g-18
587
14. Ἴκουον δὲ ταῦτα πάντα καὶ] οἱ Φαρισαῖοι φιλάργυροι ὑπάρ-
οντες, καὶ ἐξεμυκτήριζον αὐτόν. x μυκτήρ
15. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, “ Ὑμεῖις
ἐστε οἱ δικαιοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὃ δὲ Θεὺς γινώσκει τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν: ὅτι τὸ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὑψηλὸν βδέλυγµα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν2: 16. ‘O νόμος καὶ ot προφῆται ἕως 5
Ἰωάννου: ἀπὸ τότε ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐαγγελίζεται, καὶ πᾶς
eis αὐτὴν βιάζεται.
Av παρελθεῖν, ἢ τοῦ νόµου µίαν κεραίαν πεσεῖν. γη > η
17. Εὐκοπώτερον δέ ἐστι τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν
18 Mas 6
, ‘ ον > a Ν ~ e- £ , ‘ a 4 ἀπολύων τὴν γυναικα αὐτοῦ καὶ Ὑαμῶν ἑτέραν PoLXEVEL* και πας
1 Omit και ΝΔΒΡΙ.Ε 157.
2 Omit εστιν ΦΑΡΒΡΙ, al.
3 For ews (in D al.) SBLRX 1, 13, 69 al. have μεχρι (Tisch., W.H.),
4 Omit was here BDL 67, 69 al, verss.
be honest or not in that sphere. It is very necessary to be faithful even there. For faithful in little faithful in much, un- faithful in little unfaithful in mucn. He who is untrustworthy in connection with worldly goods is unworthy of being en- trusted with the true riches; the unjust administrator of another’s property will not deserve confidence as an adminis- trator even of his own. In the parable the steward tried to serve two masters, his lord and his lord’s creditors, and by so doing promoted his own interest. But the thing cannot be done, as even his case shows.” This corrective, if not spoken by Jesus, is not contrary to His teaching. (Ver. 10 echoes Mt. xxv. 21, Lk, xix. 17; ver. 13 reproduces verbally the Jogior in Mt. vi. 24.) Yet as it stands here it waters down the parable, and weakens the point of its teaching. Note the epithets applied to money: the little or least, the umjust, and, by impli- cation, the fleeting, that which belongs to another (τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ). Spiritual riches are the ‘‘ much,” the “‘ true ” 76 ἀληθινὸν, in the Johannine sense = the ideal as opposed to the vulgar shadowy reality, “ our own” (ἡμέτερον).
Vv. 14-18 form a ‘‘ somewhat: heavily built bridge”? (H. C.) between the two parables, which set forth the right and the wrong ‘use of riches.—Ver. 14. Φιλάργυροι;: an interesting and very credible bit of information concerning the Pharisees (2 Tim. iii. 2).---ἐξεμυκτ- ήριζον (ἐκ and µύκτηρ, the nose), turned up the nose at, in contempt, again in xxiii, 35.—Ver. 15. ἐνώπιον T ἄ.: cf. the statements in Sermon on Mount (Mt. vi.) and in Mt. xxiii. 5.--ὅτι, εἴο.: a strong statement, but broadly true; con- ventional moral judgments are very often
the reverse of the real truth: the con- ventionally high, estimable, really the low; the conventionally base the truly noble.—Ver. 16 = Mt. xi. 12 and 13, in- verted, introduced here in view of ver. 31.—Ver. 17 = Mt. ν. 18, substantially. Ver. 18 = Mt. v. 32. Its bearing here is very obscure, and its introduction in a connection to which it does not seem to belong is chiefly interesting as vouching for the genuineness of the logion. J. Weiss suggests that its relevancy and point would have been more apparent had it come in after ver. 13. On the critical question raised by this verse, vide J. Weiss in Meyer.
Vv. 19-31. Parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This story is hardly a parable in the sense of illustrating by an incident from natural life a truth in the spiritual sphere. Both story and moral belong to the same sphere. What is the moral? If Jesus spoke, or the evangelist reported, this story as the complement of the parable of the unfaithful steward, then for Speaker or reporter the moral is: see what comes of neglecting to make friends of the poor by a beneficent use of wealth. Looking to the end of this second ‘“‘ parable,” νετ. 31, and connecting that with ver. 17, we get as the lesson: the law and the prophets a sufficient guide to a godly life. Taking the first part of the story as the main thing (vv. 19-26), and connecting it with the reflection in ver. 15 about that which is lofty among men, the resulting aim will be to exemplify by an impressive imaginary example the reversal of positions in this and the next world: the happy here the damned there, and vice versd. In that case the parable simply pictorially sets forth the fact of reversal, not its ground. if with