27. Are delivered (maped09n). More lit., were delivered, as of a single act at a given time, as in this case, where the Son was sent forth by the Father, and clothed with authority. Com- pare xxviii. 18.
Knoweth (érvywooke). The compound indicating full knowledge. Others behold only in part, “through a glass, darkly.”
28. Labor and are heavy-laden (xomiaytes kal repopticpé- vot). The first an active, the second a passive participle, ex- hibiting the active and passive sides of human misery.
Give rest (dvaravcw). Originally to make to cease ; Tynd., ease; Wye., refresh. The radical conception is that of redzef.
29. Yoke (fvyév). “These words, as recorded by St. Matthew, the Evangelist of the Jews, must have sunk the deeper into the hearts of Christ’s Jewish hearers, that they came in their own old, familiar form of speech, yet with such contrast of spirit. One of the most common figurative expressions of the time was that of the yoke for submission to an occupation or obliga- tion. Very instructive for the understanding of the figure is
68 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. i@me Xa
this paraphrase of Cant. i. 10: ‘ How beautiful is their neck for bearing the yoke of thy statutes; and it shall be upon them like the yoke on the neck of the ox that pions het in the field and provideth food for himself and his master.’
“The public worship of the ancient synagogue commenced with a benediction, followed by the shema (Hear, O Israel) or creed, composed of three passages of scripture : Deut. vi. 4-9; xi. 13-21; Num. xv. 87-41. The section Dent. vi. 4-9,was said to mrecede xi. 13-21, so that we might take upon ourselves the yoke of the kingdom et heaven, and “only after that the yoke of the commandments. The Saviour’s words must have had a special significance to those who remembered: this lesson; and they would now understand how, by coming to the Saviour, they would first take on them the yoke of the kingdom of heaven, and then that of the commandments, finding this yoke easy and the burden light ” (Edersheim, “ Life and Times of Jesus,” and “ Jewish Social Life”).
Meek (zpaiis). See on Matt. v. 4.
Lowly (razrewvos). The word has a history. In the classics it is used commonly in a bad and degrading sense, of meanness of condition, lowness of rank, and cringing abjectness and base- ness of character. Still, even in classical Greek, this is not its universal usage. It is occasionally. employed in a way which foreshadows its higher sense. Plato, for instance, says, “ To that law (of God) he would be happy who holds fast, and follows it in all Awmelity and order; but he who is lifted up with pride, or money, or honor, or beauty, who has a soul hot with folly, and youth, and insolence, and thinks that he has no need of a guide or ruler, but is able himself to be the guide of others, he, I say, is left deserted of God” (“ Laws,” 716). And Aristotle says: “ He who is worthy of small things, and deems himself so, is wise ” (“‘ Nich. Ethics,” iv., 3). At best, however, the classical conception is only modesty, absence of assumption. It is an ele- ment of wisdom and in no way opposed to self-righteousness (see Aristotle above). The word for the Christian virtue of humit- ity (ramrewvoppoovvn), was not used before the Christian era, and
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is distinctly an outgrowth of the Gospel. This virtue is based upon a correct estimate of our actual littleness, and is linked with a sense of sinfulness. True greatness is holiness. We are little because sinful. Compare Luke xviii. 14. It is asked how, in this view of the case, the word can be applied to himself by the sinless Lord # “ The answer is,” says Archbishop Trench, “ that for the sinner humility involves the confession of sin, in- asmuch as it involves the confession of his true condition ; while yet for the unfallen creature the grace itself as truly ex- ists, involving for such the acknowledgment, not of sinfulness, which would be untrue, but of creatureliness, of absolute de- pendence, of having nothing, but receiving all things of God. And thus the grace of humility belongs to the highest angel be- fore the throne, being as he is a creature, yea, even to the Lord of Glory himself. In his human nature he must be the pattern of all humility, of all creaturely dependence ; and it is only as aman that Christ thus claims to be lowly; his human life was a constant living on the fulness of his Father’s love; he ever- more, as man, took the place which beseemed the creature in the presence of its Creator” (“ Synonyms,” p. 145). The Chris- tian virtue regards man not only with reference to God, but to his fellow-man. Jn. lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself (Philip. ii. 8, Rev.). But this is contrary to the Greek conception of justice or righteousness, which was simply ‘his own to each one.” It is noteworthy that neither the Sep- tuagint, the Apocrypha, nor the New Testament recognize the ignoble classical sense of the word.