CHAPTER XVIII.

The parable of the importunate widow, 1-8. Of the Pharisee and the Publican, 9-14. Infants brought to Christ, 15-17. The ruler who wished to know how he might inherit eternal life, 18-23. Our Lord's reflexions on his case, 24-27. What they shall receive who follow Christ, 28-SO. He foretells his approaching passion and death, 31-34. He restores a blind man to sight at Jericho, 35-43.

and the promise of his grace bind him to hear the prayers they offer unto him, and to grant them all that salvation which he has led them by his promise and Spirit to request.

Which cry day and night unto him, &c.] This is a genuine characteristic of the true elect or disciples of Christ. They feel they have neither light, power, nor goodness, but as they re

Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original, exdiχησον με από του αντιδίκου μου, had better be translated, do me justice against, or vindicate me from my adversary. If the woman had come to get revenge, as our common translation in-ceive them from him; and as he is the desire of their soul, they timates, I think our blessed Lord would never have permitted her to have the honour of a place in the sacred records. desired to have justice, and that only; and by her importunity she got that which the unrighteous judge had no inclination to give, but merely for his own ease.

She

Verse 4. He said within himself] How many actions which appear good, have neither the love of God, nor that of our neighbour, but only self-love of the basest kind, for their principle and motive!

Verse 5. She weary me.] "îñwñan μɛ, stun me. A metaphor taken from boxers, who bruise each other, and by beating each other about the face blacken the eyes. See 1 Cor. ix. 27. Verse 6. Hear what the unjust judge saith.] Our blessed Lord intimates that we should reason thus with ourselves: "If a person of such an infamous character as this judge was, could yield to the pressing and continual solicitations of a poor widow, for whom he felt nothing but contempt; how much more ready must God be, who is infinitely good and merciful, and who loves his creatures in the tenderest manner, to give his utmost salvation to all them who diligently seek it."

incessantly seek that they may be upheld and saved by him.

Though he bear long with them?] Rather, and HE is compas sionate toward THEM, and consequently not at all like to the unrighteous judge. Instead of μaxoduμwv, and be longsuffering, as in our translation, I read paxgofuμs, he is compassionate, which reading is supported by ABDLQ. and several others. The reason which our Lord gives for the success of his chosen, is, l. They cry unto him day and night. 2. He is compassionate towards THEM. In consequence of the first, they might expect justice even from an unrighteous judge: and in consequence of the second, they are sure of salvation, because they ask it from that God, who is toward them a Father of eternal love and compassion. There was little reason to expect justice from the unrighteous judge: 1. Because he was unrighteous: and 2. because he had no respect for man: no, not even for a poor desolate widow. But there is all the reason under heaven to expect mercy from God; 1. Because he is righteous, and he has promised it; and 2. Because he is compassionate towards his creatures; being ever prone to give more than the most enlarged heart can request of him. Every Reader must perceive that the common translation is so embarrassed as to be almost unintelligible; while that in this note, from the above authorities, is as plain as possible, and shews this beautiful parable to be one of the most invaluable pieces in the word

of God.

Verse 8. He will avenge them speedily.] Or, he will do them justice speedily- tax, instantly, in a trice. 1. Because he has promised it; and 2. because he is inclined to do it.

Verse 7. And shall not God avenge his own elect] And will not God the righteous Judge do justice for his chosen? Probably this may refer to the cruel usage which his disciples had met with, and were still receiving, from the disobedient and unbelieving Jews; and which should be finally visited upon them in the destruction of their city, and the calamities which should follow. But we may consider the text as having a more extensive meaning. As God has graciously promised to When the Son of man cometh] To require the produce of give salvation to every soul that comes unto him through his || the seed of the kingdom sown among this people. Son, and has put his Spirit in their hearts, inducing them to Shall he find faith on the earth ?] Or rather, shall he find fr ery unto him incessantly for it; the goodness of his naturel delity in this land? Shall he find that the soil has brought

forth a harvest proportioned to the culture bestowed on it? man's ignorance in buying or selling. I avoid every species NO! And therefore he destroyed that land.

Verse 9. Despised] EkovlevourTas, disdained, made nothing of others, treated them with sovereign contempt. Our Lord grants that the Pharisees made clean the outside: but alas! what pride, vain glory, and contempt for others, were lodged within.

of uncleanness. In a word, I do to others as I wish them to do to me. How many of those called Christians, are not half as good as this Pharisee! and yet, he was far from the kingdom of God.

2. He observed the ordinances of religiou-I fast twice in the week. The Jewish days of fasting in each week, were

Verse 10. A Pharisee] For a description of the Pharisees the second and fifth; what we call Monday and Thursday. and their tenets, see on Matt. xvi. 1.

