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Mat_6:33. Ζητεῖτε δέ ] now states what they ought to do, instead of indulging that care forbidden in Mat_6:31.
πρῶτον ] in the first place, before you strive after anything else; your first striving. In that case a second is, of course, unnecessary, because their food, their drink, and their raiment προστεθήσεται . But in the πρῶτον the subordinate striving after something is not even “darkly” sanctioned (de Wette); on the contrary, and notwithstanding the πρῶτον , this striving is excluded as much by Mat_6:32 as by καὶ … προστεθ . Accordingly, that first striving is the only one.
The simple ζητεῖτε is distinguished from ἐπιζητ . not in respect of degree, but only in such a way that the latter points out the direction of the striving. Hence ἐπιζητεῖν ἐπί τινα , 2Sa_3:8. Comp. note on Rom_11:7; Php_4:7.
τὴν βασιλ . καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ ] (see the critical remarks) where the αὐτοῦ belonging to both substantives refers, according to Mat_6:32, to God, and is meant to convey the idea that what is to form the object and aim of our striving is the Messianic kingdom, the becoming partakers in it, the being admitted into it, and the moral righteousness which God imparts to the believer to assist him to attain the kingdom.
ταῦτα πάντα ] See Mat_6:31-32. The distinction between ταῦτα πάντα and πάντα ταῦτα lies merely in this, that in the former it is the demonstrative idea on which the emphasis is placed, whereas in the latter it is the idea of universality that is so. See Winer, p. 510 [E. T. 686]. Comp. Lobeck, ad Aj. 1023; Saupp, ad Hipparch. VI. 5.
προστεθήσεται ] will be added, namely, to the moral result of your striving. Comp. the saying of Christ handed down by Clement, Origen, and Eusebius: αἰτεῖτε τὰ μεγάλα , καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ὑμῖν προστεθήσεται · καὶ αἰτεῖτε τὰ ἐπουράνια , καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν (Fabricius, Cod. Apocr. i. p. 329), which differs from our passage in the generality of its terms, and in having αἰτεῖτε .