The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 477

othC'r I ifo, or that eouls will there have Ver. 34.-Then. When tho division ia tlie offor of eccept.ing or repelling the me.de, the s011tences are pronounced. At ole.ims of Jesus (but see Phil. ii 10; 1 death a separation between good and evil is Pet. iv. 6). By describing mankind as in some sort made, e.s we loom by the parable "all the nations," Christ shows the minute of Dives and LI\Ze.l"Us; but the fine.I e.we.rd p,uticull\rity of the judgment, whioh will is not given till the great day. The King. enter into distinctions of country, race, eto., He who had called himself the Son of me.n, nnd while it is universal will be strictly here for the first and only time in Scripture impartil\l. He is the Shepherd of all man- no.mes himself the King (comp.oh. xxvii.11). kind, whether considered as sheep or goats, He, the Messiah, takes llis throne and reigns, and oa.n therefore distinguish and olass King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. m. them perfectly. Those who have never 16), Lord of both the dead and the living heard of Christ (if _such there shall be) can (Rom. xiv. 9). Unto them on his right be tried only by tho standard of nl\tural hand. Ho speaks first to them, o.e more religion (Rom. i. 20). Shall separate them worthy than the others, and ae he loves to ( a&.o/,s ). ln<li dd nnls of all the nations. reward better than to punish. How the Hitherto good l\nd bo.d had been mingled sight and bearing of this first sentence must together, often indistinguishable by man's awoke the remorse of the reprobate I Come. eyo or judgment; now an eternal distinction He calls them to be by his side, to she.re his is made by an unerring hand (eh. xiii. 49). kingdom and glory (John xii. 26). Ancient Tho idea is already found in Ezek. n.x.iv. 17, commentators have tenderly expanded this " Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, invitation, conceiving it addressed individu- between the rams and the he-goats." All a ally to patriarch, prophet, apostle, martyr, shepherd divideth his sheep from the gos.ts. saint; others he.ve pare.phrased it in a:ffeoting The flocks of sheep and gos.ts generally terms : " Come from darkness to light, from keep together during the day (Gen. xxx. bont.lage to the liberty of God's children, from 33), but a.re separated at night or when labour to perpetual rest, from war to peace, being driven. 'l'he Syrian goat is usually from death to life, from the compo.ny of the black. The Lord delights in employing evil to the fellowship of angels, from conflict simple pastoral illustrations in his tee.eh- to triumph, from daily temptation and trial ing. to stable and eternal felicity." Ye blessed of Ver. 33.-The ah.eep on hie right hand.. (equivalent to by) my Father. So 818111C-rol -roii The sheep a.re the type of the docile, the e,oii, "taught of (i.e. by] God" (John vi. 45). profitable, the innooent, the good (see Rom.. They were beloved by God, and were to be iL 7, 10). The right hand is the pw.ce of rewarded by the gift of eternal life. This favour e.nd honour (Gen. xlviii 17; Luke was their blessing (Eph. i. 3). Nothing ie i 11 ; Mark xvi. 5). The goats ( lplcp,a., said about election or predestination, as if ].ids) on the uift. The diminutive is here they were saved because they were blessed UBed for the goats, to oonvey e.n impression by the Father. There is a sense in which of their worthlessness. Comps.re 1tuvdp,a., this is true ; but they were rewarded, not "whelps," in the conversation of our Lord because of their election, but because they with the Syro-PhCllnician woman (eh. xv. used the grace given to them, and co-operated 26, 27). They a.re the type of the unruly, with the Holy Spirit which they received. the proud (Isa. xiv. 9, Hebrew), tL.e unprofit- Inherit (1<Jv11povoµf,uan, receifle a, flOUf" lot). able, the evil (see Rom. ii 8, 9). This " Of what honour, of what blessedness, are ·udici.al distinction between the right and these words l He said not - '.1.'ake, but i eft hands is found in classical writers. Thus Plato, • De Republice.; L 13, tells of what inherit, as one's own, e.s your Father's, e.s yours, as due to you from the first. 'For, a certain man, who revived after a cataleptic before you were,' se.ith he, ' the11e things atte.ok, 88.W when his soul left his body. he.d been prepared, and ma.de ready for He came to a mysterious place, where were you, forasmuch as I knew you would be two chasms in the earth, e.nd two openings such e.e you are ' " (St. Chryeoetom, in in the heavens opposite to them, and the loc.). Christians are by baptism made in- judges of the dead sat between these. And heritors of the kingdom of heaven, gifted when they gave judgment, they commanded with heavenly citizen.ship, which, duly uaed, the just to go on the right hand, and np- lee.de to eternal glory. "If children, then we.rds through the hee.veDB; but the UDjust heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with they sent to the left, e.nd downwe.rds; and Christ" (Rom. viii. 17), Jl'rom the f011Jlda- both the juat e.nd unjust had upon them tion of the world (&,rl, ,ca.,-a,6o>Sjs 1t&<1µou, a the m.a.rb of what they had done in the comUtuti0116 mundi). In other passages we body. So Virgil makes the Elyeie.n Fields he.ve, "before (wp_b) the foundation of the to lie on the right of the pa.Iaoe of Dis, 1tnd world" (John xvtl. 24; Eph. i. 4). The two the pene.l Te.rte.rue on the left (' En.,' vi. expressions virtually correspond, implying 540, ek.). God's eternal purpose, "who willeth tbat orr. xxv.1-46.J THE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 183