Commentari biblici

CHAPTER 11

Matthew 11:2. διά] Elz. Griesb. Matthaei, Scholz: δύο, against B C* D P Z Δ א, 33, 124, Syr. utr. Arm. Goth. Codd. of It. From Luke 7:19.

Matthew 11:8. ἱματίοις] wanting in B D Z א, Vulg. Tert. Hil. al. Bracketed by Lachm., deleted by Tisch. Interpolation from Luke.

Matthew 11:9. ἰδεῖν; προφήτην;] Tisch.: προφήτην ἰδεῖν; (with mark of interrogation after ἐξήλθ.) So B Z א*. The Received text, notwithstanding its preponderance of testimony, is a mechanical conformation to Matthew 11:8 (comp. Luke).

Matthew 11:10. Lachm. has bracketed γάρ and ἐγώ. The former only has important testimony against it (B D Z א, Codd. of It. Syrcur Or.), is likewise deleted by Tisch., though it may easily have been omitted in consequence of a comparison with Luke 7:27.

On far too inadequate testimony, Lachm. and Tisch. 7 have καί instead of ὅς.

Matthew 11:15. ἀκούειν] is not found in B D, 32. Here and in Matthew 13:9; Matthew 13:43, it is bracketed by Lachm. and correctly deleted by Tisch. Borrowed from Mark and Luke, where, in all the passages, ἀκούειν cannot be disputed.

Matthew 11:16 f. παιδίοις ἐν ἀγοραῖς καθημένοις καὶ προσφωνοῦσι τοῖς ἑταίροις αὐτῶν καὶ λέγουσιν] Rinck, Lucubr. crit. p. 257 f.; Lachm. and Tisch.: παιδίοις καθημένοις ἐν ἀγορᾷ (Tisch. 7 : ἀγοραῖς, Tisch. 8 : ταῖς ἀγορ.) ἃ προσφωνοῦντα τοῖς ἑταίροις (Tisch.: ἑτέροις) λέγουσιν. On the strength of preponderating testimony this whole reading is to be preferred; it was partially altered in accordance with Luke 7:32. But the balance of the testimony is decidedly in favour of substituting ἑτέροις for ἑταίροις; and the former is to be preferred all the more that, for exegetical reasons, it was much more natural to adopt the latter. Testimony is also decidedly in favour of ἐν ἀγοραῖς, and that without the article (which is found only in B Z א).

ἐθρηνής. ὑμῖν] Lachm. and Tisch. have merely ἐθρηνής., according to B C D Z א, Curss. Verss. and Fathers. Correctly; ὑμῖν is inserted from what precedes.

Tisch. 8 has ἔργων instead of τέκνων, but only after B* א, 124, Codd. in Jerome, and Verss. (also Syr.). An interpretation (ἀ. τ. ἔργων τῶν υἱ. ἀ.).

Matthew 11:23. ἡ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθεῖσα] E F G S U V Γ Π**. Curss. Syr. p. Chrys.: ἣ ὥς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὑψώθης (approved by Griesb. and Rinck, also Tisch. 7, who, however, has correctly deleted τοῦ). But B C D** א, 1, 22, 42, Copt. Aeth. Pers. Wh. Vulg. Corb. For. Ir. (comp. Colb. Germ.): μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσγ. The reading of the Received text must be given up, then, on account of the external testimony, and either ἣ … ὑψώθης or μὴ … ὑψωθήσῃ is to be read. The former is to be preferred. The reading μή, etc., originated in the final syllable of Καφαρναούμ having been twice written by the copyist, which necessarily involved the change of ὑψώθης into ὑψωθήσῃ. The other variations arose out of a misunderstanding as to H. It was taken for the article, hence the reading in the Received text: ἡ … ὑψωθεῖσα. The interrogative reading, μή, etc. (Lachm. Tisch. 8), is foreign to the sense (you will not be raised to heaven, surely?), a reflection that is here out of place.

καταβιβασθήσῃ] Lachm. and Tisch. 7 : καταβήσῃ, after B D, It. Vulg. Syr. al. Ir. Correctly; the reading of the Received text is from Luke 10:15, where the testimony in favour of καταβήσῃ is somewhat weaker.

