Mat 20:22, 26:39, 42 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 22. Ye know not what ye ask. ] How strange is the infatuation, in some parents , which leads them to desire worldly or ecclesiastical honours for their children! He must be much in love with the cross who wishes to have his child a minister of the Gospel; for, if he be such as God approves of in the work, his life will be a life of toil and suffering; he will be obliged to sip , at least, if not to drink largely, of the cup of Christ. We know not what we ask , when, in getting our children into the CHURCH, we take upon ourselves to answer for their CALL to the sacred office , and for the salvation of the souls that are put under their care. Blind parents! rather let your children beg their bread than thrust them into an office to which God has not called them; and in which they will not only ruin their souls, but be the means of damnation to hundreds; for if God has not sent them , they shall not profit the people at all. And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized , &c.] This clause in this , and the next verse , is wanting in BDL, two others, (7 more in ,) Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic , Mr. WHEELOCK'S Persic, Vulgate, Saxon , and all the Itala , except two. Grotius, Mill, and Bengel, think it should be omitted, and Griesbach has left it out of the text in both his editions. It is omitted also by Origen, Epiphanius, Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose , and Juvencus . According to the rules laid down by critics to appreciate a false or true reading, this clause cannot be considered as forming a part of the sacred text. It may be asked, Does not drink of my cup , convey the same idea? Does the clause add any thing to the perspicuity of the passage? And, though found in many good MSS., is not the balance of evidence in point of antiquity against it? Baptism among the Jews, as it was performed in the coldest weather, and the persons were kept under water for some time, was used not only to express death , but the most cruel kind of death. See Lightfoot . As to the term cup , it was a common figure, by which they expressed calamities, judgments, desolation, &c. They say unto him, We are able. ] Strange blindness! You can ? No: one drop of this cup would sink you into utter ruin, unless upheld by the power of God. However, the man whom God has appointed to the work he will preserve in it.

‏ Matthew 20:22

Verse 22. Ye know not what ye ask.] How strange is the infatuation, in some parents, which leads them to desire worldly or ecclesiastical honours for their children! He must be much in love with the cross who wishes to have his child a minister of the Gospel; for, if he be such as God approves of in the work, his life will be a life of toil and suffering; he will be obliged to sip, at least, if not to drink largely, of the cup of Christ. We know not what we ask, when, in getting our children into the CHURCH, we take upon ourselves to answer for their CALL to the sacred office, and for the salvation of the souls that are put under their care. Blind parents! rather let your children beg their bread than thrust them into an office to which God has not called them; and in which they will not only ruin their souls, but be the means of damnation to hundreds; for if God has not sent them, they shall not profit the people at all.

And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized, &c.] This clause in this, and the next verse, is wanting in BDL, two others, (7 more in Mt 20:23,) Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Mr. WHEELOCK'S Persic, Vulgate, Saxon, and all the Itala, except two. Grotius, Mill, and Bengel, think it should be omitted, and Griesbach has left it out of the text in both his editions. It is omitted also by Origen, Epiphanius, Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, and Juvencus. According to the rules laid down by critics to appreciate a false or true reading, this clause cannot be considered as forming a part of the sacred text. It may be asked, Does not drink of my cup, convey the same idea? Does the clause add any thing to the perspicuity of the passage? And, though found in many good MSS., is not the balance of evidence in point of antiquity against it? Baptism among the Jews, as it was performed in the coldest weather, and the persons were kept under water for some time, was used not only to express death, but the most cruel kind of death. See Lightfoot. As to the term cup, it was a common figure, by which they expressed calamities, judgments, desolation, &c.

They say unto him, We are able.] Strange blindness! You can? No: one drop of this cup would sink you into utter ruin, unless upheld by the power of God. However, the man whom God has appointed to the work he will preserve in it.

‏ Matthew 26:39

Verse 39. Fell on his face] See Clarke on Lu 22:44. This was the ordinary posture of the supplicant when the favour was great which was asked, and deep humiliation required. The head was put between the knees, and the forehead brought to touch the earth-this was not only a humiliating, but a very painful posture also.

This cup] The word cup is frequently used in the Sacred Writings to point out sorrow, anguish, terror, death. It seems to be an allusion to a very ancient method of punishing criminals. A cup of poison was put into their hands, and they were obliged to drink it. Socrates was killed thus, being obliged by the magistrates of Athens to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock. To death, by the poisoned cup, there seems an allusion in Heb 2:9, Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, TASTED death for every man. The whole world are here represented as standing guilty and condemned before the tribunal of God; into every man's hand the deadly cup is put, and he is required to drink off the poison-Jesus enters, takes every man's cup out of his hand, and drinks off the poison, and thus tastes or suffers the death which every man otherwise must have undergone.

Pass from me] Perhaps there is an allusion here to several criminals standing in a row, who are all to drink of the same cup; but, the judge extending favour to a certain one, the cup passes by him to the next.

Instead of προελθωνμικρον, going a little forward, many eminent MSS. have προσελθων, coming a little forward-but the variation is of little moment. At the close of this verse several MSS. add the clause in Lu 22:43,

There appeared an angel, &c.

‏ Matthew 26:42

Verse 42. O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me] If it be not possible-to redeem fallen man, unless I drink this cup, unless I suffer death for them; thy will be done-I am content to suffer whatever may be requisite to accomplish the great design. In this address the humanity of Christ most evidently appears; for it was his humanity alone that could suffer; and if it did not appear that he had felt these sufferings, it would have been a presumption that he had not suffered, and consequently made no atonement. And had he not appeared to have been perfectly resigned in these sufferings, his sacrifice could not have been a free-will but a constrained offering, and therefore of no use to the salvation of mankind.