31. "Ye are much more valuable than sparrows," oliv στρουθίων διαφέρετε ὑμεῖς. Ε. Τ. “ Ye are of more value than E. many sparrows." One MS. and the Com. read roll for noilov. πολλῷ πολλῶν. This, I acknowledge, is of no weight. The same sense is conveyed either way. Cas. Longè passeribus antecellitis vos.' This expression is more conformable to modern idioms. 34. "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." An exegetic 35. "I am come to make dissension." S mode of expressing the certainty of a foreseen consequence of any measure, by representing it as the purpose for which the measure was adopted. This idiom is familiar to the orientals, and not unfrequent in other authors, especially poets and orators. 38. "He who will not take his cross and follow me." Every one condemned by the Romans to crucifixion, was compelled to carry the cross on which he was to be suspended, to the place of execution. In this manner our Lord himself was treated. Properly, it was not the whole cross that was carried by the convict, but the cross-beam. The whole was more than suited the natural strength of a man to carry. The perpendicular part probably remained in the ground; the transverse beam (here called the cross) was added, when there was an execution. As this was not a Jewish, but a Roman punishment, the mention of it on this occasion may justly be looked on as the first hint given by Jesus of the death he was to suffer. If it had been usual in the country to execute criminals in this manner, the expression might have been thought proverbial, for denoting to prepare for the worst. 39. "He who preserveth his life shall lose it." There is in this sentence a kind of paronomasia, whereby the same word is used in different senses, in such a manner as to convey the sentiment with greater energy to the attentive. He who, by making a sacrifice of his duty preserves temporal life, shall lose eternal life; and contrariwise. The like trope our Lord employs in that expression, ch. 8: 22, "Let the dead bury their dead." Let the spiritually dead bury the naturally dead. See also ch. 13: 12. In the present instance, the trope has a beauty in the original, which we cannot give it in a version. The word yun is equivocal, signifying both life and soul, and consequently is much better fitted for exhibiting with entire perspicuity the two meanings, than the Eng. word life. The Syro-Chaldaic, which was the language then spoken in Palestine, had, in this respect, the same advantage with the Gr. CHAPTER XI. 1. "Give warning." Diss. VI. Part v. sect. 2, etc. ies." It is not uncommon in the oriental dialects to employ a pronoun, where the antecedent to which it refers is not expressed, but understood. In this way avtov is used; for it must refer to the Galileans, in whose country they then were. But as the pronoun is not necessary in Eng. and as in our ears it would appear to refer to disciples, and so might mislead, it is better omitted. 2. "Of the Messiah," tou Xotorov. A few MSS. and the Eth. version read tou 'Inoou. It is not in itself improbable that this is the true reading, though too weakly supported to authorize an alteration in the text. ̓Ιησοῦς, Κυρίος, Θεός, and Χριστός, having been anciently almost always written by contraction, were more liable to be mistaken than the other words. If, however, the common reading be just, it deserves to be remarked that the word XoioTós is never, when alone, and with the article used in the Gospels as a proper name. It is the name of an office. The import of the expression must therefore be, When John had heard that those works were performed by Jesus which are characteristical of the Messiah, he sent.' Diss. V. Part iv. sect. 6-9. 3. "He that cometh," okozóμevos. E. T. "He that should come." I thought it better to render this literally, because it is one of the titles by which the Messiah was distinguished. It answers in Gr. to the Heb. & haba, taken from Ps. 108: 26, where he is denominated, "He that cometh in the name of the Lord." The beginning of a description is usually employed to suggest the whole. Indeed the whole is applied to him, chap. 21: 9. Mr. 11: 9. L. 19: 38. J. 12: 13, and sometimes the abbreviation, as here and in J. 6: 14. Heb. 10: 37, dozouevos seems to have been a title as much appropriated as ὁ Χριστός and ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Δαβὶδ. o 5. "Good news is brought." Diss. V. Part ii. 6. "To whom I shall not prove a stumbling-block," ós ¿àv μỶ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί. Chap. 5: 29. Ν. 7. "A reed shaken by the wind?" A proverbial expression; implying, 'It is surely not for any trifling matter that ye have gone thither.' 