Matthew 11:1. Ἐκεῖθεν] from where the sending out of the apostles took place. It is impossible to define the locality further; at all events Capernaum is not intended, but some open space (Matthew 9:36) on the road, along which Jesus was at that time prosecuting His journey through Galilee (Matthew 9:35). Whilst the Twelve were out on their missionary tour, Jesus continued His labours by Himself; and it was during this interval also that He was visited by the messengers from the Baptist. Where these latter happened to find Him, it is impossible to say. For the return of the Twelve, see note on Matthew 11:25.

αὐτῶν] in the towns of those to whom He came (the Galileans). Comp. Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 12:9. Fritzsche refers αὐτῶν to the apostles: in which the apostles had already published the knowledge of the kingdom. Incorrectly, for the μετέβη, κ.τ.λ., follows at once and immediately upon the conclusion of the instructions to the Twelve.

On the following section, see Wieseler in the Göttingen Vierteljahrschr. 1845, p. 197 ff.; Gams, Joh. d. T. im Gefängn. 1853; Gademann, in d. Luth. Zeitschr. 1852, 4; Grote, ibid. 1857, 3, p. 518 ff. Comp. also Erlang. Zeitschr. 1857, p. 167 ff.; Keim, II. p. 355 ff.

Matthew 11:2 ff. Comp. Luke 7:18 ff., where the account is introduced somewhat earlier, and where nothing is said about the prison (but see Luke 3:20).

ἀκούσας, κ.τ.λ.] Occasion of the message. See the note after Matthew 11:5.

ἐν τῷ δεσμωτ.] in the fortress of Machaerus. Joseph. Antt. xviii. 5. 2. See on Matthew 14:3. How John could hear anything of Jesus’ works in prison was possible in various ways; most naturally it was through his disciples, with whom he was permitted to have intercourse. Luke 7:18.

τὰ ἔργα] are the deeds, the first element in the ποιεῖν τε καὶ διδάσκειν (Acts 1:1). These were for the most part miracles, though there is no reason to suppose that they were exclusively so. See on John 5:36.

πέμψας] absolutely, Xen. Anab. vii. 1. 2; Hell. iii. 2. 9; Thuc. i. 91. 2; Bornem. Schol. in Luc. p. lxv. The following διὰ τῶν μαθητ. αὐτοῦ belongs to εἶπεν αὐτῷ, not to πέμψας (de Wette), because this latter connection would involve the supposition of a Hebraism, שָׁלַח בְּיַד, 1 Samuel 16:20, 1 Kings 2:25, Exodus 4:13, which is in itself unnecessary.

Matthew 11:3. Σύ] Placed first for sake of emphasis. Comp. ἕτερον.

ὁ ἐρχόμενος] He who is coming (Hebrews 10:37), i.e. the Messiah, who, because His advent, as being certain and near, was the object of universal expectation, is called, κατʼ ἐξοχήν, the coming one (הַבָּא), perhaps in accordance with Psalm 40:8. Olshausen, Hilgenfeld, Keim, suggest Psalm 118:26; Hengstenberg suggests Malachi 3:1; Hitzig, Daniel 9:26.

ἕτερον] so that thou too wouldst, in that case, be only a forerunner.

προσδοκῶμεν] may be conjunctive (as commonly preferred) or indicative (Vulg. Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Fritzsche). The idea of deliberation is, for psychological reasons, more appropriate. The we in the question is the expression of the popular expectation.

Matthew 11:5-6. In words that seem an echo of Isaiah 35:5 f., 8, Isaiah 61:1 ff., though, in accordance with existing circumstances, embracing some additional matters, Jesus draws His answer clearly and decidedly from the well-known facts of His ministry, which prove Him to be the ἐρχόμενος foretold in prophecy. Comp. Luke 4:18. The words of the answer form a resumé of cases such as those in Matthew 8:2, Matthew 9:1; Matthew 9:23; Matthew 9:27; Matthew 9:32; therefore they cannot have been intended to be taken in the sense of spiritual redemption, which Jesus might lay claim to as regards His works (in answer to de Wette, Keim, Wittichen); comp. Schweizer in the Stud. u. Krit. 1836, p. 106 ff.; Weiss, bibl. Theol., ed. 2, p. 48; Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 181.

πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελ.] well-known passive construction, as in Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 4:6; Galatians 2:7; Romans 3:2; Hebrews 11:2; Bernhardy, p. 341 f.

