Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Matthew 23:5 - 23:7
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Mat_23:5-7. Comp. Luk_11:43 f.
φυλακτήρια , amulets, were the úÌÀôÌÄìÌÄéå , the strips of parchment with passages of Scripture, viz. Deu_11:13-22; Deu_6:4-10, Exo_13:11-17; Exo_13:1-11, written upon them. They were enclosed in small boxes, and, in accordance with Exo_13:9; Exo_13:16, Deu_6:8; Deu_11:18, worn during prayer, some on the forehead, some on the left arm next the heart. They were intended to remind the wearer that it was his duty to fulfil the law with head and heart, and, at the same time, to serve the purpose of protecting him from the influence of evil spirits. Joseph. Antt. iv. 8. 13; Lund, Jüd. Heiligith., ed. Wolf, p. 898 ff.; Keil, Arch. I. p. 342 f.
πλατύνουσι ] they broaden their φυλακτήρια , i.e. they make them broader than those of others, in order that they may thereby become duly conspicuous. Corresponding to this is: μεγαλύνουσι , they enlarge. On the κράσπεδα , see on Mat_9:20.
τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν ] the foremost couch at table, i.e. according to Luk_14:8 ff. (Joseph. Antt. xv. 2. 4), the uppermost place on the divan, which the Greeks also regarded as the place of honour (Plut. Symp. p. 619 B). The Persians and Romans, on the other hand, looked upon the place in the middle as the most distinguished. The term is met with only in the synoptical Gospels and the Fathers. Suidas: πρωτοκλισία · ἡ πρώτη καθέδρα .
ῥαββὶ , ῥαββί ] øÇáÌÄé , øÇáÌÄé ( διδάσκαλε , Joh_1:39; with yod paragogic). The reduplication serves to show how profound the reverence is. Comp. Mar_14:15; Mat_7:21 f. For the view that Rabbi (like our “Dr.”) was the title used in addressing learned teachers as early as the time of Jesus (especially since Hillel’s time), see Lightfoot, also Pressel in Herzog’s Encykl. XII. p. 471; Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 305.