come before the first advent ; therefore Jesus replies, that he1 has already come in the person of John the Baptist.2
14. Kcu sX66i>ruv avruv, x.r.X., and when they were come, etc.) A very different scene is here opened to view from that which Peter had wished for in ver. 4. — Whilst Moses was on the moun tain, the people transgressed ; see Exod. xxxii. 1 ; whilst Jesus was on the mountain, matters did not proceed very well with the people.
15. 'EXgjjffo'v ^01; TOV u/'ov, have mercy on my son) The lunatic might have said, in the words of David (see Ps. xxv. [xxiv.] 16), both in the Hebrew original and S.V. :s "Have mercy upon me, for I am an only son" And this his father repeats. — TO K\I? — TO voup, THE fire — THE water) The article implies that the nature of these elements universally4 is intended : because the lunatic is more liable to fall into the paroxysm when near fire or water : but in Mark ix. 22 (see Gnomon) fires and waters are mentioned, and that indefinitely, without the article.
16. ODx jj8oi/jj0»jffai>, were not able) It was a disgrace for the disciples to be accused from another quarter. Observe the candour of St Matthew's confession, implicating himself in this
1 i.e., TheElias, who was appointed to precede the first advent. — ED.
2 Ver. 13. Trepi ' ludwov, concerning John) not concerning that Elias, or Elijah, whom they had seen, as recorded in ver. 3. — V. g.
3 Ps. xxiv. 16, LXX. farlftktfa) IK tpt x.a,\ t'htwoi' (*•*-, vrt ftovo'/fvq; tlpi iyu. — ED.
4 Middleton remarks on this, " Bengel (in Gnom.) has here a note which 1 do not understand : he says, ' Articulus UNIVERSE innuit naturam hontm clementorum, quod lunaticus apud igncm et aquam proclivior sit in paroxys- mum.'1'" Though it savours of presumption to attempt any explanation of that which Middleton did not understand, I would venture to suggest, that Bengel means to say, that the article shows that the element of fire is intended, in the abstract, and consequently every presence of it (universe), in the con crete.— (I. B.)
In Mark ix. 22, fire and water are not used in the general sense as here (Oft-times he falleth into a paroxysm, wherever fire is and wherever water is," — this is the effect which these elements produce on him): but of parti cular fires and waters. Though the sing. TO vvp is used there, it stands for the plural, as the accompanying vocur* show : also the article TO gives the same force, as there is no plur. of «-fy, else r* Kvpa. would be found. How ever, BCD abed reject the TO there ; but A supports it — ED.