Vv. 37-41. Death and its accompani- ments (Mt. xxvii. 50-56, Lk. xxiii. 46-49).—
33—42.
451
39. ἸΙδὼν δὲ ὁ κεντυρίων ὁ παρεστηκὼς ἐξ ἐναντίας αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οὕτω κράξας Ἰ ἐξέπνευσεν, εἶπεν, ''᾽Αληθῶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος Σ υἱὸς ἦν
22
Θεοῦ.
40. Ἠσαν δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες ἀπὸ µακρόθεν θεωροῦσαι, ἐν
ais ἦν ὃ καὶ Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή, καὶ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ * Ιακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ καὶ ᾿Ιωσῆ ὅ µήτηρ, καὶ Σαλώμη, 41. at καί, ὅτε ἦν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαία, ἠκολούθουν αὐτῷ, καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἄλλαι πολλαὶ
αἱ συναναβᾶσαι αὐτῷ eis Ἱεροσόλυμα.
42. Καὶ ἤδη ὀψίας γενομένης, ἐπεὶ ἦν παρασκευή, 5 ἐστι προσάβ-
1 NBL cop. omit κραξας, found in ΑΟΔΣ al. * The order of the words varies: οντος ο ανθ. in $$BDLA 33 (Tisch., W.H.); νιος ην θ. in AC al. (Tisch.) ; νιος 0. ην in BLA (W.H.).
3 yv (from Mt.) omitted in BL. 4 SSBCAZ omit τον.
δ]ωσητος in BDLA.
® SSB 33 omit kat; ACLA omit at. Perhaps both omissions are due to similar
ending.
Ver. 37. Φωνὴν μεγάλην: asecond great -voice uttered by Jesus (vide ver. 34), the fact indicated in Mt. by the word πάλιν. At this point would come in John’s τετέλεσται (xix, 30). — ἐξέπνευσεν, -breathed out His life, expired; aorist, the main fact, to which the incident of the drink (ἐπότιζεν, imperfect) is subor- dinate ; used absolutely, here (and in Lk. xxiii, 46), as often in the classics. Bengel remarks: ‘‘spirare conducit corpori, ex- Spirare spiritui”.—Ver. 38. The fact of the rending of the veil stated as in Mt., with omission of Mt.’s favourite ἰδοὺ, and ‘the introduction of another of Mk.’s characteristic pleonasms, am’ ἄνωθεν.--- Ver. 39. µκεντυρίων, a Latinism = centurio, for which Mt. and Lk. give the Greek ἑκατόνταρχος.- ἐξ ἐναντίας (χώρας), right opposite Jesus, so that he could hear and see all distinctly. The thing that chiefly impressed him, accord- ing to Mk., was the manner of His death. —ovtws ἐξέπνευσεν = with a loud voice, as if life were still strong, and so much sooner than usual, as of one who, needing no Elijah to aid Him, could at will set Himself free from misery. This was a natural impression on the centurion’s part, and patristic interpreters endorse jit as true and important. Victor Ant. says that the loud voice showed that Jesus died κατ᾽ ἐξουσίαν, and Theophy- lact applies to the ἐξέπνευσεν the epithet Φδεσποτικῶς. But it may be questioned whether this view is in accord either with fact or with sound theology. What of the φέρουσι in ver. 22? And is there not something docetic ἵπ self-rescue
from the pangs of the cross, instead of leaving the tragic experience to run its natural course? Mt.’s explanation of the wonder of the centurion, by the ex- ternal events—earthquake, etc.—is, by comparison, secondary. Schanz char- acterises Mk.’s account as ‘“schéner psychologisch” (psychologically finer). —Ver. 40. On the faithful women who looked on from afar, vide on Mt. Mk. singles out for special men- tion the same three as Mt.: Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children. Mk. distinguishes James, the brother of Joses, as τοῦ μικροῦ = either the little in stature (Meyer and Weiss), or the less in age, the younger (Schanz). Mk. refers to the mother of Zebedee’s children by her own name, Salome. Neither evangelist mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus.—Ver. 41. This in- teresting reference to service rendered to Jesus in Galilee, given here by Mk. only, applies to the three named, hence the honourable mention of them. Mt. sub- stitutes service on the way from Galilee to Jerusalem rendered by all—evidently a secondary account.—dAAat πολλαὶ, others, many; also worthy of honour, but of an inferior order compared with the three. They made the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem with Jesus.
Vv. 42-47. Burial (Mt. xxvii. 57-66, Lk. xxiii. 50-56).— Ver. 42. ἤδη: omitted by Mt., but important, as indicating that the business Joseph had on hand—that of obtaining and using permission to take down and bury the body of Jesus—must