πτωχοί] are the poor, the miserable, the friendless, the oppressed and helpless multitude (comp. on Matthew 5:3), elsewhere compared to sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), and likened a little further on to a bruised reed and smoking flax (Matthew 12:20). Such people crowded about our Lord, who proclaimed to them the Messianic deliverance. And this deliverance they actually obtained when, as πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι, Matthew 5:3, they surrendered themselves to His word under a deep heartfelt consciousness of their need of help.

σκανδαλ. ἐν ἐμοί] will have been offended in me, so as to have come to entertain false views concerning me, so as to have ceased to believe in me, to have come to distrust me; Matthew 13:57, Matthew 26:31; Matthew 26:33; comp. on Matthew 5:29.

REMARK.

Judging from John’s question, Matthew 11:2, and Jesus’ reply, Matthew 11:6, it is neither unwarrantable nor, as far as can be seen, incompatible with the evangelic narrative, to assume that nothing else is meant than that John was really in doubt as to the personal Messiahship of Jesus and the nature of that Messiahship altogether,—a doubt, however, which, after the honourable testimony of Jesus, Matthew 11:7 ff., cannot be regarded as showing a want of spirituality, nor as inconsistent with the standpoint and character of one whom God had sent as the forerunner, and who had been favoured with a divine revelation, but only as a temporary eclipse of his settled conviction, which, owing to human infirmity, had yielded to the influence of despondency. This condition is so explicable psychologically from the popular nature of the form which he expected the Messianic kingdom to assume on the one hand, as well as from his imprisonment on the other, coupled with the absence of any interposition in his favour on the part of Him who, as Messiah in the Baptist’s sense, should have given things a totally different turn by manifesting Himself in some sudden, overwhelming, and glorious crisis, and so analogous to undoubted examples of the same thing in other holy men (Moses, Elias), that there is no foundation for the view that, because of this question of the Baptist (which Strauss even regards as an expression of the first beginnings of his faith), the evangelic accounts of his earlier relation to Jesus are to be regarded as overdrawn (on the other hand, Wieseler, l.c. p. 203 ff.),—a view which seems to be shared by Weizsäcker, p. 320, and Schenkel. Actual doubt was the cause of the question, and furnished the occasion for informing him about the works of Jesus, which, as characteristic marks of the Messiah, formed again a counterpoise to his doubts, and so awoke an internal conflict in which the desire to call upon Jesus finally to declare Himself was extremely natural; and, accordingly, there is no reason for Strauss’ wonder that, ere this, οὐκ ἀκούσας has not been substituted in Matthew 11:2 as a likely reading instead of ἀκούσας. From all this, and without importing any subjective element into the accounts, it is to be considered as settled that the Baptist’s question proceeded from real doubt as to whether Jesus was the ἐρχόμενος, yea or nay; nor is it for a moment to be limited (Paulus, Olshausen, Neander, Fleck, Kuhn, Ebrard, de Wette, Wieseler, Döllinger, and several others; comp. also Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erf. II. p. 75; Lichtenstein, L. J. p. 256; Hausrath, Zeitgesch. I. p. 338; Gess, Chr. Pers. u. Werk, I. p. 352) to doubts regarding the true nature of the Messiah’s manifestation and works; but still less is the whole narrative to be explained by supposing, in accordance with the time-honoured exegetical tradition, that John sent the message for the benefit of his own disciples, to confirm in them a belief in Jesus as the Messiah (Origen in Cramer’s Catena, Chrysostom, Augustine, Jerome, Hilary, Theophylact, Euth. Zigabenus, Münster, Luther, Calvin, Beza, Melanchthon, Clarius, Zeger, Jansen, Maldonatus, Grotius, Calovius, Bengel), or by seeing in it an expression of impatience, and an indirect challenge to the Messiah to establish His kingdom without delay (Lightfoot, Michaelis, Schuster in Eichhorn’s Bibl. XI. p. 1001 ff.; Leopold, Joh. d. Täuf. 1825, p. 96; Kuinoel, Fritzsche, Hase). The correct view was substantially given by so early a writer as Tertullian, and subsequently by Wetstein, Thies, J. E. Ch. Schmidt, Ammon, Löffler, kl. Schriften, II. p. 150 ff.; Neander, Krabbe, Bleek, Riggenbach, and several others; comp. also Ewald, Gesch. Chr. p. 420, who, however, supposes at the same time that the disciples of John may have been urging him to tell them plainly whether they ought to transfer their allegiance to Jesus or not; similarly Keim, who thinks that John, though hesitating between the alternative: He is the Messiah and He is not so, was nevertheless more disposed in favour of the affirmative view; so also Schmidt in the Jahrb. f. D. Th. 1869, p. 638 ff., who notices the way in which, as he supposes, the Baptist belies his former testimony regarding Christ.

