Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 4:17

ἀναπτύξας. Ἀνοίξας (ABL, La[93]) is perhaps an explanation. τόπον, so אL.

[93] La. Lachmann.

17. ἐπεδόθη αὐτῷ. Literally, “there was further handed to Him.” The expression means that after He, or another, had read the Parashah, or First Lesson, which was always from the Pentateuch, the clerk handed to him the roll of Isaiah, which contained the Haphtarah, or Second Lesson.

καὶ�. If this is the true reading, it means ‘unrolling.’ The Thorah, or Law, was written on a parchment between two rollers, and was always left unrolled at the column for the day’s lesson; but the Megilloth of the Prophets, &c. were on single rollers, and the right place had to be found by the reader (Maphtir).

εὗρεν. The word leaves it uncertain whether the ‘finding’ was what man calls ‘accidental,’ or whether it was the regular haphtarah of the day. It is now the Second Lesson for the great day of Atonement; but according to Zunz (the highest Jewish authority on the subject) the present order of the Lessons in the Synagogue worship belongs to a later period than this. (Zunz, Gottesd. Vorträge, 6).

τόπον οὗ ἦν γεγραμμένον. Isaiah 61:1-2. Our Lord, according to the custom of the Synagogue, must have read the passage in Hebrew, and then—either by Himself, or by an interpreter (Methurgeman)—it must have been translated to the congregation in Aramaic or Greek, since Hebrew was at this time a dead and learned language. The quotation is here freely taken by the Evangelist from the LXX[99], possibly from memory, and with reminiscences, intentional or otherwise, of other passages.

[99] LXX. Septuagint.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 4:17

Old Testament

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