Bible Commentaries

Matthew 11:16 — Implying ‘the men of this generation have ears, and hear not; will not receive this saying; are arbitrary, childish, and prejudiced, not knowing their own mind.’ τίνι ὁμοιώσω ; ] See similar questions in Mark 4:30 ; Luke 13:18 ; Luke 13:20 ; and note on ch. Matthew 7:24 . ὁμοία ἐστὶν παιδίοις : as children in their games imitate the business and realities of life, so these in the great realities now before them shew all the waywardness of children. The similitude is to two bodies

Matthew 11:24 — 24, and 22. ] These verses are connected with those respectively preceding them thus: ‘If these mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon in Sodom they would have, &c.; but, since no such opportunity was afforded them , and ye , Bethsaida,

Matthew 13:23 — 23. ] Here also the fourth class must not be understood as a decided well-marked company, excluding all the rest. For the soil is not good by nature: the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; but every predisposition to receive

Matthew 2:23 — 23. ὅπως πληρωθῇ ] These words refer to the divine purpose in the event, not to that of Joseph in bringing it about. τὸ ῥηθὲν δ . τ . πρ . ] These words are no where verbatim to be found, nor is this asserted by the Evangelist; but that the

Matthew 21:40-41 — thinks, Biblisch. Comm. i. p. 793, and Stier, R. J. ii. 363) pretended to miss, the sense of the parable ; but from the strong κακοὺς κακῶς , I incline to the former view. Whichever said it, it was a self-condemnation, similar to that in ch. Matthew 27:25 : the last form , as Nitzsch finely remarks (cited by Stier, ib.), of the divine warnings to men, ‘when they themselves speak of the deeds which they are about to do, and pronounce judgment upon them.’ So striking, even up to the last

Matthew 22:31-33 — 31 33. ] Our Lord does not cite the strong testimonies of the Prophets, as Isaiah 26:19 ; Ezekiel 37:1-14 ; Daniel 12:2 , but says, as in Luke ( Luk 20:37 ), ‘ even Moses has shewn,’ &c., leaving those other witnesses to be supplied. The books of Moses were the great and ultimate appeal for all doctrine: and thus the assertion

Matthew 26:41 — immediate import) also to the general duty of all disciples in all time . εἰσελθεῖν εἰς π . is not to come into temptation merely, to be tempted : this lies not in our own power to avoid, and its happening is rather joy than sorrow to us see James 1:2 , where the word is περιπέσητε but it implies an entering into temptation with the will , and entertaining of the temptation. Grotius compares ἐμπίπτειν εἰς πειρασμόν 1 Timothy 6:9 . ‘Plenius Hebræi dicunt, intrare in manum tentationis, hoc

Matthew 28:16-20 — 16 20. ] APPEARANCE OF THE LORD ON A MOUNTAIN IN GALILEE. This journey into Galilee was after the termination of the feast , allowing two first days of the week , on which the Lord appeared to the assembled Apostles (John 20:19 ; Joh 20:26 ), to elapse.

Matthew 3:15 — ‘This ἄρτι is spoken from the Lord’s foreknowledge, that this relation of subjection to John was only temporary, and that hereafter their relative situations would be inverted.’ Meyer. Stier remarks (Reden Jesu, vol. i. p. 14, edn. 2), that now was fulfilled the prophetic announcement of Psalms 40:7-8 . ἡμῖν ] not for μοί , but for μοὶ καὶ σοί . I cannot help thinking that this word glances at the relationship and previous acknowledged destinations of the speakers. It has however

Mark 12:38-40 — 38 40. ] DENUNCIATION OF THE SCRIBES. Luke 20:45-47 . These verses, nearly verbatim the same in the two Evangelists, and derived from a common report, are an abridgment of the discourse which occupies the greater part of Matthew 23:0 with the additions of θελ . ἐν στολ . περιπ ., and

Luke 1:2 — 2. καθὼς παρ . ] The Apostles, &c., delivered these matters orally to the Churches in their teaching (see below on κατηχ . ) and others drew up accounts from that catechetical instruction. It appears from this, that Luke was not aware of any διήγησις

Luke 1:39 — 39. ] The situation of Elisabeth was not before this known to Mary; and on the intelligence of it from the angel, she arose and went to congratulate her kinswoman. But before this the events related in Mat 1:18-25 had happened. Mary being betrothed to Joseph, had no communications with him, except through the pronubæ ; who, on the first indications of her pregnancy, represented it to him. This would not take longer time than the expression ἐν ταῖς ἡμ .