8. ̓́Ανθρωπον ἐν μαλακοῖς ἱματίοις ημφιεσμένον οἱ τὰ μαλακὰ gooouvres. It was observed (Diss. X. Part v. sect. 2.), that when a particular species was denoted by an adjective added to the general name, the article, on occasion of repeating the name is made to supply the place of the adjective; but here we have an example wherein, on rejecting the adjective, the substantive is supplied by prefixing the article τα μαλακά for μαλακὰ ἱματία. There is evidently, therefore, neither redundancy nor impropriety in using the article here, as some have vainly imagined. Either it or the repetition of the noun was necessary, in point of precision. 10. "Angel." Diss. VIII. Part iii. sect. 9, etc. 12. "Invaded." The comparison is here to a country invaded and conquered, or to a city besieged and taken by storm. 13. "Were your instructors," poeqnevoav. Chap 7: 15. N. 15. "Whoever hath ears," etc. Diss. II. Part iii. sect. 5. 16. "In the market-place, v ayopais. E. T. "In the markets." But a great number of MSS. as well as the Vul. Go. and Sy. versions have the word in the singular. The passage was also read thus by some of the ancient expositors. Moreover, the reading itself appears preferable. 17. "We have sung mournful songs," ¿onvnoaμev. E. T. "We have mourned." But mourning and lamenting are nearly synonymous. Hence that indistinctness in the E. T. which makes a reader at a loss to know what those children wanted of their companions. If it was to join them in mourning, it would have been more natural to retain the word, and say, ' But ye have not mourned with us.' There are other reasons which render this supposition improbable. One is, the former member of the sentence shows, that it was one part which one of the sets of boys had to play, and another that was expected from the other. A second reason is, the similarity of the construction in the corresponding clauses, and the difference in the contrasted ; ηὐλήσαμεν ὑμῖν—ἐθρηνήσαμεν ὑμῖν, on one side, and οὐκ ορχήσασθε οὐκ ἐκόψασθε, on the other. These things add a great degree of probability to the version I have given, after Er. and Cal. who say "lugubria cecinimus;" Dio. G. F. and L. Cl. who render the words in the same way; and Hey. who says, "sung mournful tunes." But what puts it with me beyond a doubt is, to find that the Seventy use onvos for elegy,' or song of lamentation,' and over for 'to sing such a song.' See 2 Sam. 1: 17. For that the lamentation' there following is a song or poem, is evident from its structure. See also the preamble in the Sep. to the book of Lamentations, where the song which immediately follows, composed alphabetically in the manner of some of the Psalms, is denominated onvos, as indeed are all the other poems of that book. That the Jews used such melancholy music, sometimes instrumental, sometimes vocal, at funerals, and on other calamitous occasions, appears from several passages of Scripture. In Jeremiah's time, they had women whose occupation it was to sing them, Jer. 9: 17. They are called in the Sep. onvovoαi. The word is weakly rendered in our version the mourning women ;' much better by Cas. ' præficas,' women who, in melodious strains, gave vent to their lamentations. For those who know the power of music in conjunction with poetry will admit that these, by a wonderful charm soothe, at the same time that they excite, the sorrow of the hearers. The words which follow in ver. 18, render the justness of this interpretation still more evident. They are thus translated by Houbigant, "Ut cito edant in nobis cantus lugubres, ut lachrymas effundant oculi nostri," etc. And, in regard to the sense, not much differently by Cas. "Quæ næniam de nobis editum propere veniant; profundantque oculi nostri lachrymas," etc. In ver. 20, which in our version is unintelligible, (for how mere wailing, artificially taught, could gratify a person in real grief, is beyond comprehension), the difficulty is entirely removed by a right translation. Houbigant, "Institute ad lamentum filias vestras, suam quæque sodalem ad cantus lugubres." Cas. to the same purpose," Filias vestras næniam, et alias alæ lamentationem docete." In classical use also vonvev has often the same signification, and answers to 'næniam edere.' "Nænia," says Festus, "est carmen quod in funere, laudandi gratia, cantatur ad tibiam." 