b set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be 4 converted, and become as little b children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. с Ps. cxxxi. 2. ch. xix. 14. Pet. ii. 2. xxiii. 11. 4 c Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little c ch. xx. 27. child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. offences e 1 Cor. xi. 19. offence fch. xxvi. 24. offend ɛ ch. v. 29, 30. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my d ch. x. 42. name receiveth me. 6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that come; but woe to that man by whom the cometh! 8 8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. 10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these I literally, turned. 8 literally, scandalize. r literally, scandals, or stumbling-blocks. trender, the life [to come]. turned] The word also conveys the idea ever goes on no further with the discourse: little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels h h Eth. 1.1. do always behold the face of my Father which is in Luke i. 19. i [Luke ix. 50 xix. 10. John iii. 17: xii. 47. k Luke xv. 4. i u heaven. [11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.] 12 k How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and this verse is omitted in several of the oldest authorities. ▾ render, the ninety and nine on the mountains, and goeth and seeketh. (literally the fire which is eternal), which here first occurs, is more fully expressed in Mark, vv. 43, 44 ff. 10.] Hitherto our text has been parallel with that of Mark ix.; from this, Matthew stands alone. The warning against contempt of these little ones must not be taken as only implying that special care must be taken not to scandalize them, nor indeed as relating exclusively, or even principally, to children. We must remember with what the discourse began a contention who should be greatest among them: and the little ones are those who are the furthest from these 'greatest,' the humble and new-born babes of the spiritual kingdom. And despise must be understood of that kind of contempt which ambition for superiority would induce for those who are by weakness or humility incapacitated for such a strife. There is no doubt that children are included in the word little ones, as they are always classed with the humble and simple-minded, and their character held up for our imitation. The little children in the outward state of the Church are in fact the only disciples who are sure to be that in reality, which their Baptism has put upon them, and so exactly answer to the wider meaning here conveyed by the term; and those who would in afterlife enter into the kingdom must turn back, and become as these little childrenas they were when they had just received the new life in Baptism. The whole discourse is in deep and constant reference to the covenant with infants, which was to be made and ratified by an ordinance, in the Kingdom of Heaven, just as then. On the reason assigned in the latter part of this verse, there have been many opinions; some of which (e. g. that given by Webster and Wilkinson, angels, their spirits after death a meaning which the word never bore, and one respecting which our Lord would not have spoken in the present tense, with always) have been broached merely to evade the plain sense of the words, which is that to individuals (whether in variably, or under what circumstances of minor detail, we are not informed) certain angels are allotted as their especial attendants and guardians. We know elsewhere from the Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament (Ps. xxxiv. 7; xci. 11: Heb. i. 14 al.), that the angels do minister about the children of God: and what should forbid that in this service, a prescribed order and appointed duty should regulate their ministrations? Nay, is it not certain by analogy that such would be the case? But this saying of our Lord assures us that such is the case, and that those angels whose honour is high before God are entrusted with the charge of the humble and meek,-the children in age and the children in grace. The phrase I say unto you, as in Luke xv. 7, 10, is an introduction to a revelation of some previously unknown fact in the spiritual world. Stier has some very beautiful remarks on the guardian angels, and on the present general neglect of the doctrine of angelic tutelage, which has been doubtless a reaction from the idolatrous angelworship of the Church of Rome (see Acts xii. 15: Daniel xii. 1: in the former case we have an individual, in the latter a national guardianship). behold the face, &c. i. e. are in high honour before God; not perhaps especially so, but the meaning may be, for they have angelic guardians, who always,' &c. See Tobit xii. 15. 11.] The angels are the servants and messengers of the Son of Man; and they therefore (for &c.) are appointed to wait on these little ones whom He came to save; and who, in their utter helplessness, are especially examples of that which was lost. 'Here,' remarks Stier, 'is Jacob's ladder planted before our eyes: beneath are the little ones;-then their angels;-then the Son of Man in heaven, in whom alone man is exalted above the angels, Who, as the Great Angel of the Covenant, cometh from the Presence and Bosom of the Father;-and above Him again (ver. 14) the Father Himself, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Luke xvii. 3. 1 Pet. iii. 1. 15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass [ against thee], Lev. xix. 17. go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, m thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But m James v. 20. if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in "the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an n Deut. xvii. 6: xix. 15. John viii. 17. o Rom. xvi. 17 heathen 6,14. 2 John W literally, in the presence of your Father. X omitted by our two earliest MSS. I literally, the congregation or assembly. His good pleasure.' 12, 13.] See notes on Luke xv. 4-6, where the same parable is more expanded. Compare also Ezek. xxxiv. 6, 11, 12. 14.] This verse sets forth to us the work of the Son as accomplishing the will of the Father; -for it is unquestionably the Son who is the Good Shepherd, searching for the lost, ver. 11. For similar declarations see Ezek. xviii. 23; xxxiii. 11: 2 Pet. iii. 9. The inference from this verse is-then whoever despises or scandalizes one of these little ones, acts in opposition to the will of your Father in Heaven.' Observe, when the dignity of the little ones was asserted, it was my Father; now that a motive directly acting on the conscience of the Christian is urged, it is your Father. 