JB The Jerusalem Bible (London, 1966)
39 The adverb is βαρέως, “heavily,” “ponderously,” and thus “with difficulty”; real hearing, hearing with understanding, has become difficult for them.
40 μήποτε (see on 4:6) is a conjunction denoting a negative purpose: “in order that … not.” They do not understand what God is saying, partly, at least, because they do not want to hear. They are comfortable in their selfishness and do not wish to be disturbed by the kind of thing God would say about them.
M, J. H. Moulton, III, Syntax, by Nigel Turner (Edinburgh, 1963)
JB The Jerusalem Bible (London, 1966)
41 ἰάομαι is used of healing in the physical sense (8:8, 13, etc.), but also, more rarely, of deliverance from spiritual ills (1 Pet. 2:24).
42 Cf. Philip Barton Payne, “The Authenticity of the Parable of the Sower and its Interpretation,” in R. T. France and David Wenham, eds., Gospel Perspectives, I (Sheffield, 1980), pp. 163–207. He finds evidence that both the parable and its interpretation are authentic. Bonnard favors the view that the interpretation is that of the early church and not Jesus himself, but he adds that the more important question is not that. Rather, it is whether the passage identifies the sower and his decisive word with the historic person of Jesus, “which is certainly the case” (p. 197). Filson is doubtful as to whether Jesus spoke these words, but “the explanation, if not original with Jesus, catches the meaning” (p. 160). Cf. Gundry, “The singularity of the expressions in Jesus’ teaching may derive, however, from the singularity of the parable itself and therefore carry little weight concerning the authenticity or inauthenticity of the interpretation” (p. 261).
Knox R. Knox, The Holy Bible: A Translation from the Latin Vulgate (London, 1955)
Calvin J. Calvin, A Harmony of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids, 1980 rpt.)
43 παντός will be used in the sense “ ‘any one’ no matter who” (Robertson, p. 744). The two participles in the genitive are probably to be taken as a genitive absolute (so Robertson, p. 1105). The present depicts the action as in process; the evil one snatches away the word while the person is still listening to it.
44 λόγος means not a word simply, but here the whole message that tells of the kingdom (see on 3:2). We often have “of God” added to specify which kingdom is in mind, but in this context that is not necessary.
45 πονηρός is used in Matthew twice as often as anywhere else in the New Testament (26 times; Luke has it 13 times). It may be used of evil actions or of evil people, and here the evil one clearly designates Satan.
46 ἁρπάζω conveys the notion of violence, “snatch,” “seize.” Cf. BAGD, “snatch, seize, i.e. take suddenly or vehemently … of seed already sown tear out.”
REB The Revised English Bible (Oxford and Cambridge, 1989)
47 ἀλλά is the strong adversative; far from being deep-rooted and therefore well established, he is temporary. πρόσχαιρος (in the New Testament once in each of four books) signifies “for a time, temporary, transient.”
48 Matthew uses θλῖψις 4 times. The word denotes heavy pressure and is used, for example, of treading out the grapes, when there is pressure to the point of bursting. It links naturally enough with διωγμός (here only in Matthew, 10 times in the New Testament). This points to a specific trouble, that of persecution.
NRSV The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, 1990)
49 σχανδαλίζω connects with σχάνδαλον (see on 5:29), the bait stick of a trap. When the animal or bird touches the σχάνδαλον, it is trapped. The word often means “cause to sin” or the like.
50 μέριμνα occurs here only in Matthew; it signifies “care, anxiety” and the like. In Mark and Luke the word is plural, but to Matthew the worry of being in the world is one whole rather than a group of unconnected worries. World is the translation of αἰῶνος, “age” (see on 12:32); it includes the whole of this earthly life. Here there is probably also a contrast with “the age to come.”
51 συνπνίγω means “(crowd together and) choke” (BAGD). It may be used of people crowding together (Luke 8:14), but here of the crowding that squeezes out the life.
52 ἀπάτη can mean deceit or, as here, deceitfulness. πλοῦτος occurs only here in Matthew. It denotes external possessions of any kind, “wealth,” “riches” (it can be used of spiritual possessions, Rom. 2:4, etc.).
Phillips J. B. Phillips, The Gospels in Modern English (London, 1957)
53 Calvin envisions a universal application: “There is no-one who has not a huge crop, a veritable forest, of thorns. … Hardly one in ten will take the trouble to cut back the thorns, let alone root them out” (II, p. 72).
54 δή occurs here only in Matthew. It is a particle that never comes first in its clause; it indicates that something is definitely established, here “he is just the man who” (BDF 451[4]); they add, “good classical usage.”
55 Matthew has two words, χαρποφορεῖ and ποιεῖ, whereas in both Mark and Luke there is only the former. The former verb means “bears fruit” and is used both literally and metaphorically; the latter simply means “makes,” but it is used of the ordinary processes of plant life (cf. 3:10). Here it is used of the differentiation between what one seed produced and another.
56 παρατίθημι signifies “put or place before,” here in the way of teaching. Carr points out that in Homer the usual meaning was for setting food before a guest, a use that continued and that we find in Mark 6:41; Luke 11:6, and elsewhere. Matthew uses the verb only twice. ἄλλος is a common Matthean word, occurring 29 times, a total exceeded only by John with 34. It normally signifies another of the same kind.
57 ὁμοιόω is used 8 times in Matthew, just over half its 15 occurrences in the New Testament. It means “to declare to be like.”
58 It was not necessary for Matthew to include the word ἀνθρώπῳ (the article with the participle would have been sufficient). He may be giving some emphasis to the fact that it was a man sowing, but there seems to be no reason for this, and in any case what would it mean? There is probably no more to it than that Matthew is fond of the word and uses it often (112 times; no other book has it so often).
59 This is Matthew’s first use of σπέρμα, a word he will use 7 times in all. It is interesting that he has recounted the parable of the sower without using the word once. σπέρμα is used of the seed of plants, of male semen, and of descendants.
60 δέ.
61 This is the one place in the New Testament where the verb ἐπισπείρω is found. It mostly seems to mean “sow again,” “sow with fresh seed.” MM notes the use of the cognate noun for re-sowing or second crops. ἐπί has the force of “upon,” “over.”
62 ζιζάνια, which is usually understood as darnel, a troublesome weed that resembles wheat (REB translates “darnel”).
63 Grain renders χόρτος, which properly means “an enclosed place” and thus a place for feeding. It is an easy step to “fodder,” and in the New Testament that seems to be its usual meaning (in Matthew’s other two uses of the term the meaning appears to be “grass,” 6:30; 14:19). Here it refers to the seed that will in due course produce fodder. βλαστάνω has the meaning “sprout” (it is used of Aaron’s rod, Heb. 9:4). While this is included here, the meaning is clearly more than sprouting: the seed produced plants that could be recognized.
64 Black takes “made fruit” as a Semitism, found in both Hebrew and Aramaic (Black, p. 101).
65 He is here called the οἰχοδεσπότης, the master of the house or householder (Matthew has the word in 7 of its 12 New Testament appearances). The word refers to him in connection with his household rather than with his field (though that, of course, would be included).
66 The emphatic οὐχί emphasizes that a positive answer is expected.
67 δέ seems to have that meaning here.
68 οὔ is accented; it means “no” rather than “not.” Matthew, with 4 uses of the word, equals 2 Corinthians as having the most in the New Testament.
69 μήποτε conveys the idea of purpose, “in order that you may not. …”
70 ἅμα is normally an adverb meaning “at once” or “together” (e.g., Rom. 3:12) or “at the same time” (e.g., Acts 27:40). Here it is an improper preposition with the dative, the only place in the New Testament where this occurs.
71 ἀφίημι (see on 12:31) conveys the notion of “let,” “allow.”
72 θερισμός means “harvest,” here referring to the act of harvesting and the time this is carried out (in 9:37–38 it is the crop).
73 θεριστής, “reaper,” “harvester,” is found again in the New Testament only in verse 39.
74 Stendahl favors the view that the parable refers “to the situation which applies in Jesus’ earthly ministry, where the ultimate dividing line is not yet drawn,” rather than to church discipline.
75 In verse 24 the verb ὡμοιώθη was used, while here the formula is ὁμοία ἐστίν, but there seems to be no significant difference. This new formula is used in introducing the other parables in this chapter.
76 χόχχος means a seed or grain; MM notes its use for pine cones, so it does not necessarily denote a small seed, though, of course, it does here. σίναπι is the mustard plant.
77 Cf. Bonnard, “As often, the Matthean parable does violence to agricultural reality in order to bring out the unexpected and paradoxical character of Jesus’ action.”
Lightfoot John Lightfoot, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids, 1979 rpt.)
78 μεῖζον has some emphasis from its position. λάχανον is connected with λαχαίνω, “to dig,” and points to plants that are the result of digging, that is, garden plants.
79 δένδρον occurs in Matthew in 12 of its 25 occurrences; it is quite a Matthean word; it signifies a tree over against smaller growths.
80 Robertson sees “actual result” here (Robertson, p. 1000).
81 πετεινόν is the neuter of the adjective meaning “winged”; used as a noun it means “winged thing” and thus “bird.” The addition τοῦ οὐρανοῦ makes it clear that birds are meant—“winged things of the sky.”
82 χατασχηνόω is connected with σχηνή, “a tent,” a place to lodge.
