CURE OF A MAN AFFLICTED WITH PARALYSIS Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:18-26. Both St Mark and St Luke notice the crowding of the people to hear Jesus, and narrate the means by which the sufferer was brought into His presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΠΛΟΙ͂ΟΝ. In such adverbial expressions the article is often absent, as εἰς οἶκον. Cp. English ‘to take ship,’ ‘to go home.’ ΤῊΝ ἸΔΊΑΝ ΠΌΛΙΝ. Capernaum, the city where He dwelt, thus designated here only: cp. ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν (Luke 2:3), his ancestral city.... [ Continue Reading ]
When Jesus said ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’ the young man did not immediately rise (see Matthew 9:7). Instantly the Scribes thought with a sneer ‘this fellow blasphemes,’ i.e. pretends to a divine power which he does not possess. They said in their hearts it is easy to say, ‘Thy sins are forgiven,’... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΦΊΕΝΤΑΙ for ἀφέωνται. This important change (see notes _infra_) is supported by א B and Origen, and is adopted by the leading editors. In Luke 5:23, ἀφέωνται is unquestioned. 2. ΠΑΡΑΛΥΤΙΚΌΝ, not in this case δεινῶς βασανιζόμενος (see ch. Matthew 8:6), therefore suffering from a less severe type of... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΛΑΣΦΗΜΕΙ͂Ν. Construction τινά, εἴς τινα, τι or abs. (1) to speak evil of God or of sacred things βλ. εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, Mark 3:29 and Luke 12:10; ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν, Acts 26:11; ἵνα μὴ ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημῆται, Titus 2:5. (2) to disparage the divine nature, to usurp the honour due to God... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΓΕΙΡΕ for ἔγειραι. An example of _itacism_, errors arising from similarity of sound. ‘In all the passages in which ἔγειρε, occurs, there is found, as a different reading, ἔγειραι.’ (Meyer.) 5. ΕΥ̓ΚΟΠΏΤΕΡΟΝ. A post-classical word, used only in the Synoptic Gospels, and always in the comparative deg... [ Continue Reading ]
ἎΡΌΝ ΣΟΥ ΤῊΝ ΚΛΊΝΗΝ. The Oriental frequently spreads a mat upon the ground and sleeps in the open air, in the morning he rolls up his mat and carries it away.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΦΟΒΉΘΗΣΑΝ. ἐθαύμασαν of _textus receptus_ is a gloss.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CALL OF ST MATTHEW Mark 2:14; Luke 5:27-28. St Mark has ‘Levi, the son of Alphæus,’ St Luke ‘a publican named Levi.’ The identification of Matthew with Levi can scarcely be seriously disputed. The circumstances of the call are precisely similar as narrated by the Synoptists; and it was too usu... [ Continue Reading ]
A MEAL IN THE EVANGELIST’S HOUSE Mark 2:15-17; Luke 5:29-32.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ἘΓΈΝΕΤΟ. See note, ch. Matthew 11:1. ἈΝΑΚΕΙ͂ΣΘΑΙ, late in this sense for the classical κατακεῖσθαι, ‘to recline at table.’ ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΟἸΚΊΑΙ. St Luke says ‘and Levi made him a great feast,’ which makes it clear that the meal was in Levi’s house. ΠΟΛΛΟῚ ΤΕΛΩ͂ΝΑΙ. The fact that the tax-gatherers w... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΔΌΝΤΕΣ ΟἹ ΦΑΡΙΣΑΙ͂ΟΙ. The Pharisees were not guests, but came into the house,—a custom still prevalent in the East. A traveller writes from Damietta, ‘In the room where we were received, besides the divan on which we sat, there were seats all round the walls. Many came in and took their place on th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ἸΣΧΎΟΝΤΕΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. There is a touch of irony in the words. They that are ‘whole’ are they who think themselves whole. So below, the ‘righteous’ are those who are righteous in their own eyes.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΜΕΤΆΝΟΙΑΝ after ΚΑΛΈΣΑΙ. An insertion due to the parallel passage, Luke 5:32. The tendency to harmonise is a frequent source of error. 13. ΠΟΡΕΥΘΈΝΤΕΣ ΜΆΘΕΤΕ. A translation of a common Rabbinical formula. ἜΛΕΟΣ ΘΈΛΩ. ‘I desire mercy.’ I require mercy rather than sacrifice, Hosea 6:6. It is a pr... [ Continue Reading ]
A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39. It is not quite clear whether this further incident took place at Levi’s feast. St Luke leads us to draw that inference.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἹ ΥἹΟῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΝΥΜΦΩ͂ΝΟΣ. See note, Matthew 9:6. ‘The children of the bridechamber’ were the bridegroom’s friends or groomsmen who went to conduct the bride from her father’s house (see note, ch. Matthew 25:1). The procession passed through the streets, gay with festive dress, and enlivened with music... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓ΔΕῚΣ ΔΈ, but no man. The particle δέ is omitted in A.V.; it marks a turn in the argument which is indicated still more clearly in Luke (Luke 5:36), ἔλεγεν δὲ καὶ παραβολὴν πρὸς αὐτούς. The words of Jesus here take a wider range. He says in effect to John’s disciples: ‘Your question implies ignora... