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Luk 23:39. Ἐβλασφήμει, began railing at Him) The most extreme trials do not bend every one. [Nay, indeed, so great is the strength of the mind disposed to sneering (the cavilling mind), that it can betray itself even when hung on a cross.-V. g.] That this robber was a Jew, and that the other was a Gentile, may be inferred from the language of both, and from other circumstances; for the former, according to the custom of the Jews, sneers at His assumption of the name, Christ; the latter directs his thoughts towards the name assigned to Him, King, as the soldiers did, but in a better way. We may add, that the Lord, in promising him blessedness, makes allusion, not to the words of the promises given to the fathers, but to the first beginnings of things [when the distinction of Jew and Gentile had not arisen], viz. concerning Paradise. Nor is it opposed to this, that the words of the converted man refer to the one God [whereas the Gentiles believed in a plurality of Gods]: for faith in Christ, as an immediate consequence, infers faith in the one God. But still, let the Hebrew term in Luk 23:43, Ἀμὴν, verily, be considered, which however does not necessarily presuppose that the person addressed is a Hebrew. Comp. Mat 25:40 [where the Judge saith. Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, to persons not necessarily Hebrews]. Hence the opinion anciently entertained, as to the converted robber being a Gentile, retains a show of probability. I have written above, it may be inferred [not, it is positively certain].-λέγων, saying) with raging impatience and ferocity.