37. 'Effnv, zV)Yes; He truly is so ! The inscription, perhaps, remained longer on the cross than the body of Jesus.1
39. Oi <& <rapa'7ropiv6{jM>6i, lut they that were passing by) Many did not even condescend to stand still. — x/voSmj rag xspaXac, shaking their heads) The gesture of one who refuses to acknow ledge something.
40. Asyovrsg, x.r.X., saying, etc.) Seven scoffs of His enemies may be counted.2 — sv rpialv fip'ipaig, in three days) Yea, it was already now the first of them. — ffZffov, save) They use in mockery the name of Jesus ; then that of " The Son of God," and that of King, ver. 42, 43, and His own words, ver. 40. — ei lil>g iJ rov &sou, if thou art the Son of God) cf. ch. iv. 3.
41. 'o/Aoius, x.r.X., in like manner, etc.) Now the chief men imitate the populace : a great confusion ! but they surpass them in bitterness.3
42. HiffTtvffopev Airffl, ice ivill believe Him) We [Christians] believe on Him for that very reason, that He did not imme diately descend from the Cross, but on the contrary consum mated His work.
43. neTo/Ssf, He trusted) cf. the end of the verse. — £?re 'yap, X.T.A., for He said, etc.) We may consider that this was either uttered by those who were passing by, or added by the Evan gelist for the sake of explanation. The LXX. in Psalm xxii. (xxi.) 8, have ^Xavtfgi/ lit] Kvptov, puad&u Aurov ffuadru Avrbv, ort 3gX£/ Avrov, He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver Him : let Him save Him, since He delighteth in Him.
44. O/ XTjora/, the robbers) Some conceive that the plural is put here synecdochically for the singular, and thus except the converted robber: in such a horrible matter, however, there
1 Ivo 7ijjo-T«i, two robbers) Matthew and Mark mention their crucifixion at a later point of time than the other two Evangelists ; from which we may infer that the crucifixion of Jesus was regarded by Pilate and his sub ordinates as the principal and most important case. — Harm., p. 567.
2 The most heinous robber, when visited with capital punishment, is scarcely ever reviled besides ; but the Son of GOD, when hanging on the cross, is most bitingly insulted by word of mouth and by writing, on the part of the rulers and the common people — the Jews, as well as also the Gentiles. —Harm., p. 568.
$ Such persons scarcely at any other time betray in public what is the secret feeling which they cherish inwardly. — V. g.