3. And he said unto then, Take
nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither
bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.
[Neither have two coats apiece.]
Either my computation of times very much deceives me, or the winter was
now coming on when the apostles were sent forth; and yet Christ forbids
that they should be clothed with a double garment. It was not much that
they should be forbid to take money or provision for their journey,
because they were to have their food administered to them as the reward
of their preaching the gospel: but to strive with the cold and winter
without sufficient clothing seems something hard.
I. It was not an unusual thing in that
nation, that some out of a more religious severity, did clothe
themselves but with a single garment; of which thing we have already
spoken in notes upon
Mark 14:51, to which probably this passage may have some reference:
"R. Jose saith, 'Let my portion be with those who die of the disease
in their bowels: for, saith Mar, Very many righteous men die of the
disease in their bowels,'"; viz. a disease contracted by the austerities
of their life, both as to food and clothing. And so it is said
particularly of the priests.
"The priests walked barefoot upon the
pavement, and used water, and were not clad but with a single garment.
And from this custom their natural vigour languished, and their bowels
grew infirm."
For this very reason was there a
physician appointed in the Temple, upon whom the charge lay of remedying
this evil: whom we might not unfitly call the bowel-doctor.
Now, it may be inquired whether our Lord
from this example prescribed this severity to his apostles, not allowing
them more than a single garment, when this journeying of theirs, to
preach the gospel, was a winter's work: for they returned from this
journey a little before the Passover. Compare the tenth verse of this
chapter, and so on, with
John 6:4, and so on. But let us a little enlarge upon this subject.
In both the Talmuds there are reckoned
up eighteen several garments, wherewith the Jew is clothed from head to
foot. Amongst the rest, two shoes, two buskins, &c.: but those which are
more properly called garments, and which are put upon the body, are
reckoned these:
1. Mactoren: which word is
variously rendered by several men. By the Gloss I suppose a mantle:
by Aruch a cloak; by others a hood. In the Gloss upon
Bava Bathra it is made the same with talith.
"Resh Lachish went to Bozrah; and,
seeing some Israelites eating of fruits that had not been tithed,
forbade them. Coming from R. Jochanan, he saith to him, Even while
thy 'mactoren' [or cloak] is upon thee, go and recall
thy prohibition.'"
2. 'Kolbin' of thread. Which the
Babylonians call kolbos. The ordinary Jewish garment was
talith, the outward garment, and chaluk, the inward. But in
the place quoted is no mention of talith in so many syllables at
all; but instead of it a Greek word for a Hebrew one, a coat.
Epiphanius, speaking of the scribes,
"Moreover, they wore garments distinguished by the phylacteries, which
were certain borders of purple." They used long robes, or a certain
sort of garment which we may call 'dalmatics,' or 'kolobia,' which were
wove in with large borders of purple.
That he means the talith, the
thing itself declares; for those borders of purple were no other than
the zuzith, certain skirts hung and sewed on to the talith.
3. A woolen shirt, the inward
garment. Whence the Gloss, the 'chaluk' was the shirt upon his skin.
Hence that boast of R. Jose, "that throughout his whole life the roof of
his house had not seen what was within that shirt of his."
II. And now the question returns; viz.
whether by those two coats in the place before us should be meant
those two kinds of garments, the talith and the chaluk,
that is, that they should take but one of them: or those two kinds
doubled; that is, that they should take but one of each? Whether our
Saviour bound them to take but one of those garments, or whether he
forbade them taking two of each?
I conceive, he might bind them to take
but one of those garments...When our Lord commands them not to put on
two coats, the foregoing words may best explain what he means by it:
for when he cuts them short of other parts of garments and necessaries,
such as a scrip, a staff, and sandals, we may reasonably suppose he
would cut them short of one of the ordinary garments, either the
talith or the chaluk.
This may seem something severe, that he
should send them out in the winter time half naked; but, 1. This well
enough became that providence which he was determined to exert towards
them in a more peculiar manner, as may be gathered from
Luke 22:35, and to the charge of which he would commit them. Of such
a kind and nature was his providence in preserving them, as was shewn
towards the Israelites in the wilderness, which suffered not their
garments to wax old, which kept their bodies from decay and diseases,
and their feet unhurt by all their travel. 2. It suited well enough with
the mean and low estate of that kingdom of heaven, and of the Messiah,
which the apostles were to preach up and propagate; so that, from the
view of the first publishers, the Jews might learn to frame a right
judgment concerning both the Messiah and his kingdom; viz. they might
learn to believe in the Messiah when they should observe him capable so
wondrously to protect his messengers, though surrounded with such
numberless inconveniences of life: and might further be taught not to
expect a pompous kingdom when they see the propagators of it, of so mean
a degree and quality.
