does not recite the commandments in the exact order in which they are given in Exodus. It is a singular fact that in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament the seventh command- ment is put hefore the sixth.
22. — [Yet lackest thou one thing.] The process hy which our Lord convinces the ruler of sin should not he overlooked. He shows him that whatever he might think of his ohedience to the second tahle of the law, he was certainly a breaker of the first table. He did not keep either the first commandment or the second. His money was his God, and he was guilty of covetousness. which is idolatry.
[Sell aU.,, distribute.., poor.'] We are not to understand that our Lord meant all Christians to do what he here enjoins the rich ruler to do. The language of Peter to Annanias contradicts the idea. (Acts v. 4.) Reason itself shows that if all acted on this system idleness would he encouraged, and all men would ultimately come to poverty. " If any man will not work," says St. Paul, " neither shall he eat." (2 Thess. iii. 10.) "
Our Lord prescribed according to the disease before him. It was a case of desperate and idolatrous love of money. There was but one remedy, — " Sell all and distribute." Like St Paul and his companions on board ship, he must cast overboard the lading of the ship if he would save his life.
23. — [When ?ie heard... very sorrowful.] We hear of this ruler no more. Some have conjectured that after all he obeyed our Lord's commands, and became a disciple. It seems far more probable that he could not stand the test which our Lord im- posed on him, and lost his soul. St. Mark says, " He went away." (Mark x. 22.)
24. — [TJiey that have riches.] These words should always be com- pared with the fuller account of this history which St. Mark gives. He says that our Lord repeated this saying twice, and oD the second occasion said, '* How hard is it for them that trwt in riches to enter into the kingdom."
25. — [Ft is easier for a camels etc.] Some commentators have laboured to prove that the word we translate " camel " ought to he rendered " a cable." The alteration wished for seetn* needless. The expression used by our Lord was probably proverbial, and familiar to his hearers. The camel was the largest animal which the Jews were accustomed to use, and a " camel passing through a needle's eye," according to some rab- bincal writings, signified a thing absolutely impossible. Michaelis says, that a similar proverb about an elephant passing through a needle's eye is in use in India.
Harmer remarks, " In the east the doors are frequently ma^e extremely low, sometimes not more than three or four feet high.
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