John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 6:30 - 6:30

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John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 6:30 - 6:30


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Mat 6:30. Δὲ, but) Used epitatically.[288] Garments are objects of comeliness, as well as necessity. The mention of the lilies with the verb περιβάλλεσθαι, to be arrayed, refers to the former; that of grass with the verb ἀμφίεννυσθαι, to be clothed, to the latter notion.-χόρτον, grass, blade) as for example that of growing wheat.-See ch. Mat 13:26. An instance of Litotes.[289]-ΣΉΜΕΡΟΝ ὌΝΤΑ, which to-day is) i.e., which endures for a very short time.[290]-ΑὔΡΙΟΝ, to-morrow) After a short interval, the grains having been thrashed out, the straw serves for the fire.-κλίβανον, the oven) To heat it.-See Lyranus.[291] Pliny[292] says, “rinds beaten from the flax are useful for ovens and furnaces.”-B. 19, ch. 1. It is not said, into the fire, as in Joh 15:6 (cf. 1Co 3:12), but into the oven. Not, therefore, for the sake merely of being burnt, but of some utility.-ἈΜΦ ΕΝΝΥΣΙΝ, clothe, dresseth) The dress is properly that without which the body is naked: grass, although it has no external clothing, yet, because it is not naked, but is covered with its own surface, is itself its own dress, especially in its highest and flowering part, of which it is divested when it dries up.-πολλῷ μᾶλλον, much more) In this life few attain to the adornment of Solomon, not to mention that of the lilies; our Lord’s words, therefore, regard the certainty, not the degree of adornment: but in the life to come we shall be more adorned than the lilies. We ought not, however, altogether to reject adornment in things, however perishable.-ὀλιγόπιστοι, O ye of little faith) Want of faith was clearly unknown and abhorred by Christ; for He had known the Father. He teaches faith in this passage.[293]

[288] See Append. on Epitasis. It implies some word or words added to a previous enunciation to give augmented force.-ED.

[289] See explanation of technical terms in Appendix.-(I. B.)

[290] E. B. quotes here C. W. Lüdecke, “At Pentecost all these regions are clad in green verdure; but when the south wind suddenly arises, in 24 hours, or two or three days at most, there is nothing that does not become white and blanched.”

[291] The individual thus denominated was NICOLAS DE LYRE, so called from the place of his birth, a small village in Normandy. He is supposed by some to have been of Jewish extraction: he was born in the thirteenth century: he assumed the habit of the Franciscan order in 1291. He was a man of great learning, and especially versed in Hebrew: he wrote several treatises in defence of Christianity against the Jews, and a series of Postills or small commentaries on the whole of the Bible. He died in 1340. He was known in the schools by the surname of Doctor utilis. So great was the effect of his labours, that it gave rise to the proverb, “Si Lyra non lyrasset, Lutherus non saltasset,” i.e., “If Lyre had not played on the lyre, Luther would not have danced.”-(I. B.)

[292] CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS, commonly called the elder Pliny, born, it is supposed, at Verona, about A.D. 23; died A.D. 79. He was a man of indefatigable study, and, though holding high offices in the state, published, besides other works, a natural history in thirty-seven books.-(I. B.)

[293] This is the only mode of address, which Jesus employed, when wishing to censure the disciples: chap. Mat 8:26, Mat 14:31, Mat 16:8.-V. g.