Publican.] See an account of these on Matt. v. 46. Both these persons went to the temple to pray, i. e. to worship God: they were probably both Jews, and felt themselves led by different motives to attend at the temple, at the hour of prayer; the one to return thanks for the mercies he had received; the other to implore that grace which alone could redeem him from his sins.

These were instituted in remembrance of Moses's going up to the mount to receive the law, which they suppose to have been on the fifth day; and of his descent, after he had received the two tables, which they suppose was on the second day of the week.

Verse 12. I give tithes of all that I possess.] Or, of all I ac quire, xтwμаs. Raphelius has well observed, that this verb in the present tense, signifies to acquire-in the preter, to possess: the Pharisee's meaning seems to be, "As fast as I gain any thing, I give the tenth part of it to the house of God and to the poor." Those who dedicate a certain part of their earn

Verse 11. Stood and prayed thus with himself] Or, stood by himself and prayed, as some would translate the words. He probably supposed it disgraceful to appear to have any connexion with this penitent publican: therefore his conductings to the Lord, should never let it rest with themselves, lest seemed to say, "Stand by thyself; I am more holy than thou." He seems not only to have stood by himself, but also to have prayed by himself; neither associating in person nor in petitions with his poor guilty neighbour.

possession should produce covetousness. This was the Pharisee's righteousness, and the ground on which he builded his hope of final salvation. That the Pharisees had a strong opinion of their own righteousness, the following history will prove :

God, I thank thee, &c.] In Matt. v. 20. our Lord says, Unless your righteousness abound more than that of the scribes and "Rabbi Simeon, the son of Jochai, said: The whole world Pharisees, ус shall not enter into the kingdom of God: see the is not worth thirty righteous persons, such as our father Abranote there. Now, the righteousness of the scribes and Pha-ham. If there were only thirty righteous persons in the risces, is described here by a Pharisee himself. We find it was twofold: 1. It consisted in doing no harm to others. 2. In attending all the ordinances of God, then established in the Jewish economy: and in these things they were not like other men; the bulk of the inhabitants of the land paying little or no attention to them. That the Pharisees were in their origin a pure and holy people, can admit of little doubt: but that they had awfully degenerated before our Lord's time, is sufficiently evident. They had lost the spirit of their institution; and retained nothing else than its external regulations. See on Matt. xvi. 1.

1. This Pharisee did no harm to others-I am not rapacious, nor unjust, nor an adulterer. I seize no man's property through false pretences. I take the advantage of no

world, I and my son should make two of them and if there were but twenty, I and my son would be of the number : and if there were but ten, I and my son would be of the number: and if there were but five, I and my son would be of the five and if there were but two, I and my son would be those two: and if there were but one, myself should be that one." Bereshith Rabba, s. 35. fol. 34. This is a genuine specimen of Pharisaic pride. No wonder that our Lord accused these of pride and vain glory; they were far from humility, and consequently far from righteousness.

Verse 13. The publican, standing ufar off] Not because he was a heathen, and dared not approach the holy place; (for it is likely he was a Jew) but because he was a true penitent, and felt himself utterly unworthy to appear before God.

the

a Job 22. 29. Matt. 23. 12. ch. 14. 11. James 4. 6. 1 Pet. 5. 5, 6.

Would not lift up-his eyes] Holding down the head with eyes fixed upon the earth, was 1. A sign of deep distress. 2. Of a consciousness and confession of guilt. And 3. It was the very posture that the Jewish Rabbins required in those who prayed to God. See Ezra ix. 6. and Mishna, in Berachoth, chap. v. and Kypke's note here. So the Pharisee appears to have forgotten one of his own precepts.

But smote upon his breast] Smiting the breast was a token of excessive grief, commonly practised in all nations. It seems to intimate a desire in the penitent, to punish that heart, through the evil propensities of which, the sin deplored had been committed. It is still used among the Roman Catholics in their general confessions.

b Matt. 19. 13. Mark 10. 13. 1 Cor. 14. 20. 1 Pet. 2. 2.

was the doctrine publicly and solemnly preached by every sacrifice offered under the Jewish law. Without shedding of blood there is no remission, was the loud and constant cry of the whole Mosaic œconomy. From this we may see, what it is to have a righteousness superior to that of the Scribes and Pharisees. We must humble ourselves before God, which they did not: we must take refuge in the blood of the cross, which they would not: and be meek and humble of heart, which they were not.

Many suppose, that the Pharisees thought they could ac quire righteousness of themselves, independantly of God; and that they did not depend on him for grace or power: but let us not make them worse than they were-for this is disclaimed by the Pharisee in the text, who attributes all the good he had to God: O God, I thank thee, that I am not as othersit is thou who hast made me to differ. But this was not sufficient: restraining grace must not be put in the place of the great atonement. Guilt, he had contracted—and this guilt must

through an atonement, the whole Jewish law declared. See the note on Matt. v. 20.

