‏ Matthew 19

 He departed ( μετηρεν ). Literally, to lift up, change something to another place. Transitive in the LXX and in a Cilician rock inscription. Intransitive in 13:53 and here, the only N.T. instances. Absence of  οτ or  κα after  κα εγενετο, one of the clear Hebraisms in the N.T. (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 1042f.). This verse is a sort of formula in Matthew at the close of important groups of  λογια as in 7:28; 11:1; 13:53.

 The borders of Judea beyond Jordan ( εις τα ορια της Ιουδαιας περαν του Ιορδανου ). This is a curious expression. It apparently means that Jesus left Galilee to go to Judea by way of Perea as the Galileans often did to avoid Samaria. Luke (Lu 17:11) expressly says that he passed through Samaria and Galilee when he left Ephraim in Northern Judea (Joh 11:54). He was not afraid to pass through the edge of Galilee and down the Jordan Valley in Perea on this last journey to Jerusalem. McNeile is needlessly opposed to the trans-Jordanic or Perean aspect of this phase of Christ's work.

 Pharisees tempting him ( Φαρισαιο πειραζοντες αυτον ). They "could not ask a question of Jesus without sinister motives" (Bruce). See 4:1 for the word ( πειραζω ).

 For every cause ( κατα πασαν αιτιαν ). This clause is an allusion to the dispute between the two theological schools over the meaning of De 24:1. The school of Shammai took the strict and unpopular view of divorce for unchastity alone while the school of Hillel took the liberal and popular view of easy divorce for any passing whim if the husband saw a prettier woman (modern enough surely) or burnt his biscuits for breakfast. It was a pretty dilemma and meant to do Jesus harm with the people. There is no real trouble about the use of  κατα here in the sense of  προπτερ or because of (Robertson, Grammar, p. 509).

 Shall cleave ( κολληθησετα ). First future passive, "shall be glued to," the verb means.

 The twain shall become one flesh ( εσοντα ο δυο εις σαρκα μιαν ). This use of  εις after  ειμ is an imitation of the Hebrew, though a few examples occur in the older Greek and in the papyri. The frequency of it is due to the Hebrew and here the LXX is a direct translation of the Hebrew idiom.

 What therefore God hath joined together ( ο ουν ο θεος συνεζευξεν ). Note "what," not "whom." The marriage relation God has made. "The creation of sex, and the high doctrine as to the cohesion it produces between man and woman, laid down in Gen., interdict separation" (Bruce). The word for "joined together" means "yoked together," a common verb for marriage in ancient Greek. It is the timeless aorist indicative ( συνεζευξεν ), true always.

 Bill ( βιβλιον ). A little  βιβλος (see on 1:1), a scroll or document (papyrus or parchment). This was some protection to the divorced wife and a restriction on laxity.

 For your hardness of heart ( προς την σκληροκαρδιαν υμων ). The word is apparently one of the few Biblical words (LXX and the N.T.). It is a heart dried up ( σκληρος ), hard and tough.

 But from the beginning it hath not been so ( απ' αρχης δε ουκ γεγονεν ουτως ). The present perfect active of  γινομα to emphasize the permanence of the divine ideal. "The original ordinance has never been abrogated nor superseded, but continues in force" (Vincent). "How small the Pharisaic disputants must have felt in presence of such holy teaching, which soars above the partisan view of controversialists into the serene region of ideal, universal, eternal truth" (Bruce).

