But beside, there is an irreversible decree passed upon you and all such, and it is not possible for all the saints in heaven to yield or obtain any release for you, or for you to get release one minute out of that state. • haube, ʒiŋi. • eiv elner, andropure nal iup, &c. dAAB vt; vferer, qnol. Titus Bostrensis, p 808. C. But for the return of this thy brother from that riotous course, which is as wonderful a work and as considerable a blessing as if he had been raised from the dead, it is all reason that we should express an extraordinary joy in an extraordinary manner. ### CHAP. XVI. "unthriftily lavished out that estate which was intrusted to him to manage and improve. "having not been brought up to it, I am not able to earn my living by my labour, and so there is no way of subsistence imaginable for me but to beg, and that is a shame for me. "I may be entertained by my master's debtors. * But it &c., Eupparēiæ 8d. Upon another occasion, (most probably that Matt. xvii. 20, where, in the discourse between his disciples and him, he taxeth their unbelief,) he was intrcated by some of the disciples (who were not able to cast out a devil, or cure the young man of the epilepsy, Matt. xvii. 16.) that he would give them more of this gift of miracles, that they might be able to do all to which they were by his designation sent, but were not able to do them for want of some higher degree of this miraculous faith than as yet they had attained to. And he said unto them, If you had but the least degree of true faith, you should by my power be enabled to work any the greatest miracle, remove mountains, Matt. xvii. 20, make trees grow in the sea, &c. But what I mean by this true faith, I will express to you by a parable or similitude. 7—10. As it is with an hired servant, it is not sufficient for him to do that one business for which he was hired, but other common offices there are which belong indifferently to all servants, as waiting at table, &c.; and when he hath done his other works in the field for which he was hired, as ploughing, &c., he must first set cheerfully to the other offices before he think he have done his duty, or expect to receive his ordinary food, his daily wages; so must ye (whose task it is to cure diseases, cast out devils) do all those things with all fidelity which are means to that end, or never think you have performed your duty. When confidence of my power and using the mention of my name will not cast out devils, then solemn prayer is your duty, to be superadded to that; and when that and prayer alone will not do, you must add fasting also, Matt. xvii. 21, and not think that it is free for you to do or not to do this, (and that if you do it, it is eminent virtue in you,) but you must look upon it as necessary duty, which when you have done, you have done no more than was commanded you, and was strictly required of you to do. This is the best answer which is likely to be given to your request of having your faith increased. Do not you neglect the means, and you shall be able to do what miracles you will; but as long as you think your partial obedience will serve the turn, and will not take the pains to fast and pray, to cast out a devil, and the like; this is an infidelity in you, Matt. xvii. 17. 20, which will disable you from doing those miracles which otherwise you would easily be able to do. [a] unprofitable servants] What is meant by ἀχρίος δοῦλος, unprofitable servant, will be matter of some question, because of the somewhat distant character set upon it, Matt. xxv. 30. There he is to be cast into utter darkness, his unprofitableness is a damning sin, expressed also by wickedness and slothfulness; but here they that have done all that is commanded, (which sure is not a state of so much danger,) must yet call themselves unprofitable servants, because they have done no more than so, have done nothing for which they should be thanked or rewarded above ordinary, ver. 9. To this it were answer sufficient to say, that the same word is often used in several notions, sometimes in a stricter, (for barely not profitable,) sometimes in a larger sense. Thus ἠχριώθησαν might seem to be used, psalm xiv. 3; and from thence, Rom. iii. 12, (see note [g] Rom. i,) for all kind of impiety, (as ἄνομος is sometimes he that lives not exactly according to law, sometimes the most wicked, lawless person); but that word in that place must be understood according to the notion of the Hebrew there, which signifies putrid, or stinking, which is therefore useless, good for nothing, as rotten, Ephes. iv. 29, is opposed to good for use. Beside this, therefore, there may be yet a further account given of the word in that of Matt. xxv, thus, The phrase ἀχρίος δοῦλος signifies a servant that brings in no profit to his master. Now, according as the office or employment of this servant is, so this will have more or less of guilt in it; he whose office or service