The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 233

nrny 'l"ery eMily ho.ve been the cMe at Jer11- of the great Copernicus, and alludes to thl11 salem, nnd does not directly presuppose o.ny prayer nnd its nnswer. Pamdise. 'l'his is instructions on the part of Jesus; altho11gh the only instance we have of our Lord's he may also have henrd him him~elf, nnd using this well-kuown word. In the or<li- still remembered what he heard. 'l'heextra- nnry language used by the Jews, of the un- ordinnry cbarncter of bis painful position in seen worl<l, it signifies the" Gnrclcn of Edon," the ..-ery faoe of death produced as a conse- or "Abrnhnm's bosom;" it represented qu<'nce an extrMrdinary act.ion of firm faith the locality where the souls of the rio-hteoue in those predictions." would find a home, after death separated Ver. 43.-An,l 1esus said unto him, Verily soul and body. 'l'he N cw Tcstl\ment writer~, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Luke and Paul and John, use it (Acts ii. me in paradise. :Ko strengthening angel 31; I Cor. xv. 5; 2 Cor. xii. 4; Rev, ii. 7). could have been more welcome to the dying To Luke and Pl\ul, probn.bly, this was a Redeemer than these words of intense pcni- memory of the word spoken on the cross, t .. nce and strong faith. Very beautifully which they o.lone record in their Gospel. It Stier suggests that the cn1cified King" can- may have been told Luke by the Mother or not !See these two criminals, cannot direct sorrows herself. John, who uses it in his his glance to this lo.st without adding to his Revelation, doubtless heard it himself as he own agony by mo,ement upon the cross. stood at the foot of the cross. Paradeisos is Bnt tlwt be forgets, and turns with an im- derived from the Persian wordpa1·des, which pulse of joy as well as he can to the soul that signifies a park or garden. speaks to him, thus making the nails more Ver. H.-The time of the Oru.ciji:i:ion. Ancl firm." With those solemn words, "Verily I it was about the sixth hour. We have be- say unto thee," with which he had so often fore given (see note on eh. xxii. 47) the in old <lays begun his sacred sayings, he approxim11te hours or the several acts of the replied to the sufferer by his side. One at last night and day. This verse gives us the least, St. John, of his disciples wonld have time of the duration of the" darkness "-from beard the well-known words from the well- the sixth to the ninth hour ; that is in our known voice. What memories must they reckoning, from 12 noon to 3 p.m. With not have recalled to that disciple whom this date tbe other two eynopt.ists agree Jesus loved, 11s be stood ho.rd by the cross (comp. Matt. x:xvii. 45; Mark .i:v. 33). Our with the Mother of sorrows! 'l'he Lord's Lord had then been on the cross three hours answer was very striking. Remember him, (see Mark xv. 25, where it is stated that he who could call on him with such reverent was crucified in the third hour, i.e. 9 a.m.). faith at the moment of his deepest humilia- Bnt while the three synoptists are in perfect tion I Remember him I yes; but not in the harmony, we are met with a grave difficulty for-off" coming,'' bnt on that very day, before in St. John's account, for in eh. xix. 14 or the sun then scorching their tortured bodies his Gospel we 1·ead how the final condemna- set; be would not be remembered by him tion of our Lord by Pilate took place about only, but would be in closest companionship the sixth hour. At first sight, to attempt with him, not, as he prayed, in some fe.r-ofi' here to harmonize St. John with the three time in the midst of the awful tumult of the synoptiets would seem a hopeless task, a.a bloody and fiery dawn of the jadgment St. John apparently gives the hour of the ad vent, bnt almost directly in the fair go.r- final condemnation by Pilate, which the den, the quiet home of the blessed, the object three give as the hour when the darkness of all J ewiHh hopes. There would he be began, i.e. when the Sufferer had o.lready remembered, and there, in company with his bung on the cross for three hours. Various Lord, would the tortured condemned find explanations have been suggested; among himself in a few short hours. Are we right these the most satisfying and probable ia in thinking that there was no fulfilment of the suppositio11 that, while tbe three synop- the words till death had released the spirit tists followed the usual Jewish mode of from its thraldom? May there not even reckoning time, St. John, writing some half then barn been an ineffable joy, such o.e a century lo.ter in quite another country, mo.de the flames of the fiery furnace to be as possibly tu,enty year, after Jerusalem and the n "moist, whiiltling wind" (Song of the Three temple had been destroyed, and the Jewi,1• Children, ver. 27), such as martyrs have in polity had, disappea,-ed, adopted o.nothcr a thousand easf's known, acting almoat as a mode of reckoning the hours, thus follow- physical anlllBthetic acts? (Dce.11 Plumptre). ing, probably, a practice of the provinco in which he woe living, and for which be was "Non parem Paulo veniam requiro, especially writing. Dr. Westcott, in an ad- Gratiam Petri neque posco, sed quam ditional note on John xix. 14, examines the In erucis ligno dederis latroni four occasions on which St. John nientioaa Sedulne oro.'' a definite hour of the day; and comes to This striking veri,e is engraved 011 the tomb the conolusio11 thu.t the fourth ev11ugelillt OH, xxm. 1--56.) 'l'IIE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. LUKE. 2{3