Bible Commentaries

Matthew 1:5 — docet.” Bengel. It has been imagined, on chronological grounds, that this Rachab must be a different person from Rahab of Jericho. But those very grounds completely tally with their identity. For Naashon (father of Salmon), prince of Judah ( 1Ch 2:10 ), offered his offering at the setting up of the tabernacle ( Num 7:12 ) 39 years before the taking of Jericho. So that Salmon would be of mature age at or soon after that event; at which time Rahab was probably young, as her father and mother were

Matthew 11:13-14 — the priest and Simeon and Anna prophesied; and according to the declaration of prophecy itself, John, in the spirit and power of Elias, was the forerunner of the great subject of all prophecy. Neither this nor the testimony of our Lord, ch. Mat 17:12 is inconsistent with John’s own denial that he was Elias, John 1:21 . For (1) the question there was evidently asked as assuming a re-appearance of the actual Elias upon earth: and (2) our Lord cannot be understood in either of these passages

Matthew 13:14-15 — 14, 15. ] This prophecy is quoted with a similar reference John 12:40 ; Acts 28:26-27 ; see also Romans 11:8 . ἀναπληροῦται , is being fulfilled, ‘finds one of the stages of its fulfilment:’ a partial one having taken place in the contemporaries of the prophet. The prophecy is cited verbatim from the

Matthew 13:44 — it he goes, and selling all he has, buys the field, thus (by the Jewish law) becoming the possessor also of the treasure. Such hiding of treasure is common even now, and was much more common in the East (see Jeremiah 41:8 (cf. Hitzig in loc.): Job 3:21 ; Pro 2:4 ). This sets before us the case of a man who unexpectedly, without earnest seeking, finds, in some part of the outward Church, the treasure of true faith and hope and communion with God; and having found this, for joy of it he becomes possessor,

Matthew 26:29 — 29. ] This declaration I believe to be distinct from that in Luke 22:18 . That was spoken over the first cup this over one of the following. In addition to what has been said on Luke, we may observe, (1) that our Lord still calls the sacramental cup

Matthew 26:47 — without meaning, though that meaning may not have been intended. ὄχλος πολύς ] consisting of (1) a detachment of the Roman cohort which was quartered in the tower of Antonia during the feast in case of an uproar, called ἡ σπεῖρα , John 18:3 ; John 18:12 . (2) The ὑπηρέται of the council, the same as the στρατηγοὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ , Luke 22:52 . (3) Servants and others deputed from the high-priest to assist, see our Matthew 26:51 . (4) Possibly, if the words are to be taken exactly ( Luk 22:52 ), some of the

Matthew 27:19 — forbidding it (Tacit. Ann. iii. 33 ff.), but was vehemently opposed (by Drusus among others) and put down. We know nothing more of this woman than is here related. Tradition gives her the name of Procla or Claudia Procula. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, c. 2, we read that Pilate called the Jews and said to them, οἴδατε ὅτι ἡ γυνή μου θεοσεβής ἐστιν , καὶ μᾶλλον ἰουδαίζει σὺν ὑμῖν . λέγουσιν αὐτῷ Ναί , οἴδαμεν . On the question raised by the words καθημένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος as to the place which

Matthew 7:1 — 1. ] This does not prohibit all judgment (see Matthew 7:20 , and 1Co 5:12 ); but, as Augustine (de Serm. Dom. ii. c. 18 (59), vol. iii.) says, ‘Hoc loco nihil aliud nobis præcipi existimo, nisi ut ea facta quæ dubium est quo animo fiant, in meliorem partem interpretemur.’ κρίνειν has been taken

Luke 10:1 — ,’ as Schleiermacher and Olsh. render it. ἀνέδ ., an official word: see reff. Bleek has observed, that ὁ κύριος , of our Lord, in narration, is peculiar to St. Luke, and to narrations which he alone gives. Cf. ch. Luke 7:13 ; Luke 11:39 ; Luke 12:42 ; Luke 13:15 ; Luke 17:5-6 ; Luke 18:6 ; Luke 22:31 ; Luke 22:61 . But this is only true of the Synoptic Gospels. It occurs in the fragment at the end of St. Mark ( Mar 16:19 ), and in John ( Joh 4:1 reff.). In the Acts, the usage is very general:

Luke 10:33-35 — ἐλαίας φύλλα τὰ ἁπαλώτατα τρίψας παράχει ἐλαίου καὶ οἴνου μέλανος καὶ κατάμασσε : see also Isaiah 1:6 . ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδ . κτ ., thereby denying himself the use of it. κτῆνος is rarely found in the sing. in the classics: see an instance, Herod. ii. 132. πανδοχεῖον ] The Attic form, as in the cognate words ἱεροδόκος , ξενοδοκεῖν , δωροδόκος , &c., is πανδοκεῖον . So Phryn.: οἱ διὰ τοῦ χ λέγοντες ἁμαρτάνουσιν · διὰ γὰρ τοῦ κ χρὴ λέγειν πανδοκεῖον κ . πανδοκεὺς κ . πανδοκευτρία : p. 307, where see

