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Matthew 6:24. Parable of the two masters. Οὐδεὶς: In the natural sphere it is impossible for a slave to serve two masters, for each claims him as his property, and the slave must respond to one or other of the claims with entire devotion, either from love or from interest.—ἢ γὰρ … μισήσει … ἀγαπήσει: We may take this clause as referring to the case of honest preference. A slave has his likes and dislikes like other men. And he will not do things by halves. His preference will take the form of love, and his aversion that of hate.—ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνθέξεται, etc.: this clause may be taken as referring to the case of interest. The slave may not in his heart care for either of the rival masters. But he must seem to care, and the relative power or temper of one as compared to the other, may be the ground of his decision. And having decided, he attaches himself, ἀνθέξεται, to the one, and ostentatiously disregards the other. In ordinary circumstances there would be no room for such a competition of masters. But a case might occur in time of war when the conquered were sold into slavery.—οὐ δύνασθε, etc. Application of the parable to God and earthly possessions.—μαμωνᾷ, wealth personified = Plutus, a Chaldee, Syriac, and Punic word (“lucrum punice mammon dicitur,” Aug. de S. D.) derived from טָמַן = to conceal or אָמֵן to trust (vide Buxtorf, Lex. Talm., p. 1217). The meaning is not, “ye cannot serve God and have riches,” but “ye cannot be faithful to God and make an idol of wealth”. “Non dixit, qui habet divitias, sed qui servit divitiis,” Jerome.

Matthew 6:25-34. Counsels against care. More suitable to the circumstances of the disciples than those against amassing treasures. “Why speak of treasures to us who are not even sure of the necessaries of life? It is for bread and clothing we are in torment” (Lutteroth).

Matthew 6:25, διὰ τοῦτο: because ye can be unfaithful to God through care as well as through covetousness.—μὴ μεριμνᾶτε: μέριμνα from μερίς, μερίζω, because care divides and distracts the mind. The verb is used in N. T. in various constructions and senses; sometimes in a good sense, as in 1 Corinthians 7:32 : “The unmarried care for the things of the Lord,” and Matthew 12:25 in reference to the members of the body having the same care for each other. But the evil sense predominates. What is here deprecated is not work for bread and raiment, but worry, “Labor exercendus est, solicitudo tollenda,” Jerome.—οὐχὶ ἡ ψυχὴ … ἐνδύματος: the life not the soul; the natural life is more than meat, and the body more than the clothing which protects it, yet these greater things are given to you already. Can you not trust Him who gave the greater to give the less? But a saying like this, life is more than meat, in the mouth of Jesus is very pregnant. It tends to lift our thoughts above materialism to a lofty conception of man’s chief end. It is more than an argument against care, it is a far-reaching principle to be associated with that other logion—a man is better than a sheep (Matthew 12:12).

Matthew 6:26. ἐμβλέψατε εἰς, fix your eyes on, so as to take a good look at (Mark 10:21; Mark 14:67).—τὰ πετεινὰ τ. ου., the birds whose element is the air; look, not to admire their free, careless movements on the wing, but to note a very relevant fact—ὅτι, that without toil they get their food and live.—σπείρουσιν, θερίζουσιν, συνάγουσι ε. ἀ.: the usual operations of the husbandman in producing the staff of life. In these the birds have no part, yet your Father feedeth them. The careworn might reply to this: yes; they feed themselves at the farmer’s expense, an additional source of anxiety to him. And the cynic unbeliever in Providence: yes, in summer; but how many perish in winter through want and cold! Jesus, greatest of all optimists, though no shallow or ignorant one, quietly adds: οὐχ ὑμεῖς μᾶλλον διαφέρετε αὐτῶν: do not ye differ considerably from them? They fare, on the whole, well, God’s humble creatures. Why should you fear, men, God’s children?

