etc. etc. In the
true text aiV<p comes after tlnty, not after r/xxrcXOuif.
' At the very outset two ly-rvin.il influences, other than that of Christ
Ilimsetr, are clearly indicnteil : 'Je^us wis led up ly the .Snirit {vw6 roO
ll'>«r>>(ar<H} to In: tempted /'^ the doil (•'" tou iiafioXov).' The re|Ktitiua
of the same pre|insiliun is prubably nut acciileDlaL
38 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHE^Y [IV. 1-11
enlightened spiritual teacher which the world has ever seen might
hesitate to assert that He was ignorant in such a matter, or that
He encouraged error (xiii. 19, 39, xxv. 41), when He knew the
truth. That the Jews had many superstitious beliefs about Satan
and other evil spirits, some of them borrowed from other systems,
is true enough ; but that is no evidence as to the non-existence
of such beings. Excepting in the Epistle of Jude and 2 Peter,
there is little trace of such beliefs in the New Testament, where
the existence of the devil and demons is taken for granted. See
Gore, Dissertations on Subjects connected u<ith the Incarnation,
pp. 23-27 ; Edersheim, Life of Jesus the Messiah, ii., App. xiii. ;
Charles, £ook of Enoch, pp. 52, 119; Book of Jubilees, p. Ivi ;
Hastings, DCG., art. 'Demon,' DB., art. 'Satan'; Neander,
Life of Christ, § 47.
The story of the Temptation has an important bearing on the
question of miracles.^ We have seen that the source of the
narrative must have been our Lord Himself, for no one at the
time when the narrative was written down could have invented
it. But the temptations assume that our Lord could work
miracles. The whole narrative collapses, if He could not and
did not do so. It is incredible that any one should have told
such a story about himself to persons who knew that he had
never done any mighty work. It is equally incredible that any
one should invent such a story about a person who had never
been known to do anything of the kind.^
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews insists upon three
points (ii. 18, iv. 15), and they suffice, i. The temptations were
real. 2. Jesus was absolutely victorious. 3. One reason for His
subjecting Himself to such trials was that we might be sure of
His sympathy in our temptations. The first point involves
difficulty. How could evil be attractive to Him? and, if it
was not attractive, where was the temptation ? But many things
which are morally wrong may seem to promise great advantages ;
and the most saintly person, who never hesitates for an instant,
may yet feel the attractiveness of the advantages. And the man
who never yields is the man who has felt the full force of the
temptation; for the man who yields has not waited _ for the
tempter to do his worst. Hence the fallacy of supposing that,
1 "The temptations are such as scarcely any one but Himself could have
had experience of. They all turn on the conflict that arises when one who
is conscious that he is possessed of supernatural power feels that there are
occasions when it would not be right that he should exercise it" (Salmon,
The Hmnan Element, p. 64).
2 It is strong confirmation of the miracles attributed to Jesus that none
were attributed to the Baptist, either by himself or by his disciples, strongly
as he impressed them (Neander, IJfe of Clirist, § 38). See Sanday, Outlines
oft/ie Life of Christ, pp. lOl fit".
IV. 1-11] rRFPARATION FOR TUT MINISTRY 39
in order to have complete sympathy with sinners, Jesus ought to
have consented to sin. It is precisely because He resisted in
all cases to the very end, that He knows, as no one else has ever
known, how severe the strain of temptation can be. In one
j)articular He has not shared, and could not share, our experience
in reference to temptation. He has never felt shame or remorse
for having sinned. IJut otherwise He has shared our experiences
to the full. All our temptations are brought alwut through the
instrumentality of pleasure or pain. In the wililcrness our Lord
withsloixi the sedueliveniss of effortless comfort and success and
glory; in (lethsemane He withstood the dread of suffering and
failure and a shameful death.
It is through the Messiahship, which has just been super-
naturally confirmed to Him, that the attack is made. It is
suggested to Him that He may exercise His Messianic power
at once and thereby save Himself much suffering and trouble:
and will not this be helping forward the very work that lies before
Him? But, while the evil one urges the Messiahship, Jesus
Himself seems to leave it out of consideration. To Satan's plea,
•If Thou art the Son of God,' He makes no direct reply. His
answers are those of a dutiful child of God rather than those of
the Divine Son.
It is sometimes said that the first temptation is a temptation
of the flesh.i But that would rather have been a temptation to
eat greedily or to excess. Satan's suggestion is a manifest refer-
ence to the voice from heaven : ' Hath God said, Thou art My
Son, and yet said. Thou shalt not eat?' (Comp. Gen. iii. i.)
Why should He starve in the wilderness, when, as God's Son,
He has power to turn stones into loaves? God fed His people
by frequent miracles in the wilderness : may not His Son work
one miracle to feed Himself? What would have become of
God's plans for Israel, if the people had died of stiirvation ?
What will become of the Messiah's work, if He allows Himself to
perish for want of food? In short, Jesus is to work a miracle in
order to prove the truth of His conviction that He is the Son of
God, a conviction that has just been confirmed by the voice of
God Himself.
Our Lord's reply seems to show that He recognizes an
allusion to the manna in the evil one's suggestion. All His
answers are from Deuteronomy, on which He may recently have
• Sec Milton, ParoiUu Regaititii, 340-390, where all ihe dainties which
Satan showc<l to our Ix>rd are descrilied, and o<ir I.nrrI r'-irrt^ thf *' |)i)iii|x>ux
delicacies." liut this is quite erroneous. T1 • , ictl to the
minr), not to the senses. Cod .illows lliin n can Me
l»c God's Son? Sec Wfijjht, Syiu^'^m, p. i 1 ;ig. It is
rash Id sa^ that because of the fasting .ind Inn,.-, i "ilic i< tn[>i.iii..n to turn
the stone into a loaf must have come last " ( It'tsiinimtfr Af. '/', p. 43).
40 GOSrEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 1-11
been meditating.^ This quotation of Deut. viii. 3 has direct
reference to the manna. It may be doubted whether the
comment which is sometimes made upon it is its precise meaning
here. No doubt it is true that man has more important needs
than that of food, and that, unless his spiritual wants are supplied,
he can hardly be said to live. But that does not fit the context.
The point rather is, that food will not keep a man alive, unless
God says that he is to live ; and if God says that he is to live,
he will live, whether he has food or not. Jesus knows that God
wills that He should live, and He leaves all in God's hands. He
refuses to work a miracle which God has not willed, in order
to effect what God has willed. To the insinuated doubt as
to His being really the Son of God He makes no reply. He
gives an answer which holds good for any human being who
is a loyal believer in Providence; quasi unus e nniltis loquitur
(Bengel).
Mt. and Lk. vary as to the order of the next two temptations,
and it is idle to ask which order is more likely to be correct.'-^
To Mt. it may have seemed that the offer of all the kingdoms
of the world was the most severe temptation, and therefore
appropriately comes last. Lk. may have thought that the Temple
was a fitting scene for Satan's last effort. Comp. xii. 39-42,
where Mt. has Jonah, Ninevites, Queen of the South, while Lk.
(xi. 29-32) has Jonah, Queen of the South, Ninevites.
The devil once more insinuates the doubt about Christ's
being the Son of God, which seems to show that this second
temptation is partly a repetition of the first. If He will not
prove His Messiahship by working a miracle to save Himself
from being starved to death, will He not let God prove it by
working a miracle to save Him from being dashed to pieces ? ^
And this second temptation is not only thus linked on to the
first ; it also appears to prepare the way for the third. Like it,
it is perhaps a suggestion that He should take an easy road to
success. So prodigious a sign as that of falling unharmed from
the top of the Temple would, even against their wills, convince
1 The "spiritual setting forth of the Law" in Deuteronomy may have
given Him a special interest in the book. "When He declares the essence
of the Law to inquirers, He invariably states it in the Deuteronomic form "
{DCG. ii. p. 271).
2 The only reasonable form which such a question can take is, Which was
the orcer in the source which both Mt. and Lk. used? Mt., as often, is
likely to be nearer the original ; the temptation which he places last was not
only the most severe, it was also to the deepest depth of sin. Jesus is not
merely tempted to put the Divine Sonship to the test, but to renounce it and
become the vassal of Satan. Harnack, The Sayings of Jesus, p. 43.
3 With ' the holy city ' comp. xxvii. 53; Rev. xi. 2, xxi. 2, 10, xxii. 19;
Is. xlviii. 2, Hi. i ; Dan. ix. 24 ; Tob. xiii. 9. Lk. substitutes 'Jerusalem';
50 also the Gospel of the Hebrews,
IV. 1-11] rREPARATION FOR TMF MINISTRY 41
both priests and people lliat He was the Messiah ; and then the
greater part of His work would l)e accom[)lislied. IJut this
cannot he i)rcssed, for there is no nienlion of spectators.
Nevertheless, what is the point of mentioning the Temple,
unless those who thronged its courts are to be understood ?
Any precipice in the wilderness would have served for a
temptation to presumptuous rushing into needless danger. iJut,
in any case, there are these dilTerences between the first
temptation and the second. In the first, Jesus was to be freed
by miracle from a peril which already existed, and He was to
work the miracle Himself. In the second. He was to create a
peril for Himself, and e.xpect God to free Him from it by
miracle.
It is from this temptation that the proverbial saying, "The
devil can cite Scripture for his purpose" {Merchant 0/ Vcnicf,
I. iii.) has arisen. The citation is from Ps. xci. 11, 12. Mt.
omits the whole of ' to keep thee in all thy ways,' and Lk. omits
the last four words, which are not suitable to the temptation.
But it is perhaps giving more meaning to the omission than
is intended, to say that throwing oneself from a height is not
going 'in one's ways,' but out of them.^ The graphic beauty of
' ii/>on their hands' or 'palms' (not '/>/ their hands,' as AV.),
implying great carefulness, should not be missed. Our Lord
does not stay to expose the misapplication of Scripture, any more
than to answer the doubt about His Messiahship. He once
more gives a quotation from Deuteronomy, perfectly simple, and
such as holds good for any human being. In reply to the first
temptation, He had declared His trust in God ; God would not
let Him starve. The evil one then suggests that He should
show His trust in God in a still stronger way. Our Lord replies
that putting God to the test^ is not trusting Him. He is willing
to face peril of death, when God wills that He should do so, not
before. He is commissioned to teach His people that He is the
Messiah ; but by winning their hearts, not by forcing; them to
believe. He did not force the Jewish hierarchy to believe in
His Resurrection by appearing to any of them, yet many of them
eventually believed (Acts vi. 7).
" He that complies against his will
Is of his own opinion still."
' Yet, in any case, " under guise of an appeal to filial trust lies concealed
■ temptation to distrust " (E. D. Burton and Shailcr Mathews, Comlructive
Studiti in the Life of Christ, p. 59). Hut in His rebuke Chri*t raises no
olijcclion to the diKtriiic of Angelic ministry and protection. It is nr>l there
that the c%il f»nc's su^;i;c.siiun is wrong.
'The verb in ihc Scptu.-igint of Dcul. vi. 16 is a klroiig c<)m|i<iund
(/cr«i^fftr) implying thorough testing, ami l>uth Mt. and IJc. repruducc it.
42 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 1-11
The conviction that is to be permanent, and bear fruit in
conduct, must be one in which the will and the reason can
acquiesce with some measure of satisfaction. Man's freedom is
destroyed, if he is surprised into a belief by some stupendous
phenomenon ; and when the first overwhelming impression has
passed away, the reality of the phenomenon is likely to be
questioned. Our Lord during His Ministry worked as God
works in history. Man's freedom is respected. He always
refused to give a sign from heaven to His opponents. It was
only to the most intimate of the Twelve that He granted the
significant vision of the Transfiguration, and they were not to
reveal it till the still greater sign of the Resurrection had been
granted. That sign was not allowed to His enemies. He might
easily have confounded them by appearing and teaching in the
Temple after His Crucifixion and burial. But they had Moses
and the Prophets, and they would not have been persuaded of
His Messiahship even by His Resurrection. His appearances
were reserved for chosen witnesses, who with full freedom of
reason and will accepted them (Acts x. 40, 41).!
The third temptation is the most clearly symbolical of the
three. As already pointed out, all the kingdoms of the world
could not be seen at once from any place.^ Moreover, a literal
falling down and worshipping of Satan cannot be meant. The
doubt about the Messiahship is not insinuated again : that He
is the Messiah is now accepted as certain. The Messiah is to
destroy the works of the devil, and at last become King of
Israel and of the whole world. That means a long and painful
contest, involving much suffering to the Messiah and His
followers. Why not have Satan for an ally instead of an enemy ?
Then sovereignty over Israel and all the nations may be quickly
won, without pain or trouble. With wealth, fashion, rank,
intellect, intrigue, and force on His side, all backed by mighty
works, success will be rapid and certain. A triumphant progress
to supreme power, and such glory as neither Jew nor Gentile
ever dreamed of, is offered to Him. In other words, it is
suggested to Him that, by natural and supernatural means of
unholy character. He can quickly establish Himself as far greater
than Solomon, with the whole world for His empire.
Once more our Lord gives a swift and simple answer from
Deuteronomy (vi. 13), an answer that is absolutely decisive. He
anticipates His own declaration, that it is impossible to serve
1 Latham, Pastor Pastor it ?n, p. 143.
- Lk. omits the place, saying nothing about the ' exceeding high mountain.'
Conip. the Apocalypse of Baruch : "Go up therefore to the top of that
mountain, and there will pass before thee all the regions of that land, and
the figure of the inhabited world, and the top of the mountains, and the
depth of the valleys, and the depths of the seas " (Ixxvi. 3).
IV. 1-11] rREPARATION FOR TIIF. MINISTRY 43
fwo masters (vi. 24). The loyal scr\ant of God can make no
terms with God's enemy. The evil one is dismissed, and Angels
come to minister.
With tlie ' Get thee hence, Satan ' (Yirayt, Haraia) here should
be compared the stern rebuke to Peter in similar words (xvi. 23).*
In Peter's plausible suggestion the evil one was again tempting
the Messiah to abandon the path of duty and sufTering and take
a short and easy course to success. The rebuke to Peter is also
in Mk. (viii. 33), but the dismissal of Satan here is not in Lk.
That is no sufficient reason for believing that the words are not
original here, but have been impfirted by Mt. from xvi. 23. On
the contrary, we may believe that Christ had already told the
disciples as much as they could understand respecting His own
temptations when Peter was guilty of an attempt to lead the
Messiah astray. Otherwise Peter could hardly have seen the
meaning of the severe words which Christ used. Lk. quite
naturally omits the dismissal of the tempter, because, according
to his arrangement, there is another temptation still to come.
In some texts (DELMUTZ, Just. Tert.) the 'behind Mo' {dvlffu nov)
of xvi. 23 h.-is l)cen imported into this passage. In the quotation from Dent,
vi. 13 ^^tiOtjctj has l>ccn changed to Tpo<TAii'j}<rejt owing to the preceding
vpookvrfyj-jii, and fibvifi has been aclded after oi>t<J5 to make tlie cliarge
more emphatic. In the A text of the LX.\ the wording of Deut. vi. 13
has been brought into harmony in both particulars with Mt.
'The devil leaveth Him' {a<i>t.rj<Ti.v avrov) means more than
'departed from Him' {airt<m] cItt' avrov, Lk.): it means 'left
Him alone, ceased for a time to trouble Him,' or 'let Him go,
released Him.'
Lk. tells us that the departure of Satan was only 'until a
convenient season ' (dxP' Kaipov). The evil one is defeated, but
he is not destroyed, and 'the power of darkness' (Lk. xxii. 53)
is again to do its worst before the final victory is won. Indeed,
the temptation to adopt a selfish, six:ctacular, and secular
Messiahship was again and again put before Him during His
Ministry { H'fs/mins/cr N.T. p. 46). The ministry of Angels
here, which is in Mk. also, but not in Lk., perhaps means
that the miracle which the Messiah refused to work without
God's sanction now takes place with His s;inction, and that the
Angels cither supply Him with food or with sui)j)ort which
rendered food unnecessary.^ The Messiah returned to work
that involved a severe strain U|X)n His physical powers. His
* In xii. 26 Christ sulistitutcs ' Satan ' for the ' Ikehcbul ' of the I'liariscm.
Elsewhere He six-aks of him as 6 d(d/3oXot (xiii. 39, xxv. 41) ami h w<Mnip6t
(xiii. 19, 38), neither of which names is found in .Mk. Nor d<>c< Mk. use
6 tupdiur (Mt. iv. 3).
' For this meaning of Jtacorcii' cump. xxv. 44 ; Lk. xxii. 27 ; jn. xii. 3 ;
Acu vL 2.
44 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 1-11
human character had been strengthened by triumphant resistance
of prolonged temptations. His human experience had been
increased respecting the possibilities of evil (Heb. v. 8) and the
dangers which His mission would have to encounter. And we
may believe that He would be supplied with all the physical
strength that His humanity required for the work that lay before
Him.
Christ's refusal to avail Himself of supernatural aid to avert
the danger of perishing with hunger is parallel to His abstaining
from asking for supernatural aid to avert the certainty of perish-
ing on the Cross. He would not turn stones into bread, and He
would not have legions of Angels (xxvi. 53), because in neither
case was it His Father's will that He should do so. He knew
that He was the Father's only Son, and He knew what His
Father's will was. Now that throughout the strain of the
temptations the Father's will has been absolutely triumphant,
supernatural means of supplying physical needs are allowed
Him. Angels minister to Him (comp. i Kings xix. 5-9), and
He has strength for the work which lies before Him.^
This is a foretaste and an earnest of the glory which is to be
His hereafter. And it resembles that glory in being a return for
what He had foregone in order to do that which His Father had
decreed for Him. Satan had offered Him 'all the kingdoms of
the world and the glory of them.' ' The Prince of this world '
(Jn. xiv. 30) had placed the whole of his vast dominion
and its resources at Christ's disposal, if He would enter his
service. That offer had been decisively rejected and the
proposer of it had been dismissed. And, in a few years,
all the power and glory which the evil one had offered to Him,
and ten thousand times more which it was not in his power to
offer, had been bestowed upon Him by His Father, because He
had refused the tempter's conditions and had accepted suffering
and shame and death (xxviii. 18). 'The Stronger' than Satan,
instead of sharing power with him, deprived him of it (Lk. xi.
21, 22); and 'the Kingdom of the world became our Lord's
and His Anointed's, and He shall reign for ever and ever '
(Rev. xi. 15).
It is in the narrative of the Temptation that we have the first instances of
our Lord's quoting Scripture. In this Gospel He quotes thirteen of the
^ In the description of the sixth heaven in the Testaments of the XII.
Patriarchs we have a verbal parallel: "In it are the Archangels who
minister and make propitiation to the Lord," or (according to other texts)
"the host of the Angels are ministering," or "the Angels of the presence of
the Lord who minister"' (Z^e^/ iii. 5). With the narrative in Mlc. i. 13, 14
comp. " The devil shall flee from you, and the wild beasts shall fear you,
and the Angels shall cleave to you " {^Naphtali viii. 4).
rv. 12-16] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 45
Canonical Hooks of tlic O.T. and makes clear reference to two nilur iJooks ;
and iherc arc several possiMe references to O.T. passages. DeuterDnumy,
I'salms, and Isaiah ore most frequently quoted, and we may believe ih.il
they were often in our Lord's thoujjhts. In the following list the references
are to the jiass-ages in .Mt. in which the quotation occurs. Genesis (xix. 4, 5) ;
Exotlus (v. 21, 27, 33, 38, xix. 18, 19) ; but some of these lui^ht be referred
to Deuteronomy : Leviticus (v. 43, xix. 19, xxii. 39) ; Numbers (v. i^) ;
Deuteronomy (iv. 4, 7, 10, v. 31, xxii. 37, xxiv. 31); Psalms (xxii. 44,
xxiii. 39, xxvi. 64, xxvii. 46); Isaiah (xiii. 14, 15, xv. 8, xxi. 13, xxiv. 7,
10, 29, 31) ; Jeremiah (xxi. 13) ; Daniel (xxiv. 15, 21, 30, xxvii. 64) ; Ilosea
(ix. 13, xii. 7); Mic.ih (x. 35, 36) ; Zechariah (xxiv. 30, xxvi. 31); Malachi
(xi. 10). The references to i Samuel (xii. 4) and Jonah (xii. 39, 41) are
clear ; and there may be one to 2 Kinj^s (vi. 6). The absence of any certain
quotation from the Sapiential Books is remarkable ; but con\|). xvi. 27 with
I'rov. xxiv. 12, and xix. 26 with Job xiii. 2 ; also xii. 43 with the addition in
the Septuagint to I'rov. ix. 12. \Vith Kcclesiasticus there are many parallels :
e.ff. vi. 7, vi. 14, vi. 20, and xix. 21 with Ecdus. vii. 14, xxviii. 2, xxix. 12 ;
and V. 33, 34 with Ecclus. xxiii. 9-1 1. See also Ecclus. iv. 5, v. ij, vii.
35, ix. 8, x. 6, xix. 21, xxvii. 6, xxviii. 3-5, and Wisd. ii. 18, iii. 7, iv. 4,
16, xvii. 21.
IV. 12-XVni. 35. THE MINISTRY IN OAIilLEE AND
THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
This is the main portion of the Gospel. To the end
of xiii. the scene is cliiefly in Galilee; the scene of xiv.-xviii.
is chiefly in or near Galilee. 'I'he sources are Mark, the
Logia of Matthew, and some independent traditions, written
or oral.
The Galilean section is in three divisions, i. Opening
activities, ending with the Sermon on the Mount (iv. 12-vii. 29).
2. Ten Acts of Messianic Sovereignly, ending in the charge to
the Apostles (viii. i-x. 42). 3. ^Luly utterances of Messianic
Wisdom, ending in numerous illustrations of teaching by
parables (xi. i-xiii. 58). The remaining section constitutes a
fourth division, consisting of activities in or near Galilee, and
ending in the discourses on offences and forgiveness (xiv.-xviii.).
Hence chapters v.-vii., x., xiii. and xviii. are conclusions to
definite divisions of the Gospel, and they consist almost entirely
of discourses.
The long Galilean section consists of nine subdivisions.
We begin with an historical introduction, dating from John's
imprisonment, and placed in surroundings which are a fulfilment
of prophecy (iv. 12-16). Then the Ministry begins with the
call of the first disciples (17-22). After a jireliminary statement
about the Messiah's teaching and work (23-25), we have copious
illustrations, both of His teaching (v.-vii.), and also of His work
(viii. i-ix. 34). This is followed by the mission of the Twelve
(ix. 35-xi. i), by illustrations of the opposition which His
4.6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 12-16
ministry provoked and of His consequent isolation (xi. 2-xii. 50),
and by illustrations of His public teaching by parables and His
private interpretations of them (xiii. 1-52). Henceforward Mt.
keeps closely to the order of Mk., and the prolonged Galilean
section comes to an end with the tragic rejection of the Messiah
by His own people at Nazareth (xiii. 53-58). The substance of
all this must, in the last resort, be carried back to the testimony
of eye-witnesses : see Klostermann on Mk. i. 16.
IV. 12-16. Fulfilment of Prophecy by the Messiahs Appearance
ifi Galilee.
It was ' ivhen He heard that John was delivered up ' by the
Pharisees into the hands of Herod Antipas, that Jesus departed
from the scene of John's activity and of the Pharisees' hostility,
and withdrew once more to Galilee, where He made Capernaum,
instead of His original home Nazareth (ii. 23), to be His head-
quarters. The expression, ' when He heard ' (aKoiVas), is not
in Mk., nor in Lk., who here arranges his material differently,
but it is important, as illustrating a principle of our Lord's
action which emerges from the narrative of the Temptation.
He does not work miracles where ordinary means suffice. It
is not by supernatural knowledge, but by common report, that
He learns the persecution of the Baptist by the Pharisees
(comp. xiv. 13). In both places the insertion of dK;oT;cra9 by Mt.
is the more remarkable, because his tendency is to emphasize
the supernatural powers of the Messiah. What specially
interests him here, is the statement in Mk. i. 14, 21, that Christ
not merely moved to these northern regions, but had Capernaum
as the centre of His activity, in which fact he sees a fulfilment
of prophecy. The fulfilment which he sees is partly geographical.
He understands the 'sea ' in Is. ix. i, 2 to be the sea of Galilee ;
and, on any hypothesis as to site,i Capernaum was on the Lake.
Isaiah mentions Zebulon and Naphtali ; and Capernaum was in
the territory of these two tribes. But more important than these
geographical coincidences is the fact that the Prophet speaks of
'Galilee of the Gentiles' (PaA-tAata twv iOvwv),'^ and also of 'a
great light ' that is to shine on the inhabitants of these darkened
regions. This, like the visit of the Magi, and perhaps the warn-
ing uttered by the Baptist (iii. 9), is an intimation that the
salvation brought by the Messiah to the Jews does not belong
to them exclusively, but is to extend to the heathen.
Mt. once more shows his indifference to chronology. He
^ See Sanday, Sacred Sites, pp. 36 ff., ?^n6.Jo^tr. of Th. St., Oct. 1903.
* Comp. Va.XCKa.ia, a.\\o<pij\o}v {l Mac. v. 15).
rV. 12-16] TIIK MINISTRY I\ CIAI.ILI-E 47
did not Icll us how soon after llic Uirth tlie visit of tlic Magi took
place, nor how long the retirement in I'-j^ypt lasted, nor how lun^
after the return to Palestine the appearance of llie I'.aplist and tht;
Ilaptism of the Messiah took place. So here we are left in ilouht
whether the interval between the Temptation and tiie bej^innin^
of the Messiah's Ministry' in Galilee was one of days or of years.
Just as the beginning of John's preaching is given without any
connexion with the settlement of the Holy Family at Nazareth,
so the beginning of Christ's preaching is given without any
connexion with the Temptation. It is the news that John hail
been handed over to his enemies, not the victory of the Messiah
over the evil one, which leads to the settlement at Capernaum
as a centre for preaching.
Mt. says that Jesus ^wt'lhdmi' into Galilee' {a\'€\uiprjaiv),
which does not mean that He returned thither after the Tempta-
tion ; ^ and perhaps Mt. means that He retired to a part of the
dontinions of Antipas where He would be less likely to be
molested by him than in the region where the Baptist had been
working. What Mk. gives as a date, ^ after John was delivered
up,' Mt. gives as a motive, 'when He heard that John was
delivered up.' A possible meaning is that, as the Bai)tist's
activity had been made to cease, there was all the more reason
for the Messiah to begin to preach ; and the best centre for Him
to choose for the purpose was the thick and mixed population
on the west shore of the Lake. Yet it probably is not in order
to hint at the excellence of the centre that the Evangelist
reminds us that Capernaum was ' by the sea,' but in order to
prepare for a detail in the profjhecy which he is about to ciuote.
The quotation agrees with neither the Hebrew nor the LXX, yet
it appears to be taken from some Greek version (see Allen, </</ /<v.,
and Swete, Introduction to the O.T. in Greek, p. 396) of Is. ix. i.
As often, Mt. gives (}uite a new meaning to the prophecy which
he quotes. Isaiah is thinking of the devastation of I'alestine by
the Assyrians in the reign of I'ekah, and he has a vision of
deliverance from the ravagers by a ruler of the house of David.
Then follows the great prophecy, 'Unto us a child is born,' etc.
In Mt. it is spiritual desolation (ix. 36) and a spiritual Deliverer
(L 21) that is meant.'
' draxup*'' is frequent in Mt., viry rare in Nfk. Jn. and .\rls, an<l is n<il
found tlstwlicrc in the N.T. Here Mk. (^Xt^ti') and I.k. (i'w<'<7T/K^^«»') each
use a dillcrcnt word.
' A |):is>a{^c in the Testaments illu.slra'.cs Mt.'s npplii-atinn of the prophecy
to the Mtssiali's preaching of repentance : *' For trtic rciKtUance after n Rtxlly
sort («oTd tf«4r, as 2 Cor. vii. 10) driveth away the darkness, ancl enli^jhtenelh
the eyes, and supplicth knowlcf!ge to the soul, and guiclcih the piirix»*c to
salvation" {Gad v. 7). 'Galilee of the Genliiea' may mean 'Heathenish
GaUlee.'
48 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 17-22
IV. 17-22. The Messiah beghis to preach and He calls
Four Disciples.
' From that time Jesus began.' ^ The formula with which the
Messiah's preaching to the people is here introduced is repeated
xvi. 21, and is perhaps intended to suggest a comparison between
the two occasions. There Jesus has to give a very different kind
of teaching, not to the people, but to the Twelve : ' From that
time Jesus began' to tell His disciples about His approaching
Passion and Resurrection.
The quotation of our Lord's words here illustrates Mt.'s
practice of abbreviating Mk. by omitting one half of his double
statements. Mk. condenses the substance of Christ's preaching
thus : ' The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand :
repent ye, and believe in the gospel' ; a very unusual phrase, in
which 'gospel' means the 'good tidings' of the nearness of the
Kingdom of God. As Mt. has already pointed out the fulfilment
of prophecy, the first words are not needed ; and the last words
are implied in what precedes.
The substance of the Messiah's first preaching is the same as
that of His Herald : He acts, so to speak, as His own Forerunner.
And it is because He is as yet His own Herald, that, although
He proclaims the approach of the Kingdom, He says nothing of
the King. But it is with regal authority that He calls His first
disciples.2 Without explanation. He gives what, even in form,
is a command rather than an invitation : and this assumption of
authority is not resented, but instantly obeyed. And His words
imply that this time (contrast Jn. i. 35 ff.) it is no temporary
invitation ; they are to give up their calling as catchers of fish,
and pursue a new calling as fishers of men.^ From what they
had learnt of Him during the preliminary Ministry in Judrea,
about which Mt. and Mk. are silent, these fishermen knew to
some extent what sort of work was in store for them, and under
what kind of Master they would have to serve. All the patience,
1 The phrase awb rhre is rare in the N.T. (Mt. iv. 17, xvi. 21, xxvi. 16 ;
Lk. xvi. 16) and in the LXX (Eccles. viii. 12; Ps. xciii. 2). The exact
time cannot be determined. Colonel Mackinlay argues for a.d. 25 {The
Magi, p. 63). As he accepts a.d. 29 as i\\e year of the Crucifixion, this
involves a ministry of three years and a half, which has its difficulties.
2 They had previously been disciples of the Baptist, and through him had
come to know Jesus. When the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus calls them
to become His disciples. It is the Fourth Gospel that enlightens us on this
point (Jn. i. 35-42). Here, contrary to the usage of each, Mt. has the
historic present (19), and Mk. the aorist (i. 17).
3 Gould, on Mk. i. 17, points out that this is the first instance of parabolic
language, so common in Christ's teaching afterwards. The Baptist had used
harvest- work (iii. 12), as Jesus Himself' does later (ix. 37, 38), to signify the
gathering in of souls.
rV. 23-25] TIIK MINISTRY IN CAMI.KE 49
perseverance, and courage whicli they had acquired in tlicir
uncerLiin and dangerous craft on the lake would be required,
and they would have to sacrifice their home and their means of
life. But neither jxiir of brothers hesitates, and each of the four
has the happiness of taking a brother with him. Apparently,
Simon and Andrew leave their net in the lake, without waiting
to draw it in. Their readiness is even more marked than that of
the sons of Zebedee, for they seem to have had no one to leave
in charge of the nets (and boat?) which were their means of
subsistence. Mt. is anxious to mark the readiness in both pairs
of brothers. Very often he omits the 'straightway' (eiWoj?)
which is so frequent in Mk. (iv. i, viii. 4, 14, ix. 4, 7, xii. 4;
comp. Mk. i. 12, 29, 43, ii. S, 12, iii. 6, etc.). Hut here he retains
it in both places, and in the second case he transfers it from the
Messiah's call to the disciples' obedience ; for he desires to
emphasize the fact that at the outset the Messiah's authority was
at once loyally recognized. These followers are worthy subjects
of the King.
Mt. does not mean that Simon on this occasion received the name of Peter
(18), but that Simon is the same disciple who was afterwards famous as Peter ;
comp. X. 2. Of the Evangelists, John is the only one w ho gives the Aramaic
original Cephas (i. 42), which S. Paul frc(|uently uses in I Cor. and Gal.
NVhether the ifi<f>i^\riffTpoy which he and Andrew left differed from the
ffay^rij in the parable (xiii. 47) is uncertain ; neither word occurs else-
where in the N.T. In Stvre (6 times in Mt. and 6 elsewhere) and iKilOtt)
(12 limes in Mt. and 15 elsewhere) we have words of which Mt. seems to be
fond.
The position which Mt. gives to the call of the four disciples
indicates that a new stage has been cjuickly reached in the
Messiah's ministry. He is surrounded, not merely, as John was,
by a multitude of casual and constantly changing hearers, but by
a select number of constant followers. It was with these professed
disciples that He went up and down Galilee, teaching in the
synagogues and healing the sick. This was part of their training
for taking up and continuing His work.
IV. 23 25. rreliminary Summary of the Work.
The Evangelist here leaves the narrative of Mk. to give an
introductor)- epitome of the Ministr)' which he is about to illus-
trate in detail. He begins the description with a simple 'And'
(icat), the first instance of this use in this Gospel. He tells us
that, unlike the Forerunner, who recjuired the jKopIe to come to
him in the wilderness, the Messiah sought them; He 'went
about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues.' Not many
of these Galileans had been out to listen to John ; none are
mentioned in iii. 5. They are still a 'people sitting in darkness'
4
50 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. S3-25
(i6). But the general result of the Messiah's first appearance
among them is in harmony with the happy beginning in calUng
the two pairs of brothers. There is no mention of any opposition.
He brought to His fellow-countrymen much the same message
as the Baptist (17, iii. 2); but it is probable that, whereas John
emphasized the coming of judgment, Jesus dwelt rather upon the
coming of deliverance and of joy. It is 'the Gospel of the
Kingdom ' which He preaches to them, a remarkable expression,^
and peculiar to Mt. (23, ix, 35, xxiv. 14), for which Mk. has 'the
Gospel of God' (i. 14). Both exhorted men to repent, and both
announced that the Kingdom was at hand ; but while John said
most about the forsaking of sin, the Messiah said most about
*the good tidings.'
As a Healer the Messiah is everywhere popular, and His fame
spreads widely, even into heathen territory. ' All Syria ' and the
country ' beyond Jordan ' are excited about the reports of His
work, and every kind of sickness is brought to Him to be cured.
The Evangelist seems to delight in enlarging upon the vast
amount of the healings and the great variety of them. He
strings together, from several places in Mk. (i. 28, 32, 34, iii. 7, 8,
V. 24), the different items of the Messiah's success. Possibly
Deut. vii. 15 is in his mind : 'The Lord will take away from thee
all sickness {Traaav fxaXaKtav), and He will put none of the evil
diseases (Trao-as iwovs) of Egypt upon thee.'^ Comp. the
Testament of Joseph xvii. 7. But it was not the case that 'the
people ' tolerated the teaching for the sake of the cures. The
preaching of the good news of the Kingdom came first, and the
miracles were secondary. Many followed Him who neither
required healing themselves nor brought sick friends to be
healed. To all, whether sick or whole, the good tidings of the
Kingdom proved attractive. Even the stern preaching of John
had drawn multitudes into the wilderness, although he 'did no
sign' (Jn. X. 41). Comp. ix. 35, where this verse is repeated
almost verbatim, but without ' among the people,' which means
among the Jews in Galilee. 'The whole of Syria,' with its
heathen population (24), is in manifest contrast to Galilee with
its Jewish population.
It is notable that 'the good tidings' (to evayyiXiov) is first
used in the N.T. of the preaching of Christ. John's preaching
might have been called ' good tidings,' but (with one indirect
exception in Lk. iii. 18) it is not. Perhaps the note of judgment
^ It is here that the important word evayyeXLOv first appears in Mt. It
originally meant the reward for good tidings (2 Sam. iv. 10), but afterwards
always the good tidings themselves. See Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 102;
Hastings' DCG., art. ' Gospel.'
^ In the N.T., Mt. alone uses /uLaXaKia (iv. 23, ix. 35, x. i). Of course
• all Syria ' is used in a loose sense.
IV. 23 25] THK MINISTRY IN GALILKE 51
— the axe, the winnowing fan, the fire — was too strong for his
message to win that gnicious name. After the Messiah had
encountered more and more of the hypocrisy and hostility of the
hierarchy, Mis preaching became sterner even than John's ; hut
here, at the outset, there is no record of any word of condemna-
tion or warning. The exhortation to re|xntance seems to liave
been so readily heard, and the invitation to believe the good
tidings to have been so generally accepted, that He was able to
do many mighty works. Even those who were brought from
Syria were healed. IJut this concourse is represented as less
continuous (aorists) than His own activity in Galilee (Ttpii/yty).
" It may be doubted whether we have an adequate notion of
the immense number of Christ's miracles. Those recorded are
but a small proportion of those done. These early ones were
illustrations of the nature of His Kingdom. They were His
first gifts to His subjects."'
"The healing ministry, judged by critical tests, stands on as
firm historical ground as the best accredited parts of the teaching.
In most of the reports the action of Jesus is so interwoven with
unmistakable authentic words that the two elements cannot be
separated. That the healing ministrj' was a great outstanding
fact, is attested by the popularity of Jesus, and by the various
theories which were invented to account for the remarkable
phenomena."* Hamack and Professor (Gardner both admit that
wonderful works of healing are too closely woven with the
narrative to be torn from it : there is an irreducible minimum.
Why should the Pharisees accuse Him of being the ally of
Beelzebub, or Antipas suggest that He was the Haptist come to
life again, or Celsus declare that He had brought charms back
from Kgypt, if there were no mighty works to be accounted for ?
"The healing activity of JchUS is firmly established in the
tradition " (O. Holtzmann).
Many critics at the present day limit the mighty works to acts
of healing, and limit the acts of healing to those "which even at
the present day physicians are able to effect by psychical
methods, — as, more especially, cures of mental maladies"
(Schmiedel). They were "acts of faith-healing on a mighty
scale" (E. A. Ablxjtt). "Physicians tell us that peo{)le can be
cured by suggestion ; the term describes what has often been
observed precisely in a quarter in which religious enthusiasm has
been stirred " (O. Holtzmann).
But do the records give any intimation that Jesus Himself
was conscious that His power to do mighty works was confined
• A. Maclarcn, ad lot.
• Ene. Bibt. ii. 2445. Sec SantUy, Out lints of tkt Lift of Christ, pp.
105-1 1 J.
52 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IV. 23-25
to works of healing? Did His disciples notice any such limi-
tation? Did His enemies ever taunt Him with the fact that,
while Moses and the Prophets did all kinds of miracles, He
could do nothing but heal? No evidence tending in this
direction can be produced. On the other hand, there is
considerable evidence that He was believed to be able to do
many other mighty works.
Again, when we confine our attention to the acts of healing,
do the records confirm the view that these acts were confined to
curing neurotic patients by strong mental impressions ?i Let us
suppose that our Lord worked some striking cures by means of
" moral therapeutics " ; which is not improbable, for He would
not use supernatural power where ordinary means would suffice.
Let us suppose that all His first miracles were of this character.
The result, we are told, would be that He would get the reputa-
tion of being able to perform all kinds of wonders, and in time
they would be attributed to Him by tradition. Very possibly ;
but there would be another result much more certain. In
consequence of His first successes, multitudes of sick would
be brought to Him who could not be cured by "psychical
methods" or "suggestions," or "moral therapeutics"; and
therefore many would be sent away uncured. Where is the
record of these mournful disappointments ? It is suggested that
there were no actual failures to heal, because He may have
known by "a kind of instinct," or by "experience and some
kind of intuition," what cases He could not cure; and therefore
He did not attempt to cure such. Yet such a remarkable
limitation of His healing activity must have made an impression
which would affect traditions respecting Him. And is "a kind
of instinct " a scientific hypothesis ? Even if we omit the Fourth
Gospel, the reported cases are too numerous and too varied to
be explained by faith-healing. It is incredible that all the sick
laid in the streets were neurotic patients ; and are leprosy, .
dropsy, fever, withered hand, issue of blood, and blindness
" susceptible of emotional cure " ? Just so far as a disease is
due to delusion or lack of faith, is it possible to expel it by
faith-healing ; and the number of maladies which admit of such
treatment is comparatively small. ^
Of course, the mighty works, whether of Christ or of His
disc'ples, are not violations of law. Violations of law do not
1 But " it would 1)6 rash to assert that this is the whole secret in any case "
(Hastings' Z>B., art. 'Miracles,' iii. p. 390).
^ See a valuable paper on 'The Neurotic Theory of the Miracles of
Healing,' by R. J. Ryle, M.A., M.D., in the Hibbert Jour^ial, Apr. 1907,
pp. 572-5S6. The theory that many of the cures wrought by Christ, like
many of those wrought at Lourdes, were only temporary, is entirely devoid of
evidence. See Bruce, The Traming of the Twelve, p. 49.
IV. 23 25] THK MINISTRY IN (.-.AI.ILKK 53
occur in God's ordered universe. lUil we do not yet know the
laws by which tlicse mighty works he< oiiie possible. Siill less do
we know the laws of such an uniijue Tersonality as that of the
Messiah ; and we are not in a position to decide wliat was
possible and what was impossible for Him in dealing with mind
and matter. The evidence for the mighty works is not only
strong but stringent ; and the case for them stands, until the
evidence can be explained upon any other hypothesis than that
the substance of the evidence is true.
The chief charnclcristics in ch. iv. arc ri/rt (l, $, lo, 11), r^rtpo¥ {2),
wpocipx*o9ai (3, 11), •wpocKvrtl* (9, lo), (tal Ibov (ll), iraxupi'iv (12), fra
wXi;p«*5 (14), XoV^'oi («S), atf-Tf (19), iKtWtp (21), T/)o<T^p<.r(24). The
following arc peculiar to .Mt. : rb {>i]6i» (14), ^ pa<Ti\<la Tuir oOpaj-iir (17), tA
tvayy^Xiop ryjt ^aaiXtlai (23), fiaSaxla (23). Of the alx>vc, the follDwinR .ire
absent from the parallel }»ss,iges: TpoaipxtaOai {3, 11), tAt« (5), koI iioi>
(11), draxo'peu' (I2\ \(-f6^t.^roi (i?>), iKuOtv (21). The par.-igraph 23-25 has
no parallel. The word Taf>aOa.\d<jaio% occurs nowhere else in the N.T.
V. VI. VTI. Illuslrations of the Messiah's Teaching.
The Sermon on the Mount.
The concluding verse of ch. iv. is given partly as the end of
the summary of the Messiah's Ministry, partly as an introduction
to the Sermon. One result of His ^iinistry was that 'great
multitudes ' (0^X01 ttoXAoi : ' Mk. nearly always has o)(ko<i ttoXAm)
followed Him, coming from long distances. These multitudes
constituted a large audience for His teaching; and forthwith the
Evangelist gives us abundant evidence of what the teaching was
like. He evidently regards the teaching as of more importance
than the healing. In the summary he mentions the teaching
first ; and here he gives us details about that before giving us
details about the mighty works.' Mk. just mentions the astonish-
ment produced by the teaching (i. 22, zi)^ and then passes lo
the details of healing ; and it was probably the small amount of
the Lord's teaching contained in his Gospel, as compared with
Mt, which caused the latter to take the first place, although that
of Mk. was first in the field. Indeed there is some reason for
thinking that, at a vcr)' early period of its existence, the Gospel
of Mk. was in danger of perishing altogether ; as it is, its con-
cluding portion has [R-rished (Hurkitt, The Go^^el Iliitory and its
Transmission^ p. 261); and the other document used by Mt. and
Lk- (Q) has perished. See Stanton, pp. 76 f.
■• It b » faTourite cxpre»Jon with Mt. (iv. 25, viii. i, 18, «ii. 2, \\. jo,
xiz. 3).
* Thi« i» in acconlance with Chiiit'» own estimate of the com|xicalive
value of His words ami \\\s work»: Ili» words ought to sufTicc without the
weeks, but He gives both (Jt>- >• jS, xiv. tl).
54 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 1
Mt. again omits all indications of date ; but it is obviously
incorrect to say that he places the Sermon at the beginning of
the Ministry. There are two proofs that he does not. First,
* the multitudes ' in v. i clearly refers to the ' great multitudes '
in the previous verse ; and these great multitudes did not gather
until our Lord had been at work for some time and the report
of Him had spread through Syria, Peraea, Judaea, etc. Secondly,
the teaching in the Sermon is not elementary ; it is evidently
intended for those who had already received a good deal of
instruction.
The place at which the Sermon was delivered is almost as
vague as the date : ' He went up into the mountain.' But no
mountain has been mentioned. As in xiv. 23 and xv. 29, high
ground in the neighbourhood of the lake is no doubt meant.^
The concourse was so great that the shore of the lake was no
longer a convenient place for giving instruction, and our Lord
goes up to one of the terraces on the hills above the lake. It is
possible that there was some one spot to which He so often went
up with His disciples that they commonly spoke of it as ^ the
mountain ' (to opos), and that this domestic name for a particular
place survives in the Gospels (Mk. iii. 13, vi. 46; Lk. vi. 12;
Jn. vi, 3, 15). The mention of this going up to the high ground
above the lake lets us know that we are passing from the general
sketch in iv. 23-25 to a definite occasion. At the same time
there is some intimation that not all of it was delivered at one
and the same time, for some of it is as clearly addressed to the
Apostles (13-16) as other parts are to a larger circle of disciples;
and both classes of hearers are mentioned (v. i, vii. 28). That
our Lord sat down ^ would intimate that He was about to give
instruction for some time (xiii. 2, xxvi. 55 ; Mk. xiii. 3). The
solemn introduction, "opened His mouth and taught," points
in the same direction (comp. Acts viii. 35, x. 34; Job iii. i).
This is the first mention of ' His disciples,' which in this Gospel
commonly means disciples in the stricter sense.
The critical questions connected with the form in which the
Sermon has come down to us need not detain us long. They
cannot be discussed without consideration of the similar, but
much shorter, report of a discourse in Lk. (vi. 20-49) j ^"^^
ample materials for forming reasonable conclusions respecting
them will be found in Bible Dictionaries, commentaries, and
^ It is strange that any 'simple brethren' should have supposed, as
Jerome states, that the Mount of Olives is meant ; and Tabor is not very
probable.
- Sitting was the common attitude (Lk. iv. 20; Acts xvi. 13), standing
the exception (Acts ii. 14, xiii. 16). Excitement or intense earnestness would
make standing more natural at times. On the solemn introduction see Loisy,
Le Discours sur la Montague, p. 13.
V. 1] Tin: MIMSTKV IN CM. II. KK 55
separate treatises.* It is not of great importance to determine
whether Mt, and Lk. give us divergent reports of one and the
same discourse, which is the opinion held hy most scholars ; or
of two similar hut dilTerent discourses, addressed to difTcrcnt
audiences on diflerent occasions, wliich is a tenahle view, still
advocated by some. Neither view is free from ditliculty. 'I'hat
a sermon closely resembling these two reports was actually
delivered by our Lord, need not be doubted for a moment :
the contents are quite beyond the power of any Evangelist to
invent, and the evidence for the Lord's utterance of this teach-
ing is satisfactor)'. But study of the two reports will convince
us that neither of them is an exact reproduction of what was
actually said. This is at once evident, if they are supposed to
be reports of the same discourse; and this conclusion cannot
be escaped by adopting the theory of two original discourses,
(i) No one, however greatly impressed, would be likely to
remember every word that had been said. (2) What was re-
membered was not at once written down. (3) Either before or
after it was written down it was translated from Aramaic into
Greek ; and translations of both kinds probably existed, some
made from Aramaic oral tradition, some from Aramaic docu-
ments. We may believe that both Mt. and Lk. had the sermon
in Greek in a written form, but by no means the same written
form. (4) It is evident that, although both reports are probably
much shorter than the original sermon or sermons, yet in some
particulars they have been enlarged. Lk. to some extent, and
Mt. to a still greater extent, has added to the original discourse
some sayings, which, although they were certainly spoken by
Christ, were not spoken in that particular connexion. The
most certain instance of this in Mt. is the Lord's Prayer and its
immediate context (vi. 7-15). Hut v. 25, 26, 31, 32, vii. 6-1 1,
22, 23 may also be suspected of having been added by com-
pilation, and this for two reasons : (<;) because there is a want
of connexion with the main subject ; and {I)) because a good deal
of this material is found in Lk. in quite a different setting ; e.f^.
V. 25, 26 = Lk. xii. 58, 59, V. 32 = Lk. xvi. 18, vii. 7-ii = Lk. xi.
9-13, vii. 23 = Lk. xiii. 27. Neither of these reasons is con-
clusive ; for the apparent want of connexion may be due to
abbreviation ; and it is quite possible that our Lord may in
some cases have included in a sermon what had been said on
some special occasion, or may have repeated on some special
occasion what had been said in a sermon. Nevertheless, the
' Sec especially Hastings' DB. v., art. 'Sennon on ihc Mount' ; Inter-
national Crilical Conim. on S. Mallhctu and on S. Luke ; C. Hore, The
Sermon on the A fount, 1896; Ila-sc, Geichuhte feiu, % 55; Dt'C, uiL
'Sermon on the Mounl.'
5^
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 1
two reasons together make a strong argument.^ It is generally
agreed that the Sermon on the Mount, as we have it in Mt., is
to some extent the result of compilation. The theory, however,
that it is entirely made up of short utterances cannot be sustained.
Antecedently, the theory is not probable, and the facts do not
bear it out. There is too much order in the report as a whole,
and too much coherence in the parts, — especially when the less
relevant sections are set aside as probable interpolations, — for
the supposition that we have here nothing more than a number
of pearls on a string. Could anything so orderly and coherent
be constructed out of short extracts from the Epistles of St. Paul ?
And what difficulty is there in the supposition that the main
portion of the sermon is a substantially true report of a sustained
discourse, addressed to a Galilean audience about the middle
of the Galilean Ministry ? And there is nothing improbable in
the theory of two similar sermons.
It is a matter of no moment whether the insertion of extraneous matter,
such as the Lord's Prayer, was made by the Evangelist, or had been previously
made in the report which he used. It is of equally little moment whether
the immense abbreviation in Lk., if he reports the same sermon, is due to
himself or his source. Mt. has 107 verses, Lk. 29; and of Lk.'s 29 all
but six have a parallel in Mt. But 36 verses in Mt., though they have no
parallels in Lk.'s report of the sermon, have parallels in other parts of Lk.
And more than 40 verses in Mt. have no parallels in Lk. Thus nearly half
of the report in Mt. is peculiar to that Gospel.
The parallels exhibit great variety in degrees of similarity of wording.
Sometimes the two passages are almost verbatim the same ; e.g. Mt. vii.
3-5=:Lk. vi. 41-42. Sometimes the differences are very considerable, as
in the parable with which each report ends. Even the Golden Rule is
differently worded (Mt. vii. i2 = Lk. vi. 31). And examination of the
parallels will lead us to the conclusion that the report in Mt. is closer to
the original sermon, if the same sermon is the basis of both reports. The
much greater fulness of Mt.'s report points in the same direction. Jewish
phrases, and allusions to the Old Testament, abound in Mt., but are absent
from Lk. ; and it is much more likely that Lk. , or the Gentile source which
he used, omitted these topics and touches, as lacking interest for Gentile
Christians, than that Mt. inserted them in order to please Jewish readers.
Whether there was one sermon or two, our Lord's audience would consist
mainly of Jews, and it is highly probable that the discourse delivered by Him
had a great deal of the Jewish tone which pervades Mt.'s report. Critics,
however, are not agreed as to the comparative accuracy of the two reports :
some regard Lk.'s as nearer to the original sermon, but more prefer that of
Mt. "In all these cases it is simply inconceivable that S. Matthew had
before him, and has altered, the text presented in S. Luke" (Harnack, The
Sayings of Jesus, p. 57).
^ Perhaps we may add to them the improbability that our Lord would
have given so large an amount of instruction all at once. Even the most
advanced among His hearers could hardly take in so much of such lofty
teaching at one and the same time. Augustine suggests that the circum-
locution, 'He opened His mouth and taught them,' is perhaps meant by the
Evangelist to indicate aliqtianto longiorem futurum esse sermonem {De Serm.
Dom. I. i. 2).
V. S-lfl] Tin: MINISTRY IN C.AI.IM:!-: c;;
There are two assumptions which are rather freciuently made,
and which arc ahiiost certainly untrue and misleading: (i) that
each Evangelist, as a rule, tells* us all that he knew, and that,
therefore, nearly all that he omits was unknown to him ; {2) that
our Lord seldom rej)eated His sayings, and that, therefore,
similar but different reports of His words in different Gospels
must be referred to the same occasion.
All these questions, interesting as they are, sink into in-
significance as compared with the supreme importance of under-
standing, and appropriating, the trtfanins; of these reports of our
Lord's teaching, which have been preserved for the spiritual
instruction of mankind.
The general plan of the Sermon in both Gospels is the same.
I. The Qualifications of those who can enter the Kingdom
(v. 3-16 = Lk. vi. 20-26); 2. The Duties of those who have
entered the Kingdom (v. 17-vii. i2 = Lk. vi. 27-45); 3. The
Judgments which await the Members of the Kingdom (vii.
13-27 = Lk. vi. 46-49). Invitation, requirement, warning ; — these
are the three leading thoughts ; and, as Stier remarks, the course
of all preaching is herein reflected.
In somewhat different words, wc may say that the subject of
the Sermon is The Ideal Christian Life, which is described in the
Beatitudes (3-12) and the two metaphors which follow them
(13-16).* Then the characteristics of the Christian Life are dis-
cussed, first in contra'-t to the Jewish Ideal (17-4S), secondly in
contrast to faulty Jewish practice (vi. i-iS), and finally in their
own working (vi. 19-vii. 12), the climax being the statement of the
Golden Rule (vii. 12). Lastly, there is an earnest e.xhortation
to enter upon this Christian Life (vii. 13, 14), avoiding un-
trustworthy guides (15-20) and profession without performance
(21-23): the responsibility of rejecting this teaching will be
great (24-27). The central i)ortion of the discourse (vi. 19-vii.
12) consists of three prohibitions and two commands. The
prohibitions are (1) lay not up for yourselves treasures u[)on the
earth ; (2) Judge not ; and (3) Give not that which is holy to the
dogs. The commands are (i) Tray to your Father in Heaven ;
(2) Love your neighbour as yourself.
V, 3 12. The Beatii tides, a Summary of the Christian Life.
Hy 'the Beatitudes' is almost always meant the declarations
of blessedness made by Christ at the beginning of the Sermon
on the Mount, — blessedness which He attached to certain virtues,
or conditions, or persons. And this blessedness is not somc-
' Matlkieu a ftntf hrire un traili (omplit d* tajuUict ehrtlitMM4 (IxiUy,
Le Dii(9urs %ur la Afomtapie, 2).
5 8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
thing which the persons who are thus described feel; it is a
property unerringly ascribed to them in the estimate of God.
Thus it comes to pass that, while the Law is represented as
having been given on Mount Sinai amidst thunders and
threatenings, the Magna Carta of the Gospel is introduced on
* the Mountain ' in Gahlee with a series of new blessings.
It is remarkable that there is wide difference of opinion as to
the exact number of these beatitudes. They are differently
reckoned as being seven, eight, nine, and even ten in number.
In Lk. there is no question about the number : there we have
four Beatitudes and four Woes.^ That is perhaps some indica-
tion that the Sermon began w^ith eight aphorisms of some kind,
and is in favour of the common reckoning that Mt. gives us
eight Beatitudes. But the question is merely one of arrange-
ment ; no one need propose to strike out one or more of the
sayings as unauthentic. From different points of view Mt.
might wish to have seven (the sacred number), or eight (sym-
bolical of completeness), or nine (three triplets), or ten (to equal
the Decalogue). All commentators agree that in verses 3-9
we have seven Beatitudes summing up the ideal of a Christian
character. Then comes a declaration that those who are
persecuted for possessing this character are blessed ; and it is
probable that this is intended as a distinct Beatitude. It is a
very blessed thing to possess the ideal character ; but he who
has to suffer for his righteousness is still more blessed. That
this should be regarded as an eighth Beatitude is confirmed by
the fact that it is included in the four in Lk. Lk. omits those
respecting the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the
peacemakers, but he includes this one respecting the persecuted.
Nevertheless, some refuse to recognize this as an eighth Beati-
tude : (i) because the blessedness does not depend upon the
internal conditions which are in the Christian's own control, but
upon the way in which other people treat him ; and (2) because
the result is a mere repetition of what has been already pro-
mised, — ' theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' ^
There is much less to be said for reg^arding as a separate
Beatitude, 'Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you . . .
for My sake' (11). It is true that the word 'Blessed' is
repeated; but what follows is a mere application of the pre-
^ The wide difference as to the wording of the Beatitudes, and the inser-
tion of the Woes, are among the chief arguments for the hypothesis that Lk.
gives a rej^ort of a different sermon. See Stanton, pp. 106, 323, 328.
^ In the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs the cheerful endurance of
persecution is enjoined, because anger is so disturbing to the soul. " If ye
suffer loss voluntarily or involuntarily, be not vexed, for from vexation ariseth
wrath . . . and when the soul is continually disturbed, the Lord deparleth
from it, and Beliar ruleth over it" {Dan iv. 7).
V. 3 la] Tin-: ministuy i\ c.ai.ii-KK 59
ceding Bcalitude to the disciples who arc present, together with
an amplification of the word ' |XTSccutc.' The psahii like
parallelism and rhythm of the preceding eight is here wanting,
and we seem to be in the region of interpretation ratlier than of
text. It is true that the ecjuivalent of tliis saying is certainly
counted as one of the four IJeatiludes in Lk., but that is because
he puts all the Beatitudes in the second person : ' lllessed are
ye^ Consequently, what is here given in two forms, one general,
and one special (' Blessed are they which are persecuted,' and
• Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you '), is in Lk. given
only in the latter, to harmonize with the other three, which are
in the special or second jx^rson form.
It is altogether unreasonable to regard ' Rejoice and be
exceeding glad . . . before you ' as a Beatitude in any sense.
The word 'blessed' is not used, and the verse is only the
complement of the one which precedes. Only when we i)ut
the two verses together do we get the rii^ht correspondence of
parts, a correspondence which is obscured by amplification.
The foundation of the whole is, * Blessed are ye when men shall
persecute you for My sake, for great is your reward in heaven.'
The remainder, though probably original, is explanatory. There
is, in short, no indication that Mt. intended to make ten Beatitudes.
His report of the Sermon, as has been pointed out, is partly the
result of compilation. Had he wished to give ten Beatitudes he
might easily have included other sayings, similar in t)pe, which
he records elsewhere. ' Blessed are your eyes, for they sec ;
and your ears, for they hear' (xiii. 16). 'Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-jona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but My I'ather which is in heaven' (xvi. 17). 'Blessed is
he, whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in Me'
(xi. 6). 'Blessed is that servant, whom the Lord when He
cometh shall find watching' (xxiv. 46). .And there are others
elsewhere, which may have been known to Mt. ' Blessed are
they that hear the word of God and keep it ' (Lk. xi. 28).
* Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have Ixlieved '
(Jn. XX- 29). The frequency of such sayings among Christ's
utterances shows that, wherexs warnings of judgment were
prominent in John's teaching, assurances of blessedness must
have been very prominent in that of the Messiah.
Here again [K-rhaps we have a reason for the fact that the
First Gospel was so much more popular than the Second. Mt.
contains thirteen Beatitudes; in Mk. there are none. It is the
Hebrew GosikI at the Ixginning of the N.T., and the Hebrew
Apocalypse at the end of it, which are so rich in such things
(Rev. i. 3, xiv. 13, xvi. 15, xix. 9, xx. 6, xxii, 7, 14).
It is DOt irreverent to conjecture tlut our Lord nuy have
6o GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
had the beginnuig of the Book of Psalms in His mind, when He
placed these Beatitudes, whether four or eight, at the beginning
of the Sermon. ' Blessed is the man that walketh not in the
counsel of the wicked, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
He shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that
bringeth forth its fruit in its season ' (Ps. i. 1-3). If so, then
we have the counterpart of the Woes as well as of the Beati-
tudes ; for the Psalm goes on : ' Not so are the wicked, not so ;
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore
the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the
congregation of the righteous.' This is perhaps some slight
support to the authenticity of the Woes.
The Acta Pattli et Theclce contains a large number of Beatitudes made up
of scriptural language : e.g. Blessed are those who have kept their flesh pure,
for they shall become temples of God. Blessed are the continent, for God
will speak to them. Blessed are those who have bid farewell to this world,
for they shall be well-pleasing to God. Blessed are those who have wives as
not having them, for they shall become Angels of God. Blessed are those ;
who have received the wisdom of Jesus Christ, for they shall be called sons of i
the Highest. See Resch, Agrapha, 2nd ed. 1906, pp. 272-4. j
There is yet another way of treating this portion of the Sermon : "not as !
a string of eight Beatitudes, but as a single Beatitude with a sevenfold expan- |
sion. The significance of ' poor in spirit ' must be looked for in the seven I
applications into which it is expanded" (Moulton, The Modem Readers 1
Bible, p. 1692). This is attractive, and it is possible to regard some of the j
Beatitudes as expansions, or other sides of, the blessedness of being poor in j
spirit. But can 'hungering and thirsting after righteousness,' or being j
'merciful,' or 'peacemakers,' be said to be included in the idea of being j
' poor in spirit ' ? It is better to regard ' Blessed are the poor in spirit ' as '
the leading Beatitude, marking at once the contrast between the standard to i
be observed in the Kingdom of heaven and the standard commonly observed ,■
in the world, rather than as one which virtually includes all the others. If ;
the number seven is to be found in the Beatitudes, we must regard the first :
seven as distinct from all that follows, in that they are concerned with a {
man's own character, while the rest is concerned with the way in which he is \
treated by others for being of this character. The RV. seems to favour the t
view that there are seven Beatitudes, whereas the WH. text indicates that |
there are nine. _ \
The attempt of Augustine (Z?<J Serm. Bom. in Mont, i.) to fit the seven |
Beatitudes to the seven gifts of the Spirit is very forced : timor Domini, j
pauperes ; pietas, mites; sapientia, lugentes ; fortitudo, qui esuritcnt et \
sititmt ; consilium, misericordes ; intellcctus, mimdo corde ; scientia,pacifici. j
See the Vulgate of Is. xi. 2, 3 and of Mt. v. 3-9. j
Adopting the common enumeration of eight Beatitudes,
which is certainly as old as St. Ambrose {De Offic. i. 6), and
which renders the comparison of them to a peal of "sweet bells"
a happy one, we may notice these points respecting them. {
(i) There is no logical order in their arrangement, except j
that the one which depends, not on the Christian himself, but on j
the way he is treated by others, comes last. The first seven |
cannot be arranged in logical or chronological order. In some ;
V. 3-12] TIIK MINISTKV IN (lAI.IM-.K 6l
texts the second and third Beatitudes change places, and this
arrangement is as early as the second century,' and Lk. places
the fourth before the second.
(2) They do not describe eight different classes of i)eople,
but eight dilTerent elements of excellence which may all be
combined in one individual, who may acquire them in any order,
or simultaneously. The poor in spirit are certain to be meek ;
those who are merciful arc likely to be peacemakers ; those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness are likely to be pure in
heart ; and those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake will
mourn with the mourning that is sure to be comforted. In
other words, the Beatitudes arc an analysis of perfect spiritual
well-being, a summary of what is best in the felicity which is
attainable by man. There is nothing like them, either in depth
of insight or in definiteness of meaning, in either Jewish or
Gjntile philosophy. The word (tr8at//ort'a) by which Plato and
Aristotle express the highest well-being of man does not occur in
them or anywhere in the N.T. ; and to Greek philosophers the
sentences in which the Messiah sets before the world the
elements of the highest well-being would have seemed like a
series of paradoxes. They would have regarded the I'ropounder
of them as Oia-iv Sia<f>v\a.TTiDv, — adopting an extravagant position
for the sake of provoking argument. And they arc, as S.
Ambrose says, eight paradoxes ; for, according to the Divine
judgment, blessedness begins where man deems that misery
begins. See Montefiore, p. 4S5.
We can hardly measure the surprise with which Christ's
audience listened to these Beatitudes. With some it would Ijc
the surprise of admiration and sympathy ; here once more was
the voice of One who taught with authority. With others it
would be the surprise of incredulity ; this was indeed interesting
doctrine, but it was not very likely to prove true. Whh others
it would be the surprise of repugnance; teaching so subversive
of ordinary ideas respecting human felicity could not be accepted,
and ought to be strenuously opposed. Among the conditions of
blessedness, the privileges of the children of Abraham were not
so much as mentioned. It was not the form of the Beatitudes
* D, 33, Old Latin, Curctonian Syriac, Tcrtullian, Ori^cn. The wish to
mark the r'^n'rri^r !;rf,%r'-n * ihc Kingdom of Ilcavcn' and 'the earth' may
ha%-e 1 ■ ;'.ion.
••^ • rns, try to make a natural sequence in the
Beau: ■■rH-T, nnrl thf- ri""lt w.nilfj J.'' a"; true a4
this: " r NT!) . f .;.
and mourninjj or < ,;
after rijjhio>usncvs >: rt
to the promuiton of peace ; ajuJ ihc jx u, 'Uyii uf [«:,i' c j^ituvijkci Uic li..iicd
of the depraved."
62 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
which they disliked ; that was- familiar to them from the Psalms
(i. I, ii. 12, xxxii. i, 2, xxxiii. 12, xl. 4, Ixv. 4, etc.); but how
different was the substance ! ' Blessed is he that considereth the
poor' (Ps. xli. i); this they could understand. But 'Blessed
are the poor' was strange doctrine indeed.
The Beatitudes may be regarded as setting forth the subject
of the whole Sermon. The Sermon treats of the character and
conduct of members of the Messiah's Kingdom, and at the
outset we have the required character sketched in a few expressive
touches. And the sketching of this character acts as a test : it
turns back those who have no sympathy with such a character.
It also acts as a corrective of false ideas about the Kingdom.
The ideas of the multitude were for the most part vague ; and in
their want of knowledge they degraded and materialized it.
They thought of the Kingdom as a perpetual banquet. The ideas
of the upper classes were more definite, but not more spiritual.
They thought of it as a political revolution. Roman rule was to
be overthrown, and a Jewish monarchy of great magnificence
was to be restored. To both these conceptions of the Kingdom
the Beatitudes were an emphatic contradiction.^
It is probable that our Lord, speaking in Aramaic, said
simply ' Blessed are the poor.' But, inasmuch as the Aramaic
word need not mean, and was not intended to mean, those who
are destitute of this world's goods, the Greek translator was more
than justified in rendering the single word ' poor ' by ' poor in
spirit' (tttcoxoI t<3 Tn'ev/xaTi). Those who are literally poor are
not necessarily poor in spirit ; and those who are wealthy can
nevertheless be poor in spirit.^ Of course, being poor in spirit
does not mean spiritual poverty, want of spiritual gifts. It
means the character of those who feel their great needs (^//a'
sentiimt se per se non habere justitiavi) and their entire depend-
ence upon God for the supply of all that they require (see below
on the third Beatitude).
Of all such it is true that ' theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.'
This is not the reward of their being poor in spirit, but the
result of it. It is not so much a question of recompense as of
consequence.^ It explains why the poor in spirit are blessed.
^ Dim est le Ph-e des esprits, et Pamour est la constitution du royaume
eternel. On ne peut vaincre la terre qiCau nom du del; et le monde est aux
pieds de celui quil ne peut pas scdiiire ( Amiel).
^ " A rich man, who is able to despise in himself whatsoever there is in
him by which pride can be puffed up, is God's poor man " (Augustine, quoted
by Cornelius a Lapide, ad he). Such men "confess their poverty with as
great humility of spirit, and pray for grace with as great earnestness, as
beggars ask alms of the rich."
■* Comp. the blessing in the Testaments : /cat 01 Trrwxoi Sta Ki'pto;'
ir\ovTia9r]aovrai, /cat ol ev veivr; x°P'''°-'^Sri(Toi'Tai, Kal ol 4v dadeueig. l<Txi'<TOV(nv
(Jtidah XXV. 4 ; comp. Lk. vi. 20, 21). See Hort on Rev. i. 3.
V. 3-12] THE MINISTRY IN GAI.ILi: K 63
And so also in each of the Beatitudes; the 'for' introduces a
fact which justifies the paradoxical declaration. And the placing;
of the same fact as the explanation both of the first and of the
last Beatitude {zv. 3, 10) indicates that the possession of the
Kingdom sums up all the other results of the blessed dispositions
that are mentioned. This is true even of ' inheriting the earth ' ;
for only when the rule of God has completely superseded and
extinguished the prevalence, and even the presence of evil, will it
be true that the meek are the universal inheritors. Of course,
•theirs is the Kingdom 'docs not mean that the poor in spirit
and the persecuted for righteousness* sake are to ru/e: the
one ruler of the Kingdom is God. It means that they are
worthy members of the Kingdom, and are counted among
His subjects. In each Beatitude the emphasis is on the pro-
noun ; 'for /Aa'rs is,' 'for //uy shall'; — precisely they among all
classes.
The first Beatitude by itself, and still more the whole scries,
shows that the Sermon is addressed to those who have already
made some progress as the followers of the Messiah. They have
responded to the call to repentance, and have believed the good
news of the nearness of the Kingdom. And this tells us that,
although Mt. places this illustration of the Messiah's teaching
very early in his Gospel, yet ///<? Sinnon cannot have been delivered
at the bepnning of the Galilean ministry, for the people would
not have been ready for it. It implies a good deal of previous
preaching, and we must consider that iv. 23-25 is a summary of
months of work (see above).
It is fanciful to say that " each Beatitude springs from the
preceding " ; but it was probably a wish to make the second
spring from the first that caused some copyists to place ' the
meek ' immediately after ' the poor in spirit.' It is permissible
to say that the first Beatitude, like the last, is excellently placed,
and that perhaps no other would have filled the position of
leader so well, although much might be said for the fourth ; but
we cannot reasonably deduce each from the one that immedi-
ately precedes it.
Just as 'the poor' does not mean all who are in actual
poverty, so 'those who mourn ' does not mean all who happen to
be lamenting. Much will depend on the cause of the mourning
and of the spirit of the mourners. Those who Inment earthly
losses are not sure of comfort. But those who mourn over their
own shortcomings and sins, and those who lament the wicked-
ness of the world • may count upon the Divine sympathy.
' Comp. I Cor. V. 2 and 2 Cor. xii. 21, where the same vcrh {wtrdt'!*) is
used, and St. Paul's mourning over his own spiritual condition ( Ktun.
vii. 24).
64 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
Whatever hinders the realization of the Kingdom, and interferes
with God's complete sovereignty on earth, must be a cause of
sorrow to all who desire to be His loyal subjects ; and sorrow of
this kind is certain of relief. Nor is the relief to be understood
exclusively of the day when ' God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes,' In this life also there is large comfort and com-
pensation for mourners, if only they mourn because God's will is
not obeyed, and not because ' He maketh not their own desire
to grow ' (2 Sam. xxiii. 5).^
We cannot be certain of the exact difference which ought to
be drawn between the 'poor in spirit' and the 'meek.' But the
latter (Trpaets) are, as regards their name, more definitely religious
and pious in their lowliness than the former. The two classes
perhaps correspond to two Hebrew words, which are thus dis-
tinguished. The prominent idea of a 'poor' man (am) is that
of one who is ill-treated and therefore in need; but gradually
there was added the idea that the ' poor ' man was righteous, and
perhaps ill-treated on account of his righteousness, and therefore
having a special claim on God's help. The word is used of
Israel, as the ideally holy nation, suffering in the wilderness or
from oppression. On the other hand, the ' meek ' man {dndiv)
is one who is humble-minded and bows at once to the will of
God. So that, while 'poor' means first 'humbled' by man's
oppression and then ' humble ' in the religious sense, ' meek ' has
a religious signification from the first, and therefore might be
rendered ' humble.' For * meekness ' commonly means a dis-
position towards men ; but what is meant here and in Ps. xxxvii.
II, from which this Beatitude is taken, is a disposition towards
God, humility; comp. Ps. x. 17, xxii. 26, xxv. 9, xxxiv. 2. But
sharp distinctions of meaning in such words have a tendency to
wear off, and we cannot always insist upon them. The ' poor,'
' meek,' ' humble,' are often mentioned in the Psalms and
Prophets as those who have a special claim upon the protection
of God and of the good rulers who represent Him. They are
the 'Israelites indeed,' waiting patiently for the salvation of
Israel, a 'little flock,' that often suffers from the persecution of
the ungodly, but submits patiently to the will, and trusts always
to the care, of the Lord who is their Shepherd (Ps. xxiii. ).-
When, through the growth of the. Kingdom, the ungodly are
weeded out from the earth, the ' meek ' are left to inherit it.
Ps. xxxvii. 10, II shows that the patristic interpretation, 'the
^ Nevertheless there is a sense in which literal poverty and sorrow for
worldly troubles may be regarded as blessings ; for suffering of this kind may
lead men to desire the Kingdom of Heaven, and this desire may lead them to
prepare themselves for it.
-See Driver, art. 'Poor' in Hastings' DB, iv. ; Kirkpatrick on Ps.
ix. 12; Hatch, Biblical Greek, pp. 73-77.
V. 3-12] THE MINISTRY IN GALILKK 6^
earth ' = the 'new earth ' = 'heaven,' 'the land of the Hving,' is
not correct.
The/'//;-/// Beatitude is much less paradoxical in form than
the first three. It is easy to understand that those who eagerly
desire what it is God's will that they should possess are likely to
be gratified. And it is remarkable that it is the hunger and
thirst for righteousness, and not the possession of it, that is
pronounced iDlessed. To believe oneself to be in possession of
righteousness, like the Pharisee in the parable, is fatal. To
know oneself to be in want of it is not enough. One must feel
the want of it, and have a passionate and persistent longing for
it, in order to be accounted blessed by Christ ; for such a longing
is sure to induce the person who feels it to strive hard for the
object of his desire. Contentment, even in material things,
ought not to extinguish efforts for improvement ; and we ought
never to be content with our moral and spiritual condition. We
must ever have a hunger and thirst for something better; and
the greater progress that a man makes towards something better,
the greater will be his dissatisfaction with the attainment, and
the greater his desire for something more. In this case, he who
eats will yet be hungr}', and he who drinks will yet be thirsty ;
for self-satisfaction becomes less and less possible, the more he
gets of the 'righteousness' with which God is enriching him.
It is the hungry soul that God fills with goodness, and it is the
mouth that is opened wide for spiritual blessings that He has
promised to make full.^ The whole purpose of the Sermon on
the Mount is to teach mankind the nature of the righteousness
which God wills, and thereby to excite a strong desire for it.
But this Beatitude is not placed first, perhaps because, for the
sake of arresting the attention, the three that are most startling
were selected as the opening proclamations. For a similar
reason, in order to make a lasting impression, a Beatitude as
surprising as the first three is placed last and enlarged (10-12).
The fifth Beatitude declares a law which holds good to a
large extent even in the dealings of men with one another. On
the whole, the merciful are mercifully treated, and those who
show no mercy get none. But there are plenty of exceptions
to this general principle. Yet, although this roughly equitable
custom is perhaps included in the Beatitude, it is certainly not
the chief part of its meaning. The chief meaning is, that those
who arc merciful to their fellow-men will themselves fuid mercy
at the Day of Judgment. And here God's mercy is at once
cause and effect. Because God is merciful to him, the righteous
' The other aspect of iiKdioavvr), as justice between man and man, need
not be exchided. The Christian must desire earnestly that justice may prevail
everywhere, and it is a blessed thing to have a consuming zeal for it.
5
66 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
man is merciful to others (xviii. 21-35); and, because he is
merciful, he wins God's mercy. 'Merciful' (eAer^juwv) is very
frequent in the O.T., especially of God, in which connexion it
is often joined with ' gracious ' or ' compassionate ' (otKrtp/xwv),
particularly in the Psalms (Ixxxvi. 15, ciii. 8, cxi. 4, cxii. 4,
cxvi. 5, cxlv. 8). But in the N.T. it is found only here and
Heb. ii. 17, where it is used of Christ proving Himself a merciful
and faithful High Priest. On the other hand, the verb (eXcciv)
is frequent in both O.T. and N.T. (ix. 27, xv. 22, xvii. 15, xviii.
33, XX. 30, 31, etc.). It is in favour of including justice between
man and man in the ' righteousness ' which we are to hunger and
thirst after that the Beatitude respecting the merciful follows
immediately afterwards. However great our zeal for justice
may be, it jnust not exclude the element of mercy. If justice
is an attribute of God, so also is mercy; and those who have
set the Divine excellence before them as an ideal to be longed
for and striven after, must not forget that He is merciful as well
as just. The Psalmist in describing the perfect man ascribes
to him just the combination of mercy and justice (cxii. 4) which
had previously been ascribed to Jehovah (cxi. 3, 4) ; and it is the
man who fears such a God that is declared to be ' blessed ' (cxii. i).
Only men, and evil men, are said to be without mercy (dreXer^/ioj/es)
either in the N.T. (Rom. i. 31), or in the O.T. (Prov, v. 9, xi. 17,
xii. ID, xxvii. 4; Job xix. 14). But Prov. xvii. 11 may be an
exception, if the 'pitiless messenger' means a severe judgment
inflicted on the sinner by God. But we limit 'mercy' too much
when we make it synonymous with forgiveness. God bestows
many mercies upon us besides those which have reference to
our sins ; and we must be ready to bestow many on others,
quite independently of any injuries which we think that we have
received from them. ' Freely ye have received ; freely give.'
While the first four Beatitudes set forth some of the main
features in the love of God, this and the seventh inculcate
the love of man. Yet it is remarkable that in none of them
does the word ' love ' appear.
There is danger also of limiting unduly the meaning of the
sixf/i Beatitude. It is very frequently regarded simply as the
spiritual counterpart and enlargement of the seventh Command-
ment. Purity of heart in that restricted sense is no doubt part
of the meaning of this declaration ; but it is not the whole of it.
' He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart (KaOapos rfj KapSt'a,
as here) ; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity (unreality,
insincerity), and hath not sworn deceitfully' (Ps. xxiv. 4), is the
character to be understood here.^ Such a one is innocent of all
^ ' In heart ' here is exactly parallel to ' in spirit ' in the first Beatitude ;
the qualification indicates the region in which the special virtue is exercised.
V. 3-12] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 67
evil, not only in fact, but in intention ; his eye is single (vi. 22);
he has, as Augustine says, cor simplex, a heart without folds;
he has no desire to offend either God or man. Cleanness of
mind and sincerity of purpose are his characteristics : and such
as he ' may ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and stand in
His holy place' (Ps. xxiv. 3). 'And they shall see His face'
(Rev. xxii. 4), and ' they shall be like Him, because they shall
see Him even as He is' (i Jn. iii. 2). And, as Irenoeus says,
"the vision of God is productive of immortality" (iv. xxxviii. 3).
This ' seeing God ' has its complete realization when the Kingdom
comes in its completeness ; but even in this world it has much
fulfilment. It is the pure-minded, single-hearted man who is
best able to see God in His works, and to trace His counsels
in the course of history. His mind, like a mirror that is kept
clean and bright, is able to reflect the workings of Providence.
And it is he who is most frequently conscious of the presence of
God in himself. And, as to the final revelation, when ' God is
all in all ' (i Cor. xv. 28) ; if even another sovereign could sp?ak
with such enthusiasm of the happiness of those who stood
continually in the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom and
see his glory (i Kings x. 8), we may well believe that it 'has not
entered into the heart of man to conceive' (i Cor. ii. 9) what the.
blessedness will be. And there will be the progress of a con-
tinual action and reaction. Those who are admitted to the
Presence will see Him, because they are like Him, and they will
become more like Him, because they see Him. Assimilation is
the natural result of intimacy, and the intimacy must be begun
in this world, if it is to bear fruit in the next.
Clement of Alexandria {Strom. 11. xx. pp. 4S8, 9, ed. Potter)
quotes a fine passage from Valentinus, showing that this Gnostic
teacher used Mt. and delighted in the sixth Beatitude. " Now
One is good (Mt. xix. 17), whose revelation through His Son was
made openly, and through Him alone could the heart be made
pure, every evil spirit being thrust out from the heart. For
many spirits by dwelling in it do not allow it to be pure. And
methinks the heart is treated very much the same as a common
inn. For it has holes and gutters made in it, and is often filled
with filth, through men staying in it who have nasty ways, and
pay no respect to the place, because it belongs to some one else.
So fares it with the heart also, so long as it meets with no
respect, being impure and the home of many demons (Mt. xii.
44, 45). But when the Father who alone is good (Mt. xix. 17)
visits it, it is sanctified and beams with light. And so he is
blessed who has such a heart, for he shall see God " (Mt. v. 8).
Here it is clearly intimated that ' the pure ' docs not refer to external or
ceremonial purifications, and is not limited to abstention from impure acts.
68 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
The seventh Beatitude concludes the description of the ideal
Christian ; the remaining one describes the way in which he is
treated by the world. Here we return once more to the love ot
his fellow-men, which is conspicuous in the ' merciful ' of the
fifth Beatitude, and which is part of the meaning of the ' pure in
heart ' of the sixth.^ As to the connexion between the sixth and
the seventh, it is remarkable that we have the substance of them
in close proximity, but in the reverse order, in Heb. xii. 14 :
' Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification (dyiao-/Aos)
without which no man shall see the Lord.' The order here is
better. The sanctification comes first, and that in two ways.
The would-be peacemaker is hardly likely to be successful,
unless his own life is clean and his motives pure. Again,
sanctification must not be sacrificed, even in the sacred interests
of peace (see Westcott, adloc). The blessedness of peacemaking
is intelligible even to those who never try to win it, though the
office of peacemaker is often a thankless one. Hillel is reported
to have said, " Be ye of the disciples of Aaron, loving peace and
pursuing peace." In the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, which
was written not much, if at all, before this Gospel, there is a
remarkable passage somewhat similar to the Beatitudes,
especially as given in Lk. with parallel Woes. We have fourteen
aphorisms, seven of which begin "Blessed is," and seven,
" Cursed is " ; and they are placed alternately. The sixth pair
runs thus : " Blessed is he who establishes peace and love.
Cursed is he who troubles those who are at peace" (hi.
II, I2).2
The Messiah is the ' Prince of Peace,' and the Kingdom
which He came to found is a Kingdom of peace. All peace-
makers, therefore, are spreading His sovereignty and the rule of
the Father; and they 'shall be called sons of God,' for 'such
they are' (i Jn. iii. i). Called so, not by the world, which
perhaps will abuse them for uncalled-for interference, but by
God Himself and by His Son. The Messiah will 'give them
^ Origen includes among the peacemakers those who reconcile what
appears to be discordant in Scripture ; such a one vXtjOos elp-^vrjs /3X^7ret ei>
oXais TaFs ypacpais, Kal rals doKovaais Trepte'xff fJ-o-XV^ ""-^ evavriufiara Trpos
dXXT^Xas {Philocal. vi. i).
- In an earlier chapter (xlii. 6-14) are nine Beatitudes, which (like these
in Mt.) have no Woes or Curses ; but there is little resemblance with these.
"Blessed is he who has love upon his lips, and tenderness in his heart"
comes nearest. In the Talmud, Abaygeh says : " Let him be affable and
disposed to foster kindly feelings between all people ; by so doing he will
gain for himself the love both of the Creator and of His creatures." Cornelius
a Lapide tells of one Caspar Barzaus of Goa, who was so successful as a
peacemaker that the lawyers said that they would be starved, for he put a
stop to all litigation. Did they persecute him, and thus make a connexion
between the seventh Beatitude and the eighth ?
V. 3-12] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 69
the right to become children of God' (Jn. i. 12), and the
Father will recognize them as such, because they have striven
to make the contentious members of His family 'dwell together
in unity.' And this special title of 'sons of God' indicates one
of the ways in which peacemakers should work, viz. by trying to
reconcile each of the contending parties to God before trying to
reconcile them to one another. Men will often listen more
readily to what is set before them as their duty to God than
to what is urged upon them as due to those who have offended
them. And if the peacemaker is to be successful in reconciling
to God those who are at strife with one another, he must himself
be reconciled to God, and thus be at peace with himself. Peace-
making begins at home, in a man's own heart, and thence
spreads to the whole circle of God's family.
The first seven Beatitudes state the leading features of the
ideal Christian character as it is in itself, and these features
consist largely of the Christian's attitude towards God and
towards men. The ei^:;hth and last Beatitude deals with men's
attitude towards the Christian. That attitude will commonly be
one of hostility. ' Because ye are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hatcth you ' (Jn. xv. 19).
Men commonly dislike those whose principles differ greatly from
their own, and especially those whose principles are much higher
than their own. The righteous man is a standing reproach to
those who are not righteous, and it is exasperating to be con-
stantly reminded that one's life is not what it ought to be. The
true Christian is sure to be persecuted (by coldness, contempt,
and ridicule, if not by actual ill-usage) ; and when he has been
thus persecuted, this is another element of blessedness, in addition
to the many elements which are the results of his beautiful
character. Here then, as in the first three Beatitudes, we have a
highly paradoxical statement.^ Granted that it may be a happy
thing to long for righteousness, to be merciful, single-hearted, and
strivers after peace, to be told that it is a blessed thing to be
persecuted for well-doing is as startling as to be told that it is a
blessed thing to be meek and poor in spirit, and to mourn. But
those who have accepted the first seven Beatitudes are not likely
to take offence at the eighth. Those who mourn over the lack
of righteousness in themselves and in the world, — those who
hunger and thirst for the righteousness that is thus lacking, will
be ready to suffer persecution rather than let go, either the
' Christ purposely adopted paradoxical forms of ex|iression, to arrest
attention and to stimulate thought. Thus He says that to find one's life is
to lose it, and to lose one's life for His sake is to find it (x. 39 ; Mk. viii. 35 ;
Lk. xvii. 33 ; Jn. xii. 25). Self-seeking is self-destruction ; self-sacrifice is
self-preservation. He uses vivid, popular language, calculated to remain in
the memory.
70 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 3-12
righteousness which has been attained, or the hope of attaining
more ; and they may be assured that it is a blessed thing thus
to suffer. They have given one more proof that they are worthy
of admission to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The fact that the explanation of the blessedness in the last
Beatitude is the same as that in the first seems to intimate that
the possession of the Kingdom sums up all the other results in
the six intermediate Beatitudes.^ He who is admitted to the
fulness of the Kingdom, is comforted, inherits the earth, is filled
with righteousness, has obtained mercy, sees God, and is
welcomed as a son of God : ' I have called thee by thy name,
thou art Mine' (Is. xliii. i). It is no objection to this that the
result in the first and last Beatitudes is stated in the present
tense, whereas the results in the intervening six are in the future.
In the first and last Beatitude the ' is ' was probably absent from
the Aramaic original : * Blessed the poor, for theirs the Kingdom ' ;
' Blessed the persecuted, for theirs the Kingdom.' And seeing
that the Kingdom is partly present and partly future, the differ-
ence between ' is ' and * shall be ' is not great.
This last Beatitude does not mean that the ideal Christian
character cannot be attained without persecution. That would
make the wickedness of the unrighteous to be essential to the
perfection of the righteous. It means that, where the Christian
character provokes persecution (as, until God's rule is fully
established, it is sure to do), the Christian has an additional
opportunity of proving his sonship and his fitness for the
Kingdom. Jesus Himself suffered for righteousness' sake, and
those who take up His work, and would share His glory, must
not expect, and will not ask for, any other experience (Jn. xv.
18-20, xvii. 14, 15). It is persecution rather than prosperity
that promotes the well-being and progress of the Church. See
Cyprian, De Lapsis, 5-7 ; Eusebius, H. E. viii. i. 7.
The Beatitudes in Lk. are addressed to the disciples through-
out : 'Blessed are j'l? poor ; are r^ that weep,' etc. Only to the
disciples of Christ is actual poverty and sorrow of any kind sure
to be a blessing : but all men are the better for being meek,
merciful, and peacemakers. Here our Lord, having stated the
eight Beatitudes in their universal and more spiritual form,
passes on to apply the last Beatitude to the disciples, and to
explain it more fully. ' Blessed are ye when men shall reproach
^ Odava tanqiiani ad caput redit ; qina cojistimmatum pcrfectwiique
ostendit, the complete and perfect man has been set forth (Aug. De Serin.
Do/n. I. iv. 12). " In these separated blessings there is an implicit summons
to seek to complete the Christian character in all its aspects, to polish the
diamond on all its sides, that so on every side it may be capable of reflecting
that light of heaven which will on that side also fall upon it" (Trench,
Exp. of the Ser/n, 011 the Mount, p. I Si).
V. 13-16] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 71
you.' 'For My sake' is essential; it is equivalent to 'for
righteousness' sake ' in the preceding verse, and it belongs to
'reproach you' and 'persecute you,' as well as to 'say all manner
of evil against you falsely.' Here we have the form which
religious persecution commonly takes at the present time. The
cruelties of the arena and of the scaffold are in abeyance, but
reviling clamour and slanderous statements are still frequent ;
and those who suffer from them should remember these verses.
They may rejoice, for they will share the reward of the Prophets
and of Him who is greater than the Prophets.^
From slightly different points of view the next four verses
(13-16) might be grouped either with what precedes, as a con-
tinuation of the statement of the qualifications of those wl;o can
enter the Kingdom, or with what follows, as an introduction to
the duties of those who have entered the Kingdom. The former
arrangement seems better ; but in neither case is the connexion
very close. We may suspect that some words of the original
Sermon are omitted between verses 12 and 13, and again between
16 and 17. In these four verses the metaphors of salt and of
light are used to set forth certain necessary functions of the true
disciple. Lk. gives the salt-metaphor in a different connexion
(xiv. 34, 35) ; and, if the saying was uttered only once, his
arrangement seems more probable than that of Mt. But the
wording in Mt. may be nearer the original.
V. 13-16. The Christian Life as Salt and Light.
"There is nothing more useful than salt and sunshine," says
Pliny {N. II. xxxi. 9, 45, 102). Salt gives savour to food and
preserves from corruption. It makes food both more palatable
and more wholesome. The disciple whose life is shaped accord-
ing to the Beatitudes will make the Gospel both acceptable and
useful. But selfish and apostate disciples are worse than useless.
Many substances, when they become corrupt, are useful as
manure. Savourless salt is not even of this much use; it
cumbers the ground. "I saw large quantities of it literally
thrown into the street, to be trodden under foot of men and
beasts" (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 38i).2 Ministers that
' " When Jesus comforts them by reminding them that formerly the
Prophets fared no better than they, we see clearly with what class of men Me
ranks Himself. He is now the I'rophet of His people — a view in no sense
at variance with His secret conviction that He is the Messiah" (O. Holtzmann).
And as to the rejoicing, gaudium non solum affeclus est, sed etiain offuium
Christiani (Rengcl).
* The fact, if it be a fact, that pure salt cannot lose its savour, need cause
no difficulty. The salt in use in Palestine was not pure, and savourless salt
means the sail in common use, with the sodium chloride washed out of it.
'J2 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 13-16
have lost the spirit of devotion will never rescue the world from
corruption. Perhaps the connecting thought is, that Christians,
like the Prophets who saved Israel from corruption, must be
ready to suffer persecution. And in Jesus we have a Prophet
who dares to tell the group of unknown persons around Him
that they will be more than equal to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel ;
they will be as ready as these Prophets were to suffer for pro-
claiming the truth ; and they will recall, not one nation, but
many, from spiritual decay. But they must beware lest, instead
of preserving others, they themselves become tainted with rotten-
ness. The salt must be in close contact with that which it pre-
serves ; and too often, while Christians raise the morality of the
world, they allow their own morality to be lowered by the world.
If we assume that the sayings about salt and light (13, 14)
followed immediately after the sayings respecting the blessedness
of being persecuted for Christ's sake, especially in the case of the
Apostles, then the connexion in thought will be : Great indeed is
the blessedness, but great also is the responsibility. You can do
an immense amount of good to others ; but you can also do an
immense amount of harm. You can win a great reward ; but
you can also incur a heavy retribution. In Lk. xiv. 34, 35 the
saying about salt is addressed to the multitudes who flocked after
Him as if desiring to become disciples, and He warns them to
count the cost. In Mk. ix. 50 the saying is addressed to the
disciples, as here. See Latham, Pastor Fastorum, p. 360. It
is not probable that there is any special connexion between this
saying and the fourth Beatitude. "Salt excites thirst; so the
Apostles have excited a thirst for heavenly things." This is not
one of the good properties of salt, and if it lost this property, it
would hardly be less useful. The analogy is forced and fanciful.
Comp. rather Col. iv. 6 ; and for ' earth ' in the sense of the
inhabitants of the earth, ' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?' (Gen. xviii. 25). It is obvious that there can be no
thought here of salt as the cause of barrenness, an idea which is
not rare in the O.T. (Deut. xxix. 23; Job xxxix. 6; Jer. xvii. 6;
Ezek. xlvii. 1 1 ; Zeph. ii. 9). Sowing a city with salt (Judg.
ix. 45) may mean that the place was laid under a curse, salt
being used in religious rites (Lev. ii. 13 ; Ezek. xUii. 24).
' Wherewith shall the earth be salted ' (k, Luther) is of course
not the meaning.
This leads to the second metaphor.^ If the Christian must
1 With the pair of metaphors compare the parables of the Mustard Seed
and the Leaven (xiii. 31-33). Abbott suspects that Jn. viii. 12 alhides to
Mt. V. 14, and is meant to be a correction of it. In Mt. Christ says, ' Ye are
the light of the world,' in Jn. He says, '/ am the Light of the world.'
JoJiaiinine Vocabulary, 1748.
V. 13-16] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 73
live in the world, in order to save it from moral decay, he must
also live above it and aloof from it, like a light on a high place
illuminating far and wide. By his own life he will show what
true life is. In both metaphors the emphasis is on character ;
on what men are rather than on what they accomplish. Good
salt cannot help giving a wholesome savour. Unobscured light
cannot help shining. So also the man whose character reflects
the Beatitudes cannot help being a wholesome and illuminating
influence. Such a man cannot and will not isolate liimself : his
goodness will be infectious. Christian character is not individual
and selfish, but social and beneficent. To attend only to his
own soul is to lose savour and to obscure light. The light must
shine ' before men ' ; which is not the same thing as shining ' to
be seen of men.' Good influence is to be allowed free play ; not
for self-glorification, but for the glory of God.^ And influence
there will be, whether good or bad. Moreover, the world will
measure the value of the Gospel by it. l\Ien estimate the worth
of Christianity, not by the Beatitudes, not by the Sermon on the
Mount, but by the lives of the Christians whom they see and know.
In both metaphors there may be a reference to the last
Beatitude. It may be the fear of being laughed at and
persecuted that causes the disciple to cease to work against the
corruption of the world and to cease to make the Gospel
palatable ; and it may be the same fear that causes him to hide
the light of a Christian life and in the end to allow it to become
extinguished. Thus human society loses what might have
preserved and illuminated it, and it is left to decay in the dark.
The saying is as old as S. Chrysostom, that there would be no
more heathen, if Christians took care to be what they ought to
be ; or, as the same truth is sometimes expressed, if the Church
were for one day what it ought to be, the world would be
converted before nightfall.
With the metaphor of the light is joined that of 'a city set on
a hill'; and we thus have a triplet of metaphors. But the third
is not parallel to the other two, for it does not set forth a duty,
but states a fact. It is the duty of disciples to become as salt
and as light ; but they cannot help being as a city on a hill.
They may hide the goodness of their lives, or cease to have any
goodness to exercise, but they cannot hide their lives. For
good or for evil the life will be seen and will have influence.
^ The bushel' and Uhe lampstand' mean such as are usually
found in a house; comp. Mk. iv. 21, 22; Lk. xi. 33; and
contrast Lk. viii. 16, 17.
' Excepting Mk. xi. 25, the expression 'your F.-ilher which is in heaven'
is peculiar to Mt. anrl characteristic. It perhaps originated in Jewisji
Christianity (Dalnian, The Words of Jesus, pp. 184-19^^).
74 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
The Oxyrhynchus Logion vii. is little more than ver. 14 partly abbreviated
and partly expanded, and the expansion may have been suggested by vii.
24, 25. Kiyei 'ItjctoOj, 7r6Xts oiKodofj.T]fiivr) iir' &Kpov cpovs i/^t/XoO kclI
iarripiyixivT] ovre ireaelv duvarai ovre Kpv^TJvai, "Jesus saith, A city built
upon the top of a high hill and stablished can neither fall nor be hid." The
reading wKooofj.y]iJ.€vr] for KeifxevT) (Mt. v. 14) is supported by Syr-Sin. and
Syr-Cur. , Tatian and Hilary {(Bdijicata) ; and oiKoSop.-qfj.ivq without augment
is found in some MSS. and inscriptions. Grenfell and Hunt, A67ta 'l-qaov,
1897, p. 15; Lock and Sanday, Two Ledm-es on the 'Sayings of Jesus, ^
1897, p. 26.
As in many Other passages (iii. 15, v. 12, vi. 30, vii. 12, 17, etc.)
the ' so ' (ourcos) in ' So let your light shine before men ' may
refer to what precedes rather than to what follows. There seems
to be no example elsewhere of ourojs being used to anticipate
oTTws. The meaning probably is, ' In the same way as a well-
placed lamp lights every one in the house let your light shine
before men, so that they may see your good works.' But, what-
ever the construction may be, it is evident that it is conduct
that is insisted upon rather than preaching. No doubt 'your
good works' will cover preaching (Jn. x. 32), but it is the life
that is lived rather than the words that are spoken that Christ
emphasizes. Example is the best kind of teaching. Comp.
Jn. xiii. 35.
Here for the first time Mt. uses the expression, which is so frequent in his
Gospel, ' the Father who is in heaven' (6 Trarrjpo Iv rots ohpavoh), and which
occurs only once in Mk. (xi. 25). Comp. ' the heavenly Father ' (6 TrarT/p 6
oipa.vio%) which is frequent in I\It. (v. 48, vi. 14, 26, 32, xv. 13, xviii. 35,
xxiii. 9), and is found nowhere else. He often represents the Messiah as
saying 'your Father' (v. 16, 45, 48, vi. i, 14, 15, 26, etc.), 'thy Father'
(vi. 4, 6, 18), and 'My Father' (vii. 21, x. 32, 33, xi. 27, etc.), but never
' Our Father.' The Lord's Prayer (vi. 9) is not one in which the Lord
Himself joins. Even where Christ calls His disciples His brethren (xii. 49,
50), He does not say ' Our Father,' but ' My Father.'
V. 17-48. The Christian Life contrasted with the Jewish Ideal.
The general drift of this section is that the Christian ideal is
immeasurably higher than the Jewish. It excludes all degrees
of sin, even in thought and feeling, whereas the old ideal excluded
only acts, and only those acts which were specified as prohibited
by the Law. This higher principle is illustrated in respect to
murder (21-26), adultery (27-30), divorce (31, 32), oaths (33-37),
retaliation (38-42), love of others (43-47), and is summed up as
a law of perfection (48).
But, while the general drift is clear, it is not always easy to
reconcile the particular statements with one another, or with
other portions of the Sermon. That, however, need not perplex
US. We have to remember that we have not got the exact words
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 75
that Christ said, nor all the words that He said. We must also
remember that it was often His method to make wide-reaching
statements, and leave His hearers to find out the necessary
limitations and qualifications by thought and experience.
Ruskin has said that in teaching the principles of art he was
never satisfied until he had contradicted himself several times.
If verbal contradictions cannot be avoided in expounding
principles of art, is it likely that they can be avoided in setting
forth for all time and all nations the principles of morality and
religion ?
'Think not (comp. iii. 9, x. 34) that I came to destroy the
Law or the Prophets.' Such an expression implies that He
knew that there was danger of their thinking so, and possibly
that some had actually said this of Him.^ The Pharisees would
be sure to say it. He disregarded the oral tradition, which they
held to be equal in authority to the written Law ; and Pie inter-
preted the written Law according to its spirit, and not, as they
did, according to the rigid letter. He did not keep the weekly
fasts, nor observe the elaborated distinctions between clean and
unclean, and He consorted with outcasts and sinners. He
neglected the traditional modes of teaching, and preached in a
way of His own. Above all. He spoke as if He Himself were
an authority, independent of the Law. Even some of His own
followers may have been perplexed, and have thought that He
proposed to supersede the Law. They might suppose " that it
was the purpose of His mission simply to break down restraints,
to lift from men's shoulders the duties which they felt as burdens.
The law was full of commandments ; the Prophets were full of
rebukes and warnings. Might not the mild new Rabbi be
welcomed as one come to break down the Law and the Pro-
phets, and so lead the way to less exacting ways of hfe? This is
the delusion which our Lord set Himself to crush. The gospel
of the Kingdom was not a gospel of indulgence." 2 He was not
a fanatical revolutionary, but a Divine Restorer and Reformer.
This section of the Sermon is by some regarded as the theme
of the whole discourse. But this is not probable : much of the
Sermon has no direct relation to it. Lk., while giving so much
of the same or of a similar sermon, omits this section altogether,
' This is further evidence that the Sermon could not have been delivered
at the beginning of the ministry.
* \iori, Judaisizc Christianity, p. 15. The 'I came' (jf\K6ov) probably
implies the pre-existence of the Messiah, as also in x. 34 : compare vaptSdOr)
(xi. 27). ' The Law and the Prophets ' is a Jewish expression for the
Scriptures: vii. 12, xi. 13, xxii. 40; Lk. xvi. 16: comp. Lk. xvi. 29, 31,
xxiv. 44 ; Jn. i. 45. Christ here says ' the Law or the Prophets,' because
He might have upheld the one and rejected the other ; but He has not conig
to abolish either.
76 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
as of less interest for Gentiles. Could he have done so, had it
been the main subject ?
The first four verses (17-20) give the general principle of the
Messiah's relation to the Law: "not destruction, but fulfilment."
The remainder (21-48) give the illustrations. At the outset He
implies that He is the Coming One (6 ipxofievos) : ' Think not
that I came ' : and throughout He speaks with a calm assertion
of supreme authority, which impresses readers now, as it im-
pressed hearers then.^ He is evidently conscious of possessing
this supreme authority, and it manifests itself quite naturally, not
in studied phrases, but as the spontaneous expression of His .
habitual modes of thought. One who knew that He was the
Messiah, and was conscious of His own absolute righteousness,
would consistently, perhaps we may say, inevitably, speak in
some such way as this.^ Could any one else speak in this quiet
majestic way of ' fulfilling the Law,' or side by side with the Law
place His own declarations : ' But / say to youJ
It is not obvious at first sight what Christ means by ' fulfill-
ing (TrXfjpwcrai) the Law.' He does not mean taking the written
Law as it stands, and literally obeying it. That is what He con-
demns, not as wrong, but as wholly inadequate. He means
rather, starting with it as it stands, and bringing it on to
completeness; working out the spirit of it; getting at the
comprehensive principles which underlie the narrowness of the
letter. These the Messiah sets forth as the essence of the
revelation made by God through the Law and the Prophets.
Through them He has revealed His will, and it is impossible
that His Son should attempt to pull down or undo (KaraXvaat)
this revelation of the Father's will, or that His will, in the small-
est particular, should fail of fulfilment.^ Not until the whole of
the Divine purpose has been accomplished (ews av -Travra
yev7]TaL), can the smallest expression of the Divine will be
abolished. And he who prematurely relaxes the hold (Xvay)
which one of these minor enactments has on the conscience,
will be the worse for it. He will not be expelled from the
^ It was a rabbinical principle that some authority must confirm the
dictum of every teacher, the authority either of some previous teacher or of
the Torah interpreted according to rule. No teacher must base his teaching
simply on his own authority : that Jesus did this was one of the grievances
against Him (Herford, Christianity in Tah)nid and Midrash, pp. 9, 151).
" See Steinbeck, IDas g'dttliclie Selbsbewiisstsein Jesii nach dem Zeiigniss
der Synoptilcer, Leipzig, 1908, p. 21. "There are none of our Lord's
sayings which bear a stronger mark of genuineness than those in which He
criticises and enlarges the Mosaic precepts" (Salmon, Htiman Element,
p. 120).
^ Here for the first time the solemn ' Verily ' ( kix-qv) is used in this
Gospel. With the whole verse comp. Lk. xvi. 17, which is in quite a differ-
ent connexion. ' Kix.r\v \iy03 occurs 30 times in Mt., 13 in Mk,, and 6 in Lk.
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 'J'J
Kingdom, but his place in it will be less glorious and less secure ;
for he is unable to appreciate the relation of small parts to the
whole, and, although loyal to the whole, he has, in this particular,
been weakening its authority.^ But there is a niucli worse error
than undervaluing this or that detail of what makes for righteous-
ness. There is the error of misconceiving and misinterpreting
the very nature of righteousness. This was the error of the
Scribes and Pharisees, and it is fatal ; it excludes from the
Kingdom.
Our Lord is not here alluding to the hypocritical professions
of the Scribes and Pharisees ; nor to their sophistical evasions of
the Law. We are to think of them rather at their best ; as care-
fully preserving in writing and in memory the words of the Law
and of the oral tradition ; as scrupulously observing the exact
letter of them ; and as supposing that this punctiliousness
is righteousness.^ Those who can suppose that by formal
obedience to definite precepts they fulfil the will of God and
do all that is required of them, do not know the barest elements
of what is required for admission into the Kingdom. They
know nothing of that inward holiness, the chief characteristics
of which have just been set forth in the Beatitudes. They have
been in closest contact with the expression of God's will, and
yet have never discovered, or wished to discover, the true mean-
ing of the expression. It is not the Law or the Prophets that
Jesus proposes to abolish, but the traditional misinterpretations
of these authorities. To destroy these misinterpretations is to
open the way for the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets ;
and He thus substitutes free development of spiritual character
for servile obedience to oppressive rules.
The first illustration of the contrast between the Christian
life and the Jewish ideal is taken from the sixth commandment
(21-26). There are six illustrations in all, grouped in two
triplets, which are marked off from one another by the 'Again'
(TTaAtr) in ver. 33. Six times in succession does our Lord use the
magisterial ' But / say to you ' in correction of what had been
said to an earlier generation (22, 28, 32; 34, 39, 44). The
first triplet refers to the Decalogue, the question of divorce
* We have here another of the remarkable parallels between IMt. and the
Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs : llaj 5j fie oiodcrKei Ka\a Kal irpdrTei,
avvdpovos iarai 8a<ji\iu)v (Levi xiii. 9). See Charles, p. Ixxx. For \veiv in
the sense of ' do away with,' ' destroy,' comp. Trotijaw 'Kvdrivai (TKrjirTpov
dfi'Ttpov T(f 'lo-poijX, ** cause a second tribe to be destroyed for Israel "
(Dtin i. 9).
*"The Scribes were the trained iheolof^ians of Israel, the Pharisees
were the religious world of Israel. They therefore represented that element
in the Jewish people with which a religious Teacher might have been ex-
pected to be in harmony" (Burkitl, TAe Gosp. Hist, and its Transmission ^
p. 169).
78 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
being connected with the seventh commandment ; the second
triplet refers to other rules which are prescribed in the
Pentateuch.
'Ye have heard that it was said' (21, 27, ^;^, 38, 43);^ not,
'Ye have seen that it was written.' Christ is addressing an
illiterate crowd, most of whom can neither read nor write ;
consequently their knowledge of the Law comes from public
instruction in the synagogues, where the letter of the Law-
was faithfully read, but the spirit of it frequently missed or
obscured. It was quite right that whoever committed murder
should be liable to prosecution; but they ought to have been
taught more than this. The command, 'Thou shalt not kill,'
is based on the principle, 'Thou shalt not hate,' and that
again on the principle, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself (Lev. xix. 18, 34). 'Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer' (1 Jn. iii. 15), and in the eye of the Divine
justice he is liable to the same punishment as the actual
murderer ; 2 where ' brother ' is to be understood in its widest
sense as any member of God's family (vii. 3-5, xviii. 15, 21).
Christ leaves the old commandment standing; but on His own
authority He adds what is equally binding with it and ought
to be regarded as included in the spirit of it.
' Without cause ' {elKrj, sine causa) after ' angry with his brother ' may be
an explanatory gloss which has found its way into a large number of the
less authoritative texts. It is as old as the second century (D, Lat-Vet. Syrr.
Iren.) ; but it is more likely that it was inserted as an obvious qualification
than that it was omitted (K B and MSS. known to Jerome and Augustine, Vulg.
Aeth., Justin. Tert.) because it was superfluous. The qualification 'falsely'
{^evdofievoi.) in c'. II might seem to justify a similar qualification here. The
evidence of Irenceus is not certain. The Latin translator or a scribe may
have inserted the sine caussa I v. xiii. i, for, when Irenoeus comments on
the text § 3, he omits the qualification.
The remainder of ver. 22 is difficult. It is possible that the
report has been so condensed as to be obscure, or that sayings
which belong to a different occasion have been inserted here.
The paragraph makes excellent sense if the sayings about
'Raca' and 'Fool' are omitted, and also if vv. 25, 26 are
omitted. Taking the text of ver. 22 as it stands, we have a
climax in the penalties : those of the local court, those of the
1 This introductory formula occurs five times ; so that Mt. has a group of
five side by side with two groups of three. When He is addressing the
educated classes, Pharisees or Scribes or Sadducees, Christ says, ' Have ye
not readl'' (xii. 3, 5, xix. 4, xxi. 16, 42, xxii. 31).
- We find this idea in the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs : " Fearing lest
he should offend the Lord, he willeth not to do wrong to any man, even in
thought" ; ov 9i\ei rb Ka66\ov ovd^ etos ivvolas aOLKriaai dvOpuirov {Gad v. 5).
And again : "As love would quicken even the dead, so hatred would slay
the living" {Gad iv. 6). Odiiiin est ira iitveterala.
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 79
supreine court at Jerusalem (the Sanhcdriii), and those of God's
final judgment. We assume that there must be a similar climax
in the offences, which may be expressed thus : unexpressed
hatred, expressed contempt, and expressed abuse, liut it is
by no means certain that * Thou fool ' ()u.wpe) is a stronger term
of abuse than ' Raca' : it may be a translation of it. Our Lord
Himself uses the word of the foolish builder (vii. 26) and of
the foolish virgins (xxv. 2, 3, 8), and S. Paul uses its equivalent
in rebuking the Galatians (iii. 1). The very word 'Raca' is a
puzzle as regards orthography, derivation, and use (see Nestle in
DCG.). But, assuming that 'Thou fool' is much worse than
' Raca,' it cannot be meant that while the Sanhedrin can impose
sutiicient penalty for the one, nothing less than the fires of
Gehenna would suffice for the other.^ It is doubtful whether
^he Sanhedrin would regard the utterance of ' Raca ' as an
oftence at all ; and certainly our Lord is not condemning all
use of the word ' fool,' or all use of strong language (xii. 34, 39,
xvi. 23, xxiii. 13-35)-
Possibly Christ is ironically imitating the casuistical distinc-
tions drawn by the Rabbis, and at the same time is teaching
that all degrees of hatred and contempt, whether expressed or
not, are sinful and are liable to (Ifoxos) condemnation by man
and by God, who alone can judge of the feeling and malevolent
intention in the heart.^ This point is enforced by a striking
illustration. To obey the law of love is better than sacrifice ;
therefore postpone sacrifice rather than postpone reconciliation.
Suppose that a man with feelings of enmity in his heart has
actually come to the altar in the Temple with his offering. He
must not offer it until he has got rid of his bad feelings and
done his best to make peace with the brother who, rightly or
wrongly, is offended with him. One who hates the children
of God will not be accepted as His child by the heavenly
Father, and it is peacemakers who have a special right to be
regarded as His children (q).^ See Tert. De Orat. 11.
1 ' Gehenna,' as a place of future punishment, is frequent in Mt. (v. 22,
29, 30, X. 28, xviii. 9, xxiii. 15, 33) ; in Mk. thrice ; in Lk., Jas., 2 I'et.
once each. For the important difference between 'Gehenna' and 'Madcs,'
the obliteration of which is one of the most serious defects in the AV., see
commentaries, DB. and DCG.
* Our Lord cannot mean that one who cherishes angry feelings may be
prosecuted : who is to know ? He means that to cherish such feelings is a
kind of murder, and merits the like penalty. Occidisti quern odisti.
3 The change of construction from ^foxot ttJ a:, and tc^" a. to iU r\v 7. t. ir.
should be noted. It seems to indicate the diflerence between liable to prose-
cution and liable to punishment ; between being brought before the court and
being cast into Gehenna.
The pres. subj. ih.v ■Kpoa<l>ip-Q% means, 'if thou art in the act of offering' ;
comp. XV. 14. See Cambridge Biblical Essays, p. 189.
80 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
We may suspect that the next two verses (25, 26) are no
part of the original Sermon, but come from some other context
(Lk. xii. 58). They seem to introduce a new and not wholly
harmonious thought. The previous case teaches a man to be
reconciled to his fellow-man, because God forbids enmity.
This case teaches a man to be reconciled to his adversary,
because the adversary may put him in prison. But, taking the
verses as they are placed here, we may say that they contain a
parable to enforce one of the lessons of the previous illustration,
viz. that no time must be lost. The connecting link is 'quickly'
(raxv). Enmity is hateful to God, therefore put an end to it
without delay. The offended brother may die, or you may die ;
and if you both live, the enmity is likely to become more intense ;
in either case there is a disastrous conclusion. Possibly the
parable means no more than this : one cannot be too speedy
in putting an end to bad feeling. And if so, that is the whole
moral of the parable. But if ' the adversary ' is to be interpreted,
it would seem to mean, not the offended brother, but the
offended Father, who has become hostile to one who persists
in violating His law of love.^ The solemn warning, 'till thou
have paid the last farthing,' points to this ; for any interpretation
of it as referring to earthly penalties and the evils of litigation
seems to be inadequate. Thus interpreted the parable says,
" Beware of persisting in conduct which must expose you to the
action of Him who is at once Prosecutor, Witness, Judge, and
the Executor of the judgment." Nothing is said about the
possibility or impossibility of payment being made in prison :
see on iii. 12. The wise and right thing to do is to be recon-
ciled before being prosecuted. The passage is highly meta-
phorical, and metaphors must not be pressed.
The second illustration of the contrast between the Christian
life and the Jewish ideal is taken from t/ie sevetiih conwmndment
(2 7-3o).2 This commandment, especially when supplemented
by the tenth, protected the sanctity of marriage and the peace
of married life. But the Messiah, while confirming this, again
sets His own standard of purity beside the old one, and intimates
that His standard is the true spirit of the old commandments.
To abstain from even wishing to possess one's neighbour's wife
is far from being enough. To lust after her, or any woman, is
^ "The born are to die, and the dead to revive, and the living to be
judged ; that it may be known that He is the Discerner, and He the Judge,
and He the Witness, and He the Adversary, and that He is about to judge
with whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons"
{Pinje Aboth, iv. 31).
- We have here another parallel (see on v. 19) with the Testaments of
the Xn. Patriarchs : '0 'ix'^v hi6.voi(kv t;a9apav iv dydTrrj 01% opq. yvvaiKa eis
iropvdav {Benj. viii, 2 /3). See Charles, p. Ixxix.
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 8l
a breach of the commandment. Not only is social purily
binding on both the married and the unmarried, whether male
or female, but purity of heart (S) is absolutely indispensable
for admission to the Kingdom. So indispensable is it, that no
sacrifice ought to be regarded as too great, if it is the only
means of securing the necessary cleanness of thought and will.i
On the analogy of the right hand, the right eye was regarded
as the better of the two (i Sam. xi. 2; Zech. xi. 17), and the
right hand and eye are among the most valuable members
that could be sacrificed without causing death ; they therefore
signify what is most precious. Like the passage about the
adversary (25, 26), these verses (29, 30) are highly figurative,
and we must once more be cautious about drawing inferences
from metaphors. The actual sacrifice of eye or hand would do
little towards securing purity ; and it is not safe to argue from
what is said here to the belief that there must be physical
pains in Gehenna. The 'eye' and 'hand' are figurative,
and therefore the 'whole body' is figurative. See notes on
xviii. 8, 9.
The third illustration of the superiority of the Christian ideal
to the Jewish is taken from the question of divorce (31, 32).
As being a subject connected with the preceding illustration it
comes not inappropriately here, but we may doubt whether it
was part of the original Sermon. The substance of it, partly in
the same words, is found again xix. 3-9 ; but in neither place
does it, according to the existing texts, show that Christ's teaching
about divorce was superior to that of the stricter Jewish teachers.
There is grave reason for doubting whether Christ, either in the
Sermon or elsewhere, ever taught that divorce is allowable when
the wife has committed adultery. That Tropveta here and xix. 9
means adultery (Hos. ii. 5 ; Amos vii. 17) is clear from the
context. According to the earliest evidence (Mk. x. 1-12),
which is confirmed by Lk. xvi. 18, Christ declared that Moses
allowed divorce as a concession to a low condition of society.
But there was an earlier marriage law, of Divine authority,
according to which the marriage tie was indissoluble. To this
Divine law men ought to return. Teaching such as this is
entirely in harmony with the teaching about murder (21-24) and
about adultery (27, 28), and is above the level of the best Jewish
teaching. But what is given here (31, 32) and in xix. 9 is not
above that level. The stricter Rabbis taught that the ' unseemly
thing ' (aa-xrjfJiov irpayfrn — impudicuin negotium^ TertuUian) which
* These verses have no parallel in Lk. "It seems to me probable that
Luke the Physician preferred to leave out the metaphor of amputation"
(Burkitt, The Gospel History and its Transmission, p. 159). But Lk. also
omits the paragraphs about murder and swearing.
6
83 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
justified divorce (Deut. xxiv. i) was adultery: and, according
to Mt., Christ said the same thing. Nothing short of adultery
justified divorce, but adultery did justify it. It is very improbable
that Christ did teach this. If we want His true teaching we must
go to Mk. and Lk., according to whom He declared the indis-
solubility of the marriage bond. He told His disciples that the
remarriage of either partner, while the other is living, is adultery.^
But it is a violent hypothesis to assume (in the face of all
external evidence) that ' except on account of fornication ' is a
later interpolation by early scribes (Wright, Synopsis of the Gospels
in Greek, p. 99). If the interpolation had not already been made
in the Jewish-Christian authority which Mt. used, then we must
attribute the interpolation to the Evangelist himself. It is clear
from other cases that he treated his authorities with freedom, and
he may have felt confident that Christ, while forbidding divorce
on any other ground, did not mean to forbid it in the case of
adultery. 2 Yet, even on the Evangelist's authority, we can
hardly believe that our Lord, after setting aside the Mosaic
enactment as an accommodation to low morality, should Himself
have sanctioned what it allowed. Mark would have no motive
for omitting the exception, if Christ had made it; but there
would be an obvious motive for a Jewish-Christian to insert it,
as meant, though not reported.
The fourth illustration is on the subject oi oaths (33-37) ; and
it is more Uke the passage on divorce than those on murder and
adultery. In the cases of murder and adultery Christ interprets
the Law, and shows how much more ground it covers than
the Rabbis supposed. In the cases of divorce and oaths Christ
simply opposes Jewish tradition. The Law said that promises
to Jehovah, whether oaths or not, must be kept : a man ' must
do according to all that goeth forth from his mouth' (Num.
XXX. 2 ; see Gray, ad loc. ; also Barton on Eccles. v. 4). The Jews
held that only oaths need be kept, and not all of them ; only
certain forms of swearing were binding. Christ says that such
distinctions are iniquitous; all oaths. are binding. But no oaths
ought to be used, because a man's word ought to be enough.
Oaths and other strong statements have come into use, because
^ Augustine's view is this: soUits fornicaiio)iis causa licet nxorcm aditl-
teram dimittere, sed ilta vivente non licet alteram ducere ; but he is not
satisfied w-th any solution of the difficult question. Yet he would use Mk.
and Lk. to explain Mt. Qtiod subobscure apud Matthaitm positiim est, ex-
positum est apud alios, sictU legitiir apud Marcum et apud Lucani. Tertullian
is very decided for this view (Adv. Man. iv. 34).
- See Allen, ad. loc, and art. on ' Divorce' in Hastings' DCG.., Driver on
Deut. xxiv. I and' Marriage' in Hastings' DB. ; Edersheim, Life and Times,
ii. pp. 331 ff. ; Luckock, History of Marriage; Watkins, Holy Matrijnony;
Loisy, Le Discours sur La Montague, pp. 56-61 ; Wright, Synopsis, 99.
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 83
men are so often liars ; but it is a grievous error to suppose that
a lie is not sinful, unless it is sworn to. The Jew went beyond
even this, and held that perjury was not sinful, unless the oath
was taken in a particular form (xxiii. 16-22). False swearing
was specially common among the Jews of the Dispersion engaged
in trade (Martial, xi. 94); and hence the charge given by S.
James (v. 12), in a passage which strongly resembles this. So
great had the evil become that the Talmud raises the question
whether ' Yes ' and ' No ' are not as binding as oaths : and it
decides that they are, if they are repeated, as here. Christ does
not say that anything stronger than 'Yea, yea' is sinful, but that
it is, or comes, of what is eviV viz. the prevalence of untruthful-
ness. In the Kingdom God's rule prevails, and all speak the
truth : oaths would be a senseless profanity. In this world,
while falsehood remains so common, specially solemn statements
may sometimes be necessary, and therefore are permissible. God
Himself had at times recognized this necessity (Lk. i. 73; Acts
ii. 30; Heb. iii. 11, 18, iv. 3, vi. 13-18, vii. 20, 21); and so
did Jesus, when He responded to the adjuration of the high
priest (xxvi. 63). Moreover, He frequently strengthened His
utterances with ' Verily I say unto you ' ; and Origen remarks
that Christ's 'A/i7;v was an oath. It would seem from passages
in Philo and from the Book of the Secrets of Enoch (xlix. i)
that teaching similar to what we have here was not uncommon
among the Jews. The latter passage runs : " For I swear to you,
my children, but I will not swear by a single oath, neither by
heaven, nor by earth, nor by any other creature which God made.
God said : There is no swearing in Me, nor injustice, but truth.
If there is no truth in men, let them swear by a word. Yea, yea,
or Nay, nay. But I swear to you, Yea, yea." Passages from
Philo are quoted by Charles, ad loc. But it is not probable that
Christ meant absolutely to forbid all swearing for any purpose
whatever. It is provided for in the Law. It is expressly com-
manded, 'Thou shalt swear by His Name' (Deut. vi. 13, x. 20).
To swear by idols representing Jehovah (Am. viii. 14) or by
]jaal (Jer. xii. 16) is wrong ; but to swear truthfully iii the Name
of Jehovah brings a blessing (Jer. iv. 2, xii. 16). Indeed, 'every
one that sweareth by Him shall be commended' or 'shall glory'
(Ps. Ixiii. 11). Christ would not forbid this.
Jewish casuists sometimes taught that it was oaths in which
the Divine Name, or some portion of it, was mentioned that were
binding ; other oaths were less stringent or not binding at all ;
and the oaths which Christ takes as examples here are such as
' ' Is of the evil one ' (RV.) makes good sense, but is less probable. Some
who adopt the neuter explain the ' evil ' as meaning that an oath implies that
one is not bound to speak the truth unless one swears to one's statement.
84 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
do not name God. These were, therefore, just such oaths as
many Jews took and broke without scruple. This light taking
of oaths, even when there is no false swearing, Christ absolutely
forbids.^ Thus, as in the previous cases. He confirms the letter
of the Law, but explains and expands the spirit of it. The Law
said, 'Ye shall not swear by My Name falsely' (Lev. xix. 12),
and Christ points out that the way to avoid false swearing is to
be content with simple affirmations and negations. He cannot
be admitted to the Kingdom in which truth reigns who holds
that he need not speak truth, unless he confirms his word with
an oath. The absence of an oath in no way lessens the obliga-
tion to speak the truth.
It is an interesting question whether S. James (v. 12) has not preserved
our Lord's words more accurately than Mt. does here. ' But let your Yea
be Yea, and your Nay, Nay' (r;Vw 5^ vi.lQiv to vai vai, Kal t6 06 01"). A
number of early writers, who possibly did not know the Epistle of James,
nevertheless agree with his wording in inserting the article before vai and
of}. So Just. Jpol. i. 16 ; C/em. Horn. iii. 55, xix. 2 ; Epiph. Har.
xix. 6. Comp. Clem. Alex. Strom, vii. 8 (a valuable commentary on the
passage, showing that the true Christian is so addicted to truth that he does
not need an oath) and vii. 11 (where he has the article with vat, but not with
ov). The difference between the two forms of wording seems to be this.
' Let your speech be, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay ; and whatsoever is more than
this is of evil ' may mean, ' Be content with simply affirming and denying :
oaths imply untrustworthiness on one side and distrust on the other.' ' Let
your Yea be a Yea, and your Nay a Nay ; that ye fall not under judgment'
appears to mean, ' Be straightforward ; do not shuffle and try to say both
Yes and No, or Yes to-day and No to-morrow. Then you will have no need
of an oath, and will be guiltless before God and man.' It is possible to
bring Jas. v. 12 into harmony with Mt. v. 37 by translating, ' Let yours be
the Yea, yea and the Nay, nay' (see \VH. text and RV. margin) ; but the
usual translation is simpler and more probable. See J. B. Mayor on Jas.
V. 12, p. 155, and Knowling, pp. 135, 153; also Zahn on Mt. v. 37, pp.
244-246, and Dalman, Words, pp. 206, 227. For Jewish condemnation of
swearing see Ecclus. xxiii. 9-1 1, and comp. Eccles. ix. 2; but in the latter
passage ' he that feareth an oath ' may mean the man who is afraid to swear
to what he says, because he knows that it is false. In the other pairs in the
series the good is placed first.
The fifth illustration of the superiority of the Christian ideal
is taken {3S-42) from the law of retaliation, which was affirmed
Ex. xxi. 23-25; Lev. xxi. 17-21; Deut. xix. 18-21. Neverthe-
less, the spirit of revenge was forbidden (Lev. xix. 18; Prov.
XX, 22, xxiv. 29); vengeance belongs to God (Deut. xxxii. 35;
Ps. xciv. i) ; and the ' meekness ' of ]\Ioses was praised (Num.
xii. 3), where the meaning of not resenting injuries seems to be
implied; comp. Prov. xx. 22; Lam. iii, 30, But the Jews too
^ Josephus [B. J. II, viii, 6, 7) says that the Essenes regarded their word
as stronger than an oath, and that they avoided swearing as worse than
perjury. Yet in the next section he says that those who became Essenes were
required to take tremendous oaths \fipKov% 0/)tKw5eij).
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 85
often remembered the letter of the Law and thought little of the
necessary limitations. Nevertheless such a passage as Ecclus.
xxviii. 1-7 shows that some thoughtful Jews felt that the principle
of retaliation was out of harmony with the other principle of
loving one's neighbour as oneself (Lev. xix. iS). And there
are passages in the Testaments of the XIL Patriarchs which
give similar evidence {Gcid v. 5, vi. 3, 6).^
But the lex talioiiis is too much in harmony with natural
feelings of vengeance and man's rough ideas of justice not to
be very prevalent. And in a primitive state of society it is
beneficial, as restricting the wildness of revenge. If a wrong-
doer must " have as good as he gave," it is best that the law
should intlict it. Ex. xxi. 24, which Christ here quotes, is
thought to belong to the oldest part of Jewish law, the Book
of the Covenant. And the kx talionis is found in the Code
of Hammurabi. " If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman's
eye, one shall cause his eye to be lost. If a man has made the
tooth of a man that is his equal to fall out, one shall make his
tooth fall out. If a man has struck a gentleman's daughter and
... if that woman has died, one shall put to death his daughter.
If a builder has caused the son of the owner of the house to
die, one shall put to death the son of that builder" (§§ 196, 200,
210, 230). See also Monier-Williams, Indian JVisdom, p. 273.
Just as Christ condemned the casuistry of the Scribes as to
what oaths were binding and what not, and charged His disciples
to be content with simple affirmations and denials, so here He
condemns a similar casuistry as to what penalties should be
exacted for what injuries, and charges His disciples to be
content to receive injuries without taking vengeance. But, as
in the one case we need not suppose that He forbade the use
of specially solemn affirmations, when (the world being what
it is) something more than a man's word is necessary, so in
this case we cannot suppose that He condemned the laws
which (the world being what it is) are necessary for the pre-
servation of society. What He condemns is, not the prosecution
of those who are guilty of robbery and violence, but the spirit
of revenge.2 The law of the Kingdom is not selfishness, but love.
' We may compare the well-known story of Pericles, who allowed a man
to abuse him all tlay long and all the w.iy home, and then sent his serA'ant
to light the man back to his house (Plutarch, Per. 5). Phocion, when he
was condemned to death, was asked what message he had to send to his son
Phocus, replied : "Only that he bear no grudge against the Athenians," for
putting him to death.
' Posse peccatum atiiore f otitis vindicari, quam impunittim reh'nrjifi {Awg.
De Servi. Dom. I. xx. 62). Plurimum interest quo aninio qiiisqtie parcat.
Siiiit euim est aliquando misericordia puniens, ita el crudeiitas parcens
(^A 153)-
86 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
Therefore, in causing transgressors to be punished, those who
have been injured by them must have no feeHng of revenge.
They ought to be fulfilling a sad duty, not gratifying angry
feeling. So far as their own personal feeling is concerned, they
ought to be quite ready that the injury should be repeated.
"Why are we angry?" asks Epictetus {Discourses, i. i8). "Is
it because we value so much the things of which these men rob
us? Do not admire your clothes, and then you will not be
angry with the thieves. They are mistaken about good and
evil. Ought we then to be angry with them, or to pity them ? "
' Resist not evil, or the evil man,' says our Lord ; ^ and His
Apostle shows why this is right; because 'love suffereth long
and endureth all things' (i Cor. xiii. 4, 7). Where resistance
is a duty for the sake of others and for the evil-doer himself,
it must be done in the spirit of love, not of anger and revenge
(see Cyprian, De botio patientice).
And there are cases in which the injured person is under
no obligation to prosecute, and in which the abstention from
retaliation is a telling rebuke, more likely to bring the wrong-
doer to repentance than any penalty would be. Resistance can
only subdue, gentleness may convert; it is the spirit of the
martyrs, and martyrs have often touched the hearts of their
executioners (Pere X)\Aox\, Jesus Christ, p. 358).^
Our Lord gives five examples : assault, lawsuit, impressment,
begging, and borrowing. They are all figurative. They do not
give rules for action, but indicate temper. To interpret them as
rules to be kept Hterally in the cases specified is to make our
Lord's teaching a laughing-stock to the common sense of the
world. Are we to surrender our property to any one who
claims it, and to give to every beggar, thus encouraging fraud
and idleness ? No ; but we oiight to be ready to give to all
who are in need, and our reason for refusing to give must
not be that we prefer to keep all that we have got. See notes
on Lk. vi. 27-31 in the Int. Crit. Commentary, and Deissmann,
Bible Studies, p. 86. As Augustine points out, we are not told
to give everything that is asked for, but to every one who asks.
We may give him a wholesome word, or may pray for him.
1 ry TTovrjpu is probably neuter : if it were masculine it would mean Satan
rather than an evil man.
- Comp. the story of the thief bringing back Gichtel's cloak, when the
latter called out to him that he might have his coat as well (Hase, Gescliichte^
Jcsii, p. 501). With ry ahovvTi ae d6s comp. Trapix'^re iravrl dz'^pwTrw iv dyady
Kapoia (Testament of Zebulon, vii. 2 ; Charles, p. Ixxx) ; also, Ik^ttiv e\LJ36/j.€i>ou
fjLT] aTravalvov, Kal p-T] airodTp^^ris to irp6<jiOTr6v gov d-rrb ttt^xo^' """^ deopJvov
fXT] diroaTpi^jyos ocpdaXfidv, Kal fxr] 5ys tottov dvBpihwi^ KaTapdaaadal ere (Ecclus.
iv. 4, 5, xxix. 2); also, "Be pliant of disposition and yielding to impress-
ment" {Firje Aboth, iii. 18).
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 87
Christ did not consent when He was asked to interfere about
the inheritance ; but He gave a wholesome rebuke and warning
(Lk. xii. 13-15).
The sixth illustration of the contrast between the Messiah's
teaching and that of the Jews is taken (43-47) from the law of
hrce. 'Ihe Jews regarded the obligation to love one's neighbour
(Lev. xix. 18) as binding ; but they asked, Who is my neighbour?
And they raised this question, not in order to extend the circle
of those whom they were to love, but in order to see who it was
that they were not bound to love, and therefore were free to
hate. They were bound to love, but only within their own
nation. No Gentile was a 'neighbour.' In Ecclus. xviii. 13,
where the limitless character of the Divine mercy is contrasted
with the limitations of human mercy, 'neighbour' appears to
mean Israelite, and perhaps not even all who are such. And,
although the words 'hate thine enemy' are not in the O.T.,
yet the spirit of them might seem to be there. 'Thou shalt
not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of
thy people' (Lev. xix. iS) might easily suggest that vengeance on
foreigners was permitted, if not enjoined ; and the treatment
decreed for Ammonites, Moabites, and Amalekites (Deut. xxiii. 3,
XXV. 19; Ezra ix. i, 12; Neh. xiii. i, 2; Ex. xvii. 14) would
encourage this view. The stringent separation between Israel
and all heathen nations which was insisted upon of necessity,
to avoid the contamination of idolatrous immorality, would
readily confirm the belief that the loyal servant of Jehovah was
bound to hate all who were both God's enemies and his own ;
and it was convenient to assume that his own enemies were
God's enemies also. To this day, racial distinctions, even
within the same commonwealth, are among the gravest causes
of strife and bloodshed. See J. B. Mozley, Lectures on the O.T.
pp. 180-200.
The Jews themselves sometimes rose above this feeling
(Job xxxi. 29 ; Prov. xvii. 5, xxiv. 29; Ps. vii. 4, 5, xxxv. 12-14).
An enemy's beast was to be helped (Ex. xxiii. 4, 5), and some
taught that if both an enemy and a friend were in need, the
enemy was to be helped first, in order to conquer bad feeling.
The Book of the Secrets of Enoch says : "When you might have
vengeance, do not repay, either your neighbour or your enemy "
(1. 4). Our Lord enlarged the meaning of 'neighbour,' and
narrowed that of 'enemy,' by abolishing the element of race-
distinction from both. 'Neighbour' embraces every human
being; 'enemy' includes no one but those who persecute the
followers of Christ for their righteousness (10-12). And the
way to treat such enemies as these is to pray for them.
•'He who can pray for his enemies can do anything for
88 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [V. 17-48
them." 1 Thus, as in the other cases, Christ does not set up a
new commandment in opposition to the old : He shows that
what looks like a new commandment is really contained in the
old, when it is rightly understood. ' Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bour as thyself ' covers everything, when 'neighbour' is rightly
understood ; for a man does not cease to be a neighbour or a
brother because he has become hostile. A true son of God (45)
recognizes even the most erring of his fellow-men as still mem-
bers of the same family. From this it follows that what is the
supreme mark of affection — love and loving prayer, is to be
given to the most noxious of opponents — religious persecutors.^
' Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you.'
That is a severe test of loyalty ; and Christ at once proceeds
to justify it by the example of God Himself (45, 48). He rains
His benefits on His worst opponents, who are still His children,
although greatly erring ; and they must not be hated by His
other children. 'An eye for an eye' is a low principle, but
hatred for hatred is diabolical. Good-will must not allow itself
to be checked by ill-will ; and the man who regards forgiveness
as weakness can hardly be sincere in asking God to forgive him.
It is the birthright of God's children to be peacemakers (9),
and peacemakers do not feel enmity. They show their parentage
by their moral resemblance to the God who is Love (ottws
yivrja-Oe vioi).^ See Montefiore, pp. 525 f.
From this follows the law of perfection (48) with which this
section of the Sermon ends. ^Ye therefore shall be perfect.'
There is strong emphasis on the ' Ye ' (eo-eade ovv lujaets riXeioi),
as compared with the toll-collectors and the heathen, on whom
the claims of love are less. The future tense is equivalent to
a command, but implies perhaps that, as true sons of such a
Father, they are sure to imitate Him ; and to imitate Him in
loving enemies, for the majority of mankind are His enemies.
Yes, 'perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.' The ideal
is stupendous, and it allows for continual progress both in time
and in eternity. Life both in this world and in the other is
growth, and this law of perfection provides for infinite moral
^ Resch quotes from Didasc. v. 15, p. 315, ed. Lagarde : Slo. tovto /cat iv
Ty ei'a77t-X^y irpoelpriKa' Trpoaevxecrde vir^p twv ixOp'^v vfxwV Kai fxaKapioi oi
TrevOouvTes nrepl rris Ticv dTriarwv aTrcoXeias {Agrapha, p. 137)- Contrast the
definition of justice given by Polemarchus in Plat. Repub. i. 332 D.
^ This was what the first martyr, Stephen, did ; Acts vii. 60. Comp.
"If any one seeketh to do evil unto you, do you in well-doing pray for him"
(Joseph xviii. 2). The words ' bless them that curse you, do good to them
that hate you' (AV.) are here an interpolation from Lk. vi. 27, 28. See
small print below.
^ For this sense of ylveaOai, 'prove yourselv^es to be,' comp. x. 16, xxiv.
44 ; Lk. vi. 36, xii. 40 ; Jn. xx. 27. For the moral likeness between parent
and child comp. Jn. viii. 39-44; i Cor. iv. I4-I7'
V. 17-48] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 89
growth. The context seems to show that perfection in love is
specially meant ; but that is much the same as saying that the
perfection of the Divine nature is meant (i Jn. iv. 8, 16). To
return evil for good is devilish ; to return good for good is
human ; to return good for evil is divine. To love as God loves
is moral perfection, and this perfection Christ tells us to aim at.
How serenely He gives us this overwhelming command ! He
knows that He can help us to obey it. Comp. Gen. xvii. i ;
Lev. xix. 2; Deut. xviii. 13; Wisd. xii. 19.
For evidence that Mt. has here (39, 40, 42, 44, 48) preserved the original
wording better than Lk. (vi. 29, 30, 27, 28, 35, 32, 33, 36) see Harnack, The
Savings of Jesus, pp. 5S-63. A couple of instances may serve as evidence :
(l) Lk.'s literar>- improvement of 'love your enemies and pray for your
persecutors ' into a climax of four gradations, and (2) his chani^ing ' tax-
collectors ' and 'heathen,' which would hardly be intelligible to Gentile
readers, into the more general 'sinners.'
In the AV. the text of vcr. 44 has been enlarged from Lk. The RV. gives
the true text (^? B some cursives, some Old Latin texts, Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur.