83 See the article by C. L. Mitton, ET, 84 (1972–73), pp. 339–43. A. R. S. Kennedy says, “The leaven both of OT and of NT may be assumed to have always consisted of a piece of fermented dough from a previous baking. There is no clear trace, even in the Mishnah, of other sorts of leaven, such as the lees of wine or those enumerated by Pliny (NH xviii.26)” (DB, p. 573). J. D. Douglas speaks of “fine white bran kneaded with must,” “the meal of certain plants such as fitch or vetch,” and “barley mixed with water” as ways in which leaven might be originated (IBD, II, p. 891). Bread could be made from yeast or leaven, but the continuing use of leaven from batch to batch opened up the way to corruption and infection. The annual destruction of all leaven (Exod. 12:14–15) thus had hygienic as well as religious significance.
84 ἐνέχρυψεν strictly means “hid,” but here there is no notion of deliberate concealment; it means no more than “withdrew from sight.” The verb occurs here only in the New Testament.
85 ἄλευρον means wheaten flour, normally used in baking bread. σάτον (elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 13:21) was a measure usually understood as roughly equivalent to a peck and a half. The precise size of a σάτον is not clear, but three of them make a large amount (NEB has “half a hundredweight”; GNB, “forty litres”; NIV, “about half a bushel or 22 liters”). Gundry thinks that this was “the largest amount of dough a woman could knead” and estimates that it was enough for about a hundred people (Schweizer also thinks that it would feed a hundred, p. 306; Fenton makes it 160), whereas Mounce thinks it would be enough “to feed a large family” (p. 132). Carson has a long note in which he draws attention to the difficulties in working out the amount and the very varied estimates scholars have achieved. That it was a large amount is clear, but we cannot say how large.
86 “Leaven had a bad press in Judaism. … So the hearers would be surprised to find Jesus using leaven as an image of the Kingdom. Yet, on second thoughts, that is just what his followers must have seemed to respectable Jews. Common uneducated fishermen and farmers, carpenters and women, tax-gatherers and disreputable characters—it would all seem rather distasteful. … But God is like that. He takes distasteful characters and transforms them, and then transforms society through them” (M. Green, p. 138).
87 ὅπως is a Matthean word (17 times; next highest is Acts with 14). It may be used as an adverb, but more commonly it is a conjunction indicating purpose. It mostly follows an aorist (though here an imperfect) in a formula indicating the fulfilment of Scripture (as in 2:23; 8:17; 12:17 t.r.). For the formula see on 1:22.
88 Some MSS read “Isaiah the prophet” (א* Θ f1 f13; Zahn accepted this reading, and Fenton thinks that it may be original; NEB accepts it), and Jerome speaks of reading “Asaph.” The difficulty with the former is, of course, that the words do not come from Isaiah. This inclines some to accept it as the harder reading, but we must also bear in mind a tendency in scribes to insert the name of a well-known prophet, and this probably explains the reading. “Asaph” would have been inserted by some scribe who knew where the words came from.
89 ἐρεύγομαι is scarcely elegant, having the meaning “belch,” and thus comes to signify “utter forcibly,” “blurt out.”
90 χαταβολή is not a common word in the New Testament (11 times, 2 in Matthew). It “is a t.t. for the sowing of the seed, for begetting” (BAGD, 2); here, of course, it is rather the casting down of the foundation stone. χόσμου is read by some MSS (א*.c C D L W etc.), but even if it is not read it is implied. Carson, however, takes the passage in the sense “the foundation (of the nation).”
91 As with the parable of the sower, many critics see the interpretation as the creation of the church. But we should bear in mind Hill’s point that “parable and interpretation belong, and stand or fall, together. … The point of the interpretation, then, is exactly that of the parable itself: only God himself may distinguish the good from the evil: it is God’s business alone to decide who belongs to the Kingdom” (p. 235).
92 KJV has “Then Jesus sent the multitude away,” which is a possible understanding of the Greek. Either way Jesus retired into quietness.
93 διασαφέω is found in the New Testament only in 18:31 and here (it is connected with σαφής, “clear,” AS) and signifies “make clear.” Evidently the disciples were puzzled by some aspects of the parable at least.
94 ὁ δέ, “and he” or “but he,” may have adversative force or may simply carry the narrative along. Taking notice of it makes for untidy English but retains the flavor of the original.
95 Matthew uses υἱός 89 times, which is more than anyone else. The use here with the genitive of a thing is probably a Semitism, indicating someone who shares in the nature of the thing. So sons of the kingdom are characterized by their membership in the kingdom—they are “kingdom people.” In 8:12 this expression is used of those who might be expected to be “kingdom people” but are not.
96 συντέλεια is used of “a joint payment or contribution for public service; hence, generally, joint action (Plat.) 2. in late writers (Polyb., al.), consummation, completion” (AS). Matthew has the expression συντέλεια (τοῦ) αἰῶνος 5 times (40, 49; 24:3; 28:20); elsewhere in the New Testament it occurs only in Hebrews 9:26. MM notes the use of συντέλεια for “consummation,” and LSJ finds a use for “the consummation of a scheme.”
97 For ἄγγελοι see on 1:20. The construction here is a preceding anarthrous predicate that according to Colwell’s rule will mean “the angels,” not “angels” (JBL, LII [1933], pp. 12–21). That is to say, it is “the” angels as a definite group rather than beings who have the general quality of being angels.
98 ὥσπερ is used as the protasis of a comparison, the apodosis being introduced here by οὕτως (32 times in Matthew); it signifies “just as.”
99 τὰ σχάνδαλα, for which see on 5:29. It points to the things that trap people and lead them into captivity to sin.
100 ἀνομία is found 4 times in Matthew, but not again in the Gospels or Acts. It can mean “lawlessness” or “a lawless deed.”
101 βάλλω is a vigorous word for consigning evildoers to their final place. Matthew uses the verb 34 times, which is more than in any other book.
102 πῦρ is used here “of fire that is heavenly in origin and nature. … Fire appears mostly as a means used by God to execute punishment. … Quite predom. in connection w. the Last Judgment” (BAGD, πῦρ, 1.b).
103 χλαυθμός occurs 7 times in Matthew out of 9 times in the New Testament, while for βρυγμός the figures are 6 out of 7; it always occurs in the phrase we have here.
104 Lenski quotes Trench that whatever the precise meaning of these words, “this at all events is certain, that they point to some doom so intolerable that the Son of God came down from heaven and tasted all the bitterness of death that he might deliver us from ever knowing the secrets of anguish, which, unless God be mocking men with empty threats, are shut up in these terrible words” (Lenski, p. 539).
105 “Ownership of landed property is acquired by means of money, deed and possession … objects which are usually lifted can be acquired by hagbahah only” (B. Bat. 86a); hagbahah is defined in these terms: “(Lit., ‘a lifting’), a legal form of acquisition consisting in the lifting up of the object to be acquired” (Soncino B. Bat., p. 784). This means that in a case like that of buried treasure the man who found it had only to “lift” it to acquire legal title to it.
106 See the discussion by Derrett, Law, pp. 1–16.
107 “When a man will venture nothing for Christ’s sake, we must draw the sorrowful conclusion that he has not got the grace of God” (Ryle, p. 152).
108 ἔμπορος (from πόρος, a journey) points to a traveler or a merchant; it meant a “wholesale dealer in contrast to χάπηλος ‘retailer’ ” (BAGD). In contrast to the poor man who sold all he had to buy just one field, this man would have been wealthy.
109 Fine translates χαλός (see on 3:10), which has about it the notion of the beautiful as well as the good (which is especially appropriate here). μαργαρίτης is found 3 times in Matthew, once in 1 Timothy, and 5 times in Revelation only in the New Testament; it cannot be said to be widely used. It means “a pearl” and points to what is of great value. In antiquity pearls were regarded as especially valuable, and they are often classed with gold.
Hamann H. P. Hamann, The Gospel according to Matthew (Adelaide, 1984)
110 πολύτιμος, only twice elsewhere in the New Testament, signifies “valuable,” “very precious.”
111 The verb is changed from πωλέω in verse 44 to πιπράσχω, a less common verb. But the change appears to be mainly stylistic; there is no significant difference in meaning. The perfect is used in much the same sense as the aorist (BDF 343[1]).
112 McNeile points out that the expression is “πάντα ὅσα, ‘all his possessions,’ not πάντας ὅσους, ‘all the pearls that he had.’ ”
113 σαγήνη (here only in the New Testament) appears to have denoted a seine type net, with ropes at the top and weights at the bottom to keep it vertical. One end could be secured to the shore while a boat dragged the other end through the waters in the shape of a semicircle (the maneuver could be employed, of course, from two boats). When the fishermen went ashore and hauled in the net, all the fish enclosed were trapped. See C. G. Rasmussen, ISBE, III, p. 524.
114 ἀναβιβάζω occurs here only in the New Testament.
115 The neuter τὰ χαλά is to be noted (ἰχθύς is masculine): “good things.” Are we to understand this to mean “good fish” or were other things than fish included in what was caught in the net? ἄγγος means a “container” and could be a vessel of any sort. But fish seem normally to have been put into baskets.
116 τὰ σαπρά; the word means “decayed,” “rotten,” but this can scarcely be the meaning when used of fish brought directly from the sea. It will mean fish whose use was prohibited (Lev. 11:10–12), useless fish, fish unsuited for the market.
117 The verb is ἀφορίζω, “to mark off by boundaries” (AS), but here it signifies taking the wicked out from among the righteous. Cf. 25:31–32.
118 But cf. G. Schrenk, “There is a deep gulf between the NT δίχαιος and the Greek ideal of virtue, which isolates man in independent achievement” (TDNT, II, p. 187). See further my discussion of the righteousness terminology in The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross3 (London and Grand Rapids, 1965), chs. VIII, IX.
119 ναί occurs 9 times in Matthew; it is the normal particle of affirmation.