Matthew 6:27. τίς δὲ, etc. The question means: care is as bootless as it is needless. But there is much difference of opinion as to the precise point of the question. Does it mean, who by care can add a cubit to his height, or who can add a short space of time, represented by a cubit, to the length of his life? ἡλικία admits of either sense. It means stature in Luke 19:3; age in John 9:21, Hebrews 11:11. Most recent commentators favour the latter interpretation, chiefly influenced by the monstrosity of the supposition as referring to stature. Who could call adding a cubit, 1½ feet, to his height a very small matter, the expression of Lk. (ἐλάχιστον, Matthew 12:26)? The application of a measure of length to length of days is justified by Psalm 39:5 : “Thou hast made my days as handbreadths”. But Dr. Field strongly protests against the new rendering. Admitting, of course, that ἡλικία is ambiguous, and that in classic authors it oftener means age than stature, he insists that πῆχυς is decisive. “πῆχυς,” he remarks (Ot. Nor.), “is not only a measure of length, but that by which a man’s stature was properly measured.” Euthy. on this place remarks: “καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ σπιθαμήν (half a cubit) οὐδὲ δάκτυλον (a 24th part): λοιπὸν οὖν πῆχυν εἶπε, διότι κυρίως μέτρον τῶν ἡλικιῶν ὁ πῆχύς ἐστι. Thus a short man is τρίπηχυς, a tall man τετράπηχυς.” But how are we to get over the monstrosity of the supposition? Lutteroth helps us here by finding in the question of Jesus a reference to the growth of the human body from infancy to maturity. By that insensible process, accomplished through the aid of food, Gods adds to every human body more than one cubit. “How impossible for you to do what God has done without your thinking of it! And if He fed you during the period of growth, can you not trust Him now when you have ceased to grow?” Such is the thought of Jesus.

Matthew 6:28-30. Lesson from the flowers. καταμάθετε, observe well that ye may learn thoroughly the lesson they teach. Here only in N.T., often in classics. Also in Sept[43], e.g., Genesis 24:21 : The man observed her (Rebekah), learning her disposition from her actions.—τὰ κρίνα, the lilium Persicum, Emperor’s crown, according to Rosenmüller and Kuinoel; the red anemone, according to Furrer (Zscht. für M. und R.) growing luxuriantly under thorn bushes. All flowers represented by the lily, said Euthy. Zig. long ago, and probably he is right. No need to discover a flower of rare beauty as the subject of remark. Jesus would have said the same thing of the snowdrop, the primrose, the bluebell or the daisy. After ἀγροῦ should come a pause. Consider these flowers! Then, after a few moments’ reflection: πῶς, not interrogative (Fritzsche), but expressive of admiration; vague, doubtful whether the growth is admired as to height (Bengel), rapidity, or rate of multiplication. Why refer to growth at all? Probably with tacit reference to question in Matthew 6:27. Note the verbs in the plural (vide critical note) with a neuter nominative. The lilies are viewed individually as living beings, almost as friends, and spoken of with affection (Winer, § 58, 3). The verb αὐξάνω in active voice is transitive in class., intransitive only in later writers.—κοπιῶσιν, νήθουσιν: “illud virorum est, qui agrum colunt, hoc mulierum domisedarum” (Rosenmüller). The former verb seems to point to the toil whereby bread is earned, with backward glance at the conditions of human growth; the latter to the lighter work, whereby clothing, the new subject of remark, is prepared.

[43] Septuagint.

Matthew 6:29. λέγω δὲ: the speaker is conscious He makes a strong statement, but He means it.—οὐδὲ, not even Solomon the magnificent, most glorious of the kings of Israel, and on state occasions most gorgeously attired.—ἓν τούτων: the lilies are in view, and one of them is singled out to vie with Solomon.

Matthew 6:30. εἰ δὲ τὸν χόρτον. Application. The beautiful flowers now lose their individuality, and are merged in the generic grass: mere weeds to be cut down and used as fuel. The natural sentiment of love for flowers is sacrificed for the ethical sentiment of love for man, aiming at convincing him of God’s care.—κλίβανον (Attic κρίβανος, vide Lobeck, Phryn., 179), a round pot of earthenware, narrow at top, heated by a fire within, dough spread on the sides; beautiful flowers of yesterday thus used to prepare bread for men! ὀλιγόπιστοι: several times in Gospels, not in classics; not reproachful but encouraging, as if bantering the careworn into faith. The difficulty is to get the careworn to consider these things. They have no eye for wild flowers, no ear for the song of birds. Not so Jesus. He had an intense delight in nature. Witness the sentiment, “Solomon in all his glory,” applied to a wild flower! These golden words are valuable as revealing His genial poetic nature. They reflect also in an interesting way the holiday mood of the hour, up on the hill away from heat, and crowds, and human misery.

Matthew 6:31-33. Renewed exhortation against care.

Matthew 6:31. οὖν, goes back on Matthew 6:25, repeating the counsel, reinforced by intervening argument.