The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 96

rabbis ought not to be followed unreservedly. heart or the moral boiug ; it aft'.eots only the Uthe blind. A proverbial saying. Clomp. material organization, cmd has no connec- Horat.. ' Epp.,' I. xvii. 8- tion with the spirituo.l. Christ docs not con- " . . . ut si cern himself with questions, which modern CecUB it.er monstre.re velit." philosophers would attempt to solve, con- cerniug the mutual llltiuence of soul and And the Greek adage, M,fj.-. ..-v,p>.liv 61>11;,&v, body, the nuimal nnd spiritunl nature; he p.-/in ?1evo17.,-01• rtiJp.ffov>.ov. Nosgen calls puts forth an a.rgument which every oue attention to the order of the words, Tv<f>'-.os could receive, plain even to those •• with- Ii~ ..-v<f>'-.ov liiv b7im,j, « Blind blind if be out undcrstnndiug." • This is the elucida- lead," which, while it substantiates the tion of the :fird part of ver. 11. The further advice," Let them alone," forcibly expresses explanation follows in vers. 18, 19. the fatal result of this guidance. The ditch Ver. 18.-Those things. He does not (,S&9uvov); a pitfall (comp. Isa. xxiv. 17, assert that everything which issues from a IS, Septuagint, where it is used as the man's mouth defiles him; for, as wae said translation of the Hebrew paehath, a pit in above on ver. 11, many good things may which wild animals are taken). The" ditch" come from e. man's mouth; but he means in one sense is unbelief in Christ, to which that the evil to which he gives utterance is rabbinical ~hing und.oubtedly led.. In fraught with pollution to his moral nature. another sense it adumbrates the rnin in From the heart. The heart stands for soul, which these false principles would involve mind, spirit, will, the whole inner man, that the Jewish polity and people. It is obvious which makes. him what he is, a cons~ious, that the rejection of the Messiah <lrew intelligent, responsible being. Hence are dowu tbe punishment which has made the attributed to it. not ollly words,. but acts, Hebrew nation an astonishment to all the conceptions which issue, in e.x.ternal &\l• world. tions, and the conseqneii'cea which these Yer. 15.-Then llllSWered Peter. The involve. ., disciples could. not understand t.he .apparent Ver. 19.-0ut of the heart prooeed. The depreciation of the external in religion ; shameful catalogue which follows is less full they did not see the meaning of what Christ than that. in St. Mark, which contains had said. Peter, as their mouthpiece, asked thirteen items, while this .consiots of sev.en for further explanation. Declare ; cf,pd.rrov : only. These are produced or created by the edissere. Explain. Parable. The word in human will, of which the b,ea.rt i!I tl\e sym- an extended sen.se is used of any hard, bol. Eyil thoughts (6,iv.,ey,rrp.ol ,ro1117pol). cnigmatical saying or figurative expreEsion. Some would translate the words, " evil The term here is applied to the statement machinations." But there is no need to ill ver. 11. The apostles did not compre- change the usual rendering,,which is very hend the minimizing of the rnles con- appropriate here. Evil thoughts a.re the eerning pnrification, and the possibility of preparation of all oth.er sins, and have o. a man being defiled by what proceeded perniciou,s influence on the character. We from his month. Inveterate prejudices die are very much wh11-t we think. That ,on hard, and it is difficult to emancipate one's which our minds are fixed,. that whioh is eclf from old modes of thought. the chief object presented to. our in.ward Ver. 16.-Are ye also yet without under- sight, shapes our dispojjitiou an.d,lifo. High standing 1 Eun 11et; lucµf,v: adhuc. In and noble thoughts elevate and purify ; low: spite of all that has passed-my teaching, and mean thoughts debase and pollute. The my life, my miracles-do you not understand wickedness in a me.n springs from within; in what real purity consiats? Often had he is guilty ofit. If he admits the tempter, Jesus to complain of the dnlness of his dis- succumbs to his seductions, it is his own ci11les' intelligence, the slow appreciation will that is in faµlt, encouraging the evil of his meaning, 1.he indifference to the imagination, and not at once resisting, ab- Bpiritual side of his o.cts and doctrine. Up horring, an<l repelling it. Well may we to the very last they fe.iled to apprehend his pray, "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God;' mi8eion; nor wns it till the Day of Pente- and renew a tight spirit within me" (Ps. Ii. cost, when the Holy Spirit was poured. upon 10); and remember the wise man's injunc- them, that they really and in fulnees under- tion, "Keep thy heart with all dilig~nce; stood the Lord's teaching anrl their own for out of it are the issues of life.~• (J>rov. iy. duties and powers. 23). The enumeration follows more ·or less Ver. 17.-Whataoever entereth in at the closely the second tablll of the J;)(l(l&logµe .. mouth, etc. Food taken into the mouth -Ver. 20.-ThUB. JeeUlil sums up what has goes into the BtoDlll.ch, is assi111il&ted into been said, and N10&lls the, ,ciJ:~umetanoe the bodily system, and its refuse passes which led to the .d,i,11Course, emphatically away to the draught (lz4,e6pwva), the ueccs- repe11tiog his judgment. on the Pho.rieaico.l suy oon~. It he.a nothing to do with the Jtloss, ou. xv. 1-39.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 99