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Mat 27:9. Τοῦ προφήτου, κ.τ.λ., the prophet, etc.) These words are clearly found in Zechariah, whose writings were well known to St Matthew; see ch. Mat 21:4-5; cf. App. Crit.[1175] p. 493 (Ed. ii. pp. 141, 142).-καὶ ἔλαβον, κ.τ.λ., and they took, etc.) In Zec 11:12-13, the LXX. have καὶ ερῶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς, εἰ καλὸν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἐστι, δότε στήσαντες[1176] τὸν μισθόν μου, ἢ ἀπείπασθε· καὶ ἔστησαν τὸν μισθόν μου τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς, καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· κάθες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, καὶ σκέψομαι αὐτὸ, εἰ δοκιμόν ἐστιν, ὅν τρόπον ἐδοκιμάσθην ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. καὶ ἔλαβον τοὺς τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς, καὶ ἐνέβαλον αὐτοὺς εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον-And I will say unto them, if it is good in your sight, weigh and give me my price, or else refuse it; and they weighed my price, thirty silver pieces. And the Lord said unto me, Cast them into the melting furnace, and I will assay it (whether it be good) in the same manner that I was assayed by them. And I took the thirty silver pieces, and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the melting furnace. The Evangelist regards the scope of the matter, and adds a paraphrase.-τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ τετιμημένου, ὅν ἐτιμήσαντο, the value of Him that was valued, whom they valued) The force of the words is great.-ὁ τετιμημένος-הַיְּקָר, precious, although in the Hebrew Bible it is הַיְקָר, a price; see Louis de Dieu.-ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, from the children of Israel, or of the children of Israel) cf. Zec 11:13-מעליחם, of them. The preposition ἈΠῸ, from, may be construed either with ἒλαβον, they received-or rather with ἘΤΙΜΉΣΑΝΤΟ, they valued. The Chief Priests, as much as in them lay, alienated Christ from the children of Israel.
[1175] E. M. has’ Ἰερεμίου.
[1176] The Vatican MS. omits the word στήσαντες.-(I. B.)
Beng. shows, in his Apparatus, Ed. ii., p. 141, 142, 493, that the word Ἰερεμίου is a gloss, and that many modern writers wish to expunge it.-Not. Crit.
But the oldest authorities are against the omission. B reads Ἱερεμίου. A and C corrected, Ἱηρεμίου. Hil. 747, Vulg. and c, and MSS. quoted in Origen, Euseb., and Jerome, read Jeremiah. It is only the later Syr. in the margin, and other recent authorities, read Ζαχαρίου. ab, however, support the omission of Jeremiah or Zechariah, as Beng. would read. Comp. Jer 18:2. The quotation is not literatim from Zech.: Jer 18:1-2, and Jer 32:6-12, may have also been in the mind of Matthew. This may account for the presence of the name Ἱερεμίου. Lightfoot thinks that the 3d division of Scripture, the Prophets, began with Jeremiah; and that the whole body of the prophets is thus quoted by the name Jeremiah, he refers to B. Bathra and D. Kimchi.-ED.