The first Sabbath — So the Jews reckoned their Sabbaths, from the passover to pentecost; the first, second, third, and so on, till the seventh Sabbath (after the second day.) This immediately preceded pentecost, which was the fiftieth day after the second day of unleavened bread. Matthew 12:1; Mark... [ Continue Reading ]
Why do ye — St. Matthew and Mark represent the Pharisees as proposing the question to our Lord himself. It was afterward, probably, they proposed it to his disciples.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Samuel 21:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 12:9; Mark 3:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
To save life or to kill — He just then probably saw the design to kill him rising in their hearts.... [ Continue Reading ]
In the prayer of God — The phrase is singular and emphatical, to imply an extraordinary and sublime devotion. Mark 3:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 10:2; Mark 3:14; Acts 1:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
Simon called Zelotes — Full of zeal; otherwise called Simon the Canaanite.... [ Continue Reading ]
On a plain — At the foot of the mountain.... [ Continue Reading ]
In the following verses our Lord, in the audience of his newly — chosen disciples, and of the multitude, repeats, standing on the plain, many remarkable passages of the sermon he had before delivered, sitting on the mount. He here again pronounces the poor and the hungry, the mourners, and the perse... [ Continue Reading ]
Miserable are ye rich — If ye have received or sought your consolation or happiness therein.... [ Continue Reading ]
Full — Of meat and drink, and worldly goods. That laugh — That are of a light trifling spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
Wo to you when all men shall speak well of you — But who will believe this?... [ Continue Reading ]
But I say to you that hear — Hitherto our Lord had spoken only to particular sorts of persons: now he begins speaking to all in general. Matthew 5:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
To him that smiteth thee on the cheek — Taketh away thy cloak — These seem to be proverbial expressions, to signify an invasion of the tenderest points of honour and property. Offer the other — Forbid not thy coat — That is, rather yield to his repeating the affront or injury, than gratify resentmen... [ Continue Reading ]
Give to every one — Friend or enemy, what thou canst spare, and he really wants: and of him that taketh away thy goods — By borrowing, if he be insolvent, ask them not again. Matthew 5:42.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 7:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is greatly observable, our Lord has so little regard for one of the highest instances of natural virtue, namely, the returning love for love, that he does not account it even to deserve thanks. For even sinners, saith he, do the same: men who do not regard God at all. Therefore he may do this, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 7:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Into your bosom — Alluding to the mantles the Jews wore, into which a large quantity of corn might be received. With the same measure that ye mete with, it shall be measured to you again — Amazing goodness! So we are permitted even to carve for ourselves! We ourselves are, as it were, to tell God ho... [ Continue Reading ]
He spake a parable — Our Lord sometimes used parables when he knew plain and open declarations would too much inflame the passions of his hearers. It is for this reason he uses this parable, Can the blind lead the blind? — Can the scribes teach this way, which they know not themselves? Will not they... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 10:24; John 15:20.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 7:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
And why call ye me Lord, Lord — What will fair professions avail, without a life answerable thereto? Matthew 7:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
Matthew 7:24.... [ Continue Reading ]