Carson D. A. Carson, Matthew, in F. E. Gaebelein, ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, 1984)
120 μαθητευθείς (the verb occurs in the New Testament only 3 times in Matthew and once in Acts). KJV translates “is instructed,” and this indeed brings out some of the meaning, for the word certainly contains the thought of being taught. But there is also the thought of commitment, of having been “discipled.” Cassirer renders, “when a teacher of the law becomes a learner in the kingdom of heaven.”
121 οἰχοδεσπότης is another Matthean word (7 times in this Gospel out of 12 New Testament occurrences). Some translations make him the “owner of a house” (as NIV, GNB) or “head of a household” (NASB).
122 μεταίρω is not a common word, being found elsewhere in the New Testament only in 19:1. AS gives its meaning as “to remove” and notes that “to depart” is unclassical. ἐχεῖθεν is a favorite Matthean word (12 times).
123 πατρίς is strictly the feminine of πάτριος, but it is used to mean one’s “fatherland,” “home land,” or, as here, “hometown.”
NIV The Holy Bible, New International Version (Grand Rapids, 1978)
124 ἐχπλήσσω properly means “to strike out, drive away,” but comes to mean “to strike with panic or shock, to amaze, astonish” (AS).
AS G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh, 1954)
125 The word is δύναμις, commonly used in the Synoptic Gospels for Jesus’ miracles. It points to the power that enabled him to accomplish things beyond the reach of ordinary mortals.
126 τέχτων (used elsewhere in the New Testament only in Mark 6:3) could be used of any craftsman, but it is mostly used for a worker in wood, a carpenter. MM cites a passage where it is used of a sculptor but agrees that it mostly means a carpenter. There is no reason for seeing any other meaning here. Albright and Mann translate “builder,” and say that the word “has a wide range of meanings, from a shipbuilder to a sculptor, but it generally indicates a craftsman of considerable skill. The word can even be used of a physician” (pp. 172–73). Moffatt has “joiner.”
127 πᾶσαι is feminine, “all the sisters.” On πρὸς ἡμᾶς Turner remarks, “instead of class. Attic παρʼ ἡμῖν, marking the Hellenistic preference for accus.” (M, III, p. 273).
128 The verb is σχανδαλίζω, the one that speaks of the bait stick of a trap, which when touched by an animal or bird sets the trap in motion. They viewed Jesus as someone who meant trouble, and they saw no further (“by refusing to believe in him or by becoming apostate fr. him a person falls into sin,” BAGD, 1.b). G. Stählin points out that in the Gospels this verb is always used for “the reason for going astray or falling, the reference in each case is to Jesus”; he goes on to say that the expression is the opposite of believing in him (TDNT, VII, p. 349).
129 Causal use of ἐν.
130 The question of the limitation posed by unbelief is a difficult one. We cannot say that Jesus never healed unless the patient had faith, for there was the lame man in John 5 who knew nothing about Jesus, not even his name. There is similarly no room for faith in the story of the raising from the dead of the son of the woman of Nain; Jesus met the cortège, stopped it, and called the young man back from the dead, but nobody is said to have believed in him. We could similarly cite the healing of the Gadarene demoniac and other miracles. We may say that Jesus commonly worked his miracles in an atmosphere of faith and that normally only those with faith were in a position to receive healing at his hands. But at Nazareth we are dealing with outright rejection and hostility; we cannot expect miracles in such an atmosphere.
1 See Harold W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas (Cambridge, 1972), pp. 110–71 for a good account of the problems relating to the Herods and John the Baptist.
2 τετραάρχης from τετράς, “four,” and ἀρχή, “rule,” thus “ruler of a fourth part.” It is used only here in Matthew, and 3 times elsewhere in the New Testament.
3 ἀχοή (see on 4:24) here denotes “what is heard,” “a report.” The definite article indicates “the” news about Jesus; Herod heard the definitive story. The absence of the article with Ἰησοῦ is unusual in this Gospel.
4 τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ. Clearly the word here refers to servants, apparently those especially close to the ruler.
5 αὐτός puts emphasis on the subject, “he and no other”!
6 ἐγείρω is used of a variety of risings; it is often used of resurrection from the dead. ἀπό is not the usual preposition in such cases (which is rather ἐχ, as in the Markan equivalent of this saying), but it is found again in Matthew in 27:64; 28:7.
7 For δυνάμις see on 7:22; here the definite article points to the miracles of which Herod had been hearing, not theoretical miracles.
8 Ἡρῴδης lacks the article in verse 1, but has it here and in verse 6; “the” Herod, mentioned above. A number of MSS read τότε here, but this is a frequent Matthean word and it may well have been inserted to make clear that “the situation reflected in ver. 3 antedates that of verses 1 and 2” (Metzger). But this is sufficiently indicated by the use of the aorist in the sense of the pluperfect (Burton, MT, 48); the word should probably not be read.
GNB Good News Bible (London and New York, 1976)
9 There is a certain confusion in the use of names. Ridderbos says of Herod Philip, “Josephus then calls him by his first name and Matthew and Mark by his second. The same thing in fact happened with the name Herod Antipas, but in reverse order; in the New Testament he is always called Herod, while elsewhere he is called Antipas.”
10 Josephus describes these happenings in Ant. 18.109–15; in the following section (116–19) he tells of Herod’s execution of John the Baptist.
11 Bruce speaks of this as a “progressive imperfect, with force of a pluperfect.” But it certainly indicates more than a solitary utterance.
12 Thus Herodias married her uncle Herod Philip and had a daughter Salome. Later Salome married Philip the tetrarch, half brother to Herod Philip. She thus became both aunt and sister-in-law to her own mother!
13 θέλω (see on 1:19) signifies the action of the will. Herod did not go through with the suggestion, but this is what he wanted to do.
14 ὄχλος means a “crowd” and is often used in this Gospel of people gathered together. But here it does not mean a specific gathering, but the people as a whole, assembled or not. Filson comments, “throughout the story Herod acts in fear and cowardice; he fears John; he fears the Jews who approve John’s preaching; he fears to break an unholy oath; he fears to seem weak before his guests; he fears Herodias, whose merciless scheming and hatred are apparent.”
15 ἔχω is used here in the sense “consider, look upon, view” (BAGD, I.5; cf. 21:26). ὡς may introduce the characteristic quality of a person, thing, or action (cf. “did not glorify God as [ὡς] God,” Rom. 1:21); “condemned as [ὡς] a sinner,” Rom. 3:7).
ISBE The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids, 1979-88)
16 There were two words in use: “The distinction between τὰ γενέσια, the commemoration of the dead, and τὰ γενέθλια, the birthday feast of a living man, disappears in late Greek” (MM, which draws attention to examples in the papyri cited in LAE, p. 371). The word here is γενέσια, again in the New Testament only in the parallel in Mark 6:21. The plural is usual for a festival, and γενεσίοις γενομένοις is “apparently a dat. absolute” (M, III, p. 243; no other example of the construction appears to be cited from the New Testament).
17 ὀρχέομαι is used 4 times only in the New Testament, here and in Mark 6:22 of Salome’s dancing, in 11:17 and in Luke 7:32 of children at play. We have no information about the nature of the dance (the “seven veils” and other suggestions are no more than conjecture), but there is no reason to question Filson’s reference to “the no doubt immodest and provocative dance of her daughter.”
18 ἐν τῷ μέσῳ, “in the middle”; this scarcely means “in front of the whole group” (GNB), but it certainly signifies that the performance was public.
Ta‘an. Ta‘anit
19 ὅθεν means “from where” and may be used of place (25:24, 26), but also, as here, logically: “from which fact.”
20 The verb is the middle, αἰτήσηται. J. H. Moulton draws attention to the distinction made by Blass, that “αἰτοῦμαι was used in business transactions, αἰτῶ in requests of a son from a father, a man from God and others on the same lines.” Of the middle here Blass says, “the daughter of Herodias, after the king’s declaration, stands in a kind of business relation to him,” and Moulton comments, “so that the differentia of the middle cited above will hold” (M, I, pp. 160–61).
21 προβιβάζω (here only in the New Testament) is causal of προβαίνω and means “to lead forward, lead on; metaph., to induce, incite, urge” (AS).
22 πίναξ properly signifies something flat like a board; here a plate seems the meaning (cf. Luke 11:39).
23 “Since he was called ‘king’ only by courtesy, Matthew’s use of the title here has a touch of irony: a king made the tool of a woman” (Lenski, p. 559).
24 τοὺς συναναχειμένους, “those who reclined with him,” that is, at table.
25 Or this may be an example of the “allusive” plural, which “is sometimes used when a class or variety rather than number is stressed” (M, III, p. 25).
26 Derrett points out that there were ways in which Herod might have been released from his oath (Law, pp. 339–58). But he evidently preferred not to use them.
27 χελεύω means “to command” (“mostly of one in authority,” AS); the verb here has no object, but it is easy to understand “it.”
28 χοράσιον is used in the New Testament only in Matthew (3 times) and Mark (5 times); it is the diminutive of χόρη and is used of Jairus’s daughter (9:24, 25), who was about age 12 (Mark 5:42). Hoehner estimates that Salome would have been “twelve to fourteen years old” (Herod Antipas, p. 156). At this age it would have been natural for her to consult her mother as to what to ask.
29 The verb for “bring” is φέρω: “On the bringing in of a head at a banquet cf. Diog. L. 9, 58—the presence of a severed head did not necessarily disturb the mood at a meal. Appian … relates concerning Antony that he had the head of Cicero placed πρὸ τῆς τραπέζης” (BAGD, 4.a.a).