consists in trafficking for his master, to whom it is under precept, (as it was in that servant, Matt. xxv, he had been commanded by his master to trade with his talent, Luke xix. 13, and from thence an obligation lay upon him, he ought to have put the money to the exchangers, Matt. xxv 27,) his not bringing in profit is downright disobedience; and accordingly as he is called unprofitable in one place, ver. 30, so he is formerly, by the same evangelist, styled wicked and slothful, ver. 27, which he could not have been, if he had done all that was required of him. And so, though a bare unprofitableness, founded in a And being far from him, they cried aloud to him, and said— You shall be healed; and therefore go and shew yourselves to the priest, which by the law you are required to do when the cure is wrought, that he may pronounce you clean: do you go immediately to the priest, and before you come thither you shall be cured. And accordingly it fell out, as they were on their way, they were healed. now came near unto him, being cured of his unclean disease, which before made him stand afar off, and fell down before him on his face, giving him— No one hath returned to acknowledge the mercy, save this one, who is a Gentile, or no Jew (for so are the Samaritans accounted by the Jews). when that kingdom of God, which John Baptist and he had preached so often, should come, he said, It comes not in any splendid manner, as you expect, with a pompous solemn court along with it, for men to gaze and look upon it, and say, Lo, here it comes! as it is wont to be with ordinary courts of kings when they remove: for indeed it is already among you, the gospel preached, which is the sceptre of this kingdom; and all other parts are but attendants of that. See note [c] on Matt. iii. [d] a certain rich man] That this is not a story, but a parable, may appear by Gemara Baby, ad Cod. Berachoth, where thus much of it is set down: that "a king made," כְּעוֹרָה גְּדוֹלָה, "a great feast, and invited all the strangers; and there came," עֲנִי אֶחָד, "one poor man, and stood at his gates, and said unto them, Give me," פְּרוּסָה אֶחָד, "one bit or portion" (almost the Latin pars); וְלֹא הִשְׁנָהוּ עָלָיו, "and they considered him not, and he said, My lord the king, of all the great feast thou hast made, is it hard in thine eyes to give me," פֶּת אֶחָד בִּינֵיהֶם, "one bit or fragment among them?" And the title of this passage there is מִשָּׁל לְסַלֵּךְ בָּשָׂר וְדָם, "A parable of a king of flesh and blood." And turning to his disciples, he tells them of these Pharisees, and other the like contemners of his preaching, that they that now despise this sceptre of the kingdom, receive not the gospel, there shall come out against them that iron rod, destruction for this great sin; and then it will be too late for them to wish for these days of mercy which now they despise and make no use of. Then many shall put you in hopes of a deliverer, pretend that there is a Messias in this or that place; but do not you follow nor heed any such report, nor look for any such deliverer. (See Matt. xxiv. 25.) For a destruction shall come like lightning, quick and fearful, upon the Jews from the Romans in this day of Christ's vengeance upon his enemies. (See note [a] on Heb. x.) But this shall not be till after Christ's being rejected and crucified by the Jews. 26, 27. And as it was in the old world, when for the great provocations thereof God was pleased to send the flood upon it, without any visible change or omen or presignification of the particular time, Matt. xxiv. 36, (only Noah preaching repentance to them, and they not hearkening to him, and then his building an ark, and going into it with his family,) no man expecting it, the flood came and swept away all but those in the ark, so shall it be when Christ comes to work his revenge upon his crucifiers; when they expect it not at all, as soon as ever a course is taken for preserving the faithful from the destruction, (see note on Matt. xxiv. 9, and Rev. vii. 3.) the vengeance shall light upon the rest, and destroy all that are left in Jerusalem. And that is all the foreknowledge of the time you shall have in answer to your question, ver. 20. 