more towards His adversaries than towards the disciples who believed on Him. — /icc^rs, learn ye) ye who think that ye are already consummate teachers. — s'Asov deXu, I icill have mercy} A few read with the LXX. in Hos. vi. 6, with whom the other words in this passage agree, IXsoj dsXu.1 The LXX. more com monly use rb iXsoc in the neuter, as in Hos. vi. 4. Sometimes, however, 6 ?/>.«o£, like the ancient Greeks. Is. Ix. 10, Ixiii. 7 ; Dan. i. 9, ix. 20 ; Ps. ci. 1 ; 1 Mace. ii. 57, iii. 44 ; and especially in the minor prophets, Jonah ii. 9 ; Mic. vi. 8 (which passage is also parallel with the evangelist), Ibid. vii. 20 ; Zech. vii. 9 ; Hos. xii. 6. Thus 6 eXto$ occurs in the present passage, in Matt. xii. 7, xxiii. 23 ; Tit. iii. 5 ; Heb. iv. 16 ; but TO sXtof occurs frequently in St Luke, St Paul, St James, St Peter, St John, and St Jucle ; and in Mic. vii. 18, the LXX., have 6t\yrrig eXiov? egriv, He is a wilier of mercy. We have here an axiom of interpretation, nay, the sum total of that part of theology which treats of cases of conscience. On mercy , cf. ch. xxiii. 23. The word Sb<r/ai>, sacrifice (victimam), is put synecdochically.2 It is an act of mercy to eat with sinners for their spiritual profit.3 — fadov, I have come) sc. from heaven. — xaXlcra/, to call) Such is the mission, such the authority of Christ. — apapruhous, sinners) The word is purposely and emphatically repeated by our Lord. Cf. ver. 11.
14. Tors, then) At the time of the Feast.4 — vpoffepxovrai Aur£>, come to Him) of set purpose. — o/ nudrirai 'ludwou, the disciples of John) They were half-way between the Pharisees and the dis ciples of Jesus, and appear on this occasion to have been insti gated by the Pharisees.5 — Cf. Luke v. 33. — 2oD ftadyra,!, Thy
1 So BC corrected later, D. This is the Hellenistic form, as TO TAot/To?, TO £»jAo?, found in LXX. and oldest MSS. of N. T. for 6 K^OUTO;, o £»jAof. Rec. Text has ehtov, the classic form. — ED.
2 A part for the whole of positive performances. — ED.
8 So far ought you to be from despising repentance ; for repentance is in fact the curing of the soul. — V. g.
Koti ov 6v<jia.v) This is one portion of the rigorous observance of those things, which are contained in the Law. — V. g.
4 It was also the day of the public fasts, as it appears, which were cele brated not by the enactment of divine Law, but according to the private will of certain individuals. — Harm., p. 283.
6 For Matthew in this passage mentions the disciples of John; Mark (ch. ii.