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Mat 27:46. Περὶ δὲ, κ.τ.λ., but about, etc.) From this connection, it may be inferred that the darkening of the sun (at the full moon[1200]) represented, not so much the malice of the Jews, as the dereliction of Jesus; which lasted, as it may be supposed, the whole of that three hours, at the conclusion of which He uttered this exclamation. St Luke (Luk 23:45) joins the darkening of the sun with the rending of the veil without mentioning the dereliction. As soon as the dereliction was ended, the Holy of Holies became immediately open to the Mediator.[1201]-ἀνεβόησεν, cried out) Both this cry (repeated in Mat 27:50), and the silence which preceded it, are of the utmost importance.-σαβαχθανὶ, sabachthani) i.e. שבקתני, hast Thou forsaken Me? The ק is rendered in Greek by χ, [1202][1203], when θ, th, follows.-Θεέ Μου, My God) On other occasions He was accustomed to say, “Father”: now He says, “My God,” as being now in a degree estranged;[1204] yet He does so twice, and adds “MY” with confidence, patience, and self-resignation. Christ was עבר, the servant of the Lord:[1205] and yet He calls Him God, not Master (δεσπότην). In Psalms 22(21):1, the LXX. have ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός μου, πρόσχες μοι, ἱνατί ἐγκατέλιπές με; “My God, My God, protect Me! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” where the meaning is evident from the remainder of that and the following verse. He does not only say that He has been delivered by God into the hands of men, but also that He has suffered something, to us ineffable, at the hand of God.-ἱνατί, why?) Jesus knew the cause, and had prepared Himself for all things: but yet the why expresses that the Son would not have had to endure the dereliction on His own account, but that it happened to Him for a new cause, and would last but for a short time; after which His yearning desire[1206] towards the Father would be again gratified.-ἘΓΚΑΤΈΛΙΠΕς, hast Thou forsaken) The past tense.[1207] At that very instant the dereliction came to an end, and shortly afterwards the whole Passion. In the midst and deepest moment of dereliction He was silent. He complains of the dereliction alone.[1208]
[1200] This could not have been an eclipse of the sun, for the passover was celebrated at the time of full moon, when the moon is opposite to the sun. Luk 23:45 says, “The sun was darkened.”-ED.
[1201] ἐννάτην ὥραν, the ninth hour) Some one has thrown out the surmise that it was at mid-day the definitive sentence was pronounced by Pilate, and that His being led forth was delayed up to that point of time, so that the crucifixion would thus take place on the third hour from mid-day (3 o’clock), at the time of the evening sacrifice. Nay, rather His death occurred at that time, after that the gracious Saviour had hung for six whole hours on the cross.-Harm., p. 571.
[1202] Colbertinus, do.
[1203] Primasius in Apocalypsin.
[1204] In the original, “quasi jam alienior.”-(I. B.)
[1205] Isa 42:1.-ED.
[1206] In the original, “desiderium,” a word which is said by some to have no equivalent in any other language. It implies here longing and love in the highest and fullest degree, accompanied by sorrow for, and privation of, the object desired; and corresponds very nearly with the Portuguese word saudade, which I believe to be utterly untranslatable.-(I. B.)
[1207] Some recent interpreters render it, Why (How) can it (ever) come to pass, that thou shouldest forsake Me? And yet that interpretation, however soothing it be to natural weakness (softness), does not satisfy the demands of divine rigorous strictness in this most momentous transaction. We may term it, as it were, a filial expostulation, wherein, if we may be permitted to express the sense with some little change of the words, the beloved Son speaks thus to His beloved Father, What is this that thou hast done unto Me? In truth, the best of deeds! Most excellently endured! A brief time so extraordinary, that, on account of it, He is to have [or else feel] everlasting thanks.-Harm., p. 573.
[1208] Not of His sufferings.-ED.
The Greek πόθος.-ED.