Gundry R. H. Gundry, Matthew (Grand Rapids, 1982)
Melinsky H. Melinsky, Matthew (London, 1965)
30 Plummer points out that the supernatural in this story “is confined to what was absolutely necessary, and goes no further. If an exhibition of power had been the main purpose, something much more striking might have been wrought. The food might have come down visibly from heaven. It might have been not only multiplied, but distributed miraculously. Ten times the amount that was required might have been provided, and it might have been of a much richer quality” (p. 204).
31 “Went away” translates ἀναχωρέω, which Matthew has in 10 of its 14 New Testament occurrences. It signifies “go away,” “withdraw,” and is often used of a withdrawal that avoids danger (cf. 2:12–14; 12:15, etc.).
32 ἐξέρχομαι means “go out,” but here clearly it is going out of a boat that is meant. The participle is singular; presumably the disciples disembarked at the same time, but Matthew says nothing about that. He concentrates his attention on what Jesus did.
33 For σπλαγχνίζομαι see on 9:36. It is a strong term; Barclay translates here, “He was moved with compassion for them to the depths of His being.” Matthew often speaks of “crowds” in the plural, but here ὄχλος is in the singular.
34 For θεραπεύω see on 4:23. ἄρρωστος occurs only here in Matthew (5 times in the New Testament). It derives from ἀ privative and ῥώνυμμι, “to strengthen,” and thus signifies “feeble, sickly.”
35 ὀψία occurs in Matthew 7 times, exactly half its New Testament total of 14. He always has it in the expression “when evening came.”
36 Remote renders ἔρημος, for which see on 3:1; it points to a deserted place (“desolate,” NASB) where there was no prospect of local help. παρέρχομαι means “to go by, pass by”; it is used of people passing by (8:28), of heaven and earth passing out of existence (5:18), and of the passing of a whole generation (24:34), but this is the only place where Matthew has it of the passing of time.
37 This is Matthew’s one use of βρῶμα, and he has it in the plural, “foods”; this, however, does not appear to differ significantly from the singular.
38 ἀπέρχομαι is a favorite word of Matthew’s (35 times).
39 ὑμεῖς is emphatic: You give them what is necessary.
40 ἔχω is common in Matthew (75 times). Here it has no object. It is followed by εἰ μή, “if not, except.”
41 The verb is χελεύω, “of verbal orders in general” (AS); it is a command, not a suggestion.
42 ἀναχλίνω occurs again in 8:11, once in Mark, 3 times in Luke, and nowhere else in the New Testament. It means “recline” and does not seem to differ significantly from ἀνάχειμαι. Reclining was the normal posture at a banquet, and France thinks that this may hint at a formal banquet. Though the meal was simple (bread and fish were the food of the poor), this is a formal occasion looking forward to the messianic banquet. Translations like GNB, “sit down,” miss this point.
43 Matthew has ἀναβλέπω three times, and in both the others it refers to blind people receiving sight. But the word also means “to look up,” and there is no doubt that that is the meaning here.
44 The verb is εὐλογέω, which we might translate “blessed.” But if we do we should be clear that this does not mean that Jesus imparted a blessing to the bread (Moffatt errs here with “blessed them”). It is a way of referring to a prayer of thanksgiving. One of the oldest forms of prayer among the Jews is the “Eighteen Benedictions,” a series of prayers of thanksgiving, each of which begins with “Blessed art Thou …” and goes on to mention that for which thanks is being given. In the Mishnah we find that the blessing to be said over bread was “Blessed art thou who bringest forth bread from the earth” (Ber. 6:1). From the Talmud we find that “A man is forbidden to taste anything before saying a blessing over it” (Ber. 35a).
45 χλάω, “break,” occurs 14 times in the New Testament; they all refer to the breaking of bread, and most of them are accompanied by a verb expressing the giving of thanks. Matthew does not specifically mention the fish as being broken, but since Jesus took them along with the loaves the presumption is that he shared them too (as Mark says he did, 6:41).
46 But we may say, as Diétrich does, “This brotherly love feast anticipates the Lord’s Supper, and beyond that Supper the great gathering of the children of God at the banquet of the Kingdom.”
47 Glover comments, “there is one Mediator who wins God’s gifts; there are many mediators who distribute them.”
48 The verb ἐσθίω is used 65 times in the New Testament, of which Matthew can claim 11. Moulton says of it, the verb “is very obviously durative. … The root ed is so distinctly durative that it forms no aorist, but the punctiliar φαγεῖν (originally ‘to divide’) supplies the defect. It will be found that φαγεῖν in the NT is invariably constative: it denotes simply the action of ἐσθίειν seen in perspective, and not either the beginning or the end of that action” (M, I, p. 111).
49 The verb χορτάζω (connected with χόρτος, “an enclosure,” then “a feeding place,” and so “food”) is used properly of animals with the meaning “to feed, fatten” (AS). It thus comes to signify a satisfying meal.
M. Green M. Green, Matthew for Today (London, 1988)
50 Each of the Evangelists uses the word χόφινος for “basket.” It is often said that this term denotes a small container for goods that a traveler might take with him over against σπυρίς or σφυρίς, which is said to be large and able to hold a man (Acts 9:25). But the difference between the two words appears to refer to material, not size. A χόφινος was rigid (made of wicker?), while a σφυρίς was flexible (made of hemp or the like?). See further my note in The Gospel according to John, p. 345, n. 25.
51 οἱ ἐσθίοντες is present, “the eaters”; we might have expected a past tense, but Matthew is concentrating on the number, not the precise stage of the meal.
52 He says that Jesus did this εὐθέως, that he constrained (ἀναγχάζω, “compel by force or persuasion” [AS], used here only in Matthew; it signifies strong action and means more than giving gentle advice) the disciples to go (they may well have been sympathetic to the king makers), and that that meant that they should go before him (the verb is προάγω).
53 πέραν means “on the other side, across (usually with the idea of water lying between)” (AS).
54 Argyle quotes some words of William Temple: “The right relation between prayer and conduct is not that conduct is supremely important and prayer may help it, but that prayer is supremely important and conduct tests it.”
LSJ A Greek-English Lexicon, comp. by H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, rev. by H. S. Jones and R. McKenzie, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1940)
55 βασανίζω may be used in the sense “torture,” and from that it comes to signify any severe distress. Here the waves are pictured as harassing the sailors. χῦμα, “wave,” is used only 4 times in the New Testament, 2 in Matthew.
56 ἐναντίος, here only in Matthew, has the meaning “over against, contrary” and thus signifies a wind dead against the travelers.
57 φυλαχή is used 10 times in Matthew; it signifies “a guarding, a guard,” as in Luke 2:8. It is used of those who guard (Acts 12:10), or of the place where the guarding is done, that is, a prison (as in vv. 3 and 10), or, as here, of the time when the guarding or watching was done.
58 In this verse on the sea translates ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης; it is not clear why Matthew here uses the genitive, whereas in verses 25 and 29 it is the accusative. BAGD speaks of the accusative as being used “w. motion implied” (ἐπί, III.1.a.α), but motion is just as much implied in verse 25, where they see the preposition as “answering the question ‘where?’ ” (I.1.a.α).
59 Matthew uses the verb ταράσσω, which is used of disturbing, stirring up, primarily in a physical sense, but also metaphorically of the mind (AS), the sense in which it is used here; they were “troubled,” “disturbed.” So it was that they “cried out from fear” (ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου). Their cry (χράζω) will have been an inarticulate shriek.
60 ἐγώ εἰμι. This expression may well be no more than a means of self-identification, but it is used in John’s Gospel a number of times when Jesus is giving teaching about his special functions—“I am the Good Shepherd,” “I am the bread of life,” and so on. Such expressions are not found in the Synoptic Gospels, but the present expression is suggestive. Filson remarks that the statement “implies that the speaker has authority and embodies God’s power and claim. Jesus brings the answer to their need if only they perceive and believe that in him God is at work to save them” (p. 173). Cf. also Hill, “not ‘It is I’, but ‘I AM’, the Living One, master of wind and wave.”
61 Πέτρος has the article here and in every reference in Matthew from this point on (apart from “Simon Peter,” 16:16, and “You are Peter,” 16:18), although it never has it in the preceding passages.
62 εἰ with the indicative.
63 χαταβαίνω. It is used of the coming down of rain (7:25, 27), of people from a mountain (17:9), of an angel (27:42), and of the Holy Spirit (3:16).
64 Tasker denies that Peter walked on the water “even for a brief moment,” maintaining that the aorist is inceptive, “began to walk.” This seems a curious reading of the Greek, but even if we accept it, Peter did commence walking.
65 The present participle βλέπων means something like “as he saw”; the switch of attention from Jesus to the storm coincided with Peter’s inability to stay on top of the water.
66 Some MSS say no more than that he saw the wind (א B* 073 33 cop), but there is good support for adding ἰσχυρόν (B2 C D K L P f1 f13 etc.).
67 ἀρξάμενος may be “beginning over against continuing” or “beginning over against completion.”
68 εὐθεώς is a favorite Matthean word (he has it in 11 of its 33 New Testament occurrences). It indicates that Jesus did not delay; he acted promptly to deal with Peter’s predicament.
69 διστάζω occurs in the New Testament again only in 28:17. Turner sees the aorist here as conveying the meaning “get into a state of doubting” (M, IV, p. 33). Matthew refers to lacks in the faith of the disciples again in 16:8; 17:20; 21:20; 28:17.
70 The aorist participle implies that they got into the boat first, and then the wind dropped. The tempest raged all the time they were on the water. The verb χοπάζω (elsewhere in the New Testament only twice in Mark) means “to grow weary,” an interesting word to use of the wind.
