Ιοῦ = to conceal or 98 to trust
(vide Buxtorf, Lex. Talm., p. 1217). The meaning is not, “ ye cannot serve God and have riches,” but “ ye cannot be faithful to God and make an idol of wealth”. ‘ Non dixit, qui habet divitias, sed qui servit divitiis,” Jerome.
Vv. 25-34. Counsels against care. More suitable to the circumstances of the
23—27.
125
τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, ph 5 μεριμνᾶτε τῇ ψυχῇ ὑμῶν, τί φάγητε καὶ} tle Ch. x. 19,
πίητε: μηδὲ τῷ σώµατι ὑμῶν, τί ™ ἐνδύσησθε.
ah 9) € 5 ο dk. X. 41; οὐχὶ ἡ Wuxi) πλεῖόν aii. 45.
ἐστι τῆς τροφῆς, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἐνδύματος; 26. ' ἐμβλέψατε εἲς (various
τὰ ) πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι οὐ *
συνάγουσιν εἰς ἀποθήκας, καὶ 6 πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τρέφει αὐτά: 6. οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον | διαφέρετε αὐτῶν ; 27. τίς δὲ ἐξ ὑμῶν μεριμνῶν δύνα-
8 (last three exx. metaphorical). Χ.Ιο. kJohniv. 36, 37.
1 η τι πιητε in Β. by W.H.
disciples than those against amassing treasures. ‘‘ Why speak of treasures to us who are not even sure of the neces- saries of life? It is for bread and cloth- ing we are in torment” (Lutteroth).— Ver. 25, διὰ τοῦτο: because ye can be unfaithful to God through care as well as through covetousness.—p μεριμνᾶτε: péptpva from µερίς, µερίζω, because care divides and distracts the mind. The verb is used in N. T. in various construc- tions and senses; sometimes in a good sense, as in x Cor. vii. 32: ‘The un- married care for the things of the Lord,” and xii. 25 in reference to the members of the body having the same care for each other. But the evil sense predom- inates. What is here deprecated is not work for bread and raiment, but worry, “Labor exercendus est, solicitudo toll- enda,” Πετοπης.---οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχἠ . . . ἐνδύ- patos: the life not the soul; the natural life is more than meat, and the body more than the clothing which protects it, yet these greater things are given to you already. Can you not trust Him who gave the greater to give the less? But a saying like this, life is more than meat, in the mouth of Jesus is very pregnant. It tends to lift our thoughts above materi- alism to a lofty conception of man’s chiefend, It is more than an argument against care, it is a far-reaching principle to be associated with that other logion— a man is better than a sheep (Matt. xii. 12).—Ver. 26. ἐμβλέψατε els, fix your eyes on,so as to take a good look at (Mk. X. 21, Χῖν. 67).---τὰ πετεινὰ 7. ov., the birds whose element is the air; look, not to admire their free, careless movements on the wing, but to note a very relevant {αοί---ὅτι, that without toil they get their food and live—omelpovotv, θερίζονσιν, συνάγονσι « ἆ.: the usual operations of the husbandman in producing the staff of life. In these the birds have no part, yet your Father feedeth them. The careworn might reply to this: yes; they
σπείρουσι», οὐδὲ Χ θερίζουσιν, οὐδὲ h
i Acts i. 11 (with εἰς). | sf 1Ch. x. 31; xii. 12. Lk. xii. 24 (with μάλλον).
const.).
Ch. xxii. αι. Mk.i. Rom. xiii. 12.
Eph.vi.11. 1 Thess. v. j Ch. viii. 20; xiii. 4. Lk. viii. 5. Acts
This clause is wanting in 3, omitted by Tisch., and bracketed
feed themselves at the farmer’s expense, an additional source of anxiety to him. And the cynic unbeliever in Providence : yes, in summer ; but how many perish in winter through want and cold! Jesus, greatest of all optimists, though no shallow or ignorant one, quietly adds: οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον διαφέρετε αὐτῶν: do not ye differ considerably from them 2 They fare, on the whole, well, God’s humble creatures. Why should you fear, men, God’s children ῥ
Ver. 27. τίς δὲ, etc. The question means: care is as bootless as it is needless. But there is much difference of opinion as to the precise point of the question. Does it mean, who by care can add a cubit to his height, or who can add a short space of time, represented by a cubit, to the length of his life? Ἁἡλικία admits of either sense. It means stature in Lk. xix. 3; agein John ix. 21, Heb. xi. rr. Most recent commentators favour the latter interpretation, chiefly influenced by the monstrosity of the supposition as referring to stature. Who could call adding a cubit, 1} feet, to his height a very small matter, the expression of Lk. (ἐλάχιστον, xii. 26)? The application of a measure of length to length of days is justified by Ps. xxxix. 5: “Thou hast made my days as handbreadths”. But Dr, Field strongly protests against the new rendering. Admitting, of course, that ἡλικία is ambiguous, and that in classic authors it oftener means age than stature, he insists that πῆχνς is decisive. “ wijxus,” he remarks (Ot. Nor.), “ is not only a measure of length, but that by which a man’s stature was properly measured.” Euthy, on this place remarks: “kal μὴν οὐδὲ σπιθαµήν (half a cubit) οὐδὲ δάκτυλον (a 24th part): λοιπὸν οὖν πῆχυν εἶπε, διότι κυρίως µέτρον τῶν ἡλικιῶν 6 πηχύς ἐστι. Thus a short man is τρίπηχνυς, a tall man τετράπηχυς.᾽ But how are we to get over the monstrosity of the supposition ?