 Except for fornication ( παρεκτος λογου πορνειας ). This is the marginal reading in Westcott and Hort which also adds "maketh her an adulteress" ( ποιε αυτην μοιχευθηνα ) and also these words: "and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery" ( κα ο απολελυμενην γαμησας μοιχατα ). There seems to be a certain amount of assimilation in various manuscripts between this verse and the words in 5:32. But, whatever reading is accepted here, even the short one in Westcott and Hort ( μη επ πορνεια, not for fornication), it is plain that Matthew represents Jesus in both places as allowing divorce for fornication as a general term ( πορνεια ) which is technically adultery ( μοιχεια from  μοιχαω ορ μοιχευω ). Here, as in 5:31f., a group of scholars deny the genuineness of the exception given by Matthew alone. McNeile holds that "the addition of the saving clause is, in fact, opposed to the spirit of the whole context, and must have been made at a time when the practice of divorce for adultery had already grown up." That in my opinion is gratuitous criticism which is unwilling to accept Matthew's report because it disagrees with one's views on the subject of divorce. He adds: "It cannot be supposed that Matthew wished to represent Jesus as siding with the school of Shammai." Why not, if Shammai on this point agreed with Jesus? Those who deny Matthew's report are those who are opposed to remarriage at all. Jesus by implication, as in 5:31, does allow remarriage of the innocent party, but not of the guilty one. Certainly Jesus has lifted the whole subject of marriage and divorce to a new level, far beyond the petty contentions of the schools of Hillel and Shammai.

 The disciples say unto him ( λεγουσιν αυτω ο μαθητα ). "Christ's doctrine on marriage not only separated Him  τοτο χαελο from Pharisaic opinions of all shades, but was too high even for the Twelve" (Bruce).

 The case ( η αιτια ). The word may refer to the use in verse 3 "for every cause." It may have a vague idea here =  ρες, condition. But the point clearly is that "it is not expedient to marry" ( ου συμφερε γαμησα ) if such a strict view is held. If the bond is so tight a man had best not commit matrimony. It is a bit unusual to have  ανθρωπος and  γυνη contrasted rather than  ανηρ and  γυνη.

 But they to whom it is given ( αλλ' οις δεδοτα ). A neat Greek idiom, dative case of relation and perfect passive indicative. The same idea is repeated at the close of verse 12. It is a voluntary renunciation of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. "Jesus recognizes the severity of the demand as going beyond the capacity of all but a select number." It was a direct appeal to the spiritual intelligence of the disciples not to misconceive his meaning as certainly the monastic orders have done.

 Rebuked them ( επετιμησεν αυτοις ). No doubt people did often crowd around Jesus for a touch of his hand and his blessing. The disciples probably felt that they were doing Jesus a kindness. How little they understood children and Jesus. It is a tragedy to make children feel that they are in the way at home and at church. These men were the twelve apostles and yet had no vision of Christ's love for little children. The new child world of today is due directly to Jesus.

 Suffer ( αφετε ). "Leave them alone." Second aorist active imperative.

 Forbid them not ( μη κωλυετε ). "Stop hindering them." The idiom of  μη with the present imperative means just that.

 Of such ( των τοιουτων ). The childlike as in 18:3f.

 What good thing ( τ αγαθον ). Mark (Mr 10:17) has the adjective "good" with "Teacher."

 May have ( σχω ). Ingressive aorist subjunctive, "may get," "may acquire."

 Concerning that which is good ( περ του αγαθου ). He had asked Jesus in verse 16 "what good thing" he should do. He evidently had a light idea of the meaning of  αγαθος. "This was only a teacher's way of leading on a pupil" (Bruce). So Jesus explains that "One there is who is good," one alone who is really good in the absolute sense.

 What lack I yet? ( τ ετ υστερω? ) Here is a psychological paradox. He claims to have kept all these commandments and yet he was not satisfied. He had an uneasy conscience and Jesus called him to something that he did not have. He thought of goodness as quantitative (a series of acts) and not qualitative (of the nature of God). Did his question reveal proud complacency or pathetic despair? A bit of both most likely.

 If thou wouldest be perfect ( ε θελεις τελειος εινα ). Condition of the first class, determined as fulfilled. Jesus assumes that the young man really desires to be perfect (a big adjective that, perfect as God is the goal, 5:48).

 That thou hast ( σου τα υπαρχοντα ). "Thy belongings." The Greek neuter plural participle used like our English word "belongings." It was a huge demand, for he was rich.