71 ἀληθῶς occurs 3 times in Matthew (and 18 times in the New Testament). In LXX it renders אָמֵז and means “truly,” “surely.”
72 The lack of articles in θεοῦ υἱός does not mean “a son of a god” but is an example of Colwell’s rule, that the preceding anarthrous predicate is definite: the meaning is “the Son of God.”
73 διαπεράω is used twice each in Matthew and Mark and once each in Luke and Acts, so it cannot be said to be frequently used in the New Testament. It signifies “pass over,” “cross over.” ἐπί may be used of motion across (so v. 25) or “motion that reaches its goal completely” (BAGD, III.1.a.β).
74 W. W. Buehler, in ISBE, II, p. 443.
75 For χαχῶς ἔχειν see on 4:24; to “have it badly” is a general term covering all sorts of complaints.
76 διασῴζω is found only here in Matthew (and only 7 more times in the New Testament). It signifies “to bring safely through a danger … of sickness, to recover” (AS).
Shab. Shabbat
1 The verb παραβαίνω, found only in Acts 1:25 outside this passage in the New Testament, has the meaning “go by the side of, stand beside” and thus “overstep, violate, transgress” (AS). The disciples transgress the tradition. The present tense points to their continuing practice.
2 παράδοσις, “a handing down or over” and thus “a tradition” (AS), is used in the Gospels only 3 times by Matthew and 5 times by Mark, all with reference to the Jewish traditions. It may be used in this way in Paul, but that apostle also used it of Christian traditions (1 Cor. 11:2, etc.). Among the Jews it was held that “Moses received the Law from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders. … They said three things: Be deliberate in judgement, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Law” (’Abot 1:1). R. Akiba explained this last point: “The tradition is a fence around the Law” (’Abot 3:14). The point of this is that the tradition was seen as a protection for the law; anyone who kept the tradition would not come anywhere near breaking the law. How false this view was is clear from the incident we are considering. Danby takes the law Moses received as “The ‘Oral Law,’ ” and further notes that “the traditions of the elders” were “rules of Jewish life and religion which in the course of centuries had come to possess a validity and sanctity equal to that of the Written Law” (Danby, p. 446, n. 2).
3 πρεσβύτερος is the comparative of πρέσβυς, “an old man”; it was used of age, but more significantly “Of dignity, rank or office” (AS). It might refer to civic or religious leaders, and to those of the past or of the present. Among the Jews it was often used of the great ones of the past who had given authoritative interpretations of the meaning of Scripture and of religious duties, and also of lay leaders in the synagogues and the like. Later, Christians took up the term and employed it for leaders in the local churches.
4 See F. Hauck, TDNT, IV, pp. 946–48 for these washings. He points out that the washing of hands before meals “goes back to regulations imposed by Hillel and Shammai” (p. 946).
Yad. Yadaim
Ḥul. Ḥullin
5 When is ὅταν, “whenever”; the washing in question should take place every time food is eaten.
6 ὁ δέ marks the contrast.
7 ἐντολή signifies an authoritative injunction and is especially used of the divine commandments.
8 διά with accusative “to indicate the reason” (BAGD, B.II.1).
9 χαχολογέω (here only in Matthew; 4 times in the New Testament) means “to speak ill of, abuse.” Some translations render it “curse,” but the term is a wide one and covers smaller offenses than cursing.
10 τελευτάω (4 times in Matthew) means “to complete” and is often used of the completion of the life, that is, death. Here all doubt is removed with the addition of θανάτῳ, a somewhat Hebraistic construction.
11 Such vows were in fact made. The Mishnah speaks, for example, of a problem faced by a man at Beth Horon “whose father was forbidden by vow to have any benefit from him.” In due course the man came to give his own son in marriage and wanted his father to share in the festivities. So he tried to make a temporary gift of the courtyard and banquet to a friend, only for the purpose of having his father come to the banquet. The Sages, however, decided that this was not a valid gift (Ned. 5:6). The incident shows further that it was not necessary for the son actually to give the gift to the temple; he could retain the use of it as long as it was withheld from the person(s) specified in the vow.
12 In a Glossary of Hebrew terms appended to Herbert Danby’s translation of the Mishnah we find: “KONAM. A word substituted for Korban (lit. ‘an offering’, i.e. sacred as an offering dedicated to the Temple), the usual term introducing a vow to abstain from anything, or to deny another person the use of anything.” The tractate Nedarim makes it clear that anything vowed to the Lord, even rashly, could not be put to any other use. A rash vow might then take up resources that should have been used to support aged parents. The Mishnah contains provisions whereby such a rash vow may be annulled “by reason of the honour due to father and mother” (Ned. 9:1), but this appears to be later than New Testament times.
13 ὃ ἐάν is general and signifies “whatever”; it thus points to the whole of what might otherwise have been given to the parents.
14 Burton remarks, “the thought requires the Imperative sense, and in view of the frequent use of οὐ μή with the Future in an imperative sense in the Septuagint, and its occasional use in classical Greek, the possibility of it can hardly be denied” (Burton, MT, 67). Cf. REB, he “must not honour…,” NIV, “he is not to ‘honor…’ ”; “need not honor” (NRSV) is not strong enough, “for the point is that the man was legally prohibited from doing so” (Tasker, p. 148).
15 ἀχυρόω (once each in Matthew, Mark, and Galatians only in the New Testament) means “revoke, invalidate” (χῦρος, “authority”) (AS). MM notes its use in the papyri in the sense “revoke” etc.
16 τὸν λόγον seems to have better attestation (א1 B D Θ etc.) than the variants τὸν νόμον and τὴν ἐντολήν; it also has transcriptional probability, for we expect something about law or command.
AB The Anchor Bible: W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew (New York, 1971)
17 Matthew uses the verb προφητεύω only 4 times (he has the corresponding noun 37 times). This is not his usual formula for quoting a prophet, but he makes the point firmly enough that Isaiah spoke these words and that they referred not only to people in the prophet’s own day but to those confronting Jesus.
18 λαός occurs 14 times in Matthew, twice each in Mark and John, 36 times in Luke, and 48 in Acts. It can be a general word for “people” and may mean no more than a crowd (27:25), the populace at large (27:64), or the people as opposed to their leaders (26:5). But it may also mean specifically “the people of God” (2:6).
19 μάτην (again in the New Testament only in Mark 7:7) is the accusative of μάτη, “a fault, folly,” and is used in the sense, “to no purpose” (AS).
20 διδάσχω occurs 14 times in Matthew (17 times each in Mark and Luke, and 9 times in John). With this frequency of the verb it is curious that the noun διδασχαλία occurs only here and once in Mark in the Gospels (Paul has it 19 times). It may mean the act of teaching or the content, what is taught.
21 χοινόω (5 times each in Matthew and Mark) is used in the classics for “to make common,” and in LXX and the New Testament for “to make ceremonially unclean, to profane” (AS).
22 ἐχπορεύω (which Matthew has 5 times) can mean the going out of people to meet John the Baptist (3:5), of demons (17:21), of people leaving a city (20:29), and of words spoken by God (4:4).
23 Gundry comments, “Thus the cleansing of all foods does not countermand the law, but intensifies it by transmuting the dietary taboos into prohibitions against evil speech, just as the so-called antitheses in the Sermon on the Mount did not destroy the law, but fulfilled it” (p. 306).
24 The verb is σχανδαλίζω (see on 5:29); it means “to cause to be caught in a trap” or “to fall” in any one of a variety of ways. It may mean “to cause to sin” (5:29–30), but here it is rather (in the passive) “be given offense,” “be offended.” G. Stählin denies that this means “feeling hurt”; rather, “the primary meaning is ‘deep religious offence’ at the preaching of Jesus, and this both causes and includes denial and rejection of Jesus” (TDNT, VII, p. 350).
25 φυτεία is found here only in the New Testament; it signifies “a planting” and thus “what is planted,” a garden plant, not a wildflower. φυτεύω is more frequent (11 times), but occurs only twice in Matthew; it means “to plant.”
26 ἀφίημι (which Matthew uses 47 times; see on 12:31) has a meaning like “let go,” “send away” and is used in a variety of ways for “sending away.” Thus Matthew utilizes it for permitting an action (3:15), going away from fishing nets (4:20), letting a man take a piece of clothing (5:40), forgiving sins (6:14–15), and so on. Here clearly it means that the disciples are not to be unduly concerned by what the Pharisees said; they are to “forsake,” “leave alone” such religious teachers.
27 There are textual problems relating to this verse. τυφλῶν is omitted by B D and some other MSS, and the position of ὁδηγοί varies. But the longer reading best accounts for the variants, which leads Metzger to accept it. There is no significant difference in meaning.
28 βόθυνος occurs again in 12:11; Luke 6:39 only in the New Testament. It signifies “a pit,” “a ditch.”
29 φράζω, elsewhere in the New Testament only as a variant reading in 13:36, has a meaning like “tell, declare, explain.”
Diétrich S. de Diétrich, Saint Matthew (London, 1962)
30 Stendahl remarks that Peter’s use of the term “parable” here “may well remind us of how bold Jesus’ interpretation was felt to be, since we would hardly find 11 to be a parable or an enigma.”
31 δέ as in verses 3, 5, 13, and 15.
32 Matthew uses ἀσύνετος only here; it conveys the idea of a lack of discernment or understanding. ἀχμήν occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is the accusative of ἀχμή, “a point,” used as an adverb, “at the present point of time, even now, even yet” (AS). χαὶ ὑμεῖς puts emphasis on you.
33 νοέω. It is connected with νοῦς, “the mind.”
34 In verse 11 Jesus used εἰσέρχομαι for what goes into the mouth, but now his verb is εἰσπορεύομαι. There seems to be no difference in meaning; the variation is stylistic.
35 ἐχβάλλεται, “is thrown out” or “is expelled.”
36 ἀφεδρών means “a privy,” “a latrine.” Cf. Lenski, “An ἀφεδρών is not a ‘draught’ or a ‘drain’ but a place to which one retires (ἀπό) and sits down (ἕδρα, seat)” (p. 592).
37 χἀχεῖνος (in Matthew again only in 23:23) can denote “what is relatively more distant” or, as here, “what is relatively closer” (BAGD).
38 γάρ.
39 διαλογισμός means “thought,” “reasoning,” and the adjective πονηρός (see on 6:23) “evil.” The combination adds up to “evil plans.”
40 μοιχεία is found in the corresponding passage in Mark 7:22, in the story of the woman caught in adultery that has been appended to John 7 (John 8:3), and nowhere else in the New Testament. It differs from the following term, of course, in that it involves a sin against the marriage tie. πορνεία (3 times in Matthew and 25 times in the New Testament) strictly means “fornication” (the use of the prostitute, πόρνη), but it comes to be used for sexual sin of any kind.
41 χλοπή, again in the New Testament only in Mark 7:21, means “theft” of any kind (LSJ even notes its use for theft from authors, plagiarism).
42 ψευδομαρτυρία. Mark’s list is longer than Matthew’s, but he does not include “false witness.”
43 βλασφημία (4 times in Matthew) can mean “slander” (12:31), and it is translated that way here by NRSV and other translations. But it is also used of impious words uttered against God; Phillips renders here “blasphemy,” and Goodspeed, “impious speech.”
Bonnard P. Bonnard, L’Evangile selon Saint Matthieu, 2nd edn. (Neuchâtel, 1970)
44 ἄνιπτος, “unwashed,” is found again in the New Testament only in Mark 7:2.
45 Albright and Mann comment, “Both the silence of Jesus and the near-desperate cry of the disciples are interesting in the light of commentators’ assertion that this gospel (in contrast with the supposedly earlier Mark) treats Jesus and his disciples with increased reverence.”
TIM G. Bornkamm, G. Barth, and H. J. Held, Tradition and Interpretation in Matthew (London, 1963)
46 The verb is ἀναχωρέω, “to go back, withdraw,” “freq. in sense of avoiding danger” (AS); “The connotation of ‘taking refuge’ from some peril will suit most of the NT passages remarkably well” (MM).
47 τὰ μέρη, “the parts.” The word can denote the part as opposed to the whole (Luke 11:36) and be used in other ways, but Matthew generally has it in the sense here, the regions belonging to a province or city (cf. 2:22; 16:13). The expression indicates that Jesus went into Phoenician territory, not just to the border.
48 Χαναναῖος is found only here in the New Testament. It denotes “belonging to the land and people of Canaan, Canaanite” (BAGD). AB renders “Phoenician” and points out that “the native name” of a Phoenician “was in the Greek Chananaios.” Carr notes that the expression rendered “the land of Canaan” (Josh. 5:12) appears in LXX as the land “τῶν Φοινίχων.” It is clear that the people could be called either “Canaanites” or “Phoenicians.”
49 χράζω may mean that she shouted or that she cried out or spoke loudly. Whatever the precise way in which we should understand the verb, clearly the woman was not speaking calmly in an ordinary voice.
50 Κύριε is not to be understood as no more than a polite greeting (like our “Sir,” which REB translates here and in v. 27). In this context it will have its fullest meaning.
51 χαχῶς δαιμονίζεται. Matthew has the adverb χαχῶς 7 times, which is more than in any other New Testament book. He commonly speaks of very sick people as “having badly,” but this use is not quite the same. It may mean “cruelly demon-possessed” (NASB) or “tormented by a devil” (REB), or, as in the translation I have suggested, there may be the thought of evil in conjunction with the activity of the demon.
52 ἠρώτουν is imperfect, which seems to mean “they kept asking”; they pressed their request.
53 ὄπισθεν means “from behind”; apparently the little group was moving, and she kept following and calling out to them “from behind.”
JB The Jerusalem Bible (London, 1966)
54 Their verb ἀπολύω is used of sending away satisfied in 18:27; Luke 2:29.
55 οὐχ... εἰ μή excludes from the scope of the mission all those not designated. G. Strecker pointed out that some have argued from this expression that Matthew’s church was Jewish-Christian, but the saying “rather corresponds to his historical reflection: only for Jesus, and thus for the disciples in the lifetime of Jesus, is this restriction valid. Only during the life of Jesus is the proclamation directed exclusively to the people of Israel” (Stanton, p. 72).
56 “Jesus wished the woman to understand that His activities were circumscribed not only by the inevitable limitations of His manhood, but by the specific part that He had been called to play during His brief earthly life” (Tasker, p. 150).
57 προσχυνέω is often used in the sense “worship,” which may well be the meaning here; after all, the woman had spoken of Jesus as “Lord” and as “Son of David,” so she clearly had a high view of his person. But in this place it appears that some bodily expression of worship is meant, so perhaps “knelt” is right. Turner regards the imperfect as important; he holds that it indicates that the meaning is “request … as distinct from the aorist which means worship” (M, III, p. 65).
58 βοηθέω, here only in Matthew, means “help,” “come to the aid of” and may be used of helping in need of various kinds.
59 There is textual variation, with some MSS reading ἔξεστιν, to give the sense “it is not lawful,” and there are other readings. But there seems to be no doubt that we should read ἔστιν χαλόν both because of its superior attestation and because it is the harder reading.
AS G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (Edinburgh, 1954)
60 χυνάριον (found in the New Testament only in this narrative and the Markan equivalent) is a diminutive of χύων and may signify a house dog in contrast to a dog of the streets, but it is also used with no diminutive force. Mostly in Scripture dogs are pariah dogs, but this cannot be the meaning here, for such dogs would not be allowed in a house where they could pick up scraps (though John W. Klotz thinks “scavenging dogs” are meant, BEB, I, p. 100). The meaning must be house dogs. That such dogs were kept in Israel is clear from the Mishnah (B. Qam. 5:3; such a dog must be kept on a chain, B. Qam. 7:7).
Barclay William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, 2 vols. (Edinburgh, 1958)
61 Beare insists on taking the saying in the harshest possible way. Jesus replies “more brutally,” “the offensive words are unrelieved.” Beare speaks of “the brutality” and “the incredible insolence of the saying.” But this unsympathetic literalism is surely not the way this Gospel is to be interpreted. Barclay and Filson are much nearer to the mind of Matthew.
62 γάρ; translations like “but” (GNB) miss the point that the woman is drawing an inference from what Jesus has said, not opposing him.
63 ψιχίον is the diminutive of ψίξ, “a crumb,” so it points to “a little crumb,” a very small piece indeed.
64 “Curiously felicitous combination of ready wit, humility and faith: wit in seizing on the playful χυνάρια and improving on it by adding ψιχία, humility in being content with the smallest crumbs, faith in conceiving of the healing asked as only such a crumb for Jesus to give” (Bruce).
65 BDF points out that it may be used in a polite, unemotional manner, but “There is a stronger emotion in Mt 15:28 … which announces an immediate reward” (BDF 146 [1 (b)]).
Hamann H. P. Hamann, The Gospel according to Matthew (Adelaide, 1984)
66 Matthew has πίστις only 8 times; it is comparatively rare in the Gospels (Mark 5 times, Luke 11 times, John 0). But it is found 243 times in the New Testament.
67 Tasker also discerns a difference in “the spiritual lessons which Jesus seems to have wished His disciples to learn from them. … Although both miracles are performed in the same way, and are signs that Jesus possesses supernatural power over created things, in the first story He seems to be concerned that the disciples should understand how utterly dependent upon Him they must always be, if they are to do what He would have them do, and in the second story He seems to be indirectly reproving them for their lack of sympathy with the needs of the Gentile world” (p. 154).
68 μεταβαίνω (5 times in Matthew, the most in any New Testament book) means “to pass over from one place to another” and here “with reference to the point of departure only, to withdraw, depart” (AS).
69 “From the time of St. Augustine the suggestion has been known that the Feeding of the Five Thousand represents Christ’s communication of Himself to the Jews, and that of the Four Thousand represents His self-communication to the Gentiles” (Alan Richardson, The Miracle-Stories of the Gospels [London, 1959], pp. 97–98).
70 ἔχοντες μεθʼ ἑαυτῶν is a somewhat curious way of putting it, but clearly the meaning is that the healthy brought with them those with impaired health.
71 χωλός signifies “lame,” “crippled”; the term may be used of the hands as well as of the feet. χυλλός means “club-footed and bandy-legged” and more generally “deformed, contracted” (LSJ). It is not easy to distinguish between the two words, and we can scarcely say more than that Matthew is referring to deformities of various kinds.
72 ῥίπτω.
73 For ὥστε see on 12:12.
74 ὑγιής, again in Matthew only in 12:13 (of a hand); it signifies “healthy,” “whole.”
75 ὁ δέ.
76 Bonnard remarks, “Jesus is not a stirrer of crowds; he does not use them; he welcomes them, brings them together and feeds them” (p. 236). Ryle points out that “of all the feelings experienced by our Lord when upon earth, there is none so often mentioned as ‘compassion’ … this was the distinguishing feature of His character.”
