238
ἔρχεται.
, < » 8. Et δὲ ἡ χείρ σου ἢ 6 πούς σου σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔκκοψον
αὐτὰ ] καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ cod: καλόν σοι ἐστὶν εἰσελθεῖν eis τὴν ζωὴν χωλὸν ἢ κυλλόν,” ἢ δύο χεῖρας ἢ δύο πόδας ἔχοντα βληθῆναι eis τὸ
a κ μή μα πυρ TO αιωνιογ.
9. καὶ εἰ 6
ὀφθαλμός σου σκανδαλίζει σε, ἔξελε
ihereandin αὐτὸν καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ: καλόν σοι ἐστὶ ' μονόφθαλμον cis τὴν ζωὴν
Mk. ix. 47. j Mk. v. 5. Lk. xxiv. 5 53. Actsii. πυρος. 25. Rom xi. 1Ο al.
1 αυτον in NBDL2.
εἰσελθεῖν, ἢ δύο ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντα βληθῆναι eis τὴν γέενναν τοῦ 10. Ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων" ᾿λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ; διὰ / παντὸς
αυτα a grammatical correction.
2 κνλλον η χωλον in NB (Tisch., W.H.).
more general sense of humanity con- ceived of as grievously afflicted with “scandals ” without reference to who is to blame. They area great fact in the history of mankind, by whomsoever caused.—amo τ. σ.: by reason of; points to the ultimate source of the misery.— τῶν σκανδάλων : the scandals ; a general category, and a black οπε.---ἀνάγκη γάρ: they are inevitable ; a fatality as well as a fact, on the wide scale of the world; they cannot be prevented, only deplored. No shallow optimism in Christ’s view of life.—wAhv: adversative here, setting the woe that overtakes the cause of offences, over against that of those who suffer from them. Weiss contends that it is not adversative here any more than in xi. 24, but simply conducts from the general culpability of the world to the guilt of every one who is a cause of scandal, even when he does not belong to the world.
Vv. 8, ο. These verses are one of Mt.’s dualities, being found with some variations in the Sermon on the Mount (vv. 29-30). Repetition perhaps due to use of two sources, but in sympathy with the connection of thought in both places. Since the offender is the greater loser in the end, it is worth his while to take precautions against being an offender.—Ver. 8. yelp, πούς: men- tioned together as instruments of νιο]εηος.-- καλόν ... 4: the positive for the comparative, or ἢ used in sense of magis quam. Raphel and Kypke cite instances of this use from classics. It may be an imitation of Hebrew usage, in which the comparative is expressed by the positive, followed by the preposi- tion min. ‘A rare classical usage tends to become frequent in Hellenistic Greek if it be found to correspond to a common Hebrew idiom ” (Carr, in Camb. N. T.). —xvA\bv: with reference to hand, muti-
lated; wanting one or both hands.— χωλόν: in a similar condition regarding the feet (cf. xi. 5; xv. 30).—Ver. ο. ὀφθαλμός, the eye, referred to as the means of expressing contempt ; in chap. v. 29 as inciting to /ust.—povédOadpov, properly should mean having only one eye by nature, but here = wanting an eye, for which the more exact term is ἑτερόφθαλμος, vide Lobeck, Phryn., p. 136.
Vv. 10-14. Still the subject is the child as the ideal representative of the insignificant, apt to be despised by the ambitious. From this point onwards Mt. goes pretty much his own way, giving logia of Jesus in general sympathy with the preceding discourse, serving the puspose of moral discipline for disciples aspiring to places of distinction.—Ver. 1Ο. ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφ. : μὴ with the subj. in an object clause after a verb meaning to take heed; common N. T. usage; vide Matt. xxiv. 4; Acts xiii. 40, etc.—évds, one, again.—éyw γὰρ:
something solemn to Ῥε said.—oi ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν, etc. In general abstract language, the truth Jesus solemnly
declares is that God, His Father, takes a special interest in the little ones in all senses of the word. This truth is ex- pressed in terms of the current Jewish belief in guardian angels. In the later books of O. T. (Daniel), there are guar- dian angels of nations ; the extension of the privilege to individuals was a further development. Christ’s words are not to be taken as a dogmatic endorsement of this post-exilian belief exemplified in the story of Tobit (chap. v.). The same remark applies to the passages in which the law is spoken of as given through angelic mediation (Acts vii. 53; Gal. iii. 19; Heb. ii.2). The λέγω yap does not mean ‘this belief is true,” but ‘‘ the idea it embodies, God’s special care for