see Luke xix. 16, 17. He shall receive them, however, not as civil or personal possessions ; yet he truly shall receive them, as far as the heliever needs to do so, and he does so in the person of others, to whom, as a believer, he would especially wish them to belong ; cf. Matt. v. 5 ; Acts iv. 35 ; 1 Cor. iii. 22. — The ungodly are usurpers ; the right of possession belongs to God and His heirs ; they receive as much as is expedient for them. The word \rj^rai (shall receive) agrees rather with the notion of hire or wages : but KXripovo^an (shall inherit) implies something far more abundant. Scripture speaks more expressly and copiously of temporal punishments than of temporal rewards, and of eternal rewards than of eternal punishments. — £w^c, life) see ver. 16,17.
30. IIoXXo/ 5g, but many} in opposition to *a$ (evert/ one), in ver. 29. Perhaps also it is hinted that the young man in question would return again, and from being one of the last, become one of the first. — vpuroi, first) In the first clause of the verse this word is the subject, as is clear from its attributive, -roXXo/ (many), which absorbs the article ; in the latter clause it is the predi cate : in ch. xx. 16 the opposite is the case. In the present instance, therefore (since the greatest emphasis is placed on the last clause), the apophthegm is propounded rather by way of en couragement, as in Mark x. 31 ; whereas in Matt. xx. 16 and Luke xiii. 30, by way of warning. In both cases the assertions are modified by the addition of the attributive -s-oXXi/ (many), which applies especially to the worse class ; for the better con tains but few. The "first" and " last" differ; either, (1), in kind, so that the former means those who are saved, the latter those who are lost ; or, (2), (which is preferable) in degree, so that the " last" may mean those who are also saved, but who obtain a station far inferior to that of the "first" F. S. Loefler (p. 106), in his exposition of the following parable, supposes w? (as) to be understood here, so as to produce the fol lowing meaning : The First shall be AS the Last ; and the Last AS the First. Nor is the idea of such an ellipsis in itself objec tionable : but this interpretation is irreconcileable with the con text in the parallel passages, of St Mark who does not give the subsequent parable, and of St Luke who records this saying when uttered on another occasion. Our Lord intimates parti-