38. Received (imedé~ato). From tao, under, and déyopat, to receive. Received him wnder her roof. Martha is marked as the head of the household. Itwas herhouse. She received the guest, and was chiefly busy with the preparations for his entertainment (ver. 40).
39. Sat (qapaxa3éoteca). Only here in New Testament. Lit., sat beside (arapd).
40. Was cumbered (repsecmdto). Only here in New Tes- tament. The Rev. might better have inserted in the text the marginal rendering, was distracted. The verb means, literally, to draw from around (rept). Martha’s attention, instead of centring round Jesus, was drawn hither and thither. The epi, around, in composition with the verb, is followed imme- diately by another zrepi, “‘ about much serving.”
Came to him (émuctaca). Came up to him, as Rev., sud- denly stopping in her hurry.
358 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. XI.
Hath left (xarédurev). More strictly the aorist, as Rev., ded leave, indicating that she had been assisting before she was drawn off by Jesus’ presence.
Help (cuvavtvAdBntat). The verb consists of three elements: AapBdve, to take hold ; adv, together with ; avr, reciprocally— doing her part as Martha does hers, It might be paraphrased, therefore, take hold and do her part along with me. It occurs only here and Rom. viii. 26, of the Spirit helping our infirmi- ties, where all the elements of the verb are strikingly exempli- fied.
41. Thou art anxious (uepiuvds). See on Matt. vi. 25.
Troubled (SopvBdtn). From SIdpuBos, tumult. Anxious denotes the ¢nward uneasiness: troubled, the outward confusion and bustle.
CHAPTER XI. 2-4. Compare Matt. vi. 9-13.
3. Daily bread (rov dptov Tov émtovovov). Great differences of opinion exist among commentators as to the strict meaning of the word rendered daily. The principal explanations are the following:
1. From ésvévas, to come on. Hence, a. The coming, or to-morrow’s bread. b. Daily: regarding the days in their future succes- sion. ce. Continual. d. Yet to come, applied to Christ, the Bread of life, who is to come hereafter.
2. From ézi and ovata, being. Hence, ; a. For our sustenance (physical), and so necessary. b. For our essential life (spiritual). c. Above all being, hence pre-eminent, excellent. d. Abundant.
Cu. X1.J LUKE. 359
It would be profitless to the English reader to go into the dis- cussion. A scholar is quoted as saying that the term is “the rack of theologians and grammarians.” A satisfactory discus- sion must assume the reader’s knowledge of Greek. Those who are interested in the question will find it treated by Tholuck (“Sermon on the Mount”), and also very exhaustively by Bishop Lightfoot (“Ona Fresh Revision of the New Testa- ment”). The latter adopts the derivation from ézvévas, to come on, and concludes by saying, “the familiar rendering, daly, which has prevailed uninterruptedly in the Western Church from the beginning, is a fairly adequate representation of the original ; nor, indeed, does the English language furnish any one word which would answer the purpose so well.” The ren- dering in the margin of Rev. is, our bread for the coming day. It is objected to this that it contradicts the Lord’s precept in Matt. vi. 34, not to be anxious for the morrow. But the word does not necessarily mean the morrow. “If the prayer were said in the evening, no doubt it would mean the following day ; but supposing it to be used before dawn, it would designate the day then breaking” (the coming day). “And further, if the command not to be anxious is tantamount to a prohibition against prayer for the object about which we are forbidden to be anxious, then not only must we not pray for to-morrow’s food, but we must not pray for food at all; since the Lord bids us (Matt. vi. 25) not to be anxious for our life” (Lightfoot, condensed).
4, Forgive. See on ch. iii. 3; Jas. v. 15.