 Went away sorrowful ( απηλθεν λυπουμενος ). "Went away grieved." He felt that Jesus had asked too much of him. He worshipped money more than God when put to the test. Does Jesus demand this same test of every one? Not unless he is in the grip of money. Different persons are in the power of different sins. One sin is enough to keep one away from Christ.

 It is hard ( δυσκολως ). With difficulty. Adverb from  δυσκολος, hard to find food, fastidious, faultfinding, then difficult.

 It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye ( ευκοπωτερον εστιν καμηλον δια τρηματος ραφιδος εισελθειν ). Jesus, of course, means by this comparison, whether an eastern proverb or not, to express the impossible. The efforts to explain it away are jejune like a ship's cable,  καμιλον or  ραφις as a narrow gorge or gate of entrance for camels which recognized stooping, etc. All these are hopeless, for Jesus pointedly calls the thing "impossible" (verse 26). The Jews in the Babylonian Talmud did have a proverb that a man even in his dreams did not see an elephant pass through the eye of a needle (Vincent). The Koran speaks of the wicked finding the gates of heaven shut "till a camel shall pass through the eye of a needle." But the Koran may have got this figure from the New Testament. The word for an ordinary needle is  ραφις, but, Luke (Lu 18:25) employs  βελονη, the medical term for the surgical needle not elsewhere in the N.T.

 Were astonished ( εξεπλησσοντο ). Imperfect descriptive of their blank amazement. They were literally "struck out."

 Looking on them ( εμβλεψας ). Jesus saw their amazement.

 What then shall we have? ( τ αρα εστα ημιν? ) A pathetic question of hopeless lack of comprehension.

 In the regeneration ( εν τη παλινγενεσια ). The new birth of the world is to be fulfilled when Jesus sits on his throne of glory. This word was used by the Stoics and the Pythagoreans. It is common also in the mystery religions (Angus, Mystery Religions and Christianity, pp. 95ff.). It is in the papyri also. We must put no fantastic ideas into the mouth of Jesus. But he did look for the final consummation of his kingdom. What is meant by the disciples also sitting on twelve thrones is not clear.

 A hundredfold ( εκατονπλασιονα ). But Westcott and Hort read  πολλαπλασιονα, manifold. Eternal life is the real reward.

 The last first and the first last ( ο εσχατο πρωτο κα ο πρωτο εσχατο ). This paradoxical enigma is probably in the nature of a rebuke to Peter and refers to ranks in the kingdom. There are many other possible applications. The following parable illustrates it.

‏ Matthew 20

 For ( γαρ ). The parable of the house illustrates the aphorism in 19:30.

 A man that is a householder ( ανθρωπω οικοδεσποτη ). Just like  ανθρωπω βασιλε (18:23). Not necessary to translate  ανθρωπω, just "a householder."

 Early in the morning ( αμα πρω ). A classic idiom.  Hαμα as an "improper" preposition is common in the papyri.  Πρω is just an adverb in the locative. At the same time with early dawn, break of day, country fashion for starting to work.

 To hire ( μισθωσασθα ). The middle voice aorist tense, to hire for oneself.

 For a penny a day ( εκ δηναριου την ημεραν ). See on 18:28. "Penny" is not adequate, "shilling" Moffatt has it. The  εκ with the ablative represents the agreement ( συνφωνησας ) with the workmen ( εργατων ). "The day" the Greek has it, an accusative of extent of time.

 Standing in the marketplace idle ( εστωτας αγορα αργους ). The market place was the place where men and masters met for bargaining. At Hamadan in Persia, Morier in Second Journey through Persia, as cited by Trench in his Parables, says: "We observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a numerous band of peasants were collected, with spades in their hands, waiting to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields."

 Whatsoever is right ( ο εαν η δικαιον ). "Is fair" (Allen), not anything he pleased, but a just proportionate wage. Indefinite relative with subjunctive  εαν=αν.

