THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13. St Mark’s account is short; the various temptations are not specified; he adds the striking expression ἦν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων. St Luke places the temptation of the Kingdoms of the World before that of the Pinnacle of the Temple. Generally it may be re... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΌΤΕ. The εὐθὺς of St Mark 1:12 points still more clearly to the significant nearness of the Temptation to the Baptism. ἈΝΉΧΘΗ … ὙΠῸ ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟΣ. The agency of the Spirit of God is named in each of the Synoptists. St Mark uses the strong expression ‘the Spirit driveth him forth.’ St Luke uses th... [ Continue Reading ]
ὝΣΤΕΡΟΝ ἘΠΕΊΝΑΣΕΝ. The words imply that the particular temptations named were offered at the end of the forty days during which he had fasted. But the parallel accounts represent the temptation as enduring throughout the whole period: ἦν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ … πειραζόμενος (Mark); ἤγετο ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ πειραζόμε... [ Continue Reading ]
ἽΝΑ ΟἹ ΛΊΘΟΙ ΟὟΤΟΙ ἌΡΤΟΙ ΓΈΝΩΝΤΑΙ. The temptation is addressed to the appetite, Use thy divine power to satisfy the desire of the flesh. The very discipline by which He fortified his human soul against temptation is sought to be made an inlet to temptation—a frequent incident in religious experience... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΈΓΡΑΠΤΑΙ. See note ch. Matthew 2:5. Jesus answers by a quotation from Deuteronomy 8:3. The chapter sets forth the teaching of the wilderness. The forty years were to the Jews what the forty days are to Jesus. The Lord God proved Israel ‘to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep hi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΣΤΗΣΕΝ for ἵστησιν with the four oldest uncials and the cursives 1, 33, 209. The reading of the _textus receptus_ may be due to the present, παραλαμβάνει. 5. ἉΓΊΑΝ ΠΌΛΙΝ. This designation used of the actual Jerusalem by St Matthew alone is transferred to the heavenly Jerusalem, Revelation 11:2; Re... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΆΛΕ ΣΕΑΥΤῸΝ ΚΆΤΩ. The depth was immense: Josephus speaking of the ‘Royal Porch’ (στοὰ βασιλική) says ‘if anyone looked down from the top of the battlements he would be giddy, while his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.’ _Antiq._ XV. 11. 5. ΓΈΓΡΑΠΤΑΙ. Psalms 91 [90 LXX]:11, 12. The qu... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ἘΚΠΕΙΡΆΣΕΙΣ ΚΎΡΙΟΝ ΤῸΝ ΘΕΌΝ ΣΟΥ. Deuteronomy 6:16. The verse ends ‘as ye tempted him in Massah.’ The reference to Massah (Numbers 20:7-12) shows the true meaning of the Saviour’s answer. Moses and Aaron displayed distrust in God when they tried to draw to themselves the glory of the miracle ins... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ὌΡΟΣ ὙΨΗΛῸΝ ΛΊΑΝ. It is idle to ask what this mountain was, or in what sense Jesus saw the kingdoms of the world. It is enough that the thought and the temptation of earthly despotism and glory were present to the mind of Jesus. The Galilæans put the same temptation to Jesus when they wished to... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἾΠΕΝ for λέγει with the same weight of authority. 9. ΤΑΥ͂ΤΆ ΣΟΙ ΠΆΝΤΑ ΔΏΣΩ. Satan, the ‘prince of this world’ (John 12:31), claims the disposal of earthly thrones. This is more clearly brought out by St Luke (Luke 4:6), ‘All this power will I give thee and the glory of them, for that is delivered... [ Continue Reading ]
ὝΠΑΓΕ ΣΑΤΑΝΑ͂. It is instructive to find these words addressed to Peter (ch. Matthew 16:23) when he put himself as it were in the place of the tempter. See note _ad loc_. In Homer ὑπάγειν is used of bringing cattle under the yoke, ὕπαγε ζύγον ὤκεας ἵππους, a force which some have given to the word... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΗΚΌΝΟΥΝ, from διακονέω. The Attic form of the imperfect is ἐδιακόνουν; but διηκόνουν is possibly a right reading, Eur. _Cycl._ 406. διακονεῖν is strictly to ‘serve at table,’ ‘minister food,’ hence the appropriateness of the word in its use, Acts 6:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS RETURNS INTO GALILEE Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14, who assigns no reason; John 4:1-3. St John gives a further reason ‘when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, he left Judæa,’ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
