The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 246

So even the Rcviaed Version; but th<i Re- manufacture it when produce.-!. "Illud vised Version me.rgin "a~e," and so most virorum est, qui e.grum colunt; hoo mulie- modern oommentators (cf. the rendering rum domieedo.rum" (Wetstein). preferred by the American Committee, "the Ver. 29.-Luko xii. 27b almost verbally. measure of his life"). "Age" (1) is so much Even Solomon . . . we.s not. The Greek nearer the immcdi1tte subject, preservation lays still more stress: "not even Solomon." of life, (2) is so mucll more frequent an Arrayed. The idea of splendour, which in object of anxious care, (3) gives so much modern usage is often attnohed to "e.rre.y," more ~uitable a meaning to "cubit," a most is wanting in ,up«/JJJ..<To. The simple ren- trifling addition (Luke xii. 26), that it is, dering in Wickliffe," was oovered" (Vulgate, without any doubt, the true meaning of COOpet"tus e.,t), is Iese misleading. And so in 71 J..,..-la (cf. John ix. 21-23; Heb. xi. 11; ver. 81. Perhaps (tJidB Carr) the middle of. Ps. xxxix. 5). voioe has its full reflexive meaning: Solomon Ver. 28.-Parallel passage: Luke xii. 26, with all !,is efforts failed. Like one of these, 27. Luke's is.longer and seemingly more Even one, much Iese like all taken together. original. But in the absence of exteme.l "Horum, demonstmtivnm" (Bengel). evidence, it must always be e. matter of Ver. 30.-Luke xii. 28 with slight differ- opinion whether Matthew has oompressed ences. Luke's rather harder phraseology is the longer form of the words, or "ice 1'ersa. in favour of it being the more original form. And why take ye thought for raiment 1 In Wherefore; but (Revised Version). The vers. 25-27 our Lord had spoken of food ; Authorized Version is too strong for the in vers. 28-30 he speaks of dress. He simple a,. If God so clothe.. T.he insertion insists on the needlessness (ver. 28) e.nd on by the Revised Version of " doth " brings the -comparati~e nselessness (ver. 29) of out the thought of the indicative mood and anxiety about it, since even the king who of th·e ever-presence of the action. Observe had the greatest opportunities could not vie with the processes and the agencies in the in clothing with a single lily. Flowers have development of these colours our Lord's this glorious clothing (ver. 30), though they advice has nothing to do; origin, develop- are so perishable: much more shall you be ment, and result e.re 1111 Divine. The gre.sa -clothed. Consider (ver. 26, note). The ( Tbv xdpTov). Possibly literally the grass lilies (ni ,cp/va). Though there are many among w1'ich the lilies grow (Weiss, kinds of lilies in Palestine, and some of 'Me.tthii.us-Ev.'), but probably the herbage brilliant colouring (particularly the purple (Gen. i. 11 ; cf. also probably lea. xl. 6, 7; and white Ho.Ieh lily found round Nazareth), 1 Pet_. i. 24), including that of ~~ich special yet none of them grows in such abundance mention has been made -the hhes. •Of the -as to give the tone to the colouring of the field ( ver. 28, note). Luke's lrl lt.-ypf lays flowers generally. It seems, therefore, pro-- even more stress on the pie.ea in which it bable t!,at the word is employed loosely. receives this glory. Which· to-day is; So, perhaps, in the LXX. of Exod. :xxv. 31, rather, though to-da11 it is (a,f,µ,pov llvTa). 33, 34, and other passages, where it repre- And to-morrow is oast ; before our very eyes stn ts the " flowers " (n~) on the candle- (fJaM.oµ,vov ). Into the oven. Not the fixed stick. It appears, too, .that 1r·1r1 (" lily," but the portable oven ( ,lr ,cJl.(fJavov), " a .Authorized Version in Canticles) is also large jar made of clay, about three feet high, used by the .Arabs of any bright flower. If and widening towards the bottom . . . & single species is to be thought of, Canon heated with dry twigs e.nd grass" (Smith'• Tristram would prefer the .Anemone coronaria. • Diet.') ; cf. also Carr for e. desoripLion of of onr gardens, which is "the most gor- the Indian method of. making chupatties. geously painted, the moat conspicuous in Shall he not much more clothe you, 0 ye of spring, and the most universe.Uy spread of little faith t 'OJ1.1oyd,r1dT01, except in the all the floral treasures of the Holy Land" parallel passage of Luke, comes in Matthew (' Natural History of the Bible,' p. 464, alone in the New Testament (eh. viii. 26; edit. 1877). Of the field. Matthew only xiv. -31 ; xvi. 8), in each coso referring to in this plirase (but cf. ver. 30, note). Its want of faith nuder the pressure of earthly· insertion emphasizes the spontaneity of trials. It is the New Teste.ment expression origin, the absence of cultivation, the of Prov. xxiv. 10. " waste " as not ~own for the comfort or Ver. 81.-Luke xii. 29 hes the difficult pleasure of man. How they graw. Professor phrase, "Neither be ye of doubtful mind." Drummond's beautiful remarks upon this Therefore take no thought (µ:t, oliv µ,p,- verse (' Natural Law,' etc.) do not belong to µtrfia11.,•). The shade· of ·difference here exegesis, but to homily, for the stress of our and ver. 84 from ver. 25 cannot be expressed Lord's words lies on" grow," not on "how; n in an English translation. In ver. 25 o. state he is thinking or the fact, not the manner or of anxiety, here and ver. Si one anxioua their growth. They ton not; to produce thought, is forbidden. the raw material. Neither do the7 spin; to Ver. 82.-Parallel passage_: Luke di. 80 OH. vi.1--34.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. MATTHEW. 230