spring ; cf. ver. 18 concerning the field. — 2a/S/3«rw, on the Sab bath day) Not because it would have been unlawful to flee or carry burdens on the Sabbath day, especially for Christians, but because it is peculiarly miserable on that day, which is given to joy, to break off the rites of religious worship and flee, and because, being less prepared for flight, each hinders the other in attempting it by crowding the doors of synagogiies or the gates of cities much more than when they are in the country or in private houses. Ptolemy Lagus, according to Josephus, took Jerusalem by surprise on the Sabbath day : Ant. xii. 1. In fine, punishments which happened to the Jews on the Sabbath day were more grievous than others : see Hainlin Chronol. Ex- plan, fol. 19, 20. Their enemies also were more truculent on that day than on any other, from hatred of the Sabbath. At the time when sin is at its height, punishment arrives ; cf. Hos. iv. 7. The observance of the Sabbath did not wholly expire before the destruction of the temple.
21. ' A<!f apxr,$ Kosftov, from the beginning of the world) in the time of the Deluge, etc.
22. OJK civ igudy, would not be saved) They would be excluded by premature death from the salvation of the soul which is as cribed to the elect. They who have already attained salvation will utter the words which resound in Rev. vii. 10. — traga, ffapg, all flesJt1) in itself weak. — rou$ iHXtxrovs, the elect) The elect, whether already converted or hereafter to become so, or as yet unborn, are mingled with the rest of mankind. Where the force of temptations exceeds the ordinary strength of the faithful, election is mentioned — see ver. 24, 31, and Luke xviii. 7 — and the faithfulness and power of God ; see 1 Cor. x. 13 ; 1 Pet. i. 5 ; Rev. xiii. 8. — xoXo/3w^<rei^a/, shall be shortened) An appro priate verb, since that which is shortened loses the entireness of its parts, yet so that it may nevertheless be considered as the whole.
23. Tors, theii) sc. at the time of the fall of Jerusalem. — //-»)
1 In E. V. the words are rendered, "no flesh should be saved." The dif ference is one of idiom, not of sense. E. V. applies the negative universally to the subject ; Bengel, translating the Greek words literally, applies the negative to the predicate : sc. all flesh would not be saved — i.e. all flesh would come under the category of not being saved; in other words, u'ould perish