Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 5:30

καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς αὐτῶν. ‘And their Scribes,’ i.e. those Scribes who belonged to their party. BCL, Vulg[110] It[111] &c.

[110] Vulg. Vulgate.
[111] It. Old Latin Version (Itala).

30. ἐγόγγυζον. This Ionic onomatopœia is common in Hellenistic Greek.

οἱ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς αὐτῶν. ‘The Pharisees and their scribes,’ i.e. those who were the authorised teachers of the company present. The Scribes (Sopherîm from Sepher ‘a book’) were a body which had sprung up after the exile, whose function it was to copy and explain the Law. The ‘words of the scribes’ were the nucleus of the body of tradition known as ‘the oral law.’ The word was a general term, for technically the Sopherim had been succeeded by the Tanaîm or ‘repeaters’ from B.C. 300 to A.D. 220, who drew up the Halachôth or ‘rules;’ and they by the Amoraim. The tyranny of pseudo-orthodoxy which they had established, and the terrorism with which it was enforced, were denounced by our Lord (Luke 11:37-54) in terms of which the burning force can best be understood by seeing from the Talmud how crushing were the ‘secular chains’ in which they had striven to bind the free conscience of the people—chains which it became His compassion to burst (see Gfrörer, Jahrh. d. Heils, I. 140).

πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ. They had not yet learnt to break the spell of awe which surrounded the Master, and so they attacked the ‘unlearned and ignorant’ Apostles. The murmurs must have reached the ears of Jesus after the feast, unless we imagine that some of these dignified teachers, who of course could not sit down at the meal, came and looked on out of curiosity. The house of an Oriental is perfectly open, and any one who likes may enter it.

μετὰ τῶν τελωνῶν καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν. ‘With the publicans and sinners.’ The article is found in nearly all the uncials.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 5:30

Old Testament

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