Boh., Alhenag. Orig. Cypr.). So also in ver. 47 'the Gentiles' (N B DZ) is
to be preferred to ' the toll-collectors ' (E K L M etc. ).
This (ver. 46) is the first use in Mt. of the word reXCivai, which is un-
fortunately rendered ' publican ' even in the RV. The publicani were those
who farmed the Roman taxes, i.e. paid the Roman Government a large sum
for the right to whatever such and such taxes might yield. But the reXwi/at
of the Synoptists are the portitores, the people who collected the taxes for
the publicani. Moreover, ' publican ' in English suggests the keeper of a
public-house. See Hastings' DB., Extra vol. pp. 394-6.
Both Syr-Sin. and k (Bobiensis, one of the most important of the Old
Latin texts) omit ver. 47, possibly because it seemed to be out of harmony
with xxiii. 7 and Lk. x. 4. The substitution of 'friends' (E K LM etc.) for
' brethren ' (l< B D Z) is less easy to understand. Possibly ' friends ' seemed
to be a better antithesis to ' enemies ' (44).
In ch. V. we find these characteristic expressions: irpo<xipxf<r6a(. (l), i
iroTTjp 6 iv Toh ovpavoh (16, 45), ippie-q (21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43), irpoa^ipeiv
(23, 24), t6t€ (24), 6/jLvv£iv (34, 35). Of plirases which are peculiar to
Mt. we have ij ^acrtXe/a tuiv ovpai>wi> (3, lO, 19, 20), and 6 irarTjp 6 ovpauios
(48), which occurs 7 times in this Gospel, and on which see Dalman, 7/te
IVords of Jesus, p. 189. The latter phrase is closely akin to 6 tt. 6 iv. roh
ovpavoh, which occurs 13 times in Mt. and elsewhere only Mk. xi. 25. In
ver. 48, 6 ovpa.vLo% is the right reading (K B E L U Z, a f Vulg. Syr-Cur. Arm.
Aeth. Clem. Orig. Cypr.)." While almost all N.T. writers use ovpavo% more
often than ovpavol (Hebrews and 2 Peter being exceptions), Mt. uses the
plural more than twice as often as the singular (55 to 27 times), and he uses
the word much more often than any other writer. "The plural is not
frequent in the LXX : it only occurs about 50 times against more than 600
occurrences of the singular. It is most common in the I'salms, where it is
used about 30 times" (Hawkins, //om Synoplica:, p. 41). The following are
found nowhere else in the N.T. : elprjvorrotd^ (9), Hvra (18), Sia\\i<r<reiv (24),
ti'voflv (25), imopKt'iv (33), /jilXiov (41), pairlieiv (39 and xxvi. 67).
The AV. is inaccurate and inconsistent in translating Xi'-xi'ot 'candle'
(ver. 15) and 'light' (vi. 22); the RV. has 'lamp' in both pl.accs.
$0 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 1-18
VI. 1-18. The Christian Life contrasted with faulty Jewish
Practice.
Having compared the Jewish ideal, as taught by the Scribes,
with the Christian ideal, as sketched in the Beatitudes, our Lord
now goes on to contrast the ordinary Jewish practice, as exhibited
in the conduct of the Pharisees, with the conduct which He
requires. The Pharisees claimed to be, and were commonly
allowed to be, patterns for all who desired to be strict observers
of the Law. Christ does not mention them by name, but speaks
only of ' the hypocrites.' From chapter xxiii. it is evident who
are meant, and even without that chapter the meaning would not
be doubtful (xv. 7, xxii. iS). The 'righteousness' here (i) looks
back to 'the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees' (v, 20),
and signifies external conduct, deeds in observance of the Law.
To do these in order to be seen of men is fatal : they at once
lose their goodness, and the doer of them loses all merit and all
reward from God. This principle is stated quite simply, and is
then illustrated by three things which are regarded as among the
chief elements of religion, ahns, prayer, and fasting (Tob. xii. 8),
and which, in their wider sense, do cover a large sphere of duty.
Alms may represent our relations to men, prayer our relations to
God. and fasting our discipline of ourselves. And, if we omit
the special directions about prayer (7-15), which perhaps are no
part of the original Sermon, for they spoil the balance of the
parts, these three illustrations are set forth in the same way. In
each case we have : ' Do not be hypocritical, but,' etc.
The opening warning, ' Take heed ' {irpoaix^Te), shows how
great the danger is. Hypocrisy is one of the most common and
the most subtle of foes. The motives, even for our best deeds,
are apt to be mixed, and the thought of men's admiration is
often one of them. A very little of this may spoil everything.
In this advertising age, in which a man hardly needs to sound
his own trumpet, because there are so many who are ready to
sound it for him, the danger is greatly increased. In this respect.
Parish Magazines have a great deal to answer for. Christians,
who never would yield to the glaring hypocrisy of pretending to
be benevolent when they are not, have the sincerity of their
benevolence marred by the knowledge that it is sure to be pub-
lished. The light of a Christian character will shine before men
and win glory for God without the artificial aid of public advertise-
ment. Ostentatious religion may have its reward here, but it
receives none from God.
Ought the thought of God's reward to come in? In the
highest characters at their best it will not. They will act
righteously for righteousness' sake, as loyal members of the
VI. 1-18] THE MIXISTRV IN GALILEI; 91
Kingdom, as true children of a heavenly Father. But the highest
characters take time to develop ; and, even when they are
established, they are not always at their best. During the time
of growth, and in moments of weakness later, the thought of
the rewards which God has promised to those who obey Him
may come in as a legitimate support and stimulus. Those are
no friends of human nature who tell us that a religion which
" bribes" men by the offer of a reward thereby debases morality.
Everything depends upon the character of the reward. Men
may have degrading ideas of the joys of the righteous in this
world and in the next ; but such ideas are no part of the little
which God has revealed to us on the subject. There is nothing
degrading in working for the reward of a good conscience here,
and of increased holiness hereafter, both enriched by God's love
and blessing. See on x. 42.
The first verse is an introduction to the whole triplet, and
must not be restricted to the subject of alms. 'Righteousness'
covers alms, prayer, and fasting. Each of the separate subjects
begins with 'when' (orav, 2, 5, 16).
The reading, ' do not your righteousness before men ' (RV. ) is right, rather
than 'do not your alms before men' (AV. ). 'Righteousness' (SiKaiotn'rij)
was sometimes used in the sense of almsgiving {i\iy)fj.o(jvvri) or any kind of
benevolence ; and some copyists, thinking that it had that meaning here,
changed the more comprehensive term into the narrower one. ' Righteous-
ness' is the reading of K B D, Syr-Sin. Latt., Oiig-Lat. Hil. Aug. Ilieron.,
and is adopted by almost all editors. The agreement of N* {Zbaiv) with Syr-
Cur, (your gifts) is curious. Zahn suggests that the three readings are
different oral translations of the Aramaic {Einleituitg, ii. p. 311).
In all three cases the picture drawn of the ostentation of the
Pharisees is very graphic. 'Sound a trumpet' is probably
figurative, for no such custom seems to be known. ^ This verse
tells us that almsgiving was part of the service in the synagogue,
and there we may believe that our Lord gave what He could out
of His slender means. There is a veiled irony in the declaration
'They have received their reward,' and this adds to its impressive
severity. 'They receive their pay then and there, and they
receive it in full {aTri^ova-i tov /ucrOov airCjv) : God owes them
nothing. They were not giving, but bt/ying. They wanted the
praise of men, they paid for it, and they have got it. The trans-
action is ended and they can claim nothing more.^ But their
loss is not the less, because they do not know what they have
' Zahn compares Juvenal's biicitm fanuv (xiv. 152), and bticinator ex-
istiinalionis meiE (Cic. Fam. xvi. 21. 2). Some Old Latin texts had debucinare
or <5«c/Ma;« here (Tcrt. Vii\^. vel. 13; Cypr. Tfst. iii. 40).
-The meaning may be, "they can sign the receipt for their rew.ird " ;
dirox'7= receipt. Deissmann, Bible Sttidies,^. 229. Lk. has what seems to
be an echo of this, vi. 24.
92 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 1-18
lost.' In all three cases (2, 5, 16) this stern sarcasm is introduced
with 'Verily I say unto you,' as something that is specially to be
laid to heart. There is a striking parallel to this condemnation
of hypocrisy in a saying of Plato preserved by Plutarch ; that it
is the extremity of iniquity to seem to be righteous without being
so {i(r)(dTrj<i dStKt'as etvat Sokciv SiKaiov jxr] ovra). S. Basil quotes
this in Homily xxii., on the study of pagan literature. It is
possible that ' Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand
doeth' was a current proverb.^ See Montefiore, p. 531.
Of the high and often exaggerated views which Jews had of
the duty and advantages of almsgiving we have plenty of examples
in Tobit (iv. 7-11, xii. 8-10; xiv. 9-12) and in Ecclesiasticus
(iii. 14, 30, iv. 3, 4, vii. 10, xvi. 14, xxix. 12, xl. 24). Our
Lord leaves unnoticed the doctrine that alms can remove the
consequences of sin, and even purge men from the stain of sin.
He is content to insist that almsgiving must be done in God's
sight, without thought of man's praise. Purity of motive was the
essential thing, and, if that was secured, the idea of buying
pardon for sin would lose its hold.^ Christ had other ways of
teaching how sin and its effects could be removed.
The problem in our day is of a different character. The
peril of ostentatious giving may be as great as ever ; but, while
the heresy that alms can cancel sin is less common, the rigid
orthodoxy of the economist is very prevalent, and there is
danger lest, through fear of pauperizing the recipients, there may
at last be no givers. Christ has not cancelled the blessing
promised to the man that 'considereth the poor,' nor the
principle that ' he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the
Lord' (Ps. xli. i ; Pr. xix. 17). He declared that treasure may
be laid up in heaven by a benevolent use of wealth on earth
(20), and He told the rich young man that he could have this
treasure by distributing his wealth to the poor (xix. 21). 'It is
more blessed to give than to receive ' {Acts xx. 35) ; and what
is given is given to Him (xxv. 40).
' Openly ' {iv rip <J3avep(^) is wanting in }< B D, Vulg. Boh. Cypr., and is
omitted as an interpolation by almost all editors. But it is ancient, for it is
in the Old Latin and Old Syriac. If it is omitted, ev t(S KpvTrT<^ may be
taken with dirodwaet. : ' and thy Father who seeth %\ill recompense tb.ee in
secret ' ; i.e. thy reward will be as unknown to the world as thy benevolence.
^ The Talmud says that Rabbi Jannai, seeing a man giving alms in public,
said ; " Thou hadst better not have given at all, than to have bestowed alms
so openly and put the poor man to shame." Rabbi Eliasar said : " He who
gives alms in secret is greater than Moses."
^ Yet even Leo the Great seems to be held by it : " By prayer we seek to
propitiate God, by fasting we extinguish the lusts of the flesh, by alms we
redeem our sins " {Sermon xv. 4).
VI. 1-18] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 93
Zalm contends for this, and Dcngel seems to imply it, hut the RV. does not
admit it to the margin. ' Thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of
the just' (Lk. xiv. 14) seems to imply in the sight of the saints of all ages,
and this may have suijgested ' openly.'
The same principle is given with regard to prayer. We need
not suppose that the Pharisees went out into the streets to say
their prayers, but that, when they were in a pubHc place at the
hour of prayer, they were ostentatious in performing their
devotions. They were glad to be seen praying, and chose a
conspicuous place. As in almsgiving, it is not the being seen,
but the wish to be seen, and to be seen in order to be admired,
that is condemned. Of all hypocrisies, that of pretending to
have intercourse with God, and of making a parade of such
intercourse, is one of the worst. Christ of course does not
condemn public worship : it is saying private prayers in needless
publicity, in order to gain a reputation for special sanctity, that
is denounced.^
What follows (7-15) is manifestly no part of the original
sermon. It is not in harmony with the context, which treats of
the contrast between Pharisaic hypocrisy and Christian sincerity,
and it spoils the symmetry of the three paragraphs on alms,
prayer, and fasting, extending the one on prayer out of all
proportion to the other two. Here we may be sure that Mt. has
inserted sayings on prayer which were uttered on a different
occasion, or on several different occasions. It was quite natural
to do so. The Evangelist would feel that a discourse which was
to serve as a summary of the Messiah's teaching ought to include
the Messiah's pattern Prayer,
These special directions about prayer begin with an error,
not of the Pharisees, but of the heathen. The exact meaning
of the word translated 'use vain repetitions' {^aTTa\oyi](Ti]Tf.) is
uncertain, but it is probably intended to imitate unintelligible
sounds, and to refer to the repetition of forms of prayer without
attending to what one is saying. 'Much speaking' {rroXvXoyia)
is not necessarily synonymous with ' vain repetitions.' There
may be lengthy petitions which are not unintelligent rehearsals
of forms of words. What is condemned is the idea that God
needs to be worried, and can be worried, into granting prayers,
and that petitions, if repeated many times, are more likely to be
answered than a petition said only once.^ We are not to suppose
^ The figurative meaning of t6 rafieidv aov need not be excluded. Praying
in the privacy of one's own heart, and closing the door against disturbing
thoughts, may be part of the lesson derived from ver. 6 ; but there is perhaps
a reference to 2 Kings iv. 33.
^Contrast the short prayer of Elijah (i Kings xviii. 36, 37) with Baal's
prophets crying 'O Baal, hear us' from morning until noon. Cornelius a
Lapide compares those who use a futile profusion of words in prayer, "as
94 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 1-18
that prayers are incantations and act upon God like a charm,
compelling Him to do what He is unwilling to do. And just as
Christ does not condemn public prayer, but praying in public in
order to win esteem, so here He does not condemn all repetition
in prayer, — for He Himself used the same words again and
again in Gethsemane (xxvi. 44 ; Mk. xiv. 39), — but superstitious
and profane repetition. We repeat supplications, not in order to
secure God's attention, as if He might grant at the third
supplication what He refused at the first ; but in order to secure
our own attention. God is always ready to listen to His children's
needs ; but they are not always attending to what they say when
they bring their needs before Him. Moreover, they have not
always prepared their hearts for the reception of the blessings
for which they ask. For the remedying of these two defects the
repetition of the same words may be useful. Prayer, and the
repetition of prayers, make it possible for us to receive what we
pray for. We are not moving God towards us ; for that there is
no need : we are raising ourselves towards Him. "Prayer calms
and purifies the heart, and makes it more capacious for receiving
the Divine gifts. God is always ready to give us His light, but
we are not always ready to receive" (Aug. De Serm. Bom. 11.
iii. 14). By prayer we open channels through which blessings,
which are always ready, may flow.
In order to teach His disciples how much may be prayed
for in a few simple words, the Messiah gives them the model
Prayer, which shows all mankind why, and for what, and in
what spirit, they ought to pray.^ It translates into human
language the ' groanings which cannot be uttered ' in which the
Spirit makes intercession for us. Even if it were true that for
each of the petitions in the Prayer parallels can be found in
Jewish prayers, the Prayer as a whole would still remain with-
out a rival. But it is not true. Real parallels to 'Thy will be
done' and to ' Give us day by day our daily bread ' have yet to
be found ; and some of the parallels to the other petitions are
perhaps later than the Prayer and may be taken from it. Yet
it would have been surprising if all the petitions in the Prayer
had been new; if in the prayers that had been in use among
if by this their rhetoric they would give God information concerning His own
affairs, and would bend Him to concede what they ask." See Augustine's
letter to Anicia Fakonia Proba on the subject of prayer {Ep. 130): Aliud
est senno multus, aliud diutiirniis affectiis. Absii ab oratione luitlta loaitio ;
sed non desit miilta precatio. Comp. Eccles. v. 2.
1 For the abundant literature on the Lord's Prayer, and for the discussion
of literary and critical questions respecting the two forms which have come
down to us, see commentaries on Matthew and Luke, and articles in Diction-
aries of the Bible ; also Chase, The Lord's Prayer in the Early Church
(1891).
VI. 1-18] THE MINISTI^Y IN GALILEE 95
God's people there had been nothing that God's Son could use
again for the edification of His Ciiurch. The Prayer is the
outcome of the religious experience of mankind, culminating in
the experience of Uie Son of Man. Such a Prayer would be
likely to contain things both new and old.
The form given here and that given by Lk. (xi. 1-4) can
hardly both be original, and it is probable that both were
modified by tradition before they were written down. Forms of
prayer almost invariably undergo change. And Christ's charge
in giving the Prayer does not forbid this. He says : ' llius '
(oiTws), ' after this manner ' (not, ' in these words ' ), ' therefore,
pray ye' The emphasis is on * thus ' and on * ye.' In this simple,
trustful, comprehensive manner, so different from the useless
repetitions of the heathen, the children of the true God are to
pray.
But, although we cannot be sure that the form here is nearer
to the original Prayer than the shorter form in Lk., the judgment
and experience of Christendom (from the first century onwards)
has decided that the form in Mt. best ans\yers to the needs of
Christians, whether for public or for private use.
TJie Lord's Prayer.
The Prayer is not only an authoritative form of devotion,
it is also a summary and a pattern.
It is a form, stamped with Christ's authority,^ which any one
can use and know that he is expressing his needs in a becoming
manner. There is nothing in it that is either distinctly Jewish
or distinctly Christian. Any Theist, of any race, or age, or
condition, can employ it, just in proportion to his belief. A
Christian's knowledge of its meaning grows with his spiritual
experience. In giving this Prayer, Christ has sanctioned the
principle of forms of prayer, and has also supplied a form which
is always safe.
It is a summary of all other prayers, although it does not
supersede them.^ It covers all earthly and spiritual needs, and
gives expression to all heavenly aspirations.
And it is a pattern for all prayers. It shows what supplica-
tions may be made, and in what spirit they ought to be made.
We may pray for all that tends to the glory of God or the good
of man, and the glory of God comes first ; and our aim must be
> Rut it is not a form which Christ ever used, or could use. lie never
asked for, or could need, forgiveness (Steinbeck, Das goltlicht Selbslbewmst-
sein Jesu, p. 26).
* Tertullian calls it breviaritim totiiis cvans^lii (De Oral, i); Augustine
says that there is no lawful petition that is not covered by it {Ep. 130).
g6 GOSPEL ACCORDINQ TO S. MATTHEW [vi. 1-18
that His will may be done in us, not that it may be changed
in accordance with ours.
Just as there is want of agreement as to the number of the
Beatitudes, so there is want of agreement as to the number of
petitions in the Prayer. Some make five, some six, and some
seven. Seven is an attractive number, and it is obtained by
counting ' Lead us not into temptation but deliver us ' as two
separate petitions. The six petitions are reduced to five by
regarding ' Hallowed be Thy Name ' as an expression of praise
or reverence rather than a petition, hke ' Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel.' But the prayer is best regarded as consisting of
two equal parts, each containing three petitions. It will then be
found that the two triplets correspond. ^
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done,
as in heaven, so on earth.
Our daily bread
give us this day :
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors :
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
As in the case of the Decalogue and of the Two Great
Commandments (xxii. 40), the first part refers to God, the
second to man. In the first three petitions we seek the glory
of our heavenly Father, in the last three the advantage of
ourselves and our fellows. But there is no sharp line of separa-
tion between these two. The glory of God is a blessing to His
children, and what benefits them is a glory to their heavenly
Father. Thus, while the first three petitions show the end
which we should have in view — the accomplishment of God's
Glory, Kingdom, and Will, the last three show the means —
provision, pardon, and protection.
The two triplets correspond thus. The first petition is
addressed to God as our Father, the second as our King, the
third as our Master. We ask our Father for sustenance, our
King for pardon, our Master for guidance and guardianship.
The transition from the one triplet to the other, from man's
regard for God to God's care for man, is made in the third
^ Mt. is fond ol arrangements in sevens, and still more fond of arrange-
ments in threes. It is as probable that he thought of two triplets as thathe
thought of one sevenfold prayer. In Lk. xi. 2-4 there are five petitions,
according to the true text. See Bruce, TAe Training of the Twelve, p. 53.
VI. 9, 10] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE gf
petition, which would raise earth to heaven by securing that
God's rule should be e(iually complete in both. And in each
triplet there is progression. In the fust, the hallowing of Cud's
Name leads to the coming of the Kingdom, and the coming of
the Kingdom to the perfect fulfilment of God's Will. In the
second, the obtaining of good is followed by the removal of evil,
past, present, and future. This marvellous proportion and
development cannot be accidental; and, to whatever extent
old material has been used in this Prayer, it was composed in
the spirit of Him who said, 'Behold I make all things new'
(Rev. xxi. 5).
Our Father zvhich art in heaven. In the Old Testament God
is the Father of the Jewish nation (Deut. xxxii. 6; Is. Ixiii. 16;
Jer. iii. 4, 19, xxxi. 9; Mal. i. 6, ii. 10). In the Apocrypha He
is spoken of as the Father of individuals (Wis. ii. 16, xiv. 3;
Ecclus. xxiii. i, 4, Ii. 10 ; Tob. xiii. 4). They are His offspring,
made in His image, and are the objects of His loving care. I>ut
the New Testament carries us further than this, to a Fatherhood
which, however, as yet is not universal. 'As many as receive
the Son, to them gave He the right to become children of God,
even to them that believe on His Name' (Jn. i. 12). The
address, ' Our Father,' expresses our confidence that we shall be
heard, and heard for others as well as for ourselves. We belong
to a great family, and there must be no selfishness in our
prayers ; the blessings for which we ask are blessings to be
shared by others.^
'Which art in heaven.' We need constantly to remind
ourselves that heaven is not a place. We are obliged to think
under conditions of space and time, yet we ought to remember
that there is no portion of space in which God dwells more than
in other portions. When we speak of heaven as His dwelling-
place, 'heaven' is a symbol to express His remoteness from all
the limitations to which human beings, and the universe in which
He has placed them, are subject. ' Which art in heaven '
reminds us that between His infinite perfections and our
miserable imperfections there is an immeasurable gulf, although,
at the same time. He is in us and we are in Him.
Halloived be Thy Name. That this petition stands first
warns us against self-seeking in prayer. We are not to begin
with our own wants, not even our spiritual wants ; not with
ourselves at all, but with God. It is His claims which are to be
thought of first. His Name represents His nature. His character.
Himself, so far as all this can be known. 'Hallow' may mean
'make holy,' which is impossible with regard to God or His
^ Oratio fraterna est; non dicit. Paler mens sed. Pater uoslcr, oinnes
videlicet titid oral i one coniplecteus (Aug.).
7
98 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 10
Name. But 'hallow' may also mean '■make k?iown as holy,'
which is what God does when He hallows His Name. And it
may also mean ' regard as holy,' which is what man does when
he hallows God's Name. It is for both these that we pray in
this first petition. We pray that God will reveal to us more and
more of the holiness of His character ; and we also pray that He
will enable us to recognize His holiness, to understand more and
more of the elements of which it consists, and to pay to it all the
reverence that is possible, especially that most sincere form of
reverence, — conscious and humble imitation. Thus while the
address, ' Our Father,' encourages us to approach God with
confidence, the first petition acts as a check upon any irreverent
familiarity.^
Thy Kingdom come. The petition is the most Jewish of all
the petitions. The Talmud says : " That prayer in which there
is no mention of the Kingdom of God is not a prayer." But the
petition is equally Christian. It asks that God's rule may
everywhere prevail over all hearts and wills. It sums up the
Messianic hopes of the Hebrews and the still more comprehensive
hopes of the disciples of Christ, who began His Ministry on
earth with the proclamation that this Kingdom was about to
begin. He founded it, and it has been developing ever since.
This petition asks that its progress may be hastened by increased
knowledge of God's commands and increased obedience to them.
It asks that the principles of God's government may be victorious
over the principles of the w^orld and of the evil one ; victorious
in the individual heart, and also in the workings of society. It
is a missionary prayer ; but we unduly limit its meaning if we
interpret it merely as a petition for the spread of Christianity. If
the whole human race had accepted the Gospel, this petition
would still stand. 'The Kingdom of God is within you,' and
there is no limit to the progress which it may make in each loyal
soul. There is always the Divine perfection to be realized more
and more (v. 48).
Thy Will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. We must know
God's character before we know what He wills ; and hence the
petition, 'Hallowed be Thy Name' precedes 'Thy Will be done.'
We could not pray that any one's will might be done while we
were in ignorance of what the will was likely to be. But when
God's cha"acter has been in some degree revealed to us, and
revered by us, we can with sure trust go on to ask that His Will
may be done, and done in this world with all the fulness and
perfection with which it is done in that spiritual region in which
^ "As in the Lord's Prayer, so in the ancient liturgies, the aoost
imperative is almost exclusively used. It is the true tense for ' instant '
prayer" (J. H. Moulton, Gram, of N.T. Gr. p. 173).
VI. 10] THE MINMSTRY IN GALILEli: 99
(lod's rule absolutely prevails. This petition reminds us of the
part which we have to play in the realization of the Divine ideal.
Clod has not reserved everything for Himself and made every-
thing to depend upon His absolute decree. His Will is not the
only will in the universe. He has created other wills, and left
them free even to rebel against Himself. God's Name will not
be rightly hallowed, His Kingdom will not fully come, until all
wills are united to His in entire sympathy.- Over this each one
of us has his share of control; it rests with him whether, so far
as he is concerned, God's Will is done, and done with loving
cheerfulness.^
'As in heaven, so on earth.' Therefore, *in heaven' also
there are wills that conform to the Will of God : the petition
would scarcely have meaning, if this were not so. So that this
petition is a revelation respecting the unseen world : it is
tenanted by spiritual beings who are obedient to the Divine
Will. To interpret ' in heaven ' of the heavenly bodies is not
wrong, but it is inadequate. The sun, moon, and stars are
symbols of perfect obedience to God's decrees, but they are not
exam//t's of obedience, for there is no willing response to
authority, no reasonable service.^ This petition does not mean
that men are to be reduced to the condition of perfect machines,
knowing nothing of the mind which designed them. The
reference is not to creatures who are lower than man, being not
made in the image of God, but to those who are higher in the
order of creation, or higher in the conditions of their present life.
We can hardly doubt that the reference is to the Angels, and
perhaps also to 'the spirits of just men niade perfect' (Heb.
xii. 23). And this leads to a further revelation. These spiritual
beings do God's Will, for it is in this that we are to be like them.^
Therefore life in the unseen world is not idleness but activity ;
and the end to which this petition looks is the working of all
created wills in absolute unison with the ^Vill of their Creator.
It is possible to take ' as in heaven, so on earth ' with the
first two petitions, as well as with the third, and this makes
excellent sense.
' Voluntas tua corrigatiir advoluntatem Dei, von voluntas Deidetorqueatttr
oti tttam (Aug.). "Be bold as a leopard, and swift as an eagle, and strong
as a lion, to do the will of thy Father which is in Heaven" (Pirqe Aboth,
V. 30).
* "The sun, moon, and stars change not their order ; so do ye also change
not the Law of God by the disorderlincss of your doings" {Naphlali iii. 2).
' Mt. gives us more of Christ's sayings respecting Angels than any other
Evangelist: xiii. 39, 41, 49, xvi. 27, xviii. 10, xxii. 30, xxiv. 31, 36,
XXV. 31, 41, xxvi. 53. Of these Mk. gives us four: viii. 38, xii. 25,
xiii. 27, 32, and Lk. two : ix. 26, xx. 36. But Lk. adds others : xii. 8, 9,
XV. 10, xvi. 22. We have therefore more than a dozen utterances of our
Lord on the subject, and His belief and doctrine can hardly be doubted.
100 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 11
Our daily bread give us this day. We pass now from the
Divine to the human, although (as we have seen in considering
the petitions which have special reference to the former) the
two are closely interwoven. After such a petition as the third,
there is no bathos in coming to this request for the supply of
man's temporal needs. After praying that we may be able to
serve God on earth as perfectly as He is served in heaven, we
may pray that He will give us all that is necessary for our
continued life on earth in His service. And this petition, which
is in both forms of the Prayer, is sufficient answer to the theory
that the benefits to be won by prayer are purely subjective, viz.
the quickening of our own spiritual life by communion with God.
This petition is strangely misleading, if it does not mean that
there are temporal blessings which we may obtain from God by
asking for them. Granted that many of these blessings come
to those who never pray : that does not prove that they are not
won by the supplications of those who do pray, nor that those
who do pray are not more richly endowed with them. A man
really possesses only that which he enjo3's ; and the enjoyment
of temporal goods is always enhanced by the recognition that
they are God's gifts. There is no surer way of making this
recognition constant and real than by often thanking God for
His gifts and asking Him to continue them. And this petition
not only allows, but commands us to pray for bodily sustenance
and the supply of temporal needs. Prayer against temporal
calamities is also enjoined (xxiv. 20; Mk. xiii. 18); and the
prayer of the disciples for help in the storm was heard (viii. 26;
Mk. iv. 39; Lk. viii. 24).
God has given us a nature capable of desiring external things,
and He has placed us in a world in which such desires can be
gratified. In this petition Christ teaches us that it is lawful to
pray for the gratification of such desires, — always in submission
to the Divine Will. We may pray for them, both for ourselves
and for others. And it is a great test of the rightness of our
desires that we can turn them into prayers. Desire for what
cannot be in accordance with the Will of God is not one that
we can ask Him to grant. We cannot ask God to bless fraud
and lust ; but we can ask Him to bless honest work as a means
of obtaining food, and raiment, and healthful enjoyment. All
which is to be shared with others : ' Give tis.' Therefore he who
has received more than his share is bound to consider the
needs of those who have received less. ' Give us ' becomes a
mockery when those who have been entrusted with a large
portion of God's bounty do nothing for the fulfilment of their
own prayer in reference to others. S. James has spoken
severely of all such in the famous passage on faith and works
VI. 11, 12] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE lOI
(ii. 14-17); and his words are perhaps an echo of those of his
Brother (xxv. 41-45). 'Give me' is a prayer which may easily
end in selfishness : 'give 7/^,' once realized, is a safeguard against
self-seeking. Publica est tiohis et commiDiis oraiio, et quando
oramus, tion pro iino sed pro populo toto oramus^ quia totus popuhis
unum sunius (Cyprian, Be Dom. Orat. 7).
The extremely perplexing word which is translated ' daily '
(eVioi'o-tos : see below) perhaps means ' needful,' just what
is required for health and strength. If so, the petition is
similar to that in the prayer of Agur : ' Give me neither poverty
nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me'
(Prov. XXX. 8).
We are not to ask for superfluities. The petition will cover
what is needed for culture and refinement, but it will not cover
luxury and extravagance. What we need must not be interpreted
to mean all that we desire ; sufficiency and contentment will
never be reached by that method. Contentment is reached by
moderating wants, not by multiplying possessions.
It is remarkable that iiriomio^ is in both forms of the Prayer, and the
word is found nowhere else in Greek literature. It seems to have been
coined for the occasion. It is part of the strong evidence that our Lord
habitually spoke Aramaic rather than Greek, for lie would not have put into
the pattern Prayer, otherwise so simple in its language, a word that had
never been used before. It is possible that some one invented the word in
order to translate an Aramaic adjective used by Christ. It is also possible
that there was no adjective (elsewhere in the Prayer there is none), but that
this was inserted at an early period after the Prayer had come into common
use. If 'needful' is not the meaning, 'daily,' or 'for the coming day,'
or ' continual ' may be right. See Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the
New Testament, App. i. ; M'Clellan, 7'he New Testament, i. pp. 632-647 ;
Cremer, Lexicon, sub voc. Recently discovered papyri have thrown much
light on Biblical language, but not on this word : Origen's remark, that it
is not found elsewhere in Greek, is still true. Jerome's statement, that in
the Gospel of the Hebrews the word used was 7>iahar, would confirm the
rendering ' for the coming day,' if we could be sure that iiriov<noz is a trans-
lation of it. ' Give us to-day our bread for to-morrow' is not excluded by
' Be not an.xious for to-morrow ' (34) : the petition in that case would be a
means of avoiding anxiety. Nevertheless, the daily asking for to-morrow's
bread does not seem quite natural. But ' to-day,' even without the rendering
'daily,' necessarily led to the conclusion that the prayer was to be used
daily.
And forgive us our debts, as zve also have for i^iven our debtors.
'Give' is followed by 'forgive.' External needs for the present
moment are the most obvious and pressing ; but spiritual needs
at once assert themselves, and these are thought of in reference
to the past and the future. There are past sins and future
temptations to be reckoned with. The more we are conscious
that the good things which we enjoy are the free gifts of our
Father, the more conscious we are likely to be of the miserable
102 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 12, 13
return which we have made to Him. Benefits received and
recognized quicken the sense of injuries done to the benefactor.
And this sense of injuries cannot be removed by resolutions of
better conduct towards the injured benefactor in the future.
His forgiveness of the injuries must be obtained, and therefore
must be asked. This is what we owe to him ; it is a duty, a
debt : and in reference to our heavenly Father there has been
a heavy accumulation of debts, which is constantly increasing.
We are accustomed to distinguish three spheres of duty — to God,
to our fellows, and to ourselves, and the distinction is useful.
But, in reality, all transgressions of duty to ourselves and to
our neighbours are transgressions of our duty to God. All
transgressions of duty are debts to Him, and we need His
forgiveness for them, not in order to escape the penalties of our
wrong-doing, but in order that the loving relation between
Father and child may be restored. The sense of sin is perhaps
as general as the sense of bodily need, but it is not as frequently
felt. The one cannot long be forgotten or ignored, but the
other may be; and the constant use of this petition helps to
keep alive in our hearts the sense of sin and consequent need
of forgiveness.
'As we also have forgiven our debtors.' The 'as' must
not be pressed to mean that the fulness of the Father's forgive-
ness is to be measured by the extent to which we forgive our
fellow-men. No such hard bargaining is to be understood.
What is meant is, that we ourselves must cultivate a spirit of
forgiveness towards those who seem to have wronged us, before
we venture to claim forgiveness for ourselves. God has more
to forgive to each individual than any human being can have ;
and He is more ready to forgive: it is impossible for men to
equal Him in this. But men can try to imitate Him (Eph. v. l),
and only so far as they imitate Him have they the right to use
this petition. The Talmud says : " He who is indulgent towards
others' faults will be mercifully dealt with by the Supreme Judge."
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
The sixth petition, like the fifth, is concerned with spiritual
rather than physical needs, but it deals with the future and not
with the present or the past. Alike in his spiritual and in his
physical life the Christian is dependent upon God. It is God
who supplies his daily need of food, and it is God who can pro-
tect him from his constant temptations. Life is full of trials,
not all of which are temptations to do what God forbids. But
all trials are opportunities of doing what is wrong, for we may
take them in a rebellious spirit. Yet every kind of trial is to be
accepted as a necessary means of strengthening our characters,
for there can be no virtue without temptations to vice, tempta-
VI. 13] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE IO3
tions which come from the evil one. In few things is God's
power of bringing good out of evil seen more clearly than when
Returns what the devil intends as 'occasions of falling' into
opportunities that may be ' for our wealth ' ; for every tempta-
tion vanquished adds to the strength and richness of the soul.
But the humble child of God is aware of his own weakness, and
he therefore prays that his heavenly Father will not allow him
to be too often or too sorely tried, but will in all cases deliver
him when he is tried, either by strengthening his powers of
resistance or by lessening the attractiveness of sin. In short,
he prays for that shield of faith, wherewith he may ' quench all
the fiery darts of the evil one' (Eph. vi. 16).
It cannot be determined with certainty whether * deliver us
from evil' or 'deliver us from the evil one' is right: the Greek
(pvCTai ^|uas (Itto tou -ovi-jpov) will bear either meaning, and both
are found in the New Testament. We certainly have ' evil ' in
the neuter sense Lk. vi. 45, Rom. xii. 9, and we certainly have
'the evil one' of Satan Mt. xiii. 19, 38; i Jn. ii. 13, 14, iii. 12,
v. 18, and probably elsewhere. Here the 'but' suggests the
masculine : ' Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
the tempter.' If evil in general were meant, we should expect
^ and deliver from evil.' The evidence of the Greek Fathers,
who in such a matter have great w-eight, of the earliest Latin
Fathers, and of various Liturgies, is strongly in favour of the
masculine. But modern scholars are much divided on the
subject. See Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision, App. ii., and
Canon Cook's reply in the Guardian, Sept. 1881.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that the doxoloc:}', ' F'or Thine is the
Kingdom,' etc., is no part of the Prayer. It is not found in Lk., and it is an
interpolation (due to liturgical use) in the authorities which have it here.
Those which have it vary in the wording and as to the addition or omission
of 'Amen' : some have 'Amen' without the doxology. It is aljsent from
K B D Z, five cursives, Latt. Koh., Orig. Tert. Cypr. Aug. ; and not until
Chrys. does its wording become fixed. But doxologies of some kind were
added to the Prayer as early as the second century (k Syr-Cur. Sah.). In the
Didache (viii. 2) we have " for Thine is the power and the glory for ever" ;
and in the newly discovered uncial MS., now in the possession of Mr. C. L.
Freer of Detroit, U.S.A., the full form is found, with the exception of tuji/
aiuvuv after et'j toi>s alQvas, but with the Amen : " For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory for ever. Amen." This perplexing uncial,
which is believed to be of the fifth, or possibly of the fourth century, also
contains the interpolation about the weather, xvi. 2, 3. See C R. Gregory,
Das Freer- Logion, Leipzig, 1908 ; E. Jacquier, Histoiredes Livres du N. T.
iii. pp. 338-344, Paris, 1908.
It does not follow, because the doxology is no part of the original Prayer,
that it ought not to be used. It has evidently supplied a felt want. Perhaps
Christians have not liked ending the prayer with ' evil ' or ' the evil one.'
See Nestle, Textual Criiidsni, pp. 250, 251 ; and (for a halting defence of
the interpolation) Scrivener (Miller), ii. pp. 323, 324. The source may be
I Chron. xxix. 11.
104 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 13-16
It is worth while comparing the Mourner's Kaddish as it is still used in
the Morning Service of the Synagogue,
" Magnified and sanctified be His great Name in the world which He hath
created according to His will. May He establish His Kingdom during your
life and during your days, and during the life of all the house of Israel, even
speedily and at a near time, and say ye, Amen.
Let His great Name be blessed for ever and to all eternity.
Blessed, praised and glorified, exalted, extolled and honoured, magnified
and lauded be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He ; though He be
high above all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations, which are
uttered in the world ; and say ye. Amen " ( The Authorised Daily Pf-ayer
Book of the United Hebrew Coti^regations, p. 77).
A common response in the Temple-service is said to have been : " Blessed
be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom for ever and ever."
The two verses (14, 15) which follow the Prayer are inserted
as a comment on 'Forgive as we have forgiven.' A similar
saying is recorded Mk. xi. 25 : ' And whenever ye stand praying,
forgive, if ye have aught against any one ; that your Father also
which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses ' ; where
* your Father which is in heaven ' looks like a reference to the
Prayer. Nowhere else does Mk. use this phrase. But our
forgiveness of others is only part of what is necessary in order to
obtain forgiveness for ourselves from God. By itself, our refusal
to forgive others prevents our obtaining forgiveness from Him ;
but our forgiving others will not, by itself, secure forgiveness from
Him. There is a close parallel in Ecclus. xxviii. 2 ; and also in
the Testaments : " Do you also, my children, have compassion
on every man in mercy, that the Lord also may have compassion
and mercy on you " {Zebulon viii. i).
These two verses, which are possibly derived from Mk. xi. 25, are
additional evidence that the doxology is no part of the original text. As it
is, they come in somewhat awkwardly ; but after the doxology a return to a
petition in the Prayer would be still more strange. And it is worth noting
that Mk. xi. 25 is more suitable than Mt. v. 23, 24, which resembles it, to
an audience in Galilee. The case of ' offering thy gift at the altar ' would
come home to an audience in Jerusalem, accustomed to make offerings in the
Temple ; but ' whensoever ye stand praying ' would suit any Jewish audience.
It is not improbable that some of the material of which the Sermon as we
have it in Mt. is composed comes from teaching which was originally given
at Jerusalem.
The third illustration of the contrast between Pharisaic
practice and the Christian ideal \s fasting. As in the two other
cases, the illustration is introduced with a 'when' or 'whenever'
(orav), not with an 'if {idv). It is assumed that the truly
religious man will fast, as it is assumed that he will give alms
and pray. The Pharisees made a parade of fasting twice a week,
Monday and Thursday, in addition to the annual fast prescribed
for all; hence the boast in the parable (Lk. xviii. 12). And they
let the world know that they were fasting by their sanctimonioijs
VI. 16-19] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 105
behaviour. The unusual expression about their 'disfiguring their
faces' has a parallel in the Testaments : tot'to (this evil temper)
TO TTpoa-wTTov d^ui ('{ct (Zcbulon viii. 6). Loisy thinks that there
is un Jt'u de viots between af^aviC^ovaiv and (jiarwa-iv, ' they dis-
figure . . . that they may figure.' If it is intentional, it is the
Evangelist's ; or his Greek source may have contrived it. It
would not be likely to exist in the original Aramaic : comp.
xxi. 41, xxiv. 30.
In ver. iS \Vellhausen would omit the tw before the first cV
Tw Kpv(f>aiw and connect these three words with vqa-Tivojv — 'but
as fasting in secret.' This is arbitrary and without advantage.
There is no real difficulty in the fact that at this time our
Lord's disciples did not fast (ix. 14; Mk. ii. 18). Our Lord
knew that they would n\st after His departure, and He here
provides principles for this form of discipline. Moreover, He is
here addressing a mixed multitude, most of whom were in
religion purely Jewish, and therefore needed instruction for their
daily lives. They were bound by law and custom to fast some-
times, and they might be quite right in adding voluntary fasts
sometimes to the fasts of obligation. Christ nowhere blames
the Pharisees for fasting; it is fasting ostentatiously that is
condemned.
VI, 19-VII. 12. T/ie Christian Life in its owfi working.
It is possible that the Evangelist has made one of his favourite
triplets in having three prohibitions in succession : ' Lay not up,'
etc. (19-34), 'Judge not' (vii. 1-5), 'Give not,' etc. (vii. 6).
But the passages differ so greatly in length, that the arrangement
may be independent of the Evangelist's predilections. The first
passage (19-34) has no parallel in Lk.'s report of the Sermon;
the parallel material is found in four different places in his
Gospel (xii. 33, 34, xi. 34-36, xvi. 13, xii. 22-31). We are
therefore in doubt whether these sixteen verses are part of the
original Sermon. They fit in very well with the main theme, —
the requirements for those who enter the Kingdom, or the
elements of the ideal Christian character : to know where true
riches can be found is essential to true holiness. On the other
hand, the transition from fasting to treasures in heaven is abrupt,
and something may be missed out. But the only thing that is
of importance is secure ; we are here dealing with what at some
time or other was uttered by our Lord.
Two links of connexion with what precedes have been
suggested. The warning against the worldly-mindedness of
hypocritical almsgiving, prayer, and fasting is followed by a
warning against the worldly-mindedness of heaping up riches;
I06 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 19-23
and in the history of the Church avarice and empty rehgious
profession have often gone together from the days of Hophni
and Phinehas onwards. Again, the promise of a reward from
the Father which seeth in secret leads to a discussion of the
acquiring and storing such reward. There is yet another pos-
sible connexion. Christ has been warning His hearers against
Pharisaic hypocrisy. He now warns them against another vice
which was common among the Pharisees, that of avarice (Lk.
xvi. 14). The Pharisees were often wealthy, and believed their
wealth to be a reward for their zeal in keeping the Law. They
regarded themselves as conspicuous evidence of the connexion
between righteousness and riches ; and Christ, having shown
that their righteousness was no true righteousness, here goes on
to show that their wealth is no true riches. A Christian must
look elsewhere for his treasure.
The passage has three marked divisions : the heavenly
treasure (19-21), the single eye (22, 23), the banishment of
anxiety (24-34).
The warning supposes a simple state of society, in which
wealth is hoarded in the house and consists partly of rich apparel.
The house also has mud walls, which can be dug through by
thieves. The contrast with heavenly treasure is obvious, and
this is one reason for preferring heavenly treasure.^ But there
is another reason, introduced by an important 'for ' : 'For where
thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.' We must store our
wealth above, in order that our hearts may be drawn upwards.
The two act and react upon one another ; where our treasure is,
there will our hearts be ; and where our hearts are, there is our
treasure. In the Psalms of Solomon we have 6 Troioiv SLKaiocrvvqv
6r]cravpL^€L ^wrjv eavTio Trapa Kvpiw (ix. 9).^
The metaphor of the eye in a moral sense (22) was common
among the Jews, a good eye signifying a generous soul, and an
evil eye a grasping and grudging one (Deut. xv. 9 ; Prov. xxiii. 6,
xxviii. 22). The way to keep the eye of the soul healthy is
generous almsgiving (Tob. iv. 7). To be miserly is to distort,
and at last to blind, the eye of the soul, so that it can no longer
see the true value of things (Hatch, Essays hi Bibl. Grk. p. 80).
^ " Truly a good man, say the Rabbis, was King Munhaz. During a
famine he gave to the poor tlie treasury of his father. His relations upbraided
him : What thy father saved, thou hast thrown away. Munhaz answered :
My father laid up treasure on earth ; I gather it in the heavens. My father
hoarded it where hands might steal ; I have placed it beyond the reach of
human hands. My father saved money ; I have saved life. My father saved
for others ; I save for myself. My father saved for this woild ; I save for
the next " (Talmud). Comp. Tob. iv. 7-9.
" In the Testaments we again have a parallel : irot^uare diKatoavvrji' fVi
rrjs 7^s, IVa evprire iv tois ovpavoTs {Levi xiii. 5)-
VI. 23. 24] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE lO/
Here, 'single' (uttAovs) means 'free from distortion,' and hence
'liberal' (comp. 2 Cor. viii. 2, ix. 11, 13; Rom. xii. 8; Eph.
vi. 5; Col. iii. 22).^ But the spiritual eye may be distorted and
darkened in other ways than by avarice,— by prejudice, or super-
stition. Jamais on ne fait le mal si plcinetnent que quand on le
fait par conscience (Pascal).
' How great is the darkness ! ' ijo ctko'tos -nocrov) possibly refers
to the original condition of the soul before that which ought to
have illuminated came. Some Latin texts have ipsce tenebne
quantcc, which seems to imply this meaning, while others have
simply ienebne quanta. If the opportunity for illumination has
been without effect, how hopeless must the darkness become !
If that which ought to convey light is darkened, that which is by
nature dark must be dark indeed.
The next verse (24) connects the subject of the single eye
with that of freedom from anxiety by pointing out the absorbing
character of the vice of avarice. 'No man can be a slave
(8ov/\ev€U') to two masters.' One or other will be his owner and
have absolute control over him, and all other claims on his
service will be entirely excluded.^ Avarice is the most exacting
of all vices ; it is never off its guard, and it never relaxes its hold.
Sights which make even the hardened sinner compassionate for
a brief space, make the miser draw his purse-strings the tighter.
The claims, not only of relations, friends, and country, but even
of honour, comfort, and health, are disregarded, when money is
at stake. Mammon ^ is here personified as the rival of God, and
all experience shows that he who has allowed himself to become
its slave can serve no one else ; least of all can he devote himself
to the service of Him who claims exclusive service. Devotion to
the service of money is the ' covetousness which is idolatry'
(Col. iii. 5). But neither here nor elsewhere is ihe. possession of
wealth condemned : it is being enslaved to riches that is fatal,
and to possess great riches without being enslaved is not easy.
' Comp. iropev6iievos iv airX&rrjTi 6((>da\[iC)v : and TroptutTai iv awXSTriTi,
ypvxv^ • • • M'? f'''''5fX<'M^''<'5 ^^^'i^MOi^s irov-qpovz {Issackar iii. 4, iv. 6) ; also
6 70/) ayaObs SivOpwiros ovk ^x^' (XKOTUvbv 6<pda.\n6v, Aeet yap vivras, nav
d/iaprwXoi uiffiv [Benjamin iv. 2).
^ Comp. bvcl yap irdOeaiv ivavriots SovXevei, sal Qecp viraKovcrai ov SiVarot
{Judah xviii. 6) ; and, for the use oi avTix^aOai. in a similar anlilhesis, " ihe
devil will flee from you and the Angels will cleave to you" — avOi^ovra\.
vfiQiv [Naphtali viii. 4).
' fianwvdi seems to be the correct spelling and accentuation, but the
derivation is uncertain. Augustine says: lucrum Punice mammon dicittir:
sed qui seri'it mantmotur, illi uiiijue so-fit, qui inagistratus htijus seculi a
Domino dicitur (De Serm. Dom. ir. xiv. 47); where the translation of 6 toC
Kdfffiov TovTov Apxuv should be noticed. The Vulgate has frinceps /mjus
viundi. Comp. injustitiii evim autorem et dominatorem tolius seculi nuiit-
mum scimus omnes (Tert. Adv. Marc. iv. 33).
I08 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 25-34
Wealth is a trust, not an absolute property, an instrument, not
an end. It is to be used, not for selfish enjoyment, but for the
well-being of ourselves and others.
The verses which follow (25-34) teach the duty of trust in
God's providential care, and the folly of over-anxiety about
bodily needs in the future. Covetousness and hoarding spring
from want of trust in God (Heb. xiii. 5) and end in the servile
worship of mammon. ' Therefore ' (8ta tovjo Xeyw vixlv), seeing
that you must choose between the two, cease to be anxious
about worldly riches, and devote your affections and energies to
your heavenly Father. The threefold 'Be not anxious' (/xt;
IxepLfjLvaTc, fjLT] ixepLixvt](ri]T€, 25, 31, 34) does not forbid foresight
and provision, but the anxiety (/xepi/xra) which distracts and
distresses.^ The question, ' Is not the life more than the food,
etc.,' means that we are obliged to leave these more important
things to God ; then why can we not trust Him respecting the
less important ? We had nothing to do with the gift of life, or
with the formation of our bodies ; God determined all that.
Can we not believe that His interest in us will continue ? ^ui dedit
a?uma?n miilto facilius escain esse daturum ?, as Augustine puts it;
and he might have put it more strongly. Again, we cannot deter-
mine the length of the lives which have been given to us. We can
end them prematurely, but which of us, no matter how anxious
he is, can add a span to the age allotted to him ? ^ Let us trust
God for food and clothing, as we are obliged to trust Him for
body and life. We are the children of God ; we believe that.
Then do let us believe that He loves us and cares for us, and
will bless the reasonable provision which we make in order not
to presume on His bounty. Reasonable, not unreasonable.
Anxiety about storing up great provision for the future is a subtle
form of the worship of mammon. It begins with prudent fore-
sight ; but it too often passes into regarding money as an end in
itself, and ends in making it a god, and a most tyrannical god.
It is perhaps right to say that we have three gradations
^ ' Be not careful ' in the earlier English Versions was better than ' take
no thought ' in the AV. But ' thought ' meant anxious care in the seventeenth
century ; i Sam. ix. 5. See Wright, The Bible Word-Book, p. 598; Davies,
Bible English, p. 100.
^ That TjXiKia here means 'age' (Jn. ix. 21, 23 ; Heb. xi. 11) and not
'stature' (Lk. xix. 3) seems to be clear from the context, and still more so
from the context of Lk. xii. 25. No one thinks of adding a atiit to his
stature, although some try to add an inch. Many are anxious to add as
much as possible to the length of their lives. 'Age ' is advocated by Alford,
De Welte, Meyer, Olshausen, Stier, Tholuck, B. Weiss, Loisy, etc. On
the other side see Field [Otiiim Norvic. iii. p. 4), Bengel, Fritzsche. If
' stature ' be adopted, the thought may be that God's care makes the infant
grow several cubits, but no human anxiety can make it grow one cubit. See
DCG., art. 'Age.'
VI. 33, 34] TllK MIXISTRV IN GALILEE IO9
{cotnme trois echelons successifs, P. Girodon, S. Luc, p. 342): a
lesson for all, 'Beware of avarice' (24); a rule for disciples,
'Seek first the Kingdom' (33); and a counsel for some,
'Sell all and give to the poor' (xix. 21). And Chrysostom may
be right when he says that greed for riches destroys more souls
than the pursuit of pleasures. The former, unlike the latter,
tightens its grip with increasing years. \\'hile the one is often
recognized as folly, even by those who succumb to it, the other
is likely to be regarded as wisdom, even by some who are not
among its victims. The Talmud says : " Man is born with his
hands'" clenched ; he dies with them wide open. Entering life, he
desires to grasp everything; leaving the world, all that he
possessed has slipped away" (Polano, p. 263). Then what folly
it is to be distracted with anxiety about amassing what must be
left behind !
Here once more we seem to have an arrangement into a
group of seven. We can count seven arguments against over-
anxiety about providing for the future, i. There are more
important things to think about.^ 2. Look at the birds, whom
God feeds. 3. Life cannot be prolonged beyond the allotted
time. 4. Look at the flowers, whom God clothes. 5. This over-
anxiety is heathenish. 6. God knows what your needs are.
7. Sufficient to each day is its evil. Sufficient, but not excessive.
Each day as it passes, ])roves that the previous anxiety about it
was unnecessary, for by God's help we have got through it.
Reasonable foresight is of course not forbidden ; Christ Himself
made provision for the future by means of the bag which Judas
kept. But trust in God must rule our foresight. 'Cast thy
burden (t7)v' /xepi/Aidv crov) upon the Lord, and He will nourish
thee' (Ps. Iv. 22).
In ver. 33 we may suspect that both ' first ' and ' righteousness ' are additions
made by Mt. Neither is found in Lk. xii. 31 ; and throughout the Sermon
'righteousness' is emphasised in Mt. (v. 6, 10, 20, vi. i). In Lk. the
word is not found, excepting i. 75. And there are considerable variations of
reading here. EG K L M etc., Syr-Cur. Vulg. have ' the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness' while K has 'the Kingdom and righteousness of
God.' B has rTi]v 8tKaio(Tvvr]v t^ai ftaaCKdav ai/Tov, which may mean either
'His righteousness and Kingdom' or 'righteousness and His Kingdom';
but the reading is not likely to be original. It looks like a correction to
place 'righteousness,' which is the means of entering the Kingdom, in a
more logical position.
Several Fathers quote a saying which may be an adaptation of this verse,
but which Resch ^Agrapha, pp. in, 112) believes to be unquestionably a
genuine utterance of Christ. It is given in its fullest form by Origen [Pe
Orat. 2 ; Op. i. p. 197) and by Ambrose ^Ep. i. 36 ^W Horont. 3 ; Op. viii.
445) : " Ask for the great things, and the small shall be added to you. Ask
^ The introductory 5i4 roOro X^7w \jp.'i.v (25) is found in Lk. (xii. 22) also,
but it refers to quite different premises (Wcllhauscn).
no GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VI. 34
for the heavenly things, and the earthly shall be added to you." Origen
expressly attributes the saying to ' the Saviour,' and he quotes it several
times. Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius quote the fust half, but Clement
seems to regard it as derived from Mt. vi, 33 (Strom, iv. vi. p. 579).
Eusebius, like Origen, expressly attributes it to 'the Saviour.' Their both
using this expression looks as if they were quoting from a collection of the
Saviour's utterances : A^7et 6 Swrijp. Clement says simply (p-qdi, and
Ambrose says Scripttim est.
The Oxyrhynchus Logion ii. is possibly an adaptation of ver. 33. The
Greek is unusual, but the general sense seems to be clear. Ki^ei 'Irjaovs, iav
fill vrjtJTeva-rjTe tov KoafMOv ov /ult) evprjre rrjv ^acnXdav rod Qeou' Kal iav /.i.rj crajSjSa-
TiffTqTe TO adpj3aTou ovk ofeiyde tov flar^pa. "Jesus saith, Except ye fast to
the world, ye shall in no wise find the Kingdom of God ; and except ye keep
the sabbath, ye shall not see the Father." In the Septuagint we have cra^^a-
Ti^eiv TO, ffd^paTa (Lev. xxiii. 32 ; 2 Chron. xxvi. 21), but nowhere has such
a construction as vrjcrreveii' tov Kdcr/xov been found. Grenfelland Hunt, Aoyia
'Irjffou, 1897, pp. 10, II ; Lock and Sanday, Two Lectures on the 'Sayings of
Jestts,'' 1897, pp. 19, 20; Resch, Agrapha, p. 68.
The concluding verse (34) has no parallel in Lk. It may be the Evan-
gelist's own comment, either as a summary of the preceding teaching, or an
addition to make a seventh argument. The paragraph would end more
forcibly at ver. 33, and the addition does not rise much higher than strong
common sense. That does not make it unworthy of Christ, but it makes it
within reach of the Evangelist's production. It amounts to this. Why
double_ your cares by anticipating them ? Each day brings its own cares ;
and it is foolish to add the cares of to-morrow to those of to-day. To-day's
burden is increased, without to-morrow's being made lighter. Allen quotes
from Sanhedrin \oob: "Trouble not thyself about the trouble of the
morrow, for thou knowest not what a day brings forth. Perhaps on the
morrow thou wilt not exist, and so thou wilt have troubled about that
which does not exist for thee." See Montefiore, p. 544.
Characteristic expressions in ch. vi. : inroKpiTrji (2, 5, 16), rpaivecrdai.
(5, 16, 17), iraTi]p 6 ev toIs ovpdvLos (9), yevrjdrjTU (lo), OijaavpSs (19, 20, 21),
lvdv/j.a (25, 28), awdyeLv (26). Peculiar to Mt. : d iraTiip 6 ovpdvois (14, 26,
32) ; peculiar to this chapter : paTJoKoydv (7), iroXvXoyla (7), KoiKpahs (18),
KaTa/j.av6dv€iv (28). The word Tafielov is peculiar to Mt. (6, xxiv. 26) and Lk.
(xii. 3, 24). The AV. varies between 'closet,' 'secret chamber,' and 'store-
house'; the RV. has 'store-chamber,' Lk. xii. 24, but elsewhere 'inner
chamber.' The Latin renderings vary greatly : cubiculuDi, cnbik, cellarimn,
promptuarium, promptalia, penetralia, penelrabilia, hospitiuin, damns. See
Ronsch, Itala und Vulgaia, pp. 32 and 48 ; DCG., art. 'Closet.'
VII. 1-5. The warning against heaping up riches is followed
by a warning against criticizmg others. It is possible that here
again, as perhaps in vi. 19-34, Christ is selecting a fault for
condemnation, because it was common among Pharisaic pro-
fessors of righteousness, and that this is one of the links of
connexion.^ But in neither case is the condemnation to be
restricted to any particular class. The love of money is perilous
to all, and not merely to Pharisees ; and so also is the love of
^ But the warning of Maldonatus [ad loc.) is constantly to be kept in
mind : Ego Jam vionui non esse anxie qucerendani in Evangelistis senten-
iiarum connexioneni, quia res non eo ordine scribere voluerunt quo facice a
Christo vel dicta sunt. See the whole passage.
VII. 15] THE MINISTRV IN ClALILEE III
passing judgment upon our neighbours.^ It is possible that our
Lord is here quoting or alluding to current sayings, similar to
our proverb about " those who live in glass houses." The
Sermon abounds in sayings which have passed into proverbs,
and which may have been such before Christ uttered them. 'A
city set on a hill' (v. 14). 'Let not thy left hand know' (vi. 3).
'Where thy treasure is' (vl. 21). 'No man can serve two
masters' (vi. 24). 'Is not life more than food?' (vi. 25).
' Sufficient unto the day ' (vi. 34). ' With what measure ye mete '
(vii. 2). 'Cast not your pearls' (vii. 6). The broad and the
narrow way (vii. 13, 14). 'Ey their fruits ye shall know them'
(vii. 16, 20). The mote and the beam may easily have been
current. The avoidance of criticisms on oneself is neither
the only nor the highest motive for abstaining from criticizing
others. Christ's warning rises higher than this. Just as the
forgiveness of others prepares us to receive the forgiveness of
God, so our condemnation of others prepares the way for His
condemnation of us.^ We are using a severe standard, which
will be disastrous when applied to ourselves. That people are
paid back in their own measure is a saying which is given in
different contexts (Mk. iv. 24 ; Lk. vi. 38) with different meanings.
Its meaning here is clear: criticism provokes criticism similar
to itself.
The parable of the mote and the beam carries us further.
The censorious temper is unchristian ; it is a violation of the law
of love. It means that we pay an amount of attention to the
faults of others which ought to be paid to our own, and that of
our own faults we have a very inadequate appreciation.^ If we
knew how worthy of blame we ourselves are, we should be much
less ready to blame others. No one likes adverse criticism, and
he who loves his neighbour as himself will be loath, rather than
eager, to criticize others adversely. And every one who is in
earnest knows how faulty his own life is, and for this reason will
be less ready to judge others. Censoriousness reverses all this.
The man who habitually busies himself with the supposed
delinquencies of others is not likely to investigate or to realize
his own grievous offences. And we are all of us prone to
^ Hence the present imperative, fir] Kpivfre, ' Cease to pass judgment ' ; as
if every one transgressed in this way. Contrast the aorist imperatives in
ver. 6. The mote and the beam are examples of Oriental hyperbole.
- We have the same thought in the Testaments : (In hi/ ■iroir)ffy t(^ irXiffflov
aiTOv, oiJTW Ki'pios iroi^ei /xtr' aiTov (Zib. v. 3). As Loisy points out {Le
Discours sur la Montague, p. 1 14), 'Judge not, and ye shall not be judged '
is a kind of inversion of the Lex talionis.
* In illustration of fi^ej ^K^dXw, J. II. Moulton quotes from a papyrus of
the Roman period {O.P. 413), fi^ex ifi^ avTr)v dp-qvfi<ru (Gram, of N.T. Gr.
p. 175)-
112 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VII. 1-5
suspect in the conduct of others precisely those faults of which
we are frequently guilty ourselves. S. James carries us a step
further, and shows that the self-constituted censor invades the
judgment-seat of God (iv. ii, 12).^
But, although we can refrain from expressing unfavourable
judgments of others, and although we can be charitable in our
unexpressed judgments, yet there are cases in which the
judgment, whether expressed or not, must be unfavourable.
In dealing with others we must take into account what we know
of their conduct and character. This prudent circumspection
is specially necessary in the Christian minister. The Gospel has
to be preached to all, but not to all at the same time or in the
same way. In many cases an opportunity must be waited for ;
and the hoary sinner will need different treatment from the
ignorant lad. The preciousness of the preacher's message makes
it all the more necessary that he sliould deliver it with discretion.
INIany are repelled by the tactless way in which they are
approached, and behave themselves towards holy things as dogs
or swine, when they might have been won over as sheep. We
have similar counsel in Proverbs : ' He who corrects a scoffer
gets insult, And he who reproves a wicked man, reviling.
Reprove not a scoffer, lest he hate thee ; Reprove a wise man,
and he will love thee ' (ix. 7, 8). ' Speak not in the ears of a fool ;
For he will despise the wisdom of thy words ' (xxiii. 9 ; see Toy,
ad loc). The verse (6) has no parallel in Lk., and though it
may be connected with what precedes, yet it seems to have little
in common with what follows. It has many adaptations, and is
a basis for the principle of 'economy' in the communication of
religious truth,^ and for the protection of sacred rites from
profanation. " Let no one eat or drink of your eucharist, except
those baptized into the name of the Lord ; for as regards this
the Lord has said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs"
{Didache ix. 5). Of heretics who admitted all sorts, even heathen,
to their services, TertuUian says : " That which is holy they will
cast to the dogs, and pearls (although, to be sure, they are not
real ones) to swine " {De PrcBscr. xli). Similar applications are
frequent in the Fathers, in Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, Basil,
^ See thf Expositor' s Bible, ad. loc. pp. 251-260. Here the change from
' see ' (jSX^Trets) to ' perceive ' or * notice ' {KaravoEi^) is required by the figure.
A man cannot see what is in his own eye, though he may be aware of it and
consider it. David's anger against the rich man who had taken the poor
man's lamb illustrates the parable of the mote and the beam. He pronounced
judgment on himself in what he thought was righteous indignation against
another.
The Oxyrhynchus Logion is closer to Lk. vi. 42 than to Mt. vii. 5. See
Grenfel! and Hunt, p. 10.
^ See DCG., art. 'Accommodation.'
VII. 7-12] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE II3
Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, etc.^ It is possible that to dytor
means that which has been offered in sacrifice.
The exhortation to earnest prayer (7-1 1) is found in Lk.
immediately after the parable of the Friend at Midnight
(xi. 5-13). In both we have present imperatives (aiVetTf, t^iyrCm,
Kpovere) : ' Continue to ask, seek, knock.' We are not to cease
praying, because there is no apparent answer to our prayers.
The threefold expression gives emphasis to the command, and
was evidently in the source used by both Evangelists. On the
other hand, we are not to suppose that the object of persevering
prayer is to overcome the Father's unwillingness. His desire
to help is always there : by perseverance in asking we appropriate
it. Of the parent's incredible conduct Lk. has three illustrations,
adding * egg and scorpion ' to ' bread and stone ' and ' fish and
serpent ' ; but the text there is confused. In each case there is
a rough resemblance between what the child asks for and the
parent is supposed to offer. The parent may possibly refuse,
but will he mock his child with what is useless or harmful ? ^
' If ye then, being evil ' (il ovv vfj.el<;, irov-qpoX ovrcs). The
serene, but emphatic manner in which Christ separates Himself
from His hearers in this particular is very impressive. Lk. is
still stronger : ' If ye, being evil from the first, being by nature
evil' (irovrjpol virdpxovTes:). We are perhaps not to understand
wickedness in general as included in ' evil,' but rather the special
vice of niggardliness, as in the 'evil eye'(vi. 23). Those who
are commonly disposed to be grudging nevertheless make an
exception in the case of their own children. They do not
always give exactly what is asked for, for children often ask for
what is not good for them, but they give, and give what is good.
Will the heavenly Father do less ? ^ But we must ask for what
we believe to be in accordance with His will, and we must ask
in submission to His will (Jas. iv. 3).
In the Go/den Rule (12) the Sermon reaches its climax; it is
" the capstone of the whole discourse." The ' therefore ' with
which it is introduced does not fit on very well to the preceding
^ It is probable that both ' dogs ' and ' swine ' are the nominatives of
' trample,' ' turn ' and ' rend.' But some would make ' dogs' the subject of
'turn and rend,' and 'swine' the subject of 'trample.' To the Jew both
swine and dogs were unclean. See Tristram, A'at. Hist, of the Bible, p. 79.
* It is suggested that 'serpent' (60ts) means an eel, which might not be
eaten : ' Whatsoever hath no fms nor scales in the waters, that is an abomina-
tion unto you' (Lev. xi. 12). We cannot safely infer from this passage or
xix. 29 that several of the Apostles were married and had children ; but it
is not improbable. Comp. i Cor. ix. 5. We know that Peter was married
(viii. 14).
' " Even when the gates of prayer are shut in heaven, those of tears are
open " (Talmud) : note the contrast between dyOpuwoi {9) and d if roit
ovpavois (11).
114 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VII. 12, 13
verse: perhaps it looks back to vii. i, 2. In Lk. it follows what
is parallel to v. 42, which makes a very suitable conjunction.
The negative form of the precept, ' Do that to no man which thou
hatest' (Tob. iv. 15), seems to have been common among the
Rabbis. It is found in Isocrates, in Philo, and in the Stoics.^ It
need not rise much above calculating prudence, which avoids
provoking retaliation ; and it cannot rise above mere abstention
from inflicting pain. At its best, it falls immeasurably short
of the positive rule given by Christ. The rule has the widest
possible sweep : ' All things whatsoever ye w'ould that men should
do unto you ' ; which in Lk. is expressed by ' exactly as ' (ku^ws).
It is of course assumed that men wish to have done to them what
is really good for them : wishes for what is pleasant but harmful
are not included. The concluding words, ' For this is the Law
and the Prophets,' look back to v. 17. So far from destroying
the Law and the Prophets, Christ preaches a doctrine .which sums
up all their teaching respecting the duty of man to man. What
we desire from our neighbours is love, — true, constant, discerning
love : and it is from our experience of our own needs in this
respect that w^e can discern how much love of the same kind
we owe to others. See Hort, Judaistic Christianity, p. 20. The
omission of ' all ' or ' the whole ' before ' the Law ' here, and its
insertion xxii. 40 (oAos 6 vo/aos), is very intelligible. Here only
the love of man to his neighbour is under consideration, while
there both the love of man to God and the love of man to
man are prescribed.
It was probably a new thing to Christ's hearers that the
Prophets should be placed on a level with the Law, and this was
frequently done by Him: v. 17, xi. 13, xxii. 40; Lk. xvi. 16,
xxiv. 44. The combination is not found in Mk. or Jn., and
Mk. does not mention the Law, which to his readers had little
interest,
VII. 13-23. Exhortation to enter the Christian Life,
avoiding False Guides and False Professiofts.
The Epilogue to the Sermon, which begins here, contains
three pairs of contrasts, the broad and the narrow ways, the
good and the bad trees, the well-built and the ill-built houses.
The two first pairs belong to this section.
We may connect the charge to enter the narrow way with
the Golden Rule by the thought that to carry the rule into effect
^ It is also found in some texts of Acts xv. 28, as to what was to be
required of Gentile converts : qticcainqtie vobis fieri no7i vultis, alii jiefecerilis
(Iren. III. xii. 14; Cypr. Test. iii. 119). Hca fxyj deXere iavrols yeiveadai fre'/jy
[17] irotetr {Cod. D),
VII. 13-23] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE II 5
is indeed a hard matter. But in Lk. (xiii. 23, 24) this charge is
given in a very different connexion, viz. in answer to the question
whether those who are in the way of salvation {ol o-w^ofievoi) are
few. The gate (Mt.) or door (Lk.) is that which leads to the
Kingdom, and we have thus returned to the thought with which
the Sermon began, — admission to the Kingdom (v. 3).! The
7t'aj to it is the righteousness which is sketched in the Beatitudes.
We might turn this charge into a Beatitude. Blessed are they
that seek the way of righteousness, for they shall escape destruc-
tion, or they shall find the Kingdom. Many enter the broad
way, because it requires no self-discipline, and therefore seems
to promise greater freedom. And its popularity makes it easy
enough to find. The way that leads to life is so little trodden,
on account of its apparent difficulty, that it is not easy to find.^
This fact has often impressed thinkers in their classifications of
mankind ; knaves and fools are many, while good and wise men
are few. 'There be many created, but few shall be saved'
(2 Esdr. viii. 3 ; comp. vii. 3-9). But for the ignorance and
folly of the majority, the proportions would be reversed. The
restrictions of the narrow way are not infringements of liberty
but protections against evil : they result in a service which is
perfect freedom. Indeed Christ Himself is the Way, the
Messiah who is the bringer of freedom. In this world there
must be restrictions, there must be a yoke and a burden ; but
the yoke is easy, and the burden light, — far lighter than that
which accumulates on the broad way. By 'life' we are to
understand 'eternal life,' 'the life that is life indeed,' which
later Jewish literature commonly described as the 'life of the
age to come.'^ But the difference between Jewish teaching
and Christ's is this, that eternal life is to be won in no other
way than by righteousness in this life : descent from Abraham
is of no value. See Dalman, JVords of Jesus, pp. 156-162.
In the Book of the Secrets of Enoch (xxx. 15) God is repre-
sented as placing the two ways before Adam. "And I gave
him his will, and I showed him the two way?, the light and the
darkness. And I said to him, 'This is good, and this is evil';
that I should know whether he has love for Me or hale ; that
' Lk. omits ' the way ' (^ 656s), and his entrance is the door of a house ;
while that in Mt. is the gate of a city. But i] irvXi] here may be an insertion
(K, Old Latin and many Fathers omit), and we should read : ' for wide and
broad is the way.'
■■' In the illva^ or Tabula of Cebes (xvi.), who was a disciple of Socrates,
it is said : " Dost thou not see a little door, and a way in front of the door,
which is not much crowded, but the travellers are few? That is the way
that Icadeth to the true instruction." But the Jewish two ways may be found
Jer. xxi. 8; Ps. i. 6 ; Deut. xxx. 19.
' Comp. xix. 16. This use of 'life' (fonj) is not common in the Synoptics,
but is very frequent in Jn. (iii. 36, v. 24, 29, 40, vi. 33, 35, 51, etc.).
Il6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VII. 15-20
he should appear in his race as loving Me." Comp. ' Your God
proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God'
(Deut. xiii. 3). It is man's love that is desired by God. It is
by man's fault that the good way now seems hard, and the evil
way easy. See Polano, The Tal/nud, p. 281.
If we want to find the right way, we must beware of imtrust-
worthy guides (15-20). In this context, 'false prophets' can
hardly refer to any but Scribes and Pharisees; but the saying
is of far wider application. By the 'sheep's clothing' we are
not to understand the usual dress of a Prophet, which does not
seem to have been of wool but of hair (Zech. xiii. 4). It is a
symbol for an innocent, lamb-like appearance, craftily assumed
for an evil purpose. 'Wolves' for the enemies of God's flock
is an Old Testament metaphor (Ezek. xxii. 27; Zeph. iii. 3),
and they are called ' ravening ' (ap-aye?), because they are greedy
of gain and of power. Their hypocrisy is so consummate, that
they are difficult to detect. Nevertheless, their conduct is sure
to betray them.
The illustration from good and worthless trees is found again
in Jas. iii. 11, 12, where we probably have echoes of Christ's
teaching as remembered by the Lord's brother. Christ Himself
seems to have used the illustration more than once (xii. 33),
and He was perhaps using one that was current (comp. Gal. v.
22). Arrian, the pupil of Epictetus, WTiting about a century
later, asks, " How can a vine grow, not vinewise, but olivewise,
or an olive, on the other hand, not olivewise, but vinewise ? It
is impossible" (ii. 20). And Seneca says that evil is not derived
from good, any more than a fig-tree from an olive. " Like root,
Hke fruit" is the teaching of common experience (comp. Gal.
vi. 7), and the false teacher will in time reveal his root.^ In any
case his doom is certain (19, iii. 10).
Verse 15 has no parallel in Lk., and it is manifest that the test of fruit-
bearing is one which is applicable to all persons and is not confined to
prophets. That there will be false prophets is among the predictions
included in the apocalyptical discourse in Mk. (xiii. 22). As we know
from the Didache (xi. 3-12) and other sources, abuses in connexion with
the itinerant prophets began very early in the primitive Church : see SchafFs
edition, p. 69. Wellhausen remarks: Die fahreuden Fropheteii V2ussen fiir
die ciiristliche Gemeinde eine ivahi-e Landplage ge'u'esen sein (p. 33). It is
possible that Mt. knew from experience that our Lord's test needed to be
employed in the case of such people, and the test is in marked contrast to
that which is suggested in the Didac/ie.
But we have not only to beware of the misleading which
comes from others, we must be still more on our guard against
^ The illustration does not tell us how character is formed. Man forms
his own character, a tree does not. But the character, however it be formed,
shows itself in the fruit.
VII. 21-23] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE II7
the misleading which comes from ourselves : false professions
may be worse than false prophets (21-23). ^^'^ ^'^^Y deceive
ourselves as to the sincerity of our expressions of devotion to
Christ. They may be frequent, and even fervent, and yet be
quite worthless. They may have been so fervent that they have
influenced others for good, have cast out demons, and produced
wonderful results. In spite of all that, they may be worthless,
because they have lacked reality : they have not been done in
the spirit of that love, without which all profession, even if it be
made 'with the tongues of Angels,' is no better than 'sounding
brass' (i Cor. xiii. i). The outward ascription of honour to
Christ is worth little, unless there is also inward loyalty to His
will. The threefold repetition of 'in T/iy Name,' which in the
Greek is in all three cases placed lirst with emphasis, shows that
they could claim to have paid outward homage to Jesus as the
Messiah.^ And this of course was not wrong. The saying of
' Lord, Lord ' is not condemned ; but the mere saying of it will
not secure entrance into the Kingdom. Orthodoxy without love,
without the will to do the Father's will, is of no avail.
'Then will I profess unto them ' is said with manifest reference
to their profession, although the word is not used of their claim.
They have professed the closest intimacy with Him, and have
made free and frequent use of His Name : but He disclaims all
ac(]uaintance with them. They do not possess the character-
istics which He can recognize. ' Depart from Me, (all) ye
workers of iniquity' is from Ps. vi. Q ; and it is worth noting
that Mt. retains the word used in the Septuagint, ' lawlessness '
(ctro/xia), which represents the Jewish point of view, while Lk.
(xiii. 27) has 'iniquity' or 'injustice' (d8iKta), which represents
the Greek point of view.^ Wickedness in general is what is
meant. Separation from Christ is the penalty, and the sentence
of banishment is pronounced by Christ Himself. Once more
we must remark with what royal assurance Jesus speaks of His
own authority as the final Judge of mankind, and implies that
banishment from His presence is a punishment of the utmost
gravity. And it is also to be noted what it is that He here
condemns as 'iniquity.' Not acts of fraud, or violence, or
' Lk. (xiii. 26) has 'we did eat and drink in Thy presence^ {ivu>iri6v crov).
Justin Martyr {A/>o/. i. 16 ; Tty. 76) mixes the two passages : ' Did we not
eat and drink in Thy naviel' Origen {,Ceh. ii. 49) docs the same. It is
clear that this passage cannot refer to tlie beginning of Christ's Ministry.
There were then no people who hypocritically professed to be devoted to
Him. Bcngel adds to these professions, " We have written commentaries on
the Old and New Testaments ; we have preached splendid sermons."
'No other Evangelist uses d^voixia.: Mt. has it again xiii. 41, xxiii. 28,
xxiv. 12 ; and in xiii. 41, as here, it is in connexion with the Day of Judgment.
This revelation of Himself as Judge cannot belong to His early teaching.
Il8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VII. 124-27
sensuality; but the religious professions of those who know
and do not practise ; who can see, and perhaps feel, the beauty
of His teaching and character, and can inspire others with a
love for it which has no place in themselves. It is " the piety
of sentiment" that is thus condemned (P. Girodon, S. Liic^
P- 237)-
VII. 24-29. The Judgments which await the Members
of the Kingdom.
In both reports of the Sermon the parable of the Wise and
Foolish Builders forms the impressive conclusion, and the most
impressive phrase in it is the repeated and very comprehensive
introduction to each half of it : '■Every one which heareth these
words of Mi/ieJ ^ The well-being or ruin of every one of those
who hear what has just been spoken is to depend upon whether
they obey or not. The claim is tremendous, and it is made, as
before, with such serene confidence, as of a Teacher who has no
shade of doubt as to His own authority, or as to the supreme
importance to His hearers of the message which He brings.
And this enormous claim is made without argument or
production of credentials : quiet assertion is the only instrument
that is used : '/say to you.' The Carpenter of Nazareth stands
before the whole race of mankind and tells them that He has
laid down principles of conduct for the guidance of every one of
them, and that they will neglect His precepts at their peril. He
"stood forth as a Legislator, not as a commentator, and
commanded and prohibited, and repealed, and promised, on
His own bare word." And it is a remarkable thing that so many
of those who would regard Him as only the best of human
teachers, nevertheless admit the majestic authority of His
teaching (see Maclaren, ad lac).
Throughout this epilogue to the Sermon (13-27), as else-
where, Jesus divides mankind into two classes and no more;
either on the narrow or on the broad way ; either a good tree or
a corrupt one ; either a wise or a foolish builder ; 2 in a word,
either for Christ or against Him. It may be very hard, in most
^ The parable is an expansion of Prov. x. 25 : ' When the whirlwind
passeth, the wicked is no more : But the righteous is an everlasting founda-
tion.' Comp. Prov. i. 26-33, ^ii- 7> '^i^'- "^ > ^.nd see Toy in each place.
2 As in the parable of the Ten Virgins, it is the wisdom and folly of the
agents that is insisted upon, rather than tlieir religious character. This is
frequent in Christ's teaching and in Scripture generally. It is often more
easy to judge of wisdom and folly ; and by many people this point of view is
more readily appreciated than the moral one. In Lk. there are no adjectives
applied to the builders, neither 4>pbvLixo^ nor ixwp6^, which are the epithets
used of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Both words are more common in
Mt. than elsewhere in the N.T.
Vn. 24-28] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 119
cases, for us to decide to which class other people belong ; there
seem to be endless gradations, without a decisive line anywhere.
And it is our wisdom to assume that all, about whom any doubt
is possible (that is, the enormous majority), are on the right side
of the line, wherever the line may be. God knows, and we
leave all that flows from that knowledge to Him. But about
ourselves, each one of us knows, not indeed as well as lie does
(far from it), but sutificiently well to form a judgment on which to
act. Do we know that we are trying to live according to the
Sermon on the Mount? If not, the warning about the Foolish
Builder is for us.
The metaphor of building is specially appropriate. The man
is not pitching a tent for a few hours, or at most for a few days,
with the probability of being able to move it in case of danger,
but building a house to dwell in permanently, with the certainty
that danger must arise sometimes. And that is what we are
employed upon here : each one is building up his character, —
that character which is the one thing which he can take with
him, which he must take with him, into the other world. And
the choice which he has is not between building and not building
(he must build some kind of character), but between building
well and building foolishly. And the only way to build well is
to build upon a rock, the rock of Christ's teaching and Christ's
example. But Divine instruction, intended for building up,
must, if neglected, result in disastrous ruin.^ ' Great was the
fall thereof does not mean that the building was a large one,
but that the whole edifice fell (or ' fell /«,' o-vrcTreo-cv, as Lk. says),
so that the ruin was complete. The warning applies to small
characters as well as great, to the humblest disciples as well as
to Apostles ; and the whole audience is left with the crash of
the unreal disciple's house sounding in their ears. ' ^\'hen Jesus
ended these words' it was ' i/ie multitudes^ who 'were astonished
at His teaching'; 2 and, according to both reports, the last word
which fell upon their ears was ' great ' : ' the fall thereof was
great.'
The formula, ' It came lo p.iss when Jesus ended ' {iydfero ore ^rAfffe/' 6
'IrjiTovs), occurs after all the five great discourses in Mt. (vii. 28, xi. i, xiii. 53,
xix. I, xxvi. i). This produces the impression that the Evangelist intends us
to understand that, in each case, all the words in the preceding discourse
were uttered at one and the same time ; whereas it is almost certain that in
each case the discourse is a compilation. With regard to this diflTicully we
may choose one of these three alternatives, (i) Mt. thought that the time at
' " Rabba said : Holy Writ does not tell us that to sOtt/y God's commands
shows a good understanding, but to do them. We must learn, however,
before we can perft)rm ; and he who acts contrary through life to the leaching
of the Most High had better never have been born" (Talmud).
' For the meaning of f'fow/a see Abbott, Johanniuc Vocabulary, 1562 ff.
120 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VII. 28, 29
which the sayings were delivered was of no importance, and that he was quite
free to assign any time that he pleased to them. They were the words of the
Messiah ; that was all that was important : an Evangelist might arrange them
as he found convenient, or thought most effective for his purpose. (2) Mt.
had no intention of fixing any times for these five collections of sayings ; in
using this formula he was merely marking the conclusion of a particular
section of the Gospel. (3) The sayings had already been collected into set
discourses in the sources which he used, and he himself believed that each
had been uttered as a whole at the time indicated. In the last case, the
formula, ' It came to pass when Jesus ended,' may not be the Evangelist's
own remark, but may have come from the source. It is in favour of this that
the expression ' it came to pass when ' [eyivero ore) occurs nowhere else in
Mt., but only in these five passages (see Hawkins, Hora Syn. pp. 132 f.).
For the great impression which Christ's teaching made upon His hearers
comp. xiii. 54, xxii. 22, 33; Mk. i. 22, vi. 2, xi. 18; Lk. iv. 22, 32;
Jn. vii. 15, 46.
With the words, 'were astonished at His teaching,' ^ Mt.
returns to the narrative of Mk. (i. 22), into which he has
inserted three chapters. He follows Mk. in saying that it was
the authoritative manner of teaching that so amazed them. The
Rabbis were accustomed to quote some authority for what they
said, either Scripture, or tradition, or the utterance of some
teacher of repute. Christ spoke on His own authority, an
authority which He sometimes said that He had received from
the Father (xxviii. 18; Jn. v. 27, x. 18, xvii. 2), but which He
seems, as a rule, to have allowed to make itself felt without
support or justification. He habitually taught {rjv ^lMo-kwv) in
this unusual manner ; and, while it was often resented by those
who taught in the traditional way, it made the people very
attentive to hear Him, they 'hung upon Him, listening' (Lk.
xix. 48). But neither this nor His miracles caused Him to be
commonly recognized as the Messiah. The Baptist's witness to
His Messiahship had not been heard by very many, and had
been perhaps forgotten. The multitudes regarded Him rather
as a great Prophet, either a new one or one of the old ones risen
again.
Justin M. (Tfy. 35) gives as sayings of Christ two different quotations of
ver. 15, in the first case mixing it with xxiv. 5, and between these quotations
he gives as a saying of Christ what seems to be a reminiscence of i Cor.
xi. 18, 19. "For He said: Many shall come in My name, outwardly clad
in skins of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. And : T/iere shall
be schisms ard heresies. And: Beware of false prophets, who shall come to
j-ou, outwardly clad in skins of sheep, but within they are ravening wolves."
In the Cle?iic?!tine Homilies (xvi. 21) we have a similar mixture of Matthew
and Corinthians quoted as a saying of Christ. " For there will be, as the
Lord said, false apostles (2 Co'r. xi. 13), false prophets, heresies (i Cor.
xi. 19), lustings for rule" (^tXapx^at, frequent in Plutarch). See small print
at the end of ch. xxiv.
^ The force of the imperfect, i^eirXifia-aovTo, is that they were more and
more amazed, their astonishment went on and on.
VIII. 1] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 121
' Ravening wolves in sheep's clolhing ' is the first of the stern
metaphors directed against the Pharisees which have been
preserved by Mt. alone. Comp. 'blind guides' (xv. 14, xxiii.
16, 24), and 'whited sepulchres, outwardly beautiful, but full
of all uncleanness' (xxiii. 27). Other graphic traits of these
hypocrites are their 'sounding a trumpet before them' when
they give alms (vi. 2), their 'laying heavy burdens' on others and
not stirring a finger to remove them (xxiii. 4), and their 'straining
out a gnat,' while they ' swallow a camel ' (xxiii. 24) : and all
these are given by Mt. alone.
Ch. vii. is not very full of expressions which are characteristic of Mt.
We have Kal IdoO (4), VTroKpir^s (5), 6 ■jraTr)p 6 iv rots ovpavoh (ll, 21),
(vSvyLa {\^), (TaTpbs (17, 18), (ppdvifjLos (24), fxwp6i (26). Peculiar to Mt. : i}
Pacn\ela TWf ovpavuv ; peculiar to this chapter: irXarvi (13), ei;/3i/xwpos (13),
Ppoxv (25, 27).
VIII. 1-IX. 34. Illustrations of the Messiah's Work.
Typical Miracles.
Mt. omits the healing of the demoniac in the synagogue at
Capernaum (Mk. i. 23-28 ; Lk. iv. 33-36), and transfers to the
first place the healing of a leper, which Mk. places later, but
without saying when it took place (i. 40-45; Lk. v. 12-16).
No doubt Mt. had reasons for this change, but they are not
obvious. The leper's act of worship, and extraordinary strength
of faith may have seemed to the Evangelist more suitable for
a first detailed account of one of Christ's works of mercy. More-
over, Christ's charge to the healed leper, to go and show himself
to the priest and offer what Moses commanded, is an example
of His fulfilling and not destroying the Law (v. 17). But it is
clear that the leper was not cleansed in the presence of ' great
multitudes' (viii. i). In that case, the charge to him to 'tell
no man ' would have been out of place. But before examining
any of these illustrations of Christ's miracles the following
weighty words are worthy of consideration.
"The historian who tries to construct a reasoned picture
of the Life of Christ finds that he cannot dispense with miracles.
He is confronted with the fact that no sooner had the life of
Jesus ended in apparent failure and shame, than the great body
of Christians passed over at once to the fixed belief that He
was God. By what conceivable process could the men of that
day have arrived at such a conclusion, if there had been nothing
in His life to distinguish it from that of ordinary men ? He
did not work the kind of miracles which they expected. But
this makes it all the more necessary that there must have
been something about the life which they could recognize as
122 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VIII. 1-4
supernatural and divine. Eliminate miracles from the career
of Jesus, and the belief of Christians, from the first moment
that we have undoubted contemporary evidence of it (say
A.D. 50), becomes an insoluble enigma" (Sanday, Outlines,
pp. 113, 114).
"We cannot separate the wonderful life, or the wonderful
teaching, from the wonderful works. They involve and inter-
penetrate and presuppose each other, and form in their insoluble
combination one harmonious picture " (lUingworth, Divine
Iminanefice^ p. 90).
To those who believe that Jesus Christ was what He claimed
to be, that is, to those who believe in the Incarnation, there is
no difficulty about miracles. They are the natural works of
a supernatural Person. If He was not supernatural, then
difficulty arises. But in that case we tear up the New
Testament, and the history of the Christian Church becomes
inexplicable.
In the summary of Christ's wonderful works of healing
given as an introduction to the account of His ministry (iv. 24)
no mention is made of cleansing lepers, and we are probably to
understand that this narrative (viii. 2-4) refers to X^ao, first instance
of Christ cleansing a leper. In that case the man's faith was
all the more remarkable. Leprosy was believed to be incurable
by human means ; ^ and, if the man had never heard of a cure,
his 'Thou canst make me clean' exhibits marvellous trust in
Christ's potver. ' If Thou wilt ' looks as if he had less trust in
Christ's goodness; but it perhaps means no more than that he
thought himself unworthy of such a boon. His 'worshipping'
Him perhaps meant no more than special reverence to a Prophet,
or was preparatory to asking a great boon, but it may have
indicated something more. All three Evangelists mention the
prostration, but each in a different way. ' Worship ' {irpoo-Kwuv)
is a favourite word with Mt., who first uses it of the adoration
of the Magi (ii. 2, 8, 11, iv. 9, 10, viii. 2, ix. 18, xiv, 33, etc.).
It is rare in Mk. and Lk., but common in Jn., who perhaps
always uses it of the worship of a Divine Person. It well
expresses the attitude which befits all who come to the Messiah
for the blessings of His healing power; and this act of worship
— so different from the behaviour of the demoniac in the
synagogue — may have been another reason for Mt.'s placing this
1 It has been contended (Wright, St. Luke, p. 148) that "Biblical leprosy
was a mild skin disease, never fatal," quite different from mgdern leprosy.
But what we call leprosy was known then. Other diseases of the skin did
not make a man ceremonially unclean ; and how could a mild skin disease be
regarded as (in a very special way) a Divine visitation ? Ps. li. 7 points to
leprosy as symbolical in its ravages to sin. See Hastings' DB., art.
' I^eprosy.'
VIII. 1-4] TIIK MINISTRY IN C'.ALILEE 1 23
miracle first in his three triplets of specimens of the Mesbiah's
mighty works,^
■Mk. mentions that Christ was 'moved by compassion'
(a-TrXayxri.txOeL';), which implies that the man's sufferings were
great, and ' the beloved physician ' tells us that the man was
'full of leprosy.' All three have the Hebraistic amjjlification
that Christ 'stretched out His hand' to touch him, which Weiss
strangely explains as " in order to prevent the contact with the
unclean and contagious disease." Is it credible that Jesus
was afraid of being infected? Would any one keep the man
at arm's length for fear of infection, and yet touch him ? The
outstretched hand is the expression of the compassion (xiv. 31),
and is the answer to the leper's timid 'if Thou wilt.' It confirms
his fixith in Christ's power and assures him of His goodness, and
thus completes the preparation of the sufferer's mind for the
cleansing. The healing touch follows, and ^straightway his
leprosy was cleansed.' All three preserve the 'straightway,' for
the sudden cure of such a malady was one of the astounding
features of the miracle. All three also mention that Christ
touched the leper, which involved becoming ceremonially
unclean. But this result is not certain. Lk. says that the
man was ' full of leprosy ' ; and, by a curious provision of the
Law, if 'the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the
plague, then the priest shall pronounce him clean' (Lev. xiii.
12, 13). Yet what follows indicates that this leper was not thus
exempt. We may conclude, therefore, that Jesus touched the
leper on the same principle as that on which He healed on the
Sabbath. The law of charity is above the ceremonial law, and
the touch was necessary to assure the sufferer of Christ's absolute
sympathy and readiness to help.
Perhaps the touch was also necessary for the sake of the
millions who were to read of this cleansing. No fiioral pollution
can be so great as to make Christ shrink from contact with
a sinner, who comes to Him with a desire to be freed from his
plague, and with the belief that He has the power to free him.
Christ's miracles are parables. That was part of their purpose
when they were wrought, and it is their chief meaning to us.
There seems to be nothing unreasonable in the thought that
some of the details were selected, not because they were
essential to the wonderful works, but because of their spiritual
significance.
Christ's charge to the cleansed leper : ' see thou tell no man ;
but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that
' Mk. (i. 41) has no 'Lord' (¥.vpu) in the leper's address; l)Ut Ijoth Mt.
and Lk. (v. 12) insert it. It is common in the Kj^yiilian papyri, in the sense
of ' my lord,' or ' sir' (Abbott, /ohatinitie Grammar, 26S0).
124 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VIII. 4
Moses commanded,' has been variously explained. Mk. tells us
that it was given with great strictness (e/A^pt/xiyo-a/xevos), as
something that Christ regarded as urgent.^ Perhaps the
principal reason was to ensure that the man did not assume
that his miraculous cleansing dispensed him from obedience to
the law. But Christ may also have wished to preserve the man
from unhealthy boasting about the wonderful cure, and the
people from being excited to religious or political fanaticism
(Jn. vi. 15); and both these motives were probably present in
other cases in which Christ enjoined silence on those whom He
healed (xii. 16; Mk. v. 43, vii. 36, comp. ix. 9 = Mt. xvii. 9).
The danger of popular fanaticism is perhaps part of the reason
for His silencing the demons when they would have revealed
who He was (Mk. i. 25, 34). The time had not yet come for
such a revelation to be made publicly, and demons were not
proper apostles of it at any time. Comp. xii. 19, 39, xvii. 9.
It has been urged that these injunctions to silence are proof
that Jesus, during His lifetime, never claimed to be the Messiah.
If He had, He would not have forbidden people to say that He
was the Messiah. If He wrought mighty works as evidence that
He was the Messiah, He would not have told those on whom
He wrought them to say nothing about it. From this apparent
inconsistency we are asked to draw the conclusion that most of
the miracles and all of the injunctions to silence are fictions.
After His death. His followers believed Jesus to have been God.
Then of course He must have done great wonders. But (un-
believers might ask) why did not the wonders cause Him to
be recognized as Divine at the time? To which His followers
invented the reply, that He had forbidden people to make
known His wonderful works.
This explanation is much less easy to believe than the plain
statements of the Gospels, which are too nearly contemporaneous
with the facts to be set aside in this peremptory way. The
seeming inconsistency is a strong guarantee for the truth of the
narratives, and invention is here very improbable. We seriously
misstate the case when we say, Jesus wrought miracles to prove
that He was the Messiah, and then forbade people to proclaim
Him as such. Miracles did not prove that He was the Messiah ;
at most they only proved that He was a Prophet : and He had
other reasons for working them. Among these reasons we may
securely place His desire to relieve suffering, to benefit men's
^ Mk. also says that Christ ' turned him out ' (e^^paXev) or ' dismissed him
with urgency,' as if the man were not sufficiently docile. Salmon thinks that
Mk. does not entirely approve of the leper's conduct {T/te Human Element,
p. 149). In any case, we see how anxious Jesus was not to overtluow the
existing ecclesiastical system prematurely. Where it was blameless, He
strongly supported it ; comp. xxiii. 2.
VIII. 4-13] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 2$
souls by first healing their bodies, to attract attention to His
teaching. Many came to be healed, or to see mighty works,
and then stayed to listen. The reasons suggested above for the
injunctions to silence are adequate ; but there may easily have
been others of a deeper nature which lie beyond our ken. See
a helpful paper by Sanday in the Journal of Tluological Studies,
April 1904.
'For a testimony to them' is in all three. 'Them' is
primarily the priests, but it may include the people ; and it is
the gift which the cleansed leper must offer that is the 'testi-
mony.' It would show that Christ did not disregard the Law,
as some had sujiposed that He did (v. 17), if it was known that
He had ordered one whom He had healed to do all that Moses
commanded (Lev. xiv.). Thus this incident illustrates in both
directions Christ's treatment of the ceremonial law. When it
came into collision with the moral law, He disregarded it ; the
lower law must give way. He did not allow ceremonial defile-
ment to stand in the way of showing sympathy with the leper by
touching him. But, when there was no such collision, He
upheld the ceremonial law. "He condemned neither the wash-
ings nor the differences of meats, but He did strenuously
condemn the confusion of such mere rules with principles of
religion and morality, i.e. with the substance of the Law and the
Prophets, and He defended the violation of such rules, not as a
habit but when the cause was adequate " (Hort, Judaistic Christi-
anity, p. 29).
'\:\\Q. healing of the Centurion^ s Servant {e,-i^) at a distance
is not recorded by Mk. and is placed by Lk. (vii. 2-10) immedi-
ately after the Sermon. The utterances are given in almost
exactly the same words by Mt. and Lk., but the narrative portion
differs.^ In Lk. the centurion sends first elders and then friends
to intercede for his servant ; here he comes himself. The details
of the story had got changed in transmission, and each Evangelist
received a different version of it. Jn. iv. 46-54 probably refers
to a different incident.
It has been remarked that centurions have a good character
in the New Testament (xxvii. 54; Acts x. 22, xxii. 26, xxiii. 17,
23, 24, xxiv. 23, xxvii. 43). Roman organization was one of the
chief instruments of good order in the world, and it produced,
and was maintained by, excellent individuals, such as this
' By placing /mov before virb ttj;' <rriyy\v, Mt. throws the emphasis on the
substantive : ' enter under my roof.' The centurion asks a great boon, but
not such a sacrifice on Christ's part as that. This nicety is lost in Lk. vii. 6.
Ahhoit, Johan. Gr. 2559. In Syr-Sin. the man is called a ' chiliarch' or
tribune. Wellhausen and Zahn make ver. 7 interrogative : ' Shall I come
and heal him ?' Tritzsche would make it a question of surprise ; ' Am I lo
come and heal him?'
126 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VIII. 10
centurion, who had built a synagogue at Capernaum — 'our
synagogue' as the elders call it (Lk. vii. 5). His saying that
he was ' not worthy ' that Christ should enter his house
perhaps indicates that he was not a proselyte : he does not
ask that the famous Rabbi should pollute Himself by entering
the house of a Gentile. He knows from personal experience
what a word from a person in authority can do without per-
sonal presence. He obeys orders sent to him, and he issues
orders which are obeyed. Christ has authority over unseen
powers, and He has only to speak the word, and the servant
will be healed.
Both narratives record that 'Jesus marvelled' {I9avfx.acr€v)
at the centurion's faith. Those who attribute omniscience to
the incarnate Word must explain how He could ' marvel ' at any-
thing. 'He marvelled because of their unbelief (Mk. vi. 6).
"The surprises of life, especially those which belong to its
ethical and spiritual side, created genuine astonishment in the
human mind of Christ" (Swete). Comp. xxvi. 40; Mk. viii. 12.
He tells us Himself that He was ignorant of the date of the Day
of Judgment (Mk. xiii. 32). Therefore ignorance was possible
for Him, and the only question is as to its extent. This we
must reverently consider with the aid of Scripture. He could
grow in wisdom (Lk. ii. 52); and He sometimes asked for in-
formation : 'How many loaves have ye? go and see.' 'How
long time is it since this hath come to him ? ' ' Where have ye
laid him ? ' Till He reached it. He expected that the barren
fig-tree would have fruit. When He taught in the synagogue,
He exhibited no knowledge of the whole of the Scriptures : ' He
opened the book and found the place' (Lk. iv. 17) and read.
On the other hand. He could read men's hearts, and He could
know what was taking place at a distance. The principle which
can be traced seems to be this : that, where knowledge which
was necessary for His work could be obtained by ordinary
means, then He used ordinary means ; but that, where it could
not thus be obtained. He obtained the knowledge supernaturally,
— perhaps we may say by revelation from His Father. It was
not necessary for His work that He should know all about the
authorship and date of the books of the Old Testament ; and it
is no true leverence to claim such knowledge for Him. In such
matters He probably accepted what He had been taught, and to
have known more might have hindered His work rather than
helped it ; therefore " He condescended not to know." Scripture
seems to show that " He was truly limited in knowledge within
the sphere of His humanity," and that "He withdrew from
operation {ab opere retraxit) His power and majesty." But the
subject is a deep mystery, and reverent caution in drawing
Vin. 11-14] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 127
inferences is necessary. See Gore, Dissertations^ pp. 7 iff.;
Hastings' DB. and DCG., art. 'Kenosis,'
The declaration, ' With no one have I found such faith in
Israel,' suggests the thought that there are others outside Israel
who are like this centurion.^ Without having the spiritual
advantages of Jews, they exceed the righteousness of Jews.
Then ought they not to be admitted to the Kingdom ? ' Yes,'
says our Lord, ' and not only so, but many Jews will be excluded
from it.' The verses (11, 12) in which this reversal of human
judgments is declared are given by Lk. in quite another con-
nexion (xiii. 28-30) and in somewhat different words. In this
Jewish-Christian Gospel there are clear indications that the
Gentiles are to be admitted to the Kingdom, and this is one of
them: comp. xxi. 43, xxii. 9, xxiv. 14, xxv. 32, xxviii. 19. The
other Hebrew Gospel has the same (Jn. x. 16, xii. 20). The
words come pardy from Is. xlv. 6 and xlix. 12 ; comp. lix. 19;
Jer. iii. 18; IMal. i. 11. What they foretell is the exact opposite
of Jewish expectations. The Jew expected that the Gentiles
would be put to shame by the sight of the Jews in bliss. Here
it is the Gentiles who sit down to the banquet with the Patriarchs,
while the excluded Jews gnash their teeth. A banquet is so
often the expression of great joy in human life that it is natural
to use it as a symbol of the joys of a future life (xxvi. 29 ;
Lk. xiv. 15, xxii. 30; Rev. iii. 20, xix. 9). The Jews seem to
have understood the banquet literally. In the Apocalypse of
Baruch (xxix. 4) Leviathan and Behemoth are to be given as
food to the faithful remnant. On 'the sons of the Kingdom'
see Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 162. It is strange irony that
the sons of the Kingdom are excluded from the Kingdom.
The narratives of the healing of the Jewish leper, who is told
to observe the Law, and of the servant of the heathen centurion,
who is shown to be worthy of the Kingdom, are well placed by
Mt. immediately after the Sermon in which Christ sets forth the
Christian's relation to the Jewish Law ; just as the Magi come
after the shepherds, and sick from all Syria are healed after many
healings of Jews in Galilee (iv. 23, 24).
There now follows the third instance in Mt.'s first triplet of
miraculous healings (14, 15). We have had leprosy and palsy,
and we now have fever, — the healing of Peter's mother-in-law
(■n-fvOepd), which is recorded by all three. And all three mention
that, directly she was healed, she ministered to Jesus and those
' Origen points out that Jairus, who was not only ' in Israel ' but a
synagogue-ruler, did not ask for a mere word, but said ' Come quickly,' and
that Martha and Mary said that, if Christ had been there, their brother would
not have died. And yet Wellhausen suggests that this centurion is a Doppel-
gdnger of Jairus !
128 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VIII. 15-22
with Him. This showed the completeness of the cure, and it
may imply that she was healed near the time of the mid-day
meal. As it was not until evening that demoniacs and sick were
brought to Him^ we may conclude that the day was a Sabbath.
It is clear from I Cor. ix. 5 that Peter was married, and Clernent _ of
Alexandria {Strom, iii. 6) says that his wife helped the Apostle in ministering
to women. Here Mt. says that her mother ministered to Jesus : avT(2 is the
true reading. Mt. has not mentioned the presence of disciples, and therefore
does not write avroh, as Mk. does. Note the change of tense : she rose once
for all and continued ministering {-qyipBii Kal dirjKovei.).
In what follows (16) we have instructive examples of the way in which
Mt. treats the narrative of Mk. ( i ) Pie omits ' when the sun did set,' which
is not needed after ' when even was come,' and he also omits the second
mention of ' those that were sick.' (2) He emphasizes the miraculous
character of the cures by saying that the evil spirits were cast out ' with a
word,' and that 'all' of 'many' were healed, not 'many' of' all.' (3) He
omits Christ's silencing the demons, who would have proclaimed who He
was in defiance of His will. (4) He adds a fulfilment of Scripture. Besides
these notable alterations he makes characteristic changes of wording ; e.^. he
substitutes, as often, an aorist for an imperfect and at the same time adopts a
verb which he prefers instead of the one used by Mk. {irpoariveyKav for
^(pepov). See small print at the end of the chapter.
Mt. concludes his first triplet of miracles with a summary of
many more and a quotation from the Hebrew of Is. liii. 4, the
Septuagint being different and less suitable for his purpose. The
original passage refers to one of the Prophet's own contempor-
aries, who in a special sense was the Lord's Servant, and who
had endured sufferings which should have fallen on his fellows,
and had thereby won a great deliverance. It is impossible, and
also unnecessary, to determine what the Evangelist understood
by 'took' {'iXafSev) and 'bare' {l^ao-ral^v).^ It at least must
mean that Christ removed their sufferings from the sufferers.
He can hardly have meant that the diseases were transferred to
Christ. But we may understand him as meaning that Christ's
sympathy with the sufferers was so intense that He really felt
their weaknesses and pains ; and perhaps also that the physical
exhaustion caused by the frequent exertion of healing power
was very great.
After three miracles of healing (2-15) we have three miracles
of power (23-34, ix. 1-8), over the forces of nature, over evi(
spirits, and over sin and its consequences. But first we have
the warnings to two aspirants to discipleship (18-22). Lk. places
1 See Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 102, 103. Origen quotes as a saying
of Christ : ' On account of the weak I was weak, and on account of the
hungry I was hungry, and on account of the thirsty I was thirsty ' (Resch,
Agrapha, 2nd ed., p. 132). In the Testaments we have something similar,
where Joseph speaks of his care for his brethren after Jacob's death: "all
their suffering was my suffering, and all their sickness {p.a.\wlo.) was my
infirmity (do-^^j'eta)," xvii. 7.
VIII. 19-22] THE MINISTRY IN CALILKE 129
these two incidents later in the ministry (ix. 57-60), with a third
oise whicli Mt. omits; and it is not obvious why Mt. puts be-
tween two triplets of miracles material which seems to have little
connexion with either. The replies given to these two aspirants
are impressive in their sternness, and would serve to sift out the
worthless and confirm the weak ; and they do not stand alone.
Compare the sayings about putting the hand to the plough and
looking back (Lk. ix. 62); taking up the cross (x. 38); hating
one's own father, mother, and wife (Lk. xiv. 26); selling all that
one has and giving to the poor (xix. 21). Such words as these
are a warning that those who would become the disciples of the
Messiah must count the cost before joining Him, and that those
who have joined Him must constantly remember what they have
undertaken. They must remember the conditions of His service.
The two men who are here brought before us (19-22) are of
different, and almost opposite types. The one is too forward, the
other is inclined to shirk, and Christ treats each of them in accord-
ance with their special weakness. He reminds both of them of
the conditions of discipleship. But in the case of the Scribe He
does this in a way calculated to check weak impulsiveness ; in the
case of the other He checks a weak disposition to hang back.
The Scribe had apparently been a hearer of Christ's teaching ;
and no\v, carried away by a sincere, but not very deep feeling of
enthusiasm, he proposes to become a permanent disciple. With
easy self-confidence, he makes a promise of following Christ for
better, for worse, without stopping to consider what such a
promise involves. Christ takes no advantage of the enthusiast's
rashness ; He will have no unreal disciples. But He does not
repel the man. He gently reminds him what becoming a follower
of the Son of Man involves.^ Is this Scribe, who had been
accustomed to a comfortable life, prepared for such a life as His,
which began in a borrowed stable, and ended in a borrowed
tomb? For other checks on inconsiderate impulse comp. Lk.
xi. 27, xxii. S3-
The second is already a disciple, and he thinks that what
seems to be a pressing duty may excuse him for a time from
Christ's service. He is as sincere as the Scribe. He means to
go away and perform this duty, and when he has performed it to
return. But Christ knew the man better than he knew himself.
We may believe that He saw, at the bottom of the very reason-
able request, a wish to escape from duties which were quite as
imperative, but not so interesting, as the funeral ceremonies ;
and that He also saw that the return home would be fatal : he
' For the title ' Son of Man,' here used for the first time, see the Introduc-
tion (p. xxv) ; and for the Scribe's ' Master' (AiSdaKoXe), the Greek equiva-
lent of ' Rabbi,' see Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 338.
9
i 30 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. ^lATTHEW [VIIl. 22-27
would never come back.^ Christ's reply to him is obscure to
us ; but its figurative language would be perfectly intelligible to
the disciple. ' Follow Me ' is a refusal of his request : that much
is quite plain. ' Leave the dead to bury their own dead ' seems
to mean that the spiritually dead, those who have never felt the
call to a higher life, are always numerous enough to perform
such ordinary duties as burying the dead ; and such occupations
are suitable to them; they are 'their own dead.' But perhaps
the chief meaning of this perplexing saying is to remind the man
of the lofty claims which the discipleship that he has chosen has
on him. Like the high priest (Lev. xxi. 11) and the Nazirite
(Num. vi. 6, 7), his life is a consecrated one, and he must not
'make himself unclean for his father or for his mother.' 'He
that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me '
(x. 37). Who is it that with such quiet assurance makes such
claims upon men?
The second triplet of miracles consists of miracles of power
over natural, supernatural, and spiritual forces, — storm, demons,
and sin. Or we may say that in them Christ brings peace to
nature, to those afflicted by evil spirits, and to the stricken
conscience. The triplet begins with the stillifig of the tempest on
the lake (23-27), and the first two miracles occur in the same
order in all three Gospels.
Apparently it was great fatigue, produced by the demands
which the crowds made upon Him, which caused Jesus to take
refuge in the boat ; and this is the only case in which we read of
Him as being asleep. His sleep is in marked contrast to the
noise of the storm and the panic of the disciples. The reality
of His human nature appears not only in His weariness and
slumber, but also in His unconsciousness to His surroundings.
He needs to be awakened. And then He who had rebuked
both the impetuous Scribe and the half-hearted disciple (20, 22),
now rebukes both the tempestuous elements and the timid crew.^
The tempest was no ordinary one, and the disciples, accustomed
as they were to the violence of this mountain lake, were terrified.
^ It is probable that the father was still alive. At the present day, an
Oriental, with his father sitting by his side, has been known to say respecting his
future projects : ' But I must first bury my father.' In any case this disciple
was not indispensable for the funeral rites ; the father was sure of burial, and
(as Chrysostom and Gregory the Great point out), if it is a good deed to bury
the dead, it is still better to preach the Gospel and rescue others from death.
- Mk. and Lk. place the calming of the waves before the calming of the
disciples' fears, which is the probable order. The disciples would profit by
His rebuke far better after their terror was removed. Mt. pointedly reverses
the order, inserting his favourite tots after the rebuke to the men and before
the rebuke to the winds and waves. He also inserts 6\iy6in(TTOi into Mk.'s
narrative both here and jcvi. 8. In each place it seems to represent that part
of Christ's rebuke which Mt. omits.
Vni. 23-27] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I3I
Christ's ' Wliy are ye so fearful ? ' may be a rhetorical question
to emphasi/e the rebuke. But, if it is an expression of surprise,
it is a counterpart to ver. 10. There He marvelled at the great
faith of a heathen soldier ; here He marvels at the little faith
of His own disciples. The question reminds us of ' How is it
that ye sought Me ?' Just as His parents ought to have known
where to find Him, so the disciples ought to have known that
with Him they were sure of protection. That they should pray
'Save, Lord' was well; it was 'we perish' (which is in all three
accounts) that was amiss, for it showed that they put little trust
in His presence. But the way in which their prayer was granted
greatly impressed them. It was contrary to all their experience
of the lake that there should be 'a great calm' immediately
after the wind ceased, and they recognize the presence of super-
natural power which is new to them. They had witnessed
wonderful cures ; but this was a miracle on their own element,
and their amazement and fear (Mk.) were in proportion. And
we should remember that this thrice-told narrative conies from
those who were experts in the matter, and that the suggestion
of a mere coincidence between Christ's waking and the cessation
of the storm is out of court. A sudden drop in the wind is
possible, but that would not at once calm the sea. Comp. Ps.
Ixxxix. 9, cvii. 29 ; 2 Mac. ix. 8.
Some of the peculiarities in Mt.'s account are of special
interest. Instead of saying, as the others do, that a ' storm of
wind' (XaiXai/^ av4fj.ov) came down on the lake, he says that
there was a 'great quaking in the sea' (o-ettr/xos /u.e'yas iyivero iv
rg 6a\d(T(ri]), which may refer merely to the disturbance caused
by the wind. But it may also mean that there was an earthquake
under the lake (Gen. vii. w)} Again, Mt. alone makes the
disciples address Christ as 'Lord' (Kvptc). Mk. has 'Teacher'
(AiSao-K-aXe) and Lk. has his favourite 'ETricrTaTa ('Master'), both
of which probably represent ' Rabbi.' Side by side with this
change from ' Rabbi ' to ' Lord,' Mt. attributes the wondering
exclamation about the obedience of the winds and the sea to
'the meJi^ (01 8e dvOpoiTroL iOav/xaaav Acyovrc? k.t.X.). This is
a very unusual expression to be applied to the disciples, and it
looks as if Mt. had chosen it as a contrast to ' Lord,' which is
also a word of his own choosing. Mt. perhaps desires to point
out how much this miracle revealed of the supernatural character
of the Messiah, and the way in which it emphasized the difference
between Him and His followers. Some would refer ' the men '
to the hired servants (Mk. i. 20) who may have been with the
' Ever)where else in Mt., and indeed in the N.T., ffeifffio^ means an
earthquake. See notes on xxvii. 51 and xxviii. 2; and comp. Jcr. xxiii. 19;
Nah. i. 3.
132 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [ VIII. 27, 28
Apostles, or to fishermen in other boats near at hand, or to
spectators on the shore, or to the people who heard of the mh-acle
afterwards. But of all this, not one word is said; and would
Mt. mean by 'the men' people whom he had not mentioned?
Moreover, ]\Ik. and Lk. attribute the exclamation to the disciples ;
and if 'the men' means the disciples, w^e can see why Mt. omits
their 'great fear' and substitutes 'wonder,' for he often spares
the Twelve. Comp. xiii. 16-17, xiv. 33, xvi. 9, xvii. 9, 23,
xviii. I, xxvi. 43 ; in all these places Mt. omits details in the
narrative of Mk. which are unfavourable to the disciples. Lk.
gives both the fear and the wonder.
The account of the storm in the Testaments should be compared ; but the
wording is closer to Mk. and Lk. than to Mt. The following expressions
are remarkable : yiverai xeiyucbv cr<po5p6s, Kai XaTXai/' avifxov /neydX-r], Kal
iTrKrjpudrj to -kKolov vSaruv, iv TpiKVfiiais Trepiprjcrad/iepoi', ware Kal avvrpi^eff-
00.1 avTO. cI)S 5^ eTraiVaro 6 xetyticiy, ecpdaije rb (XKa.<f)OS iirl rrjs yTJs iv elpT^vrj
{Naphtalisx. 4-9; comp. Jn. vi. 21).
As the second miracle of the second triplet we have the much
discussed narrative about The Gerasenes and the szvine. The
Messiah, who has just asserted His authority over the forces of
nature, now asserts the same over the supernatural forces of the
unseen world. In both Mk. and Lk. the miracle takes place at
Gerasa, which probably means the place near the lake that is
still called Gersa or Khersa. Mt. seems to have supposed that
the much better known Gerasa in Gilead was meant. This
is some 36 miles from the lake and is impossible. He there-
fore substituted Gadara, which is less improbable but not at all
probable. The conjecture of Gergesa is due to Origen ; and by
it he means the place which is now called Khersa. Local pro-
nunciation might easily be understood as Gerasa or Gergesa, and
either might produce Khersa. Various travellers have pointed
out that there is only one steep place where the rush of the
swine could have occurred, and that is near Khersa.
All three readings, 'Gadarenes,' 'Gerasenes,' and ' Gergesenes,' are
found in different authorities in all three Gospels ; but there is little doubt
that 'Gadarenes' is right in Mt., and 'Gerasenes' in Mk. and Lk., while
* Gergesenes ' is right nowhere. In all cases where ' Gergesenes ' is found it
is a correction of the original reading. See DCG., art. ' Gerasenes.'
]\Ik. and Lk. mention only one demoniac. It is impossible
to determine how Mt. came to mention two. In xx. 30 he has
two blind men, where Mk. and Lk. have only one.^ The in-
^ In xxi. 7 he mentions the ass and the colt, where the other three mention
only the colt. To the healing of two blind men in ix. 27 there is no parallel
passage. That Mt. adds a demoniac here, because he has omitted the de-
moniac in the synagogue at Capernaum, is all the less probable, because in
both iv. 24 and viii. 16 he has mentioned a number of cases. (For various
solutions of the difficulty see S. J. Andrews, Life of our Lord, pp. 300-302.)
VIII. 28-34] THE MINISTRY IN CALILEE 133
accuracy is of no moment. Nor is there any serious difficulty
about the iniluence of evil spirits upon brutes. AVe know too
little of what is possible with regard to the influence of mind
upon matter (a fact about which there is no doubt) to be safe in
asserting that spirits could not influence creatures that have no
spiritual nature. And if there is " no a priori objection" on the
part of science to the demoniacal [)Ossession of swine, still less
can there be any to the demoniacal possession of men, who have
a spiritual nature. The question is simply one of evidence,
which is estimated differently by different minds.
The real difficulty is the moral one. What right had Christ
to sanction the destruction of animals which did not belong to
Him ? The answer to which may be this : that a visible effect
of the departure of the demons was necessary to convince the
demoniacs and their neighbours of the completeness of the cure ;
and that brutes and private property may be sacrificed, where the
sanity and safety of human beings is concerned.^ To this may
be added the possibility that the keepers of the swine were Jews,
and if they were, they had no right to keep swine. But it is
perhaps more probable that the swine were owned by pagans,
who on that side of the lake would be more numerous than
Jews. It is obvious that the demons cannot have intended or
expected the destruction of the swine. Knowing that they were
to be driven out of their human home, they begged to be allowed
to enter a home that would be less precious in the eyes of Him
"whom they recognized as the Son of God. The destruction of
the swine left them homeless once more (xii. 43). We have
seen already that surprise was possible for the Son of Man
(10, 26). It is possible that the destruction of the swine was
unforeseen by Him ; and in that case He cannot be made re-
sponsible for the results of the permission which He gave.-' In
none of the three reports is there any mention of complaint
* "In any case it was justified by complete success. The man was
completely satisfied that the demons had left him ; he became quite rational,
and was willing to dress and comport himself like ordinary people. In all
this I discover nothing incredible, or unworthy of the character of Jesus"
(Salmon, The Iliinian Element, p. 277).
^ Dr. Salmon shows the inconsequence of those who regard Jesus as a
mere man, and yet blame Him for the destruction of the swine ( The Himian
Element, p. 278).
The change which Mt. makes in the cry of the demoniac is to be noted.
In Mk. it is, ' I adjure Thee by God, torment me not.' In Mt., 'Art Thou
come hither to torment us before the time?' The latter seems to refer to
the doctrine that the demons will not be punished till the Day of Judgment ;
comp. Book of Enoch, xvi. i ; Book of Jubilees, x. 8, 9. ' Before the time'
is |>eculiar to Mt. Klostermann quotes I'hilostrat. Vita Apo'lonii iv. 25 :
ZixKpvovri ei^Ket t6 (fxxafia Kal 45eiTO /xrj flaaoLvi^uv avT6, fx-qoi dyayndli^eiv ofioXo-
ytiy 6 Ti elr).
134 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [VIII. 28-34
made against Him by the owners. It was the people of the
country, not the owners in particular, who requested Him to
depart from their borders ; and, although it is likely that the loss
of property had something to do with the request, yet it was
dread of so powerful a Wonder-worker that chiefly moved them.
ML (v. 15) expressly states that 'they were afraid,' and
Lk, (viii. 37) says that the Gerasenes 'asked Him to depart from
them, for they were holden with great fear.' Fear in the presence
of the supernatural is common in man; and dislike of the
presence of great holiness is specially natural in those who know
that their own Uves are quite out of harmony with heaven.
This request of the inhabitants is a guarantee for the general
trustworthiness of the narrative. Fiction would have made the
inhabitants anxious to detain Him that He might work other
wonderful cures, as was commonly the case in Galilee and
Judaea, where He was regarded, not as a dangerous magician,
but as a great Prophet. The name ' Legion ' (Mk., Lk.) is
another strong mark of reality.^ While it is reasonable to admit
the possibility of some distortion of the facts in the process of
transmission, it is uncritical and arbitrary to dismiss an incident,
so strongly attested, as a myth.
The difficult subject of diabolical possession cannot be dis-
missed as an empty superstition. Not only the EvangeUsts,
including the beloved physician, distinguish clearly between
possession and disease, but (according to their frequent testimony)
Christ did so also. It is not untrue, but it is misleading, to say
that their reports are coloured by the ideas prevalent in their
age. It is equally true to say that their reports are very different
from the ideas of later Judaism on the subject of demonology,
— all the difference between what is silly superstition and what is
sober and credible. Christ did not treat possession either as
disease or as sin. He seems never to have blamed the possessed,
or to have suggested that they had brought the affliction on
themselves. They were great sufferers, and in His compassion
He freed them from suffering. But, if the reports of His method
in dealing with this special kind of suffering are to be trusted,
Be went through the form of casting out defnons ; He told the
evil spirits to depart. If there were no evil spirits there, He
either knew this or He did not ; and one is involved in grave
1 On Mt.'s omission of the question, 'What is thy name?,' and of other
questions which seem to imply ignorance on the part of Christ, see Introduc-
tion, p. XV. Mt. seems also to have felt the difficulty of the statement that
Christ gave the demons leave {i-n-eTpe\p€v avrols) to enter the swine. His
'Go' [virdyeTe) is not 'Go into the swine,' but 'Depart, leave the place.'
It ignores their request rather than grants it; comp. iv. 10; i Cor. vii. 15,
J. H. Moulton, Gram, of N.T. Gr. p. 172. Mt. also, as before the choosing
of the Twelve, omits ' the mountain ' which both Mk. and Lk. mention.
IX. 1-8] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 135
difficulty, whichever alternative one takes. It is rash to assume
that there cannot have been any demons to be expelled. The
hypothesis that they were there, and that they were expelled, is
not antecedently incredible, and it is supported by evidence
which cannot easily be explained away. That demoniacal
possession never occurs now is another rash assumption. A
medical man once told the present writer that he was confident
that he had known of a case in his practice : the terrible pheno-
mena seemed to admit of no other explanation. But physical
maladies sometimes become extinct, and psychical maladies
may do so also. Even if it be true that demoniacal possession
is not found now, that is not conclusive against its taking place
in other ages when the spiritual condition of society was very
different. We must be content to leave the question open ; but
the uniform evidence of the Synoptists is much easier to explain,
if demoniacal possession was a fact.^
Expressions characteristic of Mt. in ch. viii. : Koi l8ov (2, 24, 29, 32, 34),
vpoffipx^f^Oai (2, 5, 19, 25), irpoffKVve'tv (2), irpo<T(f>^peiv (4), -jropevfaOai (9 dis),
6 ^pvyp.bs tQv 6d6vTO}v (12), yefijdrjTw (13), icpa (Kelvt] (13), iVwj irXrjpudy
(17), 6\iy6iriaTos (26), rore (26), fiera^alveiv {34), Spia (34). Peculiar: 17
(iaffi\eia tCjv ovpavuv (ll), t6 prjO^v (17), i^uirepos (l2, xxii. 13, xxv. 30),
daifjuov (31 only).
It is in this chapter that we have the first instances of what in the second
half of the Gospel becomes common, — Mt.'s substitution of aorisls for the
imperfects in Mk. We have irpoarji'eyKav, airiOavov (16, 32) for l(pepoi'
i-rviyovTo (Mk. i. 32, v. 13).
On the possibility that Mt. has arranged the paragraphs in this chaptei
to correspond with paragraphs in xxvii. and xxviii,, see T. Milne in ihejotir.
of Th. St., July 1904, p. 602.
The third miracle of the second triplet is the healing of tht
faralytt'c (\\. 1-8). Mt. is again more brief than Mk. (ii. 1-12)
and Lk. (v. 17-26). 'His own city' means Capernaum, which
is now His chief centre of activity (iv. 13). None of the Evan-
gelists give any date, and Mk. alone mentions that the paralytic
had four bearers. ' Seeing their faith ' is in all three narratives,
and it is commonly interpreted as meaning the faith of the
bearers, whose persistence in breaking through the roof, in order
to place the sufferer near Jesus, is omitted by Mt. But we may
allow some faith to the sick man himself, although it was prob-
ably not so strong as that of his friends. He knew, as they did
not, that his physical weakness had been produced by previous
sin ; and he perhaps doubted whether the sin would not interfere
with his cure. Hence Christ deals with the man's uneasy con-
science first. The healing of that must precede the healing of
' W. Mcnzies Alexander, Demonic Possession in the N. T. pp. 12, 2CX>-2I2,
249-
136 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IX. 1-8
his body. If he had faith to believe in the forgiveness (and that
sometimes requires a great deal), he would have faith to be
healed.i The affectionate address, 'My child' {t€kvov) is in
both Mt. and Mk. The gracious exhortation, ' Be of good
cheer ' (Odpaei), is in Mt. alone, who on two other occasions
records it as uttered by Christ (ix. 22, xiv. 27), Mk. has it
once of Christ (vi. 50) ; Jn. once (xvi. 33) ; and Luke once
(Acts xxiii. 11). As used by Christ, it is never a mere ex-
hortation ; it is followed by an act or assurance which is sure
to cheer those to whom it is addressed ; so, in a very marked
way, here.
The present tense (Mt., Mk.) is remarkable. 'Thy sins are
receiving forgiveness' {acj>UuTai, divnttu7itiir) here and now.
This was just the assurance for which the man was yearning ; ^
but the words have a very different effect on others. The Scribes
are here mentioned for the first time as coming in contact with
the Messiah, and their critical hostility continues to develope
until it ends in compassing His death. These are local Scribes,
reinforced, however, as Lk. tells us, by Pharisees and emissaries
from Jerusalem. This is the first collision in Galilee between
Jesus and the hierarchy. All three narratives seem to imply
that the hostile criticism was not uttered, and Mk. expressly
states that it was 'in His spirit' that Christ perceived their
reasoning. His reply to it is almost verbally the same in all
three, including the break caused by the parenthesis. The
Reader-of-hearts could tell how far their questionings were the
result of jealousy for God's honour, how far of enmity to a
Teacher, whom they regarded as dangerous to their authority.
This they hardly knew themselves, and He gives them a practical
challenge, by which they can test both themselves and Him.
It is easier to say, ' Thy sins are forgiven,' because no one can
prove that they are not forgiven. But the claim to heal with
a word can be proved true or false at once. The proof that
He had received power to heal with a word was a guarantee
that He had also received authority to forgive. He respects
the jealousy for God's honour and claims no authority apart
from Him (Jn. v. 27, 30). Once more (viii. 20) He calls
Himself the Son of Man, the Son of Man ofi earth. He is no
blasphemer assuming Divine prerogatives. What God does in
^ On the meaning of ' Faith ' in the N.T. see the detached note on Rom.
i. 17 in the Int. Crit. Comni. ; also the note on Lk. v. 20 ; Hastings' DCG.,
art. 'Faith'; Illingworth, Christian Character, pp. 63 ff. ; KnowHng, St.
James, pp. xlii, 53 ; Parry, St. James, pp. 43 ff.
2 The behef that sickness was caused by sin was very common: "Rabbi
Ami said, No death without sin, and no pains without some transgression " ;
and "Rabbi Alexander said, The sick ariseth not from his sickness until his
sins be forgiven" (Talmud).
IX. 8-13] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I37
heaven the Son of Man has authority to do on earth.^ ihcatrum
operum Christi (Ikngel).
As in the case of Simon's wife's mother, the person healed
shows the completeness of the cure by immediate activity. His
'bed' would be little more than a rug or mattress, easily carried.
The crowd, tlirough which he has to make his way, are, as usual,
much more sympathetic than the Scribes and Pharisees. All
three mention that they 'glorified God.' Mk. and Lk., who
think chiefly of the miracle of healing, say that the people
were 'amazed' (^i$i<TTa<r0ai, tKo-Tao-L'i tXafSev) ; but Mt., who
thinks chiefly of the forgiveness of sins, says that they were
' afraid ' (i(f)o(Si)6i]aav is the right reading). Mt. says that they
glorified God for giving such authority, — the authority to forgive
sins, to men. Mk. and Lk. represent them as impressed by the
strange things which they had seen, viz. the healing. Mt. has
already given us a trijjlet of wonderful cures (viii. 2-15). This
second triplet is not to illustrate healings, but the Messiah's
power over the invisible forces of nature, demons, and sin.
But, whether it was the power to heal with a word or the
forgiveness of sins that chiefly moved them, the multitudes
are convinced that the charge of blasphemy has been disproved,
and that Jesus is acting in the power of God. What effect the
result had on the hierarchy we are not told, but we gather from
their continued hostility on subsequent occasions that they were
baffled rather than convinced.
Between the second and the third triplet of wonderful works
Mt. places the call of the person whom Mk. calls ' Levi, the son
of Alphaeus ' and Lk. ' Levi,' while our Evangelist says that he
was ' a man called Matthew.' There can be no doubt that Mt.
means us to understand that Levi the publican or toll-gatherer,
and Matthew the toll-gatherer, and Matthew the Apostle (x. 3)
are one and the same person; and there is no great difficulty
in the double name. Simon was called Peter, and 'J'homas was
called Didymus, and probably Bartholomew was also called
Nathanael."^ What strikes us chiefly in this narrative is the call
of an Apostle, and especially the call of such a man to be an
Apostle. That humble and ignorant fishermen should be chosen
for such an office was surprising enough ; but here Christ chooses
a man from the class which was most despised and detested
^ Here, as in xii. 8, it \%f>ossible that the Aramaic original of 'son of man'
w.is used in the sense of mankind in general, men. But such passages are
few, and in them it is more prohahle that the meaning which prevails else-
where is the right one. It is ihe title of Jesus Himself, partly veiling, partly
revealing. His claim to be the Messiah. See Introduction (p. xxv) ; Dalinan,
Words of Jesus, p. 261 ; Drummond, /m//-. 0/ 77i. St., April and July 1901.
* The diflcrencc here is that both Matthew and Levi are Semitic, an<J
neither nanie is a patronymic.
138 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IX. 9-11
among the Jews, the toll-gatherers. And we are right in being
struck with this. But perhaps the point which led the Evan-
gelists to preserve this narrative was not the call of the toll-
gatherer so much as the banquet which followed it, and the
second conflict with the hierarchy which took place at the
banquet. That is the connexion between the cure of the
paralytic and the call of Matthew. Jesus is once more brought
into collision with the Pharisees and the Scribes. Except in
the lists of the Apostles, Matthew is not mentioned again by
the Evangelists.
Matthew's instantaneous response to the call to be a disciple
proves two things : that our Lord knew his character, and that
Matthew already knew something of Christ's teaching. Mk. tells
us that Jesus had been teaching by the side of the sea just before
the call of Levi ; and Matthew may have been among the many
toll-gatherers who had listened to the Baptist, and had been told
not to exact more than they had a right to. Matthew probably
collected tolls for Herod Antipas, much of whose income came
from this source of revenue. In one sense the response of
Matthew to the call of Christ was a greater act of faith than that
of Peter and Andrew or James and John. The fishermen could
always return to their fishing: they did not "burn their ships"
by following Christ. When the death of Jesus seemed to ex-
tinguish their hopes, they did return to their fishing. But for
Matthew no such return would be possible. His lucrative post
would be at once filled up, and an ex-toll-gatherer would find
it hard indeed to get any other employment. He risked every-
thing by following Jesus.
But, so far from being depressed by the risk, he regards the
crisis as a matter for much rejoicing. He makes a great feast
and invites many of his old colleagues, in the hope, perhaps,
that other toll-gatherers may be led to follow his new Master.
But it is not likely that the feast took place on the day of the
call : the preparations for such an entertainment would take
time. Mk. and Mt. are not clear as to who gives the banquet,
or at whose house it takes place ; but Lk. is no doubt right in
making Levi the entertainer, with Jesus as the chief guest. And
here at once there was a proceeding which the Pharisees could
denounce as an outrageous scandal. This popular Rabbi not
only mixed with the worst classes of society, but He ate and
drank with them, — with excommunicate persons. This was a
public violation of common decency which could not fail to
cause great offence. Whether the Evangelists mean us to under-
stand that there were notorious sinners present, or they are
merely adopting the Pharisaic point of view, is not quite certain.
At Capernaum there were not only heathen, but also not a few
IX. 11-13] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 39
who, through constant intercourse with heatlien, had become
paganized in their manner of life. These would be the class
that would accept a toll-gatherer's invitation.
In the Mosaic Law the eating with Gentiles was not
forbidden, but the Rabbis forbade it as dangerous, and the
prohibition was commonly observed. The Pharisees insisted
upon it (Lk. xv. 2), and violation of it was resented (Acts x. 28,
xi. 2; Gal. ii. n). There was a great difference between
entertaining heathen and being entertained by them. In the
latter case food that was ceremonially unclean was almost
certain to be provided, and the Jewish guest had no means of
discriminating. Comp. Josephus, Con. Apion. ii. 29; Tac.
Hist. V. 5. There was probably less strictness respecting inter-
course with Gentiles in Galilee and the neighbourhood, where
Gentiles abounded, than in Jerusalem, where they were rare;
and it was in and around Galilee that most of our Lord's public
life was spent. He taught and healed those who came to Ilm.
from heathen districts, and He exhibited no aversion to such
people, any more than to Samaritans or excommunicate Jews.
He cancelled His apparent rejection of the Syrophccnician
woman (x\'. 24) as soon as she showed herself worthy of His
grace; and He cancelled the limitation of the Apostles' com-
mission (x. 5, 6), as soon as the necessity for any such limitation
ceased (xxviii. 19). As to intercourse with heathen, He went
back to the freedom of the Mosaic Law.
The Pharisees, fresh from their discomfiture about the
paralytic, do not attack our Lord directly, but address His
disciples, whom they could accost as soon as the party broke
up. We are expressly told by all three that the feast was iti the
house, and the Pharisees would not enter a toll-gatherer's house,
although, according to Eastern custom, they could have entered
a house during a meal without an invitation. Jesus hears their
criticism, and at once takes His disciples under His protection
by answering for Himself. And we have once more to notice
the position which He assumes as a matter of course, as if
nothing else was conceivable. He is the Physician of souls ; and
He is come, come into the world, come from God, to heal
sinners. There is no argument, no assertion of claims ; nothing
but the quiet statement of fact. He has to heal sinners, and
must associate with sinners. Who is it who is so conscious of
this supreme mission ?
Christ pronounces no judgment upon the assumption of the
Pharisees that they are in sound spiritual health, with a righteous
abhorrence of sin. Granted that it is so, then they are in no
need of the Physician, and ought not to complain that He
gives His help to those who claim it, and (as the Pharisees them-
I40 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IX. 13, 14
selves admit) greatly need it. The quotation from Hos. vi. 6,
' Mercy I desire, and not sacrifice,' is not in either Mk. or Lk.,
but Mt. gives it again (xii. 7). It is in harmony with the text in
both places, and may have been spoken on both occasions ; or
Mt. may have known it as a saying of Christ, and may have
inserted it where it appeared to be appropriate. Here the
* sacrifice' is the external righteousness of keeping aloof from
sinners. Of course the saying does not mean that sacrifice is
worthless, but that mercy is worth a great deal more. Comp.
Lk. X. 20, xiv. 12, xxiii. 28 : in all such forms of speech, what
seems to be forbidden is not really prohibited, but shown to be
very inferior to something else. The introductory formula, ' Go
ye and learn ' (TropcD^eVxes /jLaOere) was common with the Rabbis.
It is perhaps putting too much meaning into it to say that with
it Christ dismisses them, as persons whose self-righteousness
rendered their case hopeless. They were in far worse con-
dition than the toll -gatherers, because they did not know
their own sinfulness. See Du Bose, T/ie Gospel ace. to Sf.
Paul, p. 71.
It is of no moment whether the question about fasting was
raised in consequence of the feast at Matthew's house (which
may have coincided with one of the two weekly fasts), as Mt.
seems to think, or independently. Nor does it matter who put
the question. Mt. and Mk. are here not quite in harmony, and
Lk. is indefinite. The difference between the freedom of Jesus
and His disciples on the one hand and the strictness of John's
disciples and the Pharisees on the other, was noticed, and Jesus
was asked to explain it. John's disciples had lost their master,
who was in prison. That fact gives additional point to Christ's
answer. He who had before identified Himself with the Divine
Physician here identifies Himself with the Divine Bridegroom
of the Old Testament (Is. Ixii. 5 ; Hos. ii. 20), now present with
His disciples, who constitute the wedding-party.^ People who,
like the Pharisees, kept additional fasts, of course avoided
sabbaths and feast-days ; these must not be turned into fasts.
Christ points out another exception. It is impossible to make a
wedding-party fast while the festivities are going on. But days
will come, when the Bridegroom will be taken away ; then, in
their sorrow, they will fast. By saying ' be taken away ' rather
than 'go away ' He points (for the first time) to His violent
death : but this could not be understood at the time. The
parable of the Bridegroom, however, would be specially
intelligible to John's disciples, for John himself had used
^ For the expression ' sons of the bride-chamber ' see Deissmann, Bible
Studies, p. 162. In ver. 14, D, Syr-Sin. and Latt. insert TvoWd (frequenter)
after vrftXTetiofxev.
IX. 14-18] TIllC MINISTKV IN GALILEE 14T
this figure respecting the Christ and His Forerunner (Jn.
iii. 29).*
It was perhaps the parable of the Wedding- Feast which
suggested the two additional parables about garments and wine.
This pair of parables teaches that a new spirit in religion
requires a new form. John's system is right from his point of
view. Christ's system is right from a better point of view. But
it would be fatal to mix the two systems. In the one case
fasting, in the other case exemption from fasting, was the
natural outcome of the conditions. To deprive the disciples of
Christ of their freedom from fasting, would spoil the system in
which He was training them ; to deprive the disciples of John of
their freedom to fast, would spoil the system in which he had
trained them. The second parable puts this still more strongly.
