13. 'O oiKog Moi> o/'xog irpofftvyris xXrftrifffrar u/ig/g ds avrbv ti
}.r,gruv, My house shall be called (a or the) house of prayer ; but ye have made it a den of thieves. — The LXX., in Isaiah Ivi. 7, have — 6 yap WKOC, Mou, oJx.o$ vposiu^g xXr^^atrat -raff/ roTg &M0ty JWy house shall be called (a or £/ie) house of prayer for all nations ; and in Jeremiah vii. 11, /tjj Girrfr.auw 6 o7x6$ Mou ; is My house become a den of thieves ? — of prayer) Prayer is the principal part of public worship ; see 1 Kings viii. ; therefore prayer is put before the apostolic ministry of the Word in Acts vi. 4. The synagogues also were places for teaching and houses of prayer as well. In the temple there was more prayer, in the syna gogues more teaching. — c^Xa/a XjjorSii', a den of thieves} A se vere and proverbial expression, used of a place which admits all infamous characters and all profane things. He does not say, A market-place. In a den, thieves do not so much attack others, as house themselves.
14. 'EK TUI hpti, in the temple) The right use of the temple ; which was found fault with by His adversaries, who tolerated the abuse of the temple. No one else ever performed miracles in the temple ; this was peculiar to the Messiah.
15. Ta ^au//,acva, the wonderful tilings) see ver. 12, 14.
16. 'Axoue/s, x.r.X., dost Thou hear'? etc.) Every thing which is not commonplace and traditional, is too much for hypocrites.1 — SriXafyvruv, sucklings) who might be as much as three years old.2 See 2 Maccabees vii. 27.
1 vYiTriav) They who to the world seem still infants, may notwithstanding have their mouths opened to utterance by Divine power. We may suppose that the little children in this instance caught up the words of those of riper age (with which view, comp. ver. 9) : and yet that circumstance was not without being valued in the sight of God. Only let one not be wanting to his fellow in setting a good example : the Lord will take care of the rest, nay, indeed He will take care of all things. — V. g.
2 The passage in Maccabees runs thus : — " O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, andyave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age." The same practice still prevails in the East. In Persia, male children are often kept at the breast till three years of age, and are never taken from it till two years and two months. In India the period is precisely three years. In 2 Chron. xxxi. 16, no provision is assigned for the children of Priests and Levites until after three years of age, which gives additional weight to the supposition that