Verse 14. Went down to his house justified] His sin blotted out, and himself accepted.

God be merciful to me] Ihanti μo-be propitious toward me through sacrifice—or, let an atonement be made for me. I am a sinner, and cannot be saved but in this way. The Greek word ἱλασκω, or ἱλασκομαι, often signifies to make expiation for sin; and is used by the Septuagint, Psal. lxv. 4. lxxviii. 38. lxxix. 9. for kipper, he made an atonement.be blotted out; and that there was no way of doing this but So inaopos, a propitiation, is used by the same, for л chataah, a sacrifice for sin, Ezek. xliv. 27. and hango, the mercy seat, is, in the above version, the translation of 3 kapporeth, the lid of the ark of the covenant, on and before which, the blood of the expiatory victim was sprinkled, on the great day of atonement. The verb is used in exactly the same sense by the best Greek writers. The following from Herodotus, lib. i. p. 19. edit. Gale, is full in point. Ovino μεγάλησι τον εν Δελφοισι θεον ΙΛΑΣΚΕΤΟ. Crasus appeased, or made an atonement to the Delphic god by immense sacrifices. We see then at once, the reason why our blessed Lord said that the tax-gatherer went down to his house justified rather than the other he sought for mercy through an atonement for sin, which was the only way in which God had from the beginning, purposed to save sinners. As the Pharisee depended on his doing no harm, and observing the ordinances of religion, for his acceptance with God; according to the economy of grace and justice, he must be rejected: for as all had sinned || and come short of the glory of God, and no man could make an atonement for his sins, so he who did not take refuge in Verses 15-17. They brought unto him also infants] On that which God's mercy had provided, must be excluded these verses, the Reader is requested to consult the notes on from the kingdom of heaven. This was no new doctrine :-it || Matt. xix. 13, 14. and on Mark x. 16.

Rather than the other] H Extos: that is, the other was not accepted, because he exalted himself-he made use of the mercies which he acknowledged he owed to God, to make claims on the divine approbation; and to monopolize the sa!vation of the Most High! He was abased, because he vainly trusted that he was righteous, and depended on what he had been enabled to do; and looked not for a change of heart, nor for reconciliation to God. It is a strange perversion of the human mind, to attempt to make God our debtor, by the very blessings which his mere mercy has conferred upon us! It was a maxim among the Jews, that whoever brought a sacrifice to the temple, returned justified. But our Lord shews, that this depended on the state of mind-if they were not humbled under a sense of sin, they were not justified, though they had even offered a sacrifice.

A certain ruler enquires

A. D. 29.

A. M. 4033. 17 Verily I say unto you, Whoso-needle's eye, than for a rich man to
enter into the kingdom of God.
26 And they that heard it said, Who
then can be saved?

An. Olymp. ever shall not receive the kingdom of
CCII. 1.
God as a little child, shall in no wise
enter therein.

18¶And a certain ruler asked him, saying,
Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal

A. D. 29. An. Olymp. CCHI. 1.

27 And he said, The things which are im possible with men, are possible with God.

21 And he said, All these have I kept from everlasting. my youth up.

22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: * sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.

32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gen23 And when he heard this, he was very sor- tiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully enrowful for he was very rich.

24 ¶ And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, 'How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a

treated, and spitted on:

33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death and the third day he shall rise again.

34° And they understood none of these things:

Or brethren] H adeλpas, OR SISTERS, is added by the Cod.. Beza, and some others.

Verse 31. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem] See the

Verse 24. How hardly shall they that have riches, &c.] See notes on this discourse, Matt. xx. 17-19. and Mark x. the notes on this discourse of our Lord, on Matt. xix, 24-30.32. and Mark x. 30.

Verse 25. It is easier for a camel] Instead of xaμnhor, a camel, S. and four other MSS. read xaμλov, a cable. See the same reading noticed on the parallel place, Matt. xix.

24.

Verse 33. And the third day he shall rise again.] See Hos. vi. 2. and let the Reader observe, that the passage should be read thus: In the third day he will raise HIм up, (1p) and ́ we shall live before him: his resurrection shall be the pledge, token, and cause of ours.

Verse 28. We have left all] Our trades, our houses, and Verse 34. They understood none of these things] Notwithfamilies. The Reader is desired to consult the notes on Matt. standing all the information which Christ had given them iv. 20. xix. 27, &c. concerning this awful subject, they could not as yet fully Verse 29. That hath left house, or parents, &c.] See on comprehend how the Messiah should suffer; or how their Matt. xix. 28, 29. and Mark x. 29, 30. Master, whose power they knew was unlimited, should per-