The piece of new cloth is only a fragment of the new system ;
the new wine is the whole of it. If it is an error to take the
natural outcome of one system and force it on an alien system,
still more fatal will it be to force the whole of a new and growing
system into the worn forms of an old one. The new must find
its own expression in new forms ; and it needs young and fresh
natures, not yet wedded to cramping traditions, but open to new
ideas and new methods, to develop the new forms. ' New wine
into fresh wine-skins ' is the only safe principle.^ The rottenness
of old wine-skins seems to have been proverbial : 6 TraXaioSrat
icra dcTKw, 7; tjxnrcp IjxdTiov (TrjTo(ipuiTov (Job xiii. 28).
Mt. now returns to his illustrations of the Messiah's mighty
works, of which he gives a third triplet (18-33), i^ we count the
narrative respecting ycz/r?/^' daughter and the woman ivith the issue
as one. It is possible that, instead of three triplets, Mt. means
to make a total of ten, but this is less likely ; the other two
triplets are clearly marked. Here again, Mt. is much more
brief than the other two, but it is strange that he omits the
ruler's name;^ and, while they connect the incident with the
return from the Gerasenes, Mt. expressly joins it to the parables
^ ' In that day ' is superfluous after ' l/ien shall they fast,' and as such is
omitted by Mt.
- This is one of the passages in which Mt. and Lk. agree against Mk.
They both say that the wine will be spilled, while Mk. merely says that it
perishes as well as the skins ; comp. ver. 20, and see Burkitt, Gosp. Hist, and
its Transmission, p. 42; Hawkins, Horce Synopticit, p. 174.
' Jairus was ruler of the synagogue : see Schiirer, Jewish People, 11. ii,
p. 63. For the characteristic way in which Mt. here deals with ^ik., see
Allen, ati he. For the 'hem' or 'border' which the woman touched, see
Hastings' DB., art. ' Fringes' and DCG., art. ' Border.' Mt. and Lk. agree
against Mk. in mentioning 'the border' \to\i KpaiririSov), which Mk. omits;
also in saying that the woman 'came up' (Trpo<Ti\Oovja), while Mk. says thai
she 'came' (iXOovca). See Burkilt, p. 44; and comp. xiv. I, xvi. 16,
xvii. 5, 17, xxi. 17, 23, .xxvi. 67, 68, xxvii. 54, 57-60.
142 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [IX. 18-26
just recorded. All three record, in different ways, the ruler's
falling at Jesus' feet, Mt. using his favourite word 'worshipped'
(Trpoo-eKiVei). In Mk. the ruler says that his daughter is very ill
(ecrxarws e^^O j ^t., in abbreviating, makes him say that she has
just died (apn ireXevTrjirev) : she was dead when Jesus got to the
house. It augments the ruler's faith, that he should believe
that Jesus could not only heal a dying girl, but restore her to
life. In spite of his many abbreviations, Mt. gives the Hebrew
periphrasis, 'He arose and followed,' which merely means that
He began to move: it does not necessarily imply that He had
been sitting.
The incident of the woman with the issue is another instance
of great faith, tinged, it may be, with superstition, which,
however, Christ does not reprove. Mt. treats it as a healing
wrought by the woman's faith, without Christ's action. This is
an additional reason for supposing that he does not reckon this
as one of his illustrations of Christ's mighty works. He must
include the raising of the dead among his examples, and in
telling the story he could hardly omit all mention of the woman ;
but her cure is not counted. The affectionate ' Daughter ' (comp.
ver. 2) is in all three : the encouraging, ' Be of good cheer,' is
given by Mt. alone (see on ver. 2). He utters no healing word,
for He knows that she is already cured. That she was ' made whole
from that hour ' is also peculiar to Mt. Comp. xv. 28, xvii. iS.
Mt. alone mentions the flute-players among the mourners,
real and professional. As a Jew he knows that they must have
been there, though Mk. does not say so, for even the poorest
Jews had at least two fiute-players for mourning the death of a
wife (comp. Jer. xlviii. 36; Jos. B. /. iii. ix. 5). The custom
was wide-spread. Flute-players at Roman funerals were so
fashionable that the tenth law of the Twelve Tables restricted
the number to ten. Seneca says that they made such a noise at
the funeral of the Emperor Claudius that Claudius himself
might have heard them. See Wetstein, ad loc, and art ' Music '
in Hastings' DB. The peremptory ' Depart ' ('Avaxcopetre) is
given by Mt. alone, but the declaration that she is not dead but
is sleeping is in all three. The beloved physician says that they
hreiv that she was dead, and Christ is probably using ' sleep ' in
the sense thr.t she is about to be awakened, and therefore cannot
be regarded as dead.^ All three mention that He laid hold of
1 In the familiar phrase ' he slept with his fathers,' a different verb is used
(eKOLfx-q0T]). In the Septuagint Kaeevdeiv is not used in this metaphorical
sense, excepting Dan. xii. 2.
Mt. omits the presence of Peter, James, and John ; — the first instance of
their being taken apart from the other Apostles. He also omits the command
to be silent about the miracle, perhaps because of its difficulty. In such a
case, the miracle must become known.
IX. 27-33] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I43
her hand, which would involve ceremonial uncleanness, if she
were dead, as did touching the leper (viii. 3). Mt. omits
Talitha aoiii, perhaps simply for brevity ; but the words might
confirm the idea that she was only asleep, and thus lower the
power of the miracle. Mt. alone adds that 'the fame hereof
went forth into all that land.' He repeats this after the
next miracle (31), and has an equivalent remark after the
tbird {33).
The healing of two blind men (27-31) may come from some
unknown source, but it is also possible that the narrative is made
up of material from Mk. Mk. twice records the healing of one
blind man (viil 22, x. 46). Mt. twice records the healing of two
blind men (here and xx. 30). The latter certainly comes from
Mk. X. 46. Is this narrative influenced by Mk. viii. 22.^1 The
appeal to Jesus as the ' Son of David ' indicates that the idea that
He may be the Messiah is increasing (see Dalman, Words oj
Jesus, pp. 316 ff., and comp. Mk. x. 47, 48, xii. 35, 36, 37). It
would seem as if this appeal was unwelcome ; the popular idea
of the Messiah was so faulty.^ Christ waits till He is free from
publicity before making any response ; and, though He then
responds to their faith, He yet strictly charges them to keep the
matter secret, a charge which they entirely disregard. This is
exactly what Mk. tells us about the leper (i. 43-45)> ^ detail
which Mt. omits in reference to that incident (viii. 4). Has Mt.,
perhaps by lapse of memory, transferred the disobedience of the
leper to the blind men ? But such disobedience would be likely
to be common, and after the result of the raising of Jairus'
daughter (26) Mt. may have assumed a similar result here : the
men healed would be sure to talk about it.
After the restoration of life to the dead, and of sight to the
blind, we have, as the third miracle of the third trii)let, the
restoration of speeeh to the dutnb (32, 33). This, rather than the
casting out of a demon (of which we have already had an
illustration), is the special feature of this mighty work. But there
are other reasons for introducing it here: (i) it still further
increased the fame of the Messiah, and thus helped to lead to
the expansion of His Ministry by the Sending out of the Twelve ;
(2) it marked another stage in the increasing hostility of the'
Pharisees. They now go the length of saying that the mighty
^ Zahn rejects these and similar suggestions as foolish, and it is no doubt
simpler to treat this narrative as independent of Mk. But Mt. is so free in
his treatment of materials, that the theory mentioned in the text cannot be set
aside as mere 7'orhcit.
* This is the first time that Christ is addressed as the ' Son of David ' ;
comp. xii. 23, XV. 22, xx. 30, 31, xxi. 9, 15. This is in harmony with the
title of the Gospel (i. l). Throughout, it is the Evangelist's aim to portray
Jesus as ihe Messi.ih and the legitimate heir of the royal house of David.
144 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [iX. 34-38
works of the Messiah are done by the aid of the evil one (34).
See below.
The dumbness of the man is mentioned first, as being the
special feature ; the possession by a demon is secondary. The
people had had experience of exorcisms by Christ and by others
(xii, 27) ; and it was the restoration of the man's power of speech
which so astonished them ; especially as the cure from both the
demon and the dumbness was done with such authority and
immediate effect, whereas Jewish exorcisms were elaborate
proceedings of doubtful result (See Hastings' DB., art.
' Exorcism '). And, if the verse be genuine, it was the extra-
ordinary character of the cure which provoked the malignant
comment of the Pharisees.
But it is doubtful whether the comment of the Pharisees is part of the
original text. Syr-Sin. and important Old Latin witnesses (D a d k, Juv. Hil. )
omit, and those which contain the verse differ in wording. It looks like a
doublet of xii. 24, introduced here by early copyists. A more certain doublet
is found in xx. 16, where ' many are called but few chosen' has been intro-
duced in many texts from xxii. 14. The comment of the multitudes recalls
Judg. xix. 30 : ' There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the
children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt.'
IX. 33-XI. 1. The Mission of the Twelve.
After the nine acts of Messianic sovereignty, the Evangelist
shows how the fame excited by these and similar mighty works
led to the expansion of the Ministry of the Messiah. He no
longer works single-handed, but selects twelve disciples to help
Him.
Before giving us illustrations of the Messiah's teaching and
healing, Mt. gave us a summary of the work as a whole (iv. 23-
25). He here gives us a similar summary (35), expanding half
of Mk. vi, 6 (which he has already used iv. 23) for this pur-
pose. In both summaries he dwells upon the great multitudes
which came to Christ's teaching and healing ; but here he goes
on to point out that there were multitudes whom it was impossible
for Him to reach : more labourers must be found. The Messiah
had compassion for these masses of people, and it is compassion
which moves to action. Indifference, and even repugnance,
may pass into interest, but not until compassion begins is any
serious remedy taken in hand. Hence the frequency with which
the moving cause of Christ's miracles is said to be compassion
(ix. 36, xiv. 14, XV. 32, XX. 34; Mk. i. 41, ix. 22; Lk. vii. 13);
and, excepting in parables (xviii. 27 ; Lk. x. 33, xv. 20), the
word (or7rA.ay;i(i't'{e(r^at) is used of no one but Christ. He was
filled with compassion for these multitudes, groping after the
truth and bewildered by the formalism of the Scribes, suffering
IX. 36-38] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I45
from many diseases and getting no help from the remedies of
the day. A strong word (ia-Kv^fidroi) is used to express their
distress.^ And when the harassed people are compared to
'sheep that have no shepherd' (Num. xxvii. 17; i Kings
xxii. 17; Ezek. xxxiv. 5), we think of them as exhausted in the
vain search for pasture.- They have vague cravings, and do not
know whither to go to satisfy them. At last they are being
directed to the Kingdom which is at hand. The Baptist had
been the first to proclaim this (iii. 2). Then the Messiah
Himself had delivered the same message (iv. 17). And now the
Twelve are to be sent out to make more widely known the
same great saving truth.
The words which follow (37, 38) are given by Lk. at the
sending out of the Seventy (x. 2). They are not in Mk. ; but
comp. Jn. iv. 35. The change from sheep lacking a shepherd
to harvest lacking reapers is abrupt, but natural. The 'few'
need have no reference to the small number sent out on either
occasion. The proverb-like saying is of general application,
for the supply of workers is always deficient. The available
material is sometimes very scanty, and there is always unwilling-
ness to be overcome. Possibly the strong word used for ' send
forth ' {iK/Sdkrj : comp. c/c^aAAetv in the next verse) has reference
to the urgency of the need.^ In any case, the command in
ver. 38 is always binding, for the deficiency is always there.
It should be remarked that Mk. puts a considerable interval
between the selection of the Twelve, with a view to sending
them out to preach (iii. 13-15), and the actual sending of them
out two and two (vi, 7) ; and we may believe that there was
such a time of special training, although Mt. does not mark it.
Yet he writes of ' the Twelve ' as a body already existing when
the commission to minister was given.
Expressions characteristic of Mt. in ch. ix. : kol ISov (2, 3, 10,
20), 7rpoa<f>€piLV (2, 32), TOTC (6, 14, 29, 37), iKcWev (9, 27),
Xtyo/ievos (9), TTOpev^dOai (13), 'jrpo(T(.p\<Ea-6aL (14, 20), Ihov (18,
32), irpocrKvviiv (18), o>pa Ikuvi) (22), avayiiipuv (24), rios AavetS
(27), yevrjOrfTiii (29), (jiaiveaOai (33). Peculiar: ivOvfielaOai
(4), TO ciayycAiov t^s ^ao-iAcia? (35), /xakaKLU (35); peculiar
' Originally it meant ' flayed ' or ' mangled,' but became equivalent to
'harassed' or 'vexed' with weariness or worry (Lk. vii. 6, viii. 49; Mk.
V- 35)-
^ 'Scattered' seems to suit shepherdless sheep, but it may be doubted
whether this is the exact meaning of ipinfj.ivoi. In the O.T. it is used of
dead or helpless men prostrate on the ground : i Judi;. iv. 22 ; i Kings xiii.
24, 25, 28 ; Jer. xiv. 16, xxxvi. 30; Tob. i. 17 ; Judith vi. 13, xiv. 15 ; Ep.
Jer. 71. ' I'rostrated ' seems to be the meaning here : the Vulg. hdisjacctiies.
At xiv. 14 Mt. omits this saying, although it is there found in Mk. (vi. 34),
' But the verb is used in quite a weakened sense elsewhere : xii. 20, 35.
10
146 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 1-4
to this chapter: alfioppoeiv (ix. 20). Not one of the above
examples is found in the parallels in Mt. and Lk. This again
shows that, to a considerable extent, Mt. uses his own vocabu-
lary in reproducing the material of his sources. We can see
this with regard to what he takes from Mk. ; and it probably
holds good with regard to the source which both he and Lk.
frequently use, but which is no longer extant.
Barnabas (v. 9) makes a curious use of ver. 13: "He then
manifested Himself to be the Son of God when He chose His
own Apostles who were to proclaim His Gospel, for, in order
that He might show that He came not to call the righteous but
sinners, they were sinners above every sin " (i-n-ep -n-acrav d/xa/jTiav
dvo/xwre/jous). Comp. the apparent quotation of Mt. xxii. 14 as
Scripture (ws yiy paiTTai) in Barn. iv. 14.
In X. I the Evangelist returns to the narrative of Mk. (vi. 7).^
He has told us of the call of the two pairs of brothers (iv. 18-22)
and of Matthew (ix. 9) to be disciples in a closer relation than
Christ's ordinary followers ; but as yet nothing has been said of
their working with Him or for Him. No formal commission
has been recorded. These closer disciples had now received
some training from Him, and some had been previously trained
by the Baptist. The time is come when they are to be sent to
work away from the Master, so that there may be more centres
than one. There are now to be seven centres, — Himself, and
six pairs of Apostles. ]\It. omits that they were sent out in pairs,
but he arranges them in pairs in the list.
It is remarkable how little we know of the work of these men
who have been distinguished by the great name of Apostle. We
know something, but not very much, about Peter, James, and
John : a very little about one or two more ; but the rest are
mere names. We know neither where they worked, nor in what
way they did their work ; neither how long they lived, nor how
they died. The traditions about them are very untrustworthy,
and perhaps are mere conjectures, framed to mask unwelcome
ignorance. Yet great work in various parts there must have
been. We see this from the rapidity with which the Roman
world was converted, a result which implies much strenuous
labour in the Apostolic and sub-Apostolic age. But in the
New Testament it is the work and not the workers that is
glorified. The Gospel is everything ; who preached it is of litde
importance. ' It is no longer I that live,' says S. Paul, ' but
Christ liveth in me' (Gal. ii. 20). The individual worker may or
may not be remembered here ; it is He who works in him and
^ Here, as in the case of the Gerasene swhie, Mt. says nothing about 'the
mountain' which both Mk. and Lk. mention. It illustrates his habit of
omitting unimportant details.
X. 1-4] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I47
inspires him that Scripture glorifies, — He who originates and
sustains all that His human instruments effect. He Himself
has told them to rejoice, not at the things, however great, which
they accomplish, still less at the things which men have written
about their achievements, but rather because their names are
written in heaven, in the Lamb's Book of Life (Lk. x. 20 ; Rev.
xxi. 27). History tells us little about the doings of the Apostles.
It is more than enough to know that in the heavenly city the
wall has 'twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the
twelve Apostles of the Lamb' (Rev. xxi. 14).
This is the only place in which Mt. uses the word 'Apostle,*
Before giving the names of the Twelve he tells how the Messiah
equipped them : He gave them authority to cast out unclean
spirits,^ and to heal all manner of disease, as He Himself had
been doing (iv. 23, 24, ix. 35). This was without a precedent
in Jewish history. Not even Moses or Elijah had given mir-
aculous powers to their disciples. Elijah had been allowed to
transmit his powers to Elisha, but only when he himself was
removed from the earth. In his list of the Apostles, Mt. some-
what changes the order as given in Mk. iii. 16-19. I" the first
group of four he puts the brothers in pairs, instead of placing
Andrew after the three chief Apostles. He might have done
both ; but that would have involved placing Peter third, which
Mt., who e.xhibits a special interest in S. Peter, would not do.
He not only put Peter first, as all do, but he specially calls him
' first ' (TrptoTos), which would be superfluous, if it did not mean
more than first on the list. It indicates the pre-eminence of
Peter. In the second group, Mt. places Matthew after, instead
of before, Thomas, and adds that he was 'the toll-gatherer'
(ix. 9). In each of the first two groups there is one Greek
name, Andrew in the one and Philip in the other. In the
third group the Thaddxus of Mt. and Mk. may be safely identi-
fied with the 'Judas (son) of James' of Lk. and the 'Judas not
Iscariot' of Jn. The origin of the name Thaddaius, and also
of that of Lebbjeus, which has got into Western texts here and
in Mk., is an unsolved problem. For conjectures see Hastings'
DB. art. 'ThaddKus.' For ' Cananaean ' = ' Zealot ' see DC G.,
art. 'Cananccan,' and Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 50.2 That
'Iscariot' means 'man of Kerioth' or 'a Kariothite' is probable,
but not certain ; and the situation of Kerioth is uncertain. See
DCG., art. 'Judas Iscariot,' and Expository Times, Dec. 1897,
' In the Testaments we have, "If ye do well, even the unclean spirits will
flee from you" ; koX rh. dKdOapra irvivfiara (pfv^ovrai d(p' vfidv ^Benjamin, 2 ;
comp. Iss<uhar, vii. 7).
- In the Apostolic band, both the toll-collectors, who worked for the
Roman Government, and the Zealots, who endeavoured to overthrow it, were
represented.
148 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 4-8
p. 140, and Jan. 1898, p. 189. If Judas was the only one of
the Twelve who was not of Galilee, this may have placed him
out of sympathy with the others from the first.
Like the reproach, ' who made Israel to sin,' which clings to
the memory of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, so "the terrible
indictment," ' who also betrayed Him,' clings in some form or
other to the memory of Judas Iscariot. Lk.'s form of it here
is ' who turned traitor ' (os lyivero TrpohoTrji). That was the
amazing fact (which is stated again and again and left to speak
for itself without comment) ; that one whom Jesus chose to be
an Apostle — 'one of the Twelve,' delivered Him up to His
enemies (comp. iv. 12). We cannot doubt that our Lord saw
in Judas the qualities necessary for the office of an Apostle, the
material out of which Apostles are made. It is evident also
that Judas responded to Christ's call and followed Him with
knowledge of what the call involved. When the Twelve returned
from their first mission and gave an account of their work,
there is no hint that any one of them had proved a failure.
Christ's call left all the Twelve free to be faithless, if they so
willed ; and in time Judas came to will this. His treachery is
proof that no office in the Church, however exalted, gives
security : disastrous downfall is possible even for those who
have been nearest to Christ.
Some find seven divisions in the sayings which are here put
together as one discourse ; but the sayings, when thus separated,
are of very unequal length, varying from half a verse to eighteen
verses. A division into five paragraphs, as in the RV,, is more
illuminating. The same is true of the eschatological discourse
(xxiv. 5-xxv. 45).
The charge to the Twelve (5-42) is much longer in Mt. than
in Mk. or Lk., and a good deal of it is the same as Lk.'s report
of the charge to the Seventy. Like the Sermon on the Mount,
it is evidently made up of utterances which were spoken on
different occasions. Some portions are suitable to this first
mission ; others clearly refer to the period after the Ascension.
Mt. has combined the report in Mk., which is our best guide as
to what was said on this occasion, with material which belongs
to other occasions. See Stanton, p. 330.
The prohibition to go to Gentiles ^ or Samaritans was tem-
porary, and perhaps confined to this first missionary journey.
The Jew had the first claim, and as yet the Twelve were not
competent to deal with any but Jews. After the Apostles had
gained experience in this narrower field, and after the Jews had
refused to avail themselves of their privileges, the Apostles turned
^ For the Hellenistic towns in the east and north-east districts of Palestine,
see Sf^VLXtx, Jewish People, 11. i. pp. 57 ff.
X. 8-10] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I49
to the Gentiles and became missionaries to all the world. Both
by word and example Christ showed that Samaritans (Jn. iv.
4-42; Lk. ix. 52) and Gentiles (xv. 28) were not to be per-
manently excluded. But ' the lost sheep of the House of Israel'
are the first objects of Christ's compassion ; lost, because they
had no shepherds, no competent teachers ; for those who pro-
fessed to lead them were 'blind guides' (xv. 14, xxiii. 16, 24),
guiding them, not to pastures, but to pits. The charge, ' as ye
f^o, preach,' is another indication of the temporary character of
these directions. They are to be '• field-preachers " moving on
from place to place. No permanent organization is to be
attempted. The sheep are all scattered, and the first thing
is to awaken in them the desire for a shepherd and a fold.
The Messiah and the Kingdom are ready when they are ready.
The commission to 'raise the dead' is startling. No such
commission is mentioned by Mk. or Lk., and the words are
wanting in numerous authorities here. But those which omit
are mostly late, and the words are so strongly attested by the
best witnesses that they cannot be rejected. It is more probable
that they were omitted by later copyists, because no instance of
raising the dead by a disciple is mentioned in the Gospels, and
because no charge to do so is recorded by Mk. or Lk., than that
a very early copyist inserted the words. Assuming them to be
genuine is, however, not the same as assuming that they were
spoken. The Evangelist may have wished to show that the
Messiah conferred upon His Apostles the full measure of bene-
ficent power which He exercised Himself.^
The words are found in i< B C D, Latt. Syrr. Copt. Aelh. They are
omitted in L, etc, Sah. Arm. In a few texts they come after 'cleanse the
lepers,' in a few after ' cast out demons.'
' Freely ye received ' does not mean that any of the Twelve
had been miraculously healed. It means that the power to heal
was given them for nothing, and that they must not take pay-
ment for healing. This is not at variance with the principle
that 'the labourer is worthy of his food' (10). To accept
support from those to whom they ministered was allowable, and
it was the duty of those who accepted the ministry to give the
support; but to make a trade of their miraculous powers was
not permitted.^ Mt. has ' (?<•/ {KTrjarjade) no gold, nor yet
' It should be noticed that Christ here clearly dislinguishes between hc.il-
ing the sick and casting out demons, as also docs Mk. (vi. 13) in narrating
wliat the disciples did after receiving this charge; comp. Lk. vi. 17, iS,
ix. I.
' Rabbi Jehudah interpreted Deut. iv. 5 as meaning that God had taught
without fee, and therefore teachers must give instruction free (Talmud). The
Talmud orders that " no one is to go to the Temple- mount with staff, shoes,
150 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 10-14
silver, nor yet brass ' : they are not to take the smallest pecuniary
remuneration. Mk. has that they are to take none with them
as provision for the way ; they are to take nothing * save a staff
only.' In Mt. the staff is prohibited. There is a similar differ-
ence with regard to sandals : in Mk. they are ordered, in Mt.
they are forbidden, unless we are to suppose that o-arSaAta differ
from vTTo^rifxara. These discrepancies need not disturb us : the
general meaning in all three Gospels is the same : ' make no
elaborate preparations, but go as you are.' They are not to be
like persons travelling for trade or pleasure, but are to go about in
all simplicity. It is not that they are purposely to augment the
hardships of the journey (as forbidding staff and sandals might
seem to imply), but that they are not to be anxious about
equipment.^ Freedom from care rather than from comfort is the
aim. Their care is to be for their work, not for their personal
wants. Hence they are to be careful what house they make
their headquarters in each place. A disreputable house might
seriously prejudice their usefulness. But having found a
suitable resting-place they are not to leave it for the sake of
variety or greater comfort. That again might injure their
reputation, besides paining their first entertainer. Moreover
they are to be courteous : * as ye enter into the house, salute
it.' Courtesy is never thrown away ; it enriches the giver, even
when it meets with no response.
" Talk not of wasted affection, affection never was wasted ;
If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning
Rack to their springs, Hke the rain, shall fill them full of refreshment ;
That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain."'^
But time was very precious ; and none must be wasted on
ground that made no sign of becoming fruitful. Where prejudice
or the calumnies of Christ's enemies made people so hostile as
to refuse even a hearing, the Twelve were to leave them and
seek more hopeful soil, of which there was plenty. This again
clearly refers to the early missionary work of the Apostles, and
is not meant as a principle of action for all time. It is not to
be supposed that ministers of the word are at once to abandon
as hopeless those who decline their first approaches. What the
girdle of money, or dusty feet " ; and Edershcim says that Christ's charge
means, ' Go in the same spirit as you would go to the Temple services '
( Temple, p. 42).
' On the strength of a Greek inscription of the Roman period, discovered
at Kefr-Hauar in Syria, Deissmann would explain icqpa as " a beggar's collect-
ing bag," so that the charge would mean, ' You are not to make money by
healing, and you are not to beg.' But the common explanation of ' travelling-
bag,' or ' knapsack ' is better, as ir-qpav els oddv shows (New Light on the N. 7'.
from Records of the Gntco-Roinaii Period, p. 43).
* Longfellow, Evangeline, II, i.
X. 14 16] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 151
Twelve had to dd was to give to as many people as possible
some kind of preparation for the teaching of Christ, and they
had a very limited time in which to do this. It was, therefore,
not allowable to expend much of this precious time upon
unpromising material, when promising material could easily be
found. But a solemn warning was to be given to those who
rejected them. The dust of the place where they dwelt was to
be shaken off, as if it were the polluting dust of a heathen road,
or perhaps to intimate complete separation : the Apostles were
not even to share dust with such people (see Edersheim, Life
and Times, i. p. 643). Both in the Old and in the New Testa-
ment the cities of the plain are typical of abominable wickedness
provoking severe judgments,^ The allusion is all the more
suitable here because, just before the overthrow of these cities,
the inhabitants committed a gross violation of the rights of
hospitality.
What follows (16-23) evidently does not refer to this first
mission, but to a later time, when, instead of mere refusal to
listen to their teaching, the Apostles will have to face active
persecution. Occasional unreceptive listeners in Jewish towns
and villages have developed into systematic prosecutions before
the councils (v. 22) of the synagogues and the Sanhedrin, and
even before governors and kings among the Gentiles. Christ
would not be likely to foretell this until the Apostles had had
some experience of missionary work. It would not guide them
in their first efforts. In what precedes this (5-15), the emphasis
is on the beneficent character of the Gospel which they have to
carry to the lost sheep of Israel, and they are not told to prepare
for anything worse than a rejection of their message. Here the
chief emphasis is on their own sufferings.- Christ wishes them
to be under no illusions ; after He is gone, they will have to
suffer cruel persecutions, even at the hands of their own kindred
(21), and hostile kindreds are sometimes specially implacable.
And it is the Messiah's own doing that they have to endure
all this ; it is the Shepherd Himself who sends them forth ' as
sheep in the midst of wolves.' There is a notable emphasis on
the Sender : ' Behold, / send you forth ' ('iSov, eyw uTroo-TtAXw
v/i,as)-^ And it is for His sake (18, 22) that they will have to
' See also the Book of Jubilees xvi. 5, 6, xx. 5, 6, xxii. 22.
In the Gospels, the expression, ' Day of Judgment ' (vjJ-^pa Kplcreui), is
peculiar to Mt. (x. 15, xi. 22, 24, xii. 36). We find it in the Testaments:
Levi iii. 2, 3 ; also in the Book of Enoch, c. 4. There it has many names.
- With yii'€<x0e ovv (Ppdyifioi comp. yiviaOe oSf ffo<pol iv Oft}, riKva ixov, Kal
<f>p6vi^oi {A'a/>/iia/i viii. 9).
2 With this emphatic «'7w comp. xii. 27, 28, .\x. 22, xxviii. 20; Lk. xxi. 15,
xxiv. 49; (7w dnoariWu is peculiar to Mt. : x. 16, xi. lo, xxiii. 34. Jn.
has «7w diri<}T€i\a, iv. 3S, xvii. iS.
152 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 16-23
suffer. It is precisely this fact, as He knows, that will give them
courage, and will even make them welcome suffering. It is in
obedience to His command, and for His Name's sake. But
who is this who dares to issue such commands, and to make
such claims upon His followers ? He puts before His Apostles,
not the promise of rapid success, not popularity or the praise of
men, but peril and persecution. * Ye shall be hated of all men
for My Name's sake.' That is not the world's way of winning
adherents, and it must have been a great surprise to men who
were expecting the speedy triumph of the Messiah and their own
share in the glories of the Kingdom.
It might well alarm the bravest of these simple fishermen to
be told that they would have to answer for their doings on
Christ's behalf before Jewish councils ^ and heathen courts.
They were ready to submit to severe sentences of scourging or
imprisonment, or death ; but they might easily injure the sacred
cause which they represented by their unskilfulness in replying to
the questions of their judges. The Master tells them not to be
anxious (vi. 25) about that: 'the Spirit of their Father' will be
in them and teach them what to say. The very form of expres-
sion, ' the Spirit of your Father,' is full of encouragement ; and
this is the first mention in this Gospel of a promise of the
assistance of the Spirit. Comp. the promise to Moses : ' I will
be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say ' (Exod.
iv. 12). As Bede puts it, Vos ad certatnen acceditis, sed ego
prcelior. Vos verba edit is, sed ego sum qui loquor (on Lk. xxi. 15).
The fanaticism of those who needlessly courted a martyr's
death is condemned beforehand. Those who, through no fault
of their own, are persecuted must endure to the end, even unto
death, and they shall be saved, ' shall win their souls ' (Lk. xxi.
19). But Christ's ministers have no right to provoke destruc-
tion : they must be harmless as doves. There is so much work
to be done that the life of every missionary is precious. When
they are persecuted in one sphere of work, they must seek
another: that is the wisdom of the serpent. Christ Himself
avoided His enemies, until He knew that His hour was come,
There must be no wanton waste of Christian lives. It some-
times happens that there is more real heroism in daring to fly
from danger than in stopping to meet it. To stop and meet
useless risks, because one is afraid of being called a coward, is
one of the subtlest forms of cowardice ; and the desire to be
thought brave is not a high motive for courageous action.
' SchUrer, y^zf zV/4 People, II. ii. pp. 59-67. Derenbourg, Hist, de la Pal.
pp. 86 ff.
For iiwofiovrj (22) as the link between persecution and victory see Hort on
Rev. i. 9.
X. 16-23] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 53
Persecution is a temptation to deny Christ, and those who meet
persecution in a spirit of bravado have no right to expect to be
delivered from succumbing to that temptation. The martyr's
crown is not to be won, unless a man ' has contended lawfully '
(2 Tim. ii. 5).
This paragraph, like the preceding one (5-15), closes with a
* Verily I say unto you.' A comparison of it with Mk. xiii. 9-13
will show that it cannot have been spoken in connexion with the
first mission of the Twelve. But the concluding words are not
easy to explain. The persecuted disciples are to flee, ^ for ye
shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of
Man be come ' (23). At least four things are open to question.
What is the meaning of ' gone through ' (rcAeo-vrc), of ' the cities
of Israel,' of ' the Son of Man,' of ' come '? ' Gone through ' is
often understood as meaning 'gone through in your missionary
efforts ' : you will not have preached in all the cities of Israel.
No lives must be needlessly sacrificed, for even all will not
suffice to visit every town in Palestine in the short time at your
disposal. Or again, ' gone through ' may mean ' thoroughly won
over ' : you will not have completely converted all these cities.
There is not very much difference between these two explana-
tions ; but there is a third which is quite different. ' Gone
through ' may mean * exhausted in your frequent flights ' : you
will not have used as places of refuge all these cities. You need
not be afraid to fly as often as you are persecuted, for there are
enough cities to last you till the Son of Man comes. This
makes intelligible sense, but the solemn language used seems to
require one of the other interpretations. It need not be doubted,
however, that ' the cities of Israel' means the towns of Palestine.
The proposal to understand by it all the cities in which there were
any Jews would hardly have been made, except for the purpose
of avoiding the difficulty caused by the delay of Christ's coming.
In the many centuries which have elapsed since the words were
spoken it would have been quite easy to have preached in all
the cities of Palestine. The remaining two points may be taken
together. " In this Gospel the coming of the Son of Man is
always a final coming after His death to inaugurate the King-
dom " (Allen). It is evident that in some way Christ's words
produced the impression that He would return soon. When
that impression had been produced, the words themselves
would be likely to undergo modification. Moreover, the
coming to establish the Kingdom may have been confused with
the coming to judgment. The nearness of the Kingdom may
have been transferred to the other coming. We may suspect
that the reports of His utterances respecting the Second Advent
have become blurred in transmission.
1 54 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. !?4-26
'ooiTie important witnesses (D L, Syr-Sin. a b k Arm.) after 'flee into the
next' insert 'and if they persecute you in the other flee ye to another.' If
this is genuine, the third interpretation of TcX^a-qre becomes more probable.
The general topic of persecution connects the utterances
which follow (24-33) with those just recorded. There is nothing
to show the occasion on which they were uttered.^ The first
(24, 25) seems to have been spoken several times and with
different meanings. Here the point is that the disciple must
not expect better treatment than his master ; so also Jn. xv. 20,
which was a different occasion. In Lk. vi. 40 the meaning
appears to be that disciples are not likely to get nearer to the
truth than their teachers do, and consequently teachers must
seek knowledge, especially knowledge of self. In Lk. xxii. 27
and Jn. xiii. 16 the meaning is that disciples must not set them-
selves above their master. It is difficult to believe that these
different applications could have been constructed, if the saying
had been uttered only once ; and the theory of repetition has no
difficulty. Was it not likely that Christ would have His favourite
sayings, — favourite, because fruitful and capable of various
adaptations ? The thought here fits on well to what precedes.
The disciples will be hated by all for Christ's sake, and they will
not wonder at this ; they will even glory in it, because Christ
Himself received similar treatment. Hence His claim to call
upon them to suffer. ' Beelzebul ' or ' Beelzebub ' is evidently
used here as a term of bitter reproach or abuse, but how it
came to be so, and indeed the derivation of the word, are still
unsolved problems. ^ Our knowledge of the ideas of New Testa-
ment times is still sadly meagre. See Nestle in DCG., art.
* Beelzebub.'
Next we have sayings which contain ' Fear not ' thrice (26,
28, 31). Lk. has similar sayings (xii. 2-9); but the differences
are so considerable that the Evangelists can hardly have used
the same source. Once more we have a saying which Christ
seems to have uttered more than once, and with different
applications. Perhaps it was already proverbial before He made
use of it. Comp. Mk. iv. 22 ; Lk. viii. 17, xii. 2. In Mk. the
reference seems to be to teaching in parables ; the Gospel is at
first a mystery, but a mystery to be made known to all the world.
So also perhaps in Lk. viii. 17. In Lk. xii. 2 the meaning is
that hypocrisy is foolish as well as wicked, for the truth is sure
to become known. Here the application seems to be that the
^ See Briggs, T/ie Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 196-200. He gives what he
considers to be the original of both Mt. and Lk., giving the preference, on
the whole, to Mt.
^ "The Syriac Versions and the Latin Vulgate stand alone in ending
the word with z.b" (Burkitt).
X. 26-29] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 155
Aposlles are to preach publicly what Christ teaches them in
private. But boih the ' therefore ' and the * for ' are somewhat
obscure. The ' therefore ' refers to what precedes. Fear is
caused by uncertainty. ' Fear not, therefore, for it is certain
that they will persecute you as they persecute Me. You are
fore- warned and fore-armed.' The 'for' refers to what follows.
' Deliver your message without reserve, for, like every other
mystery, the Gospel is sure to be revealed.' ^
The second ' Fear not ' (28) tells the disciples not to fear
men who can but kill the body, but to fear Him who can
sentence both body and soul to destruction in Gehenna.^ That
the latter means God need not be doubted. Olshausen, who
interpreted it of the devil, retracted this view in later editions.
The change of construction (from fiy (fiofirjOrJTe airb twv clttokt. to
4>o^fX(Tdi rov hvv., which is the regular construction for fearing
God) indicates this. We are nowhere told to fear the devil.
• Fear God and resist the devil ' is the doctrine of Scripture
( Jas. iv. 7 ; i Pet. v. 9). The devil tries to bring us to Gehenna,
but he has no authority to send us there. It is the fear of God,
not of the devil, that is to enable the disciple to overcome the
fear of men. Comp. Eph. vi. 10-12; also Hermas, Aland, xii.
vi. 3 ; Ascension of Isaiah, v. 10.
What follows (29-31) confirms the view that it is God
who is to be feared with a fear that conquers the fear of men.
Men cannot harm even our bodies without God's consent ; and
if God consents, there is good reason, viz. a Father's love, for our
being allowed to suffer. The smallest animal does not perish,
the smallest portion of fnan^s body (emphasis on vfiwv) does not
fall away, without the will of God. Here again, therefore, there
is room for another * Fear not.'
The contrast in what follows (32, 33) is between the
judgment-seat of human persecutors and the judgment-seat of
God. Sometimes Christ is the final Judge of mankind (Jn. v.
22, ix. 39; 2 Cor. V. 10); here the Father is the Judge, and
the Son pleads before Him. Only those whom the Son recog-
' Another possible interpretation is : ' Deliver your message without fear,
for the lies and plots of your opponents will all be exposed at the last day.'
Quidquid latet apparebit. Nil tnulUim rcmanebit, as we have in the Dies
ira of Thomas de Celano, the friend and biographer of S. Francis of
Assisi. Comp. xii. 36 ; I Cor. iv. 5.
* The teaching of Eijictclus constantly insisted on the philosopher's
freedom frum fear of those who can only torture or kill the body. The
tyrant savs, " I will put you in chains." " Me in chains? Vou may fetter
iny iig, but my will not even Zeus can overpower." " I will throw you into
prison." "My poor body, you mean." "I will cut your head ofT."
" When have I said that my hcail rannot be cut oft?" These are (he things
on which philosoi)hcrs should niLditate, and in which they should exercise
themselves {Discourses, I. L). Coiup. Eur. Bcu. 492-499.
156 (50SPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 29-38
nizes as His are safe.^ For 'deny' Mk. (ix. 38) has ' be ashamed
of : comp. Rev. iii. 8.
The prediction that, in the bitterness of religious hate, the
nearest of kin will persecute one another (21), is now illustrated
by other sayings of Christ respecting the dissensions which the
Gospel will produce in society. 'Think not,' as in v. 17, implies
that some were likely to think this.^ It was the general ex-
pectation of the Jews that the Messiah would establish a reign
of peace. But peace cannot be enforced. Open hostility can
be put down by force ; but good will can come only by voluntary
consent. So long as men's wills are opposed to the Gospel, there
can be no peace. Sometimes the only way to peace is through
war. Once more Christ guards His disciples against being under
any illusions. They have entered the narrow way, and it leads
to tribulation before leading to eternal life. The parallels in Lk.
(xii. 51-53, xiv. 26, 27) seem to come from a different source:
Lk. has no parallel to ver. 36. ^
Does 'take his cross and follow after Me' (38) imply that
He who leads the way carries His cross ? It is a strange picture
of the procession to the Messianic Kingdom. This is the first
mention in Mt. of the cross, and it must have startled Christ's
hearers ; for Jews, especially in Galilee, knew well what the cross
meant. The supporters of Judas and Simon had been crucified
by hundreds (Jos. Atit. xvii. x. 10). The person to be crucified
carried his own cross, or at least the cross-beam, to the place of
execution. It is as an instrument of death that it is used here,
as ver. 39 shows. The saying is given by Mt. again xvi. 24, 25 =
Mk. viii. 34, 35 = Lk. ix. 23, 24. Lk. xiv. 27 seems to be
different from both : so that we have three variations of the
saying, which may have been uttered more than once. Such
a saying would be remembered, and might be transmitted in
more than one form. In all five passages we have ''his cross'
(in Lk. xiv. 27, 'his own cross'), which implies that every one
has a cross to take; no one can carry it for him. And, as
the next verse shows, to refuse to take one's cross does not
secure one from suffering.
It is impossible to reproduce the phrases for 'findeth his
life' and 'loseth his life' in English, owing to the different
meanings, or rather the combination of meanings, in the Greek
word i^vyr]). It includes the meanings of ' life ' and ' soul,' and
^ On the remarkable construction o/j.oXoyeii' iv tlvi, which is in both Mt.
and Lk., see J. H. Moulton, Grammar of N.T. Greek, vol. i. p. 104; with
the meaning comp. Rev. iii. 5. These verses (32, 33) show plainly who is
to be feared in ver. 28.
^ With ' I came,' as implying the pre-existence of the Messiah, comp. v. 17
and see xi. 27.
* On v\){t.^r\ see Kennedy, Sources 0/ N. T. Greek, p. 123.
X. 39-42] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 57
in varying shades. The context here shows that the primary
meaning of the saying is that the confessor who suffers death is
far happier than the apostate who escapes ; but the words have
many other appHcations. In general, those whose sole aim
is to win material prosperity, lose the only life which is worth
living; and those who sacrifice material prosperity in Christ's
service, secure this higher life. Even as regards pleasure, to
make it one's constant aim is to fail to obtain it ; devotion to
something else may win it.
'For My sake' is in all four passages (no parallel in Lk. xiv.),
though some Western texts omit in Mk. viii. 35. Again we
have a claim which is monstrous if He who makes it is not
conscious of being Divine. Who is it that is going to own us
or renounce us before God's judgment-seat (32, 33)? Who is
it that promises with such confidence that the man who loses
his life for His sake shall find it? And these momentous utter-
ances are spoken as if the Speaker had no shadow of doubt as
to their truth, and as if He expected that His hearers would at
once accept them.^ What is more, thousands of Christians,
generation after generation, have shaped their lives by them
and have proved their truth by repeated experience. Without
'for My sake ' the saying occurs Lk. xvii. 33 and Jn. xii. 25.
The idea of persecution passes out of sight in the three
sayings (40-42) which Mt. places at the close of the charge to
the Twelve. These sayings treat of those who receive the
Gospel, not of those who oppose it. The first of them is found
Mk. ix. 37 of receiving little children in Christ's Name: in both
there is the identification of Christ with Him who sent Him.
There is also the identification of Christ with His disciples, a
mystic unity which is still further developed in xxv. 31-45. It
has already been stated that Christ ' came ' (v. 1 7, x. 34) ; here
He says that He ' was sent.' The idea of a mission runs through-
out, from the Father to the Son, from the Son to the disciples.
And every messenger represents him who sent him, so that the
disciples represent the Son, and therefore the Father. It will
be observed that these three verses would fit on very well to
vv. 14, 15. It is possible that we have now got back to words
which were spoken at the first mission of the Twelve.^
Missionaries are 'prophets,' for they speak for God and
carry His message; and they are 'righteous,' for they preach
the righteousness which is set forth in the Sermon on the
Mount, and it is assumed that they practise it. Those who
> See Steinbeck, Das gbttluhe Selbslbewiisslsein Jesu, p. 32.
* See Briggs, T/te Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 182-186, where he re-
constructs what may be supposed to have been the original cliarge to the
Twelve ; also pp. 238-249, where he reconstructs the charge to the Seventy.
158 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [X. 42, XI. 1
receive them, because they possess this sacred character, will
receive the same reward as the missionaries themselves. To
recognize and reverence noble traits in the characters of others
is going a long way towards imitating them. To place oneself
at their service, because of their noble characters, may be to
equal them in merit. Or again, to support the missionaries
with sympathy, prayer, and alms, is to enter into their labours
and share their reward.
The concluding verse (42) does not come in very well here.
Mk. (ix. 41) gives the saying in a very different connexion and
with two notable differences ; ' you ' for ' one of these little ones,'
and ' in name that ye are Christ's ' for ' in the name of a disciple.'
Here ' you ' would have been more suitable : ' one of these
little ones' comes from Mk. ix. 42.1 Mt. is perhaps quoting
from memory and has mixed Mk. ix. 41 and 42. But taking
the saying in the form, and with the context, which Mt. gives
us, the meaning will be that even the smallest service done to
one of the disciples, because he is a disciple, is certain of a
reward from Him whose disciple he is.
Here again (see on vi. i) we have the promise of rewards
for righteousness. The reward is not offered as a motive for
action ; the motive in each case is love and reverence for the
Prophet, or righteous man, or disciple, and therefore for Him
whose servant he is. The reward is a support to this motive,
an encouragement and stimulus. It assures those to whom it
is promised, that those who honour God in His servants will
not be forgotten by God. A person whose sole object was to
get the reward would not be acting 'in the name of a Prophet,
or righteous man, or disciple; his action would be purely
selfish.
If we take vv. 40-42 immediately after vv. 14, 15, then the
charge to the Twelve ends in a manner very similar to the
Sermon on the Mount. There the consequences of acting and
of not acting in accordance with Christ's teaching are pointed
out. Here the consequences of not receiving and of receiving
Christ's messengers are pointed out. Moreover, in each case
the transition to what follows is made with the formula, 'And
it came to pass when Jesus ended': comp. vii. 28, xiii. 53,
xix. I, xxvi. I. The Greek is the same in all five places ; yet
1 That ' little one ' was a Rabbinical expression for a disciple, is doubtful.
Here it seems to mean that the disciples were people of whom the world
would not take much account. In comparison with the Prophets and saints
of the Old Testament, they would seem to be very insignificant. And their
mission was to be short, probably only a few weeks ; so they would have no
great opportunity of making a name for themselves. It is possible that every-
where (xviii. 6, 10, 14; Mk. ix. 42 ; Lk. xvii. 2) 'one of these little ones'
means ' one of My disciples' : DCG., art. ' Little Ones.'
XI. 2, 3] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 159
even the RV. gives three different translations of eVeXeo-ci- .
'ended,' 'had made an end,' 'had finished.' See on vii. 28.
Cliaractcrislic expressions in ch. x. : Xeyd/xeyos {2), iropevcaOai (6, 7),
VlJ-^pa KiHcrews (15), Idov (16), <pp6i>i/J.os (16), inefMun (iS), wpa iKelvrj (19),
oiKoSeairdTTji (25), 7^ef»'o (28), 6 iraTT]p 6 iv rots ovpavoh (32, 33), efj rG)V
HiKpu'v T0VTU3V (42). Peculiar : fxaXanla (l), 7; ^aciXeia rCiv ovpavCiv (7),
£70) dirocTTiWij) (16) ; peculiar to this chapter : olKiaKis (25, 36), Sixdj'et^ (35).
Excepting to vv. 1-5 and a few scattered sayings between w. 5 and 15, there
are no parallels in Mk. or Lk. ; but, where there are parallels, these ex-
pressions do not appear in them. In the first 'Fear not' (26) there is no
dispute as to the tense of the verb, (po^-qOijre, and, although there is difference
of reading, almost all editors agree that in the la>t ' Fear not' (31) we should
icad (po^dffOe. In the intermediate 'Fear not' and 'Fear' (28) editors are
not unanimous: perhaps (po^elcxOe is right in both places. 'Cease to fear'
and ' continually fear ' make excellent sense.
XL 2-XII. 50. Illustrations of the Misunderstanding and
Opposition provoked by the Ministry.
The eleventh chapter has no parallel in Mk.^ The substance
of it comes from the Logia, and a good deal of it has parallels
in Lk. But the relation of Mt. to Lk. is here a difficult problem :
for possible solutions see Allen. Mt., as usual, is the more
brief. In narrating the message of the Baptist to the Messiah,
the two agree as regards the words spoken by John and by Christ,
but in the narrative portion almost every word in Mt. differs
from the wording of Lk.
In his prison at ^L'lch^erus, near the north-east end of the
Dead Sea, John had heard of the works of the Messiah, — those
works of which Mt. has given striking illustrations. Antipas
had put him in prison, partly for political reasons, because of the
excitement which he produced among the people (Jos. Ant.
XVIII. v. 2), and partly because of the animosity with which
Herodias regarded him. But having secured his person, Antipas
did not ill-treat him. He sometimes conversed with him, and
he allowed his disciples to visit him. It was easy for John to
hear what Jesus was doing.
* Art Thou He that cometh, or must we look for another ? '
There is a strong emphasis on 'Thou' in contrast to the quite
different Coming One, who perhaps must be waited for. ' The
Coming One' (6 lpyJi\yf.vo<i) is the Messiah (Mk. xi. 9; Lk.
xiii. 35, xix. 38; Heb. x. 37; Ps. cxviii. 26; Dan. vii. 13).
John's question was not asked for the sake of his disciples.
' Salmon, however, is inclined to believe that Mk. knew of the mcss.ige
of the Baptist and deliberately omitted it ( 'J'he Human Etfrnnit in the Gospels,
pp. 41, 42). Mt. alone tells us that John was in prison at this time, and he
alone uses the remarkable expression, ' the works of the Christ.' Mt. thus
shows at the outset that the Baptist is in error.
l60 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI. 3-6
Christ's answer is not addressed to them, but to John. It is
not clear that they understood the meaning of the message which
they carried. Then is TertuUian {Mardofi, iv. i8) right in think-
ing that John's own faith was failing, because the career of Jesus
did not seem to correspond with what he himself had foretold ? ^
Possibly, but not probably. John had had such convincing
evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, that he could hardly doubt
now. And if he did doubt, what use to send to Jesus ? A false
Messiah would not own that he was an impostor. More probably
it was John's patience that was failing, not his faith. He wished
Jesus to come forward more publicly'and decidedly as the Messiah.
' If Thou do these things, manifest Thyself to the world.' To do
Messianic works and not claim the position of the Messiah seemed
to be futile inconsistency.
The reply of Christ is like that of Tarquinius Superbus to his
son Sextus at Gabii : the messengers are to report what they have
seen the person, to whom they were sent, doing. It is a sym-
bolical message, which their master is to interpret. No care is
taken that the messengers themselves understand it; it is for
John to do that. In this message, all the clauses are to be
understood literally, and they are arranged in three pairs, in
which the more mighty work is placed first. It is to be remarked
that all of them are works of mercy : none are works of mere
power and display, such as the Jews expected the Messiah to
give as 'signs.' It is also to be remarked that the preaching of
the good tidings to the poor is coupled with the raising of the
dead as the most convincing evidence of all. John had heard
in prison of the works of healing ; but they did not prove more
than that Jesus was a great Prophet. The preaching to the poor,
however, was clearly Messianic (Is. Ixi. i), as He Himself declared
at Nazareth (Lk. iv. 18-21). It was a new thing that the poor,
who were commonly neglected and despised as worthless and
ignorant, should be invited into the Kingdom. John is to be
assured that Jesus is still carrying on the message that the
Kingdom is at hand and is open to all. This is sufficient, and
John is told nothing further about the Messiahship of Jesus.^
But note the warning which follows.
' Blessed is he ' (6) shows plainly enough that it is John who
is under consideration. Had the reference been to his disciples,
we should have had, 'Blessed are they' (v. 3-10). What a
strange revelation respecting the Messiah, that not to take offence
at His conduct is accounted a blessed thing. Character Messice
id ipsum, quod multi in eo scandalizentiir (Bengel) ; so certain was
^ John had heralded a Messiah who would be severe in judging sinners,
and Jesus had not shown Himself as such.
2 See Sanday, The Life of Christ in Recent Research, p. 57.
XI. 6-11] THE MINISTRY IX GALILEE l6l
He to be misunderstood. Etrc mcconnu^ mane par ceux <]H\)n
at rue, c'tsf hi coupe d'amertume et la croix de la vie ; c^est ce qui a
did serrcr k plus souvent le avur du Fils de Vhonime. Dicu aussi,
lui surtout, est le grand meconini, le souvcrainenicnt incompris
(Amiel). In some way even the Baptist had found some occasion
of stumbling in Jesus.
What follows confirms this. It is about John, not about his
disciples, that our Lord at once begins to speak (7), and He
speaks in terms of high praise. In society men are commonly
praised to their face, or the faces of their friends, and blamed
behind their backs. Jesus does the opposite in the case of
John. As soon as his messengers are gone, Christ proceeds to
remove from the minds of the multitudes the thought that,
because He has sent a rebuke to the Baptist, therefore the latter
has fallen from his high estate. On the contrary, he is one of
the greatest of men. Such testimony from such lips is unique,
and it may almost be called the funeral oration of the Baptist,
for not long afterwards Herodias compassed his death.
The first question might be punctuated thus : ' Why went ye out into
the wilderness? to behold a reed shaken by the wind ?' And so Jerome
takes it. Qtiid, inqiiit, existis in deserlntn? nu7)tquid ad hoc ut, etc.
Nevertheless, this is less probable than the usual division of the clauses.
And in either case we -may understand the words either Htcrally or meta-
phorically. ' Did you go out merely to see waving rushes ? ' * Did you
make a pilgrimage to see a man whom you thought feeble and fickle? Your
taking all that trouble shows that you thought very differently of him.' The
second question inusl be taken literally, and this is a reason for taking the
first literally. 'Did you go all that way to see a luxurious worldling like
Herod Antipas, who put John in prison?' In Jos. B. /. i. xxiv. 3 'royal
robes' are contrasted with those ' made of hair.'
In the third question authorities are again divided as to the punctuation
of the words and the meaning of the Ti. ' But what went ye out for to see ?
a Prophet?' (A\'.). ' But wherefore went ye out ? To see a Prophet ? ' (RV,).
The AV. is proljably right. It is reasonable to translate the T/ in the same
way in all three questions, not ' what ' in two and ' wherefore ' or ' why ' in
one, or vice versa.
Certainly the multitudes made the pilgrimage into the
wilderness because they believed that Jehovah had once more
granted a Prophet to His people. And Jesus declares that
John was not only that, but the Forerunner of the Messiah. He
applies to him Mai. iii. r, which was one of the commonplaces
of Messianic prophecy, and which seems to have been current
in a form differing from both the Hebrew and the Septuagint.
Neither the Hebrew nor the Septuagint has 'before Thy face,' which all
three insert after ' My messenger.' All three have dTroo-rAXw for i^awoariWu,
6s for Kal, and KaraffK^vdffet for iiTip\i^cTai.
'Among them that are born of women ' (11) is a solemn
1 1
1 62 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI. 11-14
periphrasis for the whole race of mankind.^ John's office and
mission was higher than that of any of his predecessors. He not
only prophesied of the Messiah, he was His Herald, and pointed
Him out as come.^ But he was not within the Kingdom which
he announced; and, in the Kingdom, the humblest members
are higher than the greatest of those who are not members. In
spiritual privileges and knowledge Christians are above John.
He is the friend of the Bridegroom ; they are His spouse.
It is not quite certain whether, in what follows (12-15), we
have a continuation of Christ's words, or a comment of the
Evangelist's. ' From the days of John the Baptist until now '
looks like comment. On the other hand, Mt. seems to give
them as spoken by Christ. If so, they were probably spoken on
some other occasion. Lk. (xvi. 16) has part of the utterance
differently arranged, but he has no parallel to ver. 14. He has
' the Law and the Prophets ' in the usual order. Why does Mt.
write ' the Prophets and the Law ' ? But it is not easy to see
the connexion between the violent pressing into the Kingdom
and the statement about the Prophets and the Law ; yet * for '
implies close connexion. "Whatever else these difficult words
contain, at least they express that a new period, that of the
kingdom of heaven, had set in after what are called the days of
John the Baptist, and that his preaching had led to a violent and
impetuous thronging to gather round Jesus and His disciples, a
thronging in which our Lord apparently saw as much unhealthy
excitement as true conviction" (Hort, Judaistic Christianity^ p.
26). But the strength of the movement, however faulty it might
be in individual cases, was evidence of John's influence : his
inspiration must be from above. Yet even he had something
of the spirit of violence; in his impatience, he wanted the
Messiah to hurry the work, just as Elijah wanted Jehovah to be
more rigorous with idolaters.^
'If ye are willing to receive it' (14) indicates that there was
much unwillingness. With all their enthusiasm for a new
^ Comp. Job xiv. i, sw. 14, xxv. 4.
- " The principle on wliich John's superiority to the whole prophetic order
is based is that nearness to Jesus makes greatness. In that long procession
the King comes last, and the highest is he who walks in front of the Sovereign "
(Maclaren). On the other hand, John's inferiority to the humblest in the
Kingdom lies in the fact that they know, as he did not, how Christ's character
reveals God's mercy and love no less than His justice. Cyril of Jerusalem
says John was the end of the Prophets and the firstfruits of the Gospel-state,
the connecting link between the two Dispensations ; but Cyril insists more
on John's superiority to Enoch, Moses, Elijah, and Jeremiah than on his
inferiority to all Christians [Cat. iii. 6).
2 See Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 258. Zahn contends that here
^ia^€To.i, as in Lk., is middle, not passive: 'the Kingdom forces its way,'
like a rushing, mighty wind.
XL 15-19] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 163
rrophct, the people had not appreciated Jolm (Mk. ix. 13).
His stern demand for repentance, and for conduct worthy of a
penitent, was not Hked by many; and his declaration that descent
from Abraham gave no claim to admission into the Kingdom was
disliked by nearly all. To recognize John as the Elijah predicted
by Malachi would mean that his authority to proclaim these un-
welcome truths was admitted. ' If ye are willing ' (et OiXire) must
not be supposed to mean that it does not much matter. That
it matters very much indeed is shown by the concluding refrain,
'He that hath ears to hear, let him hear' (xiii. 9, 43). They
are a warning against neglect of the fulfilment of prophecy.^
The parable which follows is given by Lk. (vii. 31-35) with
a different introduction. It is aimed at the formalists among
the Jews, and the Pharisees in particular. These are the children
sitting in the market-place and finding fault. The Baptist comes
in his sternness, and they want him to play at festivals. Jesus
comes, taking part in social joy, and they want Him to play at
funerals. Nothing that varies from their own narrow rules meets
with their approbation. They doubt whether John is a Prophet,
and they are convinced that Jesus is not the Messiah, because
neither conforms to their preconceived ideas. They said that
John was possessed by a demon of moroseness ; and later they
said much the same of Christ (Jn. vii. 20, viii. 48, x. 20 ; comp.
Mt. xii. 24). They disliked the message of both.
'And yet Wisdom was justified at the hands of her children,'
or ' by her works.' If 'children' be the right reading here, as
it certainly is in Lk. vii. 35, we must not translate ^agai?ist her
children ' (aTro twi/ t€kvwv aur^s). The difficult sentence should
not be interpreted to mean that Wisdom is vindicated from the
attacks of her children. If ' works ' is right, such an interpreta-
tion is impossible. Assuming ' children ' as correct, the children
of the Divine Wisdom are the righteous few who welcomed both
the Forerunner and the Messiah, recognizing that each of them
had been sent by the Divine Wisdom, and were under its guidance
in adopting different manners of life and of action. The as-
ceticism of John, and the absence of asceticism in Jesus, were
equally right in the several cases. But, if ' works ' is correct, the
meaning is that in both cases the method of operation has been
justified by results ; i.e. it is certain to be justified.-
^ It is clear from this passage and Mk. ix. 13 that it was our Lord who
called the Baptist ' Elijah.' Jolm himself did not know that he was Elijah
(Jn. i. 21). It is also clear that Christ had an esoteric element in His
teaching, which all had not ears to hear. Sanday, The Life of Christ in Recent
Research, p. 82.
2 Comp. 'I have overcome the world' (Jn. xvi. 33), where the event is*
regarded as so sure to happen tliat it is spoken of as p;ist. 'Justified ' means
■•declared to be right' : Kennedy, Sources of N/f. Creek, p. 104.
164 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI. 19-21
Although ipyiav is powerfully supported (h? B, texts known to Jerome,
later Syriac), and the assimilation to t€kv(xii> in Lk. is probable, yet reKVioy
has the support of older authorities (D, Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur. Lat-Vet. Vulg.).
But most editors regard ^pyuv as original. See Zahn, ad loc, footnote on
p. 432, and Ei)ileitung, ii. 312.
Some think that the variation between reKva. and ipya. may have arisen
through the confusion of two similar Aramaic words, one of which means
'servant' (Trats) and the other 'work.' In 2 Esdr. vii. 64 there is a some-
what similar case : ' Longsuffering, for that He long suffereth those that have
sinned, as His creatures.' Here the Latin text h2LS quasi suis operibus ; but
the Ethiopic, 'as to His sons,' and the Syriac, ' because we are His servants.'
Nestle, textual Criticism, p. 251 ; Salmon, Some Thoughts on Text. Crit.
p. 121 ; Scrivener (Miller), ii. p. 325. It is more probable, however, that
the substitution of 'ipya. for rkKvo. is due to the mention of Christ's ' mighty
works' (5wd/;ieis) in vv. 20-24.
It seems probable that, in the preceding paragraphs (2-19), Mt. has put
together three Logia, which are quite distinct, but are all connected with the
Baptist {2-11, 12-15, 16-19). Lk- places the first and third in juxtaposition
(vii. 18-2S, 29-35), but he puts the intermediate one much later (xvi. 16).
The refrain, 'He that hath ears, let him hear,' occurs thrice in Mt. (xi. 15,
xiii. 9, 43), twice in Mk. (iv. 9, 23, not vii. 16), and twice in Lk. (viii. 8,
xiv. 35), not at all in Jn.
For further suggestions respecting ver. 19 see \\\t Jour, of Th. St., April
1904, p. 455 ; Bruce, T/ie Parabolic Teaching of Christ, pp. 414-426.
The verses (20-27) which follow the parable of the children in the market-
place, when compared with the parallels in Lk. (x. 13-15, 21, 22), show us
once more that Mt. groups his material according to subject, and not accord-
ing to time and place. In I>k. the reproach to the cities that had rejected
Him is appended to the charge to the Seventy, and the exultation over God's
preference of the disciples is placed after the return of the Seventy. These
two sections come in here as illustrations of the different effects which the
Ministry of the Messiah had upon those who came in contact with it. We
have had its effects on John (2), and on those who criticized both Him and
John (16), and now we have its effect on the arrogant cities and on the humble
disciples. The 'Then' in 'Then began He ' is not a note of time : there-
mark is inserted by ]\It. to form a means of transition from one saying of
Christ to another. And the translation ' wherein 7nost of His mighty works
were done,' is probably an exaggeration of the Greek (at TrXerurat Bwdfieis
avTOv), which need not mean more than ' His many miracles' (Blass, § 44, 4),
and this also is all 'Ca.z.l plurimcE virtutes ejus (Vulg. ) need mean. Mt. would
be unlikely to say that 7nost of the mighty works wrought by the Messiah
resulted in the impenitence of those who witnessed them.
We know nothing about Chorazin, except what is told us here
and in the parallel in Lk.^ The precise form of the name and
its derivation, as in the case of ' Beelzebub,' are uncertain.
Another illustration of the meagreness of our knowledge of
Judaism in the time of Christ. And yet He was very active in
Chorazin ; showing how much, not only of His life, but even of
the few years of the Ministry, is unrecorded (Jn. xxi. 25). For
^ The reason why we are told nothing about our Lord's work in Chorazin
may be that it took place before the call of S. Peter, which is the starting-
point of the Gospel narrative of Christ's Ministry in Galilee (Salmon, The
Human Element, p. 297).
XI. 21-25] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 165
the probable sites of Chorazin and Bethsaida see Sanday, Sacred
SiitS of the Gospels, pp. 24, 41. Of these two cities the paradox
was true, that though the Kingdom of God had come nigli to
them, yet tliey were far from the Kingdom of God. Tyre and
Sidon are often denounced for their wickedness (Is. xxiii. ;
Jer. XXV. 22, xlvii. 4; Ezek. xxvi. 3-7, xxviii. 12-22). In the
denunciation of Capernaum, where Christ liad not only done
many works, but lived and taught, 'Heaven' and 'Hades' (not
Gehenna) symbolize the height of glory and the depth of shame
(Is. xiv. 13-15). The very site of Capernaum is still a matter of
dispute, and all three towns have long since been in ruins (Jos.
B.J. III. X. 10; Renan, VAntechrist, p. 277; Tristram, Bible
Places, p. 267 ; Sanday, Sacred Sites, p. 37). The sin of these
flourishing places was not violence or sensuality, but indifference.
There is no evidence that they opposed or ridiculed Christ ; but
His work made no impression on them. They perhaps took a
languid interest in His miracles and teaching ; but His beneficence
never touched their hearts, and His doctrine produced no change
in their lives. Self-satisfied complacency, whether in the form "of
Pharisaic self-righteousness or in that of popular indifference, is
condemned by Christ more severely than grosser sins. A life
that externally is eminently respectable may be more fatally
antichristian than one that is manifestly scandalous. For the
comparison with Sodom comp. x. 15. The confidence with
which Jesus utters His judgments as being identical with the
Divine judgments is all the more impressive from its being
implied and not asserted.
The evidence for 'shall thou be exalted unto heaven' (KBCDL, Lat-
Vet. Vulg. Syr-Cur. Arm. Aeth.) is decisive; so also in Lk. But both
readings make good sense. It is not quite so certain that ' ihou shalt go
down ' is right : ' thou shalt be brought down ' is well supported.
The exultation of Jesus over the Divine Preference shown to
the disciples is placed by Lk. (x. 21, 22) after the return of the
Seventy.^ The introductory formula, 'Jesus answered and said,'
do^ not indicate that the words which follow are a reply to
anything. 'Answered and said ' is common in Hebrew narrative
as an enlarged equivalent for ' said ' (xvii. 4, xxviii. 5). Like
'He opened His mouth and taught,' it prepares the way for a
solemn utterance (Deut. xxi. 7 j Job iii. 2 ; Is. xxi. 9). Dalman,
Ji'ords, p. 24.
' I thank Thee ' (i^o/jLoXoyovfiat croi) is literally ' I acknowledge
openly to Thy honour' (Gen. xxix. 35; 2 Sam. xxii. 50; Ps,
XXX. 4 ; and especially Ecclus. li. i, 10). See Kennedy, Sources
' Lk. expressly states that there was exultation : TiyaWidjaro ry IIi'. T<f
"Ay.
1 66 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI. 25-27
of N.T. Greek, p. ii8. On various occasions Christ recognized
publicly God as His Father: xv. 13, xviii. 35; Jn. v. 17, xi. 41,
xii. 27; Lk. xxiii. 34, 46. Here He thanks His Father that
intellectual power is not necessary for the recognition of the work
of the Divine Wisdom. He does not mean that intellectual power
is a barrier to the reception of the Gospel ; but it is immaterial :
all that is required is childlike simplicity. Ignorance is no
qualification, intellect is no disqualification ; for the qualifications
are not mental, but moral. The heart, not the head, is the
home of the Gospel, and the condition of receiving it is lowliness
of spirit, not strength of brain. Not all clever people are shut
out from the Kingdom, although some shut themselves out; for
it is not intelligence, but the pride of intellectual people, that
excludes. And not all simple folk are admitted ; for it is not
stupidity, but the humility of simple-hearted people, that qualifies.
The psychological laws which God has established manifest the
very different results of intellectual pride and of intellectual
humility, and for this Jesus gives thanks. He is not proclaiming
any necessary connexion between ignorance and religious faith. ^
How does Jesus know that this law, which shuts out such
* wise and understanding ' people as the Scribes and Pharisees, while
it admits such 'babes' as the disciples, is in accordance with the
Divine decrees? The passage (27) in which the answer to this
question is given is unique in the Synoptic Gospels, although
such utterances are common in the Fourth Gospel. The verse
is in both Mt. and Lk., and the reckless scepticism which would
question its authenticity is based, not upon critical principles, but
upon prejudice. Such evidence is very unwelcome in some
quarters, and it is therefore discredited. In his excellent notes
on the passage Mr. Allen says : "The occurrence of this verse in
both Mt. and Lk. even if the two Evangelists borrow from a
single source, proves that this saying reaches back to an early
stage of the Gospel tradition. If, as is probable, the two writers
drew from different sources, this tradition was widespread. If
we add the fact that a similar use of ' the Son ' — ' the Father '
occurs in Mk. xiii. 32, this usage as a traditional saying of Christ
is as strongly supported as any saying in the Gospels." Hase
calls the passage "an aerolite from the Johannean heaven," but
adds that it is "within the range of the vision of S. Paul"
{Geschichte Jesu,%6i. See also Nosgen, Geschichte Jesn Christi,
p. 475). Even Schmiedel regards this as an original utterance
of Jesus, and interprets the aorist as meaning that there was a
particular moment when Jesus discovered that God was His
Father, a thought which was new to Him, because the idea of
^ On the translation of the aorists ^Kpv\pas and direKdXvxl/as see J. H.
Moulton, Gram, of N.T. Gr. i. p. 136.
XI. 27] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 167
God as a Father had become extinct among His contemporaries
{Eru: BibL iv. 4697). The importance of this is the admission,
from such a cjuarter, that we have here an original utterance of
Jesus. See Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. vii. 5, x. i, 9, xvi. 24.
Keim speaks of the whole utterance as " this pearl of the
sayings of Jesus," points out how frequently and with what
variations it is quoted, and thinks that the original form of
ver. 27 probably stood thus: 'Everything has been delivered
to Me by My Father. And no one has known the Father except
the Son, and no one has known the Son except the Father, and
he to whom He (the Father) is willing to reveal Him.' ^ The
desire to make ' He ' refer to the Son led to various changes.
But, whatever view may be taken of this minor point, Keim
remarks on the importance of the evidence which the passage, in
its simplest form, supplies. " Everything is given over to Him
by His Father, i.e. by the God whom He here for the first time
calls His Father in a peculiar sense, thereby distinguishing
between Himself and all other men. . . . He is the first and the
only one who through Himself and through God has attained to
the knowledge of God the Father, which no Abraham, no Moses,
no David and Solomon, no Isaiah and Daniel, — to say nothing
of the wisdom of that day, had found. In the second place, just
as He knows God, God on the other hand knows Him ; He
knows God as Father, as Father of men, and yet more as His
own Father, and God knows Him as Son, as Son among many,
and yet more as the One among many : and exclusively related
to one another, each being to the other a holy, unveiled secret,
worth knowing and discovered by effort ; they mutually approach
with love in order to discover and to enjoy one another in the
self-satisfaction of the enjoyment which is based upon the
similarity of spiritual activity, upon the likeness of essence, of
nature (Ps. i. 6, cxxxix. i ; Gal. iv. 9 ; i Cor. viii. 3 ; 2 Tim. ii.
19). In the third place, this self-enclosed world of the Father
and the Son opens itself to the lower world, to men, only by its
own free act, because it wills to open itself and to admit to
companionship whom it will." -
Harnack {The Sayings of Jesus, pp. 272-310) has subjected
the passages, Mt. xi. 25-27 = Lk. x. 21, 22, and Mt. 28, 29, to a
very thorough critical investigation, and is convinced that, with
certain reservations about Mt. xi. 27 = Lk. x. 22, they must be
' Justin, Try. loo ; Af>ol. i. 63 ; Ircn. I. xiii. 2, iv. vi. i ; Tert. Adv.
Marcion. ii. 27, iv. 25; Clem. Horn. xvii. 4, xviii. 4, li, 13, 15, 20; Recog.
ii. 47 ; Clem. Strom, vii. 18.
- Keim, Je!:us of Nazara, iv. pp. 54-64. He protests that "there is no
more violent criticism than that which, since 15aurs time, Strauss has intro-
duced " of repudiating this passage, because of its testimony to the Divine
Sonship of Christ.
1 68 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI, 27-30
accepted as genuine utterances of our Lord. " Both sayings
(xi. 25-27 and 28, 29) — the second in higher degree — have a
poetical rhythm, and in their construction remind us of the
poetical form of sayings in the Psalms and Prophets ; but from
this point of view they are not unique among the sayings of our
Lord; indeed, not a few have a similar form." The form in
which the second saying (28, 29) and the first half of the first
saying (25, 26) have come down to us may be accepted as the
most ancient attainable form ; but doubts arise as to the second
half of the first saying (27). We have many early quotations
with important variations, i. Some have TrapaSeSorat instead of
TrapSoOrj. 2. Some have eyrw {cognovit) instead of iirLyivwa-Kei
{cognoscit). 3. Some place the clause about the Son knowing
the Father before the clause about the Father knowing the Son.
4. Some have ' to whomsoever the Son may reveal Him ' instead
of ' to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.' There need
be no doubt that TrapeSoOr] is the original reading (comp. xxviii.
18). Harnack contends that e'yvw is right in Lk., and that in Lk.
the words koI tis ia-TLv 6 vtos el /x,r/ 6 TvaTrjp were wanting, and
therefore were wanting in the authority which both Mt. and Lk.
used. Yet he admits that the interpolation must be "very
ancient ; for all our authorities for S. Matthew and all our
authorities^ except one, for S. Luke have it." Indeed this inter-
polation into the Lukan text ^^ must have taken place almost at
once." He also admits the probability that during this later
period of Christ's Ministry He spoke of Himself as ' the Son ' ;
" because it is absolutely impossible to imagine how He could
have arrived at the conviction that He was the future Messiah
without first knowing Himself as standing in an unique relation-
ship to God." Harnack thinks that a-n-oKaXvij/r] is more likely to
be original than (SovX-qraL clttok. See Camb. Bibl. Ess. p. 300.
O. Holtzmann would limit ' all things have been delivered to
Me' (TTavra /ioi -n-apeSoOrj) to "the handing over of the doctrine^
and not the delivering over of a vicegerency in the world-
sovereignty of God" (Life of Jesus, p. 284).! But the aorist
points back to a moment in eternity, and implies the pre-
existence of the Messiah (see on ' I came,' v. 1 7, x. 34). The
common Jewish idea seems to have been that the Name of the
Messiah was present to God from all eternity, but that the
Messiah Himself was a human Sovereign endowed by God with
supernatural powers. Sometimes, however, Jewish thought went
beyond this, and the pre-existence of the Messiah was clearly
stated, as in the Book of Enoch, where we read that the Son of
^ So also Wellhausen, who regards ' and no one knoweth the Son but
the Father ' as an early interpolation. It must be very early to have got into
all MSS. and Versions.
XI. 27 30] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 169
Man "has been chosen and hidden before Him (God) before
the creation of the world and for evermore" (xlviii. 6); "the
Elect One standeth before the Lord of Spirits, and His glory
is for ever and ever" (xlix. 2) ; and Enoch's "name was carried
aloft during his lifetime to the Son of Man and to the Lord of
Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth" (Ixx. i). So
also in the Fourth Book of Esdras : "This is the Anointed One,
whom the most High hath kept unto the end"(xii. 32); "the
same is He whom the Most High hath kept a great season "
(xiii. 26) ; and " no man upon earth can see My Son "
(xiii. 52).
The gracious words which follow (2S-30) are not in Lk. ;
they are among the special treasures of the First Gospel. Their
want of other attestation and their resemblance to Ecclus. li. 23,
26, 27 have caused some to conjecture that Mt. has invented
them, with Sirach as a basis. But could Mt. have invented
them, even with that help ? " It is not so easy to make new
Sayings and new Parables like those in the Gospels of IVLatthew
and Luke ; at least, that kind of speech does not make itself
heard in the extant remains of what the first four generations of
Christians wrote" (Burkitt, The Gosp. Hist, and its Transmissiofi,
p. 199). "The important thing is to recognise that this is the
kind of teaching which the Evangelist thought worthy to put in
his Lord's mouth, and which the Church accepted as worthy.
. . . Again and again we find ourselves in the presence of some-
thing which may or may not be authentic historical reminiscence,
but is in any case totally unlike the other remains of early
Christian literature . . . and we take knowledge of the
Evangelists that they have been with Jesus" {il>id. pp.
206, 207).
When we ask what connexion these gracious words have
with the context, we must remember that this question need
mean no more than that the Evangelist must have had some
reason for placing the words here. We cannot be certain that
w. 21-30, or even vv. 25-30, were spoken as one continuous
utterance. Lk's omission of 28-30 points to this being a
separate saying.^ If it was such, why did Mt. insert it at this
point? The last words of ver. 27 give a good connexion.
Although the Son alone knows the Father, yet He is willing to
impart some of His knowledge to those who are worthy; and
forthwith He invites those who are in need of guidance to come
and leain of Him. A more general connexion lies in the
'The words which Lk. places immediately after 'the Son willoth to
reveal llim' are a better sequence than ' Come imto Me,' etc. Lk. has:
'Blessed arc the eyes which see the things that ye see,' etc. (x. 23, 24),
which Mt. has xiii. 16.
lyo GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XI. 28-30
contrast between the wise and understanding Scribes and
Pharisees who rejected Christ's teaching, and the childhke
disciples who accepted it, and thus proved themselves children
of the Divine Wisdom. The Scribes professed to expound the
Law as the expression of the will of God ; but Christ has
received authority to reveal God Himself to those who feel their
need of Him, The Scribes could not give the rest to souls
which He can promise (note the emphatic Kdyw). ' They bind
heavy burdens {4>opTia) and grievous to be borne, and lay them
on men's shoulders ' (xxiii. 4) ; but His burden is light. This
shows that ' heavy laden ' (7re<^opTiT/xeVoi) does not refer primarily
to the load of sin, but to the burdens which Pharisaic interpre-
tations of the Law imposed, and which, after all, gave no relief
to men's consciences. From Christ's teaching and life men
could learn the nature of the righteousness which is in accord-
ance with God's will. It is the righteousness of a meek and
lowly heart, not of external observances. Exalted as Christ is
through His relation to the Father, He is also related to us
through His perfect humanity, and from His human life and
character we can learn by imitation.^ And it is the possibility
of imitating Him that makes His yoke easy and His burden light,
for He has borne both Himself. Moreover, He has not only set
us an example of bearing. He helps us to follow it. There must
be a yoke and a burden, for a lofty ideal, such as He sets before
us, is exacting ; but a lofty ideal is also inspiring, and that makes
the yoke easy and the burden light.
There are two pairs of expressions in this invitation which
seem to balance one another ; ' all ye that labour and are heavy
laden,' and 'Come unto Me; take My yoke upon you.'
' labouring ' (KOTrtwvTcs) is not the same as being ' heavy laden
(irecfiopTiaixivoi). The one implies toil, the other endurance.
The one refers to the weary search for truth and for relief for
a troubled conscience ; the other refers to the heavy load of
observances that give no relief, and perhaps also to the sorrows
of life, which, apart from the consolations of a true faith, are so
crushing.2 To those who are worn out with resultless seeking
Christ says: 'Come unto Me, and /will refresh you.' To those
^ We ought probably to translate * and learn from Me ihai I am meek *
(fiadere dv ifiov 6ti npavi elfii). In the Testaments we have a similar combina-
tion of terms : iarl yap dXrjdrjs Kai fiaKp69vfjLos, irpaos Kal Taireivds {Dan vi.
9) ; but the passage looks like a Christian interpolation, of which there are
many.
2 The word for 'easy' (xpT?(rr6s) is applied to God (Lk. vi. 35 ; Rom. ii.
4 ; I Pet. ii. 3) to express His gracious goodness and longsuffering. Here
the Latin Versions have sttavis, but in other places they vary between
benigmis, siiavis, and dulcis. 'My yoke is good to bear,' is the meaning;
it brings a blessing to those who accept it,
XI. 29. 30] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 171
who arc weighed down with unprofitable burdens He says :
'Take My yoke upon you.'
In using the metaphor of a yoke, Christ was probably employ-
ing an expression which was already proverbial. In the Psalms
of Solomon, which are a little earlier than the time of Christ, we
have: "We are beneath Thy yoke for evermore, and beneath
the rod of Thy chastening " (vii. S) ; and " He shall possess the
peoples of the heathen to serve Him beneath His yoke " (xvii. 32).
"The yoke" was a common Jewish metaphor for discipline or
obligation, especially in reference to the service of the Law.
Thus, in the Apocalypse of Baruch : " For lo ! I see many of
Thy people who have withdrawn from Thy covenant, and cast
from them the yoke of Thy Law" (xli. 3). Comp. Lam. iii. 27 ;
Ecclus. li. 26; Acts XV. 10; Gal. v. i ; Pirqe Aboth, iii. 8. In
the Didache (vi. 2) we have "the whole yoke of the Lord," which
probably means the Law in addition to the Gospel. Mackinlay
thinks that the easy yoke and light burden point to a sabbath
year as the time of utterance. At that time there would be no
tilling, and the oxen would have little to do. This may have
suggested the metaphor {The Magi, p. 113). But so obvious a
metaphor hardly needs such suggestion.
This triplet of sayings (25, 26; 27; 28-30) is beyond the
invention of any Evangelist. The words are their own authentica-
tion. At what time and in whose presence they were uttered,
are questions of little moment. They are addressed to the
whole human race throughout all time, and he who understands
them "has found his way to the heart of Christianity" (Sanday).
Coming immediately after the Woes on the unrepenting cities,
they are all the more impressive. Within the compass of eleven
verses we have striking exami)les of both the severity and the
gentleness of Christ in His dealings with men. And side by
side with these we have a revelation of that which explains this
strange combination of sternness and compassion in the Son of
Man — His unique relation to the God who is both Judge of all
and Father of all.
The third saying (28, 29) has various points of contact with theO.T., especi-
ally with Isaiah and Jeremiah: comp. Is. xiv. 3, 25, xxviii. 12, xxxii. 17,
xlii. 2, 3 ; Iv. I ; Jer. vi. 16, xxxi. 25. In Jer. vi. 16 we have Kal evpyjatre
ayviafibv rai^ \fvxcui vfiwv. If Avdirava-LV is not an independent translation
from the Hebrew of Jer. vi. 16, and if we are to seek a source for it in
previous writings, then Ecclus. li. 27 may have suggested it. Comp. the
Homily attributed to Clement of Rome (2 Clem. 5) : " 'I'he promise of Christ is
great and marvellous, even the rest (dvAiravffis) of the Kingdom that shall be."
In ch. xi. we have the following expressions, which arc characteristic of
Mt. and are not found in the parallels in Lk. : nfrafiali'dv {i), iKttOfv {i),
ropeveffOat (7), ISou (19), rire (20), -iifUpa Kplatwi (22, 24), JePrc (28).
Peculiar to ^It. : ij fiaaiXfla tu)v ovpavC]v (11, 12), iv iKtlvi^ t(j? Kaip(^ (25),
(Ta'ipot (16) ; picuTTTis (12) is not found elsewhere in the N.T.
172 GOSPEL ACCORDINCx TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 1
In the twelfth chapter the EvangeUst continues his illustra-
tions of the misconceptions and hostility to which the Ministry
of the Messiah was exposed. We have had the Baptist's mis-
understanding of the Messiah's work, and the persistent disregard
and indifference with which it was treated in Chorazin, Bethsaida,
and Capernaum. Here we have three illustrations of Pharisaic
antagonism, exhibited with increasing vehemence, and culmin-
ating in a charge of working in league with Beelzebub. The
two first illustrations have reference to Christ's attitude towards
the sabbath.
We now return to the Gospel of Mk. (ii. 23). Thrice just
in this part of his work does Mt. exchange his characteristic
' Then ' at the beginning of a narrative for ' At that season '
(xi. 25, xii. I, xiv. i), a phrase not found in any other Gospel.^
The ' season ' in this case must have been shortly before harvest,
and about a year before the last Passover. Our Lord was
walking in front of His disciples, who plucked and ate the corn
as they followed. This was allowed (Deut. xxiii. 25), and the
Pliarisees do not accuse the disciples of stealing. But plucking
and rubbing the ears was accounted by the Scribes as reaping,
threshing, and winnowing, and thus was of the nature of work
or business such as was forbidden on the sabbath (Edersheim,
Life and Times, ii. pp. 56, 780; Klostermann on Mk. ii. 23;
Driver on Deut. xxiii. 25). On this the Pharisees fasten. In
Mt. and Mk. they attack the disciples through the Master, just
as in ix. 11 ( = Mk. ii, 26) they attacked the Master through the
disciples.2
Our Lord does not deny that rest on the sabbath is com-
manded, and He does not stay to protest against the rigour
which would make plucking and eating corn a violation of the
command. He points out that every rule has its limitations,
and that ceremonial regulations must yield to the higher claims
of charity and necessity. This the Old Testament itself showed,
by the analogous case of David and the shewbread,^ and the
still stronger case of the Priests and the sabbatical sacrifices.
In the latter case violation of the rule of resting on the sabbath
was not merely allowed but commanded ; indeed on the sabbath
the sacrifices and consequent labour were increased. See Gray,
Numbers, p. 406. In the incident about David, Mt. corrects
1 'Then,' however, remains frequent : vv. 13, 22, 38, 44, 45, xiii. 36.
^ In both places Lk. (v. 30, vi. 2) represents them as attacking the
disciples only. Here all three have ' and they that were with him,' which
has special point in reference to the disciples.
2 The analogy was closer than they could see, — the analogy between
David and his followers in need of food and the Son of David and His
followers in need of food. Christ could have fed His disciples miraculously,
but He does not use supernatural means, when natural means are available.
XII. 1-8] THE MINISTRY IN CALILEE \yt,
the slip of Mk. by omitting 'When Abiatliar was liigh [jricst';
for Ahimelech was high priest when it took place (i Sam. xxi. i).
See Gould, ad loc. p. 49. The second argument aljout the
priests in the Temple is not in Mk. or Lk., and it may be a
saying that was uttered on a different occasion, but which Mt.
introduces here because it has reference to the sabbath.^ Its
point here is that, if the sabbath-rest may every week give way
to the ceremonial requirements of sacrifices, still more may it
in exceptional cases give way to the moral requirements of
charity. People need not faint for want of food in order to
abstain from working on the sabbath. The quotation of
Hos. vi. 6, ' I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' has already been
made, ix. 13, and it is very suitable in both places. We may
believe that such words were often cited by our Lord.
' The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath ' is in all three.
The secjuence of thought is plainest in Mk. The sabbath was
made for man, and therefore is subject to the ideal Man, who
represents the race and has authority to determine the way in
which the principle of the sabbath can best be carried out for
man's benefit. Christ is not claiming authority to abolish the
sabbath. The sabbath was the ordinance of God for the good,
not merely of Israel, but of all mankind. But the traditional
methods of observing it were of man's devising, and these must
yield to circumstances. By connecting the sabbath with bene-
volence, Christ was fulfilling its fundamental purpose. See
Hort, Jiidaistic Christianity, p. 33; also Gould, p. 50. The
Pharisees had made the sabbath an institution so burdensome
that its Divine character was lost sight of: this could best be
restored by showing that it was a blessing and not a burden.
The Son of Man vindicates man's freedom.
In ver. 6 the neuter, 'a greater thing,^ ^something greater,' ^ more than
the Temple is here ' is certainly the true reading ; not the mascuhiie, ' one
greater than the Temple." Perhaps the meaning is the same, viz. the
Messiah. Bnt the masculine would liave revealed Jesus as the Messiah in a
more definite way than He is likely to have employed. The neuter might
mean the Ministry of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. The work of Christ
and Ilis disciples was of more account than the Temple. For fxei^ov (comp.
xi. 9) K B D, etc., for fiel^wv (an obvious correction) L A, Vulg.
This passage (1-8) is one of those in which Mt. and Lk. agree in notable
particulars against Mk. (see on ix. 17, 20). Here both omit the ambiguous
dSbf noiuv and the inaccurate ^nVAjiidOap apxifpius, and both insert that the
' Both arguments are introduced with the question, 'Did ye not read}'
or, ' Have ye not rt-fli/ ? ' When Christ addressed illiterate multitudes, Ilesaid,
'Ye have heard' (v. 21, 27, 33, 38, 43). When He addresses the Pharisees
or other educated persons who made a study of the Law, He speaks of their
reading : xix. 4, xxi. 16, 42, xxii. 31. On oJ &pToi ttjs vpoOtctw^ see Deiss-
mann, Bible Studies, p. 157. For the rigour of the rules about the sabbath
see the Book of Jubilees, 1. 9-13 ; Edcrsheim, Life and 'Jimes, ii. pp. 777 ff.
174 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 9-14
disciples ate the grain, an addition which is remarkable in Mt., who often
omits redundant statements. Both omit ' the sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath.'
Mt. seems to regard the second incident (9-14) as taking
place on the same sabbath. Jesus leaves His critics, goes into
their synagogue, and finds them there ready to oppose Him
again. Lk. makes it another sabbath and perhaps a different
place; he also says that Christ taught before healing.^ Mk.
and Lk. say that they watched Him whether He would heal
on the sabbath, and that He asked them whether it was lawful
to do good on the sabbath. Mt. omits the watching, and says
that they asked Him whether it is lawful to heal on the
sabbath, to which He replied that it is lawful to do good on the
sabbath. The argument about the animal in a pit is not in
Mk., and is given in Lk. in a different connexion (xiv. 1-6), the
healing of a dropsical man. Mt. and Lk. agree against Mk.
in omitting Christ's anger and His grief at the hardening of
their hearts; also in omitting that the Herodians took part
in the conspiracy against Jesus.^ The former omission is
characteristic of Mt., who avoids attributing human emotions to
the Messiah. Comp. viii. 2, 4 with Mk. i. 41, 43, and xiii. 58
with Mk. vi. 6. See Catnb. Bib/. Ess. pp. 429 f.
Mt. certainly weakens Christ's argument by substituting
' It is lawful to do good on the sabbath ' for ' Is it lawful to do
good or to do harm ? to save a life or to kill ? ' To refuse to
do good is to do evil ; and that cannot be right on the sabbath
or any other day. And while they condemn Him for restoring,
without any labour, a man's hand on the sabbath, they have
no scruple about plotting on the sabbath to kill Him. All this
is lost in Mt. The whole incident is a striking example of the
power which formalism has to blind men to the proportion of
things. Because Christ disregarded, not the Divine Law about
the sabbath, but their unreasonable regulations as to the method
of observing the law, they thought it right to try to destroy
Him. Christ's method of meeting their casuistry is to be noted.
He might have urged that there was no breach of sabbatical
rest in telling a man to stretch out his hand, or in the man's
trying to do so. But He puts the matter on the broad principle
that to heal is to do good, and doing good is a very proper way
of observing the sabbath. Yet this has no good effect upon
^ In the Gospels the man with the withered hand does not speak. Jerome
says that in the Gospel which was used by the Nazarenes and Ebionites the
man took the initiative saying : " I was a mason, earning my bread with my
hands. I pray Thee, Jesu, restore my health, that I may not in shame beg
for food."
2 In xxii. 16= Mk. xii. 13, Mt. retains the mention of the Herodians.
Lk. omits in both places. This miracle took place in Herod's country.
XII. 17-21] TIIK MINISTRY IN GALILEE 175
the prejudiced formalists. They cannot refute Him ; but they
are sure that one who teaches men to disregard their traditions
must be a dangerous heretic, and they resohe to destroy Ilini.^
His hour was not yet come, and therefore Jesus withdrew
from the dangerous neighbourhood, and continued His bene-
ficent works of heahng elsewhere (15). The charge that 'they
should not make Him known' (16) is given by Mk. (iii. 12) in
reference to the unclean spirits who proclaimed Him as the
Son of God. The time was not yet ripe for a general announce-
ment that He was the Messiah, and demons were not suitable
preachers. Here Mt. mentions the charge in order to introduce
a fulfilment of Is. xlii. 1-4, where the Servant of Jehovah is
spoken of as the special object of the Divine love, and as
anointed with the Spirit to judge the heathen. Yet this servant
does not enter into controversies, nor promote public excitement.
He is careful not to extinguish any spark of good in men's hearts,
but endeavours to lead them on to better things, till truth shall
prevail ; so that even the heathen may be brought to trust in
Him. This prophecy of the second Isaiah has a very different
meaning in reference to Cyrus, who is to conquer without
warlike threatenings, and will not trample on the weak in the
hour of victory. But the Evangelist sees how much of it is
true of the Messiah in His bloodless conquest of mankind, and
he quotes it accordingly.^ It is perhaps specially for the sake
of the concluding words about the Gentiles that Mt. quotes the
prophecy. For the details of the wording in reference to the
Hebrew and the Septuagint, see Allen's note ; also for the
details of the relation of what follows (22-50) to Mk. iii. 22-35
and to Lk. xi. i4ff.
The malign'ty of the Pharisees is now exhibited in the charge
that Jesus casts out demons with the aid of Beelzebub the chief
of the demons. Both Mt. and Lk. make the introduction to
this charge to be Christ's casting out the demon from a dumb
demoniac, Mt. adding that he was blind also.^ All the sufferer's
^ The phrase 'to take counsel' [(ninftovXiov Xan^dveiv) is peculiar to Ml.
(xii. 14, xxii. 15, xxvii. i, 7, xxviii. 12). It does not occur elsewhere in the
N.T. nor in the Septuagint, and in Greek literature the word (TVfi(iov\ioi> is
rare ; Deissmann, Bid/e Siiidies, p. 238. The phrase means to come to a
conclusion, rather than to deliberate whether or not.
' Zahn shows in detail how the prophecy fits the narrative of the Evan^je-
list. This is one of many places in which the A.V. mistranslates i\vi^(iy
'trust' : xii. 21 ; Lk. xxiv. 21 ; Jn. v. 45 ; Rom. xv. 12, 24, etc.
' Mt. has already recorded llie healini^ of a duml>-demoniac (ix. 32, 33)
in words rather similar to those used in Lk. xi. 14 of this miracle. ' Dumb'
{Ku<p6i) probably means deaf and dumb. Some Old Syriac and Old I^itin
authorities have 'so that the dumb man sjwke and saw and heard.' Note
how Mt., as compared with Lk. xi. 14, heightens both the miracle and its
effect on the multitudes.
176 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 25-2?
maladies were healed at once, so that the multitudes were
amazed. In order to counteract the effect of the miracle on
the people the Pharisees suggested diabolical agency as the
explanation. In Mk. iii. 20, 21 the introduction is quite different.
The enthusiasm for Jesus has become so great that He has no
leisure for a meal, and His friends say that He is beside Himself.
Then scribes from Jerusalem make the charge of His having
Beelzebub, The charge is of great interest and importance.
It is well attested, for it is in Jn. vii. 20 and viii. 48, 52, as well
as in the Synoptic Gospels ; and it is not at all likely to have
been invented. It shows to what desperate shifts His exasper-
ated foes were driven. Was it likely that the powers of evil
would be parties to widespread acts of beneficence ? Above all,
was it likely that they would help Him to vanquish themselves ? ^
So far from discrediting Him with the people by such an ex-
planation, the Pharisees merely discredited themselves, both as
regards intelligence and honesty. All this was patent at the
time. But what is important for us is that this charge of Christ's
being in league with Satan proves that there was something
extraordinary to explain. If there had not been mighty works
too remarkable to ignore and too notorious to deny. His enemies
would never have taken refuge in so extravagant an hypothesis.
This charge must be set side by side with the Jewish tradition
that Jesus had brought charms out of Egypt, or had learnt magic
from Egyptian sorcerers. In both cases we have evidence, uninten-
tionally given, in support of the miracles wrought by Christ.
In introducing Christ's reply to the charge, both Mt. and Lk.
say that ' He knew their thoughts,' without having heard their
words. Mk. implies that He was too far off to hear what the
Pharisees said, for ' He called them unto Him.' Comp. Mk. ii. 8
= Mt. ix. 4 = Lk. v. 22. All three represent Him as substituting
' Satan ' for their ' Beelzebub.' In the N.T. Satan is always the
prince of the demons ; in the Book of Enoch the Satans are
numerous, but are under a chief (xl. 7, where see Charles's note ;
Edersheim, Life a?td Times, ii. 755). 'If Satan casteth out
Satan ' does not mean if one Satan casts out another, as is clear
from what follows. The challenge, ' If I by Beelzebub cast out
devils, by whom do your sons cast them out ? ' is word for word
the same in Mt. and Lk., but has no parallel in Mk. By 'your
sons ' is certainly not meant the disciples of Christ, who of
course were the sons of Jewish parents, and had been com-
' This strange idea, however, was not pecuHar to the Pharisees : Eiisehius
{Contra Hierocletn, xxx. I, p. 530 A) says: dai/j.ovas yap dTreXavyei <!iXX(^
dWov 71 4>a(jl balfxovi. Heahng the deaf and dumb seems to have inspired
the multitude with special admiration for the Healer (Mk. vii. 37) ; DCG. L
p. 427-
Xn. 27-29] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I77
missioned by Christ to cast out demons. 'Your sons' may
mean the disciples of the Pharisees, for great Rabbis sometimes
called their pupils their 'sons' (Ecclus. vii. 3; Prov. i. 8, where
see Toy's note, p. 13). But more probably it is to be taken
literally. See Acts xix. 13 and Jos. Ant. viii. ii. 5 for instances
of Jewish exorcisms, and comp. Tob. viii. 1-3. The argument
is ad hominem. There were Jewish exorcists, and the Pharisees
did not accuse them of employing diabolical agency. Why then
did they accuse Christ of this ? There is no need to raise the
question whether the exorcists were successful : it is enough
that they were allowed to work unmolested. This they could
not deny, and thereby they would convict the Pharisees of
prejudice and injustice, in bringing a charge against Christ
which they did not bring against their own people.
The charge of diabolical agency having been proved to be
both absurd and unjust, the alternative of Divine agency is
adopted (28) ; and here again there is no parallel in Mk., and
Mt. and Lk. agree verbatim, except that for 'by the Spirit of
God' Lk. has the Old Testament expression 'by the finger of
God.' But if God is the cause of the marvellous healing of
mind and body, then is the Kingdom of God come upon them.
The Pharisees are in the same case as Chorazin and Bethsaida
and Capernaum. The Kingdom of God is come near them, and
yet they are far from the Kingdom of God.^ Indeed they are
worse than those impenitent cities, the inhabitants of which
treated Christ's mighty works with indifference. The Pharisees
treat His miracles with something worse than indifference : they
blasphemously attribute them to the evil one. See W. M.
Alexander, Demonic Possession in the N,T. pp. 177-190.
In the saying about spoiling the strong man of his goods,
Mt., Mk., and Lk. differ considerably as regards the wording,
Lk. being much more elaborate than the other two. The saying
was probably proverbial. In Is. xlix. 24-26 the Chaldean asks,
'Shall prey be taken from a mighty one?' and Jehovah replies,
'The captives of the strong one shall be taken away, for the
stronger than he has come.' This passage is apparently repro-
duced in the Psalms of Solomon v. 4 : " No man shall take prey
from a mighty man," unless he has first conquered him. The
Messiah had taken prey from Satan by freeing demoniacs from
his power ; which is evidence that, so far from being the ally of
Satan, He has begun to conquer him.^ Perhaps there is here a
^ This is one of the places in wiiich Mt. has ' Kinj^doni of God ' instead of
his usual ' Kingdom of the Heavens' (xix. 24, xxi. 31, 43). The latter with
him means the Kingdom which the Son of Man will come in the heavens to
inaugurate, and that meaning would not be filling here.
" With the almost superlluous 'and then he will spoil his house' comp.
V. 24, vii. 5. Comp. also the Ascension of Isaiah, ix. 16.
12
178 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 30, 31
reference to the Temptation. 'Get thee hence, Satan' (iv. 10)
was repeated every time that a demon was driven out ; and
every time that a demon was driven out the Kingdom of God
was brought nearer. In reference to the sovereignty of God
there are only two sides, for and against. By refusing to take
part in the work of Christ for the promotion of that sovereignty
the Pharisees had joined the forces of the enemy. They were
not on God's side ; therefore they were against Him. It was
not Jesus, but they, who had entered into aUiance with Satan.
This saying about the impossibility of neutrality (30) is
worded exactly the same in Mt. and Lk., and has no parallel in
Mk. The 'gathering' and ' scattering' probably refer to a flock
or followers rather than to fruit or seeds : comp. Jn. x. 12. This
is the test which each man is to apply to himself: if he cannot
see that he is on Christ's side, he is against Him. The other
saying about the impossibiUty of neutrality, *He that is not
against us is for us ' (Mk. ix. 40 ; Lk. ix. 50), is the test by which
to judge others; if we cannot see that they are against Christ, we
must give them credit for being on His side. Both Mk. and
Lk. have both forms of the saying.
Because the Pharisees had placed themselves on the side of
Satan, Christ gives them a solemn warning : ' Therefore I say to
you' (31). By accusing Him of being in league with Satan
when He was acting in the power of the Holy Spirit, they had
blasphemed the Holy Spirit, hardening their hearts against the
Spirit's influence. This is an unpardonable sin. " To identify
the Source of good with the impersonation of evil implies a
moral disease for which the Incarnation itself provides no
remedy" (Swete). The repetition of this solemn warning in
ver. 32 is given in a form which is not easy to explain.^ That
any sin may be forgiven, except blasphemy against the Spirit, is
simple. That speaking against the Son of Man may be forgiven,
but speaking against the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven, is
not simple. Let us take the first form (31) and apply it to the
Pharisees. Freeing men from the dominion of evil spirits must
be good work ; it is the work of God's Holy Spirit. The Pharisees
had said that it was Satan's work. This is blasphemy against
the Spirit, and it will not be forgiven. This is a terrible thought,
but it is intelligible. In order to discredit beneficent work which
told against their cherished prejudices, they had maliciously and
deliberately attributed the Spirit's action to Satan. This revealed
a determined opposition to Divine influence which was hopeless.
Now let us take the second form (32) and apply it in a similar
way. How was it possible for the Pharisees to distinguish
1 Lk. (xii. 10) gives only the more difficult form, and that in a diffevent
setting.
XII. 31. 32] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 79
between speaking against the Son of Man and speaking against
the Holy Spirit? It was in speaking against the Son of Man
that they had been proved guilty of speaking against the
Spirit.
It is worth considering whether Mt. xii. 32 and Lk. xii. 10
are not less accurate reproductions of the saying which is given
in ivik. iii. 28, 29 and ^it. xii. 31 ; and whether there is not some
confusion between 'the sons of men' in Mk. iii. 28 and 'the Son
of Man' in Mt. xii. 32 and Lk. xii. 10: see Allen's note. But
we must endeavour to explain ver. 32 as it stands. 'The Son of
Mail' means Christ in His life on earth, ministering to the
phyjical and spiritual needs of mankind. In that Ministry there
was much that was open to misconstruction. He, like other
teachers and philanthropists, could be misunderstood and
misjudged. There were gross misconceptions of His words and
work. All this was deplorable, and by no means always
innocent; but it was pardonable (Lk. xxiii. 34). Men could
repent of their careless neglect of His work or their mistaken
opposition to it, and they did repent, and were forgiven. But
there is such a thing as opposition to Divine influence, so
persistent and deliberate, because of constant preference of
darkness to light, that repentance, and therefore forgiveness,
becomes impossible. The efifiracy of Divine grace remains
undiminished, but the sinner has brought himself to such a
condition that its operation on himself is excluded. Grace, like
bodily food, may be rejected until the power to receive it is lost.
Christ warns the Pharisees that they are perilously near to this
condition. Against the dictates of reason and justice, they had
deliberately treated as diabolical a work of the most surprising
mercy and goodness.^
But we must not infer from this that 'speaking against the
Holy Spirit' is necessarily a sin of the tongue. Blasphemy, like
lying, may be all the worse for being acted and not spoken. The
sin of the Pharisees was not confined to the words ' He cast
out demons by Beelzebub' or ' He has an unclean spirit.' The
mere utterance of an atrocious calumny, perhaps hastily, does
lYoi lonstitute an 'eternal sin' (Mk. iii. 29). It would be more
in harmony with legalism than with the Spirit of Christ to attach
terrific penalties to a single external act. It was the character
revealed by the Pharisees' calumny that was deserving of such
condemnation. Their disposition must be * desperately wicked '
' Sec on I Jn. v. 16 in the Camd. Grk. Test., and Wcstcott on Hcb. vi. 1-8,
p. 165 ; DCG., art. ' Blasphemy' ; Dalman, IVonis 0/ Jesus, p. 255. So I<ing
as the Pharisees maintained their theory, their condition was beyond recovery.
Every manifestation of Divine power and love could be explained away as
Satanic.
l80 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 31, 32
to make it possible for them to bring such a charge in order
to explain such a deed as the liberation of a human being
from the dominion of an evil power which rendered him blind
and deaf and dumb. Moreover they had previously shown their
evil disposition on various occasions. They had witnessed some
of His works of mercy and had heard of many more ; and yet
they persistently opposed and blamed Him.
' Neither in this age, nor in that which is to come ' is an
emphatic periphrasis for ' never.' It is perhaps an enlargement
by Mt. of Mk.'s ovk . . . eis tov atwva. The Jews divided time
into two ages, the Messianic age and that which preceded it.
Therefore what would take place in neither of these would never
take place. Seeing that it is not certain that Christ used this
precise phrase, it would be rash to draw inferences from the
wording of it.^ Even if we could be sure that He spoke in the
words of Mt. rather than in those of Mk., it would not follow
that He meant more than that of this sin there is no forgiveness,
because there is no repentance. We cannot safely argue that,
because it is said that t/ii's sin will not be forgiven in the age to
come, therefore there are sins which wi// be forgiven in the age
to come. That may or may not be true, but it cannot be
deduced from the form of expression used here. Yet we are free
to hope that it is true that repentance may be reached and
forgiveness won in the other world. Scripture affirms that ' now
is the acceptable time'; but it neither affirms nor denies that
repentance and forgiveness may be found after death. "Two
thoughts bearing on the future find clear expression in the New
Testament. We read of an ' eternal sin,' of ' a sin which has no
forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come,' of ' the worm
that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.' And on the
other side we read of the good pleasure of God * to sum up all
things in Christ,' and ' through Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself.' If we approach the subject from the side of man, we
see that in themselves the consequences of actions appear to be
for the doer like the deed indelible ; and also that the finite
freedom of the individual appears to include the possibility of
final resistance to God. If we approach it from the Divine side,
it seems to be an inadmissible hmitation of the infinite love of
God that- a human will should ever refuse to yield to it in complete
self-surrender when it is known as love. If we are called upon
to decide which of these two thoughts of Scripture must be held
to prevail, we can hardly doubt that that which is most compre-
hensive, that which reaches farthest, contains the ruling idea;
and that is the idea of a final divine unity " (Westcott, Historic
Faith, pp. 150, 151 ; comp. Salmon, Gnosticism atid Agnosticism,
^ Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 147 ; Gould, S. Mark, p. 196.
Xn. 33-37] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE l8l
p. 373 ; Langton Clarke, The Eternal Saviour Judge, pp. 71-1 15 ;
Agar Beet, T/ie Last T/iings, pp. 246-251).
" The paragraph which follows (33-37) is similar to one in the
Sermon on the Mount (vii. 17-iy), and the parallel verses in
Lk. vi. 43-45 are closer to this paragraph than to vii. 17-19. The
connexion here is that the character of Jesus may be known from
His conduct.^ He appeals to the general experience of mankind.
How are distinctions between good and bad men made? By
the kind of words and acts they produce. It is possible that Mt.
has inserted the sayings in vv. 33-37 from some occasion of
which the context had been lost ; but the connexion just
suggested is quite intelligible. The sayings fit this context.
The Pharisees shrank from declaring that casting out demons
and healing the dumb and blind were evil deeds; yet they
declare that Christ did them by the power of the evil one.
They must either treat both deeds and doer as good, or both
deeds and doer as evil.2 On the other hand, the character of the
Pharisees may be known by their conduct. Their venomous
slanders were evidence of a corrupt hearty and theirs was so
corrupt that it was morally impossible for them to utter good
things. The Baptist had said much the same of them long
before (iii. 7). Every man's heart is a store-house, and his
words show what he keeps there. Even lightly spoken words do
that, and what is said on the spur of the moment is sometimes
better evidence of a man's disposition than what he says
deliberately, for the latter may be calculated hypocrisy. But the
Pharisees cannot escape on the plea that the charge of diabolical
agency was made hastily without serious meaning. No good
man would think of such a charge in connexion with such a
miracle. And to say, " I did not mean it," does not free one
from responsibility. Even for a purposeless ^ word we shall
have to give account. ' For it is out of thy sayings that thou
shalt be justified (Ps. li. 6), and out of thy sayings that thou
shall be condemned.' See Montefiore, pp. 625 f,
' There is a similar passage in the Testaments. It is the soul that lakes
pleasure in good that produces righteousness, and the soul that takes pleasure
in evil that produces wickedness. All depends on the treasure of the inclina-
tion (^Tjffoiipjs ToO bia^ovKiov) ; Aslur i. 6-9.
"^ This use of voiCiv is common in the writings of S. John : v. 18, viii. 53,
X. 33 ; I Jn. i. 10. The primary meaning of aoTrpis is 'rotten,' the secondary
is ' wortliless,' which is the meaning here : a rotten tree would not bear anv
fruit. Comp. Lk. vi. 43 ; but Lk. has no parallel to w. 34a, 36, 37. With
36 comp. Eccles. xii. 14.
' Jerome's lerbum otiosum, which he explains as that which docs no g(K)d
to either speaker or hearer, is better than Cyprian's verbum vacuum for /iij/xa
o-p^bv. But Cyprian distinguishes between /.^/ia. ^^'bum, and \6^oi, scnnones
(J'eit. iii. 13), while Jerome has verbum for both (Vulg.). English Versions
do Dot distinguish.
1 82 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 38, 39
We are perhaps to understand (38) that the Pharisees with-
drew to deliberate about their reply to Christ's warning and
challenge, and that some of them returned with a challenge on
their side. They speak in a formally respectful tone, but with
an air of being fully justified in the demand which they make :
'Master, we desire to see a sign from Thee.' 'Jews ask for
signs' (i Cor. i. 22), says the Apostle, as if it were characteristic
of the race ; and it was a demand which was refused for the same
reason that the request of Dives was refused (Lk. xvi. 29-31),
because there were signs enough already. Those to whom
Moses and the Prophets were insufficient would never be con-
vnced by supernatural signs.'^
It may be thought surprising that Jesus does not refer the
Pharisees, as He referred the Baptist (xi. 4, 5), to His own
miracles. But it was His miracles of healing which they had
questioned, as being the work of Beelzebub. Moreover, He
had always declared that His teaching, without His mighty works,
was sufficient evidence of His mission. It was never His way
to violate men's freedom by forcing them, against their wills, to
believe on Him. He worked miracles for the good of mankind,
and He was willing to use them as credentials of His authority.
But this was a secondary use; primarily they were acts of
beneficence. He wrought nothing that was a mere wonder, a
mere exhibition of power; and this was what the Scribes and
Pharisees wanted — His Name written in flaming letters across
the sky. They detested His teaching as revolutionary, and they
refused to accept His acts of healing as wrought by Divine
agency. Yet some of them, no doubt, had misgivings, and all
of them wished to justify themselves with the multitude. They
ask to be miraculously convinced, and this He refuses. He calls
those who make such a demand ' an evil and adulterous genera-
tion,' where 'adulterous' {fjioixaXis, which is not in Lk. xi. 29)
means that they have, been faithless to the marriage-tie which
binds them to Jehovah, 'Faithless Judah hath not returned to
Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord ' (Jer. iii.
10). The same idea appears in Hos. vii. 13-16. The formalists
who rejected Christ had abandoned idolatry, but they had been
faithless to Jehovah in other ways that were more deadly because
1 It is evident that the Pharisees were not asking for such signs as Jeremiah
was told to employ, the marred linen girdle, the marred potter's vessel, and
the like. They desired such miracles as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha had
wrought, or something still more stupendous. // w'j a pas de limile aux
exigences des sceptiqiies en fait de surnatnral (Girodon, S. Ltic, p. 327).
The mention of the Pharisees here by Mt. again shows his aversion : they
are not named in this connexion by Lk. See notts on Mt. iii. 7, xxvii. 62.
The phrase Yei/ea /UoixaXts occurs again xvi. 4. Comp. Mk. viii. 38, where
Mt. (xvi. 27) omits it. See Knowling on Jas. iv. 4.
XII. 40, 41] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 183
more subtle. A little later Josephus says that " no age did ever
breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from
the beginning of the world " (/>•/• v. x. 5, xiii. 6; vii. viii. i).
There is no doubt that ver. 40 is part of the original text of this Gospel ;
it is absent from no MS. or version. lUit there is good reason for believing
that it was no part of Christ's reply on tliis occasion, i. It is not in Lk. xi.
29-32. 2. It does not fit the context, which speaks of preaching producing
repentance and is in no way concerned with the Resurrection. 3. It would
not be intelligible to Christ's hearers, who knew nothing of His future Resur-
rection. 4. The parallel drawn between Jonah and Christ is not true. Jesus
was in the grave one whole day and part of two others ; i.e. He rose on the
next d.ay but one after His death, and tliis is expressed in Greek, in both
sacred and profane writers, by ' on the third day ' (r^ rpir-^, with or without
rj/JL^pgi). Comp. xvi. 21, xx. 19. The less accurate expression, ' after three
days' (fieTo. rpeh -ntxipas) mccins the same thing (Mk. viii. 31, x. 34). In
Gen. xlii. 17, 18, Joseph put his brethren 'into ward three days. And
Joseph said unto them the third day.' But the facts will not justify the
statement that Christ's body was ' three days and i/iree nighls ' in tlie grave.
Comp. Lk. xiii. 32; Acts xxvii. 18, 19; Exod. xix. 10, 11 ; passages which
make it quite clear that ' on the third day ' means ' on the next day but one,'
and not 'on the next day but two.' See Field, Odum Non'ic. iii. p. 8.
The saying is repeated without explanation xvi. 4, and probably our Lord
gave no explanation here.
The verse may be a gloss which has got into the authority which Mt.
used ; or it may be an insertion made by ^it. himself on the supposition that
Christ's mention of Jonah referred to him as a type of the Resurrection. Tlie
latter is more probable, and in that case we have a parallel to i. 22, 23,
where Mt.'s reflexion about the fulfilment of prophecy is given as part of the
message of the Angel. Justin Martyr {T)y. 107) says that Jonah was "cast
up from the belly of the fish on the third day'''' [ttj Tpirri T)[j.ipq.), thereby
making the correspondence exact. See Sanday, Bampton Lectures, 1S93, P-
432; Salmon, The Human Element, p. 217; DCG. ii. p. 269; Moulton,
Modern Reader's Bible, p. 1696 ; Allen on Mt. xii. 40.
Our Lord's mention of Jonah as preaching to the Ninevites
does not require us to believe that the story of Jonah is history.
In His own parables He made use of fiction for instruction.
Why should He not use an O.T. parable for the same purpose ?
If He were on earth now, might He not quote Dante? If our
Lord had said, 'As the rich man killed the poor man's ewe-
lamb, so ye rob the fatherless and the widow,' would that have
proved that Nathan's parable was literally true ? S. Paul's
mention of Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim. iii. 8), and S. Jude's
mention of Michael's dispute with Satan for the body of Moses,
arc similar cases. See Briggs, The Messiah of the Gospels., p. 189
note; Gore, Bampto7i Lectures, 1891, pp. 195-200; Sanday,
Bampton Lectures, pp. 414-419; with the literature there (juoted.
If we regard the saying about the three days and three nights
as part of our Lord's reply to the demand for a sign, the meaning
will be that the only sign which will be given is the sign of His
Resurrection. When they have carried into effect tiieir plans to
1 84 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XII. 41-43
destroy Him (14), God will deliver Him from the grave as He
delivered Jonah from the belly of the sea-monster, and that sign
may possibly convince them. If not, they will be more im-
penitent than the Ninevites. But here the reference to Jonah's
deliverance from the fish seems to be superfluous. The argument
runs smoothly when the preaching of Jonah is compared with
the preaching of Christ, and the penitence of the Ninevites
is contrasted with the impenitence of the unbelieving Jews.
But, in order to bring in Jonah's miraculous deliverance, we
must assume that he told the Ninevites of this (as to which
nothing is said in the O.T.), and that it was this wonderful sign,
rather than the threat of Divine judgment, which converted
them.
With improved chronology, and also with better rhetorical
effect, Lk. places the case of the Ninevites after that of the
Queen of the South.^ In the day of judgment both she and the
Ninevites will be able to condemn the unbelieving Jews, for they
made a much better use of smaller opportunities than the Jews
did of greater ones. What was Solomon as a teacher of wisdom,
and what was Jonah as a denouncer of wickedness, compared
with Him whose wisdom and warnings were alike rejected by
those who said that He was in league with the evil one ? What
painful egotism there is in these sayings if He who uttered them
was merely a human teacher 1 And yet, with what quiet serenity,
as being beyond question, they are uttered ! ^
The parable about the demoniac who is cured and then
allows himself to be repossessed by demons (43-45) is placed by
Lk. (xi. 24-26) immediately after the saying that he who is not
with Christ is against Him. Such a demoniac illustrates the
impossibility of being neutral. He flees from the evil one
without seeking Christ, and thus falls more hopelessly into the
power of the evil one again. Here the parable illustrates the
condition of the Jewish nation, which had gone through a
temporary repentance, and then had fallen into far worse sins
than before. The worship of idols had been given up, but had
been followed by a worship of the letter, which had been fatal to
the spirit of religion. The temporary repentance may refer to
this abandonment of idolatry, or possibly to the religious excite-
ment produced by the preaching of the Baptist. That revival
had in many cases been very superficial; few of those who
experienced it had become followers of the Messiah, and
1 This is the earliest example of ' Jemen '=' South ' being used for South-
West Arabia.
2 " He declares Himself possessed of virtues which, if a man said he had
them, it would be the best proof that he did not possess them and did not
know himself. It is either the most insane arrogance of self-assertion, or it is
sober truth" (Maclaren).
XII. 44, 45] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 85
they who had not done so would end in putting Him to
death. 1
The ' waterless places ' mean the wilderness, in which evil
spirits are supposed to dwell. Azazel lives in the wilderness
(Lev. xvi. 10). Comp. Bar. iv. 35 ; the Septuagint of Is. xiii.
21 ; the Vulgate of Tob. viii. 3; Rev. xviii. 2. Allen quotes a
remarkable incantation illustrating the same thought. The
demon is exorcised with the words: "O evil spirit — to the
desert. O evil demon — to the desert, etc." But this does not
seem to be a case of exorcism ; the demon says : ' I will return
to my house whence I came out.' He does not say : ' whence 1
was driven out,' and he still calls it ' my house,' for no one else
has taken it, God has not been asked to occupy it. It is
' standing idle ' (o-xoAa^ovra) — placed first as the chief error.^ It
is 'swept, and garnished' — with sham virtues and hypocritical
graces, the " darling sins " of the evil one, and therefore likely to
attract any of his ministers. It is garnished, as whited sepulchres
are garnished ; but it is not guarded by the presence of God's
Holy Spirit, and hence the fatal result. The former demon
returns with seven others worse than himself, and ' they enter in
and settle there {KaToiKu e'Kei), making it their permanent abode '
(xxiii. 2i).3 'So shall it be also to this evil generation.' They
have not reached this desperate condition yet, but they are in
danger of it, and some of them will reach it. The warning is
similar to that about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which
He does not say that they have committed, although they are
near it. ' Worse than the first ' is a proverbial expression (xxvii.
64; comp. 2 Pet. ii. 20; Heb. x. 29; Jn. v. 14); but the
Speaker does not, like the writer to the Hebrews (x. 26), include
Himself as possibly within its sweep.
The visit of Christ's Mother and brethren (46-50) is by Mt.
expressly connected with the previous utterance: 'While He was
still speaking to the multitudes.' Neither Mk. (iii. 31) nor Lk.
(viii, 19) give any note of time; comp. ix. 18: also xvii, 5,
where Lk. agrees with Mt., and xxvi. 47, where all three agree.
In Mt. and Lk, * without ' (l^w) means outside the crowd : in
^ In Mk, ix. 25 Christ commands a demon to come out from a man and
enter no more into him, which seems to imply that the return sometimes took
place. Here dUpxtrai perhaps means ' wanders about' ; comp. Acts viii. 4,
40, X. 38, XX. 25 ; 2 Chron. xvii. 9. See also the enlargement in the LXX,
of Prov. xxviii. 10.
* There is no <rxoXdl;^oi'Ta in Lk. ; and Mt, may have added it to make a
triplet.
2 With the seven demons here comp. the seven cast out of Mary Magdalen
(* Mk.' xvi. 9) and the 'seven spirits of seduction' {iirrii wfevnaTa ttjs
ir\di>r]s) in the Testaments {/\'eu6en ii. i, 2), and what is said of the man that
refuses to do good : oSid^oXos oiKeioiTai aOrbv wstdiov aKtvos, "dwells in him,
as his own peculiar vessel" [,Nathtali viii, 6),
l86 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIl. 46-50
Mk. it seems to mean outside the house (iii. 19). On the
'Brethren of the Lord' see on i. 25 and the Uterature there
quoted; to which add Lightfoot, Galatiatis, pp. 253-291;
Encyclopcedia Biblica, artt. 'Clopas'and 'James'; J. B. INIayor,
Expositor, July and August 190S (a thorough reinvestigation of
the question). There is nothing in Scripture to forbid the
antecedently natural view that these ' brethren ' are the children
of Joseph and Mary, born after the birth of Jesus, and (apart
from prejudgments as to what seems to be fitting) i. 25 may be
regarded as decisive.
Our Lord's reply here is not a censure on His relatives for
seeking Him, nor does He deny the claim of family ties. He
uses their appeal as an opportunity for pointing out that there
are ties which are far stronger and claims that are far higher
(x. 35, xix. 29). The closest blood-relationship to the Messiah
does not, any more than descent from Abraham, constitute
any right to admission to the Kingdom, and human parentage
does not make any one a child of God (Jn. i. 13). It is
spiritual conditions which avail. But Christ does not say that
any disciple, however loyal, is His father. In the spiritual
sphere His Father is God. Mt. alone specially mentions that
it was the disciples who were pointed out by Christ as His
nearest relations, and he alone inserts 'which is in heaven'
after 'My Father.' The mention of 'sister' (Mt., Mk.) with
' brother ' and ' mother ' (50) is no proof that His sisters were
present on this occasion, although many authorities insert 'and
Thy sisters' in Mk. iii. 32. It is possible that Mt. regarded
the incident as a fit conclusion to this section, which treats of
misunderstanding of the Messiah's teaching and opposition to
His work. His devotion to His mission involved separation
from even His Mother and His brethren. Of the latter we
know that they did not believe on Him (Jn. vii. 5), a fact
which is conclusive against any of them having been among
the Twelve Apostles.
The whole of ver. 47 is probably an interpolation from Mk. and Lk. It
is wanting in our best and oldest authorities (K B L F, Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur. and
some Old Latin texts). Mt. has rendered the statement imnecessary by
•seeking to speak to Him' in ver. 46 ; and he much more often reduces the
redundant statements of Mk. than enlarges what Mk. gives. With vv. 48-50
comp. Hom. //. vi. 429 : "EsTop, drdp (jv fiol iaai ivaTr)p koL irbTvia iJ-iiT-qp
'B.U KaalyvTiTOS. " The silence of the Synoptists respecting her (the Mother
of our Lord) throughout His ministry is astounding, and it is continued in
Acts, where she is named (i. 14) and then disappears from history. Nor do
the epistles give any information" (Wright, Sy7wpsis, p. 35).
Characteristic expressions in ch. xii. : TOre (13,. 22, 38, 44), nera^alveiv
(9), iropeveadai (l), /cat ioov (lo), oVws TrXijpw^s (l?), Trpo<j<pepew (22), yevvri-
ixara ix^^"^" (34)> 67](Tavp6s (35), rifiipa Kpiaeus (36), d irarTjp d iv roh ovpavoh
(50). None of these occur in the parallel passages. Peculiar : iv iKdvi^
1
XIII. 1-9] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 87
Tuj Kaipcf) (i), avfi^ovXiov Xafi^dfeiv (14), t6 fiijO^v (17). None of the follow-
ing are found elsewhere in the N.T. : dmirios (5, 7), alperl^ew (18), ^/jij'eii'
(19), Tl'IpflV (20).
The insertion 'of the heart' (r?)? Ka/>S/os) after 'the good treasure' (L,
Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur. some Old Latin texts, Arm. Acth.) is followed in AV.
but abandoned in RV. It comes from Lk. vi. 45, where it is genuine.
Xni 1-52. Illustrations of the Messiah's Use of
Parables.
'On that day' and 'went out of the house' (i) are additions
made by Mt. to the narrative of Mk., and the reason for them
is not obvious : no house has been mentioned. As regards the
rest he follows Mk. ; but he omits 'in the sea' after 'sat,'
probably because he saw that it was ambiguous. In xxii. 23
there is a similar insertion of ' on that day.'
.^ The central idea of the parable of the Sower (3-8) is that,
the seed being uniformly good, the difference of crop depends
upon the character of the soil which receives the seed. Soil
may be bad in a variety of ways, and there may be various
degrees of goodness in the crop. Lk. is much more brief than
^Mt. or Mk. in describing the seed on the rocky ground, and
he gives only the hundredfold crop. Mk. alone has the intro-
ductory ' Hearken ' : all three have the concluding ' let him hear ' ;
comp. xi. 15, xiii. 43. As it is the same Greek verb in both
places, we desiderate the same English verb in both : but ' He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear' is too familiar now to be changed.
We have had various parables already in the examples of
Christ's teaching which have thus far been recorded ; the salt
and the light (v. 13-16), the fowls and the lilies (vi. 26-30),
the two gates (vii. 13, 14), the wise and the foolish builders
(vii. 24-27), the garments and the wine-skins (ix. 16, 17), the,-
children in the market-places (xi. 16, 17); but they have been_
sliort and incidental. Henceforward they become more elaborate,
and they form a large proportion of Christ's teaching. This
was probably caused by the decreasing enthusiasm in many of
Christ's followers and the increasing animosity of His opponents.
Parables would instruct disciples whose minds were still in
harmony with the Teacher and yet would give little opening
to His enemies. Parables, while they revealed the truth to
those who could profit by it, concealed the mysteries of the,
Kingdom from the unworthy, who could not understand them,
or would be injured by them if they did understand.^ This
* It is rash to say that Christ neither did nor could adopt a policy of con-
cealment, and that the Ev.mgelists have confounded intention with result,
and have thus imputed an " inhuman purpose " to Christ. The quotation in
ver. 13 is in all four Gospels (Mk. iv. 12 ; Lk. viii. 10; Jn. xii. 40).
1 88 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIII. 3-10
concealment of the truth was a judgment on the unworthy, but
a judgment full of mercy. They were saved from the guilt of
rejecting the truth, for they were not allowed to recognize it.
And they were also saved from profaning it, for by parabolic
teaching Christ carried out His own maxim of not casting
pearls before swine (vii. 6). And the parable was a mercy to
the unworthy in yet another way. A parable not only arrests
attention at the time, it impresses the memory ; and, if the
hearer's heart afterwards becomes receptive, he understands
the lesson which he missed when he heard. Christ's parables
were taken from fagoiliar,. objects, and His hearers, when they
saw the objects afterwards, would be reminded of His words..
And although they were primarily intended for Jews of Palestine
in His own time — a fact which must be borne in mind in
interpreting them, yet there is little that is specially Jewish or
Palestinian in them. Only one or two have Jewish features,
and hardly one has anything which is decidedly Palestinian
(Stanley, Sin. a?id Pal. p. 432). They were intended for the
Jew first, but also for the Gentile ; and all sorts and conditions of
men of all races and generations have been instructed by them.
The parable of the Sower is ajgadiftg and^testing^ parable
(Mk. iv. 13). It is one of the three (all dealing witTTTSgetation)
which are in all three Gospels, the other two being the Mustard-
seed and the Wicked Husbandmen.^ And it is one of which
we have Christ's own interpretation. In that interpretation it
is specially remarkable that the 'birds,' which we should
probably have explained as impersonal temptations, are ex-
pressly, in spite of the plural number, said to mean 'Satan'
(Mk.), 'the evil one' (Mt.), 'the devil' (Lk.). Among the
things which choke the word Mk. alone mentions ' the lusts of
other things,' and Lk. alone has 'pleasures of this life.' Mt. by
having neither spoils a triplet, which is unusual with him.
The disciples' question is given differently by the Evan-
gelists. Mk. says that they 'asked Him the parables.' Lk.
understands this as signifying that they asked the meaning
of this particular parable. Mt. gives it the much wider significa-
tion of a question as to the purpose of parables generally.^
1 In this chapter we have two of these, together with a third on a similar
subject, viz. the Tares. Mackinlay thinks that these repeated references to
sowing were made at the time of the first sowing after the year of Sabbath,
which he dates A.D. 26-27. 'Upon the thorns,' iirl ras aKavOas (7) means
upon places where the roots of these plants were concealed. In ver. 8 note
the change from aorist to imperfect.
- This involves a change in Christ's reply from Hva fi-f) to Srt oi. Christ
could not be said to aim at preventing all His hearers from understanding.
Mt. inserts ver. 12 before the explanation of the parable : both Mk. (iv. 25)
and Lk. (viii. 18) place it after the explanation.
Xin. 14] TITF. MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 89
Christ replies that the purpose is educational to disciples, and
^disciplinary to those Nvho refuse to become disciples. Instruc-
tion is given in a form which the unreceptive, through their
own fault, cannot understand. It is easy to see how this
illustrates the law that to him that hath more shall be given ;
the hearer that has sympathy with the truth is instructed. It
Isless easy to see how he that hath not loses even that which
he hath, or thinketh he hath (Lk. viii. 18). Perhaps the
meaning is that the unworthy hearers become less and less
ableto receive the truth, the moje often they listen to parables"
.with out understanding them.. For 'understanding' in Scripture
is a matter of the heart rather than of the head, and the organ
which is never used at last loses its power ; the ears that never .
hear bec ome deaf. Comp. xxv. 29 and Lk. xix. 26. The quota-
ttCnlrom Is. viT^, 10, which Mk. gives in an indirect form
(iv. 12), is given by Mt. in the words of the Septuagint directly.
And the way in which Mt. introduces the quotation (14) is
remarkable. He does not use the phrases, 'that it might be
fulfilled' {iva or ottojs TrXrjpwdrj), or 'then was fulfilled' (totc
€T7kyjpwOr)), which he usually employs when he himself points
out that something is a fulfilment of prophecy. Here it is
Christ who points out the fulfilment, and Mt. reports Him as
doing so with the very unusual formula, 'there is being filled
up to them ' (avaTrXrjpovraL aurots), i.e. in their case the prophecy
is being fully satisfied.^
It is also to be remarked that this is one of the passages
in which Mt. omits what is unfavourable to the disciples. Mk.
iv. 13 has : ' Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know
all the parables?' For this rebuke Mt. substitutes, 'Do you,
therefore, hear the parable of the sower.' Comp. xiv. 33 with
Mk. vi. 52 ; xvi. 9 with Mk. viii. 17 ; xvii. 23 with Mk. ix. 32 ;
and see Allen, pp. xxxiii f. Both here and elsewhere Lk.
exhibits a similar tenderness for the Twelve. It is in harmony
with this feeling that Mt. and Lk. give the special Beatitude of
the disciples, ' Blessed are your eyes,' etc. which Mk. omits. Lk.
has this Beatitude after the return of the Seventy (x. 23, 24)
and words it differently. And his arrangement is to be pre-
ferred, if the Beatitude was uttered only once ; but it may have
been spoken both to the Twelve and to the Seventy. Projjhets,
such as Balaam, Moses, Isaiah, Micah, and righteous men, such
as the Psalmists, had desired to see what the Twelve had seen.
* The compound ii'air\r]p6u is found nowhere else in the Gospels, and
it is used nowhere else in the Bible of the fulfilment of prophecy. Here it
seems to imply that there has been partial fulfilment in the past, and that
this is now made complete. The word fj.v<XTTipioy also, frequent in the Pauline
Epistles, occurs nowhere in the Gospels, excepting ver. 1 1 = Mk. iv. 1 1 = Lk.
viii. 10. In the LXX. it is frequent in Daniel and the Apocrypha.
190 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIII. 18
In the Psalms of Solomon we have similar utterances : " Blessed
are they that shall be born in those days, to behold the blessing
of Israel" (xvii. 50; comp. xviii. 7). Here there is a strong
emphasis on the pronoun : ' Blessed are your eyes.' But this
blessing will be realized, only if they understand what they see
and hear. Christ therefore explains the parable to them, and
once more there is great emphasis on the pronoun»__iJPo you,
therefore, hear the parable of the sower.' Beware of indifference,
of shallowness, and of worldliness, which is trying to serve God
and mammon. It is the good and single heart that understands
and bears fruit.
This interpretation of the parable has been criticized as being
allegorical and going too much into detail, so that the main
lesson is lost. If this were true, we should have to assign the
interpretation to the Evangelists, who have put their ideas into
Christ's mouth. But it is not true. The interpretation is
beautiful in its simplicity, although part answers to part, and
not merely whole to whole. There is apparent confusion of
language, because of the double meaning of ' sown ' : the seed
may be said to be ' sown ' and the ground may be said to be
' sown,' and in the interpretation these two meanings are mixed.
But this apparent confusion may be due to the Evangelists, and
it causes no difficulty. The interpretation remains perfectly
clear, that though Christ is the Sower, and sows the word of
truth, yet the result depends upon the character of the soil.
It by no means follows that because every parable has one
main lesson, therefore- no parable has more than one lesson.
The interpretations which have been given of the parables of
the Sower and of the Tares indicate that it is lawful to seek a
meaning for some of the details. In the Sower, nearly every-
thing is interpreted ; in the Tares, some things are interpreted
(the sower, the good seed, the enemy, the tares, the field, the
harvest, and the reapers), and some are not (the people's
sleeping, the enemy's going away, the servants of the house-
holder, and the binding of the bundles). It requires much
judgment to decide whether any of the details of a parable are
significant, and, if so, which. Very early in the history of the
Church imagination began to run riot in this respect, for
TertuUian protests against it. In the parable of the Lost Coin
are we to find a meaning for the number ten, for the lamp, for
the broom ? " Curious niceties of this kind not only render
some things suspected, but by the subtlety of forced explanations
generally lead away from the truth" {De Pudic. ix.). And
Chrysostom goes the length of saying that when we have found
out the main lesson, we need not trouble ourselves further {in
Mt. Horn. Ixiv. 3). That is too narrow a view. But the
Xm. 18] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 19I
endless difficulties al'out the Unrighteous Steward are the result
of making the details mean something. The aptitude of details
for allegorical interpretation is no proof that these meanings
were intended by Christ. See Trench, Parables, eh. iii. ; Sanday,
Outlines, pp. 68-74 ; Hastings' DB., art. ' Parable.'
Nor is it any objection to the value of a parable that it
teaches only one lesson, or only a very few, while it leaves
important questions connected with the main subject untouched.
No parable could be e(iual to the complexity of human life or
of religious problems. In the Sower, neither in the parable,
nor in the interpretation, is anything said as to the causes of the
differences between the classes of hearers. What made some
to be indifferent, others shallow, others worldly, and others again
receptive in varying degrees ? We are told elsewhere that there
are whole and there are sick (ix. 12), that some will receive the
Messiah's messengers and some not (x. 11-13), that there are
those who are too wise to be childlike, and those who are
childlike without being wise (xi. 25), and that some trees are
good, while others are worthless (xii. 33) ; but in all these places
Ihe hearers are supposed to know from the experience of their
own hearts how these momentous differences arise. Their
business is to see to which class they themselves belong, and
to act accordingly. We should perhaps see this more clearly if
we called this searching story, not the parable of the Sower, but
the parable of the Soils ; and we have to see to it that the soil
of our own hearts is soft, and deep, and clean.^
There is yet another point on which the parable gives us
no information, — the proportion between the different kinds of
soils, and especially between the good and the bad soils. Is
indifference more often fatal than shallowness or worldliness?
Is thirtyfold more common than a hundredfold? Is bad soil
more common than good, so that most of the Sower's seed is
wasted? Are those who are in the way of salvation many or
few? The answer to these questions is the same as before.
To which class do you belong? Strain every nerve to belong
to the best (Lk. xiii. 23, 24); and this will be all the more
imperative, if you find that you are producing, not thirtyfold
instead of sixty or a hundred, but nothing at all ; if you find
that you are not for Christ, and therefore against Him. It is
your business to strive to enter the Kingdom, and to help others
to enter ; how many succeed and how many fail — ' what is that ^
to thee ? ' — .
Mt. omits the parable of the Seed growing secretly!
(Mk. iv. 26-29) ^"d substitutes that of the Tares. Thel
1 Comp. Jer. iv. 3 : ' Break up your fallow ground, and sow not upon
thorns,' /i7j ffiTflprp-e ftc' aK&vOai'!.
192 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIH. 24-30
Evangelist's reasons for arranging the six parables which follow
the Sower as he does are not clear ; for a possible explanation
see Allen. The arrangement itself is clear enough. Four
parables were spoken from the boat to a mixed multitude on
the shore, and then, in the house, Christ explained the Tares
to the disciples and delivered three more parables. The
explanation of the Sower was not given at once, although it is
placed immediately after the parable. The explanation of the
Tares was not given at once, and it is not placed immediately
after the parable. In the one case Mt. has followed Mk.'s
order, in the other he cannot do so, for Mk. omits the Tares.
Mt. either follows the order of the source from which he got
these parables, or he adopts an order of his own. Mt. may
have placed the Tares next to the Sower because of the
similarity of subject; but it is quite as possible that this
similarity led to the two parables being spoken at the same
time. The one treats of different soils producing from the
same seed crops varying from zero to a hundredfold ; the other
treats of the same soil producing a mixed crop from mixed seed.
But both are addressed to the multitudes ; not one to the laity
and the other to the clergy, not one to subjects and the other
to rulers.
The traditional rendering ' tares ' for ^t^avta is unfortunate,
but cannot be changed. 'Tares' in the parabolic sense has
become a household word in English literature. But the plant
in the parable is not the common vetch, which has no
resemblance to wheat, and is useful enough in its way, but the
bearded darnel {loUum temulentiim), which in its earlier stages
is indistinguishable from wheat, and which often breeds a
poisonous fungus. Modern farming in the East has improved
upon the methods mentioned in the parable. After the ears
are developed, but before the harvest, the darnel and other
tall weeds are pulled up and destroyed, so that at the harvest
the crop is quite clean. Both in Palestine and in Cheshire the
peasants believe that darnel is degenerated wheat, and that in
bad seasons wheat will turn into darnel; the truth being that
much wet rots the wheat and stimulates the darnel. It is said
that in France the malicious sowing of fields with weeds is not
unknown. See Groser, Scripture A^atural History, Henslow,
The Plants of the Bible; Tristram, Natural History oj the Bible ;
Shakespeare, King Lear, Act. iv. sc. 4.^
In the Tares, as in the preceding parable, the Sower is
clearly indicated, and in both cases the seed is good. But in
^ In likening the Kingdom to various things, three expressions are used :
— ofJLoiLbd'q (xiii. 24, xviii. 23, xxii. 2), ofioiudrjaerai (xxv. i), and opLoia
i<7Tiv (xiii. 31, 33, 44, 45, 47).