28-30. And as when the sins of Sodom were filled up, and their cry was gone up to heaven, and God determined to destroy them, the people went on in their ordinary course, doing all things according to their wont, and then on that very day when Lot went out of Sodom the fire and brimstone fell on that city; so, as soon as the faithful penitent Christians depart out of Jerusalem, that fatal day shall come upon the rest, that day, I say, wherein Christ shall reveal himself by his judgments on his enemies and crucifiers: (see note [a] on Heb. x.) [e] receivedst thy good things] The phrase of receiving thy good things seems to be agreeable to the Hebrew style, which useth קָבַל עוֹלָמוֹ, "receiving his world" for an uninterrupted course of secular felicity, when all things succeed according to a man's will in this world; according to an ancient saying of theirs, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל שֶׁעָבְרוּ עָלָיו אַרְבָּעִים יָם, כָּל [a] not to faint] Μὴ ἑκκακεῖν here is to be explained by Hesychius and Phavorinus, who have jointly, the one out of the other, these words, Ἐκκακοῦμεν (not as the printed copies of both authors corruptly read it, ἠχμελοῦμεν, ἠκηδιῶμεν, but, as it is clear it must be mended) ἀμελοῦμεν, ἀκηδιῶμεν, by which it is clear, that the word signifies negligence, or carelessness. The other renderings of the word by non defatigari and non deficere, seem to be grounded on a conjecture that the reading should be ἑκκάμνειν, whereas the manuscripts agree in this other reading, and the importance of the parable is very well satisfied with it, which is to stir us up to diligence and importunity in prayer, προσεύχεσθαι πάντοτε, to pray at all times, answerable to which is ἴρχεσθαι εἰς τέλος, in the parable, ver. 5, that is, coming perpetually, constantly, (according to the importance of the Hebrew לנצח: see note [b],) and a to be constant and diligent in the performance of the duty of prayer, not only in respect of God, to whom it is a duty, but in respect of themselves, whose petitions are by assiduity most likely to be obtained. b an unjust and harsh judge, which neither was moved with conscience of duty to God, nor with shame or remorse, or compassion toward any man. c Do me justice against my adversary. And they did not in any manner understand what he meant by those words. two blind men, Matt. xx. 3. O thou omnipotent eternal Son of God, of whom the prophets have told us that thou shouldest be born of a virgin, of the offspring of David, I beseech thee to pardon my sins and shew thy divine power in healing me. [b] weary me] The word ὑπωπιάζειν is twice used in the New Testament: here and 1 Cor. ix. 27. It is an agonistical word, in the first use of it, belonging to the πυκταί, or cuffers, which was one of the Grecian exercises, or to the παγκρατιαστά, which was a mixed exercise, made up of cuffing and wrestling together, and is the thing referred to in that place to the Corinthians, among whom the isthmii agones (one of the four sorts of them in Greece) were celebrated. Now the word coming not from ὑπὸ and πιέζω, (as, against all analogy, some would have it,) but from ὑπώπιον, and that from ὑπὸ and ὄψ, a lividness, or blueness under the eyes, or on the face, and that such as is caused by blows, signifies distinctly to strike in the face with the fist, or with cæstus, which they used in their hands to cuff with; and so as the word δουλαγωγείν, to get the adversary under him, belongs there to wrestling, so this ὑπωπιάζειν to cuffing, and both together make up the παγκράτιον, (the exercise so called from πᾶν and κράτος, as requiring all strength to the using of it,) which, saith 8 St. Chrysostom, the apostle refers to there. From this agonistical use of the word ὑπώπιον and ὑπωπιάζειν, another is, which is gotten into common use for reproaching, or putting any man to shame, that blueness under the eyes or on the face being a visible mark of being beaten. And thus as the Latin suggillatio, so this Greek word is used among the Latins, Consulatus Auli, saith Cicero, non tam consulatus est, quam magni nostri hypopion, “His consulship is a mere contumely or reproach to Pompey, who made him consul.” So in Nilus, ἀνεκδοτ. Narr. 6, speaking of the valiant expressions of a gallant woman, he saith, ἰαντὸν ὑπώπια δεξάμενον, “that he received them as contumelies and upbraidings of his own impatience.” And thus the word is to be taken in this place, either, Lest her continual coming shame [c] though he bear long] The meaning of μακροθυμεῖν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς here is best found by comparing the verse with Ecclus. xxxv. 19, where, speaking of God, Ποιήσει κρίσιν, saith he, καὶ οὐ μὴ βραδύνη, οὐδὲ μὴ μακροθυμήσῃ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὁ κραταιός. The mighty one will execute judgment, and will not delay, nor be slack toward them. So μακροθυμία, patience, or long sufferance, signifies slackness in punishment, or deferring of it. And so that verse there is but a paraphrase of this. The difference is, 1, that this is by way of interrogation, which, we know, serves only to increase the force of the affirmation; and, 2, that μακροθυμῶν in the close is in the participle, which, though it be easily supplied with the verb ἵσται, ordinarily understood, yet in very ancient copies, as that most ancient one in the King's Library, and so in that which St. Chrysostom and b Antiochus and the ancient translator, and also the Syriac and Arabic made use of, it is read μακροθυμεῖ; and so the sense is complete, — Doth he delay? or, Is he slack toward them? or, in doing justice to them? Certainly