The words of the Baptist, He that
hath two coats, let him impart, &c., may be also understood in this
sense, that he that hath both the talith and the chaluk
may give to him that is naked and hath neither, either the one or the
other.
8. And of some, that Elias had
appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.
[That one of the old prophets was
risen again.] So is the expression again, verse 19; in which sense
that prophet must be taken,
John 1:21,25, that is one of the old prophets that is risen again.
Although they looked for no other
prophet (excepting Elias only) before the appearing of the Messiah, yet
doth it seem that they had an opinion that some of the ancient prophets
should rise again, and that the time was now at hand wherein they should
so do; and that because they made such frequent mention of it in their
common talk, that "some one of the old prophets had risen again."
30. And, behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
[Moses and Elias.] The Jews have
a fiction that Moses shall come with Elias when Elias himself comes.
"The holy blessed God said to Moses, 'As thou hast given thy life for
Israel in this world, so in the ages to come, when I shall bring Elias
the prophet amongst them, you two shall come together'"...
They also feign that Moses was raised
up at the same time with Samuel by the witch of Endor:
"Samuel thought that day had been the
day of judgment, and therefore he raised Moses along with himself."
"Moses did not die [for the just die
not]; but went up into the highest, to minister before God."
31. Who appeared in glory, and spake
of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
[They spake of his decease.] The
French and Italian translation do render this word decease too
loosely. And I wish the English have not done it too narrowly; They
spake of his decease. It were better, They spake of his departure.
For the ascent of Christ into heaven was his exodus, as well as
his death: nay, I may say more, if, at least, in the word exodus
there be any allusion to the Israelites' going out of Egypt. For that
was in victory and triumph, as also the ascent of Christ into heaven
was.
There is no question but they did
indeed discourse with him about his death and the manner of it; viz. his
crucifixion: whereas, Moses and Elias themselves did depart without any
pain or anguish. But I should think, however, there is more contained in
that word; and that the expression the time of his receiving up,
verse 51, hath some reference to his departure...
51. And it came to pass, when the
time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face
to go to Jerusalem,
[When the time was come that he
should be received up] It is a difficulty amongst some, why there
should be any mention of his receiving up, when there is no
mention of his death. But let it be only granted that under that
expression his decease is included the ascension of Christ, and
then the difficulty is solved. The evangelist seems from thence to
calculate. Moses and Elias had spoken of his departure out of this
world, that is, of his final departure, when he took leave of it at his
ascension into heaven: and from thenceforward, till the time should come
wherein he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face towards
Jerusalem, resolving with himself to be present at all the feasts that
should precede his receiving up.
He goes therefore to the feast of
Tabernacles; and what he did there, we have it told us,
John 7. After ten weeks, or thereabout, he went up to the feast of
Dedication, chapter 13:22;
John 10:22; and at length to the last feast of all, his own
Passover, chapter 17:11.
52. And sent messengers before his
face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to
make ready for him.
[Into a village of the Samaritans.]
It may be a question, whether the Jews, in their journeying to and from
Jerusalem, would ordinarily deign to lodge in any of the Samaritan
towns. But if necessity should at any time compel them to betake
themselves into any of their inns, we must know that nothing but their
mere hatred to the nation could forbid them: for "their land was clean,
their waters were clean, their dwellings were clean, and their roads
were clean." So that there could be no offence or danger of uncleanness
in their dwelling; and so long as the Samaritans, in most things, came
the nearest the Jewish religion of all others, there was less danger of
being defiled either in their meats or beds or tables, &c.
55. But he turned, and rebuked them,
and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
[Ye know not what manner of spirit
ye are of.] What Elias once did to those of Samaria, the sons of
Zebedee had an ambition to imitate in this place; dreaming (as it should
seem) that there were those thunders and lightnings in their very name
Boanerges, that should break out at pleasure for the death and
destruction of those that provoked them. But could you not see, O ye
sons of Zebedee, how careful and tender your Master was, from the very
bottom of his soul, about the lives and well-being of mankind; how he
healed the sick, cured those that were possessed with devils, and raised
the dead? and will you be breathing slaughter and fire, and no less
destruction to the town than what had happened to Sodom? Alas! you do
not know, or have not considered, what kind of spirit and temper becomes
the apostles of the Messiah.
