Bible Commentaries

Matthew 1:12 — 12. Ἰεχον .… Σαλαθ . ] So also the genealogy in 1 Chronicles 3:17 . When, therefore, it is denounced ( Jer 32:30 ) that Jeconiah should be ‘childless,’ this word must be understood as explained by the rest of the verse, ‘for no

Matthew 10:40 — 40. ] Here in the conclusion of the discourse, the Lord recurs again to His Apostles whom He was sending out. From Mat 10:32 has been connected with πᾶς ὅστις , and therefore general. δέχεται , see Matthew 10:14 ; but it has here the wider sense of not only receiving to house and board, but receiving in heart and life the message of which the Apostles were the bearers.

Matthew 11:10 — co-equal Godhead. It is worthy of remark that all three Evangelists quote this prophecy similarly changed , although St. Mark has it in an entirely different place. The student should compare the passage in the LXX with the three citations, h. l., Mark 1:2 , and Luke 7:27 . Also, that the high dignity and honour which our Lord here predicates of the Baptist, has a further reference: He was thus great above all others, because he was the forerunner of Christ . How great then above all others and him,

Matthew 5:4 — all such as happens to a man in the spiritual life . All such mourners are blessed: for the Father of mercies and God of all consolation being their covenant God, His comfort shall overbear all their mourning, and taste the sweeter for it. In Luke 2:25 , the Messiah’s coming is called ἡ παράκλησις τοῦ Ἰσραήλ . This beatitude is by many editors (Lachmann, e.g.) placed after Matthew 5:5 . But the authority is by no means decisive, and I cannot see how the logical coherence of the sentences

Matthew 8:19 — am sorry to see, e.g., that Bp. Wordsw. takes no notice, either here or in St. Luke, of the recurrence of the two narratives), is a valuable index and guide to the humble searcher after truth, and is used by him as such (see Prolegomena, ch. i. § iv. 2 f.).

Luke 15:11-32 — 11 32. ] THE PRODIGAL SON. Peculiar to Luke . ‘If we might venture here to make comparisons, as we do among the sayings of men , this parable of the Lord would rightly be called, the crown and pearl of all His parables .’ Stier, iii. 227, edn.

Luke 15:30 — inference from the kind of life which he had been leading, it was one which nothing but the bitterest jealousy would have uttered at such a time. ἔθυ . αὐ . τ . σ . μ . parallel with ἁμαρτωλοὺς προσδέχεται , καὶ συνεσθίει αὐτοῖς , Luke 15:2 . ‘Thou hast not only made him equal to me, but hast received him into superior favour.’

Luke 16:6 — 6. βάτους ] ὁ δὲ βάτος δύναται χωρῆσαι ξέστας ἑβδομήκοντα δύο , Jos. Antt. viii. 2. 9; the same for liquids as the ephah for solids. See Ezekiel 45:10-11 ; Ezekiel 45:14 , where the LXX represent the Heb. בַּת by χοῖνιξ and κοτύλη . δέξαι σ . τ . γρ . ] The steward, not yet out of office, has all the vouchers by him, and

Luke 2:21 — 21. ] HIS CIRCUMCISION. The second καί must not be rendered ‘ also .’ It is simply redundant, as in reff. The Lord was made like unto His brethren (Hebrews 2:17 ; Heb 4:15 ) in all weakness and bodily infirmity, from which legal uncleanness

Luke 23:28 — 28. ] στραφείς after He was relieved from the burden of the cross. This word comes from an eye-witness. ἐπ ʼ ἐμέ His future course was not one to be bewailed see especially on this saying, Hebrews 12:2 , ὃς ἀντὶ τῆς προκειμένης αὐτῷ χαρᾶς ὑπέμεινεν

Luke 3:36 — 36. Καϊνάμ ] This name does not exist in our present Hebrew text, but in the LXX, Genesis 10:24 ; Genesis 11:12-13 , and furnishes a curious instance of one of two things either (1) the corruption of our present Hebrew text in these chronological passages; or (2) the incorrectness of the LXX, and notwithstanding that, the high reputation which