he shall not. See Theophylact. The occasion of Christ's saying this in this place may seem to be, to take off the great stumblingblock from the disciples, or converted Jews, who as yet saw nothing but afflictions toward themselves and Christ, were persecuted for Christianity, whereas the Jews, that held out against Christ, continued prosperous in it. To these our Saviour, both here and ch. xxi. 28, gives assurance, that an heavy vengeance shall light upon this nation; that it shall be utterly laid waste; that the Jewish religion (which, as long as it lasted, seemed a great prejudice against the faith and doctrine of Christ) shall be destroyed; that the persecuted believers shall be delivered: and that this should suddenly come to pass within the age of some that then lived, Matt. xvi. 28. xxvi. 64. and John xxi. 22. To the same purpose it is, that the apostles in their Epistles, when they speak to these converted Jews, scattered abroad upon the persecution in Judæa, do very frequently mention the sud- b Ασγ. κζ. p. 1075. C. Yea, certainly, he will suddenly proceed against their persecutors; and when he doth so, it will fall very heavy upon the Jews; for when Christ comes to do vengeance, there shall be very few Christians to be found in Judæa, (see note [b] on Matt. xxiv.) they that are converted of the Jews shall be gone out and dispersed among the Gentiles. (See note [g] on Matt. xxiv.) which had a great opinion of their own perfections, and so looked on all others with scorn. In the temple there are two courts, one for the Jews, the other for the Gentile-proselytes that lived among them (see note [a] on Ephes. ii.); and to those, two went up, to the first a Pharisee, to the second a publican, to pray. And no person being present to either, but God, to overhear them, the Pharisee's words were these, God, I thank thee— I fast every Monday and Thursday, the second and fifth days of every week, on which we are wont to hear the law read in our synagogues, and I pay tithes of herbs and every thing which others make doubt (it being not determined by law) whether they are to be paid or no. being in the court of the Gentiles, was in a sad, humble, pensive guise, and by his gesture and action him? and is he slack toward them? on the land? &c Mark x. 21. follow me and become Christians, and attain everlasting felicity! There is nothing of more difficulty imaginable. Who is able to receive this severe doctrine, to be a Christian, and attain bliss upon these terms, to enter on this strict course, to be a subject of Christ's, who requires such tasks of his disciples? Matt. xix. 29. a most plentiful return of advantages (as rich as any the most fruitful season produceth) in this world, abstracted from those which he shall receive hereafter in heaven, and in the world to come— When thus you see judgment break out, let every man then that is in Judaea make all possible speed to get out of it, as Lot and his family did out of Sodom. And the least delay or stop in the course, all inclinations of kindness to the sins or company of that place, may be as fatal to any as it was to Lot's wife, who looking back became a pillar of salt, Gen. xix. 26. He that shall take any unchristian course of compliance, (as the Gnostic Christians did afterwards with the Jews to escape their persecutions,) he undoubtedly shall perish in it; and he that being a disciple of mine shall for the testimony of my truth cheerfully and courageously venture death, is the only person that shall escape this judgment. (See note [c] on 2 Peter i.) [b] preserve it] Ζωογονεῖν, the word here used, hath a special significancy in Greek authors, opposite to ὡογονεῖν. As the latter belongs to those creatures which bring forth eggs first, and then, after some time, living creatures, so the former belongs to all other creatures which bring forth alive at first. And this might have, not only a commodious, but elegant sense in this place; thus, that they that die, and lose their lives for Christ's sake, shall immediately, without any interval of the ψυχοπαννυχία, sleeping of the soul in death, bring forth a new life into all eternity. But, perhaps, it may be unfit to affix this critical notion of the word, in human writers, to this of St. Luke; and if we judge by the use of the word in the Greek of the Old Testament, which hath a greater consent and sympathy with the writers of the New Testament than any other sort of books, ζωογονεῖν will signify no more than σώζειν, to save, or preserve; for so it is used Exod. i. 17, 18, 22. And then the meaning of the verse will be, that he that shall use any crafty means of policy at that time to save his life, it shall probably prove unsuccessful to him, when he that intrusts himself and his life to God's providence and direction, and so doth endanger the losing of it, shall be more likely to save it than any other. Then shall it not be in the power of any worldly providence to work any deliverance for any; but as in Sodom an angel came and took Lot by the hand, and led him out, preserved him when many others were left behind, so shall it be now: those whom God will thus please to seal, Rev. vii. 3, and preserve, the believers and constant professors, those shall be delivered, and none else. said, If we may not know the time when, yet, Lord, where shall these eminent judgments shew themselves? (See note [m] on Matt. xxiv.) And the multitude that went along, or attended him, chid him, and bid him hold his peace— Or, by: the King's MS. reads παρφγοντες. Y 2 And he was very desirous to see the person of Jesus, having no farther design or thought at the present but that (Luke v. 14); and could not— 'I mean to be entertained by thee. 'entertained in an heathen's or publican's house. And whilst Christ was there, Zacchæus made this speech unto him: Sir, half my wealth I bestow upon 'entertained him rejoicing, brebitara aivby galpur. And Jesus said unto him, This day repentance, and so the gospel, and the mercies of the gospel, are come home to Zacchaeus, as being a believer, and so one (though a publican) to whom the promises made to the seed of Abraham do belong. His being an heathen or publican, or a sinner in his former life, doth not render him uncapable of receiving benefit from me, but contrariwise gives him a capacity of it upon his repentance: for this was the end of my coming, to reduce sinners to repentance, and to obtain mercy for such. (Matt. xviii. 12.) 11, 12. And at this time, or not long after, being now not far from Jerusalem, the chief city of the Jews, and so the palace or royal city, and upon occasion of their thinking that he would shortly take upon him a regal authority, (ch. xvii. 20,) and that that would be at Jerusalem, he spake this parable unto them: A certain man, born heir to a kingdom, took a great journey to take possession of it, (hereby intimating of himself that he was to suffer, and rise, and go to heaven, so to be installed in his kingdom,) and then to return again in an eminent manner to shew himself among his countrymen where he was born, and over whom he was to reign. And having several servants, he gave each of them a stock of money to traffic with in his absence, commanding them to improve it to his best advantage, that he might receive the benefit of it when he returned; (noting, that the apostles were after his departure to preach to the Jews, gain as many of them as they could, go through all their cities before Christ should thus come and shew himself in that regal illustrious manner upon them, and so likewise that all other inferior Christians were and are to employ their diligence and industry, according to their talents, to bring in some increase unto God.) Now the reason of his journey to that far country, ver. 12, was because those his countrymen, over whom he was to reign, and was now only gone to be installed or enthroned in his right, set themselves contumaciously against him, and disclaimed having him for their king, (noting the Jews standing And when he came back again, after his instalment, to exercise his regal office among them, he first examined his servants, what increase they had made; (noting the fruit that had come in, the harvest or number of converts, by the preaching of the apostles over all Jewry.) improved these earthly commodities, (see Luke xvi. 10.) thou shalt be more highly preferred; (noting the reward of the apostles' labour in preaching the gospel, first, governing in the churches which they had planted, then reigning with Christ, enjoying an higher degree of glory, as they had laboured more abundantly.) 18, 19. And the second having employed his time well, but not so well, was also rewarded proportionably. 20, 21. But a third, out of a pretence of extraordinary fear of displeasing, instead of employing, laid up his talent, (made no kind of use of the abilities that God had given him, lay idle, without ever endeavouring to do any thing that might bring in any glory to God.) And his sloth, being the chief cause of his doing thus, made him (either really, or, to excuse his sloth, pretendedly) look upon it as a piece of austerity and rigidness in the master (in Christ) to exact any fruit, any increase of his talents. But this was far from an excuse of his unprofitableness, it was rather an aggravation of it, and an acknowledgment that would bear witness against him and condemn him, make his slothfulness and unprofitableness appear to be a sin against conscience in him. For upon this acknowledgment, saith the master, what possible reason can be given why thou shouldst not put my money into a bank amongst the merchants, that it might have yielded me some increase at my return? d The more unprofitable this man hath been, the fitter it will be to increase the reward of him that hath been diligent and successful. 