30. 'AffltTov, unprofitable) sc. now and hereafter;1 cf. Gnomon on ver. 21, and Luke xvi. 11. — uyjt'i'oc, is in Attic Greek writ ten ajspeioz, according to Eustathius. — Ix/SaXsrs, X.T-.A., cast forth, etc.) There is a contrast between this and ver. 21. The Lord Himself commands [the good servants] to enter ; He desires His attendants to cast out [the unprofitable one], as in ch. xxii. 13.2
31. 'Ev rr) dofy Avrov, in His glory) concerning which so many things have been foretold. — KCCI vavrtg oi a-yioi ayyi^oi /LIT Aurou, and all the holy angels with Him) We must not here suppose t \du<f i, shall come, to be understood ; but the nominative must be taken absolutely according to the Hebrew idiom, and rendered, all the angels accompanying Him. — -Travng, all) Add all nations from ver. 32. All angels ; all nations. How vast an assembly ! — TOTS, then) As has been foretold. The disciples thought that this would take place immediately.
32. 'ApopisT, he shall separate) The separation will not be com plete before then.
33. 'Epipta, kidlings) A diminutive. Although giants, they will be kidlings. They will not then be Q'vS, mighty, and
, he-goats.3
1 Even though he had caused no loss to his master. — V. g.
'Axpeuf, though translated by Bengel, unprofitable, useless, is not to be confounded with »xpwTo;, which more strictly expresses that meaning. A slave that has done all that his master commands is dxpeios, n°t m the sense that he is worthless, useless, which could not be said of such a servant, but he is one ov ovx, eari xpittx, a person to whom the master owes nothing, with whom he could dispense, Acts xvii. 25. God receives no benefit from man for which He owes a return, Luke xvii. 10. Here, in Matt. xxv. 30, though the servant had been also oixpwro;, unprofitable, useless, and sloth ful, yet the idea conveyed by the a^io? is not this, but its consequence : for he who is useless by doing no work is not wanted (the latter expressing the true force of d^puo;). The oi-^pr^rog, besides being useless, causes also loss to his master. See Tittm. Syn. Gr. Test. — ED.
2 Cf. Gnomon on ch. vii. 24.— (I. B.)
* This play upon words, on such a solemn subject, appears rather extra ordinary in a man of Bengel's piety. The Hebrew -.*i*y is used of the leader of a flock, and, metaphorically, of the leader of a people. — (I. B.)
Perhaps Bengel's language will not appear so inappropriate when com pared with that of Scripture, to which he evidently alludes. Isa. xiv. 11, '• Hell from beneath stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones