To set at liberty (drocreidas) Lit., to send away in dis- charge. Inserted from the Sept. of Isa. lviii. 6. See on ch. iii. 3, and Jas. v. 15.
Them that are bruised (reSpavapévovs). Lit., broken in pieces. Only here in New Testament. Wye., to deliver broken men into remission. The same Hebrew word is used in Isa. xlii. 3: “a crushed reed shall he not break,” which the Sep- tuagint translates by te9acpévov, a word which does not occur in the New Testament. In the citation of this latter passage (Matt. xii. 20, on which see) the word for bruised is cvvtpiBo, which the Septuagint uses for break.
19. To preach (Rev., proclaim) the acceptable year of the Lord. As on the first day of the year of Jubilee, when the priests went through the land proclaiming, with sound of trumpet, the blessings of the opening year (Lev. xxv. 8-17). Note ver. 10, where liberty is to be proclaimed to all in that year. Wye., the year of the Lord pleasant. A literal interpre- tation of the word year gave rise among some of the Christian fathers to the theory that our Lord’s ministry lasted but a single year.
292 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. IV.
20. He closed (arvéas). See on ver. 17.
Minister (imnpéry). See on Matt. v. 25. Lit., as Rev., at- tendant. Minister is likely to be misunderstood as referring to the president of the congregation, who, as the teaching elder, would have addressed the people if Jesus had not done so. It means the attendant who had charge of the sacred rolls. He was a salaried officer, a kind of chapel-clerk.
Sat down. As about to teach; that being the habitual position of a Jewish teacher.
Were fastened (jjcav atevifovtes). The participle and finite verb denoting continuous, steadfast attention. The verb, from telvw, to stretch, denotes fixed attention. Indeed, the word attention itself, etymologically considered, conveys the same idea.
21. He began. Not necessarily denoting his first words, but indicating a solemn and weighty opening,
22. Bare him witness. Compare ver. 14. They confirmed the reports which had been circulated about him. Note the imperfect tense. There was a continuous stream of admiring
comment. Similarly, were wondering.
At the gracious words (Aoyous THs yapitos). Literally and correctly, as Rev., words of grace. See on ch. i. 80.
Is not (ovyl). Expecting an affirmative answer. 23. Surely (zdvtws). Lit., by all means. Rev., doubtless.
Proverb (zapaBornv). Rev., parable. See on Matt. xiii. 3. Wye., likeness.
Physician, heal thyself. A saying which Luke alone re- cords, and which would forcibly appeal to him as a physician.
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Galen speaks of a physician who should have cured himself before he attempted to attend patients. The same appeal was addressed to Christ on the cross (Matt. xxvii. 40, 42).
25. A great famine was throughout all the land (éyevero ALpeds peyas él Tacav THY yhv). More literally and correctly, as Rey., there came (or arose) a great famine over all the land.
27. Lepers. Wye. renders mesedis, the middle-English word for a leper, and derived from mdésellus, a diminutive of the Latin miser, wretched.
29. The brow (édpvos). Only here in New Testament. Wye., cope, which is originally cap or hood. The word is used in medical language both of the eyebrows and of other pro- jections of the body. It would naturally occur to a physician, especially since the same epithets were applied to the appear- ance of the eyebrows in certain diseases as were applied to hills. Thus Hippocrates, describing a deadly fever, says, “ The eye- brows seem to hang over,” the same word which Homer uses of arock. So Aretaeus, describing the appearance of the eye- brows in elephantiasis, depicts them as mpoBrijres, projecting, and oxIaders, like mounds. Stanley says: “ Most readers prob- ably from these words imagine a town built on the summit of a mountain, from which summit the intended precipitation was to take place. This is not the situation of Nazareth ; yet its position is still in accordance with the narrative. It is built upon, that is, on the side of a mountain, but the brow is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff asis here implied is found in the abrupt face of a limestone rock about thirty or forty feet high, overhanging the Maronite convent at the south- west corner of the town » (“Sinai and Palestine ”).