The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 452

used by him did not care to interrupt the Shalt thou be e=lted unto keaven f (Revised subject of eh. x. by inserting more of these Version); M¾, f.,s oilpavou ~1/,o,6firrr, 1 i.e. Bbalt verses there, even though that place more thou be raised high in publio estimo.tion, nearly represented their original position. as thou thinkest, who art so proud of thy share in the busy and gay life on the lake- Observe that here they are connected with side P Shu.It be brought down to hell; thou the rejection of John and of our Lord; in shalt go down unto Hade11 (Revised Ve1·sion). Luke, with the rejection of his disciples and The change of voioe in the two clauses of himself in them. ~ ,',,/,o,6,frr11 ••. ,ca,,-afJtilTfl) may imply that if thou art indeed raised, it will be by Ver. 20.-In Matthew only. It seems to Another; but if thou fallest, it will be by be a 1.-ind of introduction, like ver. 7a, thyself. Observe that our Lord's words are perhaps marking vers. 20-24 as a. fresh an adaptation of Isaiah's address to the section in the discourses. It serves more King of Babylon (Isa. xiv. 13-15). J'or if particularly o.s an explanation why our Lord the mighty works, whioh have been done in especially mentioned these cities. Then thee, had been done in Sodom (transposed in began he to upbraid ( eh. v. 11, note; comp. the Revised Version, as in ver. 21), it would also Ma.rk x.i. 14) the cities wherein most have remained UILtil this day. In this verse of his mighty works ( eh. vii. 22, note) were the stress lies on the effect of the moral done, because they repented not. " Quilibet attitude; in ver. 21, on the moral attitude auditor Nov. Test. est aut multo beatior (ver. itself. 11) aut multo miserior antiquis" (Bengel). Ver. 24 (see notes BUpra, vers. 20-24 and Ver. 21.-Woe unto thee, Chorazin. T!Je eh. x. 15). modern Kerauh, two miles from the north- west bank of the sea of Galilee. Among Vers. 25-30.-In close connexion with its ruins are the remains of a synagogue. the preceding. The corn of both it and Kephar ..A),ini Vars. 25, 26 : Obrist professes his full (probably Capernaum) was so excellent e.;i acoeptnnce of his Father's plan, on both its t.o make B. Jose say that, hed they been sides. nearer Jerusalem, it would have been used for the temple offerings (Talm. Bab., • Mena- Ver. 27: Aud so.ye that all his work is choth,' 85a; see Neubauer, 'Geogr.,' p. 220. due to a.ud conditioned by the Father. There appears, however, to be a slight doubt Vera. 28-30: Yet freely invites all to about the reading of both names, see Rab- him. binovicz, 'Var. Leet.,' in loc.). Woe UILto Observe that, whether by "accident" or thee, Bethsaida. Schurer (L ii H; com- pare, bo"ever, II. i. 136) thinks that this is "design," vers. 25--30 a.re a. statement of probal1:ly not identical with the large town the good news contained in the expression, Bethsaida Julias on the east bank of the "Jesus the Sou of God," while eh. xii 1-8 Jordan as it enters the seo. of Galilee. It leads us to regard him as the Soo of man. is, perhaps, Khan Minyek (Nosgen), and if Vera. 25-27.-Parallel passage: Luke 80 W&S a little south-west of Capemaum. x. 21, 22, where the verses are recorded J'or it the mighty works, whiah were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Bidon. immediately after the retum of the seventy. T !Je transposition of parts of these clauses We know no other occasion which would be in the Revised Version approaches more 80 likely to evoke this utterance. Although closely the order of the Greek, and better it is just possible that the seventy returned preserves the double empha.BiB there given. when our Lord was addressing the peopla T11re and Bidon (Ezek. :u:viii ). They would have repented long ago in saokcloth and in the manner related in the preceding uhe■ (Jonah iii 6; Da.n. ix. 3; Esth. iv. verses of this chapter, it seems much more 1; comp. also Job ii. 8; 2 Sam. iii. 31; and likely that a. sense of a. moral and not of a. Ezekiel's description of the effect of Tyre's temporal connexion guided St. Matthew in punishment upon her princes, :u:vi.. 16). his o.rrangement. What is true in a time Ver. 22.-:But; ,rJ\.fl": howbeit (Revised Version). Setting this a.side (comp. Bishop of success (Luke x. 17, 18) is equally truo Lightfoot, on PhiL iii 16); whatever might in a. time of failure (vers. 20-24). Ob~ervo have been does not matter; this shall be. the difference in the style of ver. 27 (Luke x. I 1ay UILto you, It sha.!l be more tolerable 22) from that of vers. 25, 26, suggesting tho for Tyre and Bidon at the day of judgment use of another, apparently Joha.nnine,source. (eh. L 15, note) than for you. "Pessimis pejores erant et insa.na.biliores" (Wetstein). But this mwit have been added beforo either Ver. 23.-.6..nd thou, Capemaum (eh. iv. St. Matthow or St. Luke incorporated the 13, note), ,rb,ich ~ exalted UILto heaveZL j p~seage. Observe that the col;!lparativelr 11B, x1. 1-30.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 449