19. "Wisdom is justified." L. 7: 35. N. 20. "Began to reproach," ožaro ovεidižev. Mr. 5: 17. N. 21. "Wo unto thee, Chorazin." L. 6: 24. N. 2.66 In sackcloth and ashes;" that is, the deepest contrition and sorrow.' Sackcloth and ashes were the outward signs of penitence in those days. 23. "Which has been exalted to heaven," is to ovρavou ὑψωθεῖσα. Vol. Numquid usque in cœlum exaltaberis ?" The Cop. and the Eth. versions read in the same manner. In conformity to these, we find in a very few Gr. MSS. un ws rov ovgavou ὑψωθησῇ. 2" Hades." Diss. VI. Part ii. sect. 2, etc. 25. "I adore thee," oμoloyovuai ooi. E. T. "I thank thee." The word sometimes denotes to confess sins,' sometimes 'to acknowledge favors,' and sometimes also 'to adore' or 'celebrate.' It is in the last of these senses I understand the word here. The nature of the sentiment makes this probable. But the reason assigned ver. 26, removes all doubt: "Yes, Father, because such is thy pleasure." Every thing in which I discover thy will, I receive, not with acquiescence barely, but with veneration.' 2" Having hidden these things,-thou hast revealed them,' ἀπέκρυψας ταῦτα,—καὶ ἀπεκάλυψας αὐτ. Ε.Τ. “ Thou hast hid these things and hast revealed them." We have the same idiom, Rom. 6: 17, "God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed." The thanks are not given for their having been formerly the servants of sin, but for their being then obedient. Is. 12: 1, rendered literally from the Heb. is, "Lord, I will praise thee, because thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away." In interpreting this, our translators have not been so scrupulous, but have rendered the middle clause "though thou wast angry with me." I know not why they have not followed the same method here. Having hidden implies barely not having revealed, Mr. 3: 4. N. 3" From sages and the learned," άлò gogшv xai ovverov. E. T. "From the wise and prudent." Zogós, as used by the evan hacham, gelists, must be understood as equivalent to the Heb. which, from signifying wise in the proper sense, came, after the establishment of academies in the country, often to denote those who had the superintendency of these seminaries, or a principal part in teaching. It seems also to have been used almost synonymously with scribe; so that in every view it suggests rather the literary honors a man has attained, than the wisdom of which he is possessed. Zuvalós answers to the Heb. word ? nabon, which is more properly intelligent or learned than prudent; and both refer more to the knowledge acquired by study and application, than to what arises from experience and a good understanding. Accordingly they are here contrasted not with woois, fools,' but with venios, 'babes,' persons illiterate, whose minds had not been cultivated in the schools of the rabbis. 29. Be taught by me," avere un' ¿uov. E. T. "Learn of me." The phrase in Eng. is commonly understood to signify 'follow my example.' But this does not express the full import, which is, Be my disciples, be taught by me,' and is explanatory of the first order, "Take my yoke upon you." See J. 6: 45, where "being taught of God," and "learning of the Father," are used as synonymous. 2 "Condescending,' taneuvos ty xaodia. E. T. "Lowly in heart." I think, with Elsner, that our Lord's direct aim in this address is not to recommend these virtues in him to the imitation of the people, but himself to their choice as a teacher. The whole is to be explained, therefore, as having a view to this end: Be instructed by me, whom ye will find a meek and condescending teacher; not rough, haughty, and impatient, but one who can bear with the infirmities of the weak; and who, more desirous to edify others than to please himself will not disdain to adapt his lessons to the capacities of the learners.' CHAPTER XII. 1. "Began to pluck," "oğavro riddɛev. Mr. 5: 17. N. 2. "What it is not lawful." Plucking the ears of corn they considered as a species of reaping and consequently as servile work, and not to be done on the Sabbath. 4. The tabernacle," rov oixov. E. T. "The house." The temple, which is oftenest in Scripture called "the house of God," was not then built; and if the house of the high-priest be here denominated God's house, as some learned men have supposed, the application is, I suspect, without example. I think, therefore, it is rather to be understood of the tabernacle formerly used, including the sacred pavilion or sanctuary, and the court. These, before the |