XIII. 24-31] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I93
the Tares the soil is all good, and the crop would be all good,
but for the malice of the enemy, ' while men slept.' The
sleeping is not blamed; after honest toil it was right that they
should sleep ; but it was then that the enemy had his
opportunity. It would have been easy to represent the weeds
as sown by the wind; but just as in the Sower our Lord makes
the birds represent, not impersonal temptations, but Satan, so
here He makes the noxious plants to be sown by a personal
evil agent, who scatters false apostles and false doctrine broad-
cast through God's world. The field is the world (38), not the
Church, which gives too narrow a meaning to the parable, and
leaves out of account the multitudes of good and bad who are
not Christians. And, once more, men are divided into just two
classes, tares and wheat, sons of the Kingdom and sons of the
evil one. He that is not with Christ is against Him. Christ
gives no explanation of the servants who propose to weed out
the tares, and we need not seek one. There are always persons
who are ready to propose drastic remedies for real or supposed
evils, and it is with regard to them that the main lesson of the
parable is given. Men are not to anticipate the judgment of
God, for they will do much more harm than good by attempting
to do so. They have not sufficient knowledge. They do not
always know how to distinguish the bad from the good, nor do
they know how the removal of the bad may affect the good.
A plant that will turn out very well may easily be mistaken for
a weed ; and the lives of good and bad are often so closely
intertwined that the violent removal of the one is sure to cause
injury to the other. That the bad may become good is not
taught by the parable, but it is provided for in the absolute
prohibition to root up any. It is not for man to call down fire
from heaven upon those whom he regards as the enemies of
Christ.
The parable may have a reference to the teaching of the
Baptist and his message to Christ. In his preaching he had
laid his chief emphasis upon the judgments that await the
impenitent, — the axe, the winnowing fan, and the unquenchable
fire. He had said little about the Messiah's mercy and love.
He had been impatient with Jesus for not being sufficiently
prompt in carrying out John's conception of His mission. The
Messiah here repeats the lesson : 'Judgment is Mine,' not man's.
And, though the Divine judgment never fails, yet it does tarry ;
and it is the Divine patience that man must strive to imitate.
Man is shortlived and is often hasty. He who is from ever-
lasting to everlasting can afford to wait.
Both Mt. and Mk. group together three parables that are
taken from the vegetable world, the first and the third being the
13
194 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIII. 31-35
same in each, — the Sower and the Mustard-seed. Both Mt. and
Lk. group together two parables respecting the spread of the
Gospel, — the Mustard-seed and the Leaven ; but Lk. places
this pair later in the Ministry, just after the healing of a woman
in a synagogue on the sabbath (xiii. 18-21). In this pair Christ
points out some of the characteristics of the Kingdom which
He so often mentioned in His teaching, its small beginning, its
gradual increase, and its immense development. It will embrace
all peoples and nations, and it will penetrate and transform
their entire life (31-33).
It is not quite certain what plant is meant by the mustard,
but sinapis 7iigra is probable. It is some plant which grows to
a large size from a very small seed (xvii. 20); but 'tree ' (SeVSpov)
does not necessarily mean a timber-tree. We speak of a rose-
tree and a gooseberry-tree. Whether any other characteristics
of the mustard-plant are alluded to, such as its medicinal qualities,
is doubtful. " Small as a mustard seed " was a Jewish proverb
to indicate a very minute particle : and " so that the birds of the
heaven can lodge in it " was a phrase for a great Kingdom giving
protection to many (Dan. iv. 9, 18 ; Ezek. xxxi. 6).
Leaven (33) is commonly used as a metaphor for evil influ-
ence, which disturbs, puffs up, sours, and corrupts. " It is born
of corruption " says Plutarch, yeyovei/ Ik <^Oopa.<i : and leaven was
forbidden during the Passover. Comp. i Cor. v, 6 ; Gal. v. 9.
But our Lord is not deterred by these associations from using
it to symbolize the sure and subtle influence of the Gospel.
Comp. Ignatius, Magnes. x. There was a common expectation
that the Messianic Kingdom would come ' with observation,'
suddenly, with much show of power and glory. These two
parables teach a different lesson. The tiny seed was buried in
the earth ; the leaven was hidden in the meal. The beginnings
of the Kingdom were unnoticed, and the ignorance of its character
was worldwide. But, whether noticed or not, the plant grew,
and the leaven conquered the meal.
How does it conquer the meal? By the influence of the
small piece of leaven upon the particles nearest to it, and of
those particles upon others that are nearest to them, ' till it is
all leavened.' That Kingdom in which the will of God is
acknowledged until it becomes supreme is to spread from soul
to soul until all are brought within His sovereignty. It spreads
from Christ to the Twelve, and from the Twelve to the infant
Church, and so on until the whole mass is reached and trans-
formed. Each Christian soul is to be a missionary, passing on
the subtle influence to others, for he must not receive and refuse
to give. This implies that the Christian must live in the world,
for the leaven cannot work without contact. Human life must
XIII. 33-39J rilE MINISTRY IN GALILKE I95
be touched at all points, in order that its work and its play, its
religion and its relaxation, its politics and its commerce, its
science and its arts, may be raised and warmed by the penetrating
action of Christian morality and Christian ideals. He is no true
Christian who either shuns society for fear of contamination, or,
when he goes into society, leaves his Christianity behind him.
He who does not pass on the influence of the saving leaven is
working against it.
There is no need to seek a meaning for the number three.
The ' three measures ' may be suggested by Gen. xviii. 6. Nor
is there any significance in the change from a man (31) to a
woman (33). Baking is a woman's work, as sowing seed is a
man's. Comp. the change from the sheep-owner to the woman
in Lk. XV. The important point is the marvellous development,
external and internal, of Christianity.
Having concluded the group of four parables spoken to the
multitudes from the boat (2-33), Mt. now adopts Mk. iv. 33, 34
as a suitable conclusion, and adds a fulfilment of prophecy
(34, 35). In adopting Mk. he omits 'but privately to His own
disciples He expounded all things.' The omission may be
another instance of sparing the Twelve. Perhaps Mt. was un-
willing to state that they needed to have all things expounded
to them. The prophecy is from Ps. Ixxviii. 2, mainly from the
Hebrew, but perhaps influenced by recollection of the Septuagint.
' I will open my mouth with a parable, I will utter riddles con-
cerning times of old ' ; i.e. the Psalmist will expound the lessons
which the history of Israel contains. The Psalmist was not
directly predicting anything respecting the Messiah's manner of
teaching; but his own method was an anticipation of Christ's.
As he used Israel's past to point a moral, so Christ used the
facts of nature and of human life to teach the truths of the
Gospel. On the reading 'Isaiah' see Nestle, p. 251.
We are not told when our Lord left the boat, but that is
probably included in ' He left the multitudes and went into the
house' (36). The disciples' coming to Him (10) is perhaps
mentioned by anticipation, and we may suppose that the ex-
planations both of the Sower and of the Tares were given after
the house had been reached.
'The end of the world' or 'consummation of the age'
(cruiTcAtia aX(iivo<i or 17 cruj/TeAcia tov) aidvos) is frequent in Mt.
(39, 49, xxiv. 3, xxviii. 20) and in apocalyptic literature (Dalman,
Words of Jesus, p. 155), and 'consummation' (o-viTeAeia) is
frequent in the Septuagint.^ Comp. Heb. ix. 26 and Westcott's
' In the Testaments we have ffwrfKeia rQiv alwvuv {Levi x. 2) and awr.
TOV alQvos {Bettjainin xi. 3) ; but in both places texts vary between r.
ald)i/ui> and r. aiCiyoi.
196 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIII. 42-44
note. The world is not the Kingdom, although it contains
'the sons of the Kingdom.' But the Son of Man brings the
Kingdom with Him, and at that consummation ' the sons of the
evil one ' may be said for the moment to be in the Kingdom ;
but they are immediately expelled, as having no right to be in it
(41). That is the meaning of 'gather out of His Kingdom.'
There are two kinds of evil that are expelled, all that '■cause
stumbling,' and all that ' do iniquity.' The former class indicates,
what is not stated in the parable, that the tares may cause the
wheat to degenerate. Iniquity or 'lawlessness' (avo/xta) is in-
fectious and poisonous, like the fungus on the darnel.^ 'The
furnace of fire' occurs only here and ver. 50. Excepting Lk.
xiii. 28, 'the weeping and the gnashing of teeth' is peculiar to
this Gospel (viii. 12, xiii. 42, 50, xxii. 13, xxiv. 51, xxv. 30): in
none of the passages is anything said about the duration of the
misery. Compare the Ascension of Isaiah, iv. 18.
'Shine forth as the sun' (43) is a common simile (xvii. 2 ;
Rev. i. 16; Judges v. 31 ; Ecclus. 1. 7; Ep. of Jer. 67). It is
especially appropriate here, for they will be in the light of Him
who is the Sun of righteousness (Dan. xii. 3). The interpretation
of the Tares closes with the same refrain as the parable of the
Sower (9) and the praise of John the Baptist (xi. 15). It is
sometimes misunderstood as referring to a favoured minority,
gifted with special intelligence as to spiritual truth, or as referring
to those who are willing to hear. All have ears ; and therefore
all are responsible for refusing to listen. A man cannot plead
that he was unable to hear. The word was brought to him, and
he rejected it.
The Evangelist represents the remaining three parables
(44-50), which complete the total of seven, as spoken to the
disciples in the house. The first two, like the Mustard-seed and
the Leaven, are a pair, based on the truth that a man will sacrifice
all his goods to obtain that which he is convinced is far more
valuable. That is how every one who knows about it ought
to feel respecting the Kingdom. No earthly possessions are
too precious to be given in exchange for it. While the Mustard-
seed and the Leaven illustrate the progress of the Kingdom in
society, the Hid Treasure and the Pearl show the Kingdom as
a personal discovery and acquisition. The two men in the
parables are alike in two respects : they know a very valuable
thing when they see it, and they are willing to pay the highest
price in order to secure it. But they differ in the fact that the
one finds a great treasure without looking for it, while the other
has been carefully seeking. This difference is true to life. One
man suddenly finds himself face to face with a great truth or a
^ See on vii. 23, p. 117.
Xin. 44-50] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE I97
noble ideal, in the Bible, in some other book, in the life of an
acquaintance, in some personal crisis ; and he has to make up
his mind whether to grasp it or let it pass. Another man pain-
fully seeks and collects all that can give value to life and elevation
to conduct, and he at last finds something in comparison with
which everything else is of small account ; and there is not much
doubt what he will determine to do. Both have found
"the great world's altar-stairs,
That slope through darkness up to God."
There is no need to raise questions as to the morality of the
man, who hid the treasure before going to buy the field.^ He
may have hid it to prevent it from being stolen, or to prevent
himself from being anticipated in buying the field. We are not
told that he concealed from the owner his reason for being willing
to give all that he possessed for the field. But even if he was
guilty of sharp practice, that ought to aftbrd no difiiculty. This
detail, //it is in the parable, is in the framework, and has nothing
to do with the intended lesson. It is like the alterations in the
bonds suggested by the Unrighteous Steward (Lk. xvi. 6, 7), and
has no meaning. It is the man's readiness to part with all that
he had, in order to secure the treasure, that counts.^
'AH that he had.' It was a heavy price ; but in each case
it was joyfully paid, and Christ's followers must be ready to do
the same. ' He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is
not worthy of Me ' ; but ' He that loseth his life for My sake,
shall find it' (x. 37, 39). Who is it that makes these enormous
claims upon all mankind ? Who is it that offers, to those who
respond to the claims, such enormous rewards ?
The parable of the Net is a pair to that of the Tares. It
teaches the same lesson, and has a similar ending. As in the
field there are both wheat and tares, so in the draw-net there are
fishes both good and bad ; and here there is room for the thought,
though it is not suggested, that there may be degrees of goodness,
and also of badness, in the fishes in the net. ' Every kind ' tells
us nothing as to moral worth, but indicates, in a way that the
wheat and the tares could not do, that there are all sorts and
conditions of men in the world. If it were not for the partial
explanation in ver. 49, the Net might seem to be at variance
1 Origen makes this represent the economy of hiding the secret meanings
of Scripture from tliose who are not able to appreciate them.
• Tlie change of tense from iriirpaKfv {iirw\y]cTev, D) to r)y6paffev can hardly
have any point. The aorist of iriirpdffKu seems to be found only in Kpic, and
in late Greek the difference between aor. and perf. became less sharp ; comp.
Jas. i. 24. See Hlass, § 59, 5; J. II. Moiihon, Gram, of N.T. Gr. p. 142.
The beginning of ver. 45 should reseml)le ihal <;f vcr. 44. The Kingilom is
like the pearl, not like the merchant.
198 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIII. 47-52
with the Tares, for the fishermen in the former parable seem to
be analogous to the servants in the latter, and the fishermen do
separate the bad fish from the good. But the explanation shows
that those who cast the net into the sea are not the same as
those who separate the fish. The one is the work of the Apostles
(iv. 19), the other of the Angels. Till the net is brought to shore
at the Day of Judgment the bad are free to mix with the good.^
This second group of parables being ended (44-50), Mt.
gives another conclusion, which might have served as an ending
to the whole seven. The two longest parables have been
interpreted in detail, and a partial interpretation has been given
of the last parable. The intermediate parables are simpler in
character, and with the key to the more elaborate ones the
disciples might be expected to see the meaning of all. Christ
asks them whether this is so (51), and they reply that they
have understood. This would convince them that the method
of teaching by parables, the purpose of which they had
questioned (10), was a good one: it had instructed themselves,
and would enable them to instruct others. In a higher and
better way, they were to be to the Gospel what the Scribes
were to the Law.^ They were to produce, for the benefit of
their hearers, not merely old things in the old form, but things
both new and old in a new form ; and they were to use old
things as a vehicle for truths that were new to that generation.
They were to take the familiar phenomena of nature, and the
experiences of everyday life, and make them the instruments
of a spiritual revelation.
With the formula of transition, 'when Jesus finished' (53)
comp. vii. 28, xi. i, xiii. 53, xix. i, xxvi. i. It makes a break
preparatory to an incident which illustrates, by an extreme
case, the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people. ' He
came unto His own inheritance, and His own people received
Him not' (Jn. i. 11). See on vii. 28, p. 119.
This was perhaps the first visit to ' His own country '
Nazareth since the beginning of His public Ministry. They
were astonished at the wisdom of His teaching in their
synagogue, and at the report of His mighty works, but they
were offended that one whom they had known all their lives as
of humble origin and life, and with whose brothers and sisters
^ It is difficult to believe that Christ could have given these interpretations
ot the parables of the Tares and of the Net (39, 41, 49), if there are no such
beings as Angels. They do not look like accommodations to current beliefs.
And it is not likely that the Angels were no parts of His interpretation, but
have been mported into it by tradition : comp. xvi. 27, xviii. 10, xxii. 30,
xxiv. 31, 36, XXV. 31, 41, xxvi. 53.
^ Ata TovTO means ' Because ye have been made to understand by means
of parables ' ; it is almost equivalent to ' Well, then,'
XIII. 53 56] THE MINISTRY IN GALILEE 1 99
they were intimate, should have attained to siicli eminence.
Instead of being proud of Him, and glorifying God for Him,
they were jealous of Him and belittled Him. He was nothing
but the member of a very ordinary family, and what right had
He to teach them new ways of life? Christ's explanation of
their conduct is a proverb, parallels to which exist in various
languages. Pindar tells Ergoteles, the runner, that his fame
would have faded away at the family hearth, if fortune had not
driven him from home {Olym. xii. 13). Seneca says: Vile
hal'c/ur, quod domi est {Dc Bencf. iii. 3).
The changes which IMt. makes in the narrative of Mk. are
of great interest. For ' Is not this the carpenter, the Son of
Mary?' he has, 'Is not this the carpenter's Soni is not His
mother Mary?' He shrinks from calling Jesus Himself a
carpenter, and he separates the two kinds of sonship. Legally,
as shown by the genealogy in ch. i., Jesus was the Son of
Joseph ; actually, as shown by the narrative in ch. i., He was
the Son of Mary. That Mk. does not say ' the Son of Joseph
and Mary ' is remarkable. This may miply no more than that
Joseph was dead ; but it may imply that there was no human
father.^ It cannot imply that Mk. believed that Joseph was
actually His father. With a similar feeling of reverence, Mt.
changes 'He could do no mighty work, save that He laid His
hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them : And He marvelled
because of their unbelief into ' He did not many mighty works
there because of their unbelief.' He shrinks from the ' could
not,' and also from the 'marvelled,' although he has admitted
this previously (viii. 10) with regard to the centurion's great
faith. Mk. has 'marvelled' in both places. The Evangelist
probably regarded the rejection of Jesus by His own people at
Nazareth as a prophetic intimation of His rejection by the whole
nation at Jerusalem ; and he may also have regarded the murder
of the Baptist, which now follows, as a prophetic type of the
murder of the Messiah. So detailed a narrative of John's
death would not have been given merely to explain the craven
fear of Antipas that Jesus was the murdered Baptist risen from
the dead. The story of Jolin's end is required to complete the
account of his message to the Messiah and to illustrate the
Messiah's eulogy of him (xi. 2-19); and, as the one narrative
begins with a message carried by John's disciples from Machacrus
(xi. 3), so the other narrative ends with one (xiv. 12).
' The former is more proliahle : it expl.iins how Jesus Himself came to
be called 'the carpenter.' The relationships are tersely stated in the Ada
Thonue, 143, Bonnet, p. 250: iK\i)0-i) w'ij Ma/M'as vo-pOlvoxi, koX yKOvaO-q vibs
TlKrovos'\oiar)(p. The irpis y)tia% of the sisters means 'in constant intercourse
with us' : Mk. ix. 19 = Lk. ix. 41 ; Mk. xiv. 49.
200 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 1
Characteristic expressions in ch. xiii. : avfKpepeiv (2), i8ov (3), irpoaep-
XeffOai (10), olKo8€air6Tris (27, 52), awdyeii' (30, 47), Tore (36), 6 ^pvy/jLos
rOiv odovTuv (42, 50), d-ijaavpds (44, 52), (rairpos (48), ixadTiTeveiv (52),
iKeWev (53). Peculiar: 7/ paaCKela tlov ovpavGiv (11, 24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47,
52), TO prjdiv (35), avvreXeia [rod] aiuivos (39, 40, 48), diaa-arpelv (36 and xviii.
31 only). Owing to the subject-matter of the chapter, the number of expres-
sions in it which occur nowhere else in the N.T. is large : 7rapa/3o\V irapa-
TLdivaL (24, 31), eiTLffireipeiv (25), ivKpinrreiv (33), ipevyeadat (35), depiarris
(30, 39), iKXa/xireiv (43), aayrjvq (47), ava^i^d^eiv (48), 57705 (48), fieTalpeiv
(53), ffwav^dveiv {30), ^fdi-ia (25-30).
In the translation of the phrase 6 K\av9/J,bs Kal 6 /3p. r. 656j'twj' the AV.
again exhibits caprice. In this chapter (42, 50) it is rendered ' wailing and
gnashing of teeth,' elsewhere ' weeping and gnashing of teeth,' which the RV.
adopts everywhere.
XIV. 1-XVIII. 35. THE MINISTRY OF THE MESSIAH
IN OR NEAR GALILEE.
This section, like preceding sections, is grouped round a
prophecy of Isaiah, which is quoted xv. 8, 9 ; and it ends with
the discourses on offences and forgiveness. Ch. xviii., like
v.-vii., X., and xiii., seems to be meant as the conclusion of a
section of the Gospel, and it consists, as they do, almost entirely
of discourses. In this and the following sections, Mt. keeps
closely to the order of Mk., not breaking it, as he often does
in the first half of the Gospel, in order to group the materials
according to similarity of subject.
XIV. 1-14. The Murder of the Baptist and the Retirejnent
of the Messiah.
All three Gospels mention that Herod Antipas heard the
report of Christ's mighty works. This cannot refer to the few
healings at Nazareth just mentioned, but rather to those at
Capernaum, and the various towns in which He had laboured
since the plots of the Pharisees had led to His leaving His
usual centre. It is surprising that Antipas had not heard of
the fame of Jesus sooner. At Tiberias, where he often had
his court, the marvellous works done in Chorazin, Bethsaida,
and Caper.iaum must have been well known. But Antipas was
often away from home, and sometimes out of his dominions,
and princes often know much less than their subjects of what
goes on close to their doors. The extension of the movement,
inaugurated by John and carried on by Jesus, would cause it
to be more noticed by Herod. Now that Christ was moving
from place to place, while six pairs of Apostles were also
itinerating in Herod's dominions, he would be much more
XrV. 1-3] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 20I
likely to hear about Christ and His mighty works. But it was
the report that John whom he had beheaded was risen from
the dead that specially excited Herod's interest and fears.^
That a risen John should work miracles seemed to him probable
enough, and his guilty conscience was uneasy as to what John's
return from the grave might mean for himself. Of all the con-
jectures that were current respecting Jesus, the belief that He
was John come to life again seemed to him to be only too
probable. If we had only T^It., we might think that Antipas
himself originated this idea, and no other conjectures are
mentioned. But Lk., who had special information respecting
Herod's surroundings, says that Herod was told this first by
others, and apparently tried to disbelieve it.^ He had tried to
bury the thought of the murder, but the memory of it had
risen again and again to torment him, and now the murdered
man himself seemed to have risen again to rebuke him. Origen
mentions a tradition that Jesus and John resembled one another ;
and, if that were true, the theory of John's resurrection would
be all the more likely to arise.
In this indirect way, because Antipas heard of Christ's
miracles and thought that He might be the Baptist restored to
life, the murder of the Baptist comes to be mentioned. No
doubt it was of great interest to the first body of Christians,
and hence was preserved in their traditions ; but in the Gospels
it comes to be recorded because of the interest excited in
Antipas by Christ. Lk. mentions John's imprisonment and
death (iii. 20, ix. 9) but gives no details, and Mt. abbreviates
the narrative of Mk. It is only in connexion with the Messiah
that the Baptist is of importance to the Evangelist. John had
been His Forerunner in the Ministry, and he was to be the
same in suffering an unjust execution. John preceded the
Messiah in birth and in mission ; and he now precedes Him in
a violent death.
Mt. corrects Mk.'s inaccurate * king Herod' by calling him
' Herod the tctrarch^ (i), as also does Lk. Very possibly it was
customary to call these petty potentates 'kings,' and Mt. himself
does so later (9) ; but Herodias ruined Antipas by urging him to
try to get himself recognised as a king by Caligula (Josephus,
Ant. XVIII. vii. 2), The 'servants' (rok Trato-iv ai-roG) are his
^ Comp. "Then did the ghosts of Alexander and Aristobuhis go round
all the palace, and became the inquisitors and discoverers of what could not
otherwise be found out" (Josephus, B. J. i. xxx. 7).
^ The reading in Mk. is doulAful, but '///^jsaid' (B D and Old Latin)
is more probable than ^ he said' (1< A C L etc.) in vi. 14. 'They were
R.aying . . . Others were saying . . . Otlicrs were saying' is the pmbalile
connexion. It should be noticed that all these Cfmjecturcs alM)ut jesus are
indirect evidence of the reality of His miracles.
202 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 3-9
courtiers, who are called 'servants' in Oriental fashion.^ ^We
need not suppose that he gossiped with his slaves {SovXol)
about such things. It was not lawful for him to have Herodias
as a wife, for her first husband was alive ; and even if he had
been dead, marriage with a sister-in-law was forbidden (Lev.
xviii. 1 6). Antipas had put away his own lawful wife, the
daughter of King Aretas, in order to form the incestuous union
with Herodias; and this brought him into disastrous collision
with Aretas. See Schiirer, /(?zm-^ PeoJ'/e, i. ii. 17-30; notes on
2 Cor. xi. 32, 33 in Cam. Grk. Test.; DCG. i. p. 722. The
enmity of Herodias to John for striving to induce Antipas to
put her away was implacable. It was mainly her doing that
Antipas imprisoned John, and she would have persuaded
Antipas to kill John, if his fear of the people (5) had not
counterbalanced her urgency. Hence there is no contradiction
between 'he would have put him to death' (5) and 'the king
was grieved' (9). He would have killed John to please
Herodias ; but on all other grounds he was sorry to put him to
death, for he not only feared the people, but stood in awe of
John himself (Mk. vi. 20).^
That the daughter of Herodias was not the daughter of
Antipas need not be doubted ; a daughter of both of them would
have been only about two years old, while a daughter of
Herodias by her first husband might be about seventeen. Bad
as Herod was, he cannot justly be accused of allowing his own
daughter to degrade herself by dancing to please revellers at a
banquet. He promised her ' whatever she should ask,' to which
Mk. adds ' unto the half of my kingdom ' (Esther v. 3, 6, vii. 2).
This promise ' with an oath ' he was ashamed to break, especially
as it had been made in public. Like many weak, bad men, he
thought more of what people would say of him than of what was
really sinful; and there are many to whom a breach of the
decalogue is less dreadful than a breach of etiquette. In such a
case as his, to have broken the rash oath, into which he had
been entrapped, would not have been sin, but repentance. But
the pressure of Herodias, of his oath, and of those who heard it,
was now too strong for his vacillating conscience, even when
backed by the fear of the people ; and he gave the fatal order.^
^ Amici principum, phrumque juvenes, says Bengel. - Saul talks to his
'servants' in a similar way (l Sam. xviii. 22-26) ; David also.
On the omission of ' Philip ' (3) in D and Latt. see Nestle, Text Crit.
p. 252.
2 Origen oddly enough suggests that birthday celebrations are wrong^;
"we find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man."
Pharaoh (Gen. xl. 20) and Herod Antipas are the two examples.
3 The striking parallel between Ahab, Jezebel, Elijah, and Antipas,
Herodias, John, has often been pointed out.
XrV. 13] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 203
There was a palace as well as a fortress and a prison at
Machaeriis, and we may accept the impression produced by the
narratives, that the banquet was close to John's prison, and that
he was beheaded the same day. Herod's grief is shown in his
allowing John's disciples to take away the corpse and give it
decent burial. It was a courageous thing for them to attempt.
That 'they went and told Jesus' (12) was natural enough, and
perhaps indicates that they now became His disciples. Their
telling Him shows that Christ's rebuke to the Baptist (xi. 6) had
caused no estrangement between Him and John's disciples, and
this last message carried by them from Machaerus forms a
remarkable counterpart to the first. Then they had carried the
message of John's impatience respecting the Messiah ; now they
carry the news of his cruel death.
Mt. regards the news of the murder of the Baptist as the
cause of Christ's withdrawal to a desert place apart.' ^ But Mk.
and Lk. make the withdrawal a consequence of the return of the
Twelve, who had attracted an embarrassing number of followers.
l)Oth views may be right ; but the withdrawal gives only
temporary relief from the pressure of the multitudes. While
Jesus and His disciples take ship and cross the lake (13), the
people go round by land and find Him once more. As the
Twelve have returned, there is no counter-attraction anywhere,
and Christ is again the sole centre of teaching and healing.^
' He came forth and saw a great multitude' probably means that
He left the boat and found a crowd awaiting Him : the peo])le
had got there first. It means that He came out of His
retirement.
xrV. 15-36. The Feeding of Five Thousand and the
Walking on the Sea.
The feeding of this multitude is the one miracle which is
recorded by all four Evangelists, and each makes it the climax of
the Ministry. Henceforward attention is directed more and
more to Christ's predictions of His death, and to the hostility
which was to bring about their fulfilment. It is Jn. who tells
us that the miracle took place a little before the Passover, and
therefore just a year before the Passion. It may be doubted
whether Mt. had any information other than Mk., whom he
abbreviates.^ The difficulty of feeding such a multitude became
' Comp. iv. 12, where Jesus withdraws when He hears that John had
l)ccn delivered up to Ilcmd.
* Here, as at xix. 2, Mt. substitutes 'healinj;' for the 'teaching' in Mi{.
* Nevertheless, Mt. alone has : ' They have no need to go aw.ay,' and
' Bring them hither to Me,'
204 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 15-20
more pressing as the evening approached, and then (as the
Synoptists relate) the disciples point it out to Christ : in Jn. He
takes the initiative in questioning Philip as to what is to be done.
In reply to His charge, ' Give ye them to eat,' Mk. has a
question, which might sound like sarcasm, ' Shall we go and buy
two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat ? ' Mt.
omits this, and Lk. turns it diflerently. Jn. alone mentions that
it was a lad who had the five loaves, that they were of barley-
bread, and that it was Andrew who pointed the lad out.^ The
orderly manner in which the multitudes are fed is more clearly
brought out in Mk. and Lk. than in Mt., but Mt. retains their
being made to sit down before receiving any food. This was
security against crowding round the distributors, and all had an
equal chance of being satisfied : it was also some security against
waste. The food was given to the Twelve to distribute, and
perhaps we are to understand that their hunger was satisfied
first; otherwise they might have been unequal to the work of
feeding so vast a multitude. In any case, when the miracle is
understood as a figure of Christ's methods in supplying the
spiritual needs of mankind, it is to be noted that it is through
the Apostles that the human race is fed. The Lord is not tied
to any one method ; but, as a rule. He works through His
Church. Not, ' / will give them,' but ' Give ye them to eat ' are
His words, although ' I will give them ' would have been true.
It is through the Christian body as an organized society that the
Gospel is made known to the world. And it is those who have
themselves been fed by the Word and know its value, that can
best pass it on to others.
Another point to be noted is the narrow limits within which
the supernatural element in the feeding is restrained. It is
confined to what was absolutely necessary, and goes no further.
If an exhibition of power had been the main purpose, something
much more striking might have been wrought. The food might
have come down visibly from heaven. It might have been
not only multiplied, but distributed, miraculously. Ten times
the amount that was required might have been provided, and it
might have been of a much richer quality. But there was no
creation of food. A very small store of existing food was made
to sufiice — we know not how. But all four accounts show
that in Christ's hands, and perhaps also in the hands of the
disciples, the food increased as long as increase was needed.
That the miracle did not consist in hunger being removed
without food is shown by the twelve baskets of fragments, an
amount far exceeding the original store.
^ "As residents of Bethsaida, Philip and Andrew would know how food
could be procured in that region " (S. J. Andrews, Life of Ou7- Lord, p. 326).
XIV. 19-21J THE MINISTRY IN OR NKAR GALILEK 20$
This gathering up of ihc fragments for future use is a remark-
able feature in all four narratives, and Jn. tells us that it was
done by Christ's command. It is an emjihatic protest against
waste, which cannot be justified even when God's gifts are
superabundantly supplied. And it is a strong guarantee for the
trustworthiness of the accounts. A writer of fiction would not
have represented a wonder-worker who could multiply food at
pleasure as careful about fragments of barley-bread and fish.
And in the narratives of both the miraculous feedings of
multitudes we have this detail of gathering up the fragments
carefully preserved (xv. t,t ; Mk. viii. 8); and again when
Christ refers to the two miracles (xvi. 9, 10). In fictions about
an inexhaustible purse, the possessor is not represented as being
careful against extravagance ; e.g. in Chamisso's Fc^er ScJikmihl.
This argument stands, even if we accept the view that the
feeding of the 4000 is only a divergent account of the feeding of
the 5000. In that case, although discrepancies have crept in
with regard to unimportant details, yet the remarkable provision
against waste of the superfluous food is preserved intact. It is
impossible, on critical principles, to eliminate this miracle from
the Gospel story, or to explain it away. See Sanday, Outlines
of the Life of Christy pp. 121-123; B. Weiss, Life of Christy ii. pp.
381-385 ; "The story is a fact supported by the testimony of all
four evangelists, not a baseless legend, or a religious allegory "
(A. B. Bruce, ad loc); LI n'y a pas dans Fhistoire evangelique
devenement mievx at teste que celiii-ci ; viais il n'y a pas non plus
dont la caractere franche/nent surnaturel soit plus evidoit fti plus
incontestable (P. Girodon on Lk. ix. 10-17); Zahn, ad loc. p. 511.
The blessing or thanksgiving is in all four accounts, as also
in both accounts of the 4000. It is the usual grace before meals
said by the host or the head of the house, and we are perhaps
to understand that it was the means of the miracle. The
thanksgiving and breaking of bread at the institution of the
Eucharist is naturally com[)ared with this. And the complete-
ness of the result is noted by all four; the multitude not only
ate, but were all filled, and there was food to spare. But Mt.
alone, in the account of both miracles, adds, after the estimate of
the numbers, ' beside women and children ' (xv. 38). He loves
to emphasize the wonderful character of the Messiah's mighty
works ; and perhaps he regarded as certain that only the men
would be counted in a Jewish estimate of the number. See
on viii. 16, p. 128.
' And straightway He constrained the disciples to enter into
the boat, and to go before Him unto the other side ' (Mt. xiv. 22,
Mk. vi. 45) is a statement which does not explain itself. Evidently
there is much urgency on the Lord's part, and apparently there is
2o6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 22, 23
some unwillingness on theirs. They desire to remain with Him,
but He desires to be free from them and to be alone for the
work of dismissing the multitudes. Lk. is silent : we get the
explanation incidentally from Jn. He tells lis that Jesus perceived
that the people ' were about to come and take Him by force, to
make Him king,' so great was the effect which the miracle had
had on them.^ Here (they were convinced) was the Messiah for
whom they had been looking ; and He must be made to play the
part which they had always expected from the Messiah, He
must be a great popular leader, deliver the nation from the
Roman yoke, and reign as a still more glorious Solomon. This
sincere but wrong-headed enthusiasm might easily have infected
the disciples, and perhaps had already begun to do so, when our
Lord delivered them from it by quickly sending them away.
He then freed Himself from the people and retired up the
mountain-side to pray.^
This attempt to make Jesus a national king marks the climax
of the popular enthusiasm for Him. Since the beginning of the
Ministry this has been on the increase. For some time past
the hostility of the hierarchy has been on the increase also ; and
henceforward that hostility becomes more and more pronounced,
while the popular feeling in His favour, although it is by no means
extinguished, steadily declines. His refusal to be declared a
king was fatal to His position from the point of view of the Zealots
and those wlio sympathized with them. The discourse on the
Bread of Life put before them a Messiah altogether different
from the one for whom they were hoping, and perhaps was
hardly intelligible to many of them. Not only occasional fol-
lowers, but regular hearers were offended. ' Upon this many of
His disciples went back and walked no more with Him'
(Jn. vi. 66). Such passages as xvi. 20 and xvii. 9 (comp. Mk.
vii. 24, 36) acquire a new significance, when we remember the
outburst of political feeling after the feeling of the multitudes.
Christ's retirement to a ' mountain ' for stillness and devotion
(ver. 23) is mentioned several times (Lk. vi. 12, ix. 28). Mt.,
Mk., and Jn. all record it here.
* There was a tradition that the Messiah would feed the people with
bread from Heaven as Moses had done in the wilderness. Jesus had fed the
people in the wilderness with bread that came in a miraculous way. The
inference was easy.
^ Jn. and the Synoptists differ considerably as to the details of what
followed the feeding of the 5000. According to Jn. , Jesus escapes from the
multitudes without dismissing them ; according to the others He dismisses,
first the Twelve, and then the multitudes. As so many of the people had
come on foot from Capernaum and elsewhere, there was nothing surprising
in Jesus being left behind to return to Capernaum on foot.
On Mt.'s favourite 'there' (f'/cet), where Mk. has nothing of the kind, sec
on xxvii. 47,
XIV. ISI-S"?] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 207
The miracle of Christ walking upon the sea is often spoken
of as a legend. Goethe said it was one of the most beautiful
of legends and a special favourite of his. The episode respecting
Peter teaches so clearly that faith and courage will triumph over
the greatest obstacles, while doubting timidity is sure to fail.
But the miracle is reported by two of the Synoptists and sup-
ported by John ; and the addition about Peter, alliiough reported
by Mt. only, is so exactly in harmony with his character, that
invention is unlikely. The lesson of the miracle is part of the
education of the Apostles, and supplements the lesson already
given by the calming of the storm (viii. 26). Christ is never
forgetful of His followers, and with Him they have nothing to
fear. Nor have they anything to fear when they are obeying
His orders. It was He who had compelled them to enter the
boat and had sent them across the water, and He would not
allow them to perish. The criticism that the times given are
incredible is not very strong. It is urged that Jesus must have
sent away the multitudes long before 11 p.m. The lake is only
seven or eight miles broad, and the disciples were near the
middle of it when Jesus approached them about the fourth
watch of the night, which begins at 3 a.m. They cannot have
been five or six hours in rowing three or four miles. But there
is no real difficulty here. They may have lingered near the
shore for an hour or two watching the dispersion of the crowds,
and wondering whether, after all, Christ would not require to be
taken over in the boat.^ When they did begin to cross, 'the
wind was contrary,' and they may often have been driven back.
They were ' tormented ' (^ao-ai'i^o/xtVous) by the laborious rowing,
and it was part of their lesson that they should be disheartened
and worn out by fruitless exertions before He came to their aid.^
They would no doubt remember the time when Jesus had
calmed the storm on the lake and freed them from danger ; but
that thought would increase their distress. Then it was daylight,
and Jesus was with them; now it is night, and He is away.
Why had He sent them out into the storm without Him? But,
though they could not see Him, He was watching them from
the shore (Mk. vi. 47, 48). His delay in going to help them is
like His delay in going to Lazarus. 'Now Jesus loved Martha,
and her sister, and Lazarus. When therefore He heard that he
was sick ' (not. He went to them at once, but) ' Pie abode at
that time two days in the i)lace where He was ' (Jn. xi. 5, 6).
It was just because He loved His disciples so well that He let
^ Jn. says: 'It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them'
(vi. 17).
' Mk. says that the disciples were ' tormented ' ; Mt. applies this expres-
sion to the boat (comp. viii. 6, 29, and sec Gould on Mk. vi. 48),
2o8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 25-31
their trouble do its work before He relieved them. Not until
the last watch of the night does He come to them, and then
they do not know Him ! It often happens that the means
which He uses to help His servants are not recognized as His,
and are not recognized as help. Possibly they thought that
this apparition was a messenger of death to them, or that Jesus
Himself had perished, and that this was His ghost. 'They
cried out for fear.' And then He answered them with cheering,
assuring, encouraging words, and, like the Magdalen at the
tomb, they knew Him by His voice. They knew that He who
before had said to the winds 'Peace, be still,' was He who, with
still stranger power, ' treadeth upon the waves of the sea ' (Job
ix. 8).^ Their fear of Him and their distress at the stormwere
both dispelled. ' Then are they glad, because they are at rest ;
and so He bringeth them unto the haven where they would be '
(Ps. cvii. 30).
Both Mt. and Mk. report the ' walking upon the sea,' and
Mk. relates that ' they all saw Him ' : there was no delusion.
Mk. also says that ' He wished to pass by them ' (^^eAej/ irapeXOilv
avTovs), which Mt. omits, perhaps disliking the expression of an
apparent change of mind on His part. He was passing them,
and of course they supposed that He purposed to do so.
Perhaps we may say that He would have gone by, if they had
not cried out : some expression of their need was required. He
is ready to give help, but it must be asked for. How many
blessings are lost, because men do not pray for them ! And
here there was no definite prayer ; merely a cry of distress, and
it sufficed. The disciples had faith to believe in Him, when
He spoke. With 'Be of good cheer' comp. ix. 2, 22, and with
'Fear not' comp. i. 20, x. 26, 28, 31, xvii. 7, xxviii. 5, 10.
We have no means of knowing how the Evangelist became
acquainted with the incident respecting Peter ; but it was prob-
ably current among the circle of first Christians who had known
Peter. Mt. evidently had a special interest in the Apostle whom
he expressly calls 'first' of the Twelve (x. 2, comp. viii. 14,
XV. 15, xvi. 16-23, ^vii. 24, xviii. 21). His ' if it be Thou'
indicates that Peter's doubts are not quite dispelled ; but the
Lord's 'Come' is as sufficient for him, as His command to let
down the nets on a previous occasion (Lk. v. 5). It was simply
a question of faith, whether the disciple could do what the
Master could do (xvii. 20, xxi. 2i).2 But the boisterous weather
i'E7w ei>t cannot mean 'I am f/ie Christ'' (Mk. xiii. 6 = Mt. xxiv. 5).
If Jesus revealed Himself as the Christ on this occasion, xvi. 17 could hardly
have been spoken.
- Salmon points out how the way in which Peter acts in Jn. xxi. confirms
the narrative here. In both we seem to have the report of an eye-witness
{The Human Element, p. 322).
XIV. 28-31] THE MINISTRY LN OR NEAR GALILEE 209
made him afraid, and fear shook his faith ; yet not entirely.
Even while he is sinking, he believes that Jesus can save him ;
he has not lost all confidence, either in His power or in His
readiness to save. Comp. viii. 25, 26.
The more we study this narrative respecting S. Peter, the
more assured we may be that it cannot be invention ; and thus
this addition which Mt. makes to the miracle of Christ walking
upon the sea increases our belief in the reality of that miracle.
What is told us in these four verses (28-31) is so in harmony
with Peter's character, is such an anticipation of his conduct a
year later, and is so beautiful in itself as an illustration of Christ's
way of dealing with His Apostles, that we may safely regard it
as beyond the power of any early Christian to invent. There is,
on Peter's side, the combination (so strange and yet so natural)
of confidence in the Master and confidence in himself. There
is the usual impulsiveness (partly good and partly evil) to join
the Lord at once and to be before the others in doing so.
There is perhaps also the wish to do something dangerous, if not
for its own sake, at least to prove his trust in Jesus. Yet he
asks leave before acting. Then come, first fear, then a loss of
trust, and then failure. Just a year later there was the same
impulsiveness : ' I will lay down my life for Thee ' ; the same
self-confidence in entering the palace of the high priest and
warming himself at the public fire ; and the same result of
sinking before a blast of adverse criticism. On both occasions
it was because trust in himself had taken the place of faith in
Christ, that Christ's support was withdrawn, and he sank. But
only for a time. In each case the greatness of the failure works
its own cure, — on the lake, in a few seconds, at Jerusalem, in
a few days. And Peter is not blamed for desiring to walk on
the water to come to Christ, nor yet for professing a willingness
to die for Him. It is not demonstrative affection that causes
Christ to leave him to himself, that he may find out his own
weakness. The affection was genuine, and forwardness in
showing it would have been welcome, had it not been a sign of
impetuosity rather than of depth. Neither he nor Mary Magda-
len (Jn. XX. 15) was rebuked for undertaking what was beyond
their strength ; love does not always stop to measure possibilities.
But there was something of presumption in the eager approach
of both of them ; and in his case there was forthwith a lack of
trust. And it is for this that Peter was rebuked. ' O thou of
little faith' (not, Wherefore didst thou attempt to come?, but)
'Wherefore didst thou doubt?'
But, seeing that the incident is so full of spiritual meaning,
may it not all be a parable, constructed for the sake of the
lessons which it conveys? Possibly; but constructed by whom?
14
2IO GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIV. 33-36
If we could suppose that it had the same author as the Good
Samaritan or the Prodigal Son, this theory of its origin would
be credible. But such a supposition is not admissible. If the
incident never took place, then it has been imagined by some
early disciple ; and we know of no one who could imagine such
things.
When the Lord and Peter had entered the boat, 'the wind
(that had hindered the progress of the disciples and had shaken
Peter's faith) ceased.' Jn. gives a different account ; as soon as
the disciples were willing to receive Him into the boat, ' the boat
was at the land whither they were going' (vi. 21). Mt., as often,
spares the Twelve ; instead of Mk.'s ' they were sore amazed, for
they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was
hardened,' Mt. has 'they worshipped Him, saying, Of a truth
Thou art God's Son' ('AXt^^ws Qeov rio? a). His use of his
favourite verb 'worship' is again to be noticed, and also the
expression 'God's Son,' instead of 'the Son of God' (6 utos tov
©eoii). They are sure that He is more than human ; but perhaps
even yet they are not sure that He is the Messiah. The miracle
of the loaves had impressed them less than it had impressed the
multitude.
In what follows, Mt. abbreviates Mk. considerably, but he
omits nothing of great importance. He seems to regard
Gennesaret as a town rather than a district or plain. Josephus
describes it {B.J. in. x. 8). See DCG. i. 640. It would seem
as if the Lord's purpose was to teach, and especially to educate
His disciples, rather than to heal. He does not refuse to heal
when the sick are brought to Him, but He does not seek them
out. They are allowed to touch His garments (ix. 20), when
they beg to do so, and their faith is rewarded in all cases ; but it
appears as if this was something forced upon Him, rather than
an opportunity which He sought. It is as if He had other
work to do, and yet was too full of compassion to let this pass.^
Characteristic expressions in ch. xiv. : irpoaepxeaOai (12, 15), dvax^pe'iv
(13), ineWev (13), iKei (23), oXLyoTnaTos (31), vpoaKvve2u {23). Peculiar: iv
iKetvLj) Ti^ Kaip($ (l), KarairovTi^eadai (30 and xviii. 6 only), npo^i^dieiv
(S only). ' Some inferior texts (H L P) read irpoepljSaaav for Kareiii^aaav in
Acts xix. 33. The verb is used in Dent, vi. 7 of teaching beforehand,
impressing on the memory ; comp. Exod. xxxv. 34. Only here and xxviii.
17 does diard^etv occur in the N.T. In ver. 13 it is neither easy nor
important to decide between ire^-^ (BCDE etc.) and irej'ot (>( I L Z etc.):
the former occurs Mk. vi. 33, the latter nowhere else in the N.T.
1 Mt. again makes a change in the wording of Mk. in order to enhance
the miracles. Mk. says that those who touched -U'cre being made whole
(eo-w.toj'To). Mt. says that they were made (there and then) tkoroiighly whole
(5L€(XLodi}aav); and he inserts 'only' before 'touch,' and 'all' before 'that
were sick.
XV. 1-5] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GAMLEE 211
Tlic insertion o( Trdvraj in ver. 35 before rous koatuj i'xovroj (comp. Mk.
vi. 55) is similar to that in viii. 16 (comp. Mk. i. 34) and tliat in xii. 15
(comp. Mk. iii. lo). In each case the wish to emphasize the completiiuss of
the Messiah's beneficence is conspicuous. What did ilie Jews mean wlien
they contended that Jesus had never given a sij^n of Ilis Messiahship? And
Mt.'s insertion of ^di'oj' in ver. 36 is similar to tliat in viii. S(comp. Lk. vii. 7)
and that in ix. 21 (comp. Mk. v. 2S).
XV. 1-20. Conflict with Phariscis and Scril^es from
fcnisaleni.
Our Evangelist continues to follow Mk. and to abbreviate
considerably, lioth tell us that the hierarchy at Jerusalem are
on the alert, and that emissaries are sent to watch and question
the now notorious Rabbi from Nazareth; but Mt. makes His
rejoinder to their criticisms more pointed than Mk. does. They
ask, ' Why do Thy disciples transgress the tradition of the
elders?' To which He replies with the question, 'Whydo v^
also transgress the commandment of God for the sake of (not
'by,' AV.) your tradition?' There is no question, and no 'ye
also' in Mk. Moreover, Mt. changes 'For Moses said' into
' For God said,' which makes the contrast with ' But ye say '
much stronger ; and he brings in the quotation from Isaiah at
the close of the rebuke.
Seldom has tradition had such power as among the Pharisees
at the time of Christ. The Talmud says that Moses received
the oral Law at Sinai, and handed it on (through Joshua, the
elders, and the Prophets) to the men of the Great Synagogue,
who enjoined three things: "Be deliberate in judgment; raise
up many disciples ; and make a fence for the Law." This fence
consisted of a vast number of precepts and prohibitions to
supplement and protect the written Law. Some teachers went
the length of maintaining that this oral or traditional Law was of
greater authority than the written Law, The written Law had
originally been oral, which showed that the oral Law had
precedence. Hastings' DB.^ art. 'Law,' iii, 66; DCG., art.
'Tradition.'
It is not certain what was the exact practice which Christ
condemned in the matter of G7/■^^« = ' given to God' (5);
whether it was a mere evasion by which the son prcttndcd to
dedicate his possessions by a vow to God, and thus escaped the
duty of supporting his parents without actually surrendering his
property ; or whether it was a real dedication, perhaps made in
haste or in anger, but which the Scribes held lo be binding
(Wright, Synopsis, p. 69). The latter alternative seems to agree
better with 'He shall not honour his father ' (Mt.) and 'Ye no
longer suffer him to do aught for his father or his mother ' (Mk.).
212 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XV. 5-11
It a son, no matter how heedlessly or maliciously, had once
uttered a vow that his property was dedicated to God, the Scribes
maintained that at all costs the vow must stand : his parents
must starve rather than his vow be left unfulfilled. Thus their
tradition respecting the irrevocable character of a vow was
preferred to the Fifth Commandment. See Driver on Deut.
xxiii. 24; Toy on Prov. xx. 25, xxviii. 24; Barton on Eccles.
V. 4; in the Int. Crit. Comm. Josephus {B.J. 11. xv. i) describes
the vow taken by Berenice, but it throws little light on Corba?i.
The vow might have been kept without the parents being
left to starve. A reasonable solution might have been that the
Temple, in taking over the son's property, took over also his
obligations to his parents ; but the guardians of the treasury
would probably have objected to that. Christ does not contend
that the tradition about washing before meals is worthless, but
He intimates that the condemnation of the disciples' transgression
was excessive, and that it came with ill grace from these Scribes.
He, moreover, points out the danger of excessive devotion to
traditions, which may lead to violation of the plainest moral
obligations. Rigid scrupulosity about things of litde moment
may be accompanied with utterly unscrupulous conduct in
matters that are vital. Hence the charge of hypocrisy. These
Scribes professed to be jealous defenders of God's Law ; but
what they really cared about was their own traditions about the
Law, and these were often foolish, if not positively immoral.^
We may suppose that the Scribes were unable to answer
Christ (10) ; but, while He had been defending the disciples from
their Pharisaical criticisms, a crowd had gathered. Having
concluded His condemnation of the fault-finders, Jesus bids the
multitude approach and listen to the practical outcome of the
question which had been raised. The Pharisees held that it was
necessary to wash the hands before a meal. But why? Lest
one had become ceremonially unclean, and this uncleanness
should be communicated to the food, which would then make
every one who partook of it unclean. ' But,' says Christ, ' there
is no real defilement in that. Nothing that goes into a man
from the outside can defile a man ; it is the things which proceed
from him that may defile him.' ^
The verses which follow (12, 13) are peculiar to Mt. It was
inevitable that the Pharisees should be scandalized : if a man
could not be defiled by the food which he ate, what became of
1 On the quotation in w. 8, 9, which differs from the LXX. in an
exceptional manner, see Swete, Int. to the 0. T. in Greek, p. 393.
-Did neither S. Luke nor S. Paul know this saying? Lk. does not
report it, and the Apostle makes no allusion to it when he discusses the
eating of meats offered to idols.
XV. 12 14] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 21 3
the Mosaic prohibition of certain meats as being unclean ? Mk.
(vii. 19) remarks that, in saying this, Christ did make all meats
clean. Yes, He did, in the sense that He made all food morally
indifferent: with ceremonial disiinclions about food He did not
interfere. But the Scribes were constantly guilty of the fatal
mistake of confusing ceremonial and moral, and of making mere
externals to be of the essence of religion. It was out of their
uncharitable hearts that this attack on the disciples proceeded,
and it implied that the omission of the usual ablutions was a
grievous sin. Granted that the ablutions ought not to be left
undone, charitable action ought certainly to be done. Those
who could place ablutions before charity were not plants of the
Divine planting, but weeds that would be rooted up.^
The saying about the blind guides (14) is not in Mk. and is
given in Lk. (vi. 39) in quite a different connexion ; comp.
xxiii. 16, 24. The saying would seem to have been known to
S. Paul (Rom. ii. 19), but perhaps as a proverb, rather than as
an utterance of Christ. Sanday and Headlam quote as said by
a Galilean peasant to R. Chasda, Baba Kama, fol. 52^ : "When
the Shepherd is angry with the sheep, He blinds their leader,"
which is analogous to Qiios Dens vult perdere, priiis dementat by
giving them bad rulers. There is a blindness which excuses
(Jn. ix. 41), but that was not the blindness of the Pharisees.^
Mt. again shows his special interest in S. Peter by recording
that it was he who asked for an explanation (15) : see on xiv. 28.
As in the case of the Sower, Jesus is surprised that the disciples
require an explanation ; ^ but in each case He gives one. By
substituting 'out of the mouth' for 'out of the man,' Mt. makes
the parable less easy of interpretation ; for the disciples would
understand ' out of the mouth,' like ' into the mouth,' to refer to
the food. And the substitution of ' mouth ' for ' man ' somewhat
mars the interpretation, for murders, adulteries, and thefts can
hardly be said to proceed from the mouth. Allen quotes a
remarkable parallel from Edmunds, Buddhist and Christian
Gospels, p. 95: "Destroying life, killing, cutting, bindnig,
stealing, speaking lies, fraud and deceptions, worthless reading,
intercourse with another's wife— this is defilement, but not the
eating of flesh." The inclusion of "worthless reading" is very
' This perhaps refers to the parable oi the Tares. The meaning may be
that God planted the Commandments, and that the Pharisees sowed their
noxious traditions among them. The writer of the Ascension of Isaiah (iv, 3)
shows acquaintance with Mt. xv. 13.
- Note the pres. subj., ih.v 65T]yri, 'if he be leading,' and comp. v. 23.
^ The adverbial accusative aKfj.rji' is found nowhere else in the N.T. or LXX.
It is very rare in .Vttic. The meaning apiiears to be ' up to this point,' ' still * ;
Mk. has o'vTus. Mk. nowhere uses aro/xa, which is frcfjuent in Mt. and Lk.,
but occurs only once in Jn.
214 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XV. 14-21
Striking. On ver. 20 Origen remarks that it is eating with un-
washed heart that defiles the man, and he applies this specially
to intellectual food.
The contrast between the treatment of the involuntary dull-
ness of the disciples, and the self-satisfied blindness of the
Scribes is here very marked. The disciples were aware of their
dullness, and asked to have it removed. The Scribes were con-
fident that they had sight (Jn. ix. 41), and were competent to
censure all who differed from them ; it was a case of the mote
and the beam. Jesus rebukes, but removes the dullness. The
blindness is condemned, but, until it is confessed it cannot be
removed; and there is little hope that it will be confessed.
Those who claim to lead are not likely to admit that they are
blind. Therefore on them is pronounced one of the sternest of
Christ's judgments : ' Let them alone.'
Perhaps (with B D L Z) we ought in ver. 14 to omit TV(p\Giv and read
oSriyoi el<nv TV(p\oi, 'they are bHnd guides.' In Lk. vi. 39 the connexion
seems to be that, before judging others, we ought to judge ourselves ; other-
wise we shall be blind guides. The saying was probably already a proverb,
and may have been uttered by Christ more than once. The specially grievous
thing about the blindness of the Pharisees was that it caused others also to
fall into a pit. These others Christ was even willing to help, and hence His
address to the people (10, ii). In the Testaments, the last of the seven
spirits given to man at his creation is said to be " filled with ignorance, and
it leadeth the young man as a blind man to a pit" {Reuben ii. 9).
Mt. greatly abbreviates Mk.'s list of sins (comp. ver. 19 with Mk. vii. 21,
22). He omits TrXeoce^i'at, 5(5\os, dcreX7eia, 6(pOa\ixos irovqpd^, inrepTjcpavia, and
d</)poo-iV7;— six out of thirteen. But he adds one, ^evdo^uaprvpiai. The
reason for this is obvious. The sins in Mk. are in no particular order, but
Mt. arranges them according to the decalogue : ' murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts' represent the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments,
and ' false witness ' is added to represent the ninth. "This would greatly
assist the learner who had a lesson to repeat" (Wright, p. 71).
XV. 21-28. T/ie Great Faith of the Canaanitish Woman.
The hostility of the religious leaders, as manifested in the
censures of the emissaries from Jerusalem, causes Christ to
move northward to the frontier of Galilee and beyond it.^ The
delegates of the hierarchy would not be likely to follow Him into
heathen territory. He was perhaps also anxious to escape from
the mistaken enthusiasm of the multitudes. One of the chief
features of this last year of the INIinistry is the instruction of the
disciples, especially respecting His approaching Passion and
Resurrection; and quiet, both from insidious opposition and
from noisy popularity, was required for this, but it could not
1 Mk. vii. 24 and Mt. xv. 21 can hardly mean less than that He crossed
the border.
XV. 22-24] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 21 5
always be obtained. Mt., as in ver. 12, omits Mk.'s vague state-
ment that ' He entered into a house,' and, as in xiii. 58, he omits
that Christ was unable to do what He wished : ' He would have
no man know it; and He could not be hid' (Mk. vii. 24).
This woman (22) was a Greek-speaking descendant of the old
inhabitants of Syrian Thcenicia. The Clementine Homilies call
her Justa, and her daughter Bernice (ii. 19, iii. 73).^ The contrast
between this incident and the narrative which immediately follows
it is very great. In the one case we have a solitary healing,
obtained with apparent dititiculty by the persistent clamour of the
sufferer's mother; in the other we have the healing and feeding
of multitudes, who have only to place themselves before Him to
find ready compassion and help. It is the difference between
heathendom and Israel, between 'dogs' and 'children.' The
whole is an object-lesson to the disciples of the prior claim of the
Jews to His and their ministrations. The childen must first be
filled.
The narrative in Mt is more dramatic than that of Mk. It
moves from point to point, each marked by 'He answered.'
The woman's first appeal He met by silence : ' He answered her
not a word.' The disciples' appeal 'He answered' with the
claims of ' the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' The woman's
second appeal ' He answered ' with the contrast between the
children and the dogs. Her third appeal ' He answered ' with
high praise and immediate granting of her request. Of these
four appeals and answers, Mk. gives only the last two, and we
are in ignorance as to the source of the other two. The wording
of the two which Mt. has in common with Mk. differs so con-
siderably from his that it is probable that he is using some other
authority than Mk.- This takes us back a long way, if each
Evangelist is using an authority earlier than Mk., and if differences
have already arisen between these two early sources. Mk.'s
narrative seems to imply that the whole incident took place in a
house. Mt.'s implies that, as Jesus and His company were on
their way, the woman came and cried after them. Perhaps Mt.
was unwilling to record that Jesus had entered a house in a
heathen land.
We have twice had the expression * Son of David ' used in
' Joscphiis {Con. Apion. i. 13) says that these Phoenicians "bore the
greatest ill-will" to\v:in!s the Jews; and this hostility helps to explain our
Lord's attitude towards one of these hereditary foes of Israel.
- Note Mk's imperfects (-^pwro, f.\e'jiv), implying that more was said on
both sides than is actually recorded. Mt. also has imperfects (iKpa^iv,
■fipujTovi', Trpo<T€Kvv€i) in what is peculiar to his narrative, although he so oi^len
turns >Ik.'s imperfects into aorists. And whereas he usually abbreviates,
here he enlarges. This heathen woman, like the heathen centurion, has a
special interest for him.
2t6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XV. 23-26
addressing or speaking of Christ (ix. 27, xii. 23), but in both
cases it is in the mouth of Jews. If Mt. is right in attributing it
to this heathen woman, we must suppose that when she heard
of Christ's miraculous powers she also heard something of His
royal descent. There is nothing incredible in this ; indeed, she
may have come in contact with a disciple. Mk. does not re-
present any one as addressing Jesus as the Son of David until
near the close of the Ministry (x. 47, 48) ; and Mt. may have
thought that a heathen who in the end was accepted by Jesus
must at least have recognized Him as the Messiah.
Evidently the disciples' ' Send her away ' means ' Do what she
asks and get rid of her.' Christ's reply to them requires this
meaning ; He explains why He does noi do what is asked. But
there is more real compassion in His refusal than in their manner
of supporting her request. They care for themselves, not for her.
He recalls His own charge to them when He sent them forth
(x. 6) ; it is the lost sheep of the house of Israel that have the
prior claim, and for the presejit they fully occupy Him and the
Twelve. He must act in accordance with His Father's mission.
It is through the Jews that the Kingdom is to be opened to the
whole world. If they are neglected, the revelation will be
stopped at its source. He must not begin a ministry of healing
among the heathen, for this would absorb time and energy which
is already too little for the work of winning and educating Jews
to be missionaries to Jew and Gentile alike. Comp. Jn. x. 16-18,
xi. 52, xii. 32, xvii. 20.
The woman's next appeal is made with the 'shamelessness'
(Lk. xi. 8) of the Friend at Midnight and the pertinacity of the
Importunate Widow (Lk. xviii. 2-5). She makes it still more
imploringly, and in describing her attitude Mt. uses his favourite
' worshipped.' She does not repeat her trouble ; He knows this
already ; she merely persists in her supplication : ' Lord, help
me.' The third ' He answered ' is the most surprising of all, and
we may feel sure that it could not have been invented. It is not
merely a refusal, but a harsh refusal. It repeats the reason for
refusing which He had already given to the disciples, and repeats
it in a way which seems to be intentionally offensive. But there
are two things in the reply which mitigate the harshness, one of
which is lost in Mt.'s account. Mk. has : ' Let the children ^fr^/
be filled ; for it is not meet,' etc. This implies that later there
will be food for those who are not children ; but Mt. omits it,
perhaps as seeming to be superfluous. The other mitigating item
is that the word for ' dogs ' is a diminutive, ' doggies ' (Kwdpia).
Mt. is not so fond of diminutives as Mk,, and here (22) he changes
Mk.'s OvydrpLov to OvyoLTTjp. But he does not change the ' doggies '
into 'dogs.' Among various nations 'dog' is an opprobrious
XV. 27. 28] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 217
name for one of a different religion. This is specially common
in the East, where large dogs act as scavengers in the city, are
generally fierce and noisy, and often diseased. ' Dog of an
infidel,' *dog of a Jew,' ' dog of a Christian.' But Christ's saying
refers to domesticated animals, household pets and companions ;
and the diminutive, which in late Greek often loses its force, is
here very appropriate.
The diminutive, while it makes Christ's refusal more gentle,
gives the woman an opening, which she sees and uses. Love for
her child sharpens her wit and strengthens her persistency. She
does not claim to be one of the children, and has no thought of
depriving them ot their bread. She accepts the position of one
of the family dogs. But such animals are members of the
household, and they get what the children do not want. With-
out confusing the difference between Jews and heathen, and
without depriving the Jews of anything that is theirs. He may
grant her request. The metaphor which Christ had used as a
reason for rejecting her petition she turns into a reason for
granting it. And He joyfully (if we may venture to say so)
allows Himself to be worsted in argument, for He at once
accepts her interpretation of the metaphor as proof of her insight
and faith. 1 With doglike perseverance, she had excelled even
the children in trust, and assuredly she might receive what the
children would never miss. Comp. Job xxiii. 4-6.
The faith of this heathen Canaanite, like that of the heathen
centurion (viii. 10), excites Christ's admiration. Both of them
believed that Jesus could heal at a distance, and both of them
trusted to His compassion to do so. But the woman's trust was
more sorely tried, and she had not had the centurion's advantage
of living among Jews and of being under the influence of the
Jews' religion. These special commendations of the faith of a
heathen woman and of a heathen man in the P'irst Gospel should
be compared with the special revelations of His Messiahship to a
schismatical woman and an excommunicated man in the Fourth
Gospel (iv. 26, ix. 37).
In ' Yea, Lord ; for even ' B and Syr-Sin. omit the ' for ' (which is
wanting in the true text of Mk. vii. 28) : Na/, Kvpie, Kal rk Kwdpta, instead
of Kal yhp tA Kvvdpta. The omission of the 'yap considerably influences the
meaning. If there is no ' for,' then the woman's reply may mean, ' Quite so,
Lord; and the doggies under the table eat of the children's crumbs' ; i.e.
' In Mk. it is the woman's ready wit (5i(i tovtop rbv Xdryov) that is com-
mended ; in Mt., \\*tT faith. She had both. That her daughter was cured
immediately, a detail which enhances the miracle, is in Mt. only. Comp.
viii. 13, ix. 22, xvii. 18. In a similar way, when the disciples asked why
they could not cast out the demon from the epileptic boy, Mk. gives as the
reply, ' This kind cannot go out save by prayer ' (ix. 29), while Mt. has,
• Because of your little/a/M ' (xvii. 20).
21 8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XV. 29-39
' You have stated my position correctly ; I am only a dog under the table ;
in that case I may hope for the children's leavings.' But, if we read, koX yap
with the immense preponderance of authorities, then ' Yea, Lord ' must refer,
not to Christ's utterance, but to the woman's own request. ' Yea, help me,
for You may do so without wronging the children.' In Mk. there is a
Western reading (D and Old Lat. ) dXXa Kal instead of Kal yap. This ties
the 'Yea' to Christ's utterance, and Kal is not 'and' but 'even' ; 'Just so ;
dui even the dogs,' etc.
XV. 29-39. Ntimcrous Miracles of Healing and the Feeding
of Four Thousand,
Mt. at once shows that the children did not suffer through
the granting of a crust to a Canaanite. Mk. gives only one
miracle before the feeding, that of the deaf stammerer being
healed by touch, and spittle, and 'Ephphatha' uttered with a
sigh. Mt. omits this altogether, perhaps because he dislikes the
means used ; for he prefers that Christ should heal with a word
only (ix. 5, viii. 16). He also dislikes recording that Christ was
sometimes flagrantly disobeyed, as Mk. (vii. 36) says that He
was on this occasion. See Allen, p. 170. But Mt. may have
substituted a group of miracles spontaneously wrought on Jews
in Jewish territory for the Ephphatha miracle, in order to make
a greater contrast to the one miracle, tardily wrought after much
entreaty, on a heathen in heathen territory. The Messiah is
once more among His own people and in His own dornain,^
and works of healing are the natural outcome of His royal
bounty and power. The people are amazed at His varied
povver,2 which is recognized as being for the exclusive benefit of
the privileged nation ; for ' they glorified the God of Israel.''
' The God of Israel ' is a rare expression in the N.T. (Lk. i. 68 ;
Acts xiii. 17). In the O.T. it distinguishes Jehovah from the
gods of other nations (Exod. v. i ; i Kings xi. 9) and is very
frequent. These two verses (30, 31) are pecuHar to Mt., but
comp. Mk. vii. 37.
It must remain doubtful whether the narrative of the feeding
of 4000 people is merely a variant of the feeding of the 5000, or
represents a different miracle. In favour of there being only
one miraculous feeding are the similar details, the fact that
number'-, frequently get changed in tradition, and the improba-
bility that the disciples would express a difficulty about feeding
a multitude, when Jesus had fed a still larger one oiily a few
weeks before. But, if there were two miraculous feedings, many
' The imperfect {eKadriTo) implies that He rested there some time, as
feeling at home there.
^ The fact that Mt. puts ' the dumb speaking 'yfr^/" among the works which
excited wonder shows that he knew the Ephphatha incident.
XV. 30 39] TIIK MINISTRY IN OU NEAR GALILKK 219
of the details would be sure to be similar, and the differences in
the numbers occur not only as to the crowd, but as to the
loaves and the baskets. Besides these differences, the attend-
ance on Christ for 'three days' is peculiar to the 4000, meaning
that they had been with Him 'since the day before yesterday ' ;
so also is the diminutive I'x^vSia for the fishes, and it evidently
means ' small fishes ' (RV.)- Above all there is the different
word for 'baskets.' All four Evangelists use k6<^ivoi of the
5000, and both Mt. and Mk. use cr^vptSts of the 4000 ; and
this distinction is observed in referring to the two miracles
afterwards (xvi. 9, 10; Mk. viii. 19, 20). The Kocfuvos was a
wallet, the o-c^i-pts a hamper, capable of holding a man (Acts ix.
25). But S. Paul himself uses crapyavrj of the basket in which
he was let down (2 Cor. xi. ;^^), and we cannot be sure that a
cr<^i'p(s was generally larger than a Ko^tvos. See Hastings' DB.
and DCG., art. 'Basket.'
As to the perplexity of the disciples, it must be noted that it
is not they but our Lord who calls attention to the necessity for
help ; and it is possible that both in His words and in their
reply there is a reference to the earlier miracle. He says : ' If I
send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the
way' (Mk.); 'I do not wish to send them away fasting, lest
haply they faint in the way ' (Mt.). This may mean, ' On the
former occasion you asked Me to send them away (xiv. 15;
Mk. vi. 35; Lk. ix. 12); do not make a similar proposal now.'
The disciples reply : ' Whence shall one be able to fill these men
with bread here in a desert place ? ' (Mk.) ; ' Whence should
we have so many loaves in a desert place, as to fill so great a
multitude?' (Mt.). The pronoun (v^/xtv) is emphatic, and the
meaning may be, ' We cannot do it, but we know that Thou
canst.' See Swete on Mk. and the Westminster Commentary on
Mt. On the whole, it appears to be better to retain the tradition
of two separate miracles.
Both Mt. and Mk. seem to place this second feeding on the
east side of the lake, whence Christ and the disciples afterwards
cross to the west side. Mk. says that in order to reach the lake
from ' the borders of Tyre and Sidon ' (vii. 24) Jesus passed
' through the midst of the borders of Decapolis ' (vii. 31), which
was on the east side. In this eastern part the majority of the
population were Gentiles; and perhaps Mt. is iniimating that
there were many Gentiles among the large multitudes who
brought people to be healed (30), when he says that ' they
glorified the God of Israel.''^ The wonder of the crowd at these
mighty works would be greater on the east side of the lake, for
the ijopulation there had had little experience of Christ's
' Comp. irdvTis ol Xao! 5of(i<roi;(rt rbv Kvpioy etj aiuvas {Judah xxv, 5).
220 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XV. 31-39
miracles. Mk. represents them as being astonished at a single
miracle (vii. 37). Both Evangelists mention Christ's statement
that the multitude ' continue with Me now three days and have
nothing to eat.' Mk. with his single miracle gives no explanation
as to why the people remained with Christ for three days ; but
the numerous healings mentioned by Mt. are a complete ex-
planation. Neither Gospel says anything about His teaching
the people; the numbers of sick and infirm folk occupied all
His time. The people of Decapolis had long since known of
His fame (iv. 25, viii. 28-34), and both Jews and heathen
would flock to the great Healer. We may notice how Mt. once
more insists, more than Mk, does, on the greatness of the
miracle. Mk. has : ' they did eat and were filled . . . seven
baskets . . . about four thousand.' Mt. has : ' they did all eat
and were filled . . . seven baskets /«// . . . four thousand men^
beside women and children.'' ^
Both as regards ' Magadan' (39) and 'Dalmanutha' (Mk. viii. 10) there
is uncertainty of reading. Here ' Magadan' (K B D supported by Syrr. and
Latt.) is the older reading; but no such place is known, for which reason
' Magdala' may have been substituted in later texts. ' Dalmanutha ' is also
unknown ; and, although it is the best attested reading, it is probably corrupt.
' Magdalutha ' may be the original reading in Mk. Unfamiliar names are
specially liable to become changed inadvertently in oral tradition, and to be
corrected by copyists. If ' Magdalutha ' were the original name, this might
be corrupted into ' Dalmanutha' or corrected to the more familiar ' Magdala ' ;
this again might by accident be corrupted into ' Magadan,' and 'Magadan'
be corrected once more to ' Magdala.' See Hastings' DB., art. ' Magadan ' ;
Encyc. Bibl. 985, 1635, 2894 ; Dalman, Words, p. 66.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xv. : 767-6(1, 12, 28), irpoaipxeadai
(l, 12, 23, 30), VTTOKpLTrjs (7), iKeWev (21, 29), dfaxwperj' (21), Kal l8ov (22),
6'pta (22, 39), w6s Aai'fiS (22), Trpoa-Kwelv (25), yevt-jd-qTUi (28), (lipa ^Kelvr] (28).
Peculiar: 6 irarTip 6 ovpdvLos (13), fevSo/j.apTvpia (19 and xxvi. 59 only),
djcytujc (16 only) ; none of these are found in the LXX. : (pvreia (13) occurs in
the LXX., but nowhere else in the N.T.
Note that in ver. 32 Mt. does not improve Mk.'s difficult
construction, rjfj.€paL t/dcis TrpocrixivovcriV /xol /cat ovk e)(ov(ny rt
(fidywa-iv. No two writers would independently express them-
selves in this way, and it is not certain how we are intended
to construe it. The reading rjixipa's (x) is a manifest correc-
tion. Perhaps the best way is to regard Trpoo-^eVouo-iv and
exova-iv as participles in the dat. plur. with eto-tV understood;
'they have three days in their waiting on Me and having
no food.' D has rj/xipaL y etcTLv Kot Trpocr/xivovcrLV fioi k.t.X.,
which again is a correction, and it differs from the correction in
Mk. viii. 2.
^ Comp. the insertion of dproi toctoutol and ox^ov to(tovtoi> in ver. 33.
XVL 1-4] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 221
XVI. 1-12. Renewed Conflict with the Pharisees.
The appearance of Pharisees and Sadducces is conclusive
against ^L^gadan and Dahnanutha being on the east side of the
lake, a semi-heathen territory into which they would not have
cared to enter. The conjunction of Pharisees with their detested
opponents, the Sadducees, is even more significant than their
conjunction with Herodians (see on xii. 14) : a common enmity
has united traditional foes.^ It was Scribes and Pharisees who
on a previous occasion (xii. 3S) asked for a sign. Lk. xi. 16, 29,
30 is less definite and in a different connexion, but in the main
is parallel with this and Mk. viii. 11-13. Mk. does not mention
the Sadducees, and Lk. does not mention the Pharisees, The
demand in all three is said to have been made with a sinister aim,
'tempting Him,' and to have been for 'a sign from heaven.'^
This would mean a voice from the sky, or some of those signs
which He Himself a little later said would precede the Coming
of the Son of Man (xxiv. 29-31). The special point here is that
Christ's healings were signs on earth and not decisive : comp.
Lk. xxi. 1 1 ; Acts ii. 19. They professed to wish to be convinced
of His Messiahship ; they hoped that He would be unable to
give the required sign, and would thus be discredited with the
people. Mk. says that in answering them ' He sighed deeply in
His Spirit,' an indication of human emotion which Mt., as usual,
omits : comp. xv. 29, 30 with Mk. vii. t^t,, 34. Mk. has no
parallel to the words about the weather (2, 3). Lk. omits them
also, but has a similar saying xii. 54-56. There, as here, the
word for ' time ' is not xP'^'vos, but Kaipos, ' right time ' or
' season.'
The saying cannot be genuine here, for it is absent from K B V X F and
most MSS. known to Jerome, from Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur. Arm. and from Origen.
No reason for omitting it is evident. But it must have been inserted here
early (C D G L, Latt. Syr-Pesh. Boh.) and may preserve a true saying of
Christ's. See small print at the end of this chapter.
In Christ's refusing any sign other than Jonah, the wording
differs from Mk. and is exactly the same as in xii. 39, excepting
that Jonah is not here called 'the Prophet.' By ' He left them
and departed' Mt. and Mk. indicate that these Pharisees were
incorrigible ; the Lord did not stay to argue further with them.
But Mt. (5-12) and Mk. (viii. 14-21) differ as to the place
in which what follows was spoken. Mk. represents the discovery
' Mt. alone couples Pharisees with Sadducees, and he docs so six limes.
Mk. and Lk. mention the Sadducees only once, Jn. not at all. The Pharisees
were influential with the people, the Sadducees with the upper classes : ut
hodie turba in stipcrstitiotient, pi-udetitcs in alheismutn piocliviores.
* Mk. has ' from' (dir6), Mt. and Lk. have 'out of {(.k) heaven.
222 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 12
of the want of bread as being made during the crossing of the
lake. Mt. places it after they had crossed, and apparently the
forgetfulness was not exhibited till they had crossed. Again,
they differ as to Christ's warning. In Mk. it is against 'the
leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.^ In Mt. it is
against 'the leaven of the Pharisees and Saddiicees.^ ]\It. tells
us that this 'leaven' meant 'doctrine' {12)} That can hardly
be the meaning in Mk., for Herod had no doctrine. Lk. tells
us that the leaven of the Pharisees was 'hypocrisy' (xii. i). We
may suppose that our Lord's metaphor was, from the first,
differently interpreted. In each case it meant an evil influence,
whether by teaching or example. Both Mt. and Mk. state that
Christ ' became aware ' (yvous) of His disciples' reasoning respect-
ing their forgetfulness, and Mt. again (viii. 26) inserts 'O ye of
little faith ' as equivalent to the part of Christ's rebuke which he
omits : ' have ye your heart hardened ? Having eyes, see ye
not? and having ears, hear ye not?' In omitting these severe
words, which are similar to those in which He condemns the
callous hearers (xiii. 13), and also in omitting the repeated xQ}o\)k<t
(Mk. viii. 21), Mt. once more spares the Twelve, He does so
again in mentioning (12), as Mk. does not, that at last the
disciples did understand that Christ's warning about ' leaven ' was
a parable, and had nothing to do with their being short of bread.^
He was not teUing them to treat the bread of Pharisees and
Sadducees as if it was heathen bread, which would pollute them.
But their spiritual blindness was not confined to this miscompre-
hension. After the miraculous feeding of the multitudes, the
Twelve ought to have had no anxiety about bread so long as He
was with them. Comp. Oxyrhynchus Logiaj 3.
The extraordinary dullness of the Twelve, which seems to
have surprised Christ Himself ('Do ye not yet perceive? . . .
How is it that ye do not perceive?') shows how slowly the
education of even the most intimate disciples was progressing.
It shows also how natural it was that Christ should desire to be
freed from both the persecution of His enemies and the pursuit
of the multitudes clamouring to be healed. He had made one
excursion to the north, into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, with a
view to obtaining more quiet and freedom for the training of the
Twelve ; but the great faith and persistent entreaty of the
Canaanitish woman had obtained from Him a work of healing
which, as soon as it became known, would have produced a
^ The doctrine of the Sadducees was very different from that of the
Pharisees, and yet there is no repetition of 'the leaven.' The wording in
Mk. is more likely to be original.
- Mt. has a similar statement, not found in the other Gospels, xvii. 13.
Here he smooths IMk.'s unusual construction, ' I broke the 5 loaves unto {els)
the 5000,' into ' the 5 loaves o/the 5000.'
XVI. 13j Tin: MINISTRY IN OR NFAR GALILEE 223
crowd of similar applicants, had lie remained in the neigliboiir-
hood. He had relumed to the less pojiiilous side of the lake
of Gennesaret, and there again He had been interrupted. For
three days He could do nothing but heal. He crossed to the
west shore, and there His enemies again assailed Him. By
crossing once more He avoids being followed ; and now He
again leaves the lake and moves northward, not as before to the
heathen territory of the Phoenician sea-coast, but to the northern
extremity of Palestine by the sources of the Jordan near the foot
of Mount Hermon ; and at last He and His disciples are in
retirement for a while.
XVI. 13-22. The Cofifession of Peter and the
Promise to Peter.
We are not told where our Lord and the Twelve landed, but
it was probably on the east side of the mouth of the Jordan, for
immediately afterwards Mk. narrates the healing of a blind man
at Bethsaida Julias (viii. 22-26). Mt. omits this cure, as he
omits that of the deaf stammerer (Mk. vii. 32-35), possibly
because of the means used, and because in this case the cure
was at first incomplete. Mt. prefers miracles in which the
Messiah heals instantly with a word. The two miracles thus
omitted by Mt. are recorded by Mk. alone, and they have
common characteristics. In both our Lord uses spittle and
touch, in order to aid the man's faith. Both miracles were
wrought when Christ was seeking retirement,^ and in both cases
He takes the man aside from the people, and the cure is
wrought privately, so as to avoid notoriety and subsequent inter-
ruption. See Gould, pp. 138, 149-15 1. In moving north,
place* where He had previously been seem to have been avoided.
The distance from the lake to Caesarea Philippi is about
25 miles, and involves an ascent of 1700 feet. The population
would be mainly Gentile, and it is manifest that Jesus was not
seeking a field for preaching, but a quiet opportunity for private
instruction of the Apostles, especially with a view to His
approaching sufferings and death.
Peter's great confession is in all three Gospels, for Lk. now
once more comes into line; but the promise to Peter is in Mt.
alone, who here again shows his special interest in the first of the
' He was probably seeking seclusion in preparation for His Passion and
Death. But He seems also to have been avoiding His foes, because His
hour was not yet come. "The parts that are avoided are the dominions of
Antipas" (Burkitt, The Gospel History and its Transmission, p. 93). The
indications of locality in this and subsequent sections should be noted :
Ca-sarea Philippi (xvi. 13); Galilee (xvii. 22, 24); the borders of Juda-a
beyond Jordan (xix, i) ; on the way to Jerusalem (xx. 17).
224 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 13
Apostles. Mt. probably regarded Peter's confession and its
reward as a contrast to the Pharisees' demand for a sign and
Christ's stern refusal. The one was as strong a mark of belief
as the other of unbelief, and the wish to place the two side by
side may have had something to do with Mt.'s omission of the
healing of the blind man.
In Lk. the definiteness of locality is blurred,^ but both Mt.
and Mk. take us to the ' parts ' or ' villages ' of Casarea Philippi,
and the mention of a place so far away from Christ's usual
centres of work is a strong authenticating fact. No baseless
tradition or deliberate invention would have placed the scene of
what follows in so distant a region. Since the attempt to make
Him king, Jesus has been changing His method from one of
public teaching, and public activity in works of mercy, to a more
secluded course of instruction concentrated on the Twelve. The
incident at Caesarea Philippi marks a crisis in the new method,
but only a preparatory one. The leading thought in the training
of the Apostles is not Peter's confession that Jesus is the Messiah,
nor Christ's promise of the keys to him, but Christ's prediction
of the death which awaits Himself and of His subsequent
triumph over death.
It was at the northern extremity of the tetrarchy of Philip,
close to the frontier which separated Judaism from heathendom,
and where the Gentile was already more common than the Jew,
that Jesus questioned the Twelve as to what men thought of
Him and what their own convictions were." As Bethsaida had
been renamed Julias after the infamous and only child of
Augustus, so Paneas had been renamed Caesarea after Augustus
himself. The name Paneas came from the grotto of Pan, which
represented the elemental worship of the old inhabitants, close
to which Herod the Great had built a temple in honour of the
Emperor (Jos. Ant. xv. x. 3 ; B.J. i. xxi. 3) ; and this represented
the most modern of heathen cults. Thus, just where Judaism
touched both the worship of nature and the worship of man,
Jesus called upon His disciples to answer for mankind and for
themselves as to what His claims upon the conscience were as
against the claims of these conflicting worships. See Liddon,
Bampton Lectures, i. sub init. ; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine,
p. 397 ; DCG. i. 246.
The wording of the first question varies in the three Gospels,
and in Mt. the reading is not quite certain. Mk. has : " Who
^ Lk. substitutes another important fact, that it was just after He had
been praying alone that He put these questions to the disciples and then
revealed to them the approach of His Passion. As He had prayed before He
chose them, so He prayed before subjecting them to this trial (Lk. vi. 12, ix.
18). To Lk. the prayer might seem more important than Lhe place.
2 The imperfect (13) implies repeated questioning.
XVI. 13-15T Till- MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GAI.ILKL: 22$
do men say that I am?' Lk. has : " \\'ho do tlic niullitiides say
that I am?' Mt. has either: 'Who do men say that the Son of
Man is ? ' (S B and most versions), or : " Who do men say that
I, the Son of Man, am ? ' (D G L etc.). The latter reading is not
hkely to be right, for nowhere in the Synoptic Gospels does ' Son
of Man ' occur in apposition to the personal pronoun. It seems
probable that the expression ' Son of Man ' was not used on this
occasion, but that Mt. put it instead of the ' I ' in Mk., in order
to make an antithesis between ' men ' and ' the Son of Man.'
See Dalman, Honfs, pp. 252, 259. Perhaps also Mt. wished to
anticipate by contrast Peter's declaration that He was ' the Son
of God' (16).
It is possible that this first question was educational in order
to lead on to the crucial cjucstion which follows. But it is also
possible that our Lord was asking for information. His disciples
would hear what was said of Him much more often than He
Himself did, and they would not be likely to repeat to Him
views about Himself which they regarded as inadeciuate or
absurd. This was a case in which He could obtain the informa-
tion in the ordinary way by asking for it, and therefore would
not use supernatural means of knowing.
That the people said He was Jeremiah is stated by Mt.
alone. Jeremiah, though not much esteemed during his life,
came to be regarded as one of the greatest of Prophets. He
was spoken of as ' the Prophet,' and may be ' the Prophet ' of
Jn. i. 21.^ Judas Maccaba^us, before his battle with Nicanor,
sees in a vision a man ' of exceeding glory, and wonderful and
most majestic was the dignity around him,' and this was 'he
who prayeth much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah
the Prophet of God' (2 Mac. xv. 13, 14). And Jeremiah gives
him a sword of gold, wherewith to smite down the adversaries.
Comp. * Fear not, saith the Lord. For thy help will I send
My servants Isaiah and Jeremiah' (2 Esdr. ii. 17, 18).
Evidently there was a belief that Jeremiah was to come again.
See Plumptre in Smith's DB., ist ed., i. p. 971 ; Streane,
Jeremiah in Camb. Bible, Appendix.
The second question is identical in all three Gospels : ' But
ye, who say ye that I am?' There is strong em[)hasis on the
first ' ye,' as meaning those who had been His intimate disciples
and knew Him so much better than the outside crowd. Had
they no better or more certain ideas resjjecting Him than these
wild and fluctuating guesses? ' ILive I been so long time with
^ In Hebrew tradition and in many Hebrew MS.S. the order of the great
Prophets is Jeremiah, Ezekicl, Isaiah (Ryle, Cation of the O.T. p. 226).
Mt. is the only N.T. writer who mentions Jeremiah (ii. 17, xvi. 14,
xxvii. 9), once by mistake.
15
226 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. l6
you, and dost thou not know Me?' (Jn. xiv. 9). Here again
Christ may be asking for information. He could read their
hearts, but He prefers to learn their convictions from their own
mouth. The joy with which He welcomes Peter's answer is to
be noted. While the rest of His hearers had ceased to think of
Him as the Messiah, the Twelve were strengthened in their
belief that He was the Christ. This was the crisis.
The wording of the answer differs in each Gospel. ' Thou
art the Christ' (Mk.). 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God' (Mt.).i 'The Christ of God' (Lk.). Mt. expands
Peter's momentous answer, as he expands Christ's first question,
and the two expansions correspond. ' I ' is expanded into * the
Son of Man ' in the one case, and ' the Christ ' into ' the Son of
the living God' in the other. But there is no difference in
meaning between the three reports of the reply ; and in all it
is the impulsive Peter who gives it as the belief of all the Twelve.
See Dalman, J Fords, p. 288.
It was not the first time that Peter had expressed this belief.
He had accepted it when his brother Andrew said to him, ' We
have found the Messiah'; and Philip had repeated this con-
viction to Nathanael (Jn. i. 41, 45). Peter himself had more
recently declared : ' We have believed and know that Thou art
the Holy One of God' (Jn. vi. 69). In the first instance he
did no more than assent to the belief that Jesus would prove
to be the Messiah for whom all were longing. Months of living
with Jesus, listening to His teaching and seeing His mighty
works, and then consciousness of the power, derived from Him,
of doing mighty works himself, had enlarged his knowledge of
Him and deepened his love for Plim, although He was not
proving to be the kind of Messiah that they had expected.
Finally, the feeding of the multitudes and the walking on the
sea — miracles of a different kind from the numerous works of
healing — had strengthened still further the early impression and
the later conviction. Jesus might shun popular enthusiasm and
refuse to be made a king, but Peter knew that he could say
from the bottom of his heart, for himself and for them all,
' Thou art the Christ.' Even now, however, Peter's conception
of the Christ is very defective, as what follows proves. The
truth was to be gradually learned by the Twelve, by further
teaching from Christ, by strange experiences of their own, and
above all by the gift of the Holy Spirit who was to ' lead them
into all the truth.'
Mt. here inserts a passage (17-19) which is peculiar to this
Gospel, and which has provoked volumes of controversy.
Perhaps it will always continue to be discussed, but those who
^ D has aib^ovTos {salvatoris) instead of 'gCivros.
XVI. 18] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 22;
endeavour to deteiniiiie its meaning can at least resolve not to
be influenced by tlic use which a controversiahst may make of
the conclusion which they eventually reach. Like the other
passages in wliich S. Peter is consi)icuous (xiv. 28-31, xv. 15),
it probably belongs to traditions which were current in the
Church of Jerusalem. But it is possible that there is an
element, especially as regards the arrangement of the clauses,
which comes from the Evangelist himself. Perhaps not all of
the sayings here attributed to Christ were uttered on this
occasion ; and it is possible that what may have been uttered
oy Him in a diflerent connexion has not only been transferred
to this occasion by the Evangelist, but has been expanded by
him. Where we have the other Gosjiels to compare with his
we can see that Mt. has expanded Christ's first cjuestion by
adding 'the Son of Man,' and the disciples' answer by adding
'Jeremiah,' and Peter's answer to the second (jucstion by adding
' the Son of the living God.' Here we have no other report to
compare with his, and we are left to conjecture what is possilile
or probable. That the whole of vv. 17-iy is an invention is
utterly improbable. Christ's joyous response to Peter's con-
fession bears the stamp of originality in every phrase ; and it is
so entirely in harmony with the context that we may feel
confident that it was spoken on this occasion. The other two
verses (18, 19) may have been spoken at some other time or
times, and the saying about 'binding' and 'loosing' may be
Mt.'s enlargement of the saying about 'the keys.' Moreover,
both these verses may have been spoken in reference to the
Twelve,^ and Mt. (or the tradition which he is quoting) may
have adoj)ted the sayings with si)ecial reference to S. Peter,
thinking that, as he made the first glorious confession, so these
glorious promises, in the first instance, were made to iiim. See
Allen's careful notes, pp. 176-180; Salmon, The JIuinan
Element, p. 351.
The comment of Origen {On Mt., Bk. xii. § 11) runs thus: "But if you
sup{x>sc that upon that one IVlcr only the wliolc Church is built by God,
what would you say alx)ut John, the son of thunder, or each one of the
Apostles? Shall we dare to .say that against I'eler in particular the j;ales of
Hades shall not prevail, but that they shall prevail against the other
Apostles? Does not the previous saying, 'The gates of Hades shall not
prevail against it,' hold in regard to all and in the case of each of ihem ? And
also the saying, 'Upon this rock I will build My Church'? Are the keys
of the Kingdom given by the Lord to I'etcr only, and will no other of the
ble-ssed receive them? But if this pron>ise, 'I will give unto thee the keys
of the Kingdom of Heaven' be common to all the others, how shall not all
* The saying al>out binding and loosing was afterwards made to the
Twelve (xviiL 18), and may have been ir.insferrcd lo S. Telcr in par-
ticular.
228 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 17, 18
the things previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as
having been addressed to Peter, be common to them ? "'
In a later passage (Bk. xiii. § 31) Origen reserves a superiority for Peter
by pointing out that, while what the Apostles bind and loose on earth is
bound and loosed 'in heaven' {iv ovpavw, xviii. 18), what Peter binds and
looses on earth is bound and loosed ' in the heavens ' (iv roh ovpavoh, xvi.
19) ; "for it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one
heaven but of more." It is not likely that there was any difference in the
words used by Christ.
But, whatever may be the origin of the passage, we must
endeavour to explain it as it has come down to us with the
authority of the First Gospel.
Nowhere else does Christ call an individual * blessed ' :
'blessed art thou^ (i?)- It would almost seem as if He had
asked His searching question with some anxiety, and as if S.
Peter's immediate and decisive reply was a joy that contained
in it something of relief. Christ's question here is somewhat
similar to the earlier and perhaps more wistful question, ' Will
ye also go away ? ' Here the full address, giving Peter's original
name with that of his father, ' Simon Bar-Jonah,' adds solemnity
to the utterance (comp. Jn. xxi. 15-17); and the Lord
emphatically declares that this confession of faith in His
Messiahship is not the outcome of human instruction, but must
be a revelation from God Himself. This is the first step ; the
Father has revealed to the Apostle that Jesus is the Messiah.^
The next step is taken by the Messiah Himself. He also
makes a revelation : ' And I also say to thee ' (/cdyw 8e croi Ae'yw).
This revelation is not respecting His own person, but
respecting His future work and the relation of the Apostle to
it (18). The Messiah is going to build His Church, a new
Israel, for which Peter is to supply the foundation. It is quite
clear that here Christ Himself is not the foundation-rock or
foundation-stone. He is the Builder of the edifice, determining
when, where, and how it shall be raised. He is the source of
all activity in framing the building. No stress whatever can
be laid on the change of gender in the Greek : ' Thou art
Peter (IltVpo?), and on this rock (Tre'rpa) will I build My Church.'
Our Lord would speak in Aramaic, as ' Bar-Jonah ' tends to
show ; and in Aramaic Cepha would be used in both places.
In Greek it was impossible to have TreVpa in both cases, because
Peter was a man, and his name must have a masculine termina-
tion. And Trerpos would not do in both places, because the
^ Already we have three expressions which point to the Jewish centre in
which this tradition has been preserved : ' Simon Bar-Jonah,' ' flesh and
blood,' and 'My Father which is in heaven.' Others of a similar kind
follow: 'gates of Hades,' 'the keys,' 'the Kingdom of the Heavens,' and
' binding and loosing. ' Perhaps even iKK\r]<xla is more Jewish than
Christian, and means the new Israel.
XVI. 18] TIIK MINISTRY IN OR NKAR GALILEE 229
meaning ' rock ' was required rather than ' stone.' Ccpha means
cither ' rock ' or ' stone.'
The fact that Christ Himself is elsewhere, by a different
metaphor, called the 'corner-stone' (Eph. ii. 20 j i Pet. ii. 4-8),
must not lead us to deny that Peter is here the foundation-rock
or stone. In Kph. ii. 20 the Apostles and Christian Prophets
are the foundation (^£/m€,\ios), as Peter is said to be here. The
first ten chai)tcrs of Acts show us in what sense Peter was the
foundation on which the first stones of the Christian Israel were
laid. He was the acknowledged Head of the Apostolic body,
and he took the lead in admitting both Jews and Gentiles into
the Christian Church. "All attempts to explain the 'rock'
in any other way than as referring to Peter have ignomini-
ously failed" (Briggs, North Amer. liev., Feb. 1907, p. 34S).
Neither the confession of Peter nor the faith of Peter is an
adequate explanation. But at the same time it is clear that
the promise is made to Peter as confessing his faith, and also as
confessing it on behalf of the Twelve} The Baptist himself
had had his misgivings about the Messiah. Other disciples
had 'gone back and walked no more with Him' (Jn. vi. 66).
But here was one who, in spite of his Master's being so unlike
the Jewish idea of the Messiah, had enthusiastically recognized
Him as the Christ, and had acknowledged Him as such on
behalf of himself and his brother-Apostles. Such a Confessor
might well be regarded as a foundation. Others confessing the
same faith would be added (Rev. xxi. 14), and on these the
superstructure would be raised; but Peter was the first. It is
with him that the erection of the Christian Church begins.
See Chase in Hastings' DD, iii. p. 759; Hort, The Christian
Eccksia, pp. 16, 17; Lightfoot, Clement, ii. pp. 481-490;
J. Arm. Wohinsow, Ephesians, pp. 68, 69, 163; Sanday, Outlines,
p. 125; B. Weiss, Life of Christ, iii. p. 58. Only here and
xviii. 1 7 does the word ' Church ' {tKK\iqaia) occur in the
Gospels; elsewhere in the N.T. it is very frequent. It means
a body of men, united by common convictions and aims.
See Hastings' DB. and Z>C'6^., art. 'Church.' In this organic
body, considered under the figure of a building, nothing must
be attributed to S. Peter or to the Twelve which would contra-
dict I Cor. iii. 11.
In the second part of the saying (18) it may be doubted
whether the rendering, ' the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it' gives the exact meaning. Evidently, in contrast to
' If the promise had been absolutely [icrsonal and individual, we should
have had itI aoi rather than iirl rain-Q rrj iriTp<f. (whicli seems to mean 'on
the sureness of thy failhlul heart, to which thy name bears witness,' rather
than ' on ihcc ').
230 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 18, 19
the Church as a temple built on a rock, Hades or Death
is thought of as a fortress with strong gates. The common
rendering implies that there will be conflicts between the two,
and that whenever they occur, the Church will always in the
end prevail. However true this may be, it is not a probable
meaning of the passage. If aggressiveness were the prominent
idea, we should hardly have the metaphor of a building with
gates. Gates keep people in and keep people out, and are
necessary for the strength of a citadel, but they do not fight.
Here the leading thought is the strength and stability of the
Church, not its aggressiveness. Death is often regarded as
one of the strongest of powers ; as, ' Love is as strong as death '
{Cant. viii. 6). And here the Church is said to be still stronger
than death; not even the gates of Hades shall surpass it in
strength. Comp. Ps. ix. 13, cvii. 18; Job xxxviii. 17;
Is. xxxviii. 10; also Hom. //. v. 646. On the picturesque
rendering in some Syriac texts, 'the gate-bars of Sheol,' see
Burkitt, Evan. da-MepharnsJie, ii. pp. 119, 156.
The metaphor abruptly changes (19), but there is clear
connexion between the one and the other. The figure of two
buildings, one of which has strong gates, suggests the idea of
keys. In the O.T. we often have the 'gates of Hades' or
'gates of death' (Ps. ix. 13, cvii. 18; Job xxxviii. 17 ; 3 Mac. v.
51 ; Wisd. xvi. 13), and in Revelation the risen Lord has 'the
keys of Death and of Hades' (i. 18), i.e. He is supreme over
their citadel, and can admit or release whom He will (iii. 7).
And if the kingdom of death can be likened to a citadel with
gates, so also can the Kingdom of Heaven. And here again
we have a prerogative which might seem to belong to the
Messiah conferred upon the Apostle. S. Peter was the rock
on which Christ builds His Church ; and now he is the steward
to whom Christ entrusts the keys of the Kingdom : comp.
Is. xxii. 22. The precise relation of the Church to the Kingdom
is not easy to determine ; but they are not the same. In this
Gospel, the Kingdom seems always to mean that which the
Son of Man is to begin at the Second Advent, which is regarded
as near. In that case, the Church carries on the work of the
Forerunner and proclaims that the Kingdom is at hand. In
this Kingdom the Apostles are to 'sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel' (xix. 28), but of those
thrones that of S. Peter is to be first. He has been first in
the confession of the true faith, and he is to be first in holding
authority in the Kingdom. It is possible that 'the keys'
have special reference to S. Peter's function in admitting so
many of the first converts to the Christian Church, but this
would be only preliminary to admission to the Kingdom.
XVI. 19. 20] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 23 1
S. Peter is not only the rock to support the Church, and
the steward to hold the keys of the Kingdom, he is also the
teacher who can give an authoritative decision. The metaphor
of 'binding' and 'loosing' does not here refer to the forgiveness
of sins. The two words are technical expressions, the meaning
of which was well understood.^ To ' bind ' is to forbid, to
'loose' is to permit. Just as a Rabbi of great knowledge
would decide what, according to the provisions of the oral
Law, was allowed or prohibited, so Peter would decide what,
according to the teaching of Christ, was permitted or not. In
this authority the other Apostles were to share (xviii. iS), but
Peter once more comes first. It is important to notice that it
is ' 7t'/ia/soeveT thou shalt bind,' not ' 7C'^onisoever thou shalt
bind ' ; and the addition of ' on earth ' and ' in heaven ' perhaps
means no more than that the decision has authority. See
Dalman, IVords, p. 213, for a different view. But, in any case,
the meaning of Jn. xx. 23 must not be read into this passage,
as has often been done from Cyprian onwards.- Nor can we
assume that what Peter decides for the visible Church is binding
on the Church invisible ; or that what he decides for the visible
Church of his day holds good for ever, however much the
conditions may change ; or that his power of prohibiting and
permitting has passed to his successors.
XVI. 20-28. Annoti/uemoit of the Passion and the Rebuke
to Peter.
We now return (20) to what is in all three Gospels. All
three mention that Jesus charged the Twelve not to tell any
one that He was the Christ; but Mt. alone, as in vv. 12 and 24,
has his favourite 'Then' (rorc). The charge is a strong
guarantee for the historical character. It is thoroughly intellig-
ible ; but, at the same time, a writer of fiction would hardly
have thought that Jesus, after exhibiting such joy when Peter
confessed that the Twelve believed in Him as the Messiah,
would insist upon secrecy. The reason for the command to
keep silence was the erroneous idea about the Messiah which
prevailed among the people. They might again try to make
Him a king, and thus might precii)itate a collision witli the
Roman government. As yet, even the Twelve knew too little
about the Messiahship to be able to talk about it with profit
' Comp. xviii, 18. Like 'the Kingdom of the Ile.ivcns,' they are
thoroughly Jewish expressions, and are found only in Mt. among the
Gospels.
'/><r F.cclt!. Unit. 4, with the famous interpolations. Sec also Fp.
Ixxv. 16 (Firmilian to Cyprian). Zahn remnrks that this is one of the most
frcfjucntly misunderstood passages in Mt.
232 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 21-23
to the multitude. And so we are told that 'from that time
Jesus began to show unto His disciples,' or ''began to teach
them' (Mk.), that the Messiah must suffer before entering
upon His Kingdom. The ' began ' is important. We have
here a summary of what went on for some time, and neither
Mt. nor Mk. tell us at what point Peter drew upon himself
Christ's terrible rebuke. It is commonly assumed that, the
very first time that our Lord foretold His sufferings and death,
Peter uttered an emphatic protest, and then ' Get thee behind
Me, Satan,' was uttered. The Gospels neither say nor imply
this (Lk. is silent about the whole incident) ; nor is it probable
in itself. Had the impulsive Peter been surprised into making
his characteristic protest, he would perhaps have been less
severely rebuked. The rebuke is much more intelligible, if we
suppose that Peter had had plenty of time to think over this
new and amazing teaching respecting the Messiah, and had
deUberately tried to turn Jesus from His purpose. Mk. tells
us that Jesus 'used to speak the saying (about the Passion)
without reserve ' to all the Twelve (Trapp-rja-Lo. rov \6yov iXaXei).
Peter thinks this a great mistake. With something of officious-
ness, and perhaps as if his age gave him some kind of authority
even over the Master, he ' took Him ' as if to save Him from
Himself (TTpoo-Aa/^o/xevos), and began to rebuke Him.^
' Be it far from Thee, Lord,' or ' God be gracious to Thee,
Lord,' means ' Heaven grant Thee something much better than
that,' or 'Heaven forbid that': comp. 2 Sam. xx. 20, xxiii. 17.
What follows is very strongly put : ' This shall never be unto
Thee.' 2 Mk. gives no words. Something may have been pre-
served by tradition; but perhaps Mt. is merely putting Peter's
rebuke into words. Yet, while he is more full than Mk. about
Peter's protest, he is less full about the Lord's turning to reply.
Mt. omits 'and seeing His disciples He rebuked.' The 'seeing
His disciples ' seems to imply that Peter was again expressing
the convictions of the Twelve, and that for the sake of the
w^hole body a strong condemnation of this mistaken view re-
specting His sufferings and death must be uttered. The 'first'
(x. 2) of the Apostles had grievously abused his position in
rebuking his Master, and all of them must hear how the rebuke
was reproved.
' Thou art a stumbling-block to Me ' is not in Mk., and is
^ The Sinaitic Syriac has 'as though he pilied Him,' or 'as if to spare
Him,' which perhaps impHes that Peter took Jesus aside from the others
before remonstrating with Him. The Arabic Tatian has compatiens.
^ According to the popular view of the Messiah (which Peter shared),
rejection and death, so far from being necessary for the Messiah, were
absolutely impossible ; He was to be welcomed as the Saviour of His people,
and was to reign over them.
XVI. 23] THK MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 233
pcrliaps Mt.'s interpretation of the startling identification of
Peter with the evil one ; but, even without this addition, ' Get
tliee behind Me, Satan,' is indeed severe. It recalls the dismissal
of the devil at the close of the temptations in the wilderness
(iv. 10); and it recalls it, because Peter has renewed those
temptations. Those assaults of the evil one largely consisted
in trying to induce Jesus to take a short and easy road to the
Messiah's throne ; to obtain the power and glory without trouble
or sufTcring. Peter is again tr^'ing to induce the I\ressiah to
evade rejection by the hierarchy ^ and an ignominious death.
This conduct shows how necessary was the charge that the
Apostles should be silent respecting the Messiahship of Jesus.
If the first of the Apostles could commit so disastrous an error
as was involved in his rebuke to Christ, what might not the
ignorant multitude do? Comp. xii. 16, xvii. 9; and see Sanday,
Jour, of Th. St., April 1904, p. 321.
Origen {On Mi., Bk. xii. §i5 21, 22) regards 'Get thee behind
Me ' (vTTaye on-tcrw yu.ov) as a gentle rebuke to Peter's ignorance.
Peter meant well, but he made a grave mistake. He ought to
have known that He whom he had recognized as ' the Son of
the living God' (16) can neither say nor do what merits rebuke,
and that it was presumptuous of one of His followers to rebuke
Him. Peter had been attempting to lead, and to lead his Leader.
' Get thee behind Me ' means that Peter is to go back to his posi-
tion as a follower. In support of this Origen quotes : ' Come ye
behind Me (ottio-w /txou), and I will make you fishers of men '
(iv. 19); and 'He that doth not take up his cross and follow
behind Me (oTtcrco /xov), is not worthy of Me' (x. 38); and he
compares ■nopt.vf.crOi. oTrtcra) avrov (i Kings xviii. 21). He also
remarks that at the Temptation, when the evil one is dismissed,
there is no 'behind Me.'^ The devil cannot become Christ's
follower.
This explanation is rendered improbable by the vTrayc, and
is excluded by the Sarava, Had our Lord meant that Peter
was to resume his place as a disciple. He would have said
' Come ' (ocr^o) rather than ' Go ' (vTrayc) ; and in urging any
one to follow Him He would not call him 'Satan.'
But we have not fully explained either Christ's charge to the
Twelve to be silent or the severity of His rebuke to Pcicr, when
we have shown that Peter's grievous mistake (which was jjcrhaps
'The unusual order, 'elders, chief priests, and scrilws' is in Mk., and
is preserved by both Mt. and Lk. But Mt. and Lk. correct Mk.'s 'after
three days' to 'on the third day.' Mt. alone has the going \.o JerttsaUm to
suffer all this.
'■' In the true text of Mt. iv. 10 there is no dvlcru fiov after Dirayt, and
Origen does not seem to know of the insertion, which is found in V amj
some later texts, from xvi. 18.
234 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 23
shared by the other Apostles) is a proof that a general proclama-
tion of Jesus as the Messiah would have been fatal. There is
also to be considered the effect of Peter's remonstrance upon
Christ Himself. In Peter the banished Satan had once more
returned, and by him the dire temptations to which Jesus had
been subjected in the wilderness had been renewed. The
victory over evil which He had won there had to be won over
again ; and He alone knows what the victory in each case cost
Him. His prayer in Gethsemane, that even then the cup might
pass from Him, shows what an awful power of attraction the
suggestion that the end might be gained without suffering, had
for His human soul. It was this which caused Him to insist
upon the Twelve being silent to outsiders respecting the fact of
His being the Messiah, and it was this which caused Him to
insist upon Peter's being silent to Him respecting the possibility
of His obtaining the Crown without any experience of the Cross.
Neither the multitude by their misdirected enthusiasm, nor the
Apostle by his misdirected affection, must seduce Him from
what was decreed by the Divine Will. ' He tmist go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things.' ^ Peter's love for his Master was real,
but it was exhibited ' not wisely ' ; in accordance, not with the
mind of God, but with the sordid calculations of human affection ;
and it was therefore a snare rather than a support.
Peter's primacy is of a strangely varied character, and it is
sometimes a primacy of evil rather than of good. If he is first
in rank, and first in confession of faith, he is also first in tempting,
and first in denying, his Master. The rock of foundation almost
at once becomes a rock of offence, and that, not to the Church,
but to its very Builder.
Like the time when He became conscious that He was the
Messiah, the time when Jesus became conscious that He must
suffer many things and be killed, is hidden from us. We have
no right to assume (see Jn. iii. 14) that He had only just become
aware of it, when He revealed the fact to His disciples. On the
other hand, we need not suppose that He had known it from
His childhood. We may reverently believe that even He re-
quired to be trained for such a future, and that perhaps not
until His Baptism, and then only gradually, was the will of God,
in this respect, revealed to Him. A childhood overshadowed
by the prospect of sufferings from which even His ripe manhood
shrank, would indeed be a mystery.
^ For the first time this 'must' (Se?) of the Divine decrees respecting the
Messiah is used in this Gospel, in which it is not frequent ; comp. xxvi. 54.
It is specially common in Lk. (ii. 49, iv. 43, ix. 22, xiii. 33, xvii. 25, xix. 5,
xxii. 37, xxiv. 7, 26, 44: comp. Acts iii. 21, xvii. 3 ; i Cor. xv. 25). And,
before this, Christ had intimated that death, and even death by crucifixion,
was included in the 'must' (Jn. ii. 19, iii. 14).
XVI. 24. 25] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 235
According to Mt, the exhortation which follows the rebuke
to Peter (24-27) was a continuation of the training of the
Twelve; but Mk. (viii. 34) lets us know that even in this
remote region Jesus was sufficiently known for a multitude
to be collected round Him, and that He called them to Him
and addressed them along with His disciples. Although the
multitude might not be told that He was the Messiah, and
although even the Twelve could scarcely bear to be told that
the Messiah, the Author of their salvation, must be made
perfect by sufferings (Heb. ii. 10), yet all needed to be taught
that they themselves require suffering for their perfecting, and
must be prepared for it and willing to endure it. He who
would 'Come after' Christ, i.e. become His disciple, must
be ready for three things, self-denial,^ cross-bearing, and loyal
obedience. The startling metaphor of bearing the cross has
been mentioned before (x. 38), but to many of Christ's hearers
it would be new. It shows once more that He desired no half-
hearted disciples, and that He did not wish candidates for the
Kingdom to be under any illusions as to the kind of life that
was required. If Peter had known more of what was necessary
for himself he would not have had so violent a repugnance to
the thought of the Messiah being required to suffer.
It is the common belief of mankind that he is happiest who
possesses most ; and apparently no amount of experience can
uproot this delusion. But (25) he is happiest who is himself a
possession, possessed by Christ, and ready to sacrifice every-
thing, even life itself, y^r His sakc.'^ The greatest of all earthly
possessions is nothing, unless there is some one to enjoy it.
When the possessor perishes, what is the worth of the possession ?
And what is there that he could give to place himself in pos-
session again? Christianity and the highest forms of moral
philosophy are agreed that the claims of self-interest are best
met by self-sacrifice, and that consciously to make one's own
happiness one's aim is a sure way to lose it.
Sayings such as these (24-26) were evidently uttered more
* 'To deny himself is more than what we mean by 'self-denial'; it
means to refuse to make one's own pleasure the aim of life, and one's own
will the law of life. For these are substituted the well-being of others and
the \Vill of God.
^ This is crucial ; to lose one's life, and sacrifice all its powers and possi-
bilities, for a wrong reason, is to lose it indeed. Comp. "For wh.it then
have men lost their life, or for what have those who were on the earth ex-
changed their soul?" (Apocalypse of liaruch, li. 15). Here the d»'rdXXa7vua
\s given, not received ; so the meaning may be, ' What shall a man pay to get
back his life, after he has forfeited it by sinning to nmkc gain ?' So Tyndale,
Cranmer, and the Genevan Version : ' What shall a man give to redeem his
soul again?' Comp. Horn. //. ix. 401-409. Lk. has t.<xvThv (for r. ^\i\r)(i\v
o,\no\)) ^Tjfuu/Oflf.
236 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVI. 27, 28
than once by our Lord, and perhaps were frequently repeated
by Him. Mt. gives them twice, at the mission of the Twelve
(x- 37-39) and here. Lk. gives them thrice; here (ix. 23),
xiv. 25-27, and xvii. 33, the last being very different in wording;
Mk. (viii. 34-37) and Jn. (xii. 25) each of them once. Here
in all three Gospels a reason is given for the declaration of
these severe conditions of disciplcship; ^ For the Son of INIan
shall come in the glory of His Father with His Angels.' ^ Here
Mt. omits that at the Coming the Son of Man will be ashamed
of whoever has been ashamed of Him, for he has already re-
corded similar words at x. 32, 33 ; but he adds here: 'and then
shall He render to each man according to his conduct ' (Kara 77)1/
Trpaiiv avTov), a phrase which does not occur elsewhere in the
N.T. We may perhaps assume that the words which Mt. omits
were spoken twice ; and S. Paul perhaps alludes to them in
'If we shall deny Him, He also will deny us' (2 Tim. ii. 12).
We are not quite sure whether the concluding verse (28) was
spoken at the same time as what precedes. Neither Mt. nor
Lk. indicate any interval. Mk. introduces the words with a
fresh * And He was saying to them ' (Kai eXeyev airots), which
may or may not intimate that there was an interval. It cannot,
however, have been long, and the question is not of importance.
The important point is the very marked difference between Mt.
and the other two as to the last clause of this saying. Mk. and
Lk. have : ' till they see the Kingdom of God,' which may refer to
the Transfiguration regarded as a foretaste of Christ's glory in
the future Kingdom. Mt. has : ' till they see the Son of Man
coming in His Kingdom,' which hardly admits of any other
interpretation than the Second Advent. And yet none of those
present lived to witness the Second Advent. No difference of
translation of the same Aramaic original will help us here. If
Christ uttered what Mk. reports, then Mt. misrepresents the
saying, and vice versa. There can be little doubt that Mk.'s is
the earliest report, and the closest to what was actually said.
Mt. and Lk. have both of them used Mk., Lk. following him
almost exactly, while Mt. substitutes a phrase which he believed
to be equivalent in meaning. At the time when Mt. wrote, it
was commonly believed that most of those who were then alive
would live to see the Second Advent (i Thes. iv. 15), and some
of the Twelve were then alive. Mt. believed that ' till they see
the Kingdom of God come with power ' meant ' till they see the
^ All three here have 'the Father' of God, a usage which is far more
common (45 times) in Mt. than in Lk. {17 times) or Mk. (5 times). All
three also add 'the Angels' to 'the glory of the Father.' We can hardly
doubt that Christ mentioned them in this connexion. Would lie have done
so, if they do not exist ? It would have sufficed to say ' in the glory of the
Father.' See on xiii. 49 and xxviii. 2.
XVI. 28] THE MINISTRY IN OK NEAR GALILEE 237
Son of Man coming in His Kingdom,' and he therefore
substituted a clear expression for the less clear phrase in Mk.'
Comp. X. 23 and xxiv. 34. Tliese three passages show that the
First Gospel was written before the belief that Christ would
return soon had been extinguished. They would not have been
left standing as they are, after experience had proved that the
predictions had not been fulfilled. It is, however, a rash
inference to draw from them that Christ uttered predictions
which were untrue. The comparison which has just been made
between Mk.'s wording and that of Mt. shows what the right
inference is. Christ's words were from the first misunderstood.
An interpretation which was perhaps verbally possible, but which
was erroneous, was put upon them ; and then His words were
altered so as to express this misinterpretation. All this was done
quite innocently. The Evangelists, or the sources which they
used, simply endeavoured to give in plain language the meaning
of what Jesus was believed to have said. The theory that in the
Gospels we have a literal translation into Greek of the very
words which our Lord used cannot be maintained in the face of
the facts which confront us again and again. Yet another
possibility must be borne in mind, — that these passages are
highly metaphorical, and that we misinterpret them in applying
them to the Second Advent.^
Characteristic expressions in ch. xvi. : irpoaipxecrdai (l), ZaSSovKaioi
(l, 6, II, 12), 6 irarrjp 6 iv rols ovpavoh (17), dirb tots (21), r&re (24).
Peculiar: 'lepe/iias (14), ^7 jSacrtXe^a rQv ovpavwv (19). In tlie interpolation
(2, 3) we have evdia and irvppdi'eii'. The latter word is late Greek, but
wvppii'fiv is found in the LXX.
The interpolation about the weather is found in the newly discovered
uncial which has been acquired by Mr. Freer of Detroit, and is pronounced
by experts to be of the fifth, or possibly of the fourth century. See above on
the interpolated doxology after the Lord's Prayer (vi. 13), which is also
contained in this MS. It also contains the insertion at Lk. vi. 5, hitherto
known only from Codex Beza*. On the other hand, it omits Lk. xxii. 43,
44, xxiii. 34; Jn. v. 4, vii. 53-viii. 11. See Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mc-
pharrethe, ii. p. 192.
' Zahn's suggestion that Mt. preserves the original form of the saying,
and that Mk.and Lk. have altered it, is much less probable. Mk. must
have been written while the belief in Christ's speedy return was still
prevalent ; and in that case there would have been no temptation to alter
.Mt.'s wording of the saying. Moreover, all the way through we can see that
it is Mt. who uses Mk., not Mk. who uses Mt.
* " His words are generally so interpreted (of His personal visible return),
and this seems at first their obvious meaning. Yet it is doubtful whether all
the language which is so interpreted is not better understofxl as oriental
imagery describing the accompaniments of His coming in the conversion of
multitudes to faith in Him, and in the downfall of Judaism as the representa-
tive of true religion " (Burton and Mathews).
238 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVII. 1-13
XVII. 1-13. The Transfiguration.
The historical character of this mysterious event is guaranteed
(i) by the improbability of invefition, for there had been nothing
in Christ's previous life to make an appearance of Moses and
Elijah probable, and there is nothing like it in the O.T., the
glorification of Moses at Sinai being very different; (2) by its
intrinsic suitability to the crisis in the Ministry which has just
been reached ; (3) by the testimony of all three Synof lists ; and
(4) by the remarkable i?iju?iction to siletice (see above on xvi. 20).
Whatever date we assign to 2 Peter, the allusion to the Trans-
figuration (2 Pet. i. 16-18) is evidence of what was believed at
that date respecting the incident, and is so far a confirmation of
it.
The three accounts are harmonious as to main facts, although
each narrative contains details which are not in the others.
Both Mt. and Lk, used Mk., and it is possible that Mt. had no
other authority. But it is also possible that he had information
which was not used by Mk., and it is probable that Lk. had
some other source or sources. Lk. is much more independent
of Mk. than Mt. is. The changes which Mt. makes in Mk.'s
narrative may be purely editorial. He alone mentions that the
disciples fell on their faces when they heard the voice from
heaven, and that Jesus came and touched them and said, ' Arise,
and be not afraid.' Mt.'s omissions may be safely regarded as
editorial. With his usual tenderness for the Twelve, he omits
that Peter 'wist not what to answer,' and that all three
' questioned what the rising again from the dead should mean.'
In a similar spirit he adds, ' Then understood the disciples that
He spake unto them of John the Baptist' (13). The addition,
'in whom I am well pleased' (5), brings the wording of the voice
into harmony with that at the Baptism. But Lk.'s wording,
except of Peter's exclamation and of the voice from heaven, is
mainly his own ; and his great additions to the narrative are {a)
that Christ ' was praying ' when He was glorified in appearance,
{b) that Moses and Elijah 'spoke of His exodus which He was
about to accomplish at Jerusalem,' and {c) that the disciples
were ' heavy with sleep.' Lk. may be dating from a different
point when he says ' about eight days ' instead of ' six days,' or
both expressions may mean a week. The mention of a week's
interval, which has no special point, is a mark of historical truth.
Nearly all modern travellers and commentators are agreed that
the ' high mountain ' is Hermon, not Tabor.^
^ In the Greek Church the Feast of the Transfiguration is still sometimes
called Tb Qa^wpiov : Hauck, Real-Encycl. xix. p. 580 ; Herzog and Plitt,
XV. p. 362 J Schaff- Herzog, iv. p. 2382.
XVII. 1-8] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 239
It is impossible for us to determine what tlie experiences of
the three disciples were. The manner of the manifestation
eludes us. Christ Himself calls it a 'vision' (opa/xa, ver. 9),
which does not mean that it was unreal (Acts vii. 31, ix. 10,
xvi. 9, 10, xviii. 9). It was no optical delusion, but an appear-
ance granted to three persons simultaneously. They were
convinced that they had seen the glorified representatives of the
Law and the Prophets conversing with the glorified Christ ; and,
although it is lawful to conjecture how this conviction was
produced, no conjecture can be affirmed with certainty. Their
fear is in all three accounts ; in Mk. after the appearance of
Moses and Elijah ; in Lk. after the cloud and before the voice ;
in Mt. after both cloud and voice. Mt. alone calls the cloud
'bright' ((^(oreur;), which Origen explains as the glory of the
Trinity: comp. 2 Pet. i. 17.
It is wiser to seek for the meaning of the event than to frame
guesses as to the manner of it. It must have had a meaning for
the disciples, and perhaps we may venture to say that it must
have had a meaning for Christ Himself. To the disciples, who
had been so amazed at the doctrine that the Messiah must suffer
and die, it would be a great consolation. Peter's exclamation
seems to imply deep contentment, which he wishes to prolong ;
and there may have been a desire to continue a time of peace
and beauty, and to postpone indefinitely the return to danger
and work. The Transfiguration taught all three that the Passion
of the Messiah did not mean that the glory of the Kingdom
would be lost ; but the glory would be, not of earth, but of
heaven. Although the Messiah was to be rejected by His own
people. He was not rejected by God : He was still the Divine
Son, in whom the I-'ather declared Himself to be well pleased.
The Law and the Prophets had spoken of Him and j^repared
the way for Him, even as regards His humiliation and brief
acquaintance with the grave ; but they were now superseded by
Him. Moses and Elijah disappear, 'Jesus alone' abides, and
they are to listen to Him. ' Hear ye Him,' which distinguishes
this voice from that at the Baptism, is in all three Gospels. See
on iii. 17, and Hastings' Z)Z?. iv., art. 'Transfiguration'; Bruce,
The Trai/iini^ 0/ the Twelve, pp. 188- 191.
Jesus Himself would rejoice at this confirmation of the
disciples' belief in Him. They now knew on additional authority
of the highest order that the Messiah 7iiu5t pass through death
to glory, and hereafter this lesson would come home to them.^
But at this crisis in His ministry He Himself may have been in
' Yet it is to be noted that Mis ' exodus' or 'departure' is spoken of as
an achievement which He is 'about to accomplish, rather than as a fate
which He cannot escape (Lk. ix. 31).
240 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVII. 9-13
need of comfort. The grievous temptations of the devil in the
wilderness had just been renewed by His own Apostle. During
these last months of His earthly career the shadow of the Cross
was falling on Him more and more, and He may have needed
this foretaste of His glory to help Him to endure the foretaste
of His sufferings. He accepted the strengthening of an Angel
in the garden ; and He may have accepted similar strengthening
on the mount.
Lk. tells us that the descent from the mountain took place
' on the next day,' which probably means that the Transfiguration
took place at night.^ He omits the question about Elijah, which
would not interest Gentile readers. It perhaps implies that the
Scribes had used this argument against the suggestion that Jesus
might be the Messiah : " How can He be the Messiah, when
Elijah, who is to precede the Messiah, is not yet come?" Mt,
alone states that John was not recognized as the Elijah of
prophecy: 'they knew him not'; but this is implied in Mk.'s
rather confused report of Christ's words, which Mt. improves.
' Even so shall the Son of Man also suffer of them ' is much
clearer than the words in Mk. A suffering Forerunner is to be
followed by a suffering Messiah. Such a renew^al of the prediction
of His Passion, immediately after the glory of the Transfiguration,
is remarkable.
We cannot safely infer from the vague eirol-qaav avru oaa (12) that "our
Lord attributed the Baptist's murder to the Jewish rulers rather than to Herod
and Herodias." The nominative to iiroi-ncrav may be Herod and Herodias,
or it may be those who actually captured the Baptist and those who actually
slew him. The addition in Mk. ix. 13, Kadihs yiypaTrrai. iir' aiirov, seems
to show that Herod and Herodias are meant. In what sense did it ' stand
written ' that the Baptist was to suffer as he did, if not in the treatment of
Elijah by Ahab and Jezebel, who were the prototypes of Herod and Herodias?
Both Mt. and I\Ik. have iirol-qffav, which the AV. renders ' have done.'
The RV. changes ' have done ' to ' did ' in Mt. but leaves it unchanged in
Mk. The difference between ocra T]d€\Tjcrai> (Mt.) and oaa rjdeKov (Mk.) can
hardly be made in English without clumsiness of expression. Mt. frequently
changes Mk.'s imperfects into aorists. In ver. 10 we have iinjpwTria-av for
iwripwTuv. Comp. i<po^rjd-q, 'iSuKev, 8ieau)6rj(rav (xiv. 5, 19, 36) for icpo^elro,
iSidov, eaw^ovTO (Mk. vi. 20, 41, 56), etc. etc.
The time of year at which the Transfiguration took place is not mentioned
in any of the narratives ; but Colonel Mackinlay makes the attractive hypo-
thesis that it was at the Feast of Tabernacles. The proposal of Peter to
' make three tabernacles ' may have been suggested to him by the fact that this
was the season for making such things. " Some train of thought must have
been running through his mind, and if the Feast of Tabernacles were at hand
he might naturally have thought of honouring each by making a tabernacle
for each" (7/ie Maoi, p. 222). Mackinlay, as already noted, makes the
Feast of Tabernacles the time of the Nativity and also of the beginning of
1 The difference between 'six days' and 'about eight days' might arise
in that way, according as the night was counted with the preceding day or
not.
XVn. 14-19] THE MINISTRY IN OR NKAK GALILEE 24I
Christ's Ministrj- ; and he places four Feasts of Talicrnacles in the Lord's
Ministry as well as four rassovers, making the nameless feast of Jn. v. i to
be a Ri&sover. The time at which the Feast of the Transfiguration is cele-
brated (6 August in most calendars, 14 July in the Armenian) is no guide as
to the actual date of the event, any more than rb Oajidopiov, as one of the
names for the festival, is any guide as to the place. For speculations as to
the purposes of the Transfiguration see papers in \.\\qJTS., Jan. and July 1903
and Jan, 1904.
XVII. 14-21, T/ie Healing of an Epileptic Boy.
Mk. and Lk. say that the boy was possessed by a demon or
unclean spirit, and Mt. falls into this mode of expressing the
phenomena when he says that 'the demon came out' (18), and
thereby shows his acquaintance with Mk. His own expression,
'epileptic' or 'moon-struck' (crcX-^ita^ecr^at), is found only here
and in iv. 24. He greatly shortens Mk.'s narrative, perhaps
because, with his tenderness for the Apostles, he did not like
to dwell upon their failure, which, however, had to be mentioned,
unless the miracle was to be stripped of its most characteristic
features. The details which he omits are just those which he is
wont to omit in other cases. He omits the conversation with
the father of the afflicted boy, in which Jesus asks for information,
and thereby seems to imply ignorance ; and he omits the fact
that the convulsions caused by Christ's healing word appeared
to have killed the lad, until Christ ' took him by the hand and
raised him up.' So that, as in the case of the blind man at
Bethsaida (Mk. viii. 22-26), which Mt. omits altogether, the
cure seemed to be at first incomplete. Mt. corrects this im-
pression by stating that 'the boy was cured from that hour ' (18).
While Mk. represents our Lord as taking the initiative with a
question, Mt. and Lk. begin with the father's appeal, and Mt.
alone states that the father knelt to Christ.^ The introductory
rebuke, ' O unbelieving generation,' is in all three, and may or
may not include the disciples who had failed to heal the boy.
It appears to be addressed to the multitude as representing the
nation, and it prepares the way for the more definite rebuke to
the disciples after the miracle. Mt. and Lk. both add 'and
per\-erse ' to ' unbelieving.' The exclamation is one of weariness,
and perhaps disappointment; and the 'how long' suggests that
the end which is drawing near will be welcome.
'Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, \Vhy
could not we cast it out?' Here again Mt. shows his acquaint-
ance with Mk. In ver. 16, he turned Mk.'s 'they were not able
' Comp. ii. 2, II, viii. 2, ix. 18, xiv. 33, xv. 25, xx. 20; but here he
has ■^ovxnfijQiv, instead of his usual npocrKWUf : and he alone gives the Kvpie,
16
242 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVII. 19, 20
to casta out^ into 'they could not cure him,' and in ver. i8 he
said that the boy ' was cured from that hour ' ; but here Mk.'s
expression, ' cast it out,' prevails, just as his ' came out ' prevailed
in ver. i8. Had Mt. never seen Mk. he would no doubt have
written, ' Why could not we cure him ? ' The disciples who ask
the question are, of course, those who had not been with Him
on the mount.i The whole narrative is written from the point
of view of those who had been with Him there, and we can
hardly doubt that Peter is the chief authority for the three
accounts. In this concluding portion, however, respecting the
rebuke to the defeated disciples, Lk. is silent, although he has
a similar saying, in a different context, xvii. 6. For 'this
mountain,' which means the mount of the Transfiguration, Lk.
has ' this sycamine tree.' ' Mountain ' was a common Jewish
metaphor for ' difficulty,' and the whole saying is coloured with
Oriental imagery. Forgetfulness of this has led to strange mis-
interpretations of what can be done by those who have faith.
Comp. ix. 22, 29, xviii. 19.
Mt.'s report of Christ's reply to the unsuccessful disciples is
much less obscure than that of Mk. Mk. has : ' This kind can
come out by nothing, save by prayer.' What does ' This kind '
mean? Evil spirits in general? or dumb and deaf spirits in
particular? And who is to pray? The possessed person? or
his friends ? or the exorcist ? The reply in Mt. is clear enough :
' Because of your little faith.' It was not because of His absence :
when He sent them out two and two to cast out demons and to
heal diseases, there is no report of failure. It was not the taunts
of the Scribes : their questioning had followed the failure, not
caused it. The fault lay in themselves. His power to heal was
with them as before, but they had lost the power of making use
of it. Unconsciously they had fallen away into a condition of
mind in which they trusted either too much in themselves, as if
the power were their own ; or too little in Christ, as if in this
difficult case He might fail them. It is so easy for faith to
dwindle, without the loss of it being observed.^ It was not their
faith in Jesus as the Messiah that had failed them, but their faith
in the commission to heal which He had given them. It endued
them with power, but the power was not their own.
^ Mt. says that they came to Him ' apart ' ; as usual he omits that it was
in a house ; comp. ix. i with Mk. ii. I ; xii. 22-24 with Mk. iii. 20-22 ; xv.
15, 21 with Mk. vii. 17, 24; xvii. 19 with Mk. ix. 28; xix. 6 with Mk. x.
8-10.
2 Hence Christ says, 'as a grain of mustard-seed,' not, 'as a grain of
sand' ; small, but capable of growth, and very large growth. Comp. xv. 28,
where Mt. gives the presence of faith as the cause of healing, but Mk. gives
a different explanation. See W. M. Alexander, Demonic Possession, pp.
193, 278.
XVII. 22, 23] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 243
Authorities are divided between ' liltle fiiitli ' {dXiyoiriarta) and 'unhclicf
(dTjoTto). It is more likely that the rare word 6\iyoTrt<TTla (H B) would 1)C
changed into the common word avKxria (C D etc.) than z'tVe versa, especially
as ill -f(v(CL AvtaTos might suggest the latter. Eour times Mt. has dXiydiriaTot
as a term of reproach to the disciples (vi. 30, viii. 26, xiv. 31, xvi. 8).
We may safely regard, ' liut this kind goeth not out save by pra) er and
fiisting'as an interpolation from Mk. ix. 29, made after ' and fasting' had
been added to that verse. Here K li and other important witnesses omit
the whole verse ; and in those authoriti.s which contain it the wording differs.
In the next verse (22) there is a various reading of some interest :
avCTp«po^huv (K B), 'as they were gathering together,' is to be preferred
to dvaiXTpe(f>ofidyuy (C D etc.), 'as they abode.' The former is rare in the
N.T. Comp. Acts xxviii. 3.
XVII. 22, 23. Another Announcement of the Passion.
What follows the curing of the epileptic boy (22, 23) is often
called "the second announcement of the Passion." But, even as
regards what is recorded, it is the third : for we have already had
two (xvi. 21, xvii. 12) ; and it is improbable that all the occasions
on which our Lord spoke of this subject have been recorded.
The words which are common to all three narratives of this new
announcement are : ' The Son of Man is about to be delivered
up (fiiWcL TrapaSLOocrOat) into the hands of men ' ; but Mk. uses
the present tense, as of a process which is already begun : ' is
Iffing delivered up' (-apaStSorat). The Glory of the Transfigura-
tion and the voice proclaiming Him as the Divine Son do not
interfere with our Lord's continuing to speak of Himself as the
Son of Man. What is meant by 'delivered up' is not certain.
It is often understood of the act of the traitor (6 kqX irapahov^
auToV, X. 4). (Comp. .\x. ly, xxvi. 21-25, 4^, 48.) But it may
also, as Origen has pointed out, refer to the delivering up of the
Son by the Father for the redemption of all men. In this way
the addition ' into the hands of man ' has real point ; God
delivers up His Son to men. Otherwise the addition is almost
superfluous.!
The changes which Mt. makes in Mk.'s record are again very
interesting. He corrects 'after three days 'to 'on the third day,'
and substitutes 'be raised up' for 'rise again' (comp. xvL 21
with Mk. viii. 31); and he again spares the 'J'welve by omitting
'But they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask
Him.' For this he substitutes, 'And they were exceeding
sorry,' which comes strangely after ' the third day He shall be
' Abbott strongly contends for this meaning, and he suggests that the
original saving was 'delivered up /or men,' and that it was this which the
disciples did not understand, for as yet they knew little alxjut the mediatory
nature of Christ's death (J'aradosis, pp. 53 ff.). But was it not the raising
again which they could not undcritanU? Mk. ix. 10, 32. Lk. ix. 4.}, 45 is
ditTerent.
244 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVn. 24-27
raised up.' But it illustrates the fact that Christ's predictions of
the Resurrection were not understood until after He had risen.
Lk., who here omits the prediction of Christ's death and rising
again, says that the meaning of the saying was concealed from
them purposely (ix. 45). Comp. Lk. xviii. 34, xxiv. 16. Their
being afraid to ask Him was very natural, both because He was so
reserved respecting Himself, and because they feared to learn
something still more trying. The severe rebuke to Peter would
also be fresh in their minds. They neither remonstrate nor
question, but maintain a mournful and perplexed silence.
Comp. xxvi. 22.
XVII. 24-27. The Temple-Tax afid the Stater in the Fish's
Mouth.
Excepting the introductory words about a return to
Capernaum, this narrative is peculiar to Mt. In reference
to the return, he characteristically omits Christ's entrance into
a house and the fact that on the way the disciples had
disputed which of them was greatest. It was before the disciples
entered the house that the tax-collectors had applied to Peter for
the usual contribution, and it may have been their recognizing
him as leader and spokesman that started the discussion as to
who was first in the company. Half a shekel was payable
annually to the Temple by every Jew over twenty years of age
(Exod. XXX. 13). The i'/^^-^^Z equalled four Attic Drachmce (Jos.
Atit. III. viii. 2), and hence this tax came to be known as Uhe
two drachmce ' {to ScBpax/Jiov or to. ^iSpaxfia). ' Does your Master
not pay the usual tax ? ' The collectors, who were quite different
from the ' publicans ' or collectors of toll for the Romans or the
Herods, perhaps knew that Jesus did not always conform to
traditional regulations ; and, as Jesus had only recently returned
to Capernaum, the tax may have become due while He was
absent.^ Peter, who knew what Christ's previous practice had
been, at once says that He does pay ; and Mt.'s special interest
in Peter seems to have led to the preservation of this narrative.
Our Lord does not wait for Peter to consult Him as to whether
he has answered rightly or not, about which he perhaps had
misgivings : He anticipates Peter, and thus disposes of the
question of the tribute before rebuking the Twelve for their
dispute about precedence.
The exact meaning of Christ's argumentative parable is
1 But the tax was like a voluntary church-rate ; no one could be compelled
to pay. Peter may have suspected that the collectors' question was an
insinuation that Jesus would not pay, and hence his prompt affirmative:
•' Of course."
XVn. 25 27] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALII.EK 245
debated, but the old explanation is probably the right one : that
Jesus, as the Son of God, is free from an impost for the mainten-
ance of Ilis Father's Temple. The objections to this are not
conclusive. It is urged that such an argument would reveal just
what He had forbidden the Twelve to divulge, that He was the
Messiah. But the argument would not have gone beyond the
disciples. To the collectors it would have sufficed to reply : " I
do not wish to pay." Again, it is urged that in the parable we
have 'from their sons,' not 'from their son,' and the plural does
not commonly represent an individual. But the form of the
parable requires the plural; 'aliens' or 'strangers' is plural,
and it needs a plural contrast. The contrast is between those
who are members of the royal family and those who are not ;
the former being exempt from taxation. Whether the royal
family is represented by one son or by several is not of the
essence of the argument. This interpretation of the argument is
so simple, and fits the context so well, that it is likely to be the
right one.
Relying upon the plural, some would interpret the ' sons ' as
meaning the whole Jewish nation, or, at any rate, all religious
Jews.^ If this is correct, then our Lord is teaching that this is
not a tax which ought to be collected from Jews at all, but
perhaps might be imposed upon Gentiles. Yet would He have
suggested getting money from heathen to support Jewish
worship? And would He have treated in this way an imf)ost
which was believed to be enjoined by the written Law? His
treatment of the rule of not eating without washing is not
parallel ; that was human tradition.
Others \N-ould make 'their sons' refer, neither to Christ
exclusively, nor to the whole Jewish nation, but to Christ and
His disciples. In that case ' their sons ' docs not mean the
royal farnily, but the royal household. Christ would not have
counted Himself as a son in the sense in which the disciples
were 'sons of God' (comp. v. 9). His Sonship is unitjue. ' I
ascend unto My Father and your Father' (Jn. xx. 17) marks this
clearly ; and here also He says : ' That take and give for Me and
thee.' But Christ and His disciples, though not in the same
sense members of the royal family, were in the same sense
members of the royal household. In so far as the Kingdom had
already come, they were in it ; and in so far as it was future,
they were fellow-workers for it. This Kingdom was to supersede
all Jewish worship, and the promoters of the new Kingdom were
' It is not likely that ' ihcir sons' means their fellow-countrymen. A Jew,
with experience of taxation under the Hcrods, would not think it true ih.nt
Jewish kings do not tax Jews. Sec Schiirer, Jewish Pco/'U, 11. i. pp. 250,
251.