77 προσμένω, here only in Matthew, means “to wait longer, continue; remain with” (AS). The nominative ἡμέραι τρεῖς is unexpected; for the duration of time the accusative would be usual. Turner suggests that we should supply a main verb such as εἰσιν and add χαί (M, III, p. 231). Moule includes this in a section on “peculiar uses, which it is difficult to justify grammatically” (IBNTG, p. 31). “That this is the true reading is guaranteed by the unusual construction, the accusative being what one expects” (Bruce).
78 οὐ θέλω puts the emphasis on the will.
79 νῆστις occurs in the New Testament only here and in the Markan equivalent. AS says that it is chiefly poetical and that it derives from νη-, a negative prefix, and ἐσθίω; it thus means “not eating,” that is, “fasting.” μήποτε (see on 4:6) is here used “denoting purpose … oft. expressing apprehension” (BAGD, 2.b.a).
80 πόθεν is used of location, “from what place?” There is no verb in the clause; the disciples say simply “Whence to us?”; in other words, “Where will we obtain…?”
81 The verb is χορτάζω, a verb properly used of animals—“to feed, fatten”—and in late Greek of persons with the meaning “to fill or satisfy with food” (AS).
82 Matthew uses τοσοῦτος both for the number of people and the number of loaves; the problem is to fit the number of loaves to the number of eaters.
83 ἰχθύδιον, found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Mark 8:7, is a diminutive of ἰχθύς. The fish were little ones. Or perhaps, as Bengel thinks, they speak disparagingly of their supply, for the diminutive is not used in verse 36.
84 Matthew employs παραγγέλλω again only in 10:5. It has a military ring (of passing a command “along” a line of soldiers) and points to an authoritative command.
85 ἀναπίπτω, here only in Matthew, is used of the beloved disciple’s leaning back on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper (John 13:25), but it is more commonly used of reclining for a meal, at table (Luke 11:37, etc.), and here on the ground.
86 It is impossible to compare the surplus here with that in the earlier feeding, for the word for basket here is σφυρίς while in 14:20 it was χόφινος. The distinction between the two words is not that of size, but of material; the earlier word denoted a basket of some rigid material (wicker?) whereas that used here is of a more flexible material (perhaps hemp). Since we do not know how big any of the baskets was, we cannot compare the quantities of their contents.
87 οἱ δέ has no adversative force; it simply carries the narrative along.
88 χωρίς (3 times in Matthew) is used as in 14:21 to distinguish the number of men from others.
89 ὅριον occurs 12 times in the New Testament, 6 being in Matthew. The word means “a boundary,” but in the New Testament it is always used in the plural with reference to the area enclosed in the boundaries; hence “districts,” “regions.”
BEB W. A. Elwell, ed., Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, 1988)
Hill D. Hill, The Gospel of Matthew (London, 1972)
1 The verb is πειράζω, for which see on 4:1.
2 ἐπερωτάω, 25 times in Mark, but only 8 times in Matthew. It is often used of asking a question, but in late Greek it may signify to ask for something, as here.
3 The words from When it is evening to the end of verse 3 are absent from some important MSS, such as א B X f13 syrc.s sah boh Origen, and there is no Marcan equivalent. But they are read by C D K L f1 33, and indeed by the great majority of MSS. Many scholars regard them as a variant of Luke 12:54–56 (though we should notice that there are significant differences in wording). Their attestation is impressive, and those who favor acceptance point out that the words may well have been omitted by scribes in lands like Egypt where red sky in the morning does not mean that rain is imminent. Metzger cites both views but gives no verdict; UBS3 marks its uncertainty by giving it a D rating. In the end it seems that we must remain uncertain: the support for the reading is far from negligible, but the MSS that omit it are important. We should, however, bear in mind Ridderbos’s point about the disputed words: “To explain how they could have been added, however, would be as hard as to explain how they could have been omitted” (Ridderbos, p. 293, n. 37).
4 ὀψία occurs in this Gospel only in the expression ὀψίας γενομένης (7 times).
5 εὐδία (εὐ + Διός, gen. of Zeus), here only in the New Testament, has a meaning like “calm” and points to good weather. The one-word forecast is followed by the justification, introduced by γάρ. πυρράζω connects with πῦρ, “fire”; the sky is red like fire.
6 πρωΐ means early in the morning. χειμών occurs twice in Matthew and no more than once in any other book. It can mean rainy and stormy weather or winter, the season of bad weather.
7 στυγνάζω (in the New Testament only here and in the Marcan parallel) is connected with στυγνός, “sombre, gloomy, sullen,” and signifies “to have a sombre, gloomy appearance” (AS). It is translated as “threatening” (NASB), “has a threatening look” (Cassirer), “overcast” (NIV, JB).
BAGD Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, rev. and aug. by William F. Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker from the 5th edn. (Chicago, 1979)
8 They should know “that abounding sin like that of their generation was a sign of approaching doom, and that goodness and greatness like His were signs sufficient of His mission from on high” (Glover).
Carson D. A. Carson, Matthew, in F. E. Gaebelein, ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, 1984)
9 γενεά occurs 13 times in Matthew and 15 times in Luke, but no other book has it more than 5 times (Mark, Acts). It may mean all those descended from a common ancestor, a clan (Luke 16:8?), or all those living at a given time (11:16) or period of time (Luke 1:50). Matthew uses it of generations (1:17), and of the people alive in his time (24:34). He frequently characterizes the generation as evil (12:39, 41, 42, 45; 17:17; 23:36).
10 μοιχαλίς is strictly a noun meaning “adulteress,” but it is here employed as an adjective.
11 ἐπιζητέω is the “ ‘directive’ of ζητέω,” meaning “to inquire for, seek after” (AS). The thought is of wholehearted concentration.
12 “The band of disciples must be on their guard against a self-conscious religiosity that demands guarantees, when it is God’s desire to break in unexpectedly through the fixed notions of their system” (Schweizer, pp. 333–34).
13 The verb is ὁράω. It is used in this sense with μή and the subjunctive in 8:4; here with the imperative.
Lenski R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel (Minneapolis, 1964)
14 W. Lane comments, “The figure of leaven thus describes the disposition to believe only if signs which compel faith are produced” (The Gospel according to Mark [Grand Rapids, 1974], p. 281). This would fit both the Sadducees and the Herodians.
15 διαλογίζομαι means “to balance accounts” and then “to consider, reason” (AS). In this context it points to discussion. ὅτι may be understood in more ways than one. It may be recitative, simply introducing the words the disciples said (so NRSV, NASB, UBS3; cf. BDF 480[6], “with reference to the fact that”), or it may introduce a direct question, as in Turner (M, III, p. 49). But it is better to take it as causal (as KJV, NEB, etc.).
16 νοεῖτε.
17 Argyle remarks, “The thought is: ‘The feedings of the five thousand and four thousand are symbolic of my teaching which is all-sufficient for you. You do not need the teaching of my enemies, and you must beware of it.’ ” But there is no mention of the “leaven” of Jesus, nor any reference to his teaching. We may agree that the two miraculous feedings teach important spiritual lessons, but at this point it is rather the fact of their showing Jesus’ capacity to supply bread than these lessons that is to the fore.
18 There is a difficult textual problem with τῶν ἄρτων, read by אc B L 892 sah etc., τοῦ ἄρτου by C K W etc., τῶν Φαρισαίων χαὶ Σαδδουχαίων by א* syrc etc., while D Θ and others omit. It is possible that this last was the original reading with the others as expansions, but it is also possible that the scribes thought the words superfluous and omitted them. With Metzger’s committee it seems best to accept τῶν ἄρτων.
19 Bruce remarks, “The dogmas and opinions of the two parties in question were not the worst of them, but the spirit of their life: their dislike of real godliness.”
20 “Here we reach the crisis, the turning-point in the ministry of Jesus. He knew what lay before him. He knew because he planned the future, with his own death at Jerusalem. He had therefore to secure some representatives whom he could leave behind him to carry on his work” (Robinson).
21 See Josephus, Ant. 15.363–64; 18.28; War 2.168, and the articles in ISBE, I, p. 569 and IDB, I, p. 480.
22 οἱ μέν occurs here only in Matthew (though ἃ μέν etc. are found). ὁ μὲν... ὁ δέ signifies “the one … the other,” but here we have οἱ μὲν... ἄλλοι... ἕτεροι. There can be little difference in meaning between the last two.
23 His sufferings may also have been important. Tasker comments, “of all the historical characters of the Old Testament Jeremiah approximates most closely to Jesus as an outstanding example of patient endurance of undeserved suffering” (p. 157).
AB The Anchor Bible: W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew (New York, 1971)
24 In John 1:42 he is “son of John.” His father may have borne two names, or perhaps Ἰωνᾶ is a contraction of Ἰωάνης. Jona is a very infrequent name, and it is possible that “son of Jona” means “someone very like Jona.”
25 The expression means “man w. strong emphasis on his ephemeral character, his shortsightedness and moral weakness” (BAGD, αἷμα, 1.a).
26 Πέτρος and πέτρα. This latter means “a rock, i.e. a mass of live rock as distinct from πέτρος, a detached stone or boulder” (AS). Turner remarks, “The name of the apostle Πέτρος, if it actually means rock and corresponds to Aram. Κηφᾶς, cannot be connected directly with πέτρος, since this was out of general use; it does not mean rock but is a masculinizing of πέτρα” (M, III, p. 22). Elsewhere Turner cites this pun as part of the evidence that Jesus spoke in Greek on occasion (Grammatical Insights, p. 181), though the pun, of course, is possible also in Aramaic. There is no evidence that Peter was called Kephas until Jesus gave him the name. Indeed, “There is no evidence that anyone had the name Peter before Christian times, either in its Greek form or in Aramaic, Cephas. In fact it is not a name at all, but a nickname, and it should really be translated ‘Rock’ ” (Fenton).
