27. o5g, ear) sc. one, secretly. — SKI ruv Bodrov, on the house tops) A. flat place, where men might converse, or even assemble as an audience : cf. 2 Sam. xvi. 22.1
28. Ka/ w pofirftrirt, x.r.X., and be not afraid of, etc.) The connection is as follows : He who publicly preaches hidden truth, him the world afflicts : he who fears God, ought to fear nothing except Him : he who does not fear God, fears every thing except Him : see 1 Pet. iii. 14, 15.2 — dirk, of) This pre position is not repeated. / fear Him, is a stronger phrase than I am afraid of Him.3 — dwoxrevovruv,* ivho kill) From the root
are derived KTSVU, x,rtivu, xrewu. See Eustathius. — rbv duvd- Him who is able5) and that too with the highest ability and authority (see Luke xii. 5), that is, GOD ; see James iv. 12. — xal •4't^v x.al ffupa., both soul and body) the two essential parts of man. — acroX^a/, to destroy, to ruin) It is not said to kill : the soul is immortal. — Iv Ttswri, in hell) It is not easy to preach the truth ; and to none are severer precepts given than to the ministers of the Word, as is evident from the epistles to Timothy and Titus. The most efficacious stimulus is on this account employed. Many witnesses to the truth have been first ex cited, and afterwards led on, by the most fearful terrors from God.
29. Auo ffrpou^la daffaptou, two sparroivs for a farthing)6 In Luke xii. 6, we read, Jive sparrows for two farthings. A rea son why men are not to be feared. — ev, one) sc. one in preference
1 He desires them to banish all fear from their minds. — V. g.
2 The world admires the magnanimous spirit of those who fear nothing, and regards such a spirit worthy of heroes and great men. And yet the fear of GOD is the only heroism truly worthy of the name ; and in the absence of it, all presence of mind, as it is called, is false, and only indicates reckless rashness. — V. g.
3 i.e. Bengel would render the passage thus — " Be not afraid of them (py (po/SuSij-re «TTO rav) which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear HIM ((tofiytivTi roy) which is able," etc. — (I. B.)
* E. M. oivox-TSiuovruv. — (I. B.)
5 In the original there is a play on the words potest and potestas, which cannot be preserved in the translation. The passage runs thus — " Eum qui potest, et quidem cum summa t^ovatct., potestate." — (I. B.)
6 The oiaaotpiov, called hnrrov in Mark xii. 42, and rendered mite in that place and elsewhere by the E. V., was about gs3^ of a farthing. -(I. 15.)