246 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVII. 25-27
not bound to support a dispensation which it was their duty to
render obsolete. In this way Jesus might claim for Himself and
His disciples an exemption which could not be claimed for all
Jews. ' That we may not cause them to stumble ' is in favour
of including the disciples in the claim.
Nevertheless, the question which called forth this argument
was whether Jesus Himself would pay. No question is raised
about the Twelve. It seems to be assumed throughout that
Peter, and therefore his companions, will pay.^ And perhaps it
is safer to confine the reference to the Divine Sonship of Jesus,
the bearing of which upon the question, Peter, in his eagerness
to place his Master in a favourable light with the collectors, had
overlooked. But in any case we have an instance of the humility
of Christ, who, although He was greater than the Temple, yet
submitted to be taxed for the continuance of sacrifices, which for
a few months longer would still have a meaning in foreshadowing
the one Sacrifice to be offered by Himself. Moreover, " Jesus
here illustrates a fixed principle of all reforms, viz. the avoidance
of actions which are not absolutely essential for the success of
the reform, and which, because easily misunderstood, and so
arousing prejudice, would make it more difficult for others to
join in the good movement" (Burton and Mathews, p. 163).
Some, who might otherwise have listened to Him, would have
turned away had He seemed by His example to teach that the
Temple-services were not worth maintaining. His willingness to
pay may remind us of His willingness to submit to baptism in
order to fulfil all righteousness, and also of His zeal for the
honour of His Father's House, when the hierarchy had turned it
into a place of traffic. Neither His right to exemption, on the
one hand, nor the fact that the Temple would soon be over-
thrown, on the other, allowed Him to spare Himself cost or
trouble. He submits rather than risk causing others to offend.
And, as if to confirm Peter in the conviction that as the Son
of God He is free, He manifests to him a miracle of fore-
knowledge.2
The miracle is not without its difficulties, of which the silence
of the other Evangelists is only a small part. It seems to violate
the principle, that miracles are never wrought where ordinary
means would suffice. The small sum required could have been
obtained in some other way. It brings no healing or comfort to
any one. It seems to be wrought for a very trifling purpose ; for,
^ Peter seems to be recognized as the head disciple : and neither he nor
his Master has any money ; comp. xxii. 19.
2 "All the attempts have been in vain which were made by the older
Rationalism to put a non-miraculous meaning into these words " (B. Weiss,
Life of Christ, ii. p. 337).
XVII. 25-27] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEK 247
poor as Christ and His discijiles were, the raising of three or four
shillings docs not appear to be a matter that calls for a miracle.
Moreover, in the advantage gained by the finding of the coin,
Jesus Himself shared. Indeed the chief use of the money was
to pay His tax for Him.
These objections would have more force, if our Lord had
turned a stone into a sfatci^^ or had created the money required.
The miracle lies solely in His knowing beforehand that there
would be no need to dip into the bag which Judas carried, but
that God would provide exactly what was re(iuired. This super-
natural knowledge was a lesson to Peter, and through him to
Christendom, respecting the character and the freedom of the
Christ. The Father was about to enable the Son to avoid
violating either His own freedom or the consciences of those
who could not understand that freedom. Jesus knows this, and
He allows Peter to know it.
There is nothing incredible in the manner in which the money
is found. Such things have happened, and our Lord may have
foretold that it would happen to Peter. But we may allow the
possibility of metaphor, or of the exact words used by Christ
being either misunderstood or modified in tradition. ' In the
fish that thou shalt catch thou shalt find what will pay for Me
and for thee' might mean that the fish would sell for as much ;
and this would easily take the form which Mt. records. We are
not told that Peter did find a coin in the mouth of a fish, and
thus the confirmation of the exact terms of the prediction is
lacking. The case is not like that of the colt tied (Mk. xi. 2, 4),
or that of the man bearing a pitcher of water (Mk. xiv. 13, 16),
in both of which cases both the prediction and the fulfilment
are recorded.
In Cod. Algcrince Pcckovcr (Evan. 561, Gregory 713, which is one of the
Ferrar group and of about the eleventh ccnlur)-) there is an insertion between
TV. 26 and 27. "Simon said, Yea. Jesus sailh, Give tliercfore thou also
as iheir stranger " : (<t>r) "Zlfxuv vai. "Kiyn 6 'l-t)ao\Js' 56y ovv koX <tu u;s dW&rptos
aiTuiv. In z-v. 25, 26 there are small deviations from the true text, and in
ver. 27 iyKtlfitfov is added after craTrjpa and (tctl before it : evpi'iactt (K(i
ffTaTTJpa iyKtlfifvov. There is no reason to suppose that the interpolated say-
ings arc anything more than a paraphrasing parallel of the true text. Sic
Resch, Agrapha, No. 14, p. 37, 2nd ed. ; C. R. Gregory, Das I rcfr-l.os^ion^
p. 25. The interpolation about the tribute is found also in the Arabic
> A stater was equal to four drachtiuc or to one shekel^ and therefore would
pay for two persons. As the didrachvt was very rarely coined at this period,
it must have been a common thing for tuo persons to pay the tax with one
coin ; and this is some confirmation of the tradition that a coin, and the right
amount for two payments, was found. It is a further confirmation of it that
the tradition must have arisen at a time when the Tem[)lc was still standing
(Wellhauscn, p. 90). Sec F. W. Madikn, Hist, of Jewish Coinage, pp.
235-242.
248 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVIII. 1-36
Diatessaron (xxv. 6) ; see Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mepharreshe, ii. pp. 192,
274. In the Acta ThomcB, 143, Bonnet, p. 250, Christ is said to "have given
head-money for Himself and His disciples" — iirLKe(pa\aia 8e5uKws iirkp avTod
KoL Twv ai'TOV fiadTjTwy.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xvii. : Kal Idov (3, 5), ISov (5), <r<p6Spa
(6, 23), TTpocrepxea-Oai (7, 14, 19, 24), t6t€ (13, 19), ■irpo(y<f>ipiiv (16), wpa
iKelvrj (18), p.€Ta^alvetv {20 bis), CKet (20), ri aoi doKel ; (25), wopevecrOai (27).
The following are not found elsewhere in the N.T. : aeX-rjvidi'eadaL (15 and
iv. 24), 6\iyoTnaTia (20), rot 8i8paxpia (24 dis), vpocpddveiv (25), dyKia-rpov
(27), arari^p (27).
The derivation of a-rarrip is from 'i<rrrifjLi in the sense of 'weigh,' a sense
which it has in xxvi. 15 (RV.), where D reads aTaTTJpas instead of dpyvpia.
A stater, therefore, is a standard weight or coin, and the tctradrachtn was so
used. This was convenient in Palestine, where the Phoenician tetradrachm
or stater = \ki?i Hebrew shekel. 'For Me and thee' (not, 'for both of us')
separates the Lord from Peter (comp. Jn. xx. 17). Perhaps the meaning is
that the reasons for which each of them paid were different.
XVm. 1-35, Discourses at Capernaum.
The first of these is on the childlike temper, a subject which
arises out of the question of precedence which had been raised
by the disciples. According to Mk. this question had been
disputed by the disciples 'in the' way' (ix. 33), which would
mean on the journey from the neighbourhood of Cffisarea
Philippi to Capernaum. Possibly the preference shown to Peter,
James and John at the Transfiguration had led to this dispute ;
or Peter's forwardness on that occasion may have led the three
to dispute whether he had any right to precedence. Jesus sits
down, summons all the Twelve, and charges them to become
like children. Mt. once more spares the Twelve by omitting
the dispute, and he represents the disciples as coming to Jesus
to ask Him about precedence, and He then calls a child. By
saying that the disciples' question was asked 'in that hour,' and
that it was in the form ' Who then {tis apa) is greatest in the
Kingdom?,' he closely connects it with the prominence given
to Peter by the collectors and by Christ Himself, in the matter
of the Temple-tax. It is clear that throughout this chapter Mt.
has another authority besides Mk.
Christ Himself had just given an example of humility in
submitting to be taxed for the Temple-services. He now gives
a striking object-lesson on the subject. That the child whom
He took for this purpose was Ignatius is a very late tradition of
the ninth century, and needs no more than a passing mention
(Lightfoot, Ignatius, i. p. 27, ii. p. 22). The child was probably
one belonging to the house in which Christ was staying, and
was well known to Him. The words with which the discourse
opens (3) may have been transferred from INIk. x. 14, 15 ( = Mt.
xix. 14), but they are quite suitable in both contexts. 'Except
XVni. 1-7] THE MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 249
ye turn and become^ is peculiar to this context, and the meaning
seems to be that by raising this question of precedence the
disciples had gone in the wrong direction. They evidently did
not know where true greatness was to be found ; and, if they
desire to enter the Kingdom, they must remember the first
Beatitude and return to the childlike attitude, which does not
seek prominence but shrinks from it. In the Kingdom it is
these childlike souls that are greatest (4).
In what follows (5), the important qualification, 'in My
Name,' which is in all three reports, must not be overlooked :
comp. "for My sake' (xvi. 25). The disciple who wins the high
honour of receiving Christ is he who welcomes little children, not
because he is fond of children, but because they represent
Christ.^ The full meaning is 'on the basis of My Name ' (tVl tw
ov6\x.a.rl /j-ov). His name is the symbol of His character, and the
childlike character is a Christlike character — meek and lowly
in heart, with a sense of dependence for everything upon a
parent's wisdom and love. The attractiveness of such a char-
acter, whether in children or in adults, ought to be felt by every
Christian.
The beauty of the childlike temper suggests another subject,
— the heinousness of marring such beauty, and indeed, generally,
the grievous sin involved in causing others to sin (6-10). Lk.
has words similar to vv. 6, 7 at x\'ii. i, 2, but without connexion
with any incident. They are part of the training of the Twelve.
Here the mention of ' little ones ' connects the two verses with
what precedes, and the thought of 'causing to stumble' with
what follows. The misery of having ruined a beautiful character
by seducing it into evil is so intense, that a man had better be
thrown into the sea, like a dog with a stone round its neck,
rather than incur it. Drowning was not a Jewish punishment,
and in Palestine the scarcity of water would be against any such
mode of execution. But here there is no thought of punishment.
The thought is that it is better to suffer a dreadful and igno-
minious death before being guilty of any such sin. It was in
order to avoid all risk of causing others to offend that Jesus
submitted to be taxed for the Temple-services. But, in the case
before us, there is no mere risk, but cerLiinty. And let no one
think that he cannot //<■//> sometimes causing little ones to
stumble. It is true that, the world being so full of tem[)tntions,
and human nature being so weak, occasions of stumbling are
sure to come and at times to prove fatal ; but that does not
prove that those who cause them are irresponsible. It is a
' There is somcthinfj whidi reminds us of the Fourth r.ospcl in the ex-
pression : Jn. xii. 44, 45, xiii. 20, xiv. 9, 24, xv. 23. Comp. Ml. x. 40,
which anticipates this saying ; also /'ir^e Aboth, v. 24.
250 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVIII. 8-10
grievous thing for the world that some men consent to be
seducers, and it is a still more grievous thing for the seducers
that they consent to become such.^
And there is such a thing as seducing oneself (8, 9), i.e.
letting the lower part of one's nature lead the higher part astray,
for it is the higher part that is one's true self. We have had
teaching of this kind already in the Sermon on the Mount
(v. 29, 30); and the solemnity and stringency of the wording
ought to convince us of its importance. The language, of course,
is metaphorical, but there is no doubt as to its meaning. If the
choice has to be made, it is better to sacrifice most precious
elements of our being, rather than be guilty of conduct that
would incur total and irreparable loss of the whole. We sacrifice
even the most valuable of our limbs, in order to avoid the death
of the body by incurable disease. We ought to be ready to
sacrifice things of still greater value, in order to avoid the
death of the soul in ' the eternal fire.' Mk. here has ' the un-
quenchable fire,' which Mt. has in iii. 12. In both these verses
the 'fire' is opposed to 'life,' and therefore seems to mean
' destruction.' 2 It can hardly mean endless life in torment. The
Jews of that age perhaps thought of endless torment as the
portion of the wicked, as they also thought that the righteous in
bliss would behold the torments of the wicked, while the wicked
in their agony beheld the happiness of the righteous. Christ
left those ideas undisturbed, but that is no proof that they are
true. And in some respects, although He did not contradict
current beliefs, He left teaching which has undermined them.
See Gould on Mk. ix. 43, and Charles on Enoch xxvii. i.
Two points must be kept in view in considering the solemn
warnings. They are hypothetical, depending upon an 'if; 'If
hand, foot, or eye cause thee to stumble.' And the decision
whether they do so or not, and therefore the adoption of the
necessary remedy, rests Avith the person himself.
Hand, foot, and eye are excellent things, capable of doing
God and man good service as well as of being means of innocent
delight to the possessor of them. They are God's gifts, and
they were not given simply to be sacrificed and thrown away.
^ In Chm. Horn. xii. 29 Peter is represented as saying: "The prophet
of the tiath said, Good things must (Set) come, and blessed is he through
whom they come ; in hke manner evil things also must needs {avi-yKt]) come,
but woe to him through whom they come." The 5e£, as often in the Gospels,
may mean ' by God's decree ' (xxiv. 6, xxvi. 54), which is true of the good,
but not of the evil. Comp. Pirqe Ahoth, v. 26.
- The expressions, to irvp to aiuiviov, i] Ka/uuvos rod irvp6s (xiii. 42), and
KoXaa-is aliivLos (xxv. 46), are peculiar to Mt. It is remarkable that /coXadis
and KoXai'eiv, both frequent in the LXX., occur only twice each in the N.T.
And /3dXe ciTro aou is peculiar to Mt.
XVni. 8 10] TIIK MINISTRY IN OR NEAR GALILEE 251
No doubt tlicy can be abused; but so can life itself, and we
may as \Yell part with it at once, if everything that is capable of
abuse must be sacrificed. Nevertheless, experience may prove
to us that some of the blessings which God has placed within
our reach are so perilous to us, and so often lead us into evil,
that there is only one course open to us, if we are to be
faithful to our calling, and that is, to give up such things
altogether. But the decision must rest with ourselves, and
be confined to ourselves. No one else can decide for us ;
and we have no right to impose the restrictions which we find
necessary for ourselves upon others, or judge others for not
adopting them.
From these sayings respecting the subtle dangers of self-
seduction the discourse returns to the leading thought of little
children, and especially to that of the great guilt of leading
children into sin. The 'Take heed' or 'See ' (opart) indicates
the importance of the charge (comp. viii. 4, ix. 30, xvi. 6). We
must not for a moment suppose that the misleading of an
innocent child cannot be a very serious thing, — that a little
child docs not count. Every single child counts, and it is well
worth while to endeavour to keep even one such from being
led astray. This teaching is further enforced with a reason,
which is introduced with solemnity: 'For I say to you, that in
heaven their Angels do always behold the face of My Father
which is in heaven.' That shows how precious each one of
them is in God's sight; and what God values so highly man
must not despise.
Although it is certain that this is the tenour of the argument,
it is not quite certain what the details of it mean. It appears to
mean that the Angels which represent children arc the Angels
of the presence, i.e. the highest of all (Lk. i. 19 ; Tob. xii. 15).
God has commissioned the most glorious of all His creatures to
be sponsors for little children. It is not so clear that the saying
implies that each child has a Guardian-Angel. The story of
Tobit and Acts xii. 15 seem to show that a belief in a Guardian-
Angel for each individual was current among the Jews, and here
Christ may be sanctioning such a belief I5ut the jjurport of the
saying is sufficiently intelligible, if we interpret it as meaning that
the Angels which are the heavenly counterparts of children
always have ready access to God's presence.' It is 'the little
ones who believe in Me' (6) that are specially under considera-
tion. In them the qualities are most likely to be found which
every Christian ought to reverence as reflexions of Christ Himself.
' Tlic s.-»)in{;, however, Lcconics uninlcllit;il)Ic on the hypfitlicsis ih.it
Christ knew tliat there arc no such beings as Angels ; see on xiii. 49 and
xvL 27. Sec Muntcfiorc, p. 679.
252 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVIII. 10-13
There is possibly an intimation that the Angels which protect children, or
which represent them before God (if each human soul has a representative
Angel), never lose the presence of God through the children's misconduct.
The emphasis may be on Sta Trai'rds. These innocent little ones never do
anything that would put their representatives to shame before God. If this
is so, then we may compare the Angels of the Churches in the Apocalypse ;
for they seem to be beings who represent the Churches and are in some way
responsible for the conduct of each Church (Rev. ii., iii.). In the Book of
Jubilees (xxxv. 17) there appears to be a reference to the belief in representa-
tive or guardian Angels ; and, if so, it is a very early reference. Isaac says
to Rebecca : " Fear thou not on account of Jacob ; for the guardian of Jacob
is great and powerful and honoured, and praised more than the guardian of
Esau." See J. H. Moulton on 'It is his Angel' in \hQ Joitr. of Th. St.,
July 1902, p. 514. D. B. Warfield holds that 'little ones' means 'My
disciples,' not children ; DCG., art. ' Little Ones.'
The whole of ver. 11, ' For the Son of Man came to save that which was
lost ' is rightly omitted as an interpolation from Lk. xix. 10. It is wanting
in K B L and other important authorities, and is rejected by all editors. It
was probably inserted to make an introduction to the parable of the Lost
Sheep, which follows somewhat abruptly. But the insertion spoils rather
than helps the connexion between ver. 10 and ver. 12. Christ has just been
teaching how precious one child is in God's sight ; and on that doctrine the
parable follows very naturally. The saying about the Son of Man has some
affinity with search for the lost sheep, but it does not help to connect this idea
with that about little children.
The connexion of the parable of the Lost Sheep (12, 13)
with what precedes is that God cares for children and for child-
like believers as a shepherd cares for his sheep. If one of them
is lost, He will make every effort to recover it, and will rejoice
greatly if He succeeds. If God takes so much trouble to recover
a little one that has strayed, how grievous it must be to cause it
to stray. Rather, every effort should be made to prevent it from
straying. The parable is more beautifully drawn out in Lk. xv.
3-7 than here, and the context there is more suitable. It is
probable that in this chapter we have a number of Christ's
sayings which Mt. has grouped together in a way of his own.
The connecting thought in the first fourteen verses is that of
little children. For the remainder of the chapter the connecting
thought is the forgiveness of sins, a subject which is suggested
by the parable of the Lost Sheep. The Evangelist sees that,
while the owner's diligence in seeking for the one sheep that has
strayed illustrates God's love for a single child, yet that is not
the onl" lesson. The sheep that has so foolishly and wilfully
strayed is not only recovered and restored to the flock, but
rejoiced over, as if the recovery were a great gain ; and that
illustrates God's great love in the forgiveness of sinners. We
pass on, therefore, to a collection of sayings connected with this
subject. The way in which God deals with His erring sheep
leads on to the way in which a man should deal with his erring
brother. He should endeavour to seek and recover him who
XVin. 15-17] THE MINISTRY IN OR NKAR GALILEK 253
has gone astray (15). l?ut, as there was a possibiHty that Cvcn
the Divine Owner might fail in recovering His shcei), — '//so he
that lie find it,' — much more is there a possibility that a man
may fail in regaining his offending brother. The will is left free
in each case ; there is no compulsion, and the erring one may
refuse to be won back. We are nut told of the various methods
which God tries, when the wanderer refuses to return ; they do
not so much concern us ; but we know that there is a Divine
perseverance in such things.^ 'Until He find it' is the expres-
sion in Lk., without thought of ultimate failure. But we are
told of the various methods to be adopted by a Christian, when
a brother has sinned against him. First, private remonstrance
and entreaty, with no one present but the offender and the
offended. Then one or two more are to be present, who with
the offended person will make up the two or three witnesses
required by Deut. xix. 15. Yet these are not witnesses of the
original wrong-doing, but of the wronged person's attempts at
reconciliation, and of the response which the wrong-doer makes
to them. They will be able to certify that the one has honestly
tried to bring the other to a belter mind, and that the other has
or has not yielded to his efforts.^ If this fails, the wronged
person is to 'tell it to the Church' {IkkXi^uUl). Evidently 'the
Church' here cannot mean the Christian Church which Christ
intends to build (xvi. iS).^ It means the Jewish assembly, and
probably the local assembly, the ciders and congregation of the
synagogue in the place where the parties live (Hort, The
Christian Ealesia, p. 10). The directions here given are applic-
able to the Christian community, but, at the time, they must
have been spoken of a community of Jews.
It is assumed throughout that the injured person is making
a genuine endeavour to reclaim his erring brother.^ Hut, while
it is one against one, the erring brother may suspect unfairness.
He has far less reason for this when one or two more have heard
the case. He has still less excuse for suspicion when the whole
congregation are judges. All that is required is that he should
own that he has done wrong and should ask forgiveness.
Nothing is said about punishment. But it is now clear that he
" The change from the future (a(pr)<j€i, ' will leave') to the present ((yfrti,
•goes on seeking') suggests the conlimiancc of the efTnit (12).
' Moreover they may help to persuade the errintJ brother to yield. Juit as
the exjx-lled demon to«jk other demons to help a work of ruin (xii. 45), 10
the injured person takes other mcml>crs of llic community to help a work of
restoration {rapaXafipiyitr in lx)th places).
* In Syr-Sin. tKuXricla is translalcd ' .syn.-igogue.' Comp. the remarkable
parallel to this in the Testaments : " If a nian sin against thee, tpcak
peaceably to him, and in thy soul hold no guile ; and if he repent and con-
fess, forgive him " {CaJ vi. 3).
254 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVIII. 17, 18
does not wish to be reconciled.^ He will not do what every one
else sees to be reasonable ; and he is now to be regarded as no
true member of the congregation. The toll-collectors were
regarded as virtually heathen and excommunicate, and this
obstinately impenitent brother is henceforth to be treated as one
of them (B. Weiss, Life of Christ, ii. p. 122). Intercourse with
him would be contaminating, for he might lead others to be as
impenitent and rebellious as himself; and as long as he maintains
this attitude, he cannot be forgiven and restored.
In what follows (18) we perhaps have the original form of
xvi. 19. What was spoken to the Twelve collectively may have
been adapted afterwards to Peter as their leader. The meaning
here seems to be that the decisions of the congregation, whether
Jewish or Christian, are final. They have the authority to forbid
and to allow, to refuse or to grant forgiveness. But it may be
doubted whether the saying was originally spoken in its present
context. Possibly it ought to be kept apart from what precedes
(15-17), and perhaps also from what follows (19, 20).^ The
Evangelist appears to be putting together, as one discourse, a
number of utterances which have no connexion beyond a certain
community of thought. But we may follow his grouping without
assuming that it is historically correct.
By his 'Again' (izoXiv) Mt. couples the second 'I say unto
you' (19) with the former one (18), and some texts (BIXII)
read ' Again, verily I say unto you.' The connexion is that God
is sure to ratify the decision of the congregation, for He hears
the prayer of any two members of it. But, out of the connexion
in which Mt. has placed it, tne lesson is that the smallest
possible congregation is certain to be heard when it unites in
prayer. Probably the contrast between 'on earth' and 'in
heaven' has caused Mt. to group vv. 19, 20 with ver. 18. But
the connexion between vv. 19 and 20 is original and close. The
prayers of two will be granted, because Christ is with them when
they unite in prayer. ^ In the Oxyrhynchus Logia there is a
saying which seems to be an echo of this passage : "Jesus saith.
Wherever there are [two], they are not without God (a^eot), and
^ For TrapaKoijeiv of 'refusing to comply' conip. Is. Ixv. 12 ; Esth. iii. 3,
8 ; Tob. iii. 4. In Mk. v. 36 Jesus ' refuses to attend ' to the message that
the daughter of Jairus is dead. In the Testaments, the angry man ' refuses
to attend ' to a Prophet of the Lord {Dan ii. 3). As to appeahng to the
congregation comp. "Judge not alone, for none may judge alone save One"
(Pzr^e Aboth, iv. 12).
^ We must keep it apart from both, if we regard it as conferring special
powers upon the Apostles, for ver. 17 refers to a congregation, Jewish or
Christian, and ver. 19 refers to any two who unite in prayer.
'^ D and Syr-Sin. give the saying negatively : ovk ela-iv yap . . . irap' oh
oiK el/j.1 iv fj-ea-ifi ai'Tuiv. Comp. "When ten sit and are occupied in words
of Thorah, the Shekinah is among them " {Pirqe Abotk, iii. 9).
XVin. 21.22] THK MINISTRY IN OR NKAK r.ALILKF. 255
whorcvi-r there is one aldiic, I say I am witli him"; comp. Mph.
i. 23. Of course, llie saying in Mt. does not mean ihal (Jod is
pledged to grant wiiatever any two persons agree to ask. His
will is to grant what is best for them, and what two agree about
is likely to be good, especially if Christ is with them.
The Evangelist's interest in Peter is again conspicuous (x. 2,
xiv. 28, 29, XV. 15, xvi. iS, 2 2, xvii. 4, 24). Peter's (juesiion
goes back to ver. 15. The injured man who endeavours to
reclaim his injurer must of course have forgiven him in his
heart : otherwise it would be hopeless to seek reconciliation.
He goes, not for his own sake, to seek for reparation, but for
the wrongdoer's sake, to win him back from evil. To the
impetuous Peter that seems to be a difHcult saying, and he
desires explanation. Surely there are limits to this kind of
forbearance. Is one to go on forgiving for ever? Will not seven
times be a generous allowance?
The man who asks such a question does not really know
what forgiveness means. When an injury is forgiven, it is
absolutely cancelled so far as the injured person is concerned.
It is not to be kept in abeyance, to be reckoned against the
ofTender, if he offends again. Christ's reply is to the eflect that
there must be no counting at all. Ten times the limit suggested
by Peter will be far too little. Multiply that again by seven, and
it will not be too much. The meaning is that there must be
no limit.^ The coincidence with Lamech's song in Gen. iv. 24
is remarkable: 'If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly
Lamech seventy and sevenfold.' Indeed, "a definite allusion to
the Genesis story is highly probable : Jesus pointedly sets
against the natural man's craving for seventy-sevenfold revenge
the spiritual man's ambition to exercise the privilege of seventy-
sevenfold [RV. marg.] forgiveness" (J. H. Moulton, 6V. 0/
N.T. Grk. i. p. 98). Comp. ' F'orgive thy neighbour the hurt
that he hath done thee; and then thy sins shall be pardoned
when thou prayest' (Ecclus. xxviii. 2). "When you might have
vengeance do not repay either your neighbour or your enemy"
(Secrets of Enoch, 1. 4). But Jewish tradition limited forgive-
ness to three times. Amos i. 3, 6, 9, etc, and Job xxxiii. 29
were supposed to justify this limit. If three transgressions filled
up the measure that God might forgive, ought man to be more
placable ?
' In Lk. xvii. 4 this is expressed by 'seven limes in a day.' Jerome (//</p.
Pelag. iii. 2) preserves a fragment of the Gospel according to the Hebrews:
" He saith, If thy brother hath sinned in word and hath m.vie thee amends,
seven times in a day receive him. Simon (lis dLs<:ij>le said to ilim, Seven
limes in a day ? The Lord answered and said to him, I tell thee also, unto
seventy times seven : for in the proplicis also, after they were anointed by the
Holy Spirit, a sinful word was found."
256 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XVIII. 23-27
It matters little whether the parable of the Unmerciful
Servant was spoken immediately after the saying about ' seventy
times seven,' or has been placed here by the Evangelist to
illustrate that saying. The ' Therefore ' (Sta tovto) marks a close
connexion with the saying. Because in the Kingdom the duty
of forgiving is unlimited, therefore the Kingdom is like an
earthly king, whose astounding generosity to a debtor laid that
debtor under an obligation to show all possible consideration to
others.! The requirements of the Kingdom and the requirements
of this king are similar. The disciples do not ask for any
explanation, and the lesson to be drawn is manifest. The
offences of any man against us are utterly trivial compared with
our offences against God. He has forgiven us these, and He
requires us to forgive our fellows. If we fail to show forgiveness.
His forgiveness of us cannot continue. 'For judgment is with-
out mercy to him that hath showed no mercy' (Jas. ii. i3).2
The 'pence' should be shillings or florins to represent the
sum rightly. A denanus contained less silver than a shilling,
but it would buy as much as two shillings will buy now. There-
fore IOC denarii may represent ;^io. But a talent was equal to
6000 denarii; and the debt to God is represented as 10,000
talents, a sum which in human life could hardly be owed to any
one but a king, and to him only by a financial minister. We are
perhaps to think of some great man who has farmed one of the
taxes and become bankrupt. The king's order respecting him
is not very different from what was sanctioned by the Mosaic
Law (Lev. xxv. 39, 47 ; 2 Kings iv. 1). A man's wife and
children were his property. The order is also in accordance
with the idea that the whole of a man's family is responsible for
his acts (Josh. vii.). The king's response to the debtor's entreaty
is of the most munificent kind. The man merely asked to be
left free to work off the debt. The king not only does not sell
him into slavery, he cancels the whole debt, which could never
have been discharged in full.
Why is the debt to God represented as so enormous? Partly
as a true contrast to offences between man and man, and partly
because every sin is an act of rebellion, and thus small acts,
which attract little or no attention, may be great sins. Moreover,
they accumulate ; and no one can tell what the total amount in
his own case may be. And it is here that the analogy of the
^ With /XT] Ixof'T'os 5^ avTov dirododvai comp. Mk. xiv. 8 ; Lk. xii. 4, xiv.
14; Acts iv. 14; Heb. vi. 13. In such expressions exu hardly differs from
dvvanai, and this use is specially common in connexion with payment of
money. Field, Otitim Norvic. iii. p. 10.
2 Comp. Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice^ Act IV. so. I. Portia:
"Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea," etc
XVni. 28-35] Tin; MINISTRY IN OR NKAR GAI.II.l.K 257
whole family being threatened with slavery to pay the fatlier's
debt comes in. A man cannot confine the con.se(iiiences of his
sin to himself. Even those who have had no share in his j;uilt
will be involved in tlie misery which it protluccs : besides which,
there is the evil effect which his vitiated character will insensibly
have upon others.
In his passionate appeal for forbearance, the king's debtor
promises to pay all in time, a promise unlikely to be fulfilled.
The fellow-servant merely promises to pay. In his fury, the
creditor injures himself in order to take vengeance. IJy im-
prisoning his debtor he made it almost impossible for him to
pay. And now, for the first time, we are told that the king was
angry, and this is the main lesson of the parable.^ An unfor-
giving spirit is sure to provoke the anger of God ; so much so,
that His free forgiveness of sinners ceases to flow to them, when
in this way they offend. So to speak, it revives the guilt of their
otherwise forgiven sins. This is a truth of tremendous import,
and we may be thankful that this Evangelist has preserved for us
a parable which teaches the truth so plainly. For we are not
apt to think of what seems to be a merely negative quality, — the
absence of a forgiving temper, as a fatal sin. There are many
sins which we righdy regard as heinous, — breaches of the sixth,
or seventh, or eighth commandment. But we are not accustomed
to think that to treasure up the recollection of injuries which
we think that we have received from others may be a sin that is
greater than any of these. It is those that are most conscious
of the incalculable amount that God has forgiven them, who are
readiest to forgive all, and more than all the injuries that any
man can inflict upon them. ' Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger be put away from you, with all malice ; and be ye kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God in Christ hath forgiven you' (Kph. iv. 31, 32).
We do not know whether it was the feeling which had
been generated in some of the Twelve by the dispute as to
which was the greatest that called forth this impressive parable.
I'lUt the teaching which it embodies was not new to tluni.
\Ve gather that it had already been set forth to the multitudes,
for it appears in two places in the material which forms the
Sermon on the Mount (v. 23-26, vi. 14, 15). .And in Mk.
we have it among the last instructions during the Holy Week
(xi. 25). The love that forgives is as necessary as the faith that
prays. See Montefiore, p. 085.
' 'The tormentors' is part of the literary detail in the stor)', and we must
not interpret the detail and draw conclusions from it. A kin^ of flesh and
blood (i»Opuro% paai.\tv%) mi^ht act in this way ; but we should not attribute
parallel action to God. Comp. the interpolation Ecclus. xjuiii. 26.
17
S58 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 1
The statement that 6(peiKri, ' debt,' is a word found " only in N.T. Greek "
(Mt. xviii. 32 ; Rom. xiii. 7 ; i Cor. vii. 3) has been disproved by the papyri.
Deissmann gives instances, Biblical Studies, p. 221. He has also given good
reasons for abandoning such an expression as "N.T. Greek" : The Philology
of the Greek Bible, pp. 65, 134, 135; New Light on the New Testat)ient,
PP- 30 ff- . . . .
Characteristic expressions in ch. xviii. : eKdv-q lipa (i), ■n-poff^px^o'do.L (i, 21),
6 iraTTjp 6 iv rdis ovpavois (10, 14, 19), rl v/mv doKel ; (12), iroptveadai (12),
(Tvvd/yeLV {20), Tore (21), wpoacpepeLV (24), avvdovXos {28, 29, 31, 33). Peculiar:
rj ^aaiXeia ruiv ovpavQv (l, 3, 4, 23), rdXavroi' (24), 6 Trar};/) 6 ovpdvios (35),
avvaipeLv (23, 24), KaTaivovTi'^eadai (6 and xiv. 30 only), to irvp to clmvlov
(S and XV. 41 only), r; yievva tov irvpbs (lO and v. 22 only) ; peculiar to this
chapter : ij3oo/M]KovTdKis (22), Sdviov (27), ^aaavLaTi'is (34). The verb
atrodiSdvaL is frequent in the N.T., but it is specially common in Mt. as
compared with other Gospels; in Mt. 18 times, in Mk. once, in Lk. 8 times,
in Jn. never. In this chapter it is frequent (25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 34). The
phrase avvalpnv \6yov (23, xxv. 19) has been thought to be a Latinism,
rationeiii conferre, 'compare accounts.' Zahn quotes a Fayfim papyrus
(Grenfell, Hunt, Hogarth, p. 261, No. 109, 6), <jvvripp.o.i. \6yov ry irarpl.
XIX. 1-XX. 34. THE JOURNEY OF THE MESSIAH
THROUGH PER-ffiA TO JERUSALEM.
For a moment the three Synoptists are once more together.
Mt. xix. I, 2 = Mk. X. I, and side by side with these we may
place Lk. xvii. 11. The Third and Fourth Gospels give a great
deal of material which belongs to this period of Christ's Ministry.
But the so-called "Pera2an section" in Lk. (ix. 51-xix. 28)
contains a good deal of material which evidently belongs to an
earlier period, and we do not know enough about the details to
say how his narrative is to be fitted into that of Jn., who, with
great vividness, in chs. vii.-xi., tells a great deal that illuminates
the whole situation, especially with regard to the circumstances
which made the rejection of Jesus by the nation, and His death
at the hands of the hierarchy, certain. Even without supernatural
foresight, it might have been possible to see that, so far as
immediate success was concerned, the mission of Jesus to His
countrymen would fail, and that the only thing which could save
Him from a violent catastrophe was flight. But it was impossible
for Him to fly. He knew the Scriptures, especially those con-
cerning Himself (Lk. xxiv. 27), as no one else knew them. He
knew that the Messiah must suff"er in order to reign, and must
conquer by dying. The .Scriptures must be fulfilled, which was
only another way of saying that the will of God must be done.
The opening words of this chapter are peculiar to Mt. (see
on vii. 28). After concluding a group of Christ's sayings, he
commonly passes on to the next subject with the formula ' when
He finished these words' (vii. 28, xi. i, xiii. 53, xxvi. i), and
here he alone expressly states that Jesus ' departed from Gahlee,
XIX. 1-12] THROUGH rr.R.l'A TO JKUUSALEM 259
althougli it is implied in the other narratives.' It is His last
departure from Galilee. Until after the Resurrection Christ does
not visit it ai;ain. He crosses the Jordan, and in this more remote
region, where He was less well known, He resumed His work of
teaching and healing. Mk. says that He taught, Mt. that He
healed."-* The multitudes had reassembled, and He did not send
them empty away. Mt. perhaps thought that it was more neces-
sary to record that Jesus healed than that He taught; the latter
might be assumed. What follows in these two chapters (xix,, xx.)
is evidence of the teaching, especially of the training of the
Twelve.
XIX. 3-12. The Question of Divorce.
The Pharisees are now Christ's determined enemies, bent
upon His destruction; and they come to Him once more to
endeavour to make Him commit Himself in some fatal way. It
was known that He condemned divorce (v. 31, 32), and thus
seemed to put Himself into opposition with the Mosaic Law,
which allowed it (Deut. xxiv. i); here, therefore, was a field in
which it was likely that they might obtain material for fruitful
charges against Him. We must study Mk. x. 2-12, if we wish
for a clear and consistent account of Christ's teaching respecting
divorce. All Jews held that divorce was allowable ; the only
question was, for what 'unseemly thing'? The stricter Jews
said that unchastity on the wife's part justified divorce ; the less
strict said that mere dislike sufficed. According to Mk. and Lk.,
Christ forbade divorce altogether. The permission to divorce a
wife for grave misconduct was conceded by Moses because of
the low condition of society in his time ; but now men ought to
return to the primeval principle that marriage is indissoluble.'
According to Mt., both here and in v. 31, 32, Christ agreed
with the stricter Jews ; an unchaste wife might be divorced, and
the husband might marry again. It has been shown in the
comments on v. 31, 32 that it is improbable that Jesus taught
this; and we may suspect that both 'for every cause' (3) and
'except for fornication' (9) are insertions made either by the
Evangelist or in the authority which he is using in addition to
' * Juda^ ' here seems to be used in the wider sense of Palestine, the land
of ihe Jews ; comp. xxiv. 16.
' In xiv. i4 = .Mk. vi. 34 Mt. makes this change in Mk.'s narrative; and
in xxi. 15 he docs much the same, for there 'the wonderful thinjjs that He
did ' takes the place of ' Ilis teaching ' (Mk. xi. 18), On the insertion ' there '
{tKiT) sec on xxvii. 47.
' "The word {aK\rtpoKa.pUa.) denotes the rude nature which liclongs to a
primitive civilization. This principle of accommodation to the time in Scrip-
ture is of inestimable importance, and of course limits finally the absoluteness
of its authority. We find that the writers were subject to this limilatiun,
as well as their readers" (Gould on Mk. x. 5).
260 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 1-12
Mk. Whoever inserted the words would think that they must
have been meant, and that therefore it was right to make the
meaning perfectly clear. The remark of the disciples (lo) con-
firms the view that Christ forbade divorce, even in the case of the
wife's unchastity. If that was His decision, their remark is
intelligible. It would then mean that marriage is a dangerous
condition, if a man cannot free himself from an adulterous wife.
But, if He taught that the divorce of an adulterous wife was
allowable, then their remark would mean that marriage is a hard
lot, if a man may not get rid of a wife whom he dislikes ; and it
is hardly likely that they can have meant this. After being
Christ's disciples so long, they would not hold that what even
Jews of the stricter school of Shammai maintained respecting the
marriage-tie was an intolerable obligation. See Allen, p. 205 ;
Salmon, p. 394; Montefiore^ p. 691.
Christ's argument for the indissoluble character of the original
institution of marriage is that at the Creation God made one man
and one woman, each for the other. He did not make more
women than men, so as to provide for divorce. On the contrary.
He created a relation between man and wife more intimate and
binding than even that between parent and child. The 'and
said' which Mt. (5) introduces between the two quotations from
Genesis is not in Mk. (x. 6, 7), and is incorrect. In Gen. ii. 24,
'For this cause shall a man leave,' etc., are the words of Adam,
not of the Almighty. With the conclusion, 'What therefore God
hath joined together, let not man put asunder,' the discussion
with the Pharisees is closed. Christ then retired into ' the house,'
and there the disciples renewed the discussion. This break in
the conversation is obscured in Mt., who, as usual (ix. i, xv. 15,
21, xvii. 19), omits the detail about going indoors, and here
makes ver. 9 part of the address to the Pharisees, whereas in
Mk. it is said privately to the disciples.^
There is no parallel in Mk. or Lk. to the remarkable passage
respecting celibacy (10-12), and we have no means of knowing
the source of it. It does not seem to belong to the context in
which Mt. has placed it ; for it appears strange that our Lord,
after pointing out that marriage was ordained by God for the
human race from the very first, and that man ought not to sever
a tie ordained by God, should at once go on to admit that, after
^ Instead of, 'And if she herself shall put away her husband, and many
another, she committeth adultery,' Mt. has, 'And he that marrieth her when
she is put away committeth adultery.' Mt. may have made this change be-
cause there was no provision in the Jewish law for a wife to divorce her
husband (Josephus, Au(. xv. vii. 10). But Kal 6 dTro\e\v/ji&T]v yafirjcras
fuoixo-Tai is omitted in K D L and other important witnesses ; it may come
from V. 32. See Wright, Synopsis, p. 99; E. Lyttelton, //"i"., July, 1904,
p. 621.
XIX. 13-15] THROUGH PF.R/EA TO JERUSALEM 261
all, those who can do without it should avoid marriage. Never-
theless, it may be that Hi- thought it well to justify His own
example and that of the Haplist. Marriage was instituted by
God for the good of mankind, and is open to all. But no one
is obliged to marry, and there are some who believe that they
can live more spiritual lives by remaining single.
If we may assume that vv. 11,12 were uttered in reply to the
disciples' remark in ver. 10, then 'All do not receive this saying'
probably means that it is not given to every one to see that it is
not good to marry, 'this saying' referring to the remark of the
disciples. This is more probable than a reference to Christ's
saying that marriage ought to be regarded as indissoluble. The
passage must be compared with our Lord's declaration that His
disciples must be ready, if the call should come, to part with
everything that they possess, even with life itself, for His sake.
XIX. 13-15. The Blessing of the Little Children.
Mt. follows Mk. in placing this incident between the
discussion about marriage and the story of the rich young man,
and Lk. so far agrees with Mk. in placing the incident
immediately before that of the rich young man. It took place
in the house, for it was * as He was going forth into the way '
(Mk. X. 17) that the rich young man came to Him. As Salmon
conjectures (p. 395), the children brought to Him may have
been the children of the house. On the previous occasion
(xviii. 2), when He took a child as an object-lesson, this took
place 'in the house' at Capernaum; and it is unlikely that a
child had to be sent for from the outside. Here also wc may
imagine that the children of the house "were brought to Him to
say good-night, and receive His blessing before being sent to
bed." But Lk. (xviii. 15) seems to have understood the matter
otherwise: 'And they brought unto Him also their babes.'
Both Mk. and Lk. say that the children were brought 'that He
should touch them.' ^ Mt. is much more full : ' that He should
lay His hands on them and pray'; and this is a reasonable
inference from the fact that He did lay His hands on them and
bless them (Mk. x. 16).
Jesus so frequently laid His hands on those whom He
healed, that the parents naturally thought that it would be an
advantage to their children to have them touched by the great
Healer. To the disciples this seemed intolerable. They knew
how His time was invaded and His j)hysical strength taxed by
the numbers that were brought to Him to be cured of their
' The verb -Kfoai^ptiv is frequent of bringing the sick to Christ : iv. 24,
viii. 16, ix. 2, etc. Mk. has it here (x. 13).
262 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 13-15
ailments. And here people were bringing to Him children that
were perfectly well, and asking Him to touch them. Such
demands upon Him were quite unreasonable. Moreover, how
was He to continue His instructions to themselves, if He was
interrupted in this way ? ^
Mk. says that our Lord 'was indignant' (rjyavdKTrja-ei') at
this remonstrance on the part of His disciples. The expression
is nowhere else used of Him, and it is evidence of the depth
of His displeasure at seeing His own disciples trying to keep
little children from Him. Mt., as usual (xii. 13, xiii. 58,
xvi. 4), omits the record of human emotion on the part of
Christ. 'Cease to forbid them' (/xr) KwXwTe) is in all three.
So also is ' of such ' (toioutcov, not toutwv). Not those particular
children, nor all children, but those who are childlike in
character, are possessors of the Kingdom : 2 it specially belongs
to them. The genitive is possessive, as in 'theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven' (v. 3, 10), a point which is inadequately
expressed by ' of such.' ' To such belongs the Kingdom ' would
be better. How shocking, therefore, to try to prevent them
from approaching the King ! Mt. has already (xviii. 3) inserted
the equivalent of ' Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of
God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein,' and he"
therefore omits the words here ; and having just stated that the
children were brought to Christ that He might pray over them
(13), he omits (what Mk. alone records) that 'He took them
in His arms and blessed them.' " This beautiful scene calls for
reflection and imagination rather than for discussion" (Burton
and Mathews, p. 209). The whole incident is another illustration
of the candour of the Evangelists in recording what is to the
discredit of the disciples. Our confidence in the general trust-
worthiness of their evidence is thus confirmed. The practical
importance of this exquisite enforcement of the principle that the
Kingdom has little children among its worthiest possessors is
incalculable. See Tertullian, Be Bapt. 18, with Lupton's notes.
XIX. 16-30. The Rich Yoiitig Man.
It is possible that the order of the three subjects. Marriage,
Little Children, and Wealth, is chronologically correct: the
three incidents were connected in time and place, and they
followed one another in the way in which they have been
recorded. But the grouping may be artificial. In that case
' This remonstrance of the disciples is against the view that it was only
the children of the house coming to say good-night.
^ As Jerome says : * taliiiin,^ tit osleiiderct non lelaievi regtiare sed mores,
• Turn and become ' [a-rpacpTiTe Kal yivqade) is in Mt. only.
XIX. 16] TIIROUCII rrR.I-A TO JERUSALEM 263
it was natural to take the tcachiiii; about children after tlie
teaching about marriage, and that leaves the subject of ri( lies
to come last, which is also its riglit place in logical order.
There is, however, yet another point of connexion between the
teaching respecting children and the teaching respecting wealth.
They supplement one another. The children, like the toll-
collector in the parable, were nearer the Kingdom than they
could suppose themselves to be. The rich man, like the
Pharisee, was farther from it than he supposed himself to be.
In the preference shown to the children, those who could not
be harmed by being exalted were exalted ; in the humiliation of
the rich man, one who could be benefited by being abased was
abased.
The subject of this narrative is often called "the rich young
ruler." Lk. alone says that he was a 'ruler' (apx.'^v); Mt. alone
suggests that he was 'young' (i'cai'tcr»<os). We do not know
what Lk. means by apx^av. It may be an inference from his
great wealth, that he was a leading man in society. Mt., who
omits ' from my youth ' after ' All these things have I observed,'
may merely have substituted * the young man ' (6 vcait'o-Kov) for
' from my youth ' (cV re6Ti]T6<: /xov) : for it is in this verse (20),
and not at the outset, that he calls him 'the young man.''
But the man's action in running up and kneeling to Jesus (Mk.)
indicates youthful eagerness, and his behaviour throughout
harmonizes well with the common view that he was young.
In this narrative we have for the first time the expression
'eternal life' {^wrj aiwVtos), which is far more frecjuent in Jn.
than in the Synoptists. See Dalman, Words, p. 156.
As Mt. omitted Christ's entering into the house after the
discussion on divorce with the Pharisees, he here omits that
' He was going forth into the way' when the rich man came to
Him. This is of small moment ; but in what follows we have
one of the most remarkable of Mt.'s divergences from -the
narrative of Mk. The fact that Mk. is here supported by Lk.
may mean no more than that Lk. copied Mk., but even that
shows that, at any rate, Lk. knew of no reason for difiering from
Mk. And, judged on its own merits, the narrative of ^ik. has
the appearance of bring original, while the differences in Mt.
look like deliberate alterations. On the one hand we have :
' Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ?
And Jesus said to him, Why callest thou Me good? None is
good save one, even God' (Mk., Lk.). This is (juitc simple and
intelligible. We have a natural form of address, a naturally
' II is, however, to be noted that vtavlaxox a not nccesvirily a lad ; a
man of 30 or 35 might be so called. Therefore a vtaviaKvi might say ' from
my youth' without absurdity.
264
worded question, and an answer which exactly fits the form of
address. On the other hand we have : ' Master, what good
thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said
to him, Why askest thou Me concerning that which is good?
One there is who is good' (Mt.). Here the epithet 'good' has
been transferred from the address, where it is in place, to the
question, where it is superfluous. Of course, any action that
could win eternal life must be a good action. Moreover, the
reply does not fit the question, although 'good' has been
inserted into the question in order to prepare for the reply.
The rich man had not asked about good in the abstract, and
'One there is who is good' is irrelevant. To say that God
alone is good is much to the point, when some one else has
been called good ; but the statement is out of place, when this
has not been done, but merely a question has been asked about
the good conduct which wins eternal life.
Justdn MartjT twice quotes the passage, with variations from Ixith
Gospels and from himself. " When one came to Him and said, Good
Master, He answered sa)-ing. None is good but God alone who made all
things" {Apol. i. 16); and again: "When one was saying to Him, Good
Master, He answered, Why (^est thou Me good ? One is good, even My
Father which is in heaven" {Try. loi). In the Clententim Homilies we
have : " Do not call ^le good, for one is good, even the Father in heaven "
(xviii. 3). And this addition of 'the Father in heaven' is found also in
Irenseus, of the Marcosians (l. xx. 2). But the fonn of question, ' Master,
what good thing shall I do ? ' is found in a fragment of the Gospel according
to the Hebrews quoted by a Latin translator of Origen's Commentary on
Matthew. The opening words of the fragment would lead one to suppose
that in this Gospel two rich men approached our Lord on this occasion.
" The ^/-^-r of the rich men said to Him, Master what good thing shall I
do and live ? {Dixit ad eum alter divituni, Magister, quid bonum facicns
z'ivam ?) He said to him, Man, perform the Law and the Prophets (comp.
Mt. -v-ii. 12, xxii. 40). He answered Him, I have performed them. He
said to him. Go, sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor, and come,
follow Me. But the rich man l)egan to scratch his head, and it pleased him
not. And the Lord said to him, How sayest thou, I have performed the
Law and the Prophets, seeing that it is written in the Law, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself, and behold many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham,
are clad with dung, dying of hunger, and thy house is full of many good
things, and there goeth not out at all anything from it to them. And He
turned and said to Simon His disciple, sitting by Him, Simon son of John,
it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man into the Kingdom of heaven." See Camb. Bill. Ess. p. 191.
These are not the only reasons for believing that Mk., who
is certainly prior to Mt, has here got the original narrative,
from which Mt. has intentionally diverged.^ It is quite easy to
see why Mt. has made these alterations. He could not bring
himself to record that Jesus said, 'Why callest thou IMe good?
^ Somewhat illcgically he has left eh and arfados unchanged ; it should
be ip and ayadov : ' one thing is good.'
XIX. 17, 18] THROUGH ri-R/TlA TO JERUSALEM 265
None is good save one, even God.' We have seen how rcathly
he omits anything which seems to detract from the Divine
nature of the Messiah, such as His asking for information or
exhibiting human emotion, and how he loves to emphasize the
wonderful features in His mighty works. Such a writer would
feel that our Lord's reply, as recorded by Mk., was likely to
mislead, and was not likely to be correctly worded ; he therefore
substitutes what seems to him to be more probable. It is less
easy to see why Mt. has dropped the common expression
^inherit eternal life ' for the less figurative ' have eternal life.'
The divergencies of Mt. from Mk. have caused much confusion in the
text. In later authorities the text of Mt. lias been in various w.ays
assimilated to th.it of Mk. See WII. ii. Aj-p. pp. 14, 15; Salmon, The
Human Element, pp. 39S-403.
The explanation of 'Why callest thou Me good? None is
good save one, even God ' belongs to the commentator on Mk.
(see Swete). Suffice to say here that Jesus was neither
questioning His own sinlessness, nor intimating that the rich
man ought not to call Him good unless he recognized Him as
Divine. The rich man could not have appreciated either of
these points. Rather, He turns his thoughts from his own
inadequate standard of what may win eternal life to the standard
of the Divine Goodness. Not any one act, however supremely
excellent, can secure eternal life, but only excellence of
character.! As the most generally known summary of what that
character should be, Jesus refers him to the commandments, in
which God has revealed His will. This last point is more
clearly brought out in Mt. than in Mk. 'If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments.' Mt. alone represents the man
as needing to ask, 'What kind (ttocu?) of commandments?'^
And he alone makes him ask, 'What lack I yet?' It almost
looks as if Mt. had formed an unfavourable opinion of the rich
man, and that this colours his narrative.
Mt. agrees with Mk. as to the order of the commandments,
which is that familiar to ourselves: 'Thou shalt not kill, Thou
shall not commit adultery.' But Lk., in agreement with Cod.
IJ in Deut. v. 1 7, reverses this order, as also does S. Paul in
Rom. xiii. 9 (also the Nash Papyrus); and both Philo {^De
* The rich man is at the old legal .standpoint, that he has to do some-
thing, not that he has to be something. Vet it is a step in advance that he
recognizes that mere abstention from irans^rcssion is not enough.
' Perhaps he expected some new commandments of special requirements.
But it is not certain that To/ai here has its full force : it pcrhajK nH-:ins no
more than 'Which?' Sec iJla-s, p. 172. In 'Whit lack I yet?' (W /tc
iijTtpC) ;) .Mt. transfers to the rich man Christ's 'One thing thou lacke:>t'
((K at V<fT€ptl).
266 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 19, 20
Decalogo, 24 and 2) and Tertullian {De Piidic. 5) base an
argument on the fact that adultery is forbidden before murder
is forbidden. S. James (ii. 11) seems also to have had this
order.i That Lk. should agree with S. Paul in such a matter
is not surprising. All three accounts represent our Lord as
placing the fifth commandment last. This may be for the
sake of emphasis, because it had been so habitually evaded by
the device of Corban (xv. 4, 5). This rich man had no doubt
previously consulted the official teachers upon the question
which he put to Jesus, and had evidently not been satisfied
with their answers. Of course, they would insist on the ten
commandments as the rule of life, and Jesus in doing the same
reminds him of the paramount importance of the duty to parents.
Mt. here makes a surprising addition to the quotations
from the decalogue : 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;
an addition which is wanting both in Mk. and Lk. Mt. has it
again, xxii. 39 = Mk. xii. 31 = Lk. x. 27, where Christ gives
it as a summary of the second table of the commandments.
It comes from Lev. xix. 18; comp. Mt. vii. 12. It is not
likely that it was spoken on this occasion. The rich man,
tliough superficial and self-seeking in his desire to obtain
eternal life, is really in earnest about himself; and if Christ
had added, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,' he
would hardly have replied so readily, 'All these have I
observed.' He could say that quite honestly with regard to
the letter of the five commandments which Jesus had quoted.
Was he relieved that Christ required no more from him
than these familiar duties? Or was he disappointed that
Jesus had nothing more inspiring to give him than what he
had often heard from the Scribes? Perhaps he expected, and
even hoped, to be told of some difficult task which his great
wealth would enable him to accomplish. Even if he never
said, ' What lack I yet ?,' ^ his statement about his past amounts
to an invitation to Christ to say something more. Is one who
keeps the commandments sure of eternal life ? And our Lord
at once responds to the invitation. He neither confirms nor
contradicts the man's estimate of his past life. Granting that
it is all true, there is still something wanting, — freedom from the
fascinations of 'the deceitfulness of riches' (xiii. 22). Can he
liberate himself from these toils ?
Both Mt. (see above on ver. 14) and Lk. omit the intensely
^ As to the form of the prohibitions, Lk. agrees with Mk. in having /i?;
^oveucTijy, if.T.X., while Mt. follows the Septuagint in Exod. xx. and Deut. v.
in having ov ipovevaei?, k.t.X. Mt. commonly assimilates the quotations in
Mk. to the Septuagint. See Swete, Introduction to the Septuagi)it, p. 234.
" In Mk. X. 21 it is Christ who says to him, 'One thing thou lackest'
(Iv ere varepei) ; in Lk. xviii. 22, in '4v aoi XetTret.
XIX. 21,22] THROUGH TERyT-A TO JF.RUSAT.F.M 267
interesting statement of Mk, that 'Jesus looking upon him
loved him.'^ The look was a penetrating look, recognizing in
the man much that was good and lovable along with much
that was otherwise, and the record of it is the touch of an
eye-witness. It comes from one who knew from personal
experience how penetrating a look from Christ could be
(Lk. xxii. 61); and the same compound verb {ifift\(ireLv) is
used both there and here. Jesus sees enough in the rich
man's character to make Him yearn to have him as a per-
manent disciple. Here was a conscientious observer of the
Law, who, nevertheless, was not quite satisfied with himself,
and who at times had misgivings that he was not doing all
that God required of him. Would he be equal to doing what
would be necessary, if he was to become a follower of Christ?
Mt., having anticipated, ' One thing thou lackest,' substitutes
for it 'If thou wouldest be perfect'; but in what follows the
three reports agree (21). There are two parts in the reply
given to the man : one to sell and give to the poor, the other
to follow Christ ; and the one is preparatory to the other. The
first is the direct answer to the man's question, ' What must I
do to inherit eternal life?' This is manifest from the promise,
'and thou shalt have treasure in heaven,' which evidently refers
to inheriting eternal life. When the man has freed himself from
the ties which bind him to earth, he will have entered the
narrow gate and the straitened way which lead unto life (vii. 14),
and will be ready to follow the 'Good Master.'
How are we to regard this charge to sell everything and
give to the poor? Was it a mere /esi for that particular
questioner, to see whether he was equal to the good report
which he had given of himself? Was it a ru/e for him and for
all who would live the highest life? a so-called 'counsel of
perfection'? Was it simply a cottdescension to the man's own
point of view? He wanted to do some heroic act to secure
eternal life : let him give all his riches to the poor. It is quite
certain that our Lord could not have meant that either he or
any one else can win eternal life by any such act. Our Lord
does not promise him that. He tells him that in heaven he
shall have treasure to compensate for what he has sacrificed in
this world, but He does not say that the sacrifice will secure
admission to heaven.^ The charge to make the sacrifice was
the medicine which the man's soul required. He had too
* Other points in which Mt. and Lk, agree against Mk. are in the
omission of ' Do not defraud,' and in the substitution of 'heard' (dxoi/trat)
for 'his countenance fell' ((rTirfvija^).
^ Comp. ' Bestow thy treasure according to tlie commandments of the
Most High, and it shall profit ihcc more than gold ' (Ecclus. xxix. Ii).
268 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 22
much attachment to wealth and the things which wealth can
buy, and he had too little sympathy with the poor. The hard,
self-denying hfe of a follower of Jesus was the bracing that
was needed to make a really noble character. Hitherto his
virtues had been negative rather than positive. He had been
free from gross sins, but he had had no lofty ideal. To live
with Jesus Christ, and learn of Him, would be the best cure
for that, and would lead to eternal life.
We must not overlook the fact, however, that the Lord's
last word to him was not a charge, but an invitation : ' Come,
Follow Me.' We may reverently believe that the man's own
good was not the sole motive for Christ's treatment of him.
Jesus really wanted him. He saw in him the making of another
Apostle, a Barnabas, if not a Paul ; and He longed to have
the strengthening of this lovable, but weak character. For
His own sake, as well as for the man's, He gave him that
affectionate look and asked him to come.
' He went away sorrowful ' (Xvirovixevos:),^ because of the
greatness of the demand, perhaps also because of the weakness
of his own will. He had not expected so stern a reply, and
he had not expected to be unequal to anything that the Good
Teacher would require. But we are not told that he was
indignant, or made any angry reply. He went back to the
wealth which had not satisfied him before, and which would
satisfy him still less now; and perhaps the good seed was in
the end not wholly choked by the deceitfulness of riches.
" The self-sacrifice which the Lord imposed on this wealthy
enquirer asserts in principle the duty of the rich to minister
to the poor ; the particular form which this ministry must take
varies with the social conditions of the age" (Swete). In this
age experience has taught us that giving money or food or
clothing to the poor often does more harm than good; but
that fact does not justify the comfortable doctrine that those
who have wealth may keep it to spend upon themselves. It
is still as true as ever it was that the way to eternal life is self-
sacrifice, and that readiness for complete surrender is the one
condition of true discipleship. Disciples who may come upon
their own terms (viii. 21) are easily won, and easily lost. If
Christ had lowered the terms for the sake of gaining this man
and his wealth. He might for a time have had one more
enthusiastic follower, with the risk of having later a second Judas.^
1 Comp. aKovcras ravra i\virr)6r} {Simeon ii. 10).
^ The treatise known as Who is the Rich Man that is saved? (rfs 6
(Twf(5/ue;'os TrXouffios ;), by Clement of Alexandria, is commended as an excel-
lent patristic exposition of the teaching conveyed by this incident in reference
to the prol)lems of modern life. It is "simple, eloquent, and just"
(Westcott). See Swete, Patristic Study, p. 49,
XIX. 23-25] THROUGH I'KK.KA TO JKRUSALKM 269
All three Evangelists record certain comments which our
Lord made upon the rijh man's refusal to comply with His
counsel : and here again the deviations of Mt. (23-30) from
Mk. (x. 23-31) are of great interest. Mt. both abbreviates and
augments Mk. In his chief omission he is followed by Lk.,
but not in his chief insertion (28). The chief omission is the
disciples' amazement at Christ's words (about the difficulty for
a rich man to enter the Kingdom) and His reply to their
amazement : ' Children, how hard is it [for them that trust in
riches] to enter into the Kingdom of God' (Mk. x. 24). The
words in brackets are probably an early insertion, as the evidence
of N B and other witnesses shows, and it is not probable that
our Lord uttered them. They do not give the right kind of
e.xplanation of the hard sayings. What is needed, if trusting
in riches is to be mentioned, is of this kind : ' How hard is it
for those who have riches not to trust in their riches ; and ye
cannot trust in God and in Mammon.' It is itiipossible for
those who trust in riches to enter the Kingdom. The saying
wit/iotit the words in brackets gives a much more probable
explanation. It is hard for any one to enter the Kingdom
(vii. 13, 14), and therefore specially hard for the rich. That
Mt. knew of this second statement of the case is shown by the
'again,' which comes from Mk.
Both the 'camel' and the 'needle's eye' are to be under-
stood literally. "To contrast the largest beast of burden known
in Palestine with the smallest of artificial apertures is quite in
the manner of Christ's proverbial sayings" (Swete). Comp.
'Strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.' It is not necessary
to suggest that ' camel ' may mean a rope, or that the ' needle's
eye ' was a name sometimes given to a small side-gate for foot-
passengers.^ Shakespeare combines the two ideas : —
"It is as hard to come, as for a camel
To thread the postern of a small needle's eye."
Richard II., v. v. 16, 17.
But he is taking the needle's eye literally, as we may believe
that Christ did.
Here Mt. follows Mk. in recording the astonishment of tlie
disciples (25). 'Who then can be saved,' if rich men cannot?
Possibly the Twelve still had the belief that earthly prosperity
is a sign of piety, for God has promised to bless the substance
of the religious man. But, in any case, experience had taught
them that nearly all men either possess wealth or strive to possess
it. If, therefore, to be wealthy is to be excluded from the
Kingdom, who can be saved ?
' No ancient cxjX)sitor adopts this method of explanation.
270 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XIX. 26, S7
Once more we have Christ's penetrating look (e/x.^A.ei//as),
which this time Mt. does not omit (25). Man cannot, but
God can, break the spell which wealth exercises over the
wealthy. He had done it in Matthew's case; He would do
it in that of Zacchceus (Lk. xix. i-io). May we believe that
the rich young man was lingering near enough to hear this,—
that though he could not free himself, yet God might still free
him ? It is possible that these comments of Christ were partly
meant for him. His great mistake had been in supposing that
he could with his own powers do what was required to gain
eternal life. Peter characteristically takes up the conversation
on behalf of the Twelve. He would like to be sure that what
God alone can do has been done in their case. They left all
that they possessed, and followed Him ; are they on the road
to the Kingdom? He asks no question, but his statement
evidently invites a reply^. and Mt. interprets it as asking, ' What
then shall ive get?'^
In the reply to this Mt. makes his chief addition to the
report in Mk. ' Ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration
when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye
also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.' Lk. has no such words here, but has a similar saying
xxii. 30.2 The meaning in both places seems to be the same.
The disciples had shared the privations of the Messiah, and
they would share the glories of His Kingdom. They had joined
with Him in proclaiming this Kingdom to Israel, and they will
join with Him in having royal power in Israel, sharing His rule
over all those who have received the good tidings respecting the
Kingdom ; comp. x. 6, xii. 41, 42. And the generous return
for all that has been sacrificed in this world for Christ's sake
(x. 39, xvi. 25) is not confined to the Twelve. ^ Every one'
who for His Name's sake has given up what is most dear to
him, shall receive a hundredfold in return. In Mk. and Lk.
it is expressly stated that this hundredfold compensation will
be made in this world {Iv tw Kaipw rouro)) in addition to eternal
life in the world to come. But in Mt. nothing is said about
this world ; the whole reward is regarded as taking place ' in the
1 ' What then shall be our reward ? ' is the exact force of the question.
"^ Very possibly Lk. has the historical context, and Mt, as often, has put
together sayings on the same subject, independently of the time of utterance.
'Judging' does not mean sentencing the wicked, which would be painful
work, and no reward, but ruling the good. Comp. Judg. iii. lO, x. 2, 3,
xii. 9, II, 13, 14, etc. ; also Book of Enoch : "When they see that Son
of Man sitting on the throne of His glory" (Ixii. 5); "I will bring forth
clad in shining light those who have loved My holy Name, and I will seat
each on the throne of his honour" (cviii. 12). Comp. the Testament of
Judah XXV. i.
XIX. 29, 30] THROUGH I'KK.KA TO JERUSALEM U71
Ri^ciiLnuion.' Coiisctiucntly Mt. omits 'with pcrsLCUtions,' fur
if tlio manifold recompense is transferred to a future life, there
can be no thought of persecutions. 'The rei;eneration ' means
the new Genesis, the creating of a new heaven and a new earth,
as was expected by the Jews. As 'of the dead' is commonly
to be understood after 'the resurrection,' so 'of all things' or
'of the universe' is to be understood after 'the regeneration'
(t; TToXiyycviain). Comp. Is. Ixvi. 22; Rev. xxi. i, 5. lUit
even in Mt. the ' hundredfold ' (or ' manyfold,' H L and other
witnesses) is not identified with 'eternal life.'^ The latter
refers to the man himself, the former to his environment.
After 'or father, or mother,' N C K X and Syr-Cur. add 'or wife,' which
is found in Lk. xviii. 29, but not in Mk. x. 29. It is jirobably n<>t genuine
here, but might have been omitted in H I), Syr-Sin. and CJld Lat. l>ecause
of the childish idea, mentioned by Jerome, that it seemed to imply that the
man was to have a hundred wives in the regeneration. As if the preceding
words implied that he was to have a hundred fathers and a liundred mothers !
He has sacrificed joys of kinship in this world ; he will be lepaid a hundred-
fold in the next. Mt.'s omission of iv ri^ Acatpy tovti^ (Mk., Lk.) is re-
markable.
The saying 'first being last and last being first' (30) is
found here in Mt. and Mk. But Lk. omits it here and has
it in a difi'erent context in xiii. 30, while Mt. repeats it in
XX. 16. We infer that it was a saying which our Lord uttered
more than once. Like so many of His sayings, it is capable
of various applications.^ In this place we may interpret it in
two ways. We may refer back to the rich man who had such
a leading position and say, that many who in this world are
ranked among the first will hereafter be among the last, because
they were unwilling to sacrifice temporal advantages to gain
eternal life; while many, who by surrendering everything here
have placed themselves among the last, will hereafter be found
among the first. Or, we may refer to the more immediate
context of Peter's remark (27) and regard the saying as a
rebuke to his self-complacency. Self-sacrifice is excellent, but
it must be accompanied by humility. 'I'o jjlume oneself upon
having surrendered everything is to vitiate everything. .Spiritual
pride is fatal, and even Apostles must remember that there will
' There is a similar difTcrence of reading in the Testaments: " He that
shareth with his neighbour (^fTo5j3oi'i, as in Lk. iii. Ii) receiveth manyfold
mtire from the Ixtrd " {'/.(hulon vi. 6) ; where some texts nad ^)rTo)rXci<Tio»'
for ToXXairXoo-foca. Sec Dalman, Words, p. 67. Here, as in xvi. 25, Mt.
omits 'and for the Gospel's sake,' probably as Ixring superfluous. All three
are different here, and perhaps ' for My sake ' {UtKtt inoC) was the original
of all.
* It may be applied to Jews and Gentiles having their positions reversed ;
but that is not the meaning here.
272 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XX. 1
be many who will equal them in self-sacrifice and in devotion
to Christ. The parable which follows seems to fit the second
of these interpretations. " St. Peter had attempted to stipulate
for a reward for the sacrifices which he and his brethren had
made ; and he is taught by this parable that, while every promise
made would be amply fulfilled, yet they who had made no
stipulation might receive a greater reward" (Salmon, The Htwiaii
Element^ p. 417). The reward is open to all true workers for
Christ without distinction. To have been earliest in the field
confers no exclusive right to special blessings.
If there is this close connexion between these verses (27-30)
and the parable which follows them, then the division of the
chapters here is singularly unfortunate. But the evil has been
remedied in our present Lectionary, for these verses and the
parable are read in Church as one lesson (4 Feb. and 6 Aug.).
Characteristic expressions in ch. sdx. : 6'/3ta(i), ^Ket{2), 7rpo(re'/)xeo'^a£(3, 16),
Trpoa^i^peLv (13), iropeueaOai (15), iKetdev (15), Kal Idou (16), dri<7avp6s (21),
acpodpa (25), Tore (13, 27), Idov (27). Peculiar: i] ^aaiXela tQv ovpavQv (12,
14, 23) ; peculiar to this chapter : fieralpeiv (i), evvovxi-^eLv (12 bis).
Again we have instances of Mt. having the aorist where Mk. has the
imperfect: ■Kpocrrivexdy}<^o.v, eireTiij.T]aav (13), for 7rpoai<pepov, iirerifMuv (Mk.
X. 13). Comp. eTr€Tip.r]a€v, ^Kpa^av, rjKoXovdTjaav (xx. 31, 34) for iTreTl/J.ui',
iKpa^ev, 7]Ko\ovdei (Mk. x. 48, 52).
XX. 1-16. T/ie Labourers in the Vineyard.
This parable almost rivals that of the Unrighteous Steward
in the number of difficulties which have been found in it, and
in the number of interpretations which have been suggested for
it.^ In both cases difficulties have been imported into the
parable by insisting upon making the details mean something.
In each case there is one main lesson conveyed by the story,
and everything else is mere background and frame for the
picture. It may be lawful to suggest meanings for the features
in the background and the frame; but we must not insist on
these as being intended as lessons, and we need not be surprised
if these interpretations of details lead us into perplexity. The
lesson of the Unrighteous Steward is that we must use temporal
blessings to win eternal life. If an unrighteous steward was
commended by his earthly master for his prudence in providing
for his future by a fraudulent use of what had been committed
to him, how much more will a righteous servant be rewarded
by his heavenly Master for providing for eternity by a good use
of what has been committed to him? In this parable the
meaning is equally simple. God keeps His promises to those
who serve Him, but He remains INIaster in His own world.
^ See Sanday, Expositor, ist series, iii. pp. 82-101.
XX. 1-16] THROUGH PLR.^-A TO JERUSALEM 273
He is the sole judge of what each servant ought to receive.
No one receives less than has been promised, but many
receive more ; and in these uncovcnantcd awards there is much
that, in man's eyes, seems to be unfair. But 'God sees not
as man seeth'j and 'shall not the Judge of all the earth do
right?'
There is no need to find a separate meaning for those who
were called at the different hours of the day. An agreement
was made with those who were hired early ; the others trusted
to the householder's fairness. And at the time of payment only
those with whom an agreement had been made, and kept, found
fault. It is implied that the others were well satisfied with re-
ceiving full pay. We have, therefore, only two classes to
consider: those who came early, and those who came later;
or, those who grumbled, and those who did not.
As to the householder's fairness, there can be no question.
He kept faith with those who made an agreement with him, and
he was the sole judge of what the work of the others was worth
to him. Time was precious, and labour became increasingly
valuable as the day went on. Fresh and vigorous workers would
be specially valuable. But the best of those who came late could
not claim more that a full day's wage, and the householder did
not think it fair to pay less. It is quite possible that considera-
tions of this kind may enter into the distribution of spiritual
rewards ; but all that the parable teaches is that to have entered
God's service early gives no claim to more than He has promised,
and that it ill becomes a servant of His to question His justice.
The parable takes no account of those who deliberately postpone
entering God's service in order to shorten the work to be done
for Him. All the labourers came as soon as they were called ;
and of those who came last it is expressly stated that they had
had no previous opportunity of working.
There is no difficulty in the thought that some, who are really
God's servants and work for Him, at times murmur against Him.
The argument, if they were members of the Kmgdom, they would
not murmur, and if they murmured, they could not have been
members of the Kingdom, is not valid. Even Apostles murmured
at times.
There is more difficulty as to the way in which the words
which precede the parable as a text, and conclude it like a moral,
are to be fitted to it. How does the parable illustrate the saying
about the last being first, and the first last? It is quite in-
adequate to say that those who began to work last were paid
first That trifling advantage has no meaning in the parable.
It was necessary for the development of the story that those with
whom an agreement had been made should be paid after the
18
274 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XX. 15, 16
others. If they had been paid first and sent away, there could
have been no murmuring ; and the murmuring is needed to bring
out the lesson. Neander maintains that " the words, ' The last
shall be first, and the first last' cannot possibly be \.\\& punctum
saliens of the parable ; in it the last are not preferred to the first "
{Life of Christ, § 240, p. 385). But the words say nothing about
the last hting preferred to the first; they say that the one shall
be as the other. We are not to understand that the first and the
last are to change places, but that they are to be on an equality,
the one being treated as the other is treated. In the distribution
of rewards no distinction will be made between first and last.
The devoted servant in the twentieth century may equal the
devoted servant in the first. The devoted servant of half a
Ufetime may equal the devoted servant of a whole Hfetime.
No parable can teach all the details of the truth with
which it is primarily concerned. It has been objected that the
murmurers are not punished for their murmuring ; they receive
only a gentle remonstrance, and get their pay just as the others
do. But is a rebuke from Him nothing? And, although He
inflicts no punishment, yet there is the punishment which they
inflict upon themselves. They get the reward that was promised
them; but they have lost the power of enjoying it. The dis-
contented are never happy, and jealousy is one of the worst of
torments. Heaven is no heaven to those who lack the heavenly
temper; and these murmurers will have no pleasure in their
reward, until they can accept it with thankfulness. From this
point of view the first and the last may be said to have changed
places. Those who came first to the vineyard had the least joy, and
those who came last had the most joy, in the reward given to all.
The parable is instructive in another way in telling us that at that time a
denarius was the common wage of a day labourer. The equivalent coin was
offered by Tobit as a daily wage (Tob. v. 15), and was evidently meant as a
good wage. Therefore (see on xviii. 2S), although a denarius contained less
silver than a shilling, it must have been equal to two shillings of our money,
or even more. For ordinary purposes the daiariiis and the drachm (Lk.
XV. 8) were treated as equivalent, and both were in circulation along with
the tetradrachin — shekel (xvii. 24, 27). But the official coin of the Roman
Empire was the denarius, and in government business the drachm was only
three-quarters of a denarius. See Hastings, DB., art. 'Money,' pp. 427,
428 ; Madden, Hist, offewish Coinage, pp. 245-247. While the day was
divided into hours, the night was divided into watches. We do not read of
definite hours of the night.
' For many are called, but few chosen' (16) may safely be treated as an
interpolation from xxii. 14. The words are an early insertion (C D N, Latt.
Syrr. Arm. Aeth., Orig. ); but they are omitted in the best texts (K B L Z,
yEgyptt., and editors). They have no point here with reference either to the
parable or to what follows. It illustrates the caprice of the AV. that the
saying is translated here, 'For many be called, but few chosen,' and in xxii.
14, ' For many are called, but few are chosen.'
XX. 13-18] THROUGH PER/liA TO JERUSALEM 275
III vor. 13 there are two diflerenccs of rcadins; which arc not often noticed.
For OIK dStKw ffe Syr-Cur. has ^u?) ddinei fie, ' Do mc no wronc;,' or perliaps
'Trouble me not' (Lk. xi. 7); and for ffvyeipwv-ijcds fioi (K J'.CDN etc.)
various authorities have <rvff<f>wvr)(rd <roi (L Z 23t Syr-Sin. .Sali. Copt.).
Com p. J n. viii. 57, where for 'hast Thou seen Ahraham* (A li C D etc.) a
few ancient authorities read 'hath Abraham seen Thee' (K, Syr-Sin. Sah.).
Nestle, Textual Criticism, p. 254.
With ver. 15 conip. I'rov. x.\iii. 6, 7, with Toy's notes; Pirqe Al'oth,
ii. 13, 15, with Taylor's notes; and with the parable as a whole comp.
" Faithful is the Master of thy work, who will pay thee the reward of thy
work; and know that the recompense of the reward of the righteous is for
the time to come" {Pirijc Abotk, ii. 19). See Monicliore, pp. 700 f.
XX. 17-19. Repeated Announcement of the Passion.
This is commonly called the third announcement, but it is
the folfrth of those which are recorded (.\vi. 21, xvii. 12, 22), and
there may have been others. As usual (viii. 27 = Mk. iv. 41 ;
xvii. 4 = Mk. ix. 5, 6 ; xvii. 23 = RIk. ix. 32 ; xix. 23 = Mk. x.
23, 24), Mt. spares the Twelve by omitting their astonishment
and fear. Mk. here says: 'Jesus was going before them: and
they were amazed; and they that followed were afraid.' Lk.
follows Mt. in omitting this, and probably for the same reason ;
but in Mk. we have Peter's recollection of his personal
experience. 'They that followed' perhaps includes more than
the Apostles, and this would explain Christ's taking the Twelve
apart (kct' lUav) ; the others who were following were not to
hear this last prediction of what was to befall Him at Jerusalem.
In Mt. the taking apart is not explained, for we are not told that
any but the Twelve were present. Nowhere is the amazement
(iOaiMftoviTo) of the Twelve or the fear of those who followed
explained : we may suppose that there was something in our
Lord's manner, as He walked on in front of them, which inspired
these feelings.
Previously Christ had merely said that He ' must ' ( Set, xvi.
21) jor 'is about to' (/txe'AAft, xvii. 12, 22) suffer; but now He
says that He is actually on His way to the city where this is
to take place, and in this sorrowful journey He includes the
disciples with Himself: 'we are going up to Jerusalem.' And
here He expressly states that, although it is the Sanhedrin who
will condemn Him to death, yet it is the Gentiles who will
execute the sentence, and thus intimates that He will be
crucified and not stoned (Jn. xviii. 31, 32). Conseciuently, Mt.
thinks himself justified in substituting 'crucify' for 'kill'; and
he again corrects 'after three days' into the more accurate 'on
the third day'; but contrast xii. 40 and xxvii. 63. Lk. follows
Mt. in making this correction.
All three Evangelists mention that Christ spoke of His going
276 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XX. 18-20
up to Jerusalem for His suffering and death ; and it is possible
that He now for the first time mentioned where these amazing
things were to take place. Mt. indeed inserts 'go unto
Jerusalem' in the first announcement (xvi. 21), but neither Mk.
nor Lk. have any mention of the place until now. Yet the
statement that He was to suffer in the Holy City would hardly
come as a surprise to the Twelve, for they knew that there His
chief opponents had their headquarters.^ It was perhaps the
fact that they knew Jerusalem to be so dangerous for Him that
caused their amazement when they saw that He was bent upon
going thither ; and it was perhaps this same fact which made the
sons of Zebedee anxious about their own prospects in the
Kingdom, which they believed to be at hand, but the nature of
which they still strangely misunderstood. By his favourite
'Then' {roTe) Mt. closely connects their request with the
preceding announcement.
The AV. translates the same verb {trapaSodria-eTai, irapaddxrovcnv)
differently in w. 18, 19: 'shall be betrayed unto ' and 'shall deliver Him
to'; the RV. has 'shall be delivered unto' and 'shall deliver Him unto.'
Similarly, in Mk. ix. 31 the AV. has 'is delivered into the hands,' while in
Mt. xvii. 22, which is parallel, it has 'shall be betrayed into the hands';
comp. xxvi. 2. ' Deliver up ' is the better translation, the question as to
God's delivering Him up as a sacrifice, or Judas's delivering Him up to His
foes, being open.
XX. 20-28. The Request of the Sons of Zehedee.
It seems strange that soon after the sad announcement which
Jesus had just made once more (and this time with more detail
as to His approaching sufferings than had been given in the
earUer predictions), two of His most intimate disciples should
trouble Him with a petition for their own advancement in the
Kingdom which He is about to inaugurate. It is impossible
that, after Peter's remonstrance and Christ's stern rebuke of him
for it (xvi. 22, 23), two of those who had been with Him on the
Mount and had received a special announcement of the Passion
(xvii. 12), should still be in ignorance as to what that prediction,
which had just been repeated, meant. But they had recently
been confirmed in their ideas about the Kingdom by the
declaration that they were to sit on thrones and rule the tribes of
Israel (xix. 28), and they had not forgotten that. Once more
the question arises as to who are to be greatest among these
^ In xvi. 21 and xvii. 22, 23 there is less detail than here. Here Mt. omits
the spitting, though he records it as having taken place (xxvi. 67, xxvii. 30),
while Lk., who does not record it, mentions it here (xviii. 32). In xvii. 22
the betrayal is added, and here other details are added : it is probable that
the prediction became more definite as His hour drew nearer.
XX. 20-S2] THROUGH PER/!- A TO JERUSALEM 2"]^
rulers, and James and John belirvo that their prospects arc good.
They are nearly related to the Messiah, for their mother Salome
was the sister of His Mother (com[i. xxvii. 56 with Mk. xv. 40
and Jn. xix. 25). This, combined with their special intimacy
with Him, ought to give them some preference.
It must remain doubtful whether Mk. is more exact in saying
that the two brothers made the petition in person, or Mt. in
saying that they acted through their mother. Mt. may have
believed that it was their mother's doing, and that it would be
more creditable to the two Apostles to express this belief, in
spite of Mk.'s silence respecting her share of the transaction : ^
or he may have had independent information. His story is the
more credible of the two. It is more likely that a mother's
ambition would take the lead in such a matter than that the two
brothers should do so. But we may believe that all three were
in unison about it. Our Lord's question about the cup assumes
that the brothers know what their mother has been asking. If,
for obvious reasons, they let His Mother's sister plead their
cause, He makes His aj^peal to them, not through her, but
direct.
Neither mother nor sons had considered that the sufferings
and death which the Messiah predicted for Himself were the
road to the Kingdom. He must suffer in order to reign. Still
less had they considered that those who desired to reign with
Him must be ready to suffer with Him. Hence they did not
know what they were asking, when they begged to have their
thrones nearest to His. This He proceeds to bring home to
them. In language which recalls the *cup of God's fury' (Is. li.
17, 22; comp. Jer. xlix. 12), He asks whether they are able to
drink of the cup which He is about to drink ; and they at once
reply that they are able (22).^ As in the case of the rich man's
profession of obedience to the commandments (xix. 20), our
Lord does not question the brothers' confident {profession of
courage (comp. xxvi. 35), nor does He blame it; nor again does
He deny that there will be differences of rank in the Kingdom.
' "There is the possibility that at the time when S. Matthew's Gi)spcl
was published, the corsideralion in the Church of James and John was so
high that there was a desire to throw some of the rcsponsibilily fur this
demand from the Apostles on their mother" (.Salmon, p. 420). Possilily this
feeling caused Lk. to omit the incident altogether. On the cli.-mgc from
active (airoP<7a, 20) to middle (axTtiaOe, 22) see J. H. Moulton, Crtxin. of
N.T. Gr. p. I Go.
-The true text of Mt. omits the parallel aliout 'the baptism that I am
haj)lized with,* either as being mere repetition, or possibly as being some-
what obscure. IJut the picture of sufiering as an overwhelming AikkI is
common (Ps. Ixix. I, 2, cxxiv. 3, 4), and Christ had used the metajihor
of Ijaptism before (Lk. xii. 50). Mt. inserts /i/X\w to make the cup refer
to Gethsemane.
278 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XX. S3, S4
With regard to the former, He tells them that their profession
will be realized ; and, with regard to the latter, that it rests with
the Father to dispose of the honours of the Kingdom.
The prediction with regard to their sharing His cup was
fulfilled respecting James, when he was put to death by Herod
Agrippa I., a.d. 44 (Acts xii. 2). Respecting John, it was fulfilled
in various ways: imprisonment (Acts iv. 3, v. 18), beating
(v. 40), and exile (Rev. i. 9). That John, like James, was put
to death by the Jews, was perhaps stated by Papias (Georgius
Hamartolus and the De Boor fragment), but this looks like an
invention to make the fulfilment of Christ's prediction similar in
the case of both brothers.^ The stories that he drank poison
and was immersed in boiling oil without being harmed cannot be
relied upon, though they go back to the second century.
The reservation respecting the right-hand and left-hand
places is rightly rendered in the AV. : ' is not Mine to give, but
(it shall be given to those) for whom it has been prepared.' The
'but' (aXkd) does not mean 'except' (el fii]). Christ does not
mean that He can only give it to those for whom it is ordained ;
but that the assignment is not in His hands, but in those of His
Father. To make this quite clear, Mt. adds after ' for whom it
has been prepared' the words 'by My Father,' which is quite in
his manner (vii. 21, x. 32, xi. 27, xii. 50, xvi. 17, xviii. 10, 19).
On the use of ' prepare ' respecting the Divine counsels see
Dalman, Words, p. 128; Hatch, Biblical Greek, pp. 51-55.
With regard to the limitation which our Lord here puts upon
His own power we may compare the similar limitations stated
Mk. xiii. 32 and Acts i. 7. Here, as there, He makes no
revelation as to what the Divine decree is.
Perhaps the Ten had expected that Christ would reprove
the ambition of the sons of Zebedee more severely; but the
attempt to gain an advantage by private solicitation was enough
to provoke their indignation against James and John.^
Emulation and jealousy, which had been already rebuked
(xviii. I ff.), and perhaps more than once, are still rife among the
Apostles. Lk , who omits this incident, transfers Christ's rebuke
to orie of the discourses which preceded the arrest in Gethsemane
(xxii. 24-27). It is not likely that this contrast with Gentile
methods of government (25) was made more than once, and the
^ " There is no suffijient evidence to cast serious doubt on the universal
tradition that S. John died peacefully at Ephesus in extreme old age. The
attribution to Papias of the statement that John and James were killed by
the Jews rests on very slender authority " (J. Arm. Robinson, The Historical
Character of St. John s Gospel, p. 79).
^ Both at ver. 20 and at ver. 24 Mt. omits the names of the brothers,
whereas Mk. gives the names in both places. Mt. alone uses the strange
expression ' mother of the sons of Zebedee ' ; comp. xxvii. 56.
XX. 25 28] THROUGH rKR.KA TO JERUSALEM 279
occasion given by Mt. and Mk. is more likely to be historical
than that chosen by Lk. The rebuke to the Ten is as gentle as
that to the two brothers, and in substance it resembles that
already given (xviii. 2-5). The road to promotion is the road
of humility, and he who desires to rule must first learn to serve.
This is a complete reversal of the common idea of the relations
between ruler and subject ; it is the ruler who has to serve his
subjects rather than they him.
The Gentiles are probably chosen in order to make the
contrast between the disciples and other organizations as great
as possible. There was not so much difference between Jewish
and Gentile potentates as regards the matter in question. In
both there was a tendency to despotism. 'I'he details of the
saying are not quite clear. The meaning seems to be that the
Gentiles are tyrannized over by rulers and their underlings, and
that the tyranny of the underlings is worse than that of those
who are supreme, the 'them' in both cases being the Gentiles.
The despotism of Emperors and Kings is great, but that of
proconsuls and satraps is worse. Yet the second 'them' might
refer to 'the rulers.' Emperors and Kings lord it over the
people ; but the proconsuls and satraps manage to control the
Emperors and Kings. The former interpretation, however, is
more probable. In any case, the extremely rare word used for
'exercise authority' {KaTe^ova-id^uv) is evidence that Mt. and
Mk. cannot be independent of one another.
'Not so is it among you' (26). Both here and in Mk. 'is' (BDZ) is
more probable than ' shall be ' (K C L X). At the moment when Christ spoke,
the disciples' frame of mind zvas that of the Gentiles, and hence there w.is a
temptation to change the present into the future : ' they would learn better
in time.' But Christ is speaking of their ideal, of that which He has set
before them by His own example; for He is their Master, yet He serves.
The ' is' was quite true of that ideal ; but copyists have altered it into 'sh.ill
be' in order t(j harmonize with the ' shall be,' twice repeated, which follows.
And here again there is confusion of reading in both Gospels between 'shall
be' (K C D" K L M, Latt.) and ' let him be' (B E G H S V) ; so in ver. 27.
But the evidence is differently distributed in the two Gospels, and also in the
two places (26, 27) in this Gospel.
There is a right kind of emulation in the Kingdom, viz. as
to who can be of more service to others. There may be a noble
rivalry as to who can most completely devote himself for the
benefit of all. And there is no other way of being great or of
becoming first. If proof of this is needed, there is the example
of the Messiah Himself. On a previous occasion He took a
little child as a pattern of temper and spirit ; here He takes His
own life as a pattern of action. ' He mr/ie not to be ministered
unto, but to minister.' Christ does not here speak of Himself
as having been sent by His lather to undertake this position
280 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XX. 26-28
of ministering to others, although that would have been true.
He says, what is equally true, that He came, of His own free
will, to do this. The example is in this way made all the
stronger. Although unique among the sons of men, yet He
came not to profit by their service but to render service to them,
even to the full extreme of giving His life as a ransom for them.
Here, as in v. 17 and x. 34, the negative description of His
aim is not absolute. He allowed Himself to be ministered to
both by Angels (iv. 11) and human beings (viii. 15, xxvii. 55);
and His disciples often acted towards Him as His servants.
Nevertheless, this was not the object of His coming into the
world. The hundreds whom He had healed and the thousands
whom He had instructed made the number of those who had
ministered to Him look small indeed. And if those who
profited by His brief public life were to be counted by thousands,
what was to be said of the millions who profited by His death ?
This was His "supreme act of service to humanity" (Swete).
There is a climax in this statement of the Christian ideal. To
be great is to be the servant (StaKovo?) of many ; to be first is
to be the bond-servant (SovAos) of many ; to be supreme is to
give one's life for many. The word ' ransom ' (Avrpov), though
not rare in the O.T., is used in the N.T. only in this context ;
and the English phrase, ' a ransom for many,' is not likely to
be misunderstood. It means a ransom by means of which
many are set free — from bondage, or captivity, or penalties, or
sentence of death. But the Greek phrase might be misunder-
stood ; 'a ransom instead of many' (dvTt izoWwv) might be
thought to mean that many ought to have paid ransom, but
that He paid it instead of them ; which is not the meaning.
And the indefinite ' many ' does not mean that there were some
whom He did not intend to redeem ; that He did not die for
all. ' Many ' is in opposition to one ; it was not for His own
personal advantage that He sacrificed His life, but one life was
a ransom for many lives. Here, where Christ for the first time
reveals that His death is to benefit mankind, He does not
reveal the whole truth. Comp. i Tim. ii. 6 and i Jn. ii. 2, where
the more comprehensive truth is stated. The ransom is paid
to God, into whose hands the dying Messiah surrenders His
life (Lk. xxiii. 46). The way in which this ransom sets men
free is beyond our comprehension.^
'The Son of Man came' implies the pre-existence of the
Son ; it is not a mere synonym for being born (xviii. 1 1 ; Lk. ix.
56, xix. 10). Only once does Christ speak of being born, and
^ See Sanday, Outlmes, § 57, pp. 134-137, and the literature there quoted.
Only here and Mk. x. 45 in the N.T. does Xvrpop occur. Comp. Josephus,
Ant. XIV. vii. i. See H. T. Andrews in Mansfeld College Essays, pp. 77 t.
XX. 28] THROUGH PER/KA TO JERUSALEM 281
then He immediately adds the more full expression: *To this
end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth' (Jn. xviii. 37).
And this Ministry of teaching and bearing witness continued to
the very end : on the Cross He ministered to the robber. And
'to give His life' implies that His death was the act of His own
free will. ' No one taketh it away from Me, but I lay it down
of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again' (Jn. x. 18). Just those two things which seem to
be beyond our own control, being born and dying, are said by
Christ to be His own free acts; 'the Son of Man came ... to
give His life a ransom for many ' (Maclaren).^
Is not the combination of humility and majesty which is
found in this saying a guarantee for its genuineness? Could it
have been invented? Who is this, who in the same utterance,
and in the most simple and natural way, declares that He is
the servant of everybody, and that His single life is aljJe to
ransom many? There is no boasting and no manifest exaggera-
tion in either declaration ; nothing but a calm statement of fact,
made by One who is confident that He is saying the simple
truth. This is God's * Righteous Servant,' who is able to 'justify
many; and He shall bear their iniquities' (Is. liii. 11). And
His followers are to take His life as their pattern ; their lives
are to be shaped in accordance with His as lives of self-sacrifice
and service. Comp. 2 Mac. vii. 37.
D and <l> (Codex Bcralinus) with some Old Latin and Syriac authorities
have a long interpolation after 'a ransom for many' (2tJ). Syr-Sin. is
defective, but there Is not room for it in what is missing. Until the discovery
of 4> in 1868, D was the only Greek authority for the passage which runs
thus: " But ye seek from littleness to increase and [not] from greatness to
be little. But when ye are bidden to a supper, sit nut down in the superior
places, lest a more honourable man than thou come up, and the giver of the
supper come to thee and say, Go down lower, and thou be greatly ashamed :
but if thou sit down in the lower place, and there come one less than thou,
and the giver of the supper shall say to thee, Go up higher, then shall this Ix:
profitable to thee." The wording is somewhat ditierent in the different
authorities, especially in the Latin ; but the chief difference is the insertion
in the Syriac of the ' not ' in the second clause. A similar result is reached
in some Latin texts by changing "from greatness to be little" (</<? maj^w
minui, or de tnaximo minui, or de majori tninores esse) into " from less to
liccome greater " (de mittore tnaiores fieri). D has kolX ik fitl^ofoi CKarTor
tlpcu, ♦ {\6.Trup. Both D and ♦ have the rare word St it P0K\-fiTwp (.en.e
invitator, or ii qui te itnitabit) for 'the giver of the supper.' The irjrurt
may be cither indicative ((fuaritis) or imperative (Syriac). Wordsworth and
White, Vuli^ate, i. p. 124 ; Smith's DH. iii. p. 1712 ; Scrivener, /{et>t Ccdfx,
p. 59 ; Kesch, Agrapha, p. 39 ; Nestle, Textual Criticism, pp. 255-258.
' On the frcriuency of the construction ' rut this but that ' (ovk . . . dXXd)
in our lord's sayings (28) sec KhUAX, /chart. Gr. 259J. Comp. x. 20, x\%. 6,
XX. 23, etc. It is specially frequent in Mk.
282 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW FXX. 29-34
XX. 29-34. The Two Blind Men at Jericho.
Here we again have all three narratives ; and, although both
Mt. and Lk. seem to be dependent on Mk., yet no two narratives
agree. Mk. and Lk. have only one blind man ; Mt. has two.
Mt. and Mk. represent the miracle as being wrought when Christ
was leaving Jericho ; Lk. as being wrought when He was enter-
ing it. Mt. says that He healed with a touch ; Mk. and Lk. say
that He healed with a word, but they differ somewhat as to the
word.
It is possible that Lk. had other authority besides Mk.
Besides his differences, he adds that the blind man, when healed,
glorified God, and that all the people, when they saw it, gave
praise to God. It is possible also that in Mt. there is some
confusion between this healing of Bartimjeus and the healing of
two blind men in a house (ix. 27-31). In both cases the blind
men greet Jesus as the ' Son of David,' and in both cases Mt.
mentions that in healing them Christ touched their eyes. This
is all the more remarkable in this case, because Mk. says nothing
about touching, and elsewhere Mt. omits the Ephphatha miracle
with the touching of the ears and the tongue. This confusion
with another miracle might account for Mt.'s two blind men ;
but in any case we must compare his two demoniacs among the
Gadarenes, where Mk. and Lk. mention only one. As he did
not know the name of the second blind man, he omits the name
of Bartim.xus. But he is given to omitting names. He twice
omits the names of the sons of Zebedee (xx. 20, 24), and he
omits the name of Jairus (ix. 18).
These differences between the three accounts are of little
moment, except for the instruction of those who think that they
are bound to believe that every statement in Scripture must be
historically true. What clearly emerges from the narrative is
that in the neighbourhood of Jericho a bUnd man called to
Jesus for help, as He was on His way to Jerusalem for the last
Passover ; that the crowd would have kept him from Christ, but
Christ would not allow this ; and that his sight was restored by
Jesus. The graphic details in Mk., which are ignored by Mt. and
Lk. as unimportant, are such as an eye-witness would remember
and record.^
The expression 'Son of David' is common in Mt. (i. i, 20,
ix. 27, xii. 23, XV. 22, xxi. 9, 15, xxii. 42), but here it is in all
three, and it may be regarded as historical. It implies a belief
^ But Mt. alone records the touching of the eyes of the blind. The
toucliing does not enhance the miracle, and the addition is remarkable.
Comp. ix. 29. And Mt. alone mentions the compassion [aifKor^x^'-''^^'-^)'
Couip. Mk. i. 41.
XXI. 1] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 283
that Jesus was the Messiah. May we not believe that the man
who repeatedly used it on this occasion, and who afterwards
followed Jesus, glorifying God, was among those who very
shortly afterwards shouted ' Hosannato the Son of David' at the
triumphal entry into Jesusalem ? It is possible that the crowd's
attempt to silence the cries to the 'Son of David' was dictated
by the thought that this proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah
was premature. They had not yet made up their minds how to
act in the matter. But they may merely have wished to prevent
Him from being disturbed by importunate cries. ' Lord, that
our eyes may be opened' shows that the necessary faith was
there; comp. ix. 28, 29.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xx. : oiKod<;a-ir6Tj]i (i, 12), ISov (18),
rdre (20), vpoa^px^crOai (20), irpoirKvveiv (20), Kal idou (30), vl6s Aaveid
(30, 31). Peculiar: i) ^acriXda rwy ovpavQv (l), iraTpos (13), (XKrOovv (l, 7
only).
In ver. 20 we have another instance of capricious rendering in the AV.
' Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children {v\0>v) with her
sons {viOiv')'
XXI. l.-XXV. 46. THE MESSIAH'S LAST WOIIK
IN THE HOLY CITY.
This is sometimes called "the Messianic Crisis." Jesus is
publicly proclaimed as the Messiah, and in consequence is put
to death ; He rises again, appears to His disciples, and promises
to be with them * all the days, unto the consummation of the
age.' The narrative of these momentous events constitutes the
fifth and concluding portion of the First Gospel. The chronology
of these last days, as of the whole of our Lord's life, is uncertain ;
but the best authorities are disposed to assume that the year is
A.D. 29. But, when that is determined, the assignment of the
events recorded to the right day of the week and month still
remains (in various particulars) a difficult problem. It is evident
that the Evangelists, as a rule, did not regard chronology as of
great importance. And Mt. does not care to record details of
journeys. He tells us nothing as to the route from Galilee into
Teroea (xix. i), or as to the scenes of the events there, or as to
the route towards Jerusalem (xx. 17), or where the Jordan was
crossed to reach Jericho (xx. 29) ; and now nothing is said about
the journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. The one place men-
tioned is no help, for we know nothing respecting Rcthphage,
not even whether it was a village or a district, for it is not
mentioned either in the O.T., or in the Apocrypha, or in
Josephus. In the N.T. it occurs in the Synoptists only, and
284 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 1-3
they do not tell its position, which, however, must have been on
or near the Mount of Olives.^ See DCG. i. p. 197.
XXI. 1-11. The Messiah's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
The Passover was at hand, and there would be immense
numbers of pilgrims that had come to Jerusalem for the Feast.
Of these, some would know a good deal about Jesus, especially
those who had come from Galilee. Many more had seen and
perhaps heard Him occasionally. But the large majority of
those who took part in the triumphal entry must have known
very little about Him, and perhaps had never seen Him before.
The great enthusiasm, therefore, cannot have had any strong
foundation, and must have been, in many cases, merely
emotional sympathy of an unreasoning and evanescent character.
It is probable that not a few who cried ' Hosanna ' at the entry
took part in crying ' Crucify ' a few days later. This would be
all the more likely to happen, because those who had shouted
in the Messiah's honour believed that they were escorting Him
to a throne which would restore the ancient glories of Israel.
When they saw that nothing of the kind was going to take place,
they would visit their disappointment upon the object of their
previous enthusiasm. If this proclamation of His Messiahship
(to which He consented now that His hour was come) was more
general and more loudly voiced than the attempt to make Him
king just a year before (Jn. vi. 15), it was for that reason all the
more dangerous in provoking deadly hostility, without being
substantial enough to make any resistance to those who were
determined to put Him to death. They might sympathize with
Him when He defeated His opponents in argument, but they
made no attempt to deliver Him after His arrest, or to save Him
from Crucifixion. (For the Mount of Olives see DCG. ii.
p. 206; Deissmann, Bible Studies, y>- 211. For S. Ephraim's
quotation of ver. 3, 'for their Lord they are required,' see
Burkitt m/TS., July 1900, p. 569.)
We are free to suppose that our Lord had already spoken to
the owner of the colt when He sent the two disciples, for nothing
in the nrrrative contradicts this; but the impression produced
by all three accounts is that Jesus had supernatural knowledge,
by virtue of which He predicted what would happen. All three
call attention to the exact correspondence (/<a(9ws = ' even as')
between what He had said and what took place. Mt. implies
this : * they did even as He appointed,' which they could not
^ One may suppose that, when Mt. wrote, Bethphage was as well known
as Bethany, or better ; for he prefers it to Bethany as a means of marking the
XXI. 3-7] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 285
have done, if what they found had not agreed with what He had
foretold. The owner seems to have known Jesus, and perhaps
was a disciple ; otherwise he would not have known who was
meant by 'the Lord,' and would not so readily have obeyed.
The two disciples are not named, but the details which Mk.
alone gives suggest that one of them was Peter (conip. Lk. xxii. 8).
Mt., who alone mentions two animals, omits that the colt was
one 'on which no one of men ever yet sat' (Mk., Lk.). This
probably indicates a royal progress (Deut. xxi. 3 ; Num. xix. 2 ;
I Sam. vi. 7). All four Gospels mention that the animal on
which Christ rode was a colt (ttw/W), and the word occurs
nowhere else in the N.T. The birth of a virgin and the burial
in a tomb that had never before been used may be compared.
We are not to regard Christ's riding on an ass as a special act of
humility: "The ass was highly esteemed as a riding beast, and
was used by men and women of rank, as it has always been in
the East " (Moore, y>^t/^^.r, p. 274). Comp. Judg. i. 14, v. 10,
X. 4 ; I Sam. xxv. 20; 2 Sam. xvii. 23, xix. 26. What the ass
signified was, that the entry was a peaceful one. This was no
conqueror with chariots and horsemen, but a King coming to
His people with a farewell message of peace.
Mt. mentions both the foal and its mother, because he
regards this as a more exact fulfilment of Zech. ix. 9.^ This is
an error, for in the prophecy ' a colt the foal of an ass ' (or ' of
she-asses ') is mere repetition of 'an ass ' : ' riding upon an ass,
even upon a colt the foal of an ass' (RV.). It is worth noting
that ^It. inserts the prophecy (which Jn. also quotes) immediately
after Christ's prediction of what the two disciples will find, not
(as we might have expected) after the procession had taken place.
He intimates that Christ was consciously fulfilling the prophecy.^
'Tell ye the daughter of Zion' looks like a recollection of Is.
Ixii. II, prefixed to the passage in Zechariah, either by a slip of
memory, or perhaps deliberately, in order to give more point to
the prophecy.^
liut we need not suppose that Mt. overlooked the fact that
Christ could not ride upon both animals at once, and was not
likely to ride first on one and then on the other. Mk. says :
' they bring the colt to Jesus, and cast on him their garments;
and He sat upon him,' which is plain enough. There is no
' Comp. Justin Martyr, who says that the colt was tied to a vine, in order
to make the incident a fulfilment of Gen. xlix. 11, ' liinding his foal unto the
vine' [Apol. i. 32).
* In this case (comp. i. 22, xxvi. 56) the perf. yifovtv must be Mt.'s own.
See Lightfoot, On Revision, p. loi.
^ The use of viro'iv~/iov, ' beast of burden,' in the special sense of 'ass' is
not a "Biblical" peculiarity. It seems to occur in papyri; Deissmann,
Biblical Studies, p. 161.
286 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 7-9
saddle or saddle-cloth, and the disciples take off their outer
garments (to. IjxaTLa) to supply the deficiency. For this Mt. has :
'they brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their
garments ; and He sat upon them ' {l-n-idi^Kav eV avrwv to. IfiaTia,
Kol eTreKaOia-ev eVarw avTwv, where the change from eVi tO lirdvui
is to be noticed). Mt.'s idea is that the disciples put their
clothes on both the animals, not knowing which the Lord would
prefer. He took the colt, and sat upon the clothes. The
wording is a little clumsy, because, while the first ' them ' must
refer to the two animals, the second 'them' might also refer to
the two animals. But the change of preposition is perhaps
intended to indicate a change of meaning ; i and in any case the
Evangelist credits his readers with common sense. The sarcasm
of Strauss is misplaced.
The example of the disciples in sacrificing their upper
garments to do honour to the Messiah is followed by the majority
of the crowd, who take off theirs to make a carpet in front of
Him. To this day this is a common form of homage; see
instances quoted in Wetstein and Robinson, Jies. i?i Pal. i. p.
473, and comp. 2 Kings ix. 13 of the proclamation of Jehu as
king.
'Hosanna' is in ]\Ik. and Jn., but 'Hosanna to the Son of
David 'is in Mt. alone. The word comes from Ps. cxviii. 25,
26, where 'Hosanna' is a prayer, 'Save, we pray,' or 'Give
salvation now ' ; and ' Blessed is He who cometh ' is a welcome
to the pilgrim w^ho comes to w^orship at the Feast. It would
seem as if what had originally been a prayer had come, through
its frequent use in shouts at the Feast of Tabernacles, to be
regarded as an exclamation of greeting or congratulation, similar
to 'Hail!' The original meaning could be made to hold in
such an expression as ' Hosanna to the Son of David ' ; but it is
difficult to make that meaning good in ' Hosanna in the highest.' 2
The probability is that the original meaning is lost in both
phrases, and that we are to understand some such thought as
'Glory to the Son of David,' 'Glory in the highest,' the latter
expression meaning that those who are in heaven join in this cry.
Rev. vii. 9 throws some light on the subject, where the great
multitude, with palms in their hands, cry 'Salvation unto our
God . . . and unto the Lamb.' Indeed the passage may have
been written wuth the thought of the triumphal entry in the Seer's
mind. It would seem as if Lk. understood 'Hosanna' in the
^ There seems to be no example of ^Tra^w being used as riding on an
animal ; it would perhaps be as unusual as for us to talk of riding ' on the top
of a horse.
^ Weymouth suggests, ' God save the Son of David, God in the highest
heavens save Him !' See Wright, Synopsis, p. iii.
XXI. 10-12] LAST ^VORK IN THE HOLY CITY 287
sense of ' Glory ' rather than of ' Save ' : he has ' Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest.' See the excellent art. on ' Hosanna '
in DCG. ; also Dalman, IVords, p. 220. In the post-communion
prayer in the Didache (x. 6) we have ' Hosanna to the God of
David,' which in some texts has been altered to ' Son of David,'
no doubt under the influence of this passage.
In what follows, Mt. has a verse and a half which are not in
Mk. or Lk. : ' all the city was stirred,^ saying, Who is this ? And
the multitude said, This is the Prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of
Galilee' (10, 11). This shows that to many, perhaps even of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, He was still personally unknown. The
answer has the appearance of being exact. In spite of the cries
at the triumphal entry, it is not said that He is the Messiah ;
that is by no means generally recognized ; but in various places,
and especially in Galilee, He has had the reputation of being a
Prophet (xvi. 14).
XXI. 12-17. The Clean si fig of the Temple.
As to the cleansing of the Temple there are several doubts.
Did it take place more than once ? If it did not, is Jn. right in
placing it at the beginning of the Ministry, or are the Synoptists
in placing it at the end ? And are his details to be preferred to
theirs?
There is nothing incredible in two cleansings. Even if there
were two, they probably did not put an end to the evil ; and if
Jesus, after an interval of two years, found that the traffic was
even worse than before. He would be likely to repeat the remedy.
But, in that case, we should expect some reference on the second
occasion to what had taken place before. Just as in the case of
the feeding of the multitudes, the fact that the disciples are as
perplexed about the feeding of the 4000 as about the feeding of
the 5000, tells against the otherwise not improbable repetition of
the miracle, so the fact that in no Gospel is there any allusion to
more than one cleansing of the Temple, is against the otherwise
not improbable repetition of that event. But this reasoning is
not decisive.
Assuming that there was only one cleansing, it is more
probable that this Messianic act took place at the end of the
Ministry than at the beginning of it. At the beginning, Christ
was hardly recognized as a Prophet, and it is surprising that He
^ The expression is a strong one : iadaOrj wdcra r/ irAty. Comp. the similar
hyperbole at the arrival of the Magi : 6 ^a^cXei'S irapixOv, fii iraaa
'lepoffdXvfia ftfT airov (ii. 3). It was this city multitude which a few days
later cried 'Crucify Him.' The mullitude which cried ' Hosanna ' consisted
largely of Galilean pilgrims.
288 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 12-14
should thus have proclaimed Himself as the Son of God (Jn. ii.
1 6) almost at the outset. But it is too much to say that "it is
most improbable that Jesus could have succeeded in cleansing
the Temple, if He had appeared there as an utterly unknown
youth, with no following but one or two obscure friends." He
had the conscience, not only of the bystanders, but of the
offenders themselves, on His side, and there is nothing surprising
in the impressive manner of the young Reformer carrying all
before it. If the Synoptists' date is more probable than that of
Jn., there is nothing incredible in the latter. Moreover, there is
the certain fact that Jn. knew what the Synoptists had written,
and that he deliberately dissented from them. If he is not
inserting a cleansing which they had omitted, he is quietly
correcting them. A slip of memory on either side is possible,
and equally remarkable instances might be quoted. We must
be content to leave both questions open. There may have been
two cleansings ; and, if there was only one, either Mk. or Jn.
may be right. Drummond is decidedly for the Synoptists {The
Character and Authorship of the Fourth Gospel, ^. 6 1); Sanday
is inclined to prefer S. John {The Criticism of the Fourth Gospel,
p. 149); so also Wright, Synopsis of the Gospels, p. 113. Salmon
thinks that we are at liberty to believe " that our Lord made His
first protest against Temple profanation on an earlier visit to the
sacred House, and that after an absence of a year or more,
coming back with a number of Galilean disciples. He enforced
His requirements more vigorously" {Human Element, p. 433).
J. Armitage Robinson points out that, "whatever the exact
date may have been, the relative position of the incident is the
same in S. John as in S. Mark. In either Gospel it forms the
first public act of the ministry in Jerusalem. If it does not find
an earlier place in S. Mark, it is because that Gospel records but
one visit to Jerusalem. And we may further note that in both
Gospels this startling action is followed by a challenge to declare
by what authority our Lord so acts ; so that in Jerusalem the
ultimate issue — His relation to God — is raised at the outset"
{The Historical Character of St. Jolm^s Gospel, p. 21). And the
position of the cleansing of the Temple in Mk. determined the
position of the incident in Mt. and Lk. In all four Gospels,
therefore, it is " the first public act of the ministry in Jerusalem."
Mk. tells us that Christ ' would not suffer that any man should
carry a vessel through the Temple.' ^ Mt. omits this, but adds that
' the blind and the lame came to Him in the Temple ; and He
^ For 'robbers' den' (crwriXaiov \rjcrTQi>) comp. Jer. vii. II. There is no
reference to cattle raided by brigands, but simply to extortionate charges.
Mt. has TroieTre, Mk. ireiroiriKaTe, Lk. iiroi^aaTe. In ver. 14 there may be a
reference to the healing of the man born blind.
XXI. 14-16] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 2S9
healed them.' Lk. omits both, but states that ' He was teaching
daily in the Temple.' Elsewhere we have seen that Mt. prefers
to mention healing rather than teaching : e.g. xiv. 14 = Mk. vi. 34,
xi.x. 2 = Mk. X. I. The case of the man 'lame from his mother's
womb' who was laid daily at the Beautiful door of the Temple
(Acts iii. 2), shows that there would be likely to be lame and
blind persons in and near the Temple hoping for alms, and on
these Jesus would have compassion. The repelilion of the phrase
'in the I'emple' in these verses (12-15) is to be noted; the
Evangelist seems to wish to emphasize the scene. All these
incidents connected with the great crisis in the career of the
Messiah took place in the holiest part of the Holy City.
The incident of the boys (TratSes, not, as in xiv. 21, xviii. 3,
xix. 13, iraiSta) shouting ' Hosanna' in the Temple, and members
of the Sanhedrin appealing to Christ to stop them (15, 16), has
no parallel in Mk., but Lk. has something similar respecting the
triumphal entry (xix. 39, 40).^ This seems to show that Mt.
and Lk. have some source or sources of information not used by
Mk, 'Dost Thou hear what these say?' probably means that
He ought to feel that the shouting ought to be stopped, and that
it is His place to do it. He answers their question with another:
have they never in their lives read the eighth Psalm? In the
([uotation the Septuagint is followed in substituting 'praise'
(ahov) for the 'strength' of the Hebrew. For the purpose of
defending the boys, 'praise 'was more suitable. 'The children
of Zion were joyful in their King' (Ps. cxlix. 2). These TratSes
were no doubt children who had heard the shouts at the triumphal
entry, and at the sight of Jesus in the Temple began to repeat
what they had heard. The whole is exceedingly natural. That
the hierarchy, who had for so long tolerated, or indeed encouraged,
as profitable to themselves, the traffic in the Temple, should
profess to be shocked at the shouting of the children, is as
characteristic of them as the repetition of the Hosannas of the
multitude is of the boys. The Evangelist treats their protest as
genuine; it was not hypocritical assumption of anger. 'They
were moved with indignation ' at what they regarded as a desecra-
tion of the sacred precincts. Although they did not mention it
in their protest, they seem to have resented Christ's healing in
the Temple. Mt. says : 'When the chief priests and Scribes sa7U
the wonderful things that He did, and the children that were
crying in the Temple . . . they were moved with indignation '
{r}yava.KTr](Tav, as XX. 24, xxvi. 8). Our Lord does not stay to
* But here, as in xii. 23, Mt. is the only Evangelist who records the use of
the expression, ' Son of David,' whicli occurs nine limes in this Gospel
against six limes in the rest of the N.T. Il is nol found in-Jn. It is a
Messianic title, and Jesus will not condemn its application to Himself,
19
290 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXl. 18-S6
argue with them. He has defended the children from their
unjust censure, and that done He leaves the murmurers and goes
out of the Temple.
A comparison of the two Gospels shows that INIt. puts into
two days what Mk. distributes over three days. See Allen. Mt.
and Lk. both put the cleansing of the Temple on the same day
as the triumphal entry. Mk. puts the cleansing on the second
day, after the cursing of the fig-tree. Mt. makes the withering
of the fig-tree follow immediately. In Mk. the withering is not
noticed till the third day. Then follows teaching, which Mt.
places on the second day.
XXI. 18-22. The cursing of the Braggart Fig- Tree.
Jesus had left the city as well as the Temple and went out to
Bethany and passed the night there {-rjvXLa-Orj)} The expression
perhaps means no more than that He spent the night outside
the city ; that He spent it in the open air need not be intended.
At the Passover, multitudes had to pass the night outside the
walls. Mk. says that at this time ' every evening He went forth
out of the city' (xi. 19).
Mt. greatly condenses Mk.'s narrative of the cursing of the
fig-tree. He gives just what is necessary for the drawing of
the lesson from Christ's action and nothing more. He does not
even exhibit his usual interest in Peter. The expression of
surprise at the speedy withering of the tree is attributed to the
disciples generally, not to Peter in particular. Both Evangelists
tell us that our Lord hungered : we are not to think that He
expressed a desire to eat in order to teach by means of an acted
parable. And He came to the tree expecting, on account of the
profusion of leaves, to find fruit, although 'it was not the season
of figs.' 2 Evidently there was no employment of supernatural
knowledge ; it was not till He came to the tree that * He found
nothing thereon, but leaves only.' Then, as Mk. puts it, ' He
ansivered ax\d said unto it. No man eat fruit from thee henceforward
for ever.' It was no hasty, impatient utterance, but a sentence
deliberately pronounced, and immediately executed.^ There is
no contradiction here between the two narratives; but in Mt.
the withering is noticed by the disciples (apparently) at once, in
Mk. not till the next day. Mt. states, though Mk. does not, that
the withering took place immediately.
^ On the insertion of ^kcT see on xxvii. 47. Mt., who omits the mention
of Bethany, xxi. i, is alone in mentioning it here {17).
- ' Fig-season ' seems to have been a common expression for summer.
See Wetstein on Mk. xi. 13.
3 For ' immediately ' Mt. uses a word (Trapaxpv/M) which is a favourite
one with Lk., and is found nowhere else in the N.T. but in these two verses.
XXI. 20, 21] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 29I
Thus Mt., as elsewhere, enhances the marvellous character of
the miracle, and that in two ways. He insists that the withering
took place at once, and so rapidly that the disciples noticed that
it followed immediately upon the uttering of the curse ; whereas,
so far as the narrative in Mk. informs us, the withering might be
a process that occupied some hours, and was not noticed by any
one until the next morning. Secondly, instead of one disciple
calling attention next morning to the condition of the tree, Mt.
says that the immediate withering of the tree excited the astonish-
ment of the whole company of the disciples, who collectively
expressed their amazement. In both narratives the fig-tree is
condemned, not for being fruitless, but for being false. In the
fig-tree, the fruit precedes the leaves. At that early season (April)
the fig-tree would usually have neither ; but this tree, by putting
forth a profusion of leaves, professed to have fruit ; and it had
none. There was 'nothing thereon, but leaves only.' As a
symbol of moral and religious character, the tree was a deceiver
and a hypocrite ; and for this the Lord pronounces a symbolical
judgment upon it. See Hastings' DB., art. ' Figs.' Holtzmann
on Mk. xi. 13 treats the narrative as historical; on Mt. xxi. 19
he says that " we have here the transformation of Lk. xiii. 6-9 into
history, under the influence of Hos. ix. 10."
The fig-tree represents the Holy City, rather than the nation
as a whole.^ It is its profuse profession of zeal for God, and
perhaps its enthusiastic welcome of the Messiah, which is con-
demned as worthless, and worse than worthless, because it gives
a promise of fruit which is not there : and its speedy destruc-
tion will be the immediate consequence of these barren
professions.
But this is not the lesson which Christ Himself draws from
the speedy death of the tree and the disciples' amazement at it.
The application of the fate of the hypocritical fruit-tree to the
fate of the hypocritical city was not of immediate importance, and
time itself would make it plain to the disciples when Jerusalem
was overthrown. There was a lesson that was far more urgent,
and this yi7),%— faith in the efficacy of prayer. The disciples had
been astonished at the quickness with which Christ's prayer (that
there might be no fruit from that tree henceforward for ever) had
been answered ; and He assures them that, if they have the neces-
sary trust in God's power and goodness, they will be able to do
things still more astonishing, always provided that the things to
be done are worthy of such means of accomplishment. The
' Zahn, EinUitung in d. N. T, ii. pp. 443, 445. We are reminded of
Christ's parable of the fig-tree (Lk. xiii. 6-9). The time of respite for
Jerusalem is now past : ' Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward for
ever.' The unfruitful tree, spared for a while, is now to be cut down.
292 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 21-23
execution of the sentence on the fig-tree 7vas thus worthy, and
hence its speedy fulfihnent. Comp. xvii. 20, 21, xviii. 19.
' Rooting up mountains ' was a metaphor for something that
is very difficult, and our Lord may be using a figure of speech
that was familiar to the disciples. But as He says ' //lis mountain,'
which would mean the Mount of Olives, He may be thinking of
Zech. xiv. 4: 'The Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst
thereof . . . and half of the mountain shall remove toward the
north, and half of it toward the south.' From this and other
instances, as the camel and the eye of the needle, the mote and
the beam, plucking out the right eye and cutting off the right
hand, we see that, in His popular teaching, our Lord was accus-
tomed to use forcible, and what we might call extreme language.
Comp. Lk. xvii. 6, where a tree takes the place of the mountain.^
In all three Gospels the marvellous transfer is from the land to
the ' sea,' and the charge given in connexion with it is to ' have
/a///i.' St. Paul points out that this faith, by itself, will not make
a Christian; there must be love also (i Cor, xiii. 2). And the
addition which Mk. makes here (xi. 25) to some extent provides
for this ; whoever prays for forgiveness must himself ' forgive, if
he have aught against any one.' This additional saying need not
be regarded as an afterthought or an early gloss. It is quite in
place as a warning against the supposition that curses on our
fellow-men will be ratified by God. Christ's symbolical impreca-
tion on the fig-tree does not sanction our uttering vindictive
imprecations on one another. Only if our prayers are for good
objects will faith secure their fulfilment. No justification for the
damnatory clauses in the Qiiiainqiie vidt can be found here.
XXI. 23-27. The Question of the Messiah's Authority.
Mk. tells us that Christ was walking in the Temple when
His authority was challenged by members of the Sanhedrin;^
Mt. and Lk. state that He was teaching there. It is possible
that His protest against the profanation of the Temple was
not confined to a single occasion ; on subsequent days He
may have had to interfere in a less conspicuous manner. Both
Mk. and Lk. say that ' He began to cast out ' the buyers and
sellers, and Mk. continues to use imperfects : ' He would not
allow,' 'Pie used to say' (xi. 15-17). But, even if our Lord's
protest was made on one occasion only, the Sanhedrin would
^ See Sanday, The Life of Christ in Recent Research, p. 27.
^ Mk. and Lk. give the three components of the Sanhedrin, chief priests,
scribes, and elders ; INIt. omits the scrilies and says 'the elders of ilic people.''
All three have 'by what Jdnd of authority (eV voiq. e^ovaiq.).' Was it ecclesi-
astical or civil, human or Divine? On 'elders' see Deissmann, p. 154.
XXI. 23-27] LAST WORK IX THE HOLY CITY 293
be likely to challenge it. His followers had proclaimed Him
to be a King. Did He claim to have royal authority for His
peremptory interference with the Temple usages?^ If so, that
might provoke the Roman procurator to take rigorous measures
against the whole populace. But anxiety for the people, and
for themselves as the responsible rulers, was probably not the
main reason for the challenge. Like the question about
tribute, it was intended to entrap Jesus. If He disclaimed
royal authority, He would be discredited with His followers;
if He claimed it, He could be handed over to Pilate.
But, whether or no it was their object to place Jesus in a
dilemma, it is clear that His reply placed them in one. Yet
it was not a mere device on His part to elude their challenge.
The answer to His question would lead to an answer to their
question; and, as the teachers of Israel, it was their place to
speak first. John's repentance-baptism represented his whole
position as a reformer ; he had insisted upon it as a preparation
for the Messianic Kingdom ; and he had proclaimed Jesus as
the Messiah. The people had hailed John with enthusiasm
as a Prophet, and perhaps his violent death at the hands of
Antipas had intensified this enthusiasm. All this was known
to the Sanhedrin ; and as the official leaders of the Jews they
ought long ago to have decided whether John was a Prophet
or not. If he was a Prophet (and they did not dare to say
that he was not), then there was no doubt as to the authority
which Jesus had, for a Prophet had declared Him to be the
Messiah.- But sooner than admit this they made the shameful
avowal that they had not yet been able to decide whether
John was a Prophet or not. What use, therefore, would it
have been to tell them whether Jesus was the Messiah or not ?
If John's proclamation of Him did not convince them, what
effect would His own assertion have? They had publicly
declared that they were unable to settle such questions, thus
abdicating their authority in religious questions of the highest
moment, and they do not venture to press Him further. But
* ' Doest these things' shows that it was His action that was primarily
challenged; but the plural, 'these things,' perhaps includes His teaching
as well as His cleansing of the Temple. ' One question' {Xlr/ov 'iva) perhaps
means one decisive question. To answer one question with another was
specially common with the Rabhis.
- The way in which Mt. gets rid of the broken construction in Mk. is
somewhat naive. Mk. has: ' I>ut should we say, From men — they feared
the people.' Mt. has : ' But if we shall say, From men ; we fear the
multitude.' The hierarchy would Ihittk this, but they would not confess it
even to one another. Lk. more reasonably substitutes : 'all the people will
stone us.' With similar improbability Mt. makes the rulers answer the
question : 'What will the lord of the vineyard do unto those husbandmen?'
(40, 41). See Canib. Bibl. Ess, pp. 430 f.
294 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 28-32
they had gained thus much advantage, — He had refused to
disavow all claim to the authority of a King, just as He had
previously refused to silence those who had hailed Him as
King. The case against Him with regard to the Romans was
so far strengthened. And in both cases He had refused to
disavow all claim to the authority of the Messiah. That
strengthened the case against Him with regard to the San-
hedrin. The incident shows how strong the influence of the
Baptist still was among the people; and it continued (Acts
xix. 1-7).
XXI. 28-32. The Parable of the Two Sons.
Mk. says that 'He began to speak to them in parables,'
but he gives only one parable, that of the Wicked Husbandmen.^
Mt., as so often, gives us a triplet, — three parables tending to
enforce the moral of the withered fig-tree, that the empty pro-
fessions of the Jews, and especially of the hierarchy at Jerusalem,
will provoke severe judgments. Probably all three parables
come from the Logia, and they are all three addressed to the
members of the Sanhedrin (28, 33, xxii. i). Although silenced,
these official opponents have not dispersed. With the intro-
ductory 'What think ye?' comp. xvii. 25, xviii. 12, xxii. 42.
The address, ' Son,' or ' My child ' (tckvov), is not so much
an expression of affection as a claim to obedience : a father
has a right to dispose of his child's labour. Comp. Lk. xvi. 25.
The first son asserts his own will: 'I don't choose to' (ou
OiXui). The second son evidently refers to his brother's refusal
in his elliptical 'I, sir,' with great emphasis on the pronoun
(eyw, Kupte). '/, of course, mean to do as you bid me,' the
emphatic pronoun expressing a contrast with his brother, and
the 'sir' being an expression of 'submission.'
The Greek text is very confused. Some important authorities place the
son who acquiesced but disobeyed before the son who refused but afterwards
obeyed; and this necessitated the change in ver. 31 of 'The first' into
'The second' or 'The last." The change of order is ancient, and was
probably caused by an ancient misinterpretation (Origen, Chrysostom,
Athanasius, Jerome) of the two sons. They were supposed to represent the
Jews and 'he Gentiles ; and, as the Jews (who professed obedience but
rejected the Messiah) were called before the Gentiles (who disobeyed the
law but accepted the Messiah), the son who acquiesced but disobeyed was
placed first. This arrangement (B, Boh. Arm. Aeth.) is less probable than
the one in our Bibles (K C D L X Z, Latt. Syrr.). It makes the emphatic
^701 in iyd}, Kvpie, pointless, for the other son has not yet said that he will
not go.
1 Comp. Mt. xiii., where we have several parables that are not in Mk.,
although Mk. indicates that he has not recorded all the parables that wef?
spoken then,
XXI. 28-32] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 295
But D and Syr-Sin., while supporting the more probable order, make
the hierarcliy reply, 'The last,' instead of 'The first,' thus approving the
conduct of the son who said, ' I go, sir,' but went not. According to this
reading, therefore, Christ's opponents, in order to spoil the argument of the
parable, gave an absurd answer. As being the more difficult reading, this
combination of the right order with the wrong reply has great interest, but
it is not likely to have been the original text, although both Merx and
Wellhausen adopt it. For further details see Hammond, Textual Criticism
of the N.T. pp. 1 14-1 16; Allen, pp. 228, 229; Bruce, The Parabolic
Teaching of Christ, pp. 438-446; Zahn, p. 618, note.
It is clear from Christ's concluding words that the members
of the Sanhedrin whom He is addressing are the son who pro-
fessed obedience and disobeyed, and that flagrant sinners, such
as the toll-collectors and harlots, are the son who refused
obedience and afterwards obeyed : there is no thought of Jews
and Gentiles. Even the most flagrant sinners take the lead of
the hypocritical Pharisees in entering the Kingdom of God,^
secure as the latter felt themselves to be of their salvation,
and great as was their disdain of the sinners. 'Go before you'
or ' take the lead of you ' (irpoayova-iv vixas) leaves it doubtful
whether the hierarchy will enter the Kingdom or not. If they
repent and believe, they will do so; but the sinners, who
have repented, are before them in this. It is a signal example
of a reversal of the world's judgments. Not only the Pharisees
themselves, but Jewish opinion generally, would have held
that their prospects of entering the Kingdom were of the best,
while those of toll-gatherers and harlots were infinitesimal. But
the first are last, and the last first.
The reference to the Baptist's preaching (32) looks back to
the question about his baptism (25). By his 'coming in the
way of righteousness ' is meant, not the rectitude of his own
life, but the right path of life which he inaugurated. He pointed
out the way of salvation, and invited all to come and enter it.
He 'taught the way of God' (xxii. 16), and the Pharisees had
come and listened to him (iii. 7), but they had refused to accept
his teaching ; whereas the toll-gatherers and harlots, who had
made no profession of religion, had accepted it.
The Greek text of the last clause of ver. 32 is doubtful. Ought we to
read ov (KCLXAH) or ov54 (B, Vulg. Syrr. Copt. Acth.) before
fj.(T€tit\i/ldrrr€, or neither (D, Syr-Sin.) ; or ought we to transfer the negative
to irKTTevaai (c e), qtiod nan credidistisl Or shall we omit the whole clause
(A), which is hardly necessary after oi'k iiriaT€v<ja.re. ai'r<(i? The omission of
the negative is probably accidental. So also is the omission of the clause
* We may suppose that ' Kingdom of God ' was the expression in the
source which Mt. used, and for some reason he has not changed it to
'Kingdom of Heaven.' Comp. xii. 28, xix. 24. It may be a mere
oversight.
296 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 33-36
(homceoteleuton). And ovde is preferable to 01) : ' But ye, after ye saw the
repentance and faith of these sinners, did not even repent afterwards.' In
any case, we again have evidence of the way in which our Lord confirmed
the authority of the Baptist (iii. 15, xi. 9, 10, 14, xxi. 25). John wrought
no signs to prove his authority ; but by the character of his message he had
convinced the people that he was a Prophet, and this conviction our Lord
repeatedly approves.
XXI. 33-46. T^e Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.
The thought of work in the vineyard is common to this and
the preceding parable. In the Two Sons Jesus brings before the
hierarchy their grievous misconduct in the past ; in spite of John's
teaching and His own teaching and mighty works, they have
refused to believe in Him. In the Wicked Husbandmen He
deals with the present and the future ; He shows that their plots
against His life are known to Him, and He warns them as to the
consequences of putting Him to death. It is one of the three
parables which are found in all three of the Synoptic Gospels,
the other two being the Sower and the Mustard Seed, a triplet
which has this in common, that all three are taken from agri-
culture. The Wicked Husbandmen indirectly gives the answer
to the question of the Sanhedrin about Christ's authority ; it is
the authority of the Father who has sent Him to them, as He
sent the Prophets before Him ; and their rejection of Him is
the culmination of the rejection of the Prophets by their pre-
decessors.^
The imagery of the parable would be quite familiar to a
Jewish audience. In the O.T. Israel is God's Kingdom, and
is often spoken of as a vineyard (Is. v, 1-7 ; comp. Jer. ii. 21 ;
Ezek. XV. 1-6, xix. 10-14; Hos. x. i, etc.). God had placed
this Kingdom of His in charge of rulers who were responsible
to Him for the conduct of His subjects.^ These rulers, whether
kings and priests under the monarchy, or priests and scribes
after its downfall, had been unfaithful. He had frequently sent
His servants the Prophets to remind the kings and priests of
their obligations to Him, but these had been persecuted, and
sometimes slain. After the severe judgment of the Captivity
the priests and scribes had behaved no better. They had been
^ In Mt. and Mk. the parable is addressed to the representatives of the
Sanhedrin ; in Lk. it is addressed to the people, and seems to refer to the
nation as a whole rather than to the rulers exclusively. It was applicable to
both in different degrees.
- In all three Gospels the cessation of the Theocracy is expressed in the
same way ; the owner ' went into another country ' (da-eSij/to-ej') : ' went into
2. far country' (AV. ) is too strong. Jehovah was never far from His people.
Alt. alone calls the owner otV-oSecrTrori?!, a word of which he is fond (x. 25,
xiii. 27, 52, XX. I, II, xxi. 33, xxiv. 43). But he does not use it xxvi. 17-19.
XXI. 37-42] LAST AVORK IN THE HOLY CITY 297
left to themselves, with the records of the Prophets' warnings,
for a time. But now at last the great Messianic Proi)het, God's
own Son, is sent. They have rejected Him and mean to kill
Him, and the cup is full.
But the rejection and murder will bring no advantage to the
jierpetrators ; they will but hasten God's judgment upon them.
Jesus is that corner-stone which must come to its dominant
place in the edifice, however disdainfully it may be treated by
the builders. To put Him to death will destroy, not Him, but
the dispensation of which they are the representatives and the
rulers ; and His Resurrection will inaugurate a new dispensation
in which they will have no part.^
If this parable was in the Logia, Mk. and Mt. have followed
the original source very closely. But, while taking the Two Sons
and the Marriage of the King's Son from the Logia, Mt. may
in the intermediate parable simply have copied Mk. Lk.'s
reproduction of the parable is much more free. In Lk., as in
Mt., the only messenger who is slain is the son and heir, whose
death forms a dramatic climax. In Mk. the third messenger
and some of the subsequent messengers are killed, a representa-
tion which is nearer to historic fact ; and an extraordinary historic
fact it is. "The uniform hostility" of kings, priests, and people
to the Prophets is one of the most remarkable features in the
history of tlie Jews. The amount of hostility varied, and it
expressed itself in different ways, on the whole increasing in
intensity ; but it was always there. Deeply as the Jews lamented
the cessation of Prophets after the death of Malachi, they
generally opposed them, as long as they were granted to them.
Till the gift was withdrawn, they seem to have had little pride
in this exceptional grace shown to the nation, and little apprecia-
tion of it or thankfulness for it. And, seeing that each generation
acted in the same way, the parable is true to fact in representing
this uniform hostility as the action of the same set of husband-
men. The hearers were 'the sons of them that slew the
Prophets,' and were but carrying on the policy of their fathers.
But Jesus claimed to be much more than a Prophet, and
His hearers understood the claim ; He is not a servant but a
Son, the beloved,^ the only Son. His hearers regarded the claim
as blasphemous, and it was so, if it was unfounded. We cannot
regard it as unfounded, and at the same time regard Him as
merely the last and best of the Prophets. If we reject His claim,
'See Brings, The Messiah of the Gospels, pp. 114-117; Messianic
Prophecy, p. 208; Hastings' DB. and DCC, art. ' Cornc-r-stonc*
- In the N.T. a.-yairr}r6s is used only of Clirist and of Christians : in the
O.T. it sometimes = /xo;'o7fi'ijs (Gen. xxii. 2, 12, 16; Amos viii. 10; Zcch.
xii. 10; Jcr. yi. 26). Here Mk. and Lk. have it, but Mt. omits, perhaps as
superfluous. Willi Bcvre diroKTtlvwfxeif comp. Gen. xxxvii. 20.
298 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 37-42
He was a false prophet. That the owner is mistaken as to the
effect of sending his son is part of the framework of the parable ;
the owner is represented from the first as a human being
(av^/3co7ros, ver. ^;^), and he thinks and acts in a human way.
His conduct represents, not the exact way in which God acts,
but the way in which He often seems to man to act. He appears
to miscalculate, and to change His plans.
But the miscalculation on the part of the hustDandmen is
real. The rulers expected to be able to retain their position
without yielding obedience to Him who claimed to be the
Messiah, and yet was so unlike what they supposed that the
Messiah must be ; and to a large extent the nation shared this
delusion. But they had had full opportunity of learning the
truth about Jesus, and they are represented in the parable as
knowing that He was the Son and yet slaying Him. This is
treated as being so certain that the Son is spoken of as already
cast out and killed.^ But God's judgment upon the murderers
is treated as future; and in a rhetorical question Christ asks
what the judgment will be.^ Mk. does not expressly state who
answers the question, but he implies that Christ answers it Him-
self. This is clearly indicated in Lk., for he makes the hearers
reply with a ' God forbid.' Mt., with less probability, represents
the hearers as answering Christ's question, as if they did not see
that they were pronouncing their own condemnation.^ Here
the parable becomes " a scarcely veiled prophecy of the Divine
visitation of wrath which befell Jerusalem, the call of the Gentiles,
and the fruitfulness and permanence of the CathoUc Church"
(Swete).
The imagery is suddenly changed ; from the vineyard of
Isaiah v. we go to the builders of Ps. cxviii. The husbandmen
who reject the messengers are now the builders who reject the
stone ; and the one rejection is as wicked and as futile as the
other. The slaying of the Son does not prevent ejection from
the vineyard, and the refusal to use the stone does not prevent
it from being raised to its proper position, to the shame of those
who rejected it. The husbandmen destroyed themselves, when
they destroyed the heir ; and the builders heaped contempt on
^ Mk. puts the killing before the casting out. Mt. and Lk. reverse the
order, perhaps because Christ was crucified outside the city (Jn. xix. 17, 20;
Heb. xiii. 12, 13).
2 Comp. ver. 31, where, however, there is no doubt as to who gives the
answer.
^ But his way of putting it vividly represents the answer of their own
consciences. They could not but admit that a stern sentence would be just :
dKovres irpo(p7}T€vov(n Kal avrol to fieWov (Euthym.). In KaKovs kukQs we have
a play on words which is against the tradition of a Hebrew original : comp.
vi, 16, xxiv. 30.
XXI. 42-46] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 299
themselves, when they contemptuously set aside the stone.
They lost the stone for their own edifice, but it received its due
honour in a more noble building. The passage about the stone
was evidently very familiar ; * Did ye ticver read in the scriptures ? '
(Mt.); 'Have ye not read even this scripture?' (Mk.).
