8. Also. See on Matt. viii. 9. Set under authority (io é£opciay taccdpevos). It is not
easy to render the exact force of these words. The sense of 21
322 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. VII.
the present participle with the verb evi, J am, is very subtle. The words set under are commonly understood to mean placed in a subordinate position ; but this would be more accurately ex- pressed by the perfect participle, reraypévos. The present parti- ciple indicates something operating daily, and the centurion is describing not his appointed position so much. as his daily course of life. The word set originally means arranged, drawn up im order ; so that the words might be paraphrased thus: “I am a man whose daily course of life and duty is appointed and arranged by superior authority.” The centurion speaks in a figure which is well explained by Alford: “I know how to obey, being myself under authority; and I know how others obey, having soldiers under me. If then I, in my subordinate station of command, am obeyed, how much more thou, who art over all, and whom diseases serve as their Master.” Just what estimate of Jesus these words imply we cannot say. It seems evident, at least, that the centurion regarded him as more than man. If that be so, it is a question whether the word man (avSpwrés) may not imply more than is commonly assigned to it. Taking the Greek words in their order they may read, “For I also, a man (as compared with thee), am set under authority, having soldiers under myself. See on Matt. viii. 9.
10. Whole (iysaivovta). See on ch.y. 31. The best texts omit that had been sick.
11-17. Peculiar to Luke.
11. The day after (év 77 é&js). Others read év 7@ €&7js, soon after. So Rev. Luke’s usage favors the latter.
Nain. Mentioned nowhere else in the Bible. “On the northern slope of the rugged and barren ridge of Little Hermon, immediately west of Endor, which lies in a further recess of the same range, is the ruined village of Nain. No convent, no tradition marks the spot. But, under these circumstances, the name alone is sufficient to guarantee its authenticity. One en- trance alone it could have had—that which opens on the rough
Cu. VIL] LUKE. 823
hillside in its downward slope to the plain. It must have been in this steep descent, as, according to Eastern custom, they ‘car- ried out the dead man,’ that, ‘nigh to the gate’ of the village, the bier was stopped, and the long procession of mourners stayed, and ‘the young man delivered back to his mother ’” (Stanley, “Sinai and Palestine”). “It is in striking accord with the one biblical incident in the history of Nain that renders it dear to the Christian heart, that about the only remains of antiquity are tombs. These are cut in the rock, and are situated on the hillside to the east of the village” (Thomson, “ Land and Book”).
12. Carried out. The tombs were outside of the city.
13. The Lord. See on Matt. xxi. 3.
Saw her. Edersheim says, “ Had it been in Judaea, the hired mourners and musicians would have preceded the bier; in Gal- ilee they followed. First came the women; for, as an ancient Jewish commentary explains, woman, who brought death into our world, ought to lead the way in the funeral procession ” (“ Jewish Social Life ”).
Had compassion (€o7dayyvicdn). From omdayyva, the nobler entrails, regarded as the seat of the affections. See on pitiful, 1 Pet. iii. 8.
14. Touched. Not fearing the ceremonial defilement of contact with the dead.
The bier (copés). In classical Greek, originally, of a vessel for holding anything : sometimes of a cinerary urn. Here the open bier. Edersheim says “ of wicker-work.”
15. Sat up (dvexaSicev). Compare Acts ix. 40. In this in- transitive sense the word is used mostly by medical writers.