33. Goats (épifua). Diminutive. Lit., Aédlings. The sheep and goats are represented as having pr Stn pastured together. Compare the parables of the Tares and the Net.
On the right (é« de&dv). Lit. from the right side or parts. The picture to the Greek reader is that of a row, beginning at the judge’s right hand.
136 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Cu. XXVI.
35. Ve took me in (cuvnydyere wé). Tynd., was harbour- less and ye lodged me. The preposition cvv implies along with. Ye took me with you into the household circle.
36. Visited (érecxépacte). Lit., Ye looked upon. Our word wisit is from the Latin viso, to look steadfastly at, and thence to visit: We retain the original thought in the popular phrases go to see one, and to look in upon one.
40. The least. The word in the Greek order is emphatic: One of these my brethren, the least. So Rey., even these least.
2. Is betrayed (aapaéiSora.). The present tense expresses here something which, though future, is as good as present, be- cause already determined, or because it must ensue in virtue of an unalterable law. Thus the passover és (yiverac): it must come round at the fixed season. The Son of Man ¢s betrayed according to the divine decree. Compare ver. 24.
3. Palace (aiAyv). But the word never means palace in the New Testament. It is the court, the open court or hall, form- ing the centre of an oriental building, and often used as a meet- ing-place. Rev., court. Wye., hall.
7. An alabaster box (dAd@actpov). Rev., cruse ; flask in margin. Lit., an alabaster, just as we call a drinking-vessel made of glass a glass. Luther renders glass. It was a kind of cruet, having a cylindrical form at the top. Pliny compares these vessels to a closed rosebud, and says that ointments are best preserved in them.
8. To what purpose is this waste? Wyc., Whereto this loss? Tynd., What needed this waste? See on John xii. 3.
10. When Jesus understood it (yvods 5é 0’Inaots). The A. V. implies that some time elapsed before Jesus was aware
Cu. XXXVI] MATTHEW. NS
of the disciples’ complaint. But the statement is that Jesus perceived it at once. Rey., rightly, Jesus perceiving it.
Good work («anov). Lit., beautiful, but in a moral sense: an excellent, morally beautiful deed.
15. What will ye give ? (ri Séreré poe Sodvas ?) Rather, What are ye willing to give me? It brings out the chaffering aspect of the transaction. So Rev.
They covenanted with him for (écrncav aire). But the meaning is, they weighed unto him, or, very literally, they placed for him (in the balance). Although coined shekels were in circulation, weighing appears to have been practised, espe- cially when considerable sums were paid out of the temple- treasury.
Thirty pieces of silver (tpudxovta apytpua). Matthew re- fers to Zech. xi.12. These pieces were shekels of the sanctuary, of standard weight, and therefore heavier than the ordinary shekel. See on Matt. xvii. 24. Reckoning the Jerusalem shekel at seventy-two cents, the sum would be twenty-one dol- lars and sixty cents. This was the price which, by the Mosaic law, a man was condemned to pay if his ox should gore a ser- vant (Exod. xxi. 32). Our Lord, the sacrifice for men, was paid for out of the temple-money, destined for the purchase of sacrifices. He who “took on him the form of a servant” was sold at the legal price of a slave.
18. Such a man (rov detva). The indefiniteness is the Evangelist’s, not our Lord’s. He, doubtless, described the per- son and where to find him.
20. He sat down (avéxecro). But this rendering misses the force of the imperfect tense, which denotes something in progress. The Evangelist says he was sitting or reclining, introducing us to something which has been going on for some time.