Up to this point the parable remains a parable, however
clear the application may be. But, according to Mt, our Lord
now removes the thin veil of imagery, and tells His hearers
plainly : ' The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from jivw,
and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof
(43). This verse is not in Mk., and Mt. cannot have got it
from Mk. If Mk. and Mt. have used the same source, that
source probably did not contain this verse. Lk. omits it ; and
why should both Mk. and Lk. omit it, if it was in the source
which they used? It is probably Mt.'s own deduction from the
obvious meaning of the parable. For much the same reasons
the ' God forbid,' which Lk. puts into the mouth of the audience
(.XX. 16), is probably his own interpretation of the feelings of the
audience.
But, whatever may be Mt.'s authority for this verse (43), there is no doubt
that it is part of the original text of this Gospel. That cannot be asserted of
the next verse (44). These words also are not found in Mk., but they are
found (with the insertion of his characteristic ttSj) in Lk., and from Lk. they
may have got into the majority of the texts of Mt. It is perhaps possible
that they are a very early gloss in Mt., and thence passed to Lk., but no
sure conclusion can be reached. They are wanting ia D 33, Syr-Sin. and
important Old Latin authorities, and they read more like comment thap. an
original saying.
In this verse the stone of Is. viii. 14, 15, and that of Dan.
ii. 34, 44, 45, seem to have been added to the stone of Ps. cxviii.
22. From the idea of the corner-stone we pass to the idea of a
stone over which one may stumble, and from that to one which
may fall and pulverize that on which it falls. See notes on Lk.
XX. 18; Briggs, The Messiah of the Gospels, p. 217; Maclaren
on Mt. xxi. 44. It is from Dan. ii. 44 that 'shatter into frag-
ments' or 'scatter as dust' (XiKfi-^crei) comes; see Deissmann,
Bid. Stud. p. 225.
In the two concluding verses (45, 46) Mt. makes the narrative
of Mk. more clear. He tells us who it was that perceived the
drift of the parable, and consequently would have killed Jesus
but for their fear of the multitude ; not the audience generally,
but 'the chief priests and the Pharisees'; i.e. the two chief
parties in the Sanhedrin, for the priests were mostly Sadducees.
And here Mt. again shows his feeling against the Pharisees, for
he alone names them here (see on iii. 7, p. 28, and xxvii. 62).
Lk. also expressly confines this murderous desire to the hierarchy.
Mk. 13 indefinite: ' Theji sought to lay hold on Him.' Mt, also
300 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXI. 45, 46
tells us why the hierarchy feared the multitude : * because they
took Him for a Prophet.' Most of them took much the same view
of Jesus as of the Baptist ; He was a revival of the old order of
Prophets. And, as there had been no Prophet since Malachi,
these new representatives of the order were greatly honoured by
those Jews who had listened to their teaching, and were not
under the influence of the Pharisees. Antipas had been afraid
to put John to death ; and now the Sanhedrin is afraid to put
Jesus to death, especially as Jerusalem was full of pilgrims from
Galilee. As Mt. has already recorded two parables, the Two
Sons and the Wicked Husbandmen, he speaks of ' parables ' as
exciting the animosity of the rulers, while Mk. and Lk. speak
only of the ' parable.' No doubt the Wicked Husbandmen would
provoke them much more than the Two Sons ; and the parabolic
saying about the stone would increase the provocation. As Mt.
has another parable to record, he omits Mk.'s ' They left Him,
and went away,' which perhaps means that they returned to
consult with the other members of the Sanhedrin as to what was
to be done respecting Jesus.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxi. : rSre (i), Tropeveadai (2, 6), iVa
Tr\-r)pwdr) (4), l^ov (5), i/t6s AauefS (9, 15), e/ce?(l7), Trpoa^pxecrdai. (23) ti vjxiv
SoKel ; (28), wrepov (29, 32, 36), o£/co5eo-7r(5r?;s (33), Scvre (38), dirooiBovaL (41).
Peculiar : rb pyjdlv (4), crwrdaaeLv (6), oi Trpea^vTepoi rod \ao\J (23) ; peculiar
to this chapter : e-rriKadi^nv (7), davfxdcnos (15).
On the right rendering of aorists in Mt., respecting which there are some
nice points in this chapter, especially in ver. 42, see J. H. Moulton, Gram,
of N.T. Gr. pp. 137-140.
The Book of Jubilees supplies a parallel to the parable of the
Wicked Husbandmen : " I will send witnesses unto them, that I
may witness against them ; but they will not hear, and will slay
the witnesses also ; and they will persecute those who seek the
law, and will abrogate and change everything so as to work evil
before My eyes. And I will hide My face from them ; and I
will deliver them into the hand of the Gentiles for captivity and
for a prey, and for devouring \ and I will remove them from the
midst of the land, and will scatter them amongst the Gentiles "
(i. 12, 13).
XXII. 1-14. The Parable of the Marriage of the
King's Son.
It is not likely that this section and that which is commonly
called the Great Supper in Lk. xiv. 16-24 are divergent reports
of one and the same parable. The occasions and drift are
different ; some of the details are quite different ; and where
the details are similar the wording is so different that they can
XXn. 1-10] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 30!
hardly have come from the same source. It is probable enou,<;h
that our Lord sometimes used similar material for parables
varying in import. The similar material was handled in a new
way, and mingled with new material, in order to suit a new-
audience. Here the new material is that the evil-doers are not
nierely discourteous people who disregard a pressing invitation,
but also rebels who insult and kill their king's messengers, and
are destroyed with their city for so doing. This probably has
special reference to the murders of Jesus and of some of His
disciples, and to the consecjuent destruction of Jerusalem. This
new material gives tremendous import to the parable, and makes
it far more severe in tone than the Great Supi)er, But it inter-
feres with the probability of the story. These rude and rebellious
rejectors of the royal invitation would not all dwell in one city.^
But that is of small moment. A clear indication of the guilt
of the Jewish leaders and the people whom they led, and of the
judgment that awaited both, was more important than the
literary form of the story. Again, the fact that it is a king who
sends the invitations, and that the occasion of the banquet is the
marriage of his son, is new material, and this also serves to
enhance the import of the parable. It shows how grievous was
the offence of the Jewish rulers and their followers in rejecting
God's message, even before they went the length of slaying His
messengers.2
But the royal marriage-feast will none the less be supplied
with guests. What the self-satisfied and arrogant Pharisees
spurn, the neglected multitude both of Jews and Gentiles will
accept. Publicans, harlots, and heathen go into the Kingdom
of God, while those who refused to make use of the opportunities
afforded them are excluded, and are deprived of their religious
privileges as well as of their political existence. 'Even that
which they think that they have' (Lk. viii. 18) is taken from
them.
In the Wicked Husbandmen we cannot interpret the
different messengers, or groups of messengers, as representing
any particular Prophets or groups of Prophets ; and it may be
doubted whether in this parable each group of servants has a
' We must allow for the possibility that w. 6, 7 are an insertion made
by the Evangelist. The parable reads more smoothly if they are omitted.
- There is a climax. At first they are simply unwilling. Then they are
frankly rude ; the quiet of country life or the excitement of commerce is
openly preferred to the royal entertainment. Then a violent minority abuse
and kill the importunate messengers. This provokes punishment, which falls
on all, for all have been guilty of a gross and repeated insult to the king.
Among the Arabs, to accept an invitation, and refuse to come wlien
summoned, is a deadly insult. For the use of lotov (5) sec J. II. Moulton,
Gr. o/N.T. Gr. i, p. 90.
302 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXtl. 3-11
separate interpretation.^ But in each case the last of the
missions is clear; the meaning of the owner's son is obvious;
and the servants who, after the destruction of the guilty city,
brought in the outcasts, must be the first Christian preachers.
We need not ask who the king's son is ; he is only mentioned
to indicate the greatness of the festival. Still less need we ask
who it is that he marries ; she is not mentioned at all. It is the
self caused exclusion and destruction of the Pharisees and their
followers, and the substitution of outcasts and heathen as guests
at the banquet, that are the main lessons of the parable.
No parable can set forth all sides even of a single truth, and
it required more than one parable to set forth the nature of the
advantages which the Jewish rulers had so blindly thrown away.
The Kingdom of God is a fact with many sides to it. It is work
for God (the Two Sons). It is work for one's own profit as well
as for God (the Wicked Husbandmen). It is a royal banquet
(the Marriage of the King's Son). It is not all work, and it is
not all festivity; it is a wholesome and joyful combination of
both. All this the self-righteous Pharisees rejected; all this
others whom they despised would secure.
Here perhaps the parable, as Christ delivered it, ended.
Here the moral, which is placed at the end of the appendix to
the parable (14), would have some point. 'Many are called,
but few chosen.' All the Jews and all the Gentiles were called;
but only a few of the former, and not all of the latter, were
chosen. At the end of the appendix the moral is out of place,
for in the episode of the wedding-garment only one was not
chosen. It is possible that the Evangelist has taken the con-
clusion of another parable and added it to the Marriage of the
King's Son, in order to bring out the fact that, just as not all the
Jews are excluded, for some are the servants of the King, so
not all the Gentiles are admitted. In each case it is obedience to
*he Kmg's will which secures a place in the Kingdom.
That the Wedding Garment was originally part of a distinct
parable appears probable from the omission of any mention of
the means by which the unworthy guest ought to have provided
himself with decent attire. It is commonly assumed that the
King provided suitable garments for the guests, and that this
man had contemptuously refused to put on what was offered
him. But nothing is said about this; and the king, when he
questions the unworthy guest, does not tax him with having
^ It should be noted that here the first group of servants do not carry the
first invitation ; they go to summon tJiose who had already been invited {roiis
K€K\r]iJ.4vovs) to the banquet. Presumably they had not definitely refused the
original invitation, and therefore might be supposed to have accepted it. At
any rate, the king graciously gives them two opportunities of availing them-
selves of the invitation.
JOai. 11-14] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 303
despised a royal gift, but simply with being in unseemly attire.
In the Ten Virgins, the bridegroom does not i)rovide oil, which
the foolish virgins refuse to accept : in the interval before the
arrival of the bridegroom, all ought to have provided oil for
themselves. In the original form of this parable we may suspect
that, in the interval between the invitation and the bancjuet, the
guests had to dress themselves becomingly and wait until they
were summoned. Such a parable is found in the IMidrash.
Of those invited some are wise and some are foolish. The wise
put on festal Array and wait in readiness. The foolish do not ;
and, when the summons comes, they hurry to the feast in their
working-clothes. For this they are beaten, and made to stand
hungry and watch the others sit and feast. See Allen, p. 235 ;
^Vetstein, p. 471 ; Bruce, Parabolic Teachings p. 463. Zahn, p.
626, note.
This appendix to the parable (11-14) niay have been added
by Christ Himself; but it is more probable that it is the
Evangelist who has united the Wedding Garment to the
Marriage of the King's Son.^ The addition shows that it is not
enough to accept the royal invitation. It is the king's will that
the invited should come, and that they should come duly
prepared ; and those who come with wanton and open lack of
preparation dishonour and disobey him no less than those who
refuse to come at all. Indeed the disrespect which is committed
under the royal roof and in the royal presence may be regarded
as even more flagrant than the disrespect of rejecting the royal
invitation. They are treated with no less severity. The Gentile
who dares to come before the king, while still defiled with all
his pagan godlessness, is condemned as decisively as the Jew
who persistently and violently refuses to come at all.- A loyal
desire to conform to the will of God is all that is demanded in
either case, but it is absolutely indispensable, and there can be
no excuse for the lack of it. The request for an explanation,
made with a gentle address (comp. xx. 13), renders the offender
speechless {icfufj-o'iOr}) ; and the sentence to the outer darkness
follows. The explanatory words of warning, ' There shall be the
weeping and the gnashing of teeth,' are not part of the king's
command to the servants, but are addressed by Christ to the
audience. They are not to think that the outer darkness means
very little (comp. xiii. 42).
^ If we go from the middle of ver. 3 to ver. 11, we have a complete
parable; and 'in parables' (ver. i) seems to imply that more than one
parable is to follow (comp. xiii. 3, lO, 13, xxi. 45).
* S. Ephraim interprets the wedding-garment as meaning the l)ody, which
ought to be clean and free fiom defilement (Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mcphai-'
reshe, ii. pp. 124, 125).
304 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXII. 15-22
XXII. 15-22. The Question of Tribute to CcBsar.
In xxi. 45, Mt. mentions 'the chief priests and the Pharisees'
as Christ's hostile audi-nce, indicating that, bitter as was the
opposition between Sadducees and Pliarisees, yet the two united
in the desire to destroy Jesus. Having failed in concert, they now
make separate attacks, the Pharisees about the paying of tribute,
the Sadducees about the doctrine of the Resurrection. Here
Mt. again follows Mk., who says that this time, as on an earlier
occasion (Mk. iii. 6), the Pharisees were joined in their plots by
the Herodians. In that place, Mt. (xii. 14) omits the Herodians,
but here he retains the mention of them, for their co-operation
was significant. As a political party, they were interested in the
overthrow of a popular teacher whose doctrine seemed to be
subversive of the existing Government. (For the Herodians, as
political rather than religious in sentiment and policy, see
Hastings' DB. and DCG., and Smith's DB., 2nd ed.). For the
tribute see Schiirer, i. ii. 80, 107-111. In politics, the Herodians
were as detested by the Pharisees as the Sadducees were in
religious matters ; but here again two hostile parties combined
against Christ. The Herodians of course defended, and probably
approved, Herod's arrest and execution of the Baptist, and they
would be strenuously opposed to Him whom the Baptist had
supported, and who was carrying on the Baptist's work. During
the latter part of His Ministry, Christ had been avoiding Herod's
dominions (Mk. vi. 53, vii. 24, 31, viii. 27, x. i), avoiding
publicity (vii. 24, viii. 13), and charging people not to make His
miracles known (vii. 36, viii. 26, ix. 9).
Like the question about authority, the question about tribute
was not in itself an unreasonable one. A Rabbi of great repute
might fairly be asked to give his opinion on a question of some
dit^culty. Perhaps not a few of those who paid tribute were not
sure of the grounds on which paying for the support of a hostile
and heathen Government could be justified. Yet all three
Evangelists represent Christ as perceiving that the question was
asked, not for instruction, but for a sinister purpose.^ Christ's
followers no doubt knew this, and not only 'marvelled,' but were
delighted at the justice and skill with which He replied to the
question. They would not have been pleased if He had simply
said that Cc^sar must be paid; but the principle that both
1 oVws ira.yiSe'LXTucnv is Mt.'s own expression in anticipation of Christ'sri
Ace ireipd^eTe ; The word is rare in the LXX. (l Sam. xxviii. 9 ; Eccles. ix.
12), and occurs nowhere else in the N.T. But it occurs in the Testaments,
of the wiles of Potiphar's wife : 7repie,8X^7rero ttoi'w rpotrtp fie irayideuaat
( Joseph vii. l). As Christ came from Galilee, the home of rebellion, and as
He had a Zealot among His disciples, His enemies hoped that He would
forbid the payment of tribute.
XXII. 19-23] LAST WORK IN THE IIOLV CITY 305
Cxsar and God must be paid what was due to them, was
unanswerable.
In one detail both Mt. and Lk. rather spoil the narrative of
Mk. They represent Christ as requesting His tempters to show
(tViSet'^'are, Set'^We) Him a denarius, the coin in which the tribute
would be paid. Mk. says that He told them to bring {(j>ip€Te)
Him one. It had to be fetched. Christ's questioners would
not be likely to have such a piece of money, with the head of a
heathen Emperor upon it, on their persons. (For a representa-
tion of such a coin see Hastings' DB., art. ' Money ' ; Madden,
History of Jewish Coinage, pp. 245-24S.) This coin represented
Roman organization, security of person and properly, facilities of
transit, and other beneficent elements of stable government.
Was it just to accept all these advantages, and then refuse to pay
for their maintenance ? To pay tribute to Caesar was not merely
lawful, it was a moral obligation, as the change from 'give'
(Sowat) in their question to ' pay ' (dTro'Sore) in Christ's answer
indicates. The tribute to Rome was not a gift ; it was the
payment of a debt : and it was no impediment to the discharge
of any obligation to God. "Jesus was as far as possible from
being a gentle anarchist. It is not often necessary for the
members of the Kingdom of God to turn revolutionists. The
watchword of the Christian is not. My rights, but My duties"
(Burton and Mathews, Life of Christ, p. 228). What God's
rights {to. tov Qtov) are is not specified, but it is not likely that
there is any special reference to the Temple-tax (xvii. 25). In
concluding the narrative, Mt. uses the words in which Mk. (xii. 12)
states the effect of the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen : ' they
left Him, and went away.' Such variations illustrate the free
manner in which Mt. treats his authorities. The paragraph which
follows illustrates the same fact. See both Swete and Gould on
the parallel verses in Mk.
XXTT. 23-33. The Question of the Resurrection.
Mt. is alone in stating that this question was raised by the
Sadducecs on the same day that the Pharisees and Herodians
raised the question of tribute to Ca:sar. Mk. and Lk. leave the
time indefinite. In a similar way Mt. inserts 'on that day 'at
xiii. I, where Mk. and Lk. are indefinite. It is possible that here
Mt. had some other authority besides Mk. In wording he
differs more from Mk. than he usually does ; and, while Lk.
agrees with Mt. in some of these differences, in others Mt. is
alone. On the other hand, it is possible that Mt. is merely
treating Mk. with more freedom than he commonly does, and
that he had no other source.
306 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXII. 23-33
Mt. abbreviates Mk. xii. 21, 22; so also does Lk., but in a different
manner. The latter half of ver. 25 is peculiar to Mt., as also is iinya/j.^p€va-€i.
in ver. 24. ^ But Lk. follows Mt. in substituting varepov, of which Mt. is rather
fond, for 'iffxa-rov, an adverb which is rare in the N.T., and which is found
nowhere else in the Gospels.
In ver. 23 we ought probably to read "Lclooovkoioi \iyovTes (K B D M S Z,
Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur.) rather than Sa55. ot Xeyovres (E F G H K L etc., Sah. Boh.
Vulg. Arm.). The former simply states what they said to Christ on this
occasion ; the latter states the Sadducean creed. RV. omits the article, but
translates as if it were there, ' which say' (with ' saying' in the margin) : in
short, ol X^yovres = OLTifes \iyoucyiv (Mk.). In all three Gospels the Sadducean
denial is given as a matter of opinion : fii] elvai, not ovk eXvai ; comp. Acts
xxiii. 8 ; i Cor. xv. 12. Mt. has mentioned the Sadducees, iii. 7j >^vi. i, 6,
II ; but this is the first mention of them by Mk. and Lk.
Nowhere else does Christ give such clear statements about
the risen dead. The resurrection will not be a reanimation of
bodies that have perished, and the new life will not be a re-
sumption of this Ufe. The body that shall be is not the body
that is sown : i Cor. xv. 36, 37.
In Christ's answer, Lk. expands the wording of Mk. consider-
ably, but he omits the important explanation, ' ye err, not knowing
the Scriptures, nor the power of God.' This was the cause of
the Sadducean mistake, — ignorance. They showed ignorance of
the Scriptures, when they drew inferences from the experiences
of this life and applied them to the conditions of a future life ;
and they showed ignorance of the power of God when they
assumed that, if He granted a future life, it could not be very
different from this one. Marriage is necessary for men in this
world, because they die, and the race must be preserved ; but in
the other world they do not die, and therefore marriage becomes
as unnecessary for them as it is for the Angels.^ In the life
beyond the grave there are no wives and no husbands, and this
disposes of the supposed difficulty.
This answer might have sufficed ; but the Sadducees had
appealed to ' Moses,' and therefore Christ gives them a further
answer, which not merely disposes of their objection, but shows
that in the Books of Moses the doctrine of a future life is plainly
implied. In Gen. xxvi. 24 and xxviii. 13 God calls Himself the
God of Abraham, after Abraham had died ; and in Exod. iii. 6,
15, 16 and iv. 5 God calls Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, after all three had died. Therefore those who have
died in this world are still alive in the other, for God is still their
^ The very rare word iTnyafi^peveiv and the expression ' raise up seed
to his brother' come from Gen. xxxviii. 8; comp. i Sam. xviii. 22-27.
Ktnnedy, Sotirces of N.T. Greek, t^. 118.
- This comparison with the Angels is in all three Gospels, and it had
special point against Sadducees, who denied their existence. Would our
Lord have used such an argument, if in this matter the Sadducees were right?
See on xiii. 49, xvi. 27, xviii. 10, xxiv. 31, 36; and comp. Enoch xv. 4-7.
XXII. 33-36] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 307
God. What is dead can have a Creator or a Controller; but
only living beings can have a God. And this pregnant expression
was spoken to the Sadducces (to \m\0\v vixlv vtto tov ©coO) by
Almighty God. All these years they have had it before their
eyes, and yet they have never seen the force of it. Hence their
error about the impossibility of a Resurrection, which (as Mk.
adds) is a very grievous one {ttoXv irXaraaOe). No one can have
a right estimate of his position and duty in this life who omits
all account of a life to come.
There are difTercnccs of rc.iding in vcr. 32 and parallels. But it is certain
that in all three Gospels Oe6s occurs only once in llic last sentence ; and it is
prohablo that in no Clospel should Oeds have the article : ovk ^crriv Oebs viKpCiv,
d\Xd ^uivTuv, which may be rendered, ' He is not Cod of dead people, but of
living,' or, 'There is no God of dead people, but of living.'
Mt. alone adds that, 'when the multitudes heard it, they
were astonished at His teaching'; and this was a very safe
addition. Even the Pharisees had supposed that there was no
direct evidence of a future life in the Pentateuch, and thereby
gave a great advantage to their opponents ; and yet Christ had
produced evidence which completely silenced (e^i'/xwo-tv) the
Sadducees, and at the same time convinced all who heard it of
its sufficiency. How came it about that it had been left to this
new Rabbi from Galilee to discover so unanswerable a text?
The Pharisees and Herodians had 'marvelled' {eOavjxaa-av)
before (22); now the multitudes are 'amazed' {l^iTrXi'ja-aovTo) at
His teaching. But this latter statement comes from Mk. xi. 18,
where Mt. in the parallel verse (xxi. 15) omits it. Another
instance of Mt.'s free method of working.
XXII. 34-40. The Question of the Great Cof/miaftdnients.
Mt. here differs considerably from Mk. (xii. 28-34), but we
are in doubt as to whether he had any additional source of
information. In Mk. the Scribe is so pleased with Christ's
reply to the Sadducees that he asks a question which was much
debated. Christ answers hiiTi, and he expresses his satisfaction
with the answer in such a way that our Lord tells him that he
is not far from the Kingdom of God. In Mt. the Scribe
appears in a much less favourable light. He is a Pharisee (a
name of very bad repute in Mt.), and apparently, so far from
being pleased with Christ's refutation of the Sadducees, he
comes forward to see whether he cannot extract a compromising
answer from Jesus. But this is not quite certain. 'Tempting
Him' need not mean more than testing or proving Him, to see
whether He would give as convincing an answer resjjccting the
question about the chief commandments. Yet Ml., by assigning
308 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXII. 36-38
this Scribe to the group of plotting Pharisees, and by omitting
both his approval of Christ and Christ's approval of him, is
evidently disposed to regard him as an enemy.^
This is all the more clear if cxvvqxSri<ro-v iir' avrov, ' were gathered
together a^^ains/ Him' (T>, Lat-vet. Syr-Sin. Syr-Cur.) is the right reading.
It might readily be changed into crvvrjx. ewl to avrd. The Pharisees would
not rejoice at Christ's victory over the Sadducees on the crucial question of
the Resurrection. At this crisis they desired that Jesus should be vanquished,
no matter by whom. Lk. omits the whole incident, unless ' certain of the
Scribes answering said, Master, Thou hast well said' be regarded as a
condensation of Mk.'s narrative. Lk. had recorded a similar incident
X. 25-28, and perhaps for that reason omits this one. Comp. also the story
of the rich young man, which is in all three ; see on xix. 16-30.
The rendering of ver, 36, ' Which is the great commandment
in the Law?' (AV., RV.) does not give the exact meaning of
the question (Trota ivroXr] fxeydXr] Iv t<3 vo/tw ;). It should rather
be, 'What kind of a commandment (xxi. 23) is great in the
Law?' The man is not asking which is the one supreme
commandment, but what class of commandments is in the first
rank.2 What sort of characteristics must a commandment have
in order to be accounted great ? Or is there any one command-
ment which has these characteristics in a very marked degree ?
That the injunctions of the Law were regarded as differing in
importance is seen in v. 19; and on various occasions Christ
had come into conflict with the Pharisees as to the relative
obligations of certain rules; e.g. respecting the sabbath (xii.
1-14), filial duty (xv. 1-9), divorce (xix. 3-9). What principle
ought to guide one in making such distinctions ?
Such a principle is found in the love of God; and, to make
clear what that means,. Christ refers His questioner to the text
with which every Jew of that time was very familiar, for he had
to recite it twice every day. This duty towards God is hinted
at in the Second Commandment : ' showing mercy unto
thousands, of them that love Me' (Exod. xx. 6; Deut. v. 10);
and it " is set forth in Deuteronomy with peculiar emphasis as
the fundamental motive of human action" (x. 12, xi. i, 13, 22,
xiii. 3, xix. 9, XXX. 6, 16, 20). "It thus appears as the most
inward and the most comprehensive of all religious duties, and
as the chief commandment of all"; see Driver on Deut. vi. 5 :
prceceptiwi nofi modo maximum, ?iecessitate, amplitudifie, diiitiir-
nitate rei ; sed efiam primuf?i, natura, orditie, tempore, evide?itia
(Bengel). But side by side with it our Lord at once places the
^ For the feeling of Mt. against the Pharisees see on iii. 7 and xxvii. 62.
The Pharisees were dismissed xxii. 22 ; yet here and ver. 41 Mt. brings them
on the scene again.
- The Rabbis counted more than six hundred precepts in the Law, of
which some were called ' weighty ' and others ' light ' ; and there was much
discussion as to which were which.
XXn. 39, 40] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 309
similar principle of the love of one^s vcii^hlwur, i.e. of one's
fellow-men. This other duty is placed second, not merely
because God, although not recognized so soon as one's neigh-
bours are, is yet much nearer to us than they can be, and
because our love for Him is the basis of our love for them. It
is in Him that we are all brethren. ^ Comp. v. 43, vii. 12,
xix. 19 J Lev. xix. 18. And lest we should suppose that mere
absence of hostility, or mere otiose affection is all that is
demanded, we are told that God is to be loved with all the
powers, spiritual, moral, and intellectual, which He has bestowed
upon us, and that our neighbours' interests must be as dear to
us as our own.
Mt. is alone in adding the words : ' On these two command-
ments the whole Law hangeth and the Prophets' (40). The
man had asked respecting the Law, and Christ's reply comes
from the Pentateuch. But here He points out that these two
great principles cover not only the elementary precepts of the
Pentateuch, but the more advanced teaching of the Prophets ;
they are the life and soul of all the moral and spiritual teaching
of the Old Testament. If any one desires to know whether a
particular precept is to be accounted great or not, let him
consider how far it embodies one or both of these two cardinal
principles. With this use of 'hangeth' (KpijxaTai) comp. Judith
viii. 24.
In Mk. xii. 30 and Lk. x. 27 there are four powers with which God is
to be loved ; Mt. follows both Hebrew and LXX. in giving three; but he
has both Kapdia and diavola, which are equivalents of the same Hebrew,
while he omits /crxt'j, which is the equivalent of 8vya/.us. Mt. also follows
the Hebrew in having ^p throughout, while Mk. has ef throughout. Lk.
begins with ef and at once changes to eV. IMt. would of course prefer a
triplet to the fourfold division in Mk., but he would have done better to
omit KapSla and retain lax^^- In ^^^ Testaments we have iifieis 8^ <po^iia-9e
Kvpiov rbv Qibv tj/xQv iv irdcrij IffX'Ji- vfJ-<^i> {Zcbulon x. 5).
Except in quotations, no Evangelist uses the word Sidi'Oia, and (excepting
Lk. xxiv. 45) no Evangelist uses vov^. In none (without exce|Hion) docs
v6rifj.a or Ivvoia, (fPW or (ppdvqfia, ypui/x7], or \6yos in the sense of 'reason,'
occur ; while yvQcrii and (pp6vT]<ris are confined to Lk. and in him are rare.
On the other hand, Kapdia, \pvxfl, and irvevixa are frequent in the Gospels.
With the triplet here comp. I'laut. Captiviy II. iii. 27,
Ut potissimum, quod in rem recte conducat tuam,
Id petam, idque perscquar corde et aniino atque viribus.
' The combination of these two great commandments is found in the
Testaments: "Love the Lord in all your life, and one another in a true
heart" {Dan v. 3). See Charles, pp. Ixxix, 127. Klusterm.inn quotes
Philo {De Sef'Un. p. 2S2), iari . . . duo ri avuiTara K€<l)d\aia, to re irpbi
Qebf 5i' eufff^eias Kal 6(Xi6Tr]TOS, Kal rd irpbi dpOpJtTTOvs 5ti (piXavOpuirias Kai
diKaioffvvTjS.
310 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXII. 41-42
XXII. 41-46. The Messiah's ow7i Question respecting
the Son of David.
All three Evangelists seem to understand that this question
was put by Christ to His opponents immediately after He had
silenced them by answering in an unanswerable manner the
questions with which they had tried to baffle and entrap Him.
There is no intimation that our Lord's enemies had retired, and
Mt. asserts that they had not.^ But we need not suppose that
our Lord's question was put merely to baffle His foes and shame
them still further before the multitude. Mk. says that it wa§
asked, * as He taught in the Temple,' which seems to mean that
it was intended to be instructive. The right answer to this
question would solve the still unanswered problem as to the
nature of the authority by which He cleansed the Temple and
put forward doctrines which traversed the traditional teaching
of the elders. He had been called upon to silence those who
had hailed Him as the Son of David. That implied that He
ought not to accept so honourable a tide. He points out that
the title gives Him, not too much, but too little. If He is only
the Son of David, He has no more right than Solomon or any
other descendant of David to the title of Messiah. But in a
Psalm, which every one recognized as Messianic and as inspired,
the- Messiah is represented as altogether superior, not merely
to any other son of David, but to David himself. There the
Messiah is recognized as having a unique relationship, not to
David, but to God, whose sovereignty He shares. Comp. iii. 1 7,
xi. 27, xvi. 16, xxi. 37.
Christ's argument is seriously misapprehended, when it is
supposed that He criticized the assertion that the Messiah is
the Son of David as untrue. He criticized it as inadequate.
Generation after generation, there had been many who could
rightly claim this title; but hitherto there had been no one
who combined the right relationship to David with the right
relationship to God. With their knowledge of the Scriptures,
the Jewish teachers ought to have been able to see that the
claims of Jesus were confirmed by writings which they accepted
as inspired by God and as referring to the Messiah.
So far there is no difficulty in the argument used by Jesus.
He assumes, and His hearers by their silence admit, the in-
spiration and Messianic meaning of Ps. ex. Criticism can admit
both. But He also seems to assume, and His hearers by their
silence to admit, that David is the author of the Psalm ; and
1 Mt. designates them as 'Pharisees' (which neither Mk. nor Lk.jJo),
and he thus once more shows his attitude towards them; see on iii. 7,
p. 28, and xxvii. 62.
XXII. 42-46] LAST WORK IN TIIF HOLY CITY 311
to this assumption criticism raises serious objections. The
discussion of these objections belongs to the commentator on
the P§alms. We have to deal with the fact that many competent
critics regard the objections as fatal. If, therefore, it is in-
credible that Ps. ex. was written by David, what view are we
to take of Christ's argument? There are various suggestions.
(i) Our Lord is arguing from His opponents' own premises,
expressing no opinion as to their correctness. They accepted
I's. ex. as Davidic ; then what was their explanation of it in
reference to Himself? This is one of those "sayings in which
He takes up ideas and expressions current at the time and uses
without really endorsing them " (Sanday, Bampion Ledurxs on
Inspiration, p. 419).
(2) In the limitations of knowledge to which our Lord
submitted in becoming man. He Himself shared the belief,
current among all the teachers at that age, that the Psalm
was written by David. Criticism was unborn ; a knowledge
of its results would have impeded rather than have aided His
work ; and He " condescended not to know." To Him, as
to His hearers, the Psalm was David's, and He argues ac-
cordingly. The conclusion which He reached is all that
matters ; and the conclusion was true.
(3) The Psalmist lets David quote an utterance of Jehovah,
in which Jehovah places David's Lord at His own right hand.
The argument of Jesus is based upon David being the speaker
of the words quoted; and this argument "is justified if the
author of the Ps. lets David appear as spokesman. It does
not require the Davidic authorship of the Psalm. . . . These
words, by whomsoever uttered, have a Messianic reference to
the seed of David in accordance with the covenant with David,
and they do not lose their Messianic reference even though in
the mouth of another" (Briggs, Comm. on the Psalms, ii.
P- 376).
These considerations are sufficient to show that we are not
justified in quoting our Lord's authority as determining the
Davidic authorship. We do not know that He accepted the
»avidic authorship. If He did, we have no reason to suppose
that He was giving a final decision on the subject. The
fiuestion was not raised. If He had been asked to decide
it. Lie would perhaps have replied, ' Man, who made Me a
decider and a judge?' Besides the passages referred to in
Sanday and Briggs, see Kirkpatrick on Ps. ex. in the Cambrid\:;e
Bible \ Goxe, Bampton Lectures, Yi. \i)(i; Dalman, Words of JesuSy
pp. 2S5-287 ; Gould on Mk. xii. 35-37 ; Perowne on Ps. ex.
(ii. p. 302), with the remarks uf Thirlwall there quoted ; Weiss
on Mt. xxii. 43; Bishop Mylne, Ind. Ch. Qu. Rev., Oct. i8y2,
312 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIl. 46
p. 486; E. G. King m JTS., April 1903, p. 338; DCG., art.
' Kenosis.'
It is interesting to notice the different position which the
three Evangelists give to the statement that ' no man after that
durst ask Him any question.' Lk. places it after Christ had
silenced the Sadducees respecting the Resurrection. Mk. places
it after the commendation of the Scribe who asked about the
great commandment. Mt. places it after Christ's question re-
specting the Son of David. Lk. is in substantial agreement
with Mk., for Lk. omits the incident with the Scribe. But Mt.
has transposed the statement to what seemed to be a more
suitable position, — the close of the debate, after the Messiah
had proved as victorious in putting questions as in replying
to them. We may also note the climax, in three stages :
'marvelling' (xxii. 22), 'amazement' (33), 'not daring to ask
any more questions' (46). The third stage forms a fit con-
clusion to 'that day,' — perhaps the Tuesday before the Cruci-
fixion, — which has been called 'the Day of Questions.' It
was 'from that day forth' that His enemies did not venture
to give Him any more opportunities of putting them to
confusion. There have been five questions; about authority,
tribute, resurrection, great commandments. Psalm ex.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxii. : yd/j.oi = ydfj.os (2, 3, 4, 9), l8ov
(4), SeOre (4), rdre (8, 15), crvydyeLV (lO, 34, 41), ^udu/.i.a (ll, 12), 6 ^pvy/j.bs
r!hv 65bvTU}v (13), Tropevecrdai (15), tL SoKel ; (17, 42), viroKpiT-qs (18), irpoaip-
X€(^Oa,t. (23), lladSovKoioi (23, 34), vcrrepop {27). Peculiar : i] ^aaiXeia tQi>
ovpavCiv (2), i^ilirepos (13), ffv/x^ovXiov Xa/xISdueiv (15), to prjdev (31), eratpos
(12); peculiar to this chapter: ffiTiaros (4), ifiiropla (5), dii^odos (9), vd/XKr/xa
(18), i-inyaix^peieiv (24), irayideveiv (15).
Note the aorists, idavixaaav, iinjpuTTjcrav, irSX/xijcrev (22, 23, 46), where
Mk. (xii. 17, 18, 34) has imperfects.
The much discussed quotation in Barnabas iv. 14 Trpoo-^xw/^e;' fj-T^wore, dis
yeypairraL, iroWol KKrjTol, 6\lyoi 5^ iKXeKTol eupeOQfiei', may more reasonably
be regarded as a quotation of Mt. xxii. 14 than of some unknown writing.
It is possible, or even probable, that ' many called and few chosen ' was
already a proverb when Christ uttered the saying ; and it is possible that
some such saying lies at the back of 2 Esdr. viii. i, 3, x. 57. But proverbs
are quoted with 'as it is said' rather than with 'as it stands written,' which
necessitates a document ; and a known document which contains the words
is a more satisfactory hypothesis than an unknown document. Barnabas may
have seen the original Mt. or a very early copy. In T/ie N. T. in the Apostolic
Fathers, pp. 18, 19, the other hypothesis is preferred.
XXIII. The Messiah's Dejiunciation of the Teachers who
have misled His People.
This discourse consists of three main parts : criticisms and
exhortations, addressed to the mixed multitude and to the
disciples (2-12); seven Woes, addressed to the Rabbis and
XXIII. 1] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 313
Pharisees (13-33); judgments upon the nation and upon
Jerusalem, addressed to the representatives of both (34-39).
There can be no doubt that, as in the discourses recorded in chapters
v.-vii., X., and xiii., Mt. has here collected together, and assigned to one
occasion, utterances of Christ against the Pharisees and official teachers which
were delivered on various occasions. This is clear from the fact that nearly
twenty of the verses are found in Lk. ; chiefly in xi. 39-52, but also in xiii.
34, 35, xiv. II, and xviii. 14 ; and that the setting in Lk. is more likely to be
the true historical setting than that in Mt. Of the material which is common
to both Mt. and Lk., the arrangement is very different in the two Gospels.
Even the long utterance in Lk. xi. 39-52 is given in a very different order
(46, 43i 52, 42, 39-41, 44, 47, 48, 49-51), and with additional material
inserted here and there. Moreover, the language is different. This remark
applies also to Lk. xiii. 34, 35 = Mt. xxiii. 37-39. The variations in order
and in wording are so considerable that it is unlikely that Mt. and Lk. had
a common source. The only passage which is common to all three Gospels
is Mt. xxiii. 6, 7 = Mk. xii. 38, 39 = Lk. xx. 46,47; comp. xi. 43. See
Allen's table of correspondences.
The verses which have no parallels in Lk. are 1-3, 5, 7/5-10, 15-22, 24,
28, 32, 33, — a very large portion of the whole. We may conjecture that the
source of the whole is the Logia, and that, for the material which is common
to Mt. and Lk., the latter had a source which differed considerably from that
which was used by Mt. As regards the present occasion, Lk. (xx. 45-47)
appears to be dependent on Mk. (xii. 38-40). With this exception, none of
the denunciations of the Pharisees which are common to Mt. and Lk. are
assigned by Lk. to this crisis.
It is a crisis. Henceforth there is no appearance of peaceful
debate between Christ and His opponents; it is a situation of
open hostility. They have determined to destroy Him, and He
publicly denounces them. But His triumphant victories over
them in argument had made Him still more popular with the
pilgrims who have come up for the Passover, and perhaps with
not a few of the lower orders in Jerusalem. These enthusiastic
supporters of the courageous young Teacher would be quite
ready to listen to a condemnation of the defeated Rabbis. We
may allow, therefore, that although a good deal of the invective
contained in this chapter was probably uttered at other times,
yet it gives a true picture of the historical situation ; and it is
possible that a good deal more than the fragment which is
common to Mt., Mk., and Lk. was really spoken on this occasion.
XXTTT. I- 1 2. The Warnings to the Multitudes and
to the Disciples.
The Evangelist leads off with his favourite ' Then ' (rore),
which is probably meant to assign what follows to the time
indicated in the previous chapter. All ho[)e of reclaiming the
Scribes and Pharisees is now at an end ; and nothing remains
but to warn all who have been, or might be, misled by them of
314 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII. 2-5
the disastrous character of their teaching. The opening words
of the denunciation, as given by Mt., are not easy, and one
suspects an abbreviation which has obscured the sequence of
thought.
' The Scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat' Why
'sat' (cKtt^to-av) rather than 'sit'? Christ can hardly have
meant that the Rabbis were usurpers, — that they found the seat
of Moses empty, and (without any authority) occupied it and
set up as teachers. Elsewhere we do not find Him challenging
their right to teach ; and, if that had been the meaning here,
we should expect Him to go on to say: 'therefore pay no atten-
tion to what they say.' Perhaps the original saying was to this
effect : ' The Scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses' seat, when
they taught you to observe the Law; all things, therefore,
whatsoever are contained in the Law, do and observe.' In this
way we can explain the past tense, and also make ver. 3 in
harmony with vv. 16-22, in which, not only the conduct, but
the teaching of the Rabbis is severely condemned. Their state-
ment of the Law was to be accepted and obeyed, though they
did not obey it themselves, and often gave monstrous misinter-
pretations of it. Indeed their misinterpretations were the cause
of their disobedience ; for, either through culpable blindness, or
through a wish to evade, they had failed to see, or had explained
away, the true spirit of the Law. They insisted that, in the
most minute details, the letter of the Law must be kept, but
they did not 'do or observe' the righteousness at which it
aimed.
It was by their perverse interpretations of the details of the
Law that they ' bound heavy burdens upon men's shoulders ' ;
e.g. in the rigour with which they prohibited exertion of any kind
on the Sabbath, so that the weekly day of rest, instead of being
a welcome blessing, became an intolerable burden. Nevertheless,
they never take the smallest amount of trouble to get these
exasperating restrictions abolished. They are not willing to
stir a finger to remove them {Kivqa-ai aird).^
The denunciation passes at once from the good things which
they fail to do to the evil things which they are constantly
doing. In act as well as in word, they make great professions
(5), but there is no reality to correspond to it. Scrupulosity
about such mere externals as 'phylacteries' and 'fringes' (see
the articles in Hastings' DB. ii. pp. 68 ff , iii. 869 ff.) is a good
illustration of the formalism of Judaism. Such things were
^ For Kive^v in the sense of 'remove' see Rev. ii. 5, vi. 14. This makes
better sense than : * They are not willing to move them with a finger, much
less take them on their backs.' Syr-Syn. has: 'But they do not touch
them.'
XXni. 6-10] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 315
useful as reminders ; they were fatal when they were regarded
as charms. The Pharisees fell victims to the peril which is
inseparable from all externals in religion: 'all their works they
do to be seen of men.' Lk. has the charge against the Pharisees,
that they loved salutations in the market-places and chief scats
in the synagogues, twice; in xx. 46, which is parallel to this
passage, and in xi. 43. It is not impossible that Christ may
have made the charge on two separate occasions, and in both
places the context is suitable. Here all three add ' chief places
at feasts' to the 'salutations' and 'chief seats,' Mk. and Lk.
placing this addition after the other two, Mt. placing it before
the other two.^ Mt. also transposes the 'salutations' and the
' chief seats,' so that his order is exactly the reverse of the order
in Mk. and Lk. There seems, however, to be no reason for
this change.
What follows (8-12), most of which is peculiar to Mt., seems
to be addressed specially to the disciples ; it would not have
much meaning for the rest. ' But be not ye called Rabbi ' ;
with a strong emphasis on the pronoun. ' Do not desire this
title (Jn. i. 39), nor allow others to use it to you.' And they are
not to give to others unsuitable titles of respect, any more than
they are to accept them for themselves. ' And call no one your
father upon the earth'; with a strong emphasis on 'father.'
'For one is your Father, the heavenly one.' Here, rather than
in the earlier place, we might have expected the addition: 'but
all ye are brethren.' 2 It is remarkable that the Scribes had
reduced the heavenly Father to a sort of glorified Rabbi.
According to their conception of Him, Hd studied the Law
three hours each day ; He kept its rules ; and He was deeply
interested in external observances. Formalism could hardly go
farther than to maintain that God Himself is occupied in such
things. See DCG. i. p. 582.
It is possible that -w. 8-12 do not belong to this discourse. They
resemble Jn. xiii. 13-15, and may have been part of the farewell discourses
which Mt. does not record. And it is pfjssible that ver. 10 is a mere doublet of
ver. 8; for 'master' or 'leader' (Ka('7j77?rijs) and 'teacher' may be diflferent
renderings of one and the same word : Dalman, Words, p. 340. Some author-
ities (N D Lr A) read KaOrjyijr-fis {(ioctor) for SiSdtrfcaXos {ma^is/cr) in ver. 8 :
some (U and a few cursives) have ' But all ye are brethren ' after ver. 9 : and
' ' The uppermost rooms' (AV.) is misleading now. Topmost chambers
is not the meaning, but chief places in the ban(jueting-room, the places of
distinction at the table. In Elizabethan English, ' Keep your rooms ' meant
'keep your places.' Comp. Shakespeare, 'Jam. of Shrew, III. ii. 252;
J Ilcttry VI., III. ii. 132.
' See small print below. Christ does not say, ' But all ye are Afy disciples^
because the point to be insisted upon is their equality among themselves,
rather than their relation to Him.
3l6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII. 13
some (H U r A, Syr-Cur.) insert 6 XpiarSs, which is genuine in ver. lo, at the
end of ver. 8, where it seems to be required (AV.). Assuming, however, that
w. 8 and lo are both original, then Alt. once more has a triplet, didda-KoKos,
irarrip, Kad-qyrfrris.
It was usual to speak of the teachers of a former age as
'Fathers,' but it does not seem to have been customary to
address a Hving Rabbi as 'Father'; comp. 2 Kings ii. 12, vi. 21.
Hence perhaps the change from ' Be not ye called ' to ' Call no
one.' There was no need to charge the disciples to refuse the
title of ' Father,' for no one was likely to give it to them. But
they were to abandon the practice of appealing to the authority
of 'the Fathers,' which had done so much evil in perpetuating
misleading traditions. S. Paul, before his conversion, had been
'more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of the fathers^
(Gal. i. 14) : after his conversion he saw the mischief which they
wrought. The one authority to be appealed to was the God of
truth, or He who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There
is only one Source of revelation (xi. 25-27, xvi. 17), and it is the
Son who makes Him known to mankind. With ver. 11 comp.
XX. 26, and with ver. 12 comp. "Who abaseth himself, him
exalteth God; and who exalteth himself, him abaseth God"
(Talmud).
XXIII. 13-33. Seven Woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees.
There can be no reasonable doubt (see small print below)
that ver. 14 is an interpolation from Mk. or Lk. Omitting it,
we have seven Woes left. In making his collection of Christ's
denunciations of the Pharisees, Mt. would be likely to aim at the
number seven on account of its many associations. Elsewhere
in this Gospel we have seven demons (xii. 45), seven parables
(xiii.), seven times, and seventy times seven, forgiveness (xviii.
21, 22), seven brethren (xxii. 25); and some people count seven
Beatitudes (v. 3-9), and seven petitions in the Lord's Prayer
(vi. 9-12). With the seven Woes we may compare 'the seven
thunders ' in Rev. x. 3, 4, which are left without explanation ;
and perhaps also the sevenfold ' voice of the Lord ' in Ps. xxix.,
where the Prayer-Book version obscures the first voice in ver. 3.
But the closest parallel is the sixfold Woe in Is. v. These
seven Woes are like thunder in their unanswerable severity, and
like lightning in their unsparing exposure. They go direct to
the mark, and they illuminate while they strike. And yet there
is an undertone of sorrow, which makes itself heard when the
storm is over; and at the close (37-39) it is the sorrow that is
heard alone. Indeed, ' Alas for you ' may represent the mean-
ing of each utterance, rather than 'Woe unto you.' Comp.
XXIII. 13-15] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 317
xxvi. 24. The first three Woes treat of the Pharisaic teaching,
the last three of the Pharisaic character ; the fourtli is transitional,
treating somewhat of both. We have had previous Woes, one
on Chorazinand Belhsaida, because of their ini[)enitence (xi. 21),
and one on the wodd, because of stumbling-blocks (xviii. 7).
The first Woe (13) has a parallel in Lk. xi. 52, where it is the
door of knowledge which the lawyers keep locked both against
themselves and against others. It is this door which leads to the
Kingdom, so that the meaning is the same as here.^ By their
misinterpretations the Scribes had hidden the true meaning of
Scripture from themselves and from the people. See liort,
Judaistic Christianity, p. 141. 'Them that are entering' means
' those who are continually trying to enter,' which gives a better
picture of the people than we sometimes make. The success of
the Baptist's preaching and the enthusiasm of many of the lower
orders for Christ are evidence of the continual effort to enter the
Kingdom. The Scribes and Pharisees, by their coldness towards
John and their opposition to Jesus, hindered this effort from
being fruitful. The unwillingness of the leaders to enter the
Kingdom has been already indicated in the parable of the Two
Sons (xxi. 30).
That ver. 14 is no part of the true text is clear from its omission in the best
authorities (J* B D L Z, Latt. Syr-Syn. Aegyptt. Arm., Orig.), and from the
fact that those which insert it have it in different places, either before vcr.
13 (G II K M S U V r A, Syr-Pesh. Syr-Hare. Aeth. ), or after ver. 13 (4 Old
Latin texts Syr-Cur., Chrys. Hil.). It is an interpolation from Mk. xii. 40 =
Lk. XX. 47.
The second Woe (ver. 15) charges these hypocrites, who
hinder the men of their own nation from entering the Kingdom,
with being very eager to induce men of other nations to accept
the religion of the Pharisees. Wherever they succeed, the
fanaticism which is so common in converts manifests itself, and
the proselyte becomes twice as formal and hypocritical as those
who made him a Pharisee. That converts to Pharisaism are
meant, and not converts to Judaism, is probable for two reasons.
I. The latter were numerous, while the former were not; and it
is implied here that the Pharisees made great efforts with scanty
success. 2. There is no evidence that proselytes to Judaism
were specially evil in character ; what is stated in Acts would
lead us to think otherwise. Yet it is easy to believe that
converts to Pharisaism would become more exclusive and formal
than the Pharisees themselves. But the whole subject is full of
' Syr-Sin. has here : ' Ye hold the key of the Kingdom of Heaven before
men.'
The triplet, 'Scribes, rharisces, hypocrites' is peculiar to Mt. It is an
interpolation in Lk. xi. 44 (AV.j.
31 8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII. 16-24
uncertainties; see Hastings' Z>^., art. 'Proselyte'; Schiirer, ii.
ii. pp. 291 ff. Tlie story of Izates (Jos. Anf. xx. ii. 4) does not
throw very much light. There was nothing very Pharisaic in
telling one who accepted the Jewish religion that he ought to
submit to circumcision. The main point here seems to be that
the Pharisees, while professing a great zeal for the spread of the
true religion, were chiefly bent on winning another adherent to
their party.
The third Woe (16-22) is still more clearly directed against
the Pharisees' teaching, especially against the casuistry with
which they decided whether a particular form of oath was
binding or not. The distinctions which they drew were sub-
versive of morality. Examples of swearing by the gold of the
Temple, i.e. the golden ornaments and treasures, seem to be
wanting, but there is no reason to doubt that oaths of this kind
were taken, or that distinctions such as are here indicated were
made. It is grievous enough that people should be encouraged
to think that there are two kinds of truth, one of which is
important, and the other not ; viz. that which is sworn to, and
that which is stated without an oath. That leads men to think
that, unless they take an oath, they may tell lies with little or no
blame. But to tell men that, even when they have sworn, they
are not bound to tell the truth or abide by their promise, unless
the oath is taken in a particular way, is far worse, and far more
destructive of men's sense of honour and love of truthfulness.
And our Lord shows that Pharisaic distinctions about oaths were
not only wrong in themselves, but perverse in principle. If a
distinction was made, an oath by the Temple ought to be re-
garded as more serious than an oath by any vessel in the
Temple. ' Heaven ' was one of the common substitutes for the
Name of God, and therefore to swear by Heaven was to swear
by Him. All oaths are binding ; but the best course is not to
swear at all. See on v. 33-37. Possibly, Temple and gold,
altar and gift, heaven and throne, are meant to form a triplet.
The fourth Woe (23, 24) is concerned with Pharisaic
scrupulosity in the application of the Law to minute details, a
scrupulosity which was not wrong in itself, but which became
monstrous when it was combined with extreme laxity as to
broad principles of morality (xxii. 37-40). Tithe had to be paid
upon ^ all the increase of thy seed' (Deut. xiv. 22; Lev. xxvii.
30), and therefore upon herbs of trifling value, such as ' mint,
dill (not ' anise '), and cummin.' These were useful for flavour-
ing food and also as medicine. The two triplets, 'mint, dill,
cummin ' and ' judgement, mercy, faith ' are in emphatic contrast
here ; in Lk. xi. 42 there is no contrast of triplets.
'Strain at a gnat ' (AV.) was originally a misprint for 'strain
XXIII. 24-28] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 319
out a gnat ' (Tyndalc, Coverdale, GcMicvan, RV.), the object
being to avoid drinking what was declared to be unclean
(Lev. xi. 20-23). As in xix. 24, 'camel' is hyperbole for any-
thing large. Such hyperbole is Oriental, and our Lord employed
it (v. 29, 30, xvii. 20, xxi. 21) not unfrerjuently.
The fifth Woe (25, 26) is aimed at a worse kind of scrupu-
losity than that of careful tithing of pot-herbs. The latter was in
accordance with the Law, and was reprehensible only when it
caused more important duties to be neglected. But i)unctilious
observance of lustrations (which were matters of mere tradition,
and not of the Law), when accompanied by neglect of the
plainest moral obligations (Lk. xi. 39), was still more repre-
hensible. 'I'hese i'harisees were nervously anxious lest their
food should be made ceremonially unclean through contact with
a cup or platter that might have touched what was ceremonially
unclean ; but they were heedless as to whether the food had not
been tainted in a more serious way, through being the fruit of
extortion and excess (e^ dpTray^s xai aKpauiai).
'Full/;w« extortion and excess' (RV. ) is right, and seems to mean as
the result of dishonesty and greed ; the food and drink have been bought
with ill-goUen gains. C D, Latt. omit the e^. Vulg. has iumunditia
(d\-o^a/)(Tias) for oLKpajias (X BDLA II), and Syr-Sin. 'and of all uncloan-
ness,' as in ver. 27. C T etc. read doLKias. The change from ' excess ' to
' uncleanness ' was made because this Woe is concerned with the subject of
' clean and unclean ' ; and the change to ' unrighteousness ' was made because
this seemed to go better with ' extortion.' ' Excess' is doubtless correct ; yet
it probably does not refer to excess in eating and drinking, but to insatiable
lust of gain. Some Latin texts have 'ye are full of extortion and unclean-
ness,' //tv;/«/;j for p/oii sunt. On the ceremonial cleansing of vessels see
SchUrer, II. ii. pp. 106-III.
The change to the singular, 'Thou blind Pharisee' (26), is
not made in Lk. xi. 40, 41, which differs greatly from the
wording here, the meaning of which is plain. 'Take care that
your meat and drink are obtained in an honest way, and then
you need not be scrupulous about the washing of the cup and of
the platter.' We again have a triplet : tithing trifles, straining
out gnats, cleansing cup and platter.
Perhaps 'and of the platter' (rai tijs Trapo\pi5os) should here be omitted
as an insertion from ver. 25. D, Syr-Sin., some cursives, and some Old
Latin texts omit.
The sixth Woe (27, 28) again has a parallel in Lk. xi. But
the thought differs considerably as to the application of the
metaphor. Here the whitened tombs look pure and fair on the
outside, but inside are full of foulness; which was just like the
Pharisees. In Lk. the reference is to the whitewashing of graves
on the 15th of the month Adar, in order that no one might
320 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXni. 29-32
touch them unawares and become polluted without knowing it.^
Graves that had not been whitewashed were like the Pharisees ;
people were contaminated by them, through not being aware of
their true characters. Our metaphor of 'whitewashing' moral
evil is more in harmony with Mt. than with Lk. ; but in neither
Gospel is it quite clear whether we are to think of the Pharisees
as conscious or as unconscious hypocrites. The latter are the
more dangerous to others.
The Seventh and Last Woe (29-33) must again be compared
with Lk. xi. The Pharisees professed to be shocked at the
deeds of their forefathers, who put the Prophets to death. If
they had lived in those times, they would never have done such
things. They will make such reparation as is possible by
erecting beautiful monuments in honour of the Prophets. Here,
as in giving tithe of small things, it is not the act which is
blamed ; it is the hypocrisy which accompanies the act that is so
monstrous. These men, who professed to be so distressed at the
mm-dering of the Prophets, were themselves compassing the
death of Him who was far greater than any Prophet. Building
tombs for the Prophets was not wrong in itself; but honouring
dead Prophets while one was scheming to kill a living Prophet,
was the basest hypocrisy. These hypocritical murderers
admitted that they were the children of those who killed the
Prophets. They were their children morally as well as by
physical descent; with the same hatred of true piety, and the
same thirst for the blood of those who rebuked their vices. The
law of heredity was at work in their veins.
If the majority of texts are right in reading the imperative
(irX-qfiwcraTe) in ver. 32, then the severely ironical command,
'Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers,' should be
compared with 'That thou doest, do quickly '(Jn. xiii. 27). But
the future may be right (TrA-r/pwo-ere) : ' Ye will fill up ' ; i.e. ' In
spite of all your hypocritical professions, you are sure to prove
yourselves worthy descendants • of Prophet-slayers.' Note the
emphasis on the pronoun (v/JLeis). In any case we have the
terrible thought that "there is a certain bound to imprudence
and misbehaviour, which being transgressed, there remains no
place for repentance in the natural course of things" (Butler,
Analogy, I. ii. 10). Then judgment follows, without appeal.
There is also the thought that, in the case of nations, this limit
is reached through the action of successive generations, the
wickedness of each age contributing to the final result. In the
case of the Jews, the limit of misbehaviour had been almost
reached, and with the murder of the Messiah and His Apostles
^ If this was spoken a few days before the Passover, the annual whitewash-
ing of graves would be quite fresh.
XXIII. 33, 34] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 32I
would be transgressed. The destruction of Jerusalem and the
dispersion of the nation was at once the inevitable consct^uence.
The reading irX-ripwaaTe (NB-CLXrAII, Lalt.) is probably correct.
Unwillingness to believe that such stern words could have been spoken by
Jesus might easily cause the variants, cither irXtipwcrtTf (B, Syr-Sin.) or
iir\r]pii'<raT€ (V) II). The last has little to recommend it ; it would perhaps
refer to the killing of the Ilaptist, which, however, was not the work of the
Jews. The present tense, 'Ye are tilling up,' would make excellent sense
All their machinations against the Messiah were having this result.
In what follows (33) ' the wrath of the Lamb ' is manifested,
and it is terrible.^ It is "evident that the Sacred Humanity is
capable of a righteous anger which is the worst punishment that
the ungodly have to fear, more insupportable even than the
vision of the Divine Purity" (Swete on Rev. vi. 16). The
resemblance to iii. 7 is conspicuous ; but such severe words
surprise us less in the Forerunner, who was the bearer of a message
of judgment, than in the mouth of Him who was at once the
Bearer of the Good-tidings and the Fulfilment of them. But it is
well to be reminded that persistent wickedness must provoke
Divine wrath (xii. 34). Comp. Mk. iii. 5, the only place in the
Gospels in which anger is attributed to our Lord. 'The
judgment of Gehenna ' (77 Kpicn<; ttjs ycevv-q^) is the judgment
which condemns to Gehenna. The expression is said to be
Rabbinical. Comp. v. 22, 25, x. 28. The question has no
answer; it is im[)lied that they cannot escape this judgment.
The ' Behold, I send ' (34) must be compared with the
identical phrase in x. 16; the one looks back to the other.
There Christ tells His Apostles that He sends them as sheep in
the midst of wolves ; here He tells the wolves what the real
significance of their maltreatment of the sheep will be. In
both passages the emphatic ' I ' is to be noted (tSou cyw
aTTorrTikXw) ; it is Christ Himself who is the Sender, and it is His
Prophets whom they will persecute. The addition of ' wise
men and Scribes' carries on the parallel with Jewish history and
also makes another triplet. After Malachi, the nation had been
taught by wise men and Scribes. The Messiah is to have, not
only His Prophets, but His wise men and Scribes (xiii. 52), to
match those of old time ; and they will have no better fate than
the Prophets of the Old Covenant. I'y using Jewish terms to
designate the Christian missionaries, Christ continues to indicate
the solidarity of His Pharisaic ojjponents with their murderous
* The siniilariiy to the curse in the Talmud is of interest : "Woe to the
house of Annas ! Woe to their scrreiU-likc hissings !" Annas and his sons
had made themselves abominated for their tyranny and rapacity. The
conduct of Annas was a direct contradiction of his name, which means
'merciful.' See Edersheim, Life and Times, i. p. 263.
21
322 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII 35
forefathers. In both cases there was bitter persecution of
rehgious teachers for their unwelcome teaching. The title
' Prophets ' passed over to the Christian Church and continued
for a time; the other two titles were never adopted. The
slaying and crucifying refer to cases in which the Jews incited
Roman officials against the Christians ; the scourging in
synagogues (x. 17) and chasing from city to city (x. 23) were
forms of persecution which the Jews could carry out themselves.
'That upon you may come all the righteous blood' (35)
expresses the Divinely ordered sequence. The ' that ' (ottws) has
been anticipated by the ' therefore,' ' for this reason ' (8ia
TovTo) in ver. 34, and shows that 'that' depends upon 'I am
sending,' not upon ' ye shall kill,' etc. God does not cease to
send His messengers, because they are as a rule rejected; each
generation has its opportunity. Christ acts in the same way with
Christian missionaries. The Divine will is that all should listen
and be saved. But with this desire is combined the just decree
that those who refuse to listen shall be condemned ; and
therefore the condemnation of the rebellious may be said to be,
not only the result, but the purpose, of the sending of the
messengers. In Jewish thought, the actual issues of events were
often regarded as indistinguishable from Divine purposes, and
' in order that ' (iva, ottws) was used where we should rather say
' so that ' (wo-re).! Here we must once more remark the serene
and confident authority with which Christ assumes the
prerogatives of Providence. He is doing exactly what God did
under the old dispensation, with similar desire and persistence,
and with similar result.
There can be no doubt that the person who was slain
' between the sanctuary and the altar,' was not the son of
Barachiah, but the son of Jehoiada (2 Chron. xxiv. 20-22). The
son of Barachiah was the Prophet ; and we have no reason for
believing that the Prophet was murdered. Moreover, there is
an obvious reason for selecting the son of Jehoiada as a limit.
In the Jewish Bible, Chronicles comes last, and therefore, as
' the blood of Abel ' is the first murder in the Bible, so ' the
blood of Zachariah' is the last, although in point of time that of
Uriah by Jehoiakim (Jer. xxvi. 23) took place later.^ In Lk. xi.
51, 'sori of Barachiah' is omitted, and there need be no doubt
that here the insertion is a mechanical slip, either of the
Evangelist or of a very early copyist. We are not to suppose
that the words were uttered by our Lord, who probably said
' Zachariah,' without mentioning whose son he was. A further
^ See Moulton's Winer, pp. 573, 574 ; J. H. Moulton, Gram, of N. T.
Cr. pp. 206-20S.
=> See Ryle, Canon of the O. T. p. 141.
XXIII. 35. 36] LAST ^VORK IN THE HOLY CITY 323
reason for selecting these two murders miglit be that in bolli
cases it is stated that a reckoning for them would be made :
'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the
ground' (Gen. iv. 10); 'The Lord look upon it and rccjuire it'
(2 Chron. xxiv. 22). Three times blood is mentioned in this
verse.
The omission of 'son of Baracliiah ' here (S and four cursives) is an
attempt to avoid the difficulty ; and the insertion of the words in Lk. xi. 51
(D, Syr-Cur. and two cursives) is an attempt to bring the two Gospels into
harmony. The attempts to find a son of Barachiah different from the
Prophet, to whom the words might apply, may be neglected ; also the
suggestion that Jehoiada may have had Barachiah as a second name. The
simplest explanation is that ' Zachariah Son of Barachiah ' was a familiar
expression and was written mechanically. But the Evangelist, or the early
scribe, may have believed that the Zachariah who was slain in the Temple
was the Prophet. See DCG., art. 'Barachiah.'
' Whom ye slew ' (ov c^ovet'o-are) shows that Christ is thinking
of the Jewish nation as a whole, guilty of what was done by its
representatives in many generations. Our Lord docs not mean
that the Scribes and Pharisees of His own day were responsible
for murders committed by their forefathers centuries before that
time. But the guilt of wickedness is increased by the accumula-
tion of previous instances and warnings. Each generation that
condemns the wickedness of its predecessors, and yet repeats
the wickedness, is more guilty than its predecessors and has
more to answer for. Moreover, it is one of the penalties of sin,
a special penalty to warn us from committing it, that the
suffering which it invariably produces spreads to those who are
innocent. In this sense, God visits the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and nations reap the whirlwind from the wind
which previous generations have sown. Yet even in such cases
the generation which reaps the full consequences of the original
wrong-doing is so far guilty, if it has not taken warning and
endeavoured to remedy the evil. But, in another and truer
sense, ' the soul that sinneth, it shall die : the son shall not bear
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son'(Ezek. xviii. 20). This is only imperfectly realized
in this world, but it is rigidly true when the consequences of sin
both in this world and in the next are assessed and assigned.
The same solemn assurance, 'Verily I say to you,' is found in
both Mt. and Lk.^ This generation, which will fill the measure
of iniquity full, is the one which will reap the full consequences
of centuries of sin.
The lament over Jerusalem is given by Lk. in quite a
different connexion, neither as following on the saying about
' Lk., as writing for Gentiles, turns the Hebraistic ifx-qv into the more
classical va.1.
324 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII. 37
Abel and Zacharias, nor as an incident in the last days at
Jerusalem. He connects it (xiii. 34, 35) with another severe
utterance respecting the Holy City, on which it follows quite
naturally. But the connexion here is equally natural, and is
more probable, inasmuch as on this occasion the Messiah had
Jerusalem before His eyes, whereas, according to Lk., He was
far away at the time. Both connexions, however, are so suitable
that there is no need to conjecture a third. And it is not likely
that such words were uttered twice, and in each case with the
remarkable transitions from the address in the second person
singular ('Iepou(raA,r;/x ^lepova-aXij/j.) to the third singular (avT'^v),
thence back to the second singular (to, reVva arov), and finally to
the second plural (rjOeXrjcraTe).^ We may be well content to
accept, as the true historical setting, the context which is given us
here. The thought of how different all might have been had the
nation's leaders taken warning from the sins of their forefathers,
and listened to the preaching of the Baptist and the Messiah,
leads Christ to close His stern denunciation of the leaders and
utter a lamentation over the city that they have misled. What is
now her abiding character? She is a murderess and a rebel
against Jehovah, the slayer of Prophets and the stoner of those
whom He sent to her.
The doubled address is evidence of emotion and concern;
comp. vii. 22 ; Lk. x. 41, xxii. 31 ; Acts ix. 4. It is the
inhabitants of Jerusalem (i Mac. i. 38) that are addressed, not
the nation as a whole (Is. i. 8, iii. 16, iv. 4, xxxvii. 22; Zech.
ix. 9; Joel iii. 6; Lk. xix. 44, xxiii. 28; Jn. xii. 15). The
'how often' must refer to frequent visits of the Messiah to
Jerusalem which are not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels, and
is therefore a strong incidental confirmation of the Fourth
Gospel. D. Strauss allows that "all evasions are here in vain,"
the words must refer to earlier visits of Jesus to the city ; but he
denies that Jesus ever uttered the words, which he assigns to
some apocryphal source (Z. Jesu Krit.^ iSsSj i- P- 444; L. Jesu
f. das detitsche Volk, 1864, p. 249). This violent criticism is
parallel to that which denies that xi. 27 was ever spoken by
Jesus. See Zahn, Einleitiing, ii. p. 446. The danger from
which Christ would have protected Jerusalem, as a hen protects
her brood from " the wheeling hawk on high," is the judgment
which is about to fall upon it. Comp. Is. xxxi. 5 ; Ps. xci. 4 ;
Ruth ii. 12; 2 Esdr. i. 30. 'How often I would' (TrocrdKL<;
^ The exactness with which the wording has been preserved in both places
extends to the form 'lepouaaXrjfi. Everywhere else in his Gospel ]\It. has
'lepoadXvfia, even in reporting the words of Christ (v. 35, xx. iS), whose
Aramaic would be better represented by 'lepovaaX-riix. In this solemn address
Mt. has kept the older and more sacred form, all the more so as being more
suitable for personification. In xx. 18 he follows Mk.
XXni. 38, 39] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 325
ijOtXyjo-a), and just as often 'ye would not' (ovk tjOeXrja-aTe). The
two verbs are in emphatic and sorrowful 0[)position. In Jn. i. 5,
10, II, a similar effect is produced by repeating the substantive.
'Your house is being left to you' (38) ; it is being abandoned
to the consequences of your accumulated misdeeds, ' left ' to its
fate. 'Your house' in this context can hardly mean anything
but Jerusalem. 'This house' (Jer. xxii. 5, xxvi. 6) is not
parallel, and does not warrant our interpreting ' your house ' of
the Temple. In Enoch Ixxxix. 50, 51, 56, 66, 72, the 'house'
is Jerusalem and the Temple is represented by a ' tower ' (see
Charles, ad loc); and in the Testament of Levi x. 5, we have:
"For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called
Jerusalem, as is contained^ in the Book of Enoch the righteous."
Both here and in Lk., 'desolate' {^ptj/xoi] is a gloss tn explain 'is being
left' : B L and some old versions omit. In Lie. the evidence for omission is
still stronger. The insertion weakens the sad irony of 'is being left to you.'
The inhal)itants of Jerusalem must now preserve, as best they may, the city
which has hitherto been under Divine protection. Comp. xxiv. 40, xxvi. 56 ;
Jn. X. 12 ; Jer. xii. 7. The vfiiv is da/, uicomtiiodi : ' to your sorrow.' The
"iJook of Enoch describes how God " forsook that their house and their tower,
and gave them all into the hands of the lions to tear and devour them "
(Ixxxix. 56), a passage whicli is alluded to in the Epistle of Barnabas (xvi. 4)
as 'scripture.' The Apocalypse of Baruch has: "Enter ye enemies, and
come ye adversaries; for lie who kept the house has forsaken" (viii. 2).
And the Testaments : "The Temple, which the Lord shall choose, shall be
desolate (^prjfjLos Icrrai) through your uncleanness, and ye shall be captives
unto all the nations" (Levi xv. i). Can ^pTj/to^ have got into Mt. xxiii. 38
from this passage? Comp. xvi. 4. Comp. the famous fieTa^aivufnv ivrevOev
(Joseph. B. J. VI. V. 3) and audita major hiimana vox, excedere deos (Tac.
//«>/. V. 13). Contrast Exod. xxix. 45.
The concluding warning (39) is given with special solemnity
(Xeyo) v/xti/) and great assurance {ov fjirj). It seems to look back
to xxi. 9. When the multitudes and the children welcomed
Jesus with Hosannas as the Messiah, the hierarchy were moved
with indignation, and wished Jesus to put a stop to the acclama-
tions. He assures them here that, until they can themselves
take up this welcome to Him, they will never see Him again as
their Messiah. His mission to them as their Saviour is closed.
If that relation to them is ever to be renewed, the initiative must
come from them. What He has said and done for them ought
to have sufficed for their conversion, and no more teaching will
be granted to them. The little that still remains to be given
will be for those who have accepted Him, for the faithful few
among His disci[)les. But opportunity for conversion will always
remain open, and it is for them to see if they will avail themselves
of it. He will certainly return, and it is possible that He may
then find an Israel ready to believe on Him as One who cometh
as the representative of God (tV oi'o/xan Kv^tov).
326 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIII.
These sorrowful words of warning are the Messiah's farewell
to His people. He never again taught in public, and perhaps
He never again entered the Temple. That Jn. xvii. was spoken
in the Temple-courts is an attractive conjecture, but it is devoid
of evidence. It was perhaps only a few hours after the uttering
of these Woes upon the teachers, and this lamentation over
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that the Sanhedrin met to consider
how they might destroy Him who had uttered them. That was
their answer to His condemnation of their past and His warnings
respecting their future.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxiii. : T&re (i), vwokpltt}$ {13, 15, 23,
25, 27, 29), 7^ewa (15, 33), ofJLVvmL (16, 18, 20, 21, 22), Td0os(27), (paiveaOai
(2S), yevv-qfiara ixi-^vCov (33), l5ov (34, 38). Peculiar : 6 Trarrjp 6 ovpdvios (9),
7) /SatriXeta tQ)v ovpa.vQ}v (13), iyi^d dirocTTiWu} (34); peculiar to this chapter :
(pv\aKT7]pLov (5), KadT]yr]Tifjs (lO dis), dvrjOou (23), KUfiivov (23), BivXi^eiy (24),
Kwuujp (24), irapo-^is (25, 26), irapo!J.oi6.%€Lv (27), voctctIov (37).
Mt. omits the narrative of the Widow's Mites (Mk. xii. 41-44 ; Lk. xxi.
1-4), and Wright notices that "widows are not once mentioned in S.
Matthew, though S. Mark speaks of them in two passages and S. Luke in
six. ... In the first Gospel women are as much kept in the background as
they are brought to the front in the third" (p. 126). Yet Mt. several times
mentions women where the other Evangelists do not ; e.g. the women and
children at the feeding of the 5000 and of the 4000, the mother of the sons of
Zebedee (twice), and Pilate's wife ; he introduces two women into the
narrative of Peter's denials, where Mk., Lk., and Jn. have only one ; and he
alone records the parable of the Ten Virgins. About the prominence of
women in Lk. there is no question.
Hippolytus {Ref. Hcer. v. 3) quotes ver. 27, with an interpretation added,
as if it were part of our Lord's words : "This, they say, is that which was
spoken : Ye are whited sepulchres, full, they say, within of dead men's bones,
because the living man is not in yoit."
XXrV. XXV. Discourses on the Last Things.
The literature of the period which preceded and followed the
Birth of Christ shows that the minds of many Jews were deeply
interested in events connected with the end of the world, which
it was supposed was near at hand. In evidence of this we have
the Book of Enoch, the Psalms of Solomon, the Assumption of
Moses, the Book of Jubilees, the Ascension of Isaiah, the Fourth
Book of Ezra (our 2 Esdras), the Apocalypse of Baruch, and the
Book of the Secrets of Enoch. It is evident that this interest in
revelations respecting the consummation of all things is reflected
in the Gospels, and especially in the Synoptics. It had a twofold
source ; on the one hand, the utterances of Psalmists and Prophets,
and especially Ezekiel and Daniel ; on the other hand, certain
elements in heathen religions, and especially the religion of
Persia. It was perhaps inevitable that our Lord should make
use of these Jewish conceptions and expectations as vehicles for
XXrV.] LAST WORK IN TIIK HOLY CITY 327
His own teaching. There was much important truth wrapped
up in them, and apart from the form in which popular thought
had invested it the truth could hardly be made intelligible to
the Jews of that day. But, as we might expect, it was the
eschatology which was derived from Psalmists and Prophets,
rather than that which came from contact with Persia during the
Captivity, that Jesus adopted for His own purposes. And "so
far as He took over the transcendent supernatural side of the
expectation, He transformed and spiritualized while He adopted
it." In adopting, He "transmuted tlie apocalyptic tradition."
(Sanday, Recent Research, pp. 64, 112).
And there was much need of this transforming and spiritual-
izing process ; for there were gross elements in Jewish conceptions
of the consummation of the existing age ; there was much that
was political and even sensual in the way in which Jews pictured
to themselves the details of the approaching crisis. The Messiah,
as the agent of Jehovah, was to appear in the clouds at the head
of a triumphant host, was to put down Roman rule and all other
earthly sovereignty, and on the ruins of all was to establish His
own Kingdom, one feature of which would be a perpetual banquet.
At this banquet the descendants of Abraham were to sit on
thrones of glory, from which they could see the discomfiture of
the excluded Gentiles and Samaritans, From these crude and
carnal accessories the apocalyptic passages in the Gospels are
free. But at the same time it must be admitted that some of the
language used, and perhaps a great deal of it, is symbolical, and
is not to be understood in a strictly literal sense. Our Lord
could not have taught His disciples what He had to reveal to
them respecting these last things, unless His language was ac-
commodated to these ideas, without which they could hardly
have understood anything at all. He had many things to say to
them, but they could not bear them then, and He perhaps
employed phraseology which was misapprehended at the time,
but has been slowly interpreted by the exi^eriences of Christendom.
Though not intended to veil, but to reveal, it was to those who
heard it elusive ; the significance of it escaped them for the time.
And we must make allowance for the possibility that, through
misapprehension at the time, some of His sayings have been
misreported.
It is possible that in these discourses on the Last Things we
have a sevenfold arrangement ; xxiv. 4-14, 15-2S, 29-3r, 32-51,
XXV. 1-13, 14-30, 31-46. But this is by no means so clear as
the seven parables in xiii. and the seven Woes in xxiii.
We should certainly not gather from these apocalyptic dis-
courses that our Lord was predicting the coming of the Kingdom
through the gradual perfecting of the human race or of Christen-
328 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 1-3
dom. The Jewish idea, that the great change is to be a sudden
catastrophe, of which the chief feature is to be the coming of the
Messiah on the clouds, is neither condemned nor discarded.
The reports of His words show that He taught this Himself to
the end. This, in the main, is what He seems to have meant
by His Coming, and He left an impresssion that it would take
place soon. There were other senses in which He spoke of His
coming again, — to the disciples after His Resurrection, to His
Church after the Ascension, to His faithful followers throughout
all time, to the world in signal acts of judgment ; and it may be
that His words were not always distinct enough to show which
meaning was intended. But His words about His Coming in
the clouds to inaugurate the Kingdom are as well authenticated
as anything that He is reported to have said, and it is not
impossible that at one time they were preserved as a separate
document which formed the substance of Mk. xiii., and therefore
of Mt. xxiv. and of Lk. xxi.i Nowhere else in Mk. have we so
long a discourse, without break or interruption ; and the easiest
way to account for this peculiarity is to suppose that here at any
rate Mk. is using written material. Here Mt. is again using Mk.,
but he has expanded what is reported in Mk. xiii. with utterances
on similar subjects which were perhaps spoken at some other
time; yet the result is a connected whole, in which the future
is sketched, down to the time of Christ's return. For tables
showing the correspondences with Mk. see Allen, p. 252.
XXIV. 1-3. The Destruction of the Temple foretold.
This is the incident which leads to the apocalyptic discourse,
and in the introductory verses Mk. is much more definite than
either Mt. or Lk. After closing His public teaching, the Messiah
leaves the Temple, and then one of the disciples, "himself no
doubt a Galilean to whom this great piece of architecture was not
too familiar" (Salmon), directs Christ's attention to the magnifi-
cence of the structure, and receives the startling announcement that
it is to be utterly destroyed. No one makes any comment, but
evidently no one doubts the truth of the prediction. A little
later, when Christ has sat down on the Mount of Olives opposite
the Temple, the three elect disciples with the addition of Andrew 2
^ This hypothesis is wholly different from the view that a spurious
apocalypse lies buried in the Synoptic report of our Lord's eschatological
discourse. " It has long been a favourite idea with some Continental writers,
ail entirely mistaken one, I believe, that the record of our Lord's apocalyptic
discourse in the first three Gospels includes a kernel or core transcribed from
a purely Jewish Apocalypse " (Hort, The Apocalypse of St. John i.-iii. p. xiii).
- These are the four whose call Mk. places at the beginning of his Gospel
(i. 16-20).
XXIV. 1-3] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 329
ask when this amazing destruction will take place, and what sign
there will be of its being at hand. This is both more definite
and more probable than the version of the incident in Mt. One
disciple might well make the exclamation recorded, but the
company of disciples would hardly 'show Him the buildings of
the Temple,' which both He and they had often seen before.
Again, it is more probable that a few of the discijjles, and those
who were most intimate with the Master, should ask the con-
fidential question about the date of the great crisis, than that all
should do so. It was a matter which could not safely be made
generally known, perhaps not even to all the disciples. And,
where Mt. adds to the narrative of Mk., the addition looks like a
touch from a later age, to make the question about the date a
more suitable introduction to the discourse which follows. Mt.
represents the disci[)les as asking for a sign, not of the approaching
destruction, but 'of Thy coming, and of the end of the world.' ^
Yet our Lord had said nothing about His going away and
coming again, and the end which He had predicted was that of
the Temple, not that of the world. All three Evangelists re-
present the disciples as asking for 'a sign' as to the fulfilment of
the prediction ; and all three show that Christ did not give them
one. He warns them to be on their guard against being misled
by what might seem to be signs but were not such, yet He does
not Himself give any sure sign.
It is here (3) that for the first time in the Gospel we meet
with the word 'Parousia' (Trapova-ia), which in the Gospels is
peculiar to Mt. and is in Mt. confined to this chapter (3, 27, 37,
39). It occurs in all the groups of the Pauline Epistles, excepting
the Pastoral Epistles, being specially frequent in i and 2 Thes.
It would seem therefore to have been in common use, almost as
a technical term for the Coming of Christ in glory, some time
before the First Gospel was written. This is perhaps an additional
reason for the view that separate reports of this discourse may
have been in circulation before either Mk. or Mt. wrote ; in one of
these the term irapovdia may have been used. It intimates that
the return of the Messiah in glory will not result, like the First
Coming, in a transitory stay, but will inaugurate an abiding
presence. The expression 'Second Coming' is not found in
Scripture, but it occurs in Justin {Try. 40; comp. no, 121, and
Apol. i. 52) ; also in the Secrets of Enoch (xxxii. i), not, however,
of Christ, but of God. See Hastings' DB. and DCG., art.
' Parousia.' In the Testaments the term irapovaia is found of
God's appearing: "And among men of other race shall My
Kingdom be consummated, until the salvation of Israel come,
' Mt. may intend this atUlition to look back to xxiii. 39, where Christ's
return is alluded to ; but even there nothing is said about the end of the age.
330 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 4
until the appearing (t^9 Trapouo-tas) of the God of righteousness,
so that Jacob may rest in peace" {Tudah xxii. 2). For 'con-
summation of the age ' (o-uvreAeta tov alwvo<;), or ' end of the
world,' comp. xiii. 40, 49.
XXIV. 4-14. Events which must precede the End.
A great deal must happen first, and therefore the disciples
must not be led astray by rumours that He has already returned.
There will be false Christs, wars and tumults, famines and
earthquakes, persecutions by the heathen, treachery among
Christians, false prophets ; and yet the Gospel shall be preached
in all the world. Not till then will the end come, and the
disciples must not allow their eager desire for the consummation
to betray them into a premature belief that the Coming has
taken place, or is very near. 'In My Name,' or 'on the basis
of My Name' (ctti tw ovo/x.aT6 /aov, xviii. 5), means that a claim
to the title of Messiah was the ground of their pretensions : it
is not meant that they would call themselves 'Jesus.' But 'the
Christ' is an addition made by Mt. In Mk. it is simply 'I am
(He),' using eyw ei/xi in the Messianic sense : see Westcott on
Jn. viii. 24. But the main point is not so much their method
of deception as their great success : ' they will lead many astray '
(ttoAA-ous TrXavTjo-owo-tv). Is. xix. 2 may be at the back of what
follows : ' They shall fight every one against his brother, and
every one against his neighbour ; city against city, and kingdom
against kingdom.' Comp. 2 Esdr. xv. 14, 15.^
The ' beginning of travail ' {p-py^ wStVwv) perhaps includes no
thought of these things being the (^/>//^-pangs which precede a
happier era. The word may mean 'pangs,' without any idea
of birth. Indeed it is sometimes used of the pains of death
(Ps. xviii. 5, cxvi. 3). What is meant here is acute sufferings
which are likely to increase. Comp. Book of Jubilees, xxiii. 18,
19; Apocalypse of Baruch, xxvii.-xxix., where the travail-pains
of the Messiah are described with details that in several respects
resemble what is described here; and Book of Enoch, xcix.
4-7, c. 1-9.
In the prediction of persecutions (9-14) Mt. is not so close
to Mk. xiii. 9-13 as the previous verses are to Mk. xiii. 3-8.
But Mt. has already (x. 17-22) given a closer parallel to Mk.
xiii. 9-13, and this reduplication seems to show that there has
' Aet '^evicOai (6) from Dan. ii. 28 ; comp. Rev. i. i. In Gospels and
Acts Set is frequent of what has been decreed by God. Perhaps 4yepdr)creTai
(7), which is in all three, is to be taken as passive, 'will be raised up' by
the powers of evil. See small print near the end of ch. vii. for Justin's use
of this passage.
XXrV. 9-14] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 331
been some confusion in the accounts. Here Mt omits all
mention of being beaten in synai^ogues, and for 'ye shall be
hated of all men' he substitutes 'ye shall be hated of all ///(■
nations,' thus freeing the Jews from the charge of persecution
and confining this prediction to the Gentiles.^ The mention of
false prophets at this point (comp. ver. 24), the mutual hatred, the
increase of iniquity, and the cooling of love are all peculiar to
Mt. ; and these expansions emphasize the fact that persecution
from without is to be accompanied by grievous deterioration
among the Christians themselves. They will even betray one
another to the persecutors. This evil element has been
mentioned before, in a less definite manner, in the parables of
the Tares and of the Net (xiii. 38, 39, 48, 49), of the Unmerciful
Servant (xviii. 32), and of the Wedding Garment (xxii. 11); but
what is intimated here is a gradual corruption in Christian
society, and it is to this no less than to the persecution by the
heathen that 'he that endureth to the end' (13) applies; comp.
x. 22. Here also there are remarkable parallels in 2 Esdras :
'But iniquity shall be increased above that which thou now
seest, or that thou hast heard long ago ' (v. 2) ; ' Whosoever
remaineth after all these things that I have told thee of, he shall
be saved, and shall see My salvation, and the end of My world '
(vi. 25); 'Everyone that shall be saved, and shall be able to
escape by his works, or by faith, shall be preserved, and shall
see My salvation ' (ix. 7, 8). See Hort on Rev. i. 9.
Yet, in spite of persecution from without, and unfaithfulness
within, the Gospel continues to spread, until the whole inhabited
world is reached and it becomes a testimony to all the nations.
That is, as in the case of the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts viii.
1-4), persecution would help to spread the Gospel. The
martyrs would be preachers in councils and courts to audiences
that would otherwise not easily be reached ; and the flight of
Christians from one city to another would lead to still greater
dissemination of the word.
'And then shall the end come' (14). These words arc in
neither Mk. nor Lk. Indeed, hardly anything in vv. 10-14 is
common to Mt. and Lk., and very little is common to Mt. and
Mk. 'The end' of course means the end of the age, and in
interpreting that we must remember the subject of this discourse
and the persons to whom it is addressed. Our Lord is speaking
of the overthrow of Jerusalem and of the Temple to men who
would inevitably think of such an overthrow as the end of the
* Comp. Justin, Apol. i. 4, where it is said that to confess to bcinp a
Christian is regarded as proof of guilt, and Tcrt. Af>ol. 2 : illud solum
expectalur quod odio piiblico tiecessarium est, confessio nominis, twn
e;Kaminatio criininis.
332 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 15
age. It is quite possible that they would regard the destruction
of the Holy City and of the Temple-worship as the end of the
world. It is quite possible that the Evangelist would so under-
stand it, for he could have no expectation of an interval of many
centuries between the Ascension and the Return. But the
fact, if it be a fact, that the Aposdes and the Evangelist under-
stood the Messiah's words in this sense is no proof that this
was the sense in which He uttered them. What was important
for them to know was that the Temple was doomed and its end
near. Whether its end would coincide with the end of the world
would be taught by experience.
XXIV. 15-28. Events connected with the Destruction of
Jerusalem.
Our Lord has answered neither of the questions put to Him
by the disciples respecting (as Mk. has it) the destruction of
the Temple, or (as Mt. has it) the Second Coming. He has
not said when it will come, or what sign will announce its
approach. He has merely said that a great deal will happen
first. He now, with regard to the end of the Temple and of
the city, gives enough information to guide the disciples through
a time of great trouble. There are here two remarkable
differences between Mt. and Mk., while Lk., writing later, differs
very considerably from both. The words, 'which was spoken
of by Daniel the Prophet,' are not in Mk. ; and 'standing where
/^^ ought not' in Mk. (ia-TrjKOTa oirov ov 8ei) becomes 'standing
in [the] holy place' (eo-ros iv tottw dytw) in Mt. The masculine
participle in Mk. shows that the writer thought of * the abomina-
tion of desolation' as personal,— either an idolater or an
idolatrous image; whereas the neuter participle in Mt. leaves
the interpretation of 'the abomination of desolation' indefinite.
The expression, as Mt. points out, comes from Daniel (xi. 31 ;
comp. ix. 17, xii. 11; i Mac. i. 54, 59), and evidently refers
to something idolatrous. 'Standing in a holy place' (there is
no article) probably means within the Temple-enclosure. In
Acts xxi. 28, 6 aytos TOTTos means the Temple; and comp. Acts
vi. 13. But in 2 Mac. ii. 18 it means the Holy Land; and
eitlier the Holy Land (B. Weiss) or the Holy City may be the
meaning here. See on i Mac. i. 54 in the Camd. Bible for
Schools.
But of greater interest than either 'the abomination ' or the
'holy place' is the significance of the parenthetical 'Let him
that readeth understand,' which is in both Mk. and Mt., but is
omitted by Lk. Are the words part of our Lord's speech ? and
do they call attention to the places in Daniel where the
XXIV. 15-20] LAST WORK TN THE HOLY CITY 33-^
'abomination of desolation ' is mentioned? In Mt. it looks as
if this was the case, owing to the previous mention of Daniel.
But in Mk., where there is no such mention, another interpreta-
tion is more probable. It is the Evangelist, or the source from
which he drew, that calls attention to the words here spoken by
Christ, In the latter case the meaning will be: "All readers
of this ought now to be on the alert, for the destruction which
the Lord foretold must be near at hand." This would imply
that Jerusalem was not yet surrounded, but was in danger of
being" so, by the heathen, at the time when Mk. wrote, liut
this argument cannot be used of Mt. (see Introduction ; Date).
In Lk. these words of warning are omitted, probably as being
no longer of any use.
If 'holy place' (15) be understood as meaning the Holy
Land, then 'Judaea' (16) may mean the Land of the Jews,
Palestine as a whole ; comp. xix. i. ' The meaning would then
be that, when the heathen host invades the Holy Land, all the
faithful therein are to (lee across the Jordan into the hill-country
of Perffia. But it is more probable that the province of Judaea
is meant, as in ii. i, 5, 22, and that 'the mountains ' are the
mountains of Judaea. It was thither that Mattathias and his
sons fled, in order to carry on a guerilla warfare against the
otiticers of Epiphanes. These mountains abounded in caves
and recesses difficult of access. Comp. i Mac. ii. 28. The
horrors of this heathen invasion will be so great that not a
moment is to be lost, when the alarm has once been given. The
most necessary equipment must be sacrificed rather than risk
being overtaken ; and it will be wise to pray that this sudden
flight may not have to be made in stormy weather.^ The words
' nor yet on a sabbath ' (M^i aaft/SaTw), whatever the weather
may be, are probably an addition made by Mt., who here again
shows his Judaistic sympathies: com[). v. 18, x. 6, 23, xv. 31,
xix. 9, xxiii. 3.^ The incident recorded i Mac. ii. 32-38
explains how disastrous flight on a sabbath might be. The
first believers would almost all be Jewish Christians, who would
have scruples about going more than a sabbath-day's journey
on the sabbath. In u.c. 320 Ptolemy i. captured Jerusalem on
a sabbath (Jos. An/, xii. i. i ; comp. xii. vi. 2; U./. i. vii. 3).
Whatever be the source of these words, they indicate that this
' This, ralhcr than 'in the winter,' seems to be the meaning of x"^'«'»'os,
as in xvi. 3 and Acts xxvii. 20. But either makes good sense.
* It is possilile that ' nor yet on a sal>bath ' was in the original source,
and that Mk. omitted it as not of interest to Clenlile readers; but it is
e()ually possible that Mt. inserted it, with or without authority, ralcslinian
tradition may liave contained it. Joseplius {P/e/utd to B. J. 4) s;iys tiiat llie
calamities of all men from the beginning of the world were less than those
of the Jews in his estimate. Comp. the Assumption of Moses, viii. i.
534 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 22
Gospel was written at a time when the sabbath was still observed
by Jewish Christians.
' No flesh would have been saved ' (for the Hebrew idioms
see Swete, ad loc.) is commonly and rightly restricted to physical
deliverance. The loss of life was enormous, although the siege
lasted only four or five months, from April or May to September ;
and Titus himself confessed that, if God had not been on the
side of the Romans, they could never have succeeded as they
did (Jos. B. J. VI. ix. i). Zahn would interpret the words as
meaning that every one would have succumbed to the prolonged
persecution and would have apostatized. But ver. 13 (x. 22) does
not warrant this interpretation. Everywhere being ' saved ' must
be explained in accordance with the context. The meaning can
hardly be that, if the tribulation had continued, the elect would
have abjured the faith. That many others were saved from
death for the sake of the elect makes excellent sense. The
presence of ten righteous men would have saved Sodom from
destruction (Gen. xviii. 32). How much more might the presence
of faithful Christians have caused a lessening of the death-roll at
the overthrow of Jerusalem ? Comp. the opening words of the
Book of Enoch: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, where-
with he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the
day of tribulation." There, however, it is the time of blessings
that shall be shortened, as a judgment on sinners (Ixxx. 2).
The warning about false Messiahs and false prophets (23-28)
is much longer in Mt. than in Mk., but some of the additional
matter in Mt. is found in Lk. in a different connexion (xvii. 23,
24, 37). As before, our Lord does not give a clear sign of the
coming end, but warns the disciples against being misled by false
signs. The final event would be sudden and everywhere visible ;
there would be no sending of tidings that it was on its way, or
had begun in any one place. The Messiah would not lie hidden
for a time and become gradually known ; His appearance would
at once carry conviction as to who He was, and there would be
no need to learn this from others. The report that He was
in one particular spot was enough to prove that the report was
false.
The proverbial saying about the carcase (TTTw/xa) and the
vultures ^ (^derot) is in a very general form, and is capable of
various applications, but here it seems to refer back to the false
Christs and false prophets. A time of severe crisis is a great
opportunity for impostors. When fanaticism has taken the place
^ • ' The Griffon Vulture ( Gyps ftilvus) is the bird which is often mentioned
in the Scriptures under the name of eagle. The well-known passage,
' Wheresoever the carcase is,' refers to the Vulture, and exactly expresses its
habits " (J. G. Wood, The Handy Nahiral History, p. 243).
XXIV. 29] LAST \VORK IN TIIK HOLY CITY 335
of religion, there will always be charlatans ready to turn the
corniptio optimi to their own account. There may also be a
reference to God's judgments coming upon a corrupt state of
society, and (as a special illustration of this principle) the
Romans coming on the Jewish Church and nation. A direct
reference to the eagles on the Roman standards is less likely.
XXIV. 29-31. The Close of the Age foretold.
The correspondence between Mt. and Mk. is here again very
close; but Rlt. introduces this part of the discourse with
'immediately' {evdews), which is so characteristic of Mk., but
which Mk. here omits, ^^'e may suppose that in the original
report there was no 'immediately,' our Lord having given no
intimation that the interval would be very brief (^'t'. 8, 14 imply I
the contrary), but that Mt. inserted it, under the impression, '
which was so general when he wrote, that the Coming would
follow very quickly upon the overthrow of Jerusalem. In that
case, we may compare ' I come quickly ' {Ipxafxat raxv) in
Rev. xxii. 20. In all three Gospels, the interval between the
tribulation of Jerusalem and the Coming is described as one of
great physical disturbance, especially in the heavens.^ But Mt.
inserts two predictions which are not in Mk. : that there 'shall
appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven ; and then shall all
the tribes of the earth mourn ' ; which two predictions are partly
reproduced in Lk. : ' There shall be signs . . . and upon the
earth distress of nations.' 'The sign of the Son of Man' is
ambiguous. It may mean the sign that the Son of Man is about
to appear ; in which case the words would be an answer to the
disciples' question, 'What shall be the sign of Thy Coming?' (3).
Or, possibly, the Son of Man is Himself the sign, — the sign that
the consummation of the age has arrived ; in which case there
may be a direct reference to Dan. vii. 13: 'Behold there was
coming with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man '
(see Driver, ad loc). The second prediction looks like an
adaptation of Zech. xii. 12: 'And the land shall mourn, every
family apart' {koX Koi/^crat t] yrj Kara. </)vAus (fivXds). The idea that
' the sign of the Son of Man ' is the cross, and that the Second
Advent will be heralded by the appearance of a cross in the sky,
is as old as Cyril of Jerusalem : " Now a sign truly characteristic
of Christ is the cross : a luminous sign of a cross goes before the
King" (Cat. xv. 22). The same idea is found in Chrysostom,
' With 6 ij\ios (TKOTiaO-^ffeTai comp. tou ijXlov ckoti^ohIvov or c^ivvvixivov
(Levi'w. i). The meaning of 'the powers of tlie heavens* ( oJ 5vv6.^lfl% r.
oi'p.) is uncertain ; either the heavenly bodies, or the forces which control
them. Comp. Levi iii. 3.
33^ GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 30, 31
and apparently in Origen ; ^ but the Gospels give no support to
it : and it is somewhat surprising in writers who are quite ready
to interpret the sun, moon, and stars as symbolical. Thus, the
moon is the Church, which will then receive no light from Christ
who is the Sun, because the earth of carnal desires intervenes ;
and the stars are the saints, who will then lose their influence.
So that, while really existing, heavenly bodies are treated as
symbols, language which is probably symbolical is interpreted
very realistically of a visible luminous cross, darkening by its
brilliance sun, moon, and stars.
In the part of the prediction which is common to all three
Gospels ('They shall see the Son of Man . . . with power and
great glory') we again have Daniel (vii. 13) blended with
Zechariah (xii. 10). A similar blending is found Rev. i. 7,
"a circumstance which increases the probability that the quota-
tion came as it stands from a book of excerpts" (Swete), of which
both writers made use. Collections of ' testimonies ' taken from
the prophetical books were probably common. ' On the clouds
of heaven ' is almost synonymous with what follows ; it means in
superhuman majesty. The expression varies : 'with the clouds
of heaven' (Dan. vii. 13); 'with the clouds' (Rev. i. 7); 'in
clouds' (Mk. xiii. 26); 'in a cloud' (Lk. xxi. 27). Both here
and xxvi. 64, Mt. has ^ on the clouds of heaven.'
With the sending forth of the Angels here compare that
which is predicted xiii. 41, 49. Christ Himself had again and
again tried to gather together a congregation of those who believed
on Him (xxiii. 37),^ but had been thwarted by indifference and
opposition : under the Christian dispensation a Church of His
elect win have been formed throughout the world. ' With a great
sound of a trumpet ' is a detail which is not in Mk. It may have
been taken from ' the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud,' which
accompanied the thunders and lightnings at the giving of the
Law upon Mount Sinai (Exod. xix. 16); or from the 'great
trumpet,' which shall be blow^n when the Jewish nation is to be
reunited after the great ordeal (Is. xxvii. 13). This prediction
seems to be alluded to by St. Paul, i Thes. iv. 16 and i Cor.
XV. 52. Comp. "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, yea the holy
trumpet of Jubilee. Stand up on high, O Jerusalem ; and behold
1 See the quotations in Isaac Williams' Devotional Commentary ( The Holy
Week, pp. 289-293). He accepts this interpretation as correct. There is a
passage in the Assumption of l\Ioses (x. 5-7), which has considerable resem-
blance to vv. 29, 30. If KoxpovTai . . . /cat 6^povTai is a play upon words,
this is one more piece of evidence that this Gospel is not a translation from
the Hebrew ; comp. vi. 16, xxi. 41.
2 Comp. the Testaments : " For through their tribes shall God appear
on earth to save Israel, and He shall gather together {imffwd^ei) righteous
ones from the Gentiles " {Naphtali viii. 3). Comp, Asher vii. 7.
XXrV. 32, 33] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 337
thy children gathered from the East and the West together by
the Lord" (Pss. of Solomon, xi. i, 3).
In the Testament of Abraham (A. xii.) there is the curious idea of "a
fiery Ant^el with a trumpet containing fire," who in company with three other
Ant;els "recorded, weighed, and tested souls" ; wliere the trumpet contain-
ing tire seems to be used in the testing of souls, as a blow-pipe is used in
testing metals (ed. M. R. James, pp. 39, 125). Here the trumpet is for
summoning those at a distance, but ' sound ' {(puvjjs) is of doubtful authority
(B X r II). ' From one end of heaven to the other ' (Mt.), lit. ' from the ends
of the heavens to their ends,' is much more easy to understand than ' from the
uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven' (Mk.), and it is
probably a deliberate correction of a difTicult expression. The meaning in
each case is that every region in which there are any of the elect will be
reached by the summons. ' From the four winds ' occurs Zech. ii. 6 ; also in
a FayQm papyrus of the second century (Deissmann, Bid/e Studies, p. 248).
XXIV. 32-36. TAe Lesson of the Fig-Tree; the Certainty
of the Event and the Uncertai?ity of the Time.
The points which have thus far been made known with
regard to the disciples' questions are these; that the End will
not come until the Gospel has been preached to all nations,
and that the End will be preceded by a variety of religious,
political, and physical disturbances. Secondly, that the End
will need no heralding sign, but will manifest itself to all in a
way that will leave no doubt as to its character. No one will
need to be told what it is, or that it has come. These in-
timations are now still further enforced by the parable of the
budding fig-tree, by the assurance that the existing generation will
witness a great crisis, and that the Lord's words will have fulfilment.
This passage raises two questions, neither of which can be
answered with certainty. What is the nominative to 'is nigh'
(eyyrs Icniv) in ver. 33? What is the meaning of 'all these
things' (TTavTa Taura) in ver. 34?
We may supply as a nominative to * is nigh ' either ' the
Son of Man' from vv. 30, 31, which is the view taken by the
Revisers : ' know ye that He is nigh.' Or we piay understand
some such idea as ' the new dispensation, the Messianic
Kingdom,' as is done by Lk., who expresses this: 'know ye
that the Kingdom of God is nigh.' Or we may take a
nominative from the parable in the preceding verse, as is done
by Origen : 'know ye that the summer {to Otfm^) is nigh.' In
this case, 'the summer' must be understood as a metaphorical
expression for the Kingdom.^ There is not much difference
in sense, whichever of these methods we adopt.
' It is worth noting that tA dipos, which is in all three Gospels in this
passage, occurs nowhere else in tlie N.T. ; also that 'know ye' may be 'ye
know.'
32
338 GOSrEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 33-35
The meaning of 'all these things' (Lk. has simply 'all
things,' Traj'Ta without ravTo) seems to be determined by the
disciples' question in ver. 3, and this in Mt. includes not merely
the destruction of Jerusalem, but the Coming and the con-
summation of the age. But it does not follow that, because
Mt. understood it so, therefore our Lord said and meant this.
We saw reason for doubting whether the disciples asked anything
about the Coming or the end of the world, neither of which had
been mentioned in Christ's prediction of the overthrow of the
Temple; and we need not make 'all these things' refer to
anything beyond the judgment on Jerusalem and the tribulation
which preceded the execution of it. If the Day of Judgment
is in any way included, it is as being symbolized by the
judgment on the guilty city. It is not satisfactory to extend
the meaning of ' this generation ' to future generations of either
the Jewish or the whole human race. ' This generation ' (17 yeveo,
avTT]) is an expression of common and definite meaning ;i viz.
' the generation which was alive when the words were spoken,'
many of whom did live to see ' the abomination of desolation '
and the subsequent desolation of Jerusalem. Mt.'s whole
Gospel is coloured with the conviction that the Second Advent
was near and would follow closely upon the fall of the city.
This conviction was dominant among the Christians of his
day, and it probably influenced the wording of the traditions
and documents which he used. We have constantly to re-
member that we cannot be sure that we have got the exact
words which our Lord employed; and in no utterance of His
that has come down to us is the length of the interval between
the destruction of the Temple and the end of the world in-
timated. 'Heaven and earth shall pass away' perhaps looks
back to ver. 29, where the beginning of a break-up of the
universe seems to be indicated. But, as in ver. 35, the 'passing
away of heaven and earth' may be a figurative expression for
the end of the existing dispensation, of all that was regarded
as most durable and permanent. Christ's words will be more
sure than anything, — His words in general, but especially His
words about the coming judgment. That judgment is ex-
pressed in symbolical language, but it is no mere image to
terrify children ; it represents something very real and very
awful, and all who hear of it must take account of it in
shaping their lives. Some of those who heard Christ's words
would live to see a stupendous example of what God's judg-
ments can be; but all have to remember that there is
something still more stupendous to follow, something which
^ Comp. xi. 16, xii. 41-45, xxiii. 36; Lk. xi. 50, 51, xvii. 25; Heb.
iii. 10.
XXIV. 36] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 339
I concerns all mankind, but the date of which is known to God
alone.
Our Lord is reported to have used very strong language in
order to make it quite clear to Mis hearers that, in what He
has said. He has given no intimation as to the time of tlie Day
of Judgment. 'But of that day and hour knovveth no one, not
even the Angels of heaven, nor yet the Son, but the Father
only.'^ Mk. has the same, with the unimportant difference
of ' or hour ' for * arid hour ' ; and he omits ' only ' or ' alone '
(et \v(] o iraTi'jp, without /xdros). The latter difference is signi-
ficant. The im])ortant question is, whether the words *nor
yet the Son' (oiSk 6 vlos), which are certain in Mk., ought to
be retained in Mt.
I They are omitted in AV. in harmony with many witnesses, some of which
are ancient, but are retained in RV. in harmony with evidence which AVH.
regard as ' ovcrwhelmmg ' (X and X""* B U, Lat-\'et. Aelh. Arm., Orig.
Chrys. Ilil.). It is not easy to decide. On the one hand, the words might
easily be omitted on account of their difficulty ; on the other, they might be
inserted in Mt. to assimilate witli Mk. See Alford. But we have seen that
Mt. nearly always omits or alters anything in Mk. which seems to encourage
a low conception of the Messiah (see Introduction ; Sources, § 9), and it is
not likely that he would have retained this explicit limitation of the Messiah's
knowledge. He has struck out statements which 2w/>/y ignorance on His
part. Would he have left standing a confession that He was ignorant?
Moreover, the addition of ' alone ' {fidvos) after ' except the Father ' looks
like a wish to give the sense of Christ's words, without the express admission
that the Son, in this matter, shared the ignorance of men and Angels. In
a different manner, Lk., who omits the whole verse, lets us know that he
was aware of this limitation by Christ of His own knowledge, for he records
words which imply the limitation : ' It is not for you to know times or seasons,
which the Father hath set within His own authority ' (Acts i. 7). But the
suggestion that the whole verse was added in Church reading, to explain the
fact that ' this generation ' had passed away and yet the end of the world
had not come, is not to be adopted. When Mk. and Mt. wrote, no one
would have put into the mouth of Christ a confession of ignorance which
He had never made. Zahn holds that both external and internal evidence
favour the genuineness of ovdi vl6s in Mt. {EinUituiig, ii. p. 252) ; and
Wellhausen retains them, p. 124.
Whether or no the momentous words were retained by Mt.,
we need not doubt that our Lord uttered them, and the meaning
would seem to be: 'Do not ask Me to tell you the date of
the great crisis. God has not revealed it; not even to Me.' 2
What follows teaches the practical consequence of this universal
ignorance as to the time of the end.
' Comp. Zech. xiv. 7 ; Psalms of Solomon .wii. 23 : "in the time which
Thou, O God, knowest."
" The including of the Angels in the ignf)rance is in Mk. as well as in Mt.
So also is the mention of the Angels in connexion with the end of tlic world
(31 ). Here again our Lord seems to be giving special sanction to the doctrine
that these are Angels, and that they have definite functions. Comp. xvi. 27,
xviii. 10, xxii. 30, xxv. 31, 41, xxvi. 53.
340 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 37-42
XXIV. 37-42. The Necessity for Watchfuhiess.
Mt. is here parallel to Lk. xvii. 26-35 i but each Evangelist
would seem to have drawn from a different source. The end
is certain, but the time of it is uncertain. What effect will this
combination of certainty and uncertainty have upon mankind?
The condition of things will be analogous (wo-ttc/d) to that before
the Deluge. Mankind generally will be wholly given up to
material enjoyment; and this has always been so. The
certainty of death does not give seriousness to life, so long
as the time of death is uncertain and possibly distant. Even
the prospect of death within a comparatively short time does
not always detach people from the cares and pleasures of this
world. The special point of the analogy is not that the genera-
tion that was swept away by the Flood was exceptionally wicked ;
none of the occupations mentioned are sinful; but that it was
so absorbed in its worldly pursuits that it paid no attention to
I solemn warnings. Instead of saying : " It is certain to come ;
therefore we must make preparation and be always on the
watch," they said : "No one knows when it will come; therefore
there is no need to trouble oneself about it yet. Other matters
are much more urgent."
In the Gospels, the Flood is referred to only here = Lk.
xvii. 27. It is rash to use such references (comp. Lk. xvii. 32)
as proof that the incidents referred to are historical facts (see on
xii. 40). The parable of Dives and Lazarus does not require
us to believe that Abraham converses with the souls that are
under punishment in the other world. Our Lord took the
current beliefs of the day. Where they were morally misleading.
He corrected them, as in the Sermon on the Mount and in
ch. xxiii. Where they were not so. He sometimes, without
either affirming or denying their truth, drew His own lessons
from them. The lessons hold good, whether the story of Noah
or of Lot's wife be fact or fable. The lesson from Noah and
his generation is that those who heed God's warnings are
delivered, while those who refuse to do so are left to their fate
I (40, 41). One thing is certain, — that we do not know the time
' of the Coming ; and the only thing that can give security is
unceasing watchfulness (42).^
This lesson evidently made a great impression upon those
who heard it, and it probably was given more than once, and
not always in the same form: comp. xxv. 13-15; Mk. xiii.
^ irapaXa/x^dveTai, 'is taken into safety,' or 'taken home' (comp. i. 20,
24) ; d^ierai, as in xxiii. 38, 'left unprotected.'
In TTola TjfJ-epq. here and ttoIc} <pv\aK-§ (xxiv. 43) the irolg. is hardly dis-
tinguishable from rlfi : comp. irolap (lipav (Rev. iii. 3).
XXIV. 43-51] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 341
32-37 ; Lk. xii. 35-40, xvii. ^6-35, xxi. 34-36. Our Lord says
that it is difficult to induce men to attend to these warnings,
therefore He would be the more likely to repeat them. The
divergence in wording between the passages shows that there
were different sources for the Evangelists to draw from.
XXIV. 43-51, Two Illustrations of the Need for
Watchfulness.
There are matters in which it suffices to watch by day ; at
night one may sleep. But the man whose house has been
broken into and plundered in the night has to abandon that
doctrine, and so must the Christian : comp. i Thes, v. 4 ;
2 Pet. iii. 10; Rev. iii. 3, xvi. 15. These passages are further
evidence of the impression which these warnings made upon
the first Christians. ' Blessed is he that watcheth ' (^aK-apio? 6
yp-)p/opwi') is one of the seven Beatitudes in the Revelation
(xvi. 15), and it remains always true. It is based on the
Beatitude which is expressed here (46).
The second illustration is more complete than the first. It
gives the blessedness of the watchful servant as well as the
dreadful fate of the one who dares to treat uncertainty about
the time of the Master's return as equivalent to certainly that
He will not return soon. And it is more complete in another
way. The householder could not be certain that the thief would
come at all ; he had to be on his guard against an attack that
was only probable. The servant was certain that the Master
would return ; the only doubt was as to the time : and that is
just the case with the Christian. But the parable evidently has
a special reference to the Apostles ; for the faithful and the evil
servant are alike placed over the other servants, and their
responsibility is great. Consequently the reward and the punish-
ment is in each case overwhelming. This special reference to
the Apostles had perhaps been suggested by Peter's question on
an earlier occasion : ' Lord, speakest Thou this parable unto
us, or even unto all?' (Lk. xii. 41). The evil servant has 'his
portion ' (to /xepo?, as in Rev. xxi. 8) ' with the hypocrites,' because
he intended to act the part of a faithful overseer when the Master
came home, Lk. says 'with the unfaithful' (xii. 46), which is
almost equivalent. In both passages the offender is put to death,
but the conclusion here passes beyond the end of the parable to
the result which death symbolizes.^
'It is possiljle that Mt. has subsliluted 'hypocrites' for ' unlaithful'
servants in order to make a point against the Pharisees ; and the concluding
words, ' There shall be the weeping,* etc., are no doubt an addition made by
342 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXIV. 45-51
The very free and conversational style in which the second
illustration of the necessity for watchfulness is given is remark-
able. We have first a question : ' Who is the faithful and wise
servant ? ' And there is no answer. His character is not
described : only the rich reward which he will win is stated.
Then the conduct of 'that evil servant' is described, although
he has not previously been mentioned.^ But the meaning is in
no way obscured by this freedom.
As in other places where the future penalties of sin are
mentioned, nothing is said here about the duration of the punish-
ment. We are not told that it is endless, and we are not told
that there is any way of escape. Contrast the definiteness of the
jBook of the Secrets of Enoch, x. But we are told plainly enough
'what it concerns us to know, that the right way in which to wait
for the Lord is in the faithful discharge of ordinary duties (ovtws
TToiovvTo). We are to 'study to be quiet, and to do our own
business' (i Thes. iv. ii), although it is known that 'the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night' (v. 2). It is wise to
cherish the hope that, in spite of past delay, He will now come
soon (Rev. xxii. 20). If that hope is allowed to perish, it will
soon be supplanted by the hope that He will nof come soon, or
even by the wish that He may not come at all.
Comp. the saying attributed by Justin M. (Try. 47) to "our
Lord Jesus Christ " : 'In whatsoever I may find you, in this will
I also judge you.' Resch, A^rapha, p. 102 ; Westcott, Ititro-
dudion to the Study of the Gospels, App. C.
Characteristics in ch. xxiv. : iropeijeffdat (i), irpoa^pxeffBai (l, 3), crwreXe/a
(3), Tore (16, 23, 30, 40), ldo6 (23, 25, 26, 27), 4>aiveffdai (27, 30), ^Kd (28, 51),
avvdyeiv (28), olKoSecnrorrjs (43), oiopuffaeiv (43), (pp6vi/.ios (45), avudovXos (49),
VTroKpLTr}^ (5l)> o ppvy/MS TU3V 656vTuv (51). Peculiar : rh p-qdev (15) ; peculiar
to this chapter: t] irapovaia rov vlov tov dvOpilnrov (27, 37, 39), ^{rxeiv (12),
(j)irfri (20), OLKerela (45).
Justin M. (Tjy. 35) quotes a mixture of vv. II and 24 as a saying of
Christ. 'AvaffTrjcrovTai TroWol \pevduxpi-CTOi Kal Tl/evdair6(70To\oi Kal ttoXXoi's
TU3V TnarQi' irXavqaovffiv. In Mt. xvii. 23 and xx. 19 there are differences
of reading between iyepdijcreTai and duaaTria-eTai, but there is none here ; and
\{/ev8aTr6aTo\oi occurs in no Gospel, but only in 2 Cor. xi. 13. Tertullian
{De Fnrscr. Hur. 4) asks, Qui psettdopropJietcs stmt, nisi falsi pmdicalores?
Qui psctidoapostoli, nisi adtdtcri evatigelizatorcs ? He, therefore, seems to
have been familiar with a text which introduced ' false apostles ' either here
or vii. 15. See small print near the end of ch. vii.
him. Wellhausen makes ixeTo. rCiv hiroKpnCiv mean 'with false Christians,'
and /tierd T. d-Tria-TUv, 'with non-Christians.'
^ In Lk. xii. 45 he beats tovs iraWas Kal ras iraiSia-Kas, for which Mt. has
simply TOi/s aw'dovXovs, a word used by no other Evangelist, but frequent in
the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (xviii. 28-33). With the faithful
servant's reward comp. xxv. 21, 23.
XXV. Ij LAST WORK IN TllK HOLY CITY 343
XXV. 1-13. The ParaMe of the Ten Virgins.
Mt. adds here two parables which still furthec enforce the
lesson as to the necessity for watchfulness with regard to the
Coming of the Son of ALin. Both of them take us to the moment
of the Coming, and show us from that point of view what the
conduct of Christians ought to be, in preparation for so decisive
an event. The two epithets given to the good servant in xxiv.
45 give us the key to what is necessary ; there must be both
fidelity and 7visdoni. In the Ten Virgins the need of wisdom is
insisted upon ; in the Talents the need of fidelity.
The point of view is indicated at the outset; the first word
gives it. ' Then ' (totc) ; i.e. at the time of the Messiah's Coming.
What follows is again expressed with freedom and brevity, but
in a way that is intelligible. Strictly speaking, the ten virgins
do not represent the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who are
desirous of entering it. Or (seeing that the Kingdom is some-
times described as present and sometimes as future), we may
say that they represent those who have been admitted to that
which can be enjoyed in this world, and are on their probation
with regard to the realization of the Kingdom that is yet to come.
They represent the great body of expectant Christians, who are
looking for ' the life that is life indeed.' Life, in the full glory
of the Kingdom, will be secured by those who act as the wise
virgins did.
The scene of the parable is laid near the house of the bride-
groom, who has gone to fetch the bride from the house of her
parents. She is not mentioned because she is not required for
the purposes of the parable. As the bridegroom is the Christ,
the bride would be the Church ; but that place is already
sufficiently occupied by the expectant virgins, who represent the
Church on earth with its earnest and its careless members.
The addition of 'and the bride' (koL t^s v^'fKpij^) after 'to meet the
bridegroom' (DXS, Syrr. Latt.) is a not very intcllit;cnt insertion made by
copyists who knew that a bridegroom implied a bride, but did not see that
the mention of the bride would disturb the parable. See Hastings' DB. , artt.
' Bride' and ' Bridegroom.'
The number ten is perhaps significant, to imply completeness.
According to Jewish notions, ten constituted a congregation.
These sum up the whole body of Christians, and (as usual) there
are just two classes. That the classes are equal in numbers
indicates nothing. Our Lord declined to give any information
respecting the proportion between the lost and the saved. The
Christian's business is to use every effort to secure a place among
the latter, without counting his chances. See notes on Lk. xiii.
23, 24. We now see why the waiting Church could not be
344 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXV. 3-5
represented by the bride ; that would have rendered impossible
the division into ' wise ' and ' foolish,' which is of the essence of
the parable.
' They took their lamps,' to show what they were there for ;
they were waiting for the bridegroom. The lamps were a pro-
fession of purpose, justifying their presence at that time and
place. The lamps, therefore, may be taken to mean the outward
marks of a Christian life, which indicate a certain outlook, and
imply that the person who adopts these habits has a definite end
in view. He " looks for the Resurrection of the dead, and the
life of the world to come."
If this interpretation of the lamps be accepted, then the
meaning of the oil, about which there has been much controversy,
follows at once. It is that inward spiritual power which imparts
light, warmth, and value to the externals of religion. Christian
rules of life, public worship, fasting, and works of mercy are
good, but only on condition that they spring from, and are
nourished by, the Christian spirit. Otherwise they are as useless
as lamps without oil, a burden to ourselves and misleading to
others, who naturally believe that so much external profession
implies what, as a matter of fact, is not there; and who are
likely to be made to stumble when they discover that it is not
there. They have trusted to persons who carried lamps, and
who therefore might be expected to be made to help in times of
darkness, but who prove to be quite unable to do so, for they
are utterly in the dark themselves. The inner life of constant
communion with the Spirit of God is the oil which alone can
illuminate and render beneficial to ourselves and to others the
religious activity which we manifest in our daily life. Comp.
I Cor. xiii. 1-3, and see Cosmo G. Lang, Thoughts on some of
the Parables of Jesus, pp. 90-92.
' While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.'
This is true of the wise as well as of the foolish virgins ; and it
is to be noted that they are not blamed for so doing. This
seems to be a merciful concession to human weakness. It is
impossible for creatures such as we are to keep our religious life
always at high pressure. Certain as we are, and often as we
may remind ourselves, that the Lord tvill come, and may come
at any moment, either by our death or in some other way, we
cannot live hour by hour as it would be possible and natural
to live if we knew that He would come to-night or to-morrow
morning. But it is possible to be constant in securing supplies
of strength from the Holy Spirit ; and then when the call comes,
whether by some crisis great or small in our own lives, or by the
supreme crisis of all, we shall be ready to go out and meet the
Bridegroom. In countless ways the experiences of life bring us
XXV. 5-8] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY -^45
the message, ' The Master is come, and calleth for thee ' (Jn. xi.
28), and we must cultivate the wisdom which will enable us to
be always ready to respond. At such times it is misery to dis-
cover that * our lamps are going out.'
It is to be noted that there is scarcely any interval between
the awakening cry, ' Behold the Bridegroom ! ' and the arrival of
the bridal procession ; it all takes place ' in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye' (i Cor. xv. 52). This suddenness has been
already predicted. It will be like a Hash of lightning, or the
swoop of a vulture, or the onrush of the Deluge (xxiv. 27, 28,
37). And /t-r/id/s we are to understand that there is something
in the coincidence of the lamps going out just as the Bride-
groom arrived. Mere outward religion is found to have no
illuminating power, when it is tested by His presence.
The question has been raised whether the wise virgins were
not selfish in refusing to help their improvident companions.
No parable can be made exactly to coincide with the details of
the truth which it sets forth. It was necessary to show that the
foolish virgins could not have the consequences of their folly
averted at the last moment ; and this could hardly be done in
any better way than in representing them as asking and being
refused. But the refusal of the wise virgins to give of their oil
indicates, not want of will, but want of power. It is impossible
for one person to impart to another the spiritual power which
comes from frequent communion with God's Spirit. That can
only come from the man's own experience of such communion,
an experience which requires much time. ' Give us of your oil '
is a request which no religious person can grant ; he can only
teach how the oil is to be obtained. It must be bottght by
personal experience.
The precise form of the refusal is of interest, both as regards reading and
grammar. Are we to read M7};roTe o\> y.r\ dpK^ffTj r)ixiv koI vfilv (B C D X A II),
or Mrjirore ovk dpK^jjj rjfiif Kal vfiiv (NALZ)? The latter looks like a
correction made by copyists who felt that in such a case the strong oi> fi-l] was
not wanted and was scarcely tolerable. ' Perhaps there will not be enough
for both of us ' does not require, and barely allows, that the negative should
be made emphatic. ' Perhaps there will not by any means be enough ' would
be somewhat incongruous, for the 'not by any means' revokes the 'perhaps.'
We may conjecture that in this late Greek ov fxri is sometimes less forcible than
in chvssical Greek, and that there would be no real incongruity in MTjTrore
ov firj. Or the precise shade of meaning may be, ' We are afraid that there
is no possibility of there being enough for us both.' See J. II. Moulton,
Gram.of N.T. Gr. pp. 189, 192. "The omission of the direct negative at
the beginning of the sentence both in Greek and in Syriac gives a more
courteous turn to the refusal" (Burkitt, Evangdion da-Mcpliarreshe, ii.
p. 76).
We are not told whether the foolish virgins did succeed in
buying the oil, and we are not told whether, after suffering great
34<5 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXV. 11-20
loss, they were at last admitted ; and we have no right to assume
anything, either way, from this silence. Although, once more,
we are told nothing as to the duration of the punishment for
careless misconduct, we are told that it was inflicted, and that
it was very severe. The closed door, which to those who were
ready meant security and untold bliss, to the others meant
banishment and untold gloom. And, even if, when it had done
its work, the punishment ceased, yet the loss which it had
involved was irreparable. Is it not the depth of folly to incur
certain punishment, because it is not certain that the punishment
will last for ever? It is to be noticed that the mere wish to
enter the Kingdom, and even the request to be allowed to enter,
is of as little avail as the exhorting others to enter (vii. 22, 23),
when the prescribed conditions of obtaining admission have
been persistently neglected. All through the long delay there
had been continued indifference about providing what was
absolutely indispensable. 'Watch, therefore, for ye know not
the day nor the hour.'
XXV. 14-30. The Parable of the Talents.
That the servant of Christ must be ivise (^poi't/^ios) is taught
in the Ten Virgins : the present parable teaches that he must
also be ' faithful ' (Trto-ro's) ; he must be prompt, active, and efficient
in promoting the interests of his Master.^ And the parable shows
that the Master, while being both just and generous, is also
exacting. Just as in the previous parable the offenders are
severely punished, not for open contempt or deliberate insult,
but for foolish neglect, so here the offender is severely punished,
not for fraudulent appropriation of the Master's goods or for
careless losing of them, but for unfaithful neglect to make a
profit on them for his benefit. He sets before himself a low
ideal, and allows timidity and slothfulness to extinguish all
enthusiasm. He has not had much entrusted to him, and he
does not think it worth while to risk anything, or to take any
trouble, with a view to increasing it. That he distrusted his own
competence, or excused himself on the ground of diffidence, is
not stated or implied in the parable.
As in the former parable, there are only tv/o classes, the
faithful servants, who do their best for their Master, and the
unfaithful servant, who does nothing at all, beyond taking steps
^ The promptness of the first slave is obscured by the wrong punctuation
of texts followed by the AV. Between ver. 15 and ver. 16 the evdiws belongs
to TTopevdels, not to dwedy'j/j.ija-ei'. There is no point in the Master's departing
immediately. There is much point in the slave's immediately setting to work.
In Mt. eiiO^ws or evdvs invariably belongs to what follows. The RV. is right.
XXV. 20 29] I,AST ^VOKK IN TIIK 1I0I,Y CITY 347
to prevent diminution of the amount entrusted to him, which
steps, however, etiually prevented any increase. The cliange
from women to men is perhaps intended to show that both sexes
ahke are reciuired to be on the alert ; comp. the converse change
.xxiv. 40, 41. And in yet another way the second parable sup-
plements the first. That of the Virgins tells nothing about
working for the Bridegroom during the delay. That of the
Talents teaches that the time of waiting must be a time of
service. It also teaches that the time of waiting will be long,
and it thus might have corrected the view that the Lord would
come soon ; comp. xxiv. 8, 14. In both cases there is delay, on
which the main lesson of the parables turns. 'The ]]ridegroom
tarried,' and it was 'after a long time' that 'the Lord of those
servants came.' Herein lay the testing opportunity. The foolish
virgins had plenty of time to obtain a supply of oil, and the
unfaithful servant might at any time have dug up his talent and
put it to some use ; and in both cases there was the good
example of others to suggest wiser and more dutiful conduct.
It has often been pointed out that the reward of the faithful
servants was not rest, but nobler employment : they are to have
prolonged opportunity of still higher service; comp. xxiv. 47.
And we are not to suppose that the promotion ends there. In
the charge to be perfect, as the heavenly Father is perfect, there
is room for unlimited progress (v. 48). And part of the punish-
ment of the slothful servant is that the opportunity for service
is taken away. That it can ever be won back, is neither asserted
nor denied. Comp. xiii. 12; Mk. iv. 25, and see Briggs, The
Messiah of the Gospels, p. 223.
It would have been easy to subdivide the class of unfaithful
servants, as that of the faithful is subdivided ; but this would not
have made the parable more instructive. It was necessary to
show that there may be degrees of endowment, and that every-
one is required to make the most of that with which he is
endowed, because all such advantages are a trust and not an
absolute gift. But there would have been little gain in showing
that there may be degrees of failure. The one instance of
failure suffices for the moral. If the deliberate burying of one
talent was punished so severely, how heinous it would be to leave
ten talents unimproved ! And again, if the mere keeping unused
was so grievous a fault, what would it be to squander or destroy !
These are inferences which any one can draw for himself. In
both parables we are taught that what might seem to be an
excusable offence is not excused. To have enough oil for a
short delay, but not enough for a long one, might seem to be a
pardonable error. And to keep a deposit safe, but to fail to
increase it, might seem to be pardonable also. But the failure
348 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXV. 31-46
in each case, whether it be regarded as great or small, is proof
that there is something radically wrong with the characters of
those who fail, and the result is the outer darkness. Every one
has a vocation of some kind, an opportunity of effective service.
If no attempt is made to render effective service, it will be useless
to plead that the sphere was very narrow and very humble, or
that we did nothing for fear of making mistakes. To do nothing
is often the greatest mistake of all the possibilities.
" 'Tis better to have fought and lost
Than never to have fought at all."
On the relation of this parable to that of the Pounds (Lk. xix.
11-28) see notes on the latter, especially p. 437. The probability
is that we have fairly accurate reports of two different parables,
and not two reports of the same parable, one of which, if not
both of which, must be very inaccurate. See Wright, Synopsis,
§ 18, p. 237. Each parable forms a complement to the other.
The lesson of the Pounds is, that men endowed with the same
gifts may make a very different use of them and be very differently
requited. The lesson of the Talents is, that men with different
gifts may make an equally good (or bad) use of them, and be
proportionately requited.
In comparing the two parables it is instructive to see how the language
which is characteristic of each Evangelist comes into play. Thus, Mt. thrice
has -rrpocripxeir 9 ai where Lk. has ^pxea-Bai or irapayive<T6ai ; Mt. twice has
ffvvdyeiv where Lk. has al'peiv ; and Mt. has a irpo(f(pipeLV which is absent
from Lk., who has characteristics which are absent from ]\It. In both
parables (Mt. xxv. 27 ; Lk. xix. 23) we have an ambiguous iXduv, which
may mean either 'on my coming home' or 'on my coming to the bank.'
The e'7u) in each case is for the latter : ' You ought to have gone to the bank ;
then, when / came there, I should have got,' etc.
XXV. 31-46. TAe Las f Judgment
The First Gospel has been called "pre-eminently the Gospel
of judgment," and certainly this feature is found throughout.
Among other illustrations of it, we have the separations of the
wheat from the chaff (iii. 12), of the sincere from the hypocrites
(vi. 2, 5, 16), the wise builder from the foolish (vii. 24-27), the
wheat from the tares (xiii. 30), the good from the bad fish
(xiii. 48, 49), the profitable from the unprofitable servants
(14-30); and now we have the final separation of the sheep
from the goats (31-46). The principle of separation throughout
is the relation in which those who are judged stand to Jesus
Himself. This point here receives further elucidation.
There is good ground for believing that one of the reasons
which led our Lord to adopt the title ' Son of Man ' was that
XXV. 31-46] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 349
He regarded Himself as, in a unique manner, the Re[)resentative
of Humanity. What He did and suffered was done and
suflered by the Leader of the human race, and miglit be
claimed, in some measure, as the work of mankind. In the
present passage, whidi in certain respects stands alone in the
Gospels, we have the other side of the mysterious unity between
the Messiah and mankind. What men do, or fail to do, to
one another, they do, or fail to do, to Christ. " Here, as in
the Book of Enoch, the Son of Man is seated on His throne
as Judge ; and He acce[)ts some and rejects others, of those
who are brought before Him, on the express ground that actions
done, or not done, to their fellow-men, had been done, or not
done, to Him." The writer adds in a note : " I am aware that
doubt is thrown on this passage by some critics. But the doubt
is most wanton. Where is the second brain that could have
invented anything so original and so sublime as rv. 35-40,
42-5 ?" (Sanday, Li/e of Christ in Recent Research, p. 128).
Even if it were proved that the Testaments of the XH.
Patriarchs must be dated B.C. 109, and that the passage in
Joseph i. 5, 6, with wording parallel to parts of the addresses
in Mt. XXV. 35-43, had not been changed under the influence
of Mt., yet this would not detract from the originality of this
passage. The parallels are concerned with the sufferings of
Joseph in Egypt, not with the Last Judgment. " I was beset
with hunger, and the Lord Himself nourished me; I was alone,
and God comforted me ; I was in sickness, and the Lord
visited me; I was in prison, and my God showed favour to
me." The thought throughout is very different from the thought
in Mt. XXV. Conip. Mt. x. 40, where the Messiah is identified,
on the one side with God, and on the other with His disciples.
The Judgment-scene which is brought before us here is
very suitably introduced by the parable of the Talents ; but
it is possible that the order is due to the arrangement of the
Evangelist rather than to actual chronology. We have had
several parables of Judgment which may be regarded as leading
up to the final crisis which is here revealed. There is the
judgment of the Unmerciful Servant (xviii. 23-34), of the
Labourers in the Vineyard (xx. 1-16), of the Wicked Husband-
men (xxi. 33-41), of the Guest without a Wedding garment
(xxii. 1-14), of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants (xxiv.
45-51), and of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (xxv. 1-12). But
what is intimated in parabolic language there is revealed with
singular plainness and completeness here.
The full sweep of the revelation is at once indicated. The
Son of Man is seated on the throne of His glory: 'All the
Angels' are present, and 'all the nations' are gathered before
350 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXV. 34-41
Him. Comp. 'all the tribes of the earth' (xxiv. 30), and the
equally significant mention of Angels elsewhere (xiii. 49, xvi. 27,
xxiv. 36). The fact that the Son of ]\Ian is come is evidence
that the Gospel has been 'preached in the whole world for a
testimony to all the nations ' (xxiv. 14) : so that here there is
no distinction made between those who have never heard of
the Messiah and those who have heard and rejected Him.
All have had the opportunity of hearing. That just allowance
will be made to those who died before the Birth of the Messiah
has been already intimated more than once (x. 15, xi. 21-24,
xii. 41, 42); but even those who have never heard of Him
have had the means of knowing their duty to their fellow-men,
which is here the crucial test. No question is asked that
would be applicable only to professed Christians. Nothing is
said about repentance or faith in Christ ; but only about conduct
towards other men. It is that which shows the Christlike life.
' By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have
love one to another' (Jn. xiii. 35). That is the true 'Note' of
a soul that is by nature Christian. It is the one indispensable
virtue (i Cor. xiii.). It is the perfection of the Divine Nature
(i Jn. iv. S, 16), and it is the perfection in which we are
specially bound to imitate the Divine (Mt. v. 48).
The reasons which led to the comparison of the good and
the bad to sheep and goats seem to be two : colour and habits.
Sheep are commonly white and inoffensive ; goats are commonly
black (Cant. iv. i, vi. 5) and very mischievous. "This constant
browsing of goats (on the tender twigs and the foliage of the
thymes and dwarf shrubs) is one of the causes which has pre-
vented the restoration of the forests even in the most deserted
parts of the Holy Land. Indeed they have extirpated many
species of trees which once covered the hills. Though the
goats mingle with the sheep, there is no disposition on either
side for more intimate acquaintance. When folded together
at night, they may always be seen gathered in distinct groups ;
and round the wells they appear instinctively to classify them-
selves apart " (Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, pp. 89,
90). Comp. 'I judge between cattle and cattle' (Ezek. xxxiv.
17, 22), where the rams are classed with the he-goats as injurious
to the weaker sheep. In folk-lore goats are of bad repute.
There is nothing very surprising in the change from 'the
Son of Man' (31) to 'the King' (34). The Son of Man comes
'in His glory,' and 'sits on His throne,' and 'all the nations
are summoned before Him.' This is regal state, and would
render the change to 'the King' natural enough, even if we
had not been told that this was 'the Son of Man coming in
His Kingdom' (xvi. 28). This King not only comes in His
XXV. 34-41] LAST WORK IN THE HOLY CITY 35I
Kingdom, but has kingdoms to bestow, wliich have been
waiting throughout all time for their proper sovereigns. 'And
the kingdom^ and the dominion, and the greatness of the
kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people
of the saints of the Most High' (Dan. vii, 27). Comp. "This
place (the third heaven), O Enoch, is prepared for the righteous
who . . . give bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked, and
raise the fallen, and assist the orphans who are oppressed. . . .
For them this place is prepared as an eternal inheritance"
(Book of the Secrets of Enoch, ix.); also the Divine charge to
Israel, 2 Esdr. ii. 20. The Talmud has many sayings which
exhort to benevolence. " The world stands on three i)illars :
law, worship, and charity." "Charity is greater than all."
"Who gives charity in secret is greater than Moses." "A
beneficent soul will be abundantly gratified." ^ See also the
Koran, ch. Ixxvi.
The truth of Is. Iv. 8, 9 is manifested throughout this scene :
• For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My
thoughts than your thoughts.' Both the good and the bad find
that the Divine estimate of their conduct is very different from
their own, and they are amazed at the point of view which is
put before them. The good did not regard their benevolence
as bestowed upon the brethren of the Messiah (40), still less as
bestowed upon the Messiah Himself; nor did the bad suppose
that they had ever shown neglect or hardheartedness to the
Messiah. 2 Christ's claiming the poor and needy as His brethren
is quite in keeping with His character as the Son of Man and
the Son of God. God is His Father and their Father.
Close as is the correspondence between the address to those
on the right and that to those on the left, there are two remark-
able changes in the opening words to the latter. The Kingdom,
the good are told, was prepared 'from the foundation of the
world,' and it was prepared expressly for them {ijToiixaa-^ivrjv
iixiv) ; but it is not said that the eternal fire was prepared 'from
the foundation of the world ' ; and it is not said that it was
prepared for these sinners, but 'for the devil and his angels.'
Comp. Rev. xx. 10 and Swete's note, ad loc. It is often pointed
1 The placing of the benevolent souls on the right hand, iK 5e^iwv
aiToV, is a new feature in Biblical symbolism. An early example of it is
found in the Testaments: "Then shall ye see Enoch, and Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, rising on the right hand in gladness" (Betijamin x. 4).
With the change from the collective (Ovri to the individual ainoui comp.
Acts xxvi. 17. See Stanton, p. 341.
^ For awi'fuv in the sense of receiving an individual hospitably comp.
Judg. xix. 18.
352 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 1
out that * eternal ' (aiwnos) in ' eternal punishment ' must have
the same meaning as in ' eternal life.' ^ No doubt, but that
does not give us the right to say that ' eternal ' in both cases
means ' endless.' The meaning of ' eternal ' may possibly have
no reference to duration of time. Nor is the expression ' eternal
pumshment' synonymous with 'eternal pain,' still less with
' unendmg pain,' and we are not justified in treating these expres-
sions as equivalent. ' Eternal punishment ' may mean * eternal
loss^ ox '■ irreparable loss'; but there is no legitimate inference
from 'irreparable loss' to 'everlasting suffering.' Comp. Dan.
xii. 2, perhaps the earliest mention of 'eternal life' for the
righteous. 2
Characteristic expressions in eh. xxv. : t^t-c (i, 7, 31, 34, 41, 44, 45),
(ppSvi/ios (2, 8, 9), i8ou (6), iropeveaSai (9, 16, 41), yd/xoi = yd/jLos (lo), iJcrepov
(11), irpoaipxea-dai (20, 22, 24), (Tvvdyeiv (26, 32, 35, 37, 43), Ppvy/Jibs tQv
oBovTcav (30), 8evTe (34). Peculiar: ij paaiXeia tuv ovpavQv (i), avvalpeiv
(19), i^wrepos (30), iKsi (30), ToKavTOv (15-28), rh irup rb aitbviov (41 and
xviii. 8 only) ; peculiar to this chapter : rpawe^eLrrji (27), ipl^iov (33), KiXaais
aliljvios (46).