15-20.] OF THE METHOD OF ProceedING WITH AN OFFENDING BROTHER: AND OF THE POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN AS15.] The SEMBLY IN SUCH CASES. connexion of this with the preceding is: Our Lord has been speaking of offences (stumbling-blocks), which subject is the ground-tone of the whole discourse. One kind is, when thou sinnest against another, vv. 7-14. A second kind, when thy brother sins against thee. The remedy for the former must be, in each individual being cautious in his own person,-that of the latter, in the exercise of brotherly love, and if that fail, the authority of the congregation, vv. 15-17. Then follows an exposition of what that authority is, vv. On this verse see Levit. xix. 17, 18. This direction is only in case of personal offence against ourselves, and then the injured person is to seek private exVOL. I. 18-20. 10. planation, and that by going to his injurer, 16.] The first attempt of brotherly love is to heal the wound, to remove the offence, in secrecy; to cover the sin: but if this cannot be done, the next step is, to take two or three, still, in case of an adjustment, preventing publicity; but in the other event, providing sufficient legal witness. See reff. and John viii. 17. Compare St. Paul's apparent reference to these words of our Lord, 2 Cor. xiii. 1. 17. neglect to hear] The original verb is a stronger word than this, implying something of obduracy: refuse to hear. the church (literally assembly), by what follows, certainly not the Jewish synagogue' (for how could vv. 18-20 be said in any sense of it?), but the congregation of Christians; i. e. in early times, such as in Acts iv. 32, the one congregation,-in after times, that congregation of which thou and he are members. That it cannot mean the Church as represented by her rulers, appears by vv. 19, 20,-where any collection of believers is gifted with the power of deciding in such cases. Nothing could be further from the spirit of our Lord's command than proceedings in what are oddly enough called ecclesiastical' courts. let him be, &c.] 'let him no longer be accounted as a brother, but as one of those without,' as the Jews accounted Gentiles and Publicans. Yet even then, not with K p ch. xvi. 19. John xx. 23. 1 Cor. v. 4. man and a publican. publican. 18 Verily I say unto you, P Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 z Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall q 1 John iii. 22. ask, 1 it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together s ch. vi. 14. Col. iii. 13. in my name, there am I in the midst of them. 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall r Luke xvii. 4. my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: 8 but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But Z some of the oldest MSS. read, Again verily I say. hatred, see 1 Cor. v. 11, and compare 2 18.] This verse re-asserts in a wider and 21-35.] REPLY TO PETER'S QUESTION See Luke xvii. 3, 4. It is possible that Peter may have asked this question in virtue of the power of the keys before (ch. xvi. 19) entrusted to him, to direct him in the use of them: but it seems more likely, that it was asked as in the person of any individual: that Peter wished to follow the rules just laid down, but felt a difficulty as to the limit of his exercise of forgiveness. The Rabbinical rule was, to forgive three times and no more; this they justified by Amos i. 3, &c., Job xxxiii. 29, 30 LXX, and marg. E. V. The expression 'seven times a day' is found Prov. xxiv. 16, in connexion with sinning and being restored: see also Levit. xxvi. 18-28. In our Lord's answer we have most likely a reference to Gen. iv. 24. 22.] On seventy times seven, Chrysostom remarks, that our Lord does not here lay down a number, but prescribes that which is infinite and continuous and everlasting. 23. Therefore] 'because this is so,' because unlimited forgiveness is the law of the Kingdom of Heaven. The servants here are not slaves, but ministers or stewards. By the commanding to be sold of ver. 25 they could not be slaves in the literal sense. But in Oriental language all the subjects of the king, even the great ministers of state, are called slaves. The individual example is one in high trust, or his debt could never have reached the enormous sum mentioned. See Isa. i. 18. 24.] Whether these are talents of silver or of gold, the debt represented is enormous, and far beyond any private man's power to discharge. 10,000 talents of silver is the sum at which Haman reckons the revenue derivable from the destruction of the whole Jewish people, Esth. iii. 9. Trench remarks (Parables, p. 124) that we can best appreciate the sum by forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him Neh. v. 8. t to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, t2 Kings iv. 1. and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, [ Lord,] have patience : bomitted in some of the oldest authorities. comitted by the oldest MSS. comparing it with other sums mentioned begun, as some do :-the sequel shews how completely he had gone out' from the presence of his Lord. At all events the word corresponds to the time when the trial of our principle takes place when we go out' from the presence of God in prayer and spiritual exercises, into the world. We may observe, that forgiveness of sin does not imply a change of heart or principle in the sinner. The fellow-servant is probably not in the same station as himself, but none the less a fellow-servant. The insignificance of the sum is to shew us how trifling any offence against one another is in comparison to the vastness of our sin against God. Chrysostom finely remarks: " He paid no regard even to the words by which he owed his own deliverance,-the petition which won for him the forgiveness of those ten thousand talents: he recognized not the harbour where he escaped his impending shipwreck: the posture of the suppliant did not remind him of his lord's kindness but rejecting all such considerations in his avarice and his cruelty and his unforgiveness, he was more cruel than any wild beast seizing and throttling his fellow-servant. What doest thou, O man? Seest thou not that thou art exacting from thyself? drawing the sword against thyself, retorting upon thyself the denial, and refusing for thyself the free forgiveness?" : that thou owest must be understood as a haughty expression of one ashamed to meet the mention of the paltry sum really owing, and by this very expression generalizing his unforgiving treatment to all |