60. Jesus said unto him, Let the
dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.
[Let the dead bury their dead.]
The Jews accounted of the Gentiles as no other than dead. The people
of the earth, [that is, the Gentiles] do not live. And
as the Gentiles, so even amongst themselves, these four sorts are so
esteemed: "These four are accounted as dead, the blind, the
leprous, the poor, and the childless."
1. After these things the Lord
appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face
into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
[Seventy.] Why the Vulgar should
have seventy-and-two, they themselves, I suppose, are able to
give no very good reason: much less the interpreter of Titus Bostrensis,
when in the Greek copy before him he saw only seventy, why he
should render it seventy-two.
Aben Ezra upon the story of Eldad and
Medad hath this passage: "The wise men say, That Moses took six out of
every tribe, and the whole number amounted to seventy-and-two: but
whereas the Lord had commanded only seventy, the odd two were laid
aside." Now if God laid aside two of those who had been enrolled, and
endowed with the Holy Spirit, that so there might be the just number of
seventy only, we can hardly imagine why our Saviour should add two, to
make it seventy-two and not seventy. "It was said to Moses at Mount
Sinai, Go up, thou and Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel: so will the holy blessed God ordain to himself in the
world to come a council of elders of his own people." Now the
number of this consistory, the doctors determine to be no other than
seventy. A council of seventy-two was never heard of amongst the
Jews, but once only at Jabneh.
"R. Simeon Ben Azzai saith, I
received it from the mouths of the seventy-two elders, on the day
when they made R. Eliezer Ben Azariah one of the Sanhedrim." Nor did
they then remove Rabban Gamaliel, although he had displeased them.
3. Go your ways: behold, I send you
forth as lambs among wolves.
[As lambs among wolves.] It is
added in another evangelist, "Be ye wise as serpents," &c.: with which
we may compare that in Midrash Schir; "The holy blessed God saith
concerning Israel those that belong to me are simple as doves, but
amongst the nations of the world, they are subtle as serpents."
4. Carry neither purse, nor scrip,
nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
[Salute no man by the way.] I.
We have a passage something like this elsewhere; "If thou meet any man,
salute him not"; that is (as is commonly expounded), do not hinder thy
journey by discoursing with any in the way. But the same reason doth not
hold in this place; the business of these disciples not requiring such
mighty expedition. They were commanded out two by two, to this or
the other place or city where Christ himself was to come in person; nor
was it necessary they should run in so great haste, that they should
make no stay in the way. Only having appointed them to such and such
places, their business indeed lay nowhere but in those very places to
which they had been particularly sent, to proclaim the coming of Christ
there, and not to be telling it in the way. The twelve apostles that
were sent, their business was to declare the coming of the 'kingdom of
heaven'; these the coming of the 'King himself.' No wonder, therefore,
if the apostles were not forbidden to salute any in the way; for
their province was, wherever they came, to tell the world that the
kingdom of heaven was come: but these were only to give notice that the
Messiah was coming: and that in those places only to which he was to
come, and not to any whom they should meet cursorily in the way.
II. It was a very usual thing in that
nation, upon some accounts, not to salute any in the way, no, not
any person at all. "He that is mourning for the dead, let him not
salute any person for the first seven days of his mourning." If
thirteen fasts had been celebrated by order of the Sanhedrim for the
imploring of rain, and yet no rain had fallen, then they "diminish from
their business, and from building, and from planting, and from espousals
and marriage, and from saluting each other as men under the
rebukes of Heaven": that is, they abstained from all these things. "The
religious do not use to salute one another; but if any of the common
people do at any time salute them, they return it in a very
low voice with all gravity, veiling themselves, and sitting in the
posture of mourners or excommunicate persons."
Whether that of the apostle, "Salute
one another with a holy kiss," might not have some reference to this
usage, might be a matter for our inquiry, if there were place for it;
but I forbear.
What therefore doth our Saviour intend
by this prohibition, Salute no man by the way? would he imitate
this Jewish custom, that he would have them taken for mourners
everywhere?
I. He would have all that belonged to
him conformable to himself, that every one from the quality of the
messengers might, in some measure, judge what he was that sent them; as
we have already hinted concerning the twelve apostles, He himself was "a
man of sorrows"; and if his messengers do represent some such thing,
either in their looks or behaviour, the people might the more easily
guess what kind of person he was that commissioned them.
