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Mat 5:18. Ἀμὴν, Amen, verily) Jesus alone employed this word at the commencement of His addresses, to give them greater force and solemnity. No apostle did so. Wagenseil,[185] in his Sota, p. 379, says, that this word had sometimes with the Jews the force of an oath. And wherever חי אני (I, living) occurs in the Hebrew, the Chaldee Paraphrast has אנא קים, I, constant: and קים, to confirm, etc., is found there passim for נשבע, to swear. See Louis le Dieu on this passage; and Kimchi interprets אמן, amen, itself by קיום, stability.[186]
[185] John Christopher Wagenseil was born at Nuremberg in 1633, and educated at the University of Altdorf, where he was appointed Professor of History in 1667, and of Oriental Languages about 1675. He died in 1705. The full title of the work referred to in the text is, Sota, hoc est liber Mixlenicus de uxore adulterii suspecta, una cum libri ex Jacob excerptis Gemaræ, versione Latina et commentario perpetuo, in quo multa sacrarum literarum ac Hebræorum Scriptorum loca explicantur.-(I. B.)
[186] Firmitas, stabilitas, duratio.-BUXTORF.-(I. B.)
In the New Testament, however, it is not, strictly speaking, an oath: for it corresponds with ναὶ, yea, and ἀληθῶς, truly; cf. Luk 11:51; Luk 21:3, with Mat 23:36, and Mar 12:43. It is, however, a most grave asseveration, exclusively suitable to Him who asseverates by Himself and His own truth, and from the dignity of the Speaker, is equivalent to an oath, especially when it is uttered twice, sc. “verily, verily:” see note to Joh 1:51. The Hebrew word is preserved in all languages.[187]-λέγω ὑμῖν, I say unto you) This formula, frequent and peculiar to the Lord, possesses the highest authority, and denotes frequently a matter declared by Him, which, for special reasons, is neither written expressly in the Old Testament, nor can be clearly proved from any other source, but is first produced by Himself from the secret treasuries of wisdom and knowledge, so that the assent of the hearers may rest on His sole affirmation, and the dull in heart may be deprived of all excuse for the future. The prophets were wont to say in the third person, נאם,[188] saith the Lord; the apostles, It is written; but Christ, in the first person, I say unto you; see Mat 5:20; Mat 5:22; Mat 5:26; Mat 5:28; Mat 5:32; Mat 5:34; Mat 5:39; Mat 5:44, ch. Mat 6:2; Joh 3:3; Joh 14:12; Joh 14:25, etc. Cf. notes on Joh 4:21; Joh 14:25. St Paul, when again and again compelled to speak in the first person, takes especial care not to trench on the Divine prerogative. See Rom 12:3; 1Co 7:6. Faith is the correlative of this, “I say unto you” and by this formula is, suitably to that time (pro modo illius temporis), placed, as it were, as the foundation on the very threshold of the New Testament. Christ seldom quotes passages of Scripture, and not except for some special reason: He befittingly rests on His own authority.-ἝΩς ἌΝ ΠΑΡΈΛΘῌ, until pass away) The verb, παρέλθῃ, leaves undetermined the manner of the end of the world.-ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, Heaven and earth) The whole system of nature.-ἸῶΤΑ, jot) iota, yod. Yod, the smallest and most elementary letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and one in which Keri and Kethib[189] very frequently differ, so that it almost appears to be indiscriminately absent or redundant. In the course of the Hebrew Scriptures, 66,420 yods are numbered. The Greeks frequently write the iota below, or omit it altogether.-ΚΕΡΑΊΑ, a tittle) An appendage to a portion of a letter, a mark by which one letter is distinguished from another, as ב, Beth (B), from כ, Kaph (K), or ר, Resh (R), from ד, Daleth (D), or one sound from another, as a vowel point or an accent; in short, anything which in any way belongs to the signification of the Divine will, or assists to declare that signification as revealed in the law.-οὐ μὴ, a double negative) Οὐ ΜῊ always has a subjunctive, and its emphasis ought not to be stretched too far; cf. Mat 5:20; Mat 5:26.-Οὐ ΜῊ ΠΑΡῈΛΘῌ, shall not pass away) From hence may be inferred the entireness of Scripture; for, unless the Scripture were entire, it could not be entirely fulfilled.-ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, from the law) Understand and supply, “or from the prophets.” The smallest portion of the law is contrasted with the whole world.-ἕως ἅν, κ.τ.λ., until, etc.) For righteousness shall dwell in new Heavens and a new Earth. See 2Pe 3:13.-πάντα, all particulars) sc. of the law. Observe the contrast between this and ΜΊΑΝ, one, in the next verse.[190]-γένηται, be fulfilled) They have been fulfilled, and they are being fulfilled by Jesus Christ, [not only in Himself, but] even in Christians: they had not been fulfilled before His coming.
[187] And it (the Hebr. amen) ought to be retained in translation, as in the end, so also in the beginning of sentences. The same principle holds good of other Hebrew words.-Not. Crit.
[188] “נאם … to mutter, to murmur, to speak in a low voice; specially used of the voice of God, by which oracles were revealed to the prophets. By far the most frequent use is of the part. pass. constr. in this phrase, נְאֻם יְיָ נְאֻם יְהוֹה, צְבָאוֹת. ‘The voice of Jehovah (is);’ or (so) hath Jehovah revealed. This the prophets themselves were accustomed either to insert in the discourse, like the Lat. ait, inquit Dominus, Amo 6:8; Amo 6:14; Amo 9:12-13, or to add at the end of a sentence.”-Gesenius.-(I. B.)
[189] QERI AND KETHIBH.
[190] In the original, “Antitheton, unum, in v. seq.” I have endeavoured in this, as in other instances, to give such a rendering as shall convey Bengel’s meaning to the general reader.-(I. B.)
“The margin of the Hebrew Bible exhibits a number of various readings of an early date, called קְרִי (to be read), because, in the view of the Jewish critics, they are to be preferred to the reading of the text, called כְּתִיב (written). Those critics have therefore attached the vowel signs, appropriate to the marginal reading, to the consonants of the corresponding word in the text; e.g. in Jer 42:6, the text exhibits אֲנַוְּ, the margin אנחנו קרי. Here the vowels in the text belong to the word in the margin, which is to be pronounced אֲנַחְנוּ; but in reading the text אנו, the proper vowels must be supplied, making אֲנוּ. A small circle or asterisk over the word in the text always directs to the marginal reading.”-Gesenius, Heb. Gr. Sect. 17.-(I. B.)