ye of little faith) Want of faith was clearly unknown and ab horred by Christ ; for He had known the Father. He teaches faith in this passage.1
32. Hdvra yap rofira, X.T.A., for all these things, etc.) and no thing else. — TO, tfoq, the gentiles) the heathen nations. The faith ful ought to be free from the cares, not only of the covetous among the heathen, but of all heathens ; many, however, in the present day fall short of the heathen in this matter.2. — svifyrtT, seek after) as though a difficult matter. This word is followed by the simple verb fyre/'T-s, seek ye, — oTdi yap o varyf v/j,Ziv i> ovpd- viog, for your Heavenly Father knoweth) An argument from the omniscience, the goodness, and the omnipotence of God. — vpuv, your) sc. who is your Father in a pre-eminent degree in prefer ence to the heathen.3
33. Zr,ri/re} seek ye) the kingdom which is nigh at hand, and not difficult of acquisition. — irpurov, first) He who seeks that first, will soon seek that only. — BafftXtlav, kingdom. — dixaiosvvriv, right eousness') Heavenly meat and drink are opposed to earthly, and thus also" raiment ; and, therefore, St Luke in his twelfth chapter leaves raiment to be understood at ver. 29, and righteousness at ver. 31, although righteousness also Jilleth ; see ch. v. 6.4 — auroD, his) sc. righteousness. — See the note on Rom. i. 17. — raDra, these things) An instance of Litotes.5 — xpoffredqffzrat, shall be added unto) These things are a KpoffQrixr) or appendage of the life and body (see ver. 25); and still more so of the kingdom (see Luke xii. 32).
1 This is the only mode of address, which Jesus employed, when wishing to censure the disciples : chap. viii. 26, xiv. 31, xvi. 8. — V. g.
3 In the original, " At multi hodie non earn, quarn gentes, habent »vr»p- x-tietv." Bengel in Gnomon on ch. iv. 4 defines otvTxpxsia, as " Prcesens animi guies." See p. 150 and f.n. 3.— s(I. B.)
3 In the original all this is expressed by two words, " prce ethnicis." — (I. B.)
4 Sc. " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after RIGHTEOUSNESS, for they shall be FILLED." See also Gnomon in loc. — (I. B.)
5 The word used in the original is rxveivuais, concerning which John Albert Burk says, in his Explanation of the Technical Terms employed in the Gnomon —
" LITOTES, -Mnuait, TxKitvuat;, EXTENUATIO, quse singulse in Gnomone passim allegantur, vix ac ne vix quidem differunt." For explanation and examples, see Appendix. — (I. B.)