12 and 23. Ὁ ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ omitted in Matthew 4:12 after ἀκούσας δέ, and by Tischendorf also in Matthew 4:23. The instances of this insertion in the text of the N.T. from the margin or from lectionaries are very numerous. 12. ἈΚΟΎΣΑΣ ΔΈ, ‘having heard,’ not only _when_ but also _because_ He heard. It was... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΦΑΡΝΑΟΎΜ. This form is found in אBD and versions, on the other side are CEL and the majority of MSS. 13. ΚΑΤΑΛΙΠῺΝ ΤῊΝ ΝΑΖΑΡΆ. Partly because of the unbelief of the Nazarenes, partly (we may infer) in order to be in a frontier town from which He might easily pass from the jurisdiction of Antipas.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙᾺ ἩΣΑΪ́ΟΥ. Read the whole of the prophecy (Isaiah 8:11 to Isaiah 9:6) which is unfortunately broken in the E.V. by the division into Chapter s, and is more mistranslated than any other passage of like importance.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΑΛΙΛΑΊΑ ΤΩ͂Ν ἘΘΝΩ͂Ν. See above, Matthew 4:12. ὉΔῸΝ ΘΑΛΆΣΣΗΣ. The accusative may be explained either by the regimen of the omitted Hebrew words or by taking ὁδὸν as an adverbial accusative influenced by a similar use of the Hebrew _derech_. The immediate historical reference of the prophecy was to... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΚΌΤΕΙ, the reading of _textus receptus_ retained in preference to σκοτίᾳ. The question of reading is interesting, the great MSS. being divided. א*CEL and the majority of uncials are in favour of σκότει. אbBD read σκοτίᾳ. Of the leading editors Lachmann and Tregelles (neither of whom had seen א) rea... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠῸ ΤΌΤΕ, for classical ἐξ ἐκείνου [χρόνου]. For ΜΕΤΆΝΟΙΑ and ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑ, which are the key-notes of our Saviour’s preaching, see note, ch. Matthew 3:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CALL OF PETER AND ANDREW AND OF THE SONS OF ZEBEDEE See Mark 1:16-20. In Luke, Simon is mentioned without any introduction, ch. Luke 4:38. The narrative of Luke 5:3-11 must be referred to a different occasion, though Luke 5:11 corresponds with Matthew 4:22 of this chapter. St Luke adds that the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΜΦΊΒΛΗΣΤΡΟΝ, ‘a casting-net,’ here only in N.T. (in Mark 1:16 the true reading is ἀμφιβάλλοντας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ). The word occurs Herod. I. 141. Cp. Soph. _Antig._ 343, κουφονόων τε φῦλον ὀρνίθων� … πόντου τʼ εἰναλίαν φύσιν. Virgil alludes to the same kind of net, _Georg._ I. 141. Alius latum _funda_... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΕΥ͂ΤΕ. Frequent in Homer and in lyric poets. It was used as an ‘animating interjection’ (Buttmann), without any necessary connection with movement, as ἔρως με δεῦτε Κύπριδος ἕκατι | γλυκὸς κατείβων καρδίαν ἰαίνει. Alcman. (Buttmann, _Lex._ 316–319.) This word is an instance of epic influence on Ale... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΤῸΝ ΠΑΤΈΡΑ. St Mark (Mark 1:20) adds ‘with the hired servants.’ We may infer that Zebedee and his sons and their partners were raised above the lowest social rank. Two modernisms may be noticed in this verse, ἀφέντες preferred in Hellenistic Greek to λείπω and compounds of λείπω: and ἀκολουθεῖν... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΑΙ͂Σ ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΑΙ͂Σ. The synagogue, built on a hill or on the highest place in the city, distinguished sometimes by a tall pole corresponding to a modern steeple, was as familiar and conspicuous in a Jewish town as the Church is in an English village. Sometimes, however, the synagogue was placed on... [ Continue Reading ]
23–25. JESUS PREACHES THE GOSPEL AND CURES DISEASES IN GALILEE Special instances of cure are recorded in Mark 1:13 and foll.; Luke 5:31 and foll.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ὍΛΗΝ ΤῊΝ ΣΥΡΊΑΝ. The fame passes to the north and east, rather than to the south. Galilee is connected by trade and affinity with Damascus rather than with Jerusalem. ΒΑΣΆΝΟΙΣ … ΣΥΝΕΧΟΜΈΝΟΥΣ. βάσανος is (1) a ‘touch-stone,’ the lapis Lydius by which the quality of gold and other metals was test... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΕΚΆΠΟΛΙΣ, a group of ten cities. The cities included in this group are variously named by different authors, they lay to the E. and S. of the Sea of Galilee; by some Damascus is mentioned as belonging to the group. See map. For the form of the word cp. Herod. I. 144, κατάπερ οἱ ἐκ τῆς Πενταπόλιος... [ Continue Reading ]