II. Christ had a twofold end in
designing them to the places to which he in his own person had
determined to come; namely, that thither all persons should assemble
themselves to his doctrine for the healing of their souls: and that
those that were diseased might be gathered thither in order to a cure.
Now it was very fit and convenient that the behaviour of those that were
to assemble the people to these ends should be mournful and solemn, to
testify the fellow-feeling they had with the afflicted and miserable.
8. And into whatsoever city ye
enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
[Eat such things as are set before
you.] The traditional canons were so very precise and curious about
not eating unless what were clean, what had been duly tithed, and from
which the Trumah had been duly separated, that it might be almost
a wonder the strict traditionists should not be famished if they lived
and fed only by canon. "Let not the religious serve at the table
of a laic, unless all things be rightly prepared and decimated."
From the irksomeness and perplexity of
this niceness doth our Saviour acquit and absolve his followers; partly
that he might introduce the gospel liberty; partly also consulting the
necessity of his disciples, who if they had been bound up to that
strictness in meats, what could they do when their converse was to lie
chiefly amongst persons perfectly unknown to them?
18. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
[I beheld Satan, &c.] "Lucifer
falling from heaven,"
Isaiah 14:12, is the king of Babylon divested of his throne and
dominion. So is Satan in this place. The word I beheld, I would
refer to this very time: "When I sent you forth I saw Satan's fall at
hand, that he should be immediately despoiled of his power and tyranny."
For when the Messiah had determined to exhibit himself, and, in order
thereunto, to send out so numerous a multitude of persons that should
publish his appearance, it was absolutely necessary, and it could not
otherwise be, but that the power of Satan should sink, and his
government be shaken.
It is probable these seventy disciples
were sent out upon the approach of the feast of Tabernacles, and when
there now remained about half a year to the death of Christ. In which
interval of time Christ shewed himself more openly, both by the
preaching of these persons, and also in his own personal exhibition of
himself, than before he had done. All which things determining in his
death, whose death was also the death of Satan, might give him a very
just occasion of saying, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,
thrown out of his throne and kingdom. Compare
Revelation 12:8, where 'heaven' is to be interpreted 'the church.'
25. And, behold, a certain lawyer
stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?
[Behold, a certain lawyer stood up.]
Some few Notes concerning the Jewish
Doctors.
The word lawyer we meet with in
Matthew 22:35, where the Syriac hath it a scribe. So
Luke 7:30; as also in this place, and chapter 11:45. Nor without
reason, when he in St. Matthew, one of them which was a lawyer,
is said to be,
Mark 12:28, one of the scribes.
However there seems some difficulty
from a passage in our evangelist, where woe unto you scribes, and
Then answered one of the lawyers, seems to make some distinction
betwixt them. As to this, we shall make some remarks in its proper
place. In the mean time let it not seem tedious to the reader, if we
discourse some things concerning the doctors of the law, with the
various classes and orders of them, that we may the better judge of that
sort of men of which we have so frequent mention in the holy Scriptures.
And,
I. It is not unknown how the name
scribe was a general title given to all the learned part of that
nation, as it is opposed to the rude and illiterate person. "If
two persons eat together, and are both scribes, they each of them
say grace singly for themselves: but if one of them be a scribe, and
the other an illiterate person, the scribe saith grace, and it
sufficeth for the other that is unlearned."
Indeed, the first original of the word
scribes did more peculiarly signify the numberers. "The
ancients were called numberers, because they numbered all the
letters of the law..." The Gloss gives another reason out of the
Jerusalem Talmud; namely, "because they numbered all the points and
contents of the law, as the forty principal servile works save one," &c.
Should we indeed grant that the first
original of the word had such narrow bounds as this, yet does not this
hinder but that it afterward enlarged itself so far as to denote any
person learned in the law, and every doctor of it; nay, that it extended
itself even to the schoolmasters that taught children: if not to
the very libellarii, those whose business it was to write out
bills of divorce and forms of contracts, &c. Of which two there is
mention made amongst the ten sorts, whereof if none should happen to be
in a city, it was not fit for any disciple of the wise to abide in it.
II. That the fathers of the Sanhedrim
were more emphatically called the scribes is so well known that
it needs no confirmation. That passage in the evangelist sufficiently
shews it; "The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat": that is, on
the legislative bench, or in the Sanhedrim: where also the Sadducees
that were of that council are called scribes: and the scribes
are distinguished there from the Pharisees, not that they were
not scribes, but because all the scribes there were not
Pharisees.
III. There was a certain degree of
doctors or scribes that were in the Sanhedrim, but were not
members of it: these are commonly called those who gave judgment in
the presence of the wise men, fit for the office of legislators, but
not yet admitted. Such were Simeon Ben Azzai, and Simeon Ben Zumah. Such
also was Simeon the Temanite, of whom we have made mention elsewhere,
(out of Sanhedrin, fol. 17. 2) He judged in the presence of
the Sanhderim, sitting upon the ground. He did not sit on the bench
with the fathers, as not being one of their number, but on the seats
below, nearer the ground: him the fathers consulted in difficult
matters. A shadow of which we have in England of the judges, men learned
in the laws, who have their seats in our house of lords.
Whether he that was particularly called
the wise man was of the number of the fathers, or only of this
kind of judges, I shall not at present dispute, but leave the reader to
judge from this story: "Rabban Simeon Ben Gamliel was the president
of the Sanhedrim: R. Meir was chacam, or the wise man; and
R. Nathan, the vice-governor." Now when Rabban Simeon had decreed
something that disparaged R. Meir and R. Nathan, "Saith R. Meir to R.
Nathan, I am the chacam [or the wise man], and thou art
the vice-president. Let us remove Rabban Simeon from the presidency,
then thou wilt be the president, and I the vice-president."
There is nothing more common, and yet
nothing more difficult than that saying, "The school of Hillel saith so
and so, and the school of Shammai so: but the wise men say otherwise."
It is very obscure who these wise men should be. If we should say
the Sanhedrim, it is plain that one part of it consisted of the
Shammaeans, and another part of the Hillelites. If so, then it should
seem that these wise men are those judges of whom we have spoken:
unless you will assign a third part to the Sadducees, to whom you will
hardly attribute the determination of the thing, and much less the
emphatical title of the wise men. But this we leave undecided.
IV. Let us a little inquire out of the
Sanhedrim; we shall find variety of scribes and doctors of the law,
according to the variety of the law itself, and the variety of teaching
it. Hence those various treatises amongst the Rabbins; the Micra,
Misna, Midras, Talmud, Agadah, &c.
1. Micra, is the text of the
Bible itself: its reading and literal explication.
2. Misna, the doctrine of
traditions and their explication.
3. Midras, the mystic and
allegorical doctrine and exposition of the Scriptures: "For Moses of old
time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the
synagogues every sabbath day." Now these were the ways and methods of
preaching him:
I. As to the written law (for every one
knows they had a twofold law, written and oral, as they
call it), they had a twofold way of declaring it, viz., explaining and
applying it according to the literal sense of it, for edification,
exhortation, and comfort, as the apostle hath it; or else by drawing
allegories, mysteries, and far-fetched notions out of it. As to the
former way, the rulers of the synagogue seem to have respect to it in
what they said to Paul and Barnabas: If ye have any word of
exhortation for the people, say on. As to the latter, the instances
are endless in the Jewish writings every where; so far, that they have
even melted down the whole volume of the Scriptures into tradition and
allegory.
It is not easily determined whether
those preachers were so of a different order, that one should wholly
addict himself to the plain and literal exposition and application of
the Scriptures, the other only to the mystical and more abstruse way of
teaching. There is no question but both these did frequently meet both
in one preacher, and that in one and the same sermon: and indeed I
cannot tell but that the word Agadah may sometimes denote both
these ways of expounding and interpreting the law. When a certain
person, being interrogated about certain traditions, could give no
answer, the standers by said, Perhaps he is not skilled in the
[traditional] doctrine: but he may be able to expound. And so
they propound to him
Daniel 10:21 to explain. To which that also agrees well enough,
"The masters of the Agada or expositions, because they are 'Darshanin'
[or profound searchers of the Scriptures], are honoured of all
men, for they draw away the hearts of their auditors." Nor does that
sound very differently as to the thing itself: On the sabbath day
they discussed discussions [i.e. in the Scriptures, searching the
Scriptures] "to the masters of families, who had been employed in
their occasions all the week; and while they were expounding, they
taught them the articles about things forbidden and things permitted
them," &c.
To these kind of mystic and allegorical
expositions of Scripture (if at least it be proper to call them
expositions) they were so strangely bewitched, that they valued
nothing more than a skill in tickling or rubbing the itching ears of
their auditors with such trifles. Hence that passage, "R. Joshua said to
R. Jochanan Ben Bruchah, and to R. Eleazar the blind, What new thing
have you met with today in 'Beth Midras'? They answered and said,
'We are all thy disciples, and drink wholly at thy waters.' To whom he;
'It is impossible but you should meet with something novel every day in
Beth Midras.'"
