28—37.
αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ θυρωρῷ ἐνετείλατο ἵνα
433
γρηγορῇ. 35. γρηγορεῖτε
οὖν: οὐκ οἴδατε γὰρ πότε ὁ κύριος τῆς οἰκίας ἔρχεται, ὀψέ, ἢ µεσονυκτίου,] ἢ ἀλεκτοροφωνίας, ἢ πρωῖ: 36. μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐξαίφνης
εὕρῃ ὑμᾶς καθεύδοντας. ρεῖτε.
37. ἃ 3 δὲ ὑμῖν λέγω, πᾶσι λέγω, Γρηγο-
i µεσονυκτιον in ΝΡΟΙΔ. T.R. (-ον) conforms to the following genitive
29 in ΝΒΟΙΙΔ.
specify the circumstances under which the command to the porter, the main point, was given; it was when the master was leaving, and when he gave to all his servants his parting instructions. --τὴν ἐξουσίαν, his (the master’s) authority, distributed among the servants when he could no longer exercise it him- βε]{.---τὸ ἔργον a., to each one his work, in apposition with ἐξουσίαν. In the master’s absence each man became his own master; put upon his honour, the seat of the ἐξουσία, and prescribing care- ful performance of the ἔργον entrusted to each.—xat τ. θυρωρῷ, also, among the rest, and very specially, to the porter (he gave instructions). The καὶ here is em- phatic, as if it had been καὶ δὴ καὶ.- ἵνα yenyopy, that he should watch: note that in this parable the function of watching becomes the business of one— the porter. Each servant has his appro- priate task; the porter’s is to watch. Yet in the moral sphere watching is the common duty of all, the temper in which all are to discharge their functions. All have to be porters, waiting at the gate, ready to open it to the returning master. Hence the closing exhortation in ver. 37. What I say to you, the four disciples (ver. 3), I say to all: watch. This had to be added, because it was not said or suggested by the parable; a defect which makes it doubtful whether we have here a logion of Jesus in authentic form, and which may account for its omission by Lk.—Ver. 35. ὀψὲ 4, etc. : the night divided, Roman fashion, into four watches: 6-9, 90-12, 12-3, 3-6. Before the exile the Jews divided the night into three Ρατί5.- -μεσονύκτιον: vide at Lk. xi. 5 on this word, found also in Acts xvi, 25, xx. 7.--ἀλεκτοροφωνία is a ἅπαξ ey. in Ν. T.—Ver. 36. ἐξαίφνης, suddenly, here in Lk. ii. 13, and four times in Αοΐς.- -καθεύδοντας : this applies to all the servants, not merely to the porter ; therefore all must watch as well as work. In the case ofa master absent on a journey, the servants
cannot know even the day, not to speak of the hour or watch of the night, as they could in the cases supposed in Lk. xii. 36, Mt. xxv. 1. Therefore they must keep awake not merely one night, but many nights, an incongruity which again suggests that we have not here an original utterance of Jesus, but a com- posite logion with elements borrowed from several parables.
CHAPTER XIV. THE PassIoN History.—Vv. 1-2. Introduction (Mt. xxvi. 1-5, Lk. xxii. 1-2).—Ver. 1. ἣν δὲ τὸ π.;: the first hint that the visit of Jesus to Jerusalem took place at passover season. πάσχα καὶ τὰ ἄζυμα: full name of the feast, which consisted of the passover proper beginning on the 14th Nisan, and the seven days of unleavened bread. Mt. and Lk. give each only one of the designations; Mt. the former, Lk. the latter. Mk.’s dual designation a manifest combination of Mt. and Lk., say the followers of Griesbach.—pera δύο ἡμέρας, indicates the point of time at which the Sanhedrists began seriously to consider how they could safely get rid of Jesus. Mt. turns this into an announce- ment by Jesus. Lk. generalises the precise note of time into a statement that the feast was approaching (ἤγγιζεν).
—év δόλῳ, in or with craft. ἐν = Ὢ in
Heb. Mt. has simply δόλῳ, the dative instr.—Ver. 2. ἔλεγον γάρ is a more difficult reading than ἔλ. δὲ of Mt., hence the correction in T.R. The yap presupposes that the murder of Jesus during the feast was from the first regarded as out of the question, and the clause following partly makes that fact explicit, partly assigns a reason for it. They wanted to compass His death, but they were in a difficulty, for they felt and said to one another: it may not be on the feast, lest there be a popular dis- ἑατραποε.---μήποτε ἔσται: the fut. ind. instead of the more usual subjunctive after µήποτε (cf. Col. ii. 8, Heb. iii. 12), implying the almost certain occurrence