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Mat_18:5. Comp. Mar_9:37; Luk_9:47. The question of the disciples has been answered. But His eye having lighted upon this child who happened to be present, Jesus now seizes the opportunity of inculcating upon them the duty of taking an affectionate interest in such little ones,—an exhortation, of which the jealous and ambitious spirit evinced by their question in Mat_18:1 must have shown they stood but too much in need.
παιδίον τοιοῦτον ] such a little child, i.e. according to the context, not a literal child (Bengel, Paulus, Neander, de Wette, Arnoldi, Bleek, Hilgenfeld), which would give a turn to the discourse utterly foreign to the connection, but a man of such a disposition as this little child represents—one who with child-like simplicity is humble and unassuming. So Chrysostom ( παιδίον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς οὕτως ἀφελεῖς φησὶ καὶ ταπεινοὺς καὶ ἀπεῤῥιμμένους παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ), Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Wetstein, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Kern, Baumgarten-Crusius, Ewald, Keim. Jesus well knew how much the unassuming, child-like disposition, free from everything like self-assertion, was just that which others, animated by an opposite spirit, were in the habit of overlooking, slighting, and thrusting aside.
ἕν ] a single one. So very precious are they!
δέξηται ] denotes a loving reception with a view to further care for the soul; the opposite to this is σκανδαλίζειν , Mat_18:6.
ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου ] on the ground of my name (Mat_24:5)—i.e. on account of my name, which, however, is not, with de Wette, to be taken subjectively, and referred to the faith of the one who receives (whosoever confessing my name, on account of his faith in me, etc.), but is to be understood as referring to the παιδίον τοιοῦτον that is to be received (Mar_9:41; Mat_10:42), because my name (Jesus the Messiah) contains the sum of his belief and confession (“non ob causas naturales aut politicas,” Bengel).
ἐμέ ] comp. Mat_10:40, Mat_25:40; Joh_13:20.