성경 주석서

Matthew 26:31. Τότε] whilst they were going out, Matthew 26:36.

πάντες] put first so as to be highly emphatic.

σκανδαλ.] Comp. on Matthew 11:6. In this instance it means: instead of standing faithfully by me till the last, ye will be cowardly enough to run away and leave me to my fate, and thus show that your faith has not been able to bear the brunt of the struggle. Comp. John 16:32. See Matthew 26:56. With what painful astonishment these words must have filled the disciples, sincerely conscious as they were of their faithful devotion to their Master! Accordingly this announcement is followed up with quoting the prediction in which the tragic event is foretold. The passage here introduced with γέγρ. γάρ is from Zechariah 13:7 (quoted with great freedom). In the shepherd who, according to this passage, is to be smitten, Jesus sees a typical representation of Himself as devoted to death by God, so that the words cannot have had reference (Ewald, Hitzig) to the foolish shepherd (ch. Matthew 11:15 ff.), but only to the one appointed by God Himself (Hofmann), whose antitype is Jesus, and His disciples the scattered sheep; comp. Hengstenberg, Christol. III. 1, p. 528.

Matthew 26:32 f. Προειπὼν τὰ λυπηρὰ, προλέγει καὶ τὰ παραμυθούμενα, Euthymius Zigabenus.

They were again to gather around Him in Galilee, the native scene of His ministry. Comp. Matthew 28:10. The authenticity of these words in their present form may be called in question, in so far as Christ cannot have predicted His resurrection in such explicit terms. See on Matthew 16:21. The answer of Peter, given in the bold self-confidence of his love, savours somewhat of self-exaltation; consequently the impression made upon him by the experience of his shortcomings was all the deeper.

Matthew 26:34 f. Πρὶν ἀλέκτορα φωνῆσαι] before a cock crows, therefore before the day begins to dawn. Cock-crowing occurs in the third of the four night watches (see on Matthew 14:24), which watch lasted from midnight till about three o’clock, and is called ἀλεκτοροφωνία in Mark 13:35. For the opposite of the πρὶν ἀλ. φων., see Plat. Symp. p. 223 C: πρὸς ἡμέραν ἤδη ἀλεκτρυόνων ᾀδόντων; Lucian, Ocyp. 670: ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀλέκτωρ ἡμέραν ἐσάλπισεν; Horace, Sat. i. 1. 10. For a later modification of the expression in conformity with the repeated denials, see Mark 14:30. On the question as to whether or not ἀλέκτωρ can be considered good Greek, consult Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 228 f. This prediction as to the time was subsequently confirmed by the actual crowing of a cock, Matthew 26:74.

ἀπαρνήσῃ με] thou wilt deny me, deny that I am thy Lord and Master. Comp. Celsus in Origen, ii. 45: οὔτε συναπέθανον οὔτε ὑπεραπέθανον αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ κολάσεων καταφρονεῖν ἐπείσθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἠρνήσαντο εἶναι μαθηταί. For σὺν σοὶ ἀποθ. comp. John 11:16.

ἀπαρνήσομαι] The future after οὐ μή (see Hartung, Partikell. p. 157; Winer, p. 471 f. [E. T. 635]) is rather more expressive of a confident assertion than the subjunctive, the reading of A E G, etc.

ὁμοίως καὶ πάντες, κ.τ.λ.] Considering the sincere but as yet untried love of each, this is not an improbable statement, though it is found only in Matthew and Mark.

Matthew 26:36. Γεθσημανῆ or, according to a still better attested form, Γεθσημανεί (Lachmann, Tischendorf), is most likely the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew גַּת שֶׁמֶן, an oil-press. It was a plot of ground (χωρίον, John 4:5; Acts 1:18; Acts 4:34; Acts 5:3; Acts 28:7), perhaps a small estate with a garden (John 18:1); according to Keim, an olive-yard where nobody lived. If the place was not public property, Jesus, according to John 19:2, must have been on friendly terms with the owner. On the place (the present Dschesmanije), which subsequent tradition has fixed upon as the site of the ancient Gethsemane, see Robinson, Pal. I. p. 389; Tobler, d. Siloahquelle u. d. Oelberg, 1852.

αὐτοῦ] here; the only other instances in the New Testament are found in Acts 15:34; Acts 18:19; Acts 21:4; of frequent occurrence in classical writers.

ἐκεῖ] pointing toward the place.

Matthew 26:37 f. Anticipating the inward struggle that awaited Him, He retired farther into the garden, taking with Him none (Matthew 17:1) but the three most intimate disciples.

ἤρξατο] indicating the first symptoms of the condition in question.

λυπεῖσθαι κ. ἀδημονεῖν] Climax. Suidas explains ἀδημον. as meaning: λίαν λυπεῖσθαι. See Buttmann, Lexilog. II. p. 135 f.; Ael. V. H. xiii. 3; Php 2:26.

περίλυπος] very sorrowful, Psalm 63:5; Psalms 3 Esdr. 8:71 f.; Isocr. p. 11 B; Aristot. Eth. iv. 3; Diog. L. vii. 97. The opposite of this is περιχαρής.

