x.r.X., and to those sitting, etc.) The LXX. in Ps. cvii. (cvi.) 10, have Ka&wivG-jc sv CM™ -/.at av.ia ^avdrov, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. The verb to sit aptly denotes a sluggish solitude. — %wf« xai axiq, region and shadoiv} one thing expressed by two words.1 The natural situation of the country was low, and such was also its spiritual condition. — avimXiv auroTs, hath risen upon them) In the original Hebrew it is njj, shines, upon them. This increased force of expression corresponds with the epithet ft'eya, great, in the preceding clause.
17. "Hp£«ro, began)2 A word of frequent occurrence. It indi cates the commencement of an action to be often repeated, or of one deliberate and ample, or even of long continuance. — r\ (3agi- /.sla, the kingdom) It is an example of elegance in the Divine style, that first the kingdom should be said to have come in the abstract, then the King or Messiah in the concrete. The former mode of expression suits the hidden beginnings, the latter the triumphant consummation, [of the Gospel Dispensation]. — Cf. Gnomon on Luke i. 35, and 2 Thess. ii. 3. — y fiasiXtia ruv ovpa- vuv, the kingdom of the Heavens) i.e., the kingdom of God (cf. ch. v. 3, with Luke vi. 20); for it is called also thus by St Matthew, sometimes, as his book proceeds, and is always thus denominated in the other books of the New Testament,8 e.g. Acts i. 3, xxviii.
1 1n the original, t» Ita, ^volv. See Explanation of Technical Terms