II. As to the oral law, there was also
a twofold way of explaining it, as they had for the written law:
1. The former way we have intimated to
us in these words: "The book of the Law, when it grows old, they lay up
with one of the disciples of the wise men, even although he teach the
traditions." The passage seems very obscure, but it is thus
explained by the Gloss: "Albeit it doth not any way help the disciples
of the wise men in Talmud and Gemara, but in Misnaioth and Beriathoth,"
that is, he that would only read the body of the traditional law, and
render the literal sense of it,--and not he that would dispute
scholastically, and comment upon it. For,
2. There were doctors that would
inquire more deeply into the traditions, would give some accounts (such
as they were), of them, would discuss difficulties, solve doubts, &c.; a
specimen of which is the Talmudic Gemara throughout.
Lastly, amongst the learned, and
doctors of that nation, there were the Agadici, who would expound
the written law in a more profound way than ordinary, even to what was
cabalistical. These were more rare, and (as it should seem) not so
acceptable amongst the people. Whether these are concerned in what
follows, let the reader judge: "R. Joshua Ben Levi saith, So and so
let it happen to me, if in all my life I ever saw the book Agada
above once; and then I found a hundred seventy-and-five sections of the
law, where it is written, 'The Lord hath said, hath spoken, hath
commanded.' They are according to the number of the years of our father
Abraham, as it is said, To receive gifts for men, &c. A hundred
forty-and-seven Psalms, which are in the Book of Psalms [mark the
number] are according to the number of the years of our father Jacob; as
it is written, 'Thou art holy, and inhabitest the praises of Israel.' A
hundred twenty-and-three turns, wherein Israel answereth Hallelujah [to
him that repeats the Hallel], are according to the number of the
years of Aaron," &c. And as a coronis, let me add that passage in
Sanhedrim, "If they be masters of the textual reading, they shall
be conversant in the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. If they
be masters of the Misna, they shall be conversant in Misna
Halacoth and Haggadoth. And if they be masters of the Talmud,
they shall be conversant in the traditions of the Passover, in the
Passover: in the traditions of Pentecost, in Pentecost: in the
traditions of the feast of Tabernacles, in the feast of Tabernacles."
These all, whom we have mentioned, were
scribes and doctors and expounders of the law; but which of these may
properly and peculiarly challenge to themselves the title of lawyers,
whether all, or any particular class of them? The latter is most
probable: but then, what class will you choose? or will you distinguish
betwixt the lawyer and the teacher of the law? I had
rather the reader would frame his own judgment here. And yet, that I
might not dismiss this question wholly untouched, and at the same time
not weary the reader with too long a digression, I have referred what is
to be alleged in this matter to my notes upon chapter 11:45.
26. He said unto him, What is
written in the law? how readest thou?
[How readest thou?] An
expression very common in the schools, What readest thou? when
any person brought a text of Scripture for the proof of any thing. The
Rabbins have a tradition, that the disease of the squinancy came into
the world upon the account of tithes. (The Gloss hath it: "For
eating of fruits that had not been tithed.") "R. Eliezer Ben R. Jose
saith, 'It was for an evil tongue.' Rabba saith, and it is the saying
also of R. Joshua Ben Levi, What readest thou? The king shall
rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by himself shall glory: for
the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." And a little
after, upon another subject: "R. Simeon Ben Gezirah saith, What
or how readest thou? If thou know not, O thou fairest among
women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock":
Canticles 1:8.
We will not be very curious in
inquiring whether our Saviour used the very same form of speech, or any
other. In this only he departs from their common use of speech, in that
he calls to another to allege some text of Scripture; whereas it was
usual in the schools that he that spoke that would allege some place
himself.
27. And he answering said, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as
thyself.
[And with all thy mind.] In this
answer of the man there are these two things observable:
I. That our Saviour brings in this
clause, which in so many terms is not in Moses, where the rest are:
where the Greek both of the Roman and Alexandrian edition render with
all thy might. But wherein is mind? I pass by other copies,
wherein though there is some varying, yet there is not this which is now
before us.