Luke 13:1 — 1. ] ἐν αὐτ . τ . καιρ . may mean at that very time viz. as He finished the foregoing discourse: but it is not necessary to interpret thus; for, Matthew 12:1 ; Matthew 14:1 , the similar expression, ἐν ἐκείνῳ τ . κ . is certainly indefinite . παρ .… ἀπαγγ ., came with the news, not, as Stier supposes, ‘ were in the crowd, and remarked to the Lord concerning these Galilæans ,’ in consequence

Luke 18:13 — Pharisee ‘being put in position’ (answering to ‘being seated’ of the other usual posture), and ἑστώς of the publican, ‘standing;’ coming in merely and remaining, in no studied place or posture. So Tacitus, Hist. iv. 72, ‘ stabant conscientia flagitii mœstæ fixis in terram oculis :’ see also Ezra 9:6 . ἔτυπ . [ εἰς ] τ . στ . ] See ch. Luke 23:48 , ‘ præ dolore animi: ubi dolor, ibi manus .’ Bengel. There may be a stress on τῷ be

Luke 7:36-50 — 36 50. ] ANOINTING OF JESUS’ FEET BY A PENITENT WOMAN. Peculiar to Luke . It is hardly possible to imagine that this history can relate to the same incident as that detailed Matthew 26:6 ; Mark 14:3 ; John 12:3 ; although such an opinion has been entertained from the earliest times. Origen on Matthew 26:6 ff., vol. iii. p. 892, mentions and controverts it. It has been held in modern times by Grotius, Schleiermacher, Ewald, and Hug:

Luke 9:10 — great difficulty also attends the mention of Bethsaida here. At first sight, it would appear to be the well-known Bethsaida, on the western bank of the lake, not far from Capernaum. But (1) our Lord was on this side before , see ch. Luke 8:37 ; and (2) Mark ( Mar 6:45 ) relates that after the miracle of the loaves He caused His disciples to cross over to Bethsaida. But there were two places of this name: another Bethsaida (Julias) lay at the top of the lake, on the Jordan: see Stanley, p. 381,

John 10:1 — God’s people; in John 10:1 , to those who enter that office without having come in by the door (i.e. Christ, in the large sense, in which the O.T. faithful looked to and trusted in Him, as the covenant promise of Israel’s God); and in Joh 10:2 to those who do enter this way; and whosoever does is the shepherd of the sheep (not emphatic, not, ‘ the Good Shepherd ,’ as below, John 10:11 , but here it is merely predicated of one who thus enters, that he is the shepherd of that particular

John 12:32 — 32. ] See reff. Here there is more perhaps implied in ὑψ . than in either of those places: viz. the Death, with all its consequences . The Saviour crucified, is in fact the Saviour glorified; so that the exalting to God’s right hand is set forth

John 15:16 — further returned to than in the allusion implied in καρπός . ‘ Ordained ,’ in E. V., is objectionable, as conveying a wrong idea. ὑπάγ . κ . καρ . φέρ . ] ὑπ . probably merely expresses (see ref. and Matthew 18:15 ; Matthew 19:21 , and πορευόμενοι , Luk 8:14 ) the activity of living and developing principle; not the missionary journeys of the Apostles (Grot., Lampe, Meyer). The καρπός is not the Church, to be founded by the Apostles, and endure; this is evident, for here the

John 16:10 — 10. ] δικαιοσ . cannot be only the righteousness of Christ , the mere conviction of which would only bring condemnation to that world which rejected and crucified Him: but, as Stier remarks rightly (v. 312, edn. 2), τοῦ κόσμου must be supplied after each of the three ἁμαρτία , δικαιοσύνη , κρίσις : the conviction being of a sin that is theirs , a righteousness that is (or, in the case of condemnation, might have been) theirs , a judgment which is theirs

Acts 1:1 — 1. τὸν μὲν πρ . λ . ] The latter member of this sentence, τανῦν δέ , … is wanting (see Winer, § 63, I. 2, e. γ ), and the author proceeds at once to his narration, binding this second history to the first by recapitulating and enlarging the account given in the conclusion of the Gospel. πάντων ] Whatever latitude may be given to this word, it must at

Acts 2:20 — 20 .] See Matthew 24:29 . ἡμ . κυρ .] Not the first coming of Christ , which interpretation would run counter to the whole tenor of the Apostle’s application of the prophecy: but clearly, His second coming ; regarded in prophetic language