The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 289

VBl'B. 1---6, you feel oonBcious of want of (~l"l'u). TJ:ie ~ o e here in the Jaft,).lel wisdom for the true and loving judgment of pas--,e d LGke of lril oommoa wora 6trdp- othel'B without oensorioueness-ask for this x,-.a pnllU to St Matthew's form of specie.I gmoo. With this connexion ver. 12 the 1181ltenoo being the more original. Xnow; intuitively (ol'3e1-re). Notwithstand- follows on naturally ; i.e. the key to the ing, then, the evil bent of fallen human right treatment of others may be found in nature, there is some good still remaining. one's own foolings and wishes ; from the How muoh more shall your Father whioh is perception of what we desire to receive in heaven. "In quo nulla est malitia" from others we me.y learn what others ought (Bengel). Give good things. Observe: (1) to receive from ue. In the parallel passage in Luke, " the Holy Spirit," or, more strictly, an outpouring of Ver. 7.-Ask . .. seek. , . knock. Grada- the Holy Spirit (nv,iiµe1 "A-y,ov). The his- tion in urgency. Further, the three clauBes torian of the early Church not unnaturally think of the Giver, the sphere in which the singles out that gift whioh ultimately pro- gift lies, the obstacles in the we.y of obtain- duces all others; but St. Matthew, keeping ing it. to the general subject of wisdom, etc., in the Ver. 8.-l'or nery one that asketh re- treatment of our brethren, uses a more dis- eeiveth. Every one that asketh of God re- tributive expression which yet includes the eeiveth, for he is not the censorious Jndge particular gift asked for. (2) Is the omission that yon are inclined to be in your dealings of the word "gifts" in this clause to be with others. Therefore ask expectantly. aooounted for by our Lord not wishing to He" giveth to all liberally, and npbraideth suggest that the grace asked for is so given not " ( J a.e. i. 5). as that it can afte1·wards be possessed ape.rt Vers. 9, 10.--0r what man is there of yon, from the Giver? et.o..? Or. Is not what I say true? or-if Ver. 12.-Ver. 12a, parallel p8llllage: yon think not-what man of you yonl'8elves Luke vi. 31 ; 12b, Matthew only. All would act otherwise towards bis own son ? things therefore. Therefore. Summing up Oar Lord appeals to the experience and the lesson of vers. 1-11 (cf. ver. 7, note). natural feelings of his hearers themselves In oonsequence of all that I have said about to emphasize the readiness of the Father- censoriousness and the means of overcoming .. your Father," whose nature yon she.re, it, let the very opposite feeling rule your and from whom yon derive your feelings conduct towards others. Let all (emphatic) of fatherhood (Eph. iii 15)-to grant the your dealings with men be conducted in prayers of his children. Observe: (1) Our the eame spirit in which yon would desire Lord assumes that our natural feelings are them to deal with yon. Even so, Not of the same kind as God's. (2) Our Lord " these things" do ye to them ; for our Lord speaks of God's chiUren asking him for carefully avoids any expression that might gifts (cf. eh. v. 16, note). (3) Our Lord does lead to a Ie.,"'8.l enumeration of different not suggest, " Will he absolutely refuse details, but" thus" (oiJ-r,.,s), referring to the !Jim?" bot "Will he give him something character of r,our own wishes. (For this which is an answer in appearance only "golden rule,' of. Tobit iv. 15 (negative (a stone for bread, a serpent for a fish)?" form); cf. also patristio references in Resch, i.e. our Lord impliClB that God's gifts, like • Agrapha,' pp. 95, 135.) On the occasional an earthly father's to his son, are such as similarity of pre-Christian writings to the really and completely to satisfy the need teaching of our Lord, Augustine (vide which is expressing itself. A blessed en- Trench, 'Serm.,' in loo.) well says it is couragement, for he will thus answer the "the glory of the written and spoken law, underlying desire, though not necessarily that it is the transcript of that which was the verbal expression of the prayer. So from the first, and not merely as old as when Monica prayed that her son might this man or that, but as the Creation itself, not sail to Rome, God did not grant this, a reproduction of that obscured and for- but gave her "the hinge of her desire," for gotten law written at the beginning by the it was Augustine's journey to Italy that finger of God on the hearts of e.ll men. was the means of his conversion (Aug., When, therefore, heathen sages or poets 'Conf.,' v. 15). Bread , .. fish. The most proclaimed any part of this, they ho.d not UBllal food on the Lake of Galilee (cf. eh. thereby anticipated Christ; they bad only xiv. 17; John vi. 9; ef. eh. iv. 3, note). deciphered some fragment of that law, Ver. I L-Parailel passage: Luke xi. 18. which He guve from the first, and which, If ye then being evil. Application of when men, exiles and fugitives from them• the thought of vers. 9, 10, with further selves and from the knowledge of their emphasis on the evil of human nature. If own bee.rte, had lost the power of reading, yon with your more.I worthlessness (eh. vi. He came in the fiesh to read to them anew, 18, note), ate. (of. a.llo eh. xii 84). Being and to bring out the well-nigh obliterated mr. vu.1-29.] THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO BT. MATTHEW. 283