The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 293

!!in generally (rl,v Aµap.-(av). but of lawle88- apart from practice, there is (ver. 28) no ness (.-~v avoµlav). He has thl'\\Pghout heart-union with Christ. been insisting upon obedienoe to tlib Law in its final meaning e.s essentially neoelll!Bry Ver. 2i.-Therefore whosoever heareth; for his followers (most recently ver. 12). Revised Version, every one tlierefore iohioh So that instead of saying, "ye that work heareth (,ras oOv 811.-,s u,cov«, eh. x. 82). ein," be uses the correlative (1 John iii. 4), The relative used lays stress on the quu.lity for sin is neglect of or opposition t.o the implied in the verb: every one who is of perfect Law of God in the three spheres that the kind iho.t hears (contrast ver. 26), this regards-self, the world, God (of. Bishop These sayings (Revised Version, words) of We$tcott, on I John iii. 4). It is, perhaps, mine, and doeth them. Not the individual more than a coincidence that in 2 Tim. ii, utterances <f-fiµa.-a., John vi. 63), nor the 19 we have again the collocation of the snbste.noe o my message considered e.s 11, Lord knowing and of man's departing, i.e. whole (A&-yov, oh. xiii. [l!l] 20), but the sub- either from him or from sin (of. especially stance of its parts, the vu.rious truths that I the parallel Luke xiii. 27); "«k Resch, u.nnonnce (Ad-yous). I will liken him; Re- 'Agrapha.,' p. 207. vised Version, shall be likened, with the manuscripts. Not shall, in fact, be made Vere. 24-27.-Para.llel passage: Luke vi. like, eh. vi. 8 (Weiss), but shu.11 be likened 47-49 (cf. also Ezek. xiii. 10-16). A in figure and parable. lJnto 11, wiae mu.n. solemn close to the sermon. By the simili- Prudent, sensible ( <1>p&v,µ.os). Which built tude of two builders our Lord warns his fol- his house npon a rook ; Revised Version, th6 lowers that to have heard his words will rock. Which in not a few cases may be found at no greo.t distance from the surface. have been useless n.nless they put them into Ver. 25.-And the rain descended, u.nd the practice. floods came, and the winds blew, and beat Observe that although the word "hear" upon that house ; and it fell not: for it was in these verses cannot indicate that full founded upon a (Revised Version, the) rock, "hearing " which it sometimes connotes The stages of the tempest are expressed more vividly than in St. Luke. (eh. x. 14), yet it seems to mean more Vere. 26, 27.-And every one that heareth than merely listening, e.nd to imply both a these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, grasp of what is intended by the state- shall be likened unto a foolish man, whioh ments made and at least some acquiescence built his house upon the sand: and the,rain in their truth (Acts ii. 22; Rev. i. 8; John desceuded, and the floods oame, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and v. 24). it fell; and great was the fall of it. In the According to the above explanation, it Plain of Sharon the clay seems to ha.ve been will be seen that in the imagery the rock so inferior that not only were the jars made represents practice; the sand, mere senti- of it often worthless, but the bricks could ment. There is thus e. partial correspondence offer so little resista.nce to the weather that the houses were hardly safe. Hence u. special with the works insisted on by St. James in pru.yer was offered by the high priest on the contrast to a be.re orthodox faith (Jas. ii Day of Atonement that, the Lord would 24). Assent is insufficient; there mWR be grant tha.t their houses might not become action. their tombs (Te.Im. Jer., 'Yoma,' v. 2 Not uncommouly, indeed, the rock is con- [Sch-b, p. 218); cf. Neubauer,' Geograph.,' p. 48). In the parable, however, it is not sidered to refer to the Lord himself, and the the structure, but the foundation, that is sand to huwan effort. Cf. Ford : " The wrong. The sand may refer, as Stanley sug- parallel passage (Luke vi. 48), where the gests (' Sinai and Palestine,' eh. xiii. p. 480), words, ' cometh unto Me,' are inserted, indi- to one locality, in which case it is probably cates clearly the foundation of faith, the " the long sandy strip of land whiob bound1 the eastern plain of Acre, 11,nd through receiving the Lord Jesus as our Prophet, which the Kishon flows into the sea;" or, Priest, and King, which is the only basis on as would seem more probable, to the sand which good works can be built" (cf. even which would naturally be found on the Alford). This, however, is hardly exegesis, edges of such 11, torrent u.s is here described. but application, for the "coming to Ohrist" Beal upon; smote upon (Revised Version), In ver. 25 the thought is more of the swoop is in Luke only introductory to the hearing of the tempest (,rpo1101r<1T«v); here, of its im- o.nd doing, 11,nd is altogether omitted here. pact on the house (rrpo11J1<0,j,av). It is pos- Although the statement is true in itself, it sible that there is here less indication of force iii only so fe.r proper to this peaage in th11,t, necessary for the destruction. "It needed OH, VII. 1-29.] THlll GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 287