 All the day idle ( ολην την ημεραν αργο ). Extent of time (accusative) again.  Αργο is  α privative and  εργον, work, no work. The problem of the unemployed.

 Every man a penny ( ανα δηναριον κα αυτο ). Literally, "themselves also a denarius apiece" (distributive use of  ανα ). Bruce asks if this householder was a humorist when he began to pay off the last first and paid each one a denarius according to agreement. False hopes had been raised in those who came first who got only what they had agreed to receive.

 They murmured ( εγογγυζον ). Onomatopoetic word, the meaning suiting the sound. Our words murmur and grumble are similar. Probably here inchoative imperfect, began to grumble. It occurs in old Ionic and in the papyri.

 Equal unto us ( ισους αυτους ημιν ). Associative instrumental case  ημιν after  ισους. It was a regular protest against the supposed injustice of the householder.

 The burden of the day and the scorching wind ( το βαρος της ημερας κα τον καυσωνα ). These last "did" work for one hour. Apparently they worked as hard as any while at it. A whole day's work on the part of these sweat-stained men who had stood also the sirocco, the hot, dry, dust-laden east wind that blasted the grain in Pharaoh's dream (Ge 41:6), that withered Jonah's gourd (Jon 4:8), that blighted the vine in Ezekiel's parable (Eze 17:10). They seemed to have a good case.

 To one of them ( εν αυτων ). Evidently the spokesman of the group. "Friend" ( εταιρε ). Comrade. So a kindly reply to this man in place of an address to the whole gang. Ge 31:40; Job 27:21; Ho 13:15. The word survives in modern Greek.

 Take up ( αρον ). First aorist active imperative of  αιρω. Pick up, as if he had saucily refused to take it from the table or had contemptuously thrown the denarius on the ground. If the first had been paid first and sent away, there would probably have been no murmuring, but "the murmuring is needed to bring out the lesson" (Plummer). The  δηναριυς was the common wage of a day labourer at that time.

 What I will ( ο θελω ). This is the point of the parable, the will of the householder.

 With mine own ( εν τοις εμοις ). In the sphere of my own affairs. There is in the Koine an extension of the instrumental use of  εν.

 Is thine eye evil? ( ο οφθαλμος σου πονηρος εστιν? ) See on 6:22-24 about the evil eye and the good eye. The complainer had a grudging eye while the householder has a liberal or generous eye. See Ro 5:7 for a distinction between  δικαιος and  αγαθος.

 The last first and the first last ( ο εσχατο πρωτο κα ο πρωτο εσχατο ). The adjectives change places as compared with 19:30. The point is the same, though this order suits the parable better. After all one's work does not rest wholly on the amount of time spent on it. "Even so hath Rabbi Bun bar Chija in twenty-eight years wrought more than many studious scholars in a hundred years" (Jer. Berak. ii. 5c).

 Apart ( κατ' ιδιαν ). This is the prediction in Matthew of the cross (16:21; 17:22; 20:17). "Aside by themselves" (Moffatt). The verb is  παρελαβεν. Jesus is having his inward struggle (Mr 10:32) and makes one more effort to get the Twelve to understand him.

 And to crucify ( κα σταυρωσα ). The very word now. The details fall on deaf ears, even the point of the resurrection on the third day.

 Then ( τοτε ). Surely an inopportune time for such a request just after the pointed prediction of Christ's crucifixion. Perhaps their minds had been preoccupied with the words of Jesus (19:28) about their sitting on twelve thrones taking them in a literal sense. The mother of James and John, probably Salome, possibly a sister of the Master's mother (Joh 19:25), apparently prompted her two sons because of the family relationship and now speaks for them.

 Asking a certain thing ( αιτουσα τ ). "Asking something," "plotting perhaps when their Master was predicting" (Bruce). The "something" put forward as a small matter was simply the choice of the two chief thrones promised by Jesus (19:28).

 Ye know not what ye ask ( ουκ οιδατε τ αιτεισθε ). How often that is true.  Αιτεισθε is indirect middle voice, "ask for yourselves," "a selfish request."

