The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 86

passages. The duty of slaves of the lowest that was an instrument of destruction nlone. rank. The diste.nce of superiority here And he will throughly purge; cleame (Re- attributed by John to "him that cometh vised Version); permundo (Vulgate); St«Ka• after me," must be reckoned even greater 9ap,ii, the preposition is intensive, not local. than it usually is; for most of the slaves then His. Observe the threefold ab-roG, referring held by Jewish masters would not be Jews, to hand,lloor, corn-personal agency, sphere, but Gentiles. The thought is, "I e.m further ownership. In the Vatican an<l some other removed from my successor than the meanest manuscripts it is found also after " garner; " Gentile slave is from his Jewish master." but this is, perhaps, introduced from the Some he.ve seen in this expression a refer- parallel in Luke. Floor; thre8hin'J•ffolYI" (Re- ence to the practice of disciples carrying the vised Version). Not the barn that English- shoes of their tee.chers (Edershei.m, 'Lire,' i. men think of, but an open and level 8pace 272), but this can hardly have been general so (for the figure, cf. especially MiCf'.h iv. 12). ee.rly. He. The emphasis is made the more Here the threshing-floor is equivalent to the evident by the e.bsence of any connecting scene of the Lord's operations, i.e. the world, 01 particle. Shall baptize you. "The trans- rather the universe (cf. Ephraem (? Tatian) ference of the image of baptism to the im- in Resch, 'Agrapha,' p. 295). The prescn partment of the Holy Spirit was prepared mixture of good o.nd evil shall be brought to by such passages as Joel ii. 28 (Acts ii. 17)" an end. And gather together, from ditierent (Bishop Westcott, on John i. 33); comp. parts of the threshing-floor, or from intimate also Ezek. xxxvi. 25--27, where the symbol e.ssocio.tion with the chaff, into one heap. of cleansing by we.ter and the gift of the All true believers shall finally be brought Holy Spirit are closely connected. With to perfect unity (cf. eh. xiii. 30). His wheat. the Holy Ghost, a.nd with fire (,v nve6µaT& The term is adopted by Ignatius (' Rom.,' 'A-y(rp ,cal 'lrvp{). To the visible John contrasts § 4): "I am the wheat of God, and I am the invisible, to the symbol of we.ter tbe ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that : reality of the Spirit; adding (here and in the may be found pure bread [of Christ]." Into parallel passage in Luke) to this, which forms the garner. The final home of the saints, the main point of the contrast (cf. Mo.rk i. 8; hidden away and safe from all marauders. John i. 33), the thought of Mai. iii. 2, puri- Garners in the East are generally sub- fication as by fire ; and, by not placing it terranean vaults or caves (but cf. Luke under the government of another preposi- x.ii. 18). But will burn np. Utterly con- tion (which would have necessitated the suming it (contrast Exod. iii. 2), as the tares conception of it as a distinct element) im- ( eh. xiii. 30, 40) o.nd the books of magic plying that it is on~y another ~pect of one (Acts xix. 19). The chaff. For, o.s Jeremiah o.nd the so.me baptism. It has been ques- so.ye (xxiii. 28) when comparing a mere dream tioned, indeed, whether " fire " here refers with e. message from the Lord," What is the to the purification of the godly who truly chaff to the whe1<t?" '£he To.rgnm ern11 o.ccept the baptism of the Spirit, or to the interprets Jeremie.h's words of the wicked destruction of the wicked, o.s in vers. 10, 12. and the righteous. The chaff in Jeremiah in- llut the thought is oue. The Divine pre- cludes the straw, for in the Eo.st everything sence will in fact, e.s is recognized by Isaiah except the actual groin is generally burnt, (xxxiii. 14; xxxi. 9), be twofolci in its work- and is sometimes used for heating fire- ing, according as it is yielded to or the places (Mishna,' Sabb.,' iii. 1 ; 'Paruh,' iv. 3). reverse. It burns away sin out of the With unquenchable fire. "Unquenchable" godly, and it consumes the ungodly if they shows that John is here thinking not of the cleo. ve to their sin. figure of cha.If but of the persons figure,! by Ver. 12.-Whose fan. The pronged win- it. But what does the word mean? In itself nowing-fork (see Po.I. Expl. Fund Ste.tem; it might mean that the fire co.nnot be overcome Ap. 1891) which throws up the grain by the grno.tness or the no.lure of the mass o.gainst the wind. The Coming One is to that it has to consume; i.e., to drop the figuro, put o.n end to the present mixture of chuff by either the number or tho cha.meter of v.nd oorn. lie will thoroughly purge the the wicked. llut from its usage it seems threshing-floor of this w01·ld, gathering the rather to be eq uivo.lent to not being over- good into one sl\fe place, and destroying come by the lapse of time. It is used, e.g., ot the evil. The figure of winnowing comes the perpetual fire of Vosta, of the fire of the not unseldom in the Old Testament (e.g. 111agi, of the fire upon the Jewish o.lte.r (11ide Jer. xv. 7; li. 2), but generally with the sole references in Thayer). The whole exprcssiou idea of destruction of the ungodly, not with in itself so.ye nothing about the everlasting tho.t of separating so o.s to also preserve the duration of the punishment; i.e. it doeij not godly (yet cf. Pa. cxxxix. a, margin ; Amos decide for "everlasting punishment" or for ix. 9). Is in his hand. The figure is stronger "annihilation," but seems rot her to exclu,1€ tho.n thnt in ver. 10, where the instrument the possibility of ameliomtion under it (c.t: wus only lying reo.dy to be to.ken up. But Is11. i. SI).  74 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. MATTHEW. [oH. m. 1-17.