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Mat_26:27. Matthew says indefinitely: a cup, for τό before ποτήρ . is spurious. Luke and Paul are somewhat more precise, inasmuch as they speak of the cup as having been the one which was presented μετὰ τὸ δειπνῆσαι . Accordingly, the cup in question here is usually understood to have been the poculum benedictionis, referred to above under No. 8, the third cup. But in that case what becomes of the fourth one, over which the second part of the Hallel was sung? As it is not likely that this latter would be omitted; as it is no less improbable that Jesus, after investing the cup now under consideration with the symbolism of His blood, would have sent round another after it with which no such symbolical significance was associated; as Mat_26:29 expressly forbids the supposition of another cup having followed; and as, in the last place, mention is made of the Hallel (the second portion of it) as coming immediately after the drinking of this one,—we are bound to suppose that it is the fourth cup that is here meant, and in regard to which Maimonides (as quoted by Lightfoot) observes: “Deinde miscet poculum quartum, et super illud perficit Hallel, additque insuper benedictionem cantici ( áøëú äùéø ), quod est: Laudent te, Domine, omnia opera tua, etc., et dicit: Benedictus sit, qui creavit fructum vitis,—et postea non quicquam gustat ista nocte.” Paul, no doubt, expressly calls the cup used at the supper τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας (1Co_10:16), which corresponds with the name of the third cup (see on Mat_26:26); but, as the epexegetical ὃ εὐλογοῦμεν shows, this designation is not a terminus technicus taken from the Jewish ritual, but it is to be traced to the Christian standpoint, in fact, to the Christian act of consecration. See on 1Co_10:16.
For the size of the Passover cups, and what is said about the wine being red and mixed with water, consult Grotius and Lightfoot. In the Constitt. Ap. viii. 12. 16, Christ Himself is even spoken of as τὸ ποτήριον κεράσας ἐξ οἴνου καὶ ὕδατος .
εὐχαριστ .] is substantially the same as εὐλογ ., Mat_26:26, which latter has reference to the phraseology of the prayer (benedictus, etc.), comp. Mat_14:19; Luk_24:30; Act_27:35; 1Ti_4:3 f.; Mat_15:36. The áøëä was a thanksgiving prayer. Comp. on 1Co_14:16.