* Une that attends your Ladyship's conunand.'
For the Ten Commandments see Decalogue.
J. Hastings. COMMEND, COMMENDATION.— To c. is now to approve of, speak well of, and in this sense it is used in AV, as Gn 12'° 'The princes also of Pharaoh s,aw her, and C^ her before Pharaoh' (h'?n RV ' praised ') ; Pr 12' ' A m,an sliall be c"' ace. to his wisilom ' (S'jn) ; Ec 8" ' I C' mirth ' (njp') ; Lk 16' 'the Lord c"^ the unjust steward' (^iraic^w). But in older Eng. 'c' also signilied (1) to i)re.sent a person or thing to another ils worthy of aii|)rovaI (mod. recommend) : thus, Ro IG' ' 1 c. unto you Phoebe, our sister ' (awlar-niu. * So S" 5", 2 Co 3' 4- 5'- 10iii»i>i< 12") ; 1 Co 8' 'meat c"" us not to God' (ToplaTriiu). In this sense is commendation used, 2C;o S""" [all], 'epistles of c' (2) To entrust, Lk 23" ' Father, into thj' hands I c. my spirit,' and .\c 14^20'- (all TrapaTiBr,^). Cf. Shaks. IJenri/ VIII. V. L 17—
' I love you ; And durst oonmiend a secret to 3'our ear.'
J. Hastings.
• On the meaning of this verb see Sanday-lleiullam on Ro 3*, where, as in Qt), the meaning is rather ' prove,* 'establish.'
COMMENTARY.— Thus RV translates midhrOsh (c'-i-i-:, A V • story ') in the only passages in which that word is found, 2 Ch 13-- 24-*.
*Tlie temi il uir<uh,' s&ys Driver (LOT^ 497), 'is common in post-Hibl. literature. Darash is *' to search out," " investignte," "explore"; as applied to Scripture, to discover or develop a thou^'ht not apparent on the surface, — for instance, the hidden iiieauiiig of a word, or the particulars implied by an allusion {f-.g. what Ahraliam did in Ur of the Chaldees, what Eldad and Aledad said when they prophesied, the circumstances of Moses' death, etc.). The Midrash may be defined as an imaginative develoi>meut of a thought or theme suggested by Scripture, especially a did.ictic or homiletic exposition, or an eouying religious story (Tobit and Susanna are thus Midrashim).'
The two Midrasliim of OT are (1) 'The Midrash of the Propliet Iddo' (2 Ch 13-), and (2) 'The Midrash of the Book of Kings ' (24-''). They were probably didactic developments of the historical narratives we possess, making use of these narra- tives to emphasize some religious truth ; but nothing is known of them beyond their titles. See under Chronicles. J. Hastings.
COMMERCE.— See Trade.
COMMON 1. Following the Gr. {Koip6t), c. is
used in NT in two chief senses. 1. That is 'c' which is shared by all, aa Ac 2" 4'^ ' they had all things c.' ; Tit 1* 'Titus, mine own son after the c. faith'; Jude' "the common salvation.' 2. That which is common to all is distinguished from that which is peculiar to the few ; whence the applica- tion to the religious practices of the heathen in contrast with those of the Jews ; or of the ordinary people, 'the people of the land' (]";Nn os;), in con- trast with those of the Pharisees — i.e. ceremonially unclean. Thus Ac 10'*- "> ' But Peter said. Not so, Lord ; for I have never eaten anjrthing that is c. or unclean.* And the voice spake unto him again tho second time, What God hath cleansed [iKaffipure), that call not thou c' {<rv /iri Kolfov, RV ' make not thou c.'). In this sense c. is twice (1 S 21*°) the tr. of Heb. hdl (never tr" by xoivis however in LXX, but always by /S^/JijXor), elsewhere rendered in AV 'unholy' (Lv 10'") or 'profane' (Ezk 2-2-'« 42» 44-» 48'"' [all]), but by RV alw.iys ' common.'
2. In Lv 4-'' we lind the expression ' the c. people.' The Heb. (pijn Ci', 'am hA'Arez) is lit. ' the people of the land,' and is so tr'' Gn 23' (where it describes the Hittites), 2 K ll'""' IG" 21-''', Jer !'», Ezk 7-^ The phrase was cliosen by the Pharisees to describe the people dwelling in the Holy Land who were not tjaberim. See under Piiauisees, and consult the foil, literature on the subject —
LiTKRATURK. — Schiirer, IIJP ii. ii. 8. 22 ff. ; Euenen, Rel. of Inr. iii. 251 ; liraetz, Uiet. qf Jews ii. 152, 367. iii. 114 ; Eders- heim, Jesua the Messiah i. 85, 230 ; Chwolson, Das tetzts Piumhmahl Chrisli p. 73 n ; Monteflore, IliU/. beet. 497 fl. ; Friedliinder, Znr Entstehuwjsgesch. ties C'hristenthums, ch. L
3. For 'common hall' Mt 27" see PR,eTOKIUM. In Ac 5'", ' the c. prison,' c. is used in the old sense of public. This is after Wyclif, who tr. Vulg. in custodia puhlica, ' in coraun kepyng' (1388 'in the comyn warde'). Cf. Eng. Gilds (14G7), .391, 'That no citezen be putt in comyn prisone, hut in one of tlie chambers of the halle benelhforth ' ; Cover- dale's tr. of .\c 17-^ ' Paul stode on the myddes of the comon idace ' ; Latimer's Scrm. p. 320. ' I told you tho diversity of prayer, namely, of the coininon prayer, and the private'; and 'the Book of Common Prayer.' See Prison.
J. Hastings.
* RV gives '0. and andean,' readinf^ «m*«» imJ i>ui0xpTct with edii., instead of Tit jk. ;i ««, Nevertheless xatut and «x<i(/«pT»; linvc the same meaning. The classical piLs.sage is Mk 7*, MiiccJV TVir/, rovr' trrit At.wToic, 'with dellle<i (AVni, RVin ' conimon '), that is, unwashen, hanils.' With which cf. vv.'.H. li>, where Je>JM» says, 'whatsoever from without goeth into tho man, it cannot dcllle him' (aCrtt ««t,vr«i, lit. 'make him c.'): and St. Mark adds the comment, * [this he said], making all meats clean ' (futSafiiZf*). See Page on Ac 10^4.