I. THe cuP AXD THE BAPTI8M. By “cup” is meant one’s lot or destiny, be it good or bad, especially the latter. Thus, “'‘Thou makest my cup run over,” where the lot is plenty; and the words, divested of the figure, are nearly equivalent to, Thou givest me a plentiful supply as my lot. Again, it stands for vengeance allotted to the wicked, as is said of Jerusalem, “ ‘Thou hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury ; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out; ” and in Ps. lxxv. 8, it is the cup of wrath, or the portion of Divine and deserved
tion apportioned to the wicked, for it is there written, “In the hand of the
there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of
the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them ont, and
drink them.” Baptism, again, has three different meanings, or rather applications, in
FS ah There is baptism with water, a Christian sacrament; there is baptism by
the Holy Spirit, or regeneration, which is that change by which we become truly Christians ; and there is baptism in the sense of suffering, which is its meaning here,
III. A misRENDERING. “ But to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but # shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” This verse, as it stands in our version, seems to limit the power of the Saviour, and te be at variance with his own statement in Luke xxii. 29, where he says, “I appoint unte you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” It also appears flatly to contradict that promise of our Lord recorded in Rev. fii. 21, “To him that overcometh will I grant te sit with me in my threne.” Various methods of rectification have been resorted to. The Latin Vulgate cuts the knot by inserting vobis, to you, and so rendering the clause in question, “It is not mine to give te you, but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” But as this addition is not supported by any manuscript authority, it must be rejected as arbitrary.
oH. x. 1—52.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 1
Still more unwarrantable is the explanation of some, who understand the answer of our Lord as having reference only to the time previous to hia sufferings, as though it meant “Tt is not mine to give till after I shall have suffered; then all power will be vested in my hands.” Now, the difficulty is in a great measure created by the words supplied in our version, and therefore marked in italics as above. The ellipsis thus indicated is either too little or too large. It must either be extended or eliminated altogether. We might enlarge the ellipsis, and take the clause to signify, “It is not mine to give (as s matter of favouritism), but it is mine to give (on the ground of fitness) to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” It is much better, however, to omit entirely the words supplied. This at once does away with the difficulty, and removes the seeming contradiction, while the sense of the original thus becomes plain and clear. Accordingly, we would read the last part of the verse thus, “Is not mine to give, but [save] to them for whom it is prepared.” The preparedness of the recipients, not the power of the Saviour, is the only limitation of the bestowment in question. This power, again, is exercised in accordance with the Divine p , While in Rom. vili, 29, 30 we have a full declaration of such purpose: “ Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . . Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” The view which we thus adopt corresponds with the rendering of the old Syriac, which translates the portion of the verse before us without supplying any words. It is confirmed by Luther’s German translation. It has the sanction of several other important versions, both ancient and modern. The only objection to this, namely, that aaa has thereby the sense of e/ ud, is set aside by comparing Matt. xvii. 8 with Mark ix. 8, where, in recording the same fact, in nearly the same words, St. Matthew uses «i 4}, while St. Mark expresses the same sense b «ard. Even in the chapter immediately foregoing (Matt. xix.), 4Aa&d is employed in nearly the same signification at the eleventh verse: “ All men cannot receive this saying, save (4AA4) they to whom it is given.” Though not identical, they closely approximate, for “ res eodem recidit sive oppositione sive exceptione.” If an ellipsis be at all admissible in the verse we are considering, then the words suggested by Alford, “fg not mine to give, but tt shall be given by me,” or those supplied by De Wette, “ Sondern denen wird es verliehen,” or even those supplied in the Revised Version, “ Ig not mine to give: but ¢¢ is for them for whom it hath been prepared,” are undoubtedly preferable to those supplied in our common version, and express the sense much better. Still, even the words thus introduced to eke out the meaning of the original seem awkward and unnecessary.—J. J. G.