1. Of your Father (zapa). The A. V. implies the sowrce of the reward ; but the preposition means with, by the side of » so that the true sense is, reserved for you and awaiting you by the side of your Father. Rev., rightly, with.
2. Sound a trumpet (cadzicns). There seems to be no trace of any such custom on the part of almsgivers, so that the
Cu. VI.) MATTHEW. 43
expression must be taken as a figurative one for making a dis- play. It is just possible that the figure may have been sug- gested by the “trumpets” of the temple treasury—thirteen trumpet-shaped chests to receive the contributions of worship-. pers. (See on Luke xxi. 2.)
Have their reward (aéyovow). The preposition azo indi- cates receipt in full. Rev. renders they have received, so that there is nothing more to receive. So Wyc., 7’ hey have recewed their meed.
6. Closet (rayetiov). See on Luke xii. 3.
7. Use vain repetitions (Bartadoyjonte). A word formed in imitation of the sound, dattalogein: properly, to stammer ; then to babble or prate, to repeat the same formula many times, as the worshippers of Baal and of Diana of Ephesus (1 Kings xviii. 26; Acts xix. 34) and the Romanists with their pater- nosters and aves.
12. Debts (ddeernparta). So, rightly, A. V., and Rev. (compare Luke xi. 4). Sin is pictured as a debt, and the sinner as a debtor (compare Matt. xviii. 28, 30). Accordingly the word represents sin both as a wrong and as requiring satisfaction. In contrast with the prayer, “Forgive us our debts,” Tholuck (“Sermon on the Mount ”) quotes the prayer of Apollonius of Tyana, “O ye gods, give me the things which are owing to me.”
Forgive (adjxapev). Lit., to send away, or dismiss. The Rey. rightly gives the force of the past tense, we have for- given; since Christ assumes that he who prays for the remis- sion of his own debts has already forgiven those indebted to
him.*
13. Temptation (retpacpov). Itisa mistake to define this word as only solicitation to evil. It means trial of any kind,
* The tense is the aorist, denoting completed action at an indefinite past time, and so, strictly, forgave ; put where any effect of the action expressed by the aorist remaius, we are justified in rendering it by a perfect ; and so Rey.
44 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. VI.
without reference to its moral quality. Thus, Gen. xxii. 1 (Sept.), “God did tempt Abraham ;” “This he said to prove him” (John vi. 6); Pauland Timothy assayed to go to Bithynia ‘(Acts xvi. 7); “ Examine yourselves” (2 Cor, xiii. 5). Here, generally of all situations and circumstances which furnish an occasion for sin. We cannot pray God not to tempt us to sin, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man” (James i. 13).
14. Trespasses (rapart#puata). The Lord here uses an- other word for sins, and still another (duaptias) appears in Luke’s version of the prayer, though he also says, “every one that is indebted to us.” There is no difficulty in supposing that Christ, contemplating sins in general, should represent them by different terms expressive of different aspects of wrong-doing (see on Matt. i. 21). This word is derived from raparirre, to all or throw one’s self beside. Thus it has a sense somewhat akin to awaptia, of going beside a mark, missing. In classical Greek the verb is often used of ¢ntentional falling, as of throwing one’s self upon an enemy ; and this is the prevailing sense in biblical Greek, indicating reckless and wilful sin (see 1 Chron. v.25; x. 13; 2 Chron. xxvi. 18; xxix. 6,19; Ezek. xiv. 13; xxil. 14). It does not, therefore, imply palliation or excuse. It is a conscious violation of right, involving guilt, and occurs therefore, in connection with the mention of forgiveness (Rom. iv. 25; v. 16; Col. ii. 18; Eph. ii. 1, 5). Unlike TapaBacus (transgression), which contemplates merely the objective viola- tion of law, it carries the thought of sin as affecting the sinner, and hence is found associated with expressions which indicate the consequences and the remedy of sin (Rom. iy. 25; v. 15,