 We are able ( δυναμεθα ). Amazing proof of their ignorance and self-confidence. Ambition had blinded their eyes. They had not caught the martyr spirit.

 Ye shall drink ( πιεσθε ). Future middle from  πινω. Christ's cup was martyrdom. James was the first of the Twelve to meet the martyr's death (Ac 12:2) and John the last if reports are true about him. How little they knew what they were saying.

 Moved with indignation ( ηγανακτησαν ). A strong word for angry resentment. In the papyri. The ten felt that James and John had taken advantage of their relation to Jesus.

 Called them unto him ( προσκαλεσαμενος αυτους ). Indirect middle again, calling to him.

 Would become great ( ος αν θελη μεγας γενεσθα ). Jesus does not condemn the desire to become great. It is a laudable ambition. There are "great ones" ( μεγαλο ) among Christians as among pagans, but they do not "lord it over" one another ( κατακυριευουσιν ), a LXX word and very expressive, or "play the tyrant" ( κατεξουσιαζουσιν ), another suggestive word.

 Your minister ( υμων διακονος ). This word may come from  δια and  κονις (dust), to raise a dust by one's hurry, and so to minister. It is a general word for servant and is used in a variety of ways including the technical sense of our "deacon" in Php. 1:1. But it more frequently is applied to ministers of the Gospel (1Co 3:5). The way to be "first" ( πρωτος ), says Jesus, is to be your "servant" ( δουλος ), "bond-servant" (verse 27). This is a complete reversal of popular opinion then and now.

 A ransom for many ( λυτρον αντ πολλων ). The Son of man is the outstanding illustration of this principle of self-abnegation in direct contrast to the self-seeking of James and John. The word translated "ransom" is the one commonly employed in the papyri as the price paid for a slave who is then set free by the one who bought him, the purchase money for manumitting slaves. See examples in Moulton and Milligan's Vocabulary and Deissmann's Light from the Ancient East, pp. 328f. There is the notion of exchange also in the use of  αντ. Jesus gave his own life as the price of freedom for the slaves of sin. There are those who refuse to admit that Jesus held this notion of a substitutionary death because the word in the N.T. occurs only here and the corresponding passage in Mr 10:45. But that is an easy way to get rid of passages that contradict one's theological opinions. Jesus here rises to the full consciousness of the significance of his death for men.

 From Jericho ( απο Ιερειχω ). So Mr 10:46. But Luke (Lu 18:35) places the incident as they were drawing near to Jericho ( εις Ιερειχω ). It is probable that Mark and Matthew refer to the old Jericho, the ruins of which have been discovered, while Luke alludes to the new Roman Jericho. The two blind men were apparently between the two towns. Mark (Mr 10:46) and Luke (Lu 18:35) mention only one blind man, Bartimaeus (Mark). In Kentucky there are two towns about a half mile apart both called Pleasureville (one Old Pleasureville, the other New Pleasureville).

 That Jesus was passing by ( οτ Ιησους παραγε ). These men "were sitting by the wayside" ( καθημενο παρα τεν οδον ) at their regular stand. They heard the crowd yelling that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by ( παραγε, present indicative of direct discourse retained in the indirect). It was their one opportunity, now or never. They had heard of what he had done for other blind men. They hail him as "the son of David" (the Messiah). It is just one of many such incidents when Jesus stood still and opened their eyes, so many that even the multitude was impatient with the cries of these poor men that their eyes be opened ( ανοιγωσιν, second aorist passive subjunctive).

 Touched their eyes ( ηψατο των ομματων ). A synonym for  οφθαλμων in Mr 8:23 and here alone in the N.T. In the LXX and a common poetic word (Euripides) and occurs in the papyri. In modern Greek  ματια μου (abbreviation) means "light of my eye," "my darling." The verb  απτομα is very common in the Synoptic Gospels. The touch of Christ's hand would sooth the eyes as they were healed.