Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 18:12 - 18:12
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
12. νηστεύω δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου. Mar 2:18. This practice had no divine sanction. The Law appointed only a single fast-day in the year, the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29). By the time of Zechariah there seem to have been four yearly fasts (Zec 8:19). The bi-weekly fast of the Pharisees was a mere burden imposed by the oral Law. The days chosen were Thursday and Monday, because on those days Moses was believed to have ascended and descended from Sinai, Babha Kama, f. 82, 1. The man boasts of his empty ceremonialism. τοῦ σαββάτου is a partitive genitive.
πάντα ὅσα κτῶμαι. ‘Of al that I acquire.’ The incorrect “possess” of the A.V[325] comes from the Vulg[326] possideo, which would require κέκτημαι. Comp. Luk 21:19, ‘acquire,’ or ‘ye shall acquire’ your souls. The Pharisee speaks as though he were another Jacob! (Gen 28:22; comp. Tob 1:7-8). Here too he exceeds the Written Law, which only commanded tithes of corn, wine, oil, and cattle (Deu 14:22-23), and not of mint, anise, and cummin (Mat 23:23). The fact that he does not say a word about his sins shews how low was his standard. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper,” Pro 28:13. He was clothed with phylacteries and fringes, not with humility, 1Pe 5:5. A Talmudic treatise, the Berachôth (Schwab, p. 336), furnishes us with a close analogy to the prayer of the Pharisee in that of Rabbi Nechounia Ben Hakana, who on leaving his school used to say, ‘I thank thee, O Eternal, my God, for having given me part with those who attend this school instead of running through the shops. I rise early like them, but it is to study the Law, not for futile ends. I take trouble as they do, but I shall be rewarded, and they will not; we run alike, but I for the future life, while they will only arrive at the pit of destruction.’
[325] A.V. Authorised Version.
[326] Vulg. Vulgate.