ε
τ,---25.
᾿ "μέχρι τῆς σήμερον.
5 3 , ..”. τερον ἔσται ἐν ἡμέρα κρίσεως, ἢ σοί.
177
24. πλὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι γῇ Σοδόµων ἀνεκτό- v Ch. xxviii.
η : (same phrase).
> > , a cat 25. Ev ἐκείνω TO καιρῶ 5 Sai Pe w Ch. xii.
“ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ᾿Ιηοοῦς εἶπεν, “'"᾿Εξομολογοῦμαί σοι, πάτερ, κύριε 38; xVv.15;
τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυψαςὶ ταῦτα ἀπὸ ” σοφῶν καὶ
ding to speak). i Cor. i. 26 (Pagan).
1 S§BD have the simple expuipas.
uttered the reproachful words, say on the top of the hill above Capernaum : Bethsaida on the eastern shore οἱ Jordan, just above where it falls into the lake; Chorazin on the western side on the road to Tyre from Capernaum (Furrer, Wan- devungen, p.370). They may also have been prosperous business centres selected to represent the commercial side of Jewish national life. Hence the refer- ence to Tyre and Sidon, often the subject of prophetic animadversion, yet not so blameworthy in their impenitence as the cities which had seen Christ’s works.— ἐν σάκκῳ καὶ σποδῷ: in black sackcloth, and with ashes on the head, or sitting in ashes like Job (ii. 8).— Ver. 22. πλὴν: contracted from πλέον = more- over, for the rest, to put the matter shortly; not adversative here, though sometimes so used.— Ver. 23. The diversity in the reading μὴ or ἡ ἕως, etc., does not affect the sense. In the one case the words addressed to Capernaum contain a statement of fact by Jesus; in the other a reference to a feeling prevail- ing in Capernaum in regard to the facts. The fact implied in either case is dis- tinction on some ground, probably be- cause Capernaum more than all other places was favoured by Christ’s presence and activity. But there may, as some think (Grotius, Rosen., De Wette, etc.), be a reference to trade prosperity. “ Blorebat C. piscatu, mercatu, et quae alia esse solent commoda ad mare sitar- um urbium”’ (Grot.). The reference to Tyre and Sidon, trade centres, makes this not an idle suggestion. And it is not unimportant to keep this aspect in mind, as Capernaum with the other two cities then become representatives of the trading spirit, and show us by sample how that spirit received the Gospel of the kingdom. Capernaum illustrated the com- mon characteristic most signally. Most prosperous, most privileged spiritually, and—most unsympathetic, the population being taken as a whole. Worldliness as unreceptive as counterfeit piety re- presented by Pharisaism, though not so
x Lk x.21. Rom. xiv. 11; xv. 9.
Χαν. 4 al. (in sense
of begin- y Lk. x. 21 (Jewish). Mt. xxiii. 34 (Christian).
offensive in temper and language. No calumny, but simply invincible indiffer- ence.—€ws οὐρανοῦ, ἕως ἆδου : proverbia! expressions Ίος the greatest exaltation and deepest degradation. The reference in the latter phrase is not to the future world, but to the judgment day of Israel in which Capernaum would be invoived.
The prophetic eye of Jesus sees Caper- naum in ruins as it afterwards saw the beautiful temple demolished (chap. xxiv. 2)
My. 25-27. Fesus worshipping (Lk. Xx. 21, 22). It is usual to call this golden utterance a prayer, but it is at once prayer, praise, and self-communing in a devout spirit. The occasion is unknown. Matthew gives it in close connection with the complaint against the cities (ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ), but Luke sets it in still closer connection (ἐν αὐτῃ τῇ Spa) with the return of the Seventy. Accord- ing to some modern critics, it had no occasion at all in the life of our Lord, but is simply a composition of Luke’s, and borrowed from him by the author of Matthew: a hymn in which the Pauline mission to the heathen as the victory of Christ over Satan’s dominion in the world is celebrated, and given in connection with the imaginary mis- sion of the Seventy (vide Pfleiderer, Urchristenthum, Ῥ. 445). But Luke’s preface justifies the belief that he had here, as throughout, a tradition oral or written to go on, and the probability is that it was taken both by him and by Matthew from a com- mon document. Wendt (L. J., pp. go, QI) gives it as an extract from the book of Logia, and supposes that it followed a report of the return of the disciples (the Twelve) from their mission.