The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 168

th11t he wo.e now going baok, beyond thl• ao they were only oral or (er. tho ce.ae ,,r the far mitural nnd norm11l development of the 'Didaohe ') hod already been committ.-d to oo.rllest lnterpretatlona, to the flrat prlnoiplo1 writing (of. in this connexion Bishop West,. oott, ' llebr.,' p. 480). That it wu ■aid by underlying the revolution contained in the them of old time (5-r, ,~~'8-r, To,, ilpxmlo,,). Law. WhJlo tho Jew■, not unnntura.lly, By; Revised Veraion, lo. Similarly ver. ::3. olung to the primary, but tomporary, mt11.n- Although "by" may be delended (er. lng of the Lo.w ae II revelnllon of God's Mad vig, § 89 g), " to " (Wickliffo and Tyn- will for thom o.e a nation, our Lord Wll.8 now dale downwarcla) is certainly right, bccnnse (a) it is the common ueage with n p:i.ssive about to expound its commands as a revoll}- verb; (b) lt is the constant uaage with i#lfh/ 1Ion of God's permanent will for them and In the NewTeatament (~.g. Rom. ix. 12, 26): nil men ae men. Our Lord waa now, that (c) the paralleli.Hm with i-y'-, 31, •. .,..>.,, is more fa to so.y, wishing to do more tha.n merely cut exact; (cl) the popular teaching ol11imed to oft' the oxcresconcos thut, chiefly through the be, evon in it■ strictest eaotorie fonn of oral tradition, derived ultimatoly, not from the Pharisaic party, ho.d grown up round tho words of any h1lllllLn tea.chars, however L11w, but less than root up tho La.w itself. primitive, bnt from the words of God spoken He rnther outs down the whole growth that by him to them. In tho case before us our had been, notwithstanding some mere oxore- Lord accepts the popula, teaching of the sconoes, tho right and proper outcome of the time as truly repreaenling the Divine utter- ance In the giving or the Law, so far aa tliat L11w 1n its original environment, in order uttennce we.a then intendecl to be nncler• tbo.t, in fresh environment, which corre- stooil. Them of old timt1. Thi• can ha.rtlly sponded bettor to ita Illlture, the Law might be limitod to "the original founders of the produce a growth still more right and proper. Jewish Commonwealth," to 'lll!0 Trench'• Vora. 21-26.-The eizth oommandment. curiously unbiblical expreuion (' Syn.,' § Vol's. 21-24 Matthew only; vers. 23, 26 lnii.). It probably includes all who lived a generation or more before our Lord's time have pa.rte common to Luke. (cf. Weiaa). Thou 1halt not 11:ill; allll who- Ver. 21.-Ye have heard (l)1<061T11T•, fre- 1oever llh&ll kill •hall be ID clallger of the quontative aorist). Our Lord does not aay, judgment. Tho substance, BCCOrding to the "ye ha.ve rood" (cf. oh. xxi. 42), for he WIii popular tcaohing, of the 8hth commo.11,\mont not now speaking to tho lee.mod olasaes, but (Exod. xx. 18; Dcut v, 17). 'l'hin tlw current to a large audience many of whom were pro- form of it (hosed partly on Lev. xxiv. 21; bo.bly unable to read. "Ye have heard," i.11, Numb, xxxv.; Deut. xix. 12) we.a thnt from your teaohera whose teaching olaim1 murder was not to be committed, and thnt to be the substance of the Law. Bo, pro- if it WBB committed the murderer wns to be ba.bly, even In John xii. 84, where the brought up for trial. Shall be in d<111!Jer of multitude IIBY thal. thoy '' have heard out of (lv.oxor r.,..,.,11); i.s. in legal dnnger-lcgnlly the Law that the Obrist abideth for ever," guilty of a charge which involves tho judg- which, ainoe this is hardly exprceaed in so ment (of. eh. xxvi. 66). Tll.djudgment; i.e. many word• in the Old Testament, must tho local Sonhcdrin (of. eh. x. 17), of appn- mean that the inetructiona they have re- rently sevon men in a smaller, twenty-three ceived on this subjeot truly represent the ln 11, lnrger, town (cf. Scl,Uror, II, i. pp, anbstnnco of its teaching, Bo here our Lord H!l_-154). This answors to "thu cou;._rre- eals, " You have hoard from your tcachora g1Lt1on ." or " the olden" of the town to (o . Rom. Ii. 18) that the subHtance of the which the murdoror belonged, boforo whom sixth commandment is ao-and-so." It ia he WBB to bo tried (Nu.ml,. xx.xv. 12, 16, 2-l; thua quite Intelligible that in some of these Deut. xix. 12). uttemnces there should be found added to Ver. 22.-But I ■ay 11llto you. "I" em- • (von. 21 1 48) or intermingled with (ver. SS) phatio (as a!t;o in vcra. 28, S2, 84, 89, 44), iu the wor<tH of a pasmge of Soripture, othttr contrast to God, a, God.'• utteranaa 1Dae 1/1,,. words which are llilhlll' taken from_Boripture, oonditioMd; i.e. in contrut to God'd rnioe but from another pl11oee 1n it (porhape ver. to 11,nd through ?rloaea (cf. John i. 17; vii 88), or do not ocour in Boripture at &II, but 28; Heli. x. 2il, 29). Christ olaims for his moroly help to form a oompendious slato- words the Mme authority, and more than lhe ment or a dollnito interpretation (I.lore nnd ume authority, as (or those spoken once by ver. 49). It must remain doubtful whether God. 'fhe oironm1tancea ha.d altered; the our Lord hima&Ir rormula.tod these 1ta.te- mell80ge for Toi'r lapxalou we.a insufflciont menta of the popular t.eacbiug, or quotod now. Obrist bring■ his own Peraonnlity them verbally as ourrent. It the latter, 01 forward. and olaim.a to give o. more porreot la perhaps more likely, there remains the at and fa.r-roaohing alatement or the sixth com- p1'01ent still more insoluble question whethe, mandment thnn tho current form of ila  160 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [on. v. 1-48.