The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 358

The emperor, as we eee impr<>seed on his c,,nsiderntinn. At the same time, they re- coins, wRs Pontifex l\Iaximus; the Jewish cognize,i that the people were with him for· prio8thood hRd R polili<'lll character, and the the moment, and that it was expedient tha\ ci\"il power was its instrument. In Christ's hie tea<;h~ng,. 110 utterly opposed·. to their theory the spheres were distinct and not to own opunone, should be diecre<l1ted and be confounded. The et.ate oompelled obe- repressed. So they came forward asking di<>nce to its enactments; the Church left an imaginary question, which, as they tile ooneoience free, andobedienoe wa~ volun- thought, would reduce to an absurdity the tary and enforced by no external powers. doctrine of·the immortality of the soul and The new SCX'iety stood aloof from all politi- the resurrection of the flesh. Doubtlos1t <'a.l intere~ts, and WM responsible a.lone to they wore members of the Se.nhedrin, and God, while it performed its duties. Left it was at the instigation of this body thil.i him. They had no answer to give. There they proposed the presumed case of oon- wae nothing in Christ's words the.t they sc:cnce. could lny bold of; nothing trea.sone.ble, Ver. 2!.-Moses said. They qnote the notlling unpatriotio. Be.ffled, though not substance of the law of the levirate (i.e.· con\"inccd, tl;e questioners sullenly with- the brother-in-law) in· Deut. xxv. 5, 6;• drew ; but i hev or their oom~ades e.fter- by which it was enacted· that if a married:, wards had the ·effrontery to accuse Jesus man died without " son, his brother -or: of forbidding to pay tribute to Cmse.r (Luke the next of kin should marry the widow, :niii. 2). and the firstborn son of this union should be regarded and registered as the son of Vers. 23-33.-Third attacl.: The .Sad- the deceased. This was a law not peGU" d,u;ees and the f'esurrection. (Me.rk xiL 18-- liar to the H~brews, but prevalent from 27; Luke xx. 27-40.) immemorial times among many anoieut peoples, e.g. Persians, Egyptie.ns, and found' Ver. 23-'The same day; on thaf. day. • in force among some nations in modernt Thie is still the Tuesde.y in the Holy Week. times, as Arabians, Drusea, Circassians,.dtoJ The Badduoees. There is no definite artiole It seems not to have been-enforced in any: here in the original Which HY ; ol >..~-yovr..,s. case, but to have been left, to the good willr Many good me.nnscripts and some modern of the survivor, who might escape- the' editors (Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, obligation by submitting to a certain socia1' Westcott and Hort) read J\~011ur, "say- obloquy (Dent. xxv. 7-10), The motive of ing." The received reading historically , the regula.tion was the maintenance, of a describes the Sadducees' opinions ; the family and, the non-alienation of property. other makes them come boldly stating their Many authorities assert that the law did sentiments. Where authorities are pretty not apply in· the oaee of a man who ·left evenly babnced, we must decide the word- daughters (Numb: xxvii. 8), but only in· ing of a pae~ge by other than literary that of a childless widow, • Later rabbinism considerations; and there can be no doubt limited the obligation to a betrothed,womani;: that the reading which denotes the charac- not yet actually married:, • But whatever' teristic of the sect is more appropriate than· may have been·,the limitations allowed in that which represents them offensively these days, the· question· ·of the Sadduceeli parading their news as a preparaiion for took its stand on the. old legal basis, ..m.d· the coming question. We have had notice of endeavoured to draw therefrom a ridiculou'a the Sadduceee before{ch. iii. 7-; xvL 1). The inference. Shall• marry ; i1r,-yaµ/3pi6ir,;i.; poi:ular account of their religious belief is The. verb, found ·m·the Septuagint,ris uedi girnn in Act.II x:xiii. 8, "The Saddueeee sny properly signifying " to take a woman tcr that there is no resurrection, neither angel, wife as the husband's kinsman'' (-yaµ./3pos),. nor Fpirit." They were rationalists and ' and generally, "to contra.et e.ffinity by me.r-· ecE:ptics, who denied many old-establishtd riage." Baise up seed. The firstborn son truths, and scorned many prevalent observ- of such a. marriage was the legal heir of the ances. They acknowledged most of the Old decense<l brother, and bore his name. .The• Testament, though, euriously enough, they, natural and the legal pe.ternities are seen in like our modern neologi11ns, stumbled at the the genealogies of our Lord, and occailion BUpernalural npon ·which the Scriptures some difficulties in Adjustment. were built. Tradition and traditional Ver. 25.-Seven brethren. If the worct interpretations found no favour with them. " brethren " is to· be taken in the strictest The future life of the soul they utterly sense, end not as equivalent to" kinsmen," repudiated, and the resurrection of the the case is indeed conceivable, thongh ex- body, when it wa.s brought before them, tremely improbable, especially as at this met with eontemptuous ridicule. The time the custom had fallen into abeyance, ole.ilus and doctrine of Cl,ri~t were, in their and its rigorous fulfilment we.s neither eyes, puerile and U1Jworthy of JJhilusq,hic prndbcd nor expected, There is a levity cu. XXII, 1-16.] TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTIIEW. 3r,3