The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 418

Talm. Bab., • Beraoh.,' 22a, "Nahum of market.a of Jerusalem andJaffaa1·e attended Gamzo, whispered it to R. Akibe., an'd R. by many • fowlers,' who offer for sale long Akiba whispered it to Ben Azai, and Ben strings of little birds of various speoiea, Azai went out and taught it to his diseiples chiefly sparrows, wagtails, and larks. These in the street." Compare also the Old Testa- are nlso frequently sold ready pluoked, ment phrase, "uncover the ear" (1 Sam. ix. trussed in rows of about a dozen on slender 15, used of God; xx. 2, 12, 13, used of man). wooden skewers, and are cooked and eaten That preach ye; proclaim (Revised Version); like kabobs" (Tristram, in Smith's 'Diot, •"1lPv~are. Upon the house-tops. Lightfoot of Bible,' iii. 1366, where is added an inte- (' Hor. Hehr.') thinks that this is an allusion resting account of the variolll! methods of to the minister of a synagogue blowing a catchingthem). Afarthing(&.uua.plou). This trumpet on the roof of a high house t.o might either he one of the coins of the Herods announce the sabbath; but that was a mere (ver. 9, note), or, as it seems, a "second signal of a fact (o-<>A,r((..,), not the articulate brass" Antiooheue a, (cf. Madden, 'Coins expression of a communication (1<11p60-,n,1). of the Jews,' p. 301, etc.). And one of them The phrase mueh more probably alludes to shall not fall-and not one of them shall fall the faot that the roofs in Eastern cities are (Revised Version, more idiomatically)-on the common place for conversation, and to the ground. Dead, In the parallel pas- the rapidity with which an announcement sage in Luke, more generally, "Not one of there made spreads throughout the town. them is forgotten in the sight of God," even Ver. 28.-And. Restating ver. 26a from in life. Origen and Chrysostom read, " fall a different point of view. Fear not; be into the snare" (cf. A.mos ill. 5). Without not afraid of (Revised Version); µh cpo/J11· (&veu). Xwplr would deny merely physical e:;,n i,,,-6. So Westcott and Hort, with B connexion (of. John xv. 5), aud the sentence (sic) and two or three other authorities. would then imply that God cawes their The Revised Version (cf. Authorized Ver- death; l!.veu is only negative, and the sen, sion parallel passage, Luke xii. 4) expresses tence implies that their death is not outside ,the greater difference from vers. 26 and of his lmowledge and oare. In Amos ill. 5 28b (cpof?,11611n ,bro with genitive,a Hebraism the thought is that for every event there i11 expressing avoidance, shrinking, cowardly a cause; here that every event is taken notice dread; cpof?,71B71n with accusative, concen• of by God. Sennacherib's boast (Isa. xxxvi. tration of regard) at the expense of the 10) c,,utained a truth other than he intended. lesser ( cpof?,71871-re, general command, or per- Your Father. For this and nothing less is haps "never once fear; " cpof?,e,o-Oe, "ever God's relation to you, There is a Talmudic fear," habit). Them which kill the body. tale told in various forms, of which the So R. Aki.ha refused t.o give up studying earliest seems t.o be that B. Simon ben and teaching the Law when it was forbidden Jocbai, after hiding thirteen ye1us in a cave, on pain of death (Talm. Bab., 'Berach.,' 6Ib ). saw from the entrance of it a fowler snaring But are not able to kill the soul (eh. vi 25, birds, but that these could not be taken if the note). But rather fear. Always (cpo/Je,o-6•). Divine voice (Bath Qol) said, "Released" Fear; yes, but the right object (cpo/Je,o-6• 5~ (dimua, dimissua). "A bird," said the µf.lv..ov, not µf.lv..011 ~. q,of?,e,u6e), and that rabbi, " perishes not without God, much intensely ('r,ide supra). Him which is able less a man," and he returned to the city (-rov 5uvcfµevov). Mere power; but in the (Talm. Jer., • Shebiith,' ix. 1). parallel passage in Luke, authority. The Ver. 30.-But the very hairs of your head. reference is, of course, t.o God (cf. Jae. iv. "Your" emphatic, in contrast to the care 12). To destroy ( ii1roJ1.tuc, ). . The cl.a.ea of bestowed on sparrows. (!!'or the thought, words to which this belongs denotes" utter compare not only the parallel passage, and hopeless ruin ; but they convey no idea Luke xii. 7, but also Luke xxi. J8; Acts whether the ruined object ceases to exist or xxvii. 3i.) Are all numbered. Perhaps continues a worthless existence" (Profe~sor long since (l,p,6µ71µl11a., •lo-Iv). When Job Agcu Beet, in Exfl')sitor, IV. i. 28). Pro- complained the Lord answered him, "Many fessor Marshall, in Expositor, IV. iii. 283, hairs have I made on man, and for every thinks Luke's variant, "to caet," indicates single hair its own pit, that not two hairs that our Lord originally used an Aramaic should draw their sustenance from one pit. , • word that properly meant "t.o set on fire." shall I make no mistake about this, and yet Both soul and body in hell (eh. v. 22, note). make a mistake in thy name and spell it not Yer. 29.-Are not two sparrows sold for Ijob (Job, ~,•11), but Ojeb (enemy, ~•111)?" & farthing l The form of the saying in (Talm. Bab., • Baba Bathra,' 16a). Luke 1-iL 6 is practically equivalent (" Are Ver. 31.-The minuteness of this oaro not five sparrows sold for two farthings? "); forbirls you to fear; it ia olcar from it that for sparrows are eo common a.ad cheap that you are worth more than even many spArrows. if a man buys two farthings' worth he gets Fear ye (the Revised Version omits ye) one thrown in. " At the preeent day the not, The abaenoo of VJJ-<•s lays all the ou. x. 1-42.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S1'. MATTHEW. 415