be the greatest (corresponding with the Hebrew 2"i'); cf. ch. xx. 26.
12. "Offng ds u-^uffti iavrbv, x.r.X., but whosoever shall exalt him self, etc.) In the S. V. of Ezek. xxi. 26, we read sraweivuffag TO u-v^jjXii/, not, i v-tyugas TO ravfivov, Thou hast humbled that which is exalted, and exalted that which is humble. — u-vj/wtfe/ eaurbv, shall ex alt himself) As the Scribes and Pharisees did.
13, 14. Oua/, ivoe) Woe is uttered eight times in this passage:2 Messed is uttered eight times and more in Matt. v. from ver. 3, where see Gnomon. — ova! IftTv — x\eiere rqv /3aff/Xe/ac — xan- ffQisre Tag oixiag ruv WpSiv, x.r.X., woe unto you — ye shut up the kingdom — ye devour widows' houses, etc.) In many MSS. these words are transposed ;3 but that must come first in which the
1 " s1^ . . 2. great . . specially (a) i.q. powerful, Psa. xlviii. 3 ; Lsa. Ixiii. 1. PI. a*a^ the mighty, Job xxxv. 9 ; Isa. liii. 12. — (6) elder, Gen. xxv. 23. PI. D^an the old, Job xxxii. 9. — (c) subst. a great man, leader, i.q. "«?, especially in the later Hebrew. . . — (d) a master, one who is skilled in any art, skilful, Prov. xxvi. 10. Compare Talmud, a? doctor, excellent teacher." — Gesenius. Bengel evidently intends to refer the reader to Rabbi in verse 7, on which Wordsworth says : — " /sa/3/3/j ^, My Master. Rabbi, from root a"l, rob — great ; as Magister from magnus, ftiyas" — (I. B.)
2 Our Saviour had used various degrees of argument against His opponents all along from ch. ix. 4 ; but now, at the last, moved by a holy fervour, He brings forth most plainly the whole fact as it really was. — Harm., p. 472.
3 Such is the reading of E. M. ; but E. V. supports the order approved by Bengel. In his Apparatus Criticus, Bengel says of the reading : — " x.^fi'tre — x,XTfff$isre " — " Sic Erasmus, Beza, Bodl. 1. 2, Cypr. Laud. 1. 2, Roe et sex et octo alii, vel etiam Cam. Item Ililar. Eulhym. Copt. Lat. , etiam apud Hieron.'' Of the order " xartaSiiiTe — x&iisTf," he says : — " Comp. Stap. Steph. edd. Aug. 1, 2, 4, Byz. Gehl. Mosc. Wo. 1, 2, etc., Chrysost. Theophyl., opus imperf. Arab. Lat. pauculi, Syr. Quinque Colbertinos pro ilia lectione citat Millius, a silentio amicorum, qui Bezam adhibuerant argumentatus ; pro hac Simonius in notis ad h. 1. Vide Gnomon : quanquam is prior videtur esse versus, quern scorsum referunt Marcus et Lucas." — (I. B.)
BDLZ a Vulg. (Amiat. MS.) omit all the words of ver. 14, oval — necriadisTe T. olx.ia,g r. x,ripuv (Rec. Text adding x.ct,i) vrpotpoiffsi — Trpoatuxo/aiitoi S;o6 roDro — xpiftot. The Canons of Euseb. seem to omit the words : also Origen, who speaks of "the second woe in Matthew" being wa.\ — oV< 7r£/>/ay£« -rr,v ddhetaaoiv, etc. 4, 352a. Therefore Lachm. and Tischend. rightly omit them. The words seem to me to have crept in from Mark xii. 40 and Luke xx. 47. However be and Hilary 725d and 89 supports the words here. — ED. The margin of Bengal's Ed. ii. holds the omission of ver. 14 as all but equal to the Rec. Text. — E. B.
ST MATTHEW XX11I. It, 15. 407
kingdom of heaven is mentioned; cf. ch. iv. 17, v. 3, etc.1 — vxoxpiral, hypocrites) The characteristics of hypocrites may be ascertained from this indictment, as Thomasius has done in his Cautions. Woes were denounced against them, not because they were Scribes and Pharisees, but because they were hypo crites. — xkshrs, ye shut up) i.e. with a key : ye shut up as being ignorant and blind. — s^poffdiv ruv avdpu*ui>, before men2) sc. before their eyes, when they were just close. — ovx eiffsp^igCi, ye do not enter) a great woe, and the first ; cf. Matt. v. 3, on the first degree of blessedness. — TOVS si&pxopevovs, them that are entering) sc. either in will or in deed.