25, 26. And though that was conceived unequal by some, because he had such plenty already, yet the king adhered to his sentence, upon this ground of his dealing with his servants by way of distributive justice, which consists not in giving to all equal portions, but most to them that have done him most diligent, faithful service, and mulcting and punishing the unfaithful and idle person. But those countrymen of his, (whose king by right he was,) which, when he was gone to be installed in the kingdom, sent him that contumacious answer, ver. 14, (noting the Jews that would not submit to him upon the apostles' preaching the gospel after the resurrection,) being now instated in his throne, he presently commanded to be put to the sword, executed as so many rebels. (The fate that soon befell the Jews after his inauguration in his kingdom, that is, his going to heaven.) Matt. xxi. 1. e an ass tied, and a foal with her, which was not yet backed: take the foal, and bring him hither. Matt. xxi. 9. ' all his followers that believed and attended him began to rejoice— ' Hosanna, or Save now (see note [a] Matt. xxi.), we acknowledge thee to be our King so long expected, the Messias (see note [a] Matt. xi., and Mark xi. 9): God in heaven send all prosperity on this thy kingdom, and the loudest hosannas or acclamations or confessions of his regality be made unto thee. ' The thing is most true which they say; and if they should join with you to smother it, it would by some other the unlikeliest ways be proclaimed, in despite of you. ' Blessed in the name of the Lord be the King that cometh, Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος βασι- λεὺς ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. [a] cast a trench] That Titus might starve the city the sooner, he shut up all the avenues, building five works without the city; and when the Jews beat down them, he built a wall round about it thirty-nine furlongs long, and thirteen castles or forts in it, whose compass was ten furlongs, and all this finished in three days, saith Josephus, de Bell. Jud. I. 6. c. 8. And when this was done, there was no possibility for U And after a parable delivered by him, and set down, Matt. xxi. 21, he added this other, Matt. xxi. 28; A certain man that had a family, planted a vineyard, and did all that was necessary to that turn, fenced it with a good strong mound, hewed a trough to press the grapes in, and built a lodge for the keeper of it, and then let it out to farmers at a rent, and himself travelled for a time, (noting the care and provision God had made for the church of the Jews, Isaiah v., which made him a strange return for all this, killed his prophets, (which called for fruits of good life from them,) and at last his Son Christ Jesus himself.) b pay him that rent which his vineyard was to yield him: but the husbandmen— They of the sanhedrim answered with joint consent, Matt. xxi. 41, He will (as it is in any reason to be expected) come and destroy those husbandmen, and dispose the vineyard into other hands. Which when Christ, from their own confession had taken for a granted truth, and, Matt. xxi. 43, brought home and applied to them, as a prediction of what was in any reason to befall them, (see ver. 19,) they then expressed a great aversation or dislike of it. And the Pharisees sent some of their disciples and some of those that adhered to Herod, Matt. xxii. 16, to entrap and ensnare him; to which end, they put on the disguise of upright conscientious men, that earnestly desired to be instructed in a scruple of every day's practice, about paying tribute; meaning by his answer to take advantage, and, if he said any thing against Cæsar's right, as they supposed he would, then to accuse and implead him before the procurator of the Romans. ᵈ Why do ye desire and endeavour to ensnare me? See Matt. xxii. 20, and note [c] on that verse. ¹ dash him to pieces, Λυμφοςι αὐτόν: see note [g] Matt. xxi. But as for the main point disputed between you Jews, that there is another life after this, your own Moses will instruct you in those words which he delivered at the bush, Exod. iii. 6, (see note [d] Matt. xxii.) when he calleth— for those that are departed out of this world have another life, the souls of the just are already in the hands of God, and their bodies sure to be raised up and united to them by the power of God. And after some few things, (Matt. xxii. 35,) the Pharisees being come about him, he proposed a question to them, (Matt. xxii. 41,) what they thought of the Messias, whose son he was; and upon their answering that he was David's, he again asked, how that could be? Matt. xxi. 12. k the sanhedrim sat in consultation how they might put him to death. They are persons of great covetousness and cruelty, oppressors of the poor and helpless, without any mercy; and that they may hold up their reputation, which is necessary to enable them to do so securely, they pretend great devotion, and pray a great while.