91. Dureth for a while (arpdcxaipds éorw ). Rev., endureth. Lit., 2s temporary: thus bringing out the guality of the hearer. He is a creature of circumstances, changing as they change. Wyc., és temporal, with explanation, lasteth but a little tume.
For (88), Rev. better, and, for the following clause does not give a reason for the temporariness, but adds something to the description of the hearer.
80 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cnu. XIII.
Tribulation (9iApews). IAi(Ba, to press or squeeze. Tribu- lation is perhaps as accurate a rendering as is possible, being de- rived from trébulwm, the threshing-roller of the Romans. In both the idea of presswre is dominant, though Irzus does not convey the idea of separation (as of corn from husk) which is implied in tribulatio. Trench cites, in illustration of Stes, pressure, the provision of the old English law, by which those who wilfully refused to plead had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and so were pressed and crushed to death (‘ Syn- onyms of the New Testament”).
23. Understandeth (cvméus). See on xi. 25, prudent. The three evangelists give three characteristics of the good hearer. Matthew, he wnderstandeth the word; Mark, he recetveth it is Luke, he keepeth tt.
24, Put he forth (capéInxev). But this would be rather the translation of pofddXo, from which rpdé8dnpua, a problem, is derived, while the word here used means rather to set before or offer. Often used of meals, to serve up. Hence, better, Rev., set he before them. See on Luke ix. 16.
25. Sowed (ézéovecpev). The preposition émi, wpon, indi- cates sowing over what was previously sown. Rev., “sowed also.”
33. Leaven (fiun). Wyc., sowr dough, as German Sauerteig. From , to boil or seethe, as in fermentation. The English leaven is from the Latin levare, to raise, and appears in the French levain.
35. | will utter (épev£ouas). The verb, in which the sound corresponds to the sense (erewxomaz), means originally to belch, to disgorge. Homer uses it of the sea swrging against the shore (“Tliad,” xvii., 265). Pindar of the eruption of Aetna (“ Pyth.,” 1, 40). There seems to lie in the word a sense of full, émpas- stoned utterance, as of a prophet.
From the foundation (a7 xataBorjs). “Tt is assumed by the Psalmist (Ps. lxxviii. 2) that there was a hidden meaning in
Cu. XIIL] MATTHEW. 81
God’s ancient dealings with his people. A typical, archetypical, and prefigurative element ran through the whole. The history of the dealings is one long Old Testament parable. Things long kept secret, and that were hidden indeed in the depths of the divine mind from before the foundation of the world, were involved in these dealings. And hence the evangelist wisely sees, in the parabolic teaching of our Lord, a real culmination of the older parabolic teaching of the Psalmist. The culmina- tion was divinely intended, and hence the expression that iz
might be fulfilled” (Morison on Matthew).
43. Shine forth (€xrdurpouvow). The compound verb with éx, forth, is designedly used to express a dissipating of dark- ness which has hidden: a bursting into light. The righteous shall shine,forth as the sun from behind a cloud. The mixture of evil with good in the world obscures the good, and veils the true glory of righteous character. Compare Dan. xii. 3.
47. Net (cayjvn). See on Matt. iv. 18. The only occur- rence of the word in the New Testament. A long draw-net, the ends of which are carried out and drawn together. Through the transcription of the word into the Latin sagena comes seine. From the fact of its making a great sweep, the Greeks formed a verb from it, caynvéva, to surround and take with a drag-net. Thus Herodotus (iii., 149) says: “The Persians netted Samos.” And again (vi., 31), “ Whenever they became masters of an island, the barbarians, in every single instance, netted the in- habitants. Now, the mode in which they practise this netting is the following: Men join hands, so as to form a line across from the north coast to the south, and then march through the island from end to end, and hunt out the inhabitants.” Compare Isa. xix. 8: “Those who spread nets on the face of the waters shall languish.” Also, Hab. i. 15-17, where the Chaldaean con- quests are described under this figure.