John 12:6 — , Phryn. (De Wette), to keep the reeds, or tongues , of wind instruments: thus, generally, any kind of pouch, or money-chest. See LXX, and Josephus, in reff. ἐβάσταζεν ] It seems hardly possible, with St. John’s use of βαστάζειν in ch. Joh 20:15 before us, altogether to deny that the sense of carrying off , i.e. purloining , may be here intended. And we have examples in Josephus somewhat analogous: e.g. Antt. vii. 15. 3, where Hyrcanus the High Priest, wishing to give Antiochus Eusebes

John 14:22 — 22. ] Ἰούδας , οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκ . = Ἰούδας Ἰακώβου of Luke 6:16 ; see note on Matthew 10:2 ff. Meyer remarks that the οὐχ ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης is pragmatically superfluous, after ch. John 13:30 , but is added by St. John from his deep horror of the Traitor who

Acts 4:1 — soon as they were released from their duties. The στρατηγὸς τ . ἱεροῦ was the captain of the Levitical guard of the temple, mentioned by Jos. B. J. vi. 5. 3, δραμόντες δὲ οἱ τοῦ ἱεροῦ φύλακες ἤγγειλαν τῷ στρατηγῷ . We hear in Jos. Antt. xx. 6. 2, of ὁ στρατηγὸς Ἄνανος : and in B. J. ii. 12. 6, he is said to be son of the high priest Ananias. In Malachi 3:4; Malachi 3:4 , we hear of the προστάτης τοῦ ἱεροῦ , who appears to have been the same officer. See Winer, Realw., art. Temple, end. Σαδδουκ

Acts 4:23 — 23. ] τοὺς ἰδίους , the other Apostles, and possibly some others assembled with them. There is nothing in Act 4:31 to mark that only the Apostles were present on this occasion. 24 ] ὁμοθ . ᾖραν φων . not, as Meyer supposes, literally all speaking

Ephesians 5:30 — 30 .] For (again a link is omitted; ‘the church, which stands in the relation of marriage to Him: for, &c.’) members we are of His Body [, ( being ) of His flesh, and of His bones (see Genesis 2:23 . As the woman owed her natural being to the man, her source and head, so we owe our entire spiritual being to Christ, our source and head: and as the woman was one flesh with the man in this natural relation, so we in our entire spiritual relation,

Ephesians 5:5 — from the kingdom of God : see below. For this ye know (indicative, not imperative: this to my mind is decided 1) by the context, in which an appeal to their own consciousness of the fact is far more natural than a communication of the fact to them: 2) by the position of the words, which in the case of an imperative would more naturally be ἴστε γὰρ τοῦτο γινώσκοντες : 3) by the use of the construction ἴστε γινώσκοντες , which almost necessitates a matter of fact underlying γινώσκοντες . ἴστε γιν

Ephesians 6:24 — 24 .] General benediction on all who love Christ: corresponding, as Mey. suggests, with the malediction on all who love Him not, 1 Corinthians 16:22 . May the grace (viz. of God, which comes by Christ) be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility

Hebrews 7:14 — πρόδηλον ἦν τὸ ἔθνος οὐκ ἠρεμῆσον : and other examples in Wetst. and Bleek) that our Lord (this is the only place in Scripture where Christ is called by this appellation, now so familiar to us, without the addition of either His personal or official name. 2 Peter 3:15 , τὴν μακροθυμίαν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν , is hardly an exception: see there) hath arisen (some have thought that this word, which, as an intransitive verb, is generally used of the heavenly bodies, has reference to our Lord’s rising as a

James 1:10 — 10 .] but the rich (not ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ πλούσιος , nor is the πλούσιος to be understood any otherwise than in the rest of the Epistle, cf. ch. James 2:6 f.; James 5:1 ff. There are difficulties either way; but on mature consideration I find those on the usual hypothesis, of the πλούσιος being also a brother , insuperable. For in that case, 1. a most unnatural change in the sense is necessary at ὅτι