ἡ ψυχή μου] Comp. John 12:27; Xen. Hell. iv. 4. 3 : ἀδημονῆσαι τὰς ψυχάς. The soul, the intermediate element through which the spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα, Matthew 26:41) is connected with the body in the unity of the individual (see Beck, Bibl. Seelenl. p. 11), is the seat of pleasure and pain. Comp. Stirm in the Tüb. Zeitschr. 1834, 3, p. 25 ff.

ἕως θανάτου] defining the extent of the περίλυπος: unto death, so as almost to cause death, so that I am nearly dead from very grief; Jonah 4:9; Isaiah 38:1; and see on Php 2:27. The idea of the mors infernalis (Calovius), as though Christ had been experiencing the pains of hell, is here exegetically unwarrantable. Euthymius Zigabenus correctly observes: φανερώτερον ἐξαγορεύει τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς φύσεως ὡς ἄνθρωπος.

μείνατε … ἐμοῦ] “In magnis tentationibus juvat solitudo, sed tamen, ut in propinquo sint amici,” Bengel.

Matthew 26:39. Μικρόν] belongs to προελθών: after He had gone forward a short distance. For μικρόν comp. Xen. Cyrop. iv. 2. 6 (μικρὸν πορευθέντες); Hist. Gr. vii. 2. 13 (μικρὸν δʼ αὐτοὺς προπέμψαντες).

ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ] The article was not necessary before πρόσωπ. (in opposition to Fritzsche, who takes αὐτοῦ as meaning there). Comp. Matthew 11:10, Matthew 17:6, and elsewhere. Winer, p. 116 [E. T. 152]. Bengel appropriately observes: “in faciem, non modo in genua; summa demissio.”

εἰ δυνατόν ἐστι] ethical possibility according to the divine purpose. Similarly the popular expression πάντα δυνατά σοι is to be understood, according to the sense in which Jesus uses it, as implying the necessary condition of harmony with the divine will.

τὸ ποτήριον τοῦτο] i.e. this suffering and death immediately before me. Comp. Matthew 20:22.

πλὴν οὐχ, κ.τ.λ.] The wish, to which in His human dread of suffering He gave utterance, that, if possible, He should not be called upon to endure it (ἔδειξε τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, Chrysostom), at once gives place to absolute submission, John 5:30; John 6:38. The word to be understood after σύ (θέλεις) is not γενέσθω, but, as corresponding with the οὐχ (not μή, observe), γενήσεται, or ἔσται, in which the petitioner expresses his final determination. It may be observed further, that the broken utterance is in keeping with the deep emotion of our Lord.

For ὡς, which, so far as the essential meaning is concerned, is identical with the relative pronoun, comp. Hermann, ad Hom. h. in Cer. 172.

Matthew 26:40. The fact that the disciples slept, and that these disciples did so in circumstances such as the present, and that all three gave way, and that their sleep proved to be of so overpowering a character, is, notwithstanding Luke’s explanation that it was ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης; (Matthew 22:45), a psychological mystery, although, after utterances of Jesus so manifestly authentic as those of Matthew 26:40; Matthew 26:45, the statement that they did sleep is not to be regarded as unhistorical, but is to be taken as implying that Jesus had spent a considerable time in prayer, and that the disciples, in consequence of their deep mental exhaustion, found it impossible to keep awake.

καί] three times; the narrative is characterized by a simple pathos.

τῷ Πέτρῳ] to him He addressed words that were equally applicable to them all; but then it was he who a little ago had surpassed all the others in so boldly declaring how much he was prepared to do for his Master, Matthew 26:33; Matthew 26:35.

οὕτως] siccine, thus, uttered with painful surprise, is to be taken in connection with what follows, without inserting a separate mark of interrogation (in opposition to Euthymius Zigabenus and Beza). Comp. 1 Corinthians 6:5.

Matthew 26:41. Ἵνα] indicating, not the object of the προσεύχεσθε, but purpose, and that of the watching and praying.

εἰσέλθητε εἰς πειρασμόν] in order that ye may not be betrayed into circumstances in which ye might be led to show yourselves unfaithful to me (into the σκανδαλίζεσθαι of Matthew 26:31). Comp. Matthew 6:13. By watching and praying, as a means of maintaining clearness of judgment, freedom, and a determination to adhere to Christ, they were to avoid getting into such outward circumstances as might prove dangerous to their moral wellbeing. The watching here is no doubt of a physical nature (Matthew 26:40), but the προσεύχεσθαι has the effect of imparting to it the character and sacredness belonging to spiritual watchfulness (Colossians 4:2).

τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα, κ.τ.λ.] a general proposition (all the more telling that it is not introduced with a γάρ), intended to refer, by way of warning, to the circumstances in which the disciples were placed, as though it had been said: ye are no doubt, so far as the principle of your ethical life in its general aim and tendency is concerned, willing and ready to remain true to me; but on the individual side of your nature, where the influence of sense is so strong, you are incapable of resisting the temptations to unfaithfulness by which you are beset. Comp. on John 3:6. Euthymius Zigabenus: ἡ δὲ σὰρξ, ἀσθενὴς οὖσα, ὑποστέλλεται καὶ οὐκ εὐτονεῖ. In order, therefore, to avoid getting into a predicament in which, owing to the weakness in question, you would not be able to withstand the overmastering power of influences fatal to your salvation without the special protection and help of God that are to be obtained through vigilance and prayerfulness, watch and pray!