The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 165

tha~ a mere asseveration ("verily"). The yod (y, j), though the smallest letter of the earliest trace of this usngc is found in Jer. Hebrew e.lphabet, is not infrequently referred t.xviii. 6, where the LXX. renders JDtt by to by Jewish writers(cf.e.g.inLightfoot,•Hor .u..,e,;;, (Aquila much better .,.,u-.,.0,91/.,.0,, Hehr.;' Edcrsheim, 'Life,' i. 637). Observe thon~h. generally elsewhere 'lrerr,u-To,µl,,.,,), (1) Tllo mention of yod, evi<lently because and 1t 1s frequent in the New Testament cf. of its small size, is one proof of the fact the.f especially Luke ix. 27, ll.~ 8~ {)µiv ;,.,....,e.,,, the Hebrew charnoters in use in our Lord'■ with pare.Hele, l,.µ'tw ll.,-yr,, {)µiv (cf. e.lso Luke time were much more similar to the usual xii. 44 with Matt. x:r:iv. 47, and Luke xxi. 8 form under which we know them (Quadrat• with Mark xii. 48). Yet this usage of !chnft) than to the form found on the Moab- "Amen" in Hellenistic Greek does not 1te Stone (Phamicie.n), where the yod is no seem to have ever spread into Hebrew or smaller than other letters (11ide Enting's Ammaio. W. H. Lowe (' Fragm. Pesach.,' very complete table of forms of the Hebrew p. 70) says., and apparently truly," The Jews alphabet in Chwolson, 'Corp. Inscript.Hebr.,' never used 'am.en in the sense of • verily.' 1882; flide pp. 404-415 of the same work The~ say _nDtt:l, b~'lmeth', 'in truth,' ttnm:)•;,, for Chwolaon'a much-controverted theory of hll'manu.tlui, • Fe.1th I ' or OJDtt 'omniim the gradual devolopment of the Qu.adrat- '. verl:1y.'" If so, the faot is int.eresting, for it schrift, roughly from the time of Ezra till the unplies that, notwithstanding the ll88.ge of eighth or ninth century A,D., out of old Ara- '.' Amen" in_ Greek, our Lord himself, as speak- maic forms slightly removed from Phcenician • mg Amm&o, probably did not use it in the and for the early history of the Hebre~ mere sense of strong aesev.eration, but rather alphabet generally, see the introduction to always with its connotation of his entire ~river's' Samuel.' (2) We may, perhaps, see oonenrrence in the statement he was making. m our Lord's reference to yod and a "tittle" In his mouth, that is to say, it always em- e.n indication that even already scrupulous phasized the thought of his personal e.ccept- ce!8 wos, taken of the text. The objection to e.nce of the statement with its legitimate ~his, derived from the non-literal quotations issue. Observe that it makes no difference m the New Testament. is due to a misunder- (cf. Jer. xxviii. 6) whether the "Amen" standing of J ewiah methods of quotation. comes at the beginning or at the end of his Or one tittle, So Wickliffe and Tyndale utterance. N. B.-Nai (Luke xi 51 ; cf. downwards; "apparently a diminutive of eh. xxiii. 36) may be ta.ken as intermediate tit, small" (Aid. Wright, 'Bible Word- between (J.}l..,e;;,, and l,.µ,tv. 'AA.,0ws states Book '); 1<•pa.ltt (1«pla., Westcott and Hort, TJide Appendix, p. 151), probably" a horn," ~troth; vttl assents with the intellect; tiµ,tv, then anything projecting like a horn. Used m at least Hebrew and Aramaic ll88.ge by the early Greek grammarians, like apez accepts it with all its consequences ( cf. 2 by the Le.tin, to designate: (I) A little Cor. L 19, 20). Till heaven and earth projection in a letter, eBpecially the top p11.111; Revised Version, pass away (7raplll.Bp); the a.pox; Nice.nder, "the top and botton: and so in the next clause. The same are each called 1<•pttltt" (1«paltt 71.f')'ETa., .,.b almost archaic sense of " pass " occurs in /l.,cpov ,ea.I frxa.Tov; gloss, ,c,paltt, ')'pdµµ.a.Tos Pa. cxlviiL 6, Authorized Version (Revised Version, "pa.as away"). Observe that our /l.,cpov); cf. Plute.rch, "disputing about syl- Lord does not S&Y that the Law will then lables and 1<•pa.,o)v (ll.o-yoµttx••" 7repl u-ul\.l\.a.f',wv pass away. He eays, not till then; i.e. ,ca.1 ,c,pa.,wv);" tlide Wetstein. (2) Accents. he affirms, as in Luke xvi 17, that it is So Thayer's Grimm; of, Sophocles' ' Lex.' easier for heaven and earth to pass away (1870), s.11. ,c,pa.la., "Apex,amarkovere.letter than for the Le.w. For, in fact, aa being con- aa in ii (Philon., ii. 536. 27); " but Philo i~ stantly fulfilled in its ideal and therefore this passage only refers to ,cepa(a.,, l1<d.trTT/J1 permanent character, it must necessarily re- without defining it. This double use of the main in the new world ; cf. 1 Pet. L 25 (the Greek word forbids absolute certainty as to everlasting duration of the word of the what our Lord was referring to, especiiilly Lord); 1 Cor. xiii. 18 (love); 2 Pet. iii. 18 aa the Hebrew word (y,p, literally, "thorn") (rigilteousness); cf. Meyer. The belief in the of which ,c,pa.la. is a translation has itself permanence of the Law which the Jews had a double sense, viz.: (1) The end of a letter (flide references in Meyer, and especially especially the "thorn-like" small upward Weber, • Altsynag. Theol.,' §§ 5, 64) here stroke of yod. So most interpreters since finds its true satisfaction. "The least element Origen (in Wetstein), who says that the He- of holiness wilich tlle Law contains has more brew letters caph (:i) and beth (::1) differ only reality and durability than the whole visible by a short ,cepala.. They also quote the well- universe" (G'Jdet on Luke). Comp·. also known Jewish examples (e.g. in Welatein) Mark xiii. 81, "My words Ebe.11 not pass of the effect of negligence in writing similar awe.y"-a claim only seen in its full force letters; e-p, if one writes resh (i) for daleth when. put beside these words about the Law. (i), "one' (Deut. vi. 4) becomes" another·" One ~ot. The permanence of even every if l}eth (n) for he (n), "praise" (Ps. cl.) ~ l!Jf. v. 1-48.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 157