6. The Sermon on the Mount abounds in pro- verbial phrases. ' A single iota or a single tip ' (Mt 5'^) is like our phrase, ' The dot of an i or the stroke of a t.' It is frequent in the Talmud (cf. Lightfoot and Wetstein). ' Sound not a trumpet before thee ' (6^) is a proverbial metaphor, though Calvin takes it literally, supposing that the Pharisees, those ' play-actors ' (vwoKpirai) in religion, actually blew a trumpet to summon the beggars (cf. the Greek proverb ai^rds eavrbv avXei, ' play one's own pipe,' like our 'blow one's own trumpet'; Achill. Tat. viii. 10 : avrt] de ovx i"r6 (xaKTnyyL /xdvov dWa /cat K-qpvKt /j-oixeifeTai).
'I have observed,' says old Thomas Fuller, 'some at the church door cast in sixpence with such ostentation that it re- bounded from the bottom and rang against both sides of the bason (so that the same piece of silver was the alms and the giver's trumpet), whilst others have dropped down silent five shillings without any noise.'
' With what 7n"Msure ye mea.surc, it shall be mea- sured to you again' (7^) is very common in the Talmud (see Wetstein ; Dalman, Words of Jesus, p. 225). — ' Why seeM thou the chip that is in thy brother's eye, but the log that is in thine oion con- siderest not? Or hoio wilt thou say to thy brother. Let me cast out the chip out of thine eye, and, be- hold, the log is in thine oivn eye?' Cl^- *). This proverb is characteristically Oriental in its gro- tesque exaggeration, and there is no need to explain it away by supposing that ' eye ' represents yy. ' a wpll ' • a chip in your neighbour's well, a log in
your own (see Bruce in EGT). It is a carpenter's proverb, and has a special fitness on the lips of the Carpenter of Nazareth.
It is found in the Talmud (see Lightfoot). Cf. Baba Bathra, 15. 2: 'Cum diceret quis alicui : " Ejice festucam ex oculo tuo," respondit ille : " Ejice et tu trabem ex oculo tuo." ' The proverb is Jewish, but the fault which it satirizes is universal. Many,' says St. Chrysostom, ' now do this. If they see a monk wearing a superfluous garment, they cast up to him the Lord's law, though themselves practising boundless extortion and
covetousness every day. If they see him enjoying a somewhat plenteous meal, they fall to bitter accusing, though themselves indulging daily in drunkenness and excess.'
' Give not what is holy to the dogs, neither cast yoicr pearls before the, swine ' (7^). Cf. 2 P 2^^ (Pr 26^^), Pr 1122, g^jjjj ggg Wetstein. ' What man is there of you ivho, if his son shall ask of him a loaf, will give him a serpent ; or if he shall ask an egg, will give him a scorpion f ' (7^"). There was a Greek proverb, ' For a perch a scorpion ' {dvTl irepKTjs aKop- irlov) ; "■ ubi quis optima captans pessima capit' (Erasm. Adag.). 'For a fish,' Wetstein explains, 'a fisherman .sometimes catches a water-snake. — ' Build on the sand ' (els xl/a./j.fj.ov OLKodo/meh ; cf . eis \pa.fj.fj.ov a-rreipei.s ; see Erasm. Adag. under ' Inanis Opera ') was a proverb signifying vain and unen- during labour, and it seems as though Jesus had it in His mind in His similitude of the Two Builders (Mt 724-27 = Lk6«-43).
7. ' If ci kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom is unable to stand ; and if a house be divided against itself, that house shall be tenable to stand' (Mk 324- ^^^Mt 1225). ^ maxim of state- craft. Cf. Soph. Ant. 672-674 :
dvapxias de /JLel^ov oiiK ^crriv KaKdv. avTTj TrSXeii oWvcyiv, ijd' dvaffTarovs oiKovs Tidriaiv.
Xen. Mem. iv. 4. § 16 : &vev 8i o/movoias oijr dv iroKis ed TToXLTevOelri oiire oiKOS koKQs oiKTjdeiT].
8. 'Prudent as the serpents and simple as the doves' (Mt 10^"). The serpent was a symbol of sharp-sightedness, and the dove, like the sheep, of simplicity and gentleness. Erasmus (Adagia) quotes the proverbs Scpews 6fj.fia and Trpadrepos wepLa- Tepds (cf. Rabbinical comment on Ca 2" ' Deus dixit Israelitis : ' ' Erga me sunt integri sicut columbae, sed erga gentes astuti sunt sicut serpentes " ' ; see Wetstein).
9. 'He that hath found his life shcdl lose it, and he that hath lost his life for my sake shcdl find it ' (Mt W^). 'Proverbium est militare' (Wetstein). Jesus here addresses the Twelve like a general exhorting his troops on the eve of battle.
Cf. Xenophon to the Ten Thousand : ' I have observed that as many as yearn to live by every means in warfare, these, for the most part, die evilly and shamefully ; but as many as have recognized that death is common to all and necessary for men, and strive to die nobly, these I see rather arriving at old age, and, while they live, passing their days more blessedly' {Anab. in. i. 43). Epict. iv. 1. § 165 (of Socrates) : toZtov oix 'ia-n a-Sa-x.!
a.!(rxi>Si;, ocXka, ct,rro6vr,trxuv triii^lrxi, ev (fiCyuv- Juv. viii. 83. 84 :
' Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori Et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas.'
10. ' If a blind man guide a blind, both shall fall into a ditch' (Mt 15'*; cf. 232^). Cf. Hor. Epp. i. 17. 3-4: ' Ut si csecus iter monsti'are velit.' Wet- stein quotes Sext. Empir. Hyp. Pyrrh. iii. 29 : ov5^ TvcpXbv 68-r]ye'iv Suvarai TV(f>\6s.