In the rendering of the last expression we have another instance of the
caprice of the AV. ' These shall go into everlasting {aluviov) punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal (altipiov) ' ; which leads the English reader
to suppose that, whether or no the ' Hfe ' lasts for ever, the ' punishment '
certainly does. This impression will be deepened when he notices that, both
in xviii. 8 and xxv. 41, to irvp rh alwviov is rendered ' ever/asti'ng Hie,' and
that in xix. 16 j'wr) alcbvios is again rendered '■eternal hfe.' In Mk. x. 17,
which is parallel, j'wt; aluvLos is rendered ' eternal life.'
Again, in ver. 32 we find 'He shall separate {d<popLd) them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth (acpopi^ei) his sheep from the goats.'
With ver. 45 comp. Fi'rge Aboth, ii. 13 ; " He that borrows from man is
the same as if he borrowed from God," and therefore "he that borroweth and
repayeth not " is a grievous sinner. See Montefiore, p. 754.
XXVI. 1-XXVIII. 20. THE PASSION, DEATH, AND
RESURREGTION OF THE MESSIAH.
This is the seventh and last section of the Gospel. The
main division of the Gospel in two parts (iv. 12-xiii. 52, xiv. i-
xviii. 35) is preceded by two subordinate sections (i. i-ii. 23,
iii. i-iv. 11), and followed by two subordinate sections (xix.
i-xx. 34, xxi. i-xxv. 46). This seventh section forms the
natural conclusion to all. Everything, from the Birth onwards,
has led up to this climax. It opens with three paragraphs
(1-5, 6-13, 14-16) which are connected together by the thought
^ The expression 'eternal punishment' (/c6Xa(7is aMi'tos) occurs more than
once in the Testaments : Reuben v. 5 ; Gad vii. 5 ; but is not found in the
O.T. For the judgment of the Angels comp. the Ascension of Isaiah, i. 5,
iv. 8, X. 12.
^ See the instances collected in Dalman, Words, pp. 156 ff,
XXVI. 1-5] PASSION, DKATII, RESURRECTION 353
of the action of the traitor, in whom Mt. takes a special interest.
These paragraphs mark different stages in the process of
betrayal.
In the first of them Mt. again joins Mk., whose narrative he
left at .xxiv. 42 = Mk. xiii. 35, and the first two verses are the
Evangelist's method of returning to the narrative of Mk. We
have already had the formula, ' And it came to pass when Jesus
finished,' used several times for connecting a long discourse
with what follows (vii. 28, xi. i, xiii. 53, xix. i). Here Mt.
inserts 'all' between 'finished' and 'these words,' to intimate
that no more discourses of great length are to follow; see on
vii. 28, p. 119.
XXVI. 1-5. The Approach of the Passover and the Malice
of the Hierarchy.
'Ye know that after two days the Passover cometh.' Mt.
omits the mention of ' the Unleavened Bread ' (ja 'A^v/xa), which,
although originally distinct from the Passover, had come to be
synonymous with it (Lk. xxii. i ; see notes there), and therefore
did not need separate mention. The meaning of ' after two days '
is uncertain. If 'after three days' means 'on the third day,'
' after two days ' ought to mean ' on the morrow,' but it is a
strange expression to substitute for so simple and common
a phrase as ' on the morrow.' Possibly the Aramaic original was
less definite: 'after some days.' By adding 'and the Son of
Man is being delivered up to be crucified' Mt. shows how
entirely aware the Messiah was of all that His enemies were
doing, and of how it will end; conip. xx. 19. 'Is betrayed to
be crucified' (AY.) ties the meaning of TrapaSiSorat to the act of
the traitor ; but it may refer to Christ's ' being delivered up by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ' (Acts
ii. 23); see on xvii. 22 and xx. 18, 19. In mentioning among
the enemies of the Messiah 'the elders of the people^ (xxi. 23,
xxvi. 3, 47), Mt. perhaps wishes to intimate that the hostile
hierarchy consisted largely of representatives of the people; they
were popular leaders and teachers. He alone tells us that the
conspirators met at the house of Caiaphas,^ who had already
advised putting Jesus to death (Jn. xi. 50) ; and he follows Mk.
in saying that they agreed to do it by craft (8oAw) ; He was to
be quietly put out of the way. This meant waiting till the
Galilean pilgrims, who had come up for the Passover, and who
were enthusiastic on His behalf, had gone home again. If He
were arrested publicly, they would make a tumult (66pvfios), a
' Mk. docs not mention the high priest by name, and Lk. does so only in
a date (iii. 2). Jn. gives the name five limes.
23
354 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 5-"?
word specially used of excited multitudes (xxvii. 24; Acts xx. i,
xxi. 34). It was the unexpected offer of Judas which enabled
them to abandon this unwelcome postponement, and proceed
at once. Mt. perhaps means us to understand that it was at the
very time (rore) when this plot was being made, that Jesus pre-
dicted that He w^ould be delivered up to be crucified at the
Passover. His foes were intending to wait till after the Feast ;
but He knew what would happen through the agency of the
traitor, whose work is the thread that connects these three
paragraphs, 1-16.1
XXVI. 6-16. T/ie Anointing at Bethany and its Sequel.
It would have been natural to mention the offer of the
traitor immediately after the decision of the Sanhedrin (4, 5);
but Mt. first tells of the incident in the house of Simon the
leper, and then records the fact that Judas went to the hierarchy
with his proposal. Evidently we are to suppose that the pro-
posal was a consequence {roTe. Tropeu^e/s) of that incident. The
motives of Judas were doubtless mixed, but the Gospels clearly
indicate that one of them was avarice. By the ' waste ' of the
ointment he had lost the care of more than 300 denarii (Mk.
xiv. 5 ; Jn. xii. 5, 6), and he desired compensation. Thirty
shekels would be about 120 denarii, and of the 300 denarii Judas
would hardly have been able to steal more than 120. Whatever
other motives he may have had for his treachery, disappointed
avarice would seem to have been one of them. Our Lord's
defence of Mary's extravagance was exasperating and might make
Judas ready to make money by treachery, and by treachery that
would wreak vengeance on Him.
It is clear from various passages (xxi. 17 ; Mk. xi. 11, 19, 27)
that during these last days our Lord generally left the city in the
evening and spent the night at Bethany. Therefore His being in
a house at Bethany (6) is what we should expect. The fact that
the owner of the house was named Simon, and that in it a woman
poured ointment on our Lord from an alabaster box, are the
only reasons for identifying this story with that in Lk. vii. 36-50,
But Simon was one of the commonest of names, for there are at
least ten in the N.T. and about twenty in Josephus ; so that
identity of name proves very little, and the addition of 'the
leper' here points to a different person.^ An 'alabaster' may
1 Mt. is alone, not only in recording the prediction (2), but also in stating
that there was a formal meeting of the Sanhedrin. Mk. and Lk. say merely
that the hierarchy were seeking {i^rjTovu) how to destroy Him.
2 ' The Leper ' does not necessarily mean that he was a leper at the time.
Matthew was called 6 reXdivajs after he had ceased to be a toll-collector. For
unguents in alabasters comp. Herod, iii. 20. Pliny says that tmgttcnta optiine
XXVI. 8-14] PASSION, DEATH, RKSURKECTION 355
have been as common a receptacle for ointment as Simon was
common among names. The great objection, however, to
identifying the two incidents is the character of the women.
Jolin tells us that this woman was Mary, the sister of Martha
and Lazarus (xii. 1-3), and it is difficult to believe that she was
the 'sinner' mentioned by Lk. On the other hand there is no
difficulty in believing that there were two anointings ; indeed the
first might suggest a second. The identification involves an
imputation on Mary's previous life which " we are not warranted
in casting, on a mere surmise, and without any evidence to
support it" (Salmon, Human Element, p. 483). See notes on
Lk. vii. 30, p. 209. It is certainly remarkable that, in spite of
the promise that the woman's act should be spoken of wherever
the Gospel was preached, her name is not mentioned by either
Mt. or Mk. The reason may be that, when they wrote, she was
still alive, and would not desire to have her name published.
When Lk. (x. 3S-42) and John wrote, she may have been dead.
It is perhaps for a similar reason that Jn. alone mentions that it
was Peter who cut off the ear of Malchus. No other Gospel gives
the names.
It is possible that a like feeling of caution or reserve caused
Ml and Mk. to withhold the name of him who took the lead in
censuring Mary for her extravagance. The statements become
more definite as the incident becomes more remote. Mk. says
that ' there were some who had indignation ' at her act. Mt.
says that these were ' disciples.' Jn. says that it was Judas, and
that it was the loss of possible gain that made him find fault.
'To ^Yhat purpose was this wasteP'^ It is likely enough that
some of the disciples sympathized with this " plausible r«/ <!itf«<?
of a shortsighted utilitarianism " (Swete), and showed their
sympathy by an approving murmur. Mt. omits the estimate of
'more than 300 ^Av/ar/V,' as he omitted the 'about 2000 '(viii.
32), and '200 denarii' (xiv. 17), and 'by hundreds and by
fifties' (xiv. 19). Perhaps such details seemed to him to be
unedifying, or at any rate unnecessary. The remarkable rebuke
to the plea for the poor, * For ye have the poor always with you,
but Me ye have not always,' is in all three Gospels. Its origin-
ality stamps it as authentic. Considering the teaching of Christ
and of the O.T. respecting the poor, we may be sure that He
alone would have used this argument ; no one would have
servantur in alahastris. Mt. omits the puzzling ■KiaTiKr\. Botli he and Mk.
say that our Lord's head was anointed, perhaps influenced by I's. xxiii. 5.
Jn. says that Mary anointed His feet, and wiped them wiih her hair.
* 'Waste ' is hardly strong enough ; ' destruction' is nearer the meaning.
The precious fluid was utterly thrown away and lost. Elsewhere oTrwXfia
commonly means 'perdition ' in an intransitive sense (vii. 13 ; Jn. xvii. 12 ;
Acts viii. 20; Kom. ix. 22, etc.).
356 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 14-17
invented it for him. Comp. Deut. xv. ii (which is not easily
harmonized with xv. 4), and also "God allows the poor to be
with us for ever, that the opportunities of doing good may never
fail " (Talmud). Mt. omits, as superfluous : ' whensoever ye will ye
can [always] do them good.' The promise that Mary's act shall
never be forgotten wherever the Gospel is preached is in Mt. and
Mk., who do not give her name, but not in Jn., who does give it.
The Evangelist's favourite ' Then ' (totc) is meant to imply
that the anointing led directly to the betrayal. Except in the
list of the Apostles (x. 4), Judas has not been previously
mentioned in the Synoptic narrative. It is not likely that the
Sanhedrin had ventured to offer a reward to whoever would get
Jesus out of the way ; but their hostility to Him was notorious,
and perhaps the intention to have Him arrested was somewhat
widely known. Mt. alone states the amount, 'thirty pieces of
silver,' and that it was paid at once.^ Mk. says that they
'promised' {l-mq-yyuXavro) and Lk. that they 'covenanted'
{(xvviOiVTo) 'to give him money.' Mt. states the amount in
anticipation of xxvii. 3-10, where Zech. xi. 12, 13 is compared;
and, unless Judas had already been paid, he could not have
thrown the money back. Apparently the earliest tradition
mentioned neither the amount, nor the time of payment. These
divergencies about details need not trouble us. Having secured
either the money or a promise, Judas went back, like Gehazi
after securing the money-bags of Naaman, and ' stood before his
Master' (2 Kings v. 25). Had he not thought that, while he
sought opportunity ^ to deliver Him up, Jesus knew all that was
passing in his mind? He must have noticed that Jesus did
seem to read men's thoughts.
XXVI. 17-19. The Preparations for the Passover.
Mt.'s narrative is only half as long as those of Mk. and Lk.,
which are very similar. But there is hardly anything in Mt.
which could not be derived from Mk. For ' where is My guest-
chamber?' Mt. has 'My time is at hand'; but almost all the
other differences are those of omission. Mt. says nothing about
the man with the pitcher of water. He again (ver. 9) omits a
definite number, and does not tell us that two disciples were sent
(Mk, xiv. 13), still less that they were Peter and John (Lk. xxii.
8). Lk. knows so much about Peter and John after the
^ In the apocryphal Narrative of Joseph of Arimathrea (ii.) it is stated that
Judas received thirty pieces oi gold. This change seems to be made because
the coins are identified with those brought by the Magi, which were lo t
during the flight into Egypt, found by a herdsman and ofl'ered in the Temple.
-The word implies a 'good opportunity' (evKaipla)', comp. Lk. xxii. 6.
On the character of Judas see Fairbairn, Expositor, ist series, xii. pp. 47-70-
XXVI. 17-19] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 357
Ascension (Acts iii. i, iv. 13, viii. 14), that he may have
leariitd this fact also from the same source. The chronological
ditlicultics connected with the narratives of the Last Supper
have been often discussed, and need not be re-discussed hcre.^
It is best to hold fast to the very clear and thoroughly consistent
statements in the I'ourlh Gospel, and correct the confused and
inconsistent Syno[nic narratives by them. The confusion in the
latter originated in Mk., who has been followed by Mt. and I,k.
The source of error probably lies in the date, ' On the first day
of Unleavened Bread ' (Lk. omits ' first '), which cannot be right,
and which leads to further confusion. It perhai)s represents
an Aramaic phrase meaning '■Before the Peast of Unleavened
Bread,' which Mk. has misunderstood. The Passover coincided
with the Sabbath, which began on the Friday evening. Our
Lord, knowing that He would be unable to celebrate it at the
proper time, had a representative supper on the Thursday
evening, ^^'hen the disciples asked, ' Where wilt Thou that we
make ready for Thee to eat the Passover?' they probably did
not know of Christ's intention to anticipate the celebration.
Christ kept both place and time secret, to avoid premature
arrest. Judas probably did not know either till Christ took him
and the Eleven to the upper room on Thursday afternoon, and
then Judas could do nothing till our Lord released him for his
evil work. Apparently Christ had an understanding with the
owner of the upper room, who seems to have been in some
sense a disciple. * The Master saith ' is in all three. Like ' The
Lord hath need of them ' (xxi. 3), it manifestly implies that the
recipient of the message will recognize the validity of the claim.
Moreover, here, ' My time is at hand ' would be meaningless to
a stranger. The message in that case would have run, 'The
Passover is at hand.' Mt. characteristically omits, ' A\here is My
guest-chamber?' He does not like (juestions which seem to
imply that our Lord was ignorant.^
The question has been raised whether Peter and John pre-
pared the lamb, or whether this was left to the master of the
house. Almost certainly, there was no lamb. The killing of
this ought to be done in the Temple on Friday afternoon in the
presence of the whole company. Two disciples would not
suffice for this (Exod. xii. 4), and it could not be done two days
before the Passover. Moreover, Peter and John were probably
not aware that the supper was to take place on the Thursday,
^ See the excellent notes in Allen, pp. 269-274 ; also VVriglit, Synopsis,
p. 1.^8.
■■' Thus, he omits, ' What is thy name ? ' (viii. 29), ' Who touched My
clothes?' (ix. 21), 'How many loaves haveyo?' (xiv. 16), ' Wliat question
yc with tliein?' (xvii. 14), etc. Note also liow here lie cuts out superfluous
words '\nvv. 17 and 19.
358 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 19
but believed that they were getting the room ready for the
Friday. 'They made ready the Passover' means that they
prepared a room for a Paschal meal.i The site of this room
seems to be one of the best ascertained facts in the topography
of Jerusalem, and there is perhaps hardly any other site about
which a Christian pilgrim would more desire to be assured. Dr.
Sanday believes " that of all the most sacred sites it is the one
that has the strongest evidence in its favour" {Sacred Sifes of the
Gospels, p. 77). He believes that it is identical with the 'upper
chamber' of Acts i. 13 (although we havedvayatov in the Gospels
and vrrepwov in Acts) ; and inclines to think that the room was in
' the house of Mary, the mother of Mark ' (Acts xii. 1 2). See
Edersheim, Life and Times, ii. p. 485. In that case, 'the good-
man of the house' would be the husband of Mary and the
father of Mark. But, if so, why is the house called Mary's, and
why is her name given and not his ? ^ If, however, this difficulty
be set aside, and an interesting conjecture, sorely lacking in
evidence, be accepted, we may easily accept the further con-
jecture that the young man with the linen cloth (Mk. xiv. 51)
was the son of ' the goodman ' who lent the upper room. The
young man was probably Mark the Evangelist : if not, why does
Mk., and Mk. alone, mention him? This reasonable hypo-
thesis certainly makes an attractive combination with the other
guesses. To sum up. The ' upper room ' of the Gospels is
probably the ' upper chamber ' of Acts. The ' young man ' of
Mk. 1% probably the John Mark of Acts. It is not unpossible that
the ' upper room ' or ' upper chamber ' was in the house of Mary
the mother of John Mark ; in which case the owner of it would
be her husband and his father. But see Swete on Mk. xiv. 14.
Mt. omits the ' man bearing a pitcher of water,' the meeting
with whom may have been arranged between our Lord and the
owner. The carrying of the pitcher, which was work usually
done by women, may have been a sign of recognition (Burton
and Mathews, p. 244). Our Lord seems to have taken care
that Judas should not betray Him before His hour was come ;
and this could be done by ordinary prudence.
XXVI. 20-29. The Paschal Supper.
This was the last Paschal meal that our Lord was to share
with the Apostles, and possibly it was the last meal of any kind
1 That our Lord makes no comparison between Himself and the Paschal
lamb, or between His blood and that of the lamb, is strong evidence that there
was no lamb.
2 It is possible that, when Mt. wrote, it was thought inexpedient to
mention the name of ' such a man ' {rbv betva), and that when Acts was
written he was dead.
XXVI. 20-24] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 359
that He shared with them. His great desire to partake of it
with them, as expressed in the independent narrative of Lk., is
in harmony with all the circumstances and with what we know
of Him. The ways in which Mt. abbreviates Mk. are character-
istic ; but he makes one considerable addition by inserting ver.
25, and in ver. 28 he adds 'unto remission of sins.' The
abbreviation in ver. 21 involves real loss. 'One of you shall
betray Me, even he that eateth with Me ' (Mk.). The last six
words are implied in 'one of you,' and may seem to be super-
fluous ; but they are impressive as showing the enormity of the
treachery. To Orientals, eating bread with a man bars one
from hostile acts against him. But none of the Apostles
expresses doubt as to the truth of the dreadful announcement,
and none appears to have suspected Judas. Each looks into his
own heart, and each of the Eleven hopes that he may acquit
himself: 'Surely it is not I, Lord?'^ Our Lord's answer can
hardly have been a sign by which all could recognize the traitor,
for when our Lord dismissed him they were mistaken as to the
errand on which he was sent. ' He that dipped his hand with
Me in the dish ' is a more emphatic enlargement of ' He that
eateth with Me.' There was probably only one dish, into which
all the company dipped, and therefore all had dipped in the
dish with Christ.^ But it is possible that our Lord's hand had
touched that of Judas in the act of dipping, and that this more
definite expression would be understood by Judas, though not by
the other Apostles ; and it is also possible that the Eleven did
not understand the full meaning of ' deliver Me up.'
' The Son of Man goeth' (24) probably means 'goeth His way
to death' (comp. Jn. vii. 33, viii. 14, 21, xiii. 3, 33, xiv. 4), and
with this may be combined the further thought of going through
death to the glory of the Father. Indeed, the word sometimes
has the sense of going back or going home (v. 24, viii. 4, 13, ix. 6,
xiii. 44, xix. 21, XX. 14), and that idea may well be included here.
See Abbott, Johannine Vocabulary, pp. 144, 145. 'Just as it
stands written respecting Him ' (/ca^ws yeypaTrrai Trcpi avTov) means
that the prophecies and types of the O.T. have revealed God's
counsels respecting Him, — counsels which the Son of Man loves
to fulfil. But these counsels did not necessitate the sin of Judas ;
they would have been fulfilled, if he had remained faithful. Of
his own free will he helped to carry them out in a particular
manner, and for this he is responsible and stands justly con-
^ This is the moment seized upon by Leonardo da Vinci in the great fresco
at Milan. The disciples are amazed at the fatal announcement ; but each
regards himself as a possible traitor rather than doubt the Lord's word.
* In Mk. xiv. 20 some of the best texts (B C) insert ' one ' before ' dish ' :
iii rb If Tpi'fiXiov. See Z>CG. , arlt. ' Bread ' and ' Dish,'
360 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 24
demned. So far from being compelled to act as he did, Judas is
allowed abundant opportunities of repentance. To the last Christ
tries to win him back; and this intimation that his guilt is
enormous, that our Lord knows all, and yet will not denounce
him to the others, is the final attempt to bring him to repentance.
And there seems to be more of sorrow than of anger in the con-
sciousness that He has failed. As in the Woes in xxiii., we
should perhaps translate: 'Alas for that man through whom the
Son of Man is being delivered up.' There is here no malediction,
such as we find in the cursing Psalms. ' Through whom ' is in
all three (81' ov not v^ ov) : Judas is the instrument, in one sense
of the Divine decree that the Messiah must suffer, in another of
Satan's desire that he should commit this sin (Jn. xiii. 2, 27;
Lk. xxii. 3).
* Good were it for him, if that man had not been born.' ^ It is
grammatically possible to make 'for him' (aiTw) refer to 'the
Son of Man.' It would have been a happy thing for Jesus, if
there had been no Judas. But the context is wholly against this
interpretation. Our Lord is pointing out the miserable condition
of the traitor, not His ow'n sufferings. The common rendering,
' Good were it for that man, if he had not been born,' gives
the right meaning. Life to a human being is a Divine gift ; but
it is possible to abuse this blessing to such an extent that it is
turned into a curse. Comp. xviii. 6, where we have a similar,
but less severe saying ; and also the Book of Enoch, xxxviii. 2 :
" When the Righteous One shall appear . . . where then will be
the dwelling of the sinners, and where the resting place of those
who have denied the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for
them, if they had not been born." Clement of Rome combines
xviii. 6 with this saying {Cor. xlvi.) ; Clement of Alexandria copies
this combination {Strom, iii. 18) ; and in the Clementine Honiilies
we have as a saying of " the Prophet of the truth," i.e. of Christ :
" Good things must come, and blessed is he through whom they
come ; and in like manner it is necessary that bad things come,
but alas for him through whom they come" (xii. 29). In no
case is 'it were good for him' understood as applying to our
Lord. See Hastings' DB., art. ' Judas Iscariot,' § 3.
We do not know where Mt. found the detail respecting the
appeal of Judas (25). It may be an inference from the statement
that the Apostles began to say, ' Surely it is not I ? ' If all did so,
then Judas must have done so in his turn, and our Lord would
not say 'No.' But the verse gives the impression of being
historical. It is probable that Judas asked with the rest; his
1 The inversion, 'for him, if that man,' instead of 'for that man, if he'
is Semitic ; and ' it were better for him ' is a well-known Rabbinic expression
(Edersheim, Life and Times, ii. p. )2o). Comp. Hermas, Vis. iv. ?.
XXVI. 25. 26] PASSION, DEATH, RFSURRECTION 361
not doing so would have aroused suspicion, and he would be
anxious to find out how much our Lord knew. In a few hours
all would know his guilt, so that he did not risk much by asking
along with the others. Christ had shown an unwillingness to
expose him, and perhaps would adhere to this. Moreover, Judas
may have been reclining so close to Christ that he could hoi)e to
get a reply without the Eleven hearing it. The meaning of our
Lord's reply is not quite certain. It was probably an indirect
affirmation: '^ Thou hast said' (oai t'Tra?) what is the case.^ In
ver. 64, Mt. evidently uses it as an affirmation, for it is equivalent
to ' I am ' (€yw et/u, I^Ik. xiv. 62). Ikit there is not much evidence
to show that ' Thou hast said ' or ' Thou sayest ' (xxvii. 1 1 = Mk.
XV. 2 = Lk. xxiii. 3=Jn. xviii. 37) was a common form of affirma-
tion either in Greek or in Hebrew (Dalman, Words, p. 309).
Possibly our Lord used a vague formula, which Judas would
understand as no contradiction of what he had said, and which
would not amount to aii exposure, if it were overheard. Some,
however, think that it was spoken aloud, and with the intention
of letting the Eleven know who the traitor was. In that case we
may believe that our Lord was freeing the Eleven from distressing
doubts about themselves. But this hypothesis can hardly be
reconciled with Jn. xiii. 28, 29. Mt. gives no intimation of the
moment when Judas left the company. Not till ver. 47 does one
see that he must have been away some time ; and it will always
remain doubtful whether he partook of the Eucharist or not.
Early and medireval writers commonly take the view that he did,
moderns that he did not. See Schanz on Lk. xxii. 21-23, pp.
509, 510; Girodon on the same, pp. 490, 491.
It is evident from the accounts of the Institution of the
Eucharist which have come down to us that it took place in
the evening (20) and in the middle of the meal. It was 'as they
were eating' (26) that Jesus took a loaf (probably one of the
cakes or biscuits prepared for the Passover), and blessed and
brake and gave it to the disciples. Both Mt. and Mk.
have ' blessed ' (cvAoyjyo-as) of the bread, and ' gave thanks '
{<i.v^(xpi(TTi](ja.%) of the cup. Lk. has the latter of both bread and
cup, and S. Paul has the latter of the bread, and neither of the
cup.2 All three Synoptists have * blessed ' of the five loaves at
the feeding of the five thousand, where Jn. has 'gave thanks.'
' We must lake account of the emphatic pronoun : ' It was thou, and not
I, who said it.' Jesus would not have said as much, if it had not been drawn
from Him. The expression is found only in the narratives of the Passion.
* It is not likely that t\i\a-fi\co.<i means that He blessed the bread ; it has
the same meaning in reference to the bread as fuxapio-r^iras has in reference
to the cup. He blessed, or gave thanks to, the Fallier ; perhaps in the Jewish
formula, "Blessed is lie who bringeth food out of the earth." 'Bread' '\%
the accusative after ' took ' (Xa/Jil);' iprov).
362 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 26
Mt. has ' gave thanks ' of the loaves and fishes at the feeding of
the four thousand, where Mk. has * gave thanks ' of the loaves
and ' blessed ' of the fishes. It is not likely, therefore, that in
this connexion there is any difference of meaning between the
words. Both indicate an act of thanksgiving, perhaps in the form
usual for saying grace at meals. This taking of one loaf, breaking
it, and distributing it is true catholic ritual (i Cor. x. 16, xi. 24;
Ign. Eph. 20) ; and it is very significant that an article of food so
simple, and almost universal in its use, should have been adopted
as a symbol of Christian unity in diversity. This beautiful
symbolism seems to be obliterated by the employment of separate
wafers for Holy Communion.
As regards the words of administration, Mt. and Mk. have
' Take ' (Aa/^ere) of the bread, to which Mt. alone adds ' Eat '
(^ay£T€),i and Lk. alone has 'Take' of the cup. S. Paul has
neither word. ' This is My Body ' {rovjo io-Tiv to a-wfid fjLov) can
only mean ' This ^read is My Body,' the pronoun being attracted
from the masculine to the neuter on account of to o-w/xa fxov.
The 'is' is not emphatic, and it would not be expressed in
Aramaic; but it must be understood, and therefore explained,
even if it is not expressed. Moreover, in the language in which
our Lord's words have been preserved for us the ' is ' is expressed.
The meaning will perhaps always be disputed. But the choice
lies between these two : ' This represents My Body,' and ' This is
(in some sense not specified, and in some way that we cannot
understand) identified with My Body.' ^ Those who adopt either
of these interpretations can give good reasons for their choice.
But it is not necessary to have the question determined. All
that is necessary is that the Christian should be assured that
whoever worthily partakes of the Holy Communion really partakes
of Christ; and he has this assurance without determining the
precise meaning of the 'is.' See Hastings' ZfB., art. 'Lord's
Supper,' pp. 148, 149; Ellicott on i Cor. xi. 24; T. S. Evans in
1 Inferior MSS. add (pdyere in Mk. xiv. 22 ; but this is a manifest interpola-
tion from Mt. Does the XajSere imply that our Lord placed the broken bread
on a plate and told the disciples to help themselves to it ?
2 Such expressions as ' I am the bread which came down from heaven,'
' I am the light of the world,' ' I am the door,' ' I am the true vine,' ' Ye are
the salt of the earth,' ' Ye are the light of the world,' must not be quoted as
quite parallel to 'This (bread) is My Body.' In all these six instances that
which is actual and unsymbolized is the subject, and the symbol or metaphor
is the predicate. This difference may be important. Comp. ' My Flesh is
true meat, and My Blood is true drink,' and i Cor. x. 16. It is necessary
to be wary in drawing inferences from symbols and metaphors, especiallyin
Oriental literature, which is so full of such things. See Swete on Mk. xiv.
14, p. 336. If ' is ' means ' is identical with,' some adverb, such as ' mystic-
ally' or ' sacramental ly,' must be understood; and what does this adverb
liaean ? See J. V. Bartlet in Mansfield College Essays, pp. 64 f,
XXVI. 26-28] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 363
the Sfcakct's Commentary on i Cor. x. 16; Thirlwall, Char<^cs,
I. V. and vi., ii. x., esp. p. 251, ed. Perowne, 1S77.
The four reports that have come do>vn to us of the words of
institution are very instructive with regard to the question of the
verbal accuracy of Scripture. Here it is impossible to sup^jose
(what is a very reasonable hypothesis in some cases) that our
Lord uttered similar sayings on different occasions, and that the
divergent reports of His sayings may be explained by the sup-
position that His wording was not always exactly the same. It
is incredible that the words of institution were uttered more than
once ; and yet fto two reports of them agree. The only words
which are common to all four accounts are 'This is My 13ody ' ;
and even here there is a slight difference of order (toi;t<5 /xou
l(TTiv TO crw/i-a in I Cor., and tovto ianv to crw/xa /aou in the Gospels).
It will be useful to place the four reports in pairs. Those of Mt.
and Mk. are evidently closely related; and those of Lk. and
I Cor. are also closely related, if the current texts of Lk. are
correct, which, however, is very doubtful.
Mt. xxvi. 26-28. Mk. xiv. 22-24.
Take, eat ; this is My Body. Take ye ; this is My Body.
Drink ye all of it ; for
this is My Blood of the covenant. This is My Blood of the covenant,
which is shed for many, which is shed for many.
unto remission of sins.
Lk. xxii. 19, 20. I COR. xi. 24, 25.
This is My Body This is My Body
[which is given for you : which is for you :
this do, in remembrance of Me. this do, in remembrance of Me.
This cup is the new covenant This cup is the new covenant
in My Blood, in My Blood :
even that which is poured out for you]. this do, as oft as ye drink it,
in remembrance of Me.
The words in brackets are very possibly no part of the original
copy of Lk., but are an early interpolation. See notes, ad loc.
Sal-Tion believes them to be original {Human Element, p. 491).
It is certainly surprising that there should be such wide
divergence in the report of such words; and it is specially
remarkable that neither Mk. nor Mt. record the command to
continue the celebration of the rite in remembrance of Christ.
Unless the disputed words in Lk. are genuine, that command
rests upon the authority of S. Paul alone. The authority
suffices; but we should have expected to find the command in
the Gospel narrative of the institution. The command, ' Drink
ye all from it' {ttUtc ($ airrov ttcii'tc?), is apparently an inference
drawn by Mt. from the narrative of Mk. Mk. says that they
364 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. S8
all drank from the cup ; and Mt. concludes that our Lord told
them to do so : 1 comp. ver. 2.
And the divergence .respecting the words of institution does
not end with Scripture ; it is increased by the ancient liturgies,
from which we might extract seven or eight other forms. One
would have supposed that one or other of the Scriptural forms
would have been selected ; but this is not the case. The
Scriptural forms are blended, and blended in different ways ;
moreover, here and there something is inserted which is not in
Scripture. We have no means of determining which of the four
Scriptural forms is most exact. Each may have preserved some
element that is authentic ; and we may believe that the whole
of Mk.'s report is authentic. But, when we make a mosaic of
all four reports, we are on much less secure ground, as we see
from the differences between the mosaics which have been made
in this way. Pere Girodon, who has some excellent remarks on
the differences between the Scriptural forms, thinks that all four
of them are inferior in exactitude to that which is used in the
Roman Liturgy, which he believes to be a tradition older than
any of the Gospels.^ But what is the evidence for this? Some
of the most corrupt readings in the N.T. might be defended on
this ground. See J. M. Neale, Liturgies of S. Mark, etc., App. i.
In ' This is My Blood of the covenant,' the ' This ' in stricter
grammar means ' this cup,' but it evidently means the contents
of the cup. In i Cor. we have ' This cup is the new covenant
in My Blood.' The Blood was shed to ratify the new covenant
(Exod. xxiv. 8), and the wine in the cup represents, or in some
sense is, the Blood. It is not stated in any of the forms who
are the parties to the covenant, but we may assume that they
are 'the many' and Christ, or 'the many' and God. The latter
is more probably right, and Mt. by the addition of 'for the
remission of sins ' seems to have understood it so. Forgiveness
is covenanted by God under certain conditions, and the covenant
is ratified by blood (see Westcott on Heb. ix. 20). Hence 'the
cup ' = the wine = the blood = ' the covenant ' ; and thus ' This
cup is the new covenant ' is true.
There are a number of various readings in this important passage, but
there is not much difficulty in determining what is right. In ver. 26, ' bread'
or ' a loaf,' Eprov ({< B C D G L Z, Syr-Sin. ) is to be preferred to ' the bread '
or 'the loaf,' rhv apTov (AT AH): 'blessed,' ei'\o7-^<jas (K B C D G L Z,
Syr-Sin. Latt. Copt. Arm. Aeth.) to 'gave thanks,' ei'xapicTT^o-as (A F A 11) :
in ver. 27, ' a cup,' TroTrjpiov (N B E F G L Z A 2) to ' the cup,' to ttottjpiov
^ The rendering 'Drink ye all from it,' lit. 'Drink from it all of you, '
avoids the misconception that ' all of it ' means the whole of the wine.
^ It contains much that is not in the N.T. Hie est enini Calix sanguinis
viei, novi et atenii testament i, mysterium fidei : qui pro vobis et pro inultis
e^undeliir in reniissionem peccatorum.
3tXVI. 29] PASSION, DKATII, RESURRECTION 3^5
(A C D H K M S U V etc. ) : in ver. 28, ' the covenant,' t^j SiaOi'iKrjt (S 15 L /,
33, 102, Cyr-Alcx. Cvpr.) to 'the new covenant,' t^s KaivTji SiaOi'iK-i}^
(A C D r A etc., Latt. Syrr. Boli. Arm. Aetli.). The article before ' bread '
and 'cup' was inserted to emphasize the f;ict that this was the eucharistic
broad and the eucharistic cup. ' Blessed ' was changed to 'gave th.anks ' to
assimilate the treatment of liread and cup, and also to assimilate with Lk.
and I Cor. ; and ' new ' was inserted to assimilate with Lk. (?) and I Cor.
In. ver. 26, the AV. has the better readings, in vz: 27, 28, the worse.
The saying of Christ, 'I will not drink henceforth of this
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you
in My Father's Kingdom,' is in all three Gospels, with some slight
differences of wording. We treat it with scant reverence when
we regard it as a "poetic utterance," in interpreting which we
have chiefly to beware of "turning poetry into prose." In all
three accounts it is introduced with the solemn ' I say unto you.'
With Swete and Salmon, we may rightly regard it as " mysterious,"
and therefore not be over-confident in inter[)reting it. The
passage reads like a solemn farewell. Our Lord had greatly
desired to eat the Passover with them, but He is not going to do
so [again] until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God (Lk. xxii.
15, 16). And here He says that He will not drink wine any
more, until He does so in the Kingdom. ' T/ii's fruit of the
vine' might mean the Passover-wine, but in Mk. and Lk. it is
simply ' f/ie fruit of the vine,' which is a common O.T. expression
for wine (see the Septuagint of Is. xxxii. 12; Hab. iii. 17; and
comp. Num. vi. 4), not for the Passover-wine in particular.^
Even ' f/iis fruit of the vine' does not necessarily mean the
Passover-wine. ' Henceforth ' (aTr' aprC), or ' from henceforth '
(aTTo Tov vvv, Lk.) or 'no more' {ovkIti, which is probably right
in Mk.), seems clearly to imply that on this occasion our Lord
did drink from the cup before passing it to the Apostles ; and
it would have been a strange thing for the person who presided
at a Paschal meal not to do so. Yet some think that the
symbolism requires that He should have partaken of neither
the bread nor the wine. 'I have greatly desired to eat this
Passover'' points in the other direction. The meaning seems
to be that He partakes of this Paschal supper, but it is His last.
lie is taking a solemn farewell of the ordinances of the Jewish
dispensation. But seQjour. of Th. St., July 1908, p. 569.
• Until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's
^ Here and in Mk. and Lk. the right form is y^vrifia {ylfo/xai), not
■)^vyr]na (ytwdu). In iii. 7, xii. 34, xxiii. 33 ; Lk. iii. 7, y^vvrjua is right.
Latin versions differ in translation : gemratiotie vitis, or friulit vincie, or
creatitra vittece, or f^eniniifie vitis. In 'drink it ncw^ we have not the
newness of the 'new wine' {olvov viov) in ix. 17, a newness which is opposed
to what is mature, but the newness of the 'new heaven' and the 'new earth'
(/catv^c), which is opposed to what is obsolete. Sec Deissmann, Bible Studies,
109, 184.
366 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 29, 30
Kingdom ' is surprising. Will there be any eating and drinking
in the Kingdom? Why does our Lord not say, 'Till ye see the
Kingdom of God come with power' (Mk. ix. i), or 'Till ye see
the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom ' (Mt. xvi. 28), or
'Till I come'(i Cor. xi, 26)? Possibly because that Coming
is associated with thoughts of suddenness and surprise, of swift
movement and stern judgment (xxiv. 30, 31, 39, 44, xxv. 31, 32),
and what our Lord desires here to suggest is a hope for satisfac-
tion and repose and social joy. All of that is far better sym-
bolized under the Jewish idea of the Kingdom as a banquet (Is.
xxv. 6; Lk. xiii. 29, xiv. 15, xxii. 30; Rev. iii. 20, xix. 9; comp.
2 Esdr. ii. 38 and the Book of the Secrets of Enoch, viii.). Our
Lord had adopted this idea in commending the centurion (viii.
11), and He does so again here. The 'with you ' is peculiar to
Mt. here : the Apostles are to share His joy, and He will share
theirs. And the wine which symbolizes the joy is ' new ' (Katvov),
because everything in the Kingdom is new (Rev. iii. 12, v. 9,
xxi. I, 5). It will be joy transformed and glorified; joy so
different from the joys experienced here that the heart of man
cannot conceive it. With 'the Kingdom of My Father,' which
again is peculiar to Mt. here, comp. 'the Kingdom of their
Father ' (xiii. 43).
XXVI. 30-35. Departure to the Mount of Olives.
Desertion and Denial foretold.
The 'hymn' which was sung at the close of the Paschal
meal was no doubt one or more of the Psalms (cxxxvi. or cxv.-
cxviii.), which were often called hymns. Lk. tells us that it was
' His custom ' to go out to the Mt. of Olives, so that this termina-
tion of the meal would excite no surprise in the disciples, who
were perhaps still meditating on the declaration that one of the
Twelve was a traitor, and on the departure of Judas.^ Was it
he who was going to deliver the Lord up? Then comes the
startling prediction, ' All ye (Travres v/Atis) shall be offended ' ;
which Mt. makes still more definite by adding, 'in Me this
night' It is about nothing less than the Messiah that this
catastrophe is to happen ; and it is no mere possibility in the
distant future ; it will take place at once. The quotation from
Zech. xiii. 7, by which this disquieting prophecy is supported, is
^ The exact time of departure from the upper room is uncertain. Mt.
and Mk. place it before the prediction of Peter's denial, Lk. (xxii. 39) and
Jn. (xiv. 31) place it after that prediction. Note the characteristic 'Then,'
ziv. 31, 36, 38. In the apocryphal Acts of John, our Lord composes a hymn
of many verses, some of which are evidently of Gnostic origin. It was
attributed to the Priscillianists, but Augustine says that it was found elsewhere
than in their writings. Donehoo, pp. 310-312.
XXVI. 31] PASSION, DEATH, RKSURRECTION 367
in Mk. as well as in Mt. It appears to be an independent
translation from the Hebrew.^ It sets forth the general principle,
soon to be so sadly illustrated by the conduct of the Apostles,
that the striking down of the shepherd means the scattering of
the sheep. ' For it stands written ' (yeypaTrrat yap) is part of
Christ's saying ; it is not a remark of the Evangelist to point out
a fulfilment of prophecy. The prediction of their own failure
evidently made more impression upon Peter, and presumably
upon the others also, than the comforting assurance that lie
would rise from the dead and see them again in Galilee (xxviii.
10, 16; Mk. xvi. 7). The disciples would in any case be likely
to return to Galilee after the Passover was over ; all the more
so as Jerusalem would be unsafe for them. This departure is
clearly given in the last lines of the fragment of the Gospel
according to Peter (xiii.) : " Now it was the last day of the
Unleavened Bread, and many went foith returning to their
homes, as the feast was ended. But we, the twelve (stc) disciples
of the Lord, wept and were grieved ; and each one grieving for
that which was come to pass departed to his home. But I,
Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother took our nets and went
away to the sea ; and there was with us Levi the son of Alpha^us,
whom the Lord. . . ." Our Lord encourages them to take this
step, by promising to be in Galilee before they are. The scatter-
ing will certainly take place, but a reunion is equally certain.^
Peter does not notice the promised Resurrection, which none
of them as yet understand, nor the promised reunion. Conscious
of his own affection for the Lord, he impetuously repudiates for
himself the prediction that he will be made to stumble respecting
Him. In his characteristic impulsiveness he is guilty of three
faults. He contradicts our Lord ; he claims to be stronger than
the other disciples ; and he relies on his own strength. He
might have remembered his own prayer, when he was sinking in
the lake, 'Lord, save me' (xiv. 30), or that of all of them in the
storm, 'Save, Lord, we perish' (viii. 25). Mt. makes the
repudiation very emphatic. Mk. has simply, 'yet will not I';
while Mt. has, ' I will never be made to stumble.' The reply of
Christ is equally emphatic. The solemn 'I say unto thee' (Atyw
o-ot) is in all four Gospels ; in Mt. and Mk. this is preceded by
' Both Mt. and Mk., and also the Fayflm fragment containing this saying,
have 'I will smite' for 'smite ye' (irard^w for iraTa^aTf). The imperative
would hardly have made sense here. ' Of the flock ' (t^s irolixvrji) is not in
the Hebrew, but is added in A in the Septuagint, whence Mt. probably
derived it. Comp. the quotation in xix. 5, and see Swete, /«/. to t/te O.T.
in Greek, p. 393.
* The contrast between the mournful scattering of the disciples and the
joyful Resurrection and reunion is more strongly marked in Mk. (dXXd) than
in Mt. (50.
368 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVL 35-38
'Verily,' in Jn. by the double 'Verily.' Lk. has * to-day,' Mt.
' this night,' Mk. has both, and Jn. neither, of the time when the
denial is to take place. That Peter repudiated the special
prediction respecting himself, and in this was followed by the
others, is mentioned by Mt. and Mk. alone. Mk. says that he
continued to do this with vehemence (eKTrepto-crws cAaAei), and
Mt. compensates for omitting the words by turning ' If I must
die with Thee ' into ' Even if I must die with Thee ' ; and his
vehemence encourages the others to repudiate also.^
XXVI. 36-46. The Agony in Gethsemane.
Perhaps the Evangelists had no such intention, but they
exhibit a tragic irony in placing our Lord's prayer in the garden
immediately after the confident boasting of Peter and his
companions. The Apostles are so sure of their own strength
that they will not allow the possibiUty of failure, even when they
are forewarned of it by Christ. The Son of Man is so conscious
of the weakness of His humanity that He prays to the Father
that He may be spared the approaching trial. He feels the need
of being strengthened by prayer. And although He at other times
followed His own rule (vi. 6) of praying in retirement (xiv. 23),
here He seems to have desired the company and sympathy of
His three most intimate disciples. They had been witnesses of
His glory (xvii. i, 2), and they are now to be witnesses of His
humiliation.^ Yet it is for their own sakes rather than for His,
that He has them there. Mt., as usual, tones down expressions
which attribute human emotions to the Messiah; 'greatly
amazed ' (eK^a/A^cio-^ai) becomes ' sorrowful ' (AuTreto-^at), but the
strong 'sore troubled' (dST^/xovetv) remains unchanged (see
Lightfoot on Phil ii. 26).^ Mt. was perhaps influenced by
Christ's own confession, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful,' in
changing 'greatly amazed' into 'sorrowful.' With this mention
of His 'soul' (ij/vxi^), which is very exceptional, comp. Jn. xii. 27.
" The narrative ^oes not encourage the view which prevails in
many patristic commentaries, that the Lord's sorrow and prayers
were only for the sins and woes of men. His human soul shrank
^ As in xxii. 26, Mt. has ofxoius where Mk. has wcraijTcos. For ' cock-
crow ' as a mark of time comp. Aristoph. Eccles. 390 ; Juvenal, ix. 107.
2 Mk. says 'James and John,' Mt. 'the sons of Zebedee'; Lk. does not
mention them, and Jn. omits the whole incident. On the iKti (39) see on
xxvii. 47.
^ It seems to imply " bewilderment," a " half-distracted state," as if His
soul could hardly see its way. But His trust in His Father's love is not
shaken, even by the contents of the cup which was given Him to drink. The
Son's will d:;cides for the Father's will, not for the Son's wish. Sonship ol
necessity means submission. With IIe/3/Ay7r6s, k.t.X., comp. Il<p6dpa XeXvvr}-
fuu iyi} ?ws davdrov (Jonah iv. 9).
XXVI. 38-41] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION
3^9
from the Cross, and the fact adds to our sense of the greatness
of His sacrifice" (Swete on Mk. xiv. 34).
Mt., while he omits one or two small things, probably as
superfluous (e.^s^. 'that the hour might pass from Ilim';
'Abba ... all things are possible unto Thee'; 'Simon'),
yet adds some things which are of interest. Chief of these are
'with Me' after 'watch,' both in the charge to be wakeful (38)
and in the reproach for sleeping (40) ; and again the addition of
' My ' to ' Father ' (Ilarep /xov).^ The chosen three are to share
His watch and listen to His prayers : that they were said aloud is
manifest, and perhaps very loud, so that the disciples could
easily hear, even at a little distance. The 'strong crying and
tears ' of Heb. v. 7 may refer to this.
Other differences between the three Gospels are very in-
structive. Lk. gives only one prayer and one reproach to the
disciples, who apparently are the whole Eleven, for the three
are not mentioned apart from the rest. Mk. says that our
Lord returned thrice to the sleeping three, but he mentions
only two prayers ; and he says that when our Lord prayed
the second time He used 'the same words' as in the first
prayer. Mt. alone distinguishes three prayers. He gives the
first two, which differ in a remarkable way, and says that in
the third prayer Christ said 'again the same words' as in
the second. Lk., though less definite, can be harmonized
with either Mt. or Mk., but Mt. and Mk. cannot be harmonized
with one another. Moreover, in no two cases is the wording
of Christ's prayer the same.
Mk.
Abba, Father,
all things are possible
to Thee ;
remove this cup
from Me :
howbeit, not what I will,
but what Thou.
[Same words
as in I.]
Lk.
Father,
if Thou be willing,
remove this cup
from Me :
nevertheless, not My will,
but Thine, be done.
Mr.
1. My Father
if it be possible,
let this cup pass
from Me :
nevertheless, not as I will,
but as Thou.
2. My Father,
if this cannot pass,
except I drink it,
Thy will be done.
3. [Same words
as in 2.]
It is clear from our Lord's own action at this crisis that vi. 7
does not forbid the repetition of prayers, even in the same form
^ It is probably under the influence of Mk. that a few witnesses (LA, a.
Just. M.) omit the fiov in ver. 39 but not in vcr. 42.
24
370 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 41-44
of words.^ Why did He repeat His prayer in Gethsemane?
We may reverently suppose that He Himself knew that the first
utterance of the prayer had not been complete in its success.
His human will was not yet in absolute unison with the will of
His Father ; and in this we may trace progress between the first
prayer and the second. In both cases the prayer is made
conditionally, but in the first the condition is positive, in the
second it is negative. ' If it be possible ' has become ' If it be
not possible,' and there is no longer any petition that the cup
may be removed. We may believe that in the third prayer, even
if the same words were used, the 'If has become equivalent to
' since ' : ' Since this cup cannot pass from Me, Thy will be
done.' 2 In ]\Ik. ' All things are possible to Thee ' means ' All
things that Thou wiliest are possible.' It cannot mean that what
God does not will are possible for Him. And in Mt., ' If it be
possible ' means ' If Thou be willing,' which is what Lk. writes.
With this threefold prayer of our Lord we compare the three-
fold prayers of Elijah (i Kings xvii. 21) and of S. Paul (2 Cor.
xii. 8). In each case the result is peace, through the union of
the human will with the Divine will.^ But Elijah's prayer needs
to be repeated to increase his own earnestness in desiring that
which God is ready to grant, and to make himself more worthy
to receive such a boon. Prayer is not an engine by which we
overcome the unwillingness of God. God is ever ready to grant
what is really good for us, when we have, by prayer, made
ourselves ready to receive it.
As on the Mount of Transfiguration, the three disciples
struggle, and unsuccessfully, with heavy drowsiness. It was
caused, as Lk. says, by great sorrow, which is very exhausting.
The words in which the Lord reproaches and warns them
are not quite the same in all three Gospels. Both Mt. and
Mk. tell us that, on the first return, these words, though
meant for all ('Watch ye and pray'), were specially addressed
to Peter,^ who in Mk. is addressed by his old name,
' Simon,' — perhaps to suggest to him that he is in danger
of forfeiting his right to be called the 'Rock-man.' Mt. also
omits, as at the Transfiguration, that Peter 'wist not what to
^ Possibly Tov a&rbv \6yov means ' the same prayer,' rather than ' the same
words.' The substance of the request, rather than the wording of it, may be
intended. Even so, prayers for a special object may be repeated.
2 The echo of the Lord's Prayer is heard clearly in these words ; and we
cAtch another echo in the charge to the disciples (41).
^ " In His will is our peace" (Dante, Par. iii. 85).
■* Mt. transfers the rebuke as well as the warning from Peter to all three ;
' Couldest i/iou not watch one hour?' has become ' Could _j'£ not watch with
Me one hour?' and Mt. omits the significant 'Simon.' They had promised
to die with Him, and this is the result.
XXVI. 45] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 371
answer.' As often, he spares the Apostles by omitting what
might be blamed.
That the disciples struggled to be wakeful need not be
doubted. They had been charged to watch (38), and at such a
time they would be anxious to be loyal to the Lord's commands.
Moreover, the saying (so often quoted, because in such intense
agreement with human experience), ' The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak,' implies that the disciples had been willing
to obey, but had been overcome by frailty of the flesh. ^ And
we may believe that, in giving this warning to the Three, our
Lord is speaking out of the fulness of His own pressing
experience. Even He has been finding that the most perfect
human nature may feel weakness when confronted with the
supreme requirements of the will of God. If He needed to be
strengthened by prayer, how much more did His faulty disciples !
Yet none of the narratives represent Him as asking the disciples
to pray for //////. It is for their own sakes that He bids them
to be watchful and prayerful ; and it is probably in reference to
the Prayer which He had taught them that He says, ' Pray, that
ye enter not into temptation.' He had entered into temptation,
and had felt the full strain ; He desires, therefore, that they may
be protected, as He has been, by prayer.
Is 'Sleep on now and take your rest' (45) spoken in
mournful irony? To take it so does not fit very well with
'Arise, let us be going,' which immediately follows, without any
intimation that there has been a pause. It is possible to take
the words as a question, like ' Could ye not watch with Me one
hour?' (40), and like 'Simon, sleepest thou?' (Mk. xiv. 37).
' Are ye going to sleep on and take your rest ? ' This makes
one more sad reproach. They had been slumbering while He
was in agony ; but surely they will not continue to slumber,
when the sound of the traitor's footsteps will soon be heard. See
Klostermann on Mk. xiv. 41, and B. Weiss, margin.
Mt. omits the rather difficult and ambiguous 'It is enough'
(aTre'xci); perhaps because he was not sure of its meaning, or
possibly because he thought that it was implied in ' the hour is
at hand.' The simplest meaning is ' enough of slumber.'
There is no need to inquire whether our Lord " felt the
proximity of the traitor even before he was there " (J. Weiss), or
became aware of his approach through the noise of the multitude
and the lights which they carried. 'The Son of 'Man is being
' See Swete on Mk. xiv. 38 ; Westcolt on Jn. iii. 6 ; Sanday and
Headlam on Rom. viii. 9. Tertullian {De Bapt. 20) gives as a saying of the
Lord previous to Ilis arrest, tliat ' no one who has not been tempted can
enter the Kingdom of Heaven') neiniium inteviptatum regna calestia
consecitUtntm), and it is perhaps here that He is supposed to have uttered it.
See Resch, Ap-apha, p. 130.
372 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 45-47
delivered up into sinners' hands ' refers to the action of Judas,
v/hich is going on at the moment, in handing the Messiah over
lo His enemies among the Jews and to the heathen soldiers who
aided them, — two kinds of sinners which are distinguished in
XX. 1 8, 19.
Here, as in vv. 21, 23, 24, 25, 46, 48, the AV. prefers 'betray' to
'deliver up,' and the RV. makes no change. In Mk. xiv. 41 both
substantives have the article, ras xeFpas Tdv aixapTuSkdv , in Mt. neither has it ;
but even the RV. does not distinguish. It is remarkable how often in this
section Mt. has the graphic historic present, of which Mk. is so fond, but
which Mt. commonly avoids, either by change of tense or by omission. Here
both Evangelists have 'saith' (31), 'cometh,' 'saith* (36), 'saith' (38),
' Cometh,' 'findeth,' 'saith' (40), 'cometh,' 'saith' (45); and once {35) Mt.
has \iyei. where Mk. has iXdXei.
'Let us be going' (ayw/xev) is ambiguous in English, and
might be understood to mean ' Let us fly from this peril,' which
is not at all what is intended. The meaning is, ' Let us go to
meet this peril' (Jn. xviii. 4). His hour is come, and He is
anxious to fulfil all that is required of Him. The charge which
Celsus seems to have made that Jesus "tried to escape by
disgracefully concealing Himself" (Orig. Co^l. Cels. ii. 10) may
have been based upon a misinterpretation of * Let us be going '
(Abbott, Paradosis, p. 157). Of the three that Christ was
addressing, Peter and John already knew who was meant by ' he
that is delivering Me up ' (Jn. xiii. 26) ; they now see in what
way he had been carrying out his designs. There is no
suggestion that they had been told to watch for the approach ot
the traitor, so as to warn the Lord. He had no need to be
warned, for He had no intention of escaping. It was against
temptation to themselves, not against danger to Him, that they
were charged to watch. Even without the aid of legions of
Angels He could have escaped. We are perhaps to understand
that the other eight Aposdes came up when the band with
Judas was approaching. They were near enough at the time of
the arrest to be said to have 'left Him and fled' (56).
XXVI. 47-56. The Arrest of the Messiah.
All three mention that it was while Jesus ' was still speaking '
that 'Judas, one of the Twelve,' led the hostile multitude to
arrest Jesus ; and all three mention the betrayal by means of a
kiss. Nothing that has been told of Judas has so excited the
horror of Christendom as the incident of this demonstrative
(Kare^tAT/crev) and atrociously treacherous kiss. Jn. omits it, and
Mt. may have had no other authority than Mk. But Lk. is
independent of both, so that the fact rests upon the authority of
XXVI. 47-50] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 373
at least two sources ; and it is not likely that so hateful a detail
was invented. Christian detestation of his crime might imagine
a specially horrible end for Judas, but there is no reason for
believing that it added imaginary blackness to his crime. The
Evangelists are singulnrly restrained about the traitor; with them
it is sufficient condemnation to mention that he was 'one of the
Twelve ' (z'Z'. 14, 47 ; ^Ik. xiv. 10, 20,43; Lk. xxii. 3, 47; Jn.
vi. 71).
Mt., Mk., and Jn. represent the multitude that came with
Judas as sent by the chief priests. Lk. supposes the chief priests
and elders to have been present, and to have been addressed by
Christ ; and it is possible that some of them may have come, in
order to see whether the plot was successful. Evidently, there
was no intention to arrest any of the disciples. To capture them
would increase the risk of disturbance, and without their leader
they would not be dangerous. Hence the necessity for a sign
by which the captors might distinguish Jesus from His followers.
In the charge which Judas gives to his supporters, Mt. omits
'lead Him away safely' (d— ayere acr^aXois). Does he omit it as
superfluous, or as implying an unworthy conception of the
Messiah? It was an additional outrage on the part of the
traitor to suggest that the Lord might take refuge in flight. In
any case, the omitted words show how anxious Judas has
become that his treachery should be successful. Jesus had
exposed him to fiimselfzt the Supper, whether or no the Eleven
bad understood what was said ; and Judas is now wholly on the
side of the enemy. In his address to Jesus, the 'Hair(x'upe)
before ' Rabbi ' is peculiar to ISIt., whose report of Christ's reply
to Judas is also peculiar to him, and the meaning of it is not
plain. 'Friend, wherefore art thou come?' is not right.
' Comrade ' rather than ' Friend ' is the meaning of iraipo^ : ^ and
our Lord would hardly, at this climax of the apostate's wicked-
ness, address him as ' Friend.' Judas had long since ceased to
be Christ's friend, while still remaining His companion. The
remaining words (cV o Trapci) mean ' for which thou art come,' and
something must be understood. 'Comrade, do ihat for which
thou art come' ; i.e. Accomplish thy treachery. Or, '/r this the
end iox which thou art come?' i.e. Hast thou really sunk to this
depth of wickedness ? Or, ' Dost thou kiss Me for that for
which thou art come?' i.e. Dost thou think a kiss fitting for such
a purpose as this ? Or, ' / kno7i' xvell for what thou art come.'
It is impossible to say which of these is right. If the te.xt is not
' The word occurs as a form of address xx. 13, xxii. 12 ; and in the dat.
plur. as a doubtful reading xi. 16 ; but nowhere else in the N.T. ripti m.iy
be from either vapUvat or iraptTvai. If 'do that for which thou art come' is
right, comp. Jn. xiiL 27.
374 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 50-53
corrupt, it may be a colloquial expression to which the clue is
lost.i
Blass would read atpe for ira'ipe : * Ta^e that for which thou art come.'
But this is conjecture without any documentary support. Moreover, the
word occurs twice in parables, and each time in the vocative, and in making
a remonstrance ; so that it represents some word which our Lord was
accustomed to use in the kind of connexion in which we have it here. If the
text of the saying is corrupt, it is. not eVatpe that is likely to be wrong. Note
the ' Then ' here and in ver. 52, where we again have the historic present.
It is the way in which the Messiah acted when His hour was
come that chiefly interests Mt. Hence these utterances of our
Lord (50, 52, 53, 54), which no one else records, though Jn.
has part of ver. 52. It is possible that the name of the disciple
who smote the high priest's servant is suppressed for prudential
reasons ; when Jn. wrote there was no further need for silence.
Mt. and Lk. are a little more definite than Mk., who merely
says that it was 'one of them that stood by.' INIt. and Lk.
admit that it was one of those who were with Jesus. Jn. alone
gives the servant's name, which he would know through his
intimacy with the high priest. Like Simon, Malchus was a
common name ; there are five instances in Josephus. INIalchus
was perhaps the first to ' lay hands on Jesus,' and hence Peter's
impetuous assault, which possibly had no other meaning than
that of protecting the Master from outrage ; but Peter may have
wished to distract attention from Christ to himself.
The source of the verses which follow (52-54) is unknown;
but 'Return thy sword into its place' is confirmed by 'Put the
sword into the sheath' (Jn. xviii. 11). It was probably a knife
(ixdxaipa in all four Gospels) rather than a sword. We know
that the disciples had two such weapons (Lk. xxii. 38), and
Peter possibly carried one of these.
Our Lord will have no help from human violence. If He
willed it, which means, if His Father willed it, He could ask,
and be sure of receiving, overwhelming assistance from heaven.^
^ Lk. records quite a different answer : 'Judas, betrayest thou the Son of
Man with a kiss ? ' Jn. gives as our Lord's first words, ' Whom seek ye ?' If
' that for which thou art come ' is rightly recorded as having been said by
Christ, the purpose of the words may have been to make Judas realize the
enormity of his conduct. ' Think what thou art doing ; — for the sake of a
small reward, betraying the Messiah, thine own Master and companion, with
a kiss.' But, whatever the exact meaning of the words may be, they seem
to have silenced Judas. No reply of his is recorded. He was as ' speechless '
as the man in the parable (spoken only a day or two earlier) to whom the
king said, 'Friend, how camest thou in hither?' — 'Eratpe, irtSs e'KrrjXdes
&5e ; (xxii. 12).
2 The mention of Angels here is strong corroboration of what has been
urged above as to our Lord's teaching respecting them ; see on xiii. 49,
xvi. 27, xviii. 10, xxii. 30, xxiv. 36,
XXVI. 54 56] PASSION, DEATH, RESURUKCTION 375
]?ut He knows that the cup of suficring must be drunk, and
that the hour for drinking it has come, and He will not again
ask, even conditionally, that it may be removed or postjioncd.
The Scriptures have said (Ps. xxii. ; Is. liii.) that it is by suffering
that the Messiah must concjuor. Lk. says nothing about the
fulfilment of Scripture, a point which Mt. insists upon twice
(54, 56); and he makes it all the more emphatic by expressing,
what Mk. (xiv. 49) implies, that 'all this is come to pass in
order that ' there may be fulfilment, and by giving the fuller
phrase, ' the Scriptures of the Prophets.'
It is quite clear that in ver. 54 the saying about the fulfilment
of the Scri[)tures is part of what Christ says. In ver. 56 there is
doubt, as in i. 22, whether 'But all this is come to pass' is
meant as a continuation of the preceding speech or as Mt.'s own
comment. ]\Ik. gives it as part of Christ's speech (xiv. 49).!
The point is immaterial, for ver. 54 is explicit, and it gives rise
to this question. Did this serene statement of His reason for
submitting without resistance convey to the disciples, and in
particular to Judas, any impression of Christ's confidence that
His cause would in the end be triumphant? Here may be the
turning-point in the attitude of Judas from greed and resentment
to remorse. He had been absolutely successful ; and, at the
very moment of his success, his Victim claims, with unrufiled
assurance, to be fulfilling the prophecies respecting the Messiah.
Pcrfecio demum scelere, viagnitudo ejus intellecta est (Tac. Ann,
xiv. 10).
It is certainly remarkable that Judas is nowhere said to have
borne witness against Jesus at any of the trials before the
Sanhedrin or Pilate or Herod. And he could have quoted
utterances which would have told against Christ in a prejudiced
court; e.g. His predictions of His coming again in glory, and
of the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem (Salmon,
Human Element, p. 502). What was it that withheld him from
doing so ? Some change apparently had begun.
-It is not likely that 'in ihat hour' (55) refers to 'the hour' of the
Messiah's Passion (45). The expression is common in Mt. (viii. 13, ix.
22, X. 19, XV. 28, xvii. 18, xviii. i), and it is said to be common in
Rabbinical Literature. And it is not certain that tlie words winch follow,
and which are in all three Gospels, ought to be taken as a question. They
may be a reproachful statement of fact. ' Ve are conic out as against a
robber with swords and staves.' 'As against a robber' is placed first with
emphasis. This was an aggravation of tiic outrage. lie was a peaceful
Teacher, who was always at their disposal, and they were treating Him as
a dangerous bandit. Comp. Martyr. Polyc. vii. i.
' Would Mt. transfer the declaration from our Lord to himself? In
xxi. 4 there is no doubt, and also (in the true text) no SXev. Sec Lightfoot,
On Revision , p. 1 00.
37^ GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 56-60
'Then all the disciples left Him and fled' (56) must include
more than the chosen Three. In Mk. the 'all' is very
emphatic. It seems to look back to the prediction that they
would 'all be offended' in Christ that night (31), a prediction
which they had resented as incredible. With characteristic
candour, the Gospels tell us that it was fulfilled. There was
not one exception. With 'left' (d^eVres) comp. xxiii. 38, xxiv.
^o, 41 : 'left Him to His fate' is the meaning.
XXVI. 57-68. T/ie Trial of the Messiah before the
High Priest.
As in ver. 3, Mt. is the only Synoptist who gives us the name
of the high priest, and, like the others, he distinguishes two
trials before the Sanhedrin, an informal one in the night, and a
formal one after daybreak. It is the nocturnal meeting which
is here described, and it takes place in the house of Caiaphas,
the official high priest, with whom very likely lived his father-in-
law, Annas, who, although he had been deposed by the Romans,
was still regarded by many of the Jews as the true high priest.
Mt. seems to mean that the Sanhedrin was already gathered
together (o-ui'j;x^/?a-av), when the Prisoner was brought. Mk.
rather implies that they came together after He was led to the
high priest. They had resolved that He was to be put to
death : the important thing now was to find a legal justification
for so doing. Mk. says that ' they sought witness against Jesus
to put Him to death,' and he states afterwards that the witness
which they procured was false. Mt., rather illogically, says that
they ' sought false witness,' as if they preferred to have testimony
that was untrue. He may mean to attribute this perverse
intention to them; but who would prefer false testimony to
Vue? They wanted testimony, whether true or false, which
would justify sentence of death ; and this they could not find,
though plenty of false witnesses came. No two witnesses agreed
about anything that could be regarded as a capital offence.^
Mt., who often omits numerals (see on ver. 18), here puts
in a numeral. 'But afterward came tivo, and said,' etc. The
1 There is a passage in the Mishna which may represent the legal
practice of the Sanhedrin in the time of Christ, and, if so, it was grossly
violated when He was tried by that court. Witnesses were warned to be
scrupulously careful in a trial for a capital offence : ' ' Forget not, O witness,
that it is one thing to give evidence in a trial for money, and another in a
trial for life. In a money-suit, if thy witness-bearing shall do wrong, money
may repair that wrong ; but in this trial for life, if thou sinnest, the blood
of the accused and the blood of his seed unto the end of time shall be
imputed unto thee." And special care was taken that a reprieve, if there
was one, should not come too late (Brodrick, The Trial and Crucifixion of
Jesus Christ, p. 80).
XXVI. 61, 62] TASSION, DEATH, RKSURRECTION 377
meaning of the 'two' is that the minimum of testimony required
by the Law (Deut. xvii. 6, xix. 15 ; Num. xxxv, 30) had at last
been found. Mt. tones down * I will destroy ' ('Eyw K-araXrcrw)
to ' I am able to destroy ' (SiVa/uat KaTaXvaai), and it is the same
Temple (tov rabv Tov 0£ou) which is destroyed and built. The
distinction between ' this Temple made with hands ' and
'another made without hands' is omitted. Mt. appears to
think that this charge of saying that He was able to destroy
and rebuild the Temple was one of the charges on which Jesus
was condemned to death, and therefore he omits 'And not even
so did their witness agree together' (Mk. xiv. 59), which shows
that this charge had failed.^ Jn. (ii. 19) tells us what Jesus
said ; Mt. and Mk. tell us what He was reported to have said ;
and no two of the three statements agree. Jesus had said that
if the Jc-ivs destroyed 'this Temple' (of His Body), He would
raise it up in three days. So far as we know. He had said
nothing about destroying the Temple (in any sense) Himself.
But He had foretold the destruction of the actual Temple
(xxiv. 2) ; and some report of this prediction may have got
abroad, and have been twisted into a threat that He would
destroy the building. If the charge was made in the form in
which Mk. gives it, and also in the form in which Mt. gives it,
we have an illustration of the statement that ' their witness did
not agree together.' It is, however, more probable that the
report of the charge in Mt. is simply Mt.'s modification of the
charge as made in Mk.
To this charge about the Temple our Lord makes no answer.
His silence might be interpreted as meaning that He could not
deny the accusations ; but, as the accusations did not agree,
there was no need to answer them. And, if silence was to be
taken as assent, to which of the inconsistent charges was He
assenting? Caiaphas feels that they have got hold of no
tangible ground for condemnation. He therefore stands up for
greater impressiveness and solemnly invites Christ to make some
reply (62).^ When Christ preserves His silence, Caiaphas tries
an entirely new topic. We do not know whether it had been
reported to Caiaphas that Jesus had claimed to be the Messiah,
and Caiaphas does not ask Him whether He had done so.
' Strangely enough, the very men who wanted to convict the Messiah of
havinc; threatened to destroy the Temple were themselves destroying the
Temple. By killing the Christ they were compassing the destruction of
Jerusalem. To them His silence seemed to be contempt of court. But it
was they who contemned the court by prostituting it to such uses.
* Mt. omits the superfluous ' in the midst ' and the still more superfluous
'and answered nothing.' Does Caiaphas ask two questions (AV., RV.),
or one (Vulg., Tisch.)? Nihil rei/'ondes ad ea qua isti adversum te
testi/icantur? See also the Vulg. of Mk. xiv. 60.
378 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI, 63, 64
But he must have heard that people wondered whether Jesus
was the Messiah, and that at the triumphal entry He had been
hailed as the Messiah. The question of Caiaphas is therefore
quite natural. But it is remarkable that he joins together ' the
Messiah' and 'the Son of God,' as if they were synonymous.
This was not the universal view of the Messiah among the
Jews. In the Psalms of Solomon, where the use of this title
for the great Deliverer possibly begins, the Messiah is the son
of David, but not the Son of God. He is a second Solomon,
without Solomon's sins.^ But in the Book of Enoch (cv. 2 ;
comp. Ixii. 14) He is the Son of God, as also in 2 Esdras
(vii. 28, 29, xiv. 9). We may therefore beheve that, like
Nathanael (Jn. i. 49), Caiaphas held this view respecting
the Messiah. It is, however, possible that he combined
the two titles with a sinister object. To get Jesus to admit
that He claimed to be the Son of God would be more
important than to get Him to say that He was the Messiah.
The former would amount far more clearl}', in the eyes of the
Sanhedrin, to blasphemy. Mt. alone tells us that the high
priest put this question with the utmost solemnity, adjuring
Christ to reply to it : 'I adjure thee by the living God, that
Thou tell us' (63).
Our Lord, who had recognised no obligation to answer false
and conflicting charges, at once recognizes the right of the
head of the Jewish Church to question Him about such a
matter. And He perhaps also admitted that the form of
adjuration which Caiaphas is reported to have employed added
to the obligation to answer.^ At any rate He did not object
to it. In His reply, as in the high priest's question, there is a
difference between Mt. and Mk. Caiaphas probably said, ' the
Son of the Blessed,' and not ' the Son of God.' Did Jesus say,
' Thou hast said ' (o-v ciTras), or ' I am ' ('Eyw ct/xt) ? Here Mt.
seems the more exact ; but Mk.'s giving ' I am ' as an equivalent
shows that 'Thou hast said' was understood to be a form of
affirmation, though a qualified form. By ' the Messiah, the Son
of God,' Caiaphas would mean something very different from
what our Lord would mean by the expression; it is therefore
more probable that Christ gave a qualified rather than an
absolute assent to what was asked. He could not say that He
was not the Christ, the Son of God, meaning that He was not
what Caiaphas understood by the words ; that would have been
^ See Ryle and James, pp. liv, Iv ; Schiiier, li. ii. pp. 158-162;
Hastings' DB., art. 'Son of God,' pp. 570, 571. Mk. has 'the Son of
the Blessed ' for ' the Son of God,' and Caiaphas is more likely to have used
that expression, to avoid using the Divine Name. Comp. Enoch Ixxvii. i,
and see Dalman, Words, p. 200.
2 See V.m\di\.,JTS., April 1904, p. 453-
XXVI. 64] TASSIOX, DKATII, UKSUKKKCTION 379
utterly misleading. On the other hand, He niiglit mislead if
He gave full assent with ' I am.' A formula which neither
denied nor gave full assent would be in place. In Lk. it is the
high priest who asks whether He is the Christ, to which He
gives no direct answer. Then the whole Sanhedrin asks
whether He is the Son of God ; and He then gives an indirect
reply which combines the answers in Mt. and iMk. : ' K? saj that
/ a/fi ' (i/x€t5 A.€y€re on eyci ei/xt), where there is a strong
emphasis on the * Ye,' as here and ver. 25 on the 'Thou': 'It is
not I who say this, but you.'
The solemn introductory formula, ' Nevertheless I say to
you,' like ' I adjure thee by the living God,' is peculiar to Mt.,
who thus gives additional emphasis to both the high priest's
question and the Messiah's reply. The ' henceforth ' {oltt apTi),
or in Lk. ' from henceforth ' (utto tov vvv), is not easy. In what
sense was it true that the sight of the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of Power ^ began from His being condemned to death
by the rulers of the Jews? One expects 'hereafter' rather than
'henceforth,' but the latter seems to mean that their condemna-
tion led to His glory; there was not merely sequence, but con-
sequence. He who now stands before their judgment-seat will
then be seated on the clouds, invested with Divine Power, and
ready to judge them ; comp. xxiv. 30. See Montefiore, pp. 764 f.
These two verses (63, 64) are of great import. They intro-
duce a great change in Christ's method. Just as He had taken
great pains to avoid premature capture, and imprisonment, and
death, by retiring before His enemies, avoiding dangerous regions,
and keeping His movements secret, until the hour for His
Passion had come ; so also, as part of this method, He had been
very reserved about His own personality, and had avoided pre-
mature disclosure of the fact that He was the Messiah. When
Peter showed that he had become possessed of this truth, our Lord
charged all the Apostles that they should 'tell no man that He
was the Christ' (xvi. 20); and He commanded those who had
seen the Transfiguration, that they were ' to tell the vision to no
man,' till He was risen from the dead (xvii. 9).^ But now there
^ 'The Power' (^ 5vvap.i{) is an equivalent for 'God'; Dalman, IVonis,
p. 201 : 'the right hand of Omnipotence' (Sahnon) expresses the nicaninij.
The didicult dx' ApTi is not found in the LXX. In the N.T. it occurs only in
Mt., Jn., and Rev.
* Nevertheless, He did not disclaim this position when it was, by im-
plication, forced upon Him. He did not deny that He had the Divine pre-
rogative of forgiving sins (ix. 4-6). He justified His command to carry a l>ed
on the Sabbath by a declaration that was said to be a claim to be equal with
Got] (Jn. V. 17, 18), and He did not deny that it was such a claim. When
the Jews challer.t;cd Him to say whether He was liie Christ, He declared that
He and the Father were one (Jn. x. 24-30). To Tilalc He explains in what
sense He is a King : in a sense which in no way affects the sovereignty of
380 GOSrEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 65, 66
is no need of reserve any longer. He is challenged by the
highest religious authority in the Supreme Council of the nation
to declare Himself; and for the first time He declares publicly
that He whom they are determined to condemn to death is the
Messiah. His first Coming, His earthly mission, as a Preacher
of Repentance and a Prophet of the Kingdom, is over. His
next Coming will be on the clouds of heaven as Judge.
The high priest recognizes in this utterance a reference to
Dan. vii. 13, and he interprets 'the Son of Man' as meaning the
same as ' the Son of God,' but, no doubt, without the right fulness
of meaning. We need not suppose that he was acting a part and
pretending to be horror-stricken. He was probably shocked at
what he regarded as a blasphemous claim, and he expressed his
feeling by making a protest in the usual way. Rending one's
clothes was a very ancient way of expressing distress, and it is
frequent in the O.T., especially in the historical books, but also
in Isaiah (xxxvii. i), Jeremiah (xxxvi. 24), and Joel (ii. 13). The
common phrase is ' to rend the older garments ' {SLaprjyvvvai to.
IfxaTLo), which Mt. has here. Not everybody wore inner garments
or shirts (xiraJves), or, if they did, wore more than one (Mk. vi. 9 ;
Mt. X. 10). But here Mk. states that the high priest rent his
inner garments (hap-^ia<; tous x'™''"^); and this is probably
correct. Mt. has employed the usual, but, in this case, less
accurate phrase (Epistle of Jeremy 31). The high priest was not
allowed to rend his clothes for his own sorrows (Lev. xxi. 10),
but he was expected to do so when a gross offence against God
took place in his presence. His being shocked at our Lord's
utterance, while he felt no scruples about the manner in which
he was compassing His death, is very characteristic.
But the Lord's utterance was a great relief to him and to the
Sanhedrin generally. Without any further trouble with unsatis-
factory witnesses, they had now got all that they needed.^ Jesus
had been guilty of blasphemy, and was worthy of death (Lev.
xxiv. 16 ; I Kings xxi. 10, 13). Mk. says that they all condemned
Him ; and Mt. omits the * all,' either as superfluous, or perhaps
Tiberius. To the Sanhedrin He gives no explanation as to the sense in which
He is the Son of God. They had got the right sense ; a sense which, if
untrue, was blasphemy. See Canib. Bibl. Ess. p. 1S8.
1 The whole of the proceedings up to this point had been illegal for want
of witnesses. The witnesses ought to have arrested Him, and to have arrested
Him before sunset ; and, as the charge was for a capital offence, arrest at
Passover time was unlawful (Brodrick, pp. 30, 31, 65). The question, t[ tri
Xpeiav ^xo/tei' fiapr., is in all three: it expresses the relief of Caiaphas at
getting free from a great difficulty. Comp. Plat. I^ep. I. xiii. 340 A : Kal ri,
^(prj, delrai fj-dprvpos ; auro? yap 6 Opaa-vfiaxos o/xoXoye?. The apocryphal
addition to xv. 4 which is found in Ephraem is here of interest: "and he
who blasphemes God, let him be crucified." Nestle, p. 252, For ' guilty of
death ' see Pirqe Aboik, iii. 11, 12.
XXVI. 67 69] PASSION, DEATH, RKSURRECTION 3R1
as an exaggeration. Joseph of Arimathea had not consLiUcd
(Lk. xxiii. 51), and Nicodemus is not hkcly to have done so
(Jn. vii. 50, xix. 39) ; but probably they were not present. It is
hardly Hkely that such unsatisfactory members would be sum-
moned to this excejjtional meeting in the middle of the night.
Such a meeting was illegal, and no business transacted at it
was valid. Probably all that was important was repeated at the
meeting after sunrise. But, although urgency might be pleaded
for such a sitting, and though their conduct in holding it is not
surprising, yet their treatment of the Prisoner after they had
condemned Him is amazing in its indecency and brutality. Mk.
says that ^ some began to spit on Him'; he limits the outrage to
a part of the Sanhedrin, perhaps to a few. And when one asks
whether the 'some' who did this are not the servants who
guarded the Prisoner, this hypothesis seems to be excluded by
the special mention of the behaviour of the servants afterwards :
they 'received Him with blows.' Mt. omits Mk.'s 'some,' as he
previously omitted the ' all' ; and his condensed account reads
as if the whole Sanhedrin were guilty of the outrage. Lk. says
that this pitiful persecution of our Lord was committed by the
men that held Jesus m custody, and apparently before the
meeting of the Sanhedrin ; but as he omits the nocturnal meet-
ing, the latter point is uncertain. It is possible that before the
nocturnal meeting Christ was insulted by His captors, and again
after it, and that on the latter occasion some members of the
Sanhedrin took the lead in insulting Him. That His captors
should begin again after He had been condemned is probable
enough. Mt. abbreviates to such an extent as to be scarcely
intelligible. ' Prophesy to us, who is it that smote Thee ? ' has
little meaning, when the fact that they had thrown a covering
over His head is left out. Did Mt. think that covering His face
was inconsistent with spitting in it?i
XXVI. 69-75. Peter thrice denies his Master.
This narrative is in all four Gospels, and their substantial
agreement, combined with serious divergence about details, is
very instructive. As elsewhere, Mt. is plainly dependent upon
Mk., while Lk. and Jn. are independent. We have three authori-
ties, not four; and there may be connexion between Lk. and Mk.
See DCG., art. ' Denial.'
Mt., like Mk., now returns to Peter, who from a distance had
* D, Syr-Sin. and some Lat. texts omit the covering of the face in Mk.
xiv. 65. It is not likely that this blindfolding had any connexion with the
Roman practice of covcrinfj the head of the condemned (Cic. Pro KaiiriCt
iv. 13, V. 16). These mockers are Jews.
382 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVI. 69-75
followed those who arrested Jesus, and had gained admission into
the courtyard within the high priest's palace (58 ; Jn. xviii. 15, 16).
He wanted 'to see the end,' the result of the trial. He had
shown courage at the arrest of his Master ; and, after his attack
on the high priest's servant, it was a courageous thing to enter
the high priest's dwelling. But he was quite unprepared lor the
kind of trial that awaited him. Had he been arrested by the
Temple-guard and taken before the high priest, he would probably
have answered with courage and truthfulness. But the sudden
question of the porteress who let him in surprised him into a lie.
Perhaps he was more afraid of being turned out than of being
arrested and punished : or he may have thought that he was
justified in misleading any one who was in the service of the high
priest. His not taking refuge in flight, even after being twice
challenged, is some evidence that he was still determined at all
risks ' to see the end.'
No two Gospels agree as to the wording of the first challenge,
and all four differ considerably as to Peter's reply to it, Mt. being
closest to Mk. whom he abbreviates.^ Mk. says that it was the
same woman (the porteress) who gave the second challenge as
gave the first ; Mt. that it was another woman ; Lk. that it was
a man ; Jn. that it was a group of people. In Mt. Jesus is called
a ' Galilean ' in the first challenge, a ' Nazorean ' in the second ;
in Mk. it is ' Nazarene ' in the first challenge. The Synoptists
agree that at the third challenge Peter was recognized as a
'Galilean' (Mt., Lk.), which his dialect betrayed (Mt.); Dalman,
Words, p. 80. But Mt. and Mk. attribute tlie third challenge to
' those that stood by,' while Lk. says that it was ' another man '
(aXXos Tts). Jn. is here very different : a kinsman of the servant
whose ear Peter had cut off says, ' Did I not see thee in the
garden with Him?' Mt. records swearing at the second and
third denials, Mk. at the third only, Lk. and Jn. not at all. Lk.
alone mentions the Lord's turning and looking upon Peter ; but
there is no reason for doubting either the fact or the effect of the
look. Jn. omits the subsequent weeping.
Both as regards the denying and the weeping {rjpvrjcraro,
€K\av(rev), Mt., as often, avoids the imperfects of ]\Ik. (r^pvuTo,
cKXatev). But here the change is a real loss. ' He kept on
denying ' and ' he continued weeping ' are much more graphic,
and are possibly more in accordance with fact. Of the first
denial, which was probably a single utterance, all three have the
aorist, ' he denied ' (rjpvqcraTo) : the second challenge made him
more voluble. Both Mt. and Lk. add ' bitterly ' to ' he wept ' ; but
the simple ' he continued weeping ' of Mk. (who has Peter behind
^ In some texts of the Testaments we have the same words : ouk oWa tI
X^7ets {Joseph xiii. 2).
XXVI. 75] PASSION, DF. ATII, Rl-SURRFXTION 3R3
him) is more impressive. Peter's going out (Mt., Lk.) is an
incidental confirmation of the Lord's searching look. VvUr
could not bear to meet that again.
The guilt of Peter's denials, which has perhaps sometimes
been exaggerated, must be measured by the quickness and
completeness of his repentance. In his declaration that he was
ready to go with his Master to prison and to death, he was no
vainglorious braggart or insincere sycophant. His courage in
the garden and in following into the high priest's palace is proof
of that. But he found out that it maybe more dilTicuit to act
rightly in small things than to brace oneself for an act of heroism.
And he also found out that one false step commonly involves
other steps in the same direction. This is specially the case with
falsehood. A lie seldom can stand alone : it needs to be backed
up by subsequent acts and words of deceit. Peter's descent,
especially as we have it in the Gospel of his own ' interpreter,'
is quite normal. He begins with a single lie (v/prj/o-aro). The
next time he kept on repeating his lie (y'lpydTo). Finally, he
invokes a curse on himself if his denial is false, and he swears
that it is true. There is no need to suppose that " Peter's faith
in his Master's supernatural power had been rudely shaken when
he saw Him led away an unresisting captive." Indeed, if we
believe either Lk.'s account of the healing of Malchus' ear, or
Jn.'s of the captors going backward and falling to the ground,
what had taken place in the garden would be likely to strengthen
Peter's faith rather than to shake it. Peter's error consisted in
two things : in believing that his own warm feelings towards his
Master could be relied upon to carry him through all temptations;
and, secondly, in resorting to falsehood as a means of avoiding
expulsion or arrest. And the falsehood was of a glaring charac-
ter, — denying that he had any knowledge of Him whose most
trusted disciple he had long been, and whom he himself had
recognized as 'the Messiah' and 'the Son of the living God'
(xvi. 16).
It has been remarked that "the women introduced on this occasion arc
the only women that are mentioned as taking p.^rt with the enemies of our
Lord : and even they are not concerned in bringing about His condemnation,
nor any further than to detect S. Peter. It is remarkable that no woman is
mentioned throughout as speaking against our Lord in His life, or having a
share in His death" (Isaac Williams, 7^/ie Passion, p. 107). " It is a matter
worthy of the deepest consideration, that not only is so very little told us of
the Saints of Go<l, but what is recorded is for the most p;irt to their prejudice.
And this is the case even with regard to those who appr(«ichcd most nearly to
the Person of our blessed Lord. . . . Indeed wc n>ay humbly venture to
think that this melancholy failure in one so eminent and favoured was |)cr-
milted to occur to afford us encouragement and hope in similar derelictions
and temptatif)ns. And that as our Lord could not afford us an instance of
human infirmity in Himself, He has jjivcn it to us in the person of ilic most
384 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 1, 2
exalted of His pastors : that all may fear, and none may presume, and all
may hope" (ibid. pp. 1 12, 1 13).
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxvi.: rbre (3, 14, 31, 36, 38, 45, 50, 52,
56, 65, 67, 74), avvd'yei.v (3, 57), 'Keyd/j.ei'os (3, 14, 36), irpoa-ipxeadai (7, 17,
49, 50, 60 (^zV, 69, 73), TTOpevecrOai (14), ciTro rore (16), a(p68pa (22), e/cet (36, 71),
yePTjOrjTO} (42), I'Soi; (45, 46, 47), (cai tSoi; (51), upa iKeivT] (55), IVa ir\rjpi>}6Cocnv
(56), Core/jo;' (60), r/ u/itj' 5oKd ; (66), o/ii'i^ei?' (74). Peculiar: eraZ/sos (50),
avvTaffcxeLv (19), ^evdofiaprvpia (59 and xv. 19 only), pawl^eiv (67 and v. 39
only) ; peculiar to this chapter : ^apiiri/Mos (7), 6 Sel^a (18), Karade/xari^eiv (74).
If the reading of D, d in ver. 15 could be regarded as genuine, we should
have to add ararrip (xvii. 27) to the words that are peculiar, for that reading
gives 'thirty staters'' as the sum paid to Judas. The reading is probably
deduced from iaTrjcrav, 'they weighed to him thirty pieces of silver,' and the
deduction may be correct. See on xvii. 27, and DCG., art. ' Money,' ii. p. 200 ;
DB., art. ' Money,' iii. p. 428 : "The thirty pieces of silver [TpianovTa apyipia)
are more hl^ely to have been thirty Phenician tetradrachms (120 denarii =
£^, l6s.) from the Temple treasury (cf. Zee. xi. 12 in LXX) than thirty
denarius-drachms," which would have been a very unattractive sum. Thirty
tetradrachms would be about twenty weeks' wages for a labouring man, and
it was the average price of a slave.
Note the aorists (39, 60, 67, 72, 75), where Mk. (xiv. 35, 55, 65 [?], 70,
72) has the imperfect.
XXVII. 1-10, The Messiah condemned to Death.
The Remorse and Suicide of the Traitor.
From different points of view the nocturnal meeting or the
morning meeting of the Sanhedrin may be regarded as the more
important. At the nocturnal meeting everything was practically
decided; therefore Mt. and Mk. give it the first place. The
morning meeting was the only valid meeting; therefore Lk.
takes notice of no other, while Mt. and Mk. dismiss it in a few
lines. Lk. assigns to it incidents which the others assign to the
earlier meeting. Mt. mentions only chief priests and elders,
whom he again calls 'elders of the people' (xxi. 23, xxvi. 3, 47).
Mt. adds 'Scribes' and 'the whole Sanhedrin,' which Mt.
naturally omits as superfluous.^ Lk. sums up all as ' the whole
company of them ' (aTrav to ttA^^os avTuiv).
The matter was urgent, for it was necessary that Jesus should
be disposed of before the killing of the Paschal lambs that after-
noon. Jerusalem was full of pilgrims, many of whom were well
disposed towards Him. Hence it was thought expedient to bind
Him again. He had been bound in the garden, and Annas had
sent Him bound to Caiaphas (Jn. xviii. 12, 24); but during the
long hearing before him He had probably been freed from His
bonds. As soon as sentence of death was pronounced at a
^ avji^ovKLOv IXa^ov (Mt.) pTohahly = a-v/x^ov\iov iroirjO-avTes (Mk.) trvfi.-
^ovXiov being a late equivalent for consilium. ' Held a consultation ' is
probably right: av/x^. ^Xa/Soj/ is pecuhar to Mt. (xii. 14, xxii. 15, xxvii. 17,
7, xxviii. 12). Deissmann, Bidle Studies, p. 238.
XXVII. 2 8] PASSION, DEATH, RKSURRKCTION 3S5
lawful hour, it was necessary to induce Pilate the Troi urutur '
to execute it, and speedily ; but he re(]uirt.d to be informed of
the nature of the offence. It is remarkable that the (lospels,
while not hiding the weakness and injustice of Pilate, do not
t;ive such a black impression of his character as we derive from
Josephus and Philo. There does not seem to have been any
inclination in the first Christians to exaggerate the misdeeds of
either Judas or Pilate. They are not represented as monsters
of wickedness any more than the Apostles are depicted as models
of saintlintiss and wisdom. Renan goes so far as to maintain
that "all the Acts of Pilate that are known to us show iiim to
have been a good administrator" (/'/V de Jesus, p. 401). At
any rate he shines in comparison with the Jewish hierarchy, but
for whom he would have released Jesus as innocent.
It was probably from local tradition, written or unwritten,
that Mt. derived his account of the death of Judas. It diflers
widely from that given by Lk. in Acts (i. 18-20). Mt. says that
the traitor, in remorse, returned the blood-money,- and com-
mitted suicide by hanging, the place of his death not being
stated. Then the chief priests buy the Potter's Field with the
money, which was afterwards known as the ' Field of Blood '
(dypo? ai/Aaros), as being bought with blood-money, and was used
as a burial-ground for foreigners.^ Lk. says that Judas retained
the money, and bought a field with it, in which (so the narrative
implies) he fell on his face {Trpr)vr]<; ycio/ixero?) and ruptured his
abdomen fatally, and, from his violent death there, the place
was known as the 'Field of Blood' (xwptov aLfiaTo<i). Nothing
is said in Acts about suicide, or hanging, or riie Potter, or the
chief priests, or the subsequent cemetery. The three points
common to the two narratives are (i) that the traitor came to a
violent end, (2) that a field was bought with the blood-money,
and (3) that it was subsequently known as tiie ' Field of Blood,'
It is possible that 'Akeldama,' which was interpreted as 'Field
of Blood,' is a corruption of an Aramaic expression for 'cemetery.'
If so, the connexion of the field, in the one case, with the
' Mt. calls him ' the governor ' (rt^ Tfyfixbvt), which is a vague word
capable of being applied to any ruler, from the Emperor downwards, and a
favourite word with him : ii. 6, x. 18, xxvii. 2-27, xxviii. 14. For biblio-
graphy see Hastings' DB. and DCG., art. ' Pilate.'
* That Judas is said to have thrown the money into the vabi, into which
priests alone entered, is surprising, even if the full force he given to filfai,
which, however, has no such force in xv. 30. Josephus uses roit of the
collective Temple-buildings. Perhaps the source used by Mt. did so.
' The expression, ' price of blood' (ri/ijj ar^ioros), is found in the Testa-
ments, where eight of the sons of J.-icob refuse to spend the money paid for
Joseph upon food, but buy sandals with it, saying : " We will not eat it,
for it is the price of our brother's blood, but we will assuredly tread it under
foot " {Zebulon iii. 3).
25
386 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVH. 3-8
blood of Christ, in the other, with the blood of Judas, falls away as
divergent explanations of a wrong name ; while, on the other hand,
Mt.'s statement about the cemetery for strangers is confirmed.
As regards the other details it is impossible to determine
whether Mt. or Lk. is nearer the truth. But INIt. wrote earlier,
and is probably reproducing earlier tradition. The story in Lk.,
with the dreadful detail about bursting asunder, looks as if
tradition had added something to the horror of the traitor's
death ; and the story in Papias makes the death still more
horrible and disgusting. It is rash to brush away all three
stories as equally false, or to suppose that Mt. and Lk. give us
mere modifications of the story in Papias. There is good reason
for believing that the end of Judas was violent and was regarded
as appropriate, but we cannot recover the details. Suicide by
hanging may come from the death of Ahithophel (2 Sam. xvii. 23),
which would be regarded as parallel. See Hastings' DB., art.
'Judas Iscariot,' p. 798; DCG., artt. 'Akeldama' and 'Judas
Iscariot,' p. 911; and, for harmonizing attempts, Knowling on
Acts i. 18, 19; Edersheim, Life and Times, ii. p. 575.
Mt. takes no notice of the parallel with Ahithophel, but he
sees in these incidents another fulfilment of prophecy. His
usual formula is that an event took place that prophecy might
be fulfilled (tva TrXrjpoiOrj or ottcos 7rXr]po)0^). But here, as in
ii. 17, he says, 'Then was fulfilled' (roVe iTrkrjpwO-r]).'^ The pro-
phecy, though attributed to Jeremiah, is evidently Zech. xi. 13;
but it may be influenced by Jer. xviii. 2 and xix. i, 11, and
hence be quoted as from Jeremiah. It is a loose rendering of
the Hebrew of Zech xi. 13, which differs from the Septuagint.
The original passage presents considerable difficulties, and they
are augmented by the quotation (probably from memory) here.
Apparently Mt. thinks that the Prophet's action in throwing his
despised wages to the potter foreshadowed the chief priests'
action in using the despised wages of Judas for buying the
Potter's Field. See Hastings' DB. and DCG., art. 'Potter,'
and Jerome's letter to Pammachius (^/. Ivii. 7). INIt. possibly
inserts the episode of Judas with a view to a triplet : Judas, Pilate,
and the people (4, 24, 25) are three shedders of innocent blood.
The reading 'Jeremiah' is firmly established (t<ABCD (?) LXT AH, Vulg.
Copt. Arm. Aeth. ) ; ' Zachariah ' is an obvious correction. A few texts omit.
^ Other suggestions are that this is a quotation from a lost writing of
Jeremiah's, or from a traditional saying of his ; or that the Jews deleted the
passage from Jeremiah's writings (Eus. Dem. Ev. x. 4) ; or that the latter
part of Zechariah was originally anonymous, and was sometimes attributed to
Jeremiah ; or that the prophetical books were sometimes in rolls, one of
wliich oegan with Jeremiah but contained Zechariah also, and that the
contents of that roll were cited as 'Jeremiah.' A slip of memory is much
more probable.
XXVn. 11] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 387
XXVn. 11-26. The Trial of the Messiah before the
Heathen Procurator.
After the digression respecting the death of Judas, Mt. returns
to Mk. XV. 2, and in order to resume the narrative he inserts
" Now Jesus stood before the governor." Pilate had come up
from Co^sarea to keep order at the Passover. We learn from
Jn. that his interview with the hierarchy took place outside his
residence, because these scrupulous murderers did not wish to
be polluted by entering a pagan house (xviii. 28). Lk. tells us
that they accused Jesus, not of blasphemy (for which the San-
hedrin had condemned him to death, but which would have
been no capital offence in Pilate's eyes), but of sedition, of
forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and of claiming to be King
(xxiii. 2). Pilate had probably heard of the triumphal entry, and
therefore this last charge would seem to be true. From his
point of view it was the most serious of the charges. But now
that he sees the Accused, the charge surprises him ; ' Art Thou
the King of the Jews?' (o-v Ci 6 fSaaiXev^ twi/ 'lovSaiwv;) — with
emphasis on the pronoun. Certainly, He looked very unlike
a man who had claimed sovereign power. Pilate's expression is
the same in all three Gospels, and it is exactly what a Roman
official would be likely to use. If Jesus claimed to be a King,
it would be King of the Jews that He aspired to be. Comp.
the title on the cross (37). But, when the Sanhedrists mock
Him on the cross, they call Him * the King of Israel' (42 ; Mk.
XV. 32 ; comp. Jn. i. 49, xii. 13).
We are uncertain whether there is any shade of difference
between ' Thou sayest ' (cru Ae'yci?) and ' Thou saidst ' or ' 'I'hou
hast said ' (cru etTras, xxvi. 64). Jn. gives the answer as * Thou
sayest that I am a King.' The answer is probably a modified
affirmative : ' I do not deny it ; but it is thou who sayest it, not
I.' It is manifestly no denial of the matter, and Pilate would
understand the reply as an admission that He was a King. In
that case we require the supplementary narrative of Jn., in which
Jesus explains to Pilate that His Kingdom is not of this world
(xviii. 36). Otherwise the trial would have ended here. The
hierarchy had charged Jesus with claiming to be King, and Jesus
Himself did not deny the charge. That would have been
decisive. But Pilate saw that Jesus was no rival to Tiberius,
and that there was animus in His accusers. His jjrivate con-
versation with Him convinced him that He was a harmless,
innocent man, and he tries to set Him free without causing a
disturbance. But he has not decision enough to act as Claudius
Lysias did in the case of S. Paul ; — send the object of Jewish
hatred away to Ca;sarea under a strong guard. Pie hopes to be
388 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIl. 12-17
able to satisfy the fanatical Sanhedrists without sacrificing Jesus.
But his statement to them, that he finds no fault in Him (Lk.
xxiii. 4), only provokes a reiteration of false charges, about which
he questions the Prisoner.
The contrast between our Lord's behaviour to Pilate in
private, and His behaviour when confronted in public with the
accusations of the hierarchy, is very marked. He recognizes the
right of the Procurator to question Him about the accusations
laid against Him, and answers freely. He does not recognize
the right of the Sanhedrists to bring these accusations ; they are
false, and the accusers know that they are false.^ Pilate is
naturally astonished at this behaviour. If He answered before,
why will He not answer now? Mt. strengthens the language
with regard to both Christ's silence and Pilate's amazement.
' He gave him no answer, 7iot even to one word; insomuch that
the governor marvelled greatly ' (Atav).
Respecting the custom of releasing a prisoner at the Passover
we know no more than is told us in the Gospels. It may easily
have been a Jewish custom, which the Romans, with their
customary tolerance of national institutions that were not
dangerous to their rule, continued.^ Pilate's evident hope that
the release of Jesus would be preferred to that of Barabbas,
indicates that Barabbas was just a common criminal. If he
had claimed to be the Messiah, or had been in arms against the
Romans, he would probably have been too popular and too
dangerous to be proposed for release. The sedition (o-racrts)
and bloodshed for which he was imprisoned (Lk. xxiii. 19) was
probably a mere plundering raid, and it is not said that he was
the leader of it. ' He used to release to them ' in Mk. would
strictly mean that he used to release to the chief priests, for they
are the persons last mentioned. Mt. avoids the possibility of
this interpretation by saying he ' was wont to release to the
multitude,^ ?a\A he calls Barabbas 'a notable prisoner' (Secrixiov
iTTia-rjixov). Pilate would naturally select a prisoner whose case
was well known, notorious as a peril to society.
The Gospels differ as to the exact way in which the choice
came to be made between Jesus and Barabbas. According to
Mt., it is Pilate who proposes the alternative. Which will they
have ? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ ? Mk. seems
to mean that the multitudes came to ask for Barabbas, and that
Pilate proposed ' the King of the Jews ' instead. Lk. does not
^ Just in this one place (12) Mt. uses the classical middle form aireKpivaro
(comp. Mk. xiv. 61 ; Lk. xxiii. 9) ; but he immediately (14) returns to the
usual passive form aireKpid-q. Note his favourite ' Then ' (13).
" Pilate says: ' Ye have a custom' (Jn. xviii. 39). But Kara eoprriv (15
Mk. XV. 6) cannot mean ' at thai feast ' (AV.) ; it means ' at festival-time.'
XXVII. 18, 19] PASSION, DKATII, RESURRECTION 389
mention the custom, for xxiii. 1 7 is an interpolation (A R K LT IT
and other authorities omit) ; but he says that, when Pilate pro-
posed to release Jesus, the people cried out, 'Away with this
man, and release unto us Barabbas.' In Jn., Pilate reminds the
Jews of the custom, and pro[)oses that the King of the Jews be
released in accordance with it. These divergencies arc of small
moment. All four Gospels agree as to the momentous fact that
the Jews preferrtd a dangerous criminal to the Messiah, whom
they thereby handed over to a shameful and cruel death.
There is strong probability that Darabkis is Bar- Abba, ' son of Abba '
or 'son of a father.' Sanniel liar-.'\bba and Nathan Bar-.\l)ba arc instancis
which confirm this. Whether Abba was used as a proper name as early
as A.D. 29 is disputed. Ewald and Ren.an suggest Dar-Kabban, 'Son of a
Rabbi.' For this reading there is little authority, but Jerome s.ays that in the
Gospel of the Hebrews this robber had a name which mca.ni Ji/i'us tiia:^tslri
eorum, and this points to Bar-Rabban as the reading there. If it liad iKcn
usual to address a Rabbi as 'Father' (sec on xxiii. 9), there would not I)e
much dilTerence between Bar-Abba and Bar-Rabban. Tlie usual derivation
affords an obvious contrast between ' the Son of the Father ' who was rejected
and 'a son of a father' who was preferred to Him.
The remarkable reading in -i'. 16 and 17, which inserts 'Jesus' before
' Barabbas,' turns Barabbas into a patronymic, and Jesus Barabl)as is parallel
to Simon Bar-jona. Origen seems to be almost inclined to adopt this re.iding.
It occurs in a very few cursives, Syr-Sin. and Arm., and is accepted by Allen,
Burkitt, Ewald, Merx, and Zahn. Pilate's alternative is thus made very
pointed: 'Whom will ye that I release to you? Jesus Barabbxs, or Jesus
which is called Christ?' And there is something in Origen's suggestion that
the 'Jesus' may have been omitted in many copies because it seemed shocking
that such a name should be borne by a murderer. But, on the other hand,
there is the evidence of nearly all Greek MSS., including the l)est, ami of
nearly all Versions. There is also the fact that even the few witnesses which
prefix 'Jesus' to Barabbas in t/v. 16, 17, do not do so in rn: 20, 21, 26,
where we should expect to find it repeated. There is also the fact that no
trace of any such reading is found in any text of Mk. or Lk. or Jn. The
reading is rejected by the large majority of editors, including WII., who say
that "it cannot be right" {Appendix, p. 20). Sec also Z)C"(7., art. 'Bar-
abbas* ; Burkitt, Evangelion da-Mcpharrcshe, ii. pp. 192, 277.
The incident about Pilate's wife (19) perhaps comes from
the same source as the account of the death of Judas. Legend
gives her the name of Procla, which aj)pL'ars in one MS. of the
Cjospel of Nicodemus, i. 2. In the (Ireek Church she is
canonized. 'While he was sitting on the judgment-seat' (Acts
xii. 2i,xviii. 12, 16, 17, xxv. 6, 10, 17; Rom. xiv. 10; 2 ("or.
V. 10)^ suggests that Pilate was waiting until the people had
decided which prisoner they would release; comp. xxiv. 3.
' In the Septuagint ^jj/mi is usetl of a pulpit or platform (Neh. viii. 4;
2 Mac. xiii. 26). On the question of Roman governors being accomiKinieti
in the provinces by their wives sec T.ac. Attn. iii. 33-35. On the form of
the wife's mc<^<ngc (19) and of the people's reply (25) sec J. II. Moulton,
Gr.ofN.T. Gr. i. p. 183.
390 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 19-23
His wife would naturally not come into court herself, but send
a messenger; and her message is introduced here to explain
why Pilate, after giving the people their choice, still tried to
release ' that righteous Man,' whom they had rejected. In the
Gospel of Nicodemus, Pilate tells the people of his wife's message,
and they reply : " Did we not tell thee that He was a sorcerer ?
Behold He has sent a dream to thy wife."
"This intensely interesting paragraph (25-27) is the only
explanation which the Gospels give of Pilate's extraordinary
conduct in hesitating to sign the death-warrant. That a man
in his position should have troubled himself in behalf of a poor
and friendless convict demands some reason, and that which
is here given accords perfectly with the age " (Wright, Synopsis,
p. 263). The explanation is adequate and credible; but even
without it the conduct of Pilate would be intelligible. He had
a Roman's contempt for Jewish laws and customs, and he
had a Roman official's regard for elementary justice. 'He
knew that for envy the chief priests had delivered Him up'
(iS; Mk. XV. 10), and he had been greatly impressed by Christ's
bearing before him both in public and in private (Jn. xviii. 38,
xix. 12). All this would account for the Procurator's behaviour;
but the message of his wife makes it still more credible.
In ver. 20, in mentioning who it was that induced the crowd
to ask for Barabbas, Mt. adds what asking for Barabbas involved,
viz. destroying Jesus: he also, as in ver. 12, adds the elders,
where Mk. mentions only the chief priests. This 'stirring up
the multitude' took some time, during which Pilate would be
aware of what was going on. He had recognized the hypocrisy
of the hierarchy ; while pretending to be jealous for Caesar and
his government, they were really jealous of a Teacher who was
more successful and influential than themselves. But at last
he ' answered ' the sounds that reached him and put the question.
The reply did not convince him that popular feeling was against
Jesus. The crowd might be induced to vote for Barabbas, and
yet not be unfavourable to the Galilean. What was he to do
with Him ? This time there was no deliberation. The answer
came back at once, and Mt. says that it was unanimous {\iyovcnv
Trai/res) : ' Let Him be crucified.' Pilate, influenced by a
Roman's sense of justice, by his interest in the Prisoner, and
by his wife's dream, still tries to make a stand. ' Let Him be
crucified? But, for what? What has He done to deserve
that?' To that question he gets no answer. What does a
mob care about such things ? It knows what it likes and dis-
likes, and that is enough. Its only reply is to repeat still more
urgently (-epto-o-w?) what it desires : 'Let Him be crucified.'
Once more Mt. inserts into the narrative something derived
XXVn. 24 26] TASSION, DKATII, KKSUKKKCTION yjl
from local tradition (24), Wasliing the liands is a natural
symbolism for expressing freedom from guilt. ^ We find it
among the Jews (Heut. xxi. 6; Vs. xxvi. 6, Ixxiii. 13; Jos. iv.
viii. 16) and the Gentiles (^'irg. Jcf/. ii. 719; Ovid, /-'iis/i, ii. 45).
The Gospel of Nicodemus says that Pilate washed iiis liaiuls
' in the face of the sun,' tt/jos toi' yXtov (i. 9). It was not unusual
for a judge, in pronouncing sentence of death, to protest that
he incurred no guilt by causing life to be taken {Afost. Const.
ii. 52). But it is not likely that Pilate said 'I am innocent
of the blood of this righteous man.' The ' righteous ' look.s
back to his wife's message (19), and may be a later insertion
to agree with that; and 'see ye to it' seems to look back to
the reply of the hierarchy to Judas. But, whether or no Mt.
wrote it, it is not likely that Pilate said it. A Roman Procurator
would not confess to a Jewish mob that out of fear of them he
was putting an innocent man to death.
The evidence for ' the blood of this righteous man ' (N L F II, Syr-Pesh.
Vulg.) is not so weighty as for 'this blood' (B D, Syr-Sin.). The Old
L.itin is divided, a and b being for the shorter reading. Some texts have
' this righteous man' without ' the blood ' (A A, Copt. Syr-IIar. ).
The Testaments have a remarkable parallel : " I am innocent of your
ungodliness and transgression which ye shall commit"; d<?v6j e//u r^i
dae/Jft'aj vfiCiv Kal irapa^duiui fjv iroii^cfTe (L^vi x. 2).
*See ye to it,' lit. 'Ye shall see to it' (vfitU oil/ca6e), is
similar to the reply of the Sanhedrists to Judas (4) : ' See thou
to it' {(TV oipj]). Mt. once more states that the answer of the
multitude to Pilate was unanimous. 'A// the people answered
and said, His blood be on us and on our children.' It is perhaps
to this that the Gospel of Peter refers. The fragment begins
with the words: "But of the Jews no one washed his hands,
nor yet Herod, nor even one of His judges (the Sanhedrists);
and since they did not choose to wash, Pilate stood up." The
writer desires to contrast the hard-heartedness of the Jewish
judges with the scruples of a heathen judge. The point of the
tradition which Mt. preserves is that all the Jews who were
present accepted the responsibility. The crime of murdering
the Messiah is to this extent a national one.
In Mt. and Mk. the scourging is part of the capital punish-
ment. It was not unusual to scourge a criminal before crucifying
him. In Jn. the scourging is Pilate's final attempt to save
Jesus from crucifixion ; he hopes that this terrible infliction
will satisfy the Jews. Lk does not mention the scourging,
except in the prediction of what will take place (xviii, 33).
From what follows, both in Mt. and Mk., it is evident that
' Here the verb for 'washed' is a strong comivnmd {Artrl'f'aTo). I'ilatc
dramatically cleansed his hands with great tliorouglincss.
39^ GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 27-29
Pilate ' delivered Jesus ' to the soldiers^ to be executed. But
there is no contradiction between this and Jn. xix. i6, where
Pilate delivers Him to the chief priests, or Lk. xxiii. 25, where
he delivers Him to the will of the people. He handed Him
over to those who carried out the will of the priests and the
people. No mention is made of a formal sentence of death
by the Procurator, and there was no need to pronounce one.
The Sanhedrin had sentenced Jesus, but it could not execute
the sentence without Pilate's help (Jn. xviii. 31), and Pilate at
last gave this. Christ Himself said that the chief responsibility
was not with Pilate (Jn. xix. 11).
XXVII. 27-31. The Messiah is Mocked by Heathen Soldiers.
The attempt of the subtle Procurator to play off the people
against the priests has been a complete failure. The priests
have made the people as fanatical as themselves and as bitterly
hostile to Him whom the Procurator has called their King.
While the centurion and his four soldiers are making prepara-
tions for the execution, the other soldiers of the Procurator
amuse themselves by mocking the condemned Prisoner, and
they invite the rest of the cohort that had come to keep order
at the Passover to join in the sport. Some of them had taken
part in arresting Him in the garden, and therefore knew some-
thing about the case. We may regard ' the whole cohort '
(0X771/ T^v o-TTct/Dav) as a colloquial way of speaking. The soldiers
on duty called in a number of those who were outside to enjoy
a brutal amusement which throughout the ages has been common
enough in the case of condemned prisoners.^ In the case of
these Roman soldiers the maltreatment of the Condemned
would be all the more to their taste, inasmuch as it gave them
an opportunity of showing their contempt for the Jews. Here
was ' the King of the Jews ' to make sport of.
There is nothing in the Gospels to enable us to identify
the plant of which the crown of thorns was made. The con-
jectural identifications do not agree. But we need not doubt
that the crown (although ore'^aj/os and not SidSijfjia is used)
was meant to represent that of a king rather than that of a
victorious commander. The soldiers were familiar with the
ceremony of Ave Ccesar, and imitated it. Mt. alone mentions
^ Comp. in the Testaments: "They stripped off (i^edvaav) from Joseph
his coat when they were selling hitn, and put upon him the garment of a
slave " {Zcbiilon iv. 10). " They stripped me of my coat and gave me a
loin-cloth and scourged me and bade me run" [Binjaiinn ii. 3). The
Armenian omits both these passages. Field compares the account in Pkitarch
( Ponipey, 24) of the way in which the pirates mocked a prisoner who said that
he was a Roman.
XXVn. 30 32] PASSION, DKATII, UKSURKKCTION 393
that the reed was placed in Christ's hand as a sceptre before
it was used for striking Him on the head, and this gives the
key to Mt.'s arrangement of the details, in which all the mock
homage comes lirst, and all the undisguised outrage comes
afterwards. In Mk. the two kinds of insult are mixed up
together. The Gospel of Peter, while differing much in details,
has the same kind of arrangement as Mt. "And they took the
Lord, and [)ushed Him at a running pace, and said, Let us
hustle (cripwfjiev) the Son of God, as we have got Him in our
power. And they clothed Him with purple and set Him on
a seat of judgment, saying, Judge righteously, O King 0/ Israel.
And one of them brought a crown of thorns and put it on the
head of the Lord. And others stood and kept spitting in His
eyes, and others smote Him on the cheeks. Others pricked
Him with a reed, and some whipped Him, saying, With this
honour let us honour the Son of God" (iii.).
The prediction recorded xx. 19 has had its complete
fulfilment as regards the first half of it ; the fulfilment of the
second half now follows. 'They led Him away to crucify
Him.' In Mk. the change of tense {Ivilvaav avrov . . .
i^dyovaiv avrov) indicates a change of meaning in the ' they.'
Those who lead Him forth are not those who mocked Him.
In Mt. no distinction is made, and this is a loss.
XXVn. 32-44. TAe Crucifixion of the Messiah.
The behaviour of the soldiers on duty for the execution of
the Condemned is in marked contrast to that of those who had
been mocking Him and maltreating Him in their leisure time.
The outrage and brutality at once cease, and genuine considera-
tion is shown to one on whom it is their duty to inflict the last
penalty of the law. It was usual for those who were condemned
to crucifi.xion to carry their own crosses to the place of execution,
and at first our Lord had done so. The soldiers, seeing that this
was beyond His strength, compelled^ Simon the Cyrenian to
carry it for Him. Then they offered Him drugged wine, in
order to deaden the agony of crucifixion. 'I'here was no
exceptional brutality in dividing His garments among themselves ;
they were a customary percjuisite. Silting down to watch Him
was a necessary duty ; they were bound to see that He was not
rescued.- And it was in accordance with custom, and by Pilate's
* For the verb used here {ifyy6.(>t\jaa.v) comp. v. 41. The criminal usu.illy
carried only part of the cross, cither the upri^jlit or the cross-l>cam.
- Mt. perhaps inserts the silling down and watching to explain the cnsling
of lots ; the soldiers had plenty of time for this. Il is remarkable that he dues
not quote I's. xxii. 18.
394 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 32-34
order, that they placed above His head the inscription, which
was intended as an insult to His enemies rather than to Himself,
' The King of the Jews.' There may have been studied derision
in placing His cross between the crosses of the two robbers ;
but, if so, this was probably contrived by the hierarchy, who
had followed their victim to the place of execution (Jn. xix. 21).
Mt. omits that Simon of Cyrene was 'coming from the
country ' {ipxoi^evoi' oltt aypov), which seems to mean that he was
coming from work in the field, and this would have been
unlawful on the first day of the Unleavened Bread. This
apparent incongruity was perhaps the reason for the omission.
Mt. also omits that Simon was 'the father of Alexander and
Rufus,' who no doubt were persons well known to some who
would read Mk. Mt. may not have known Alexander or Rufus,
and he may have thought their names of no interest ; but he
frequently omits details, Alexander is not to be identified with
any other Alexander in the N.T., but Rufus may very possibly
be the Rufus of Rom. xvi. 13 ; see Sanday and Headlam, ad loc. ;
also DCG., artt. 'Alexander and Rufus' and 'Cyrene.' This
Rufus may also be the Rufus of the Epistle of Polycarp (ix.) ; see
Lightfoot, ad loc.
Mt., Mk., and Jn., all give the Greek equivalent of 'Golgotha'
as 'place of a skull' or 'skull-place' (Kpaviov roVos), and this
rather clumsy name may have been in use among the Greek-
speaking Jews, Lk. calls it simply 'skull' {KpavLov) or 'The
skull,' so named, probably, from the shape of the mound or rock.
That it got its name from the skulls of criminals lying there
unburied is incredible. The Jews would not have tolerated
unburied bones ; and the name in that case would have been
' place of skulls.' ^ The curious legend which connects the
place and name with the skull of Adam (whence the skull at the
foot of the cross in many pictures of the Crucifixion) was known
to Jerome, and perhaps to Origen.^ We must be content to
remain in even greater doubt respecting the site of Golgotha
than respecting the origin of the name. At present we have not
data for a decisive opinion. See Sanday, Sacred Sites of the
Gospels, pp. 54, 68-77 ; DCG., art. 'Golgotha.'
The 'wine mingled with gall' (34) is not out of harmony
with the 'myrrh'd wine' {i<jp.vpvi(jp.i.vov oXvov) of Mk, 'Gall'
(xoA.17) is a vague word for drugs with a bitter taste, and the
^ This second objection holds, even if the skulls are supposed to have been
buried ; and why ' skull ' or ' skulls ' if the bodies of criminals were buried
there ? Would not ' bones ' or ' skeletons ' be more probable ?
- Some Fathers call it a Jewish tradition ; but it is not likely to have
been pre-Christian : it is, no doubt, Jewish-Christian, to bring the first Adam
into contact with the Second, that tbi erecttts sit viedicus, ttbi jacebat cBgrotus
(Augustine).
XXVn. 34 38] PASSION, DKATH, RESURRKCTION 395
meaning in each Gospel is that the wine was dnigged, prohahly
with other things besides 'gall' and 'myrrh.* It seems to have
been a Jewish custom to give a drink of this kind to those who
had been condemned by the Sanhedrin to be stoneil, and it is
s.iid that there was a sort of women's guild in Jerusalem for
supplying condemned criminals with these anx'sthelics (Wctstein
on Mk.). 'Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish, and
wine unto the bitter of soul' (I'rov. xxxi. 6) would apply to this,
though probably not intended to do so. It is quite possible
that a recollection of Vs. Ixix. 21 made Mt. substitute 'gall' for
' myrrh,' and it is probable that such a recollection caused * wine '
in some texts to be changed to ' vinegar.'
• Wine * (otfof) is the reading of N B D K I. II, Vuljj. Acgyptt. Ann. Aclh.,
while 'vinegar' (fjoi) is supported hy ANTA, Irena-us. Old Ijitin and
Syriac texts are divided. liam.ibas vii. 5 is probably not a reference to this
passage, and throws no light on the reading.
That our Lord tasted the medicated draught is told us by
Mt. alone ; and it is a little remarkable that he should mention
such a fact, while Mk. does not. Mk. has simply, ' He received
it not' (oi'ic tXapev), • He refused to take it.' Had Mk. stated
that He tasted before refusing, and Mt. omitted the tasting, we
might have supposed that Mt., as often, was omitting what
seemed to imply ignorance on Christ's part ; for certainly the
tasting does seem to imply that our Lord did not know what
kind of drink it was until He tasted it. The fact is parallel to
His going up to the braggart fig-tree, to see whether it had any
fruit. In both cases our Lord seems to have abstained from
using supernatural power where natural power sufllred. We may
suppose that He refused to drink the cup which would have
deadened His sufTerings because He desired to drink to the full
the cup which His Father had given to Him (Jn. xviii. 1 1).^
After the casting of lots, which is in all four Gospels, Mt. omits 05 sujicr-
fluous 'what each should lake' (Mk.). The second half of vcr. 35, 'That
it might be fulfilled,' etc. (.W.), is no douht a later inteqxilation from Jn.
xix. 24. The words arc found in A*, some I .at in and some Syriac tcxu,
and Ann. But they are wanting in K A B D L F II 2, Syr-Sin. Acg>|)tt.
Acth.
In what follows {36) Mt. has 'And they T' ■"'
wlicre Mk. has ' And it was the third hour, nml • c
seen that Mt. is apt to omit details, esjK-d.illy
xiv. 16, 19, xxvi. 9) ; and here he may liive "e
hour involved diflkulty. For ' cruel lH<i Him ' c
I^tin texts have 'gu.irded Him' (^>f>i'\aaaoy It
looks as if Mt. had had a text of Mk. with this rcadiat; : uthcrwac, wliy ilijuld
he change ' crucified ' into ' walchc<l ' ?
' That He refused it l)ccausc of iu nauseous taste d<>c» not term to 1<
adequate; but sec Wright, Compoiitiim of the Gaftts, p. 126.
396 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 38
It has often been pointed out that no two Gospels agree as
to the wording of the title on the cross ; but all four have the
significant words, 'The King of the Jews.' Yet it is probable
that Mt. is right in putting ' Jesus ' also, for it was usual to give
the name of the condemned ; and Jn. is probably right in adding
' the Nazarene ' (5 Na^wpatos) to ' Jesus.' S. John had read the
inscription again and again, as he stood by the Crucified ; and
it is he who tells us that it was written in the two languages of
the country as well as in the official Latin. The Gospel of
Nicodemus repeats this ; but it rather confusedly adds that Pilate
ordered this ' in accordance with what the Jews had said' ; while
the Gospel of Peter altogether spoils the Procurator's mockery,
by not merely attributing the inscription to Jews, but making it
run, 'This is the King of Israel.' '^ See pp. 387, 393.
The two robbers (38) may have been connected in crime
with Barabbas, but at any rate they were ' bandits ' (Ar/o-rat)
plundering by violence, and not pitiful ' thieves ' (KAeVrat).
They had perhaps been condemned about the same time that
our Lord was condemned, for one of them had heard Him
speak about His Kingdom (Lk. xxiii. 42) ; and they had
certainly been led with Him to execution (Lk.). Now they are
placed, in derision of Him, one on each side of Him, He is
enthroned on a gibbet as King of the robbers. Thus, through
the malice of His enemies, the very manner of His death illus-
trates the purpose and the result of His coming into the world.
He came to save the penitent ; but that involved a separation
of the penitent from the impenitent (Jn. iii. 19-21, xii. 46-48);
and He separates the penitent from the impenitent on the cross ;
like Aaron (Num. xvi. 48), ' He stood between the dead and the
living.'
The names given to the two robbers in legend have no historical value.
Dismas, Dysmas, Dymas, Dimas, and Demas are variant names for the
penitent robber, Gestas, Gesmas, and Stegas for the impenitent. In the
Arabic Gospel of the Infancy the two are called Titus and Dumachus
(0eo/taxos) ; in Codex Colbertinus, Zoathan and Charamatha ; in Codex
Rhedigeranus, loathas and Maggatras ; in Bede, Matha and Joca ; in Xaverius
(Persian Life of Christ), Zjustin and Visimus. But perhaps the commonest
names are Dismas and Gestas. The Bonus Latro is commemorated in the
Roman Church on 25th March, in the Greek Church on the 23rd March.
In mentioning the crucifixion of the robbers, Mt. has the
passive where Mk. has the active. This is frequently the case
^ That criminals had the tititius, stating their crime, fastened to their
necks, as they went to the place of execution, is established : that it was
fastened above their heads on the cross is probable, but evidence of such a
custom seems to be wanting. The crux immissa (with a projection above
the cross-beam), which was the commonest shape, would suggest the affixing
of the ti/iilus there.
XXVII. 38 42] PASSION, DKATH, Kl'SURRFCTION 397
(iv, I, viii. 15, xiv. 11, xix. 13, xxiv. 22, etc.). Here tho clianj^e
seems to be made for the sake of greater accuracy. In Mk. tlie
natural meaning is that the soldiers who crucified Jesus crucified
the two robbers with Him ; but the 'they' is, no doubt, indefinite
all through (16-27), — any soldiers. Each, however, of the three
who were to be crucified would be in charge of a different
quaternion of soldiers. Mt, having finished the action of those
who crucified our Lord, goes on: 'Then arc there crucified
with Him two robbers'; but he does not say or imply that it
is the same set of soldiers as before who do this. And we
may note the characteristic ' Then ' and the unusual historic
present.
There is nothing to show who 'they that passed by and
railed on Him ' were, but they know about the charges which
had been brought against Him in the .Sanhedrin (xxvi. 61, 63).
The sarcastic, 'Save Thyself is in all three Synoptists. In
choosing the expression 'they that pass by' (ol Trafxnroptvoficvoi)
the Evangelists were probably influenced by I^im. i. 12, ii. 15 ;
comp. Ps. xxii. S ; Is. li. 23. These mockers are not the
hierarchy, who are separately mentioned ; but they are prob-
ably some who had been induced to clamour for the release
of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus, and who perhaps
a day or two earlier had joined in the shouts of Hosanna.
In describing the Sanhedrists (41), Mt. again adds 'the
elders,' as in vv. 12, 20. Their words of derision, 'Others He
saved,' is in all three. Yet this sarcasm, with its sequel,
' Himself He cannot save,' though spoken in mockery, was
both true and also a great glory. The mockers were among
those whom He was dying to save ; and He could not come
down from the cross and save Himself, because He was held,
not by the nails, but by His will to save them.
They said, ' We will believe on Him, if He comes down
from the cross.' Would they have done so? They !iad Moses
and the Prophets, and yet they did not believe on Him. They
had heard His words and seen His mighty works, and yet they
did not believe on Him. Nevertheless, after His Resurrection
and the preaching and mighty works of the Apostles, 'a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith' (.Acts vi. 7) ;
but much has to happen before that is accomplished. Here it
is possible that we have a confirmation of the statement that the
chief priests made a vain attempt to get Pilate to alter the
inscription on the cross (Jn. xix. 21, 22). In their chagrin,
they accept the titulus, but they express it in their own way,
'King of Israel,' instead of 'the King of the Jews,' and they
express their willingness to accept Him, if He will give thcni
a sign (xii. 38, 39, xvi. i). Such demands were never granted.
398 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 45
The addition to their mockery which Mt. here makes, looks
as if it was his own thought put into their mouths. Their words
suggest to the Evangehst the words of Ps. xxii. 8 (with perhaps
a reminiscence of Is. xxxvi. 5 or 2 Chron. xvi. 7)/ and he adds
the quotation as being appropriate. It is not very Ukely that
the Sanhedrists, if the words of the Ps. occurred to them, would
utter them aloud. But it is possible that Mk. omitted the
quotation for the same reason that he omits almost all references
to the Old Testament, as having little interest for Gentile
readers.
It would seem as if neither Mt. nor Mk. knew anything
about the penitent robber. The tradition which they follow
recorded that reproaches came from the robbers ; and it is, of
course, possible that at first both robbers reproached Christ. But
this harmonistic hypothesis must not be asserted as a certainty.
XXVII. 45-56. The Death of the Messiah.
The darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour (twelve till
three o'clock) is in all three Synoptists, and this is the first
mention of an hour of the day by Mt. The Gospel of Peter
says that "it was noon," and it probably gives the right inter-
pretation of the Evangehsts when it goes on to say that "darkness
covered all Judsea." ' All the earthy or ' the whole earthy may
be justified as a translation (Lk. xxi. 35 ; Rev. xiii. 3), but it is
not what seems to be meant. The darkness 'over all the land
of Egypt' {litX TTua-av yrjv AlyvirTov) is perhaps in the narrator's
mind. There is here, says an ancient commentator, "the sign
from heaven which they asked Jesus to give " (Victor of Antioch).
But there is no need to insist upon anything miraculous. Ex-
traordinary events proceeding from natural causes may rightly
be regarded as signs ; but caution and insight are required for
the interpretation of them. Was Nature throwing a veil over
the sufferings of the Messiah? or expressing sympathy with
them? or protesting against the conduct of the Jews? Ideas
such as these are found in the Fathers, and we can neither
affirm nor contradict them. As a cause of the darkness an
eclipse is impossible, for it was the time of the Paschal full-
moon. The Gospel of Peter says that " many went about with
lamps, supposing that it was night, and fell down." In the so-
called Report of Pilate to Tiberius, the Procurator assumes that
the Emperor is aware that " in all the world they lighted lamps
from the sixth hour until evening."
^ The change from ' hoped ' to ' trusted ' suggests this. There is perhaps
also an echo of Wisd. ii. 18 : ' But if the righteous man is God's son, He
will uphold him.'
XXVII. 46. 47] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 399
Neither Mk. nor Mt. give any other word from the cross
tlian the one which is recorded here (46), and which both of
tliem give in Aramaic, with the interpretation in (ireek. Hitherto
Mt. has given only single Aramaic words (Amen, Corban,
Mamon, I'ascha, Raca, Satan, and Golgotha), but here in
company with Mk. he gives us a sentence in Aramaic* The
translation which Mt. and Mk. give is that of the Septuagint,
except that Mt. has the vocative instead of the nominative used
for the vocative (0et /xov for 6 0cds fiov), while Mk. more exactly
follows the Greek of Ps. xxii. i, although he has ci's ti for
aa Ti'. The translation in the Gospel of Peter is remarkable :
" My jiower, power, thou has forsaken Me." And this is
followed by "And when He had said it He was taken up."
This and other features in the fragment seem to show that the
Gospel of Peter favoured the Gnostic view that the Divine Son
of God was united to the human Son of Mary at His Haptism
and departed from Him at the Crucifixion. This word from
the cross, like the final cry (5o = Mk. xv. 37 = Lk. xxiii. 46), is
said to have been uttered in a loud voice. For an awful moment,
the agony of which is beyond our comprehension, even the love
of the Father seemed to have been withdrawn from Him. A
passage in the Testaments may serve as a comment : " For the
Lord doth not forsake (cyKaTaAttVci) them that fear Him, not
in darkness, or bonds, or afflictions, or necessities. . . . P'or a
little space He departeth, to try (BoKifidaai) the inclination of
the soul. . . . Because long-suffering is a mighty charm (<;/)ap/iaKo»'),
and endurance giveth many good things" {Joseph ii. 4-7).
Whether 'This man calleth Elijah 'was sjHjken in mockery
or not does not appear. ' Let us see whether Elijah comcth to
save Him ' (49) does not prove that the group of jjcrsons who
started the idea did so in a spirit of derision. Elijah, it is said,
was regarded as "a deliverer in time of trouble," and these by-
standers ^ may have been serious in thinking that Jesus had
invoked his aid. In any case, the remark seems to favour the
form ' Eli ' rather than ' Eloi ' ; but Mt. may liave made the
change because in Greek »/X<i sounds more like "HA/a? than
cAojt does. Neither Mt. nor Mk. mention the cry of ' I thirst,'
which Jn. tells us led to the 'vinegar' or sour wine {posca) being
put to our Lord's lips in a sponge. Jn. uses the plural, but it
is not likely that more than one man acted in this way, and
' It is rcmarkahic that in Mk., who wrote for (Jcntilci, Aramaic ex-
pressions arc more frajucnt than in Mt., who wrote n)r Jewish Christians.
Sec Schtlrcr, II. i. 9; Ilastinjis' 1)1!. iii. p. 30; l»;ihii.in, H'ords, p. jj.
The exact wording of the cry in Mk. :in<l .Mt. nni.iiiis a proljlcm which
cannot be solved with any certainly. Sec .Switc i.n Mk. xv. 34. 35.
* Mt. has his favourite ' there ' (rif <"*€• tVTi;«<Jrafi'), where .Mk. has simply
Tuif iarriKuTuf. Comp. xiv. 23, xv. 29, xix. 2, xxi. 17, xxvi. 36, 71.
400 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 49, 5C
both Mt. (eh) and Mk. (rt?) say expressly one. And as John
stood by the cross we may beUeve that it was a stalk of hyssop/
and not a reed that was used by the compassionate bystander.
Thus far there is no serious divergence between the three
narratives. But Mk. says that it was this same man who cried :
' Let be ("A^ere) : let us see whether Elijah cometh to take Him
down'; while Mt. says that it was 'the rest' (ol Xolttol) who
cried: ^Let be ("Ac^e?) : let us see whether Elijah cometh to
save Him.' 2 That is, Mk. represents the compassionate man
as deprecating the interference of the rest; whereas Mt. says
that it was the rest who told him to stop and leave everything
to Elijah. It is difficult to see the reason for these changes,
unless Mt. had some authority other than Mk.
At the end of ver. 49 there is a remarkable interpolation from Jn. xix. 34
which must have been made very early, for it is found in N B C L U T and
five inferior cursives ; some Latin texts, Syr-Hier. and Aeth. ; Chrys. and
perhaps Tatian. Even if the words dWos d^ \apihv \6yxvv iw^ev avrov ttjv
rrXevpap /cat e^TJXdev vdup Kal alfia were placed here in Tatian's Diatessaron,
that would not account for their presence in the authorities quoted above.
Tatian's work had no such influence, and the evidence points to an earlier
insertion. It is perhaps just possible that the words were in the original text
of Mt., and were omitted in all other MSS. and Versions on account of their
intrinsic difficulty and contradiction of S. John, who places the piercing after
Christ's death. But it is improbable that Mt. would have recorded the pierc-
ing of the side and the effusion of blood and water, and would then have gone
on to say that Jesus again cried with a loud voice. And would Mt. have
recorded the piercing without recalling the Scripture which S. John quotes
in connexion with it ? Whereas it is not impossible that a mere copyist would
make an insertion out of harmony with the context, being led to do so because
eh e'l ai'rwj' (Mt. xxvii. 48) recalled els tQv aTpariUTiSv (Jn. xix. 34). " Eine
ungeschickte Interpolation aus Jo xix. 34" is Zahn's conclusion, and it is
prob.ably correct. So also Salmon: "If the passage had ever been in the
genuine text of the First Gospel, it could never have been eliminated, so
asto leave so little trace of its existence" [Htunan Element, p. 524). He
thinks that some one, remembering the story as told by S. John, severed the
incident from its true connexion. See Nestle, Textual Criticism, pp. 227,
228.
The way in which Mt. (50) changes the wording of Mk.
(xv. 37) in recording the death of the Messiah brings out with
greater clearness that the death was a voluntary laying down of
His life (Jn. x. 18). He transfers the 'sending forth' or 'letting
go ' (dcjiuvai) from the cry to the spirit : instead of ' Jesus, having
sent forth a loud voice, expired,' Mt. has, 'Jesus, having cried
^ Unless we adopt the conjectural reading vcraf for vffiTihwup. A pihim or
javelin seems more probable than hyssop, but S. John would' remember that
it was not a reed.
^ Ought there to be a comma between "A^es or'A^ere and iSufiev? Why
not take the two verbs together, as in the case of dcpes iK^dXu) (vii. 4), and
translate, 'Let us see,' without a preceding 'Let be'? J. H. Moulton,
Gram, of N,T. Gr. p. 175.
XXVn. 51] PASSION, DKATII, RESURRECTION 401
again with a loud voice, sent forth His spirit.' Jn. also em-
phasizes the voluntary surrender of life : Trap(8<i>K€v to tticv/xu.
The Messiah did not die of exhaustion, strugglini^ for life. Of
His own will He let go what He could have retained. "Who
goes away so entirely when He pleases as Jesus died when He
pleased?" (Aug. Tr. in Joh. xix. 30). The 'again' in Mt. refers
to the cry, ' My God, My God ' (46). Lk. tells us what the later
cry was : ' Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit ' (xxiii.
46). Like the earlier cry, it comes from the Psalms (x.xxi. 5).
That our Lord knew the Psalms and used them is at least as
probable as that the Evangelists attributed suitable words from
the Psalms to Him. And do the other Words from the Cross
look like inventions ? Contrast the inventions in the apocr)-phal
gospels.
The rending of the veil of the Temple (51) is recorded by
all three Synoptists, and Mt. makes little change in the wording
of Mk.^ But Lk. connects it with the darkness which preceded
the death, Mt. with the earthquake which followed the death,
and which he alone mentions. Mk. mentions it after the death
without special connexion. We may suppose that the priests,
' a great company ' of whom became ' obedient to the faith ' after
Pentecost (Acts vi. 7), were the authorities for this remarkable
occurrence. This veil separated the Holy of Holies from the
Holy Place, and it is mentioned nowhere else in the N.T., for
Heb. ix. 3 refers to the Tabernacle, not to the Temple. The
rending of it is mentioned, possibly as a portent, but more
probably as symbolical of the change which was involved in the
death of the Messiah. The rending would indicate that the
special sanctity of the place was now at an end, because the
purpose for which the Temple and its ser^'ices had been continued
no longer existed. That which had hitherto been screened off
from the world was now thrown open to be trodden underfoot
by the Gentiles (Lk. xxi. 24). Or again, that which had hitherto
been accessible to the high priest alone, and to him but once
a year, was now thrown open to all Christians, at all times, for
in Christ each Christian is a high priest (Heb. x. 19 and West-
cott's note). Every barrier between the soul of man and the
presence of God was removed by the death of the Messiah.
Jerome says that the Gospel according to the Hebrews stated
that it was a lintel {superlimenare) of the Temple that was rent
(Ep. cxx. ad Hedib. 8 ; in Mt.). It is likely enough that damage
* In the Tcst.iments ihe best texts give a prallel : "The veil of the
temple shall tie rent, so as not to cover your sh.ime" ; ffxi<T<?r}<r«Ta« tA xara-
ir(TO(r/ia tov vaoxi {Levi ix. 3). Hut some texts have iy6tfia, which would
ix>int to the rending of g.irmcnls, rather than of the veil. Sec Charles,
ad loc.
36
402 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 51, 52
to the building accompanied the rending of the veil; but it is
rash to say that the veil " must have been torn asunder by angel
hands." Of the manner of rending we know nothing.
Josephus {B. J. VI. v. 3) mentions a number of portents
which preceded the destruction of the Temple, and among them,
that at the Passover the heavy gates of the Temple, which were
shut with difficulty by twenty men, and had bolts fastened deep
into a solid stone, opened of their own accord in the night. The
Gemara mentions a similar thing as happening at a Passover
about forty years before the overthrow of Jerusalem. As Neander
and Zahn remark, these statements point to a recollection of
sotnething extraordinary having taken place in the Temple at the
time of the Crucifixion. Since the Jews turned the Temple into
a robbers' den (xxi. 13), Mt. has regarded it as doomed, and he
here indicates that its desolation has begun. See DCG., art.
' Veil'
Mt. adds two other portents to the rending of the veil : ^ an
earthquake, which rent the rocks and opened the tombs; and
the resurrection of certain holy persons, who left the tombs and
appeared to many in Jerusalem.- There was no doubt a tradition
to this effect among Palestinian Christians, and the Evangelist
thought it worthy of being inserted here. The earthquake helps
to explain the rending of the veil and (if the other story be
accepted) the breaking of the lintel, and it is not impossible that
the earthquake was an inference from these strange phenomena.
