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Mat_6:16. Δέ ] indicating a transition from the subject of prayer to another kindred subject.
νηστεύητε ] here with reference to private fasting, which depended on the inclination of the individual (Ewald, Alterth. p. 110), though regularly observed by the Pharisees on Thursday (when Moses is supposed to have ascended Mount Sinai) and on Monday (when he is believed to have come down again), but never on the Sabbath and festival days, except at the feast of Purim. Mourning attire was worn during the fasting. Isa_58:5; Isa_61:3; Joe_2:12; Zec_7:3; Dan_10:3; 2Sa_12:20; 2Sa_13:19; 1Ma_3:47.
σκυθρωποί ] common in the classics; “plerumque in vitio ponitur et notat hominem non solum tristem et tetricum vultum habentem, sed fingentem vel augentem,” Bremi, ad Aeschin. adv. Ctesiph. p. 290 f.
ἀφανίζουσι ] is a play upon the word in allusion to φανῶσι . They conceal their countenances with a view to their “being seen of,” and so on. This is intended to indicate how, partly by sprinkling themselves with ashes, and by the dirt on the unwashed face and beard, and partly by actual veiling of themselves (2Sa_15:30; Est_6:12), they contrive to prevent it being seen what their countenance is really like. It should be observed, however, that ἀφανίζειν does not mean to disfigure, but, even in passages like the one quoted from Stob. Serm. 74, 62, with reference to a painted woman, it denotes to make invisible, e conspectu submovere. The Vulgate correctly renders by exterminant, i.e. e conspectu removent. Beck, Anecd. p. 468, 25 : ὅλως τὸ ἀνελεῖν καὶ ἀφανὲς ποιῆσαι , ὅπερ ἐκάλουν ἀϊστῶσαι . Hence in Greek writers it is often associated with κρύπτειν .