Our Saviour hath the same clause
elsewhere, but not in the same order; with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength: here it is, with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind. What shall we say therefore? shall we suppose it writ to this
sense in the Hebrew in their phylacteries? This we can hardly think. Was
it added by the Greek interpreters, and so the evangelists take it from
thence? we see it is not so. What then? doth might signify both
strength and mind? Here, indeed, the hinge of the question
turns. That it denotes strength, no one doubts; yea, and the
Rabbins suppose it denotes Mammon too, with whom the Syriac and
Targumist agree: but still, where doth it signify the mind?
1. Take such a Gloss as is frequently
in use amongst the allegorizing doctors: With what measure he shall
mete to thee, do thou praise him exceedingly. Where we see they play
with the sound of words, which is a very common thing with them to do...
2. To this we may add, if we think fit,
what they commonly require in all religious services; viz. the
preparation and the intention of the mind...Moses' words, therefore,
are rendered by the evangelists not strictly and according to the
letter, as they are in him, or were in the parchments in the
phylacteries; but both according to their full sense and tenour, as also
according to the common and received interpretation of that nation.
"R. Levi Bar Chajothah went to
Caesarea, and heard them reciting their 'Shemaa' [or their
phylacteries] Hellenistically [i.e. in Greek]" &c.
Now, whether the clause we are now handling was inserted there, it would
be in vain to inquire, because not possible to find...
The second thing observable in this
man's answer, is, that he adds, "And thy neighbour as thyself": which
indeed was not written in the schedules of their phylacteries: otherwise
I should have thought the man had understood those words of our Saviour,
How readest thou? as if he had said, "How dost thou repeat the
sentences of the phylacteries?" for he reciteth the sentence as it was
in their phylacteries, only adding this clause, "And thy neighbour," &c.
Now the usual expression for the recitation of their phylacteries was
They read the 'Shemaa'; which also is so rendered by some when
indeed they commonly repeat them without book. He that read the Book
[of Esther] orally: i.e. as the Gemara explains it, "Without
book," or "by heart." It is queried, "Why they repeat those two sections
every day? R. Levi saith, Because the ten commandments [of the decalogue]
are comprehended therein." And he shews further how they are
comprehended, saving only (which is very observable) the second
commandment. Afterward indeed they confess, "It was very fitting they
should every day repeat the very decalogue itself; but they did not
repeat it, lest the heretics should say, that only those commandments
were given to Moses on Mount Sinai." However, they did repeat those
passages wherein they supposed the decalogue was summed up.
Whether, therefore, this lawyer of ours
understood the words of our Saviour as having respect to that usage of
repeating their phylacteries; or whether he of his own accord, and
according to his own opinion, would be giving the whole sum of the
decalogue, he shews himself rather a textual than a
traditional doctor, although the word lawyer, seems to point
out the latter rather.
29. But he, willing to
justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
[And who is my neighbour?] This
doubt and form of questioning he had learned out of the common school,
where it is thus taught in Aruch. He excepts all Gentiles when he
saith, His neighbour.
"An Israelite killing a stranger
inhabitant, he doth not die for it by the Sanhedrim; because it is
said, If any one lift up himself against his neighbour. And it is
not necessary to say, He does not die upon the account of a Gentile: for
they are not esteemed by them for their neighbour."
"The Gentiles, amongst whom and us
there is no war, and so those that are keepers of sheep amongst the
Israelites, and the like, we are not to contrive their death: but if
they be in any danger of death, we are not bound to deliver them: e.g.
If any of them fall into the sea, you shall not need to take him out:
for it is said, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy
neighbour; but such a one is not thy neighbour."
30. And Jesus answering said, A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and
departed, leaving him half dead.
[A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho.] This was the most beaten and frequented road
in the whole land of Israel, and that, not only as it led to Perea, but
also upon the account of that great traffic that was between these two
cities, especially because of the courses that were as well in
Jericho as Jerusalem. Of which we have discoursed elsewhere. To which I
shall superadd this passage out of Jerusalem Taanith: "The former
prophets instituted four-and-twenty courses, and for every
course there was a stationary class of priests, Levites, and
Israelites in Jerusalem. It is a tradition: Four-and-twenty
thousand was the stationary number out of Jerusalem, and half that
station out of Jericho. Jericho could indeed have produced an entire
station; but that it would give the preference to Jerusalem; and
therefore it produced but half."
Here, therefore, you may see in this
historical parable why there is such particular mention made of a priest
and Levite travelling that way, because there was very frequent
intercourse of this sort of men between these towns; and that upon the
account of the stations above mentioned.