If they took place, must they not have been caused by an earth-
quake ? And if the earthquake took place, would not tombs be
opened? Then open tombs at once suggest resurrection. We
seem to have here a tradition with a legendary element in it.^
Mk. and Lk., while agreeing with Mt. about the darkness and
the rending of the veil, are silent about the earthquake and the
resurrection of the saints. And the tradition as given by Mt.
is inconsistent with itself. The opening of the tombs, the rising
of the bodies of the saints, and their coming out of the tombs
must be thought of as taking place at the same time ; and yet,
while the opening of the tombs is caused by the earthquake at
the Crucifixion, the bodies are said to have come out of the
1 It IS possible that here again Mt. is making a triplet. Three signs
attest the Messiahship of the Crucified : the rending of the veil, the earth-
quake, and the resurrection of the saints.
2 With ' the holy cily ' comp. iv. 5 and reff.
2 What is recorded in the Gospels has a tendency to grow. Arnobius
{_adv. Gentes, i. 53) says that "all the elements of the universe were thrown into
confusion ' ; and in writings attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite it is said
that, when the pliilosophers at Athens could not explain these wonders, it
was concluded that the God of nature was suffering, and the people raised an
altar to Him with the inscription, To the unknown God.
XXVII. 53, 53] PASSION, Di: ATII, RESURKIa.TION 403
tombs 'after His Resurrection.' Mt. or his authority lias ackkd
'after His Resurrection' in order to preserve for the Messiah
the glory of being 'the firstfruits of them that are asleep' (i Cor.
XV. 20, 23) ; but the words do not harmonize with the context.
The word for ' resurrection ' (tyt/io-is) occurs nowhere else in the
NT., nor in the Septuagint in this sense.^ The usual word in
this Gospel (xxii. 23, 28, 30, 31) and elsewhere, in Gospel.s, Acts,
and Epistles, is di-ucrTao-i?. And who are these ' saints ' ? The
expression (ot dyiot) is found nowhere else in the Gospels ; and
elsewhere in the N.T. it is used always of Christians (Acts ix. 13,
41; Rom. xii. 13, xv. 25, 26, 31, etc.). It would seem, there-
fore, to mean those who, like Simeon and Anna, Zacharias and
Elizabeth, had accepted Jesus as the Messiah ; and it was
perhaps in order to point to saints of the O.T. that the reading
Tu)v SiKaiwv (Syr-Sin., Tatian) was substituted. What was
the purpose of their appearing to many in Jerusalem ? And
what became of these ^bodies of the saints' (a remarkable expres-
sion) after they had appeared to others? Did they return to
their tombs ? We are not told that their appearance produced
belief in the Resurrection of the Messiah, or served any other
purpose. Comp. Heb. xi. 40, xii. 23.
On the other hand, there is no textual evidence that the
passage is an interpolation, and we need not doubt that the
tradition of these resurrections was believed by the Evangelist
himself. Westcott {Int. to the Study of the Gospels, p. 328)
classes it with other details which are peculiar to Mt.'s narrative
of the Passion, and which "all tend to show how the Mtssiahship
of Jesus was attested during the course of events which checked
the faith of some." It is possible that Ignatius refers to these
resurrections in connexion with the descent into Hades {Magms.
ix. ; see Lightfoot's note), and it is certain that Eusebius does
{Dem. Ev. x. 8, p. 501). Moreover, although the earthquake
is not mentioned by Mk., yet something of the kind seems to
be required in order to explain the exclamation of the centurion,
which, according to Mk., was caused simply by the way in which
Christ gave up His life.^ Would the loud voice suffice to con-
vince the Roman officer that this was not only an innocent (Lk.),
' It may be understood actively, 'after the raising of Ilim'; comp. 'for
the raising up of the House of the Lord" (i Esdr. v. 62) ; also of Gideon's
rousing the guards {iy^p<T(i i^yfipd') in the A text of Judg. vii. 19. Hut 'my
downsiuing and mine uprising ' (Vs. cxxxix. 2) favours (he neuter signification.
* In the Testaments there is a passage which predicts two of these excep-
tional phenomena (the rending of the rocks and the darkness) as among the
judgments which are coming upon the sons of men : 5ti mpdiy aKi^ofUvmy, cat
ToO j)\lov a^tvvvfjiivov or okotiIo^lIvov. A few lines luwer down is an oliscurc
line which may be an intcrjjolatinn referring \o Hades iK-ing spoiled by the
resurrection of these saints {Levi iv. I). See Charles, ad loc.
404 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 54
but a supernatural (Mk., Mt.) person? Nevertheless, the resur-
rection of the saints had nothing to do with that conviction, and
when we have admitted the earthquake as historical, in spite
of the silence of Mk. and Lk., we have still the difficulty of the
bodies leaving the tombs to explain. The earthquake explains
how such a tradition might arise, but it is no evidence of its
truth. The saints might have risen without the earthquake, and
the earthquake might take place without their resurrection.
Those who accept the tradition as true " consider it full of
spiritual meaning as to the supernatural character of our Lord's
death in relation to the holy dead, holding that it was a mani-
festation of His power over death and the grave (i) by the
resurrection of some from Hades, (2) by the clothing of them
with a resurrection body, and (3) by permission to appear to
those who knew them " {DCG., art. ' Saints '). See also Andrews,
Life of Our Lord, p. 561; Edersheim, Life and Times, ii.
p. 612 ; Alford and B. Weiss, ad loc.
After this anticipation of the Resurrection, the Evangelist
returns to the moment of Christ's death (54). Mt. alone says
that those who were guarding Jesus joined with the centurion in
declaring that there must be something more than human in one
whose death was accompanied by such phenomena. In this we
see again his tendency to enhance whatever contributed to the
glory of the Messiah. He emphasizes the wonderful character
of the miracles which adorned His life ; and here he augments
the testimony of those who were impressed by the manner of His
death. Instead of repeating Mk.'s rather otiose statement that
the centurion 'stood by over against Him,' he brings in the other
Roman soldiers, and adds that all of them ' feared exceedingly.'
And he omits the 'man' (avOpw-n-o?, Mk., Lk.) from the exclama-
tion : ' Truly this man was a son of God.' There is no article before
' son,' and the centurion, however much he may have heard of
the conversations with Pilate (Jn. xix. 7), cannot have meant
very much by ' son of God.' It is remarkable that the Gospel
which records the words that explain the centurion's expression,
' Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,' does not record
the expression. Lk. has, ' Certainly this was a righteous 7na?i.^
We have already had one excellent centurion in the Gospel
narrative (viii. 5-13), and this one is another worthy repre-
sentative of the class. Polybius (vi. 24) tells us what solid
and strong characters were looked for in those who were pro-
moted to be centurions. It illustrates the want of originality
in legends, which constantly borrow features from earlier
legends, that the name Longinus {Xoyxq) is given both to
this centurion and to the soldier who pierced Christ's side
with a spear; also to a prefect who was commissioned by
XXVn. 65, 66] PASSION, DKATII, UESUKkKCTION 405
Nero to put S. Tiiul to death (Donehoo, The Apocryphal Life
of Christ, p. 360).
In this mention of the women who were present at the
Crucifixion (55, 56), Mt. has a smoother arrangement of clauses
than Mk.,1 and it is perhaps not without purpose that he chanj^es
'also' {Kai) into his favourite 'there' (tVci). Mk. couples tlie
women with the centurion : ' And there were also women.'
They, like the centurion, regarded the death of the Messiah wiili
sympathy. Mt. suggests no such coniparison : 'And many
women were there.^ It is one more instance of candour on the
part of the Evangelists that they record how women, who migiit
be expected to have less courage, watched till the very end, after
all the disciples had left Him and Hed (xxvi. 56 ; Mk. xiv. 50).
All three mention that these women were from (Galilee, and are
therefore not to be identified with the 'daughters of Jerusalem'
(Lk. xxiii. 28) who had witnessed the procession to Calvary.
Both Mt. and Mk. mention that there were many of them.
Mary Magdalen is introduced as a well-known person, although
she has not been previously mentioned in the Gospel. It is
from Lk. (viii. 2) and from the appendix to Mk. (xvi. 9) that we
learn that she had been freed from demoniacal possession.
MaySaX?;!?; probably means 'of Magdala'; comp. Na^apj/i-o's.
She is not to be identified with any other Mary, and certainly
not with the 'sinner' of Lk. vii. 37, which is "a graver error in
Western Christian tradition" (Swete), yet impossible to eradicate.
'The mother of the sons of Zebcdee' (Mt.) is, no douljt,
identical with 'Salome' (Mk.). She has already been mentioned
XX. 20, where Mt. transfers to her the ambitious retiuest for her
sons which Mk. attributes to the sons themselves. ' Mary the
mother of James and Joseph' is the same as ' ^L^^y of (,"l(jpas'
(Jn. xix. 25); but she was not the sister of the \'irgin, and
Clopas is not to be identified with Al[)ha.'us, nor with the
Cleopas of Lk. xxiv. 18. We cannot safely argue that James
and Joseph are mentioned because they were leading men in the
Apostolic age. They are mentioned here in order to distinguish
their mother from other women of the same name.
Here, as in xiii. 55, Mt., according to the Iwst texts, has 'Joseph,' while
Mk., according to the best texts, has Joses ; l)Ut the evidence is confused.
Joseph and Joses are different forms of the same name ; but the Joseph or
' In changing, as often, imperfects (i\K6\oi'0ovv koX Siij^iJi'oi'f) into the
aorist (i)Ko\o\;0-i\a<xv 0(o»roi'oO<ra«), ^^t. makes the statt-mcnl less accurate. It
was during the stay in Galilee, and not merely on the journey to Jerusalem,
that these women ministered to the Messiah, and in s<jme cases ihcir minister-
ing was prompted by what lie had dime f«ir them in he:iling them. It \yxs
been noticed that no women arc mentioned among lliose who were hostile
to the Messiah.
406 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVII. 67, 58
Joses of xiii. 55 and Mk. vi. 3, who is a brother of the Lord, is not to be
identified with the Joseph or Joses here and Mk. xv. 40, any more than the
James there is to be identified with the James here, whom Mk. (xv. 40) calls
'James the little,' to distinguish him from the son of Zebedee, where 'the
little' (6 /jLiKpds) probably refers to stature, as in Lk. xix. 3. Both here and
Mk. XV. 40, Syr-Sin. has ' the daughter of James and mother of Joseph,' which
is not hkely to be the meaning of 17 tov 'Ia/cw/3ou koX 'Iwo-t?^ /j-vtvp- The Aeth.
has fJ.riTT]p with both names, while some Old Latin texts have fJLrjTVR with
neither. It is probable that Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward
(Lk. viii. 3, xxiv. 10), was among the many women whom Mt. and Mk. do
not name.
Mt. alone, here and xx. 20, speaks of 'the mother of the sons of Zebedee.'
Why he should avoid mentioning their names here is not obvious. Mt., Mk. ,
and Jn. tell us that Maiy Magdalen was present at the Crucifixion, and we
may infer this from Lk. xxiii. 49, xxiv. 10. Jn. alone tells us that the
Mother of Jesus was there.
XXVII. 57-61. T/ie Burial of the Messiah.
Mt. follows Mk. in noting that it was evening, but he omits
'because it was the Preparation, that is, the day before the
sabbath.' He also substitutes 'rich' for 'a councillor of
honourable estate,' and 'was Jesus' disciple' (i/xaO^jTivOr] tw
'Itjo-ov) for 'was looking for the Kingdom of God.' All three
changes may be mere abbreviations, but the change to ' rich ' is
perhaps made with a view to ' with the rich in his death ' (Is.
Hii. 9). By 'evening' (oi/^ta) is meant the time between 3 p.m.,
when our Lord died, and sunset, after which no work could be
done.
Joseph of Arimathaea, with the centurion and the women,
may be counted as a triplet of those who regarded the Cruci-
fixion with sympathy and reverence. But it is not a triplet of
Mt.'s own making, for the arrangement is already in Mk. In the
case of the signs which accompanied the Messiah's death, the
triplet is made by Mt.'s adding two signs to the one recorded
by Mk. Nevertheless, the triplets in Mk. may have had an
attraction for Mt., so that he adopted them readily. The
identification of Arimathaea with Ramathaim, the birth-place and
burial-place of Samuel, is possible, but not certain.
We may believe that Joseph of Arimathjea had, like Simeon
and Anna, been ' looking for the Kingdom of God ' before he
came into contact with Jesus. Then he became a secret disciple.
At the death of the Master he became an open one. He
'summoned up courage ' (roXp/o-as), as Mk. says, and went in
before the Procurator to ask for the Lord's Body. It did re-
quire courage to do this. Pilate had just been driven by the
Sanhedrin to put an innocent man to death — a humiliating
experience for the official representative of Roman Law, and he
could not be expected to be gracious to a member of that court.
XXVII. 58-61] PASSION, DK ATII, KKSURUl-XTION 407
Joseph hnd no legal claim to the llody, for he was not a relation.
He would therefore have to explain why he was intercsud in the
burial, and this would amount to confessing that he had been a
disciple of ' the King of the Jews.' Moreover, his recjuest to the
Procurator would become known, and this might bring him into
serious collision with the hierarchy.
Both Mt. and Lk. avoid the term 'corpse* (Trrw/xa), which is
what Mk. says that Pilate 'granted' («^^w/>»/<raTo). The latter
expression perhaps means that there was no need to bribe the
Procurator, whereas Mt.'s expression (iKiXiva-iv uTroSoOipai) might
mean that Pilate commanded the Body to be delivered in return
for a fee.^ Both Mt. and Lk. omit Pilate's surprise at Christ's
being already dead, and his asking the centurion if it were a fact.
The centurion's report of the circumstances of Christ's death
would make Pilate disposed to grant Joseph's request without a
fee. Mt. and Mk. seem to im[)ly that Pilate had the Body taken
down by soldiers and given to Joseph ; but Lk. expressly states
that Joseph took it down, and Jn. adds that Nicodemus helped
him.
Again, both ^^t. and Lk. omit the buying of the linen, but
Mt. mentions that it was 'clean' {andovi kaHafm), which means
that, like the tomb, it had not been used. This 'clean linen'
may be the same as the strips (o^o'i-ia) with which the spices
were bound to the Body (Jn. xix. 40). Neither Mt. nor Mk.
mention either these spices or those which the women prepared,
for use when the sabbath was over (Lk.). They merely tell us
that two of the women watched the sepulchre.
That the tomb was hewn in rock is of importance in reference
to the lie that the disciples had stolen the Body. They could
not have removed it without breaking the seal. The sepulchre
was probably a small chamber, along one side of which was a
shelf cut in the rock, and on this shelf the Body was laid. The
'great stone' (Mt. perhaps gets 'great' from Mk. xvi. 4) was no
doubt ready for use. It was these stones, forming the doors to
tombs, that were whitewashed every spring (xxiii. 27) to prevent
passers-by from being made ceremonially unclean. The stones
were sometimes round and flat, like milistoiKs, lying upright against
the face of the rock in which the excavation was matle. They
could then be easily rolled backwards and forwards, to open or
close the aperture.
' Mary the mother of James and Joseph ' (56) must be meant
by 'the other Mary.' Mk. calls her 'Mary of Joses' (Mapi'a 17
1 Contrast iKfkevtrev doOijvai (xiv. 9), and coinp. the dilTcrcncc between
Jowat and iirdSoTe (xxii. 17, 21). In the Gospel of IVtcr, Joseph is the friend
of Pilate, who passes on Joseph's rc(|ucst for the Body to Ilcrod, and Hciod
tells his " brother Pilate '' that it must Ik buried.
408 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVn. 62
'Iwo-^Tos), which might mean 'the daughter of Joses,' but
probably does not. She sat with the Magdalen to see the last
of the Lord whom they had loved. The quiet reverence of the
description in both Gospels is remarkable. Mt. adds the touch
that Joseph, after closing the sepulchre, departed. The two
women, apparently, still sat on. The similarity of ver. 6i, both
in structure and in substance, to ver. 55 should be noted. In
both there is the frequent ' there ' {IkCi).
XXVn. 62-66. The Sepulchre made Secure.
Mt. here makes another insertion (comp. vv. 52, 53) which
probably comes from traditions current in Palestine. It forms,
and is perhaps intended to form, a striking contrast to the pre-
ceding paragraph. There we had the faithful three showing
affectionate devotion to the Body of the Messiah. Here we have
His bitter enemies pursuing Him with implacable hostility even
beyond the shameful and cruel death to which they have subjected
Him. They will not rest until they have made it impossible for
His followers to turn His death into a point in favour of His
cause. And it is remarkable that, while even the chosen three
did not understand what the rising from the dead meant (Mk.
ix. 10), and while none of the disciples seem to have found any
comfort in Christ's predictions that He would rise again, yet the
chief priests and the Pharisees understood and remembered, and
were determined that no apparent fulfilment of such predictions
should be accomplished by the disciples.^
'Now on the morrow, which is after the Preparation' (62).
The expression is rem.arkable and redundant. ' On the morrow^ '
would have sufficed, and 'on the sabbath' would have been
plainer. 'The Preparation' had already become a name for
Friday as the eve of the sabbath. Mt. uses it without explanation,
but Mk. (xv. 42) tells his Gentile readers what it means. It
looks as if Mt. employed this circumlocution in order to avoid
using the word 'sabbath.' Did he shrink from saying in so
many words that this miserable act of hostility, on the part of the
Jewish hierarchy against the Messiah, took place on the sabbath ?
Months before this the Pharisees had been moved to take counsel
to destroy Him, because He had done good on the sabbath
(xii. 12-14); and now they do not scruple to do evil on the
sabbath. It is possible that the expression is used as an equivalent
for Mk.'s date (xv. 42), which Mt. omits at that point. Having
given no mention of * the Preparation ' there, he names it here,
* The combination, 'the chief priests and the Pharisees,' occurs xxi. 45.
It is not found in Mk. or Lk., but is frequent in Jn. (vii. 32, 45, xi. 47, 57,
xviii. 3).
XXVII. 63] PASSION, I)1:ATII, kf.sukkection 409
and calls the sabbath ' the morrow of the Preparation.' It is just
possible that this circumlocution was common among Jewish
Christians when Mt. wrote.
The readiness of Mt. to expose the iniquities of the Pharisees
appears once more in his mentioning them as taking part in this
deputation to the heathen Procurator on llie sablutli. He often
mkes what Mk. supjilies against the Pharisees (Mk. ii. 24 = Mt.
xii. 2 ; Mk. iii, 6=Mt. xii. 14; Mk. vii. i = Mt. xv. r ; Mk. viii.
ii=Mt. xvi. i; Mk. viii. 15 = Mt. x-vi. 6 ; Mk. x. 2 = Mt. xix, 3;
Mk. xii. i3 = Mt. xxii. 15), and he adds a great deal against them
which is not in Mk., as here ; comp. iii. 7, v. 20, ix. 11, 34, xii. 38,
xxi. 45, xxii. 34, 41, xxiii. 2, 13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29. This is his
last mention of the Pharisees. In his first mention of them he
intimates that the Baptist's stern condemnation of the ' offsjjring
of vipers,' which Lk. regards as addressed to the multitudes, was
really addressed to Pharisees and Sadducees ; and here, in his
last mention of them, he illustrates once more their malignant
opposition to the Messiah.
The deputation address the Procurator with respect : ' Sir
(xxi. 30), it came to our mind (xxvi. 75).' And they speak of
Him whom they have forced the Procurator to crucify with con-
temptuous abhorrence. They will not even name Him ; they use
a pronoun which indicates that He is far removed from them, and
a substantive which stigmatizes Him as a seducer of the people:
'that deceiver' (cV-cuos 6 TrXdios); comp. Jn. i.x. 28; 2 Jn. 7.*
They quote His words in a manner which suggests the confidence
with which they were spoken: 'After three days I rise again'
(McToi rpeis ■)]ij.epa<; iyfipofiai). The Evangelist is perhaps thinking
of xii. 40, which he says was spoken in the presence of certain
Pharisees, but which is probably his own interpretation of Christ's
words. But ' after three days ' (not ' three days and three nights ')
looks like a reference to Mk. viii. 31, x. 34= Mt. xvi. 21, xx. 19 ;*
and although the words recorded there were spoken in private
to the disciples, yet they may have been repeated until they
reached the ears of His watchful enemies. The Pharisees, having
suggested that the Body might be stolen, put into the mouth of
the disciples the very expression which Herod Antijjus is said to
have used of Jesus : that He was the Baptist, who ' is risen from
the dead' (xiv. 2). 'The last error' (17 uTxarr) TrXiivr]) means 'the
last deceit' or 'the last seduction,' with direct reference to 'that
deceiver' or 'seducer.' The Pharisees knew that they must use
' Justin Martyr uses the same word when taxing the Jews with dissemi-
naling lies aljoul Christ { TV/. 108), thereby showing acquaintance with this
Gospel. Sec liclow on xxviii. 13-15.
'' It is rcmarkalilc that Ml., after twice correcting 'after three days* to the
more accurate ' on the third day," should have left ' after three days' here.
41 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVTI. 63-66
political considerations in order to influence Pilate. Just as they
had charged Jesus with claiming to be King of the Jews, while
they said nothing about His claiming to be the Son of God, so
here they mean that, if the disciples persuaded people that
Jesus had risen from the dead, they might cause a far more
serious rising than had occurred at the Triumphal Entry, in
consequence of the persuasion that Jes'^s was the ^Messiah :
comp. xiL 45.
The Pharisees do not dictate to Piiate how the sepulchre is
to be made secure : they leave that to him : and they find him
more willing than before to accede to their wishes. He had tried
to escape from their determination to have Jesus put to death,
but he raises no difficulty about the guarding of His tomb.
Nevertheless, they are not welcome visitors. He had seen
through their malignity before (17, 18), and no doubt he saw
through it now. He dismisses them with a curt consent to their
suggestion. 'Take a guard: go. make it as secure as ye can.'
That his words mean ' Take a guard,' rather than ' Ye Iiave a
guard,'" seems clear from the fact that the only guard which they
had was the Temple-police, and this they could have employed
without coming to the Procurator. Evidently they want some-
thing which required his permission ; and it is Roman soldiers
who are set to guard the tomb (xxviii. 12-15). Hence the ap-
propriateness of the Latin word custodia C^x^^ KoroT-wSiar).
Comp. the "' twelve legions of Angels ' (8<iS€Ka Xeyiwias dyyeXwi)
in xx\i. 53.
The sealing of the stone would seem to be the Pharisees' own
idea, and it was perhaps su^ested by the sealing of the stone at
the mouth of the hon's den after Daniel had been thrown into it
(Dan. vL 1 7). In the O.T. both ' seal ' and ' sealing ' are frequent,
whether in the literal sense or as a metaphor. In the N.T. * seaT
(o-^payis) does not occur, and, except in this place, the verb is
always used in a metaphorical sense
The hierarchy overreached themselves in these precautions.
AU that they accomplished was to increase the number of those
who could bear witness to the Resurrection. And these addi-
tional witnesses had to be bribed to give false witness, — ^with
what result we do not know. We know that the plot failed, but
we do not know how the bribed soldiers behaved. It is evident
that the fact of the bribery became known, imless we assume
that the whole story is a Christian invention; and it is more
probable that it became known through some of the soldiers than
through any of the Sanhedrin. A soldier who would confess that
he had been bribed would probably tell what he knew respecting
the circumstances of the Resurrection. But some of the priests
who were converted after Pentecost (Acts vi. 7) may have known
Xl-iVIII. 1] PASSION, l>r.ATIF, UKSUKRKCTION 4II
and disclosed the truth about this transaction. Comp. the
Ascension of Isaiah, iii. 14.
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxvii. : r&rt (3, 9, 13, 27, 58), n^f/iwr
(2, II />fs, 14, 21, 27), \c-,6/jievot (16, 17, 22, ^;i dis), aivdydf (17, 27, 62),
^«r(47, 55, 61), a<p65pa {54), Ae? (47, 55, 61), diroSiS&yai (5S), rd^ot (61,
64, 66), wopfvecOai (66). Peculiar : <Tt/.ifiov\iot> Xa^/idruK (1,6), oJ trptajHTtpot
ToO \aoO (1), t6 f\»j^^v (9), 'Ifpf^/os (9), (rwrdrrtrdi' (10), *ar' «rap { 19),
KOWTwiJio (65, 66); peculiar to this cliapter : dird^x"'' (5)» to^jJ (7), KaOi
(10), dO^oi (24\ Bti (46), xWt'j (2S, 31), ^;tp<T.I (53).
Mt. is the only EvanfjchVt who uses Td<pof of the sepulchre, and (excepting
in a quotation in Romans) the word occurs nowhere else in the N.T. Mk.
and Lk. use fivfuxa. and tivtjfieloi', and Jn. uses the latter only. Mt. uses
/xvrjixfiov as well as Td(poi. For centuries ' sepulchre ' has been the traiiiiiona
word in English. Seeing that fivTjfia and nv-qfieioy are very frequent, and
that rd(f>oi is rare in this connexion, it seems to be unfortunate that 'tonih
was selected in RV. for the frequent terms, while 'sepulchre ' represents the
rare one. But such passages as viii. 2S, Mk. v. 2, 3, 5 perhaps turned the
scale, and the derivation of ' sepulchre ' may have helped to do so.
Once more we have aorists (18, 34, 55) where Mk. (xvi. 10, 23, 41) h;i5
imperfects.
It is doubtful whether Barnabas recalls iSuKav aiV^J wttTy otyoy furd xoXi^t
Hefuyfiivov (34) when he writes (jravpwOfU iTrorl^tro 6^fi Kal xo^l^ (vii. 3).
He may be thinking oi (duKav eh rb ^pwfii /xov x°^M, ^oi tls t^jv Si^ay fiou
eirdriffdy fie 6^os (Vs. Ixix. 21). Mt. alone mentions xoXtJ, but both he and
Barnabas may be thinking of the Psalm independently, and Barnabas is
closer to it with woriieiv and 6^os.
XXVIII. 1-10. T/ie /Resurrection of the Messiah and His
Appearance to certain Women.
The earliest evidence that we have respecting the Resurrec-
tion is that of S. Paul in i Corinthians, written about a.d. 56,
and therefore about twenty-seven years after the Rcsurrt-ction,
which may be placed with much confidence in a.d. 29. If
I Corinthians is dated a.d. 53, as by Harnack, the interval
between event and record is less than twenty-five years. In
any case, the conversion of S. Paul took place soon after the
Resurrection ; and therefore he had been convinced of the fact
of the Resurrection for more than twenty years, and during the
greater part of that time had known of the appearances of the
Risen Lord to others, in addition to the appearance to himself
which was the immediate cause of his conversion.' lie mentions
these appearances in chronological order: i. to Peter; 2. to the
Twelve ; 3. to over 500 disciples, most of whom still survive ;
4. to James ; 5. to all the Apostles. But he mentions no
appearance to women.
We must, however, beware of the dangerous argument from
• Most of the Twelve were slill alive when he wrote I Cor., niid Iw knew
all that the Jews had said in deni:d of the Resurrection as well as what the
6rst witnesses had testified respecting the tact
412 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 1-20
silence, and of assuming that S. Paul knew nothing of any appear-
ances to women. The evidence which he gives in this highly
condensed form is " official " evidence (Knowling, The Testimony
of S. Paid to Christ, pp. 301-3) ; it is that of the two leading
persons in the Apostolic Church, S. Peter and S. James, and
that of the Apostolic body as a whole. To this is added that of
a large number of witnesses, who are added probably for two
reasons : first, as being members of the largest company that saw
tb*^ Xisen Lord at any one time ; and, secondly, as being for the
most part still alive, and therefore capable of being questioned.
Beside such a mass of official testimony it would have seemed
altogether superfluous to mention an appearance to women, all
the more so as the testimony of women was not greatly esteemed.
Even if S. Paul had conversed with any of these women, he
would not be likely to mention their evidence along with that of
Apostles. S. John, when he reckons up three manifestations of
the Risen Lord to the disciples (xxi. 14), does not count the
manifestation to Mary Magdalen, although he records it at con-
siderable length.
Next after the evidence of S. Paul comes that of Mk.
Perhaps we may place it some twelve years later. But un-
fortunately the most essential part of Mk.'s evidence on this
matter has been lost. He gives us the early visit of three
women to the tomb, and the very important fact that they found
it open and empty. He tells us how they went in and saw a
young man in a long white robe, who told them that the Lord
was risen and would meet His disciples in Galilee, and that this
appearance and utterance struck them with terror, so that they
went out of the tomb and f^ed. And here Mk.'s narrative ends
abruptly, so abruptly that we conclude that the last leaf (or
possibly more than one leaf) has been lost from very early times.^
That he did record at least one appearance of the Risen Lord
can hardly be doubted. In Mt. xxviii. 1-8 we have a free re-
production of Mk. xvi. 1-8. It is probable that in vv. 9, 10 Mt.
is still making use of Mk. ; and it is not improbable that in
vv. 16-20 we again have Mt.'s reproduction of Mk. Mt. repeats
almost every word of the command and promise in Mk. xvi. 7,
and Mt. xxviii. 16-20 records the fulfilment of the command and
the promise. It is therefore reasonable to believe that Mk.
recorded the fulfilment of the command and the promise, and
' There are three ways of ending the Gospel of Ml<. Some authorities
stop at ' they were affrighted,' which cannot have been the original conclusion.
Others have a short ending, which was evidently written to supply a con-
clusion, and which no one believes to be genuine. Nearly all our extant
authorities have the longer ending, which is in most Bibles, which was not
intended as a conclusion to the Gospel, and the history of which is lost. See
DCG. ii. pp. 131 ff.
XXVin. 1-20] PASSION, DKATH, KKSURRECTION 413
that it was from him that Mt. derived the substance of tf. 16-20.
For m\ 9 and 10 no more probable source than Mk. can be sug-
gested. See Allen's acute discussion of the (juestiDU, and " 'Ihe
Lost End of Mark's Gospel" in the IJibbert Journal, July 1905.
No such argument can be used with regard to the intermedi-
ate paragraph about the hierarchy and the soldiers (11- 15).
Like the paragraph at the end of ch. xxvii., it is peculiar to Mt.,
and it forms a dramatic contrast to thai which immediately
precedes. In the one case, the malignity of the chief priests and
Pharisees is contrasted with the devotion of the women who had
seen the last offices paid to the Body of the Crucified Messiah ;
in the other, the malignity of the chief priests and elders is con-
trasted with the devotion of the same women, who had come
again to visit the sepulchre, and who had thus become aware
that the Body was gone because the Messiah was risen. This
later paragraph is the natural sequel of the earlier one, and no
doubt comes from the same source, — traditions that were current
in Palestine at the time when Mt. compiled this Gospel. It is
plain, therefore, that Mt. had additional information, and was not
simply dependent upon Mk. for what he tells us in this last
chapter.
The evidence of Lk. is similar, and it may be dated about
A.D. 75-80. He also was partly (but not wholly) dependent
upon Mk., and his narrative must be placed side by side with
that of Mt. in order to form a just estimate of what was con-
tained in the lost conclusion of Mk. But it is plain that he had
also very valuable information in addition to Mk. In the
narrative of the walk to Emniaus he contributes "one of the
most convincing of the post-Resurrection narratives, for which
he was probably indebted to first-hand testimony " (Swete, The
AfJ>€ara?ices of our Lord after the Passion, p. xiii).
Some fifteen or twenty years later we have the entirely
independent evidence of the Fourth Gospel, which may still with
confidence be asserted to be that of a disciple who had been
intimate with our Lord, and who was probably the Apostle
S. John.
Lastly, we have the evidence of the conclusion to the Gospel
of Mk., as we have it in most Bibles. That it was not written
by Mk., from whose vocabulary and style it differs very consider-
ably, and that it was not originally written as a conclusion to his
Gospel, which it fits very badly, may be regarded as certain.
But, whether Aristion or some unknown Christian be its author,
it is good evidence for what was believed early in the second
century. There are traces of it in Justin Martyr and Irena\is,
and it is found in almost all the MS.S. and \'ersions that have
come down to us, the archetypes of which would lake us back to
414 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 1-20
the first half of the second century. " We may say with confi-
dence that its date is earUer than the year 140" (Sanday, The
Criticism of the Fourth Gospel, p. 241). He adds a remark
which is important in estimating the value of the evidence for
the Resurrection which is here summarized : — the twelve verses
which form the current conclusion to the Gospel of Mk. " imply
not only the existence, but up to a certain point the authority of
the Fourth Gospel."
It may be freely admitted, that, whether or no the evidence
for the appearances of our Lord after His death and burial is as
good as could reasonably be expected, it is not all that we should
have ourselves desired. It is less full than we should have
wished, and it is also less harmonious. No one can deny that,
however highly we may estimate what has come down to us, yet
additional evidence would be welcome ; but, with regard to the
other point, it must be remembered that very harmonious
evidence would, for that very reason, have been suspicious. The
divergencies which are found in the testimony which has come
down to us (not all of which could be got rid of by additional
knowledge) are sufficient to show that each witness is telling
what he believes to be the truth, and that he is not careful to
make his testimony agree in all particulars with that of other
witriesses. The divergencies are not sufficient to discredit the
testimony as a whole, which is in remarkable agreement about
the main facts. This does not mean that all the discrepancies,
or apparent discrepancies, are confirmations of the evidence as a
whole. But it does mean that they do not all of them tend to
weaken it. Some of them are real difficulties, others are of
small importance. But each report bears the stamp of honesty
upon it, and the divergencies are marks of independence. " They
are just the flaws which we might expect to find in faithful
reports proceeding from independent witnesses, especially if the
circumstances were of an unusual and disquieting character, and
the witnesses persons who were unaccustomed to interpret to
others the impressions left upon their own minds. . . . The
process of sifting the Gospel narratives of the Appearances will
bring to light a great preponderance of solid fact, which can be
set aside only by the stubborn scepticism that is born of
unworthy presuppositions" (Swete). The Christian Church
exists, and has existed and grown since the year of the
Crucifixion. So enormous a fact cannot be explained without
an adequate cause, and it is impossible to find an adequate
cause if the Resurrection of Christ from the tomb is rejected as
a fiction.
Mt. begins his narrative with a confused note of time, the
XXVin. 1, 2] PASSION, DK ATI I, RKSURRIXTION 415
result of condensing ihc narrative of Mk. Mk. gives two cvt nls,
each with its note of time; — the buying of the spices, when the
sabbath was past, i.e. on Saturday evening ; and the coming to
use the spices, very early on the first clay of the wtck, />. on
Sunday morning. Kit. omits the buying of tiie spices, just as he
omits the buying of tlie linen (xxvii. 59), and yet keeps two
notes of time. His first time-note (oi/'c <^€ a-a(3fid.T<av) ought to
moan 'late on the sabbath,' which would be before sunset on
Saturday afternoon.^ Even if the expression stood alone, it
would be almost incredible that Mt. should intend to contradict
every other tradition about the Resurrection, and assert that it
took place on the sabbath. The weekly celebration of the first
day of the week, even without the testimony of the other
Gospels, would suffice to refute this. But Mt.'s own words
suffice to correct such an interpretation, for he goes on to say,
'as it began to dawn towards day one of the week,' i.e. near
daybreak on Sunday. Elsewhere, when Mk. gives two notes of
time (i. 32, ii. 20, vi. 35, xiv. 30), Mt. omits one of them (viii. 16,
ix. 15, xiv. 15, xxvi. 34). Here, where Mk. gives only one time-
note for the visit of the women, Mt. gives two, and thereby
causes confusion.
Mk. tells us that on this occasion a third woman accompanied
the two that had watched the sepulchre on Friday evening.
This third was Salome, the mother of James and John, the sons
of Zebedee. Mk., who tells us that these women had bought
spices on Saturday night, says that they came on Sunday
morning 'that they might anoint Him.' Mt. says that they
came ' to see the sepulchre.' This change would be suggested,
not merely by the omission of the buying of the spices, but by
the sealing and guarding of the tomb, for the guards would not
allow them to come near the tomb, much less to enter it. But
the women knew nothing about the setting of a watch, and
there was no need to alter 'that they might anoint Him.'
Mt. once more (2) tells us of an earthquake which is not
mentioned by the others; comp. viii. 24, xxvii. 51. In each
case it is possible that the Evangelist (or his source) is conjectur-
ing a cause for the extraordinary phenomena which he has to
relate. There is a great storm on the lake ; the veil of the
temple is rent in twain ; the large stone is rolled away from the
door of the sepulchre; and on each occasion an earlhfiuakc may
be part of the exi)lanation. Omitting viii. 24 as doubtful, for
the 'great quaking' (a-cicrfios /xeyas) may refer to the water only,
we may compare the two instances about which there is no
^ Mt. must be using dfi in the sense of 'after,' — 'after the sabbath* ; but
a clear cxamj)lc of such use seems to be wanting. See J. II. Moultun,
Gram, of N.T. Cr. p. 72.
41 6 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVin. 2-5
question. In both the earthquake is accompanied by something
supernatural ; in the one by the resurrection of the bodies of the
saints, in the other by the descent of an Angel, who seems to be
regarded as the cause of the earthquake. ' And, behold,^ there
was a great earthquake : for an Angel of the Lord descended
from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon
it.' In Mk. the women find that the stone, from which they
anticipated difficulty, is already rolled away, and the Angel is
Mt.'s explanation of the removal. Lk., like Mk., states that the
women found the stone rolled away, and, like Mk., offers no
explanation. How readily Angelic agency might be assumed in
such a case is shown by the fact that a modern commentator on
Mk. XV. 38 assures us that the Temple-veil " must have been
torn asunder by angel hands." The appearance of an Angel
(Mt., Mk.), or of two Angels (Lk., Jn.), at the tomb rests upon
the testimony of the women who reported their experiences.
The descent of an Angel who rolled away the stone was witnessed
by no one; it is an hypothetical explanation of a known fact.
The earthquake may have been suggested by the quaking of the
guards {laeiaOrjaav 01 TT/powre?), although their terror is said to
have been caused by the appearance of the Angel ; but the
earthquake may have taken place and have been felt by the
women after they set out.
It is worth while contrasting the narrative in the apocryphal Gospel of
Peter, which may be assigned to about the middle of the second century. It
is evidently based upon the four Canonical Gospels, which it sometimes
abbreviates, and sometimes greatly enlarges. Where it does the latter, the
writer is probably inventing what seemed to him to be probable. There are
few, if any, places in which it is likely that he is preserving an independent
tradition of what actually took place, although he may be borrowing from
uncanonical literature.
"And in the night in which the Lord's day was dawning, when the
soldiers were on guard two and two in each watch, there was a great voice in
heaven, and they saw the heavens opened, and iwo vien descend thence, with
a great Light around them, and drawing near to the tomb. But that stone
which had been cast at the door rolled of itself and withdrew to one side, and
the tomb was opened, and both the young men entered. When, therefore,
those soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and the elders, — for
they also were present on guard. And as they were relating what they saw,
again they behold three 77ien (comp. Dan iii. 24, 35) come out of the tomb,
and two of them supporting the one, and a cross following them ; and the
head of each of the two reached up to heaven, but that of Him who was led
by them by the hand was higher than the heavens. And they heard a voice
from the heavens which said : ' Hast Thou preached to them that are asleep ? '
And a response was heard from the cross: 'Yea.' Those men therefore
discussed with one another as to going and reporting these things to Pilate.
^ KoX l5ov is very frequent in Mt. and Lk. , who has it here ; but it is not
found anywhere in Mk. Here both Mt. and Lk. treat the narrative of Mk.
with great freedom. Evidently there were different traditions of what took
place.
XXVin. 2 5J TASSION, DKATII. KKSUKKKCTION .} I 7
And while ihcy were still considering, again the heavens appeared opened,
and a man descended and entered into the sepulchre. When ihtjse who
were with the centurion by night saw these tilings, Ihey hastened to rilale,
leaving the tomb which they were guarding, and related all which they had
seen, being in an agony of terror, and saying : 'Truly He was Gwl's Son.'"
Comp. "Gabriel, the Angel of the Holy Spirit, and Michael, the chief of the
holy Angels, on the third day will npen the sepulchre: and the Ikloved
sitting on their shoulders will come forth" (Ascension of Isaiah, iii. 16).
In his characteristic way, Cornehus h. Lapide comments on
these two earthquakes (xxvii. 51, xxviii. 2): "The eartli, which
trembled with horror at the Death of Christ, as it weie leaped
for joy at His Resurrection." We may also compare the mention
of 'an Angel of the Lord' (ayyeAos Kiyjibu) at the beginning of
this Gospel (i. iS) and this mention of one at the close of it.
Each is charged with a message to dispel fear : fiij ({ioPi]6rj'i to
Joseph, /xy (fiofSelifOe vfjLti<; to the women. The Incarnation of
the Son of God is the announcement in the one case, His
Resurrection from the grave in the other. In the latter case
the emphatic pronoun must not be overlooked. 'Fear not^y^'
is said in reference to the terrified watchers.^ It was fitting that
//ley should be stricken with fear ; but there was no need for fear
in those who had been the devoted servants of the Messiah
during His lifetime, and had come to minister to Him once
more after His death.
The narrative implies that the Angel had removed the stone
before the women arrived. He is represented as sitting upon it
in reference to what is said in xxvii. 61. On Friday evening the
women arc left 'sitting over against the sepulchre' and watching
it. When they return early on Sunday morning to watch it once
more (i), it is a heavenly watcher that has taken their place;
and 'he was sitting' (iKaOijTo) there, when the women arrived.
He is described as Angels are described in the O.T. (Ezek. i. 13 ;
Dan. X. 6 ; 2 Mac. iii. 26). The whole is entirely in harmony
with Jewish modes of thought, and in essentials may be in
harmony with fact. Such passages as xiii. 39, 41, 49, xvi. 27,
xviii. 10, xxii. 30, xxiv. 3r, ^6, xxv. 31, 41, xxvi. 53 cannot easily
be explained as mere accommodations to Jewish modes of
thought, or as cases in which Christ's words have been mis-
understood and misreported by those who heard them. The
sayings are too numerous and too varied for that, and some
are in Mk. and Lk. as well as in Mt. Moreover, Lk. adds
several which are not in Mt. or Mk. See notes on 'Thy will
be done, as in heaven, so on earth' (vi. 10). And Jn. (i. 52)
' Once more wc have in the Testaments a pxssage which in some respects
may be read as a parallel : " When, therefore, the Lord lookcth upon us, all
of us are shaken ; yea, the heavens, and the earth, and the abysses are shaken
at the presence of His majesty " {Levi iii. 9).
27
41 8 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 2-5
adds one more. We therefore need caution in setting aside
certain details in this narrative as due to notions current among
the Jews rather than to experience of what actually took place.
In the law-courts it is a common experience that even
educated and dispassionate witnesses have difficulty in dis-
tinguishing between what they actually saw and heard and what
they inferred from what they saw and heard. They are apt,
quite honestly, to give their inferences as facts. And uneducated
and excited witnesses have difficulty in recalling, and expressing
wuth anything like accuracy, their experiences during actions at
which they were certainly present, and which they desire to
report faithfully. This is specially likely to be the case if the
experiences have been of an unusual character. It is manifest
that some extraordinary phenomena were perceived by a number
of women on the morning of Easter Day, These emotional
witnesses, excited by what they had experienced, would hardly
know themselves what it was that they had perceived. Perhaps
the experiences had not in all cases been the same. Certainly
not all would agree as to what had been seen and heard. Still
more certainly those to whom each of them told her experiences
would not repeat the story with perfect accuracy. In this \vay
the differing narratives in the -Synoptic Gospels can be reasonably
explained. "It is not surprising if, with the exception of the
evidently genuine reminiscences of the fourth Gospel, the story
of the women has reached us in a less certain form than the
rest of the narratives of the forty days. . . . The uncertainties
which attend the Synoptic accounts of the doings of the women
at the tomb are not greater than we might have expected, and
cast no shadow of suspicion on the general truth of the narrative"
(Swete, Appearances of our Lord, p. 12).
Let us confine ourselves to the narrative in Mt. We can
distinguish hypothesis from tradition of what took place. The
women on their way to the sepulchre in the dark have sensations
which they attribute to an earthquake. On their arrival, they
find the stone, about the removal of which they had been anxious,
already rolled away. They are addressed by a being, whom they
suppose to be an Angel, who shows them that the tomb is empty,
and assures them that the Lord is risen and will be found in
Galilee. In a transport of mingled fear and joy they hurry away
to report what they have seen and heard. On their way they
see the Lord Himself, who confirms what they have just heard.
That is the substance of what one or more of them related as to
what took place.
They, or some of those to whom they told their story, drew
certain inferences and stated them as facts. There was, they
said, an earthquake. Then what caused it? and how was the
XXVni. 2-5] PASSION, DEATH, KKSURKKCTION 419
Stone rolled away? The Angel who spoke to the women at the
tomb must have done both. Again, some knew that a guard
had been set to watch the tomb. Mow was it that the soldiers
allowed the women to approach ? The Angel had friglitencd
them away. How had the Angel come thither? Of course
he had descended from heaven, ^^'ithout asserting that these
inferences are incorrect, we are justified in se[)arating them from
what is given as the experiences of those who were there. No
one professed to have seen the Angel descend, or produce the
earthquake, or roll away the stone. Indeed the cartlKjuake may
be a separate hypothesis to account for the removal of the stone,
or may be the means by which the Angel rolled it away, or may
have been thought of as an appropriate accompaniment to such
wonderful facts.
It is important to notice what comes out clearly in all four
narratives. No one professes to know at what hour or in what
manner the Resurrection took place ; but, when the first visitors
arrived at the place early on Sunday morning, 'the third day^
from the Crucifixion, according to Jewish ways of reckoning,
the tomb was empty. Even O. Holtzmann, who rejects the theory
of a physical resuscitation of Christ's Body, admits the evidence
for the empty sepulchre as too strong to be rejected. " There
is no reason to doubt that the women could not carry out their
purpose, simply because they found the grave empty. . . . This
astounding fact, the emptiness of the grave, may well have excited
them to such a degree that they could see an Angel and hear
his message" {Life of Jesus, p. 497). Whether or no that result
is probable, the recognition that the emptiness of the grave on
the third day must be admitted on critical grounds is im[)ortant.
" But that the body was stolen by the disciples is utterly out of
the question." As a more probable alternative it is suggested
that, as soon as the sabbath was over, Joseph of Arimatha;a
" must have been careful to have the body buried in some other
place," because he "was not disposed to have a crucified man
to lie permanently beside the dead of his own family.^ Such
seems to be the simplest ex[jlanation of this secret transaction "
(pp. 498, 9). Yet it is admitted that, " in the case of a person
so extraordinary as Jesus, even the greatest miracle might be
accepted as an actual occurrence, and it might not seem
incredible that the dead body, after having been laid in the
rock-grave, was resuscitated and restored to life by God " (p. 500).
• The tomb was a new one ; llicre were no dead there ; and, if Joseph
had any such thouj;ht, he could secure this result by directing that neither he
nor any of his family were to be buried there. Is it crediljlc that Joseph
would have removed and hidden the Body, or that, if he did, no tradition of
this transaction should have survived ?
420 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIH. 2-8
It must be remembered that our earliest witness definitely states
that Christ ' hath been raised on the third day according to the
scriptures' (i Cor. xv. 4). The mention of the third day is
meaningless, except to one who believes that the tomb was left
at a particular time. If all that is true is that our Lord's spirit
continued to exist after He had died on the Cross, then to say
that He ' was raised ' is a strange exaggeration ; but to say that
He ' was raised oji the third day ' is an absurdity. All the large
amount of evidence respecting a definite date, such as 'after
three days,' or ' on the third day,' is a strong confirmation of the
otherwise strongly attested fact that a day or two after the
entombment the grave was found to be empty.^
A writer who rejects, not only the resuscitation of Christ's
Body, but the fact of the empty tomb, says : " How early the
disciples of Jesus became convinced that He had been raised
from the dead, cannot be ascertained with certainty. There
seems to be no good reason for doubting that the conception
goes back to the immediate disciples of Jesus" (Schmidt, The
Prophet of Nazareth, p. 321). It would be hard to find good
reason for doubting this, in the face of the evidence which has
come down to us. But if the immediate disciples of Jesus
were convinced that He had been raised from the dead, and
this in spite of the despondency caused by His death (Lk. xxiv.
17-21), then at once we have a number of witnesses whose
testimony cannot easily be set aside.
The changes which Mt. (7, 8) makes in Mk. xvi. 7, 8, —
the last verses in which we can compare the two Gospels, are
full of interest. He makes the charge to the women more
urgent by inserting 'quickly' {Ta\v: comp. v. 25) and changing
' even as He told you ' into ' behold, I have told you.' 2 He
substitutes his favourite iropevOeLcrai for virdyeTe, inserts his
favourite koL iSov and l8ov, and repeats the fact that ' He is
risen from the dead' as part of the message to the disciples.
On the other hand, he omits 'and Peter' after 'tell His
disciples.' In narrating the departure of the women he again
inserts ' quickly ' (Ta)(y), and says that ' they ran ' {eSpafxov) to
deliver the message. This is a correction of Mk., who says
that in their first fear they told no one anything. Mt. knows
that the women did communicate the glad tidings, and therefore
^ The story that was circulated by the Jews, that the disciples had stolen
the Body, shows that there was no possibihty of denying that the tomb had
been seen to be empty when the stone was removed. See Wellhausen, Das
Evan, Matt. p. 150. Jerome's comment on the Angel's words : ' He is not
here , . come see the place where He lay,' is to the point : iit, si vieis
verbis non creditis, vacuo crcdatis sepukhro.
" Comp. xxiv. 25 ; Jn. iv. 35. A few inferior authorities have here ' even
as He told you,' and some editors conjecture Ihoh direy vfuv.
XXVin. 7-9J PASSION, Di: ATII, RESURRECTION 421
for the trembling and astonishment and fear which Mk. records
he substitutes 'fear and great joy.' Fear might incline them
to say nothing, but the great joy of hearing that the Lord was
alive again made them hasten to deliver the message.
The omission of 'and Peter' after 'tell His disciples' is
remarkable ; all the more so because Mt. elsewhere shows a
special interest in the 'first' of the Apostles (x. 2, xiv. 28-31,
XV. 15, xvi, 16-19). Perhaps the simplest explanation is that
in the lost conclusion of Mk. there was no mention of any
special appearance to Peter, and therefore Mt. omitted the
special mention of him in the Angelic message. We know
from our earliest authority (i Cor. xv. 5) that there was a
manifestation ' to Cephas ' ; and this is confirmed incidentally
(and therefore all the more convincingly) by S. Paul's companion
(Lk. xxiv. 34), who says that Clcopas and his comrade, on their
return from Emmaus to Jerusalem, were greeted with tlie joyous
declaration that the report that the Lord had risen must be true,
for He had 'appeared to Simon.' S. Paul probably was told this
by S. Peter himself when he went ' to visit Cephas ' (Gal. i. 18);
but it is quite possible that Mt. found no mention of any meeting
between Peter and His Master in the concluding portion of Mk.
Did these last verses of Mk. contain the meeting between
Christ and the women, which Mt. narrates (9, 10) as taking
place while the women were on their way to tell the disciples ?
The probability is that they did. The meeting is closely con-
nected with what is narrated Mk. xvi. 1-8, and it fits better to
the narrative of Mk. than to that of Mt. Mk. says that the
women were too frightened to deliver the message. Then
Jesus appears to them, calms their fears, and repeats the
substance of the message. The reason for His ap[)earing to
them is manifest. But in Mt. no such reason is manifest. Joy
outweighs their fear, and they are hurrying to deliver the
message. That, of course, would not render Christ's appearing
to them improbable; but the fact remains, that in the one
narrative we have an explanation of Christ's a{)pcaring to the
women which is absent from the other. But perha[)s, with
Ur. Swete, we ought to recognize the possibility thai, " notwith-
standing the manifest differences between the details of this
story and those of the appearance to Mary, it may reasonably
be doubted whether the two narratives do not relate to the
same incident" (p. 11).^ The statement here, that 'they held
'See also Wright, Synopsis, p. 174: "We believe that an epitome of
this appearance (to Mary of M.ij^dala) passed from S. John's oral teaching
not only into the pseudo-Mark (xvi. 9) but also into S. Matthew (xxviii,
9, 10)." In any cisc, "there is no reason to doubt that tlie Gospel [of
Mark] went on to describe some of the appearances of Jesus to the disciples
{xftcr the Resurrection" {limk'M, JTS., April 1904, p. 342).
422 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 9, 10
His feet' (iKpaTrjcrav avTov tovs TroSas), may have some con-
nexion with the rebuke, ' Hold Me not ' or ' Cling not to Me '
(M?; fjiov oLTTTov), in Jn. xx. 17. And in both narratives we have
the message to Christ's 'brethren' (Jn. xx. 17). The expression
is remarkable, however we interpret it. It may mean our Lord's
own brethren (xii. 46, xiii. 55); or it may be a gracious synonym
for His disciples : ' for whosoever shall do the will of My Father
who is in heaven, he is My brother ' (xii. 50). What is added
in Jn XX. 17, 'I ascend to My Father and your P'ather,' as a
message to these brethren, looks as if the disciples were meant.
Moreover, the charge of Christ to the women seems to be
given as a repetition of the charge given by the Angel (6, 7, 16).
Whether Mt. took the account of this meeting between the Lord and the
women from Mk. or some other source, he has left on it the marks of his
own style. We again have Kal i8ov and rdre, as often, and his favourite
expression, 'they worshipped Him' [irpoaeKvvTiaav avri^) : comp. ii. 2, 8, li,
viii. 2, ix. iS, xiv. 33, xv. 25, xviii. 26.
The words with which the AV. has made us familiar, ' as they went to
tell His disciples,' are no part of the true text. They are wanting in N B D,
Latt. Copt. Syrr. Arm. ' The Lord ' in ' come see the place where the Lord
lay ' is also wanting in authority. Both insertions are found in A C L T A II.
Mt. never, in his narratives, uses 6 Kvpios of our Lord.
The translation, ' All hail,' for Xalpere is not quite satisfactory. It
makes the greeting rather unusual ; whereas Xalpere probably represents the
usual greeting. It may have been our Lord's purpose to convince them that
He was the Jesus that they had known, and that He employed the usual
greeting for that reason. It is the word used by Judas in his treachery
(xxvi. 49) and by the soldiers in their mockery (xxvii. 29).
XXVIII. 11-15. T/ie Lie, Paid for and Propagated
The verses which follow (11-15) no doubt come from the
same source as xxvii. 62-66, and are a continuation of that
narrative, to which also xxviii. 4 belongs. Nothing is said
about the way in which the women delivered their message,
nor about the way in which it was received, but only that the
guard came into the city and reported what they had experi-
enced to the hierarchy, while the women were still on their
way. S. John tells us that Mary Magdalen came and told the
disciples that she had seen the Lord, but he does not say how
the disciples received the news. In the appendix to Mk. we
read that 'she went and told them that had been with Him,
as they mourned and wept,' and that they disbelieved her
statements. Lk. says much the same of the message of the
women (xxiv. 11). We may infer from the silence of Mt. on
this point that there was nothing in Mk. about the Apostles'
reception of the message. But the evidence that we have
shows how incorrect it is to say that " even before making such
XXVin. 11-15] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 423
a discovery [that the grave was empty], they certainly expected
the resurrection of Jesus" (O. Holtzniann, p. 497). Even
S. lohn did nut infer from the disappearance of the Body that
the Lord had risen, until he had entered the tomb and seen
the way in which the Hnen cloths and the napkin were lying
(Jn. XX. 6-9). Christ's predictions about His rising again had
never been understood (Mk. ix. 10, 32; Mt. xvii. 23; Lk. ix.
45) ; and the disciples had no expectation of seeing their Master
again alive (Lk. xxiv. 17-21; [Mk.] xvi. 10-13). The first
statements to the contrary, so far from being anticipated, were
rejected as too good to be true.
This story about the return ot the guard and their being
bribed by the chief priests, like the preceding one about the
hierarchy asking Pilate for a guard, forms a marked contrast
to the narrative which immediately precedes it. In both cases
the malignity of the foes of the Messiah is contrasted with the
devotion of His friends. In the one, we have the affectionate
watch of the women who had ministered to Him followed by
the hostile watch of the soldiers who had arrested and mocked
Him. In the other, we have the faithful women hastening to
tell His disciples the joyous news of His Resurrection, but
anticipated by the heathen soldiers hastening to tell His enemies
the amazing news of the tomb opened and found empty. There
probably was no formal assembly of the Sanhcdrin, any more
than xii. 14 or xxii. 15, where the same expression of 'taking
counsel ' is used. The combination of chief priests and elders
does not constitute a meeting of the Sanhedrin (xxvii. 3, 12, 20),
and in so urgent a case the summoning of the whole body
would have taken too much time. The soldiers must be dealt
with at once, lest the true story should get abroad ; and those
who had bribed Judas to betray the Messiah now bribe the
watch to deny His Resurrection. But, whereas a small sum
was enough to induce an Apostle to sell his Master, they had
to give ' large money ' to induce Roman soldiers to tell a lie
that might incriminate themselves.^ They miglit be put to
death for sleeping at their post. Hence the promise tliat, if
they are prosecuted for it, or (as we might say) if they are tried
by court-martial before the governor {iav aKovo-Qy tovto tVi tov
T/yc/ioi'os), they will know how to manage him, and to free the
soldiers from all anxiety.^
^ The use of I/cavis in the sense of ' a considerable amount of is common
in Lk. and Acts, but is not found elsewhere in Mt. and only once in Mk.
(x. 46). It is remarkable that legend has not identified the money p.-iid to
the soldiers with that which was Hung back by Judas. To make the same
coins do the unholy work on Ixith occasions would have been truly dramatic.
* There is little doubt that iirl rov ifyefiuvoi means ' before the Procurator,'
i.e. as judge ; and therefore dKovaOy must have a judicial sense, of a case
424 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 11-15
This lie about the disciples having stolen the Lord's Body,
in order to maintain that He had risen and ascended to heaven,
was still in circulation when this Gospel was written, not
everywhere among the Jews, but in certain quarters (Trapa
'lovSat'ois, not Trapa tois 'I., though D has the article). Justin
Martyr says that the Jews sent out special emissaries to dis-
seminate this falsehood I^Try. io8; comp. 17)] and TertuUian
also alludes to it, saying sarcastically : " This is He whom His
disciples secretly stole away, or the gardener took away that
his lettuces might not be injured by the crowds of visitors"
(de Spec. 30). Whether, as is probable, Justin and TertuUian
had independent knowledge of the propagation of this slander,
or they are simply repeating what Mt. states here, is not quite
certain. In any case, Mt. begins and ends the Gospel, which
is specially intended for Jews, with a refutation of well-known
Jewish falsehoods, which were employed to discredit the
foundations of the Christian faith. In his first chapter he
shows that the foul stories about the Birth of Christ are
monstrous falsehoods ; in his last chapter he shows the same
respecting the attempts to deny His Resurrection. Jesus was
not the son of a human father who had seduced Mary, for
Joseph himself was convinced by Divine revelation that she
was with child by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The Body
of Jesus was not stolen by His disciples ; that was a lie specially
paid for by His enemies ; it rose from the tomb and was seen
alive by many of those who had known Him best.
And it was a lie which could deceive none but those who
were willing to be deceived. How could the soldiers knovf
what had taken place while they were so fast asleep that the
opening of the sepulchre and the removal of the Body had not
awakened them? The lie involved the fatal admission that the
tomb had been found empty, and at the same time gave no
reasonable explanation of that significant fact. And with this
foolish and dastardly falsehood, hastily adopted and hastily paid
for, the history of those who for centuries had sat on Moses'
seat (xxiii. 2) closes. The duty of teaching Israel and ruling
Israel has passed into other and better hands. They had had
the light, and had so abused it that it had become darkness to
them ; anS how great was the darkness (vi. 23) ! They had
had Moses and the Prophets, who wrote of the Christ, but they
had not believed their writings. And now they refused to be
persuaded, though one rose from the dead. They had taken
care that the tomb should be shut in all safety, with the keepers
being heard in court. Note the emphatic pronouns : ' We will persuade the
Procurator, and jo« will have no need to be anxious.' For the iwl comp.
Mk. xiii. 9; Acts xxiv. 19, 20, xxv. g.
XXVIII. 11-15] PASSION, DKATII, RKSUKRECTION 425
Standing at the door; and when it was opened, no man was
found therein (Acts v. 23). Instead of welcoming the joyous
truth that ' He is not here ; He is risen,' they decided to pay
handsomely for the propagation of what they knew to be false.
But the Evangelist will not end his Gospel with the last
insults that were framed against the Messiah by His unrelenting
and unscrupulous enemies, — insults which were still repeated
by unbelieving Jews in the writer's own time. In the Gospel
of Nicodemus, Annas and Caiaphas say that the disciples had
bribed the soldiers to allow them to take the Body from the
tomb. In the Toledoth Jeschu, a Jewish book full of similar
statements, it is said that Judas, fearing that the disciples might
take away the Body, removed it himself and tiuricd it in the
bed of a river. From malice of this kind the Evangelist passes
on to tell very briefly how Christ's disciples obeyed the message
which He had sent to them, and to give a condensed report of
the gracious words which He spoke to His Church while He
still remained in a visible form on the earth. His enemies are
mentioned no more. They have twice been defeated in their
attempts to prevent the triumph which they prepared fo%the
Messiah when they compassed His death; and now the doom
which He pronounced upon them only a few days before He
surrendered Himself into their hands may be left to work. The
Lord of the vineyard, to whom they have been so faithless, will
destroy them and will give the vineyard to others — even to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (xxi. 40-43). Yet even
now all is not hopeless. The doom on the Chosen People is
irrevocable; but those members of it who can 'bring forth fruit
worthy of repentance' (iii. 8) may escape the coming wrath.
Along with 'all the nations' (19) Jews may find admission to
the Kingdom, not by descent from Abraham, nor by observance
of their own traditions, but by becoming disciples of Him whom
they ignorantly crucified (Acts iii. 17, xxi. 20).
yy vm 16-20, The Appearance to the Eleven on the
Mountain. The Great Claim ; the Great Charge ; and
the Great Promise.
This brief narrative is evidently given as the Messiah's
fulfilment of the promise made at the Last Supper (xxvi. 32 =
Mk. xiv. 28), and as the disciples' response to the mes'-age sent
to them by the Angel on Easter morning (xxviii. 7 = Mk. xvi. 7)
and repeated by the Messiah Himself (10). He tells them to
return to Galilee, and that they shall see Him there ; they go,
and they do see Him. Whether Mk. gave any narrative
corresponding to this is, as has been shown, uncertain. It \f
426 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 16-20
quite possible that Mt., like the writer of the appendix to Mk.
(xvi. 14-18), knew that there had been appearances to the whole
of the Apostolic body, and gives a representative narrative which
contains a mixture of details. Mt. has done this with regard
to other utterances of the Messiah, which, in five different cases,
he has gathered together into one discourse. And it is quite
possible that he has done the same in the short farewell
discourse with which he concludes his Gospel. The triplet
which he constructs, consisting of a claim, a charge, and a
promise, may not have been spoken in this form on one and
the same occasion. The charge, without the claim or the
promise, is given in different words, but with the same meaning,
in the appendix to Mk. : ' Go ye into all the world, and preach
the Gospel to the whole creation.'
On the other hand, the mention of 'the mountain where
Jesus had appointed them ' (to opos ov Ira^aro a^rois 6 'I^ycroDs),
points to a definite occasion, as also does 'then to all the
Apostles' (i Cor. xv. 7); and, while admitting the possibility
that words spoken on a different occasion may be included
here, we need not suppose that Mt. here gives us an imaginative
account of what might have taken place at one of the appearances
in Galilee. The words recorded here are beyond the imagina-
tion of the Evangelist, and in this respect are in marked contrast
to some of the words attributed to our Lord by the writer of the
appendix, e.g. 'They shall take up serpents, and if they drink
any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them.' The wonderful
fulness of meaning, which characterizes all three of the sayings
that are recorded here, is a strong guarantee for their author-
ship. Each one of them is capable of indefinite development
and application. ' Never man thus spake ' (Jn. vii. 46).
There remains the difficulty that Lk. and Jn. tell us that our
Lord appeared to the Eleven in Jerusalem, and Jn. tells us that
they did not obey the charge to go to Galilee for at least a week.
There is also the fact that Lk. says nothing about any appear-
ances in Galilee. Possibly the traditions respecting these events
became somewhat confused before they were written down ; and
certainly our ignorance of the details, and of the motives which
guided the Evangelists, is too great to allow us to be dogmatic
either in charging them with errors or in explaining what seem
to us to be such. The narratives have the stamp of honesty,
and there is a good deal which cannot have been invented. See
Wright, Sy?iopsIs, p. 174; Westcott, introductory note to Jn. xx.
We do not know when the Lord appointed the mountain as
a place for the Eleven to meet Him when they returned to
Galilee ; nor do we know what place is meant by 'the mountain.'
3ut about the latter point we may reasonably conjecture that
XXVIII. lG-20] PASSION, DEATH, RESUKRIXTION 427
some spot above the lake is intended. After feedin<; the five
thousand near the lake, Jesus ' went up into the inounta'ui apart
to pray ' (xiv. 23). After healing the daughter of the Canaaniiish
woman, Jesus 'came nigh unto the sea of Galilee; and He went
up into the fiiountaiu, and sat there' (xv. 29). It can hardly
have been very high ground, for the multitudes brouglit lame,
maimed, and others and cast them at His feet to be healed.
Comp. V. I, viii. i ; Mk. iii. 13. It is perhaps possible that
there was some particular spot in this hilly district near the lake
that was known in the circle of Christ's disciples as 'the
mountain.' Our Lord would be likely to appoint a familiar
spot, and we know of no other occasion on which He appointed
a definite place for meeting Him after the Resurrection. In
most of the appearances those who saw Him were not expecting
to see Him.
There are several marks of Mt.'s hand in the narrative: iiropevOria-av,
irpoaekduiv, iropevdivTts, fjLaOtjreC'aaTe, Kal i5ov. And there is not much doubt
about the text, not even in ver. 19 : for ifopnOivTes some Western texts have
vopeveaBe, which makes no difference to the sense.
'They worshipped; but some doubted.' There are one or
two uncertainties here. Who doubted? And what did they
doubt? All the Eleven fell on their knees and prostrated
themselves. Although no one else has been mentioned, it is
probable that others were present, and that among these others
were the doubters. The doubt might be as to whether Jesus
was risen from the dead, or as to whether He whom they now
saw was Jesus. The latter seems to be more probable ; and, if
we assume that only the Eleven were present, the latter must
be the meaning, for the Eleven had already seen Him in
Jerusalem.^ Comp. Lk. xxiv. 11. From all the Gospels it is
clear that the disciples were disposed to be sceptical (xxiv. 23)
rather than credulous about the Resurrection.
Once before in this Gospel (xiv. 31, 33) we have had doubt
and adoration in close proximity in reference to the Messiah,
and there the same verbs are used as here. When Peter began
to sink in the water and cried out for help, our Lord rebuked
him : ' O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' (ei's tl
cStcTTao-as ;). And when they had entered the boat, those who
were in it 'worshipped Him' (Trpoa-fKvvTja-av avTw). These are
the only two occasions on which the Apostles are said to have
worshif'ped the Lord. In both instances the attitude is very
natural; there, because of His power over wind and wave;
here, because of the awe inspired by His return from the grave.
' Is 'when they saw Ilim' [lMvTf.% avrbv) meant to refer b.ack to 'and
here shall ihcy sec Me' («dK«* >t£ C^oi-Tai)? Comp. w. 7, 10.
428 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 17, 18
But Jesus approached them and addressed them, that they
might be assured that it was really Himself, and that they
had nothing to fear. Comp. [Mk.] xvi. 11-14.
'There has been given to Me all authority in heaven and
upon earth.' Again one asks, Who is it that dares thus con-
fidently to make this amazing claim ? Who is it that utters it
as if it were a simple matter of fact about which there was no
question ? Not merely power or might (SuVa/xi?), such as a great
conqueror might claim, but ' authority ' (i^ovala), as something
which is His by right, conferred upon Him by One who has the
right to bestow it (Rev. ii. 27). And ' a/i authority,' embracing
everything over which rule and dominion can be exercised ; and
that not only ' upon earth,' which would be an authority over-
whelming in its extensiveness, but also 'in heaven.' Human
thought loses itself in the attempt to understand what must be
comprehended in such authority as this. Nothing less than the
Divine government of the whole universe and of the Kingdom
of Heaven has been given to the Risen Lord. In more than
one Epistle, S. Paul piles up term upon term in order to try
to express the honour and glory and power which the Father
has bestowed upon the Son whom He has raised from the dead.
The glorified Christ is 'above every principality and authority
and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not
only in this age, but also in that which is to come' (Eph. i. 21 ;
comp. Col. i. 16-21; Phil. ii. 9-11). Nevertheless, with all his
fulness of language, the Apostle does not get beyond, for it is
impossible to get beyond, the majestic, inexhaustible reach of
the simple statement which Christ, with such serenity, makes
here.
No mere human being in his senses ever made such a claim
as this. Nor did the Son of God, during His ministry as the
Son of Man, make any such claim.^ He taught in a way that
made those who heard Him feel that He had authority greater
than the official teachers of the nation (vii. 29), and which forced
His adversaries to take notice of it (xxi. 27). He proved by His
successes that He had authority to heal all manner of disease
and sickness among the people (iv. 23, ix. 35), to cleanse lepers
(viii. 2, 3, xi. 5), to cast out demons (iv. 24, viii. 32, xii. 22,
xvii. 18), and to raise the dead. He gave the Twelve authority
over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner
^ Perhaps the nearest approach to this is xi. 27 ; Jn. iii. 35 ; but possibly
that was spoken by anticipation, and this is far more definite. That it was
derause He had suffered and died that He received this authority is plain from
other passage;, of Scripture : Phil. ii. 8, 9 ; Heb. ii. 9 ; comp. i Pet. i. 21 and
Hort's note. In Rev. i. 5, Pie is not only 6 ttputStokos tGiv veKpCov but also
6 apxwj' tCiv ^aaiXewu rrjs yrji, supreme over all rulers, including those who
had slain Him. Comp. the LXX. of Dan. vii. 14.
XXVIII. 19] PASSION, DIiATII. RKSURRKCTFON 429
of disease and sickness (x. i); and He gave similar authority
to the Seventy (Lk. x. 9, 17). He produced evidence to show
that He had authority on earth to forgive sins (ix. 6). He said
that the Father had given Him authority to execute judgment;
authority over all flesh to bestow eternal life ; authority to lay down
His own life and to take it again (Jn. v. 27, xvii. 2, x. 18). But all
this falls short of what is stated here, that He has received all autho-
rity in heaven and on earth. And it is in the plenitude of this
Divine authority that He lays upon His Apostles and His Church
His last great charge, and leaves to them His last great promise.
'Go ye therefore^ and make disciples of all the nations' (19).
The connexion between the declaration of universal authority
and the command to His servants is clearly cxjiressed. It is
because the Messiah has all dominion both above and below
that He gives this comprehensive charge to the Apostles.^ He
commits the whole human race to their care, and they are not
to rest until all have been brought in as disciples with them of
the one Master (xxiii. 10), and as sheep with them of the one
flock and the one Shepherd (Jn. x. 1 6). Before this, when He
was Himself ministering to the lost sheep of the house of Israel
(xv. 24), He had confined their ministrations to the same field.
They were not to go into any way of the Gentiles or into any
city of the Samaritans, and they were sent forth by Him as
sheep in the midst of wolves (x. 5, 6, 16). But the Risen Christ,
to whom all authority has been given, imposes no such limitation
of sphere upon the labours of His disciples. It is specially to
the Gentiles, but without excluding the Jews, that they are now
sent, not merely to instruct them, but to make them as fully
disciples of Christ as they are themselves. The promise that
He made to the first of them, when He invited them to follow
Him, that He would make them fishers of men (iv, 19), is now
fulfilled in its widest extent of meaning. He has trained them
Himself, and since His Resurrection He has been training them
to do without His bodily presence. The salt of the earth (v. 13)
is sent forth to save mankind from corruption ; the light of the
world (v. 14) is sent forth to illuminate every branch of the
human race. They have no longer to preach the Messiah of
the Jewish people, but the Saviour of the world. Comp. the
Ascension of Isaiah, iii. 18.
^ "The Eleven are to be sent on an oecumenical mission, and they must
know that they have beliind them an authority which is oecumenical. . . .
Universal authority is now in the hands of Jesus Christ, and with it h.as come
the universal mission of His Church" (Swete, A/</>earanas, pp. 71, 73).
Those whom God has placed in possession of the trulli that saves are lx)und
to impart it to those who are not in possession of it ; and for the discharge
of this obligation they need the power which has been committed to the Son
of God.
430 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 1
We need not suppose that, when Christ said, 'Disciple all
the nations ' {ixa6r]Teva-aTe iravra to. eOvrj), He meant to exclude
the Jews. 'The nations' (ra Wviq) often means the heathen
nations, but not necessarily ; and ' all the nations ' cannot ex-
clude any branch of the human race. Jewish Apostles could
not for a moment suppose that their own nation was to be
avoided in their preaching, and it is evident from their practice
afterwards that they did not understand Christ's farewell charge
in any such sense. To say tliat the Jews had excluded them-
selves, and that by the dastardly conduct of the representatives
of the nation (conduct persisted in even after Christ's death)
the nation had forfeited all right to admission into the Kingdom,
is no Christian argument. The door is always open to Jew and
Gentile alike. If Christ readmitted to the high office of the
Apostolate those who in the moment of trial 'all left Him and
fled' (xxvi. 56), would He be likely to exclude from His Church
those who, without ever having been His disciples, ' in ignorance '
rejected and slew Him ? Acts xxi. 20 is sufficient answer to that.^
This enormous extension of their mission was not wholly
new to the Apostles, although this statement of it may have
startled them. During the last days of His Ministry Christ had
told them that there was a Divine necessity (Sei) that the Gospel
should 'be preached unto all the nations' (Mk. xiii. 10), or, as
Mt. puts it, 'shall be preached in the whole world (eV o\ri t^
olKov[ji.ivyi) for a testimony unto all the nations' (xxiv. 14); and
again in the house of Simon the leper at Bethany He had said
that Mary's act in anointing Him for His burial should ' be
spoken of for a memorial of her, wheresoever this Gospel shall
be preached in the whole world ' (xxvi. i3 = Mk. xiv. 9).^ The
Apostles, after their mission as preachers in Palestine, could
hardly fail to understand that they were themselves to under-
take this work of preaching unto all the nations. If not at the
time, they would understand it afterwards.
We are less sure that they were not surprised to be told that
this work of making disciples of all the nations was always to be
accompanied by baptism. John had baptized his penitents, and
for a time Christ's followers had administered baptism, apparently
to those who wished to become His disciples (Jn. iv. i, 2) ; but
this rite of initiation does not seem to have been continued.
We read no more of it in connexion with the Messiah. All that
^ Chrysostom in commenting on the passage says : "He gives them orders
partly about doctrines and partly about commandments. And of the Jews
He says not a word, nor does He upbraid Peter with his denial nor any of
the others with their flight ; but He commands them to spread themselves
over the whole world, entrusting them with a brief teaching, even that teach
ing which is by baptism."
- Comp. also the command in the parable xxii. 9 ; Lk. xiv. 23.
XXVni. 19J PASSION, DEATH, RESURRl-CTION 43 1
was required of those who desired to be His disciples was that
they should follow Him (viii. 19, 22, ix. 9, xvi. 24, xix. 21 ; Jn.
X. 27, xii. 26). The command to make baptism a condition
of discipleship may possibly have been a surprise to the
Apostles.
This command is implied in the appendix to Mk, Immedi-
ately after the charge, ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to the whole creation,' come the words, ' He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved.' ^ Have we any evidence that
it was contained in the authentic conclusion of Nik. ? There is
just this reasonable inference. At the very opening of his Gospel
Mk. places John's contrast between his own baptism and that
of the Christ : ' I baptized you with water ; but He shall baptize
you with the Holy Spirit' (i. 8). "It would be wholly congruous
that the last section of the Gospel should contain the fulfilment
of that prophecy in Christ's final command to His discijjles, that
they should baptize 'all the nations' and bring them into a vital
union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost " (Chase,
"The Lord's Command to Baptize," in X^ixis. Journal of Theological
Studies, vi. 24, p. 483, July 1905; the whole paper should be
studied). There is also the probability that the momentous
statement in Mk. xiii. 10, 'The Gospel must first be preached
to all the nations,' would be confirmed before Christ's final de-
parture, and that Mk. would record the confirmation. See the
Hil'bert Jour/tal, July 1905, p. 781.
With regard to our Lord's command to baptize, as recorded
here, several questions have been raised to which an answer ought
to be given, i. Is ver. 19, as we have it in our Bibles, part of
the genuine text of Mt. ? 2. If it is, does it give the substance
of words actually uttered by our Lord? 3. Does it order the
use of a particular baptismal formula?
I. The question of the genuineness of the verse may be
answered with the utmost confidence. The verse is found in
ever)- extant Greek MS., whether uncial or cursive, and in every
extant Version, which contains this portion of Mt. In a few
witnesses the conclusion of the Gospel is wanting, but there is
no reason for believing that in these witnesses the verse or
any portion of it Nyas omitted. It has been argued by F, C.
Conyl)eare {Hibbert Journal for Oct. 1902) and by Professor
Lake {Inaugural Lecture at Leiden, 27 Jan. 1904) that the clause,
' baptizing them . . . Holy Spirit ' was very early interpolated
for dogmatic reasons in some copies of Mt., and that it was not
firmly established as part of this Gospel till after the Council of
Nicea. The chief argument is that Eusebius, Bishop of Ca.sarea
(a.d. 313-339), where he had access to a great library, often
i Comp. Actsii. 38; Tit. iii. 5; i Pet. iii. 21.
432 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. Id
quotes this passage and habitually omits, or stops short of, the
words which speak of baptism. Therefore the original text was
simply, 'Go and make disciples of all nations,' perhaps with the
addition ' in My name.' Dr. Chase has conclusively shown the
fallacious character of this argument. Eusebius quotes the verse,
with the command to baptize into the name of the Trinity, when
he requires the command for his purpose ; when he requires the
rest of the verse, but not the command, he omits the latter. It
is incredible that an interpolation of this character can have been
made in the text of Mt. without leaving a trace of its unauthen-
ticity in a single MS. or Version. See Burkitt, Evangelio?i da-
Mepharreshe, ii. p. 153. The evidence for its genuineness is
overwhelming.
2. But it is possible that, although the Evangelist wrote these
words, yet they do not represent anything that our Lord actually
uttered ; he may be putting into Christ's mouth the baptismal
formula with which he was familiar, and which he was sure must
have Christ's authority. He seems to act in this way with
regard to his own interpretation of the sign of Jonah (xii. 40),
and he may be doing a similar thing here. In answer to this
suggestion it may be pointed out that, although it is probable
that we have here only the substance of what our Lord said, and
perhaps an abbreviation of it, yet there is very good reason for
believing that Christ did say something which is fairly repre-
sented by the words which Mt. records. There is so much
Trinitarian doctrine in the N.T. which can hardly be explained,
except upon the hypothesis that Christ Himself had said some-
thing of this kind. The writers produce this doctrine quite
naturally, as if it was a mode of thought which was habitual
with them ; and (not only so) they evidently feel sure that those
to whom they write will understand it. Writing on i Pet. i. 2,
Dr. Hort says : " The three clauses of this verse beyond all
reasonable question set forth the operation of the Father, the
Holy Spirit, and the Son respectively. Here therefore, as in
several Epistles of S. Paul (i Cor. xii. 4-6; 2 Cor. xiii. 14;
Eph. iv. 4-6), there is an implicit reference to the Threefold
Name. In no passage is there any indication that the writer
was independently working out a doctrinal scheme : a recognised
belief or idea seems to be everywhere presupposed. How such
an idea could arise in the mind of any apostle without sanction
from a Word of the Lord, it is difficult to imagine : and this
consideration is a sufficient answer to the douf'ts which have been
raised zvhether Alt. xxviii. ig may not have been added or recast
by a later gmeration." The strongest case among the passages
named is 2 Cor. xiii. 14, on which see the present writer's notes
in the Cambridge Greek Testament. But there are other passages
XXVIII. 19] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 433
which might be added : 2 Thes. ii. 13-15 ; Eph. ii. 18, iii. 14-17 ;
Heb. vi. 4-6 ; i Jn. iii. 23, 24, iv. 2 ; Rev. i. 4, 5 ; Judc 20, 21.
3. One reason for doubting whether our Lord ever uttered
anything Hke the command to baptize as recorded by Mt. is the
thought that He would not be likely to prescribe a set form of
words for this purpose. And this thought is strengthened by
the fact that nowhere in the N.T. do we read of the Trinitarian
formula being used. At the outset, Peter exhorts the people to
'be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ' (Acts ii. 38). The
Samaritans converted by Philip were ' baptized into the Name
of the Lord Jesus' (Acts viii. 16). Peter directed that Cornelius
and others should *be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ'
(Acts X. 48). And the Ephesian disciples were 'baptized into
the Name of the Lord Jesus' (Acts xix. 5). Moreover, the
Pauline expression, ' baptized into Christ ' (Rom. vi. 3 ; Gal.
iii. 27; comp. i Cor. i. 13, vi. 11), is much closer to the
passages in Acts than to the words recorded here. If our
Lord had really given directions that the Trinitarian formula
was to be employed by the Apostles, the formula given in Acts
would never have come into use.
It is possible that the passages in Acts do not profess to give
the exact form of words that was used : they need not mean
more than that the persons mentioned were admitted by baptism
into the Church, the Body of Christ. It is still more possible
that in the words before us our Lord was not ordering any
particular form of administering baptism, although He was after-
wards supposed to have done so. His command, as reported
by Mt., would naturally suggest the Trinitarian formula, whether
or no it was from the first understood to prescribe it ; but it is
not certain that it was vieatit to prescribe it. Our Lord may
be explaining what becoming a disciple really involves : it means
no less than entering into communion with, into vital relation-
ship with, the revealed Persons of the Godhead. The Divine
Name is often a reverent synonym for the Divine Nature, for
God Himself; and therefore baptizing into the Name of the
Trinity may mean immersing in the infinite ocean of the Divine
Perfection. In Christian I5a[jtii>m the Divine Essence is the
element into which the baptized are plunged, or in which they
are bathed. Thus both prepositions (cis and iv) are justified.^
' Mk. has both ^^avrliovro iv t<^ 'lopidfrj (i. 5) and i^anrhOr) et'i riv
'lopdavnv (i. 9). In late Greek fU sometimes loses its distinctness of meaning
and is used as almost equivalent to iv ; but tliis is not the whole explanation
of the two constructions, which look at the act of immersion from different
points of view. The one regards the plunge into the water, the other the
washing in it.
It is possible that the expression 'into the name of conveys the idea of
' becoming the property of ; see Deissmann, Bid/e Studies, p. 146.
28
434 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 19
We have seen that, whereas in Acts we have ' baptized into the
Name of the Lord Jesus' or 'baptized in the Name of Jesus
Christ,' S. Paul says simply ' baptized into Christ,' omitting all
mention of the Name. Evidently he regards the meaning (or
result) of baptism, rather than the form of words used in ad-
ministering it. The baptized person has put on Christ (Gal.
iii. 27) and is incorporated with Him. It is remarkable that
we find the same significant omission of 'the Name of in early
Christian writers with regard to the Trinity. Tertullian uses
both expressions. In the De Baptismo 13 he translates this
passage exactly, as prescribing a form : " Lex eniin tinguendi im-
posita est et forma prcescripta. Ite, inquif, docete nationes, titigii-
entes eas in nomen Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti." But in the
De PrcBscriptione Hcereticoriim 20 we have : "Jussit ire et docere
tiationes tinguetidas i?i Patrem et i?i Filium et in Spiritum
Sanctum." And again, Adv. Praxean 26: " Mandans ut
tingueretit in Patrem et Filiian et Spiritum Satutum." It
would seem as if Tertullian saw that the baptism which Christ
enjoined was that of admission to communion with the Trinity.^
If, then, in this important passage our Lord was explaining the
import of Christian baptism rather than enjoining a particular
mode of administration, the difficulty of believing that He
uttered this saying is greatly diminished, if it does not vanish
altogether. And possibly, if we had His exact words, of which
this verse may be a condensation, we should see clearly that He
was not prescribing a formula.
We may believe that the publication of this Gospel made
baptism in the Name of the Trinity the usual form, for the
Lord's words suggest this. Justin Martyr, writing a.d. 150-160,
tells the heathen that Christians use the Trinitarian formula,
which, however, he paraphrases, so as to make it more in-
telligible to outsiders. He says that they make the purification
in water after the manner of a new birth, "in (lit. on) the Name
of the Father of the universe and Sovereign God and of our
Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit" {Apol. i. 61).^
And Tertullian is witness as to what was customary less than
fifty years later. The Didache (7) exactly follows Mt. " Having
first taught all these things, baptize into the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living water " ; where
"living water" probably means river-water or spring-water, as
1 It is worth noting that Tertullian nowhere has the omnes before nations ;
and the same omission is found in the treatise De Rebaptistnate 7, commonly
printed with Cyprian's works (Hartel, ii. p. 78).
- err' dv6 laros rod Trarpos rC^v bXuv koI BeinroTov 9eoy Kal rod fftdTrjpos rj/ndv
'Irjaov XpiaroO Kal irpevfiaTos ayiov. Comp. Iren. III. xvii. I. Three pre-
positions, therefore, are used in this connexion, without great difference of
meaning, eh, if, and iwl.
XXVin. 20] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 435
distinct from what is stagnant. Nevertheless, the practice of
baptizing "in the Name of Jesus Clirist," or "into the death
of Christ," must have continued for some time, for Cyprian
{Ep. Ixxiii. 18) contends against the one, and tlic Apostolical
Canons (50) forbid the other. Any bishop or presbyter baptizing
with only "one immersion which is administered into the death
of the Lord" is to be deprived.
It has already been pointed out that there are good
reasons for believing that Mt. derived the substance of this
last paragraph (16-20) from the lost conclusion of Mk.
Perhaps there would be less doubt as to the meaning of
ver. 19, if we could know what Mk. had written. Tie evidence
contained in it is no doubt later than that contained in the
Epistles of St. Paul ; but we are not justified in saying that it
is later than the evidence contained in Acts. As a document,
the First Gospel, including this verse, must be placed earlier
than Acts.
The division of the verses (19, 20) is not very haj)py.
"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded
you" clearly belongs to ver. 19: it is part of the great charge.
The charge is characteristically reproduced by Mt. in a threefold
form : the Apostles are to make disciples of all men, to baptize
them, and to instruct them. The great promise which follows
the third portion of the charge should have been made a separate
verse.
It is evident from the threefold charge that the teaching
which suffices for discipleship and for admission to Christian
communion is not all that is requisite. After baptism much
additional instruction will be required, especially for Gentiles,
who knew nothing about the teaching of the O.T., either as
regards doctrine or morality. But it is not the O.T. which
Christ gives to the Apostles as the source of the instruction
which they are to give to the new disciples ; the basis of their
teaching is to be ' all things whatsoever I commanded you.' What
was 'said to them of old time' is not enough; it is what '/
say unto jw^' (v. 21, 22, 27, 28, 33, 34), expanding, deepening,
spiritualizing what had been taught by the Law and the Prophets,
that is to be the Apostles' guide in teaching all the nations. And,
lest they should fear that they would forget much of what He had
enjoined. He had already promised them that the Holy Spirit
would 'bring to their remembrance all that He said to them'
(tKtU'o? v/jia? 8i8u^fi TiivTa, Kal VTrnfiyi'jfTtL lyius TrdvTa a iTiroi' vyxif,
Jn. xiv. 26). The wide swee[) Itoth of the jjiomise (TrcicTa J) and of
the command (Trcirra uaa) sliould be noted. They exactly corre-
spond, and the fulfilment of the one is the security for the fulfil-
ment of the other. Moreover, they both include Christ's teaching
436 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 20
respecting what is to be believed as well as what is to be
done.i
But more is required than that they should be enabled by the
Holy Spirit to remember, and understand, and develop, and
apply all that the Messiah had enjoined during His training of
them. This overwhelming charge to 'go and make disciples of
all the nations ' might well make each one of the Apostles ask, ' And
who is sufficient for these things? ' (2 Cor. ii. 16). The answer is,
* I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me' (Phil. iv. 13).
Therefore, just as the great claim leads on to the great charge, so
the great charge is followed by the great promise. ' And lo, 1
am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world.'
There need be no doubts or faintheartedness after such an
assurance as that, and nothing is wanting to the fulness of it.
There is the solemn introduction {koX llov) ; the emphatic pronoun
(eyw /xe^' v\xmv et/At), showing that no less than the Risen Lord
Himself is to be their companion and their ally; the detailed
description of the time (Trao-as to,? rjixepa?), leaving not a single
day without the certainty of this help ; and the express statement
that this promise holds good so long as the present dispensation
shall last (cws t^s crui/reXetas tov atwros). When ' the consumma-
tion of the age ' has been reached, they will no longer need the
assurance that He is with them to aid them in their work, for
their work will be accomplished, and they 'will see Him even
as He is' (i Jn. iii. 2).
The symbolism of Him who ' walks in the midst of the lamp-
stands ' which represent the Churches (Rev. ii. i) illustrates this.
"A sharing of their life and motion is intended" (Hort, ad loc).
"As the Enemy TreptTraret ^r^rwv KaTo.tnfiv (i Pet. V. 8), SO the
Lord patrols the ground, is ever on the spot when He is needed ;
His presence is not localized, but co-extensive with the Church "
(Swete, ad loc).
The expression ' consummation of the age ' or ' end of the world ' (crwr^-
Xeta rod aluvos or crvi'T. aliSvos), is, in the Bible, peculiar to Mt. (xiii. 39, 40,
49, xxiv. 3, xxrai. 20). Comp. avvr. tuu alibvuv (Heb. ix. 26 ; Testament
of Levi X. 2) and ervvr. Kaipwv (Dan. ix. 27), <xvvt. ijfiepwv (Dan. xii. 13),
KaLpov avvT. (Dan. xii. 4, 7). But this fact does not prove that our Lord did
not use the expression. In xiii. 39, 40, 49 it is probable enough that Mt.
found it in his source ; and he may have done so here. But if both here and
xxiv. 3 he has introduced it in editing what lay before him, he still may be
introducing an expression which Christ sometimes used. The phrase is
Jewish in tone, and seems to have been almost a technical term in apocalyptic
literature. " Thou shalt therefore be assuredly preserved to the consumma-
tion of the times" (Apocalypse of Baruch, xiii. 3; comp. xxvii. 15, xxix. 8,
^ Wellhausen unduly limits the meaning : In xxviii. 20 ist von der
Predigt des Evangeliums welches den gekrenzigteji und aiifersta)idenen
Christus T.um hihalt hat keine Rede, S07tdern nicr von Geboten /esii (p. 152).
XXVin. 20] PASSION, DEATH, RESURRECTION 437
XXX. 3, liv. 21, lix. 8, Ixix. 4, Ixxxiii. 7); "The Lord shall visit them in the
consummation of the end of the days" (Assumption of Moses, i. iS) ; " Thus
will they destroy until the day when the great consummation of the great
world be consummated over the watchers and the godless" (Book of Knocli,
xvi. i); where the expression sometimes means the end of the world, some-
times the Messianic age. There is nothing improbable in the supposition
that Christ Himself made use of it. Dalman (Il'on/s, p. 155) goes too far
when he says : "As the term occurs only in Matthew, it will belong not to
Jesus Himself, but to the Evangelist." Is it impossible that a phrase whicli
Christ Himself had used should be preserved by only one Evangelist ? What-
ever may be the origin of the phrase, one feels how suitable it is as a solemn
conclusion to the Gospel.
It was suggested above that the narrative of the visit of the
women to the sepulchre (i-io) may possibly refer to the same
visit as that which is recorded of the Magdalen alone (Jn. xx. i,
2, 11-18). Here it is necessary to consider whether this ap-
pearance to the Eleven (16-20) is not to be identified with that
to 'more than five hundred brethren at once' which S. Paul
mentions (i Cor. xv. 6).^ One tradition may have singled out
the Magdalen in the former case and have been silent respecting
her companions ; and something of a similar kind may have
taken place with regard to an appearance in Galilee. The Eleven
were the most important element in the company of witnesses,
and it is possible that in some narratives no one else was mentioned.
It is obvious that if the appearance was to be made to hundreds
of persons, it must take place in the open air, and the high
ground above the lake was a suitable place. A manifestation to
the Eleven could take place in Galilee, as at Jerusalem, in a
room. Comp. Lk. xxiv. 33-43, where others besides the Apostles
were present. In any case, the appeal which S. Paul makes to
the testimony of so large a number of still living witnesses cannot
be dismissed as a " battered sophism." " It would have been
dangerous for the Apostle to appeal to the survivors of the five
hundred in a letter written to Corinth, where he had enemies
who were in frequent communication with Jerusalem" (Swete,
Appearances^ p. 84). The probability that, if the Risen Messiah
appeared at all to human eyes. He would appear to others besides
the Apostles, is great. It would have placed the Eleven at a
serious disadvantage if they had been the only disciples who
could affirm that they had seen Him. According to the evidence
which has come down to us, both in Jerusalem and in Galilee a
number of persons, in addition to the Apostles, were allowed to
see and hear Him, and in some cases even to touch Him. And
yet, in the first instance, none of them expected to do so. They
^ Maclaren says that "it is obviously the same incident," which is too
strong a statement. "There is no veiled personality now, as to Mary and
to the two on the road to Emmaus ; no greeting ; no demonstration of the
reality of His appearance. He stands amongst them as the King."
438 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. MATTHEW [XXVIII. 20
had made up their mind that they would never see Him
again.
On the other hand, however many appearances there may
have been in Jerusalem and in Galilee to the Apostles and
others, we read of no appearance to Christ's enemies, to the
chief priests, or elders, to Pilate or to Herod. There was no
attempt to force them to believe. He had refused the demand
for a sign from heaven, w^hen the Pharisees challenged Him to
give one. He had worked no miracle before Herod. What
the suffering Christ had refused to do, the triumphant Christ
abstained from doing. The wills of His enemies were still left
free, and they could continue to reject Him and oppose Him,
if they so pleased. The desponding doubts of a loyal Apostle
who was yearning to see Him again, and yet would accept no
testimony respecting a fact which seemed to be far too good to
be true, He was willing to dispel; such doubts could be utilized
for the more confirmation of the faith. But the obstinate
hostility of those who had declared Him to be a deceiver was
left without any special privilege or intervention for its cure.
When He was ministering to men's bodies and was ready to heal
them, we are told that there was a time when ' He could not {ovk
eSwaro) there do any mighty work, save that He laid His hands
upon a few sick folk and healed them ' (Mk. vi. 5), because of
their unbelief ; and it is possible that there were similar limita-
tions with regard to His appearances after the Resurrection.
Those appearances did not depend solely upon His own will :
something depended upon the condition of the recipients. To
hostile or unwilling hearts there was no appearance.^
This does not mean that it was necessary that the recipients
of this favour should be expecting it. If that were true, there
would be some ground for the objection that those who
declared that they had seen Him were quite honest, but were
victims of a delusion : they saw what they had hoped to see,
and what they had made up their minds that they were
sure to see. Experience has proved that such delusions are
possible for groups of persons as well as for individuals. But
all the evidence that we possess contradicts this supposition.
Except the meeting on ' the mountain ' in Galilee, ' where Jesus
had appointed them,' all the appearances were surprises ; and in
^ It is one of the many signs of inferiority in the Gospel according to the
Hebrews that it makes a servant of the priest (presumably the high priest) a
witness of the Risen Lord. Jerome tells us that this Gospel narrated that
" when the Lord had given His linen cloth to a servant of the priest {servo
sacerdotis) He went to James and appeared to him ; for James had sworn that
he would net eat bread from that liour wherein he had drunk the cup of the
Lord until he saw Him rising again from the dead"(Ca/a/. Script. EccL,
Jacobus).
XXVUI. 20] PASSION, DKATir, KESURRECTION 439
some cases those who saw Him and talked with Ilim did not at
first know that it was He. Neverllieless, we may reasonably
believe that a readiness to acce[)t whatever lie might desire to
bestow upon them was one of the conditions of being able to see
and hear and touch Him after His Resurrection; and this con-
dition was wanting in those who had crucified Him.
But, although the large majority of those who had seen Him
during His ministry thus forfeited the privilege of being among
the witnesses of His Resurrection, this did not mean that they
were for ever excluded from that equally real presence which
He has promised to all faithful disciples throughout all time.
They lost the opportunity of seeing the Risen Lord before His
visible presence was withdrawn from human eyes. But, as we
know from history, after the Holy Spirit was given to the Church,
many of those who had been His opponents, including not a
few of the priests,^ joined the company of His disciples, and thus
became partakers of His farewell blessing: ' Lo, I am with you
all the days, even unto the end of the world.'
Characteristic expressions in ch. xxviii. : rd^os (i), kuI l8ov (2, 7, 9, 20),
ffeta-iJ.6s (2), wpoaipxe(Teai (2, 9, 18), ^vbviia (3), Sfvre (6), wopeveaOai (7, II,
16, 19), Trpo<yKvvitv (9, 17), rbre (lO), Ibov (7, II ), cwd'yav (12), T]y(ndiv (14),
HaOriTfveiv (19), awreXeta tov aiwvos (20). Peculiar: KovffrwSla (11), av/x-
^ov\i.of\anjidi'€ii' (12), 5t(7Tdseiv(iy and xiv. 31 only) ; peculiar to thiscliapter :
eioia (3), and perhaps (prj/xii'tiv (15), but the common reading, 5ie(priij.i(r0ii
(A B C D L) is probably right here as in ix. 31 and Mk. i. 45.
* Acts ii. 41, iv. 4, V. 14, vi. 7.
INDEXES
Index I. General.
Abba, 369, 389.
Abbott, E. A., 13, 51, 72, 119, 123,
125, 243, 281, 359, 372.
Abbreviation of Mk. by Mt., xii, xiv,
XV, xxiv, 48, 128, 201, 203, 211,
223, 241, 269, 290, 306, 395,
406.
Abel, 322.
Abialhar, 1 73.
Abomination of desolation, 332.
A both ; see Pirqe A both.
Acta Fault el Ihecla, 60.
Acta Tho)u<z, 199, 248.
Acts of John, 366.
Adam, skull of, 394.
Adultery, 81, 182, 259.
Africanus, Julius, i.
Agony in Gethsemane, 368.
Alexander, W. M., 135, 177, 242.
Allen, W. C, i, xii, xxv, 17, 19, 47,
no, 141, 153, 166, 175, 183,
185, 192, 213, 218, 227, 290,
295. 303. 328, 357, 389. 413-
Almsgiving, 91.
Alphxus, 405.
Ambrose, 60, 61, 109.
Amiel, 62, 161.
Andrew, 49, 204, 328.
Andrews, S. J., 132, 204, 404.
Angels, 6, 99, 198, 236, 251, 306,
336, 339- 374, 416, 417-
Annas, 321, 384.
Annius of Viterbo, 2.
Antipas, 161, 200, 202, 223, 409.
Aorists preferred by Mt. to imixrfects,
xiii, 128, 135, 240, 312, 384,
405.
Apocalypse of Baruch, 32, 42, 127,
171, 235, 325, 330, 436.
Apocryphal Gospels, 4, 12, 18, 356,
367, 393, 399, 416.
Apostles, lists of the, 147.
Apostolic Canons, 435.
Apostolic Constitutions, 391.
Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, 18.
Aramaic, 25, 29, 49, 55, 91, loi,
105, 137, 164, 228, 353, 357,
3S5, 399-
Archelaus, 19.
Arimathaea, 406.
Aristophanes, 368.
Arnobius, 402.
Arrian, 1 16.
Article, the definite, 73, 306, 307,
365-
Ascension of Isaiah, 2, 34, 155, 177,
196, 352, 417, 429.
Assumption of Moses, 336, 437.
Augustine, 15, 35, 56, 62, 67, 70, 82,
85, 86, 94, 97, 99, 107, 108,
366, 394, 401.
Banquet, the Kingdom as a, 127, 302
366.
Baptism, Christian forms of, 433.
Baptism of John, 22, 293.
Baptism of the Messiah by John, 31.
Baptist, John the, 20, 24, 27, 46,
161, 193, 199, 203, 293.
Baptist's message to Christ, 159.
Barabbas, 388, 389.
Barachiah, 323.
Barnabas, Epistle of, xxxviii, 146
312, 325,39s, 411.
Barnes, W. E., 8.
Barton, G. A., 212.
Baruch ; see Apocalypse of.
Baskets, kinds of, 219.
442
INDEX
Beatitudes, 57, 70, 160, 1S9, 228,
341-
Bede, 152.
Beelzebub, 154, 175.
Beet, J. A., 181.
Beloved, 34.
Bengel, 15, 40, 7i, "7, I37, 160,
202, 30S.
Boat ill us. Codex, 281.
Bethlebem of Judisa, 12.
Bethphage, 283.
Bethsaida, 165, 224.
Binding and loosing, 227, 231,
254.
Birth of Christ, the date, 10.
Blasphemy, 178, 3S0.
Blass, 164, 197, 265, 374.
Blind, healing the, 143, 175, 2S2,
289.
Bousset, xxix.
Box, G. H., 19.
Bread, daily, loi.
Brethren of the Lord, 9, 186.
Briggs, C. A., X, xxx, 8, 20, 23, 29,
34. 154, 157, 183. 229, 297, 299,
3", 347-
Brodrick, 376, 380,
Bruce, A. B., 52, 96, 164, 205, 239,
295. 303-
Burkitt, F. C, viii, xvi, 3, 17, 20, 23,
33, S3. 77, 81, 141, 154, 230,
237, 284, 303, 345, 378, 389,
421, 432.
Burton and Mathews, 41, 237, 246,
262, 305, 358.
Butler, Bishop, 320.
Coesarea Philippi, 224.
Caiaphas, 376, 378.
Calmes, Th., xxviii.
Camel, 269, 319.
Canaanite, 217.
Candour of the Evangelists, 262, 376,
385, 405-
Capernaum, 46, 135, 200.
Casuistry of the Rabbis, 79, 83, 85,
174, 211, 318.
Celsus, 12, 17, 18, 51, 372.
Centurions, 125, 403, 404, 407.
Chamisso, 205.
Charles, R. H., xxiii, xxxiv, 34, 38,
77, 80, 83, 176, 250, 309, 325,
401, 403.
Chase, F. H., 94, 229, 431.
Children, Christ's treatment of, 248,
262.
Chorazin, 164.
Christology, xxv, xxx, xxxi, 167,
Chronology in Mt., 17, 24, 30, 46,
54, 13s, 283, 349.
Chrj'sostom, 73, 109, 130, 190,
430.
Church, the, 26, 229, 253.
Cicero, 32, 3S1.
Cities of Israel, 153.
Clarke, J. Langton, 181.
Cleansing of the Temple, 287.
Clement of Alexandria, 67, 84, no,
128, 268, 360.
Clement of Rome, [171], 360.
CleDicntine Homilies, 84, 120, 215,
250, 264, 360.
Coins, 244, 247, 248, 256, 274, 305,
354, 356, 384. 423.
Compassion, 144, 149, 282.
Confession of Peter, 226.
Corban, 21 1.
Cornelius a Lapide, 62, 68, 93, 417.
Cross, 156, 233, 393, 396.
Cup, 277, 363.
Cyprian, 14, 86, lOi, 181, 231,
435-
Cyril of Jerusalem, 22, 112, 162, 167,
335-
Dalman, 73, 84, 115, 129, 137, 143,
179, 220, 225, 271, 278, 311,
352, 361, 379, 399, 437.
Dalmanutha, 220.
Dante, 370.
Darkness, 107, 398.
Date of the Nativity, 10.
Date of the First Gospel, xxxi, xxxiii,
237, 333-
Davidic origin of Mary, 2.
Dead, raising the, 142, 149, 160.
Decapolis, 219, 220.
Deissmann, 86, 91, 127, 128, 140,
150, 173, 175, 258, 284, 28s,
299, 337, 384, 433-
Deliver up, 243, 276, 372.
Demoniacs, 133, 135.
Demons, 133, 144, 149, 175, 185,
241.
Denarius, 256, 274, 305, 354.
Denials, Peter's, 381.
Derenbourg, 152.
Devil, perionahty of the, 37, 18S,
193-
Didache, 103, 112, 1 16, 1 71, 2S7.
Didon, 27, 35.
Diminutives, 216, 219.
Discourses, compiled, xix, 56, 119,
148, 164, 198, 313.
I. GENERAL
443
Discrepancies and diflcrences between
Gospels, 3, 40, 58, 81, 89, 95,
121, 131, 132, 133, 140, 145.
150, 164, 174, 177, iSS, 109,
206, 222, 236, 264, 277, 2S2,
287, 290, 293, 307, 356, 363,
369. 373. 374, 378, 3S2, 388,
396, 414, 4»8.
Divine decrees, 234, 239, 330, 375.
Divorce, Si, 259.
Documenls used by Mt., viii, x, xi,
xvi, 3, S3-
Dogs, 112, 216.
Donehoo, J. de Q., 12, 366, 405.
Dove in symbolism, 33.
Doxolog)- to the Lord's Prayer, 103.
Drachma, 244, 274.
Dreams, 6, 8, 16, 390.
Driver, S. K., 33, 64, 172, 212, 308.
Droostcn, P. H., 35.
DnimmoiKl, J., xxviii, 137, 2SS.
Du 1 5o.se, \V. P., 140.
Dumb, curing the, 143, 175, 218.
Earthquakes, 131, 402, 415, 418.
Edershcim, A., 82, 150, 151, 172,
173, 176, 321, 358, 360, 3.S6, 404.
Editorial additions, xvii, 140, 1S3,
360, 419.
Egypt, 16.
Elijah, 27, 93, 147, 163, 238, 240,
370, 399-
Elmslie, W. G , 19.
Emyclopitdia Biblka, 167, 186, 220.
Etuxh, Book of, 133, 151, 16S, 176,
270, 306, 325, 330, 334, 360,
378, 437.
Enoch, Book of the Secrets of, 68, 83,
. 87, 115, 255, 329:342, 351. 366.
Epictelus, 86, 155.
Essenes, 22, 84.
Eternal life, 263, 352.
Eternal punishment, 29, 250, 346,
352.
Eucharist, Institution of the, 361,
363-
Euripides, 155.
EuMcbius, vii, xxxii, 70, 176, 403, 431.
Euthymius, 298.
Evans, T. S., 362.
Ewald, G. H. A., 389.
Excommunication, 254.
Exorcists, 144, 177.
Expansion of Mk. by Mt., xiii, xvii,
8, 82, 132, 183, 187, 226, 227,
232, 236, 259, 266, 275, 307,
309, 3^.
Expositor, xxxiv, xl, 10, 11, 19, 272,
356.
Expositor s Hihle, 1 1 2, 205.
Expository Times, 147.
Fairbairn, A. M., 356.
Faith, 126, 135, 217, 291.
False prophets, 116, 331, 334.
Fasting, 104, 141.
Father in heaven, 73, 74, 97.
Field, F., 14, loS, 1S3, 256, 392.
Fig-tree, the l>r:»ggart, 290.
the lesson of the, 337.
Fire, baptizing with, 28.
eternal, 250, 352.
Five, groups of, xviii, xxi, 78, 312.
Five tliousand, feeding of, 203, 21 if.
Flood, the, 340.
Forgiveness, 136, 180, 252, 255.
Four thousand, feeding of, 218.
Free will, 41, 42.
Freer, C. L., 103, 237, 247.
Fritzsche, 125.
Fulfilling the Law, 76.
Gadarcnes, 132.
Galileans, 156, 353, 382.
Galilee, 46.
Gehenna, 79, 321.
Genealogy of Christ, i, 3.
Gcnncsaret, 210.
Gentiles, salvation optn to, xxiv, 19,
127, 298, 300, 301, 331, 429.
Georgius Ilamartolus, 278.
Genisa, 132.
Gethsemane, 368.
Girodon, P., 109, 118, 182, 205, 361,
364-
Gnosticism, 34, 399.
Godet, F., 8.
Golden Rule, 113.
Gore, C., xxxi, 38, 55, 127, 1S3,
311-
Gospel, 50 ; see Hebrews, G. aee. to.
Gospel of Nieodeinus, 389, 390, 39 1 ,
396, 425.
Gospel of Peter, 367, 393, 399, 407,
416.
Gould, E. P., 48, 173, I So, 223, 250,
259, 305. 3'i-
Gr.-iy, G. 15., 172.
Gregory, C. R., ix, 103, 247.
(Gregory the Great, ijo.
CJrenfell and Hunt, 74, 110, 112,
258.
Groser, \V. H., 192.
Guardian- Angels, 251.
444
INDEX
Hades, 79, 229.
Hammond, C, 295.
Hammurabi, 85.
Harnack, x, xxxix, 40, 51, 56, 89,
167, 411.
Hase, K. V., 55, 86, 166.
Hatch, E., 64, 106, 27S.
Hawkins, Sir J., xxiii, 20, 23, 89,
120, 141.
Hearing or reading, 78, 173.
Heathen, 13, 127, 139, 215, 301,
392.
Heaven, 89, 97, 99, 127, 228.
Hebrews, Gospel ace. to the, ix, 31,
lOi, 255, 264, 389, 438.
Henslow, G., 192.
Herford, R. T., 8, 17, 76.
Hermas, xxxviii, xl, 155, 360.
Hemion, 223, 238.
Herod the Great, i, 16.
Herod Antipas, 161, 200, 202, 223.
Herodians, 174, 304.
Herodias, 161.
Herodotus, 354.
Hibbert Journal, 52, 413, 431.
High priest, 14, 353, 376, 378, 384,
401.
Hippolytus, 326.
Holtzmann, H. J., 291.
Holtzmann, O., 4, 25, 51, 71, 168,
419, 423.
Holy City, 40, 332.
Holy place, 332.
Holy Spirit, 178.
Homer, 186, 230, 235.
Hort, 75, 114, 125, 152, 162, 173,
229, 253, 317, 328, 428, 432,
436-
Hosanna, 286.
Ignatius, 15, 31, 194, 248, 403.
Illingworth, 122, 136.
Imperative mood, III, 113, 159,
320,
Imperfect tense, 9, 120, 215, 218,
224, 240.
Imperfects and aorists ; see Aorists.
Interpolations, 43, 82, 92, 103, 144,
154, 186, 187, 221, 237, 243,
252, 274, 281, 299, 317, 343,
362, 395, 400,
Irenxus, vii, 8, 35, 67, 78, 264, 413,
434-
Isaiah ; see Ascension of.
Iscariot, 147.
Isocrates, 114.
Izates, 318.
Jacquier, E., viii, 103.
Jairus, 14 1.
James, brother of John, 146, 276, 278.
Jeremiah, 18, 225, 386.
Jericho, 282.
"Jerome, ix, 12, 31, 54, lOI, 161, 181,
255, 262, 386, 389, 394, 401,
420, 438.
Jerusalem, Lament over, 324.
Jesus Christ, conscious of possessing
Divine authority, 76, 89, 113,
117, 118, 130, 139, 152, 157,
165, 184, 197, 281, 322, 378,
422, 428.
has knowledge of future events,
234, 246, 278, 297, 321, 335,
354> 366.
originality of His teaching, 61, 69,
114, 120, 227, 255, 307.
uses hyperbole, 86, 242, 292, 319.
uses irony, 91, 269, 320, 371.
abstains from using supernatural
means, 126, 225, 226, 290, 374,
395-
marvels, 126, 131, 217, 222.
is ignorant of the date of the Last
Judgment, 339.
prays, 206, 368.
see also Christology.
John the son of Zebedee, 49, 276, 27S,
357-
John the Baptist ; see Baptist.
Jonah, 183.
Joseph, husband of Mary, 2, 4, 9, 199,
Joseph of Arimathsea, 406, 408.
Joseph of Arimathaa, Narrative of,
356.
Josephus, I, 19, 24, 84, 156, 161,
177, 183, 201, 210, 212, 215,
224, 260, 318, 333, 385, 402.
Journal of Theological Studies, 4, 14,
25, 35, 46, 125, 135, 137, 164,
233, 241, 252, 260, 2S4, 312,
365, 378, 421, 431.
Jubilees, Book of, xxxvi, 133, 151,
173. 252, 300.
Judaa, 259, 333.
Judas Iscariot, 148, 356, 359, 361,
385-
Judas Maccabasus, 225.
Judgment, Day of, 151, 338, 339, 348.
julicher, xi.
Julius Africanus, I.
Justin Martyr, 8, 33, 84, 1 17, 120,
183, 264, 285, 329, 331, 342,
409, 413. 424. 434-
Juvenal, 368.
1. GENERAL
445
Kaddish, the Mourner's, 104.
Kcini, 37, 167.
Kennedy, H. A. A., 156, 163, 165,
306.
Kenosis, 126, 311,
Ken) on, F. G., 3.
Kcvs, the power of llic, 227, 230.
King, E. G., 312.
Kingdom of God, 25, 177, 269, 295.
Kingdom of Heaven, 24.
Kirkpatrick, A. E., 64, 311.
Klostermann, E., 31, 32, 133, 172,
309. 371-
Knowling, R. J., 84, 136, 1S2, 3S6,
412.
Koran, 351.
Lake, Kirsopp, 431.
Lamb, Paschal, 357.
Lang, Cosmo G., 344.
Last Supper, 35S.
Latham, H., 42, 72.
Law, Christ's attitude towards the,
75, 76, 82, SS, 123, 124, 139,
172, 213, 259, 306, 314, 31S.
Leaven, 194, 222.
Leo the Great, 92.
Leonardo da Vinci, 359.
Leprosy, 122.
Levi, 137.
Lex tahonis, 84.
Liddon, H. P., 224.
Life, 108, 115, 156, 235, 250.
Light, 46, 73. I07-
Lightfoot, J. B., 9, 101, 103, 186,
229, 248, 285, 36S, 375, 403.
Limitation of Clirists human know-
ledge, 126, 290, 311, 339, 395.
Liturgies, 98, 364.
Livy, 32.
Lock and Sanday, 74.
Loisy, A., xxxiii, 54, 57, 82, 105,
108, III.
Longfellow, IL W., 150.
Longinus, 404.
Lord's Prayer, 95, 370.
Lord's Supper, 361.
Lost Sheep, 252.
Love, 78, 87, 114, 266, 308.
Lupton, J. M., 262.
Lyttleton, E., 260.
Machxrus, 159, 203.
Mackinlay, G., 10, 48, 171, 188,
240.
Maclarcn, A., 27, 51, 162, 1S4, 281,
299. 437-
M'Nabb, V.,4.
Madden, V. W., 247, 274, 305.
Magadan, 220.
Mat^dalen ; see Mary.
Magi, II.
Magic, 15, 17, 176.
Maklonatus, 1 10.
Mammon, 107.
Martial, 83.
Mary, the Mother of the Messiah, 2,
9, 1S5, 199, 405.
Mary, the sister of ISlarlha, 355.
Mary Magdalen, 405, 421, 437.
Matthew, x, xvi, xvii, 137.
Mayor, J. B., 10, 1S6.
Metaphors against the Pharisees, 121.
Metaphors, inferences from, 29, So,
81, 242.
Midrash, 303.
Milton, 39.
Ministry in Galilee, 45, 49.
in Judrea, 288, 324,
Miracles, 38, 46, 121, 149, 182, 201,
203,218, 246, 291.
Miracles, enhancement by Mt. of the
greatness of Christ's, xv, 128,
142, 143, 175, 205, 210, 211,
218, 220, 241, 291.
Mishna, 376.
Mission of the Twelve, 144, 148, 151,
153. 15S.
Moore, G. F., 2S5.
Moses ; see Asstonf-tion of.
Moulton, J. H., 13, 14,98, III, 134,
156, 166, 197, 252, 255, 277,
301, 322, 345, 389, 400, 415.
Moulton, R. G., 8, 60, 1S3.
Mountain, 37, 54, 206, 242, 292, 425,
427.
of transfiguration, 238.
Mozley, J. B., 87.
Mustard-seed, 194, 242.
Mylne, L. G., 311.
Nazarene, 18, 382, 396.
Nazareth, 19, 198.
Nazarite, 130.
Neandcr, 38, 274, 402.
Nestle, 3, 7. 103, 154, 195, 202, 275,
281, 3S0, 400.
Nicodemtis ; see Gospel of.
Nominative for vocative, 399.
Nosgen, C. F., 166.
Numerical arrangement ; see Five,
Seven, Ten, Triplets.
Oaths, 82, 84, 318, 37S, 382.
446
INDEX
Old Testament, quotations from the,
8, 17, 18, 40, 41, 46, 78,82, 87,
128, 140, 173, 175, 189, 195,
212, 260, 266, 285, 2S9, 306,
309, 310, 332, 366, 375, 386,
39S, 399, 401.
Olshausen, 155.
Origen, xxxviii, xxxix, 15, 1 7, 68,
83, loi, no, 117, 127, 128, 197,
201, 202, 214, 227, 233, 337,
372, 389, 394-
Ovid, 391.
Oxyrhynchus Logia, 74, 1 10, 112,
222, 254.
Papias, vii, viii, 278, 386.
Parables, 187, 190, 301, 348.
of judgment, 349.
pairs of, 72, 141, 194, 197.
Paradoxes in Ciirist's teacliing, 61,
69, 86, 130, 242, 292.
Parousia, 329.
Pascal, 107.
Passion, prediction of the, 231, 243,
275-
Passover, 203, 284, 356, 358.
Paul, the Apostle, 212, 316, 363, 370,
411, 421.
Peckover, Algerma, Codex, T.i,'].
Persa, 258, 283.
Perowne, J. J. S., 311.
Persecution predicted, 151, 330.
Personality of evil, 37, 188, 193.
Peter, 49, 128, 147, 208, 213, 226,
228, 231, 239, 244, 25s, 270, 357,
367, 370, 374, 381, 421.
Peter ; see Gospel of.
Pharisees, 27, 77, 90, 136, 139, 144,
172,175, 179,182,211,221,259.
antagonism of Mt. to the, 28, 121,
182, 299, 308, 310, 313, 409.
Philo, 114, 265, 309.
Philostratus, 133.
Pilate, 385, 387, 391, 407.
Pindar, 199.
Pirqe Aboth, xxiii, 80, 86, 99, 17 1,
249, 250, 254, 275, 352.
Plato, 88, 92, 380.
Plautus, 309.
Pliny, 71, 354.
Plutarch, 85, 194, 392.
Polycarp, Epistle of, 394.
Popular enthusiasm for Christ, 120,
206, 284, 287, 313.
Prcedicatio Paiili, 31.
Prayer, 93, lOO, 113, 206, 242, 261,
291, 369-
Prayer, the Lord's, 95, 370.
Preparation, the, 408.
Present tense, xiii, 48, III, 1 13, 136.
Priests, 123, 289, 299, 373, 385, 397,
401, 410.
Primacy of Peter, 147, 229, 234.
Prophecy, fulfilment of, xxiv, 16, 17,
20, 46, 128, 163, 175, 189, 195,
285, 375, 3S6.
Prophets, false, 1 16, 331, 334.
Proselytes, 126, 317.
Proverbs in Christ's teaching, in,
171, 177, 213, 269, 334.
Psalm ex. , Christ's question about, 310,
Psalms of Solomon, xxvii, 106, 177,
190, 337, 339, 378.
Publicans or toll-collectors, 89, 137,
254, 295-
Punctuation, 20, 34, 161, 295, 377,
400.
Punishment, eternal, 29, 250, 346,
352.
Purifications, 22, 212, 319.
Quotations ; see Old Testament and
Prophecy.
Rabbinical sayings, 76, 81, 140, 158,
213, 308 ; see Talmud.
Raca, "j^i.
Rahab, 2.
Ramsay, Sir W., x, 10.
Ransom, 280.
Reading or hearing, 78, 173.
Readings, important differences of, 3,
29, 35, 43, 78, 91, 103, 114, 144,
164, 165, 168, 294, 306, 308,
317, 319, 321, 323, 339, 364,
389, 400.
Remission of sins, 22.
Renan, xi, 165, 385, 389.
Repentance, 21, 295.
Resch, 35, 88, 109, 128, 247, 281,
342, 371-
Ronsch, no.
Resurrection, 183, 244, 305, 411, 414,
419.
Rich young man, 263.
Riches, dangers of, 267.
Robbers, the two, 396, 398.
Robertson, A., 25.
Robinson, J. A., 34, 229, 278, 2S8.
Rock, the, 228, 234.
Roman liturgy, 364.
Room, the upper, 358.
Rooms, 315.
Ropes, J. R., X.
I. GENERAL
447
Ruth, 2.
Rylc.H. H., 225, 322.
Rylc. R.J.,52. _
R)ie and James, 376.
Sabliath, 172, 174, 333, 408, 415.
Sadducees, 27, 221, 305, 307.
Salmon, X, 22, 3S, 76, 124, 133, 159,
164, iSo, 1S3, 20S, 227, 265,
212, 277, 355, 363. 375. 379.
400.
Salome, 277, 405, 415.
Salt, 71.
Samaritans, 148.
Sanday, xxvi, xxix, 3, 23, 25, 36,
51, 122, 125, 160, 163, 165,
183, 191, 205, 229, 233, 272,
2S0, 2S8, 292, 311, 327, 349,
358, 394. 414-
Sanday and lleadlam, 136.
Sanhedrin, 13, 79, 293, 299, 376,
3S1, 384, 410.
Satan, 36, 37, 43. 176, iSS, 193.
Schanz, P., 361.
Schmidt, N., 420.
Schmiedel, P. W., 51, 166.
Schiirer, E., xxxiv, 141, 14S, 152,
202, 245, 31S, 37S, 399.
Scourging, 322, 391.
Scribes, 13, 77, i^d, 21 1, 214, 2S9,
314-
Scrivener, 7, 103, 2S1.
Sealing, 410.
Second Advent, xxvii, 153, 236, 329,
338.
Secrets of Enoch ; see Enoch.
Seneca, 116, 142, 199.
Septuagint, sparse use of the, 8, 14,
17, 47, 117, 12S, 161, 175, 1S9,
195, 212, 266, 289, 309, 367,
3S6, 399-
Sepulchre, 407, 410, 411, 419.
Sepulchres, whiled, 319.
Seven, xix, xxii, 60, 96, 109, no,
148, 196,316, 327.
Shakespeare, 41, 192, 256, 269, 315.
Sheba, the Queen of, 15, 184.
Shewbread, 172.
Sidon, 219.
Silence as to the Messiahship, 175,
231, 234, 379-
Silence enjoined on the healed, 124,
142, 143, 175.
Sinaitic ; see Syriac.
Sinlcssncss of Christ, 7, 31, 113.
Slaves, 107, 280, 346.
Sodom, 151, 165.
Solomon ; sec Fsalins of.
Sun of David, 2, 10, 143, 215, 2S2,
2S9, 310.
Son of t'.od, xxviii, 34, 39, 40, 133,
167, 210, 37S, 39S, 404.
Sun of Man, xxv, 129, 136, 153,
J71. 173. >96, 225, 236, 240,
252, 270, 2S0, 335, 337. 349,
353. 359,371, 3S0.
Soul or Life, 156. 235, 309.
Soul of Christ, 36S.
Stanley, A. P., iSS, 224.
Stater, 247, 24S, 3S4.
Steinbeck, J., 76, 157.
Stier, K. E., 57.
Strauss, D., 8, 167, 2S6, 324.
Strcane, A. W., 225.
Supper, the Last, 35S.
Swete, IL P., 14, 47, 126, 212,
266, 268, 29S, 305, 321, 336,
351, 355, 358. 365, 367, 3f'9.
371, 399. 405. 413, 418, 421,
429, 436, 437.
Syriac, Sinaitic, 29, 74, 89, 91, 125,
154, 164, 217, 221, 232, 253,
254, 275, 2S1, 317, 3»9, 321,
364, 3t>i, 3S9, 391, 395. 403,
406.
Tabernacles, Feast of, 11, 240, 2S6.
Tabor, 54, 23S.
Tabula of Cebes, 115.
Tacitus, 139, 325, 375, 389.
Talmud, 17, 6S, 83, 98, 102, 106,
109, 113, 116, 119, 136, 149,
211, 316,321,351. 356.
Tamar, 2.
Tares, 192.
Taylor, C, 275.
Temple, 40, 2S7, 2S9, 292, 328,
377. 401.
Temple-tax, 244.
Temptations of Christ, 35, 40, 42,
125, 233, 234, 36S.
Ten, xxiii, 59, 343.
Tertullian, 22, 82,95, 107, 1 12, 160,
190, 266, 331, 342, 371, 424,
434-
Testament of Abraham, 337.
Testaments of the XJl. Patriarchs,
xxxiv, 13. 32, 34, 44, 47, 58,
62, 77, 78, 80, 8S, 09, 104, 105,
106, 107, III, 12S, 151, 181,
185, 214, 253, 270, 271, 304,
309. 325. 329. 336, 349. 351.
352, 382, 3S5, 39 r, 392, 399,
403, 414, 417, 436.
448
INDEX
Thaddseus, 147.
Third day, 183, 243, 275, 409, 419.
Thirlwall, C, 311, 363.
Thomas de Celano, 155.
Thomson, W. M., 71.
Titus, 334.
Tolcdoth Jeschu, 425.
Tombs, 319, 411.
Toy, C. H., 118, 177, 275.
Tradatus de Rcbaptis)nate, 3 1 .
Tradition, 174, 21 1, 319.
Transfiguration, 238.
Trench, R. C, 70, 191.
Tribute to Ccesar, 304.
Triplets, xix, xxi, 2, 77, 91, 96,
105, 123, 130, 137, 141, 154,
171, 193. 309, 316, 317, 318,
319, 321.
Tristram, H. B., 113, 165, 192, 350.
Triumphal entry, 284.
Twelve, the, 148.
Twelve, tenderness of Mt. for the,
xiv, 132, 189, 210, 222, 238,
243, 248, 269, 275, 277, 371-
Two classes of men in Scripture, 1 18,
178, 193, 273, 343, 346-
Uncleanness, 130.
Unpardonable sin, 179.
Valentinus, 67.
Veil of the Temple, 401.
Version, Authorized, eccentricities of,
89, 110, 175, 200, 274, 276,
283, 352, 372, 422.
Revised, 159, 240, 372, 41I.
Victor of Antioch, 398.
Virgil, 391.
Virgin-birth, 3, 7.
Vultures, 334.
Walking on the sea, 207.
Warfield, D. B., 252.
Washing, 22, 212, 319, 391.
Watclifulness, 340, 343.
Wedding, 140, 301.
Wedding Garment, 302.
Weiss, B., 205, 229, 246, 254, 311,
371, 404-
Weiss, J., 371.
Wellhausen, J., 105, 109, 116, 125,
127, 168, 295, 339, 342, 420,
436.
Westcott, 179, 180, 195, 268, 330,
342, 364, 371,403, 426.
Wetstein, 142, 290, 303.
Weymouth, R. F., 286.
Wicked Husbandmen, 296.
Williams, Isaac, 336, 383.
Wine, 141, 364, 366, 393, 395.
Wisdom, 163.
Woes, 58, 68, 165, 249, 316, 321, 360.
Women in the First Gospel, 326, 383,
407, 412, 418.
Wood, J. G., 334.
Words from the Cross, 399, 401.
Wordsworth and White, 281.
Worshipping Jesus, 14, 122, 142,
210, 216, 422, 427.
Wright, A., 9, 30, 39, 82, 122, 186,
211, 214, 260, 286, 288, 326,
357, 390, 395, 421, 426.
Yoke as a metaphor, 171.
Zachariah, the blood of, 322, 323.
Zahn, viii, 8, 9, 32, 91, 125, 143,
162, 164, 175, 205, 231, 237,
258, 291, 295, 303, 324, 339,
389, 400, 402.
Zealots, 147, 206, 304.
II. GRIlEK
449
Index II. Gri;ik.
d7a>'a/CTerv, 262, 2S9.
dyairrjTOs, 297.
dyyapeiw, 393.
&-)^,e\os Kvpiov, 417.
ay€iv, 372.
ayLOS TOTTOS, 332,
ayp6s, 585, 394.
ddrifiOVfTv, 36S.
o-fTos, 334
&svna, Td, 353.
d^i^os, 391.
oireiv, 113, 277.
alwv, iSo, 105, 436.
aiuivLOS, 250, 263, 352.
dKavOai, iSS.
dufj-rjv, 21.^.
dKOi'fiJ', 46, 423.
aKpi^ovv, 20.
apuipruXol, 372.
d/iij*', 76, 83.
dix({>'i.^\riCTpov, 49-
dvaYaiov, 358-
dj'dTrai'iTts, 1 7 1.
d^'aTrXi/poi';', 1 89.
d»'07o\j?, 13-
dvax^pcT;', 47, 142.
dvOpuiros, 113, 131, 257, 298, 404.
dvoLyeiv, 32.
dvofiia, I17> 196.
dvTd\Xa7/na, 235.
dn-' dpri, 365, 379.
dTrexft", 91. 371'
diriaTia, 243.
dirXoCj, 107.
dir6, 163.
drd rire, 48.
dTrodT]iJ.eiv, 296, 346.
d7root56vot, 92, 256, 258, 305, 407.
diro/cpiVeffi^ot, 3S8.
diro\vfiv, 260.
dirocrreWei;', 1 51, 32 1,
dpyds, 181.
<Sp", 142, 379.
dpTot r^s irpoOifffus, 1 73.
ipXeirOai, 28.
dpxifpevi, 14.
Bipxuv, 263.
tLa^fUTOi, 29.
ai)X/f«fftfa«, 290.
d^aj'/feti', 105.
d^tfVcu, 43, III, 136, 253, 340, 400.
difiopi^dv, 352.
29
liairris'ti'', 433-
/Sao-T-dj'tu', 28, 128.
/^aTroXo7£ri', 93.
A'^fi", 389.
fiid^fadai, 162.
/SX^Treix, 112.
Ppvyfibs Twv 6S6i'TO}v, 200.
ydfJLOi, 312.
7^7/)a7rTO£, 146, 312, 359, 367.
7(:'evyo, 79, 321.
7fi'ed, 182.
yivTjua. t^s dfiir^Xov, 365.
yevv-q/xara e'x'Si'WJ', 27, 35.
7ei';'0i', 6.
yiveaBai, 9, SS, 120, 151, 262, 285.
7o;'i'7reTer;', 241.
ypriyopeiv, 341.
Set, 234, 250, 275, 33a
Serva, 358.
d(v5pov, 194.
5e^(6j, 351.
f diioXos, 36, 37, 43.
5ta^'o;'e7i', 43.
didKovos, 2S0.
Stdfoia, 309.
oiaiprj/jLiieiv, 439.
StSovat, 305, 407.
Sidpaxu-o-, T^d, 244.
8(.Kaio<Tvi>r], 65, 91, 106, 109.
Siardj'et;', 427.
doKtiv, 28.
5oi'Xei''eii', 107.
SoCXos, 280.
oiVa^iy, 335, 379.
diifaadai, 377.
(ydpeip, 330.
tyepats, 403.
«7\a7aXff7reti', 399.
^716, emphatic, 151, 294, 321, 436.
^^I'os, 40.
elKTj, 78.
f//xt, ^7w, 208, 378.
eh, 22, 33, 433.
(K, 319, 363.
iK^dWuv, 124, 145.
^d-f?, 206, 290, 399, 405, 408.
iKK\r}ala, 22S, 253.
iKTTtipd^nv, 41.
^XtTj^twi', 66.
450
INDEX
iXTTL^eiv, 175.
ifji^X^weiv, 267, 270.
ii', 156, 433.
ivoxos, 79.
evToXri, 308.
i^ofioXoyovaOai, 1 65.
e^ovaia, 1 1 9.
iopTTiv, Kara, 3SS.
iirdvu}, 286.
^tt/, 33, 286, 423.
ixi-yafxppevew, 306,
iinov(nos, loi.
'ipxecOai, 75, 348.
ipx(>tJ.evos, 6, 76, 159.
eraZpe, 374.
eroi/iafet;', 35 1.
eua77e'Xioi', 50.
ei)5ia, 237.
ei}6i^ws,^ 49, 335, 346.
eiiXoyelf , 361.
eyxa/>t(Tr£(!', 36 1.
?X"»', 256, 410.
ftfdj/ta, 192.
fw^, IIS, 263, 352.
Tjyefiuv, 385.
r]\iKla, 108.
ij/j^pa Kpicreus, 1 5 1.
i)a^d}piov, rb, 238, 241
^eXetv, 163, 208, 325.
GeoD 1^16?, 210.
O^pos, 337.
^(5/)u^os, 353.
iSov, 15.
'Iepo<T6\vfia, 13.
'lepoi'o-aXTj/x, 324.
i/cavos, 423.
Ifidriov, 286, 380.
IVa, 20, 31, 189, 322.
Kadapbs, 66, 407.
KadtiyriT-fjs, 315.
KaOi^eiv, 314.
Ka^cis, 284, 359.
/cai 7dp, 217.
/cat i5ov, I5i 416.
Kaipos, 43, 221, 270.
KaXelu, 302.
Kd/atros, 250.
Kap8ia, 309.
Kard, 388.
/caraXileiJ', 76, 377.
KaTavoetv, II 2.
KaraTreTaff/jLa, 401.
KaTa<f>L\e7v, 372,
/careloucridfet;', 279-
KaroLKdv, 185.
Kiveiv, 314.
KXavO/JLos, 200.
kA^ttttjs, 396.
KoXao-iS, 250, 352.
KOTTTeadai, 2,?)(i-
KovcTTCoSia, 410.
K6(pivos, 219.
Kpdawedov, 141,
KTaadai, 149.
Kwdpiov, 216.
Ki>pio?, 123, 131, 422.
K(ij(p6s, 175-
Xrjffrris, 288, 396.
\iKpi.av, 299.
\vrpov, 280.
X(7X''0Sj 89.
jj.adr]T€ikiu, 406, 430.
fxaXaKla, 50, 53, 128.
fiaficovas, 107.
^dxatpa, 374.
AteXXet^, 243, 275, 277.
/nepipLva, 108, 109.
fxepipLvdv, 108.
fxerdvoia, 21.
IxeroiKecrla, II.
M?7, III, 306.
fivqixeiov, 41 1.
jUOtxaXts, 182.
pLvar-qpiov, 189.
piupos, 79, 118.
Nafape'r, 18.
NafwpaTos, 18, 3961
z'ttt, 84.
raos, 377 SSS-
yeaj'is, 8.
veavlaKos, 263.
»/^oj, 365.
olKoSecnroTTis, 296.
dXiyoiriaTia, 243.
oXoj,^ii4, 375.
bp-oiovv, 192.
bpioXoyeZv iv, 1 56.
oro^a, 325, 330, 434.
0^0?, 395, 411.
oTTiffc.;, 43, 233.
OTTWS, 20, 189, 322.
opa^a, 239.
OpKOS, 84.
dipos, 54, 426.
01^ M^, 325> 345-
ir. r.RFEK
451
ovpoviof, 74.
ovpdi'ol, 24, 32, 74, 228.
aih-ujs, 74.
6(pii, 113.
Rx^ot iroWol, 53.
<5\^^, 415-
6\j/la, 406.
ira^tSfi/ei;', 304.
Trals, 201, 2S9.
TrdXiv, 77, 254.
iraXtJ^e»'e(Tta, 271.
TrapaSiSovai, 16S, 243, 276, 353.
TrapaKovftv, 254.
TTopaXa/i/Sdveti', 253, 34O.
irapaxpvf'-^t 290.
Trapetvat, 373.
Trapdivos, 8.
vapUvai, 373.
■n-apovffla, 329.
noTTjp, 74, 369.
ire«/)<ifeti', 43.
ire>'de7»', 63.
iTfvOfpd, 127.
TfpIXiiroy, 36S.
w^T/M, 228.
Il^rpos, 228,
TTjJpa, 150.
7r/»'eii', 363.
irtirpdffKeLV, 197,
TrXaj'Sv, 307, 330,
TrXavi], 409.
irXdvos, 409.
Tr\-ripovv, 20, 76, 189, 3S6.
Troieti', 181, 240.
■KOLO's, 265, 292, 30S, 340.
irovi)p6s, 86, 1 13.
TTopiVfcOai, 15, 140.
TTopveia, Si.
n-poCf, 64, 170.
Trpoci^eii', 295.
■irp6d€aii, 173.
xp6s T;/ias, 199.
irpoaipx(c6ai, 37, 14 1.
irpofficwerj', 13, 15, 43, 122, 142, 427.
wpoaXafx^dvfdOai, 232.
vpoa<t>ip(iv, 79, 1 28, 261.
irp6<T(i3irov, 105.
TT(2Ma, 334, 407.
TT^X*^?! 62, 334.
tti'Xt;, 115.
T'>, 250, 352.
irv()'pdi(i, 237.
^ijfl^v, ri, 20.
^^/ia, 181.
lilrrtiy, 1 45, 385.
Printed by MouULsciX &
<Ta,-{,-JaTOi<, 333, 415.
ffa7r).'7;, 49.
ffawp6j, 181.
fftiafi6i, 131, 415.
(7f\7;i'idj'f(T<?a(, 241.
<TK\T]poKap5ia, 259.
(TM'XXeti', 145.
(TTTTJXaio*', 28S.
(r7rXa7X'''i'f<^<'a', 1 23, 144, 28:
crrariip, 24S, 3S4.
(Trai'poOj', 395.
ar (liras, 361, 378, 387.
iTi'i X^7«y, 3S7.
<n'ju,ioi''Xtoi' Xafifidveif, 175.
(TiTd7et«', 30S, 351, 376.
avvaipeiv Xdyof, 258.
(Ti'tSouXos, 342.
(Ti'^'TAeta, 195, 436.
ff(p65pa, 15.
c<pvph, 219.
(TxoXdi-ctj', 185.
Tafielov, no.
rdi/ioy, 411.
tIkvov, 136, 163, 294.
reXeiv, 1 1 9, 153.
T^Xeioy, 88.
Tf\il)vr)%, 89.
T(;U7j ai>aroy, 385.
T6r6, 15, 276, 313, 343, 356.
TptTT? :^^^P?, 183.
TpV^XioV, 359.
i'Trave, 43, 134, 233.
i-TTO, 37.
VTTOKplTri^, 342.
VTTO^IOVT}, 152.
I'JlTIf', 400.
v<rT€peTy, 265, 266.
(piUoDv, 303.
ipo^daOai dir6, 155.
tpopri^fiv, 170.
(popTiof, 170.
<pp6vt.fio%, 118, 346.
^wrejfii, 239.
Xo-lpere, 422.
Xtrwi', 380.
Xo^'i. 394.4".
Xpijo'T-61, 170.
\fitvSofiapTvpia, 214, 220.
^I'X'). '56, 309. 368.
tiS^i'wi', dpx^j, 330.
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