John 1:26-27 — 26, 27. ] [ ὁ ] ὀπίσω μου ἐρχ . is the subject of the sentence; He that cometh after me, &c., stands among you. The insertions (see var. readd.) have been made by some one not aware of this, and wishing to square the verse with John 1:15 ; John

John 1:32-33 — 32, 33. ] “Quæ sequuntur, erant testimonii : quæ ex Joh 1:29 sq. dicuntur, erant demonstrationis ex testimonio . Cohærentibus Baptistæ verbis Evangelista quasi parenthesin interponit: καὶ ἐμαρτύρησεν Ἰωάννης λέγων .” Bengel. The occurrence

Hebrews 1:10 — 10 .] And ( πρὸς τὸν υἱὸν λέγει : see a similar καί introducing a new citation in Acts 1:20 . The comma, or colon, or capital letter, as in text, should be retained after καί ), Thou in the beginning (Heb. לְפָנִים . ad faciem, antea ; probably here rendered κατ ʼ ἀρχάς by the LXX with reference to Genesis 1:1 . The expression is found

Hebrews 7:18-19 — 18, 19 .] These verses belong to the proof of 15 17, expanding the conclusion thence derived, and expressing it more decidedly than before in Hebrews 7:12 . For moreover ( μὲν γάρ , at the same time that by the γάρ it carries on the reasoning, by the elliptic μέν suggests some succeeding position as introduced by a δέ . So Eurip. Med. 698, ξυγγνωστὰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν σε λυπεῖσθαι , γύναι “certainly,

1 Peter 3:7 — 7 .] Duty of husbands to their wives . Ye husbands in like manner ( ὁμοίως , not as Est., Grot., Steiger, al., ‘ vicissim ,’ but referring back to the πάντας τιμήσατε ch. 1 Peter 2:17 ; cf. τιμήν below. This has not been seen, owing to inattention to the aor. there: even Huther, who interprets ὁμοίως rightly, that there is a certain τιμή due to the wife, as to the husband and the master before, does not connect the idea with the

1 John 5:17 — further explained to the readers here, must be presumed as meant to be understood by what the Evangelist has elsewhere laid down concerning the possession of life and death. Now we have from him a definition immediately preceding this, in 1 John 5:12 , ὁ ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν ἔχει τὴν ζωήν · ὁ μὴ ἔχων τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ζωὴν οὐκ ἔχει . And we may safely say that the words πρὸς θάνατον here are to be understood as meaning, “involving the loss of this life which men have only by union with the Son

Revelation 6:9 — Eichhorn, clothed with bodies, is manifest) of those that have been slain on account of the word of God and on account of the testimony which they had (i. e. which was committed to them to bear, and which they bore: see reff., especially ch. Revelation 12:17 . The testimony is one borne by them , as most Commentators: not one borne to them by the faithful Witness, as Düsterd. and Ebrard, most unnaturally: for how could the testimony borne to them before the Father by Christ (so Ebr.) be the cause of

Revelation 9:7 — returns to the description of the locusts themselves. And the shapes (so E. V., rightly: not, the likenesses . ὁμοίωμα is the product of ὁμοιόω : the finished form of any thing which is made like ( ὅμοιον ) to any pattern. See Winer, edn. 6, § 16. A. 2, α ) of the locusts ( were ) like horses made ready for war (this resemblance, cf. ref. Joel, ἡ ὅρασις αὐτ ῶν ὡς ὅρασις ἵππων , has been noticed by travellers. Winer, Realw. art. Heuschrecken , refers to Niebuhr, Beschreibung, 173. Ewald gives