27 The imagery of the foundation is used in different ways. Thus Jesus himself is the one foundation (1 Cor. 3:11), and again the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). Believers themselves lay up a good foundation (1 Tim. 6:19), while God’s strong foundation stands (2 Tim. 2:19), and from another point of view repentance and faith form the foundation (Heb. 6:1).
28 As Hill, for example, does. He says, “Attempts to interpret the ‘rock’ as something other than Peter in person (e.g. his faith, the truth revealed to him) are due to Protestant bias”; he makes no attempt to give a reason for separating the words of the confession Peter has just made from the man who made them. And it leads him to say things like “Peter has authority to make pronouncements (whether legislative, as ‘chief rabbi’ … or disciplinary) and these will be ratified by God in the Last Judgment” (on v. 19). Peter! The Peter of verses 22–23; 18:21; Gal. 2:11–14 the chief rabbi with his pronouncements ratified by God at the last judgment?
Chrysostom John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. Matthew (NPNF, 1st ser., vol. X)
29 It is sometimes said dogmatically that Jesus spoke in Aramaic in which there is no distinction of gender, but it must be borne in mind that Jesus may well have spoken in Greek (see n. 26† above). In any case it is a Greek text that we must expound, and it is hazardous to rest its meaning on a hypothetical Aramaic original.
30 Cf. Ryle, “To speak of an erring, fallible child of Adam as the foundation of the spiritual temple, is very unlike the ordinary language of Scripture. Above all, no reason can be given why our Lord should not have said, ‘I will build my Church upon thee,’ if such had been His meaning, instead of saying, ‘I will build my Church upon this rock.”
31 Gundry emphasizes this: “In accord with 7:24, which Matthew quotes here, the πέτρα consists of Jesus’ teaching, i.e., the law of Christ. ‘This rock’ no longer poses the problem that ‘this’ ill suits an address to Peter in which he is the rock … we are free from the necessity of appealing to Aramaic in order to explain away the usual distinction between Πέτρος, ‘detached stone’ (hardly a firm foundation), and πέτρα, ‘bedrock.’ The two words retain their peculiar Greek connotations, for Matthew’s Jesus will build only on the firm bedrock of his law (cf. 5:19–20; 28:19), not on the loose stone Peter” (p. 334).
32 The early church knows nothing of a personal headship over the church possessed by Peter. He, together with John, was “sent” by the church (Acts 8:14), he is called by the church to give an account of himself (Acts 11:1–18), it is James, not Peter, who presides over the council in Jerusalem (Acts 15), and Paul rebukes him sharply (Gal. 2:11–14). That Peter was a great apostle, widely honored in the early church, is clear. That he was the earthly head of the church is not.
33 Cf. Albright and Mann, “It is hard to know what kind of thinking, other than confessional presupposition, justifies the tendency of some commentators to dismiss this verse as not authentic. A Messiah without a Messianic Community would have been unthinkable to any Jew.”
34 Carson has a useful note on the word’s etymology and usage, and the significance of the words it translates in LXX. He thinks that it is “entirely appropriate” in this passage “where there is no emphasis on institution, organization, form of worship, or separate synagogue.”
REB The Revised English Bible (Oxford and Cambridge, 1989)
35 Cf. these words about God from ancient times: “thou hast power over life and death; thou dost lead men down to the gates of Hades and back again” (Wisd. of Sol. 16:13).
36 Many see an allusion to Isaiah 22:22. Jesus has the key of David and the keys of death and Hades (Rev. 1:18; 3:7).
37 G. Dalman makes this clear, though he thinks that the Christians used it in the different sense of exclusion from the community and admission to it (The Words of Jesus [Edinburgh, 1902], pp. 213–17). F. Büchsel takes up much the same position. He understands “the customary meaning of the Rabbinic expression” as “to declare forbidden or permitted,” but here and in 18:18 “even if we cannot say more, the weight of probability is definitely in favour of the interpretation: ‘to impose and remove the ban’ ” (TDNT, II, pp. 60, 61).
France R. T. France, The Gospel according to Matthew (Leicester and Grand Rapids, 1985)
Chamberlain W. D. Chamberlain, An Exegetical Grammar of the Greek New Testament (New York, 1941)
38 Turner also understands the meaning as “Whatsoever thou bindest shall already have been permanently bound,” and says of this passage, “It takes away the responsibility of human choice, and therefore uninformed choice, and represents St. Peter as acting in these solemn binding and loosing matters always under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit” (Grammatical Insights, p. 80). A similar comment should be made about the use of the perfect tenses in connection with the forgiveness of sin and the reverse in John 20:22–23.
39 A few MSS (notably א* B* boh) read “Jesus Christ,” an expression found very rarely in the Gospels (1:1, 18; Mark 1:1; John 1:17; 17:3). It may perhaps be the right reading here, for a solemn name would suit a solemn passage. It would also recall that Peter has just called Jesus the Christ.
40 Cf. Plummer, “The ‘began’ is important. We have here a summary of what went on for some time, and neither Mt. nor Mk. tells us at what point Peter drew upon himself Christ’s terrible rebuke” (p. 232). Plummer thinks that it would have been after Peter had had time to think over “this new and amazing teaching respecting the Messiah.”
41 δεῖ, which Matthew uses 8 times. See 26:54 for another statement of the inevitability of the cross. Bonnard remarks that this verb does not point us to “the individual or heroic determination of Jesus, nor to the increasing opposition of his enemies, very real though that was, nor to a blind fate, nor to the arbitrary inscrutability of a distant divinity, nor to the psychological or religious needs of the Jews or of men in general, but to a plan of God, certainly impenetrable for unbelievers, but perceptible to faith …” (p. 247).
42 πάσχω, which Matthew uses only 3 times (out of 40 New Testament occurrences). It is mostly used in the way it is here, without a defining word.
43 According to BAGD the term covers also “adult male members of the most prominent priestly families.” J. Jeremias, however, gives a list of “The Chief Priests and Chief Levites” almost all of whom are priests (Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus [London, 1969], p. 160). He gives the title of each as “The Captain of the Temple,” “The director of the weekly course,” etc.
44 AB asserts, “The NT writers always speak of Jesus as ‘being raised’ by the Father, or in the power of the Spirit, never that he raised himself,” but this is not accurate. In the Marcan parallel we have ἀναστῆναι, and see 1 Thessalonians 4:14; cf. Romans 14:9.
45 The verb is προσλαμβάνω, only here in Matthew. It means “to take in addition” and “to take to oneself.” It is not easy to see what it signifies here. McNeile thinks that it may be redundant, “But it may mean literally that Peter ‘drew Him to him,’ with a gesture implying protection if not superiority.” It may indicate an attempt to speak of Jesus privately (though Ridderbos denies this). It is used of Priscilla and Aquila “taking to themselves” Apollos to help him acquire a better understanding of the Christian way (Acts 18:26). Cf. Romans 14:1; 15:7.
46 ἵλεως is found in the New Testament again only in Hebrews 8:12. It has a meaning like “propitious,” “merciful” and with ἔστω ὁ θεός understood signifies, “May God be merciful, spare you this!” But it can scarcely mean “God bless you, Master!” (Goodspeed). It is used in LXX to render חָלילָה in the sense “far be it from —.” JB renders “Heaven preserve you, Lord,” and NIV, “Never, Lord.”
47 ὑπάγω. BAGD notes that it is not found at all in Acts, Paul, and Hebrews and says, “it tends more and more to mean simply ‘go’ in colloq. speech.” MM cites its use in the vernacular for “go away.” The word was addressed to Satan when he tempted Jesus to earthly greatness (4:10), but here it is followed by ὀπίσω, “behind,” on which Barclay says: “His command to Peter is: ‘Begone behind me!’ that is to say, ‘Become my follower again.’ Satan is banished from the presence of Christ; Peter is recalled to be Christ’s follower” (II, p. 150). This is an interesting thought, but we must remember that in many MSS of Luke 4:8 ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου is applied to Satan.
48 Ryle reasons from the strength of the language Jesus uses in rebuking Peter that “there is no doctrine of Scripture so deeply important as the doctrine of Christ’s atoning death” (p. 200).
49 Most translations have “stumbling block” or the like (so REB, NAS, NIV), but a σχάνδαλον was the bait stick of a trap, the mechanism that triggered off the trap when a bird or animal touched it. MM argues that the corresponding verb means “ ‘I set a trap for’ rather than ‘I put a stumbling-block in the way of.’ ” Lenski notes the explanation that “adds the thought of ‘impediment’ which leads to ‘stumbling block’ (R.V.).” But he goes on, “Here it is important to retain the original meaning. One may fall over a stumbling block and yet may rise again. But this is not the case with a skandalon, for merely to touch the bait affixed to it would spring the trap, and Jesus would be caught in its death grip” (p. 641).
50 ἀλλά.
51 εἰ with the indicative.
52 Chamberlain sees perfective force in the verb ἀπαρνέομαι, “I deny utterly” (p. 134).
53 Matthew is interested in the cross; he has σταυρός 5 times (Mark and John both have it 4 times; Paul has it 10 times but no more than 3 in any one epistle).
54 MM quotes a prayer from the 4th-5th century A.D.: “O God of the crosses that are laid upon us, help thy servant Apphouas,” where “God is apparently thought of as at once the sender and mitigator of trials” (Ed.).
55 Mounce comments that the construction used here “would suggest definitive action in the decision to enter into a life of discipleship and the necessity of continuing faithfulness in following through on a daily basis.”