Matthew 11:7. The answer to John’s question has been given; the disciples are withdrawing; but just as they are going away (πορευομένων) Jesus turns to the multitude that was present, and with some emotion proceeds to set forth to them, in the plainest way possible, the sacred character and the whole position of the Baptist, and by this means seeks to anticipate or correct any false opinion that might be formed regarding him.

The mark of interrogation should be placed after θεάσασθαι (in answer to Paulus and Fritzsche, who put it even after ἔρημον); according to the correct reading (see the critical remarks), the animated style of the passage does not change till Matthew 11:9, so that ἀλλὰ τί ἐξήλθετε forms a question by itself.

ἐξήλθετε] at the time that John appeared in the wilderness. Observe that here stands θεάσασθαι, to behold, and immediately after the simple ἰδεῖν, to see. The more earnest expression is in keeping with the first question.

κάλ. σαλ.] figuratively, in allusion to the reed growing on the bank of Jordan, and meaning: a fickle and irresolute man. Others (Beza, Grotius, Wetstein, Gratz, Fritzsche, de Wette) understand it literally: “non credibile est, vos coivisse, ut arundines vento agitatas videretis.” This is not in keeping with the qualifying expression, ὑπὸ ἀνέμου σαλευόμενον. And how meaningless the question would be alongside the parallels in Matthew 11:8-9! Comp. 1 Kings 14:15; Ezekiel 29:6.

Matthew 11:8-9. Ἀλλά] no, on the contrary; it is assumed that what has just been asked was not the intention; Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 38. Klotz, ad Devar. p. 13. It seems, from the fact of his sending those messengers, as if John were (1) a man of hesitating, unstable character, Matthew 11:7; or (2) a voluptuary, whose sole concern was how to exchange his condition of hardship for one of luxurious ease, Matthew 11:8. Jesus removes any impression of this sort by appealing to His hearers to consult their own hearts as to what they had expected, and what they had found in John. Certainly they had expected neither a man of fickle mind, nor a voluptuary; but what they had looked for, that they had found in him, namely a prophet (Matthew 21:26), indeed more than a prophet! Accordingly, there is no apparent reason for regarding (Oppenrieder, Zeitschr. f. luth. Theologie, 1856) the clauses containing a statement of the intention as the rhetorical expression of the result (as if the words were τί ἐξελθόντες εἰς τὴν ἔρ. ἐθεάσασθε). But even to find in the negative questions an ironical allusion to the character of the Galileans (Keim), is foreign to the connection, especially as the real motive is given in the third of these questions.

Matthew 11:9. ναί confirms the προφήτην ἰδεῖν which has just been asked (see the critical remarks), and that in accordance with its result: “Certainly, I tell you (you saw a prophet), and more.” περισσότερον is regarded by Erasmus and Fritzsche as masculine (Symmachus, Genesis 49:3 : οὐκ ἔσῃ περισσότερος, excellentior). Nowhere, however, in the New Testament does the simple περισσότερος occur as masculine, and in this instance the interrogative τί tells in favour of its being taken as neuter. Comp. Matthew 12:41 f. Therefore to be rendered: something more (Vulgate: plus) than a prophet,—inasmuch, that is, as he is not only the last and greatest of the prophets, but also because he was sent by God to prepare the way of the Messiah through the preaching and baptism of repentance, Matthew 11:10. In a different sense, viz. as the source, the aim, and the fulfiller of all prophecy, is Christ more than a prophet. Comp. Kleinschmidt, d. typolog. Citate d. vier Evang. p. 45.

Matthew 11:10 is not an interpolation by the evangelist (Weizsäcker); on the contrary, it forms the connecting link between Matthew 11:9; Matthew 11:11. The passage is Malachi 3:1, and is a free rendering of the Hebrew and not from the LXX. In Malachi, Jehovah speaks of His messenger going before Himself; here, He addresses the Messiah; before Him will He send the messenger (not an angel). A free application without any substantial change in the contents of the passage, also without any special design in view; comp. remark on Matthew 3:3.