166
17.
b Ch. σαν. οὓς ἀκούετε, κηρύξατε ἐπὶ τῶν ” δωµάτων. ἀπὸ τῶν ἁποκτεινόντων 2 τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναµένων
ΚΑΤΑ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΝ x.
28. καὶ ph ° poBn bare *
oy Bate πατρὸς ὑμῶν: 30 ὑμῶν δὲ καὶ ai τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς πᾶσαι
I; Iv. 9. f Lk. xii. 7. Rev. va. 4 Σἠριθμημέναι εἰσί.
31. μὴ οὖν φοβηθῆτε΄": πολλῶν στρουθίων δια-
1 So in Ώ9Σ, adopted by W.H. ΝΒΟΙ/Δ al. have φοβεισθε (Tisch.). 2 s$CDAZ have the Alexandrian form αποκτεννοντωγ.
3 φοβεισθε here in SBC against D.
4 φοβεισθε in BDL (Tisch., W.H ai.).
nings of great epoch-making movements always obscure.—owrf, the light of pub- licity, when causes begin to make a noise in the wide world.—eis τὸ ots: a phrase current among Greeks for confidential communications. For such communica- tions to disciples the Rabbis used the term wn, to whisper. λαληθέν may be understood = what ye hear spoken into the ear.—Swpdatev, on the roofs; not a likely platform from our western point of view, but the flat-roofed houses of the East are in view. δῶμα in classics means house; in Sept. and N. T., the flat roof of a house; in modern Greek, terrace. Vide Kennedy, Sources of N. Τ. Greek, p. 121.-- κηρύξατε, proclaim with loud voice, suitable to your commanding position, wide audience, and great theme.
Vv. 28-31. New antidote to fear drawn from a greater fear, and from the paternal providence of God. Φφοβήθητε
ἀπὸ like the Hebrew ‘2 NV, but
also one of several ways in which the Greeks connected this verb with its object.—ré o@pa: that is all the persecu- tor as such can injure or destroy. He not only cannot injure the soul, but the more he assails the physical side the safer the spiritual.—rov δυνάµενον καὶ w. καὶ o Who is that? God, say most commentators. Not so, I believe. Would Christ present God under this aspect in such close connection with the Father who cares even for the sparrows ? What is to be greatly feared is not the final condemnation, but that which leads to it—temptation to forsake the cause of God out of regard to self-interest or self- preservation. Shortly the counsel is: fear not the persecutor, but the tempter, not the man who kills you for your fidel- ity, but the man who wants to buy you
off, and the devil whose agent he is.— Ver. 29 στρουθία, dim. for στρονθός, small birds in general, sparrows in particu- lar.—aaoapiov, a brass coin, Latin as, py Οἱ a δραχμή = about 34. The small- ness of the price makes it probable that Sparrows are meant (Fritzsche). Weare apt to wonder that sparrows had a price at all.év . . . ov looks like a Hebra- ism, but found also in Greek writers, ‘cannot be called either a Graecism or a Hebraism; in every case the writer aims at greater emphasis than would be conveyed by οὐδείς, which properly means the same thing, but had become weakened by usage’’ (Winer, § 26).-- ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. Chrys. paraphrases: els παγίδα (Hom. 34), whence Bengel conjectured that the primitive reading was not γῆν but πάγην, the first syllable of a little used word falling out. But Wetstein and Fritzsche have pointed out that ἐπὶ does not suit that reading. The idea is that not a single sparrow dies from any cause on wing or perch, and falls dead. to the earth —Gvev τ. πατρὸς ὑ. Origen (ο. Celsum, i. 9) remarks: ‘nothing use- ful among men comes into existence without God” (ἀθεεί). Christ expresses a more absolute faith in Providence: “the meanest creature passes not out of existence unobserved of your Father ”.— Ver. 30. ὑμῶν, emphatic position: your hairs.—tptxes: of little value all together, can be lost without detriment to life or health.— aoa, all, every one without exception.—7prOpnpdvar, counted. Men count only valuable things, gold pieces, sheep, etc. Note the perfect participle. They have been counted once for all, and their number noted; one hair cannot go amissing unobserved.—Ver. 31. π. σ. διαφέρετε: once more, as in vi. 26, a comparison between men and birds as. to value: ye of more worth than many