[He fell among thieves.] It is
with great confidence I see, but upon what foundation I cannot see, that
the commentators generally make Adummim the scene of this robbery
above all other places. It is true, the road betwixt Jerusalem and
Jericho was dangerous enough; and for that reason (as is commonly
believed) there was placed a band of soldiers "betwixt Aelia and
Jericho," for the safeguard of passengers: but whereas it is said that
the place is called Adummim, i.e. a place of redness, from
the blood that was spilt by robbers there, this seems to have very
little force in it: because the place had that name of Adummim
even in Joshua's days, when we can hardly suppose the times to have been
so pestered with robberies as they were when our Saviour uttered this
parable: see
Joshua 15:7, where if we consider the situation of 'the going up to
Adummim,' it will appear it was not very distant from Jericho.
[Half dead.] The Rabbins term it
next to death; beyond which condition, on this side death, was
only one just expiring.
31. And by chance there came down a
certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other
side.
[When he saw him, he passed by on
the other side.] And why, I pray, priest and Levite, do ye thus pass
by a man in such a miserable condition? Was he not an Israelite? It is
true, ye had learned out of your own schools not to succour a Gentile,
no, nor a keeper of sheep, though he was an Israelite: now was this
wounded man such a one? or did ye think ye should have contracted some
pollution by touching one half dead? The word passed by on the other
side, seems to hint as if they passed by him, keeping their distance
from him: let them tell the reason themselves. For my part, I would
impute it wholly to the mere want of charity.
33. But a certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion
on him.
[But a certain Samaritan.]
The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans: that is, so as to be
obliged by them for any courtesy done to them. But would this Jew, half
dead, reject the kindness of the Samaritan at this time? This person
being of a nation than which the Jews hated nothing more, is brought in
shewing this kindness to the Jew, on purpose to give the plainer
instance, who is our neighbour. It might seem more proper to have
said, that the Samaritan acknowledged the wounded man for his
neighbour in being so kind to him: but our Saviour intimates that he
was the wounded man's neighbour; thereby teaching us that even a
stranger, yea, an enemy (against the doctrine of their own schools), is
no other than our neighbour.
34. And went to him, and
bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own
beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
[Pouring in oil and wine.] It is
a tradition. "They spread a plaster for the sick on the sabbath day:
that is, upon condition they had mingled it with wine and oil on the
evening of the sabbath. But if they have not mixed it on the sabbath, it
is forbidden. A tradition. R. Simeon Ben Eliezer saith, That it is
allowed by R. Meir, both to mingle the oil and the wine, and also to
anoint the sick on the sabbath day."
35. And on the morrow when he
departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and
said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when
I come again, I will repay thee.
[He took out two pence.] Aruch:
"A shekel of the law is selaa, and is of the value of four
pence." So that the half shekel is two pence: a price that
was to be paid yearly by every one as a ransom for his soul or life.
Whence, not unfitly, we see two pence are paid down for the
recovery of this man's life that had been wounded and half dead.
[And gave them to the host.] The
Rabbins retain this Greek word, however the author of Aruch
calls it Ismaelitic, or Arabic. A tavern or inn (saith
he), in the Ismaelitish language, is called 'pondak.' It is true,
indeed, the Arabic version useth this word in this place; but it is well
known whence it takes its original. "Two men went into an inn;
one a just, the other a wicked man. They sat down apart. The wicked man
saith to the host, 'Let me have one pheasant, and let me
have conditum or hippocras.' The just man said to the
host, 'Let me have a piece of bread and a dish of lentils.' The wicked
man laughed the just man to scorn, 'See how this fool calls for lentils
when he may have dainties.' On the contrary, the just man, 'See how this
fool eateth, when his teeth are to be immediately dashed out.' The just
man saith to the host, 'Give me two cups of wine, that I may
bless them': he gave them him, and he blessed them, and rising up gave
to the host a piece of money for the portion that he had eaten, and
departed in peace. But there was a falling out betwixt the wicked man
and his host about the reckoning, and the host dashed out his teeth."
38. Now it came to pass, as they
went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named
Martha received him into her house.
[Martha received him, &c.] Our
Saviour is now at the feast of Tabernacles: and visits Bethany, where
there had grown a friendship betwixt himself and Lazarus' family, upon
his having cast out so many devils out of Mary his sister. For it is no
foreign thing to suppose she was that Mary that was called Magdalene,
because Bethany itself was called Magdala. As to the name
Martha, see notes upon
John 11: and as to the name Magdala, see notes upon
John 12.
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