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Mat_18:10. Jesus now proceeds with His cautions, which had been interrupted by the parenthetical exhortation in Mat_18:7-9. The belief that every individual has a guardian angel (see Tobit 5.; comp. in general, Schmidt in Ilgen’s Denkschr. I. p. 24ff.)—which is a post-Babylonian development of the Old Testament view, that God exercised His care over His people through angelic instrumentality—is here confirmed by Jesus (Act_12:15),—a point which is to be simply admitted, but not to be explained symbolically, neither by an “as it were” (Bleek), as though it were intended merely to represent the great value of the little ones in the sight of God (de Wette), nor as referring to human guardians, who are supposed to occupy a position of pre-eminent bliss in heaven (Paulus).
ἐν οὐρ . διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι , κ . τ . λ .] inasmuch as they are ever in immediate proximity to God’s glory in heaven, and therefore belong to the highest order of angels. This is not merely a way of expressing the great importance of the μικροί , but a proof which, from λέγω ὑμῖν and τοῦ πατρός μου , receives all the weight of an emphatic testimony; while the mode of representation (comp. îìàáé ôðéí of the Rabbinical writers, Schoettgen’s note on this passage) is borrowed from the court arrangements of Oriental kings, whose most confidential servants are called äÈøÉàÅé ôÌÀðÅé äÇîÌÆìÆêÀ , 2Ki_25:19; 1Ki_10:8; Tob_12:15; Luk_1:19.