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἾΝΟΝ ΝΈΟΝ ΕἸΣ�. The Oriental bottles are skins of sheep or goats. Old bottles would crack and leak. This may be regarded as a further illustration of the doctrine taught in the preceding verse. But it is better to give it an individual application. The new wine is the new law, the freedom of Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAUGHTER OF JAIRUS, 18, 19 and 23–26 Mark 5:22-24; Mark 5:35-43; Luke 8:41-42; Luke 8:49-56. THE WOMAN CURED OF AN ISSUE OF BLOOD, 20–22 Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48. Related with more detail by St Mark and St Luke. She had spent all her living on physicians. Jesus perceives that virtue has go... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΡΧΩΝ. From Mark and Luke we learn that he was a chief ruler of the synagogue (ἀρχισυνάγωγος, Mark), Jairus by name. ἡ θυγάτηρ μου. τὸ θυγάτριόν μου (Mark). θυγάτηρ μονογενής (Luke). ἄρτι ἐτελεύτησεν. ἐσχάτως ἔχει (Mark). ἀπέθνησκεν (Luke).... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟΥ͂ ΚΡΑΣΠΈΔΟΥ. See ch. Matthew 14:36 and Matthew 22:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΛΕΓΕΝ ΓᾺΡ ἘΝ ἙΑΥΤΗ͂Ι. The imperfect denotes intensity of feeling, ‘she kept saying over and over to herself.’... [ Continue Reading ]
Eusebius (_H. E._ VII. 18) states that in the city of Cæsarea-Philippi stood a bronze statue of this woman kneeling before the Saviour, who was represented extending his hand to her.... [ Continue Reading ]
St Mark and St Luke mention the message to Jairus on the way, that his daughter was already dead, and name the three disciples whom Jesus permits to enter the house with him. ΤΟῪΣ ΑΥ̓ΛΗΤΆΣ. The minstrels are mentioned by St Matthew only. Lane (_Modern Egyptians_) says ‘the women of the family raise... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΚΟΡΆΣΙΟΝ. Diminutive of affection. This form is rejected by the Atticists in favour of κόριον, κορίδιον, κορίσκη, κορίσκιον. It is frequent in Epictetus, Lucian, and other late authors. See Lob. _Phryn._ 73, and Sturz, _De dial. Maced._ p. 42. ΟΥ̓ ΓᾺΡ�. These words are reported without variation... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΞΕΒΛΉΘΗ Ὁ ὌΧΛΟΣ. The crowd which paid no regard to the repeated bidding (ἔλεγεν, Matthew 9:24, imperf.) of Jesus was now thrust forth.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΥἹῸΣ ΔΑΥΕΊΔ. See note ch. Matthew 1:1. The thought of the kingdom of heaven had been closely linked with the reign of a son of David, but doubtless with many Jews the glory of the Asmonean dynasty (the Maccabees) and the established power of the Herods had tended to obscure this expectation. To have... [ Continue Reading ]
A CURE OF TWO BLIND MEN Peculiar to St Matthew. Archbp. Trench alludes to the fact that cases of blindness are far more numerous in the East than in Western countries. ‘The dust and flying sand enter the eyes, causing inflammations … the sleeping in the open air, and the consequent exposure of the... [ Continue Reading ]
For ναὶ see Bp. Ellicott on Philippians 4:3. Here of assent to a question, as ch. Matthew 17:25, and as always in John. Sometimes of assent to a statement, as ch. Matthew 15:27, or strongly asseverative as always in Luke and ch. Matthew 11:9; Matthew 11:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΕΒΡΙΜΉΘΗ, the true reading for ἐνεβριμήσατο, is an instance of the forms of the middle voice gradually giving place to passive forms. In modern Greek there is no middle voice. 30. ἘΜΒΡΙΜΑ͂ΣΘΑΙ. Lit. ‘to roar,’ _leonis voce uti_ (Schleusner), then (1) ‘to charge with vehement threats:’ cp. εἰ συ βρ... [ Continue Reading ]
CURE OF A DUMB MAN POSSESSED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT Luke 11:14-15.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚΒΛΗΘΈΝΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΊΟΥ. An expression like this raises the question of demoniacal possession. We ask whether the instances described by the Evangelists point of forms of disease recognised in modern medical practice or to a distinct class of phenomena. Jewish belief indeed appears to have attri... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΛΕΓΟΝ. ‘Used to say;’ this was their habitual argument. The answer to it is given, ch. Matthew 12:25-30.... [ Continue Reading ]
The words ἐν τῷ λαῷ, limiting the action to Israel, are rightly elided after ΜΑΛΑΚΊΑΝ. 35. νόσον … μαλακίαν. See ch. Matthew 4:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PREACHING OF JESUS. THE HARVEST OF THE WORLD This passage forms the preface to the mission of the twelve. The connection points to a regular sequence of thought in St Matthew’s plan. The work of Christ is described as the model for the work of the twelve; cp. Matthew 9:35 with ch. Matthew 10:7-8... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΣΚΥΛΜΈΝΟΙ. A certain change for ἐκλελυμένοι. ἘΡΙΜΜΈΝΟΙ, for ἐρριμμένοι, in accordance with the more ancient MSS; but D* has ῥεριμμένοι. 36. ἘΣΠΛΑΓΧΝΊΣΘΗ. σπλάγχνα = the nobler organs, heart, liver, lungs, then specially the heart as the seat of various emotions. In a literal sense Acts 1:18; in t... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΜῈΝ ΘΕΡΙΣΜῸΣ ΠΟΛΎΣ. The same expression occurs Luke 10:2 on the occasion of sending forth the Seventy: cp. also John 4:35, θεάσασθε τὰς χώρας, ὅτι λευκαί εἰσιν πρὸς θερισμὸν ἤδη.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΠΩΣ ἘΚΒΆΛΗΙ. The verb ἐκβάλλειν, to thrust forth, send out, denotes the enthusiastic impulse of mission work: cp. Mark 1:12, τὸ πνεῦμα ἐκβάλλει αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον—driveth him like a wind; and Matthew 13:52, of the enthusiastic teacher, ὅστις ἐκβάλλει ἐκ τοῦ θησαυροῦ αὐτοῦ καινὰ καὶ παλαιά.... [ Continue Reading ]