28. Σκοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισµένοι, κἀγὼ 3 ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς.
f vide Ch. iv. το. the sense of weariness, cf. Is. xl. 31, ov κοπιάσουσι.
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‘Acire πρός pe πάντες οἱ ε ὁ Αι 20. ἄρατε here and in Ch
g here and in John iv. 6. Rev. ii. 3 (with Sir. li. a7, ἐκοπίασα). h τ Cor. xvi. 18.
There are unquestionably kindred thoughts and corresponding phrases, as even Kypke points out (“‘ Syracides magna similitudine dicit’”’), and if Sirach had been a recognised Hebrew prophet one could have imagined Matthew giving the gist of this rhetorical passage, pre- faced with an “‘as it is written”. It is not even inconceivable that a reader of our Gospel at an early period noted on the margin phrases culled from Sirach as descriptive of the attitude of the one true σοφός towards men to show how willing he was to communicate the know- ledge of the Father-God, and that his notes found their way into the text. But why doubt the genuineness of this logion ? It seems the natural conclusion of Christ’s soliloquy; expressing His intense yearning for receptive scholars at a time when He was painfully con- scious of the prevalent unreceptivity. The words do not smell of the lamp. They come straight from a saddened yet tenderly affectionate, unembittered heart ; simple, pathetic, sincere. He may have known Sirach from boyhood, and echoes may have unconsciously suggested themselves, and been used with royal freedom quite compatibly with perfect originality of thought and phrase. The reference to wisdom in ver. 19 makes the supposition not gratuitous that Jesus may even have had the passage in Sirach consciously present to His mind, and that He used it, half as a quotation, half as a personal manifesto. The passage is the end of a prayer of ¥esus, the Son of Sirach, in which that earlier Jesus, personating wisdom, addresses his fellow- men, inviting them to share the benefits which σοφία has conferred on himself. Why should not Jesus of Nazareth close His prayer with a similar address in the name of wisdom to those who are most likely to become her children—those whose ear sorrow hath opened? This view might meet Martineau’s objection to regarding this logion as authentic, that
for yourselves without money. Put your neck under the yoke, and let your soul receive instruction. She is hard at hand to find. Behold with your eyes how thai | laboured but a little, and found for myself much rest.”’
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